Sheppard Continues to Roll With Win at Plymouth Dirt Track

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is back again in the Midwest for another round of events after having taken about ten days off to recover from their last swing through North Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

This swing began with a Monday night show on July 29th at the Plymouth Dirt Track in eastern Wisconsin. Plymouth is about fifty miles or so North of Milwaukee and just a few miles West of Lake Michigan. It is farm county with some of the states nicest dairy farms located among the scenic rolling hills of glacial drift in the state and despite a late state to the agricultural season, things look nice and green and that corn that was planted is taller than I am as we move closer to the month of August.

The Plymouth Dirt Track runs a regularly scheduled Saturday night program and is one of the few around that runs both 360 Sprint Cars and Late Models weekly. They also run Grand Nationals and Sport Mods on a weekly basis.

Like most of the eastern Wisconsin County Fairgrounds, this one is very nice and kept as neat as a pin. A large covered grandstand sits on the West side of the track with many concession and out buildings scattered around the grounds also. The parking lot is an neatly trimmed as a golf course with many of the access roads paved. The race track itself is somewhere between a quarter and third mile in length with wide corners but not a large amount of banking. Most of the racing(sadly) is done right on the tires with the high side lane being particularly poor to race on this night. Frankly, it looked like the track just could have used a bit more water on it as it turned dry and slick quickly. There was some dust on Monday but a strong West wind kept that from bothering us in the stands which do sit quite a ways back from the track itself with the remnants of the old half mile front chute in between the grandstand and the track. This is used to stage the race cars and they roll on to the track just beyond the flagman so they come right in front of the crowd for every event, which is kind of different and also kind of neat.

This is Sprint Car county with the weekly Late Models being an after thought to the Sprint Cars and until the WoO series started visiting here in the past couple of years, all the special events here involved the Sprint Cars with the IRA and All Stars most prominently featured.

In fact, this race was promoted by IRA head Steve Sinclair along with Bob Cullen, who owns the Brian Shirley Late Model team and is headquartered just down the road from Plymouth.

For this race, the WoO partnered with the Dirt Kings Late Model group, a group that is gaining traction in eastern Wisconsin as a traveling series that visits tracks once a year or so, some that run Late Models and some that don't and instead just feature the class for a special or two. They have a loyal following of drivers that support them well, since with only two Late Model tracks in eastern Wisconsin(and both racing the same night by the way!), if Late Model racing is to survive on the eastern shore than they must support the races in this series, which provide them their biggest checks and best chance of survival.

Thirty three Late Models signed in to race with the WoO bringing their ten top in points, the rest coming from eastern Wisconsin plus a few stragglers from other areas that showed also. The biggest surprise was the addition of Donny Schatz who dropped in to race on Monday and was pitted right next to Sheppard and Mark Richards as they attempt to get his Late Model program running better.  Sheppard was quickest overall in tt, but redrew the second row of the feature so there would be a show for at least a bit.

Twenty four cars would start the Late Model feature with Blake Spencer taking his one hundred and tenth provisional of the year so far(I'm exaggerating slightly) along with Paul Parker to start the race. Things got off to a shaky start when Tyler Bruening lost a wheel while the cars warmed up as an ex-crew member(just guessing)  apparently forgot to tighten the lug nuts before they dropped the car off the jack. By the time Bruening got on the track, he was six laps down and a third starting position.was badly wasted.

The track had been a "one laner" all night and was expected to be so for the feature. The only time I ever saw the outside line used much here was the year that they first had the Late Models here and they watered the track like they would for a Sprint Car show. The berm was huge that night and brutal on the cars but the racing was also spectacular.

Sheppard started on the outside of row two and after they packed the cushion before the main started, it held together long enough for Brandon to decisively make a move to the outside and in two laps he passed the front row cars and took over the lead. When Ricky Weiss nearly caught back up to him as he continued on the outside, Sheppard quickly made the move back to the bottom to block any advances.

From that point, the only real racing was when the leaders got to lapped traffic. Those cars were running the same line and the decision was whether to follow them or make a bold move to try and go around them. Sheppard did some experimenting with both theories and when he did try to go around a couple of the lapped cars, he very nearly got caught up top as Chase Junghans nearly got past him and in fact, was scored the leader for a single lap.

Sheppard made his most impressive drive of the night at this point as he really got up on the wheel, found enough traction on the high side to pull even and then edge past Junghans once again. Then, the lapped traffic played in his favor as he got his nose past one of the slower cars who reacted to seeing him by moving down the track and effectively blocking the run of Junghans and Weiss to pass him.

From that point, it was just a matter of not messing up, hitting his marks and not giving up the bottom lane for any reason. A multitude of late race yellows for minor spins kept the field bunched and allowed Brandon to not have to deal with any more lapped traffic plus the attrition rate was high, with less than half the starting field still on the track at the end and that also helped. Junghans and Weiss finished behind Sheppard and were the only two that were even minor factors in the race.

It was a good decision and a nice Monday night thought to run the Late Model feature as the first main and about half the crowd took advantage of that to "bail" at this point and head for home.

The Grand Nationals and Sport Mods still had their mains to go and they did not impress those that stayed much on this night anyway. The Grand Nationals are a unique class to this area of Wisconsin and while there are quite a number of eastern Wisconsin tracks that run this division, I haven't seen them race anywhere else. They look sort of like asphalt Late Models with small spoilers and rather stock appearing bodies and run limited motors and nine inch tires I believe.

On this night they should have been equipped with strong front bumpers too as most of the racers used them a lot in what turned out to be a most unsatisfying main event with most of the front runners either eliminated by spinning or crashing each other out in a five yellow flag demo derby. One wonders if this is how they normally race or if this night was just an aberration. Other way, the "rules of order" were seldom followed and driver after driver took turns "boggering out" their rivals. Luke Scholten, who started thirteenth on the grid, raced his own race and gradually worked his way to the front as car after car disappeared to either the pits or to the back of the pack after another "bogger fest" and he found himself in the lead, which he held to the conclusion of the event.

The Sport Mods did slightly better with only three yellow flags in their main event and a big field of twenty two cars starting the finale. The Sport Mods are not sanctioned by anyone here with some of the cars baring IMCA stickers from other eastern Wisconsin tracks that are sanctioned and some running "outlaw". Cory Klemkes, who was making his first start of the year here and who races at another Saturday night track, started on the pole and he led the entire race, jumping away from the field on each green flag and never being really challenged. Track point leader Tim Warner finished second.

It was a wise decision to run the Late Models first as by the time the two support classes got done hammering on each other, it was closer to 11 pm than any would have liked on a Monday night. The spectators that wanted to go see the Late Model cars and drivers however, were much the losers too as most of the big rigs had already loaded up and were out the gate before they were even allowed to go to the pits but that whole discussion is for another time. The crowd was a good one in the large grandstand at Plymouth and I see no reason why the WoO would not return again as it fits nicely into their Wisconsin swing this week. It was also announced early in the program that the grandstand was a "smoke free" facility, one of the few in this state unfortunately.

Pollard Gets First Deery Win at Fayette County

After a couple nights of good Modified racing, it was time to check out the cars with fenders on them for one night. Wednesday night, July 24th, I visited the Fayette County Speedway in West Union Iowa for the IMCA Deery Brothers event. The Fayette County Fair was in full swing and for that reason the Race Committee of the Fair Board had brought in the Deery Brothers event as a special attraction. It is an interesting mix as the other three divisions racing on this night would be the Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks racing under the USRA banner. As many of you know, the IMCA and USRA get along like water and gas, at least at the highest corporate levels of each organization but from what I could see, there was a seamless mix of officials working together on this night to make the series race and the rest of the program go smoothly.

Of course, both groups stand to benefit from such an arrangement as the Fair Board gets a full house of spectators for this event and trust me when I say that the new aluminum grandstand was packed to the rafters for this race. The Deery Brothers also benefits as they get another race on their schedule at a location close to where many of the Late Model racers call home and dates are important for the Deery Brothers series, as their schedule has started to shrink in recent years and they can use all the racers they can muster up.

The most obvious change since I was last at Fayette County is the new covered aluminum grandstand that replaced the old wooden one that was not only a safety hazard but a difficult structure to even navigate in with it's extremely narrow aisles and splinter infested boards. It made a huge difference in the seating comfort for the fans and know I don't have to wish for a windstorm to hit West Union and take down that old wooden beast. Now if someone would just readjust those infield lights that shine right into the eyes of the fans once it gets dark, that would be great also.

The grandstand cost approximately $300,000 according to one of the Race Committee members that I talked to on Wednesday and he said that they have it about two thirds paid for at this point thanks to some generous benefactors and some fund raisers that are still ongoing. They would like to be able to pay off the structure once this year's Fair is over if possible.

A remarkable thing about the Fayette County Fair is that everything about the Fair itself is free. There is no charge for parking at the Fair and here's the big thing, all the rides are absolutely free at all times to everyone! I have never heard of such a thing at a Fair but the Fair Board has made this arrangement so that all citizens of the County and those that wish to visit from other areas don't have to worry whether or not they can afford to entertain their children and whether doing the Fair just wouldn't fit their budget. It seems to me that there are some awfully nice and progressive thinking people involved with this Fair. Perhaps the fact that everything else is free in part helps pack the grandstand for the races along with the fact that it is a rare opportunity for race fans in northeastern Iowa to see the Late Models race locally. The drivers, by the way, love to see the grandstands packed too and not just for economic reasons.

