Butler Edges Out Smith In Kossuth Co. Thriller

 I was back in northern Iowa one more time, this time on Thursday night, May 16th for the season opening event at the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, otherwise known as "The Thunder Dome." This was their second attempt to get their 2024 racing season under way and it would be a gorgeous Thursday night to finally do so.

Five IMCA sanctioned classes would be in action on this Thursday along with a new, unsanctioned class that has been added to the program for 2024 but more on that later. Some familiar faces were back in charge at Kossuth County with Logan Kelly waving the sticks and Chad Meyer beginning what he would believe to be his twenty first year behind the microphone at Algona. Meyer is going to think I am stalking him as during a normal racing season I might run into him two or three times all Summer and now this is the second time I've seen him in less than a week! But as usual we found plenty of interesting things to talk about as we watched the race cars file into the pits before the show. 

Of course, the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about was the car count, or perhaps I should say the lack of car count. Forty six cars in five classes would be the totals on this night plus then add six of the non sanctioned cars and nine Cruisers and there would be plenty of open spaces in  the  normally quite packed small pit area here. 

The issues are multiple I would guess. While many tracks are still trying to open, in North Iowa this week this would be the third night of racing already with the weekend still to come, followed by five more week night races for big money yet to come next week. The drivers have to make some choices and take some nights off, they can't do them all and it appears that Algona drew the short straw this week. Honestly, for the population of the area and number of race cars available, there is probably way too much racing in this part of the country, be it specials or just weekly shows but who's to determine who should race and who should either shut down or cut back on their racing?

Also, the fields are full of farmers getting ready for planting and that certainly takes away some racers and fans for that matter, although Kossuth Co. always seems to have a nice group of fans in the stands for their shows, as they did on this night. 

But on to the show itself. Eighty truck loads of new dirt had been placed on the track and with all the wet weather of late, that had to have been a concern. Early on the track was if anything, too tacky as three Stock Cars nearly went for heat race tumbles after they got too much traction in the corners and nearly went toppling over. Fortunately, all returned to Earth tires down. Later the track would get a bit choppy but really not to the point where it affected the racing. And there was not a whisper of dust to be seen either. 

Barrels have replaced the big ute tires in the corners of the track for the most part and drivers were warned at their meeting that hitting one would trigger a two car position penalty either on the next yellow or following the race if no yellows occurred. This would be a factor in the Limited Late Model feature. 

Speaking of the American Made Limited Late Models, that is the new class started here this year. And while it is a new class for this area, it is a class that I am quite familiar with, having seen them race frequently in my home area. They are very similar to the USRA Late Models except that they are on Hoosier tires here. They race at several tracks in Wisconsin while in western Minnesota and South Dakota, the Gen X Late Models, as  they are called out there, would be nearly similar as well and even on Hoosiers too. 

They are limited on shocks and tires and run a 9 to 1 B Mod, Sport Mod or Hobby Stock motor. No crate motors are allowed.  They are designed to provide Late Model type action at a reasonable price to the teams and I guess the proof will be in the pudding as everyone waits to see how many other cars will show in the coming weeks and months. They had six for the opener which I guess is a good number. 

There has apparently been some "push back" from the Modified teams of the area, feeling that this class might cut into power as the top dogs on the food chain. However, when only five Mods showed here for the opener on Thursday, it would seem that they have plenty of their own problems without worrying about other classes. 

The natural order of things has been shook up as George Gilliland showed up on Thursday with of all things, an enclosed trailer! this threw everyone for a loop but George explained. Seems he has two trailers, one open and one enclosed. He uses the enclosed trailer for Algona because it tows better on the two lane roads he uses to get to Kossuth but on the freeway, which he uses to get to Mason City on Sunday, the enclosed trailer tends to wander all over the road when passed by big rigs, so  he uses an open trailer on that night. Unlike many racers, George swaps trailers, not race cars. He is in his thirty seventh year of racing in 2024 and his current Sport Mod was built by himself in 2009.

With a small field of cars, it didn't take long to complete the qualifying and roll on to the main events. Interestingly, the Sport Mods ran two heats with only nine cars as that wouldn't be allowed in my area as there must be at least ten cars signed in to race two heats. 

By far the best feature race of the night was the Hobby Stock feature that came down to the final straightaway before the issue was settled. The Hobby Stocks also had the biggest field of cars with thirteen taking the green flag. 

Brandon Nielsen would take the early lead as he looked for his second win of the week. He had Seth Butler, Mike Smith and Jeremy Wagner all close behind him. Suddenly, Nielsen either locked up his car on the back chute or it locked itself up as he came to a very abrupt halt and was nearly creamed by the passing pack. He was done and Butler would inherit the top spot. 

Butler and Smith than began their battle with Smith poking a nose under Butler on nearly every corner in an attempt to pass but Butler would fight him off. Suddenly Chris Krug became a factor and it turned into a three car duel. As the laps rolled by, they continued their battle when suddenly Josh Sidles came from no where to add to the action and he pulled up beside Smith, passed him and then went after Butler. 

They were side by side on the final lap and Sidles made an all out attempt to pass on the final corner. However, he got a bit sideways and banged together with Butler. Somehow Seth saved his car and got straightened back out and was able to drive across the line for the win with Smith then sneaking back under Sidles to grab second in what was a race that had the crowd on the their feet. 

