Monday night, May 8th was the opening night of racing for the 2023 racing season at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa. Struggling as they have with the weather along with many other race tracks in the Midwest, their earlier attempts at opening up their season had been foiled and Monday night would feature a rescheduled Stock Car special as a part of a two series show along with Stuart International in Stuart where they plan on running their rescheduled portion of this two night show this coming Wednesday night.
It was a beautiful night for racing in Northwestern Iowa, at least that's what it seemed through the afternoon and into the evening with just the slightest chance of a passing t-storm. However, that would come back to bite us later.
The beautiful facility here at Spencer, certainly one of the most impressive County Fair facilities in the entire country, was sporting one more improvement this year as one thing that was never offered here before and that was a decent viewing place for the crews and others that were in the pits, other than to walk all the way around to the main grandstands. A large cargo container has been placed outside turn three just behind the exit from the track that will be a viewing area for the pit folks. Unfortunately, the safety raining is not quite yet done and while I snuck up early and checked out the view, it won't be available for use until the next race after they get it finished off. It won't hold everyone in the pits but it certainly is a nice starting point and one that will probably be done at a nominal price. However, I'm still waiting for a scoreboard that any facility this nice should have for sure.
Five classes would be in action on this Monday night including IMCA Sport Compacts, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Modifieds with the Stock Cars as the featured class, racing for two grand to win. And that is get the driver's attention as forty three of the Stock Cars would sign in to race.
As always, it is a wild last minute scramble here on a Monday as the majority of the racers check in at the last minute with for many, work keeping them from arriving until the last minute. However, they got everyone signed in and hot laps started at five minutes to seven. I have been slightly critical at times of the this place because it seems like it takes forever to get the hot laps done and while they run off a quick show, their late start due to the extended time it takes to get hot laps completed puts them behind, time wise. I think on this night they did their best job so far but it was still 7;23 before the first green flag waved And on this night, every minute would matter as what had been a nice day to this point suddenly started looking stormy.
They did an even better job than normal rushing through the heats as the pace was frantic. The Stock Car drivers were particularly under the gun as they barely got their heats in before it was time for the two B Features.
The heat races in the Stock Car class were outstanding and some of the best seen all year to date. There were multiple passes for the lead of heats, great dicing back and forth and a slew of slide jobs as the track was very racy and it looked like we might be in for a memorable night. It was also heart break for the many Kelly Shryock fans on hand as after drawing the pole for a heat, he blew up as the green flag dropped and was done for the night. With only four cars making the show out of ten or eleven in the heats, it was great racing and we were all looking forward to the main event.
But alas and alack, it was not to be.
By this time it was a question of not whether it would storm or not but how much and when as the skies to the West grew very angry looking as the sun set.
Track management continued to push as hard as they could with the Sport Mod feature pushed on to the track first. And no matter where he starts here and how many cars he has to pass, Matthew Looft always seems to find a way to win at this track. On Monday he would start eleventh in the fifteen lapper but he still made a shambles of the field.
Branden Ahlers was the early leader as he was followed by Justin Klynsma and Willy Kirk as Looft started to work his way through the field. When the first yellow flew for a spin, he was still not yet in the top five but when Ahlers pushed up the track, Kirk was right there to take over the point. Looft was working the inside line and driving by cars at will and by the time the second yellow flew for another spin, he was up to second.
When they dropped the green again, Looft drove inside Kirk, took over the lead and this race was history. In the last six laps following yet another spin, he pulled to nearly a full straightaway over the field as just a few sprinkles started to fall. Colby Fett would make his own charge as he came from twelfth to finish second ahead of Ahlers who fought his way back up to third.
At this point, Clay Co. Emergency Management ordered the race management to clear the grandstand due to the lightning in the area, much as they do not at other sporting events from high school all the way up to the pros when lightning is a danger. This gave all of us a running start toward our vehicles as while J VAN, doing the announcing on this night, painted a pretty picture that after the lightning passed, we would go back to racing, the plain truth was that within a few minutes it was raining hard as the cell clipped us enough to end racing for this night, just at about the 9 pm hour. The remaining four features will be made up but at this time, I am not yet aware what management's plan in on when to do so. It was a disappointing end to the night but sometimes things like this just happen.
While he was busy all night and I never got to speak to him, thanks go out to Trent Chinn, promoter here, and all the staff who worked like possessed men and women to try and get this show completed. They did their best and that's all that anyone can fairly ask of them. I have plans to return again here this year as they have a number of big shows on their schedule this year.
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