With that being said, twenty seven Late Models signed in to race on Wednesday including eight of the top ten in Deery Brothers current point standings. A surprise was that co point leader Justin Kay was absent. However, I learned the reason why he was absent was due to the fact that his wife was very soon to deliver an addition to the Kay family and Justin needed to be close to his home for that event. So instead, he chose to run a race in Davenport that was in the backyard of where he lives, rather than all the way up to northeast Iowa, even though the Deery Brothers does not have a "throw out" race and his missing effectively killed his chances to be the Deery champion again.

Johnny Emerson was in a different ride on this night as he was driving the #19g of Richie Gustin. Seems that Emerson blew his motor up recently and with his back up motor being freshened, he had no available power plants for his car. So Gustin, busy beating up on the Modified drivers this week and with no need for his Late Model, loaned his car out to Emerson for the night. It was a productive procedure as Emerson would finish third while Gustin has been "schooling" the Modifieds elsewhere this week.

I have been to a number of shows at West Union over the years and have seen some great races from the Late Models on a track that has been wide and racy with multiple grooves. Unfortunately, Wednesday night would not be one of those nights. I hate to sound like a "negative Nancy" but the track was severely "rubbered up" and the Late Models had to dive into formation, hug the bottom lane and follow each other for forty laps. That doesn't make the win by Eric Pollard, his first ever in Deery Brothers action, any less significant but it is simply stating a fact to report that side by side racing was not in the cards on this night.

Pollard got the jump on Joel Callahan from the front row and led the entire race. That doesn't mean that he didn't have to work hard and hit his marks but the action was mostly of drivers working in line on the low side of the track. A couple of drivers, Tyler Bruening and Callahan, tried the top side briefly Along with Emerson but they quickly realized that they needed to be on the bottom of the track or they were going to get shuffled backward.

Near the end of the race, Pollard had his biggest challenges as he reached a group of three backmarkers, all running the same line as the rest of the field and tough to get by. The decision was whether or not to try and drive around them or stay in line behind them and hope that they were fast enough that no one was going to drive by him on the outside. Callahan went for broke and tried to drive around the whole group and it nearly worked until he got crossed up and collided with both Bruening and Emerson but fortunately all were able to keep right on racing with Callahan giving up three spots with his attempted pass.

Andy Eckrich was the beneficiary of this adjustment as he edged into second and followed Pollard home for second with Emerson, Bruening and Callahan trailing. It was a tough night for the point leaders as along with Kay's absence, Jeremiah Hurst had a bad night, settling for thirteenth as he jsut couldn't move forward and Callahan likely took over the point lead after the evening was complete. Pollard was thrilled and perhaps just a bit stunned with his win, coming during a season when I have seen him run better than I can ever recall before. It was also nice to see Gary Webb running very competitively against a solid field of race cars as he sorts out his new car.

After a smooth running heat race portion of the show with all heat races completed in less than an hour, the support class cars had a tough time of it in their main events with so many yellows that even the fans who were on hand to watch many of them as their familiar weekly favorites, grew restless with all the spins etc.

The Hobby Stocks had the toughest time with six yellows in their race that seemed to last almost forever. However, it was also the race that produced the closest finish and the most fan reaction. Mike Darnall, the local driver, had done a nice job of working his way into the lead but was being pressured by Troy Hovey for the top spot. After all the yellows and just near the end of the race following another yellow flag, Hovey drew up beside Darnell and edged past him in what I thought was a perfectly clean passing maneuver.

However, many in the crowd didn't see it the same way and there was a howl of protest when Hovey drove by for the win and then in victory lane where the cheers and jeers were about equally mixed. Perhaps this is all part of a West Union vs. Decorah rivalry either on or off the track. In any event, the crowd was frothing at the mouth after that race and many were needing a "cold one" to quash their unfulfilled hopes.

The face of the Hobby Stock racing on this night was changed dramatically when top runner Chris Hovden dropped a drive shaft in the first corner of his heat race and did not return for further action.

While the Late Models were stuck to the bottom for their main event, the other classes found that the high side was the quick way for them to get around the track and they chased each other while dancing on the edge of the cushion. The Stock Cars ran this route with Mitch Hovden getting to the front early after a pass on Brian Mahlstedt and then he held off Mahlstedt and Kyle Falck for the win. A near disaster saw Mahlstedt suddenly slow when he broke and Falck nearly rear ended him before spinning off the track but he was restored to his spot and he spent the rest of the race trying to get past Hovden to no avail. Dillon Anderson was a close third.

The B Mods wrapped up the night with their main event and they had their share of difficulties also with several yellow flags, most attributed to the same car that for some reason track officials let continue to race, even though he was a "time bomb" just waiting to spin for the third or fourth time before he finally headed for the pits, fortunately without spinning once again.

Minnesota invader Ben Moudry, who I believe is  a native of these parts, led from start to finish in the B Mods, holding off all challenges from Dan Hovden for the win. Racing was completed at about 10:45 pm on what was another spectacular night for racing and Fair attending.

This is a rather rural area of the state but I noticed immediately that there was a real sense of "ownership" of this Fair by both the officials and all the people attending this race and all the other events that surround the Fair. It is a truly "big deal" to these folks for Fair time and I don't see that at a lot of other county fairs these days and it is rather refreshing.

Gustin Spoils the Upset at Dirt Knights Britt Visit

Tuesday night, July 23rd, the Hancock County District Fair in Britt was just moving into full swing, and the entertainment on this night was in front of the grandstand, as dirt track racing on the four tenth mile black dirt, paperclip shaped oval was the featured attraction, with the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Modified Tour on center stage. Along with the Modifieds, three other divisions that race at Hancock County on a weekly basis, the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks, would all be racing a full program.

The Dirt Knights Modifieds are in the midst of a very busy week, having raced already at Park Jefferson on Monday night with stops at both Alta and Algona yet remaining this week. The good thing is that all these tracks are quite close together so no UMP SummerNationals type of overnight banzai runs are necessary. For the other three classes, they are racing for State, Regional and National points as their Hancock County point season is already over as of last Friday night.  Oh, and by the way, they are also racing for money too as the points themselves won't pay for a new tire for the race car!

In my pre race visit to the pits, I got the opportunity to talk to announcer Chad Meyer briefly. He is coming off the opportunity of a life time, having been asked to announce the Dakota Classic Modified Tour recently. So I had to get his thoughts on that and find out whether or not he enjoyed the experience. We also shared some stories on our experiences from doing that tour and particularly, the interesting but different way that things are up in Estevan SK. as opposed to what we are used to.

I also got to meet track Head Flagman Logan Kelly for the first time. I have admired his work several times in the past but had never gotten the chance to either meet him or even know what his name was. I like the way he doesn't let any jump starts take place and insists on good, fair starts in all classes for all races. He also puts a little "show" into his flagging which is sorely needed these days by a whole group of starters that don't understand that they are part of the entertainment and as such, need to show a little "flair" as they do their important tasks.

Thirty one Modifieds signed in to race on Tuesday night. They would be divided up into four heat races with the heat race winners guaranteed starting spots in the main event along with the other top eight cars in passing points. Five would come out of each B Feature with two provisionals based on series points to produce a starting field of twenty four cars.

The other three classes had more like normal Friday night fields, with fifteen Hobbies, sixteen Sport Mods and thirteen Stock Cars with the assumption that some of the Stock Cars stayed home on Tuesday to save their cars for the big money race upcoming this Friday here.

Racing started right on the dot at 7:30 pm with the heat races clicked off in very fast fashion under the direction of John Pletcher, the former star Stock Car driver at this track. The most significant development in the heats was the bad break suffered by Slippy Eye Minnesota driver Matt Speckman who was blistering fast in his heat race and was moving up to challenge race leader Kelly Shryock when he suddenly lost power and pulled into the infield. Thus his good starting position for the feature was lost and the rest of the night found him digging his way back up to the front.

The Modified feature came very close to producing a huge upset winner, particularly for such a significant series and one being played live on TV. Young  Kollin Hibdon, not yet old enough to hold a legal driver's license, started on the pole and was the early leader. The Modifieds raced as the last race of the night and by this time, the top side was pretty much gone and everyone was hugging the tires on the inside lane. Hibdon continued to lead and indeed was slowly pulling away from the field as he continued to hit his marks on every corner and give no one the chance to close in on him.

Eventually, point leader Richie Gustin worked his way past Travis Hatcher and into second and slowly caught up to Hibdon. However, the Nevada driver refused to make a mistake and after "dogging him" for several laps, Gustin realized that if he was to win the race, he was going to have to find a way around the top side of Hibdon as Kollin didn't give the appearances that he was going to make a mistake.

So Gustin tried to roll around the top side of Hibdon and tried to do so for a number of laps but he just couldn't get it done. He came close a couple of times, but each time Hibdon would come off the corners strong and Gustin would lose several lengths. Eventually Gustin gave up and dropped back to the low side, but by this time he had lost some  ground and appeared to have worn out his tires trying to work them so hard up top on the track.

Everything was poised to produce the upset for the youngster. I was ready for a headline for the driver from "over the hump to Pahrump" which is the saying they have for his home city, which is "over the hump" from Las Vegas while in actuality, the "hump" is much larger than any hill anywhere in the whole state of Iowa.

However, there was one more hurdle that Hibdon would have to overcome and that was in the form of three slower cars that he caught before the race was over. All three were running the same groove as he was, and something would have to give. Perhaps due to his inexperience, or whatever, he did not press the issue when he caught the lapped cars and shut down prematurely early going into the corners and chose to follow the back end cars in the low groove.