The Sport Compacts had only six cars as perhaps this might be another track that could consider sending this class packing. Oliver Monson redrew the pole, immediately pulled to a big lead and won by a half lap over the field with Anthony Clark in second. 

The same thing happened in the Sport Mods where Matthew Looft redrew the pole and then won by a considerable distance over the field. Alec Fett held off Charlie Stevens for second. Interestingly, Looft was able to redraw the pole, even though he was involved in a heat race tangle that messed up the front end on his car as only three cars finished that race. At home, you must be running at the end of a qualifying race in order to be eligible for the redraw which is obviously not a rule here. 

Putting Kelly Shryock on the pole for any race is not good for the competition and that's where he would start the feature race for the Stock Cars. Not surprisingly, he would build up a big lead and take and easy win. Calvin Lange was up to second at one time and then had a good battle right down to the wire with McCain Jennings for that spot before McCain took it. . 

All thoughts of a two class sweep by Shryock were dashed by Cody Knecht who drove past Shryock to that the win in the Modifieds. Pennsylvania visitor Randall Paxton led the first two laps of the Modified feature before Knecht drove past him for the lead. Shryock got the outside working though and on lap eight he would drive past Knecht to take over the top spot. 

The race seemed over at that point but later on, Shryock started to have some trouble on the outside line and Knecht fought back up to him and with only three laps to go, passed for the lead and then the win. Shryock fought off Todd Stinehart to settle for second. 

Gerald Curry would win the first ever Limited Late Model feature to complete the evening. Jerid Ratzke took the early lead but when he punted one of the barrels out of the way, even though he was leading he was actually in third, if you know what I mean. Later, Curry would pass Ratzke to keep it from being quite so controversial as you would hate to see the race winner docked post event. Curry then drove away for the win but Ratzke lucked out some as he was only docked one spot instead of two as only three cars finished and apparently you must be running to gain that spot. 

All racing was done by 10 pm and it was interesting to note that I heard not a single person complaining about the small field of cars on hand as this must be a very patient group of racing fans, more so than at a lot of places. Most everyone I saw seemed to be having a fine time, which is ultimately what it is supposed to be about. 

Thanks to Scott Schultze, Ron Reefer and the rest of the staff at Kossuth County Speedway for a quick night of racing before my long trip home and I expect I will be back again at some point this Summer.  

Thornton and Looft Top Spencer Special

 The Dirt Crown Stock Car Summer Series East division as well as the Dirt Crown Sport Mod Summer Series North division were both in action on Tuesday night, May 14th at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa for the Dirt Crown Dual and the winners were Dylan Thornton in the Stock Cars and Matthew Looft who topped the Sport Mod feature race. The other three division that typically race at Spencer events were also in action with Tim Ward, Cory Probst and Oliver Monson taking checkered flags in their divisions. 

Tuesday would bring one of the nicest nights for racing so far in 2024 and it felt good to be at the track and not either dodging rain or shivering under multiple layers of clothing. Instead, it was just a fine Spring night. 

This race has been fighting the rain, as has much of the special event schedule and even weekly shows, for weeks now and this particular race had been rescheduled I believe, twice already. However, Tuesday they would get it in with no problems and serve as a final tune up before next week's mega spectacular $250,000 Challenge race that features the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Modifieds in three nights of racing action. 

The Stock Cars would be "The Show" on this night as along with a very nice two thousand dollar top prize to the winner, the winner of Tuesday night's feature race would also be an automatic qualifier for the Knoxville Dirt Crown finale in September. Plus many drivers were on hand simply to get a shot at tuning up their cars before next week's event. 

A great field of forty seven Stock Cars were in the pits for Tuesday night's show which meant that five heat races and a pair of B Features would be needed just to set the lineup for their thirty lap feature race, paying that two grand to the winner. Twenty five cars would take the green flag with Derek Green leading the opening lap. However, he could only hold that spot for one lap before his front row partner Dustin Reeh would execute a fine pass and that over the point. As these two battled back and forth, Dylan Thornton, Tim Ward, Kelly Shryock, Jake Masters and Jason Fisher were all running in a tight pack behind them. 

Things got crazy when the leaders, in the midst of their big battle for the lead, banged wheels with each other in turn four with both spinning. This made for a tough call for the officials but I think they got it right when they sent both to the back as they both did stop and they both were clearly involved. 

This would give the lead to Thornton, who started eighth, and he would then go on to lead the rest of the laps for the win. However, it was much harder than that sounds, as he had constant pressure on him, primarily from Shryock who always seems to run very well here. There was constant change right behind the lead duo also, with drivers coming and then some fading back as different drivers would surge toward the front. 

Two yellow flags in the last five laps kept the pressure on Thornton but each time he would hit his marks and not offer any openings for Shryock to pass him. They would cross the line in that order. Making big charges were Dallon Murty who started sixteenth to third and Johnny Spaw who came from twenty first to fourth with Looft rounding out the top five. Masters, Elijah Zevenbergen and Ward were also players for much of the contest also. Eighteen cars would finish the contest and all would be on the lead lap. 

Before Looft would finish in the top five in the Stock Car feature, he found even bigger success in the Sport Mods as he would dominate that event. The race had three different leaders early with Jake Sachau taking the early advantage, only to soon be challenged and then passed by Cam Reimers. Looft, who started sixth on the grid, then quickly moved past Maguire Dejong and Sachau and closed on Reimers. 

