Johnny Scott Continues to Dominate USMTS

What do you do when the skies are leaking water, the forecast is bad for the rest of the day and the wife wants to go out for fish?

Simple. You jump in the car and drive five and a half hours to South Dakota. After all, that fish has friends that will be waiting on the frying pan the next time you hunger for cod but there will never ever be a race quite like the one you would miss to break bread.

While storms would continue to deluge the Minnesota and Wisconsin area and all area tracks would be rained out, there was a sliver of opportunity as things had pretty much passed the South Dakota area over night and they were expecting a sunny and hot Sunday. As it turned out, they were mostly right as it was indeed steamy, hot and windy but they forgot to mention that the South Dakota area would go under a tornado watch by late afternoon and we would end up dodging some pretty hefty storms before the night was complete, but the races would go on to completion and that is really the only important detail.

The USMTS was finishing up their last swing through South Dakota and on Sunday they would be at the Casino Speedway in Watertown, hard on the shores of Lake Kempeska for the final night of their three race tour of western Iowa and South Dakota. They had been rained out themselves on Friday in Iowa and were anxious to get a show completed too.

Casino was featuring the third annual Sandy Benson Memorial race with WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks racing along with the USMTS Mods. Sandy and Earl Benson were the  promoters of Casino Speedway for over twenty years until they sold the facility a few years ago and in fact their son Troy is still the announcer at the track. Earl was also very active in the WISSOTA organization, serving as President for a number of years. He also financially supported the racing career of Jon Tesch , who many still remember as one of the top Modified drivers that toured with USMTS after getting his racing start at Casino. In fact, Tesch would make his once a year appearance again on Sunday as he still has his last GRT Modified but races it only at this event.

Sandy was killed in a car accident down in Florida while the Benson's were attending Speedweeks activities and her death rocked the South Dakota racing community. Even now, years later, the sponsors for this event just jump at the chance to be a part of it and the purse is always substantial increased due to their support. The Mods would be running for four grand to win on Sunday with the MidMods at two grand and the Street Stocks racing for fifteen hundred dollars.

Twenty two Street Stocks signed in to race along with thirty seven MidMods. The Modified car count was thirty six and quite frankly, the only reason that it wasn't in the sub twenty range where many of the recent USMTS shows have been is because there were a large number of local WISSOTA drivers that joined in on the action Sunday. They have always supported this race and on the small, high banked track that so many of them know well, they stand a much better chance of being competitive than on some big old half mile. Casino, by the way, is a tight quarter mile , high banked oval that would fit right in down in Illinois but is rather unique for this area. It is a tight one, and there is always plenty of action and fireworks.

On this Sunday, the WISSOTA cars would hang tough for much of the first half of the race but gradually they would start to fade back as the one hundred horsepower difference of the USMTS cars would eventually show up with Tyler McDonald the "best of class" as he finished eighth.

After some teeth griding long heats in the support classes and the USMTS B Feature, along with a power outage that lasted a few minutes, it was starting to get late and with "weather" bearing down on Watertown, the Modified feature was moved up to first in the running order to ensure that they would get that race completed.

A couple of drivers led their first laps of the season in the Mod main as first Travis Saurer and then Tyler Peterson held sway in the early going. Dereck Ramirez then led quite a while but eventually it was Johnny Scott who worked his way up from eighth starting spot to challenge. He and Ramirez had a nice battle for several laps before Scott pulled ahead and with the last fourteen laps run nonstop, he pulled away comfortably near the end.

As Ramirez said in his post race interview, Scott has figured out  a way to run his car through the corners without sliding or losing time while everyone else is rolling their cars through the corners and he just pulls away. Peterson, from Hickson North Dakota has a  great run to finish third and hold off a surprising Adam Kates for the spot while Terry Phillips passed a lot of cars to finish fifth.

Twenty six cars started the main which filled the track up pretty good but only seven didn't go the distance, including hometown driver Scott Ward who debuted a brand new LG2 car and was set to start in the third row but he couldn't get the car to run. The car was also a special tribute car to his son-in-law who passed away last year.