It only took Gustin a couple laps to catch back up and the veteran sized things up quickly, pinning Hibdon behind a slower car and drove around him to take the lead. Once in front, "G-Money" drove away to record his second win in two nights of racing action on the Knight's tour. HIbdon learned a valuable lesson the painful way as he settled for second while Jeremy Mills came home third. The only driver that was successful at working the top side of the track was Kyle Brown who came from tenth to fourth and only ran out of laps as he continued to move forward.

The Sport Mod feature produced a sensational five car battle for the lead spot. After pole starting Nicholas Carpenter, all the way from Kansas, spun on the first attempt to start the race, Johnathon Logue took the lead but was pressured by Alec Fett and George Nordman. Soon Colby Fett joined the show and then Nate Whitehurst became the first to find the outside groove that Brown would use later. Whitehurst was using a "diamond" move off the corners that was giving him great momentum down the chutes and he drove past car after car on the outside, soon catching Logue for the lead.

However, Logue wasn't born yesterday and he sensed that Whitehurst was coming at him hard and he started to let his tail end move up toward the wall on the chutes, effectively blocking Whitehurst's moves. This continued for several laps as Whitehurst tried to make his car narrower and slip past. Coming down the front chute the two leaders hooked together and as they fought to control their cars, Colby Fett made a great move to dive under Logue and take over the lead in a spectacular surprise. Fett then pulled away in the remaining laps to take the win, leaving the chagrined Logue and Whitehurst to follow him home.

The other driver to successfully move up the track was Derek Green in the Stock Car feature. Chad Palmer was the early leader in a car he hasn't raced in about a half dozen years but was forced to break out to race after totaling his car in a wild flip at Algona recently. While the car may have been dated, it was still doing the job as he was leading the pack until Green started to "diamond" the corners and found that it worked. He came up from the fifth row in an impressive drive and motored past Palmer to take over the lead.

Eventually the top side seemed to wear out for him, he felt himself getting slower and he moved to the inside line where his car was not near as fast. Palmer was slowly catching up to him, despite the fact that he was showing smoke off a tire where there appeared to be a rub going on.

Eventually the tire went flat while still running second, which was a tough break for him, but any sympathy was quickly outweighed when instead of turning into the infield, he "parked" in the middle of the back chute, triggering a yellow with a move that was so blatant that a disqualification flag was in order, I felt. However, none was forthcoming and he returned to race.

Green then held off the challenges of Kyle Brown to take the win, or so it seemed. But wait a minute! The official results as posted on MyRacePass showed that Green got disqualified for some sort of malfeasance, the specifics of which I am at this point uncertain, and Brown was awarded the win over Andrew Borchardt and Speckman who came from the back of the pack. Thank God for MyRacePass to remove the "egg" from my face if I declared Green the winner

The Hobby Stock feature was a brotherly show as Cody Nielsen topped his brother Brandon for the win. Cody found an opening early in the race that allowed him to slip into the lead and after that the two Nielsen cars seemed very equal with the distance between them not varying much as they pulled away from the pack. Tony Smidt finished third. Drew Barglof finished in the top five in what was reported by Meyer as his third car of the season already, as he has already wrecked a pair of cars. This one wore a "coat of many colors" and a taped on number but it did get the job done.

This well produced show, even with one extra distance feature as a part of it, was done in under two and a half hours and the drivers cooperated with few yellow flags on a smooth and slick racing surface.

The rest of the racing season at Hancock County is comprised of special events. This coming Friday night the Stock Cars are in the spot light with their main event paying over four thousand dollars. And then, from August 8-10, it is Hobo Days in Britt with Nights of a Thousand Stars, Ten Thousand Stars and All Stars going back, to back, to back in what is a traditional racing spectacular and one that all race fans will want to be a part of.

Thanks to everyone at Hancock County for a well run and interesting racing program. 

Mitchell Bunch A Last Lap Winner on TV at Stuart

The IMCA TV Monday night spotlight shown brightly down on the Stuart International Speedway on July 22nd as IMCA TV returned to where it all started last year with live TV from the track on a beautiful Monday night for racing in the Hawkeye State.

I had never been a part of Iowa's famous RAGBRAI event before and due to my ignorance, drove directly into it today as I was unaware of its presence in Stuart on Monday. Seems the course ran directly through Stuart this afternoon and the whole town was in an uproar with, as you might expect, traffic that New York City would have been proud of. Gridlock was an understatement and just trying to navigate a route to get to the race track was quite an undertaking as most major roads through town were blocked except to two wheeled traffic. Since I didn't want to take two wheels off the Camry in order to be allowed to drive through town, and I left my bike back in Wisconsin, it took some imagination and some failed efforts but eventually I found the tall light pole towers of SIS and did make it to the track. However the big haulers and other trailers found their way there I do not know but they did as eighty nine drivers signed in to race in the five classes offered on Monday night.

The field of cars was solid with only the Modified class being a bit short on drivers but much of that had to do with the Dirt Knights also having a tour this week and then racing in western Iowa on this same night. The crowd response was not the overwhelming packed house like it was for last year's Monday night spotlight here, but much has changed in one year at this track. Last year racing on a Monday night was quite a novelty and this track didn't host any special events of any kind. This year, with Mike VanGenderen at the helm, they have had many special events on most every night of the week plus they routinely race on Wednesday nights so the weeknight race was not nearly as unusual as last year's event. The hassle of RAGBRAI probably didn't help things either with many fans arriving late for various reasons and no doubt traffic issues was part of that.

Paul Vetter, the West Coast Director of IMCA was on hand Monday night as he is in the midst of his yearly racing vacation back to the Midwest and Iowa primarily. This year hasn't been perfect for him as he hit a couple of rain outs this year so far but the rest of his time here should be good as excellent weather is expected for the next few days. It is always good to visit with Paul at the races.

One of the first and most pleasant announcements from announcer Cody Mallicoat is when he reminds folks that it is illegal to smoke in the grandstands at all Iowa events. We had a most unpleasant encounter with that issue while out in Nebraska and am glad that it isn't an issue in this great state. Sadly, at home even they haven't seen the light and we have to put up with that problem from time to time with races in the Badger state.

Sport Compacts ran three heats, Sport Mods ran four and all other divisions ran a pair of qualifying heat races in preparation for the main events. With things moving along smoothly, the thirteen qualifying races took only forty four minutes to complete which might be a record of some sort. The Pole Position Dash was then held before the mains started. Unfortunately, Hobby Stock contender Corey Madden tore the whole guts out of his race car during this short event and he would, unfortunately, be unable to run the feature race as a result of this major problem.

The Sport Compacts were up first for their main event and their feature race would be the closest of the night. Eighteen cars took the green flag for the wild affair with cars all over the track and running three and four wide. Tyler Fiebelkorn had a brief lead before being passed by Logan Richards but the scrum for the top spot continued. Contact was made, cars were sliding in every direction and somehow Jacob Houston found a hole in the mess and drove into the lead. He continued to hold the top spot as Mitchell Bunch came charging up from ninth. Houston looked like he was going to be able to hold off Bunch for the win but when the cars came around to get the checkered, they instead saw a yellow as a car had stalled in the middle of turn one.

This then required a two lap dash to the finish and when Houston gave Bunch room off the final corner, Bunch slipped past him on the outside to take an exciting win. It was tough luck indeed for Houston, who pulled all the way from Burlington and deserved the win, but Bunch also did a good job on passing while not running over the leader.

The Sport Mod feature was a tedious affair with five yellows during the race. They elected to start all twenty five Sport Mods in attendance in the main event and let me tell you, twenty five cars of varying speed and talent, all bunched together on this tight little track makes for a rush hour that Chicago would be proud to claim.

It took about three attempts to finally let some racing in and the first few laps were run in fits and spurts between slow downs but once they settled in, they did a pretty good job of racing. Brayton Carter, who apparently has found a home here with his success at this track this year, came quickly up from the eighth starting position to take the lead as his car was working great right on the inside of the track. While drivers were racing both high and low on the track, Carter was unstoppable right on the ditch.

A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish but it didn't bother Carter who pulled away once again for the win. Josh Sink edged past Carter VandenBerg to get the second spot at the finish.

The Hobby Stock feature saw Erik Knutson and Greg Gilbert has brief turns as the leader before John Watson moved up from the third row to take the top spot. Watson was running strong in the top spot as he showed much strength in driving to the front. Chuck Madden, as is the Madden tradition here, was pounding the cushion and fighting for second with Brandon Cox.

A late yellow set up a four lap finish and Watson, who looked so strong earlier, was suddenly in trouble as his car wasn't turning in the corners like it had previously. Cox was beating on his rear bumper in the turns and Madden was trying to drive around him, but despite his rather weak finish, Watson did manage to hold on for the win over the other two contenders.

Gilbert, who was an early leader, was later involved in a violent crash with Tonia Stevens that saw both cars heavily damaged but fortunately, there were no injuries in one of the hardest hits seen on the track lately.

Speaking of hits, it seemed like nearly everyone hit at least a few other cars during the Stock Car feature which was a rough one on Monday, with lots of car damage and nearly half the field in the pits by the time the checkered flag flew. Big hits all put Jeremy Gettler, Kenzie Ritter, Kurt Hansen and Buck Schafroth among others on the trailer with damage to repair this week.

Bryan Snell was an early leader before Robert Stofer passed him and looked like he might win the show. However, the Stock Cars had all moved to the low groove and when Stofer's car wouldn't come through the corners as he hoped, he was passed on the inside by Mike Goldsberry. Goldsberry would then hold off all challenges to take the win over Stofer with Josh Danels three wheeling his way into third.

