Gravel Pads Point Lead at MTS

 Tuesday night, August 19th, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars made their first ever appearance at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway North of Fountain City Wisconsin. This was not only the first ever appearance for the WoO at the track, but the first time that most of the drivers had ever seen the track that lies close to the Mississippi River in Wisconsin's Coulee country North of LaCrosse. 

I was not prepared for the weather conditions as it was cool and cloudy at home but by the time I arrived at MTS, it was pushing ninety degrees and the humidity was oppressive. 

They were very lucky to  get the show in and the unstable weather conditions were producing a number of pop up T storms and one passed very close to the track but they dodged that bullet and the rest of the evening proved to be a good one. 

Twenty seven Sprint drivers signed in to race with the top thirteen in WoO points on hand and a smattering of drivers from Huset's, the Twin Cities and a couple of Knoxville regulars also on hand. For the longest time it appeared that a B Feature was not even going to be necessary but a couple of late arrivals pushed the number up to the point that not all drivers would get the chance to start the feature. 

A new track record was set in qualifying but that was almost a given with the humid weather conditions and the fact that track co-owner and track prep person for the speedway Bob Timm loves to "juice up" a track whenever he can. He's a big fan of blinding speeed and while that might look good to break the track record, the big speeds also make it harder to pass I believe. 

David Gravel turned a lap at 11.324 seconds, one of nineteen drivers to break the existing 410 track record set during an IRA show previously. 

Three heats wer, e held with the top six in each moving on and they were all speed contests with only one driver that didn't start in a qualified spot moving up and that was Austin McCarl. Another six drivers were added through the B Feature with all four events going green to checkers. I guess the WoO Sprints don't automatically add provisional starters as only twenty four drivers would take the green for the feature. Actually it was only twenty three as Sheldon Haudenschild pulled off before the green flag dropped with steering issues that were not resolved. 

Bill Balog had a solid cheering section for him and for the third straight night of WoO racing, he managed to redraw the pole but unfortunately for him, for the third straight night he failed to convert that good starting spot into a win. 

He did  manage to lead the first three laps before Logan Schuchart drove under him to take over the lead. Gravel started fourth but was on the move quickly, taking Balog for second and then, on lap nine, passing Schuchart for the lead. One lap later the first yellow for the Sprints all night flew and on the green, Gravel pulled away from the pack. 

But the halfway point of the race, he had a comfortable lead over Schuchart but Buddy Kofoid, who started eighth, was up to second and shortly after, passed Schuchart for the second spot. Gravel still had a nice margin until the yellow waved once again with just seven laps remaining. 

One would not think that the leaders could catch traffic with just such a few laps remaining, but they did and they did give Gravel a bit of trouble as his pace was slowed the last couple of laps by slower cars. It doesn't take long for the pack to catch up when the leader must slow and on the final lap Kofoid showed his nose inside Gravel in turn three to make the finish just a bit closer that it might have been otherwise, but Gravel still took the checkers as the leader. Kofoid settled for second with Schuchart third.  Nineteen drivers were still on the track at the finish. 

The support class on this night was the USRA Stock Cars with just enough of them signing in for two heats and a main event which is probably just what the event organizers were hoping for. 

Timm redid the track for the main events and with the Stock Cars going first, they got a really "juiced up" track that was very heavy and seemingly impossible to pass on. What ended up happening was twenty laps of high speed hot laps it seemed with virtually no passing as everyone was very fast and as long as they hung in the groove, it was tough to gain positions. 

Colby Mann started on the pole and led all twenty laps to get the win which was his first ever Stock Car victory at MTS. He was challenged by Scott Guthrie early but by the halfway point, it was Kyle Falck that had moved into second. 

Overheating issues were prominent in this class as with the heavy track and heavy air, the motors didn't get much chance to breath and several drivers dropped out with steam billowing from their cars. This struck Falck while he was running second and he pulled into the infield in a cloud of steam. 

Meanwhile, Mann was just building on his lead with ballooned to nearly a full straightaway over the pack. Jake James ran a consistent race to finish second with Guthrie third with some of the strong runners that started farther back in the pack not making much progress. Yellows in the first two laps slowed the action for debris but then the last eighteen laps ran off green to checkers. 

It was a very fast paced program once they got started with the actual race time being just over two hours. MTS is not a Sprint Car track nor is it in Sprint Car country but it appeared that a good sized crowd was on hand for the event so it will be up to race organizers to determine whether they return again next year. 

Fisher and Rust Top "Hunting With Heroes" At Spencer

 IMCA Speed Week continued on Wednesday night, August 6th at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa. The Hunting For Heroes Salute to Veterans Tour race here had been rained out in July and was originally scheduled for Tuesday night. However, with all the Speed Week activities and races going on, the date was eventually changed to Wednesday night so that a full week of racing could take place in northwestern Iowa, topping off with the Night of 1000 Stars at Britt. 

Tonight's race almost didn't take place again as heavy over night storms hit the area and then headed to the Southeast. Well over an inch of rain fell at the track and around the community and there were those that wanted to cancel the event. However, there were others that definitely wanted to race and with the help of some fine, community minded business with access to heavy equipment, the grounds and race track were prepared and racing was completed as scheduled. 

The dirt pit area was opened up to the sun and wind and by late afternoon, except for a few minor puddles, there were no problems reported there. Of course, all those rigs that parked out on the concrete in the parking lot always enjoy their stay here, except for the fact that they are so far away from the track itself.

The racing surface stayed smooth, which was a concern of some, but it was soft and quickly rolled up into a monster cushion. Time and time again, the cushion was scrapped and packed by equipment but each time it returned quickly, bigger and badder than ever. For most, it was the place on the track to race as it provided plenty of speed, but it was also a very tricky place to race as a few found out over the course of the evening. 

