Wrapping Up the 2023 Racing Season, Time To Look Ahead

 With the conclusion of the Gateway Dirt Nationals in St. Louis last weekend, it is time to put the 2023 racing season to bed and start to think about the upcoming 2024 season. The off season gets shorter every year, especially for those of us fortunate enough or crazy enough to do some chasing to different parts of the country. 

This year the race to get away from the cold weather and snow is not as strong as in most years as our unbelievably mild off season continues. Except for the gloomy skies day after day, the month of December has been a great one for those of us that don't necessarily care for cold weather and lots of snow. As I type this, we have no snow at all and it will be one of those rare Christmas' when we have to snow for the holiday. Light rain has been falling from time to time and we are promised a soaker for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, another very rare development. Still, we look forward to sunshine and even warmer temperatures in our travels soon. 

The 2023 racing season was another busy one for me. With time on my hands and so far the resources to be on the go, I accidently set a new record for myself as I attended two hundred and nine race programs in 2023. The last three years have been quite spectacular for me as I have attended six hundred and eighteen nights of racing. Never thinking it possible that I could or would ever get to two hundred nights of racing, I now have done it three straight years. 

Obviously the ability to travel to other parts of the country for races both before and after the Midwestern season is active boosts the totals immensely, but it is something we do for enjoyment, not to set records. If there were a contest to see who could get to the most races, I would get serious about it but the truth is I just enjoy being at the track and can think of no other place I would rather be so while I can and until I'm not able to do so for whatever reason, I think we will continue to visit tracks across the Midwest and across the country. 

In 2023 we started out with racing in Arizona and New Mexico, headed back again to Arizona and when we were done there, we headed to Florida for Speed Weeks on both sides of the state. We then worked our way back North and hit the Midwest, with a side trip to Texas. Much of what we did last year is again in the plan and the weather will play a large part in just exactly where we end up, just as it does every year. 

The first four months of the racing year was very productive for me and while many race fans are waiting for the snow to melt and tracks in this area to open up, I had already been to sixty five races by the first of April. 

An extended dry period over the Summer made the number of rain outs smaller than normal and while the dry conditions hurt some, It was great for me. I had one period in June where I attended races on twenty seven straight nights. On the other hand, October was terrible with two of the four weekends being complete washouts, something that has never happened before. My racing season season started under the sun in Arizona in January and ended up under the roof of America's Center in St. Louis.

2023 marked the forty third consecutive racing season where I attended at least one hundred nights of racing. In 2023 I attended races at seventy tracks in sixteen states and one Canadian province. I saw races at three tracks for the first time, one in Arizona, one in Texas and one in Oklahoma. Since I have started attending races at a young age, I have now been to three hundred and thirty four tracks in twenty nine states and three Canadian provinces, by my best guess. 

July was my busiest month with twenty nine races attended during that month but May through September were all over twenty per month.  

I never pick out a best night of racing or a best track. All nights at the track are good ones, just some are better than others. It does no good to bury one's head in the sand and pretend that the sport doesn't have its problems and that some tracks and groups need to do better and upgrade their facilities and treat their customers better, but it also does no good to immediately blast out negative comments on various forms of social media when things go wrong, whether by accident or neglect. If we would all work together I think we would all be most successful but the same thing could be said for society as a whole. 

Plans for our 2024 racing season so far are much like what we did last year. We plan to visit Arizona first and do a few nights at the Cocopah Speedway where Brad Whitfield is always very welcoming. We will then head to New Mexico for Chris Kearns' annual Wild West Shootout. This is one of our favorite races of the year as Royal Jones has one of the finest tracks in the entire country and the FLO staff of Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett are always great to visit with. We then head back West into Arizona to the Central Arizona Raceway where Minnesota native Don Shaw puts on a series of races with the help of regular promoter Whitfield. Shaw's rules use a formula that allows many different drivers from various parts of the country to race and their Late Model races end up being some of the most interesting of the year with many familiar faces on the track. When we are done there we will then head to Florida. 

Of course, all this depends are things working out as planned with continued good health and other factors always a bit of a guessing game. We will hope for the best. 

The plan is to provide converge on all these events here at Positively Racing.com if everything works out. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone reading this with the hopes that 2024 will be even better for you than the current year was.  

Sheppard and Troutman Big Winners at Gateway

 Despite rain most of the day in the St. Louis area, the Dome provided the shelter and warmth needed and the Gateway Dirt Nationals was completed in a spectacular way on Saturday night, December 19th. In front of what was reported to be the largest crowd ever to attend this race, Brandon Sheppard and Drake Troutman would be the winners of the Late Model and Modified feature races to climax three wild nights of racing. 

For the first time ever, in anticipation of a large walk up ticket sale, the top section of the grandstands at the Dome had the tarp uncovered in sections 401-13 of this huge building. Amazingly, even these sections were mostly filled with fans despite the fact that they were farther away from the starting line than if you were watching the race on tv in Peoria!

And the crowd was electric as the atmosphere here, particularly for the final night, is one that rivals just about any other event on the racing calendar. Even the 50/50 drawing is one that tops most others as with the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame running this as a fund raiser, the split amounted to $109,098! That would certainly be a nice surprise Christmas present. 

All drivers would get the opportunity to come back and race on Saturday, no matter how poorly they may have run or unlucky they might have been earlier in the week.  In many cases this is not good news for the fans because the unvarnished truth is that there is a lot of "iron" racing here that probably shouldn't be on the track but one of the beauties/problems of this event is if you get your entry in early, virtually anyone can enter a car and while many drivers each year are knocking off a bucket list item by racing this event, so of the races are like a trip to the dentist's office with no Novocain offered. 

The Late Models would run non qualifier races for those who did really poorly on the qualifying night, followed by a series of qualifier races and a Last Chance race to set the field for their forty lap main event. 

With a smaller field of cars, the Modifieds would just run qualifiers and the Last Chance race to set their running order for their main. 

The nine Late Model prelims had a total of thirty yellow flags and one that was actually checkered early due to a time limit. The Modifieds did slightly better with only ten yellows in their five races but it took some time to cut the field down to the feature size. There was plenty of action going on though between all the yellows and several dramatic passes, spins and wrecks that changed up the running order. The fence got knocked down at least three times that required fixing and in at least two cases, the replacement of the fence posts also. The drivers really get pumped up for this event and their emotions are on display, for better or worse. 

One of the more dramatic finishes in the prelims was the last lap of the Modified Last Chance race when Brandon Copp, after leading the whole race and close to making the main, hung his car in the fence in turn one on the final tour and missed the main. I know Brandon quite well as he races in my area and he so badly wanted to make the feature, having received an invitational this year for the first time. He got a whole group of friends and backers that helped him get to St. Louis from his home in northern Wisconsin as his is not a big buck team by any means. In fact, he told me that he set the cruise on his old Ford Dually at 65 and hoped that it would make it all the way to St. Louis. Now he just has to get it back home on Sunday!

One thing that continues to bother me is the foul mouthed interviews that too many of the drivers are providing. Now, I'm not so naïve as to believe that stick and ball players don't swear either, but they have been coached so that they at least keep it clean for their interviews on tv. If the drivers in this sport can't learn a little self discipline, then perhaps they shouldn't have the opportunity to talk on tv. It's gotten so bad and so frequent that the announcers don't even apologize for it afterward any more. We keep advancing the façade that this is a family sport yet seem to do everything to the opposite of promoting it as that.  

When all the prelims were completed, twenty drivers made the show for each of the two features with Tyler Erb and Tyler Peterson taking provisionals as the most recent winners not in the field. Three drivers were able to make the field in both classes and they included Ricky Thornton Jr, Jimmy Owens and Mike Harrison. Of those, Harrison would do the best overall between the two features. 

The driver introductions were spectacular as usual and all involved with this production really do a fantastic job. No matter how you feel about the actual racing, one way of the other, the introductions are a must see part of the show. 

The track was even wetter on Saturday than it had been all week which helped cut down the dust to a reasonable level but also turned the track into a "cowboy up" affair, something that almost seems inevitable. While the statistics will show that both feature winners led all laps, it really was a much better race than that. With the cream rising to the top, the Late Model drivers only had two yellow flags in forty laps and the Modifieds just one more in their thirty lap main. 

Brandon Sheppard would take the lead right from the start in the Late Model feature and would be firmly in control for most of the contest. In the last ten laps or so, he would start to get bogged down with traffic which slowed his pace. 

Thornton Jr was mired in sixth spot until he realized that the laps were winding down quickly and he really picked up the pace. Showing a marked increase in speed, he was able to race his way all the way up to second and was able to put a scare into Sheppard on the last lap when he dove low in turn one, a move that brought the crowd to its collective feet. However, Sheppard had just enough space that he was able to hold off that last lap bid and drive home for the win. One wonders just what the result would have been if this race had a few more laps or Thornton Jr would have picked up the pace just a bit sooner.

Another strong and consistent finish would see Tanner English come for tenth to finish third ahead of Devin Moran and Chris Simpson. Only three drivers wouldn't finish the race and there was not even a single grinding crash. 

Troutman would get the jump on Thornton Jr to take the early lead in the Modified thirty lap feature. Jordan Grabouski, Michael Ledford and Harrison would quickly fill the top five in the early going.  Troutman was working the cushion and while it was rough, it was also fast as long as you hit it correctly. Thornton Jr would continue to pressure for the lead but Harrison, who loves to bang the wall, was on the move as he and Ricky battled for second. 

Harrison would move into second and close on the leader but Thornton would fight back as that battle raged. A strange set of circumstances changed things on lap twenty two. Harrison got sideways and killed his car in turn three, seemingly forfeiting second. Thornton Jr actually contacted him, straightening him out and allowing Harrison to refire his car. When Thornton Jr stalled seconds later with a lost drive shaft, Harrison would catch a break and be restored to second. 

