On Wednesday night, August 7th, the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour made their first stop ever in the state of Minnesota at the big, half mile speedway in Fairmont. Appropriately, it was home state driver and current track point leader Brandon Beckendorf who led all twenty five laps and dominated the main event.
Forty nine Modifieds were on hand to race Wednesday on another beautiful day for racing with just enough of a West breeze to keep the air moving. The Modifieds are in the midst of a huge week of racing in northern Iowa and across the border here in Minnesota after running at another Gopher State track last night. With cars on hand from all parts of the country, they carried a strong field of cars here to Fairmont and perhaps one of the biggest fields ever to race at this Martin County Fairgrounds half mile.
A full show was held for the other four IMCA sanctioned classes that normally race at Fairmont too. Thus, it made for a pretty long evening of racing as there was some appropriate ceremony too since it was the Bob Shryock Memorial Race with son Kelly on hand to race and many of the Shryock family members on hand to help the celebration. One of Bob's old wedge Late Models had been restored and was on hand for Kelly to drive in a match race with the old timer cars.
The Dirt Knights race was the high light of the evening with twenty four cars slated to go twenty five laps. The track was very fast but the high groove was clearly the line to be in and after starting on the outside pole, Beckendorf never relinquished the lead. Beckendorf would receive his strongest challenge from Jay Noteboom who had started right beside him in the lineup. Things got tight as the leaders raced through lapped traffic with Beckendorf almost getting caught in the wrong lane on the track but he managed to hold off Noteboom. The yellow changed things dramatically on lap seventeen for a spin when Noteboom retired to the pits with some sort of issue and Beckendorf lost his most severe challenge.
He would go on to lead the last nine laps without a serious challenge and drive on for his first Tour win on this series. Tom Berry Jr would finish second for the second straight night while Richie Gustin protected his point lead with a third place finish.
The other four divisions were somewhat short on cars on this night and with the evening getting later and the track officials wanting to get the Modifieds on the track for their main, most of the other features were shortened in length.
Only eight Stock Cars took the green for their main and Luke Saathoff was the winner with Shryock trying his hardest to get at least one feature win for the Shryock Memorial night but settling for second. He would advance from nineteenth to seventh in the Modified feature later.
The Sport Mod feature would see Troy Gochanaur start on the pole and lead for all twelve laps as Jared Boumeester attempted to make up for Tuesday night's disappointment at Deer Creek but settled for second.
The Hobby Stock ten lap feature saw a big crash in turn four eliminate several of the top running cars early and allow Cory Probst to drive on for the win. Greg Sidles drove a borrowed car to the second place finish.
The Sport Compacts had two yellows before they finished a lap so they were reprimanded by having their main event cut to six laps as several cars fell out early. Terry Blowers won the race with R.J. Esqueda second.
Lonn Oelke was on the microphone calling the action on this night as the voice of the Fairmont Raceway and my first opportunity to hear Lonn working since his days with the USMTS. As usual, Lonn was his irreverent self, taking turns pointing jabs at everyone from the track officials to the spectators and to himself. I believe he has a more sardonic sense of humor than ever Mr Meyer.
It was a good night of racing and my first chance to catch a race in Fairmont in quite a few years. Thanks to everyone and especially the pit gate workers for their assistance.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Harris Clash To Arneson and Carter
The 28th annual (but second at Deer Creek) Harris Clash was held on Tuesday night, August 6th at the Deer Creek Speedway. The winners were Austin Arneson and Brayton Carter, both in exciting main events that featured a lot of hard racing, very few yellow flags and few drivers that didn't finish either event.
The Clash drew a huge field of cars with ninety two Modifieds and fifty two Sport Mods signing in to race for this huge event. Politics and racing make for strange "bedfellows" sometimes, and this event is among the strangest when it comes to that. In its second year here at Deer Creek, the event seems to be at its strongest that it has been for quite some time, with lots of cars and lots of people in the stand watching. But how it came to be held at Deer Creek is somewhat strange indeed.
Deer Creek is a track that is sanctioned by both USRA and WISSOTA. Deer Creeks runs two USRA classes weekly and three WISSOTA classes. They don't have another IMCA sanctioned event here all year, yet somehow this race came to this track and it's not even in the hotbed of IMCA racing in Iowa but over the border in Minnesota to a region in Minnesota that is not an IMCA hot bed at all. But when you can put on a show like the folks that Deer Creek do, I guess everyone would like to race at your facility. Where as most tracks are actively engaging various sanctioning bodies to put on events at their track, Deer Creek seems to be just exactly the opposite with the sanctioning bodies lining up and hoping to get dates at their track. Lucas Oil, World of Outlaws(Late Models), IMCA and USMTS as all desirous of bringing racing to this track. Only the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars tried to dictate when they would come to Deer Creek and they no longer have a date at the track.