All five classes, under IMCA sanction, were racing as normal on Wednesday. The top prize was two grand that would go to the winner of both the Stock Car and Modified main events while the other classes also got a boost up to a grand a piece except the Sport Compacts who raced for three bills. 

Part of the Hunting With Heroes promotion involves race cars receiving military and historic wraps and there were about a dozen drivers that had them on their cars. They were on display in front of the grandstand before the races and all veterans on hand on this night got in free along with a lot of other goodies they collected on. 

Unfortunately for those of us hoping to see a quick show and get on the road, this was not a night filled with good time management. Each feature race was proceeded by a flag carrying ceremony of all drivers which I get and extensive photo opportunities which are all part of the event. Therefore, the pace tonight would not be near as brisk as for most events here and indeed, later with things running quite late, both the Stock Car and Modified feature races were cut by five laps to try and move things along.

The part I objected to was that with much ceremony before the first green flag dropped, the first heat didn't hit the track until 7:49 pm, way too late for any night of the week but especially during the week. And the problem here is that for some reason they feel that they must hot lap every class, no matter the situation and no matter the time. There are plenty of big time events that don't feel the need to hot lap any classes and on a night when things are running late and it's going to be a long night, just simply don't have hot laps. In my area at this time of the year, hot laps are rarely done, and everyone still survives just fine. 

The drivers were really late arriving on Wednesday, perhaps because it was a week night and also perhaps because they were working on race cars that needed attention following two or three nights of racing already with more to go. The final total was one hundred and ten drivers in five classes signed in to race. These numbers work well as they provide full size heat races without the need to run time consuming B Features.

Let's focus on the two biggest paying events of the night. The Stock Car feature started twenty six drivers going for twenty laps. The redraw was interesting tonight with no glaring advantages gained on the redraw for anyone, making this race one hard to call, unlike Boone the night before when I picked all three winners before the first green flag was dropped. 

Chris Palsrok had the pole position and he took the early lead with Jason Fisher and Mike Albertsen moving in behind him. There was plenty of jockeying back in the pack as a couple of drivers made some moves to the front. Primary among them was Justin Leinenburg who moved up from his ninth starting spot although he was probably not making any friends as there was plenty of contact as he moved forward. Chanse Hollatz also cracked the top five early on.

Fisher was really flying and he was able to slip past Palsrok and take over the lead just before the halfway point of the race. So after, Leinenburg moved up into second and the biggest battle of the race took place as Leinenburg really worked to get past Fisher. Both drivers were using the cushion , as was most of the field, and it was to a height by this time that they could really bang off it all the way around the track. 

However, lap fourteen brought disaster for Leinenburg when he caught the cushion wrong in turn one, his car reared up on two wheels and then took off on a monster series of flips that saw him roll all the way over the banking and out of sight. Fortunately, he was OK but the same couldn't be said of the car. 

The last six laps saw Fisher hold off all challenges from several different drivers and the veteran driver from Minnesota crossed the line first to take the win over Mike Albertsen and Jake Masters who started way back in seventeenth. 

I have been seeing Fisher race at a lot of races over the years in this part of the country in Stock Cars and Modifieds before that and I can't ever remember seeing him win a feature race before so he was more than due. 

Joel Rust had showed much speed at Boone on Tuesday night but ran out of laps. In Spencer tonight, he started on the outside pole and led all twenty laps to take the win. He was strong from start to finish and was never really challenged at any point. Brandon Beckendorf looked quick also as he moved from the fifth starting spot into second but he stalled out there, just not able to track down Rust. 

This race had only a single yellow flag and the field got kind of stretched out with the dominant top side used by just about everyone. Nick Meyer, one of those that always has a military themed car for this race, finished third with Jacob Snyder back in his own car tonight and claiming the fourth spot. 

The Hobby Stock feature was a wild one that saw several yellows for spins and wrecks and also included a flip by Kalyb Brunssen when he dug into the surface exiting turn two. Dillon Richards started on the outside pole which normally would mean he would run away with the race, but not on Wednesday when he was beaten to the early lead by Evan Schettler. Schettler and Richards then engaged in some entertaining slide job action, with Schettler able to fight off every attempt by Richards to take over the lead. 

Racing hard and close, Schettler had bad luck strike him just when it looked like he might prevail when he pounded the turn one cushion and rolled a right rear tire off the bead while leading. He then triggered a yellow, changed the tire and eventually would work his way back up to tenth. 

Richards still wasn't out of the woods as he had both Skylar Pruitt and Cory Probst then challenging him. Pruitt would actually get past but Richards was saved by the yellow flag. A two lap sprint to the finish was shuffled when on the green, Probst had a motor let go in a smoky cloud and he slowed, which allowed Richards to gain just enough that he could hold off Pruitt and Brandon Nielsen for the win. 

Mike Smith led from start to finish to win the Sport Mod feature race but it wasn't quite as easy as that might indicate. Even though he took the early lead, he was chased hard by Matt Avila who had moved up from the third row to challenge. 

Several times Avila tried to get under Smith coming off the corners until he unfortunately came off four just too hot, banged into the side of the leader and gave himself a flat tire while calling it a night. 

Smith then dominated from this point, leading the rest of the way. A late restart saw Justin Klynsma make a great move as he passed both Payce Herrera and Alec Fett to move up to second and then hold off Zach Davis who made his own charge up from the sixth row to finish a close third. 

It took Oliver Monson only one lap to move up from the second row and pass Kaytee Devries and take over the lead in the Sport Compact main event. This race ran green to checkers and Monson was able to extend his lead and drive home for a pretty easy win. Devries held on for second with Tyler Thompson pushing her at the end. 

