Saturday, April 15, 2023

Babb: Fifty For $10.555 at 34

 The fifteenth annual Slocum 50 was held on Friday night, April 14th at the 34 Raceway near West Burlington Iowa. This annual race, which honors the memory of Brent Slocum, a Late Model champion killed in a freak accident in the pits at this very facility, was originally scheduled to be held on Saturday night with a five thousand dollar to win preliminary event slated for Friday night. 

However, the weather forecast for Saturday was not particularly favorable and this race, which has had a history of fighting weather issues over the years, was decided to be flip flopped with the Prelude event slated for Friday night. This was quite a bold move in my mind but one that the track owners Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt made in concert with the MLRA officials on duty with the series. Logistics such as pre sold tickets for the two nights with varying value and some other things that we as fans don't even consider but are truly of great importance were worked through and the move was made. 

Certainly a key thing and one that Brad and Jessi were willing to take was with the late move, they stood the possibility of not having the crowd that they hoped for, simply because many people were focused on making sure they attended on Saturday night for the big race with the larger payoff of the weekend. Making such a late change is risky but they opted to go ahead anyway, not knowing just how many people would hear of the change and make sure they attended on Friday night for sure. I would say this this change, first announced on Thursday, is another example of how much power social media has and its ability to reach people across the spectrum. I still don't like it, but for promoters, fans, sponsors and anyone else associated with the sport, I think it is a reality we must accept. I became a believer after a race in Pennsylvania earlier this Spring was changed to a Thursday night, simply because the weather looked better on Thursday than it did for the weekend and with only twenty hours of notice and the power of social media, they packed the race track!

And so it was that on Friday night the $10,555 to win Slocum 50 was held at 34 Raceway. Forty one Late Model drivers signed in to race but their numbers were shortened early by some unfortunate mechanical issues. Spencer Diercks lost a motor in hot laps and Chad Halladay has transmission issues and neither was able to  race further while series regular Kolby Vandenbergh unloaded, then discovered some serious issues of his own and loaded the car back up and watched the evening's events. 

It was another gorgeous day in southeastern Iowa, warm and sunny but this also put a strain on the track prep crew to keep moisture in the racing surface but they did very well. They actually produced a track that had a pretty healthy berm early on that needed to be knocked down and while the surface did eventually dry out, drivers were racing all over the track all night and that is all one can ask for. 

A predictor of the evening's results came early when Shannon Babb would be quickest overall at 15.090 of the thirty nine drivers that would take to the clock. The typical format for the MLRA would see four heats and a pair of B Features set the field for the fifty lap main event. 

Tensions seemed to be higher on Friday night as after most everyone played well on Thursday night, there were several instances of drivers dive bombing each other after the heats and they showed that not all were agreeing with each other's tactics. For Ryan Unzicker, the nightmare continued from Thursday as again he had trouble; this time a rubbing tire caused him a flat in his heat after starting out good. He did fight back through a B Feature but ended up the feature pointing the wrong direction and having Bob Gardner nose to nose with him. 

With provisional entries doled out, twenty six cars would start the fifty lap main event. Babb would get the jump on Jake Timm and lead the opening lap and after that, it would be a case of everyone chasing the Illinois driver. Two early yellows in the first seven laps would help to keep the field bunched and the early going would see Timm and Brandon Sheppard fighting it out for second. 

The next thirty one laps would go nonstop and Babb would drive away from the field. While Sheppard and Timm continued to battle for second, a good battle for fourth would see Garrett Alberson and Mason Oberkramer trade that spot back and forth. This long thirty one lap nonstop run would see Babb do his best work of the night. The lapped traffic was heavy but he was spot on, moving high and low as needed to get through the slower cars while not losing any ground to Sheppard, who was trying his best to make up time. 

When the yellow next waved with only a dozen laps to go, there were only eleven cars still running on the lead lap. During this yellow Oberkramer would pull off while still in the top five and for the first time Ryan Gustin, who had languished back in the pack, started to become a factor. 

The final laps would see Babb pull away once again and not be challenged by Sheppard as Shannon had the field covered on this night. Gustin, however, would continue to charge and while not being in the top five at the last yellow, he would continue to charge being very fast right on the bottom and with a late burst, he would edge out Timm to complete the top three. Chris Simpson's steady run would see him crack the top five at the checkers as seventeen cars would complete the distance. 

Support classes on this night would be the 305 Sprint Cars and the Stock Cars. Both fields were on the small side but honestly, provided just the right amount of a break for the Late Models who were the show on this night. The Sprints race a pair of heats while the Stock Cars were lumped together into one big heat. 

Their feature races were quite entertaining and didn't take a lot of time, both about equally important on this night. The 305 feature would see Jake Glasgow lead from start to finish but he did receive a challenge that made things interesting. At the midpoint of the race Cody Wehrke would pass Chase Richards for second and then close on Glasgow. Wehrke would try to squeeze by on the high side down the front chute and the leaders would bang wheels with Wehrke just about toppling over. 

He lost ground and was passed for second by Tanner Gebhardt who also closed on Glasgow. Jake would hold off the late charge that produced a close finish with Wehrke settling for third in a race stopped only once by the yellow. 

The Stock Car feature would see John Oliver Jr lead from start to finish but it was not an easy win either. Early on he was challenged by Gary Pesicka with Corey Strothman and Jason "Big Daddy" Cook moving in on him. Cook moved to second but then Strothman would regain the runner up spot and move in on the leader.

Strothman found a unique line around the track that gave him a good run on the leader but despite trying his hardest. Oliver Jr was not about to make any mistakes and he would cross the line with Strothman nailed to his rear bumper. Cook would complete the top three. 

For the second straight night it was another nicely done program. As usual, time trials took some time and the first race didn't see the green until 7:38 pm but after that, it was almost nonstop racing and even though the evening was completed with a fifty lap main, it was still just 10 pm when the final checkered waved so congratulations to all on a job well done. The voice of the track was a familiar one as even though the Stuart season has yet to begin, the distinctive voice reaching us was that of Tony Paris. 

  Special thanks to Brad and Jessi for taking the bold leap and I hope that the night balanced out well for them. I must say that while there was a good crowd on hand, I have seen bigger ones for the Slocum but my hope is that the numbers work out OK for all. 

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