80% Chance Of Rain; Cantore and Abrams Be Damned, We're Racing in Dubuque !

Already on Tuesday night, the dire weather predictions for Wednesday night, July 26th for the  Julien Dubuque Classic at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds Speedway were being spread around. Many were already talking about how the show on Tuesday would be the only midweek one as Wednesday's show would surely wash out.

So I was fully expecting the worst when Wednesday rolled around. The weather analysis hadn't changed and in fact, the weather radar was confirming the worst, showing rain marching at its own speed coming across the Hawkeye State from West to East with it appearing to be only a matter of time before the skies opened up on Dubuque County.

I hung tough as the other racing options for Wednesday appeared to be looking at the same fate and it seemed like largely it was a matter of when, not if the rains would happen. As the afternoon wore on, the rain still hadn't appeared and the forecasts seemed to be backing up on the time it might actually precipitate. Still, the clouds were extremely low, some heavy ones would drift by from time to time and while the clouds were as thick as Sea Poop, it still didn't rain.

Finally, it was time to head out to the Fairgrounds, where announcer Jerry Mackey and former promoter and now track prep wizard Keith Simmons were trying to solve the world of racing's problems as they waited to see just what was going to happen. Everyone wanted to get the show in, in the worst possible way but when the conversation turns to rain insurance and such things, you know that it's looking grim.

The track workers swung into their regular schedule, trying to ignore the grim skies as the back gate opened and the track prep continued. The racers were very slow to arrive as they no doubt were hanging around home, waiting for the latest tweets and face book offerings on what was happening. Finally, the time grew to that point where it was "put up or shut up" and a small but loyal group of racers rolled into the pits.

Likely stunted by the weather, the field of sixty one racers that finally signed in in six classes was, to be kind, quite small for such a good paying race as the Julien Dubuque. By the way, did you know that Julien Dubuque is believed to be the first European to settle in Iowa and as a succesful fur trader and businessman, the city is named in his honor. Dubuque, who was not expected to be on hand to pass out the winner's trophies since he passed away in 1810, would nevertheless be disappointed in the car turnout in especially a couple of the classes.

In our pre race discussions, Simmons was really torn about how much and when to add any water to the race track as track prep under such threatening conditions is one of the most difficult tasks. Such enough, the track was much different than Tuesday when hot lapping started. Everyone was right on the bottom which got black and slow quickly and it looked like it might be a "bottom feeder" surface. But just to show how very little I know even after all these years, once the racing started, the fastest cars were all right on the cushion, banging off the walls and putting on a heck of a show. It's too bad that the program got shortened because the side by side racing was very good in front of a crowd that was substantially smaller than Tuesday's.

The operative plan was to fly through the program and see if they could get the whole show done, even as things seemed to be brightening up if only temporarily. In fact, the car counts in the Four Cylinders and Stock Cars were so small that they were deemed to only have a feature race and no qualifying heat.

The Stock Cars have been struggling here it seems like forever trying to get enough cars to provide a decent field. In fact, it was not that long ago that Jerry Miles, now doing very well in the Sport Mods, was fielding two Stock Cars that often were two thirds of the field. Things haven't changed and one has to wonder just how much longer they will continue to "beat a dead horse" before they finally "put it down."

The Four Cylinders were dropped at one point but like Lazarus, they too have risen from the grave and are back on the weekly program, for good or bad. With no other beginner class, I understand their place but again, if they can't field more than a handful, or sometimes half a handful of cars, what can their future be?

Also on the program now are the Limited Late Models that also run across the river in Wisconsin. A budget Late Model class, if indeed there is such a thing, these cars run crate motors that are also used in the Hobby Stocks and Sport Mods and while they appear the same as the IMCA Late Models,  under the hood and the rubber they use along with the shocks they ride on are substantially different than their faster cousins.

So there were ten in that class and a dozen IMCA Late Models, which was a pretty poor number considering that they were racing for fifteen hundred bucks to win. The Limited Late Models are too slow to race with the IMCA cars so now we have two fields of cars that look identical but each class is short on numbers. I'm not really sure how this is helping the whole race program however.

They tore through the heats in record time and moved right into the main events as weather was now finally becoming a real issue. The feature races started with a bang and ended with another bang but unfortunately, the two Late Model events fell victim to a renegade shower, one that didn't even dampen the downtown area. But I don't feel slighted as we were extraordinarily lucky to get as much in as we did.

First to the final bang. The Modifieds were on the track running their main event. A dandy race was developing with the top six or so all hammering the cushion and doing a lot of slide job racing which was evident on this night. Austin Moyer was leading the pack following a lap eight yellow for a spin and as the green waved, the rain drops started to fall. The Modifieds continued to race as the drops got bigger and when the field hit turn one, suddenly they were faced with a greasy track that hit them out of "the blue." Moyer hammered the turn one wall with much ferocity and he put not two but all four tires up on the wall. How he didn't flip over I'll never understand. Immediately the yellow waved and with the rain falling harder, that was the end of the show with the two Late Model events to be run before Sunday's regular show. Moyer was ruled the winner as the race was halfway done and the final yellow was called for because of track conditions, not him hammering the wall, thus the win was his.

The feature racing also started with a bang and this was the Sport Mods that put on the action. With them being the first feature of the night, they were rushed to the track so the show could continue moving along. They waited a couple of minutes for the only missing driver, Tyler Soppe, and when he didn't appear, they crisscrossed the field and made ready to start.

The green flag was dropped and the race began when suddenly Soppe appeared, having pulled on to the track from the back exit from the outfield pits. As the field raced into turn one, Soppe approached turn four when, shockingly, he spun out before actually receiving the green, which triggered a yellow flag. The field was bunched back up and the race resumed.

Soppe would later charge up through the entire pack, aided by several yellows for debris as the Sport Mods proceeded to tear the tin off each other. Now I see why there were so many cars with blank tin and taped on numbers(see yesterday's blog for explanation). In any event, Soppe would get up to second and then work on leader Troy Bauer. He tried a couple of spectacular slide jobs that didn't work but it seemed that he got into Bauer's head. Troy changed his line the last couple of laps to try and block Soppe and on the final corner, while running low in turn four and with Soppe trying to storm by on the high side, Bauer got on the gas too hard and spun himself out of the lead, giving the win to Soppe.

However, in my opinion, Soppe should never have had the chance to make the late race pass. His very poorly acted spin as he got on to the track was clearly an attempt to stop the race on purpose and I felt he deserved a black flag for doing so. Under the best of circumstances it was a blatant attempt to stop the race but on a night when everyone was trying to race the weather, which was the reason that the Sport Mod race started so quickly, it was double bad.

Look, I have no "skin" in this at all. In the grander scheme of things, it makes no difference to me who wins or loses at Dubuque. Soppe is clearly an accomplished racer with the awards to back that up. Chief Starter Doug Haack, reportedly now living in Mizzoula Montana, is a veteran flagman who has worked at more tracks that I, and probably even he, can remember and has worked big races for all kinds of sanctioning bodies. So both are among the best at what they do.

However, it just seemed to me that Soppe did what he felt he needed to do to put himself in a position to have a chance to win the race and Haack got "played" on this night. That doesn't diminish the fact that Soppe still had to pass fifteen cars for the win and that the race turned out to be the wildest one of the night. I'm sure I'm going to hear more about this at a later date but whatever.

