Saturday night, April 9th the 81 Speedway hosted night number two of the invasion by the MLRA Late Models as well as a full show by the Stock Cars and USRA Modifieds plus night two for the Mod Lites of IMCA.
It was another hurricane type night in the state made famous by Dorothy and Toto and this would have been the kind of weather that they would find exhilarating while for me it is annoying and frustrating having the wind trying to rip your clothes off and steal anything you are trying to hold on to. However, on Saturday, the wind had made a 180 degree swing and instead of it being a cold win, it felt like someone had opened up a blast furnace with the hot dry winds moving the temperatures up near eighty degrees and low humidity to make the fire danger even worse.
On the track, thirty six Late Models had returned with the biggest loss being that of Darrell Lanigan who had to pony up his ride to car owner Tony Jackson Jr who blew up the motor in his car on Friday night. Since Jackson is running for MLRA points, it made perfect sense but did eliminate one national driving star from the mix along with one more contender. Dusty Leonard and Steve Stultz both switched cars as they searched for more speed from their wheels.
The Late Model format would be the same as on Friday night except that the feature race would be longer and would pay more money, at least on top. For the second straight night, Tad Pospisil was the quick qualifier and is rapidly gaining a reputation as a very good qualifying driver. And with the format that is used for these races, the time trials are key in producing a successful of not so much kind of night. Later, Pospisil would use that front row starting spot in his heat to eventually secure a top five finish in the feature. Word came that Saturday night's feature had been trimmed by five laps, ostensibly to again save the drivers some money on tires, if you are buying that five laps would make any difference.
Talking about money, I had a chance to talk to Bob Timm, owner of Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Wisconsin and father of Late Model driver Jake. Bob also pays the bills and knows about the finances, having worked both side of the fences, so to speak, as a former driver, car owner and now owner of a race track that will be putting on a fifty thousand dollar to win Late Model race next month.
Bob said they spent thirteen hundred dollars in fuel to get to Kansas from Minnesota. Throw in a few racing tires at nearly two hundred and fifty dollars a pop and you tell me just how many guys are making any money in racing!
Two four drivers were scheduled to start the thirty five lap main event but Todd Cooney pulled off before the green and they were down to twenty three. The official stats will show that Johnny Scott led all laps for the win but that would be somewhat less than accurate in terms of excitement value. And it would also be a rather expensive and frustrating race for others.
Scott would indeed be the leader for all laps but that doesn't take into account for all the lead changes that were going on around the track but not shown as they crossed the line on every lap. Scott and Ryan Gustin would entertain with a series of slide jobs and cross over maneuvers that would be thrilling and a bit risky. Especially when they got into lapped traffic, things were plenty wild and there may have been a little bit of rubbing as they raced down the chutes. Things went South for Gustin on lap twenty four when he rolled to a halt with a cut tire and he was done for the night.
The restart was crazy as Terry Phillips, thinking this was his chance, went for the lead but instead found himself surrounded by Bobby Pierce and Gordy Gundaker. They all didn't fit through turn three and the resulting pileup was a damaging one as Phillips, Stormy Scott and several others were eliminated. Pierce looked to be the prime challenger then but he was forced to pit for a flat tire before the green would have, so that left it up to Gundaker to battle for the top spot.
The track, which had been farmed several times during the evening in the face of the wind, heat pounding by the cars, finally said "uncle" at this point and locked down in the low groove. From then on, it was just a matter of Scott hitting his marks and not getting out of the low groove rubber and he did so expertly as he drove on for the win over Gundaker and Chad Simpson. The race was a taxing one with only thirteen cars still running at the end.
The Modifieds would run last on the night and by this time, as well as a used up race track, half the crowd was by now gone on what was a windy and despite the best efforts of management, a dusty night in the stands. They got off to a bad start, forty five minutes late with the first green flag due to, guess what?. And then the Stock Cars, had a tough go of it too which dragged things out some more.
It was too bad as a really "All Star" field of Modifieds was on hand with several of the Late Model stars racing their Modifieds too as well as a few travelers plus a strong local delegation also. Tanner Mullins would lead from start to finish to win this event and with a bonus for exceeding a thirty car field plus some other generous contributors, he went home with just about twenty five hundred dollars for his efforts. Darren Fuqua was a prime challenger until he pulled off under yellow and that left it to Rodney Sanders to try and get by but Mullins would carefully guard the rubber and Rodney was left to settle for second.
Terry Phillips may have been the fastest car on the track as he made some impressive passes to come up from the fourth row but once he got to second, that is where he settled for.
Interestingly, a number of drivers that raced with the Rookie Mods on Friday night turned right around and raced on this night. This "double dipping" is allowed so I must assume that the Rookie Mod class runs under the same rules as the Modifieds do and entrance in that class is simply based on each driver rating themselves on how good they are.
A couple dozen Stock Cars were on hand also for a full program. I thought this class was USRA sanctioned but apparently not as some cars were spotted running Hoosier tires, a couple had spoilers on the back and even a couple did not have enclosed backs on their cars so it was sort an amalgamation of rules.
They gave an indication of what we should expect when one driver spun out before the green even flew and a couple tangled under another yellow. Oh boy! For the second time in two nights, track officials brought out the "gong" once again and cut this one short. In point of fact, they probably should have stuck a knife in this one even sooner than they did as it turned into a seven yellow in eleven laps teeth grinder for the fans.
They finally did get thirteen laps in and defending track champion Clint Smith(no, not the Georgia Late Model driver) was the winner. Brandon Conkwright made things interesting with a hard changing style that saw him go to the front, fade back and then charge back up to second again at the end, holding off Joey Richmond for runner up honors.
It was now after Midnight and I headed for the gate as for the second straight night the Mod Lites produced a mystery finish. To be fair, the conditions were brutal both nights and with the extreme wind, it made producing a good track a real challenge and with the wind blowing right into our faces at high speed on Saturday, it was one of those nights that promoters cringe at because there is only so much that they can do.
Again, thanks for F.O.E. Enterprises and John Allen for their hard work and bold move at scheduling in the first big Late Model race in quite some time here. Don't forget, in October the World of Outlaw Late Model series will also make their first appearance here. And based on the large crowd in attendance this night, there is clearly an appetite for Late Model racing here in what is well known as open wheel country.
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