J Van and Chad Meyer were again providing the entertainment but it wasn't nearly as good as at Boone the night before, mainly because the sound system at Spencer, under the big roof, just isn't very good and while I could hear Chad as he delivered the opening remarks before the show started, once the racing starts it's almost impossible to hear them. I hope the entertainment attractions during the Fair have better audio then they provide on race night. 

Lots of work for Trent Chinn and his staff to get this show completed and they got it done, even if it was almost Midnight by the time I hit the road. Thanks again.  

Braaksma, Sachau and Reynolds Top Harris Clash

 The 34th annual Harris Clash was held on Tuesday night, August 5th at the Boone Speedway in Boone Iowa and the winners included Ethan Braaksma in the Modifieds, Jake Sachau in the Sport Mods and Kaden Reynolds in the Stock Cars. 

It was a very nice night for auto racing in the state of Iowa and while it was warm, there was a rather stiff breeze out of the Southeast the kept things pleasant and it actually was sweatshirt weather by the time for the first "farming" session. 

After a mostly successful run at the Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley Minnesota for this event, 2025 found the Harris Clash in Boone, and just down the road conveniently for the Harris Auto Racing folks putting on this event. 

Deer Creek is a fine facility but it is on the hinterlands of IMCA racing and while the car count was large in the beginning years, each year of late found the car count dwindling and with no local cars to support the effort, things started to back slide. Also, the fan side of things really started to slip after the novelty of the race wore off, as most of the local fans couldn't identify with drivers they were unfamiliar with and if there weren't drivers racing that they knew, they simply didn't attend. 

Boone is obviously a logical choice to host the race as they are familiar with an fully equipped to handl large scale racing events as there is nothing larger than Super Nationals which is sneaking up quickly, by the way. One wonders, however though, that with all the big races this track hosts that maybe this race gets overshadowed a bit here. Personally, I would have liked to see it run at another track, if for no other reason than to spread the wealth around, so to speak. But finding tracks willing and capable of hosting the extremely large one night affair probably aren't easy either. 

Finding cars to race at Boone never seems to be a problem and the field for Tuesday night's Clash was huge. With the addition of Stock Cars to this year's show, that was bound to increase the race count but even so, it was a gigantic response by the drivers to the race being held here. Two hundred and thirty one drivers signed in to race with their being eighty one Stock Cars, seventy nine Modifieds and seventy one Sport Mods. Wow! That is an incredible number of racers on hand for a one night show and there are very few places that can take no such a task and do it well and Boone is one of them. 

This race was originally scheduled for June but was rained out and rescheduled for this date and one wonders if the car count would have been even higher than it was on Tuesday if the original was held. The timing of the rain date to State Fair time and the closeness of Super Nationals coming up just may not have allowed a few drivers to attend but my goodness, there were more than enough on hand on this night. 

Did I hear you ask just how big was this show? Well, here are some statistics for you. There were forty races run on Tuesday night that actually just slipped over to Wednesday morning. And they ran a total of four hundred and twenty nine laps of racing action, not counting packing laps, hot laps and laps run under yellow. Oh my goodness! That is quite the show. And through it all, the track held up well with the two full scale "farming sessions" having much to do with that. And not a whisper of dust all night. Remarkable!

It almost becomes too much with the racing seemingly never ending and the big name drivers rolling out, race after race. It made it very difficult to chart the progress of certain drivers because there were so many big names it was hard to keep up with everyone. There was just so much going on and with the one spin rule to keep the action moving, the dramatic turns from race to race were almost unfathomable.  

The Stock Car and Sport Mods ran a twenty four car field for their main event with the Modifieds starting thirty cars, three wide plus they added one provisional starter. To get to that point, only the heat race winners and one car in each race with the highest number of passing points moved on to the main events. Four B Features added two more drivers except in the Mods where three drivers would move on and that set the field for the three main events. It goes without saying that a tremendous amount of talent was left sitting in the pits when the three features started. 

As for the three features themselves, there had been so much good racing in the heats and dramatic finishes that the three mains almost were overshadowed. Two of the three features were dominated by a single driver with no lead changes while the Sport Mods saw a late race pass determine the outcome of that event. There were few of the other races that were dominated in such fashion. 

The Stock Cars would run their main event first and this race proved to be the Kaden Reynolds show as he led from start to finish from the outside pole. He took the early lead with Jay Schmidt quickly moving up from the second row to hang out in second. 

The first of two yellows flew with nine laps completed with David Smith, Jesse Sobbing and Kyle Olson running in the top five. Reynolds was setting a fast pace and he pulled away again on the restart, with only Schmidt able to stay fairly close to him. By the halfway point of the race, Maguire DeJong had worked his way into the top five while many were tracking the progress of Ricky Thornton Jr who started sixteenth but was flirting with a top five position by that point. 

As the laps ran down, Reynolds continued his strong run but when Olson broke with just three laps to go, it set off a frantic late race burst to the finish. Reynolds was able to get away from the pack as he was dominant on this night and drove on for the win. Schmidt would claim second and with a late race scramble, Thornton Jr would move up to third ahead of Smith and Braden Richards. Sixteen of the starters were still on the track at the finish with all on the lead lap. 

The Sport Mods were scheduled for twenty laps for their main event and again, twenty four drivers would take the green. Minnesota driver Ben Reierson got a great jump on the pack and took the early lead with Tyler Nerud quickly moving up to fill the second slot. Reierson was setting a blistering pace and he moved out his lead to nearly a full straightaway before the yellow flew with ten laps completed with a car getting into the front stretch wall and spinning, triggering the slow down. Jake Sachau had moved up to the third spot after starting in the fourth row with Cam Reimers and Mike Smith filling out the top five at that point. 

With his large lead lost, Reierson soon found himself under the gun for the lead and three laps after racing resumed, Nerud went flying by on the outside to take over the top spot. Nerud was running a very aggressive line, right up on the edge of the track but he made it work as he continued to hold the top spot. 