Can there be a driver that has had a more frustrating week of racing than Jerry Miles. Last night his car quit while leading the Sport Mod feature. Wednesday night there was more back luck to be sent his way although, if truth were told, he might have had a part in that portion of the bad luck. He was battling his way to the front in the Sport Mod feature when he threw a nasty slide job on the third place car. That driver opted to not just let him in and they collided with the front of the other racer clipping the rear bumper of Miles' car. Unfortunately, Miles' car lost that rear bumper on the track and he was then sent to the pits because minus a rear bumper, the safely of the race car is compromised to the point that it not be allowed to continue. Thus ends a very frustrating week of racing for Miles.

And also, thus ends my week of racing at Dubuque. It is always a good time and thanks go out to the staff at Dubuque and as always, good again seeing people like Jerry Mackey, Doug Haack and Kevin Feller.

If the weather is nice on Sunday, I would expect a huge throng of fans on hand to catch the double features for the Late Models and Limited Lates along with a full show in the other classes. 

Dubuque County Fair Much More Than That

On Tuesday, July 25th, I was off for a couple days of Fair racing in Iowa. The Dubuque County Fair was starting its six day run and unlike many Fairs that have given dirt track racing the "boot" for the most part, the good folks of Dubuque County seem to embrace the racers as three of the six nights of the Fair feature dirt track racing. And the Tuesday, Wednesday doubleheader is rapidly becoming one of my favorite midweek stops of the Summer.

On tap Tuesday was what they have termed "Open Wheel Tuesday" featuring the Sprint Invaders 360 Sprint Car Series, the IMCA Modifieds with their traveling Hawkeye Dirt Tour Series and the local IMCA Sport Modifieds if a full program also. Wednesday will feature all six classes that normally race Dubuque with much extra money on the line for all classes.

I drove in rain for much of the trip but just a few miles Northeast of Dubuque the sun came out and it was sunny and steamy in Dubuque. I guess it would be what you would call almost ideal Fair weather with warmth and just of bit of humidity and I've discovered that above all else, what would Iowa be in the Summer without plenty of humidity?

Being just the first day of the Fair, I was surprised by the size of the afternoon crowd of people just visiting the Fair and it would only get bigger as the day would progress. The Fairgrounds was all "spruced" up for the sixty fourth addition of the County Fair and the race track also received its fair share of brightening up. The boards on the bleachers had all been painted and the wall surrounding the track has also received a coat of paint(I would have preferred if they wouldn't have stayed with the alternate red and white combination though, as that is a throwback to the NASCAR days of long, long ago). This was also my first chance to see the new scoreboard in action and while not particularly fancy, it was functional and got the job done with positions one through five posted plus it kept the laps completed. It would have been nice if they had rigged it up so that they could have gotten a sponsor sign on it but perhaps that is still coming. I've always found that scoreboards are pretty easy to get sponsors for. They also have a new "porch" behind the grandstand in turn one that has bar stools and where drinks are served and I understand the size of that is to be increased over time also.

The Sprint Invaders caught the crowd's fancy when they first appeared here two years ago as Sprint Car racing isn't seen very often in Northeast Iowa and let's face it, just about everything is exciting at Dubuque if the track is right. This year they increased their car count as twenty one of the winged cars signed in to race. They also brought some bigger names this year with the McCarl family, Bill Balog and Dominic Scelzi.

The Sprint Invaders portion of the program would consist of three quick heats and a twenty five lap main event. The three heats went off without a yellow and while the main event got bogged down with five yellows, it still seemed to move along fairly quickly. I could sense by the tone of his voice and some of the comments he made that series announcer Jeff Broeg was getting just a bit "edgy" with the number of yellows for minor spins but overall they put on a good show.

Those fans that don't get to see the sprint cars "slide job" each other had a field day as there was much of that taking place and I would have to say that all the "sliders" were of the clean variety. Terry McCarl and Scelzi put on a show dive bombing each other in the early going before the dominance of Scelzi set in and then he took over control of the last part of the race, handling lapped traffic very well. I was a little partial to the Wisconsin driver Balog, who I got to see race shortly after he moved back to the Midwest from Alaska as his family lives in the bordering county to where I live about forty miles from me and as a kid, I got to see his dad race at our local track. He ran well for third but didn't have the speed to match the top two. The Sprint Invader portion of the program was well received by the fans and I'm quite sure they will be welcomed back again next year.

For the Modified fans, the Hawkeye Dirt Tour is as good as it gets for a traveling series in the Hawkeye State. Thirty Modifieds signed in to race, down about ten from last year but still presenting a solid field of strong competitors. One of the reasons that the Tour race is always a good one here is that there are a strong group of local racers who always turn out to "play" and that was the case again on Tuesday. Where there was a "fall down" was with the travelers on the Hawkeye Dirt Tour as only five of the top ten in points and six of the top twenty in points were on hand.

Four heats and two B features set the twenty four car field for the Modified thirty lap Modified main event with Jeff Aikey and Brandon Maitland receving the two provisionals.

It seems to me that whether he is driving his Late Model or his Modified, when Justin Kay shows up at Dubuque, everyone else is then racing for second. In the last few years, I bet if I go back and check my records, seventy five per cent of the time I've been here and Kay was racing, he ended up in victory lane. And such was the case again Tuesday. Veteran Kenny Kostenbader gave him a good fight, leading for the first twenty laps of the race as Kay moved his way up after starting eighth on the grid. Schulte, Droste, Duffy and Rust couldn't hold him back though and after he worked into second, it was a matter of finding the opening to get past Kenny.

Kostenbader fought hard though, and Kay was thwarted on several occasions until he finally found an opening on the low side in turn four on lap twenty and once he got a nose past Kenny, it was "lights out" as he disappeared into the humid Iowa night from the field.

A late yellow, the only one of the race, proved to be Kostenbader's downfall as he dropped several positions in the late going with Kelly Shryock driving a determined race to move into second. This allowed him to retake the point lead in the Hawkeye Dirt Tour with only a couple of races left in two weeks in western Iowa to determine the outcome. Kay becomes the first repeat winner on the series this year.

It must have been a rough year for the Sport Mods as a number of them were sporting plain tin without graphics on the sides of their cars and numbers taped on. It would seem that there must have been plenty of contact going on at the various tracks. While I saw a couple of instances of "dive bombing" after the checkers by drivers who felt they had been "disrespected", overall the Sport Mod portion of the program went very smoothly. In fact, with three heat races and a twenty lap main, the yellow waved only twice all night and that's pretty darn good by anyone's measure.

Timmy Current came storming up from the fifth row to take the lead in the Sport Mod feature quickly and with only the one yellow with eight laps complete to bunch the field, he ran away to a very convincing victory. Tyler Soppe raced into second but had nothing for the leader as he was unable to cut into his lead at all.

A post race interview revealed that Current was just getting back into racing following an accident of some sort. They didn't elaborate on it in the interview and I'll have to apologize as I'm just not familiar with what they were speaking of. In any case, Current was very fast and deserving of the win Tuesday.

A couple drivers would qualify for the "heartbreak" of the night award. Jerry Miles was leading the Sport Mod feature until the one yellow on lap nine, but then when they restarted the field, his car wouldn't fire. A quick push to the infield and a service call by his crew got him going again but by then he had to go to the tail. His run back up to sixth without a single yellow to help was a determined one.

Jason Schueller was in a position to make the main through a Modified B feature when it was discovered that he didn't have a cap on his gas tank after fuel came spewing out every time he threw the car into a turn. A quick run to his outside pit area fixed that problem, but he wasn't able to march his way back up into a qualifying position and he watched the feature from the pits.

The track was in excellent shape for racing on Tuesday and of course, all that humidity helps to keep a track moist and the bite there, but Keith Simmons was in charge of track prep on this night and he made sure that plenty of H2O was thrown on the track before the show. In fact, they had to roll the top side several times to keep the berm from getting too high, but the track was smooth, racy and wide. With no other things to worry about other than the track, Keith is one of the best at getting moisture into the racing surface.

