Thornton Jr and Timmerman Survive at "The Hummer" for Huge Payday

I should have known it. The odds of having rain in Kansas for at least one night of any three night special in March are about as high as the on site manager at any hotel I'm staying at would have a last name of Patel. In other words, incredibly high.

In rained in the morning and into the afternoon with some pesky late afternoon/early evening drizzles just enough to make the track slick and the conditions a little more miserable for man and beast. However, with so many fans and drivers not able to stick around for the Sunday rain date, track officials and all the track workers did an incredible job of fighting off all the elements and getting the racing program completed.

Unfortunately, the rain had already completed the damage it could inflict and a race track already much softer than usual was made even more chewy by the precipitation and the worst fears of all were realized when the track came apart badly and caused an almost incalculable amount of damage to the race cars in both classes. Track officials did every possible thing they could to try and mitigate the issues, but as soon as they either packed, scraped or "tickled" the track, once racing wheels got back on it, it started to form bumps and moguls once again. And to make matters worse, the track was also incredibly fast with drivers turning what was believed to be record laps, even if they were spending much more "air time" than they bargained for. And the "hammer down" situation put even more stress on the race cars with the attrition rate not surprisingly being very high. The drivers understood the situation before racing even began but when you're racing for the kind of money that was on the line at "The Hummer" on Saturday, the operative plan was to "go fast and hold on" and pray that the car would hang together.

A series of "ladder" races allowed the drivers one last chance to make the main and when all these were completed, it was feature time with the B Mods hitting the track first. Twenty five of them took the green flag for a race that was originally scheduled for fifty laps but was pared to forty because of track conditions. As it was, there were eight yellow flag slowdowns and only half of the field was still running at the end. Early on Dustin Daniels, who started on the pole, took the early lead but he was soon challenged by Andy Bryant who was on the move after starting thirteenth. Also moving up was Timmerman who started ninth on the grid.

Things got intense as Bryant began to put the pressure on the leader as they battled hard for the top spot. While racing for the top spot they came together on the front chute and both cars pulled up lame with flats. Both changed tires and went to the back and eventually got decent finishes due to the high attrition rate late in the race.

Timmerman then inherited the lead and was chased by Tony Bahr for many laps and through several yellow flag situations when the lead became tenuous on the restarts. Bahr tried running the cushion and rolling through the low side of the track but he just couldn't gain any ground on Timmerman. One last yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish but Bahr's attempt to get pat didn't work and Timmerman took the win.

For Timmerman, it was a great win and one celebrated by many for the hard working group from Norwalk Iowa. Long ago, they cast their die with the USRA brand of racing and where they live, it resulted in a lot of long distance tows to race tracks. But they have been consistent competitors who always seem to show up at the last minute at far flung tracks where the Iron Man Series might be racing. Often it is just Adam and his father for a crew as they have shown a tough minded resolve as they worked with their equipment. They now have a new(or newer) GRT chassis and Adam was quick right from the start on Thursday. He ran a steady pace and an unfailing line as he withstood all challenges that Bahr threw at him.

After the race, Bahr was disqualified in technical inspection for a violation that I haven't yet been able to determine. That elevated Jackie Dalton to second ahead of Ryan Gillmore, Cody Thompson and J.C. Morton as the USRA cars dominated over all challengers this year.

The Modified feature was perhaps even more brutal than the B Mod main was. Only eight cars crossed the finish line at the end of the race which saw contender after contender drop by the way side with mechanical issues. The yellow waved eleven times and near the end those still left racing became concerned whether they would have enough fuel to finish up the race. Originally set for seventy five laps, it was first cut to sixty laps and then, when the concern that no one would finish and the hour grew later and later, it was finally cut to fifty.

Ryan Gustin, who had showed so much speed all week, was the early leader with Kyle Strickler moving in to challenge him. They had a good battle between early yellows before Strickler took over the top spot. Shortly after Gustin laid down a huge trail of liquid and he was done.

Strickler continued to lead but Thornton Jr was somehow finding a smooth way around the track that didn't upset his car like many of the others were having to endure. He drove past Jason Hughes and Rodney Sanders and then closed on Strickler. They took turns throwing some sliders at each other before Thornton Jr finally established the lead and began to comfortably pull away. Every yellow saw Strickler stop and talk to track officials as they searched for a problem and every time he rolled away he left a puddle of leading fuel that was not coming from the San Andres Fault. Eventually he ran out of "juick" and joined the growing list of DNF's which both Hughes and Sanders were also on.

Brady Gerdes just kept his nose clean and eventually found himself in second but Darron Fuqua had the speed to drive past him and take over the runner up slot. Meanwhile, Thornton Jr was just worried he was going to run out of fuel himself and was probably as happy as anyone when the white flat suddenly and surprisingly, was displayed. He had a big lead at the finish as he mastered the elements.

Already this Spring, Thornton Jr has reaffirmed just what an excellent Modified driver he is, winning races all over the country  and not worrying about what the letters of the sanctioning body are. He is an equal opportunity "spoil sport", messing things up for the regulars no matter what the sanctioning body is as he leads the life of the meandering race car driver. Why some big name Late Model team hasn't snatched up this guy remains one of the great mysteries.

Despite a truly miserable night, I thought the crowd was very good and with two large purses to pay out this weekend, it needed to be. Some in the crowd were observed slating their thirsts by drinking some kind of liquid out of a mason jar, something I had not seen in quite some time. However, they were pleasant drunks and caused no harm.

For all the adversity thrown at the promoters and workers of the track, I thought they did a wonderful job of making the track as good as possible and keeping the show moving and despite the fact the final checkered waved at 1 am, I heard no complaints about the late hour but in fact more that they were thankful that the workers had toughed it out and gotten in a show for them on a night when many others would have thrown in the towel early. There is a reason why Humboldt is held in such high regard by race fans across the Midwest.

Daniels and Gustin Gain Poles at Humboldt

Second round qualifying continued on Friday night at the Humboldt Speedway as the Modifieds and B Mods ran two more sets of heat races to earn points and set the running order for the feature races on Saturday night at "The Hummer."

