Ditto The Back Up Plan

I'm worried that I might be wearing out my back up plan idea as for the second straight night I had to go to plan B in order to see some racing. Wednesday's story was a strange one of apparently missed communications which left more questions than answers.
After the rains went through parts of Iowa on Tuesday night, I was left to hand tough and wait for some word on who might be racing and who was under water. My first choice was to attend the USMTS show at Denison as I was in that area and hadn't been to Denison to a race in many years. In fact, the last time I was at a race in Denison the track was still a half mile and the late Howard Mellinger was running things. That, as they say, was quite some time ago.
I spoke to someone from the track at mid morning and they informed me that the races were on. Later, after traveling down the road quite a distance toward Denison, I called the USMTS home office just to confirm and was told the same thing, the races were on and hot laps were scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
So, with everything under control, or so I thought, I went to lunch and then headed to the local library to get some work done. Imagine my surprise when I opened up my e-mails and found that one of them contained the news that Denison had been rained out! Hoping this was some sort of gag, I then went to the USMTS site where the news was confirmed. I'm not sure what happened or when it happened, but something drastic must have happened to get such a last minute change of heart. I was told by a friend that pictures he saw from the track confirmed that the area was very wet. So, why did they wait so long to pull the plug if indeed the track was that wet? This is probably a question that will never be answered but clearly, at the least, there was some major miscommunications going on somewhere.
The bottom line for me was here I was at mid afternoon on an absolutely gorgeous day and no where to go. But, not so fast, wait a minute. Southern Iowa Speedway is Oskaloosa was scheduled to race on Wednesday and maybe if they didn't get too much rain, they might still be racing. Sure enough, they were still a go so after a quick check of the map, off I went toward central Iowa and about three hours later I rolled into the parking lot at the Mahaska County Fairgrounds.
On tap was a regular night of racing which meant five IMCA sanctioned classes of racing and on this night, an extra grand spread into the purse courtesy of nightly sponsors Bill & Ray's. That is a towing and recovery business in Osky and they had a huge rotater truck parked in the middle of the track with an American flag hanging from it that would be a source of pride for any Perkins in the country.
The car counts on this beautiful night were not spectacular with enough cars signed in for two heats in all classes except the Sport Compacts. There were, however, plenty of strong cars ready to race so while the starting lineups might look real spectacular, there was the promise of plenty of hard racing ahead.
The minor amounts of rain they got earlier plus trying to guess the weather threw them for a bit of a loop as the track was just not wet enough early and required a little more TLC before the races could begin. However, once they got going things flew by with only two yellows total needed in the heats and all the qualifying done in forty one minutes!
A quick break for a candy toss and it was time for feature racing to begin. First up was the Sport Compact main and Jake Benischek held off the challenge of the Whalen brothers in a non stop main event. Shane Evans looked like he might be a real challenger for the win until he lost a right front wheel.
The Sport Mod main was kind of crazy as first Logan Anderson, while battling for second, got turned by another car and had to go to the tail. Then, track kingpin in this class at Osky, Curtis VanDerWal, spun all by himself and had to go tail back too. This allowed Brett Lowry to run off and hide from the field.
Speaking of running off and hiding, the Stock Car feature was a good battle for the first half of the race but then Cayden Carter pulled away from the field. In a rare Stock Car blowout, Carter came from tenth and then stretched his lead to nearly a straightaway in a rare Stock Car snoozer although the battle for second between Mike Hughes and Todd Inman was pretty good. 
The Hobby Stock feature was probably the best race of the night with the drivers swapping positions on the track during the first half of the event. Then, everyone went to the top and left the bottom lane open and Dustin Griffiths came pouring through, racing up from ninth to take the win.
The Modifieds wrapped up the night and it was win number twenty for Ricky Thornton Jr. For a number of laps, Zack VanderBeek held the lead and it looked like he might make the bottom work for the win, but Thornton Jr was persistent and moved to the top and eventually drove around Zack and then pulled away for the win. One reason Thornton Jr is so successful is that he flat out drives harder into the corners than most of the other drivers and he makes up great amounts of time that way. He is determined and never backs off and continues to try until he finds a line that works for him. He's not afraid to search around on the track until he finds a line that helps him pick up speed and he is not satisfied to just trail someone else around the track.
Interestingly, the top three finishers in the Modified feature was likely have not been there if the show at Denison had not be rained out.
A late arrival Wednesday was South Dakota driver Casey Skyberg who got to the track so late he missed his heat race and took a couple of hot laps late in the race. Skyberg, who has raced at tracks under USRA, WISSOTA and IMCA sanctioning already this year, puzzled everyone with his late appearance and it is unknown if Osky was his primary target for the evening or maybe he went to plan B too!
All racing was complete before 10 p.m and a nice sized pre holiday crowd filed out the gates on what was one of the nicest race nights so far this year. Thanks again to Mike V. and his crew.