The last eight laps would see Harrison throw the kitchen sink at Troutman but Drake would not buckle as he maintained his line and made no mistakes as he drove on for the ten grand win. Harrison would finish a strong second with Grabouski, Ledford and Kyle Steffens completing the top five. 

It was such a pleasure to listen to the Troutman interview. Only eighteen years old, he shows the maturity and level headedness of a veteran of many more years as he calmly and clearly answered the questions with no screaming, finger pointing and foaming at the mouth of some of the others. And in the last few years, he has had to overcome heartbreak and set backs that most of the others could not even imagine. 

It's hard to believe but this spectacular gets bigger each and every year. I've made it clear that there are some parts of this event that cause me to grind my teeth but it is hard to argue with the success that it has produced and continues to do so. Whatever the formula for success for this event is, they have managed to bottle it and break it out every December with more and more folks wanting to be a part of it. 

Thanks to the three lead announcers, Ben Shelton, Dustin Jarrett and Jerry VanSickel for their usual great job of calling the action. I particularly appreciate when Jarrett is calling the main event action and just before the green flag waves, he politely but firmly asks the crowd to maintain their seats so that all can see the action and for the most part, it seems to work. Thanks also to Cody Sommer for allowing me to be a very small part of the program and to all the employees of both Sommer and the Dome for their tireless work in this long three days of racing. 

The 2024 version of this event will be on December 5-7 and tickets will go on sale this coming Tuesday. I'm guessing that next year they are going to have to open up even more of the seats to accommodate all who desire to attend. 

Gateway Round Two Winners Include Thornton Jr(again) and Grabouski

 Round two of the Gateway Dirt Nationals took place on Friday night, December 18th at The Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis Missouri, right near both the Arc and the Mississippi River.

The program would be identical to Thursday night's show in that Late Models and Modifieds would qualify, run heats and B Features and wrap up the night with two main events that would lock in another three drivers in each division for Saturday night's big finale. 

On Friday, another sixty four Late Model drivers and thirty Modified drivers would be laying it all on the line in an effort to make Saturday night's show. 

It was announced at the driver's meeting on Friday that Thursday night's crowd was a record turn out for that night and based on what was seen on Friday, I would imagine that at some point there would also be an announcement that Friday night's crowd was also a record. So, thoughts that with the dates for this year's race falling so close to the Christmas holiday might slump the crowd have proven to be incorrect. Some folks might get shorted on their Christmas presents this year but enough money was scrapped up to pay for transportation, tickets and plenty of refreshments for the Gateway trip!

And just by the interviews by Trenton Berry asking folks where they are from and seeing the license plates in the parking lots etc., it is remarkable how many folks are from far flung places that chose to attend this race. Despite what you think about the atmosphere that Cody Summer has developed and cultivated for this event, it clearly has been much more than a one hit wonder and looks to be not only surviving but thriving. And there is much about the atmosphere for this event that I do not care for. Summer at the driver's meeting today mentioned that he wanted everything settled on the track but not brought into the pit area where there are kids around as this is a family event but I certainly wouldn't bring a child to this race, with some of the stuff on the track and in the grandstands that is not only condoned but encouraged. 

Much was made about the fact that "it rained on the track during the morning" and that the surface was much heavier than it was on Thursday which , quite frankly, wouldn't have taken much H2O, and it did race heavier for the first few events but before long the dust clouds were billowing again toward the ceiling. There was enough dirt up by the wall that some of the drivers were able to bang the cushion for most of the night but that big, heavy berm of some years just wasn't there. And this track seems to have only two choices, either very dry and hard when it gets slick and smooth or if any moisture is added at all, it gets bumpy and humpy and cars are lurching all over. There doesn't seem to be any in between choice. 

Things got off schedule early on Friday as a car flipped into the fence during Late Model time trials and a considerable break was needed to repair the fence and then later during Modified time trials there was a grinding two car collision after one car broke and stopped abruptly. So, by the time they dropped the first green flag they were about an hour behind their planned schedule but were pretty much able to stay on task after that. Even the two seater ride was marked by Tyler Carpenter knocking the right rear corner off that car. 

The Late Model driver who wrecked, Shaun Wiltjer-Hunt, along with his crew did a remarkable job getting their car fixed to race, minus the whole front end but later, in another chain reaction collision and without the front end bracing that was cut off previously, he knocked off the radiator and did other damage that ended his night. 

Much rough and border line dirty driving just expanded on Friday and while the track officials publicly clucked their tongues, I think secretly they were smiling as such controversy is what they like to brew in this WWE style event. Anything that takes place during this weekend should be taken with a grain of salt as it is more hippodrome than a racing event. 

Such things as a blatant takeout by Kyle Steffens on Mike McKinney in a Mod heat and then for Steffens to say it is payback for some alleged event that happened years ago and Gordy Gundaker's blatant take out of Steve Sheppard Jr while Steve was leading a heat and then Race Director Kelly Carlton dropping the ball by allowing Gundaker to be restored as the leader after Sheppard was knocked out of that spot reek of poor judgement at the minimum and favoritism at the worst. But that sort of thing is both ignored and cultivated here. 

After all the slamming and crashing and finger pointing and waving was done, eighteen cars made the grid for each of the two main events. The Late Models would go first with Chris Simpson shooting into the early lead in the Jason Suhre car out of central Illinois. This race was called back on the initial start when Simpson apparently got too good of start on Gundaker but the second attempt saw Simpson do the same so this time the race continued. 

Only three laps were completed before Ryan Montgomery got shoved over on to his roof in a multi car pileup. Again, something you will only see here and that was when Montgomery got the car righted, he fired it up and rejoined the race! He would eventually finish eleventh. 

Ricky Thornton Jr would move into second after starting fourth and would dog Simpson for the first half of the race. Following a spin by Ryan Unzicker on lap fifteen, Thornton Jr. would get a big run on the green. slide down inside Simpson and take over the lead. After that, the last eleven laps would go green to checkered and Thornton Jr would run away from the field. 

So Thornton Jr. won his second main of the weekend already and will sit in a good spot to perhaps accomplish the first double win in event history. Simpson would go on to finish second but add him to the long list of whiners after he complained that Thornton Jr. slid him for the lead and then just about stopped in front of him. That is the kind of criticism you take when you have a forty win season. Brandon Sheppard would do some wall pounding and move up to third and lock himself in for Saturday also. 

Drake Troutman would start on the pole for the Modified feature and would have seemed to be the likely winner. He would lead the first twelve laps of the race and through the four restarts following yellow flags. Jordan Grabouski would move up to second after starting fourth after he ran Dave Wietholder pretty much right off the track to claim second, a move that drew many "one fingered salutes" from the Wietholder faithful near me. 

Grabouski would make his move following the last restart as he slid in front of Troutman in turn one to claim the short lead. However, Troutman would cross him back over and retake the lead but Troutman was too hot into turn three, slid up the track and got stuck in the fluff and Grabouski would drive under him and retake the top spot. 

After that, both drivers went to the berm and with that turning into the fast lane and neither bobbling after that, Grabo would drive on for the win. Another wall pounder, Mike Harrison, would move up from sixth to claim the last lock in spot. With position changes seemingly most coming after yellow flags, one wonders if there would ever be any passing if there were no yellow flags these days. 

The win was an impressive one for Grabouski who is not a driver that races against these other competitors in the field very often. But I guess a Modified is a Modified, whether it has a crate motor and hard tires on it or an open motor on gumballs. I guess they all drive pretty much the same. 

The track does have a nice program for this event and even more surprisingly, it is free! Racing would be completed somewhere around 11 pm, later than hoped for but understandable given the unforseen circumstances that cropped up tonight. Saturday night will bring on a series of last chance races before the two big main events and as I type this, it is a good thing that tonight's events will be under a roof as it is pouring rain in St. Louis and outdoors this race would surely have been called off already. With all the rainouts at Marshalltown this year, perhaps J VAN should invest in a covered track. By the way, he is calling the action in the Modifieds this weekend for FLO. 

 

Gateway Openers To Hoffman and Thornton Jr.

 The Gateway Dirt Nationals kicked off on Thursday night, December 14th at the Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis. As has been the norm in the last few years, Late Models and Modifieds would be the two divisions racing on this weekend, with this being the first of three nights of racing action here. 

Both classes will run full shows on the opening two nights with the field split for the first two nights and then everyone will come back and race on Saturday for the big money main events. 

The Late Model field is open to everyone and it is first come, first served with the field filling very quickly once the go ahead was given to start entering. In fact, so many drivers want to test this event at least once that a back up list is developed with drivers then being added to the entry list if for some reason someone entered had to back out for whatever reason. There is always some last minute jockeying going on with sometimes drivers moved from Thursday to Friday or visa versa that alters the numbers slightly and this year there would be sixty three Late Model drivers ready to test the tight oval on Thursday. 

The Modified field, on the other hand, is by invitation only with drivers wanting to race presenting their resumes to the management who then doles out the invitations to drivers. The Modified field is kept small because there simply is neither the time nor space at the America's Center to house all the racers that would like to try this race at least once. Through experimenting over the years with numbers, the management has figured out just how many cars they can accommodate and still get the show over at an early time and avoid the very late nights that punctuated this event in its early years.  This year there would be twenty eight Modified drivers representing a broad range of sanctioning bodies and area to do battle. 

It is surprising but nice to see how many teams put special wraps on their cars for this event, especially knowing how the racing is here indoors and that lots of contact with each other and the walls is the norm for racing here. While some teams just presented their battle scarred machines, rubbed up after a long season of racing, there were many that had special wraps highlighting the Dome and St. Louis and others highlighting the holiday time of the year. Pictures were taken early, a wise thing, as while a few escaped damage, many were torn up before the night was over and some barely survived their first lap of competition. 

