On Tuesday, June 5th, the Deery Brothers Summer Series held an event at the Marshalltown Speedway which featured IMCA Modifieds and Karl Chevrolet Trucks as well as the Deery Brothers Late Model series. It was a gorgeous night for racing and without the wind blowing right into the main grandstand at top speed, it was so much more pleasant for the spectators.
A big crowd was on hand for the event, dubbed the Steve Priske Miller Lite 50 to honor the memory of a former promoter at the track who had much to do with returning the Late Models as a weekly class for racing at the Marshalltown high banked quarter mile.
Before the race, former announcer Denny Grabenbauer, who returned for this event, had a very interesting interview with Priske's co-promoter Barry Neuse, and I learned much about the history of the Marshalltown Speedway as well as the forming of the IMCA Late Model division and what role both Priske and Neuse had in that. It was telling to hear how far ahead of the "game" Priske and Neuse were for their time.
It was a very late arriving group of drivers to the pit area as for the longest time it didn't appear that the field of cars in any class was going to be very stout. Of course, this doesn't take into consideration the fact that most of the drivers on hand to race Tuesday are working folks and not professional racers and they have a job to do to earn their income before they can come to the track to race.
By race time, all classes had very solid fields of cars with the IMCA Late Model group again solidly supporting their events. Twenty nine Late Models signed in to race with eighteen of the top twenty in current points on hand to run.
Darrel DeFrance, who was racing on his birthday and as I learned, actually a triple D and not just a double D, would start his four hundred and eighty fourth Deery Brothers event, a record that is mind boggling for both its length and the persistent of Darrel to not miss an event anywhere, no matter the circumstances.
Also joining the field Tuesday was all time feature win leader in the Deery Series, Jeff Aikey. Aikey, who has been focusing on a Modified this years was making one of his first, if not his first, Late Model run of 2018. He was driving the #24 car of Scott Fitzpatrick. He proved that adjusting to the #24 car was not a problem and that it didn't take long to knock off the rust as he won a heat race and finished a strong fourth in the fifty lap main while running with the leaders all night.
The heat race win was just a bit misleading however, as Ben Seeman actually crossed the line first and nearly a full straightaway in front of the field. However, the wheelbase on his #60 car was found to be too short and he was disqualified from the event. He did not return to the track the rest of the evening.
Four heat races and two B Features set the twenty four car field for the Late Model fifty lap main. Curt Martin would lead the first couple of laps before Andy Eckrich, coming off the high side of the track, would take over the lead. He would then be officially scored as the leader for the rest of the race, as he put in a dominating performance.
Early in the race, the yellow flag waved quite often with four slow downs in the first fourteen laps. A couple of the yellows involved cars running near the front as Matt Ryan, Jeremiah Hurst and Cayden Carter were all involved in wheel banging incidents that led to spins and put all three to the rear. Carter and DeFrance, who was the cause of the first yellow on lap nine for a spin also, would both drive their way back up into the top ten at the finish.
The last thirty six laps of the main would go nonstop and this is when Andy Eckrich would shine. He was running a line that most others weren't using as he was running high all the way around the track while most others were high in turns three and four but were hugging the low side in one and two. However, he made it work and he pulled away while the positions behind him continued to be contested.
Eventually and gradually, point leader Justin Kay would begin to move up from his sixth row starting spot and when he finally cleared Todd Cooney to move into second, he really picked up the pace. He started to cut considerably into Echrich's lead but he ran out of laps and Eckrich drove home for the win by several car lengths. Andy sounded very relieved during his victory lane talk as he hasn't been performing well so far this year and the frustration has been starting to get to him. There's nothing like a nice two grand win to pick up your spirits! Brother Denny rounded out the top five behind Cooney and Aikey.
The Modified field of thirty two cars was also a strong one and their program was a good one too. While Carter has some frustration with his Late Model run, he caught everyone's attention with the great job he did in the Modified main.
He started ninth on the grid and immediately moved forward running the low side. While others were having trouble holding their line, he drove under car after car, eventually taking over the top spot and then pulling away for the win. Passing drivers like Joel Rust, Ethan Dotson, Kelly Shryock and eventually Hunter Marriott to take over the lead, Carter proved that he was definitely the fastest car on the track.
Tough luck plagued a few of the front runners as Chris Simpson spun while in a contending spot and Tim Ward was involved in a wheel banging issue that gave him a flat tire. Simpson would eventually race his way back up into the top ten before the race was over.
However, the wildest moment of the whole evening took place with ten laps in the book in the Modified feature. The field was screaming around the track in full racing mode when suddenly and without any warning, all the track lights went out and it was as dark as dark could be on the racing surface! What a wild and scary moment and something that I recall only seeing one other time in all the years I have been going to the races. The pit lights stayed on as well as power to the tower but all the track lights went dark at once.
I counted twenty two cars on the track at the moment that all went dark and somehow they all got stopped without nary a single crash or even fender bender. It was quite an accomplishment and certainly a stroke of good luck also.
We waited in the dark for a few minutes and then the lights came back on and we went racing once again. Of course Jerry VanSickel refused to let some little thing like a power outage keep him from talking and he scrambled down to the track to an emergency vehicle where he used their portable speakers to update us on what was happening. Actually, it was a very good thing for him to do and I shouldn't give him a hard time about his "traveling microphone."
After racing resumed, Carter continued his charge and eventually found his way into the lead and no matter how much Ricky Thornton Jr pushed, he couldn't catch the fleet Carter who actually pulled away impressively from the pack.
Richie Gustin made up a lot of ground as he came from twelfth to garner third place honors. It was, however, a "hit and miss" night for the Gustin family as Jimmy Gustin didn't make the main while things were even worse for Ryan. He was flying to the front in the first heat race when he literally started flying as he flew off the first turn and did what I believe were a couple of barrel rolls before coming to a halt. I can't say for sure on the specific details of the wreck as the high banks obscured the specifics of the flip but VanSickel, from his perch high above the track, spoke to seeing the car going over at least a couple of times. Ryan was done for the night.
The Karl Chevrolet Trucks had enough vehicles for two heat races and a main event and their feature had a wild finish. Steve Jackson appeared to have things in control after a good battle with Pat Graham and Rick Clark. However, the yellow flew late in the race and set up a two lap sprint to the finish. Things got wild then with trucks going every which way and at the line, Graham was the winner over Clark while Jackson failed to finish as things really got shook up at the end.
Some of the best heat race action of the year took place on Tuesday with both the Modifieds and Late Models having a number of memorable races that saw some intense action, a great deal of lane swapping and some thrilling finishes. The track stayed in very good shape all night and for once, the wind helped move what little dust there was away from the crowd in stark contrast to what I had experienced the previous times this year. All in all, it was a very fine racing program that would have held to a tight window time wise too, if not for the power failure delay.
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