There was a very large crowd on hand, with the size even a bit of a surprise to me given that it was a Tuesday. Even the winning drivers in victory lane commented on just how much fun it is to race in front of a big swarm of fans.

I have already been to a number of Fair races this year and that is how I felt about most of them; they were just Fair. However, the Dubuque County Fair is much different than that. This is one of the Fairs that I really like. There are big and enthusiastic crowds, there is plenty of fine food to be had, plenty of cold beer to be consumed(not by me of course as I'm driving) and plenty of loud and entertaining music. Even though it was a Tuesday it seemed that many were planning to hang out until closing time. This Fair has the atmosphere that most Fairs are now missing. Keep up the good work Dubuque County and all those that are on hand to have fun. 

Carter Pleases The Local Fans With Resounding HDT Victory

It was night number two for racing at the Mahaska County Fair in Oskaloosa Iowa and on Wednesday Juy 19th,  the Modifieds were added to the program. Not just a regular night for them either, as the IMCA sanctioned Hawkeye Dirt Tour was on the card with extra significance because of that. Tour regulars were chasing points plus the locals were hoping to defend the home turf which all made for an interesting night of racing. The same four classes that ran on Tuesday were also invited back again so we had  five division program to enjoy.

Now I'm not an expert of Iowa weather by any means, but the fella at the motel where I was staying told me that this was the longest hot stretch of weather that he could ever remember and he's been in this country for a number of years. Also the driest he said, as the storms keep skipping by the Oskaloosa area and toying with them but it really hasn't rained in a month. Well, that's fine until I'm out of town and then it can rain "cats and dogs" if it wants but I need one more day of dry weather before I head back home. Truly, even though it is hotter today on Wednesday than yesterday, with the nice breeze it feels not quite as bad to me. Perhaps I just needed a day to get acclimated to being outside in a "blast furnace" environment.

I'm told by an independent authority that the title "Blogger" has a rather unsavory sound to it and that I should come up with another word to describe these offerings. Not being able to pull a name out of my hat immediately, let's just call this my "Irrational Wanderings" until I can come up with something better.

There were a number of comments about track conditions last night and most were not of a complimentary nature. To be frank, the track was very choppy last night and anyone who wandering above the inside line by more than a car length either had a ill handling car or a very large set of "driver enhancing aids." Fortunately, those folks that are now doing the track prep at the SIS recognized the problem and set about solving it. Wednesday found the track graded to a much smoother level and much more water had been applied to the track. Later on, it did race much smoother than the previous night and while there still wasn't much of a top side, most likely just due to the difficult weather conditions, some drivers were able to move up the track and make it work.

Twenty one Modifieds signed in to race including the top five in HDT points and thirteen of the top twenty  which was apparently a "ball park" number that most of the "insiders" felt was about right.  When Cory Dripps hammered the guard rail in his heat race that cut the number to twenty for the main event.

Car counts in the other four classes still were lagging and one wonders where all the area drivers were this week that with the doubleheader as a special bonus and most drivers still getting a bit of a special thrill racing at a Fair Race, where the heck was everyone? In an effort to move the show along, single heats were run for both the Sport Mods and Stock Cars when they actually could have been split into two preliminary events.

You see, the storms were building in the Northwest but track officials were right on it, and they eliminated any break after the heats as they moved right into the Sport Compact feature race. Of course, the guy at the motel would have said that the storms are going to miss Osky, and he would have been correct, but it's much better to be safe than sorry. The early conclusion to the races also allowed Race Director Mike VanGenderen to get to the hospital in Newton earlier where his wife is planning on presenting him a boy at some point on Thursday morning.

The Modified feature was moved up in the running order so as to beat the threatening clouds lurking to the West  and with Hunter Marriott, coming off his big wins in North Dakota sitting on the pole, it would have seemed that the issue had already been settled. But that's what's so great about short track racing on the dirt, you just never know. Marriott did take off like a rocket ship and moved to a big lead, but Osky's own Cayden Carter moved into second and by the ten lap mark he was clearly reeling in the leader.

Carter had caught Marriott when the only yellow flag of the race was triggered with sixteen laps complete when Dan Brockert somehow managed to turn a harmless spin into a trip on to his roof, which triggered the red flag. During the break, Marriott headed for the pits and was done for the night.

However, Carter was not out of the woods as lurking right behind him was Ricky Thornton Jr who was driving the #30 Cooney car on this night. He had been moving up through the field after starting ninth and I thought that Carter might be in trouble. By the way, is there anything that Thornton Jr. can't drive well?

However, that was not the case as Cayden took off on the green, opened up a big lead and cruised home to an easy win and a grand for his efforts. Joel Rust ran strong throughout the race and by finishing ahead of Kelly Shryock, he might have taken over the point lead in the HDT and if not, it will be very close as they motor on to Knoxville on Thursday.

The conspiracy theorists and "boo birds" got their chance to be satisfied again on Wednesday as the season's two big winners, Shannon Anderson and Curtis VanDerWal, both again won main events without producing too much "sweat" to get the wins.

It seemed that Anderson might have some problems on this night as he started ninth in only a fourteen lap main event and there were some fast cars in front of him but he quickly moved to the front and within a couple laps was in third and charging. Both Mike Kinkaid and Chanse Hallatz tried their best, but there is no way they could stay with the flying Anderson who drove past them and then gradually pulled away. Anderson is now a remarkable eleven for eleven at Osky and according to Tony Paris, track announcer, Wednesday was Anderson's twenty ninth feature win of the year. And for those that think he's cheating, and of course that's always the "battle cry" of those that consistently get beat by another driver, they might want to focus on the handling and cornering of their own race cars as it sure looks to me that where Anderson especially shines is in the corners where he can drive his car in much deeper and it doesn't tend to slide around like so many others were Wednesday on the dry track. Just sayin'.

VanDerWal made the move of the night in the Sport Modified feature as he split the cars of Brayton Carter and Carter VandenBerg to grab the lead and then pull away for the win. While the field was not a big one, those two in front of him were running well and he was having some trouble getting past them. Suddenly, in turn four, as they were battling for the top spot, he moved forward and drove right through the middle of the track and split them to take over the lead. It was a breathtaking and "wowzer" kind of moment that got all in the crowd's attention. Some theorists in the crowd feel that he is just playing with the field, and I haven't seen him run often enough to know whether he is so dominant that he can do that, but either way, it was a dandy move from my perspective.

Nathan Wood must be so sick of looking at the rear bumper and trunk of Dustin Griffith's #10G car that he could expectorate. For the second straight night he tail gated Griffith for most of the fourteen lap Stock Car feature but could just not get past him. And for the second straight night, Wood's car seemed faster but every time he tried to pass, he just couldn't quite pull off the move. So he followed Griffiths through the corners , nose to tail and waited for a mistake but for the second straight night, Dustin was not giving out any "freebies" and Wood just couldn't find a way by.

Mike Hughes, having gotten his car fixed after hammering the guard rail on Tuesday, was able to use the higher groove to pass a few cars but when he caught the lead duo after a mid race spin, the top side just wasn't good enough to pull off a passing move. So Griffiths, who used to dominate the Hobby Stock class here like VanDerWal and Anderson do now, won for the second straight night but this class does need a few more cars.

The Sport Compacts had a real quick turn around time after their heat race with the program being rammed through at top speed but Ryan Havel and Levi Heath had a good battle going for the lead until Heath blew the guts out of his four cylinder motor down the back chute and was done. Havel then cruised home for the win with Bill Whalen dancing his way into victory lane in second.

