Thursday, May 16, 2019

Cody Nielsen Takes Big Bucks at Spencer

A rare Wednesday night race at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa gave me the opportunity to visit one of the nicest facilities in the entire Hawkeye State for one of the few chances I have to take such a trip. It was also what I would characterize as the nicest racing day of the year to date and for me, I think just the second day that I have been able to experience temperatures that got into the 70's. That's how bad the Spring has been for me and for most of you also. So, what been way of celebrating the arrival of Spring for at least one day by going to the dirt track races?

I found out that last Winter there was much discussion locally about cutting back the racing programs here at Spencer to about a half dozen or so for the 2019 racing season. However, a number of city leaders and local businessmen decided they needed to do something to keep weekly racing alive in Spencer and at the historic Clay County Fair Speedway so they put their heads together and dipped into their pockets to help sponsor some special events at the track. They also decided to mix up the schedule some and not just stick with a Sunday night only schedule so they have some races scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays along with their staple Sunday shows. I like this kind of things as while I understand that midweek shows are tough for some racers and fans, it also gives different drivers the chance to check out the track and not risk home track Sunday points and these midweek races can be very interesting as you just don't know who is going to show up. On this night it was the Hobby Stocks that were getting the special boost in pay but all the regular classes that race at Spencer were also running. Hobby Stocks would be using the draw/redraw format while other classes would be racing on point average as usual.

I got to meet the Race Director Wednesday but I must apologize that I didn't do my due diligence and find out ahead of time what his name might be and I am not able to find it now after the fact. He did tell me that he is also the promoter at Park Jefferson and Rod Olson is listed as Race Director and Manager at Park Jefferson so I'm going with Rod as the gentlemen I met. If I am wrong, I apologize and he will pound me into a pulp the next time we meet as he is as big as Paul Bunyan and looked to be twice as strong! Anyway, I was greeted warmly and asked if I needed anything or if I had any questions and I was stunned as this just doesn't happen to me very often. Usually I have to hide in the Satellites to avoid detection by security in the pits!

Anyway, he was the one that told me about the great local support the track is receiving and that is refreshing in this day and age when there are those communities that would just as soon push racing out the door and turn the land into a housing development.

I also found that attending races at Spencer and trying to keep everyone straight might be the most confusing task that I have taken on in quite some time. I suspected that I would see the famous racing Smith family from Lake City on hand this night but I did not digest the scope of what the Smith name means for racing in this area. I can only assume that there was either a lack of imagination when it came to naming families in this area or many people are racing under aliases as there were a total of seven Smiths racing on this night! They are Jeremy, Mike, Daniel, Doug, David, Devin, Donovan and Jeremy(different from the previous Jeremy). Ouch! I am having difficulty wrapping my head around who is who and what class and car they are driving.

That wasn't bad enough until I also found out that there are two Jason Brees (or Briese) racing in the Modified class! It's spelled different but pronounced the same and oh my goodness, this is all very confusing.

Veteran announcer Chad Meyer has his hands full when he calls the action here for sure. However, I suppose that he, if he forgets a name of a driver, can just call them Smith and his odds are good he will have correctly named them! Use that tactic and announcing is a Briese (or Brees). Bad pun.

Chad is a busy guy as I believe he is still calling the action at three different race tracks as he also works at Algona and Britt so if there is something you need to know about racing in western Iowa, he is the man to see. Announcing here is a challenge as just getting to the "crows nest" where they announce is quite an undertaking. First one must walk to the top row of the monstrous grandstand and they climb aboard a ladder that is inclined at about 45 degrees to Mother Earth and scale that to the "nest." I was offered the opportunity to climb up there if I wished but I declined with a quiet and meek, "Hell No." 

In fact, the hike up to the tower is so daunting that once Chad comes down at intermission to do the giveaways etc, he just stays down at track level on the paddock area to call the main events and interview the feature winners. An Olympic athlete couldn't be asked to scale that catwalk five times to come down and interview drivers and still have enough breath to talk.

The one thing I did notice and surprised me about this beautiful facility is that they don't have a scoreboard. They have everything else with a huge grandstand, most of which is covered, great lighting and sound system etc but no scoreboard and not even just a lap counter. That might be the next thing that perhaps the business community could consider getting involved in.

Car counts were just about the right number of a midweek show with two heats of everything, except the featured Hobby Stocks had three and only one for the Sport Compacts. I have noticed that the Sport Compacts seem to be short on cars at most of the western Iowa tracks and I wonder why. What was supposed to be the entry level  class has not turned out to be that way in this area for some reason.