Brandon Pruitt, who had all kinds of trouble early and was mired in the back, looked to throw caution to the wind at the end and he decided to try the high side, racing with abandon on the high banks. He managed to get all the way up to fourth in the few remaining laps and may have shown the Modifieds something as they were next to race.

And indeed, that is exactly where the most successful Modifieds ran and that was right up against the wall all the way around the track. Happy Gilman quickly got around Zack Rawlins on the high side and John Oliver Jr followed him to the banking and the chase was on as Oliver Jr followed Gilman for twenty laps.

They both pounded the cushion with Oliver Jr hoping for a mistake that did not come. Near the end of the race, the two leaders got into heavy traffic and that is where Gilman won the race as he did make some nice moves and got through the slower cars much quicker than Oliver Jr and that was the race in a nutshell. Joel Bushore finished third with his unusual sounding car that can be found anywhere on the track due to its different tone. Scott Bash managed to finish the feature after suffering the ultimate embarrassment when his tow rig died in the line on the way to the pits and he had to be pulled by a track vehicle into his pit stall.

Despite several of the feature races not having gone off nearly as smoothly as the heats did and several cars and collisions needing to be sorted out during the finales, the final checkered flag of the night waved shortly after 10 pm as the ability to run off a quick program has been a MVG staple here this year.

This may have been my last visit to Stuart for the year(one never knows), but if it was, thanks go out to Mike and all his crew at the track who have made my visits pleasant and provided some excellent short track racing this year as the close but generally contact free racing at Stuart is hard to replicate at most other tracks. Hopefully this first year at Stuart for VanGenderen has been a successful one.

Pierce and Sanders Take the Big Money at I-80

Saturday night, July 20th, the Silver Dollar Nationals wrapped up at the I-80 Speedway near Greenwood Nebraska. The record heat finally broke to some degree, with the temperatures still being blazing hot but the breeze was more pronounced and a drier wind than had been blowing earlier in the week. Unfortunately, the strong winds were for the first time this week blowing directly into the main grandstand and despite James Essex's claims that their is no dust at I-80, he obviously was hanging out inside the press box and not out in the grandstands where we were getting "sandblasted". But it was no one's fault as they had the track saturated again and just one of those things that sometimes as a race fan you have to deal with.

Several preliminary events in each class set up the field for the two huge feature races. The Late Model Showdown provided the first difficult decisions for three drivers who qualified for the main in they would opt out of their Showdown pay to get into the main event. Both Terry Phillips and Jake Timm said yes and were allowed to tail the field, while Billy Moyer Sr accepted the cash and loaded his car up, which kind of indicates where his racing program is at these days.

The two feature races were as different as day and night but both provided plenty of thrills and lasting memories. The Late Model eighty lapper was absolutely spectacular with more happenings going on than I could ever possible keep track of and relate. Suffice it to say that there were only a couple of cars at the end that didn't look like they had been in a war.

Bobby Pierce, I would think, must have been physically "whipped" after that race as he drove a line that was very demanding and resulted in hitting the outside wall more times that could be calculated easily. However, even with all the pounding his car never gave up the ghost and he was able to outfight several other drivers just as willing to get aggressive like he was. Suffice to say that there were some hard feelings after the race was completed and I think some of the actions taking by drivers and some of the comments made will reappear at some point down the line, perhaps in the form of some pay back action. However, it can not be overlooked that Pierce simply would not let his car fail him and that he carried it to victory with a performance that will be remembered for quite some time.

In the USMTS Modifieds, the driving style of winner Rodney Sanders was just the opposite of that displayed by Pierce but just as effective. Sanders rode the low and middle lines of the track unless he had to move up the track to lap cars, but he was in complete control of the Modified forty lap main and was never really challenged at any point. He was by far the class of the field. I felt sorry for Terry Phillips who ran second the whole way until tearing a wheel off with only three laps to go. The late race restart could have been troublesome to Sanders but he simply drove away from the field the last three laps. The Modified feature had only three yellow flags while the Late Model feature had three times as many plus one although their race was twice as long and they started sight more cars.

In an unusual quirk, there were six cars with the #1 that made the Late Model feature which would have been a nightmare back in the old hand scoring days.

Before the feature started, Joe Kosiski announced the plans of the track relative to next year's race and a considerable increase in the purse will be offered next year with bonuses at each ten lap mark and all drivers that race will receive at least an extra grand over this year. He stated that there would be no increase in ticket prices however, the top six rows of the general admission seating would be converted over to pre race ticket sales which means that that management will be pocketing some more money before the race actually is held. No announcement was made in terms of what the support divisions will be and on what days they will race. The crowds, by the way, were huge all three nights and supported the event despite the brutal conditions.

Wrapping things up, I'm positive about two things from this weekend's racing. I am positive that the Late Model feature will be one of the top five mains that I will get to see all year and I'm also positive that the last three nights that I spent at the track were the three hottest racing nights that I have ever attended.

Zeigler Earns Pole For Silver Dollar

Friday night, July 19th was night number two of the ninth annual Silver Dollar Nationals at the Kosiski family's I-80 Speedway near Greenwood Nebraska. It was another "cooker" of a day with temperatures even higher than on Thursday with the reported heat index at 117 degrees but a strong wind was at least blowing the hot air around some. It the shade, it was miserable. In the direct sunshine, it was "out of this world hot" and even the locals, who have days like this most Summers are also complaining. But, racing will go on so we all deal with the heat in our own way. Toughest of all are the race mechanics, working on the race cars and laying in the dirt to fix them, seemingly unmindful of the oppressive heat as they go about their jobs. They have a dedication and single mindedness of purpose that is quite remarkable and while the drivers collect the glory, the mechanics remain pretty much the forgotten people behind the scenes but the ones that keep the cars running while the drivers collect the glory.

The Lucas Oil Late Models will participate in two rounds of heat races on Friday night, randomly drawn against different drivers in each round with collected points in the two heats determining the starting lineups for Saturday night's main event. The Lucas drivers fought against this format tooth and nail but the Kosiski's remained firm in their ideas on how to run this race, and now the moaning has pretty much subsided as the drivers recognize that this is the way it is going to be. Meanwhile, the show that is put on is "over the top" exciting and probably unmatched by any racing going on. They can time trial and run heats straight up from now until the end of time and not match the excitement level from one set of heat races under this format.

Forty nine Late Models signed in to race on Friday night. Three drivers, all from the local area, did not return after Thursday night action while seven of the Malvern Bank drivers switched over and joined the field. Later, quite impressively, two of these drivers, Billy Leighton Jr and Corey Zeitner, would both be among the top eighteen that would lock into Saturday night's show as the local Late Models showed that they are not to be sneezed at.

Once again, Steve Kosiski and his crew have done a marvelous job of preparing the race track for Friday night's action. Despite the oppressive heat, constant sun and near gale force winds, they have managed to produce a race track which is fast, smooth and with a wide groove as drivers have been using the whole track, right from the rub rail to bouncing off the outside wall on many occasions with virtually no dust to be had either.  Their secret seems to be to just soak the heck out of the track, then let it sit and trickle down to the subsoil, and then just continue to keep soaking the heck out of it. Truth be told, most race tracks don't put the amount of water on their tracks that they should, or don't start doing it as soon as they should; all because of the fear that the track might have a little "character" to it and Lord knows, we wouldn't want a race track with a bump in it these days, with the race cars of 2019 just as feeble as their asphalt counter parts. Rankly, off the top of my head, I can't think of another track in the Midwest that could produce such a fine track for racing given the conditions that they are working with.

The ten heat races for the Lucal Oil Late Models ranged from good, to very good, to spectacular, depending on the heats. There were no real "lemons" in any of them, as even if the leader was alone, there always seemed to be at least one great battle for position going on somewhere in the pack and with each position so important(the beauty of this format), everyone was fighting for each and every position. Slide jobs were to be found everywhere in each and every race and some of them were truly spectacular with the crowd "oohing and aahing" like they were watching fourth of July fireworks as one big slider after another was thrown. While it is hard to single out anyone as being most spectacular, props must go to Bobby Pierce, Devin Moran and Tyler Erb for their boldness, or perhaps their youthful enthusiasm that allows them to attempt some moves that seem to defy gravity itself. In any event, it made for some very entertaining racing. It's hard to believe that with the huge crowd on hand, despite the weather, and with the entertainment value of this show, that more tracks don't wise up, junk time trials and go to some type of format similar to this where drivers truly race their way into the show.

Mason Zeigler put together two solid runs to earn the pole and Tim McCreadie will start outside of him on Saturday night. It was interesting that some drivers that didn't show well at all on Thursday night came back strong on Friday night to make the big show such as Jimmy Owens,  Chris Madden and Earl Pearson Jr while Jonathan Davenport had one bad heat on Friday that set him all the way back to row six for Saturday.

Along with the Late Models, the support division for Friday night was the USMTS Modifieds who were qualifying for their eight grand to win feature race on Saturday night. Perhaps the only disappointing part of the show on Friday was the relatively low car count for the USMTS cars. While they had eight of their top ten in current point standings and fourteen of their top twenty on hand to race, there was little else to go with them. They are out of their "region of comfort" as far as having locals to race with them, even though this is an excellent paying weekend and for a series that has struggled with their car counts on more than one occasion already this year, only twenty six in total were on hand. This translated into three heats which they then repeated, using the same format as the Late Models.