After a rather slim night at the ticket booth on Tuesday, a regular Wednesday night sized Osky crowd was on hand for night two of the Fair races with the final checkered flag waving right around 9:30 pm. It was still 86 degrees out at that time and you could almost hear the corn a poppin' in the fields.

Anderson and VanDerWal Continue to Roll at SIS

On Tuesday night, July 18th, the Southern Iowa Speedway was back in action on the first night of back to back racing programs during the Mahaska County Fair. Last week the races were canceled due to hot weather and I don't know just how hot it was last week, but it was also darn warm at the track on Tuesday too as the state of Iowa withers under a stuffy July sun with the humidity something to behold also.

Tuesday night's program was a lead off to the Hawkeye Dirt Tour races which will highlight Wednesday night's show. While it was a regular point race on Tuesday, the Modifieds had the night off with the other four classes running a full program.

Monitoring the race results from SIS from time to time, I know that the car counts have not been huge by any means this year, but Tuesday night's gathering had to have been the smallest in quite some time at this track. Other than a solid field in the Hobby Stocks, the other three classes were definitely lacking cars. Both the Sport Compacts and Stock Cars were short on count to the point that only one heat  race was run in each class with a Baker's Dozen, minus two, entered in the Sport Mod class.

However, despite the short field of cars, there was racing to be done by those drivers that did show up and a full program was run off in the four classes on hand. Other than a slightly longer than normal break after the completion of the heats, during which time a multitude of packing vehicles circled the track which had an uncharacteristic chop to it on this night, anywhere above one lane from the hub on up, the racing proceeded just as if a full field of cars were on hand.

One of the big story lines at the track all year has been the domination of two drivers who have virtually controlled the class that they race in. By name, they are Shannon Anderson and Curtis VanDerWal who have been the dominating drivers in the Hobby Stock and Sport Mod divisions respectively. While the other drivers in those classes work to try and beat them and the fans gradually get more and more tired of seeing the same drivers win week after week, those two continue to go about their jobs and win, win, win.

In fact, coming into Tuesday night's action, Anderson was pitching a perfect nine for nine in the Hobby Stock class, not having lost a feature race all year at this big half mile. That is quite a remarkable record, given that he is racing against some strong competitors and the "Law of Averages" generally catches up with a person at some point when something as simple as a flat tire or mechanical failure could end such a marvelous streak, yet Anderson continues to roll.

On Tuesday, he again had had to beat the biggest field of cars although with the draw/redraw format in affect for the Fair races, he actually didn't have to start as far back in the field as per normal. But once the green flag dropped, the "cream quickly rose to the top" as while most drivers didn't even attempt to move up the track into the somewhat unsettled territory, Anderson jumped up there right away, and quickly moved into contention.

He seemed to catch a break early too, not that he needs any help, as he was scored the leader after an early restart when it seemed like second place might have been the more appropriate spot for him to have been. No matter, as no one was going to catch him anyway as he drove on to an easy win. While is winning margin was not huge, Anderson is one of those that I believe only shows what he needs to, to get the win and only when he is really pushes will we find out just how fast he can be.

Actually, the best run was turned in by his father Jeff who spun on the first lap, went to the tail and drove back up through the field, nipping Chanse Hollatz on the last lap for second. Hollatz, who runs very well in northern Iowa at tracks like Britt and Mason City would have been a good choice to break Anderson's streak, but not on this night.

So the bounty continues to build as Anderson is now ten for ten.  The only problem that I have with the bounty is that it seems to me that if Anderson continues to win, at some point he should be rewarded for his outstanding effort by giving the bounty to him! After all, if he is good enough to keep everyone behind him week after week, I think he deserves to be rewarded for his outstanding work.

The other big winner at the track, VanDerWal had a relatively easy time of it as he won once again in the Sport Mods. The "boo birds" were out in full force to greet him in victory lane after he overpowered the field once again to win an easy main event, but the old saying that if they're booing you from the stands, you must be winning still holds.

One of the drivers he passed seemed to take umbrage at his passing move and wanted to have words with him, but if getting your quarter panel wrinkled a bit when the winner blows by you is grounds for "discussion", you might be better off devoting your time to getting your own program faster rather than "jaw jacking" at the winner. While having a couple of drivers dominate divisions might not be the healthiest thing for a race track, the best way to cure that if for the rest of the drivers to pick up the pace, not find ways to complain or penalize those that are over achieving.

In quite the opposite manner, the Sport Compacts saw a very close race that featured Nathan Moody and Levi Heath running side by side for most of the race. Both were pushing to the absolute limit and with the challenging conditions, both drivers had their hands full keeping their little front wheel drive cars pointed the right direction. Eventually, the low groove won out for Moody and the word was that it was his first win at SIS.

The Stock Cars had the shortest field of all the classes which was really disappointing given that they often put on the best show at the track. And even as short as the field was, they were still nose to bumper for the lead, right to the end. Nathan Wood appeared to be the fastest on the track but he just couldn't figure out a way of getting past Dustin Griffiths who drove home for the win.

Upon entering the grounds, Race Director Mike VanGenderen announced to me that he was no longer doing the track prep at the speedway after some unfulfilled promises involving his two day holiday Stock Car special. While he is still functioning as Race Director, one must wonder about his long term association with the track after this season concludes. Thursday Mike will add a new member to his family and hopefully the timing will be such that he will still be able to get to the races at Knoxville that night.

With few racing options on Tuesday, the grandstand at SIS looked like a Positively Racing reunion and all on hand were happy to visit with California's Paul Vetter as he concludes another one of his Midwestern racing vacations before he returns for the Boone Nationals in September.

