The first of three nights of motor sports activity at the 72nd annual Dubuque County Fair started on Wednesday night, July 23rd. It was an unbelievably hot and steamy July day and while a few tracks were either stormed out or opted not to race on this night due to the heat, officials from Dubuque County and the racing group pushed forward with their event.
The PRO Late Models were making their first appearance of the season at Dubuque and along with them, four of the weekly classes were also in racing action, running for extra money as a part of the Fair.
The grounds had been sharpened up in anticipation of the Fair with new paint on the wall that circles the third mile oval to brighten things up. They went with the red and white scheme again which dates back to the days when NASCAR sanctioned many of the tracks in this area and their colors adorned everything, whether it moved or not. I have to laugh as the old Union 76 globe still sits in the infield, even though it hasn't lit up in years but by now, it's kind of a part of the track's fashion and was also something that the NASCAR sanctioned tracks had back in the day.
Now it's IMCA for the Modifieds and Hobby Stocks that were racing on Wednesday, along with track rules for the Four Cylinders and Crown Vics, the new class started at the track this year and one that seems to be springing up at more tracks around the country. The PRO Late Models run some combination rules that allow drivers from different sanctioning bodies to race together despite different motor packages and feature many of the household names from eastern Iowa racing.
Despite the heat and humidity, a good field of drivers showed up to race as the Dubuque Fair is one of those events on many drivers "must attend" lists. The only class on the short side was the Four Cylinders with only eleven of them on hand but the other classes all had enough drivers for three heats but just short of needing to run a B Feature which was just about perfect. It was a draw/redraw night across the board and I congratulate the PRO Series for being one of the few that hasn't gone to time trials to determine starting positions. I'm getting real tired of seeing qualifying no matter how regional the series are.
The first heat took to the track at 7:22 pm with the Four Cylinders up first. The heats across the board went very smoothly, again aided by the one spin rule that keeps the action moving. The track was then worked up some and packed, as a rather substantial berm was developing and track officials wanted to knock that down.
Working in such brutal conditions for the track crew must have been difficult Wednesday but the humidity does help the track and tonight it proved that as the drivers were racing all parts of the track and there was no dust at all, despite the heat.
The feature race running order was unchanged from the heats and the Four Cylinders would be the first class to race their feature. Jacob Welter started on the pole and led nine of the ten laps of this race to take the win.
He had easy going early as he built up a good sized lead in what was a nonstop main event but gradually Jeff Allendorf caught up to him and somewhat surprisingly, on lap seven Allendorf drove past into the lead. This seemed to fire up Welter and he picked up the pace, taking only one lap to repass Allendorf and then pull away by a comfortable margin to take the win. Rick Zifko finished third as ten of the eleven starters saw the checkered flag.
Crown Vics were next with fourteen of them taking the green flag for their twelve lap feature race. Travis Nesteby started fourth but by the end of lap one, he had the lead. A single yellow slowed the action with three laps complete but after that, the race went green to checkers.
Nesteby built up a strong lead over Manny Bennett by the halfway point of the race and it seemed like this event was a foregone conclusion for Nesteby. However, you never know in racing and with a couple laps to go, Nesteby began to slow considerably as his car's motor sounded very bad and his lead began to be cut drastically. When cars he had just lapped drove back around him, you knew he was in trouble.
Bennett smelled blood in the water, pushed his car for what it was worth, and drove past Nesteby to take the lead and ultimately, the win. Rob Culbertson drove up to second with Nesteby falling back to fourth at the line.
I believe this race paid a grand to the winner although I heard no mention of that in victory lane but either way, it was a big win for Bennett and his first victory at Dubuque since way back in 2004 while racing Four Cylinders.
Late Models were up next for their thirty lap, three thousand dollar to win main event and twenty two drivers took the green flag, minus Bobby Hansen who appeared to lose a motor while having a good heat race run.
Eric Pollard had the pole but it was Lyle Klein that used the outside line to grab the initial lead. Klein, who doesn't get to race much since he moved out of the area, took full advantage of this rare opportunity by pulling away from the field in the early going. Pollard tucked into second with Nick Marolf moving into third as the first ten laps ran off green.
A spin bunched the field but back on green, it was still Klein that held the lead with Marolf getting past Pollard to take over the second spot. Nick started putting the heat on Klein, who's car appeared to be getting a bit tight in the corners as he pushed up the track slightly. Marolf looked to the inside several times, but just couldn't quite get the push he needed to make the pass.
A lap twenty one yellow when third place Pollard spun was just what Marolf needed though. On the restart, Klein pushed up the track, Marolf drove under him for the lead and that was race over, as Marolf led the rest of the way.
C.J. Horn eventually worked his way into second but he could never put pressure on the leader. Proving that it does indeed make a difference who is behind the wheel of a race car, Chad Simpson stepped behind the wheel of the David Webster 44w and drove that car up to third after starting ninth on the grid. Matt Ryan and Ron Klein completed the top five after Lyle Klein rolled to a halt with issues with just five laps to go.
A strong field of Modified drivers were on hand but that didn't matter to Jeff "Bone" Larson as after starting on the pole, he dominated for twenty laps to take the top prize of two grand back across the border to Illinois.
In a race that was plagued by yellow flags, with four of them in the first five laps including a tangle on a bad restart that took out four drivers, Larson didn't let the slowdowns faze him as he drove a strong race and didn't let the competition catch up to him.
A good battle for second saw Jed Freiburger and Jacob Hobscheidt swap that spot back and forth with Freiburger finally claiming it by the halfway point of the race. Joel Rust made a nice advance from eleventh to finish fourth ahead of Spencer Diercks.
The Hobby Stocks were also racing for a grand as their top prize and twenty three of them took the green flag for their fifteen lap finale. Kyle Jared used the outside line to take the early lead after the initial start was called back when strong favorite Nathan Ballard spun and was relegated to the tail of the field.
Jared was receiving big pressure from Jordan Miles in the early going but suddenly it was a three car battle as Dalton Weepie moved in on the low side of the track, and on lap six, he passed both the other drivers as they were battling and took over the top spot.
Jared and Karter Miles then took up the chase, but neither could catch Weepie from that point on. A late race yellow set up a three lap sprint to the finish but Weepie took off strong and drove home unchallenged for the win. Behind Jared and Miles, Ballard had drove his way back up through the pack to take fourth with Matt Bennett completing the top five.
Two drivers took the Done Right TV Challenge. Hobby Stocks were also racing as a part of the Maquoketa Fair on this same night and the two tracks worked it out so Maquoketa ran the Hobbies first and Dubuque ran them last so it was possible to race both features.
Two drivers took the challenge and since both were from Wisconsin and Dubuque was right on the way home, why wouldn't you?
Blaise Watters had won the feature at Maquoketa and he worked his way up to seventh at Dubuque after starting twenty third. Brycen Wilson finished sixth at Maquoketa but settled for twelfth at Dubuque as there was plenty of traffic to try and get through to get to the front. But I salute both drivers for giving it a try and both tracks for coming up with this clever promotion.
There is something about a Fair race that can't quite be duplicated and the Dubuque Co. Fair is one of the best around so it is always nice to be able to include it on my racing schedule. Thanks to all the staff at the Fair and the race staff also. They have one more big race coming up on Sunday with the long standing Julian Dubuque Classic to be held.
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