They also did run a qualifying feature race on Friday, produced with a "gimmicky" format that didn't seem too productive. They ran off fifteen laps, paid the winner a grand, and then inverted the top six as they were running at that point. They then ran another fifteen laps and threw the checkered with the winner getting a grand for that part of the total feature race. It seemed contrived to me and didn't help the race to any large degree. Terry Phillips, who won the first part and the first grand, admitted afterward that he didn't push too hard for the second half of the race once he got into the top eight as the top eight at the end of the race will redraw for Saturday's big feature anyway, so what was the point of killing himself to gain a spot or two? I just have to believe that the USMTS can do better than this.

With the extreme weather conditions, the security guards at the ticket gate qualified for the "Grinch of the Weekend" award. While they changed their policy for Friday night so that spectators could bring in empty containers(insulated cups etc) as long as they were empty or filled with just ice, if they had water in them, the water had to be consumed before the spectators could walk into the  grandstand! Not every smart thinking on their part or very welcoming.

Davenport, Bruening and O'Neil Top Opening Night of Silver Dollar

The Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway near Greenwood Nebraska started on Thursday night, July 18th. For the opening night of three, the Lucas Oil Late Model Series ran a full, $12,000 to win program. Along with them, the Malvern Bank Late Models had their highest paying program of the year with the winner receiving $5,300 as the top prize. Along with them, the Modifieds(IMCA/NASCAR) type, ran an "invitational" type program with thirty two of them on hand to run a twenty five lap main event. It was quite an opening night for such a high powered event to begin on.

Forty five Lucas Oil Late Models signed in to race, along with thirty eight Malvern Bank Late Models plus the invited Modifieds.

Of course, perhaps the biggest story on opening night was the heat, which as everyone in the Midwest knows, has and will be oppressive right through the end of the weekend. It was brutal at the track with the wind providing a little relief but really not much in the way of true comfort. I which Minnesota Late Model driver Darrell Nelson was on hand, as he told me in the steamy pits at Gondik Law Speedway on Tuesday night that it could never be too warm for him. Of course, he lives in Duluth where it could possibly still snow on the fourth of July too!

It even got so bad that I had to take a sudden break, as my legs got just too weak to hold me up. I crash landed in the Modified pits and Josh Most was kind enough to offer me a bottle of cold water and the use of their air conditioned rig if I wanted but I was afraid if I went into the cool, when I came back out I'd probably for sure have the "big one" so I opted to sit in the dirt and regain my "pins" under me. Thanks go out to Josh though, as that cold water was about the tastiest drink I ever had!

Along with being blazing hot, it was also very humid and while that was a double whammy for everyone on hand, it helped to make the race track both lightning fast and dust free, something that you would just not expect under such extreme conditions. It was a "motor eater" on this night with at least a half dozen expense power plants going up in smoke. I had asked Pat Doar earlier this week if he was going to I-80 and he said know because that track would just eat up motors and he didn't want to blow his good one up. Well, he was totally correct with that assessment. I felt sorry almost for the Modifieds as those poor little crates were racing their lungs out and rattling half way down the chutes with tongues dragging by the end of their main event as the drivers were pretty much driving them wide open into the corners.

I-80 is a big track that races more like a small bull ring with much more back and forth and side by side racing than you would normally see at a larger track like this. The Kosiski ran facility is first class in all regards and they put on a good show with all divisions seemingly treated as the top class. They didn't touch the track after the racing got going, except to scrape the walls a couple times and I'm glad they chose to not "farm" the track all night as it was fine and was almost too fast the way it was. In fact, many of the drivers are hoping that the track actually slows down a bit the rest of the weekend, but that seems dubious, given the propensity of dumping on the water and their almost "itch" to farm the surface.

Plenty of first class qualifying events led up to the three feature races. Tyler Bruening had the crowd "buzzed up" in the early going when he drove past Davenport to win the first heat race and guarantee the pole position for himself. One thing I did notice about I-80. With its size and high speeds, passing must be done in the first lap or two in the heat or not at all as the cars tend to line up after that and with all the turbulence they cause, make passing tough. Only when the mains start, more laps are run and cars and tires start to change is it then easier to make race passes.

All three feature races were top notch, with plenty of good racing and one not settled until the final corner of the race. The Lucas Oil cars did much dicing for position with several different leaders in the first half of the race, truly a rarity for big time Late Model racing these days. Eventually it boiled down to the two point leaders of the "big two"series and when Brandon Sheppard got stuck behind a slowing Shannon Buckingham, Davenport dropped inside him and drove into the lead, a position he would not give up again. This race saw lots of fighting for positions and some wild "slide jobs" at high speed that thrilled the crowd and probably got the driver's attention too. Tyler Erb and Devin Moran were unofficially crowned as the biggest "slide job throwers" of the night, but there were others tossing their cars and hopes to the wind in what was a pretty spectacular event.

The Malvern Bank Late Model race was a two car battle between Kyle Berck and Bruening, who was having a fine night in both the fender classes. He was one of six drivers that were racing in both Late Model classes with the stars of the Malvern series expected to convert their cars over and race with the Lucas group on Friday night.

Anyway, Berck drew the outside pole and that seems to be it in terms of a racing event, as Kyle is seldom caught from behind, particularly at this track. However, Bruening apparently didn't get the memo, as he pulled in behind Berck and a great two car battle took place as they put distance on the pack. After two yellows with a couple of laps completed, the last thirty three laps ran off green and it was a tough race for all.

Bruening would make his move and complete the pass and when Berck tried to respond with a "slider" that didn't work, he lost enough ground that the race was never in doubt again. In fact, Berck had to drive hard to fight off Tad Pospisil for second at the end. Mention much be made of Scott Ward who spun on lap one and went to the back of the twenty four car field. He then raced his way back up to tenth, all done under the green flag.

The Modified feature was just as spectacular with a group of about five drivers slicing and dicing for the lead. R.C. Whitwell was the early leader but he was overtaken by Jesse Sobbing for the top spot. Most, Jordan Grabouski and Jake O'Neil was all challenging as they swaps spots and lines on the track. This was a very good race too with plenty of side by side action.

A late yellow set up a four lap sprint to the finish and it was Sobbing trying to hold off O'Neil for the win. Coming for the white flag, Sobbing got just a bit high and killed his momentum and with these under powered Modifieds on this track, momentum is everything. O'Neil made a dive in turn one and took over the lead and Sobbing had no answer as Jake drove on for the win. O'Neil will be one back with the USMTS Mods on Friday night to try it all over again.

The final results show apparent third place finisher Grabouski set all the way back to sixteenth and I'm still trying to find out the reason for that. Terry Phillips, driving one of Grabo's cars, was officially third ahead of Hunter Marriott, who had to come out of a B Feature after his car wouldn't run for beans in a heat and Most who finished fifth with a banged up front end after contact with the wall. When I pointed out what seemed to be an evident scoring and timing error related to Grabouski, no one seemed to have have caught it or knew anything about it. Hours later I now notice that the error has been corrected on both the speedway's results page and also on MyRacePass.

One other odd and unexplained occurrence from the evening saw Iowa legend Jeff Aikey make his first ever appearance at I-80, winning a Malvern Bank B Feature with his IMCA car and earn a position in the main. Or so we thought. When he didn't come out for the main and another car moved up in his place, something was fishy. Turns out he was apparently DQ'd for something but his nonappearance was not explained by any of the announcers. Perhaps they didn't know either.

Overall, the racing was excellent for the opening night. Generally speaking, you do not have three classes of cars that all produce close and exciting racing across the board but that was certainly the case on Thursday. Friday night the racing should be just as interesting with the all important heats for the Lucas cars plus the USMTS Modifieds starting out the weekend. They will have to go some to keep up with the Modified show we saw on Thursday though. 

Carter Doubles Up During Wild Night at Osky

I had not been back to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa since that brutally cold opener way back in April when the wind was so strong that it felt like a knife cutting through one's skin right down to the quick, so I decided that on a much nicer July night, that it was time to retrace my steps and return to the "Monster Half Mile" in Mahaska County for another night of racing.

Jerry Mackey , the track announcer, is most often way too busy to have much time to talk at the race track, but I happened to catch him on a good night and we spent a few minutes together, sharing our observations on the racing scene so far this year from both an Iowa and Wisconsin/Minnesota perspective. We find that many of our concerns are ones shared by both entities and are not uncommon to the rest of the Midwest either. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that the weather has been a huge factor in the racing in the Midwest so far this year. Car counts and diminishing crowds are also concerns shared by both of us and promoters trying to keep their heads above water by padding the pits with more and more divisions of cars, many with only a handful of entrants in each one that doesn't seem to help the situation and only exacerbates the program of shows dragging on too long. As usual, it's much easier to identify the issues than it is to come up with solutions and since it was Jerry himself that reminded the crowd that Positively Racing is indeed just that, the discussion of the good things that are happening in Midwest racing, I better knock off this thread and move on to some of the brighter things that happened on Wednesday, July 10th.

For one thing, it appears that the Southern Iowa Speedway is hanging in there this year, despite the awful weather they have had to deal with. In fact, Wednesday night would mark only their sixth race of the entire year so far! Rainouts have plagued them, along with most other tracks in the Midwest.

However, the unique partnership that exists at this speedway seems to be working well so far. There are not many tracks around any more where the fair board actually runs the race track like he at SIS with a volunteer race committee within the board making the decisions relative to the racing. They have been able to raise the purses paid to the drivers once already this year and their top prize to the winners of several of the divisions is among the highest in the entire Hawkeye state, but to be fair it must be noted that their purse does have a "Dolly Parton" structure to it; in other words, it's pretty top heavy.

