The Rick Eshelman Tribute Tour completed its three night swing with a Sunday night visit to the U.S. 36 Raceway near Osborn Missouri where the World of Outlaw Late Models would compete in their third straight night with another ten grand, forty lap main event to highlight the program.
To complete the weekend, it was another unseasonably warm and extremely windy day as the whole weekend has been. However, another wrinkle was through into the mix as for the first time all weekend, rain became a threat. A line of storms blew up suddenly to the Southwest of Osborn and came flying through the area, as everything was doing this weekend. But despite some ominous looking skies, a few crackles of lightning and booming thunder, only a few sprinkles fell and with a few minutes the sun was back out again and we were in the clear. I think the track prep crew never even backed off on their watering despite the rain and it was a good thing as the very strong wind was blowing directly into the main grandstand of this track, which sits facing South while the race track itself runs West and East.
It was reported that over thirty six thousand gallons of water was put on the track for Sunday's race and the track prep crew, headed by Jon Boller, did a wonderful job and we would end up with a very racy, if slightly bumpy track and the least amount of dust for the spectators despite having the toughest conditions to deal with.
For most of the drivers racing on Sunday as well as myself, this was my first time to ever see racing at this track, despite having driven by the facility a number of times over the years while on my way to other racing venues. I would call the track a high banked, D shaped quarter brown dirt facility. Not narrow, but not overly wide either, the track has a concrete wall on the front chute in front of the spectators with a single guardrail at the top of turns one and two and just a drop off area with no wall or rail in turns three and four. The lighting was adequate but not spectacular and the sound system was solid. They normally race Modifieds and 305 Sprint Cars here as their top divisions with Late Models being a very rare selection for this area. The sight lines from the grandstands were good and the concessions and other niceties of the track were just fine. Most of the bleachers were boards set in cement with one high rise session of bleachers about the rest in turn four. The concessions and tower for the announcers was behind the grandstand. Most of the spectator parking lines the drag strip which runs just to the North of the dirt track and it is a pretty good walk from the parking lots to the track but they have inclined walks to help the handicapped. When I first saw the track I thought it looked solid and turns out it raced even better than it initially looked.
Along with the Late Models, there would be full shows for the track's E Mod class along with the Pure Stocks. Both those classes would do a good job with just enough in numbers to give the Late Models a break while running off smooth events that didn't bog the show down, always important on a Sunday night when both work and school on calling just hours away.
As I walked into the pits, Mike Marlar was busy with a motor swap, a chore that later would provide ten thousand reasons why he should take on such a task while being short handed this weekend. The Kosiski Team had swapped cars after Saturday night's problems and were ready to race once again. A few drivers that had trouble on Saturday along with some from the Colorado and western Kansas area chose not to back track and weren't on hand but there were five new entries with drivers from Missouri and Iowa joining the fun on a warm Sunday night. Twenty six were on hand in total and after initially scheduling a B Feature, WoO officials changed their mind and started everyone in the main which was a good decision for everyone.
Despite all the natural weather conditions weighing again them, the track prep crew had the track blazing fast for time trials and Tyler Bruening set a new track record with a time of 12.913 seconds. The track would gradually slow down just a little while widening out the racing group as several packing sessions before the start of individual races by all classes helped that situation.
After two straight nights of running the Late Model feature first, it was somewhat strange and initially annoying when they were last to go on this night, especially with all the demands of Sunday night racing saying that the premier class should be first so fans that wanted to could leave when they were done. However, it proved to be a mostly moot point when all three features went very smoothly and all racing was done shortly after 9 pm.
All twenty six Late Models on hand would start the main event and with the quick lap times and small track, the leading drivers had to be on their toes as lapped traffic quickly became an issue. Bruening would lead the first seven laps off the pole but he was soon challenged by Chase Junghans and Dennis Erb. When Bruening got hung up by slower cars down the front chute, Junghans blasted past him and took over the lead.
Chase was really pounding the cushion as he put some distance between himself and Bruening. The only yellow of the race kit on lap seventeen when Tanner English broke the front end and slowed on the track. They weren't able to fix the car and he watched the rest of the race from the infield, giving up valuable rookie points to Max Blair in what has come down to a razor thin battle for those honors.
Junghans again took off on the green as he continued to pound the cushion but as fast as Chase was, it was remarkable how fast Marlar was reeling him in. Mike got to second by the halfway point of the race and then, after clearing Bruening, he quickly reeled in Junghans for the lead. And as they sliced and diced through traffic, Marlar was able to find an opening and on lap twenty six, he drove into the lead. After that, with the race remaining under green, he was able to open up some distance on Junghans and eventual third place finisher, Bruening. Twenty drivers were still on the track when the checkered fell so there was plenty of late race action and everyone was very busy as this track stood up just as entertaining for the fans and challenging to the drivers as any Illinois bullring.
The WoO really presented themselves well this weekend in my opinion. They had fine car counts, good competitive racing with plenty of passing, three different winners in three nights and none was the point leader of the series and all three shows spun off quickly with few yellows. Their adventure to take their series into some uncharted waters, so to speak, proved to be a wise decision and I'm sure we will see all three tracks back again in 2023. And while the crowd on Sunday was not a block buster like 81's was, it was still a very good crowd, especially for a Sunday.
As for those two support divisions, a dozen E Mods would race a twelve lap main event with Blake Hayes taking the early lead. However, he was passed on lap three by Adam Dunwoodie who would go on to lead the rest of the race, an event that went green to checkered. Hayes would settle for second with Josh Adkins third. These E Mods struck me as being very similar to the Midwest Mods that I saw on Friday night at Humboldt.
Twenty Pure Stock would take the green for their twelve lap main event, a race that would see just one yellow flag and three different leaders. The first two laps would belong to Jim Masoner Jr before he was passed by Blake Peeler. However, track champion Jake Starner was on the move after starting fifth and on lap five he would blow past Peeler down the front chute to take over the lead. After that, he would dominate to take the checkered ahead of Peeler and Jimmie Workman. Both support divisions raced well and did just exactly what was asked on them as support classes on this night.
One last item to note. Normally on a Sunday night, especially when the featured division runs last, once the checkered flag waves it is a mad scramble to get out of the parking lot and on the road home with as many fender benders and toxic comments seen in the parking lot as on the track. And this parking lot had many access roads with intersections with people coming from many different directions and only one goal in mind, getting out the one lane road to the highway.
However, I must applaud how courteous all the drivers were as they left the parking lot. At every single intersection, folks were automatically taking turns without horn honking or other hand gestures and the exit from the track was incredibly smooth and moved right along. So thanks folks, from those of us with a long drive home for making our start so smooth. U.S. 36 Raceway exceeded my expectations in all regards. And with track officials like "Slick" Rick announcing and "Noodle" doing the flagging, how could you not have fun?
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