With a few sprinkles falling, officials hustled the best they could to get the other two features completed as there was plenty of money on the line in those two races also. The Street Stock feature was first up with all cars on hand starting that and it was clear, actually from the start of the first support class heat race that all the drivers had been nipping too much of Joe Duval's Spike Energy Drink as they were all wired to the maxx, driving as if this was the biggest race of all time.

The heats were plagued with yellows for spins, crashes and stalls and while this track has more contact than most, it was nothing compared to a regular night as everyone was driving in a pretty ruthless manner. Many of the highest point drivers in WISSOTA in the Street Stocks were on hand but that didn't seem to matter as they slammed and frammed with the best of them.

In fact, the race turned into a showdown between the second and third place drivers in current national points, Kyle Dykhoff and Jeff Crouse. Dykhoff led early and then Crouse passed him with a good, non questionable move.

However, after leading a number of laps with the race broken up in to short segments due to all the carnage, Dykhoff changed his line and started to reel in the leader. Crouse went into protective mode and after Dykhoff pulled up beside him and looked ready to pass, Crouse threw a real wild slider leaving turn four and knocked Dykhoff aside and retook the lead.

However, it was time to look out as Dykhoff had revenge on his mind. He was able to get within a couple of car lengths of Crouse and going into turn one with only two laps to go, Dykhoff kept the throttle wide open and pointed his car directly at Crouse. The crunch was distinct and around went Crouse, but somehow, he was able to restart with no significant damage to his car. Dykhoff, on the other end, badly damage the right front of his car after using it as a battering ram but he was going to try and restart and worm his way back up to his former position until encouraged by track officials on the Raceceiver to call it a night. Still, they didn't disqualify him like they should have and instead gave him is position and labeled him a DNF.

Crouse was able to restart and then hold off Dustan Davis and Trajan Schmidt for the win. No mention of the incident was made in the winner's interview and Crouse has two things going for him. Number one, he's a good sized guy and number two, he is a high level amateur hockey coach in the Winter and actually runs camps all summer, so what he can't control with his size, he likely can handle with his fists!

Still, it was disappointing for two drivers with so many successful shows, points and wins to be beating on each other so late in the season and with so much on the line. One hard arse tech guy and they could be jeopardizing their whole season.

The Midwest Modifieds finished up the night with a few more persistent raindrops starting to fall. Thirty seven drivers had been whittled down to the top twenty and while their feature race wasn't quite as wild as the Streets, it still had its "moments."

With nearly half the field sidelined by the checkered, Garden City South Dakota's Scott Hansen held off a late charge from "The Chief", Dan Wheeler to earn the two grand pay day.

Even as much as they tried to hustle things along, with the power problems and the many slow downs, including one medical emergency for driver Hope Swenson when she tweaked her neck following hard impact with the front stretch wall, it was almost Midnight when the final checkered fell, far too late on a Sunday night, especially with South Dakota schools starting the next day. There were probably a lot of crabby kids and Moms this morning!

The trip home was one of the most unbelievable that I had ventured out on in quite some time. For many miles, I was running parallel to a huge storm that had just missed the race track and surely would have ended the action prematurely. There was not much rain but the lightning show was unbelievable. And the wind was something else. I could barely keep my car on the road and I was dodging blowing debris constantly. Twice, toppled road signs were laying upside down in my lane and if not for dumb luck or some other unexplained factor, I would have plowed both of them over. As it turned out, I rolled into the driveway at 5:15 am, just another day in paradise.

Carter, McBurnie Top Wild Harris Clash

First of all, sorry for the late nature of this report but a very late night of racing followed by an even shorter over night followed by a long drive to North Dakota all conspired to put this report on the back burner, so to speak. I'm sure by now most everyone knows how this race came out so instead of a blow by blow account, I'll just hit a few of the highlights and hope to do better next year.

There was much buzz about this race long before it ever took place. Certainly much of that buzz was due to the choice of facility that it was held at. The Harris Clash has been a long running event held at a number of tracks over its years of operation but its choice of location for 2018 has had everyone talking.

First of all, it seemed strange to have such a race so far North as compared to the other tracks that have held it plus I'm not sure that a major IMCA has ever been held in the state of Minnesota before. Certainly, Deer Creek Speedway has a strong reputation in the racing community, having garnered several awards over the years for the Queensland family for their strong management and promotion of the sport along with their solid operation of this track.