The Back Up Plan Works Out As Planned

It's always good to have a back up plan and it's even better when you don't have to use the back up plan. However, if plan B is needed, it is nice when it all works out and hours spent on the road and money spent to get up and down the road are justified by seeing some racing. Such was the case on Tuesday, May 24th. Even if the featured class was different than I had planned and the racing was two states away from where I had counted on being.
The hope on Tuesday was to catch the Lucas Oil Late Model Series at one of my favorite tracks, the I-80 Speedway West of Omaha that is owned by the Kosiski brothers. On Monday night, it didn't look like they got much rain and the forecast, while still questionable, seemed to hold the possibility of a window of opportunity to get the races in on Tuesday. So I took off early on Tuesday morning but when I called the I-80 office shortly after 9 a.m., the show had been already canceled due to much rain in the Superior Nebraska area and a forecast that seemed to promise more. I believe I talked to Lee Ackerman on the phone, and he expressed surprise that they had received that much rain West of Omaha as he didn't get the much rain where he lived.
Anyway, here I was, all dressed up to go racing and no where to go. However, I knew that the Nobles Co. Speedway in Worthington Minnesota was scheduled to open on Tuesday night and if they didn't get too much rain, perhaps I would luck out. A phone call to promoter Justin Holzapfel found that Worthington had received between two and three inches of rain over night on Monday, but Justin said that the drain tile works very well at the track and that they were going to make a decision by Noon or so. So I pulled into the nearest rest stop, and killed a couple of hours reading the only race paper I still get, Area Auto Racing News. When I called just after lunch, I got the good news that the racing was on, and being only a couple of hours from Worthington, I got there in plenty of time.
At the track Justin told me their biggest concern was not the track but the pits as they have a low North end where all the water runs to, but they were able to get everything squared away and racing was on, which was a good thing since it was an absolutely gorgeous night.
The infield of the track was like a lake and there was a high berm of dirt graded to the inside of the track, so there would be no cutting of corners on this night. The track itself was a little soft, but a grader job after the heats made it much better for the main events.
For those that have not been to the Nobles County Speedway before, the facility is a unique one. Although it is at the county fairgrounds, the fairgrounds are right smack in the middle of town. At one time the fairgrounds was probably on the edge of the city, but now the city has grown up all around the fairgrounds. Interstate 90 butts right up against the North end of the pits and truckers going by frequently give an airhorn blast to the racers. A Walmart butts right up against the East side of the pits and the two are only a flimsy fence apart from each other. If there is such a thing as urban racing, this is it.
The Nobles County Speedway is referred to by many as "The Bullring of Southwestern Minnesota" and it is definitely an action track. It's a small quarter mile and while it is wide, the inside line almost always seems the fast way around the track so there is always much jockeying to get to the low side the times I have been to this track, which for me, was just last year for the first time.
This is the second year that Nobles County has operated on Tuesday nights, and I'm assuming last year was successful for them as they have gone from a limited schedule that they ran last year to a full schedule of Tuesday night racing in 2016. When you think about it, Northwest Iowa and Southwest Minnesota must be the area with more race tracks and more nights of racing than any place in the Midwest. You can literally race six nights per week and not have to travel too far. All of which means that the tracks are in heavy competition with each other for both fans and racers and that most of the tracks don't have an over abundance of race cars because there just aren't enough cars to go around.
All five classes that race at Nobles County are IMCA sanctioned this year and on opening night, a total of fifty one drivers signed in to race. Quite unusual was the fact that the Modified class had by far the largest number of drivers racing. I was a bit confused when all five classes ran a pair of heat races, even though three of the classes had less than ten cars. At home, ten cars are required as a minimum to run two heats but no less an authority on IMCA rules than Chet Christianson(who was announcing the race for TV), told me that IMCA has no such rule.
The usual opening night kinks caused the show to start a few minutes late, but once they got going they really banged the races through quickly. In fact, the heat races were completed in perhaps a record time of twenty nine minutes!
A little track prep was necessary before the features hit the track but the whole show was completed in two hours, perfect for a midweek race.
On the track, the racing was highlighted by a great Modified feature race. Ricky"The Racer" Stephan started up front and he had a big lead, but there were a couple of great battles going on behind him. Jason Fisher and Jim Cole swapped second back and forth and the Rogotzke brothers, Matt Hollerich and Jay Noteboom had a wild duel going on for position behind them.
Suddenly, the yellow flew with four laps left and the complexion of the race changed dramatically. Noteboom took off like a shot and gain a couple spots and then he, like a shark smelling blood, attached the lead duo. He was able to get past Fisher and then, with only two laps to go, he passed Stephan for the lead. Noteboom came from tenth to record the stunning win. It was a dandy way to wrap up the night.
Previously, Dustin Larson scored an easy Stock Car win after his main competition Luke Saathoff blew a motor. Matt Looft started on the pole for the Sport Mods and that was bad news for the competition. Dan Strandberg was impressive in the Hobby Stocks holding off some tough runners behind him and defending national champion Nate Coopman cruised in the Sport Compacts.
It was a very late arriving crowd but after everyone got there, I thought for a Tuesday night in May when there are a million things going on, that it was a pretty decent crowd. Truthfully, for a week night show, they really won't know what they're getting for both fans and drivers until school is done for the Summer.
Thanks to promoter Justin Holzapfel for his assistance on what is always a hectic night for a promoter. And not only is Justin running Nobles County this year, he has also taken over at Redwood Speedway in Redwood Falls, a Sunday night track running IMCA classes also. 