Ninety one B Mods and sixty eight Modifieds were left operational to run on Friday and each one again ran two, ten lap heat races. After which the points for each driver were calculated, their worst race was thrown out and the totals compared. The top twelve in both divisions would be locked into Saturday night's main event while the rest will attempt to qualify via a series of events leading up to the fifty lap feature for the B Mods and the seventy five lap Modified main event. Through the contributions of a couple of generous drivers/businesses the Modified feature will now play twelve grand to win, up by two G's.

The track held moisture a little bit longer on Friday than it had on Thursday and while the first heat races were blinding fast, the track also had considerably more "chop" to it than it had on the opening night. Despite several attempts by heavy equipment to groom the corners, the track definitely had more "character" to it than on Thursday and most drivers commented that it was more challenging to drive. Despite the fact that the track looks firm and hard from the stands, a number of drivers also reported that the racing surface was quite soft, likely due to the extreme Winter that southeast Kansas, like most of the Midwest, has had to endure.

The racing started right out with a bang as the opening rounds of B Mod heats saw the field try and tear each other apart and the drivers seemed to have "dropped the gloves" with results seemingly more important on Friday. The first go round was tough on the equipment with a number of DNF's while things went much smoother for the final set of heats, albeit missing a number of cars that couldn't be fixed in time for the last set of heats with a relatively quick turn around time.

There were a number of close finishes and stirring drives to the front as even the last race of the night capped off a good night of racing when Kyle Strickler used the top side to drive past Kenny Wallace right at the end of the event to gain the win. Strickler has been very impressive in a brand new Longhorn chassis that he built for North Dakota's Troy Giralamo that the "G Man" will take over following this race.

It was no surprise that Ryan Gustin gained the pole position on Saturday night for the Mods as he has looked very tough all weekend. However, it won't be easy going for him as others like Jake O'Neil, Jason Hughes, Zack VanderBeek and others have also looked strong. And seventy five laps is a long race for these types of cars that are built more for short speed contests and not long distance races which I consider seventy five laps to be.

The results were perhaps a bit more surprising in the B Mods with local driver Dustin Daniels on the pole for their fifty lap main event. He has been driving very aggressively so far, to the point that he got a rolled up black flag waved at him twice on Thursday night but managed to escape the starter's wrath any further. Starting outside of him will be western Iowa Sport Mod driver Cody Thompson who has been both smooth and fast and while he hasn't probably drawn much attention from the fans, has put together consistent finishes to gain a great starting position.

More than anything else that happened on Friday night, folks in the stands will probably longer remember the violent crash that marred the third Modified heat in the first set of heats. Richard Mueller of Jackson Wyoming got crowded into the wall on the back chute on the opening lap of the heat race. The car climbed the wall and then dug into the track, executing a series of barrel rolls down the back chute that were so quick that I lost count of how many times he actually turned over. In the middle of this mayhem, the field came barreling down on him and Terry Phillips, with no where to go, clipped his spinning car and turned over himself. Phillips was fine and climbed out on his own while Mueller took several minutes to gain his bearings in what was one of the most violent Modified crashes I have seen in quite a while. He tried to walk to the ambulance with folks holding him up on all sides but he couldn't make it and needed the gurney brought to him. I believe the ambulance stayed on the grounds as the race quickly resumed so his injuries were apparently not severe. It was a very scary looking incident however but examination of the car post race revealed that the cage held up well.

Phillips reported that in all his years of racing that this was the first time he had ever ended up "on his lid" so I guess he was about due. However, he was not able to quickly fix his car and forfeited the pole for the second round of heats as he was apparently on his way back to Springfield and done for the weekend.

Mike Harrison also had a miserable night as he was involved in an early wreck and also forfeited the pole for a second round heat, which likely ended his weekend too. Invading stars Wallace and McKinney have also found the going tough.

It was reported that drivers are on hand from twenty one states and two Canadian Provinces for this show so every attempt will be made to get the finale completed on Saturday as many drivers have to leave on Sunday, whether they race or not on Saturday. Right now, as I complete this, it is raining rather steady out in the local area so we will keep our fingers crossed.

Every year the Whitworth family makes improvements to "The Hummer" and this year they have expanded the scoring and broadcast tower. There are also plans to finally get that badly needed scoreboard erected too.

Battle at the Bullring/King of America Kicks Off

After a three week delay, racing action at the Humboldt Speedway kicked off on Thursday night, March 21 with the fifth annual Battle at the Bullring for B Modifieds plus the tenth annual King of America for the USMTS Modifieds. The "Hummer" will be a busy place for three straight nights as a huge field of cars from as far away as California, New Mexico, Mississippi, North Carolina and Ontario Canada were on hand to race for the very large purse that is being offered by the Whitworth family here at Humboldt.

The Battle at the Bullring was of course snowed out several weeks ago so management and the promoters of this event opted to combine the two specials together, making for a huge incentive race for both divisions of open wheel cars.

The first chore this year is just getting to the track as major road construction has forced the population on to back roads of all sorts in order to land in Humboldt and then find their way to the track. There were reports of big rigs accidentally ending up on one lane dirt roads attempting to get to the track but in the end, all arrived and there were no SOS messages needed.

The three night format for this event is identical for both divisions with both Thursday and Friday night racing presenting double heat races in each classes with drivers racing in various spots in each event. Passing points are the order of the night and the total points accumulated in each driver's best three of four events will set the lineups for Saturday night's big finale with the B Mods racing for $8,500 to win and the Mods ten grand. I believe the top twelve in total points will be locked in for Saturday while everyone else will race through "the ladder of events" to try and get in to the field.

But the first order of business was getting through the tech line. I liked very much that they opened up tech at 10:30 am right on the dot and with a line already formed, got drivers through that test in an orderly fashion, not waiting until the last minute to do so and thus holding up the start of the show, as we have all seen happen from time to time. And nothing is more maddening than having to wait for the start of things after everyone sits around all day and then tries to tech ten minutes before the scheduled start of the races.