But when you can deliver great racing and big crowds in the stands, I guess everyone wants to race at your track, despite the letters in your sanctioning name and no matter what other groups are also racing here at some point.
While there was a good group of local fans that turned out for this race, many just out of curiosity because from their conversations I could tell that many were unfamiliar with the drivers, there was a huge contingent of Iowa fans on hand, following the drivers that they knew well. So while the crowd wasn't probably quite as large as the one for the Gopher 50 for WoO Late Models or the Fall Jamboree for the USMTS, it was still very large indeed.
Despite a reported three inches of rain the day before the race, you wouldn't have noticed it as neither the pits nor track seemed to show it except for the infield track that had standing water. Wet pits and drainage issues used to be a problem here but they took action and now they are one of the few tracks that can usually withstand a hard soaking rain and still be able to get a race in.
Despite having to sign in all the race cars, tech them all and have some hot laps, racing still started within a few scant minutes of the advertised 7 pm start. Eight heats for the Sport Mods and twelve heats for the Modifieds set the majority of the starting field with a few B Features to finish off the qualifiers. My only question was with the size of the heat races as they chose to run no more than eight cars in a heat with my thinking that they could have consolidated things just a bit tighter with a few more cars in each heat, something that would not be a problem for this track. The one spin rule was a great help also to keep things moving.
The racing action was very good in the heats and B Features and a lot of excellent race cars were on the sidelines when the finals started. The Sport Mods went twenty five laps with twenty four cars starting the race. After one yellow with a lap completed when contender Jared Boumeester stalled, the rest of the race went nonstop. Brayton Carter was scored the leader of all laps but that was somewhat misleading as he was under the gun for the whole race, being challenged constantly.
Near the end, Colby Fett found a line that was very fast up against the wall and he closed rapidly on the leader as the last few laps were ran off. They drew side by side and the finish couldn't have been much closer, with electronic timing and scoring declaring Carter the winner by .019 seconds. Logan Anderson ran third nearly the entire race.
Did anyone else wonder what happened to current national point leader Cody Thompson after he won a B Feature and then didn't race the main, being replaced in the lineup by Kyle Bentley. It turns out that Thompson was disqualified from the B Feature for having a metal mud plug which has been ruled illegal for safety reasons. Fortunately for him, the DQ wasn't for a more serious issue that could have threatened his national points.
The Modified feature was a dandy race also. Again, with only one yellow flag, the last seventeen laps ran off nonstop and really made for an exciting finish. Cayden Carter and Tom Berry Jr were battled for lap after lap and for a time it looked like the Carter family was going to have an unprecedented sweep of the evening's proceedings. However, Berry didn't want to relinquish his challenge and the two continued to go at it for the lead.
Suddenly, sixth starting Austin Arneson became part of the lead pack after spending most of the race banging off the walls and sending sparks off into the Minnesota night on lap after lap. When Carter and Berry Jr left a hole, Arneson somehow found the room to put his car between the two others, and he raced into the lead. However, Berry Jr wasn't going to give up and the last lap was a classic as Berry Jr threw the "mother of all slidejobs" at Arneson in turn three, slipped past but then Arneson did the classic cross over maneuver and passed Berry Jr on the front chute to take a thrilling win. Carter had to settle for third in a most exciting event and a great climax to the evening.
Chad Meyer and Todd Narveson called the action and they did a great job keeping us all informed on who was who and what was what. Narveson did his home work as he doesn't get to see these guys race too often but you wouldn't have known otherwise. Meyer has really worked his way into the elite group of announcers in the Midwest, working a number of the biggest Modified races around and his subtle yet cutting humor made me laugh at various times over the course of the night.
The final checkered flag didn't wave until just before Midnight but I have no complaint as they had a huge show to run off with almost countless races to be run. There were very few yellows, and the only down time was for track prep and introductions. The crowd seemed happy and the drivers I believe like the track so I see no reason other than the shifting sands of racing politics that would keep this race from returning here next year.
The Clash drew a huge field of cars with ninety two Modifieds and fifty two Sport Mods signing in to race for this huge event. Politics and racing make for strange "bedfellows" sometimes, and this event is among the strangest when it comes to that. In its second year here at Deer Creek, the event seems to be at its strongest that it has been for quite some time, with lots of cars and lots of people in the stand watching. But how it came to be held at Deer Creek is somewhat strange indeed.