Diemel Pleases Dairy State Fans With Lucas Oil Victory

Last year the Izzo family of Illinois brought the Lucas Oil Late Model Series to the Oshkosh Speedzone Raceway for the first time. The event was a colossal success that included a huge crowd, good racing and outstanding fields of cars, particularly in the support class which was the IMCA Modifieds.
So it came as no surprise when the Oshkosh event returned to the schedule for 2016 with a follow up on Saturday at the Izzo's own track, LaSalle Speedway in northern Illinois. So the entire troop of the Lucas Oil Series rolled into Oshkosh on Friday night, interrupting what has been kind of a dark time for the race track. Not that they have been having issues with their racing; nothing could be further from the truth. While they have raced only twice so far this season due to rainouts, their crowds have been good, fields have been fine and I'm told the racing has been good.
The issues have come off the track as there have been stories of the desire by some to level the race track and instead put in a huge stage area for concerts. Accusations have been flying back and forth between the track promoters, the County and the independent group proposing to build the concert site. The latest news was a statement by the concert group who announced that their proposal to build a stage would be on County land but just West of the race track so they would not infringe on the track or its activities. Fingers have now been pointed toward the County as the source of the excavation idea and a meeting has been proposed between the three ententes to sort through the claims and get to the facts and hopefully, reach an agreement that will work for all parties.
The Oshkosh Speedzone is a first class facility that matches up favorably with any track in the Midwest and no less than an authority than Mike Ruefer, who was on hand to shoot pictures for the event, calls Oshkosh one of the rare Cadillac facilities in the Midwest. Everything about the whole facility is first class and the hope is that all parties can work things out so that racing can continue and the entire facility can be used to the satisfaction for all.
Back on the track, thirty eight Lucas Oil Late Models signed in to race, with a combination of Lucas regulars, local competitors and some Illinois UMP racers that made a jail break across the border on Friday. Also on hand were the IMCA Modifieds and the local Street Stocks. Big numbers were on hand in those classes with thirty Streets and forty six Modifieds signing in to race.
All the Lucas Oil regulars were on hand except Steve Francis who according to Lucas Oil announcer James Essex was back in Kentucky attending his daughter's high school graduation. Emergency points were granted to him and he is expected to return to the tour at LaSalle on Friday.
As is his mantra, Scott Bloomquist was firmly wrapped in the drama and controversy of the night. "Bloomer" is frequently the last car to pull into the pits and he seems to enjoy getting a dig at the competition by rolling in at the last second, uploading the car and then going out and whipping up on the field. But he was running late on Friday, even by his standards. The word was he was stuck in heavy Friday traffic in either Chicago or Milwaukee, both places one doesn't want to have to travel through quickly on a Friday. Or perhaps he was just on a roll at the craps table. We may never know.
In any event, he rolled into the pits just as the Late Models were lining up to qualify and Lucas does have some strict rules about this. Bloomquist didn't get his car unloaded in time to get a qualifying lap so he had to start on the tail of a ten car heat race with only four making the show.
He picked the wrong night to try and pull this off as the track was very narrow during the heats and passing very tough. The best he could do was seventh and then he did make the show through a B feature.
But again, the track was still pretty narrow for the feature and starting twenty first, the best he could muster was a sixteenth place finish. In fact, at one point he was briefly lapped by A.J. Diemel before other lapped traffic allowed Bloomquist to race back on the lead lap. For a driver fighting his way into a battle for the Lucas points lead, he picked the wrong night to be negligent on his racing duties.
It was a great night for A. J. Diemel and he probably couldn't have picked a better location to win his first Lucas Oil career feature. A.J. is orginally from eastern Wisconsin and was born and raised not far from the Oshkosh area. The Shawano Speedway was where he learned how to race and many of the fans at the track on this night remember him learning his racing skills on that half mile oval. He drove one of many cars supported by Mike Seubert back then and when Shawano ran both crate and spec Late Models, Diemel was "King of the Crates"and even contending for national honors a couple of times.
Diemel went to college at U.W. Stout in Menomonie and played football there. And A.J. was a big lineman, not some slight wide receiver. A couple of other well known grads of U.W. Stout include Jimmy and Chris Mars and that is where these three met up. After the Mars Brothers decided they were going to make their living building and repairing race cars and their shop got too busy for them to handle, they needed more help and Diemel was a logical choice to head up their shop and also race for them although A.J. does line up his own sponsors for the cars he drove.
So A.J. and his wife Meghan moved to the western part of the state and the rest, as they say, is history. A.J. brought his knowledge about the Rocket chassis to the organization but eventually they decided to focus on their own MB Customs and in recent years the Modified portion of the business has been off the charts in sales and repairs. Interestingly, Meghan is a free lance writer that has crafted articles for many publications and is now also the Editor of ALL THE DIRT RACING NEWS, the offical race paper for WISSOTA.
Diemel was fast from the start Friday, qualifying quickest in group B and then getting a big heat race win over Jonathan Davenport that secured the front row for the feature. Diemel took off like a shot on the green and built up nearly a straightaway advantage over the field as he worked through the middle of the track. Near the halfway point the track started to take rubber and Diemel started struggling to find the groove. Chris Simpson used this opportunity to close and he nearly got under Diemel a couple times as A.J. worked to find the low groove and deal with lapped traffic that he had caught.
However, he found his groove and maintained a small lead and the was helped when the lone yellow flew with thirty four laps complete.
On the green, A.J. once again pulled away to a sizable advantage, handled a couple laps cars near the end and drove on for the win which was hugely popular for the fans. Jared Landers, pole sitter Tim McCreadie and Brandon Sheppard completed the top five. It was not a classic race nor Oshkosh's best effort to be certain, but the race was a hit for the many fans cheering the home state driver on.
While the Late Model feature didn't scintillate, the support classes stepped up to the plate and provided two solid main events of their own. In fact, without doubt, the Modified feature was the race of the night. Twenty four cars went thirty laps, they were three wide on the white flag, two wide at the checkered, there was only one yellow flag and winner Benji LaCrosse, who edged out Marcus Yarie in a race so close I incorrectly identified the winner, came from twentieth for the win!
While the Late Models couldn't move up the track track, there were some in the Modifieds who were able to move to the high side of the track, LaCrosse primarily and he slowly but doggedly worked his way to the front. R.C. Whitwell got the jump on his car owner, Mike Wedelstadt and led most of the race but LaCrosse and Yarie, who started tenth, gradually caught him at the end when he started to slow. They split him on the back chute for the lead, and coming to the white flag they were side by side. Yarie seemed to have the slightest of leads coming out of the last corner but LaCrosse used to top side to gain just enough to score the win by the narrowest of margins, and make for one of the best races seen to date this year.
The Street Stocks did just about as well, with their twenty car field only triggering one yellow flag also. Winner Steve Ecker started twelfth and made the winning pass with only a couple laps to go. The Streets were legitimately three and four wide all during their race and that is why it was so disappointing to see that the Late Models could only run right on the hub. But that frequently happens with those wide and soft tires.
In any event, I don't think anyone went home upset that they didn't get their monies' worth. A huge crowd was on hand  and all racing was completed before 10:30 p.m. This is an event and a track that everyone should make sure they see. Their weekly Friday night events pack the pit area as they have one of the biggest weekly Modified counts of any track in the Midwest along with some other excellent support classes including the Streets.
Thanks to the Izzo family for their assistance on this night. They really hit on a brilliant strategy when they brought this event to this track last year and they continue to mine the rewards of their sharp thinking. The "Valley" and southeastern Wisconsin are fertile racing grounds and if the good events are brought to the fans, they will support those events.

