Tuesday night, June 4th, the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour, on their third attempt, was finally able to get in the first race of their series at the Marshalltown Speedway. Like most of the other tracks and series in the Midwest, and really beyond , it has been difficult getting races in the books and the Dirt Knights have had their brass corroded just like everyone else this Spring.
But finally, on Tuesday night, fine weather for racing and in fact, a very Summer like feel to the evening. However, early on, the forecast was not a particularly favorable one, with storms being promised, but as the day wore on, the storms kept getting pushed back and then finally eliminated from the forecast during the racing hours. Some places got bombed with heavy rain, but for once, it wasn't right on top of the Marshalltown Speedway which has been having a devil of a time getting in any special events so far this year. For once, Toby didn't have to sweat it out getting the show in, however, with the hot and steamy conditions, he probably did just a little sweating just to keep in practice.
Thirty six IMCA Modifieds were on hand to battle it out for a very generous top prize of two grand and not only did the field have quantity but it had plenty of quality as well and just making the field would be a task on this night. For one of the rare times in Iowa racing, passing points were used to set the field for the Dirt Knights main event with the top twelve in points moving straight into the show and then redrawing for those starting spots with the rest of the field battling in out in a pair of B Features to make the show. Iowa and IMCA racing has been slow to adopt the passing points format for race qualifying and hopefully by the Dirt Knights doing this, perhaps it will start a trend. This mostly eliminates the complaining about drawing a bad number and while no system is perfect, it does seem eminently more fair than the draw/redraw format so favored in this part of the world.
As a bonus, the IMCA Late Models were also on hand for a full program too. The official flyer for the Dirt Knights did not include the Late Models and I was told they were added on as their shows so far this year have been severely diminished also by all the rain outs. Three of the other classes that normally race at Marshalltown were also on the card but their numbers were down quite a bit from normal with just a couple heat races needed in each. And quite frankly, there was plenty of other racing to do so that it wasn't necessary that there be huge numbers in the support classes.
"The Boss", Jeff Broeg, was on hand on Tuesday and I'm sure his report will be more detailed and complete than I could ever hope to compete with, so I think I will focus on a few other items rather than breaking down all the race events.
I have been interested in all the out of state drivers that have been invading the local racing of late so I made a point of talking to a few of them to find out their stories as far as racing in the Midwest.
Cody Laney and his father left California on Sunday morning and drove straight through with their small pick up truck and trailer, arriving in Iowa on Monday just in time to race at the IMCA TV race in Britt on Monday night where he charged through the field to get a fine second place finish. Cody will spend the Summer in Iowa racing, where they have friends that will put him up and provide shop space for him to work on his car while his father will fly back to California the end of the week.
They have also made arrangements to have Pete Van Iderstein bring his famous #32B Late Model to the Midwest in July and Cody will race a bunch of Lucas Oil Late Model races during that time also. Cody would go on to have his second strong run in a row, finishing just out of the top five.
Kollin Hibdon from Pahrump Nevada is only fifteen years old. However, he came to Iowa as soon as school was out for the Summer and will spent the Summer in Iowa also, racing as many races as possible. His father supplied a nice toter home for him to use and he is actually staying with Jeff Aikey for the Summer. His dad also hired a crew man for him to work on the car and drive the truck since Kollin, at fifteen, only has a "learners permit" and not a real driver's license! He will fly back to Nevada when school starts and then return for Super Nationals at Boone. Kollin would later make the show on Tuesday and get a mid pack finish as he continues to learn.
Ricky Thornton Jr continues to race at a frantic pace, running here, there and everywhere both with his Modified and the Stock Car. He will leave Wednesday morning for Eldora, where he has a ride in "The Dream." However, he has never seen the car before or even sat in it and that will be the first task when he arrives in Ohio, to get fitted for the car before they can even hit the track. He will return for the Stock Car special at Stuart next week, perhaps also with the Modified on Wednesday and who knows where after that? One can certainly see that the Midwest is the only place to be if you want to run a schedule like Thornton's, who is the second coming of Ken Schrader, both in attitude, demeanor and performance.
Tuesday marked the first time I was able to see Lucas Lamberies in person, even though he lives in the same state I do. However, he is on the other side of the state and I don't get to the eastern shores of Wisconsin too often. He was cleaning up in the Sport Mods and they were growing tired of it so they decided that the move up to Modifieds was the thing to do. Even though he is just a rookie in the class, he has already won three feature races this year, two at Shawano and one at Luxemburg. And believe me when I say that both tracks offer stiff competition and to fight through the invert and win at both tracks is quite an accomplishment. Both he and his dad are "working stiffs" so they have to save their vacations to travel which doesn't allow them to hit all the big shows but there are plenty of good money shows in the Cheese state, coming up with Toby's big show at 141 two weeks off.