Reierson started to slip back in the field with Sachau and Smith driving up to second and third but not really in a position to challenge for the lead as the laps ran down. However, a spin in turn one with just two laps to go changed all that as without that late yellow, Nerud would likely have been home free. 

The restart was critical and Sachau managed to get to the inside of Nerud who continued to run his high  side line. Sachau got beside the leader as they raced down the back chute with just a lap and a half remaining. As Sachau said later, he did what he had to do and that was to throw a questionable slider in turn three that saw him force Nerud up the track and pinched into the wall where Sachau then drove past him to take over the lead. It was not a pass that I would be proud of, but I guess how he won will never be revealed on the winner's check or on the trophy. 

As Nerud tried to make a come back pass on the final lap, he jumped the cushion in turn one and nearly lost it all but he saved the car in time to come across the line fourth. Smith used the opportunity to move up to second and Brayton Carter, who had started twelfth, made a charge through the field, used the late yellow to his advantage and was able to squeeze out a third place finish. 

Only five drivers failed to finish the race and all were on the lead lap. 

The Mods would wrap up a long night of racing with their three wide, thirty car field going thirty laps. With Cayden Carter being the provisional starter, they actually started thirty one drivers in what was a tightly packed race track in the early going. 

The drivers did a great job with the three wide start however, and hard racing broke out immediately. Ethan Braaksma, who started on the outside of row one which would seem to be the place to start in such a line up, immediately grabbed the lead with Tim Ward moving into second. 

A spin with ten laps completed proved to be the only yellow of the race with the drivers doing an amazing job of racing each other while not triggering yellows or running over each other. Braaksma and Ward were the class of the field as they again took off in first and second and put distance on the rest of the pack. 

Todd Shute was trying to hang with the top two and as the race reached its halfway point, he was running third with Jeremy Mills and Tripp Gaylord next in line, along with Jeremy Mills. The top two continued to pull away form the field but Ward was not able to narrow the distance between himself and Braaksma. 

The leaders were running the middle line on the track, having abandoned the high groove while a couple others were starting to make time using the tight inside line right on the tires. Joel Rust and Jake McBurnie were the two that were having success using that line and they started to make a climb up through the pack after starting back in the fourth and fifth rows. 

But there would be no stopping Braaksma, who continued to maintain his margin over his most serious challenger, Ward and with no yellows to bunch the field and the last twenty laps going green to checkers, it was Braaksma who scored a dominating win. Ward would finish a strong second but never be able to challenge for the win. 

A late charge using the low line would find Rust and McBurnie forge their way up to third and fourth with Jordan Grabouski completing the top five. Twenty six drivers finished the race and all were on the lead lap again, showing the balance of the field but also the difficulty in making passes. 

Along with the huge field of drivers that had to impress and the great and smooth manner that the show was run off, the other thing that stuck out was the huge number of disqualifications from the races for issues like deck height and wheel base problems. My unofficial count was that ten drivers were disqualified for various minor infractions on the tech slab! Sadly for her, Taylor Kuehl may have set an event record was she was disqualified twice for wheel base issues!

While some seemed to relish this as an added side bar to the competition, that wasn't the way I felt. My question is, is anyone teching these cars at all the other races thnat they run at, that when they show up here they are all illegal? Have they been running illegal at all the other events they run at and if so, what are the so called tech people doing at those events and tracks?  This shouldn't be happening and is not a sign of good race action, but a sign instead that a lot of stuff is going on at tracks that no one is catching and shows not strength but weakness in the overall system. I should say also that this doesn't seem to be an issue unique to IMCA as I know of some other sanctioning bodies suffering from the same problems. But it is maddening. 

In summary, it was quite a night of racing and quite the event. For me, they could have stayed with just two classes of racing and still had a fine show as there is such a thing as overkill and over two hundred cars racing in a one night program might be pushing the limit. Still, with the final checkered flying at about 12:30 am, there was a great deal of racing done in just over five hours time and I know of no way that they could have done it faster. 

Thanks to Bob Harris and Harris Auto Racing for putting on this show along with all the employees of the Boone Speedway. The combination of J Van and Chad Meyer at the mic is always worth the price of admission alone and I marvel at the energy that J Van has as before he spent the night announcing, he spent the afternoon at the "traffic cop" getting all the drivers parked in their appropriate spots. 

Randy Brands Is "Beaver Cleaver"

 The 2025 Iowa IMCA Racing SPEEDweek began on Monday night, August 4th at the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta Iowa. The Buena Vista Raceway, affectionally known as "The Beaver," was hosting a Monday night,  five class special event program to start off SPEEDweek with the top money being two grand to win the Stock Car feature and a thousand dollars to win the Modified main event. 

Also on the card were the Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks, Sport Compacts and the BVR Bombers. The winners in the big money paying events were veteran Stock Car driver Randy Brands and Sioux City's Cody Thompson in the Modified feature. 

There will be special event racing each night this week, right up to the Saturday night Night of 1000 Stars race at Hancock County in Britt that concludes SPEEDweek for 2025. 

It was an excellent night for racing in the Siouxland of Iowa with the threatened rain of this morning long gone without producing any precipitation. BVR has been snake bit all season and they have actually only raced three times so far this year due to seemingly every race night being hit by rain! They have lost so many shows that they have actually rebooked a couple of races on Monday nights yet this month to try and get a few more races in this year. So when it turned cloudy here this morning, everyone was thinking bad thoughts indeed  but for once it threatened but did not deliver and as the clouds moved off to the Southeast and the sun reappeared, everyone, especially promoter Trent Chinn, breathed a sign of relief. 