The pits had been rearranged this year with a totally new parking arrangement that saw the race cars parked in long rows nearly the length of the building instead of a maze of short rows everywhere and it seems to me to flow much better and better utilize the space in the building. Also to be noted was the change to the race track itself with the exit removed from turn two and instead redesigned at a different angle in turn three. This greatly decreased the number of bad wrecks when racers would hook the outside wall and drive out exiting turn two which had been the scene of many bad crashes over the years. Things went very smoothly on opening night once everyone figured out the procedure that they had to go to the infield and then drive backward up the track and out the exit, much like they do at East Moline, Macon and lots of other bull rings in the Midwest. 

It did not take long for the action to heat up as one of the weekend favorites, Hudson O'Neal, had his motor lock up on him and he pounded the first turn wall in hot laps and reported that he was done for the weekend before he could even turn a lap in competition. This was disappointing to his many fans on hand but certainly wouldn't be the only car to be eliminated early.

In and effort to keep the track smooth and not rut up like some years, the racing surface was really pounded down hard and quickly turned black and very slick. The only watering they did was right before the two feature races except to "tickle" the track a few times. Things were mighty dusty for the fans and while the drivers weren't bothered, the dust filtered down from the ceiling onto the fans like falling ash and everyone was pretty much covered before the night was over. It was not pleasant but as one of the drivers said, now that they have the track smoothed out for the weekend, they can probably put a little more water on starting on Friday to hopefully speed things up a bit and widen out the track more. 

The Late Model field was split into two groups for their six heat races and Nick Hoffman and Freddie Carpenter were the two quick qualifiers with Hoffman at 12.778 the fastest of all. Dave Hess would lead Mods at 13.412 seconds. 

Six heat races for the Late Models and four Modified heats would qualify cars for the main. Three B Features would set the final running order for the two, eighteen car main events, of which only the top three would be locked in for Saturday's main event. 

The action started quickly and there was plenty of it as you might expect on such a tight track with so much on the line and drivers feeling both extra pressure and adrenalin to make the shows and also be spectacular. Jason Feger was prominently featured in one of the big "dust ups" but he wasn't the only one for sure. 

Drivers were told at the driver's meeting that it they had a problem with another driver they should "settle it on the track"! That kind of mentality is what keeps some purists of the sport away from this event and I can't say that I totally disagree with them. This event is sold as one part racing, one part circus and one part WWE and some times things get out of hand here but I guess all should recognize that when they walk in the doors to either attend or race. Apparently this race can't be sold on its racing merits only and has to resort to some of the other things that we see on display. 

The slow and dusty track did not provide the most spectacular of feature races on Thursday but at least, after being plagued by many yellows in the preliminary events, when the evening's best drivers hit the track for the mains, they did better with only one yellow in the Late Model feature and two in the Modifieds. 

Nick Hoffman redrew the pole for the Late Model feature and as the quickest qualifier of the night, that was all the special break he needed as he led easily from start to finish to top the Late Model main. He pulled away right from the start with Jadon Frame trying to stay with him. Hoffman pulled out to a big lead before the lone yellow waved just one lap early of halfway. 

This eliminated all the slower cars that Hoffman had just caught from being a problem and he was able to pull away once again. Jason Welshan was able to get past Frame for second but was unable to cut into the lead of Hoffman. Nick just got to lapped traffic as the race ended so it worked out excellently for him. Only the top three were locked in for Saturday so Welshan and Frame also won't have to worry about getting themselves into the show on Saturday. 

The Modified feature saw Hess jump into the lead but the yellow waved before a lap could be completed and on the restart, Ricky Thornton Jr was better prepared and he got the jump on Hess to take over the top spot. Only one lap was completed before the yellow waved again but after that, they ran nineteen laps straight through to the finish. 

Thornton Jr was able to pull out to a big lead and only had to deal with a couple of lapped cars near the end which didn't hinder his effort at all. He had a big lead and pulled away from the field. Michael Ledford was able to get past Hess for second at midrace but never could close on the leader but they completed the top three and locked themselves in for Saturday night also. Only one driver in each of the two mains failed to complete the distance. 

The show was completed early with all racing done around 9:30 pm which the town fathers approve of since it releases hoards of hungry and thirsty folks loose to test the limits of downtown St. Louis after dark. One would be advised to be on foot in the downtown area this year as there is a ton of construction projects underway with many streets closed and navigating a thrill at best. 

The Friday night show will be a duplicate of Thursday night's with a whole new set of faces to compete in both classes and then everyone will  get back together on Saturday to crown champions in both classes. 

Berry Earns the Biggest "Turkey" at Springfield

 Turkey Bowl XVII wrapped up on Saturday night, November 18th at the Springfield Raceway. On tap for Saturday night's show would be B Features and features for the B Mods and Mods along with the Midwest Modz A's. The Legend Cars would also run a main event and joining the action on Saturday to run a full show were the Late Models. Quite a field of them pulled in for this one night show with nearly fifty of them signing in to race with drivers as far away as central Illinois and Nebraska all seeking one last race in 2023. 

It would be quite a night with crazy trophies for the feature winners, fireworks for the fans and some good racing action in all classes. The weather has been excellent all weekend with plenty of sun and while it has gotten cool the last couple of nights, it was not extraordinarily so but just what you might expect this time of year. The lack of a threat of rain probably helped greatly in making this what seemed to be the biggest Turkey Bowl ever in terms of fans in attendance and race cars on hand also. 

Three or four B Features would be needed in each class as Springfield only runs twenty cars in their feature races, somewhat surprising with the wide quarter mile that would seem to easily handle more cars than that. However, perhaps that smaller field of cars would allow the qualified drivers to run hard without triggering the rash of yellow flags that often plaque these kinds of races. And all the mains went off quite smoothly on this night so perhaps their thinking is the way to go on this as the smaller fields definitely cut the starting grid to just the best of the best in each class. 

The biggest race of the night would be the Modified main event. Scheduled for fifty laps, this race would pay $7575 to the winner, in honor of Larry Phillips who this memorial race was named for. When you think about it, it strikes me as a bit odd that the Modifieds would be the focused class, especially considering that Larry Phillips raced Late Models on both dirt and asphalt and as far as I know, never raced a Modified. and with Late Models on the card, it would seem to be a natural.

However, the Modifieds would be running for the biggest bucks and they would put on a fine show. With only three yellow flags in their main event, it was a quick and competitive race for the open wheel cars. Illinois' Mark Burgtorf  would take the early lead and the first six laps he would call his own. He was challenged quickly though by Sawyer Crigler and on lap seven, Crigler would drive past Burgtorf to take over the lead. 

Crigler was pounding the cushion as Terry Phillips moved in to challenge while at the same time, Tom Berry Jr. started to hook up right on the bottom as he "catfished" around the inside line and was making time on the field. Berry Jr. drove past Phillips and then moved in on Crigler and on lap twenty two, he took over the lead. 

However, Crigler stayed right with Berry Jr and when Tom got into heavy traffic and got hung up, Crigler was right there to drive past him and regain the lead just at the halfway point when Dakota Sproul spun and triggered the yellow. 

Berry Jr. was the class of the field, however, and it took him only one more lap to regain the lead and from then on, the field was chasing him to no avail.. He would extend his lead to nearly a full straightaway and even a debris yellow with twelve laps to go didn't bother him as he pulled away once again. A late rush was made by Dylan Thornton who was fifth at the last yellow and he drove past Ken Schrader and Phillips to finish third, or at least that's what it seemed. 

And while Berry Jr. had no problems with tech and collected his big check and trophy, second place Crigler did not pass the sharp eyes of the tech folks. Tires, I was told by the announcer of the weekend Jerry VanSickel, was his problem and his disqualification elevated Thornton to second ahead of Phillips, Schrader and Shawn Knuckles. 

Speaking of J Van, he was at his unfiltered best this weekend. He doesn't get to talk at his home track of Marshalltown anymore since he's busy running things there, so when he gets out on the road to announce other special events, he can throw out all his best comments that he's been saving for a year. He had a great time with the parking lot "cluster" on Friday night and was at his PG rated best all weekend, although he did not move to the level of my old announcing buddy and R rated specialist, Lonn Oelke. 

Berry Jr. has had a wonderful year of Modified racing with big wins in both crate and open motor events and has been one of the hottest and most consistent drivers in the class all year. 

The other top feature event of the evening was the Late Model main, with twenty drivers going thirty laps for a top prize of $5075. Starting on the pole, it would be Arkansas driver Tyler Stevens that would lead this race from green to checkered and the Late Model drivers did a great job, going green to checkered without a single yellow. 

This would make lapped traffic a bit of a challenge and it almost bit Stevens as Dillon McCowan reeled him in in heavy traffic and nearly got by, but Stevens made the moves he needed to and cleared the slower cars and then pulled away again. Also making steady progress throughout the course of the race were Logan Martin and Ryan Gustin. They started side by side in row five and they would march their way to the front, all the while hoping for a yellow flag that might have made things very interesting. 

However, that did not occur and they would have to settle for third and fourth, having made late race passes on Justin Zeitner to put him back to fifth at the finish. Stevens is one of the up and comers in the "Natural State" and mentioned that he would be next heading to the Wild West Shootout in Vado in January. 

Kris Jackson is one of the top b Mod drivers in the Midwest and he took yet another big win as he would top the twenty car field to earn the Turkey Bowl win. Damian Kiefer would start on the pole and lead the first lap of this race but the ageless one, Ken Schrader, would get up on the cushion and drive past Kiefer to take over the lead. 

