For the first time in fourteen years, the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Model series made a visit to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for a series event. Along with the Late Models , all the other classes that race at Vinton were also a part of the program on Thursday, June 28th except for the Modifieds which were given the night off.
It was Fair racing on Thursday night as the Deery Brothers show was a part of the first official night of the Benton County Fair. The Fair is about three weeks earlier than most years in 2018(I'm not sure of all the logistics that required this to be the case) but it felt kind of funny to be talking Fair before the Fourth of July holiday was even completed.
Nevertheless, it was definitely a Fair with all the things that a Fair brings including animals on display, a crowning of the Fairest of the Fair and all the other good stuff that brings everyone out to the Fair. It was also setting up to be the hottest weekend of the Summer to date, something that the animals and all the Fair workers dread. Stay hydrated was the mantra for the night and for the rest of the weekend.
First of all I need to say how lucky we were to even be at the races on this night and to see racing action take place. A huge line of nasty thunderstorms cooked up West of Des Moines and blasted to the Southeast but it also built far enough North that it looked like it would hit Vinton in the last afternoon, the perfect time to wreck any planned activities outdoors. But as it crossed I-35 heading East it started to break up and while it turned cloudy and sprinkles just a few drops of rain between 3 and 4 pm, that was all that happened and the skies gradually lightened as the evening progressed. It even kicked up a nice breeze from the East on the backside of the storms that helped refresh and while normally a breeze right into the grandstand is a formula for a dirty night for the fans, such was not the case on this night as the track was heavy and moisture laden.
The Deery Brothers Late Models turned out with a season high thirty three cars to compete on Thursday; an excellent field indeed. While some look at Benton County as a tough track of cars with the small quarter mile and plenty of speed generated, the fact is that it is also in a very good spot geographically for the Late Model teams as the current Late Model map lies, and lots of cars are within a reasonable distance for a Thursday night pull. And as would be later confirmed and is often the case at Vinton, while the racing was spectacular and close and very hard fought, very few race cars got torn up and nearly everyone went home with only minor touch ups to make for the weekend.
On the other hand, the support classes had surprisingly low car counts across the board which was even more surprising given that it was a points night for all classes except the Late Models. However, the program that saw these classes running only one or two heats and then their main did help move the show along on a night when there was the potential of the clock getting away from the officials.
I was surprised to find out also that the Compact class at Benton County isn't IMCA sanctioned which puzzles me that any class in the hometown of the sanctioning body wouldn't be carrying a sanction but such is the case. It does take away any chance for the local racers that get their names in the paper for winning races at Vinton of being rewarded on a national basis. None of the advertising I saw called for Compacts to even be a part of the program on this night, but there they were come race time with Wild Bill Whalen both driving and cheering them on at the same time. All classes except the Late Models were using the draw/redraw format for qualifying Thursday which again was a bit of a surprise.
Nine of the top ten in Deery points were on hand for racing Thursday with the Quad City duo of Terry Ryan and Andy Nezworski being surprising "no shows" along with Terry Neal so there was the real possibility that they could have been near thirty five cars if everything had worked out right.
Tyler Breuning was making his first Deery Brothers event of the year and would be a "player" in the evening's outcome while Todd Cooney, Johnny Emerson and Chad Holliday were all sporting new tin on their cars, a bold thing to do right before racing at Vinton which can be a little hard on the bodies from time to time. Two of the three would get through the night relatively unscathed while Holliday would get his door bashed in barely one lap into his heat race and then things would get much worse when the motor would spectacularly blow on the last lap of his heat, ending his night early.
The combination of a well watered track, high humidity and cloud cover all helped to produce a very tacky track of the kind seldom seen much any more. It required considerable extra packing by all race cars(something that they hate to do), and the grader even had to come out after the heats and skim off the top layer of racing dirt. However, the common truth is that a race track can't be perfect all night and that begs the question, when do you want to have the best racing surface? Should it be for the heats and then by feature time the track is a one lane burned out dust bomb, or do you want to have the first few heats have to kind of slog around in the mud and then see the track gradually get better and better as the evening progresses? The second option is what happened on Thursday and let me say that with the track provided, the Deery Late Models put on one of the best races I have seen so far in 2018. A coincidence, perhaps. But perhaps not either.
