Wednesday night, August 26th was the regular season finale at the 300 Raceway in Farley Iowa. Wednesday night would be the last point show of the 2020 racing season and the last competitive event before next weekend's Yankee Dirt Track Classic. All four divisions that routinely race here under IMCA sanction including the Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods would all be in action on Wednesday.
This was Season Championship night and even though the races were lined up under the normal point invert format, at the end of the evening the points would be added up and four champions would be crowned.
There were however, several drivers making their first appearances of the year as they tune up for the Yankee next weekend along with several other drivers that had only made rare starts during the season and were on hand for that same reason, and that was to tune up their cars for the big money that starts next weekend as another regular racing season has just about reached its conclusion. In that regard, it will certainly long be remembered for what it was and also for what it wasn't with the good and the bad hrd to balance some times. Even now in late August, there will still likely be more blockbuster announcements of racing events cancelled at the last minute and perhaps moved to other facilities. On that, we will all just have to wait and see how things play out while trying to maintain our composure and sanity.
I got a few minutes before the show to talk to Modified veteran Bob Dominacki who was making a rare start here and a driver that doesn't travel much like he used to for perhaps decades as he stays pretty close to the Quad Cities area tracks these days. He had a sticker on his car that I had to ask him about and he confirmed that the sticker on his race car signified that this is his fortieth year of racing, a milestone by any stretch of the imagination. He said that he had a lot of good years but things have been much tougher for him this past decade but that he would be lost without racing to spend his time on. Perhaps a comment on where racing has gone would be best described by the engine identification on the hood of his Modified that reads, "F----N Crate". I think that says it all for some at least.
It was another hot and steamy night in the country's heartland but once the sun got lower in the sky, it actually turned into a most comfortable evening. I got a ride from one end of the pit area by a track worker, it turns out he was in charge of watering, but since he delivered me so quickly, I didn't even catch his name. He gave me a ride as he was waiting for the water truck to fill up and he said that they would be putting about 50,000 gallons of water on the track for this night's race, starting in the evening on Monday and through the next two days. And actually, I thought the track was great on Wednesday. It started out a little top dominant but then that went away and drivers were racing all over the track which was slick and smooth and it held up nicely until the very end of the show when drivers started cutting through the infield, dragging the loose dirt up on the track which created a narrow groove and a cloud of dust in turn four but that was all on the drivers, not the track prep.
A did a double take when I saw Cory Dripps unload a Late Model out of his trailer, not knowing that he has had a Late Model since this Spring but I was just not aware of this, although I am told that he has not raced it much. It is a Rocket chassis and although he was a DNF in the feature, he did a lot of track time on the car on this night.
I ran into veteran starter Doug Haack who was in preparation for the driver's meeting when I ran into him. He will be the starter here for the rest of the season, having taken over that important job starting with the show two weeks ago. He also flags at Maquoketa, CJ and Quad Cities as he has gotten even busier once he retired from his "real" job.
The program actually started just a few minutes before their advertised starting time and how many tracks can say that, especially for a midweek show? The qualifying heats went quickly and smoothly with only the Modifieds needing three heats while the others managed a pair of heats for each.
Before long it was feature race time and the Stock Cars were up first for their fifteen lap feature race. This event saw three different leaders, quite a bit of passing and a couple of heartbreaking breakdowns right near the end of the race that cost a couple of drivers dearly.
Jason Breimeyer was the early leader but was quickly overtaken by Leah Wroten. Meanwhile, Johnny Spaw was moving up quickly after starting eighth on the grid and by lap five he had driven under Wroten to take over the lead. Once in front, he controlled the rest of the contest but making things interesting was Timmy Current who was driving the #22 Miller High Life car. After not finishing his heat race, he started thirteenth in the main but driving like his hair was on fire, he quickly moved up into the top three. Following a yellow for Tom Schmitt who blew up while running third, Current deciding to go "checkers or wreckers" on the restart but he ended up spinning out and calling it a night.
Spaw cruised on for the win with Wroten holding on for second and Duayne Herb lost a good finish when he too blew up on the final lap. Jarod Weepie held off rookie Andrew Chelf for the point title.
The Modified feature saw a great two car battle for the feature race win as Dylan Thorton managed to hold off Aikey for thirteen laps before Jeff finally got by and secured another win here. Thornton had started on the pole and led those first laps while Aikey quickly moved up from eighth, showing the same strong moves he has shown in heat race action where he was spitting cars at will and forging his way forward.
He followed Thornton for several laps, trying various moves before he got a head of steam and slid up past Thorton in turn one to take over the top spot. Once in front, he was gone and his only excitement was working through lapped traffic. Showing some strength early and then holding off Troy Cordes was Wisconsin invader Brandon Schmitt who came home third. Aikey was the runaway point champion in the Mods.
Jason Roth continued his dominating season here in the Sport Mods with another victory that translated into a track championship also. It was tough sledding for awhile but he is relentless and would eventually find the openings he needed to pull off the win. Justin Becker led the first seven laps of the feature as both Troy Bauer and Roth would eventually catch him. Bauer made a move to take over the lead but he could only hold it for one lap before Roth would power past him and take the top spot for himself. He would lead the rest of the way with Cam Reimers making a late charge up to third.
The Late Model feature would have a surprise ending with a late yellow flag and the changing track both hugely a part of the surprise. Joel Callahan would hold the top spot for four laps before a charging Aikey would take over the lead. Aikey would then build up a large lead and he seemed home free without a challenge.
However, Justin Kay started to move up and as the drivers got deeper into the contest, Kay started to move up quite rapidly. Doing some innovative driving in the corners, he was able to pass both Scott Fitzpatrick and Callahan and move into second.
He still seemed pretty far behind Aikey until a late yellow ended Aikey's big advantage. On the restart, Aikey started to slide up the track and Kay was able to get under him and then pull away for the win, which was unexpected.
I have long enjoyed watching Kay race in both his Modified and Late Model as he seems to be a driver that races all over the track and is not afraid to try different grooves. However, Wednesday night he took that to the extreme to the point where it gave him an unfair advantage in my mind. While everyone else was racing the slick surface, lap after lap he systematically clipped the corner tires and to his credit he did it expertly, until he had moved them back one full lane on the bottom and then he took off like a rocket. During the last yellow flag for a two car spin, they even replaced the uke tire in turn four but that didn't bother Kay, who just knocked it out of the way once they started racing again.
It didn't help Aikey that his car started to get lose near the end too, but Kay was definitely racing through what should have been the infield and getting some pretty good bite there which in no time at all allowed him to race under and then pull away for the win. The last few laps saw the other drivers follow Kay's line through the corners and we went from a track that has drivers racing all over it to everyone following each other through the infield, throwing loose dirt up on to the track which ruined the three and four corners as well as creating a cloud of dust where one hadn't existed before everyone decided to make the track a quarter miler. Fitzpatrick got by Callahan for third at the finish and for the points, Eric Pollard held off Aikey by four, perhaps the one position that he lost late in the race making the difference? It was a good night of racing but that last race left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.
They did a great job of running things off at a quick pace but I was stunned to see that the final checkered flag flew at 9:15 pm which meant that a full four class program was completed in just a few minutes over two hours. Terrific and terrific for the fans that had to head out and get home for work on Thursday. This is the kind of thing that gives people the confidence to come out and watch a midweek show. What they have planned for their weekly schedule for next year I do not know but midweek shows that can be run off so quickly and expertly are always in demand. This place continues to look better and better every time I am here and is certainly one of the finest facilities in the entire state now.
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