They also have a very nice year end point fund that both the drivers, through their pit passes, and the fair board contribute to on a nightly basis and to add to that amount, and make up for all the lost races so far this year, the happy announcement was made on Wednesday that two more Wednesday nights have been added to the racing season this year, with season championships now scheduled for July 31st. So good for them.

Car counts remain OK but truly they could use a few more racers in all divisions on a weekly basis, but put on a good show for the numbers that they have. I remain surprised that more area drivers don't venture out and join them on Wednesdays, particularly with the draw/redraw format that doesn't punish a driver if he doesn't want to race at the track weekly but just when possible. This format is the perfect one for that driver that wants to "pop in" on a whim or when the weather is nice.

Non winged Sprints have been added to the weekly card since I was last here, in fact, Wednesday would be only their second appearance of the year after races were rained out seven days ago. Call me a "lily liver" if you like, but non winged cars, particularly on a big half mile such as this, really give me "pause" and I am always nervous for them, even if they are having fun. Later this night my worst nightmare would be affirmed with a horrendous crash on the first lap of the first race of the night, no less. But more on that later.

Racing would start right off after hot laps on move rapidly through out the evening. Perhaps because of circumstances earlier, they didn't even take a break after the completion of the heat races but moved directly into the Sprint feature.

And we were lucky enough on Wednesday to be treated to three really good feature races among the five that were held. Of course, tops on the list was the Stock Car battle between Cayden Carter and Nathan Wood that was the last race of the night and perfect from a promoter's standpoint to have the last race one that folks will be talking about all week, as they should.

Carter was looking for a double win, having already topped the Sport Mod main when he took the early lead in the Stock Car feature. The low groove on the track was the fast way around by this time, and after Carter built a narrow lead, he was challenged by Wood. Each lap Wood would get closer and when Carter left the door open on the low side, Wood dove in and it looked to be a fore gone conclusion that Nathan would then pull away.

I still don't know how Carter was able to find traction in the middle groove but when he was moved off the bottom, he somehow was able to hold on in the middle of the track and he and Wood put on a great duel, lap after lap circling the big oval door to door. Wood should be congratulated also for racing clean and giving Carter room to his outside to operate as they continued to race side by side.

The last lap saw them in the same mode and as they came to the line, it was too close for me to call. In fact, I wrote down Wood as the winner but was totally unsure and also am not quite sure where they score the finish line as. The official call was Carter by inches and it was a race where there truly shouldn't have been a winner or a loser, and we were all winners for having had the thrill of seeing this epic contest.

Carter complete what was a fantastic night, as he had just gotten done with another epic run in the Sport Mods. He was driving the DeJong #30M car and had missed his heat race while hot lapping the car twice at the back of the pack of other preliminaries. For the Sport Mod feature, he started tail back in the thirteen car field and came screaming to the front of the pack.

With the race going nonstop, Logan Anderson had built up a big lead after starting in the front row but Carter was moving to the front like a man possessed. His move to split Dylan Vanwyk and Curtis VanDerWal, who were locked in a furious battle of their own for second, was one for the books and spectacular to watch. Once in second, he still had much ground to cover to catch Anderson and few laps to do so, but he ate up the distance and with another move to the high side in turn four, a move no one else was able to accomplish all night, he drove into the lead and won the feature going away in the first Vanderbuilt Sport Mod to hit the track.

The third top notch feature was the Sport Compacts where Trent Orwig had Brandon Allison on his trunk the whole race and had to fend him off several times to get the win. Meanwhile, Dustin Griffiths and Jonathan Hughes dominated the Hobby Stock and Sprint features respectively.

Two violent flips had the crowd holding their breath. Chuck Graves III took a horrible ride on the first lap of the Sprint heat as he got high in turn two, banged off the guardrail and then had the car cartwheel and barrel roll down the back chute multiple times. It was an ugly wreck and the non winged cars always seen to go harder than those with wings.

The rescue crew was quick to the scene and exhibited their own talents getting him out of the car quickly and into an ambulance. This all happened on the back chute and because it was out of the line of vision for most fans, that makes it even worse. The sound of an ambulance siren as the vehicle races away from the track is always scary. The latest word as I type this is available on the speedway face book page where it was reported by a family member that Chuck was helicoptered to Des Moines to ICU with a preliminary diagnosis of a brain bleed and possible broken bones. You can likely stay updated through that site.

Later, the Sport Compact feature, former winner Lewie Winkleman cut too low in turn two, clipped one of the big ute tires and that sent him on a violent barrel roll of his own as he went over five or six times in quick fashion. He, however, was able to jump out of the car on his own and walk to the ambulance and did not require a transport. His car needed two wreckers to get it off the track however. It was certainly a night filled with action, drama and close finishes and their special events next week should pack the grandstands after the word gets out on this week's entertainment.

Even with the delays, including a long one as we waited for the ambulance to return after the Graves crash, the final checkered flag waved right at 10 pm. on a night of racing action for sure. Six hours later(I seem to have made really good time for some reason), I pulled into my driveway, tired but happy that I had made the choice to tour the heartland on a Wednesday night.

Sheppard and Sorensen Top Gopher 50

Saturday night, July 6th, I was able to attend the fortieth annual Gopher 50, held at the Deer Creek Speedway just North of Spring Valley Minnesota. This was an historic night, marking the fortieth year for this great event that was concocted on a whim by Blooming Prairie Minnesota farmer Jerry Ingvalson as a way to bring big time Late Model racing to southern Minnesota for Ingvalson, a huge Late Model fan himself.

The history of this event dates back to when Ingvalson, a member of the Blooming Prairie Jaycees, decided after watching the Miller 100 at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids that he would try to start an event in southern Minnesota that would try to be the equivalent of that great Iowa event. He convinced the Jaycees to get on board with him and make the race a non profit fundraiser, the proceeds of which were used the first year to buy the local senior retirement home a new van.

Ingvalson was a tireless worker for this race to get it started, and he visited virtually every Late Model event in the Midwest and visited with nearly every Late Model driver in an effort to build up this new event. The first race was held at the Chateau Speedway just down the road from Blooming Prairie, and was a huge success both in terms of driver participation and fan support.

Ingvalson went "big and bold" with the first Gopher 50 in 1980, paying a purse that was unheard of at the time and had many wondering how in the world they were going to make that kind of purse. But his vision for the race was solid and the support of fans and drivers made him just push on and try bigger and better things every year.

Chateau Speedway soon became too small for the event and in their search to find an alternative place to hold the race that was still close to the Blooming Prairie area, they settled on the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna Minnesota, where this event had its most historic races. The Fairgrounds track had a huge half mile, black dirt oval that was only used a couple times a year but also had gigantic grandstand which was exactly what the Blooming Prairie Jaycess were looking for. And they packed that place, year after year with Late Model fans from all over the Midwest.

Track prep was always an issue at Owatonna, as the track was not used enough to have a good racing surface and every year it was a struggle to make the track racy and not "dust out" all the fans and some years they were more successful than others. But the money was always so good that they had racers ready to run each year.

Finding a rules package that worked for everyone was one of Jerry's biggest problems. The local racers were all under the WISSOTA spec engine program while many of the drivers he was hoping to bring in were running "open" motors so rules and enforcement were a constant hassle. Some years the race ran as a part of the UMP Summer Nationals series, some years it was a UMP event and some times it was an open show but trying, from year to year to get a rules package that would work for all was one of Jerry's biggest hassles every year.

He also wanted to bring in some "big name" drivers to help sell the show to fans not fully cognizant of Late Model racing and as southern Minnesota became more of a Modified area with no Late Model racing on a weekly basis any more, that became more and more of a challenge. Some of Jerry's stories about his negotiations with the likes of Scott Bloomquist and Billy Moyer would be very interesting to race fans for sure. Memorable moments like Freddie Smith's DQ for being too light, Bob Hill's wild flip on the last lap of the feature one year and the year that Tom Steuding won the race, while many swore that he had ducked into the pits for service under a red which was not noticed and he returned to his place in the running order only to win the event in a "fuel mileage" race are all part of the lore of the Gopher 50.

When the race moved to Owatonna, Ron Nelson came on board to help Jerry and the two of them were just about the entire Gopher 50, until race day when the Jaycees came up to help out. After the two of them got to be too old to be in the Jaycees any more, other non profits came on board as the beneficiaries of the event which was always a non profit event and remained a centerpiece of the racing season in southern Minnesota.

When Jerry started the race, he went to other people to help him run the show. I was a member of the race team at the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie Wisconsin which was one of the hot beds of Late Model racing in the entire area. Jerry got most of the race night workers from Red Cedar to help at the Gopher and I was included in that group. I was doing the race night reports for Red Cedar and came on board to do them for the Gopher, working the first one at Chateau and continuing to do so all the way through the last Gopher at Owatonna in 2005.

The city of Owatonna was never very supportive of the Gopher and was always very picky with curfews and other issues that constantly made life difficult for Ingvalson and the crew there. Neither was the Fair Board every easy to work with. Eventually, they made it clear that they didn't want the race anymore in their town, and with Deer Creek Speedway going great guns under the ownership of the Queensland family, it was a logical choice for the move of the race to that facility, which was probably the only southern Minnesota track capable of hosting the race.