Clanton Dominates the WoO at River Cities

Instead of "turning tail" and heading for home after the races in Hibbing, we decided to head farther North into uncharted territory and after another a four hour ride through first the Lakes region of Minnesota and then onto the prairies on extreme Northwestern Minnesota, we crossed the Red River of the North and rolled into Grand Forks North Dakota.
Farming is "king" here, especially for potatoes and beans and the world's largest processing plant for french fries, one that serves most of the McDonald's restaurants in America, is located within a couple blocks of the River Cities Speedway, located at the county fairgrounds. In fact, when we come to the John Seitz Memorial Late Model special here in September, a race by the way that every Late Model fan should see at least once, the annual Potato Bowl featuring the University of North Dakota and who ever their opponent would happen to be on that year, is in full swing. And when they have the big "warm up" event for the community and students, what do you suppose they serve in copious amounts? That's right, beer and french fries are both flowing in seemingly endless quantities. Binge drinking I've heard of before, but have you ever heard of binge french fry eating? It apparently does happen.
But I digress. Along with college sports at the U.N.D., auto racing is big business in Grand Forks at the River Cities Speedway. Seldom can you find a town that supports racing any stronger than they do in Grand Forks, across the river in East Grand Forks and the little farm towns that surround the metro area. I think there are more community businesses that support this track and put their names on race cars at this track than anywhere else than I can think of. Come to a race just once at River Cities and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.
Of course, when they do come to the track, the speedway itself gives them plenty to remember and excite them. There are not many tracks in the entire country that offer such a wide open, thrilling and spectacular show as the one offered at River Cities every Friday night. First of all, how many tracks in the Midwest, or for that matter in the entire country,  offer a weekly program that features both 410 Sprints and Late Models along with two support classes that also get big numbers. Competitors to race are not a problem at River Cities. They have routinely been pulling in nearly thirty 410 Sprints every week, around twenty Late Models and twenty or more Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks. That's right, four classes is what they have every week, unless they have a special in which they will cut down the classes racing.
River Cites is a high banked quarter mile bullring that upon your first visit will have you just shaking your heads at the excitement and wild activity going on with three and four wide racing on a track that provides spectacular racing. In fact, such a well known authority as WoO Sprint announcer Johnny Gibson rates River Cities as his favorite track, and understandably so.
The whole front chute is wrapped with large grandstands and when all seats are filled, over six thousand people can fit into the stands. They run the Outlaw Sprints twice during the year and the Late Models once and on those nights, there are seldom seats available.
On Friday night, along with the WoO Late Models, they also ran the 410 Sprints and for the second time this year, they also brought in the WISSOTA sanctioned Mods. One of the Modified drivers set up a six race mini series involving this track along with the Devil's Lake Speedway for the Modifieds. A five thousand dollar point fund has been set up and even though Modifieds don't race here except for a couple specials, so many drivers desire to race at this track that twenty nine of them turned out to race on Friday representing two states and Canada! I forgot to mention earlier that Winnipeg is only about one hundred and fifty miles North of here and a large number of Canadian drivers and fans support this track on a weekly basis since the Winnipeg track races on Thursday nights.
Twenty six 410 Sprints signed in to race also along with thirty three Late Models as a number of the local drivers showed up to race, even though their spec engines are under powered on what turned out to be a night when the more power, the better.
Just like HIbbing on the previous night, the weather threw a curve ball at the race track but again, for the second straight night, the racers and fans prevailed. Everything was moving smoothly and they were just about ready to hot lap when, on a night when there was zero chance of rain, a threatening looking cloud drifted in from the Northwest and it started to rain lightly.
Because the pit area sits so low at River Cities, and the same black dirt that holds moisture like a sponge on the track is also in the pits, when the skies threaten, the drivers scramble to get out of the area. Many of the drivers remember previous bad experiences here where they have had to be pulled out of the pits with a tractor, so as soon as the first drops of rain fell, the Late Model rigs went barreling out of the pits, seeking higher ground out in the parking lots with some actually having to drive a block or more down the city streets seeking a place to ride out the storm.
Well, for most, by the time they got parked the rain had stopped but then the same procession had to be reversed so, needless to say, things didn't get started on time.
But also, just like at Hibbing, that little dab of rain plus the humid night produced a race track that was "bad fast" and a handful for even the most seasoned driver. When they finally got around to qualifying, nineteen drivers broke the old track record with Mike Marlar setting a blistering new mark at 11.321 seconds. Folks, that is flying. While the Sprints didn't qualify and never do here except for the WoO shows, they were times in their heats well under ten seconds per lap!
Racing was intense but also featured very few yellow flags and once they got started, the program moved along at a good clip. The Late Models started twenty four cars for their fifty lap main event and as you can imagine, the lapped traffic was unbelievable. Clanton started on the pole and was the dominant car for the whole race, moving out to a small lead which he was able to maintain despite all the traffic he had to fight through.
But while Clanton was pretty comfortable in front, the battle among those fighting for top ten positions was wild. Tyler Erb was spectacular as he nearly turned his car over a couple times when he jumped the berm but he still hung on for second and Brandon Sheppard came from ninth to third so you can imagine how hard he was driving.
The main had only two yellows with a late once setting up a three lap sprint to the finish but Clanton hung on for the win.
The only "downer" of the night was in the Sprint feature. While River Cities is known for having some spectacular wrecks, the "norm" is for the Sprints to get through their show with not much for problems. Unfortunately, that was not the case Friday with seven yellows bogging down the program and even causing the normally patient River Cities fans to grumble. In a strange occurrence, two race leaders took them selves out of the top spot when they ran into cars at the back of the pack and spun out. This happened to both Thomas Kennedy and point leader Austin Pierce although there were enough yellows later that Pierce was able to work his way back up to second.
If you think the lapped traffic is wild in the Late Models, imagine twenty six Sprints in the main which is what they ran Friday.
Dustin Strand had a couple of disappointing runs with his Late Model after having run so well in Arizona back in January. So he took out his frustrations by rolling out his Modified and winning the Modified feature that wrapped up the night and even though it was approaching Midnight by this time, most of the crowd stuck around to watch the Modifieds race. They had a good run with only one yellow on the first lap and then they ran nonstop to the finish. Ward Imrie, from the Winnipeg area, has been running very well this year so far with his MB Customs car, and he led the majority of the event but Strand, who builds his own Milleneum chassis Modifieds, tracked down Ward with just a couple of laps to go for the win. Another Canadian driver, Jerome Guyot, finished third.
Even though the Sprints were maddening on this night, overall the race program would get a big "thumbs up" for their efforts. The crowd is always big and energized here and just going to the races at River Cities is a fun experience. If you've never been here before, I would put this track at the top of my list of those that you absolutely must visit at some point. It's that good. 

Sheppard Back in the Groove at Hibbing

The World of Outlaws Late Model tour of the upper Midwest continued as their traveling band of motor heads headed to the Hibbing Raceway on the Iron Range of Minnesota. Two years ago the Outlaws made their first appearance ever at the quarter mile Hibbing track and it was a smashing success, jam packing the grandstands at the North St. Louis County Fairgrounds which hold around 4,000 people. Last year's attempt for a repeat was met by rainy weather which caused them to loose the show.

The weather would be very dicey on this night also, despite the fact that according to the weather geniuses there was no chance of rain whatsoever and despite the radars showing no precipitation in the area, that wet stuff falling from the skies was not eagle spittle.

At one time the Hibbing Raceway, located at the fairgrounds, was outside of the famous mining town of Hibbing and they had plenty of space away from the city. Not so anymore as they are seriously crowded on all sides of the track. The city surrounds them in all directions and when the Itasca  Community College moved in next door, they really started to gobble up the space that used to be open land. Now the race fans park in the Community College parking lots on race night and the fairgrounds isn't even used for a fair anymore, with the racing the only activity that the grounds are used for. The College had been eyeballing the land for years, the county didn't even want the land anymore and has given it to the city of Hibbing, who has not spent a dime on upkeep or maintenance for years and the whole facility is looking more than a bit "long in the tooth." The club that runs the speedway has been around for a long time and if not for their continued efforts, I'm sure the track would have been history a long time ago.

At one time there was a proposal to use some of the IRRRB money(Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board) which is basically a pot of money set aside by the mining companies for projects to benefit the community as a form of good will for devastating the local environment for decades with their mining projects, to build a new motorsports park outside of town.  But as is the case with many governmental and socio governmental projects, the paperwork got hung up somewhere and the project never happened. So the Iron Range Racing Association has been making due with what they have for many years.

That's not to say that racing is hurting here, as racing at the Hibbing Raceway has long been a very popular attraction for the area population and some of the biggest paying events in  WISSOTA racing have taken place at this tight quarter mile.

On arrival, I noticed that one of the changes at the track this year was that the pit gate was moved to the North end of the track after having been located off turn one for a number of years. This actually was a "blast from the past" as originally, many years ago the pit gate was in that very same location. The move was precipitated by further issues with the College but I was told that they have now been worked out and the pit gate will probably move back to turn one again next year, if you're keeping score.

It was a miserable, cloudy, very cool for July and drizzly day in Hibbing. It would drizzle, then it would stop, then it would drizzle again, over and over. It never really rained enough for people to have to go find shelter, but it was miserable nevertheless. A field of thirty three Late Models signed in to race with new additions from the travelers including A.J. Diemel, Jason Rauen and Jordan Yaggy It was noted that Rauen has added Arnie Ranta MotorSports as the major sponsor on his car. Ranta was on hand to watch the show Thursday and he pulled into the pits driving his latest spectacular vehicle,  bright yellow Corvette.

