Thursday night, May 16th, Toby Kruse and the folks at Marshalltown Speedway made their second attempt to get in the Dale DeFrance Memorial race after rain and wet grounds shut down their efforts the previous week. The weather had made a big swing this week and it was downright hot across the Hawkeye State. After having had only one seventy degree day so far this year in my home area, a sudden boost of over twenty degrees had me panting and records were being broken across the state of Iowa.
There was the threat of rain in the forecast but various sources(apparently just guessing) had the rain coming in at any time from 9 pm to after Midnight. Of course, hoping to see racing, I went with the later prediction which proved to be totally out of wack.
An excellent field of race cars showed up with near or over two dozen cars in each of my five trackable classes, there were one hundred and twenty three cars in the pits and it looked to be a great night of racing ahead, if only we could squeeze it in. Toby and his crew had been working tirelessly on the track all day and they had it in what appeared to be excellent shape for the racing action, even with the extreme temperatures, sunshine and strong winds blowing.
As hot laps were getting starting, we had the dubious privilege of watching a strong storm built up nearly right over our heads and head toward the Marshalltown Speedway. Light sprinkles started during the Mod Lite heats but track officials pressed on with the program.
The Sport Mods hit the track and although it was just a bit slick, they pressed on with Jake McBurnie taking the first heat. Then it started to sprinkle just a bit harder and more fans headed for their vehicles. As the intensity picked up, they sent the cars to the pits and truly, it was probably a good thing that it started to rain a little harder at this time which allowed most fans to get to protection. Because within just a few minutes, it cut loose and when I say it cut loose, it cut loose! The wind was screaming and the rain came down sideways, coming so hard that it just sat on top of the ground. Then it started to hail and what a noise that made on the inside on the car. I would estimate quarter size hail and it lasted for quite some time.
How many of you remember times when you sat in your car with the window cracked, getting soaked while you waited for some official word from the announcer? Well, leave it to Toby and crew to be on the ball as they had a low frequency radio station on so we could just listen to our radios to get the word, not surprising indeed, that the show had been canceled and indeed, the whole weekend as the rain came so hard and the forecast was so bad they pulled the plug on Friday night racing as well. Heading home after the storm settled, wet pavement was found to just East of Ames where it was bone dry. It was a classic Summer storm, very hard rain for one area and just down the road, nothing. We just happened to be located in the wrong area as the Marshalltown Speedway continues to get nailed by bad early season weather.
We were set to see what I believe would have been a really good night of racing Thursday and to lose it was very frustrating, but only marginally so compared to the race crew that put in a hard, long day of work, only to have it all literally go down the drain. Here are a few things I learned while roaming the pits before the show.
The Gustin family was strongly represented as they were set to honor their mentor Dale DeFrance. Janae Gustin was set to make her first run of the year in the Sport Mods. Richie Gustin had both a Mod and his Late Model on hand, Jimmy Gustin had his Mod and Ryan was scheduled to drive the car normally run by Tyler Madigan. Of course DD was also set with his Late Model as well has his good friend Gary Webb who towed over from the Quad Cities to race.
I missed the chance to see Nevada's Kollin Hibdon, apparently on tour from his home in Pahrump as well as Modified star Jake O'Neil who has an IMCA car as well as his open Mod. Debuting his IMCA car was Zach VanderBeek as more and more Modified drivers cover their bases with big money races under different sanctioning bodies, they don't want to miss out on the action. Hunter Marriott was also on hand from Missouri.
Two dozen Late Models were on hand and would have put on a good show I feel .It would have been my first chance to see Johnny Emerson race this year as well as Jill George, who is back in racing this year after having taken several years off. The Hartzell Racing Team has gotten themselves one of those bright yellow transporters that I am so attracted to.
The biggest news from the Late Model pits was a report from Rick Dralle that he will have Jeff Aikey in his potent #1D for the rest of the racing season as Ryan Dolan is out for the year after having shoulder surgery. It was lucky that such a strong "wheelman" as Aikey was available and a good break for Aikey to get back in a strong Late Model after parking his own car and focusing on the Modified action. This should be a good and successful pairing.
As I write this I'm waiting to find out what the rain date for this event will be and hoping that Toby picks an off night with no conflicts so that I can get back down to central Iowa.
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