Looft was flying and just before the halfway point of the race, he blew past Reimers to take over the lead and once in front he then pulled away. This race was stopped just once for a second lap spin with the last nineteen laps going green and Looft used this to his advantage as the long green allowed him to build up nearly a full straightaway advantage over Reimers. 

With nothing to hold him up, he then drove home for a strong win. Reimers was comfortably in second for most of the contest but there was plenty of action behind him. Colby Fett made a big charge that brought him up to third at the finish with Willy Kirk another who gained considerable positions while Sachau hung on for fifth. Amazingly, there was only one car in the twenty three car starting field that failed to finish. Looft would earn a grand for his win. 

The Hobby Stocks would produce a full field of cars for their main event and this one would get wild also. Mike Smith started on the outside pole and with him grabbing the early lead, he seldom if ever gets passed in a situation like this. He was the leader through the halfway point of the race but Cory Probst, Colby Christensen, Brandon Nielsen and Drew Barglof were all within striking distance. Probst in particular was giving Smith a major headache as he continued to press for the lead. 

It was fun watching the leaders shift lanes on the track almost constantly as the looked for the best speed for their cars while also trying to put the block on their competition. Both Smith and Probst were jockeying back and forth and they worked high and low on what was a black slick track but one that provided multiple lanes for racing. 

Just at the halfway point, Smith got a bit high coming out of turn four and as he tried to drive low into corner one, he and Probst made contact with Smith spinning out. Once again a tough call had to be made and I think they got it correct again as Smith actually cut off Probst and created the contact himself. 

Smith would go to the tail and Probst was then home free for the win, although he still had to hold off tough challengers in Nielsen and Justin Frederick to claim the win. Smith did a marvelous job after going to the tail as he worked his way back up to fifth at the finish. 

While the Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks had big fields of cars, the Modifieds had a meager field of just ten cars, even though they were racing for a grand to the winner. So just two small heats would set their lineup for the main event. Cole Bents would do himself up proud as he started on the pole and led the first half of the race, despite heavy pressure from Cody Knecht and Tim Ward. Ward would turn into his biggest challenger and with a strong move on the outside, drive past Bents just one lap after the halfway point to take over the lead. 

Once in front, Ward would pull away for the win with Brandon Beckendorf, who looked to be the fastest car on the track at points during the race, would execute a late race pass to come home second ahead of Bents. 

Sport Compacts rounded out the field and perhaps, based on their performance, that other tracks besides Britt should consider dropped this class from their lineup. Only seven of them were on hand and their nonstop snoozer would see Oliver Monson come from the second row on the opening lap and after taking the lead, disappear into the western Iowa sunset as he would win by a full straightaway over Levi Volkert and Brooke Osler. 

Worthy of note on Tuesday was both the great race track and the fine administration of the program by track workers. The track may have been in the best shape that I have seen in quite some time and while it got black, as it usually does, there were several distinct racing grooves and drivers were all over the track. There was no dust and very few stoppages to work on the surface. It provided some of the best action that we have seen here for awhile. 

And what a smooth running show it was on Tuesday. Things have been getting a bit late for some of the shows here lately but it was a top notch performance by all tonight. They got the hot laps done quickly and were able to get the first race on the track by 7:18 pm and after that, it was virtually nonstop racing. I loved the very organized way that they had the upcoming races lined up and as soon as one took the checkers, the next race was on the track and ready to take the green. Everything just seemed to flow so smoothly on Tuesday and to get twenty races completed by 10;30 pm was an excellent job by all. 

Next up for Spencer is their huge $250,000 Challenge, set for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with gigantic money on the line, primarily for the Stock Cars and Sport Mods. 

Logan Anderson Tops "Spring Fling" at Hancock County Speedway

 The Sport Mod Nationals, a traditional event at the Hancock County Speedway in Britt Iowa, was held on Monday night, May 13th and for the third consecutive year the winner would be Logan Anderson. His win would be a difficult one and he didn't take the lead until there were only two laps left in the race when he made the winning pass. 

The "Spring Fling" Sport Mod Nationals pays a very fine two thousand dollars to the winner and typically draws some of the finest Sport Mod talent around which it did again in 2024. Along with the Sport Mods, a full show with some extra money, at least on top, is offered for the other four classes that race weekly at Britt. 

A new promoter, Darin Toot, has taken over for 2024 at Britt although many of the familiar faces from years past are still working at the track. The program itself has also seen some change with the Sport Compacts lifted from the weekly program and instead replaced by an Outlaw Hobby Stock class, but more on that later. 

A visit to this North Iowa track is always a good chance to catch up on racing in this area with track announcer Chad Meyer who has done it all and seen it all when it comes to racing in this area. While Britt has gotten just one race in so far this year prior to this night as they have been battling the weather, it report from the opener at Hancock County was a positive one with a nice field of cars, a good crowd and particularly good racing with much side by side battling down to the wire in all classes. It always is a treat to spend a few minutes with Chad finding out some of the interesting tidbits that are going on behind the scenes. Chad was saddled with a badly behaving p.a. system on this night that made it very hard to hear and while they were working on it before the show, it never did get to the point of being very workable. 