However, it did set many tongues to wagging when it was announced that Deer Creek would host the Harris Clash. After all, Deer Creek has long been a USRA sanctioned track with three of their support divisions also sanctioned by WISSOTA. And despite the fact that they have held both World of Outlaws and Lucas Oil Late Model shows at their track, their "calling card" has long been their big Modified events which have always been sanctioned by USRA or USMTS and to have one of the few remaining bastions of USRA racing run such a huge IMCA show set many to wondering.

I would have liked to have gotten some comment from a member of the Queensland family if this was just another opportunity to host a big race that they jumped at or if this was more of a trial balloon for something bigger but I wasn't able to secure any comment, either on or off the record, from any member of the family and since they were all extremely busy on race night, and even more so than normal following their weather incident, I chose to not bother them. However, a full squadron of IMCA officials was on hand for this show and they were clearly trying to "put on the dog" as much as they could, and were almost licking their chops in anticipation of the night. It would also be interesting to know what Todd Staley was thinking about all of this too.

Deer Creek has had an excellent year to date with their car counts, and I'm sure are averaging almost thirty cars a night in their three open wheel classes that they race weekly with USRA Modifieds, USRA B Mods and WISSOTA Midwest Mods all racing for weekly events. They are getting nearly one hundred open wheel cars in the pits for each show and that doesn't seem like a situation that they would want to mess with or change, but you never know in this business. I can confirm that Bob Harris and the Queensland family have signed a three year contract for this event so for those wondering, it will return to Deer Creek again for at least the next couple of years.

With much excitement for this event and race cars rolling into the pits, the only thing that could have screwed up this night was the weather, and it did its best to try and do just that. It rained steady for at least ninety minutes during the afternoon with the rain starting around 2:30 pm and coming down steady after that. And I can tell you that not many tracks could have handled this amount of rain and still have been racing.

However, along with everything else they do right, track prep is another area where they mostly shine. They had the track rolled in tight in preparation for the precipitation, they have the equipment on hand to handle most any weather issue plus they have a track that drained extremely well. All these things allowed them to take what was likely a rain out at most tracks and instead turn it into a ninety minute delay.  With the amount of race cars they had on hand, this was not an optimal thing, but it was still much better than asking everyone to return for another night, especially when that is not always possible for all racers and fans.

The track was not optimal but it was serviceable and it improved as the night went along. There were many fans on hand that hadn't ever been there before and what they saw was the track not at its best early but improving as the night went on. This place is at its best when it is shinny and smooth from top to bottom so that drivers can work the whole track and while they saw some of the "slide job" potential that the track has, they didn't get the "whole package" on Tuesday.

What was also a very interesting "side bar" was that so many of the drivers had never raced there before. I challenge you to come up with a special event where likely seventy five per cent of the drivers had never raced at the track before but I don't think you will find one. That too added to the interest level of the race. And every driver likes to try new tracks which also led, in part, to the huge car count with ninety six Modifieds and fifty five Sport Mods signing in to race and trying to find places to pit in the muddy pit area. Because the pits sits much lower than the track itself, the pits is always the trouble spot at this facility and it was quite the muddy mess for some but enthusiasm overcame wet feet.

The track was so heavy that passing in the heat races was tough, as everyone seemed to be about the same speed and moving forward was tough. However, to the driver's credit, they didn't turn their frustration into a "ramming contest" as the heats were played out in a very smooth and caution free environment. In fact, the stats for the heat races border on remarkable as the twenty races, all very important for the drivers as they tried to make the main events, saw the yellow flag waved only three times! That is almost unbelievable and helped the track get caught up after their late start. The "one and done" rule that was in effect on this night was a Godsend too, and I sure wish that other tracks would wise up and use this tool also as I continue to claim that long race programs are one of the chief reasons that we can't get more people to come to the track. The B Features, which might be even more important that the heats, were nearly as good with the yellow waving just four times in their ten B mains.

However, come main event time everyone kind of dropped their guards and let it all hang out and the yellow got more of a workout in the final two races, especially so the Sport Mod main. And it wasn't bad enough that the rain had put them behind the eight ball but now they were battling the fog too that rolled across the speedway as soon as the cars slowed or stopped so track officials worked super hard to keep the show moving and the cars rolling. It must have been one of the toughest nights ever for Race Director Justin Queensland but he was up for the task.

