Sunday, April 23rd dawned sunny but very cool and windy. Most race tracks opted not to run on this night for reasons such as wet grounds, cold weather etc. However, one track on the South Dakota and Iowa border did start off their season on Sunday and that was the newly named Interstate Speedway in Jefferson. While things are new at Interstate, the new ownership has opted to go back to their original name. This would be the fifty first season opener for Interstate Speedway, squeezed as it is between Interstate 29, the railroad tracks running just to the East of the property and Park Jefferson Speedway which is directly across the street from this track.
And while it might have been the fifty first opener for the track, it was the first opening night ever for new owners Chase and Shelby Alves, former residents of Arizona that moved to this area and purchased this track while putting their own racing careers on the back burner for the time being. What a nervous night it must have been for them as not only did they have at least a million things to worry about as any promoter would on opening night, they had to battle the weather this week on top of it plus make a tough call whether or not to race on this night.
Fortunately they had some extra help this week as the anachronism pair, MVG and J VAN were both on hand to offer assistance to the Alves'. Mike Van Genderen helped out with track prep this week up to and including on this night as he spent much time on the grader, even as he and son Rowdee both had their race cars on hand. MVG, who has his fingers in more pots this year than he has fingers, helped out when his own track in Stuart was unable to open on this same night. Ironically, later both he and son Rowdee would both be scored dead last in their feature races after a wall banging and first lap collision respectively.
There have been too many rainouts early this year and J VAN(or Jerry Van Sickel as he sometimes goes by), has been chomping at the bit to see more racing and with an open night, he drove out and seemed to be helping in a wide variety of ways, doing everything from flagging a couple of early races to wearing a head set and scurrying around in the tower. Jim Stannand from the IMCA home office was also spotted in the pits.
Interstate races five divisions, all under IMCA sanctioning and include the five most popular classes ranging from the Modifieds down to the Sport Compacts. Most of the drivers that race at Interstate are from the Sioux City area but there were drivers on hand on this night from even central Iowa, Nebraska and as far North as Fargo N.D., everyone anxious to get a race in.
Apparently there was a special scheduled for the Sport Compacts and Hobby Stocks as a whopping twenty nine and thirty four respectively showed up in those two classes, forcing even a B Feature in the Hobby Stocks while running everyone still able in the Sport Compact feature. Interstate is a high banked quarter mile oval with a concrete wall all the way around, all pitting outside the track and a back straightaway so close to I-29 that drivers could monitor highway traffic if they weren't fully busy with their own racing. But this is a busy track with lots of action and races somewhat like Marshalltown except it is smaller. On this night, there was plenty of bite with Winter long soaked soil and the accompanying chop that went along with that which made for an exciting night of racing.
One hundred and seven cars signed in to race in the five divisions with racing started right at the scheduled time of 5:30 pm. fifteen heat races were spun on in quick fashion, taking just sixty eight minutes to do that. A B Feature for the Hobby Stocks would be sandwiched in between feature races with all racing complete by 9:15 pm.
A first time winner and a few expected winners were among the highlights of the feature racing action. The first time winner was Dyllan Ricks who after moving up from the Sport Mods, won his first ever IMCA Modified feature on this night. Ricks would have to pass seasoned veteran Ricky "The Racer" Stephan to get the win after starting sixth as seeing Stephan lead from the drop of the first green flag. Ricks would gradually work his way to the front and running the inside line, would motor under Stephan to take the lead and then pull away in the late going for the win.
A wild scramble behind him would see Matt Bonine pass Chris Mills on the final corner for second with Stephan setting for fourth ahead of Justin Voeltz.
While the Modified feature might have provided an upset, there was none of that in the Stock Cars with multi time national champion Mike Nichols leading the last fourteen laps to take an easy win. Nichols started seventh on the grid but he found the inside line to be working for him and he quickly moved to the front and caught early race leader Jonah Chinn and made an inside pass on lap six to take over the top spot.
There was only one yellow after that and with the last ten laps going green, Nichols simply drove away from the field, winning by nearly a full straightaway over Chinn. Coming from tenth, Brian Seibold would finish third ahead of Travis Barker and Devin Tripp.
The Sport Mod feature got off to a rocky start with Mike Kramer going over on his lid in turn three on the opening lap. Fortunately, he was fine but the car, not so much. The restart would see Tommy Tanner grab the early lead over Kirk Beatty and Willy Kirk. Kirk would move past Beatty into second and following a lap five yellow for a spin, Kirk would drive under Tanner and take over the lead. Tanner would fight back on the outside and while Kirk would be scored the leader for the rest of the way, Tanner kept things close right to the finish line.