However, Kiefer would fire back and two laps later would regain the lead from Schrader who settled in to the second spot. Jackson would start fifth in this race and by the first yellow, which occurred with eleven laps in the book, he has passed Schrader for second. That yellow would prove to be Kiefer's undoing as just one lap later, Jackson would drive under him and take over the top spot. 

The last half of the race would belong to Jackson as he was very fast on the bottom lane and despite Schrader continuing to pound the cushion, he just couldn't make up any distance on Jackson. At the line, Jackson had a comfortable lead on Schrader to take the win. Another hard charger, Ryan Gillmore would make a late run that would boost him up to third ahead of Kiefer and Dalton Keith. A tip of the hat to Schrader, though, for top five runs in both Modified classes as the veteran can still get it done. 

The Midwest Modz A would round out the evening with their twenty lap main event. The early leader was Sundance Keepper, a great name for either a race car driver or bull rider. He would lead the first two laps with his even greater numbered race car, #6 7/8. On lap three however, J.C. Newell would pass him for the lead and Keepper would later spin out of the top five.

Three laps later, former major league baseball pitcher Anthony Ferrara would drive past Newell to take over the top spot. For most of the rest of the race and through three yellow flags, these two would continue to battle for the lead with Ferrara continuing to set the pace. Late in the race, Ferrara would stretch his advantage while Peter Richardson and Jerry Lankton would work their way up to second and third at the wire. Newell would settle for fourth ahead of Matthew Kay. 

Midwest area racing is now wrapped up for the 2023 racing season and it was quite the spectacular way to wrap it up. I'm sure Jerry Hoffman would call this his most successful Turkey Bowl ever from just about every standpoint. Hopefully the "blow back" from the fire situations on Friday night will prompt some new equipment and perhaps some more training for members of the staff, but the plain truth is while the issue flared here, it could have happened at many tracks in the Midwest with the response being no better as fire safety is definitely the weakest link at many tracks. 

Thanks to Hoffman and his entire crew who put in some very long hours this week and surely must be looking forward to a few days of rest before they start planning their banquet and the 2024 racing schedule. 

Thompson and Pearish Initial Winners at Springfield

 The Turkey Bowl continued on Friday night, November 17th at the Springfield Raceway. The first feature winners of the weekend would be crowned on Friday night as both the Pure Stocks and the Midwest Modz B would have their main events on this night after qualifying on Thursday night. Along with multiple B Features in those two classes to set the final running order for their two main events, heat races would be held for the Midwest Modz A along with the B Mods and Modifieds. 

To say the least, this would be an open wheel fan's night to revel in as along with the fifty two Midwest Modz B's already on hand, there would be an additional forty six Midwest Modz A along with sixty four B Mods and fifty eight Mods added to the show. One hundred sixty eight Modifieds in various classes but all looking identical would be either an open wheel fan's dream or perhaps a nightmare, depending on how things went. There were virtually as many Modifieds on hand as there were letters in the alphabet to describe them!

Throw in another fifty two Pure Stocks and there were over two hundred and twenty cars jammed into the Springfield Speedway pits and parking lots. Yikes, that is a lot of race cars.

Granted, the show was much more compact on Thursday night with not nearly as much racing but as smoothly as things went on Thursday, quite the opposite would be the case on Friday. Twenty nine races would fill the dance card on Friday but along with that and to complicate the situation, there would be two flips, four disqualifications,  two serious race car fires and a parking lot so jammed and disorganized that no one could drive into the pits and the fire department temporarily shut down the racing due to the safety issues presented by the clogged parking lot. It was quite the night! Racing would begin just before 7 pm and despite nearly nonstop racing except for the mandated shut down that was quite brief, racing would wrap up just around the witching hour of Midnight. And did I mention that after a very comfortable night on Thursday, a cold front plowed through southern Missouri during the day today, and temperatures fell off the table with it falling into the thirties before the final checkered flag flew. 

Both the flips were of the violent nature right in front of the crowd but both drivers were just fine. You could probably attend races for many years and not see a race car fire as serious as the one witnessed on Friday but then to see nearly back to back ones, both of the very serious nature, right in front of the grandstand, was both remarkable and plenty scary. Fortunately both cars were upright when the fires broke out and both drivers were able to get out quickly but I shiver to think what might have happened if they were upside down, given the slow and inept response of track officials. The first fire saw just one person respond to the situation with an extinguisher and after he emptied that with absolutely to impact, he flung it to the ground and walked away. 

It took forever for more officials to respond it seemed, and in the meantime the race car just burned away while the driver rushed around trying to gather some help before finally giving up and flinging his arms to the sky. Spectators in the crowd got rather upset and it turned into an ugly situation. Having nearly exhausting their limited resources on the first fire, when the second one broke out in nearly the same place on the track, this was even worse, taking longer to put out and watching the car burn down. 

The odds of something like this happening back to back were almost nil, but unfortunately, that is exactly what happened and the response was a scary thing moving forward. I don't want to point fingers but I'm guessing other people have already "toasted" the track on social media so I don't need to go any farther on this. However, this should set a lot of tracks and promoters thinking because my guess is that a lot of race tracks are no better prepared to handle this kind of situation than they were here tonight. Fire and fire prevention at the race track is one of those "elephants in the closet" that no one wants to think about. 

Twenty cars would start the Pure Stock feature which turned into one of the smoothest races of the night. Mark Simon would start on the pole and lead the opening lap but he was soon passed by the station wagon of Allen Thompson. Thompson was quick and he began to pull away from the field as the race remained under the green flag. Thompson found a fast line on the bottom of the track and he would continue to stretch his lead. 

Thompson was way out in front but there was a  great battle for second and back as a group of around a half dozen cars jockeyed for position, swapping lines and positions on nearly every lap. Jody Tillman moved into second by the halfway point with Robbie Jones third but that was just temporary as they continued to swap spots. 

Thompson would continue to dominate with no one providing any kind of challenge to him. He would build up nearly a full straightaway lead over the field and cruise home for the win. Trenton Houston would make a great drive up from the fifth row as he found the top side to work for him. In the last few laps he passed Tillman for second with Jones settling for fourth and Chris Tonoli rounding out the top five. 

The Midwest Modz B feature would round out the night with only the tough fans sticking it out for this one. Cody Arnett would lead the opening lap after starting on the pole. However, just as he got passed for the lead by Zackary Martin on lap two, a grinding three car crash occurred right in front of the grandstand with Nathan Bresee flipping while Jake Carter rode up on the overturned car. Fortunately, all drivers were fine. 

However, the red would negate the pass by Martin and Arnett would retain the lead. This time, though, it was Tyler Pearish that would move into second and he began to put much pressure on the leader. At the halfway point, he threw a slider on Arnett in turn one and made it stick as he took over the top spot. 

While Arnett would never let him get away, Pearish would control the rest of the race and go on for the win by several car lengths. Arnett would settle for second and Austin Harrell would round out the top three. 

The Turkey Bowl will wrap up on Saturday night with B Features and main events for the Midwest Modz A, the B Mods and Mods while the Late Models will be added for a full show also. And the Legend Cars will also run their main. 

Larry Phillips Memorial Turkey Bowl Kicks Off in Springfield

 The Larry Phillips Memorial Turkey Bowl XVII kicked off on Thursday night, November 16th at Jerry Hoffman's Springfield Raceway in Springfield Missouri. 

Under the format established for the 2023 version of this race, the event would be a three night show featuring seven different divisions of racing with all getting their chance to run a full show during that three night run with only the Late Model portion of the event being a one night, complete show. The rest of the six divisions would run their event over two nights, those nights depending on the class.

On Thursday night the Pure Stocks and Midwest Modz B would run their heat races while the other classes would be running multiple hot lap sessions staggered over the course of the evening. The Legend Cars would also run their heat races on Thursday night also. So there would be cars also on hand from the Midwest Modz A, B Mods. Modifieds and Late Models on hand practicing. To say the least, there were plenty of open wheel cars on hand and one has to have a pretty sharp eye to tell one from the other since just about all of them now use quick change rear ends and all spoilers are off the cars this weekend, open Mod or not. 

Hoffman, among other improvements he has made over the last few years, is an expansion of the pit area and he now has a considerable amount of space available to park race cars. Just about all that space was being used already on Thursday night and certainly not all the cars for the weekend were on the grounds by Thursday, including some of the bigger rigs used by the Late Model teams. 

Forty Four Pure Stocks and fifty one Midwest Modz B signed in to race on Thursday night which would require five heat races in each class. There were also twenty some Legend Cars to race. And somewhere  around another hundred cars in the other four classes also hot lapped which meant that somewhere North of two hundred race cars were on the grounds on Thursday night. 

The evening would start off with hot laps for all divisions around 6:30 pm, including the three divisions racing on this night. After all classes got one set of hot laps in, the Midwest Modz B, Legends and Pure Stocks would then run their heat races. Then it would be more hot laps for all classes, rotating the order. 

The three classes racing on this night would qualify using passing points but there was not provision to protect heat race winners as one driver in the Pure Stocks would win a heat and ultimately still be scheduled to race a B Feature on Friday night. Only the top eight in passing points would move into the mains on Friday, thus assuring some large, Jeff Broeg sized  B Features on Friday night for those three classes. 

Heat race winners in the Pure Stocks would include Karla Lampe, Robbie Jones, Josh Marshall, Justin Pike and Michael McKnight. Other highlights would include the second and third place finishers in the first heat being disqualified for technical issues, a certain heat race win by Dale Senters ended by a mechanical breakdown within sight of the checkered and a return to racing by Rex McCroskey. Some fans will no doubt remember Rex who was a top notch Late Model driver for years and has returned to racing this year running in the Pure Stock class. There were only three yellows in the five heats total as the racing was tough but nonstop in most cases. 

Heat race winners in the Midwest Modz B were Zackary Martin, Tyler Pearish, Nathan Bresee, Keith Nutter and Cody Arnett. The Midwest Modz B did almost as well as the Pure Stocks as there were a total of only six yellows in their five heats. 