And for a number of the drivers, it was a good idea that they started the process early, as quite a few had to make multiple trips through the tech line to get the OK from the inspectors. The Mods seemed to slip right through but the B Mods were having a difficult time with the slope of the roof seeming to be the biggest issue. Shims and bolts were in high demand as drivers and crews worked to make their cars race legal. In the end, however, everyone made it through OK and no cars were sent home.

When all was said and done, ninety six B Mods and seventy two Modifieds had successfully signed in and were ready to race. This is a drop of over twenty cars in the B Mods from last year and just a few less Modifieds. I'm guessing that the significant drop in the  B Mods is mostly due to the fact that the race had to be rescheduled and this left some drivers just unable to return for the make up event while  the Modifieds tends to vary a bit from year to year anyway.

The track was just a bit slimy at the start of scheduled racing so the B Mods had to come out and blow it off just a bit before racing could begin. This backed up the original scheduled time by about twenty five minutes but after that it was nonstop racing with eight B Mod heats followed by six Mod heats with most heats having twelve cars in them. A very brief break followed to do some track prep in corner three and then the same fourteen races came out again, with shuffled lineups from the first set.

A number of the heats had some real close finishes with some last lap passes for wins and some exciting slide job conclusions. The biggest charge of the night saw Ryan Gustin come from ninth to win a heat race while surprises included both Darren Engesser and the ageless Tim Donlinger win B Mod heats. There was heartbreak too including Willie Gammill almost winning a Mod heat and then forgetting to go to tech, thus forfeiting his great run totally. Blown engines likely side lined Brantlee Gottschall and Ethan Dotson for the rest of the weekend while Brandon Givens was among those that pounded the first turn wall, missing his second heat and likely ending his weekend. Jason Hollis came all the way from Alabama with his B Mod, only to end up on his roof on the back chute. As always, crews will be busy on all day Friday trying to put their cars back together for another night of racing.

I could not find a points list after the completion of the first night but the usual suspects looked fast including Gustin, Sanders, Hughes, Thornton Jr and Strickler while invaders McKinney, Wallace and Harrison struggled some.

B Mod winners included Dan and Dustin Daniels, Jake McBurnie, Randy Zimmerman while others that looked fast included J.C. Morton, Kale Westover, Kris Jackson, Jason VandeKamp and Tony Bahr. Obviously, much more will become apparent after the second round of qualifying on Friday.

The track was black and slick all night but it remained racy throughout the night with drivers able to work multiple lines and little if no dust. The crowd was also better than I remember for most opening nights but perhaps part of that might have been the extra B Mods folks on hand that normally aren't on hand for the KOA.

Thornton Jr Turns the Tables at SOS

Saturday night, March 9th, the Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore wrapped up their second annual Southern Stampede with their third full show of the weekend. Saturday night's feature races were the highest paying events of the three night meet and everyone was focused on the finale, hoping to either continue their good fortune or turn things around, depending obviously on how the two previous nights had gone.

Thunderstorms rolled through the area overnight on Friday but by dawn on Saturday the sun was back out and everything was a "Go" for Saturday night's finale. The temperatures were the highest of the week with the afternoon high well above seventy degrees which IMCA official Jim Stannard very much approved of. The pits did have some muddy spots and several of the racers had moved locations overnight to avoid the really soupy spots but the high banked track was hard as a rock and drained off every well, not causing any kind of issues in that regard.

Seventeen cars scattered among the four classes made their first showings of the weekend including two new Modifieds as the track management expressed their pleasure at the turnout of racers in all divisions. They also announced that the number of states represented here this weekend among the participants rose to fourteen and with the word going out of what a stout weekend of racing it was, that will likely climb next year even higher.

The first dark note, however, on what had been a fine weekend of racing appeared as track conditions went down hill dramatically on Saturday night. Whether it was the driving rain overnight that threw the surface off or three nights of lots of cars racing lots of laps or even a combination of the above factors, but the track started to take rubber early and heavy and it dramatically altered the course of the feature events, and , unfortunately, not in a positive way. I observed this week and was told that this is the standard procedure for SOS to run the track hard and slick and that's how it was this week, which is fine. Thursday night's races were run on that kind of track and that whole program was dynamite. However, by the end of the night on Friday things were starting to change and the groove was becoming pretty defined and tough to leave with any success and by Saturday, even the first feature winner, Trent Gibby in the Eco Mods commented about how much rubber the track was taking and how it was making that groove fast and hard to move out of.

The Eco Mod feature was first and last year's point champion Chad King had the pole and led the opening laps. Gibby tried to drive around him on the high side and quickly learned that groove was not going to work so he dropped back in line and progressed to second as others slid out of the fast line. Eventually King too made a mistake and slid off the bottom and Gibby drove past him to take over the lead. After that he drove away in a race that was slowed only twice by yellow flags. Gibby became the only driver to sweep all three nights of feature racing action and was so dominant that the other competitors must be now scratching their heads and wondering as the regular season points start this coming weekend at SOS. Shawn McKinney also drove past King to take second with Chase Vineyard and Trevor Raney completing the top five.

The Stock Car feature took on the same character as the drivers quickly discovered that they had better be right on the tires if they wanted to succeed, even though track manage kept moving the ute tires up the track after each race. It, however, seemed to have no effect on the conditions as anyone trying to run the high side of the track just slipped farther and farther behind. Jeffrey Abbey started on the pole and he quickly took the lead. Early in the race he seemed dominant but as the laps went by, he seemed to get a bit slower and Friday night's winner Kyle Pfeifer was all over him. The train built up to about the top four running nose to tail as the white flag came out. Both Pfeifer and Kyle Falck had the opportunity on the final lap to pull a "NASCAR style bump and run" but both, to their credit, elected to play it clean and while they were glued to each other's bumper, no one tried to "bogger" the other out of line. They finished in that order with Cary White and George Egbert completing the top five.