To solve the situation with rules and enforcement, the Queensland's got the race sanctioned by the World of Outlaws which took care of many of their former issues and since they had their own promotional team, they didn't need my services as a writer any more. The race was moved from its midweek date, which I always thought made it a "special event" and now stage it on a Saturday to move conveniently fit the Outlaws schedule. While it is still a big deal for the Queensland family and the thousands of folks that attend, now it is just another race on the Outlaw schedule with the same purse etc as all the other ones they compete in and the special luster that the show had is there no more. However, it is still the only time that "big time" Late Model racing is brought to southern Minnesota and as such is still an important event for fans from that area along with those from northern Iowa. For many years I had perfect attendance at this race but when it moved to Saturday nights, I have missed a few for other commitments that were just as important to me. Still, with no such issues this year, it was good to get back to see the Gopher and visit with many of the people behind the scenes that I worked with from way back in the 80's.

Three inches of rain in an isolated downpour on Friday night threatened the race but the Deer Creek Speedway is built to drain well and they have all sorts of equipment to handle a situation like this and the experience over the years to deal with the weather and except for a portion of the pits that was "walled off" because it was still to soft and muddy, you would not have even known that it rained the night before.

Along with the Outlaws Late Models, the USRA Modifieds, the top division at the track for their weekly shows, were also racing on Saturday night and the combination of the two classes is a perfect fit for this event, with interests for both the fender and open wheel fans as southern Minnesota is "nuts" about Modified racing these days while this is about the only Late Model show you can even find happening in this part of the country.

So, some of the issues that Jerry had to deal with way back when still apply and that is primarily coming up with enough Late Models to put on a good show, so Jerry still has to pound the pavement and try to convince drivers to attend. They even have an incentive program built into the event budget to get some of the spec motor drivers and others to attend where things like entry fees etc are waived and also bonuses for those drivers based on their performances.

For example, John Kaanta, a WISSOTA driver running a spec engine, which means he is giving up somewhere between two hundred and two hundred and fifty horses to the open motored cars, gets a check for around five hundred dollars when he pulls in the gate, just for attending. He finished a fantastic seventh in the race on Saturday that was worth fourteen hundred dollars plus a five hundred dollar bonus for the best performance by a WISSOTA driver and he came out pretty good for the night, especially since he didn't even buy tires and just used his WISSOTA tires which he cut!

The WISSOTA drivers were coming off their own two night special the previous two nights at Bob Timm's Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin and several of them dropped in at Deer Creek to help fill the field. Jimmy Mars and Jeff Massingill swapped cars for Deer Creek  with open motors, while Jake Timm went home and changed motors. Kaanta, A.J. Diemel and Lance Matthees all just ran their WISSOTA stuff. In fact, Timm couldn't make his open motor run when he got to the track, which is why he missed his heat race. However, they finally got it going and he was able to make the main event and run re presentably.

A total of twenty seven Late Models raced with twenty four making the main. The Outlaw main event was a good one, with Shane Clanton leading the majority of the event as he fought off challenges from Brandon Sheppard and Jimmy Mars. Sheppard took the lead following a late restart and then he had his hands full with Ricky Weiss was just in the process of making a pass for the lead when the yellow came out. The last four laps found Sheppard doing what he needed to as he kept Weiss from getting his first Outlaw win while building on his own point lead. Mars made a late pass to get the third spot.

In my opinion, the Outlaws are traveling this year with probably their smallest and weakest contingent of tour followers that they have had in quite some time. They are now far away from most of the their "drop in" connections and promoters of upcoming events in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota are working like crazy to line up enough local and regional entries to ensure a full field of cars which is a giant concern. I'm also going to predict that both Mars and Weiss will win a feature race before this northern tour is over.

On the Modified side of things, thirty seven USRA drivers signed in to race for their five grand to win main event. On top of that, Tralo Trucking offered a ten thousand dollar bonus if the top drivers in passing points would opt out of their starting positions and go to the sixth row and then win the race. Fortunately, to make the challenge more interesting, two drivers did opt to try and both Brandon Davis and Rodney Sanders went to row six for the thirty five lap main.

Pre race activity saw Adam Hensel performing a motor swap on his Dirt Dueller chassis after having discovered issues with the motor after they were done racing at Mississippi Thunder. With car owner Les Duellman having no spare, they turned to Adam's father-in-law, Doug Hillson, who had a spare Sputs in the garage so the motor change was made in the pits at Deer Creek.

For northern Iowa fans, popular driver Ryan Ruter was a sub behind the wheel of the #6 Modified, normally driven by Modified rookie Dustin Kruse from South Dakota.

The Modified feature was also a good one, with only one yellow flag in thirty five laps. After an early battle with Zack VanderBeek and Eric Kanz, Rochester's Dustin Sorensen moved into the lead and he dominated the rest of the race, winning the feature with a strong performance. The recent Rochester Lourdes High School grad, who holds a USMTS feature win earlier this year, was also supposed to race a Late Model on Saturday too. He dubuted a new MB chassis at Mississippi Thunder on Thursday night, but they had some major motor issues during Friday night's show which left him with just the Modified for Saturday.

Sanders gave it his best shot, coming from twelfth to finish second in the main. He was driving a risky high side line around the track and shooting up sparks from contact with the wall on several occasions but was making time using that line. His slide job, back and forth battle with VanderBeek for second was one of the highlights of the night and Sanders was closing on Sorensen at the end but just ran out of time. Davis also did a nice job as he came from eleventh to fourth at the finish as he is having a great come back year after having been away from the sport for awhile, all the time running a WISSOTA spec engine which means his is giving up around one hundred horses to the USRA motors.

Modified track point leader Jason Cummins had a terrible night. As he was charging forward in his heat race he got too low and clipped the berm which sent him spinning. Going to the tail of the pack, on the restart he drove straight into the first turn wall and his evening was done after he was considered one of the favorites for the night.

The track was in great shape despite the weather, and the drivers were racing all over the track with both the high side and low side productive, depending on the drivers themselves. The Deer Creek folks seldom miss when it comes to track prep and they didn't again on this night. The crowd was very large indeed and the show moved long well so that the final checkered was waved around 10:30 pm which gave the fans plenty of time to visit the pits and there were a swarm of them that did.

The Gopher 50 may not be that "special event" that it once was but it is still a very big deal and one of highest attended races for sure in this part of the country. And it sounds like Jerry Ingvalson still plans to be a part of it, and he was hinting that there may be some surprises in store for 2020. We will all have to wait and see on that.

Marriott, Schafroth and Smith Dominate Little Memorial

Tuesday night, July 2nd, the twentieth and final Ron Little Memorial Race was held at the Stuart International Speedway in Stuart Iowa. A huge purse was being offered for all five classes of cars that normally race at Stuart, including the IMCA sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts. A large established purse was then added to by a group of fine sponsors and individuals that all wanted to see the last Little race a very big event. Apparently 2019 is a year that is offering some sort of finality as both the Little race here and Hogan Memorial at Vinton are both calling it good after this one week burst in July.

It continues hot and steamy in Iowa and with that is always the threat of thunderstorms and brief, heavy rains that almost can't be predicted as to where they will strike. Such was the case again on Tuesday with lots of threatening clouds and darkening skies very near to the speedway. My sources kept telling me that the rains were going to skirt by and miss Stuart and while it was reported to be a very near miss, once again the Mike VanGenderen "vortex" was in action and the rains all missed SIS and racing was completed as scheduled without any kinds of delays.

Cars, cars and more race cars was the theme of the night at Stuart as big fields of cars were on hand in all five classes, topped by the Modifieds that saw forty seven of them sign in to race including most of the heavy hitters from the central Iowa area along with a number of cars that I saw compete at Park Jefferson the night before as they are chasing the one week points offered on the Midwest Madness Tour. MVG says he always likes a jammed looking pit area as it makes the competitors and fans feel like they are seeing an even bigger event. Well, if that was their thinking, they were for sure liking the show on Tuesday as every available square inch of space in both the pits and overflow pits was crammed with race cars and haulers on Tuesday. They even had to resort to using the dirt road that goes to the pits and is some sort of official highway, either to the county or city but on this night, it is just another pit stall! But somehow, and I'm always amazed how adaptive the race teams are, no matter where they were pitted and how far they were from the track, everyone always seems to arrive for their race at the proper time and there are few, if any, holdups waiting for missing cars.

After a quiet hot lap session for all drivers interested, racing started at 7:35 pm with the first of nineteen qualifying races for the five classes. Now, if you can come up with a more amazing statistic than this, fire away but for me, running nineteen highly competitive heat races where the finish is of ultimate concern, and then to have only TWO yellow flags during all those heat races, that to me is almost impossible to believe, if I hadn't seen it myself. Certainly the one spin rule had much to do wit that as we saw numerous drivers spin and then accelerate away where normally they would just sit to draw the yellow. I wish I could bring some people from my area to show then how great this works so I could sell the idea locally and we wouldn't have so many race marathons caused by slow running heats plagued by yellows. But it is a tough sell in my area for sure. And even with these few yellows, we saw all the hard racing we could possibly have, with three and four wide racing, plenty of passing and no one giving an inch, yet the show moved on.

Four more B Features and we were ready for feature racing action. I wish I could say that the feature races were classics, but sometimes things just don't work out and one car dominates the show. That was the case in several of Tuesday night's mains with three dominating performances, one good two car battle and a debacle to wrap up the night with some in the field totally losing perspective of what constitutes clean racing and sportsmanship.

Buck Schafroth started on the outside pole for the Stock Car feature and he led all twenty five laps for another win for him here, where he has dominated all year after flipping in the season opener. There was only one  yellow flag in the race when Bryan Snell was dumped on the front chute while battling for a top five spot. Mike Nichols chased Schafroth most of the way but was never able to get close enough to put on a stiff challenge.