Seventeen Late Models were among those that practiced on Thursday with many on the pre entered list not among those on hand. Some of the noteworthy drivers that took practice included Shane DeMey, Tony Jackson Jr and Logan Martin. Ryan Gustin made his first laps in his new Longhorn ride from Todd Cooney but shut down early and took a push off the track. Gustin also had a Modified to drive also.

Other noted Modified drivers on hand for practice included Ken Schrader, Tanner Mullens, Tom Berry Jr, Anthony Roth and Peyton Taylor. Terry Phillips showed his loyalty to the KC Chiefs with a special eye catching wrap, even if one doesn't care much for the Chiefs. 

The track was in excellent shape for the opening night. With the unusually warm temperatures and moist conditions, they actually had to stop a couple of times to roll in the track both on the top and inside lanes as the water was actually seeping up and making the surface slippery. Gradually through the night it did dry out and black slick started to show but the drivers were racing all over what was a fast track. 

The thirteen heats were completed sometime after 8:30 pm after starting about an hour earlier,  after which more practice time was given, as it seems like some drivers just can't get enough laps, even if they have been racing all Summer and it is now Mid November. The pit area was packed, as you might imagine, with crew members and families making this night a profitable one for management while there were a surprisingly large number of folks just spectating on this rather balmy November night. 

Heat races for all other classes are scheduled for Friday night along with B Features and main events for the three classes that kicked things off on Thursday. 

 

Horn Dominates For Shiverfest Win at Lee County

 The wrap up of the nice, two night weekend of racing for the Midwest dirt finale would see the drivers, crews and fans trek across the southern Iowa border to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. The three eighth mile oval would host the once postponed Shiverfest, an annual event that typically wraps up the racing action in the Hawkeye State. 

For the second straight night, Brian and Marcie Gaylord would be the hosts for the event which was a somewhat bittersweet night for them in that they would be stepping away from promoting at Lee County after being the promoters here for the last eight years. Fortunately for the track, they were able to announce the new promoters who are taking over while a number of tracks throughout the Midwest are currently struggling to find promoters to run their shows. 

Neil Kohlmorgan and Patrick Profeta will take over the promoting for the 2024 season. Both have experience as racers, owners of race cars and both have also sponsored race cars. They are expected to announce their plans on classes they race along with other information soon. The persistent rumor that continues to circulate is that racing will be switched to Saturday nights in 2024 so we shall see. 

One hundred and twenty eight race cars signed in to race on Saturday in the six divisions that were offered. The Mini Haulers would replace the Hobby Stocks from Friday night's Scotland County show with otherwise the same classes running which did a allow a number of out of town teams to travel and race at both tracks. Nearly seventy drivers that didn't race on Friday night would be added to the field with the Sport Mods needing a B Feature on Saturday while everyone got to race in the other five classes. 

A different looking division was the Mini Haulers which are rear wheel drive pick up trucks. This is a class that used to race at my home track nearly thirty years ago when the NASCAR trucks were just coming into vogue. The class had a flaming period, being very popular for a couple years and then quickly crashing into oblivion. 

Before the races I was able to take a few minutes to have a nice conversation with Iowa's "Iron Man", Darrel DeFrance. With forty some shows having been completed this year, it was kind of a different year for DeFrance. With not too much Late Model racing for him in central Iowa, he has taken to going on tour with the SLMR, traveling to races in both the Western and Eastern region of that series. He has enjoyed running this series but has been making a number of trips to western Iowa this year for series races. 

He tells me that he plans to run the same car with updates while also updating his motor program for next year. He is still running his IMCA crate engine and with the SLMR so time trial orientated with the points that are awarded for good qualifying runs, his little motor makes it tougher to qualify well on big and heavy tracks. He says it races well but qualifying is tough and he might upgrade to a motor with more power. 

The SLMR has lost its title sponsor for 2024 and is looking with Darrel saying that a prominent driver and business owner from southeast Iowa is the prime candidate as the replacement so we shall see. Darrel is also considering making an Arizona run in January to race that series out there as he can make it a duel purpose, both racing and visiting family that live out there. 

Racing would begin shortly after six on a track that was quite heavy but would gradually dry out as the night progressed, causing the fast racing lane to move around and shift around as drivers searched for the fastest groove for their particular taste. 

There were plenty of things going on for the fans too as Shiverfest always provides with hayrides through the pits for fans and trick or treat on the front chute before the races started. There were plenty of folks on hand, both young and old in costume. 

The Stock Car feature would be first to roll out for action, with nineteen drivers taking the green. Abe Huls would lead the opening lap but just one lap later John Oliver Jr. would take over the lead. Oliver Jr., busy all weekend running in two classes, would then establish dominance and would lead the rest of  the race. There was plenty of action going on behind him though, as Huls, Miciah Hildebaugh, Todd Reitzler, Tom Cannon and Dustin Griffiths all fought for position and jockeyed back and forth through three yellow and one red flag. 

When Cannon spun with just two laps to go and Hildebaugh dropped out, the running order got jumbled as Oliver Jr. drove on for the win over Griffiths and Reitzler. 

While Tim Ward would lead from start to finish in the Modified feature, it was not an easy win by any means. Austin Becerra was closely following Ward from start to finish and several times got plenty close enough to provide a challenge. Ward was forced to adjust his line on the track several times with Becerra several times diving to his inside in the turns and nearly making the pass. 

After the last yellow though, Ward found a line that worked best for him and he was able to put some distance on Becerra who would settle for second. Charlie Mohr would move up from ninth to finish third. 

The most dominating run of the night was completed by C.J. Horn who would lead from start to finish in the Late Model feature. He would again show great speed but without the drama of Friday night at Memphis where his last lap challenge went badly South. 

This night he would lead without any challenge at all, having built up nearly a full straightaway before a lone yellow with six laps to go bunched the field. Horn, who's car didn't seem to be handling all that well, made up for that with exception speed that would see him pull away on the chutes. In fact, even his motor sounded different than everyone else's as he pulled away once again. 

There was a good battle for second though, with Darrel DeFrance making his car work well on the inside as he ducked into second and then held off a strong rush from Jeff Tharp who was driving Andy Nezworski's car on this night. I slipped up on spotting this and thus can't say whether this was a one night arrangement or if Tharp had purchased the car for 2024. 

A three car grinder on the second lap slowed the Sport Mod feature as Chris Spaulding took the early lead. Tanner Kingele and John Oliver Jr. tried to keep up with Spaulding who was setting a very fast pace. 

Gradually moving forward were Brayton Carter and Tony Olson who were moving up after starting in the fifth and eighth rows respectively. As Spaulding continued to lead, Carter searched around on the track and finally found the openings he needed to move into second. A spin then would pack the field and set the race to the checkered in motion. 

Spaulding was very fast and while Carter chose to push the cushion, he could stay with but never seriously challenge Spaulding for the lead. Spaulding was one of the very few USRA cars in the  field and his speed showed. Carter pushed to the limit but just couldn't cut the margin that Spaulding had. Thus Carter, looking for feature win thirty two on the year, would instead settle for family honors in a tie with brother Cayden who also earned thirty one wins in his last year running Sport Mods. 

Not noticed by many was the fact that Spaulding clipped one of the dreaded infield ute tires on the last restart which broke his left front suspension and while he remained just as fast dragging the left front, if a yellow had flown he would have been in big trouble. Fortunately for the Missouri driver, that never occurred. 

Travis Demint would lead from start to finish to win the Sport Compact main event. He was not able to break away from Chevy Barnes and Dyllan Bonk who followed him closely through the early going. On the move was Wisconsin driver Brody Rivest who had broke in his heat and would start eighteenth Rivest showed great speed as he tore through the field and when David Prim slowed with just two laps to go, Rivest was up to second and all over the leader.

However, Demint drove a smart last couple of laps, not giving the inside line up and while Rivest had much speed, he couldn't make the outside work to the point that he could make a pass on the line. Demint would withstand one more challenge and drive on for the win. Rivest, who travels to big races all over on both dirt and asphalt tracks, would finish a strong second with Barnes holding on over a three car scrum at the finish line. 

The Mini Haulers would provide a wild conclusion to the night as those tough enough to hold on for the last checkers on a rapidly cooling night would be entertained. Brian Tipps would take the early lead and hold the point for the first three laps. Fireball Brockett would then make the pass for the point and lead for the majority of the race. 

Tipps would fall back a few car lengths but then make a nice charge back up into contention and would challenge Brockett for the lead in the last couple laps. Tipps would try the outside and after a few tense moments, manage to squeeze past up against the wall to take a mini lead as the white flag waved. Brockett would fight back and take the lead through turn one but Tipps would then again charge up on the outside to challenge. 

Coming off the last corner, Tipps had a run and looked to be making the winning pass until Brockett moved up the track and pinned Tipps to the wall, where Brian would bang off the concrete and Brockett would hold on for the win. Score the win for Brockett but without any style points.  Eric Detlefsen would finish third. 

All racing would be complete just after 10 pm and with the ability to spin the clock back one hour, that was an added bonus. Thanks to Gaylord's for a fine weekend of racing and a great way to wrap up the Midwest racing season. Best of luck to them in the future and all are now looking forward to seeing the plans of the new promoters to keep racing alive and healthy at Lee County. 

Reitzler Tops List of Winners at Exciting Race-Tacular at Scotland County

 Who would have guessed that we would be racing in northern Missouri and southeastern Iowa the first weekend of November? With last weekend's complete washout of racing in the entire Midwest, the folks at Scotland County and Lee County made the bold move to reschedule both of their races to this weekend and those of us, frustrated with the wet weather the last few weekends of October, would be the beneficiaries with another chance to get out and see some racing before the snow flies. 