Forty two different Sport Mods competed over the course of the weekend with several different ones showing up each night. And there was a first time winner in this class as Jared Baird's attempt to sweep did not go well. Matt Beasley started on the pole and took the early lead. Baird sat to his outside and went to the cushion as he had done the previous two nights. However, he quickly lost several spots but was saved by the yellow flag. However, he opted to make the same move on the second attempt at a start and he dropped back in the field so rapidly that reportedly track officials were checking for debris, thinking that perhaps the motor had fallen out of his car! That was not the case but eventually Baird gave up the futile attempt and called it a night. Meanwhile, Beasley continued to lead but Kyle Robinson was moving up and looking quick in the corners. All it took was one mistake by Beasley as he slip high in turn one and Robinson blew past him to take over the lead. Following him through was Dustin Robinson and soon it was a battle among the Robinson's for the win. Dustin seemed to be getting faster as Kyle was protecting the low side in the corners. Coming for the white flag, they locked up briefly but both were able to save themselves and this gave Kyle the margin he needed to complete the win ahead of Dustin. Beasley held on for third with Rowdy Day and David Bolf next in line.

An attempt was made before the Modified feature to fix the track as everyone recognized that there was an issue. They tried to water the high side particularly and this then took a few minutes to roll in, given especially how hard the track was. In my mind however, the effect was very minimal as everyone still lined up in the favored groove, although the water was just enough to bead up the loose dirt and make it quite dusty where it hadn't been before. Jason Hughes has been the master of both the track and the redraw the first two nights but on Saturday his efforts were topped by Ricky Thornton Jr, who not only was fast but started on the pole. He took the immediate lead with Hughes coming from the second row to move into second. Jason made a futile attempt to catch Thornton Jr but just like the first couple of nights, they seemed very similar in speed but on Saturday Thornton Jr had the track position. The feature went green to checkered and Thornton Jr did earn his money late as he had to steer through about a half dozen lapped cars near the end. This was Hughes' only chance but Ricky handled the slower cars like the pro he is  and he maintained his lead to the finish. Chris Elliott, who has shown big speed all weekend, finished third ahead of David Murray Jr and Tanner Black.

A couple of observations include the notion that when things started to rubber up, they probably should have gone single file on the restarts as we saw that those on the outside row on restarts really got the short end of the straw and got shuffled back in the pack before they could slam their way back in line.

Also, I didn't catch the starter's name, but I thought he did a great job all weekend. He was fair on his starts, calling back those that needed to be. He was also very quick about getting the races back under green after yellows had occurred and he was very judicious with the use of the yellow. He held it until the last possible moment on a number of occasions precipitated by spins and even in several of the features he got cars to move and restart so that the yellow wasn't needed. He deserved special mention for his efforts.

Overall, it was a very good weekend of racing, despite the less that perfect completion on Saturday night. Everyone at the track was very welcoming including all the employees and officials. Even with the extra track work on Saturday the final night show was still completed by 10:30 pm as they were very good about starting on time and keeping things moving. The track announcer was very knowledgeable and they had a strong pa system so he could be easily heard. Lots of pluses about the entire operation and very few negatives. I would definitely go back again. 

Three Winners Repeat at SOS

With well over one hundred cars on hand in the pits in the four divisions racing at the Southern Stampede here at the Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore and some very fine balance throughout the divisions, the last thing one would expect would be to see repeat winners from Thursday night again on Friday. However, just to show how wrong my thinking would be on that subject, three of the four divisions saw repeat winners from Thursday night with only the Stock Car division producing a new winner.

Jason Hughes, Jared Baird and Trent Gibby all repeated wins from Thursday night with only Kansas' Kyle Pfeifer becoming a first time winner for the weekend.

Car counts were up across the board in all four classes with the Modifieds again topping the charts as forty eight of them signed in to race. Again, it was just the Modifieds and Sport Mods that needed B Features however, with the Sport Mods split up into four heats on Friday instead of the very large three heats of the previous night. The Mods again ran five heats with only the top two moving on so their B Features were more like mini features with nearly twenty cars in each one.

There was not a lot of crashing and banging during Thursday nights program so the amount of thrashing by race teams seemed relatively limited compared to some of the multi day specials we have seen. Probably the biggest news was the fact that local favorite William Gould, after having trouble on Thursday night was busy swapping motors in his Modified in the pits and he preformed the task rather quickly with time to spare before racing started on Friday night.

Rightfully so, everyone had a fit when Scott Bloomquist took his Late Model for a hot lap session on a busy highway while racing in Arizona this Spring. However, Ardmore had their own version of this on Friday afternoon when Sport Mod driver Colby Miller was seen barreling up and down busy highway 77 several times trying to get the miss out of his engine. Keep in mind that the two lane road that runs just to the East of the track is posted at 65 mph!

I am assuming that the race programs this weekend must be starting earlier than for their weekly shows or either that or a number of competitors had to return home after Thursday nights show and did live a distance from Ardmore as I can't remember an event before that saw so many of the racers arrive late for the action. There were literally tens of rigs pulling into the pits long after cut off had ended and in fact, some arrived several races into the night with at least a half dozen drivers not making their heats and either tailing a B Feature or starting in the back of a main. It was quite strange. Tomorrow they start even earlier but it will be a Saturday so we'll see what effect that makes.

Once again the race program ran off remarkably smooth with few yellow flags and while there were probably a few more fender benders than Thursday night, most were of the "rolling variety" in that they didn't trigger yellows. In fact, during the thirteen qualifying heat races, the yellow flag was waved just twice! I did observe tonight that there were several instances that could have triggered yellows but due to the one spin rule, drivers moved even though they found themselves the better part of a lap down. I so which that I could talk tracks in my home area to go to this rule as it does wonders for moving the shows along and keeping the program from dragging out. In fact, even though there were more races and cars on Friday night, the show got done even earlier than it did on Thursday with the final checkered flag waving just at 10 pm, which I think is something celebrated by everyone.

Eco Mods were up first for their nineteen car feature race with defending track champion Chad King, who was not on hand for Thursday's show, taking the early lead. However he didn't last in front for very long as he was soon overtaken by last night's winner Trent Gibby. Gibby was running the high side of the track and dominating until Chase Vineyard, who started sixteenth, started to move in on him. Vineyard had been working his way forward gradually as he made the low groove work and he was able to pull up beside Gibby several times but not able to make the pass. Eventually Gibby gave up on the high side and moved to the bottom to block and he was able to maintain the lead by several car lengths and go on for the win. Roy Tibbs was third with Mikel Wingate and Sean McKinney trailing.