And it was a special night for me as among the very first racers to roll into the pits were the legendary Hall brothers from Rochester Minnesota with perhaps the second and third ever IMCA Mods in existence. I say the second and third because Keith Knaak built the first one but the Hall brother's cars must have come off the assembly line right after his! The Hall brothers would start their races and then make a few laps before pulling off, which was probably a very judicious thing since they weren't up to racing speed and would have made themselves into a big hazard if they would have raced more laps. But in any event, it was interesting to see them on hand. 

They picked a bad night to over water the race track, being as it was a Monday night with just about everyone scheduled to work on Tuesday. I'm told they apologized to the drivers at their meeting for having to spend more time packing than they probably wanted but it probably would have been nice to say something to the fans also since the extra packing caused the first green flag to fly at 7:46 pm, a bit late for a week night. After that they moved right through the show and the track came around nicely, but it would have been nice if this could have happened just a bit earlier in the evening. But as we know at the track, sometimes stuff happens. 

The Sport Mods had the biggest field of drivers at twenty six and while that might not be a large field for two grand to win, for the fans there were many of the top Sport Mod drivers around on hand and as a nice bonus for the drivers that did attend, all got to start the main with no one eliminated through a B Feature. 

The Sport Mod feature itself was a doozy with by my count, five different leaders during its twenty five laps! And while there was obviously much battling for the top spot, most of the race would fine four or five other drivers racing in a cluster just behind the leader's fight for the top spot. 

And there was certainly plenty of drama also with two leaders spinning out of the top spot with some controversy there too. Matt Avila would make a bonzai charge on the drop of the green flag and come from the second row to lead the opening lap. One lap later, however, he would spin in turn two causing the first of six yellow flags during the race. All the yellows were the thing that kept this race from being a classic. 

Justin Klynsma would inherit the lead and he and Jared Boumeester would take turns throwing side jobs at each other as they battled for the top spot. Right in the mix with them were the Fetts, Alec and Colby, along with Jake Sachau and Matt Looft so you can see that there was plenty of talent up front battling. 

Winner Anderson didn't even appear in the top five runners until lap ten when he moved up to fifth after starting seventh on the grid. Things really started heating up when Sachau got up to second and he and Klynsma started exchanged some very aggressive sliders as they fought for the lead. Things came to a head in turn four when Sachau tried another slider but didn't have the leader cleared and Klynsma was shoved up toward the wall where he spun. 

The yellow waved, Sachau was sent to the back for the move but both he and Klynsma opted to park their cars at this point. 

Boumeester, who had been hanging with the pack this whole time, now inherited the lead but going down the back chute, both Colby Fett and Anderson blew past him on either side as they drove into the top two spots. 

It would then be these two that would fight it out for the win. Anderson tried running off the banking and pulled up to Fett but couldn't quite get past and as he faded back a few car lengths, it seemed like Colby Fett was home clear. However, with just a few laps left, a one car spin would bunch the field up once again for a final race to the finish. 

Again Anderson went to the banking as it was his only real shot but this time it worked better. The track seemed to be drying off in the lower groove and slicking off and Fett wasn't getting such a good run off the inside. Anderson crawled up next to him on the top side and with just two laps to go, edged past into the lead down the front chute. And he would then pull away as Fett's attempts to catch Anderson just didn't work out. Anderson crossed the line to a chorus of cheers, part of which I'm guessing is because Fett wins too much around here, and flying under the radar, Anderson has now won this race three straight years. 

Behind Fett, Alec Fett would finish third with Cam Reimers and Looft rounding out the top five. Seventeen cars would take the checkers with all on the lead lap. 

There was racing in three other IMCA classes along with the Sport Mods. Brandon Nielsen would redraw the outside pole for the Hobby Stock feature and then he led from start to finish to claim the four hundred dollar top prize. It wasn't an easy win though, as he had Drew Barglof nailed to his rear bumper for most of the contest. One slip and Barglof would have been past him but Nielsen made sure that didn't happen. Erik Knutson was the third place finisher. 

The Stock Car feature started off wild with Troy Swearingen and Heath Tulp exchanging the lead three times in the first four laps. However, when Swearingen finally reclaimed the lead for good on lap four, he then would claim that spot for the rest of the race. Tulp stayed close, but couldn't ever manage a passing move as he settled for second with Minnesota driver Aaron Johnson finishing up third. 

It was heartbreak for Drew Janssen in the Modified feature. He got the jump at the start and led all laps through about the halfway point when his motor suddenly erupted in a ball of flames, smoke and liquid and obviously, he was done. 

Ryle Heckman then moved into the lead and he managed to stave off all challenges from both Jeremy Mills and Tim Ward to get the win. The highlight was the battle for second between Miles and Ward that carried on for many laps before Jeremy would claim the spot. 

The Sport Compacts were dropped from the program here in 2024, largely due to lack of numbers, something I get. Every time I had been here in recent years, the number of Sport Compacts on hand was rather embarrassing and they couldn't put on a decent show. 

They were replaced for 2024 with an Outlaw Hobby Stock class, apparently to draw in the USRA cars that race at a few tracks in this area. The Outlaw cars run on racing tires and use American Racer tires, unlike all the IMCA classes. However, the sticker is that the IMCA Hobbies are also allowed to run in this class, they just have to change tires. 

