Finally, one track was able catch a break in the weather and it helped to make the evening's racing both pleasant to watch and very successful for all, particularly winner Bobby Pierce.
The eleventh annual Slocum Memorial, honoring the memory of Brent Slocum, was held Saturday night, April 20th at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington Iowa. It was an absolutely beautiful day and evening for dirt track racing with even the hardened veterans in the pits commenting on what a great day it was. And since the weather is the one variable that no race track can control but also one of the most powerful factors in determining the success of an event, all things were playing into the hands of the folks that put on the Slocum each year. The end result was an excellent night of racing under the most pleasant of circumstances and a great crowd was on hand to enjoy the event.
The Slocum race has become far more than just a race. It is an event in the best meaning of that word. Folks come out early and spend the whole day at the track, partying and visiting and eating and drinking and just having fun and what a great day to do just that. The whole event has that "special" feeling to it that races strive to find but sometimes miss on. For me, it reminds me of an event that I am familiar with at home and that is the Street Stock "Little Dream" race in Rice Lake Wisconsin that will be celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary this July. The crowd for that event is very much the same kind of fun loving, partying kind of crowd that is especially enjoyable to be a part of.
MLRA Late Models were the featured attraction with 305 Sprint Cars and IMCA Stock Cars providing the support for the wide bodied cars. The Late Model field was a large and very strong one for this event with thirty seven cars signing in to race with many of the best drivers from the Tri State area on hand along with quite a few traveling stars from all parts of the country as the pre Easter holiday weekend is a little short on major events, thus the Slocum benefits from the presence of some "big name" drivers to take on the best from the area.
Rivalries ran high as the "Kings" of Iowa, the Simpson brothers were both on hand to defend their turf in front of a huge number of their supporters. The "King" of Illinois, Pierce was also on hand for his many supporters to cheer and let's not forget the other "King", retired from his throne but back to make a curtain call, Brian Birkhofer was debuting a new car on this night in one of his rare appearances.
Birkhofer was driving a plain black car with the strange number of OU812 on it, which was a puzzlement to me, along with most other people. Here is the story that I got for an explanation. Birkhofer is a big Sammy Hagar fan. The rock singer's picture, in fact, was on the race car. Hagar's eighth studio album, OU812(pronounced Oh, You Ate One Too), is a special favorite of the Steelers fan, thus the number on the car. Comprehend ?
The one disappoint to me, after the MLRA troops had draw for position and just raced passing points at Davenport the night before, decided instead to time trial on Saturday night. Being such a big fan of time trials, this sent me into a near state of ecstasy but I somehow managed to keep it together when I received the news.
As usual, the time trials managed to accomplish a couple things. They produced four heads up heat races that thus limited any passing, and they kept the program from starting at its scheduled time. The first race didn't hit the track until 7:45 pm but a tight program after that and top notch driving from all divisions that kept the yellow flags to a minimum allowed the speedway to keep their schedule rolling and the evening to conclude at a very reasonable time.
Four tough heat races set the field for the Late Model main event. By the way, all four heats were won off the pole. The biggest surprise was that Birkhofer failed to show for his heat after tagging the wall during qualifying and he did not race the rest of the night, surely a big disappointment with his home base being so close to this track. Poor Joseph Gorby towed all the way from Oklahoma, only to blow up in qualifying and see his night done before it even started. A couple of B Features, throw in a couple provisionals and the field was set.
However, the feature field got tossed before the green even flew. Third row starter Payton Looney opted for the back after he hurt his motor finishing second in his heat and the other third row starter, Rickey Frankel, failed to show so that whole row was gone. J. C. Wyman, who flipped in his heat, came back to run the feature as a provisional and he lasted the entire event.
The feature itself was a three car battle with Shannon Babb, Chad Simpson and Pierce battling it out, three of the drivers with the most vocal fan following. It was wild to watch the crowd as first one than the other would advance and all their fans would leap to their feet and cheer on their man. It was one of the most exuberant crowds I had seen at a race in a long time. This was good to see but I was glad that I was sitting in the top row while all this was going on!
Babb led early as he pounded the cushion while Simpson took his familiar low line and Pierce seemed to be feeling things out, running high but not as aggressive as he often can be. The race was slowed three times by yellows in the first eighteen laps but the last thirty two went non stop.
Eventually the tricky cushion in turn three tripped up Babb as twice he hooked the berm and went for a ride, losing but the lead and second with those missteps. Simpson took over the top spot and looked for all the world like he had things in control but then it appeared that Pierce went for broke as he really started pounding the cushion. As he seemed to pick up the pace, Simpson got into lapped traffic and that hurt him as he seemed to lose momentum coming off the corners. Perhaps he also spun his tires just once too often on the harder low side. In any event, coming off turn four with seven laps to go, Pierce blew by on the high side and then pulled away for the win. If nothing else, Pierce absolutely refused to give up and his persistence beating the cushion allowed him to take yet another big main event. Chris Simpson drove a determined race also and was just nipped by Babb for third while Ryan Unzicker was also consistent, running in the top five throughout the race.
The support classes did just exactly what they were supposed to do on this night. They provided a nice break from the main division, had enough cars for a couple heats and feature, provided some exciting racing of their own and didn't take too much time up for any of their races. And to top it off, both their mains were also good ones for those who watched.
The 305 Sprints had a "ringer" in Paul Nienhiser, who normally races everything from a winged 410 to a winged 360 and a Midget on occasion. He races with the Outlaws and just about every sanctioning body that supports open wheel racing. Saturday night he was in a borrowed ride and he was the winner of the 305 feature. Perhaps it was just me but it seemed like he just rode around for the first half of the race and when he saw the halfway signal, he picked up the pace, drove past Harold Pohren and then ran away for the win, carefully negotiating lapped traffic which got heavy at the end. Pohren edged Tanner Gebhardt in a wheel banging finish for second, one that saw Tanner more than peeved following the finish. One one yellow slowed the Sprint main.
Many "headed for the hills" when the Late Models were done but those that stayed saw a good Stock Car feature also. David Brandies led the majority of the race but he was constantly under the gun from several other drivers as the battle for second through fifth was a good one. With only one yellow flag to help him, John Oliver Jr did a masterful job coming from the fifth row to move into contention. Near the end, when Brandies slipped up the track, Oliver Jr drove past him to take over the lead and he held off a severe challenge from Abe Huls to take the win. Brandies settled for third ahead of Dustin Griffiths. It was an excellent way to wrap up the night, with fireworks to follow for those that hung around.
Not knowing a lot about the Slocum Foundation, I was very impressed to hear about all the good things they are doing for the community and its kids and doing a very good job of making a good thing out as a result of one very terrible night here at 34. Congratulations to them for their hard work as this event just seems to get bigger and better every year.
Thanks to all the staff and management at 34 for their help and generosity. It was a great night of racing for all the right reasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment