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.
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