So, on this night, there were eight for this class, five of which were IMCA cars that just changed tires and raced in two different classes. There were two drivers that had separate cars for each class while only one true Outlaw Hobby Stock only car was on hand. 

Granted, we are very early in this experiment but to have the majority of the field just drivers that get to race four times instead of twice a night with the same cars doesn't seem like some big addition to the overall program. I did see that for their regular Friday night opener that they did have nineteen cars and more visiting Outlaw cars. Still, I'm not sure whether providing a racing venue for a competing sanctioning body rather than strengthening your own product is the way to go. I guess we will see how it plays out. 

On this night, the only Outlaw car was the winner as Kolby Goepel would lead from start to finish for the win with Joshua Monson second and Nielsen third with only four finishing. 

It was a good night of racing and for a Monday night with folks in the fields, the crowd was not bad. thanks to Darin Toot and all the staff at Hancock County for a nice night of racing and what better way to spend a Monday than at the track. 

Carter's Dominate At Hometown Osky

 On Wednesday night, May 8th, I made the trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Iowa for their regular Wednesday racing program that would present five classes of racing action. It would be my first trip of the year here but there would be many familiar faces on hand as Osky has been a staple for midweek racing action for as long as I can remember. 

Wednesday night was Hall of Fame voting night at the speedway with fans encouraged to vote for their candidates to be added to the speedway Hall of Fame. It was also a good night to be a driver at Osky as plenty of extra cash was on the line for the competitors with over $7,500 added to the regular purse with no entry fees for the drivers. Numerous sponsors pitched in to help out this week, as they do here all year with the local support for the Southern Iowa Fair and activities at the Fairgrounds at a high level. The Race Committee wants to keep racing alive and well at Osky and they find many supporters within the Mahaska County area to do so. 

The track officials here are among the very best around and it doesn't hurt that they have two hundred years of experience between them! That might be slightly exaggerated but there is no doubt that with Jerry Mackey behind the mic, Doug Haack waving the sticks and Kevin Feller doing the scoring they have three key employees that have seen it all and are up to handling any situation. When they are in charge, you know that there will not be any missteps taken. 

Sixty nine drivers would sign in to race on Wednesday with the largest car count in the Hobby Stock division. Osky is not sanctioned by any organization and their procedure is to do a draw/redraw program every Wednesday. Normally the do handicap the previous week's winner to the back of the redraw cars but since this was a special with more money on the line, they did not do this on Wednesday. And this would turn out to benefit three winners from last week's show later. 

Track packing and hot laps would start at around 7:15 pm and the first race hit the track at 7:46 pm. The heat races would click off smoothly with only three slowdowns to stop the action. One however, was for a hard flip in turn three by Hobby Stock driver Cory Vanderwilt. He was OK but in a borrowed ride for the night, he might have to do some explaining to the car owner when he sees his race car!

An improving weather forecast throughout the day made racing possible on Wednesday but with lightning flashing in the Northwestern sky as the heats concluded, the track management wisely went directly into the main events. 

Sport Compacts would roll on to the track first with thirteen of them to take the green flag. This race would be a good, close contest with Nathan Moody taking the early lead. He had Brandon Pickney right on his tail from the start, poking a nose under Moody in every corner as he looked for an opening. On lap four Pickney got past but Moody was saved by a yellow flag and retained the lead. 

Pickney would continue to press and on lap nine when Moody got just a bit high in turn two, Pickney ducked under him and took over the top spot. Moody would then return the favor, pressing Pickney to retake the lead but Brandon would not yield and would drive on for the win. He would deliver the news to Mackey in his victory lane interview that this was his first ever feature win, which brought a nice ovation from the crowd. 

The Non Winged Sprints, who have been a part of the program here for several years now, would then get pushed off for their main event. Nine of them would take the green including Ed Adams who was driving a car that was probably older than half the crowd in the stands! This rather unbalanced division would see A.J. Johnson, winner of both the previous shows here, jump from his second row starting spot into the lead before one lap was completed and he then would disappear into the Iowa evening, leaving the rest of the field miles behind. 

At the finish, he was over a full straightaway in front while running the last half of the race at what sounded like half throttle. Doug Sylvester would fight off a challenge from Lance Schlicher for second. 

Then it would be time for the hometown driving brothers, the Carters, to shine. Stock Cars were up next and while Nathan Wood jumped into the early lead from the outside pole, Cayden Carter would quickly move in on him and with a strong effort, drive around Wood on lap three to take over the lead. With this race going green to checkers, there would be no stopping Cayden as he would pull to a comfortable advantage and not be challenged the rest of the way. Wood racing second throughout the contest but the driver that moved up the most was Zack Vanderbeek who debuted his new Stock Car to a promising result. 

Following his victory lane interview with Mackey, Cayden pulled his car down the front stretch on his way to tech inspection. He was door to door with the Sport Mods, who were coming out on to the track and with his brother Brayton on the pole, sharp eyed fans would see Cayden give a subtle signal to his brother to get to the bottom of the track, where the speed was. 

Not that Brayton needed any help figuring that out but on the green for the Sport Mod main, he got a good jump on Logan Anderson and took the lead. Carter wins with handling, not speed, and while Anderson was sliding up just a bit in the corners, Carter was nailed to the bottom and started to pull away as the leader. 