Deer Creek is a track that is sanctioned by both USRA and WISSOTA. Deer Creeks runs two USRA classes weekly and three WISSOTA classes. They don't have another IMCA sanctioned event here all year, yet somehow this race came to this track and it's not even in the hotbed of IMCA racing in Iowa but over the border in Minnesota to a region in Minnesota that is not an IMCA hot bed at all. But when you can put on a show like the folks that Deer Creek do, I guess everyone would like to race at your facility. Where as most tracks are actively engaging various sanctioning bodies to put on events at their track, Deer Creek seems to be just exactly the opposite with the sanctioning bodies lining up and hoping to get dates at their track. Lucas Oil, World of Outlaws(Late Models), IMCA and USMTS as all desirous of bringing racing to this track. Only the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars tried to dictate when they would come to Deer Creek and they no longer have a date at the track.
But when you can deliver great racing and big crowds in the stands, I guess everyone wants to race at your track, despite the letters in your sanctioning name and no matter what other groups are also racing here at some point.
While there was a good group of local fans that turned out for this race, many just out of curiosity because from their conversations I could tell that many were unfamiliar with the drivers, there was a huge contingent of Iowa fans on hand, following the drivers that they knew well. So while the crowd wasn't probably quite as large as the one for the Gopher 50 for WoO Late Models or the Fall Jamboree for the USMTS, it was still very large indeed.
Despite a reported three inches of rain the day before the race, you wouldn't have noticed it as neither the pits nor track seemed to show it except for the infield track that had standing water. Wet pits and drainage issues used to be a problem here but they took action and now they are one of the few tracks that can usually withstand a hard soaking rain and still be able to get a race in.
Despite having to sign in all the race cars, tech them all and have some hot laps, racing still started within a few scant minutes of the advertised 7 pm start. Eight heats for the Sport Mods and twelve heats for the Modifieds set the majority of the starting field with a few B Features to finish off the qualifiers. My only question was with the size of the heat races as they chose to run no more than eight cars in a heat with my thinking that they could have consolidated things just a bit tighter with a few more cars in each heat, something that would not be a problem for this track. The one spin rule was a great help also to keep things moving.
The racing action was very good in the heats and B Features and a lot of excellent race cars were on the sidelines when the finals started. The Sport Mods went twenty five laps with twenty four cars starting the race. After one yellow with a lap completed when contender Jared Boumeester stalled, the rest of the race went nonstop. Brayton Carter was scored the leader of all laps but that was somewhat misleading as he was under the gun for the whole race, being challenged constantly.
Near the end, Colby Fett found a line that was very fast up against the wall and he closed rapidly on the leader as the last few laps were ran off. They drew side by side and the finish couldn't have been much closer, with electronic timing and scoring declaring Carter the winner by .019 seconds. Logan Anderson ran third nearly the entire race.
Did anyone else wonder what happened to current national point leader Cody Thompson after he won a B Feature and then didn't race the main, being replaced in the lineup by Kyle Bentley. It turns out that Thompson was disqualified from the B Feature for having a metal mud plug which has been ruled illegal for safety reasons. Fortunately for him, the DQ wasn't for a more serious issue that could have threatened his national points.
The Modified feature was a dandy race also. Again, with only one yellow flag, the last seventeen laps ran off nonstop and really made for an exciting finish. Cayden Carter and Tom Berry Jr were battled for lap after lap and for a time it looked like the Carter family was going to have an unprecedented sweep of the evening's proceedings. However, Berry didn't want to relinquish his challenge and the two continued to go at it for the lead.
Suddenly, sixth starting Austin Arneson became part of the lead pack after spending most of the race banging off the walls and sending sparks off into the Minnesota night on lap after lap. When Carter and Berry Jr left a hole, Arneson somehow found the room to put his car between the two others, and he raced into the lead. However, Berry Jr wasn't going to give up and the last lap was a classic as Berry Jr threw the "mother of all slidejobs" at Arneson in turn three, slipped past but then Arneson did the classic cross over maneuver and passed Berry Jr on the front chute to take a thrilling win. Carter had to settle for third in a most exciting event and a great climax to the evening.
Chad Meyer and Todd Narveson called the action and they did a great job keeping us all informed on who was who and what was what. Narveson did his home work as he doesn't get to see these guys race too often but you wouldn't have known otherwise. Meyer has really worked his way into the elite group of announcers in the Midwest, working a number of the biggest Modified races around and his subtle yet cutting humor made me laugh at various times over the course of the night.
The final checkered flag didn't wave until just before Midnight but I have no complaint as they had a huge show to run off with almost countless races to be run. There were very few yellows, and the only down time was for track prep and introductions. The crowd seemed happy and the drivers I believe like the track so I see no reason other than the shifting sands of racing politics that would keep this race from returning here next year.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Mud Pies Tasty In Spencer
Monday night, August 5th was supposed to be the first night of a huge week of racing for IMCA Modifieds in Iowa and Minnesota. Monday night was scheduled to be the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour on display in an event sponsored by Hahn Roofing. From Spencer they are due to head for Spring Valley Minnesota for the Harris Clash, then on to Fairmont Minnesota for another Dirt Knights race and then on to Britt Iowa for Hobo Days and three nights of big buck racing at the Fairgounds there in the Thousand Stars, Ten Thousand Stars and All Stars races on consecutive nights.