Neilsen Holds Serve at Spencer Special

After not having seen many of these same drivers all Spring, I caught much of the same group of racers twice within three days having followed up my Saturday night sprint to Britt Iowa (Hancock Co. Speedway) with a Tuesday night run to the Clay Co. Fairgrounds Speedway in Spencer Iowa.
On tap Tuesday was a special midweek show at the famed Clay Co. Fairgrounds Speedway with the top event being the Hobby Stock Spring Nationals sponsored by Spencer Office Products and H&H Chevrolet Buick. All other classes that normally race at Spencer were also in action for full programs so it was a great opportunity to attend racing at a location that I seldom get to and also take advantage of some improving weather that saw the sun shine all day and temperatures on the rise for a change.
The Clay Co. Fairgrounds Speedway is quite the facility for those that have not been there before. The Clay County Fair, I am told by a friend locally that was originally from Northwest Iowa, is the largest County Fair in the entire state of Iowa and that's saying something. I do know that the Clay Co. Fair, held in mid September, has some huge attendance figures and their line up of grandstand entertainment rivals that of many State Fairs.
Several years ago the old half mile at the Fair was redone and unlike many fairgrounds that are getting rid of their race tracks(see-Syracuse New York), the folks at Spencer actually improved their race track by redoing it into a three eighth mile with wide corners, stadium seats and television quality lighting. Several thousand seats sit under a big covered roof with more open air seating on the end of the main grandstand. Their motor racing special during the county fair is the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. And bucking another trend, instead of limiting the use of the race track, the Fair has actually increased its visibility with the addition of weekly racing on Friday nights, under the direction of Joe Ringsdorf from Algona. 2016 is the second year of their weekly racing action.
The announcers and scorers at this track certainly earn their money is spades as one thing the grandstand does not have and that is easy access to the press tower. The tower hangs from the rook of the grandstand and must provide a spectacular view of the track but in order to get up there. one must climb a steep set of stairs mounted behind the top rows of the grandstand and then clamber up a catwalk to the press tower. I watched announcer Chad Meyer and a couple of the scorers get up there and it didn't look like a hike for the faint of heart. Through experience, the workers have learned that they need both hands free to make the climb and all the materials they bring with them are secured in either a backpack or a knapsack. I would, if the opportunity ever arrives, like to have a chance to watch a few races from this vantage point.
As is, I guess, the whole state of Iowa, Clay Co. Fairgrounds is a nonsmoking facility for auto racing that is so very pleasurable compared to what I have to deal with on a weekly basis. Everyone seems to respect the law and take their butts outside if the desire arrives while at home, those few facilities that do have such a rule have to fight people too lazy to get up and get off their butts to have a butt.
Unlike just three days ago at Britt where the track was heavy and fast and mashing the throttle was the technique of choice, the surface at Spencer was just the opposite. The track was hard, slick and smooth and a feather touch on the accelerator was the way to advance with plenty of drivers spinning their way to prove that such was the case.
Eighty five cars signed in to race with the featured division, the Hobby Stocks, far and away fielding the largest number of entrants. The Modifieds had a solid field on entrants while the Sport Mods and Stock Cars were just a bit light on this night. It was a draw/redraw night of qualifying so everyone was battling to get into those prized heat race finishing positions. Drivers taking the green flag were surprised to see that promoter Ringsdorf was multitasking on this night as he was also waving the flags as the race starter.
The other race classes appeared to be running for their normal race night payoff which seemed to be pretty much standard compared to most of the rest of the state's tracks. However, the Hobby Stocks were running for one of the classic "Dolly Parton" payoffs of all time. While the top seven positions had their purse enhanced, most of the extra money all went to the Hobby Stock winner. Put it this way, the winner earned $2,000 for the twenty lap race while second fell to $400 and from eighth on back it was $75 for each finishing position!
Despite the quirkiness of the payoff and the "top heavy" structure of the pay, a big field of thirty three Hobby Stocks signed in to race. As the featured attraction of the night, the Hobby Stock feature was the final event of the night and unlike some places where fans would be scurrying to the exits like Lemming heading to the sea as soon as the Modified feature was done, just about everyone stuck around to see who would take the big dough of the night.
After demolishing the Hobby Stock field at Britt on Saturday, I said that if nothing changed that Cody Nielsen would be the man to beat at Spencer. And for one of the rarest of occasions, I was actually right! He finished a solid second in his heat, redrew the fourth starting position and it took him less than two laps to drive around the front row and take over the lead. Once in front, he was never really challenged after that with his biggest worry being the multi yellows, which allowed the field to close up behind him and give that rarest of opportunities for someone to either banzai him for the lead or to perhaps, take him out while trying to get past him. As it turned out, neither happened but the five yellow flags must have seemed like triple that to him.
Other winners on the night included Jay Noteboom in the Modifieds, David Smith in the Stock Cars, Matt Morrow in the Sport Mods and Cody Thompson in the Sport Compacts.
While the show ran just a little bit later than I would have hoped for, largely due to the higher than normal number of yellows in the Hobby Stocks, the complete program still was run off in under three hours, the magic number for many race fans with most people sticking around to see the concluding event to its checkered.
Thanks once again to Joe Ringsdorf and his staff, who  are probably wondering what they did wrong to have to deal with me twice in one week! Ringsdorf's next special event in the Topless Nationals for Sport Mods to be held at Britt next month with up to $4,000 on the line for the winner. Check the speedway website for more information.

A Quick and Satisfying Night at Hancock County Speedway

On Saturday, May 14th I was perplexed. Having returned home at 3 a.m. from Fergus Falls Minnesota the tank on my energy level was a little low. I was looking for a race close to home if possible, but nothing seemed to be working out. Just about everybody had cancelled due to the cold and wind and cloudy and general crappiness of the day. So I was looking for a race that would be worth the trip but one not so far away that I wouldn't have the energy to get back home in one piece!
Fortunately, Joe Ringsdorf and the Hancock County Speedway came to my rescue. Joe generally races unless things are really bad and I can usually count on them to run off a quick show, especially when it isn't the kindest of nights. And they would be spot on in both regards on this night.
They were racing, and despite some strong winds that just wouldn't settle down, the racing was on. I even hit some sun on my way down into the northern fringe of Iowa. It would be a regular night of racing at Hancock County after Joe and his crew got rained out on Friday in Spencer. Five classes, all IMCA sanctioned, would be on the card at the black dirt four tenth mile facility located at the Hancock County Fairgrounds in the burg of Britt. No hobos were spotted as I drove into town(perhaps too windy for them) but Joe was on the track with the water truck and racing as definitely on.
For the longest time I was nervous, as it didn't seem that any race cars were coming through the pit gate. However, they all came at the same time which created a late rush to sign everyone in but the racing started as scheduled.
Car counts were more than acceptable with eighty eight cars signing in to race which required multiple heat races (in total fourteen) and some strong competitors were on hand to battle it out. The track was heavy and the speeds in practice were impressive and despite all the wet weather recently, the track seemed to be holding together well.
The racing started at 6:50 p.m. after warm ups were completed and once they started racing, it was absolutely nonstop with no breaks whatsoever. In fact, the racing was coming so hot and heavy that one member of my group complained that there was no time for a personal "pit stop".
The heat races were no more than completed until the first feature rolled on to the track and once each race was done, they just moved on to the next one. All the trophy presentations were held until the program was completed.
Sport Compacts were first on the agenda and Brad Cagle won a pretty easy main, leading most of the distance. A field of thirteen of the Sport Compacts was on had, which I thought was pretty good and Cagle beat some strong contenders including the husband and wife DeVries Racing Team. Sport Compacts went nonstop in their main.
The Hobby Stock feature saw an amazing performance by Cody Nielsen. Even though he started tenth on the grid, at the end of one lap he was in the lead! He wasn't racing against slouches either, but he put his car on the extreme outside of the track and shot to the front, executing a "hair on fire" three wide pass on the front chute to take the lead. Once he gained the lead, he simply cruised after that. If he runs anything like this next Tuesday at Spencer, he could be in line for a nice two grand payday.
The Sport Mods started the cry to block the freeway South of Albert Lea and keep the Minnesota invaders out as Gopher State drivers won both the Sport Mod and Stock Car features. Jared Boumeester was nearly as dominant as Nielsen as he took just a few laps longer to drive into the lead in the Sport Mod main. To be fair, he started even deeper in the field(twelfth) but he was able to work the low side and drive his way to the front. Boumeester doesn't seem to mind the sanctioning body as he runs very well in this class, whether the letters at the start of the sanctioning body begin in I, U. or W. He's just that good.
The Stock Cars had the only big red flag producing incident of the night when Eric Barglof bicycled off turn four and flipped over early in the event. The corners started to chop out as the evening progresses as they were soft and despite some packing chores before the start of each main, they did get a little bouncy which led to several wild two wheel endeavors with only Barglof going shinny side down.
When the Stock Car feature continued, it was Minnesota invader Matt Speckman who schooled the field. He came from eighth to drive by Dan Hanselman for the win.
In the final event, the Modified feature, the smart money was on Todd Stinehart, only because he looked fast in his heat and he was from Minnesota. But before he could make his move, he got beat to the punch by Josh Ruby who came charging to the front from the third row and pulled away from the field. He built up a half straightaway lead as he was flying with drivers like Stinehart, Shryock , Swearingen and the Mills brothers having nothing for him. Interestingly, Ruby was one of the very few in the field not running a crate motor. Boumeester was also not running a crate in his Sport Mod with possibly every other car of the opposite variety. Stinehart did, by the way, work his way up to second before the feature ended.
But here was the most impressive part of the whole show. Nineteen races were contested which included five main events. The total time of racing, from green flag in the first Sport Compact to checkered in the Modified main, two hours and one minute! At eight fifty one the fans could head for their cars and get home. So despite the fact it was a cold night, most people were on their way home before they could truly get too cold. Maybe they'll remember that the next time the weather is threatening as to be honest, the crowd on Saturday was the smallest by far that I have ever seen for a race at Hancock County. But to be fair, it was also the first time I've ever been there for a regular Saturday night show.
Joe had to know when he opened the gates on Saturday that with the weather, he wasn't going to have a winner of a crowd before he even started but sometimes, that's what you have to do when you're in this crazy business. I was told  that the three Iowa tracks that are lined up North to South and race on Saturday kind of operate in lock step. No one wants to blink so if one races, they all race.
Whenever I attend a Ringsdorf promotion I enjoy having a few moments to chat with track announcer Chad Meyer who knows what's happening behind the scenes in this part of the state. I also had the pleasure of sitting with Jim Ward, stalwart race fan from Cresco and Todd Narveson, the voice of the Deer Creek Speedway who was on a bus man's holiday tonight. I will not reveal which one was the one needing the "pit stop."
Thanks to Joe and his staff for realizing the weather situation and moving the show along. Thanks also to the drivers for providing plenty of racing action without a lot of yellow flags. And thanks to everyone who got out of my way on the freeway as I flew home!