What we did see was a Late Model feature that saw several different leaders, a constant battle for the lead and also for the positions right behind the leader. We also saw much side by side racing and only two yellow flags for minor spins over the course of the fifty lap main. And twenty of the twenty four starters were still on the track at the finish.
Much happened over the course of the fifty lap finale. Early on we saw a great battle for the lead between Johnny Emerson and Todd Cooney that saw them exchange slide jobs and minor hostilities. Both would later let their extreme aggressive driving get the better of them as both took trips over the edge of the track and Emerson would end up tenth with Cooney even farther back.
Breuning looked to be a serious challenger until a restart call for the jump start that docked him a row and he never recovered from that set back. It actually looked like Emerson and Cooney were "jacking around " on the start and Breuning became the innocent victim and was made to look worse than he actually was.
And then were was eventual winner Hurst who started eleventh and ran the bottom almost exclusively for the whole race. After some laps were made in the feature and the track started to blacken up some, both Hurst and Justin Kay both came on as they like to work the low side of the track. Kay just didn't quite have the set up to win Thursday but he still hung in there and finished a strong third.
And how about veteran Curt Martin who pounded the cushion for fifty laps and finished a fine second as this year seemed to have brought a rebirth for the #45 car out of Indee. Rookie Chad Coyne was racing in rarefied air on Thursday night, having won a heat race and then been given the pole in the "revenge draw". He raced right with the leaders until his car quit on the first yellow and he was done but it must have helped him immensely to know that he can run with the best under the right circumstances.
Hurst's win was his first on the Deery Brothers circuit since the 2002 season and I know this to be fact since it came right out of the mouth of stat man Ryan Clark.
While the support classes were low on numbers, they weren't without their share of excitement. The Hobby Stock feature, for example, was enough to get many in the crowd on their feet and screaming for blood.
It was a three car battle for the win involving Brett Vanous, Leah Wroten and Nathan Ballard. Earlier in the evening when Ballard was on the track for hot laps, Clark announced that he was being welcomed back which drew a round of jeers so I'm assuming there must be some "history" going on here. And if that be the case, Ballard threw some more gasoline on the fire Thursday with his suspect racing style.
A late yellow with only two laps to go saw a Delaware double file restart with Wroten in the lead and Vanous and Ballard side by side behind her. Vanous was unceremoniously "dumped" by Ballard on the green and Vanous then got shoved into the back of Wroten's car, spinning here and giving her a flat tire. She is a special racer at this track and to rough her means big trouble. Ballard took the black flag on his next trip around the track, while Wroten scurried to the pits for another tire but it cost her a potential win.
Every track needs a "villain" and it appears that Ballard is comfortable with that role as Vanous went on for the win and Wroten scrambled back up to fifth.
Damon Murty struggled with the same problems that had plagued him at Webster City the night before as his car just quit during the Stock Car heat race. However, with help from his friends, they finally figured out the problem was a loose wire and with the small, ten car field of Stock Cars, starting in the back row was no problem for the "Chelsea Charger".
John Oliver Jr. fought hard but Murty took the Stock Car main with Norman Chesmore finishing third ahead of Scooter Dulin.
Tony Olson destroyed the field in the Sport Mod main in a nonstop main event that saw him win by a wide margin and Jake Benischek did the same in the Compacts, dominating a green to checkered event for the small cars.
The crowd was OK but not the huge turnout that I was expecting for this event. However, the Hogan Memorial Race is coming up next Tuesday and for the Modified dominated local fans, that is the BIG one that everyone is looking toward. Nevertheless, it was a very good night of racing with the Late Models doing it up right on this Thursday night special at the little action track in Benton County.
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