 There were also a good number of local competitors that showed up to race too. Hibbing runs WISSOTA Late Models every Saturday night and such drivers as Harry Hanson, Jeff Provinzino, Jeff Massingill, Jay Kintner and Zach Wohlers were taking a shot at the big boys Thursday. Only Massingill had an open motor thanks to his allegiance with JR Motorsports while the rest would take a shot with their small spec engines. Only Massingill and Provo would make the main.

At least two times during the course of the early evening there was the real threat that the show would get either canceled or postponed. Some serious negotiations were on going with another area track, the Grand Rapids Speedway just down the road about a half hour away. They run on Thursday night but had swapped nights with Hibbing on this week so that the Thursday date would be open for Hibbing to race. However, with the cancellation of the race at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, that made Saturday the likely rain date, but Hibbing had given that date to Grand Rapids in exchange for the Thursday. So they were discussing that. Also, the crowd was slow arriving and some club officers were getting worried that they wouldn't have a big enough crowd to pay the freight. A club officers meeting was held with everyone , including the WoO officials on hand, all waiting to find out if they were racing or not. Drivers and everyone roamed around, anxious to find out what he decision was and when I spotted the WoO officials racing back to their trailer to make final preparations and the packing trucks returned to the track, the answer was then determined that racing would go on.

However, we weren't totally out of the woods yet, as a couple more black clouds drifted over the track while last minute track prep  was ongoing and it was enough to make the track wet again and cause the officials to huddle once more before it abruptly stopped and the sun made its first appearance. This apparently buoyed everyone's spirits, the track packing resumed and from then on it was all downhill. The weather would cause the start time of the show to be delayed almost two hours though, and then the track curfew started to be a concern.

Hibbing is normally a very dry, slick sort of race track. Generally speaking, the racing there is very much "stop and go". Drive hard into the corners, hug the inside and then barrel down the next straightaway is a racing style used here by most.

However, the extraordinary weather created some extraordinary racing conditions, with the track being very tacky but not rough and the speeds the drivers were turning where"off the chart" for this track. Fourteen drivers were under the old track record in practice and sixteen were under the record in qualifying with Rick Eckert the quickest at 12.455, nearly a full second under the track record!

Preliminary action saw the speeds blinding but everyone was still hugging the low groove. But as I was reminded, it's almost impossible to have a dirt track that is perfect from start to finish. Fortunately, on this night the track was at its best for the main event. This produced a feature race that was spectacular and certainly one of the best that will be seen all year.

The crowd was heavily rooting for veteran Chub Frank who led for most of the race as he looked for his first WoO win in six or so years. Behind him the racing was great with the drivers swapping positions and lines on the track. Mike Marlar and Sheppard were especially spectacular as they worked the high side of the track, a groove that does not get used too often at this track and normally not too successfully.  The speeds the drivers were turning was remarkable and the racing truly memorable.

It looked like Chub would be home free but then, with only five laps left in the race, the first and only yellow of the event occurred when Eric Wells stopped on the track. Frank was committed to the low groove and Sheppard stormed to the cushion immediately. He drove a beautiful last five laps as his back round on the tight bull rings of Illinois suited him well and he drove around Frank for the win. It had to have been a very disappointing finish to a great run for "Chubzilla." Marlar, Clanton and Tyler Erb completed the top five. It was a very entertaining race from start to finish.

The support division was the Pure Stocks and for some reason, track management chose not to sanction them on this night. My guess was this cost them a few cars as only eleven showed up for a $500 to win event, much more than they normally race for.

However, they served the purpose as they helped pack the track, ran two quick heat races and their feature was saved for the last event of the night, thus allowing those that wanted to head out to do so. Mike Blevins, current national point leader and defending national champion, drove around Cole Provinzino, Jeff's son, for the win.

Once they got going, they really clicked off the program at break neck speed as all racing was done by 10:30 pm, meaning the racing was completed in about an hour and a half!

The crowd was good but nothing like the gathering two years ago. I sure hope that they came out OK money wise on the night as this is a club that can't just dig in their pockets and pull out a wad of bills to cover the night if the income is short. A bad night at the bank could cause them to not schedule a race in coming years, particularly when a club run organization frequently changes over its officers and sometimes it's managerial approach.

Thanks to club President Trevor Arens and the rest of the officers for granting me credentials for this event which surely will be remembered as one of the top Late Model shows of the year.

Madden Makes Winning Pass at "The Big O"

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is currently on a swing through the upper Midwest and Wednesday night I caught up with them at the Wagamon family's Ogilvie Raceway. Among with the Late Models, Midwest Modifieds and Hornets, both under WISSOTA sanctioning, were also on the card.

Twenty seven Late Models signed in to race on Wednesday. As with most series, the top eleven or so in points were on hand along with a few others that run occasionally for points plus the regional and local drivers that opt to give the show a try. Since Ogilvie does not run Late Models weekly, they were hoping to receive the benefit of a few WISSOTA cars that might try to give the race a shot, even though for them it's like bringing a knife to a gun fight as they are giving up a hundred horsepower or so to the open motors.

As it turned out, they did receive a decent number of those drivers although most had "bit the bullet" and obtained open motors for this tour that ends at "The Bullring" in Grand Forks on Friday night after North Central Speedway in Brainerd dropped from the series at the last minute.

Pat Doar, Dustin Strand, Chad Mahder, Lance Matthees, Cole Schill, Don Shaw and Ricky Weiss, all drivers that do a considerable amount of spec motor racing, were all out fitted with open motors for this tour. Only Ryan Corbett, who burned down his motor in qualifying and Dustin Bluhm were running spec engines.

An interesting item found the #77 car of Jordan Yaggy in the pits but no driver to race the car. Seems that Jordan couldn't get off work early enough to get up to Ogilvie as the family business is in the middle of a big construction job in Rochester and they just couldn't make all the necessary arrangements. A crewman brought the car up and the hope is that he will be able to join them in Hibbing and Grand Forks.

Promoter Nate Fischer told me that Ogilvie received two inches of rain on Tuesday night and that he couldn't get on the track until 1:30 pm but this track is run so hard that it wasn't even noticeable except for some puddles in the infield. This track is so hard that early in hot laps they were already blowing dust and the track was starting to show black streaks. However, it didn't lock down like this track has done  from time to time so the overnight rain must have helped some and for the first time in a very long time at any track in my area, once they started racing, no maintenance vehicles were seen on the track watering, misting, grading and any other massaging techniques were used.

The Late Model heats saw a couple of shocking events take place. The first was when Jimmy Mars, running a comfortable second and set to make the redraw, cut turn three too close and clipped a huge marker tire which nearly turned him over and badly wrecked his car. Considered a favorite among the non regulars, they thrashed to get the car on the track for the feature, but his night was ruined when he just took the green at the back, pulled off and claimed his start money.

Mike Marler was on the pole for a heat too but he had mechanical problems, had to run a Last Chance and buried himself so far in the feature that he didn't get very far forward.

Two things that I find very boring but are at the crux of modern dirt track racing are tires and aerodynamics and both played heavily in the outcome of Wednesday night's feature. Brandon Sheppard was clearly the fastest car for most of the race but he finished a fading second at the end. He was running away with things when the lone yellow of the race waved at the halfway point. Unfortunately for Sheppard, the yellow was for him as he had knocked off the right side of his spoiler with a trip to the wall, as he was one of the few running the top side.