I-94 Produces More Dominance for Hughes

Friday the 13th is long regarded as one of those days to watch your backside, as you just never know what might happen on that day. Well, my Friday the 13th proved to be a very interesting one indeed, but in the end, everything worked out well and I did see some quality racing action.
My first choice on that day was I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls Minnesota as the USMTS traveled on to that track as the second leg of their three night sweep into Minnesota. Also on the schedule were WISSOTA sanctioned Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks.
Of course, everyone knows how awful the weather turned out on Friday, and truly just extended on into the weekend. The Fergus Falls area didn't receive any of the rain that many areas did, but the temperatures were low and the winds incredible. Fergus lies in the rolling glacial area just South and East of where the plains start and when the wind blows in the plains, it howls right down into the Fergus area and it is one of the windiest areas around. And when the winds are cold like they were this week, it makes it just plain miserable.
Back tracking just a bit, I'm guessing that many people reading this have not been and perhaps do not know too much about I-94 Speedway. If not, then let me tell you that despite the fact it might be slightly off the beaten path, it is without a doubt one of the finest dirt tracks in the Midwest without question.
Built originally as a paved track and then covered by dirt several years ago after it sat dormant for a number of years, I-94 is first class in all regards. The pits are all paved, there is seating on both the front and back chute, and the tiered parking off turns one and two is widely popular with folks lining up early in the day so they can get one of the valued parking spots. Including all the seating and vehicle parking spots, Track Manager Corey Eggen has told me that they can house about twelve thousand people in the facility. Track lighting is first class, as is the seating and sound system. No expense has been spared in upgrading the facility with new camping spots the latest additions along with raising the wall on the back chute and resurfacing the track during the off season.
The track is a third mile high banked track and is a very racy facility. The track is owned by Dick and Carla Johanneck who also started and own the Polydome Calf Pen business as well as several other businesses. Polydome is also the title sponsor for the WISSOTA Racing Series. The pits are surrounded by a couple of glacial lakes which abound in this area and truly, the first time I walked into the pits at Fergus, I thought I was walking into a state park! It is a track that every race fan needs to see at least once.
Even though car counts have been huge at the track in the last couple of years and they have had some very successful events, their schedule has been very much on the conservative side. They have focused on their Friday night shows while slowly training in their staff and upgrading their facilities to begin taking on bigger events. Now they are stating to branch out and I would expect that more major events are in their future. The rumor persists that they are a strong candidate to take over as the host track for the WISSOTA 100, the premier event for that organization and a five day event in September that hosts over four hundred race cars.
When Todd Staley brought in the USMTS to Fergus last year and saw the quality of the place, the number of local and area cars willing to take on his travelers and the huge crowd, he started to salivate. It didn't take long before the wheels were set into motion and the USMTS moved their Summer spectacular event from Deer Creek to I-94 for 2016. The SUMMERSOTA will be held in June and will feature a $15,000 to win USMTS event along with WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Streets.
Friday was a miserable day to even be considering auto racing and virtually every track in the area had called their races with some from the weekend already pulling the plug. However, Dick Johanneck wanted to race as he wanted to give the USMTS drivers some laps before the big June race and since over fifty drivers, including many local and regional stars were on hand to race, he wanted to give them a show. And as Eggen told me, "When Dick wants to race, we race." Eggen also told me that Fergus "races in the cold."
Johanneck is a wise businessman, and not given to throwing money away, but he is and has always been a big race fan and for an event like this, even though they knew beforehand that the crowd was going to  be small and the event an economic loser, he wanted to put on the race. And so they did.
Despite the fact that snow flurries occasionally drifted down during the afternoon and ice balls fell during the evening, there was no thought given to canceling the show and race teams arrived and prepared for action.
Fifty Modifieds signed in to race and many were local and regional drivers, something that excites Staley as he looks to June. Thirty two MidMods and twenty Streets completed the field. Included in the support classes were drivers that pulled all the way from western North Dakota, South Dakota, Canada and Wisconsin.
In the USMTS, it was again Jason Hughes who dominated the action. Hughes is off to a great start this season as he looks to reestablish the dominance that he had once over this series. An ill conceived move to Late Models and several other things put him behind the eight ball so to speak, but he has really picked up his game both last year, and especially this year to the point that he is dominated like Rodney Sanders did a couple of years ago.
Friday he started in the second row, quickly moved into the lead and then was basically unchallenged through most of the race. The first thirty three laps ran nonstop which allowed him to build up a big lead and then he withstood the large charges of the field when they were brought back to him by late yellow flags.
The late yellows really helped Ricky Thornton Jr who made a bold late race move on the high side that saw him drive up to second. Thornton Jr was supposed to race Late Models this weekend but the weather nixed that, so he threw the Modified in the trailer and hauled all the way up to west central Minnesota, even though he knew that Viking had already cancelled for Saturday and the long trip would be for just one night of racing. After the show, he was intent on converting his car back over to IMCA so he could catch some racing in Iowa over the weekend. Imagine what this guy could do if he wasn't just a one man band with a small trailer and a pickup truck to tow his trailer!
The WISSOTA support classes provided some good racing action too. Defending national Street Stock champion Jordan Tollakson came from the third row to dominate their main event.
A former WISSOTA national champion, Travis Saurer, started in the front row but had to fight his way around Zach Docktor in the late laps to win the MidMod main. Docktor towed all the way from Minot North Dakota to race while Thunder Bay Ontario's David Simpson finished a strong third.
I was fully prepared for the cold weather and had virtually everything I own on! Even so, it would rank as among the top three coldest nights I have ever spent at the races. But who cares, as eventually I warmed up and think what I would have missed if I had stayed home and sat on the couch all night!
For folks interested in checking out I-94 Speedway at some point, along with the SUMMERSOTA in June, other good specials to see would include the RV Modified Tour for WISSOTA Mods in June and the King of the Dirt in August for Late Model fans when the best in WISSOTA'S One Main Financial Series would be in attendance.