And oh, by the way, the snow has already flown where I live as we had about three inches of the white stuff this week and the ground was still white as I pulled out yesterday, although we may have warm enough temperatures this weekend to remove most of it, at least temporarily. 

The Race-Tacular at Scotland County on Friday night would be the first of the two weekend treats. This weekend event would also find new promoters running this show as Brian and Marcie Gaylord were running things here this weekend with Mike VanGenderen away doing track prep for a race in Arkansas that he had been hired to do and this race being a late addition to the Scotland County schedule. The Gaylord's were helped greatly this weekend by the new Fair Board and Race Committee from Memphis. Apparently the previous Fair Board all resigned recently with the last race here being put together by the new Board and Race Committee in less than one week. What this means for racing going forward at Scotland County I do not know but clearly there may be some new folks in charge in 2024. I met a couple of the folks on the Race Committee and they were both very friendly and accommodating, something this not always the case at some tracks. 

There were some familiar faces helping with the operation on Friday though, as "Big Guy" Kevin Eggleston was waving the flags and Tony Paris calling the action. I did also catch a glimpse of Kevin Feller who I would assume was doing scoring and timing. 

The program would feature the six classes of cars that most frequently race on area tracks with everything from Sport Compacts to IMCA style Late Models in action on this night. Eighty eight cars would sign in to race and while that is not a pit exploding number of racers, quite frankly, on a cool late Fall night, that for me is just about the right number of cars with no B Features needed and everyone getting to run a main. 

And speaking of the weather, after all the promises of such nice weather, things kind of took a nasty turn as Friday progressed with lots of clouds and even some rain in the forecast. It did sprinkle on and off for at least a couple of hours as drivers were arriving and while it never got to the point to threaten the show, there were no doubt some that chose to leave their race cars home on a such a damp and cool night while others sat on their couch and watched the event on tv. Even after the show, I ran into long stretches where the highway pavement was still wet, indicating that some got more than just sprinkles. 

Two heats and a feature would be the program except for the Sport Mods where they had enough cars for three heats. The track was heavier on this night than I can remember seeing before and while the speeds were high, it took some time to widen out the groove. However, there was not a whisper of dust all night and although just a bit choppy early, the track seemed to smooth out as the night progressed. 

The program started right at the advertised time and with a one spin rule and only a single yellow flag in the thirteen heat races, all qualifying was completed in just sixty three minutes. The kids got to come on to the track at that point for the candy toss and then it was time to go feature racing. 

The six feature races would provide some fine racing action with several of them not decided until the last laps and some great side by side racing for the top spot. In fact, things were so intense that in at least two of the features, there was some spirited jousting between drivers battling for the lead, both during and following their respective contests. 

However, with all this going on, the performance of Todd Reitzler, who came from the back after a near disaster during the Stock Car feature to end up the winner, stands out from the rest. Fifteen cars would start the Stock Car main with Dustin Griffiths taking the early lead. He could only hold the point for two laps though, until he was passed by Jason See for the lead. John Oliver Jr. would move into second and was giving See plenty to worry about.

Just at the halfway point, Reitzler, who was running fifth, would get wildly up on two wheels heading into turn three and nearly take a wild flip. However, he was able to right the car but still flew off corner three at a high rate of speed, into the bean field that had just be combined in the hours that the pits filled up. 

Reitzler was able to return to the track and the race but he had to go to the tail plus the right front of his car was clearly damaged with it nearly dragging the ground. Nevertheless, he would return to the race when just one lap later, Josh Robinson would take a violent flip in turn one and trigger the red flag. He would be OK and the race would continue. 

See would continue to lead with Oliver Jr. chasing but Reitzler was working his way back up through the field, picking off car after car despite his front end issues. He would get back into the top five and continue to charge, moving pas Oliver Jr. for second and setting out after See. Coming to the white flag, Reitzler would get under See in turn four and make the winning pass while pulling away on the final lap to record quite the stunning victory. See and Oliver Jr. would trail at the finish. 

The Modifieds would roll out next and provide another barn burner of an event. Jarrett Brown would move past Kurt Kile and Austin Becerra to lead lap one but soon after, Becerra would work the outer lane and make the pass to move into the lead. Meanwhile, Chris Spaulding, who started sixth, was on a tear as he came flying up and fought his way into second spot. 

He set off after Becerra and they separated themselves from the pack. Spaulding was all over Becerra as he looked for a way by. Finally, he pulled a bold slide job in turn three and dove under Becerra to take over the lead. However, Becerra tried to counter by diving under Spaulding but he unfortunately caught the rear end of Spaulding's car and turned him around leaving turn four. 

The yellow flew and as track officials tried to sort everything out, Spaulding made Becerra aware that he didn't appreciate the move with several dive bomb moves under the yellow. The call was made that Spaulding would go to the tail for the spin but Becerra would join him there for "questionable driving." 

That would put Kile into the lead and he would hold on for the last seven laps to take the win. Tim Ward would pass Brown for second but too late to make a charge on Kile, who pulled into victory lane with his own set of issues as the right front on his car was damaged and the race ended just in time for him. 

The Sport Compact feature would find Cyle Hawkins taking the early lead with Barry Taft and Jeffrey Delonjay challenging him. Delonjay was especially fast and he moved into second and tried for several laps to get past Hawkins. Finally, with just three laps to go, he was able to make the pass on the high side in turn one and would then pull away. 

The race produced a one lap sprint to the finish when Taft broke on the track and while Delonjay would pull away, Hawkins would go up in smoke on the final tour with Chevy Barnes moving into second and Matt Moore third. 

The theme of the night was close racing and the Late Models following that script well. This race would see a battle that wouldn't be settling until the closing laps with one competitor not happy with the results. 

Sixteen cars would take the green with rookie Josh Foster leading the first four laps. He would be challenged by Evan Miller who would make a bold pass on the tall side of turn  four to take over the lead. On the move was C. J. Horn who redrew poorly, starting eighth but he quickly passed cars and moved into a challenging position. 

Horn would catch the leader and press Miller and the two would thrill as they tore through lapped traffic and tried to maneuver past each other. Horn dropped back slightly and then made one last charge that would see him get side by side with Miller. They raced that way for two laps as neither would give and inch and as they took the white flag, they were still side by side. 

However, both tried to squeeze low into turn one and there just wasn't room with Horn going for a spin and the lone yellow of the race triggered. Miller would retain the lead and would then hold off Tommy Elston for the last two laps for the win with Darrel DeFrance edging into third on the final lap. After the race, Horn was not happy and dive bombed the winner as well as trying to plead his case to "Big Boy." Neither were successful. 

Nineteen Sport Mods would go nonstop in their main event and it would be a familiar face in victory lane as Brayton Carter would fight his way past John Oliver Jr. to collect the win. Oliver Jr. would take the early lead with Carter quickly moving up from third to challenge. Those two would separate themselves from the pack and they had quite the battle with Oliver Jr. working the outside line and Carter trying to get inside of him. 

Finally, on lap ten, Carter would edge in front but Oliver Jr. was staying right with him. Lapped traffic was heavy and that made the difference as Carter made a couple of spectacular moves in traffic that allowed him to earn some distance over Oliver Jr. which he held to the finish. Brandon Lennox would finish third. 

The Hobby Stocks would wrap up the night with another nonstop main and this race would be dominated by Bennett Johnson. He would start on the pole, take the early lead and then pull away from the pack. He would never be challenged as he made the top side of the track work for him, pulling away from the pack. 

There would be quite the battle for second though, with a group of drivers fighting for that position. After sliding back into the field, Nathan Ballard would make a late charge that would see him get to second as he passed Tom Killen Jr. late for that spot. 

The final checkered would fall at 10:05 pm, making this exactly a three hour show that was full of excitement and close racing. Congratulations to all for a fine night of racing. Thanks to the Gaylord's along with the Scotland County Fair Board and volunteers for their help. everyone overcame what was kind of a dismal weather day to provide an excellent night of racing and a good way to wrap the season at Scotland County Speedway. 

Brandon Davis Tops Modified Dandy at Webster City

 The second half of the Fall Futurity was held as a late afternoon event on Sunday, October 22nd at the new look, Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Iowa. Originally planned as a Friday and Saturday show, that schedule was changed at the end of last weekend when the miserable weather  rained out just about everything in the Midwest. 

The Mason City Motor Speedway ran their final event of the year instead on Friday night with the Fall Futurity backed up to Saturday and Sunday. 

In the meantime, they were working furiously on the track in Webster City with some fairly substantial changes in the track taking place since the last race just weeks ago. The track was shortened with some light poles on the inside of the track being removed so that the track could be brought in on its ends and a lot of new jersey barricades were put in place to form an inside wall around the track. The old entrance/exit it turn one was covered up with that being a solid wall and the race cars now stage on the inside of the track in turn three where they then roll on to the track for the start of events. One trip by the grandstand and they are ready to race. 

In essence, the track really hasn't been shortened as much as it has been widened but that is a good thing in that it really opens up the corners and allows racing of a more side by side manner. Some drivers were right up against the outside just as they had always been but there are now several lower lines in the corners to race on also. I suspect that after a few more races those lines will be come even more used. After all, Sunday was just the second race ever on the new configuration so it will take some time for the full scope of the changes to be effective. I was told that the low groove was pretty rough on Saturday but almost nonstop work by a wide variety of heavy equipment from before I got there right up to race time had changed that considerably and again, with a few more races I would assume it would get nothing but better. 

The outside wall is now gone and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is debatable. There were still plenty of drivers right up on the top side but they had nothing to lean on. All I know is that going off the end could provide a pretty rough landing now. They did have to pull one Stock Car out of the weeds after he got too high in turn two. Fortunately, he ended up no where near the river that runs behind the back chute. 