A word should also go out to the two announcers who did a great job of both informing and entertaining the crowd without being over bearing such as the announcer at another track I had to endure last night that shall remain nameless.

For those who are regulars of Deer Creek or have heard him at other area tracks, they know what a professional that Todd Narveson is and always enjoy his work. Many probably had not heard Chad Meyers before but I had caught his work many times over the years, primarily at Britt and Algona and I have always found him to be top notch. The choice to bring him in and join Todd was an excellent one as Chad really knows his stuff when it comes to Modified racing. They seemed to mesh well together and to hear them work as a team was a blessing on this night when it would have been awfully easy to leave the fans "in the dark."

The drivers managed to create two feature races full of drama that will leave the fans talking for weeks and hungering for the next Harris Clash, which is exactly what everyone hoped would happen. Both the Sport Mod and Modified feature races had plenty of drama and plot twists and the unexpected turned into reality on more than one occasion.

The Modified feature saw Richie Gustin and Kyle Strickler manage to take each other out with nine laps to go and open the door for Cayden Carter to take the victory. Gustin was probably all "wired up" before the main ever started, having had quite a dramatic night as he was DQ'd after winning his heat, had to come from thirteenth to win a B Feature and also won the Harris Dash, all this before the feature even started!

He then drove from thirteenth once again to take the lead, only to see Strickler come barreling up in the closing laps to try and ruin his party. Strickler appeared the quicker at the end but Gustin managed to hold him off until Strickler got a good run down the front chute and drove low into turn one. Gustin saw him coming, tried to drop low to block him and the two got together.

In my view there was blame to share and the call to send both to the back seemed correct. Strickler left the track in a huff but Gustin hung around and displayed his frustration by not lining up as he should have and then hanging around right in front of the leader as the laps ran down. Fortunately, he didn't mess up Carter who had nothing to do with his incident, other than benefiting from it.

The Sport Mod incident between the leaders was not quite as readily accepted by the fans, including yours truly. It amounted to a great battle between Jared Boumeester and Johnathan Logue Jr for the lead that saw some wicked "slide jobs" attempted following a series of yellow flags that continually bunched up the field. Finally, on one of the very aggressive moves by Logue, there was contact between the two and then the wall for Boumeester, who then came flying off the wall, across the track and caught up several other cars.

The call on this one went against Boumeester and the crowd about tore down the facility as they didn't agree. Neither did Boumeester who then took a shot at Logue under yellow, which cost him a black flag, something that I swear Gustin also did to Strickler but went unnoticed.

Anyway, the only noise louder than the crowd complaint against the call was when they went back under green and Jake McBernie drove past Logue to take over the lead and the hold on for the win. Logue did finish second and there were many that didn't believe that he should have been on the podium afterward. However, there was probably not a soul in the crowd that wasn't entertained by the final two events and the promoters were likely licking their lips in anticipation for next year already.

The crowd was a big one, not as big as at a few other events I've seen at Deer Creek, but a big one nevertheless and likely the gloomy weather may have played a part in that. The track officials did an amazing job of running off the show at lightning speed once they got going and if they hadn't done so, there would possibly have been the need for the concession stand to start serving breakfast! However, 1 am is still miserably late, and while none of their fault, it still made for a dangerous, late night drive home for many with one of the North Dakota drivers reporting to me later that they just missed being in a head on collision caused by someone in too much of a hurry leaving on highway 63 in the heavy fog. Fortunately, no bad accidents were reported, just a lot of tired people on Wednesday morning.

After this year, my suspicions are that this event will do nothing but grow so I'm going to offer my "two cents" worth on a suggestion for next year. The one thing about too much success is that the car counts start to get unmanageable and they were very close to that point this year. At least if the event is to remain as a one night event. My suggestion is that next year it should be a Modified only event for the Harris Clash and if they want to also have Sport Mods as a part of that, then they should be run on a separate night. If something isn't done, then the show, no matter how well it is run, is going to last way too long and ultimately, that will cause some spectators to stop coming and that is the last thing you want to do. But having problems like too many cars is a nice one to have to deal with.