He continued to lead for about half of the remaining laps but he started getting progressively slower as his car got looser and looser. Finally, in the last five laps, Chris Madden dove under him in turn one, took over the lead and then pulled away to make it anti climatic. The word was that Sheppard had also gone wrong on tires with three 30's and a 20 while Madden had three 30's and a 40(Whatever the hell all that means!).

Bottom line; Madden got his second win in a row for the week and Sheppard's car owner Mark Richards was left to kick the ground over his team's failure to bring home the win. Iowa fans would be happy to see the strong run put in by Chad Simpson who moved up to third and ran a strong race as his appearance would have to be considered a surprise. Shane Clanton hung on for fifth but was never a challenger. There was only a single yellow in the main and only three drivers failed to finish the race. The whole Late Model portion of the program saw the yellow wave only three times in the professionally run off show.

It was perhaps also the first time trial program that I have ever seen that started on time. Generally the advertised starting time means that's when warm ups or perhaps the time trials might actually start. However, Wednesday, 7 pm meant that was the time that the first support class heat took the green flag. I was both stunned and pleased.

My normal feeling is that Hornets should never be in the pits for a special event such as this. They don't belong on the same program with the most elite of the dirt track full bodied classes. And certainly no more than one support division on the card along with the Late Models. Ogilvie defied both those beliefs Wednesday and made them work. Both Midwest Modifieds and Hornets raced but each class had only two heats, no B features and each ran off their main event with just a couple of quick yellows in what were smoothly run off races. Just the way the support classes should operate at such an event.

With all three classes running off smooth programs with few yellows and not much for breaks between events, the entire show was completed by a remarkably early 9:15 pm. This allowed the parking lot congestion to lessen as many people went into the pits to buy shirts, meet the drivers and do some "rubber necking." These are all positive things to have happen and I congratulate both local management and the Outlaws for spinning off a quick program.

Many regional Modified and Late Model drivers were spotted in the crowd tonight and one driver I haven't seen in quite some time, former Late Model super start Brady Smith , was spotted moving from trailer to trailer and visiting with many of his former rivals. 

VanderBeek "Catfishes" to Win at Luxemburg

The USMTS is making a swing through Northeastern Wisconsin this week, the first time that they have been in this region since 2006. Also, three of the four tracks they will be visiting will be new ones for the organization with only a limited number of drivers still running the series when they last visited Luxemburg. The other tracks they will be hitting this week at Toby Kruse's 141 Speedway near Francis Creek, the Oshkosh Speedzone and the Plymouth Dirt Track.

Even Luxemburg will look new and different to the veteran drivers as the track has been widened out since their last visit, new Musco lights are in place and the pit are has been moved off the three and four corner to the opposite end of the track where the one and two corner is. New to me even, since I was not at the track last year when the new promoters took over was that the pit gate was moved back to the first turn and entering race cars drive West near the back chute to the newer pit area.

Of course, Northeastern Wisconsin is the heart of IMCA country with virtually all the tracks in this area under the IMCA sanctioning body. The key to getting a decent field of open Modifieds will be to either bring in a lot of cars that run other sanctioning bodies but can adapt to USMTS rules or convince some of the locals to come out and "play" with the USMTS.

What they got was a little bit of both as several western and central Wisconsin Modified drivers joined the action for this week and about ten of the eastern Wisconsin drivers slapped on spoilers and bolted on American Racer tires and joined the action. I was told that the Hoosier tires would even be allowed this week but the only car I saw that was running the IMCA tire was the #10 of Paul Parker. It did make things more interesting for the local fans when they had some of their favorites to cheer for but quite frankly, it was far from the strongest field that the USMTS ever fielded which was reflected in where some of the drivers showed up in the finishing results. Aside from the debating on the merits of IMCA virsus USRA or any other sanctioning body, one thing I can say without doubt is that open wheel Modifieds look a heck of a lot better with spoilers on the back of them!

USMTS showed thirty three entrants even though Jason Hughes was not fielding an entry on this night. I'm not sure if they have some provision for "emergency" points like some of the other sanctioning bodies but they showed him in the lineup for both a heat and B Feature even though he didn't have a race car on the grounds.

The reason that Hughes sat out was that he destroyed a car in a wreck in Oklahoma last weekend, a wreck I was told was so violent that he was very lucky he wasn't seriously hurt. Anyway, he is still physically recovering so did not participate on this night and I'm not sure if he plans to race at all during this weekly swing.

Here's an interesting story about why the pit gate was changed last year. A track official told me that the race cars would come into town off the main highway, turn into the fairgrounds and head to the track and the people of the town never would see the race cars. Now, with them coming in the other end of the track, they are forced to take a street that takes them right through the downtown area of Luxemburg so that everyone sees the cars and hopefully remembers that there are races on that night! In fact, that track official told me they encouraged the drivers to make an extra lap of the downtown area with their haulers before coming to the fairgrounds so that everyone on the street would see their big rigs.

How different is this from most tracks where they want the big trailers to avoid the busy downtown areas of a city if at all possible?

Last year Eric Mahlik took over as the promoter of Luxemburg Speedway after there was a real chance that the track would shut down due to a lack of someone to run the track. Once a big time track for Friday night racing, things had diminished in the past few years and the promoter wanted out and there was no one to replace him.

Mahlik comes from a family of racers on both dirt and asphalt and he himself raced IMCA Modifieds for a number of years. As a former all Big Ten Ten defensive lineman for the Wisconsin Badgers, he commands quite a presence in the pit area and pit personal seldom want to "take him on", that is if they have any brains at all. Mahlik's "claim to fame" is that he once "sacked" Drew Breese according to the track announcer.

On this night, Mahlik returned to his roots as he raced a borrowed Street Stock on this night. After winning a heat race, he had mechanical difficulties early in the feature event and was an early retiree.The fact that Mahlik was racing and that the support class payoffs were available at the USMTS trailer following the event makes me think that this race was Staley's and not either Mahlik's or the Fair Board of Kewaunee County. 





The track is red clay and with all the water they dumped on the track and with how extremely humid it was, I would have guessed that the surface would be fast and tacky. Wrong on that. It was hard and slick, blowing dust in hot laps and showing black after just a few laps. It did take quite some time for the surface to clean off and thus the low groove was the place to be early. It did gradually widen out and the Modified feature saw plenty of cars run the high side of the track although I was convinced that the top side wouldn't hold for forty laps.


Here's where VanderBeek comes in. He is a low side racer, no matter where he is racing at and no matter what the track conditions are, he just likes to race the low side. And starting on the inside of row two, he was perfectly placed to win. Mike Mashl started on the pole after the local driver raised the most money going through the crowd before the event in support of Karsyn"s Krusaders and its founder Jessica Miller, who was killed in a car accident early Tuesday morning.

Mashl held tough for a couple laps but then Curt Myers passed him on the outside but VanderBeek stayed in his lane and eventually would take over the lead.

He had a comfortable advantage for most of the race until a very late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the money. He was not about to "flub up" however, and held his line to defeat Ryan Gustin and Cade Dillard. When all the excitement about the local and regional cars doing well was over, in the final running order the top four finishers were all USMTS regulars with only Benji LaCrosse being the invader to crack the top five, after he started thirteenth. Eighty laps of feature racing between the three classes entered produced a total of only two yellow flags, a testament to solid driving and the embedded idea in driver's heads that when they spin, they move or go to the pits. 

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night was the anemic number of Stock Cars that turned out to race. They have a large number of Stock Cars in northeastern Wisconsin and some very good ones but on this night only a dozen showed up to race. Perhaps it was the fact that this was not a point night for them, but if money only isn't a good enough reason to go racing, then I know even less about this sport than I thought I did!