The race cars will park toward the front of the pits thus improving the site lines for the fans and making it easier to sit low in the grandstands and still see the entire track. 

The last time I saw promoter Todd Staley, he was in a harness after having surgery but all healed up now, he was back driving his Stock Car in competition with that class as well as supervising the operation. Always a man on the go, I did manage to corner him long enough to get a few words from him. 

Set to wrap up the USMTS season this coming weekend, he was hoping that they wouldn't leave the Lakeside Speedway surface open so that it could suck up the water from this week's expected rains. He is hoping to wrap up the season with races at Lakeside and 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas this weekend. Having already crowned a champion in Rodney Sanders, the Junghans Memorial at Lakeside is a big race and they want to get it in. 

As far as next year for the USMTS, there has been a change in philosophy on their scheduling for next year. They have discovered that the multi day shows are difficult for tracks to make happen so look for no more than six of the three day shows in 2024 at such places at Deer Creek, Cedar Lake and Ogilvie. There will be a number of three race weekends but they will likely be at three different tracks with close proximity to each other and more two night shows at an individual track.  The schedule is due to be released in about three weeks with the opener likely to be at Rocket Raceway Park in Texas once again. 

Five sanctioned classes would be in action on Sunday with USRA Modifieds, Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks racing along with the Late Models who were running SLMR rules. Eighty cars would be on hand for the Sunday finale to the racing season with no B Features needed. This was a good number for what would hoped to be a quick show on a Sunday with some weather scheduled to move into the area later on. 

And it was exactly that; a very quick show. All the heat races were spun off in under one hour and while they continued to work the track for the features, they had many specials at the concession stand as they were likely clearing things out there too. 

Using the typical draw/redraw format of the USRA, the Late Models would be up first on the refreshened track. Bad news for the rest of the field would find Tad Pospisil drawing the outside pole. He would take the lead right at the start and would dominate the event, only running into any issues when he had to deal with lapped traffic that was running the same lane as he was. 

Just like many other tracks, whether new or veteran facilities, making a track racey for the Late Models is a tough task with their wide tires and moisture seeking chassis. We would see the other four classes all over the track on this Sunday with them racing from right on the hub to the grassy confines right up next to the wall. 

Except the Late Models that is. They would all line up right on the inside lane and hug the inside Jersey barriers, making it tough to pass and tough to lap the slow cars. However, Pospisil would get his way through the field to the extent that he would win easily. Brian Harris was the show as he came from eighth to finish second, working hard and using parts of the track that others scorned. Jason Hahne would finish third. 

Dustin Gulbranson would lead from start to finish to win the Hobby Stock feature. Again, he drew the outside pole and would show the way from start to finish. There was a good battle for second with Chris Hovden outdueling Scott Dobel for the spot. 

Then the Modifieds rolled out and we would be treated to by far the best race of the night. And while Brandon Davis was officially scored the leader of all twenty laps, it was not near that easy. Kyle Brown put on a show as he quickly moved up from the third row to challenge Davis and what a fight they had for the lead. 

Brown would throw slider after slider at Davis and Brandon would cross him over time after time as they continued to jockey for the lead. Several times it looked like Brown was going to grab the top spot but each time Davis would re maneuver and lead back to the line. Brown would make his biggest attempt with just a couple laps left with another monstrous slider but Davis would hold him off and with his momentum killed, Brown would have to settle for second with Ron VerBeek third.  Tyler Davis was point chasing all the way from Kansas but he would end up backwards on the track after just two laps and call it an evening. 

It took until the fourth feature of the night to see the first pass for the race lead, but the B Mods delivered with Harley Dais leading the first six laps after starting in that prized outside pole position. However, Harley was getting looser and looser and drifting dangerously close to the front stretch wall and finally it would be Ty Griffith that would duck under him and take over the lead. 

Griffith is a master at this track and the changes made didn't seem to bother him as he found a line high on one end and against the Jersey barricades on the other end that saw him pull away for the win. Shadren Turner, also likely chasing points, came from Missouri to finish second with a pair of #56 cars crossing the line in that order with Joe Chisholm third. 

The Stock Cars would wrap up the evening with a two car duel for the win that saw Austin Meiners lead the opening lap, then give away the lead to Nate Whitehurst, only to fight his way back into the lead some seven laps later and then go on for the win. 

Things got dicey with just three laps to go when the first yellow of the race flew and on the restart, Bill Crimmins would take Whitehurst for second and try to flag down Meiners for the lead but Austin had a big enough advantage that Crimmins couldn't catch him and would drive home for the win. 

I believe the track prep crew spent a huge amount of time on the new surface and their efforts were rewarded with a much improved track on Sunday. A quick Sunday night show was much appreciated by all with the whole program running off in about two and a half hours. As always, thanks to Todd and Janet Staley and the whole crew at Hamilton County. With a whole off season to settle, it will be interesting to see how the new look track races in 2024. 

Doar Tops List of Winners at Ogilvie

 The dirt track racing season in the state of Minnesota ended on Saturday night, October 21st with the completion of the 13th annual Topless Nationals held at the Wagamon family Ogilvie Raceway.

With nearly three hundred race cars in the pits and full house in the grandstand on Saturday, it  certainly wrapped up the 2023 racing season in the Gopher state in a big way. Micro Sprints joined the card on Saturday night so there were eight classes running either just feature races or a multitude of B Features, depending on the class.

Racing would begin promptly at 5 pm on Saturday with ten B Features to be contested before the main events could begin. Nearly all drivers returned for the Saturday night action so there were some very large, Jeff Broeg sized B Features to be run first with very few of the starters added to the mains. It was "go big or go home" time for many and the results would set the running order for the tail end of the pack for the mains. Only the Late Models, Hornets and Mod Four would not run B's with all of them slated to run the main event. Apparently the word got out that full fields were not yet in place in two of those classes and there were several additional entries that would tail the fields for those mains, making the complete car count for the weekend at two hundred and ninety cars plus the Micros. By the way, I overlooked the fact that there was actually one Michigan driver on hand too so there were six states and two Canadian provinces represented. 

Super Stocks were first on the track for their main event with twenty five drivers taking the green as Shane Sabraski, last year's winner, was added as a provisional starter after he couldn't make the grid through a B Feature. It was a miserable weekend for Sabraski, at least by his standards, as while he would charge from twenty fifth to sixth in the Super Stock feature and come from eighteenth to eighth in the Modified main, not battling for the win in at least one class is way below is normal standards and probably his poorest effort of the entire Summer. 

The Super Stock feature would see third generation driver Brandon Duellman out fight Dexton Koch to take the win. Duellman would start on the pole and lead the first thirteen laps before Koch came from the fifth starting spot to drive past Duellman just as the halfway signal was given. Shortly thereafter, the lone yellow would fly for a spinning car and bunch the field.

Strangely, Koch, who showed so much speed in taking over the lead, just didn't have the same burst once the race restarted and three laps later Duellman was able to repass him and take over the point. Duellman would then pull away over the last five laps to take the win over Koch, who was going for his twenty ninth feature win of the year, and Dylan Nelson who's late charge got him up to third. Only three cars failed to finish the event. 

Pat Doar closed out another spectacular racing season for the New Richmond Wisconsin veteran as he would lead all forty laps to win the Late Model feature and take home four grand for his efforts. He redrew the outside pole and would jump into the early lead with Josh Zimpel,  Steve Laursen, Kevin Eder and Shane Edginton chasing him. 

A couple early yellows would keep the field bunched and this gave Edginton the opportunity to move forward as he pulled up to challenge Laursen for second. Doar would maintain the lead but things would get tighter when during a long green flag stretch, the leaders would catch the pack and Doar had to make some nifty moves to keep a charging Edginton behind him. 

Track management made the mistake of just watering the track before the main events, rather than ripping it up and the track started to take rubber during the Late Model feature, forcing most of the drivers to the bottom lane and making passing of the slower cars even tougher. 

Doar is smooth as melted butter, however, and he was able to find a way through the traffic while stretching his lead at the same time. The battle for second was a dandy though, with Edginton and Laursen trading the spot three times before Edginton would hold on for that position. 

The race ended just in time for Doar too, as when he pulled into victory lane he had a flat right rear tire, likely the result of the rubbered up conditions. For Doar, it was his fourteenth feature win of 2023 in another banner season that included the WISSOTA Challenge Series championship among his other prizes. 

Track workers then ripped the track after the Late Models were done and there would be no more track issues the rest of the night as they likely second guessed why they had waited to do so. 

Modifieds would hit the track next with twenty four taking the green for this race which may have provided the biggest surprise of the night. Joseph Thomas would take the early lead and would run up front for the first eight laps with Ward Imrie and J.T. Johnson moving in to challenge him. 

Imrie, the Canadian driver from Winnipeg and a former national Modified champion, would really put the pressure on Thomas and as the handle started to go away on Joseph's car, Imrie would drive past him to take over the lead. By the halfway point of the race, Imrie would lead but both Jeremy Nelson and Don Eischens were moving forward. 

Nelson was really strong on the low side of the track and he took over the lead from Imrie, only to see Ward saved by the yellow flag. However, one lap later Nelson would make the pass stick and he would then pull away over the final ten laps to score the impressive win. Nelson is a former track champion here at the Big O, but this season has been a quiet one for him and his win in the finale was his first of the year here in the Mods. Eischens, who has had a very strong second half of the year after he brought out a new car, would finish a strong second with Imrie hanging on for third. 

Tommy Bawden would win his twentieth Mod Four feature win of the year as the soon to be crowned 2023 national champion recorded another first place run. It was a tough race though and while Bawden was the third leader of the race, he didn't take the lead until there were just three laps remaining in the contest. 