Doug Smith then did virtually the same thing in the Sport Mod feature. He too started on the outside pole, jumped into the lead immediately and led all the way. Thomas Egenberger and Brayden Carter had a good battle for second with Carter making the pass briefly but then Egenberger drove back into second and finished there. Only one yellow slowed this race also.

Then it was time for the Modified thirty lap main and it was the third race in a row to maintain nearly the same pattern. In this race, Hunter Marriott started on the pole and again led for the full contest. This race ran nonstop and Marriott, while leading all the way, was challenged by lapped traffic which was heavy. However, he was flawless as the weaved both high and low to pass to slower cars. Anyone who doubted that he had the best car was shown otherwise when Marriott was forced to move up the track to get by the lapped traffic and was flawless doing so. Jeff Aikey came from tenth to finish second with a strong drive.

The Sport Compact feature saw a real good battle for the lead that carried throughout the contest.  Mitchell Bunch took the early lead but was then overtaken by Chris Vannausdle  for the top spot. Soon Ramsey Meyer caught up and the two race race for the lead ensued. Meyer seemed just a bit quicker but Vannausdle was giving no openings and while Meyer continued to try and slip under Vannausdle for the lead, he raced him clean and didn't lean on him. The cars were too evenly matched to try a high side move and drive around the leader, so Meyer continued to hope for an opening but Chris wouldn't make a mistake as he drove on for a close victory.

Instead of ending the evening on a high note. the last race of the night was the least memorable, due to some of the driving antics of the competitors. The race started off good enough with a tight pack of drivers racing for the top spot. However, it didn't take long before drivers started leaning on each other instead of making clean passes, and each time they hammered on each other, the intensity increased and soon things were close to losing any kind of control .

Things broke down to where there were at least two obvious and blatant "take outs" of other drivers and then those offended wanted to retaliate and soon drivers were being sent off the track while others continued to carry their vendetta on even past the checkered flag. Meanwhile, Solomon Bennett  kept his nose clean, hugged the bottom lane of the track and as the other contenders sent each other either spinning or out of the groove, he just kept on driving on and before you knew it, he was in the lead. A late surge by Chuck Madden Jr saw him finish second ahead of Jack Phillips.

They were even carrying things as far as  running into each other after the checkered flag and then racing into the pits at high speed, a very dangerous thing indeed. In fact, I believe that a fight would have broken out if not for the fact that guest announcer Jerry VanSickel saw what was about to occur, grabbed the pit pa system and ordered the drivers back to their pit boxes and to disperse as only Jerry can. According to the official results, no drivers were disqualified from the race which I believe was a mistake as anyone making deliberate contact after the checkered should be automatically disqualified, and there were at least two that did so. In fact, to get their attention, which clearly someone needed to, they deserve to be "set down" for a week or two to think about their dangerous and unsportsmanlike actions.

A very scary incident occurred during one of the Sport Compact heat races when a car lost a right front wheel right in front of the main grandstands. That wheel broke lose the rub bar that ran along the right side of the car and launched that bar into the air. It cleared the top of the wheel fence after hitting on the top of the fence and flew into the crowd, getting about four or five rows up into the crowd, directly in front of the announcers.  Fortunately, it slammed against a railing before coming down among the spectators and while one lady was injured to the point that she had to be sent for medical attention to the hospital, it could have been worlds worse that what happened. It was a very scary scene and not one that I have seen happen for a long period of time. It just goes to show the reason why that every track has a disclaimer posted as you walk into the spectator areas.

A very good crowd was on hand and track officials managed to crowd a lot of activity into three and half hours. There was a twenty eight race program, ceremonies surrounding the Little Memorial and a full fireworks display. I'd say that everyone on hand got their monies worth on this night. And it didn't storm us out!

Iron Cup Nearly Floats Away at Park Jeff

On Monday night, July 1st, I broke in a new month of racing with a trip to the Siouxland area of western Iowa. More specifically, I was at the Park Jefferson International Speedway for the IMCA Iron Cup which was also night three of the Midwest Madness Tour. Extra money would be on the line for all five divisions that race at Park Jeff under IMCA sanction including fifteen hundred bucks to win for the Modifieds and Stock Cars plus extra money for the other three classes on this, the sixth edition of the Iron Cup.And to my surprise, the IMCA Racesaver Sprint Cars were also added to the show, making six divisions that would try and get their program completed before the weather told us to go home.

It was a steamy day in the Siouxland area and there was a distinct threat of thunderstorms, perhaps even severe ones before the evening was over so it was incumbent that the show get started on time and move along quickly.

Good fields of car were on hand in all classes except the Sport Compacts where there was only enough cars for one heat race while the Modifieds topped the list with thirty one of them set to do battle.

After a very quick hot lap session with drivers arriving at the last moment, which I suppose should be expected with most everyone having to work on Monday before a midweek holiday, the first green flag fell. Racing actually started about two minutes before the advertised time and the heat races were rushed through as quickly as possible which is just a bit harder when one class has to take a push for all their competitors and I guess we all know which class that is, don't we.

By race time, the skies had turned very ominous looking with rain appearing to be falling is several different directions from the track but at the dirt oval, nary a drop would fall and the racing would continue. Fifteen heat races were completed with a total of only two yellow flags, despite the fact that they were all important events for drivers trying to qualify up front. The one spin rule kept everyone moving and all the qualifying, except the Modified B Feature was completed within an hour's time.

A break of only a couple minutes, just long enough for the head starter to rush to the "little race fan's room" quickly and we were back at it once again, with the Hobby Stock feature race first on the agenda. By this point, it was more like when are the storms going to it and not will they hit as the skies looked dreadful in all directions and the wind switched directions and picked up considerably in intensity which gave many in the crowd just a bit of an uneasy feeling, particularly those of us that have been caught unprotected a time or two when some very severe weather did hit. Once that happens, you always feel just a bit gun shy when the skies look bad.

The wind was howling as the Hobby Stocks took the green flag for their main event but with seven hundred bucks to the winner of the fourteen lap main, they would have driven through a snowstorm if they would have had to, just to get this race in. Cam Wilkinson took the early lead and built up a nice advantage as John Cain, Justin Luinenberg and Andy Hoffman battled for second. Luinenberg would eventually gain the second spot but he was half a straightaway behind and it seemed unlikely that he would be able to catch Wilkinson. Then the unexpected happened when a spin triggered a yellow and his big lead was gone.

That slow down would eventually cost him as after a good battle following the restart, Luinenberg would drive past Wilkinson to take over the lead. He would then pull away and be the apparent winner, even receiving his version of the Iron Cup.

However, just like NASCAR, you can't go home assuming just who the winner was. In fact, I did not find out about the dramatic happenings that did occur once the top drivers got to their tech inspection until I checked the official race results and I'm sure that most fans are still unaware also. It seems that not only was apparent winner Luinenberg disqualified, but just to make it even more memorable, second place finisher Wilkinson was also DQ'd  which might have been a record.

So, after all the shenanigans were sorted out, the winner and Iron Cup receiver (assuming they pried the Cup away from Luinenberg), was Cain, with Hoffman second and Kent Husted third. Interestingly, the yellow that started in motion all of the activities was caused by a spin by Kevin Bruck and even though he went to the tail, with a lot of shuffling in the last few laps plus two being DQ'd, he made the top five in the official finish.

The Modified B Feature followed the Hobby Stocks and among those qualifying for the main was Josh Most, who went to a back up car after he had troubles with his Modified in his heat race.

The Racesaver Sprints were next on the track for their main as all twenty three were thrown into the main, so as to avoid having to run a B Feature. By this time the wind was blowing  fiercely down the front chute and the storm was very close. The Sprints did a decent job of running off their event with three yellow flags. However, only one lap into the race Boyd Peterson took a wild ride off turn three and flipped about four times before coming to rest on his wheels. He checked out OK but of course, all this took some time with the storms creeping in on us.

Tyler Drueke took car of any drama as he led from start to finish after starting right on the pole with Cody Ledger charging up to second and closing the gap in the last few laps.

The Stock Cars were quickly hustled out on the track and speedily, their race was started. I was pleased to see that Dan Machenthun, who pulled all the way down from Minnesota to race and then broke on the green at the start of his heat, was able to return for the main event. Jason Ward took the early lead but only two laps into the race he over cooked turn one and went flying off the track which triggered the yellow. Before the cars could be restarted, the skies opened up with huge drops of rain, thunder and lightning and all that good stuff. Just as quickly the program was cancelled and I believe they will run make up features for those classes that didn't get to run their mains on Monday, July 22nd as a part of their Dirt Knights show.

Track officials did everything in their power to try and get the whole show in but it just wasn't going to be on this night. But at least most everyone had time to get to their cars and while it rained like a Son of a Gun, at least there wasn't any dangerous lightning or hail or wind until we could all get hunkered down.

And in keeping with the format of this website, I'm Positive Racing could have been carried out a bit smoother if the Sprints weren't a part of this night's program. I'm sure they have their fans and it is entirely appropriate to invite them to join the race program here. However, on a night when the Modifieds are the featured division and all four of the other classes are racing for more money which means more cars and more laps, and let's not forget that this was indeed a Monday night, it might have been more appropriate to have the Sprints on hand on another occasion. Just my thinking.

Thanks to Rod Olson and everyone at Park Jeff. It was fun to see this track once again I believe we would have seen some dynamite Modified and Stock Car features if the weather would have relented. But it has been one of those years.