Friday night, October 30th, a weekend of heavy duty Modified racing began at the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City Kansas as the USRA sanctioned fifth annual Grant Junghans Memorial race was held. As a part of the first annual MODster Mash, this was supposed to have been the second night of a four night swing for the Modified drivers that would involve three, ten grand to win shows plus another five grand to win show to wrap up the weekend.
Leftovers from the recent hurricane that came screaming in off the Gulf of Mexico took care of round one of the weekend as the Tri State Speedway in Pocola Oklahoma was forced to cancel round one with their facility mired in muck and mud after days of pounding rain.
So the series opener moved North to Lakeside which was also the highest paying of the four proposed races of the weekend. The Grant Junghans Memorial race is a very special event for many as it reminds us all of the courageous fight that Grant Junghans fought against cancer and the great spirit he showed through it all while also reminding us how far we have yet to go to conquer the awful beast that is cancer in its many forms.
This is a race that every Modified driver wants to win for a number of reasons and the field for this event is always outstanding and such was the case again here in 2020, despite all the challenges that this racing season has produced. The field of drivers that signed in to race in the Modified class was breath taking with seventy four drivers ready to race and the quality of the field just remarkable. Leon Ramirez, the car owner for Dereck Ramirez and a regular campaigner on the USMTS circuit, was able to use his considerable resources to provide rides for both the Lucas Oil Late Model series champion Jimmy Owens as well as the World of Outlaws soon to be crowned champion Brandon Sheppard to headline the stout field of entries. I can't imagine a more intriguing scenario than to have the two most successful Late Model drivers of this year both running Modifieds along with such luminaries as Cade Dillard, Ricky Thornton Jr, Will Krup, Chase Junghans and Jordan Grabouski along with all the top drivers from the USMTS and USRA circuits all in one field to race on Friday. Junghans would race a car from the Jake O'Neil stable for this race.
And while the hype for the race itself was plenty, this was also the final weekend of the USRA national points and close races are still taking place in both the Modified and B Mod classes, the other division that is racing this weekend all three nights.
Only one point separates Lucas Schott and Jake Gallardo in the Modified class while young Jim Chisholm has a twelve point lead over Kris Jackson and the way the points are doled out in USRA, that is virtually no lead at all and all four were on hand to race also on Friday. So there were many things in play as the B Mods, forty four strong themselves, signed in to join the Mods in what would be a blockbuster night of racing. Nine of the top twenty in USRA points for the Mods would be on hand while only three of the top twenty in B Mod points would be on hand but again, the top two in each would be duking it out for national honors.
Unfortunately, and not as the result of any malfeasance by anyone, the track would not be able to provide the kind of racing action that we would have hoped to see. The weekend long rains and lack of drying for Lakeside Speedway turned the half mile into a very heavy and blinding fast track that also had little "give" to it. Drivers would literally stick to the surface as they raced and we all know that these kinds of conditions provide blazing fast speeds, tremendous strain to the race cars, lots of wrecks and mechanical issues and not the best of conditions for the drivers to show their best. That would be the story of the night with cars floundering and wobbling all over the track all night with wheels coming off, motors coming apart and body panels building up into a huge pile outside the pit entrance in turn four. As soon as I saw the first hot laps I thought to myself that we were sure to see at least one flip on this night and it actually turned out to be three, with two of the spectacular variety and one very scary indeed. It was a brutal night for the racing equipment and I can't imagine that many teams won't have major repairs to do before they move on to Park City Kansas for round two on Saturday night.
I got a surprise early in the show and not all surprises are pleasant ones. Remember, this is just me talking but after having to endure too many time trial shows all Summer that limit the amount of passing in qualifying heat races in my mind, a series that has always shown for just drawing numbers, lining up and then settling things on the track, took a step backward on this night. The Modifieds qualified by heat with time trials during their hot lap sessions. The top four were then inverted for the heats with the slower cars falling in line behind them. Passing points were then used to set the lineups for the B Features and to qualify the main event cars but I'm still trying to figure out why we would qualify and then still use passing points. Shouldn't it be one or the other? All the qualifying did was set the heat races by speed and then, especially on this fast and tacky big track, pretty much eliminate much passing in the heats and certainly eliminate those big charges up through the pack that heat races for this group are famous for. But for whatever reason, that was the format that was used on this night and presumably, also for the rest of the weekend. I didn't even know that this was going to be rule for this weekend so didn't even query beforehand anyone to find out why this was put into the program. But you can bet I'm be doing some asking before the green flag waves at Eighty One Speedway on Saturday.
Four of the seven heat race winners came off the front row as they should with the other three heats won by the fastest cars in each heat in times from row two so we didn't get to see much charging through the pack, despite having the fastest Modifieds on the planet in the house on Friday. The Modifieds were in the mid eighteen second bracket on Friday, which is blazing fast on this half mile. The last car out for times, Grabouski, driving one of Terry Phillips cars', was fastest at 18.506.
Seven heat races and four B Features set the field for the forty two lap feature race for the Mods that paid $10,002 to win and $1,152 just to start. Last year's winner Jacob Bleess took a provisional so the race started twenty five cars.