Dean Larson had led the opening lap but he was soon passed by Tommy Pogones and Pogo Jr would lead right up to the final late race pass by Bawden. It seemed that Bawden was biding his time and when it was time to go, he powered under Pogones for the lead and then pulled away in the final three laps for the win. Pogones would get a solid second with Larson rounding out the top three. 

David Swearingen is a tough one to beat at Ogilvie in the B Mod class and once again on Saturday, he would dominate the proceedings, starting on the outside pole and taking the lead from Travis Schulte on lap two and then leading the rest of the way for the win. 

Schulte did hang with Swearingen for most of the race, only loosing second to Joey Jensen with six laps to go. Jensen pushed hard to try and take away the lead but under green flag conditions he just couldn't match the speed of Swearingen, who would drive home for the win. Soon to be crowned WISSOTA national Midwest Mod champion Zach Benson would drive up from eighth to finish a strong third and probably could have used a couple more yellows to help his cause, but the B Mods did well with just two yellows for minor spins. 

I knew it wouldn't be a fair fight and Tim Johnson proved this to be the case as the Brainerd driver dominated the Street Stock feature with his Stock Car, taking the lead and running away from the field in a division where this typically is not the case. 

I talked to Johnson before the race and he admitted to me that the Stock Cars have motors more powerful than the Street Stocks and also weigh 250 less pounds and the only thing holding them back is the crappy tire they run on. 

But Johnson, who is one of those rare drivers that could make a wheel barrow competitive, and has a multitude of wins and national championships in various classes, would just hug the bottom lane of the track, take the lead from soon to be crowned WISSOTA Street Stock champion Justin Vogel, and then pull away from the field. Vogel, who loves to pound the cushion, just couldn't find enough speed on that line and Johnson would baby his car through the turns and then use its superior speed on the chutes to pull away. 

The battle for second, however, was a good one with Derek Turner, the Fargo North Dakota driver, nipping Vogel for second as they dueled back and forth for the spot. The Street Stocks did a good job with only two minor yellows in their race, where hopefully management will rethink their rules for next year's event or it will be a Stock Car show with no one else bothering to try. 

The Hornets would wrap up a long night that stretched to the Midnight hour with Matt Dittman passing Jeff Rohner on lap five and then leading the rest of the way for the win. Late in the race Kole Kampsen would get past Rohner for second and close on Dittman but he would run a smooth line and drive home for the win. 

While I didn't report on the Micros, I can say that they provided the most spectacular accident of the night when "Porketta" Paul Wrazaidlo from Duluth would pound the wall in turn four in a heat race and then barrel roll down the front chute, nearly joining Brian Reidemann in the flagstand before falling to the track below. But Paul never says die and after borrowing parts and piecing the car back together and despite the fact he was on "rubber legs" after the crash, he returned to run the feature! Paul later told me that this was the fourth time he has been on his roof this year! I think it time to try a different class. 

I was disappointed that there were no victory lane interviews on this night as it would have been fun to hear the drivers one last time before we call a halt to this racing season but it is a long walk from the tower down to the track and for some reason, they never seem to be able to find a second body to do the victory lane interviews here. 

It was quite the weekend of racing and a good way to send everyone off into the sunset on another racing season. Now the plans begin for 2024 and the changes that are inevitably a part of the sport as drivers change classes, some retire with new ones replacing them, tracks change promoters and classes and the off season swirl begins. 

Thanks to Nate Fischer, the Wagamon family and all the workers at the Big O for a job well done this weekend. 

Topless Nationals Kicks Off at "The Big O"

 Friday night, October 20th, the thirteenth annual Topless Nationals kicked off at the Ogilvie Raceway near Ogilvie Minnesota. 

Started on a whim those thirteen years ago, this race was first conceived as a fund raiser during Breast Cancer Awareness month and also as a fun time for race crews and fans alike to bid a fond farewell to the racing season with a fun event. To make it different, the classes were all required to remove the roofs from their race cars and run them topless. This certainly gives them a different look and there are a number of events like this across the country when the tops come off for a week to produce something different for the fans. 

With three different sanctioning bodies operating within a reasonable travel distance of this track, the Topless race has always been run under more open rules with cars from each sanctioning body running their own rules and tires and for the most part this has worked out all right. There was a bit of a rub when it came to running Stock Cars against Street Stocks one year and that rub may reappear again before this weekend is over as after a lull of many years, Stock Cars were again allowed to run with the Street Stocks. More on that later. 

For the first time, this race even had a sponsor as the local vocational school, Pine Technical and Community College, came on board to sponsor the race this year. The track gets in the spirit of this event as all the walls surrounding the race track are painted bright pink for this weekend along with all the "dreaded infield tractor tires" so there can be no excuse for hitting them this weekend. 

There are costume contests for both kids and adults, trick or treating in the pits before the races on Saturday and even a contest for the best decorated race car. This year the racing teams went all out on this and at least half the field had some kind of decoration on their cars whether it be lights, skeletons riding along or all sorts of ghostly monsters sharing the cockpit with the drivers. There was even a first this year when starter Brian Reidemann was forced to trigger a yellow flag during a heat race when some ghostly monster fell out of a race car and laid in turn one. Fortunately no one ran over the beast but that was a  first for me. 

Apparently there are still a lot of race teams and fans that aren't ready to pack it in for the 2023 racing season. Blessed by spectacular weather on Friday, a huge car count was on hand for the opening night of this event. A total of two hundred and eighty nine cars signed in to race in the seven classes presented on Friday. All classes except the Mod Fours showed increased car counts from last year's event and with both the Hornets and Late Models returned to the show after being absent from this event for several years, that put an additional fifty cars in the pits just between those two classes. The Hornets, by the way, are the only class that doesn't have to remove the roofs as their roofs are part of the integrity of the vehicles and to remove their roofs would make them too dangerous to drive. 

The largest class on hand was the B Mods which are a combination of the WISSOTA Midwest Mods, the USRA B Mods and the IMCA Sport Mods and there were a mind numbing eighty three of them on hand. Cars from all three of the sanctioning bodies were also seen in the Mods, Hornets and Street Stocks while the Super Stocks and Mod Fours are classes unique to WISSOTA and no other Late Models other than WISSOTA cars tried to race on this night. 

This is that time of the year when race cars are bought and sold and there were evidences of a number of drivers racing in different classes with newly purchased equipment and quite a variety of drivers on hand that had never raced at Ogilvie before. Ogilvie is one of the few tracks that could pull in such a big field of race cars even though in all their pre race advertising there was never one mention of just exactly what the purse was and what the various finishing positions would pay. Ogilvie can get by with that while a lot of tracks could not. At this point of the year, there are still a bunch of drivers that want one more race and with such beautiful weather promised for the weekend,  they came out in droves. Consider that for a race where no one knew what they were racing for, drivers from five states and two Canadian provinces were on hand in the pits Friday night!

It was a surprise to me when the race format for the evening featured the old school draw/redraw method of qualifying when this race just begs to be a passing points show. I was particularly surprised at this as they are familiar with passing points in this area, having used that format for several races here this year and with such a big field of drivers, passing points are so much more fair. As an example, soon to be crowned WISSOTA national champion in both the Modifieds and Super Stocks, Shane Sabraski,drew badly for both classes and failed to make the feature in either class, despite the fact he moved up several positions but not just far enough to make the cut off. It will be interesting to see what the sixty time feature winner can do, racing through B Features on Saturday. 

The program was a monster sized one on Friday with thirty four heat races in all to set the field for B Features and main events on Saturday night. The drivers were pretty well disciplined on Friday with there not being an over abundance of yellow flags, despite the unfamiliarity of many drivers with the track and a number driving new or different equipment. That is, however, except in the B Mods. There were six yellows in the first lap of the first B Mod heat and things got so bad that Reidemann sent the whole field to the infield for a "time out." 

The next heat was brought on the track and they raced their event and then the first heat returned from the infield to finish out their race. It seemed to work and the first heat only produced one more yellow before they finally finished things off. 

The track was super slick, as you can imagine with that many races but it never did take rubber and drivers were still running multiple grooves right to the end. Best of all, once they threw the green flag for the first heat, they never touched the track after that, even to mist it or do other quick touch ups and it remained fine with very little dust also. 

No hot laps were held on Friday as Thursday was reserved as the practice night for this event with over one hundred and forty cars on hand for that alone. Racing would start just a few minutes late on Friday as the track was just a little bit too slick to start without  a bit of wheel packing. However, after that it was nonstop racing and this was important as they had live music waiting to hit the stage. All racing was done before 11:30 pm which was very good I thought, considering the number of races to be held. 

They will start two hours earlier on Saturday with B Features and main events in all classes on the schedule. 

My only complaint is with them letting the Stock Cars race with the Street Stocks as the Stock Cars have a clear competitive advantage and it amounts to  a slap in the face for your weekly competitors that have supported you all year to force them to race the final event of the year at a disadvantage. The USRA Modifieds also have a big motor advantage over the WISSOTA and IMCA cars but the area drivers always seen to be able to overcome that, so we will see what Saturday brings for the Stock Cars and Street Stocks. 

There was much talk in the pits on Friday with the announcement that the Wagamon family, the owners of Ogilvie Raceway, have obtained a five year contract to take over the promoting of the nearby Princeton Speedway, a track that races on Friday nights. The Princeton Speedway was primarily an IMCA track with only WISSOTA Super Stocks and Mod Fours racing there and all other classes under the IMCA banner. With Ogilvie being a full WISSOTA track, there was much talk about just what classes would be racing there next year. Wagamons have been very successful promoters at Ogilvie after they purchased the track several years ago from the original owners and they are expected to be just as successful with their new venture at Princeton. I am told they are anxious to bring in their equipment and get to work with some reshaping of the track and possible widening of the corners of the quarter mile among their first tasks.