However, things got off to a crappola start here in Spencer. It was very hot and humid and did feel like it could produce a storm at the drop of a hat. However, based the forecasts I saw and the way the radar looked, it seemed like a reasonable gamble to make the drive down to Northwestern Iowa.
And things were looking good when I arrived as it appeared that the light showers and come and gone and things were on schedule as planned with the pit gate already open and cars in the pits, some left over from Sunday night's show that was also a larger than normal payoff for the drivers too.
However, things started to go downhill when storms started popping up all over the place and when the last one made a right turn and bore right down on Spencer, we were in deep do do. It rained hard for fifteen minutes with a little hail thrown in for fun. As quickly as it started though, it stopped just as fast. However, the damage was done. The track itself was very wet with water in the turns coming all the way up past the marker tires and on to the track. The pits was half under water and there appeared no way that there would be racing.
However, those in charge were bound and determined to try and get a show in and they started packing the track while at the same time dragging the pit area which was just as much of a mess. They packed and packed with out getting very much accomplished while at the same time the clock was ticking and it was getting later. Their last ditch attempt was to pull a grader behind one of the big tractors to try and skim off some of the muck and it worked to some degree but there was just so much mud and water and with time getting away from them, the car count in the pits being small due to the weather scaring off many and just a handful of spectators in the grandstand, even though it was past the scheduled starting time, they finally threw in the muddy towel and called it a night, refunding pit passes for those that were already signed in.
I myself, was the envy of many in the pits. I found my mud boots in the trunk that I usually have to use only once a year at the Red Clay Classic in Ashland Wisconsin where it typically rains and turns their red clay into a sea of red goo and there is no way to walk around without having boots like these. This way I didn't ruin my tennis shoes and my feet stayed dry, even if I didn't exactly set a fashion trend unless that trend might be the most ugly costume ever seen in any pit area. Kevin Yoder said that no one would care what I looked like and I'm counting on him to be correct so no one better be laughing at me the next time I see them.
I admire the determination of the track officials at Spencer for trying to get the race in but sometimes there is no fighting Mother Nature. I was a dismal way to start the week though, that is for sure. Hopefully things turn around tomorrow.
However, things got off to a crappola start here in Spencer. It was very hot and humid and did feel like it could produce a storm at the drop of a hat. However, based the forecasts I saw and the way the radar looked, it seemed like a reasonable gamble to make the drive down to Northwestern Iowa.
And things were looking good when I arrived as it appeared that the light showers and come and gone and things were on schedule as planned with the pit gate already open and cars in the pits, some left over from Sunday night's show that was also a larger than normal payoff for the drivers too.
However, things started to go downhill when storms started popping up all over the place and when the last one made a right turn and bore right down on Spencer, we were in deep do do. It rained hard for fifteen minutes with a little hail thrown in for fun. As quickly as it started though, it stopped just as fast. However, the damage was done. The track itself was very wet with water in the turns coming all the way up past the marker tires and on to the track. The pits was half under water and there appeared no way that there would be racing.
However, those in charge were bound and determined to try and get a show in and they started packing the track while at the same time dragging the pit area which was just as much of a mess. They packed and packed with out getting very much accomplished while at the same time the clock was ticking and it was getting later. Their last ditch attempt was to pull a grader behind one of the big tractors to try and skim off some of the muck and it worked to some degree but there was just so much mud and water and with time getting away from them, the car count in the pits being small due to the weather scaring off many and just a handful of spectators in the grandstand, even though it was past the scheduled starting time, they finally threw in the muddy towel and called it a night, refunding pit passes for those that were already signed in.
I myself, was the envy of many in the pits. I found my mud boots in the trunk that I usually have to use only once a year at the Red Clay Classic in Ashland Wisconsin where it typically rains and turns their red clay into a sea of red goo and there is no way to walk around without having boots like these. This way I didn't ruin my tennis shoes and my feet stayed dry, even if I didn't exactly set a fashion trend unless that trend might be the most ugly costume ever seen in any pit area. Kevin Yoder said that no one would care what I looked like and I'm counting on him to be correct so no one better be laughing at me the next time I see them.
I admire the determination of the track officials at Spencer for trying to get the race in but sometimes there is no fighting Mother Nature. I was a dismal way to start the week though, that is for sure. Hopefully things turn around tomorrow.
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