On Wednesday night, July 6th, the Lucas Oil Late Model Series made their first appearance at the Davenport Speedway in seventeen years and they did not disappoint as Hudson O'Neal topped a great three car battle that raged throughout the main event to earn the win and the top prize of ten thousand dollars.
Support class racing would see the IMCA Late Models also put on an excellent show with Justin Kay winning their twenty five lap feature and young Logan Veloz top the Sport Mod feature that concluded an excellent night of racing.
It was a hot, sticky and murky night in eastern Iowa and all day there was a threat of rain but even though the clouds looked quite stern from time to time, the rains all remained to the South and it turned out to be a great night for racing at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Speedway. The humid conditions certainly made it easier to keep moisture in the track and promotor and track prep wizard Ricky Kay does something that far too few track prep folks are willing to do today and that is to put plenty of water down and early. This track is heavy but not the kind of heavy that prevents good racing and he has plenty of equipment to work the track as needed. The result is a fast racing surface but one that is also wide and smooth and provided a cushion for those that like to ride the high side but also a low line that allows the "catfish" racers a place to run. On the wide quarter mile at Davenport, this allows consistent three wide racing in all classes and allows the drivers to put on the kind of show that wows the fans and keeps them coming back for more.
As usual, the Lucas Oil Series supplies many of the biggest names and fastest drivers in all of Late Model racing and that is their calling card, they have the drivers. Supported by a few MLRA regulars on their way North for racing this weekend and some of the open motor Late Model racers from the state of Iowa, a strong field of thirty seven drivers signed in to race. With everything working out on this night, a rain out in the state of another track allowed a few more drivers to hustle down to Davenport and even further strengthened the field.
The Sport Mods were racing for a grand on this night and twenty four of them signed in to race, a perfect number that allowed three full heats but no B Feature was necessary. It was a bit strange that with extra money on the line that the Sport Mods would field a group that was smaller than what they get for a normal Friday night show but I must assume the weekend made it difficult for some to get to the track. I had visions of forty or more of them on hand when I saw what they were racing for and I was very pleased they only had as many as they did.
The IMCA Late Models also generated a nice field of cars with nineteen signing in, again just about the perfect number of this night. Someone must have felt bad that the IMCA drivers were racing for less than the Sport Mods were getting and threw in three hundred bucks so the Late Models at least raced for the same money as the Sport Mods.
As you all well know, I'm not a fan of qualifying but with the Lucas way of timing three cars at a time on this quarter mile, it doesn't take long to get that event out of the way. And to show just how consistent and well prepped the track was, the last car out in the first flight of nineteen, Brandon Overton, had the quickest time of that whole group. And then right after that, the second flight saw the first driver out, Mike Marlar, set quick time for that group. All night the track would dazzle with a nice berm, but also speed in the middle and lower lines and the quickest line changing up quite often which sent these good drivers hunting the speed and moving all over the track, which made it even more enjoyable.
Qualifying would consist of four intense Lucas Late Model heats and three for the Sport Mods and IMCA Late Models. Two very good B Features for the Lucas cars would finish off the qualifying and then Kay and his crew did some work on the track again in preparation for the main events.
The IMCA Late Model feature would start things off and what a warmup to the Lucas cars they provided, with a dynamic feature race of their own. They would go twenty five laps nonstop for their main and there would be three different leaders during this event.
Hall of Famer Gary Webb would take the early lead and he would be out front for the first ten laps. He would be challenged hard by Matt Ryan and Ryan would eventually get past with an outside move down the back chute. Once in front, Ryan pulled away some but the force on the move was Justin Kay.
Kay had won a heat race but with the IMCA redraw of twelve, he was the unlucky driver to pull the twelve and he would start outside of row six. Now to work your way forward against a solid field from the sixth row and be a factor is hard enough, but to do it under all green flag conditions with no yellows to bunch the field and make it easier to catch up is much harder, but Kay somehow found a way to get it done.
In the second half of the feature, he was markedly faster than anyone on the track and he was getting a great run off the corners and you could visibly see him close up on other competitors. It was a good thing that the feature was twenty five laps as it took him until lap twenty three to catch and then pass Ryan for the lead. In the last two laps he would lengthen his advantage and pull off a remarkable drive to get the win. Ryan would finish second and Webb would hold off a challenge from Joel Callahan and Jacob Waterman late to get third.
I know I'm not supposed to root for drivers but I must admit that I was one of many in the crowd that was kind of hoping that Webb could hold on for the win. Still, he had to be pleased with his very competitive run as he told me before the race that he was making just his second start on a new motor. I was under the assumption that all IMCA Late Models had to run a crate motor but that was wrong as Webb is now running an IMCA spec engine. He told me that he was getting beat bad by some supposedly legal crates and had some questions about those motors so he went a different route with the spec engine. The early results would seem to be favorable.
The IMCA Lates set the bar high for the Lucas cars which would come next but they hurdled that bar and then some as they produced a great feature event that left the crowd salivating and even the Lucas officials were in awe. Way too much happened for me to adequately convey all the action but suffice it to say that O'Neal, Overton and Marlar went at it for forty laps, nearly three wide for much of the time and both swapping positions and lines on the track throughout this race. O'Neal would lead the first two laps, Overton the next ten, Marlar the next twenty and then O'Neal came back to make the winning pass on lap thirty three and hold off the other two to take the win.
Only two quick yellows at mid race slowed the action and twenty two of the twenty four starters were still on the track at the finish. Yet all were running so competitively that there were only three lapped cars at the finish. It was just an excellent race and would be a highlight probably of the season for many. It allowed the drivers to show their best while also highlighting what a great place the Davenport Speedway is to watch great racing action.
The Sport Mods would wrap up the racing action for the evening and while their main event would provide as many yellow flags as the rest of the entire program put together, they still managed to have a very competitive and close feature race.
Most impressive was young Logan Veloz who would lead all twenty laps and stave off all challenges from a variety of drivers to get the win. All those yellows put pressure on him on the restarts but he never wavered once, maintained his line and ran a great race to get the win.
I must highlight some of the other great charges put on drivers in the field, which also does highlight that the track was very much passable on, even after many laps of pounding.
Tony Olson would finish second but he would start twenty first on the grid after breaking and pulling off in his heat race! What a charge he put on. However, he wasn't the only one. Third place finisher Brayton Carter started eleventh and raced his way forward and not to be forgotten was Ben Chapman.
Yes, he started and finished fourth but in between, he made an early pit stop and went to the back of the pack, so he raced his way from twenty something back up to fourth. So there was plenty of passing going on. And only three of the starters in this twenty four car field failed to see the checkered flag also.
This great night of racing concluded about 10:15 pm but could have been done before 10 pm easily if not for the Sport Mod struggles with five yellows in their event. K Promotions scored another home run with this event with another large crowd in the stands and they had to have gone home pleased and satisfied. Ricky and Brenda really seem to be doing everything right here with their specials and also their strong weekly program. The turnabout at this venerable facility has been dramatic, from a day not so long ago when the half mile was still being used but weeds were growing out of it and the weekly program was about dead to now with its strong weekly program plus K Promotions is bringing in the biggest names in the sport on a regular basis. Certainly, they should be at the head of the line for some promoter awards as they seem most deserving. With all the struggles that tracks are going through right now, it does the heart good to see a program on the rise.
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