Sixteen cars took the green for the Stock Car feature which went non stop, green to checkered. With Jeffrey Abbey on the outside pole, it looked like another repeat win was in the bag but pole starter Kyle Pfeifer thought otherwise. Wilth Abbey and Dean Abbey both pounding the cushion, Pfeifer worked the low side and as the top groove seemed to wear out for the Stockers, Pfeifer slowly but surely moved into the lead. It was a perfect example of "slow and steady" being the way to go. Eventually Dean Abbey moved into second and he continued to hammer the cushion but Pfeifer was not going to be caught. The Kansas driver mentioned in his post race interview that he was happy to just be racing as he had eight inches of snow on the ground in his home area. How well I know that feeling, multiplied three or four times over! Behind the Abbeys it was Kyle Falck and Tommy Fain.

While the Stock Car feature was won on the bottom lane, it was quite the opposite for the Sport Mods. Don Reid Jr started on the outside pole and quickly moved into the top spot. He looked strong up front but was challenged after a few laps by last night's winner Jared Baird. A lap six yellow proved to be Reid's undoing as he brought the field down slowly for the restart and then failed to cover the outside line and Baird blew right past him. And once in front, Baird motored away from the field as the race went nonstop after that and he built up nearly a straightaway lead. Meanwhile, Reid dropped back badly as Cory Williams moved into second and despite a good challenge for the spot, held on for second. behind them, it was Justin Whitehead, Tate Butler and Dustin Robinson.

Not only has Jason Hughes been very fast so far this week, he has also been extremely lucky. Both nights he has redraw to the front row of the Modified feature and that is huge against so many good cars. In fact, the front row tonight was the same as last night with Hughes and Jared Hoefelman, just in the opposite order. Hughes immediately took the lead and he built up a comfortable margin. And, just like last night, the driver on the move was Ricky Thornton Jr who on Friday started even deeper in the field than last night, as he took the green twelfth. However, he was quickly up to fourth and still charging as two early yellows bunched the field. After experimenting around, Hughes selected a line that was low in turns one and two and up the banking on the other end of the track. Thornton Jr made the big move to get by Rodney Sanders for second and then took off after Hughes. They were pretty even and Thornton Jr, recognizing that he would never pass if he ran the same line as the leader, tried the high side all the way around the track. He was able to maintain his distance, but never able to cut into the lead as Hughes drove home with a relatively comfortable margin, made just a bit tenuous by some lapped traffic at the end. Sanders finished third with Anthony Roth and Jeff Taylor, up from twentieth, the hard charger.

Like I said earlier, it was a very quick show and with the chance of rain moving in by late evening, something appreciated. For whatever reason the track didn't seem quite as good as it was on Thursday night and didn't clean off quite as well. The main groove got pretty pronounced and the fields tended to line up single file a bit more than they had on Thursday night. Still, it was a good show and I remain very impressed with how efficiently the program was run off. 

Smooth Jason Hughes Tops Opening Night at SOS

Greetings from Oklahoma. To be specific, the town of Ardmore Oklahoma and the Southern Oklahoma Speedway for the second annual IMCA Southern Stampede.

The trip down on Wednesday could not have provided a more stark visualization of the extremes of this crazy, so called early Spring that we are going through. When I left my home on Wednesday morning, it was minus eleven degrees and I have so much snow in my yard, I'm running out of places to put it, all at a time of the year when we should be seeing much melting and the first mud puddles of the year. The entire state of Iowa is still snow covered and one must get into Missouri to see bare ground. But then it quickly changes and by the time I am in Kansas, the ground is bone dry and the temperatures are in the sixties, straining to reach seventy. And before this weekend is over, in the overnight hours we might be treated to a severe thunderstorm here in Ardmore. Crazy would not be the word to describe the current situation. The way its looking, I'm sad to report that if any racing wheels turn in either Wisconsin or Minnesota before the first of May, I would be surprised which means that we are losing a full month, and normally a very profitable month, from many of our race tracks. And this would mark the second straight year where the weather has hindered the opening races of my area tracks by almost a month. Not good for the bottom line of some tracks struggling under the best of circumstances.

But I digress. Let's focus on the positive. And I'm positive that the weather is nice enough for racing in Oklahoma. Southern Oklahoma Speedway, under the direction of Nicki and John Webb, is in an interesting situation. This is a USRA sanctioned track but they also run around eight IMCA sanctioned events during the year. Tell me another track that runs what would be considered a full year's worth of programs under two different sanctioning bodies, with two different sets of rules and between two different groups that don't see eye to eye on much. I can't think of one either. But they make it work here and much of that is due to the huge fields of cars, from the two different sanctioning bodies, that are within a reasonable driving distance from here. There are tons of open Modifieds in the region but also IMCA type Modifieds too and the same goes for the support classes, so what they get is two interesting and divergent groups of drivers, depending on what sanctioning body they happen to be racing under for each event.

It is IMCA this weekend, and the featured classes are sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods plus they threw in the SOS Econo Mods just to get more of a local flavor. IMCA TV is even here to broadcast the show with Bucky Doren on hand for that.

I have been to SOS a couple of times previously, all for open Modified shows but it has been at least a couple of years since being here. This Spring they made more improvements to the facility including adding some more track lights(likely to aid the TV broadcast) and put up some more speakers in the pits where I can tell you that the pa can be heard well all over the spacious pit area. About the only amenity the track is now missing is a scoreboard.

  SOS is listed as a three eighth mile track which seems about right, is very wide and medium banked. Scotland County Speedway in Memphis Missouri always advertises how wide their track is(and they are correct), but I believe SOS to be even wider and they race every single inch of the track here. they prep it to go slick early and it does, but smooth as can be, and there were multiple grooves for racing throughout the night. In fact, I would say that the heat races en total where perhaps the best I've seen in a long time with much three and four wide racing(and I'm not exaggerating) and several photo finishes.