Joe Feyen made a nice charge up from seventh to finish third ahead of Connor VandeWeerd and Luke Jackson in a race stopped only once after the opening lap troubles.
That would leave us the Sport Compact and Hobby Stock features, the two most congested with big fields in both for their main events. The Sport Compacts would start twenty six cars in their main, all that were still running for the feature. This would be a wild race with four lead changes and the winning pass made coming to the white flag.
Jacob Walding would grab the lead on the opening lap after starting third on the grid. However he was soon challenged by a swarm of other drivers with the field running two, three and sometimes four wide behind him. Fifth starting Anthony Clark would pass Walding on lap ten for the lead but this would just trigger a series of lead changes as Walding would take back the lead on the following lap.
However, following a lap twelve yellow, Walding would be slow on the green and Clark would repass him to take over the lead with just a pair of laps to go. Walding got up on the wheel, moved to high side and squeezed past Clark to retake the lead as they raced to the white flag. Walding would hold on for the win, while the scramble behind him continued with Tyler Thompson nipping Caine Mahlberg for second with Clark slumping to fifth behind Gilbert Aldape. Just over half the starters were on the track at the finish.
The Hobby Stock feature was disappointing in that it had the potential to be an excellent one with twenty four fast cars slated to take the green. However, instead the race was marked by very rough driving with two drivers getting black flagged for over zealous maneuvers, much banging and pushing and a lot of wrecked cars.
The six yellows bogged down the action and a time limit finish was threatened at the end and only nine drivers were on the track at the end with the rest mostly sitting in the infield in various states of disrepair. I really think a driver's meeting to clear the air and settle the drivers down might be appropriate next week before they run out of racers due to everyone being wrecked.
As for the race itself, there were three different leaders and a white flag pass for the win which made things interesting. Andy Hoffman would take the early lead but soon after grabbing the top spot, he would spin all by himself, triggering the first of a long series of yellows as it seemed like every time the field got bunched up, someone either got into another competitor or spun.
Joel Magee would inherit the lead from Hoffman and he would lead the majority of the race with Craig Clift, Ryan Leedom and then Kevin Bruck chasing him. Bruck would actually pull into the lead at the halfway point, only to get a flat tire and turn the lead back over to Magee while Clift's chances were ended when he was dumped by another driver who saw the black flag for his actions. At this point they resorted to single file restarts to try and minimize the craziness.
Meanwhile, almost unnoticed, Morgan Olmstead was advancing through the field after starting nineteenth and qualifying through the B. Near the end of the race, he had worked his way up to second by keeping his nose clean while everyone around him was tearing theirs off. He and John Cain would challenge Magee in the final few laps and coming for the white flag, Olmstead would drive past the leader to take over the top spot and he would hold on for the win in the wild race. Magee would settle for second ahead of Cain, , Magee's team car with Bo Lundquist driving and Parker Anderson. It was a a wild one but I really think they need to tone things down a bit or they will run out of cars or driver's patience, which ever comes first.
With all race pitting done in the infield and drivers bringing tires, jacks etc. into the infield before their main event, the pit crews seemed just a bit rusty as the new season began. One Sport Mod was ready to start the feature race until flagged down by on track officials as he still had his spare tire and jack on the rear deck of the car, despite the imminent start of the race!
Another Sport Compact driver, eager to return to the track after a pit stop tire change, was in a bit of a hurry and didn't wait for his crew to remove the jack and he dragged it most of the way down the infield before he ran over it, kept right on going while the crew retrieved the remnants of the jack.
Alves' are in the process of making improvements to the facility despite a tough Winter in which to do so and they have erected a series of big billboards behind the back chute for advertisers and also as a sunblock as the setting sun here can be a real annoyance. Hopefully they will get the scoreboard up and working as that is missed for the lap board and a long range project to consider might be some more track lighting as after the sun goes down, it gets a bit sketchy seeing who is who on the track.
However, it seemed like a nice opening night crowd, particularly with dropping temperatures as soon as the sun set and a biting wind right in our faces in the main grandstand. Things seemed to go good overall for the opener and can get only better as the season goes on . Good luck to Interstate Speedway and thanks to the Alves' for their help on this opening night.
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