Near the midpoint of the race, Anderson seemed to be gaining just a bit but then Carter made a nice move to get past lapped traffic while Anderson got held up a bit and then Carter pulled away again, to repeat last week's win here. The fastest driver at the end was Maguire DeJong who started eighth and worked his way up to third at the end and made up nearly a full straightaway on the two leaders. 

The Hobby Stocks then would conclude the evening and what a wild start their race had! A first lap accident exiting turn two saw the car of Jim Alexander Jr. climb up on the car of Rick Goldsberry with both then flipping. While Goldsberry's flip was a minor one(if there is such a thing), Alexander Jr took a very wild ride, getting high in the air as his car cartwheeled. An object came flying out of the car as it was tumbling and I at first thought it to be the fuel cell as when it landed there was a small fire. Turns out I had my ends of the car bass ackward and it was the engine that was hurdled right out of the car as it flipped! Talk about a wild tumble! Fortunately there were no injuries. 

The race was restarted and two time winner Dustin Griffiths, who drew the pole, would pull away from the pack and join Johnson as an undefeated driver at the track, winning his third straight main event. He built up a big lead and was never challenged in the event. The driver that made the most moves, however, was Eric Stanton who started eleventh and worked his way up through the field. Right at the end of the race, he passed Peyton Stephens to claim the second spot and wished he could have started just a little closer to the front, likely.  

All racing was concluded about a quarter past 10 pm and would have been sooner except for the long clean up following the Hobby Stock feature wreck. Thanks to all the members of the Race Committee for their help and it was good sharing a few moments with Jerry Mackey, one of the best in the business. 

Powerful Berry Jr. Performance Nets Challenge Series Win at Independence

 Isn't this great! It's only the first full week of May and we are already doing a plethora of midweek special races. Some promoters sit back and run the same old, same old week after week. Some are successful that way, but many wonder where the fans have disappeared to. Other promoters think outside the box, they run special events on midweek dates and even move the date of their races around to suit their needs and to string together races with other tracks willing to do the same. Once in a while they take it in the shorts on their gambles, but more often than not they come out very well and produce interesting events while shaking up the "norm" just a little. 

Monday night, May 6th, the Independence Motor Speedway was in action with the first of the new IMCA Modified Summer Challenge Series races, a six race series that features strong payoffs for the drivers plus a nice points fund. The idea of promoters Mike VanGenderen and Trent Chinn, the series will visit four tracks in Iowa and then end up at the two South Dakota tracks that are right across the street from each other. A number of Modified drivers plan on following the entire series which gives them a chance for some nice payoffs plus a point fund while not tying up too many racing dates over the course of the Summer. 

Along with the Modifieds, four other IMCA classes would be in action on Monday night, all racing for extra cash too. One hundred and nineteen cars signed in to race with the Modified field especially strong with forty four entrants and a lot of talented drivers fully capable of winning. 

It was a warm Monday for racing given recent trends but another of the windy days that have dominated the Spring so far this year. However, the track held up well against the assault of many cars and it was remarked to me how many grooves the Modified drivers were using in their main event while not spraying we the fans with the amount of dust I was afraid we might have to endure. 

The big Modified field, divided up into five heats and two B Features, would use a different format to qualify for the main event than often seen. IMCA tracks seen to be big fans of the draw/redraw format which I don't believe works so well when dealing with such large fields of cars. For this race, promoter VanGenderen used passing points with the top sixteen in passing points moving on to the main event with the highest in passing points starting in the front. Everyone else would go into the two B Features to determine the rest of the starting field. 

While there is no perfect way of lining up races and determining just who should move to the main, I still favor the passing points format where every position gained is big in the heat races. You don't see drivers getting into a redraw position and then just cruising which is seen way too often in weekly shows. And to back that up, the heats were quite spectacular on Monday with some great battles and wild moves that had the crowd talking. 

Tom Berry Jr was the class of the field in his Lethal chassis on this night, starting right in his heat race where he made some bold moves that saw him eventually garner the most passing points and then start on the pole. He would lead all thirty laps to take the two grand win but there was some excellent battles going on behind him. Tim Ward and Ethan Braaksma had a dandy race for second as they swapped the spot several times, with yellow flags causing them to use strategy to determine whether they wanted the outside or inside line. There were only three yellows in the race but two occurred in the last eight laps, making for a late push by some drivers. 

Through all this, Berry Jr would not be challenged as he would drive on for the win. Braaksma would finish second and Ward third although Joel Rust had made a nice charge up to that spot, only to nearly fly off the end on the final lap and give up one position. 

The Sport Mods would be racing for a grand to the winner but more importantly, the outcome would mark a milestone for winner Brayton Carter. He would lead all twenty laps for the win and that victory would mark feature win number one hundred for the Oskaloosa racer in Sport Mod competition. The win was far from easy as Taylor Kuehl raced up from fifth to challenge Brayton in the nonstop main and very nearly was able to make a pass for the lead. 

She was finding great success in turns three and four and very nearly nosed under Carter to take over the lead near the halfway point of the race. However, she just couldn't quite complete the move and Carter, who is very good at searching the track to find the line that works best for his car, was able to make an adjustment and then start to pull away as Kuehl had some tire issues of her own at the end. Cole Suckow made a big charge at the end from tenth to complete the top three. 