Car counts on Monday were not spectacular but again, it is a long week of racing and for the local drivers, it is indeed a Monday night and tough for some of them to get to the track. Three of the six classes offered had only enough drivers on hand to fill a single heat including the Sport Mods, Sport Compacts and BVR Bombers but the Stock Cars and Modifieds, where the bigger money was offered, had solid fields that produced some excellent racing. 

The Buena Vista County Fairboard gets a big "thumbs down" for their lack of caring for the racing and for making their fairgrounds look nice for this special event. About a quarter of the infield, which is used as the primary pitting area for the race cars here, was still filled with giant piles of dirt, left over from the Fair where they were used for jumps etc, for the stunt racing that took place during that event. Promised to be removed by this time, there they still sat even as some that had been hauled away sat over the end of turn three. It made the place look extremely shabby and made for a big parking problem with drivers squeezed together, parked at awkward angles and forced some of the drivers to pit outside the track in very inconvenient spots. Also, it wouldn't hurt to cut the grass in the spectator parking lot before it gets up to the doors of the vehicles parked there. This lack of effort makes one wonder just how much they value racing at the Beaver. 

Promoter Trent Chinn was busy adding water to the track almost constantly so I didn't get to talk to him but between here and Clay County, the other track he promotes, it has been a challenging year with both tracks losing countless shows in 2025. 

With a good sized crowd in the stands, especially for a Monday night, racing would begin just after 7 pm and the heats moved through quickly, with the thirteen qualifying events taking less than one hour to complete. I have to admit, the qualifying events as a whole were a little on the ordinary side on the dry slick track, but thankfully, the main events were much better with some excellent side by side racing, drivers finding multiple lanes to race on and some good finishes. 

A word about the reporting here, this track certainly could use, but doesn't currently have a scoreboard so it gets a bit tough to report all the facts that I would like but I do the best I can with what I have. Really, it doesn't need to be a jumbotron, just get a simple scoreboard even if all it does is count down laps. Every high school in the nation, no matter how small, has one at their football field, surely Buena Vista County could come up with one somewhere. 

The highlight event was the Stock Car feature and the drivers in this race did a great job of finding the different lines available to race on. The track was dry and slick and it seemed like hugging the inside line and playing the "catfish" was the best way to go. However, several drivers, led by Brands, found a way to cut through the traffic and then use the high side to their advantage. 

Jake Masters got a great start as somehow he found an opening on the first lap to go from inside of the third row into the lead by the time the field had crossed the line for the first time. Tim Rupp was also charging and he quickly moved into second and was riding the rear bumper of Masters as they circled the track. Mike Albertsen, Devin Smith and Justin Nehring were all close behind. 

However, at about this point, several of the drivers moved to the top side of the track, including Nehring, Brands and Brian Blessington. It was a long way around way up on top but they started to make it work and while Masters and Rupp were still right on the inside tires, a line formed up against the cushion also and it made for very interesting racing. 

There were two yellows early in the going but then lots of green flag racing took place. A key moment was when Brands got past Nehring to lead the group that was running the top side and once Randy got clear, he began to close rapidly on Rupp and Masters. 

The crowd really got into this, and they were on their feet cheering on the charge of Brands, who blew past Masters down the front chute to take over the lead and then he proceeded to march away from the pack. His drive was a dandy and by the time the checkers flew, he had nearly a full straightaway on the pack that couldn't keep up with him. 

There were other substantial changes in the running order late with David Smith coming from the sixth row to drive into second late with Blessington rounding out the top three. The two early leaders, Masters and Rupp, were relegated to fifth and sixth as the pack kind of overcame them late. 

The Modified feature was a real nail biter too with some great side by side battles for the lead marking this contest. Jesse Rogotzke  used the outside pole to take the early lead and when Cole Czarneski moved into second, they had a good race for the lead for several laps before Czarneski took over the top spot. 

A yellow at the halfway point saved Rogotzke's butt, as he spun in turn two but another driver fortunately beat him to the yellow so Jesse got second back. However, he couldn't hold off Cody Thompson, who after starting tenth was really on the charge. 

He got past Rogotzke for second and then closed on Czarneski for the lead. These two did come great racing for the lead then, with Thompson boring hard into the corners to slide under Czarneski several times and they got oh so close at high speed but I don't think they even touched. It was dandy racing but Thompson wore out Czarneski eventually and took over the lead. 

Once in front, Thompson pulled away and the focus was on second where national Late Model driving start Ethan Dotson was driving the Snyder #98 and came roaring up to challenge Czarneski. He threw the biggest slider in captivity at Czarneski but couldn't quite make it work, settling for third with Czarneski finishing ahead of him. 

A small field of Sport Mods found Mike Smith starting on the pole and driving away from the small pack as he led from start to finish and was never really challenged. Rusty Montague started sixth and raced up to second late in the going to beat out Joe Reetz for that spot. 

The field of Sport Compacts was also a small one and front row starter Levi Volkert led for a number of laps before Tyler Thompson moved up from the second row to make what would be the wining pass.. Volkert would later tangle with Cody Gorden while battling for second and trigger the lone yellow of the race. Volkert led off what was probably the fastest parade lap in recorded history to start off the race. 

There was quite a scramble for the second position and on back as Thompson pulled away and Brooke Osler surged forward right at the end to get the second spot while Gorden came from the back to finish third. 

The Hobby Stock feature was a rough and tumble affair with five four yellows and one red flag thrown in. Before a lap could be completed, there was a mad scramble down the back chute that saw several drivers impact with each other, a couple pound the guardrail and Max Pogeler go for a flip. Everybody was OK but several cars were eliminated. 

Officially Dayton Ullrich was scored the leader of all sixteen laps of this race, but he was under the gun constantly with his most persistent challenger being Will Smith. Smith threw several sliders at the leader but Ullrich was always able to come out ahead on the other side of the corner. 