Hughes Is "O" So Fine in Minnesota

The USMTS kicked off the Northern Region with their opener on Thursday, May 12th at the Ogilvie Raceway in east central Minnesota. The track, affectionately known as the "Big O", is a three eighth mile, wide and high banked oval that has hosted the USMTS drivers a number of times over the years. I believe, however, that this is the first time that they have hosted for a midweek show so early in the season and actually got the race in. It may be the second week in May on the calendar, but in this part of the country you never know what Ma Nature might dish out.
And the weather, quite frankly, was on the crummy side for this race. Some rain had fallen on Wednesday but not enough to damage the race track. It was cloudy, gloomy and a sullen sky greeted the early arrivals and the winds picked up to a steady breeze out of the Northwest. Those sheltered by the main building on the grounds found some relief but those in the new "catbird" viewing area had no respite from the cold winds.
Despite being less than a "Chamber of Commerce" type of night, the racers were ready to go and anxious to hit the track. Forty eight USMTS cars  signed in to race while an accompanying unsanctioned B Mod special brought another fifty one open wheel cars to the track.
The USMTS is not traveling with a huge number of regulars, at least during this week, but the sanctioning body was graced by the many Minnesota area Modified drivers eager and anxious to take on the travelers.
Five heats were contested in each class with passing points used to set the feature lineups in both classes. This format led to three large B features giving the drivers who didn't fare well early one last shot to make the mains.
With two provisional starters in Brent Larson and Jesse Glenz thrown in, twenty six started the main event. Johnny Scott and Dan Ebert battled in the early laps for the lead but then Hughes picked up the pace and showing the domination that he had, he drove right between the two battling for the lead on the front chute, and then drove away from Scott for the lead. He built up a strong advantage and seemed in control until Cade Dillard was able to move into second. Hughes then got hung up behind a lapped car and Dillard was able to close right up behind him and in fact, pull right up beside him. The lapped traffic finally broke in Hughes favor, and after getting a scare from Dillard, he then pulled away for a comfortable lead and ultimately, the win.
Johnny Scott fought back around Dillard to take second at the end while Stormy Scott came from thirteenth to fourth with steady Zack VanderBeek completing the top five. While the USMTS didn't bring a huge number of travelers, their regulars ruled the roost. USMTS regulars finished first through fifth, southern Minnesota drivers running USRA rules completed the next three spots while the remaining top ten cars were central Minnesota drivers but both have cars designed for this open competition. The first true local driver was Justin Oestreich who finished eleventh and interestingly, he is one of the very few Modified drivers in this region running a crate motor.
Speaking of crate motors, I've always heard it said that crates never blow and particularly spectacularly. However, Jesse Sobbing proved that statement incorrect as he grenaded his 525 crate in a spectacular manner during one of the B features. There was smoke, fire, flames and assorted metal pieces on the track after his incident.
The heavy hand of the tech shed also came down on Thursday night. Don Eischens won a heat race in the Modifieds but was disqualified while Craig Thatcher finished fourth in the same race only to be also Dairy Queened. Eischens' transgression was the wrong chip while Thatcher's problem was not reported. Both tried to requalify through a B feature but neither succeeded. By the way, Thatcher, a multi time WISSOTA national champion was coming out of a retirement as he hasn't raced since last year and was debuting a new GRT chassis.
Along with the USMTS, the B Mods had themselves a special event too. Apparently to "one up" the Modifieds, the B Mod race paid $3,001 dollars to win and $200 to start. Fifty one B Mods signed in to race with the vast majority being WISSOTA Midwest Mods as you might expect with a couple of IMCA cars and USRA cars too. Each group ran under their own rules.
There was an unusual "kicker" for this race as any driver that had raced in a class higher than Super Stocks at any point in their career, which would probably equal a Stock Car in IMCA or USRA terms, was not eligible to race in this event! I believe this was the only reason this race wasn't sanctioned with WISSOTA is that kind of restriction wouldn't be allowed by the sanctioning body.  
The promoters intentions were good, as with this rule they hoped to open up the win to some driver who likely had never won a race that paid this much before. However, in reality I thought it to be a bad idea, and one that upset plenty of drivers who would have liked to race in the event. I still believe that just because someone has previous experience in a higher class, that doesn't make them a prohibitive favorite as everyone is still racing under the same set of rules.
While it's tough to put a definitive number on the drivers that couldn't race that would have been there otherwise, I'd be willing to guess that there had to have been at least twenty and at thirty five bucks a pop for a pit pass, that's a lot of money to turn your back on as a promoter. As promoters they also turned their backs on some of the drivers that have the biggest fan following locally, and that doesn't seem to be a good business decision to me either. Fortunately, my money was not on the line.
And, wouldn't you know it, the winner managed to slip in through one of the loop holes in the rules anyway. The one exception to the rule was that if you were a rookie in a higher division, you were allowed to compete. Cory Bruggeman jumped into the car normally driven by Jason VandeKamp, a car he has never driven before, and out fought Travis Schulte for the big win. However, while Bruggeman is a rookie in the Modifieds, he has already won a feature race at this very track this Spring and for my money, he shouldn't have been allowed to race either and he turned out to be the only driver racing on Thursday in both classes. Not that I have anything against Bruggeman. He has proven to be an outstanding rookie, a clean driver and seems to be a very nice individual to top it off. But I just don't believe it was fair to let him run.
There was one bad wreck in the B Mod feature when early in the event one of the leaders got turned sideways into the back stretch wall and with no where to go, many drivers piled into him and each other at high speed. At least eight cars were damaged, many severely and Mike Nichols had his bell rung but was able to walk away without needing treatment. After that, the B Mods were able to negotiate the rest of their thirty one laps feature with only one more yellow flag and sixteen of the twenty four starters took the checkered.
A decent crowd was on hand on what was much less than a perfect night for racing. One glaring issue remains at the Big O and that is to do something about their p.a. system which is one of the worst that I have heard(or more correctly, haven't heard) in quite some time. Neither track announcer R.J at the Speedway or the USMTS announcer could be heard all night. And it wasn't just deaf old me having trouble as everyone in the bleachers was commenting on how they couldn't hear the names of the drivers. And it is also surprising that they haven't gotten around to adding a scoreboard at this facility too, which is top notch in just about every thing else. 