I really like the work of announcer Jerry Van Sickel who is one of the best around. He is not afraid to "call a spade, a spade" as he did a couple of times Tuesday when cars were wrecking each other in hot laps and the back two cars in the Sport Mod feature decided to play not so nice with the leaders bearing down on them. He is both entertaining, informative and enthusiastic, and a lot of other announcers would be wise to follow his style. No more "happy trails" though at the end of the night.
The Modified feature saw Richie Gustin race his way past Tim Ward for the lead and then he checked out on the field. Jordan Grabouski came from eleventh to second but even with the last seventeen laps of the race going nonstop, he couldn't cut into the lead of Gustin who drove on to a impressive win at his home track which played well for the local crowd. Joel Rust, who has been on a roll of his own, came home third with Thornton Jr and Ward following. Thornton Jr may have ruined his chances when he made a rare "boo boo" in his heat, almost going off the end of the track, losing two positions and forcing himself to run a B Feature instead of being in the redraw.
The Late Model feature saw a strong performance by Jeremiah Hurst saw him lead from start to finish in the nonstop main. Jeff Aikey and he battled nearly side by side for a few laps until Hurst was able to edge away and the distance between the two stayed pretty constant after that. Justin Kay and Andy Eckrich moved into third and fourth but they weren't able to catch the top two while DD came from eleventh to round out the top five after he missed his heat.
The Stock Car feature also went nonstop and Damon Murty got to the front and rode the high banks to drive to a dominating win. Thornton Jr also had his Stock Car on this night and he got to second but had nothing for the leader. It was a surprisingly small Stock Car field Tuesday with only twelve of them to take the feature green flag.
The Sport Mod feature saw Brayton Carter continue the hot streak he has had lately, but he may have caught a break Tuesday. He had built up quite a lead but Jake McBurnie was closing on him at a rapid rate and it looked like there was going to be a change of leadership. But just when Jake was ready to make his move, the yellow flew for "Laurel and Hardy" at the back of the pack and McBurnie's momentum was broken.
Carter got away good on the restart while McBurnie had to battle to maintain second and he wasn't able in the four short laps left to mount a challenge. Rookie driver Dylan Vanwyk came home third but he may be starting to ruffle a few feathers among his opponents with an aggressive driving style that has seen him bend a few other drivers' tin as he made his way to the front.
The Hobby Stock feature was a two car battle all the way with Shannon Anderson setting the pace early and Dylan Nelson trying to catch him unsuccessfully. The two cars seemed remarkably equal and with Anderson getting to the front first, he proved too hard to catch.
This race saw a grinding crash where Luke Bird took a violent hit right in the driver' door, so violent that it caused him to flip all the way over. Afterward he was mad at the driver that slammed into him but point of fact was that Bird was the one that spun out, was sitting sideways in the corner and the car that slammed him was running in heavy traffic with little chance to avoid the broadsider. The best news was that all walked away to race again another day.
And now, to point out the real heroes of Tuesday night's show. And that would be the track prep crew and the officials that ran off the show. The track was in marvelous shape and I can't even imagine a track being in better shape to race on from start to finish all night. They started right at the advertised time and kept the show moving with no breaks at all. When the last heat race was over, the Hobby Stock feature was ready to go and rolled on to the track immediately. One after one, the races clicked off in rapid order and the final checkered of the night waved before 10 pm! I challenge any other track to match it with a five class program that included one extra distance race.
And the track track remained racy all night with drivers running many different lines and not a ripple to be seen in the racing surface. I know that it was a humid night which often produces a good racing surface but they still had to get the moisture into the track during a sunny and windy day. And the special bonus was that once the first green flag waved, they never touched the track after that. The constant watering and manicuring of the racing surface that goes on in my home areas just drives me wild, although I must concede that your Iowa black dirt makes a much better racing surface to work with than the sandy loam and gravel we have to deal with in the land that the glaciers stole all our good top soil from and deposited it in Iowa!
If I was ever to build a race track I would get the exact dimensions and degree of banking of Marshalltown and copy those. Of course I would build the grandstands larger and move them back a little farther from the track and give Jerry a nice covered booth to work from but the track itself is a gem. Thanks to Toby and everyone at Marshalltown for a great midweek show.
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