Spins kept  the field bunched but each time Ullrich fought off all challenges from Smith and drove on for the win with Justin Frederick coming from the fifth row to complete the top three. 

The "Beaver Bombers" were just that with Kyler Mattson leading from start to finish to win this race. They only got four recorded laps completed before track officials stuck a fork in this one, due to multiple yellows for spins, crashes and point leader Coltley Timmerman who went off the turn one banking and was stuck on the edge of the fairgrounds property until discovered by the search crew. Grant Smith was second across the line with Wyatt Johnson third. 

The feature races provided some good racing action and some high speed, side by side racing, perhaps better than I can recall from previous visits here. All racing was completed by 10: 30 pm but it would have been earlier with the Hobby Stock feature being quite the time eater. 

Interestingly, BVR will complete their 2025 season with a Monday night show on August 25th with Wednesday night shows scheduled for the next two weeks, weather permitting of course. 

Thanks to Trent Chinn and the staff at "The Beaver" for a nice night of racing. 

Horn Dominates PRO Late Models at Mason City, Chisholm Slams His Way to Modified Win

 The weather couldn't have been much better than it was on Sunday night, August 3rd for outdoor activities and dirt track racing in particular. I was in attendance at the Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway for Make A Wish night at the track. 

Along with a full show in four USRA divisions, the PRO Late Models would also be running a full program while there were a number of ongoing activities including a pass the hat with all proceeds going to the Make A Wish Iowa group. Everyone is familiar with the great things that Make A Wish does and so this is the kind of group that everyone likes to support. Their pass the hat at intermission was successful to the tune of $1,500 raised from the spectators on hand. 

It was a night full of action, quirky things that happened and more than a few ruffled feathers by some drivers as things got a bit rough from time to time. The new Mason City is for sure an "elbows up" kind of race track and while it is fun to watch as a spectator, particularly when the top side is dominant like it was on Sunday, the slide jobs can break out quickly and not all of them prove to be the cleanest ever attempted. 

The start of the program was delayed slightly for a reason that I believe I never have seen before. Are you ready for this? The concrete retaining wall  in turn four fell over and they had to put it back up again before they could race! I told you, you wouldn't believe it. 

The wall is a series of Jersey barricades set end to end and a could have shifted and they were putting them back in place when the back how clipped some of the other ones and the whole section of them in turn four all fell over. They had to be put back in place, one by one after taking the grader and kind of digging a trench for then to sit in. It took some time  but they weren't dreadfully behind schedule when the first race took the green. And the best news was that even tough a few drivers scraped and rubbed the wall, it held its ground and didn't fall back over!

Car counts were a bit spotty in some of the classes. The PRO Late Models had a big double feature race on Saturday night but they brought eighteen drivers which I thought was solid. The B Mods had twenty two, very fine,  but both the Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks only had a dozen drivers but the real puzzle is in the Modified class. It is ironic that this facility is promoted by one of the real authorities in Modified racing in the whole country yet they struggle to get double digit drivers in their Modified class. This Sunday they ended up with ten but James Parker blew in his heat and was done while Tyler Wirtjes hit the wall in hot laps and was done for the night. Still, the Modified feature was one of the more exciting races of the night. 

That race saw Cole Anderson grab the lead for the first lap before being passed by Al Hejna for the top spot. Kevin Stoa had made a strong push to take over the point but he got into that shaky wall and unfortunately for Stoa, the wall held and his race car did not and he was out under yellow with extensive damage. 

Al held the lead for three more laps before point leader here and a strong rookie contender in the class, Harley Dais, took over the top spot. Meanwhile Smokin' Joe Chisholm was on the move after starting sixth and by the halfway point of the race, he had moved into second and began to pressure Dais for the lead. Harley was banging off the wall all the way around the track with Chisholm just a lane down from him and trying to slip under him as the two young bucks stretched out their wings. 

The good battle continued until lap fourteen when Chisholm threw a very ill conceived slider at Dais in turn four, making contact with Harley and steering him up the track toward the wall. Chisholm then took over the lead and pulled away, proving he was probably the fastest car on the track but still not making any points with either the crowd or the competition. Harley pushed too hard after that, lost ground and had to settle for second with Ben Nading finishing well back in third. 

There were even a few boos directed toward victory lane during the winner's interview but Chisholm toned that down some when he announced that he was going to turn his winning portion of the race over to the Make A Wish folks in a nice gesture. Dais was likely still smoldering and he had every right to be. Back in the olden days, a move like that would be followed by a knuckle sandwich in return but we can't be doing that these days, even though it was probably the best cure for over aggressive driving. 

C.J. Horn led from start to finish as he dominated the PRO Late Model feature. He started on the pole, drove away from the field and left no doubt who was the fastest driver and car. The outside berm was his mode of transportation and he drove a race that was right on the edge of disaster. Even when he built up a big lead, he was making hair raising moves in traffic but was able to get by with it.

The strangest thing happened though after the only yellow of the race when Horn had a big lead and only two laps remained in the race. After the yellow flew for a spinning car, the field slowed down and rode around the track as they waited to get reorganized for the restart. 

Horn apparently thought that he was by himself on the track and he started whipping his car back and forth, likely to keep the tires warm. However, Justin Thornton happened to be just to the outside of Horn and when Horn started whipping back and forth, he impacted Thornton's car and actually knocked it up on top of the wall in turn one to the point that a wrecker had to be called to pull Thornton back off the wall!

One night, and two very strange occurrences and no, there was not a full moon. Surprisingly, Thornton was able to rejoin the race once he was lifted back up off the wall. So, another driver upset and another driver having to do some explaining. 

Horn took off on the short restart and easily drove away for the win. However, the driver that benefitted the most was Nick Marolf. He restarted fourth but was able to use the low groove and get by both J. D. Auringer and Sean Johnson to finish second. 