MLRA Provides Great Show at Lee County

Mike VanGenderen was a busy promoter this week as after his successful Wednesday night event at Osky, he moved down the road about a hundred miles Southeast to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for a special Thursday night of racing at the tricky three eighth mile at the Lee County Fairgrounds.

On tap as the special event was the first of three nights of racing for the Midwest Late Model Series(MLRA) that are making a home away from home this year in the Hawkeye State with many promoters finding them to be an attractive option as a Late Model traveling series. They generally provide a solid base of their own travelers that chase points and occasionally even attract some of the big names in the business who might happen to be in the area. And by being able to pick up some of the open motor drivers from Iowa in a chance to run close to their home areas, it produced a very good field of drivers for the event.

Also running were all the classes that normally compete at Lee County except for the Hobby Stocks, who are currently in the process of trying to marshal enough drivers to continue their weekly Friday night programs, where their car count has sunk to dangerously low levels. The attraction of running on an off night that produced some travelers for the weekly divisions plus a little extra money in the purse produced some of the best fields of the year to date in these classes also and the result was a jammed pit area with one hundred and twenty nine racers on hand.

Another item to keep an eye on also was the developments in the Lee County Late Models, a new class started here this year by Mike V that encourages the use of crate motors and other cost cutting rules. The car counts for the early season races in this class have been promising and Mike V. took some extra steps to try and encourage some of the many IMCA legal cars in this quadrant of the state to join the field. He continues to tweek the rules to try and make the two options as equal as possible on the track, and to me, this is just smart promoting. The off night plus some more adjustments to the IMCA rules package produced the hoped for effect, as a number of IMCA regulars were on hand which beefed up the field to twenty one cars, the most ever so far in the class. With some big money races coming up yet this year at Lee County for this class, there are bound to be more and more racers watching as things develop in this class.And you can bet that some of the rules makers are watching closely to see what happens with this class and if Mike V. is able to finalize a rules package that seems to bring parity to both the main options currently available, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if IMCA didn't offer a crate motor option for their Late Models next year.What happens at Lee County this year in this class will be watched across the state and the politics that may develop behind the scenes might be even more fascinating than even the racing itself.

Before the races, I ran into an old friend that used to race much in the state of Wisconsin but now lives just down the road from the Lee County Speedway. Todd Frank and son Gunner are both racing Lee County Late Models this year, both using the 604 crate option motor. Todd says that they are a little slower to take off and keeping momentum is key to this class, but he also said they don't feel bad to drive and they still race like a Late Model. Todd primarily has one so he can race with his son and keep an eye on him, as Gunner has never raced any kind of vehicle before this year. Todd also tipped that he can't stay away from the open motor cars either, as he has a new one just about one day away from completion and might even have it ready for Memphis yet this weekend. Todd lives in Iowa now but most of his business interests are still located in the Badger state, so he spends a lot of his time commuting back and forth. Perhaps he should hold off on that new Late Model and instead get himself a small plane! He certainly does know the fastest way from the Green Bay area to Southeast Iowa for sure.

Thirty seven MLRA Late Models signed in to race and even though only eleven of the top twenty in points were on hand, combined with all the Iowa racers plus travelers like Brandon Sheppard and Earl Pearson Jr on hand, it made for a most competitive and interesting field.

And of course, who could forget for his legion of fans the fact that Brian Birkhofer was in the house on Thursday also. In fact, Birkhofer looked for the longest time like his comeback would be completed on Thursday as he started on the pole and led for about the first half of the MLRA feature race. However, Sheppard, who loves to move around the race track until he finds the fast line, moved up the speedway and eventually found a fast line that led him past Birky for the lead. Once in front, he did a good job of working through some heavy traffic, passes that allowed him to maintain an edge on Pearson Jr who was debuting a new Black Diamond car for Larry Moring out of Forreston IL. A good run was also put in by Chris Simpson who started fourteenth and drove up to third at the end. Of course, after having to work and actually pass cars, Simpson let it be known that he didn't like a format that actually required passing to take place, something that MLRA has discovered that has led to much of their success but drivers still lobby to change.

It was a rough night for Missouri's Austin Siebert. He had trouble with his primary cars in a heat race and rolled out his back up car for the main event, only to have that car quit on him also and trigger the only yellow flag in the forty lap main event. With lots of green flag racing, there were only nine cars left on the lead lap at the finish.

Other winners on the program included Sam Halstead in the Crate Late Models, Cayden Carter in the Modifieds, Jim Mueller in the Stock Cars, Tony Dunker in the Sport Mods and Ronnie Kibbee in the Sport Compacts.

All classes used the draw redraw format on Thursday and it would seen that formats other that point invert can also produce plenty of passing. Four of the five support classes to the MLRA provided winners that started from at least the third row, highlighted by Carter who came from the eleventh starting position to win the Modified feature against a solid field of competitors. I guess that a racy track and the required track prep are just as, and perhaps even more so, important to the racing than the format used. As usual for when I have been at Lee County, the track was black slick from top to bottom and reminded me of racing on ice. The cars are slower than on a tacky track, but the lines to race on are numerous and there is always much changing of lines on the track and side by side racing.

The evening ended up on a wild note when a lapped car got pushed into the leaders of the Sport Compact feature as they tried to lap him and the resulting scramble saw a double flip by two of the contenders in turn two. Fortunately, there were no injuries in the crazy wreck but feelings were sky high among some of the drivers.

I  know there was much discussion before the races on what the running order of events would be. Mike V. was very cognizant of the fact that it was a week night so  it was not surprising that the Modified and MLRA feature events were the second and third of the night, thus allowing people to leave early if they needed to while still seeing the featured attractions of the night. Many took advantage of this and had to have been pleased that management would take their concerns to heart. After that, the crowd gradually filtered out the gates with many sticking around to see Halstead's Crate domination before hitting the road. While the show was rushed through just about as fast as humanly possible, it was still 11 p.m. before the final checkered flag waved, which is just a bit late for a week night. Likely, Mike V. did not see as many cars showing as did in some of the support classes. In a perfect world, I would have liked seeing about half as many support classes so that the show could have taken just a little more leisurely pace and still have gotten done early. However, there is also an economic reality to be considered plus drivers in all classes like being a part of a special event like this.

Besides, most are not nearly so far from home and aren't staring at a six and a half hour ride home yet before hitting the sack(a new personal record, by the way). And quibbling aside, it was an excellent night of racing but just what I would expect at a track that has become a personal favorite for many of the insiders in the world of Late Model racing. 

Support Classes Are The Show At SIS

I'm baaack! Actually, I didn't go anywhere. However, the last couple of weeks have found me chasing racing closer to home primarily, as many of the tracks in my local area are now up and running. For instance, last weekend I enjoyed a nice three day weekend of good racing at three tracks, all within an hour of the home base, while folks down here in Iowa watched it rain all weekend. Sometimes, you just get lucky and end up on the good side of a lingering low pressure area. All we had was sun and  a lot of wind out of the North and while it wasn't the most pleasant, racing did continue as planned.