There were drivers on hand from twelve states to race for the very good purse and the attractive three full nights of racing. Several that would be known in the Positively Racing.com area would include Kyle Falck, Blake Adams, Andy Altenburg, John Oliver Jr, Jesse Sobbing, Bone Larson, Cory Sauerman, and  Ricky Thornton Jr. The Sport Mods were Southern style so no northern drivers were on hand.

I did get a chance to talk to Sobbing who was driving a car out of the local area for a friend. He tells me that his back is as good as its ever going to be but that he runs some risk every time he gets in a race car because one bad crash could have some catastrophic results for him. He said his wife keeps asking him if he has ordered a new race car but so far he has not as he tries to distance himself from the sport, something which is brutally hard for him, given that he was one of the most prolific racers in the entire county at one time.

I also talked to new Stock Car driver Blake Adams from McIntire Iowa. Previously he had raced a WISSOTA Street Stock and he still intends to do so but the fact that so many tracks close to him race Stock Cars, he felt he needed to get one also so he will be racing under both sanctioning bodies with two different, but similar looking full bodies cars. He's got his eye on the Street Stock Little Dream race coming up the end of July at the Rice Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, where for its twenty fifth anniversary of the race, it could likely pay twenty five grand to win!

Car counts for the opening night of racing for the weekend were fourteen Econo Mods, thirty one Southern Sport Mods, sixteen Stock Cars and forty five Modifieds. The Stock Car field seemed just a bit short but the other classes were fine with more cars expected as the weekend starts. And keep in mind that they do not race Stock Cars here weekly so all the competitors must be travelers from other areas.

Race Monitor went out on them so they had to generate their own lineups, the announcer had to "wing it", which he did very well at by the way, and there were no official results so we were all scrambling just a bit. The absence of Race Monitor, however, did cause the only delays of significance all night as it took them a few extra minutes to establish lineups for the heats and then after the heats, the lineups for the B Features. Otherwise they were "spot on" as far as starting the program and keeping things moving.

Despite the fact that it was the first race of the year at the track and much was on the line for the drivers and they were racing extremely hard in the heats, those races went remarkably smooth with only one yellow flag in twelve qualifying races! That does not happen very often, even with the one spin rule which I believe was in effect. The B Features had only a small number of yellows to and three of the four main events were completed with only one yellow per race. Only the Stock Cars got a little more physical, triggering a few more slow downs.

The Econo Mod feature saw Trent Gibby get to the front quickly and he then led the rest of the way in  dominant performance. He was followed by Chase Vineyard, Mark Marr, Mitchell York and Jim Fowler.

The Stock Car feature was a wild affair. Oliver Jr took the early lead but then was passed by Falck for the top spot. Following a restart, Falck pushed badly up the track and clipped Oliver Jr which spun him out. Oliver Jr was out of the race and Falck had to go to the pits for a tire change.

Jeffrey Abbey then took over the lead and maintained it for the rest of the race. However, in the late going Gary Williams found a fast lane extremely high on the track and if the race had been a couple more laps in length, I believe he would have blown right by the lower running Abbey. Dean Abbey finished third, Falck fought his way back up to fourth ahead of Kyle Pfeifer. J. Abbey must have been in some tough races already as it is just the first week of March and his car already could use some new sheet metal as the number is almost impossible to read, due to damage and being straightened out.

The Sport Mod feature saw a great battle for the lead. Twenty four cars started the main and only one yellow was needed despite the fact that there was much close racing. Near the end of the race, Jared Baird drove past Justin Whitehead to take over the lead and he held on for the win. Don Reid Jr ended up second as Whitehead faded to fourth behind Kyle Robinson with Nathan Sexton completing the top five.

The Modified feature was a dandy with only a lap three tangle to slow the action. In the beginning, it was Jared Hoefelman and Jason Hughes throwing slide jobs at each other as they fought for the lead. They must have exchanged the top spot at least three times before Hughes settled into the lead. By the Modified feature, the top side was the dominant place to race but Hughes felt it was getting a little slow up there and he started running a lower line in turns one and two which seemed to gain him just a bit of an edge. Unnoticed by many was the charge of Ricky Thornton Jr. He started tenth and in all the other races, no one had made a move to the front as significantly as he was able to do and after fighting his way past Hoefelman and Chris Elliott, he closed on Hughes. With twenty two cars still on the track, as the race reached its closing stages, the two leaders started to get into lapped traffic which was problematic as the other cars were running the same line as the leaders. By Hughes used all his veteran experience as he made some outstanding moves to slip up under the slower cars and not give away track position as Thornton Jr hoped for a mistake. Ricky made one last power move around the bowl on the final corner but he came up several car lengths short as Hughes drove on for the win. Elliott finished third with Hoefelman and Anthony Roth completing the top five.

The final checkered flew at about 10:15 pm, even with the computer issues and a couple of tangles that took considerable time to clear. In fact, in one of them they actually had to remove the left rear wheel from Jeff Taylor's car to part his machine from that of G.W. Egbert.

I thought the racing was very good from start to finish with many close, exciting races and a top notch program from start to finish. I was very impressed and can only hope the rest of the weekend can stay at this level. We will have to squeeze in the Friday night show to beat some incoming weather but , cross your fingers, hopefully I will have more to report tomorrow.

Seibers Sits on the Biggest Stool at the Toilet Bowl

Technically speaking, I believe all the colorfully decorated commodes given to the winners of Saturday night's fifteenth annual Toilet Bowl at the Clarksville Speedway were probably the same diameter, but David Seibers' highly unusual trophy gave him special meaning as the winner of the Late Model feature. Only the top four classes receive these special awards so the Late Model, Modified, Crate Late Model and Street Stock winners all receive probably one of the most sought after awards in dirt track racing. And while no TP(not Terry Phillips) was given to the winners, in Seibers' case he received five thousand crisp dollar bills that could be used in an emergency.

Saturday night was another cold, cloudy and damp night at the speedway but Willliam Scogin was rewarded for his weekend persistence as a great crowd was on hand to see the second full night of racing. The decision to move the starting time up by three hours was a very good one with the final checkered flag waving just at 10 pm which would have made for a very late night otherwise.