Tom Schmitt was not messing around on Monday. The Stock Car driver started on the outside pole, would take the lead on the opening lap and then would drive on for twenty more to take the win. There would be no catching him as he delivered a strong performance that included having to carefully pick his way through considerable lapped traffic as this race would go green to checkers. Cayden Carter started sixth but charged up to get to second but he was unable to cut into the lead of Schmitt and would have to settle for second. Cole Mather was entertaining as he three wheeled his way to a third place finish. 

Calvin Dhondt had to weather a storm of pressure from Nathan Ballard to win the Hobby Stock feature but he was able to do so in a tight finish. Dhondt started on the outside pole and took the early lead but had to fight off a strong challenge from Ballard at the end to hold on for the win. 

Ballard started way back in twelfth position but he worked his way forward and appeared to be the fastest car on the track. Once Ballard got the trunk of Dhondt's car, he spent a number of laps trying to get past for the lead. He tried to duck inside but Dhondt was solid and smooth and didn't give any room. 

A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish and Ballard was glued to the rear bumper of Dhondt's car but Calvin made no mistakes as he drove a smooth line and came home the winner. Ballard should be congratulated also as the opportunity was there to put the horn on Dhondt but he chose to race him clean to the checkers. A disqualification moved up Bradly Graham, driving a different car on this night, to third. 

While the Hobby Stocks showed good sportsmanlike racing, the Sport Compact could not say the same. The two leaders hammered each other back and forth with the winning move being a pancake blow on the final corner. 

The race started out wild enough with four different leaders in the first few laps. Jake Anderson, Chris Pittman and Oliver Monson took turns leading the first three laps before Stephen Randall would make a big move and drive around Monson to take over the point. 

From that point, it was a two car battle with Monson all over Randall as he looked for a way to make the pass to regain the lead. Those two would pull away but would continue their torrid battle for the top spot. With just two laps go go, Monson would drive deep into turn three, and use up Randall considerably as he drove past and took over the lead. 

This seemed to fire up Randall and he gauged his assault. As the leaders raced down the back chute on the final lap, Randall replicated the move of Monson except with just a little more force as he moved Monson far up the track, drove under him and then raced home as the winner as the crowd cheered the fierce action on the track. Monson would straighten out his car and then would cross the line second. An illegal spring would cause the third place racer to be disqualified with Pittman taking that spot. And while there seemed to be no "marching orders" to either of the drivers for their late race escapade, I would have been tempted to park both of them for obviously rough driving. I guess I'm just no fun!

Thanks to MVG and Dana Benning for putting on this midweek special. A nice crowd was on hand for the fast paced program which got done at a decent hour, especially considering the large field of cars and resulting number of races run. Inde comes right back with a big show this coming Saturday night as Late Models of the SLMR are the featured attraction. 

Hoffman and Chisholm Top Dairyland Showdown Opener at MTS

 One of the first big events of the 2024 racing season in the upper Midwest kicked off on Friday night, May 3rd as the World of Outlaws Late Models opened up at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin. 

The Dairyland Dash was originally scheduled to be a three night show with double preliminary feature races on the first two nights, followed by a thirty five grand to win main event on Saturday night. However, all the rain of the past couple of weeks caught up with MTS and the opening night action was cancelled very early in the week due to a very unfavorable weather forecast for Thursday and for once, their threats of miserable weather actually held up with an all day rain hitting most of the Badger State. 

The program was reformatted then, with a full, one feature race event for Friday and Saturday with each night's main event to pay twenty five grand to the winner. The Modifieds, under ONUM rules, would have a full show each night also and they proved to be a very strong "supporting" division for this weekend. 

Thirty three Late Models signed in to race on Friday night, a decent number and likely what we should expect to see at most of the events this year. It just is not like times in the past when the kind of payoff numbers we were talking about for this weekend would have pulled in a gigantic field of cars. Except for a few very rare and glorified events, those days are long past. 

The top thirteen in WoO points and top eighteen of twenty were on hand and after that, it would be just a smattering of travelers and local and regional drivers that would produce the rest of the field.  A very large crowd was on hand on one of the first nice evenings we have had in quite some time to see the changes made to MTS and the new court yard worked out well for the food vendors and race tram trailers for apparel. The new stage was also utilized with live music going on right after the final checkered flag fell. 

An interesting change was made right before the program started and one that many of the fans perhaps never even caught. As mentioned in last week's report from here on their opener, they had small plastic barrels to mark the insides of the corners and keep the drivers from cutting too far into the infield and dragging dry dirt on to the track. We weren't very far into hot laps before a couple of these were clipped by the Late Models and dislodged from their moorings. Soon after, and I'm not sure following who's orders, but wreckers were seen hauling big tractor type ute tires across the track and replacing the little blue barrels in the corners. That took care of that problem and there would be no bogus yellows caused by these barrels on the track, as I also reported in last week's report had been a problem. I'm not under who's orders this change took place but there was certainly immediate action taken when someone in charge saw the need. I'm also happy to report that no one hit the big ute tires and damaged their car as some were painted white but others were still in their original black colors. 