Not surprisingly, it was a race of wills both to keep running and keep the race car in one piece as while there were only two yellow flags and both were for minor issues, the attrition rate was spectacularly high. Thornton Jr led forty one of the forty two laps in the main, at times comfortably in front but in the end biting his nails as his car was one that was on its last legs as the checkered flew.
In the early going, Grabouski and Thornton Jr battled for the lead with Jordan even leading a lap until Thornton Jr slowly pulled away. Attrition hit early as Rodney Sanders broke on the first lap and was soon joined on the sidelines by Owens, Tanner Mullins, Jason Hughes and several other contenders. Sanders earlier has done a masterful job just to make the main as he was nailed in his heat race, breaking the right front of the car but somehow he three wheeled the vehicle around the track and finished with a high enough point total to make the big show. However, while everyone else fluttered around the track, Thornton Jr used his innate ability to keep his car smooth to slowly and very unspectacularly pull away. Soon he had built up nearly a full straightaway on the field and at this point it was just a matter of keeping the car running.
Tyler Wolff and Lance Mari battled hard for second but they were far behind and by the halfway point of the race, with everyone not in the hunt for the win bailing for the infield, there were only ten cars on the track. As Thornton Jr caught the back of the pack, his car started to make some awful noises and he was visually losing speed and having a tough time getting by the slower cars. The problem grew worse and worse and in the last ten laps Wolff and Mari started to catch up, even as they battled with the lapped cars too.
Nearing the end, Thornton Jr got slower and slowed as he fought to keep his momentum up and Wolff was clearly catching him. Mercifully for Thornton Jr, Ryne Staley finally displayed the white flag as the 20rt car started to smoke and off the final corner it let loose but Ricky had enough of an advantage that he idled home the winner by about three car lengths as one more lap would have been his undoing with Wolff and Mari gaining big time on him. Only eight cars took the checkered with Terry Phillips and Schott rounding out the top five.
For Thornton Jr, it continues what has been an amazing season for him with major victories in both Modifieds and Late Models coming to him as he remains one of the hottest properties in dirt track racing and it will be interesting to see just where 2021 takes him. However, unless he has access to another motor we may have seen the end of him for this weekend as I don't believe his motor issues are a quick fix. Schott likely gained some points on Gallardo who didn't finish the main event.
The B Mods also had quite the night with a feature race that quite frankly, scared the crap out of most of us as a horrendous wreck was a big part of it. The forty four cars that signed in were divided into five heats(no time trials, thanks) and two B Features that set their twenty four car starting field as they would go twenty two laps for the big check.
Early race action would prove to be significant as contenders Jake Richards and Jackson would both get wrecked early in their heat races with Richards eventually failing to make the main while Jackson slipped in through a B Feature, only to drop out early.
The leading winner at the track in 2020, Andy Bryant, started on the front row and after a blazing run in his heat, he backed it up by pulling away from the field early in the main. Eventually he would achieve a full straightaway on the pack as he was significantly faster than his competition.
However, two yellow flags in quick order near the halfway point, would bring the field back to him and following the second restart, all hell would break loose right on the front chute in front of everyone. Bryant has again pulled into the lead but as he came off turn four, the right front suspension folded up and tucked under the right front of the car, He couldn't turn his vehicle and he slammed nearly head on into the wall right in front of me and just short of the finish line. The car went up in the air and flipped over on its roof, lying broadside on the track.
With the cars speeding out of the corner, there was no way to slow them down quickly enough and at least three of the field slammed into his upside down car, with noises that I never want to hear again. Andy's car was destroyed and I thought we were all going to be eye witnesses to something very bad. the impact of the other cars hitting him had actually cut his car in half with the rear wheels and fuel cell sliced right off the car.
You can imagine the sigh of relief from everyone when he climbed out of the car, shaken but upright. It was one of the most violent wrecks I have seen in a very long time, made even worse by the fact that it happened right in front of us. It was a gut wrenching few seconds for sure. Many of the drivers involved were just as moved as they scrambled from their wrecked cars and raced to see if Bryant was OK and their grim faces told all that needed to be said. The car was removed from the track in pieces and Mike "The Outlaw" Striegel inherited the lead. However, Patrick Royalty, home town driver and track champion here in 2020, was soon a big challenger.
Patrick has started tenth but quickly moved up to fifth and when the wreck took out some of the challengers, Royalty moved into the second row. Using the second line and finding a relatively smooth line, he was able to drive past Striegel and take over the lead and he would lead the last seven or so laps. pulling away to get the win. Jeremy Chambers also made a nice run using the outside as he came from sixteenth to finish second with Striegel completing the top five. Just half the starting field was around at the checkered, foretelling what was to happen in the Modified main.
It was a spectacular night of racing and while it was also a tough one for many, it was just one of those things that can't be controlled and since everyone wanted to race, and to race hard by the way, there was little that could have been done to change things. They packed the track at early opportunity was it was just so rain soaked and was holding moisture so well on this cool October night that there would be no drying of the track. For sure it will be a night remembered by many for a long time for a variety of reasons. Now the task will be for everyone to put their machines back into shape and hustle West to Park City.
R.I.P GJ
R.I.P ET
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