However, just because they were short on cars didn't mean that they didn't produce and excellent main event. Troy Muench took the early lead but "Hot" Rod Snellenberger, one of my favorites from the first time I ever saw racing in this part of the state, started tenth and tracked down the leader without the benefit of the yellow flag, until eleven laps were complete and a spin allowed the field to bunch.

Muench was running the higher line on the track and Snellenberger went to the low side and they raced side by side for the rest of the rest, never being more than a foot or so apart. Hot Rod made one last change on the final lap, but Muench kept Rod pinned low and he couldn't quite get the momentum he desired and Muench beat him to the line by about a foot or two for the very exciting win.

The Street feature, in which their were fourteen cars, was won by Ryan Manthei. Jason Jensen, from the Northwoods of Eagle River, came from twelfth to finish second.

The crowd for this event was OK but with all the pre race hype about the event, I would have guessed that hit would have been much larger but the grandstand here is very expansive so I might be underestimating the crowd size.

With all the green flag racing, the program roared by at a very fast clip, just as he should on a week night. Not to many classes, and almost nonstop racing kept things moving. Midweek specials promoters, are you listening? I took my own sweet time getting ready for the drive home but I was still on the road by 9:45 pm. Many areas like to brag about the racing facilities that they have in their area but I would stack the top half dozen or so tracks in northeastern Wisconsin against anyone else's list from anywhere.

I did run into noted racing author and former promoter and track official Joe Verdegan in the pits and he told me that the issue in his area was not the lack of race cars but just not enough race fans to go around. That story can be repeated in many areas of the country although lack of race cars is also raising its head in many areas too.

Why In The World Would Anyone Want To Be A Race Promoter?

In this space, there was originally supposed to be the reports from two racing events I attended this week. However, both special events were rain shortened and ended up being postponed to later dates this year. There is not much to report from a racing outcome standpoint, but both places desire mention for their efforts, despite threatening conditions, to complete their racing programs. And both will likely take a loss financially for their efforts.

The first event was scheduled for Wednesday, June 28th at the Dirt Oval 66, the dirt track adjacent to the Chicagoland Motor Speedway, Bruton Smith's complex that also includes a world class drag strip also adjacent to the dirt track. The World of Outlaws Late Models were schedule to race on Wednesday, along with UMP Modifieds and Street Stocks.

The previous night they had produced a successful World of Outlaws Sprint Car show won by Donnie Schatz in what was a race that featured more passing by far than the normal WoO show does. The track was slick and smooth and the Sprint Cars put on an excellent show, I was told.

This was the first time that I had been at Joliet, so that was part of the curiosity of going to see a new track. Like all of Bruton Smith's dirt tracks, it is a spectacular facility. It has been largely under used, as most of the Smith's dirt tracks are, and Sherri Heckenast is trying to bring the track back to life, scheduling some real racing events and not just the money making team demolition events that draw huge crowds. And what does that fact say about the state of our racing nation? That is a conversation for another time.

The grandstand is huge and has a severe pitch which makes every seat a good one. The lighting is first class and both the competitors and spectators park on concrete. It's easy to get into and out of  and just everything about it is top notch. The scoreboard was pretty minor league which is par for Smith's dirt tracks. This track does get knocked down a little bit for as you ascend into the grandstands, the wrecked buses from their demos and track equipment vehicles are visible behind the back straightaway and they do look junky; something that Smith's other tracks always are is spotless.

As far as the track itself, I didn't get a full look through a complete show so it was a little hard to tell just how well it actually raced. Some of Smith's tracks, particularly Vegas, are spectacular to look at but have not to this point made it as a decent track to race on.

Like I said, I was told that it raced very well for the Sprint Cars but Wednesday's preliminaries didn't show that. The track was quite rough, was breaking up in the corners and seemed to have a number of dips that were causing the cars to bottom out. Perhaps, however, it would have straightened out by feature time. The highlight of the racing was a great side by side battle between Schatz and Frankie Heckenast in a heat race where neither would give an inch until Heckenast finally slid high and Schatz took the win. Other than that, things were pretty strung out in the heats but that can often happen with the Outlaw format.

The weather was an issue all day with a round of rain coming through in the morning that largely missed the track. Another round was scheduled later in the day and in between it was humid and the wind was blowing as it always does in the Chicago area, like a hurricane. The black clouds started to build up and it began to rain lightly, but it toyed with us by largely skirting by the track. Heckenast and her staff stated that they wanted to race if at all possible so they continued to make preparations, even as the mist continued.

When the Outlaws gave the call for the drivers meeting, the teams went into overdrive as everyone had loaded up their equipment when rain appeared eminent.  From that point, they moved the show along as fast as possible, trying to beat the rains on the way. However, as lightning started to get close, the handwriting was on the wall. They skipped the B feature for the Late Models and were trying to get the feature on the track when the rain cut loose and the evening was done. The show will now be rescheduled with the two day event planned for October.

But for Heckenast and her crew, it was a lot of work for no reward. And on top of that, the threatening weather killed the crowd with the grandstand being less than half of what it was on Tuesday.

Let's talk about the Outlaws now for just a second. They managed to scrap together a field of twenty six cars that for most of the afternoon looked to be more like twenty. Three crate Late Models showed at the last minute to be field fillers and another two or three had no business being on the track with this group of racers. In other words, what I'm saying is that the Outlaws presented one of the worst starting grids I have seen them produce in a long time and at this, a show place facility and a TV race no less! This tour seems to be in serious shape as they continue to loose, not gain cars. 

No matter the fact that it was a long trip for an unsatisfying conclusion, thanks go out to Sherri Heckenast and her staff for all their help and I wish them better luck with the weather the rest of the year.

The second lucky promoter this week was Bob Timm, who runs things at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway north of Fountain City Wisconsin. One of Bob's biggest races every year is his Rivercity Rumble, a special event that he always runs the Friday before the July 4th holiday.

All classes are included in this race, of which he runs five, but big money is on the line with the Modifieds able to win over three grand and the B Mods over two grand. A lot of other bonuses are in play for the drivers and many give aways for the fans along with fireworks so it is a big deal.

Rain had been plaguing many tracks in the upper Midwest on this day with a number of rain outs and postponements due to wet conditions. However, the local area had stayed dry and the forecast saw only a 20% chance of rain, which should have been our first tip off that trouble brewed.

Things looked positive when I arrived at the track and the race cars were rolling in. Just over one hundred cars in all signed in but strangely, only eighteen Modifieds at a track that has been having trouble drawing Modifieds all year, even though they pay one of the best purses in the area.

But, as the race cars arrived, so did the threatening clouds start to roll in from the Northwest. By race time, things looked pretty dire. To their credit, track officials went ahead just as if nothing were wrong, sticking to their schedule of events and having opening ceremonies and dropping the first green flag right at 7 pm as scheduled.

They got two Hornet heats completed before the skies opened up and it was clear that once it started raining, there would be no soon stopping of the leaky skies. No refunds were made and the rain date was set for next Friday night at the same time.

Timm night not have been hurt as much by the rainout as Heckenast, as his crowd comes primarily from Winona Minnesota which is just a few minutes down the Mississippi River and the weather didn't look that bad until just before race time so his grandstand was a good one with a large crowd on hand. However, there are always some expenses tied with a rainout that can't be recouped and it is still a lost night of revenue. However, the early cancellation made it a great night for the local establishments in Fountain City who were happy to have a spur to their local economy.

Thanks to Bob and his staff for their help on another disappointing night at the track.