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.
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