The heat races were spun off quickly and after a break where the night's sponsor H & N Chevrolet did some promotions, it was feature race time. The night would produce three dominating wins and two close finishes, including the last two races of the night and there would be two Smiths in victory lane before the evening's final checkered was waved.

The Sport Mods came first and they came close to getting the "gong" after they spun and stumbled their way during their big event. Doug Smith started tenth on the grid but his car was handling superbly and he was able to drive under car after car, soon getting to the front. After that, it was just a matter of keeping his patience through the six yellow flags as drivers spun time after time. The last yellow was for more of a grinding collision that eliminated contenders Zech Norgaard, Justin Klynsa and John Foreman. At the finish, Smith was comfortably in front of Tim Rupp and Brady Joynt in the 1AND car(I just report 'em, I don't explain 'em).

A Bubba Brown search party is underway for the Sport Compact driver that apparently signed in and then failed to show. Brown, a prolific racer at any track in Iowa and beyond running Sport Compacts, failed to make the grid for either the feature or his heat and the area between Spencer and Fairmont is being checked for him. Announcer Meyer, who has a very dry and pointed sense of humor, made the comment that after the wife and husband team of the Devries, battling for the lead when Kaytee slammed into the side of her husband Jay, reported that was "the first time that they have touched!"
Jay would go on for the win over Jared Gross and Kaytee.

It was a Smith again at the point after the Stock Car feature ran off nonstop as Devin dominated, coming from the third row quickly to take the lead and then he pulled away to lead by nearly a full straightaway in a very, un Stock Car kind of main where normally they are four wide at the finish. Mitch Dowhower had a very nice run as he started in front and finished a strong second, holding off a late charge from Donovan Smith and Elijah Zevenbergen who was one of the few to move up the track and widen the groove.

Saving the show tonight and being its star by far was Modified driver Jay Noteboom. The track was narrow on Wednesday as it was dry and for some reason it didn't clean off very well with the loose material just laying in the second groove. Perhaps that was because, as one of the feature winners reported in his interview that there was still some "tack" right on the bottom and no one wanted to get off that lane. In any event, there was not much effort to try to move up the track and most were playing "follow the leader" right on the bottom.

But not Noteboom who apparently said "the heck with it" and decided to try the top, no matter what happened. And it turned out very well for him. It was a struggle but eventually he started to gain some momentum and while I don't think he got any faster, the cars in the low lane started to slow down as the race progressed and he was able to slowly work past him.

Near the end he caught race leader Chris Palsrok who was hugging the bottom and made a great effort to get past but came up just a car length short at the finish. Congrats to Palsrok for the win and also to Noteboom for putting on the show of the night. Cody Knecht was a close third. There was also a "Screamin' Yellow Banana" sighting as Mike Jergens was in action in the Modified class. He always had one of my favorite looking cars with his bright yellow wonders and while this car had just a taped on number and no sponsors to this point, I'm sure there is more to come. He did finish a solid fourth also.

The Hobby Stock feature, as the "big show", was saved for last and they did a good job of putting on an interesting race with a minimum of yellow flags to boot. Front row starters Zach Ankrum and Cody Probst ran each other up the track on the first lap and Cody Nielsen took advantage of that to take over the lead. Howver, Probst was very fast and he quickly caught Nielsen and then spent the rest of the race trying to re take him for the lead. Probst should be congratulated highly for running a very clean race. Several times he got the nose of his car under Nielsen and most would have then leaned on the leader and moved him off the inside lane but each time Probst would hit the brakes and back off if he didn't have his car far enough under the leader.

Several times I thought he was far enough by to drive it in deep in the corner but he apparently didn't think so and backed off and allowed Nielsen to retain the lead. Probst even got by one time but the yellow slowed the action and voided the pass.

At the end, Probst did everything he could under his code of ethics to make the pass but Nielsen held on for the win. I would say Nielsen owes Probst a handshake for racing him ultra clean. Ankrum would finish third.

It was a smooth night of racing and it appeared that a good sized crowd was on hand, although it was difficult to judge given the huge grandstand that Spencer has. With everything functioning nicely the final checkered waved just a couple minutes past ten with the racing done in a "Brees" or was it a "Briese"?  In any event, it was an efficient and quick run program which both entertained and got folks on the road home early. A perfect recipe for a weeknight show.

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