For all of us that were on hand on Thursday night, June 27th at the Deery Brothers show at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton Iowa during the annual County Fair, whether they be fans, drivers and crews or track officials or just workers, we better all recognize just how lucky we were with the weather on Thursday to be able to get a show in.
I was in Vinton early on Thursday as I headed over to Benton County and was in town shortly after Noon. I watched the storms that had started in southern Minnesota head easterly across their state and then start to sag down into Iowa. At first they looked to be well North of the central Iowa area and Vinton but as they expanded, they continued to dip to the South. You could see that it was going to be very close as to whether or not they would hit Vinton and Benton County but if they did, based on their stoutness as they looked on radar, the races would not be happening.
I headed out to the Benton County Fairgrounds as the storms grew close, and the sky was an angry looking menace. Black clouds were everywhere, the lightning flashed and the wind was blowing a gale. First it would get extremely "close" and then the wind would change directions and a cold blast of air would hit us. Folks around the Fairgrounds were casting a wary eye to the sky and some rushed to haul down the awnings on their campers as the winds started to gust.
It was reported to me by Ryan Clark that it did rain lightly at the IMCA offices on the West side of town for a brief period but I can say that as we waited, not a drop of rain would fall at the Fairgrounds. Later, while some of the heat races were in progress, it would mist a bit and a few extra laps around the track were required but that was the extend of the weather problems, even though throughout the totality of the race program, the wind would switch directions from time to time and it seemed like a storm might be ready to blow into town. Within a few miles of town, some heavy rains did fall so we were all extremely lucky on this night.
Surely a few racers must have been turned away by the threatening weather but we still had a solid count on hand for the show. Twenty seven of the Deery Brothers Late Models were on hand and a perfect number of cars in the other four classes was on hand. Plenty of good competition existed in those classes but the numbers were just right to not have to run a B Feature.
Speaking of B Features, the Deery officials, along with the track operators, made the wise decision not to run a B Feature for the Late Models and instead throw everyone into the main. They also wisely moved the Late Model feature up to the first main to be run to ascertain that, worst case scenario, their part of the show would be completed. All track officials and the drivers themselves were working hard to make sure the show was completed, which was a comfort to see.
With all the humidity, a heavy track greeted the drivers with plenty of traction and a cushion that quickly built up. They tried to knock it down when they could but it would be a factor all night. Hit it just right and it would rocket you off the corners. Hit it wrong and it would likely throw you off the track or turn you sideways, either of which would not be good. There were a few wild occurrences that took place before the night was completed, courtesy of the cushion.
With everyone being fast on the heavy track, and the speeds of the cars high, passing was a tough thing to do and required perhaps more "leaning" on a proponent than normally would be done and there was plenty of body contact in all divisions, and particularly so in the Late Models where there generally isn't much of that. The evening would be described as one where there was plenty of hard racing and no give and take, mostly just take.
As stated, the Late Models were up first and it was a heavy track that the twenty five starters raced on. Jeff Aikey started on the pole and normally that would have been all that was needed to be said, particularly as strong as he has been running lately. And the early going reflected that, as he sprinted off to a good sized lead but was reeled back in after several early yellows slowed the action. The heavy track and hard racing resulted in more yellow flags than normal for this series and kept Aikey from maintaining his lead as at least on two occasions he was just ready to hit lapped traffic when the yellow flew.
Johnny Emerson, by this point, had taken a couple of wild rides over the berm but still managed to stay in the fight while Brian Harris had been worn out by other drivers on a couple of occasions, the last time of which sent him flying off the fourth turn, out of contention and at which point he decided to call it a night in Lynn Richards' machine
Joel Callahan had been gradually working his way forward after starting ninth and suddenly he became a challenger for the lead. Aikey's strong start started to slip away as he seemed to have trouble finding traction coming off the corners and when he slipped up the track down the front chute, Callahan jumped on the chance by diving low and with some minor contact, taking over the lead.
Once in front, he pulled away over the last fourteen laps as he was clearly the fastest car on the track. He earned his first feature win of the year and first Deery win in almost three years. Aikey held on for second with Emerson an adventurous third. Eric Pollard put on the best run I have seen out of him in quite some time for fourth and Jeremiah Hurst came from twelfth to fifth.
The Stock Car feature was a crazy one Thursday but most particularly behind the leader. Dallon Murty was the early leader but when he couldn't maintain the pace necessary, father Damon blew past him to take over the top spot. Once in front, he really wasn't challenged for the lead, despite the five yellow flags that showed this race.
Where the action was, was behind the leader with Dan Trimble, Scott Rice, Norman Chesmore and Jay Schmidt among those battling back and forth for position. In the end it was Schmidt that found the best line and even closed up on Murty some at the finish.
What a crazy night for John Oliver Jr and he must have been wondering about his choice to pull all the way up to Vinton, giving what his night consisted off. First off, he got a flat tire on the first lap of his heat, which relegated him to the back row of the feature. He made a concerted charge in the main event, working his way up into the top five when, all of a sudden, he flew off the North end of the track and had to go back to the tail. Once again, with only eight laps left, he made another charge back up to crack the top five once again. However, things would not end well as on the last corner of the main, both he and Rice would go flying over the corner once again and would scramble to try and get back to the flag, with Rice settling for tenth and Oliver Jr well back from that spot after giving up top five finishes more than once.
By the evening's standards, the Hobby Stock feature was relatively tame, with their main going green to checkered without a single yellow. Kaden Reynolds worked his way up from the third row to take the lead and it looked like he might go all the way for the win. However, Brent Vanous got going and he was able to drive past Reynolds and then go on for the win, with Justin Wacha pounding the cushion to come home third.
The most thrilling finish of the night would be in the Sport Mods. Tony Olson started on the pole and led for most of the race, actually all the race except for the last couple hundred feet or so! He had built up a good sized lead, only to see Ben Chapman start to erode his advantage. Olson was working the high side of the track and it appeared that groove was getting rougher and rougher and harder to hold down. Chapman started to close in as Olson found his car jumping the cushion and struggling and by the time the white flag waved, the advantage was down to a couple car lengths or so.
Down the back chute, Olson opted to dive low in turn three and protect his lead from the low riding Chapman, or so he thought. Unfortunately for Olson, his car slid up into the middle groove as he was left treading in "no man's traction land". Chapman dove to his inside, made a clean pass and to the cheers of the rising crowd, drove home to a surprising win. It was a great and surprising to help wrap up the night. Tyler Soppe came from twelfth to finish third.
The Sport Compacts wrapped up the night with another nonstop main. Adam Gates started on the outside pole and appeared to have the race in control until Cody VanDusen came flying up from the fourth row and drove right by the leader and away from the field as he won going away. Gates had to settle for second with pole sitter Andrew Steepleton third.
There were a few more yellow flags than normally seen here but with the heavy track and hard racing, it was to be expected. While the finishing time was a bit later also than usual, the show also started at a later time and the whole racing program itself was completed in just a tick over three hours. And there was certainly a high entertainment value to the Thursday show for sure. Thanks to Mick Trier and his staff for a good night of racing and hopefully, the start to a great weekend and holiday of racing action.
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