Myles Michehl led from start to finish to win the Stock Car feature. He was using the cushion to perfection as he tore around the track and no one could keep up with him. An excellent battle for second saw Andrew Borchardt and Travis Shipman jockey back and forth for that spot. They traded the position several times and it looked to go right down to the wire until they were joined by another driver to make it a three car battle to the finish. 

As Michehl crossed the finish line, the next three raced hard into the final corner and Borchardt fall got took out by another driver who then kept going while Borchardt spun out of the race. Properly so, since everyone had taken the white flag, the race was called complete. Very unproperly though, while Borchardt should have gotten his spot back and the offender sent to the tail, that didn't happen and Borchardt was rightfully upset as he talked to management while the winner was in victory lane. It didn't seem to help as I see the official standings on line show him finishing eleventh. Wow is all I can say. 

Twenty two B Mods took the green for their feature with the winner earning a grand on Sunday. Kaeden Bronner started on the outside pole and seemed likely a likely early leader but he got too high in turn two, kissed off the wall and Taylor Skauge slipped past him to take over the point. I didn't expect a dominating victory but that's what we saw as Skauge pulled away from the pack and led all the way for the win. Bronner and Hunter Kennedy battled hard for the second spot until Jayden Larson moved up from the fourth row and found traction on the low side too. 

Skauge was running as low as possible around the track and while the drivers behind were spectacular as they bounced off the walls, Skauge was making time on all of them. However, late in the race, Larson made that low side work as he pulled up to second and when Skauge missed his marks coming to the white flag, Larson also got past him but Skauge corrected things, ran a flawless final lap and took the win. Kennedy settled for third. 

A nice midrace adjustment by Gavin Bartel allowed him to win the Hobby Stock feature race. He started on the pole and led early with Scott Dobel and Kolby Goepel chasing him. They got together, triggering the lone yellow of the race and sending Goepel to the back of the pack. 

Dobel was overtaken by Josh Monson for second and he began to challenge Bartel. Gavin was running up the track and he started to break traction in the corners and at the halfway point of the race, Monson passed him for the lead. 

However, Bartel didn't give up but he did adjust his line, dropping to the inside and just two laps later, he would drive back under Monson and retake the lead. Using that inside line, he would then stay up front and withstand some pressure from Dobel and Monson to take the victory. 

Despite the somewhat late start, the whole program was completed by just after 9 pm which is what a Sunday night program needs to be successful and a nice sized crowd was on hand to watch the action. 

Thanks as always to Todd and Ryne and the rest of their staff. I would imagine that there were a few folks that must have been somewhat tired, having returned from a race on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. 

McCreadie and Doar Opening Night Winners at Cedar Lake USA Nationals

 The 38th annual USA Nationals held at the Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond Wisconsin opened up on Thursday night, July 31st. It was a beautiful night for dirt track racing in a lovely area of west central Wisconsin, After the area was hit hard by storms earlier this week that toppled trees and did damage to many folks homes and businesses, everything was put back in order here at the speedway and the biggest yearly event in this area would go on as scheduled. 

In front of perhaps the largest opening night crowd in the history of this event, feature winners would be Tim McCreadie in the World of Outlaws Late Models and Pat Doar in the Cedar Lake Late Models. Both of the feature races were very entertaining and in fact the program as a whole presented lots of good racing action with hard fought events across the board. 

This year Cedar Lake has joined an elite list of race tracks with Saturday night's one hundred lap feature for the World of Outlaws cars paying one hundred thousand dollars to the winner, one of only a small handful of tracks that are paying that large of a winning purse. Of course, that amount draws a lot of attention and for many fans from the upper Midwest, where this is their "go to" chance all year to see the biggest names in the sport, it only increases the interest in the three nights of racing. 

Both divisions drew strong and large fields of drivers with entries in the WoO Late Models from all over the country with the top fourteen in series points and twenty one of the top twenty five all in attendance. And with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series off this weekend, many of their strongest running teams were also on hand to try and steal away the big cash offerings presented by the Cedar Lake management. 

Fifty three WoO Late Models were in the pits for opening night action on Thursday. This night's twelve grand to win event would not impact the rest of the weekend as this was a "stand alone" point night of racing for the Outlaws while qualifying for the USA Nationals begins with heat races and dashes on Friday night. Nevertheless, the drivers were driving just as hard as if they were racing for a hundred grand on Thursday and it made for some entertaining race watching.

The qualifying was divided into two groups to set the stage for the six heat races with Garrett Alberson quickest overall at 13,105 seconds as the track was blisteringly fast after a healthy amount of watering for this night. A bit of a surprise found Garrett Smith quickest of the first group at 13.211 seconds. 

Just making the show on this night was a tough task as some of the biggest names in WoO would find out. Only three drivers out of each heat moved up and the two B Features were huge with sixteen or more drivers in each one and only two drivers advancing to the main. 

So it was that when the feature race was lined up, among the four provisional starters that took the green, the first, third, fourth and ninth place current point drivers in WoO points all had to take a provisional just to make the show! We're talking Pierce, Gustin, Troutman and Cody Overton that all had to use a provisional just to race the main event! That does not happen often and was likely caused by a combination of a very strong field from top to bottom plus a lightning quick racing surface that helped make every one fast. 

Cade Dillard and Hudson O'Neal started on the front row but things got off to an explosive start when Alberson tried to come from the second row to take the lead right off but instead ran into O'Neal in turn two and spun with his night then ruined as he had to go to the back for the second attempt to start the race. 

This moved Chris Madden up a row and he took full advantage, driving past both Dillard and O'Neal to lead the opening lap. Then he and O'Neal began a heated battle that saw them slide job each other several times while exchanging the top spot twice in the first ten laps.