Of course, the main reason that the program ran as late as it did was due to the  fact that after a very abbreviated four class program on Friday night, the gates swung wide on Saturday and virtually anything on four wheels was found to have a class that it could compete in. And rather than belabor you fine followers of this page with a blow by blow account of every single class and the winner, let me wind up the weekend by just throwing out some random observations and thoughts.

They were very lucky to have gotten the show completed as when I got up very early on Sunday morning to head back home, rain had fallen and i wasn't far down the road before the rain turned into snow. To say that the trip home was an adventure would be an understatement with the most harrowing part of the journey navigating a multi car pileup just South of I-74 on I-57. But I made it with all wheels still on the car.

The pit area was jammed to the limit for Saturday night's show and the reason was that the number of classes literally exploded overnight. From four classes, plus Mod Lites racing on Friday night, the number increased to a mind boggling ten classes racing on Saturday night! And apparently one class of small cars wasn't enough as along with the Mod Lites, they also raced the Dwarf car too. Among the other additions were the Mini Modifieds, Pure Mini Stocks, 602 Crate Late Models(apparently one Crate class isn't enough) and Pure Street Stocks. One hundred and fifty three "big cars" raced along with about twenty more of the "small cars."

The format also changed for some of the classes too. While the Late Models still just did a B Feature after the quickest eight of each of two groups were automatically locked in, the Mods, Streets and Crates(big engine crates that is), ran heat races to set their running order. While they were only six and eight laps in length, hardly enough time to do much passing, their finishes did set the running order for the mains so they were of importance.

And with eight classes of cars running group time trials, you can imagine that would take some time. And yes, you would be correct in that assumption. While starting a half hour late with the timed hot laps due to the fact they had to have multiple driver's meetings for so many different classes running under different procedures and it took a while to sign in so many last minute arrivals, it was two and a half hours after the first hot lap session before the first real race hit the track. However, no one in the grandstands seemed the least bit upset so I guess it's just what you're used to that matters. I've got to believe, though, that a first time fan who would have arrived just when things were advertised to start and then had to sit there through one hundred and fifty minutes of two to six car groups of cars making a few laps at at time would have walked out the gates long before the first real race started. In my part of the world, if a show started that far behind schedule the promoter would probably be hanging by his thumbs from the flag stand, but again, it's what you're used to that matters.

However, don't read into my comments about the organization of the program. Other than the delay with taking the first green flag, the rest of the program was moved along at a rapid pace with one race immediately following the previous one. It's just that it takes a certain amount of time to run off that many classes and as long as everyone has to qualify, it is going to take some time.

The Mini Mods were a most diverse group of cars. Abut half the field looked like Pro Stocks with full bodies and the other half of the field looked like open wheel Modifieds that had been freeze dried. But they were fast and put on a good shop. My word, there were also three drivers that towed all the way down from Canada to race in this class.

All four of the potty class winners started on the front row with three of the four starting on the pole. However, with the format that is used and a race track that was worn out from who knows how many hundred laps on it, the results were not surprising.

There were two double winners for the weekend. Ashley Johns won the Crate Late Model feature both nights and both nights he started on the pole. T.J. Herndon was also a double winner and again he started right up front both nights. He had a fright on Saturday though. After jumping into the lead, a quick yellow slowed the field and his car burst into flames as he dove into the infield. Apparently the motor back fired and caused a quick "flame out" that was quickly extinguished. He jumped back into his car and then proceeded to dominate for the win. The quicksilver Street Stocks are an impressive class with many nice looking and sanitary rigs.

On what was a cool, cool weekend, many tracks would have pulled the plug by midweek and the staff at Clarksville deserves a round of applause for sticking to their guns and getting in the entire programs.

Shirley Uses Traffic To Unclog the Toilet Bowl Backup

Friday night, March 1st, found me at the opening night action of the fifteenth annual Tuckasee Toilet Bowl Classic at William Scogin's Clarksville Speedway just across the state line in Tennessee after passing through Kentucky. Hard to believe that this is the fifteenth annual version of this race as I distinctly remember being here for the first annual Classic and it does not seem like it was that many years agao.

I have not been to Clarksville for a few seasons now but have been to a number of these races over the years with this race often being the first outdoor event for most of the drivers and many of the fans. Tonight the drivers were racing for trophies with tomorrow night's big winners getting the "thrones."

In action on Friday were four classes of racing cars, headed by the MARS/Schaeffer's Oil Iron Man Late Models running under UMP rules, along with the UMP Mods, the UMP Pro Crate Late Models and the Quicksilver Street Stocks, a new traveling series for this class in the South. Tomorrow the Iron Man Series will also co-sponsor the Modified class too. Mod Lites also raced on Friday but, forgive me Mod Lite fans, I did not do any "homework" on that class.

As I said, I have not been to Clarksville for probably three years at least, and I was pleasantly surprised to find some nice improvements to the track. The Clarksville track has been at its present location for quite some time, and was truthfully starting to look a little "long in the tooth." and with so many new, high dollar homes popping up all around the track, It seemed likely that Scogin would just continue to race with his track like it has always been until an offer to buy was just so good that it couldn't be passed on, and at that point the track would cease to exist and another housing project would pop up, eliminating the dirt track drag strip and other wheel event activities on the grounds. I couldn't help but notice that another housing project is under construction right next door to the track with the bulldozers on site already, laying down the groundwork for more new homes in this seemingly booming area where traffic everywhere has turned into a nightmare.

And while the eventual loss of the track is probably still an option at some point, that possibility hasn't stopped Scogin from making some nice improvements to the track. A new concession building has been built in turn one to service both the pits and grandstand spectators and on the other side of the nice sized building are new restrooms that were badly needed. A new high rise aluminum grandstand is now in turn three, replacing the old board grandstand that was getting mighty rickety. And aluminum grandstands now line the entire front stretch. These might have been in place the last time I was at Clarksville, but my poor memory fails to offer a definitive answer to that question. n any regard, they are a nice improvement over the old wooden grandstand that offered a back view of the pit area.

