Another in the seemingly endless series of big events came to the Davenport Speedway on Tuesday night, July 25th as the MARS Late Model series made a stop on their tour here. The MARS Series, purchased last off season by Matt Curl, the promoter at Fairbury Speedway and the former Race Director for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, features a mostly Illinois and Midwestern field of drivers for both the Late Model and Modified series, of which he runs both.
Along with the Late Models on this night, the IMCA Modifieds would get another chance to race with a special and the Outlaw Stock Cars would also get a chance to show off during this prime time special.
It was another hot and steamy Summer day in the Hawkeye State and track prep masters Ricky Kay and Dr. Al would be challenged on this night. However, just like another of the most respected track prep aces in Mike VanGenderen showed last night, it can be done no matter what the weather is like. The two aces here produced a track that was smooth, fast, tacky and threw little to no dust. They gave the drivers a great track to race on and the drivers responded.
It does appear that the extreme heat of the last few days does however, play a part in both the field of participants and also the crowd. I would have expected more than two dozen Late Models to be on hand, particularly this close to their home area in Illinois and I would also have expected more in both the support classes than were on hand.
Again, however, as shown at last night's show, it doesn't take huge numbers to produce an entertaining program and we saw three feature races on Tuesday that were all interesting and highly contested.
Garrett Alberson tuned up for his next Lucas Oil show by dropping by for a local show and he would set quick time at 13.515 seconds. The numbers would make B Features unnecessary so we had just seven preliminary qualifying events before it was feature time. Originally it was planned that the Late Models would run first but that was changed and the Late Models were stacked last after the Modifieds and Outlaw Stock Cars.
There were only eleven Modifieds but they would still have a good feature race that would not be settled until the final two laps. Charlie Mohr would get the pole on the redraw and he would lead all but the last two laps when the roof fell in on him.
He was chased for the better part of the race by Chris Zogg and Brad Dierks with Zogg dogging the leader through the first half of the race before Dierks took that spot on lap sixteen. It appeared that Mohr would be able to hold on for the win until the yellow flew following a spin on lap sixteen.
Things really came unraveled for Mohr on the restart as his small lead was erased and he suddenly had three other drivers pressuring him heavily. He was unable to fight off Dierks who would pass him with two laps to go and Charlie would eventually fade to fourth at the line. After Dierks grabbed the lead, Zogg made a challenge back at him using the high side of the track and nearly pulled off the pass but he would have to settle for second behind Dierks with Matt Werner up from ninth to finish third.
Tuesday night would be my first look at the Outlaw Stock Cars and they certainly do have an interesting look to them. I would assume that running gear wise they are not a lot different from the Stock Cars as there was one running with them , but they certainly have some different looks to them. Those sitting around me in the stands compared them to torpedoes or submarines while I thought that several looked more like DeLoreans than anything else. Many seemed prone to really hiking up the inside wheels too which gave them quite the look as they raced around the track.
Their main saw three different leaders in the fifteen lap finale. Tony VonDresky was the early leader but at the halfway point he was passed by Nick Hixson for the top spot. However, diving under Hixson and taking over the lead just one lap later was Jeff Struck Jr, the point leader here and he would then drive on for the win.
VonDresky, after fading back as far as third, would make a late charge to try and regain the lead and he would finish a close second. Things got tight when a last lap bogus yellow was called but Struck Jr would hold on for the win and the two lap dash to the checkers. More on that yellow later.
Then it would be Late Model time for a fifty lapper paying ten grand to win. Most of the MARS races pay three and five thousand to win but Hoker Trucking chipped in to make this a bigger and better show. The track seemed fine to me after the Outlaws were done racing but apparently not good enough for Ricky and the Dr as they completely redid it for the last event and by completely I mean they tilled it up, watered it hard and then repacked it. When it comes to this track, my feeling is that they know best, despite what my eyes are telling me. The result of their work was a very fast track for the fifty lapper and again no dust. Most of the racing was done on the top side but there were a few drivers, primarily Bob Gardner, who made the low groove his home.
While Troutman would start on the outside pole and officially be scored the leader for all fifty laps, it wasn't near as easy as that might make it sound. He got a lot of heavy pressure from a variety of drivers throughout the race but to his credit he never flubbed up, which most certainly would have cost him.
Frankie Heckenast, Bone Larson and Chris Simpson put the pressure on early and through the first half of the race, until Heckenast dropped out and gave Simpson his chance. Chris very nearly got by at one point but Troutman maintained his line and was able to fight off challenges. Toward the ned of the race it was Alberson and Gardner who were the primary challengers with Alberson trying to roll the bottom on lap after lap only to see Troutman fight him off. Troutman was playing with fire as he was running a top side that was getting more narrow as the race continued and there were several times that he had the outside rear tire hanging over air but he managed to keep the car pointed the right direction and carry on.
At the finish he managed to maintain several car lengths over Alberson who admitted that he was trying to show his nose in the hopes that Troutman would make an error. Troutman, on the other hand, gave his biggest thanks to his "stick man" for showing him where to go and the line to run. So apparently we really don't need drivers any more, just someone with a couple of yardsticks who does their job well and then anyone can win.
For Troutman, the heavy footed throttle jockey of eighteen years of age. , it was his biggest paycheck since he moved into the Late Models last year on a full time basis. There was bad news for Gardner after a hard run earned him the third spot, his car dropped too much and he was disqualified, boosting Bone Larson to the third place finish. It was a taxing event with Ryan Unzicker, Simpson, point leader Jason Feger, and Jonathan Brauns all running good at one point, with all to not finish. Only eight cars were on the track when the checkers flew.
Now for the late yellow situation that we saw twice on this night and the last one that could have changed the outcome of the Stock Car feature .I have also seen this happen a number of times at tracks in other states so it's not just an Iowa thing but if all the cars racing on the track pass the white flag and take that signal, there's no way that something that occurs after that point should trigger a yellow and then redo the final lap or as they did tonight, back the finish up two whole laps. If all cars take the white, the next flag waved means the race is over, whether it's the checkered, yellow or even red. If one of the last two comes out, then the race should be called complete and scored back to the white flag or better yet, if the yellow is for something minor, just let everyone race to the checkered and then tell them on the Raceceiver to be aware after they cross the line.
While this has absolutely nothing to do with tonight's race, it does have to do with Quad City racing and as such, I thought it worth mentioning. When I first started coming to races in Iowa, one of the top eastern Iowa Late Model stars was the "Flying Dutchman", Mike Neffenegger from Kalona and he was always sponsored by Lujack-Schierbrock Chevrolet that had a store at that time right off Brady St. and on my way to the track. I believe Duane Steffe was also sponsored by that dealership.
Today I heard that Football Hall of Famer Johnny Lujack had passed away. The former Notre Dame All American lived for a time in Davenport and what I didn't know was that Johnny Lujack was the owner of that Chevrolet dealership. See, it is quite a small world after all.
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