For those that might be interested in checking out where I go racing when I don't appear on this blog, try logging on to WISSOTA.org or if you're like me and still prefer to get your racing news by actually holding a race paper in your hands, you might consider a subscription to ALL THE DIRT Racing News, one of the few racing papers still left in existence. ATD covers all the WISSOTA tracks which right now is somewhere upwards of sixty in the upper Midwest.

I can remember a time when I used to get about six or seven race papers weekly from all over the country and now most of them have gone the way of the buffalo. The only other paper I still get is Area Auto Racing News, an excellent paper out of Trenton New Jersey that covers the eastern half of the country. That, and along with about six or so monthly or bimonthly magazines.

The reemergence of myself in the Hawkeye State was caused by a two night stand that would start on Wednesday, May 4th with the weekly show at the Southern Iowa Speedway. However, along with the weekly classes, the Sprint Invaders were making their second run of the year after having their opener almost a month ago at Thirty Four Raceway.

And boy, did we have Wednesday's race covered! A majority of the bloggers for Positively Racing were on hand at the track Wednesday, including our mentor Jeff Broeg who was sharing the Sprint Invaders microphone with Bill Wright as well as regular track announcer Tony Paris. So, first of all, we should all give a thanks to promoter Mike VanGenderen for giving up the opportunity to blog about Wednesday's race. Many promoters would balk at having so many people from the same source covering an event but Mike seems to be from that rare breed that likes having as much coverage as he can get. And of course, when you're the only show in town, it does make it easier to have multiple people on board. So our task then is cover the race as fairly as possible, give credit where it is due and perhaps, if necessary, point out a few things that could be done just a little bit different to make the race more enjoyable for the fans.

Despite the bright sun shining, the darn wind was still blowing a gale and of course, right into the grandstand and while it finally did lay down after sunset, it still made for a cool night. However, after two straight rain outs, there were plenty of people from southern Iowa anxious to see racing and a nice sized crowd was in the stands for the early May midweek show.

Osky, in my mind, has always hung their hat on the fact that they offer a strong, five division program every Wednesday night, and despite the fact that they occasionally bring in special events to add to the show, the heart and soul of their racing at the Mahaska County Fairgrounds has always been their weekly divisions. And what I saw Wednesday given me much optimism that this philosophy is strong and perhaps even getting stronger. Last year, the five basic classes struggled on a number of occasions drawing enough race cars to field a good show. Wednesday night there were strong numbers in most classes and while the Stock Cars and Sport Mods were a little bit lower than I might have expected, they still drew enough cars to field two heats. What was most promising was that the Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts all have very nice fields. When I was at Osky last year, a couple times they didn't have enough cars for two Modified heats, but there was a strong field of cars on had this Wednesday with not only good numbers but very good cars as well. The same thing could be said for the Hobbys and Sport Compacts.

And the best racing of the night was in the Hobby Stock and Stock Car features. Both races had great side by side battles for the lead and not just two cars, but multiples that kept switching up the top spots. And between the two races, there was only one yellow flag. Dustin Griffiths won the Hobby Stock and Cayden Carter came from the fourth row to surprise the two earlier leaders and drive by both of them to win the Stock Cars.

Curtis VanDerWal is another who came from the fourth row to win the Sport Mod main event. In another nonstop race, he dominated as he drove past car after car to win relatively easily. In the past couple of years, he seems by far to be the most dominant driver in any class here at Osky.

Cody Van Dusen was congratulated as the Sport Compact winner and collected the accolades. Later, however, in the official finish he was noted as being disqualified for an unspecified violation and Jake Benischek was awarded the win.

It would appear that the Modifieds have made a great turnaround in 2016 at Osky. Last year, quite frankly, there were a number of nights when the field was both small and lacking strong competition. That was anything but the case on Wednesday. With both Tom Berry Jr  and Ricky Thornton Jr spending their summer in Iowa chasing racing, that adds two pretty strong competitors to the field every week. Add Kelly Shryock who was on hand along with Zack VanderBeek who now has an IMCA car plus the Browns and several others and suddenly you have one strong field of competitors. 

And following the lead of the rest of the night, the winner came from the fifth row in the from of Richie Gustin, driving a brand new Harris chassis for Shawn Ritter. While Carter, Shryock and Colt Mather were battling for the lead, Gustin moved in and drove by all of them with a very impressive performance for the win.

A couple of the visitors didn't have very good nights. Berry Jr was turned by another car into the front stretch rail and he suffered major damage, both front and rear, to his car. Thornton Jr got involved in another tie up between two cars and had to go tail back on the opening lap. He raced his way from last all the way up to the top five but apparently didn't make too many friends with his hard charging style. Another driver tried to turn him around during the race, but missed, but later didn't as there was a post race collision on the front stretch that somehow missed the attention of track officials.

The featured attraction of the night, the Sprint Invaders, proved to be a bit of a dud. Not that they didn't bring a nice field of cars, as they did with twenty one of them on hand. And they did provide some traveling names too in the person of Wayne Johnson and Ricky Montgomery. But four of the five races they ran saw the winner start right on the front row and there just wasn't a lot of passing or side by side racing all night, in much contrast to the rest of the show. When John Schulz opted to go to the tail of the Sprint Car feature field and that put Terry McCarl on the pole, it was a foregone conclusion who would win. The question was, just how many cars would he lap during the twenty five laps of the main, and the answer was, a lot!

There was one wild crash when Montgomery got into the first turn rail and did a wild somersault that fortunately resulted in no injuries. However, he did tear the guardrail up and the only delay of the entire night was to repair the fence. The big surprise to me was that with the "Capital of Sprint Car Racing" only twenty miles to the West of Osky, I would have thought there would have been more of the winged fans on hand to watch the show, but it seemed to me that the crowd was mostly made up of regulars, with very few people on hand just to catch the Sprints.

Just when you think you've seen it all, something happens that causes you to just shake your head and marvel. The program Wednesday started off with the two Sport Compact heat races. However, Hobby Stock driver Scott Shull, tagged the field in the first heat, laying back to get some hot laps. The green came out and the race started. Shull laid back and then gave his car the gas. Unfortunately, he over shoot the second corner, went flying off the track and managed to roll his car over one and a half times, triggering the red flag and causing his car to have to be removed on the wrecker! I don't think I've ever seen such a thing happen before. The policy of allowing cars to come out and hot lap at the back of other division fields is one that is not done at all at home, and something that I had to get used to when I first started coming to races in Iowa. Wednesday it was a big Oops for Shull. He did, by the way, get the car fixed for the feature race where he ended up mid pack.

The show did get done a little later than most do here at Osky but that was largely because of the necessary fence repairs after the Sprint Car crash. The track Wednesday was black and slick but cars were racing in various grooves and it certainly wasn't hard to pass on, and that is the final and most important litmus test for any track.