Monday, November 22, 2021

McCowan Tops Opening Night of Turkey Bowl

 The fifteenth annual edition of the Turkey Bowl at Jerry Hoffman's Springfield Raceway opened up on Friday night, November 19th. This year the format would see more racing on the opening night plus the addition of one more class of cars to the overall show. 

Friday night would consist of heat races for the B Mods, the Midwest Mods both A and B divisions the Legend Cars and this year also, the Pure Stocks who would run their complete program on Friday night. As it would turn out, a lot of people that chose to come only on Saturday would miss out on what in my opinion was the best race of the weekend and that was the Pure Stock feature. But more about that in a minute. 

This race continues to get bigger and bigger each with more cars coming and with the Midwest Modified class expanding to a number of tracks in southwestern Missouri and beyond, the opportunity for more drivers to wrap up their racing season with one last blast before preparations for the 2022 racing season begin. 

One hundred and ninety three cars signed in to race on Friday night plus more than thirty more of the Legend Cars also. All cars would race a heat race with passing points used to set the lineups for the main events and B Features on Saturday. The Pure Stocks would also runs their B Features and wrap up a long evening of racing  with their main event. 

To the credit of Hoffman, he has made a number of improvements since I was last at the Springfield Raceway. Gone is the Moto Cross jumps in the infield, replaced by a nice smooth infield that is graveled and level and certainly a scenic improvement. I believe the infield is now used when he presents concerts as he maximizes the use of his facility. This same type of gravel has been spread onto all the roads around the pits to cut down on the mud from this red clay soil in this area. The pit area has been expanded considerably and every inch of it would be used this weekend, including a field back behind the pit area on the back chute that I just happened to stumble upon and found cars pitting back near I-44, an area I didn't even knew existed. 

A scoreboard now sits off turn one for the edification of the fans who now can chart laps and double check on where the leaders stand. As usual, Hoffman has provided his very unique trophies that are much coveted for the winners of this event. 

One round of practice would be held on Friday for all cars in all classes the wished to participate, followed by the racing program and then more practice for everyone that wished once the program was completed. Twenty one heats would be followed by two B Features for the Pure Stocks and then their main event. 

Nearly eighty of the Midwest Modifieds were in the pits. The rules are identical for both the A and B divisions of the this class and in fact on Saturday one of the cars would be moved from the B's to the A's as a substitute driver would take over with more experience. I asked one of the drivers on hand who it was that made the call whether a car should be in the A or B division and he told me that the track doesn't get involved and that the drivers enter themselves based on their skills and experience. I was told everyone was on the honor system. When I asked if anyone "fudged", he just smiled. There were nine heats for those two divisions plus another four heats for the Pure Stocks and eight B Mod heats. 

It was a long night of heat race action with a ton of yellow flags. The one spin rule would have been most helpful on this night as drivers would continuously spin or slow on the track, begging for a yellow so they could resume racing and the flagman was very quick on the trigger to throw the yellow, making quite a few of the heats tedious on what was one of the coldest nights of racing for me this year. 

Finally it was time for the only feature race of the night and by this time most of the crowd, what there was of it, had seen their special car race and were heading for someplace warm. Too bad for them as they missed a dandy feature race and one that had all those who saw it raving. 

Now, these Pure Stocks don't exactly fall into what my normal definition of a Pure Stock is , as I could identify some IMCA Stock Cars that were racing with these "Pure Stocks" so don't let the name confuse you. 

Their feature was a dandy event. They started twenty cars with nineteen of them still racing at the end and all on the lead lap. The race went nonstop and I saw more three and four wide racing than perhaps at any race of the entire year. 

The leaders were going back and forth for the top spot and there was continuous action as they used the whole track, top to bottom which by the way, seems to have been widened out just a bit in turn one and banked more also. They kept jockeying back and forth and thank goodness for transponder scoring at the end as otherwise, I think there might have been a major controversy as the finish was that close. 

In fact, my call of who won was wrong as they were three wide crossing the line and I frankly couldn't tell just exactly who the winner was. By the smallest of margins, Modified and B Mod ace Dillon McCowan, who apparently picked up a ride in a very plain looking but fast #7m edged Tom Scroggins for the win. It was a great race and and a terrific way to end what otherwise was a long and somewhat dragging night of racing. 

The third place finisher in the Pure Stock feature was disqualified, one of six drivers that got Dairy Queened (DQ) in various divisions. as the tech folks were busy on this night. 

All racing was complete around 11:30 pm and let me tell you, it was darn cold by the end of the night with a nagging wind just never letting up. Fortunately that great Pure Stock feature allowed the night to wrap up on a high note. While more drivers were lined up to practice at that late hour, it was time for me to seek out shelter and heat. 

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