Car counts for opening night were twenty seven Late Models, twenty three Crates, twenty nine Modifieds and twenty six of the Streets, a class that more resembles a cross between Stock Cars and Pro Stocks with some nicely appointed cars with some rather slab sided looking bodies on them.

Track management and the sanctioning body threw a last minute surprise to the race teams and fans both when they highly modified the race program at the last minute. The posted order of events in the pits at the MARS trailer showed group qualifying for all four classes, followed by heats and B Features if necessary and then the main events. However, at the last minute they changed their mind and dropped all heat races. After the group qualifying they ran a B Feature for the Late Models and Mods and then went directly in the feature races, thus speeding up the show considerably.

At first I was a little "peeved" but as the evening wore on and it got down right cold and damp out, suddenly it didn't seem like a bad thing at all. Especially when it was 11 pm before the final checkered waved at it was, and it would have been much later given the likely yellow flag slowdowns that would have marked a number of features.

As it was, it was still 8:30 before the first race hit the track after the group qualifying was completed for the four classes. The first feature race of the season at Clarksville, the Mod Lites,  quickly brought on the first protest of 2019 as a pit crew member stormed the flag stand after his driver was put to the back on a restart for spinning out. It didn't take long to get back to the "happy days" at all!

Crate Late Models then hit the track with the main lined up with the quick qualifier on the pole. No surprise there. This event featured a twenty minute time limit but the drivers surprised and did a good job of racing, with there being just two yellow flags.

Of course, one of them featured more controversy as leader Evan Taylor, who had overtaken pole starter Ashley Johns and was leading a close battle as they fought through traffic, was clipped by a lapped car that refused to yield and Taylor spun, triggering a yellow. Taylor was eliminated with front end damage but for some reason the lapped car, feeling he had been abused by Johns, pulled up beside him under yellow and then slammed right into the side of his car, inexplicably.

Fortunately, Johns' car was OK and he was able to continue while the mindless back marker went to the tail, but only after he was "dressed down" in front of the crowd by promoter Scogin. The rest of the race went smoothly with Johns holding off Matt Cooper and Chase Walls.

Following next were the Modifieds with twenty two of them taking the green flag for their main. This one was pretty "cut and dried" as pole starter Allen Weisser led from start to finish with Tyler Nicely following pretty close, particularly in the last five laps after a late yellow. The Mods behaved themselves with only three minor yellows to slow the action. However, a pattern that was set early by the Crates was followed pretty much the rest of the night with after a lap of so to shuffle out things, everyone dove to the bottom of the wide red clay track and lined up. Fortunately, there was one "renegade" that chose to try the outside. Lucas Lee had started tenth and he went to the top right from the start, intending to live or die by running higher on the track. He was occasionally joined by Ray Bollinger Jr, who was driving a second car for Hunt Gossom instead of his own machine. Lee was able to gain ground on the high side in turn one but the other end of the track was slow on the top side and gaining ground was a slow process. However, he kept it up and eventually was able to gain some positions, particularly when the cars in front of him got bottled up with their tailgating.

At the end, Weisser led to the finish with Nicely's last lap attempt to go around him coming up short. Trent Young finished third with Lee making it all the way up to fourth and he was still gaining ground at the end.

Late Models were up next with twenty three of them taking the  green, including at least three provisional starters having earned their way in through some process that was unexplained. This race proved to be the most interesting of the night, largely because it went green for the vast majority of its thirty laps which allowed the leaders to catch the back of the field, and with everyone hugging the bottom, the cars in front started to have to make some choices on where and when to try and pass and that made the show much more interesting.

Allen Weisser led the majority of the first twenty six laps of the Late Model race as he was hunting a spectacular doubleheader win, having already taken the Modified feature. However, he was receiving heavy pressure from Robby Moses and a smooth running Brian Shirley was exhibiting much patience as he gradually worked his way to the front. The back cars were causing much trouble and it was exciting watching the top three as they tried to negotiate the track and get by the slower cars while still protecting their line.

Michael Despain  was on hand to call the Late Model racing action but due to a pa system that was not too powerful, about the only thing that could be heard that he had to say was the post race interviews of the top three finishers.

Things broke Moses' way as the Red Seas parted and he walked into the lead but Shirley was all over him. Then in more lapped traffic, Shirley made his move and dove to the front but Moses and Weisser were still battling for second in tight formation. Action, things got a little too tight and as Weisser tried to dive under Moses, he clipped Robby and spun him out. A displeased Moses went to the back and the last four laps of the race were finished.

Shirley held of Weisser, whose second place finish was severely tainted by the late race altercation and quick qualifier Josh Putnam finished third.

The Street Stocks wrapped up the evening with their fifteen laps main. Sponsored by Quicksilver, they had a bit more trouble than the other classes with more wrecks, more yellows and more DNF's than the other classes. However, T.J. Herndon, who started on the pole, led all the way and fought off Tony Cruse and Dale Nelson for the win. With Herndon's win off the pole, that marked four of the five feature races won from that position if you're keeping score, but no surprise due to the system used to set the fields and a track that was very much inside "hub" strong and very few willing to step to the top and work on that lane. Perhaps on Saturday with longer races set, this might happen.

In this part of the country, any fears to the contrary were quickly alleviated when  Bubba Vandygriff was announced as the driver of the #116 Street Stock as I just knew there had to be at least one "Bubba" in the pits racing.

The previously announced format for Saturday night's show included heat races but we will have to see if that actually happens. Truthfully, with four more classes scheduled to join the show on Saturday, I wouldn't be adverse to eliminating the heats from the program for another night since they're all about qualifying here anyway. Also, the program will be moved up four hours from the scheduled time, ostensibly due to cold conditions but more than likely trying to beat the rain which is supposed to arrive around Midnight. They didn't announce this change much and it was hard to hear the announcer anyway, so I hope that everyone is aware of this this and doesn't show up to find the program mostly over by the time they arrive.

Speaking of the crowd, it was surprisingly good considering just how cold and dismal the day had been. And track officials did their best to hustle the program off, staring the timed warmups just when advertised and keeping the show moving as best they could.