The WoO format would be their standard one of qualifying split into two groups based on numbers, four heats and a pair of B Features before the main. Cade Dillard and Nick Hoffman would be the quick qualifiers from their groups with Dillard overall quickest at 13.596 seconds as the track quickly slowed up once qualifying began. The heat races and two Last Chance events went off smoothly, however bad luck struck Clayton Stuckey who pulled all the way from Louisiana only to wreck on the first lap of his heat and need two wreckers' assistance to leave the track. He did return with what I believe to be a back up car for the B Feature but didn't make the show. 

Twenty six cars would start the fifty lap main event as four provisional starters  were added to the back of the field. Brian Shirley, who redrew the pole, would lead the opening lap with Hoffman, Dillard, Brandon Sheppard and Bobby Pierce quickly moving in on him. It would not be Shirley's night as Hoffman would blast past him on lap six and after that Shirley would fade back in the field, eventually just making the top ten. 

Hoffman was very fast and he started to pull away from the field as Dillard and Sheppard had a great battle for second. They exchanged the position several times as Hoffman continued to run with a comfortable edge over the rest of the field. Pierce was on his way forward, gradually moving up to join the battle for second along with Ryan Gustin. 

With only two of the starters eventually pulling off the track, traffic was very heavy and Hoffman was constantly challenged to find a way past and through the slower cars. As this was going on, Pierce started to get considerably faster as he closed in and then passed both Dillard and Sheppard, after quite a battle and took over second. 

Hoffman was doing a fine job with the traffic as he maintained his lead, even as he came up on a group of slower cars running together that threatened to slow his progress. 

Things changed with just fifteen laps to go when the first and only yellow of the race took place when Dustin Sorensen slowed with a flat tire. This would give Pierce his shot at the leader but Hoffman was up to the challenge as he quickly again pulled away and opened up some distance as he was clearly the class of the pack on this night. Sheppard would give Pierce a brief battle for second before falling back and settling for third with Gustin's late charge giving his fourth and Chris Madden, never a challenger earlier, would come up quickly at the end for fifth as Dillard slipped back. Twenty six of the starters were still on the track at the finish. 

The Modifieds were listed as the support class for this event and what a support class they proved to be! Fifty Modifieds signed in to race on Friday night and their numbers and quality would likely be more appropriate as the headline attraction for many shows. There were drivers on hand from thirteen states plus Canada for this event. 

MTS is feeling the glow of the one hundred grand to win show that will come to them the end of this month and as a result of this, drivers from near and far are coming when the chance presents itself to test the track and make themselves fast for that event. 

One top of the always strong southern Minnesota Deer Creek field of cars in this class, with USMTS rained out this weekend some of their drivers also gravitated North to run this show. Throw in such heavy hitters as Kyle Strickler, Michael Leach, Ethan Dotson in Steve Arpin's car, Dallon Murty, Bobby Pierce, David Stremme and Curt Spaulding and you have as tough a field of drivers as will likely gather at one track all year. All this to race for, I believe two grand, with double that on Saturday. 

The ONUM(One Nation Under Modified) rules were in effect which is basically that each driver declares their sanctioning body and those rules are followed so there were both American Racer and Hoosier tires on the track and some sporting big spoilers and others none. All this in preparation for the big money race the end of this month. 

The Modified portion of the show would be a passing points affair with the drivers drawing for starting positions in the heats and then five heats plus two B Features to set the starting positions for the main event plus one track provisional, giving them twenty five drivers for forty laps. 

Lucas Schott would start on the pole and would take the early lead. Only one lap was completed before Kyle Strickler would spin, slowing the action for the first of three times during the race. 

Schott continued as the leader but Jim Chisholm, from the third row, quickly moved into second and began to challenge for the lead. Jake Timm, Leach and Cole Czarneski were also in the lead pack early on. 

Chisholm continued to put  the pressure on Schott and on lap fifteen he blew past him off turn four and took over the top spot. Stremme was working his way forward into the top ten after starting in the seventh row when he slowed one lap short of halfway and the yellow flew once again. Timm, Schott, Brandon Davis and Leach were the top five at this point. 

Following each yellow, Chisholm would again pull away from the field as no one had anything for the young driver from Northeastern Iowa. Davis continued his march to the front, moving past Timm for third. Then Jake slowed with a flat tire and called it a night, leaving just five laps to go. 

And while Davis had shown speed, climbing forward throughout the race, he had nothing for Chisholm over the final five laps as Jim once again pulled away from the pack to claim the win and his second straight here at MTS, having won the regular season opener here last Thursday as well. Davis would finish a solid second with Schott, Rodney Sanders and Curt Spaulding completing the top five. Nineteen of the starters were still on the track at the finish. It was another strong showing for Chisholm, who is very rapidly climbing the ladder of recognized Modified drivers. 

As reported in last week's story, new dirt has been put on MTS this year and for the second straight night it held up well, especially under heavy pounding from so many cars. It remained smooth and along with the reshaping of the corners, has helped the drivers to move around on the track more and run more different grooves with not nearly as much cushion pounding as this track used to have. But as also suspected, it does come with the cost as quite a bit of dust in the air was noted and without a favorable wind at our backs on Friday, we did look like we attended a dirt track race afterward. All racing was complete by just about 11 pm. 

Thanks to all the folks that work for the World of Outlaws for their help, along with Tyrone Lingenfelter and the crew at MTS as they all hosted a large contingent of race fans on this night. The second half of this doubleheader will be held on Saturday with the money up for the Late Models and the Modifieds racing for more.