Sneaking up on both of them was McCreadie who had started ninth but quickly found his low groove favorite line to have plenty of bite and he moved up to make it a three car battle and as the other two waged war, he was able to pass both of them just as the race hit the halfway point. 

The first twenty eight laps of the feature would go green after the first lap Alberson issue and though most of these laps, McCreadie was under constant pressure from either Madden or O'Neal and sometimes both. However, Tim was able to keep both of them behind him as he continued to work the low side of the track

But just when it looked like McCreadie might be home free, Smith slowed with a power loss and that set up a two lap sprint to the finish. And while things were wild before this point, the next lap would be the most explosive of the night. On the green, McCreadie continued to work the low side but he didn't get quite as good a run off turn two as normal. O'Neal, on the other hand, who was now second, got a great run off the banking in turn one and came roaring up beside McCreadie, trying to cut him off and beat him into turn three. 

The two just brushed together briefly but it set both into slides. McCreadie's car was sideways as it slid into turn three and somehow he managed to correct it although he lost a lot of speed. O'Neal, on the other hand, seemed to have his car under control higher up on the banking as he exited turn four but after he straightened it out, it snapped back on him in the opposite direction and around he went with McCreadie and the rest of the field avoiding the spinning #71. 

The yellow flew once more and O'Neal departed the track. The last green flag saw McCreadie get away much smoother and his last lap was less harrowing as he drove on for the win. The battle for second proved to be wild though, as Nick Hoffman threw a nasty slider on Madden, sawing off his nose in turn two as he passed for second and left Madden to settle for third. A quiet Ricky Thornton Jr and Brandon Sheppard completed the top five. Six of the original starters failed to complete the distance and all finishers were on the lead lap. Pierce was only able to work his way forward to seventeenth while Gustin finished just two spots ahead of him. 

Also on the card were the Cedar Lake Late Models, so named because they run WISSOTA rules basically but aren't sanctioned by that body. The majority of the cars that race in this class use WISSOTA Spec engines, the same motors that many use in SLMR and PRO Late Model races held throughout the Midwest. 

However, Cedar Lake also has a provision where open motored cars can also race with restrictors placed in the carburetors of the cars. I disagree with this provision since it still gives the open motored cars an advantage even though they typically are just a small minority of the entries but that is what they do to occasionally attract someone with an open motor and an open race date. 

This provision is what allows someone like Bob Gardner, currently persona non grata with the World Racing Group after his stunt at Fairbury, to race on this weekend since the Cedar Lake Late Models are not sanctioned by anyone. 

A very neat surprise was presented by Gavin Tarras, a local racer from New Richmond and part of a family that are very good friends with Lance Matthees. Tarras had a new body put on his car which was a replica of one of Matthees distinctive race cars from the 90's in tribute to Matthees who will be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in Florence Kentucky new weekend. It came as a surprise to Matthees and produced quite a scene in the pits as drivers came over to congratulate Matthees including eventual feature winner Pat Doar. 

A great field of the CLS Late Models was on hand with forty nine of them signing in to race including drivers from as far away as Winnipeg Manitoba and North Dakota. They would eschew time trials to instead draw numbers for their heat races and then use passing points to determine the feature line up. How pleasant  it was to not have to sit through another whole set of time trials and instead watch drivers actually race their way into feature positions. 

They ran five heats and a pair of Jeff Broeg sized B Features to determine the starting field for their twenty five lap, twenty five hundred to win main event. Their purse will increase each night of this event as they will be running three full shows. The only provisional doled out was to current track point leader James Giossi who had motor trouble early and failed to qualify through the normal channels. 

Ryan Corbett and Lukas Koski, a pair of drivers who had never won Late Model features at Cedar Lake would share the front row and it was Corbett that took the early lead. The North Dakota driver pulled out to a nice margin up front as the battle for second was intense but allowed Corbett to sneak away as the race remained under green flag for an extended period of time. 

Rick Hanestad drove into the second spot and held it for a number of laps but he was eventually challenged by Darrell Nelson and Doar, who had started in row four but worked both high and low on the track as he moved up in the field. 

Doar knows this track like the back of his hand, having cut his racing teeth on this very oval in a number of classes as he advanced in his racing career. He and Nelson had a dandy battle for second before Doar prevailed and he then set off after Corbett who had built up nearly a half straight lead on the field. 

Could Corbett have prevailed if a lap nineteen yellow for a slowing car, the only yellow of the race, hadn't happened? Perhaps, but both Doar and Nelson had just about caught the leader when the yellow waved. 

In any event, the yellow was Corbett's "Waterloo" as when the green waved, Doar went by him on the outside and Nelson on the low side and while Darrell pushed Doar hard the last five laps, Doar would go back to the top and then pull away to take the win over Nelson while Corbett hung on for third. Sam Mars and Hanestad completed the top five. 

Only five drivers failed to complete the race and all were on the lead lap at the finish. For Doar, who is still the face of the Cedar Lake Speedway, it was his sixty sixth Late Model feature win here and the three hundred and twenty first of his illustrious career with his first Late Model win coming here way back in 1994, a mere thirty one years ago. 

All racing was complete at just before 11 pm and the crowd was in a sharing mood with the 50/50 drawing being at just about three grand with that likely to grow each night. The track was in excellent shape for racing despite the pleasant fact that little track prep was done to it once the first green flag flew with not a whisper of dust. In fact, on this very humid and damp night, once there was a slowdown in the action such as a yellow flag, the track actually got wet slick briefly until hot tires ran over it a few times which was noticeable on some restarts. 

Thanks to all the WoO officials on board for their help, along with the staff and management of Cedar Lake. With promising weather on the schedule for the next two nights, they look to have a huge weekend upcoming.