Wednesday night, July 8th, I made my first visit of the year to the Southern Iowa Speedway at the Mahaska County Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa Iowa. Call it intimidating, call it imposing, call it challenging. The "Mahaska Monster" half mile is one big race track, whether you are racing non winged Sprint Cars or Sport Compacts and those two classes, along with several others, would all be in competition on this sizzling hot Wednesday night in the Heartland.
Other tracks closed on this blistering Wednesday night, but with a late start to the year and only a limited number of dates available to race, the Race Committee left it to the drivers and fans to vote whether or not to race on this Wednesday, The numbers were strongly in favor of racing so they opted to put a show on and those that didn't agree had the option to stay home in the A/C if they wished.
The car count was small and the attendance in the grandstands was also small but race they did. Thirty nine cars signed in to race in the five classes that were offered on Wednesday with only the Hobby Stocks needing a pair of heat races. For the other classes, it was a heat and a feature, all ran off in quick time by management that didn't want to keep either the fans or competitors out in the blazing heat any longer than necessary.
In the grandstands it really wasn't that bad as while it was hot, the big roof kept the blazing sun from shinning directly on us and that made all the difference in the world. The competitors however, had no shade and they were the ones that were really miserable, no doubt at least part of the fact that the car count was down, while the big half mile is part of the problem itself, as not many people seem to enjoy racing on such big tracks anymore, especially on nights like this when even the winners had overheating cars just due to the extreme temperatures.
Dirt n Asphalt provided cases of cold drinking water for both the competitors and fans and there was no reason not to stay hydrated on this evening at the track. This was a very nice touch on their part.
Two drivers were racing with bounties on their heads on this night, the result of dominating performances by them over their competitors already this season. One would retain his choke hold over his class while one would be upset in a close finish.
The driver who would continue on the roll was Jonathan Hughes in the non winged Sprint Cars. Going into Wednesday night's program, he had won nine feature races in a row at Osky, dating back to the end of last year. So a $250 bounty was placed on him for this night. However, he easily made it ten in a row and kept the cash from circulating. He started third on the grid and it only took him a half lap to gain the lead and after that he cruised, winning by half a lap as he tuned up for the invasion of the USAC Sprint Cars to Knoxville this coming weekend.
The driver that saw his dominating streak end was Derrick Agee who saw his winning streak in the Stock Cars end at three. He had a $100 on his head on this night and the Stock Car feature turned into a two car shootout between Agee and Cayden Carter.
Carter, who has a pretty strong record of success at this track himself, returned to the action tonight in the Stock Car he races from time to time and the starting positions were key. By the Stock Car feature, which was the last race of the night, the track was pretty "tired" from the heat and pounding and was pretty much one groove on the bottom. Carter got their first from the front row and while Agee caught him, he just couldn't find a way past for the lead. Carter guarded the bottom groove and while Agee ran him very close, he also ran him clean and at the finish he was a car length behind the Osky resident. Announcer Jerry Mackey was right there to deliver the crisp hundred dollar bill to Cayden in victory lane.
The Sport Mod feature was a complete domination by Curtis VanderWal who led from start to finish and was never seriously challenged in the nonstop main. Maguire DeJong and Logan Anderson had a nice race for second with Maguire holding on for the win.
The Hobby Stocks had the biggest field of cars and their action started out with a bang. Trent Orwig, having moved up from the Sport Compacts, was sporting a brand new, sharp looking car for his first appearance of the year. Unfortunately, he made it to only to the second turn on his first hot lap when he spun into the big ute tire there and his car flipped over. A thoroughly disgusted Orwig climbed out unhurt, but he was done for the night.
The Hobby Stock feature was also a two car battle between the drivers that have been dominating here this year. Rick Van Dusseldorp took the early lead but with perhaps the strongest move of the night, Dustin Griffiths drove around Van Dusseldorp to take over the lead and despite Rick's constant pressure, he would drive on for the win.
A late yellow set a sprint to the finish but Griffiths would pull away while a good battle behind him saw Van Dusseldorp hold off Brad Stevens and Jesse Williams. Apparently there must be some ill will between Griffiths and Stevens as Dustin had some snide remarks to make about Brad in victory lane.
Speaking of drama, it was heavy in the Sport Compact class on this night as a couple of the competitors got "into it" in the pits before a wheel had ever been turned on the track and a near fight had to be broken up. Promises were made about what would happen on the track but I didn't know the competitors so it was hard to follow up and see if anything did indeed happen during the race. Perhaps that is yet to come. Why is it that the entry level class always seems to have the most drama?
There was a tough battle for the lead though as Billy Cain took the early lead, only to be challenged by Tyler Haring for the top spot. They were rubbing on each other pretty good before Haring was able to make the pass and take over the top spot.
However, he didn't lead very many laps until he slowed suddenly with problems and was nailed by Austin Barnes which eventually ended the night for both competitors. Cain retook the lead at this point and drove on for the victory over Seth Meinders and Dalton Sauers.
The show went off smoothly and quickly and before 10 pm all racing was done after which everyone headed for the AC. And in probably the smartest words of the night announcer Mackey reminded us not to blame those competitors that were on hand Wednesday night.
Thanks to the Race Committee for having the fortitude to go ahead and run on Wednesday and we hope for them that more racers and fans will return next week when the weather is a bit more forgivable for Hall of Fame night.
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