Among other things celebrated on Friday, May 7th, it was National "No Pants" day in America. However, as we were reminded, we should celebrate this day responsibly. Therefore, while I did wear pants, I wore then dangerously low in response to the importance of the day and only barely exposed my "plumber's crack" to the world. But I digress.
It was also a very important day for Bob Timm and the folks at Mississippi Thunder Speedway just North of Fountain City Wisconsin. Since Timm purchased the track a dozen years ago and set on a course of completely remodeling the track and upgrading it, it was his goal to bring in the major dirt track series to the folks of the Coulee region of Wisconsin and on this night, it would be their first exposure to the World of Outlaws Late Model series.
Timm has done some wonderful things to upgrade this track in recent years but the stunning improvements that he completed since the 2020 racing season were very impressive. For this year, he added around twenty five hundred high rise aluminum bleachers to the first turn side of the main tower and also added four sections of lower, temporary bleachers in turn four. Previous to this, there were no bleachers as all the seating at the track was on cement slabs that ran the length of the front chute with lawn chairs being the appropriate way to watch the racing here. While some people love to use the lawn chairs, I was never much a fan of them as at this track you sat so close to the action, you generally went home wearing a layer of the track with you. Now, with the high rise bleachers, spectators have their choice and with the vast amount of seating now available, there were never again be a problem finding a seat here and you can quote me that I'll never be bringing a lawn chair to this place again. The change in appearance of the track with the new bleachers is stunning and while they had a huge crowd on hand, there was no problem finding seats right up to race time. It was truly a dazzling improvement to the place. I believe that Timm is not done yet though, as he has plans to put in terraced parking in the third corner so spectators can park their vehicles to overlook the track and I also have heard that as time allows, he has land that will be used to develop a campground just to the South of the track which will be a good addition as the many campers forced track officials to remodel the pit entrance so as to leave more room for campers plus the campers also park right in the main parking lot, making it a challenge to find spectator parking for this weekend.
Timm has also been able to "gold mine" a great number of sponsors to aid him in his promotions. For example, with the aid of some great businesses, it allowed him to raise the standard WoO purse so that this weekend's events paid $12,500 to win on this night and the drivers will be racing for $22,500 on Saturday night with other bonuses available. With some other events being scheduled for this same racing weekend, Timm was concerned about what his Late Model car count would be but as it turned out, with the support of some Wisconsin and area teams, he had a very acceptable thirty eight cars sign in for Late Model racing. And to his credit, rather than add a bunch of other classes to pad his pit gate, the only support class was the USRA Modifieds so this would allow for a quick, fast paced program on what turned out to be a rather cold evening for the first part of May. The WoO deserves credit for running their portion of the program off at a quick pace too and this was one of the smoother running special events that I have been to recently.
Timm loves to work on his track constantly and he usually makes it very fast which it certainly was on this night at Brandon Sheppard set a new track record. For a track of its size, it is a blazing fast track that really requires the drivers to get their "elbows up" with the fast line often right up against the wall. It is tough on motors and you better bring your "big cannon" here if you're going to be competitive.
For the WoO, it was their standard program with qualifying, four heats and a pair of B Features that set the field for the forty lap main event. A nice mix of drivers was on hand to perform before a crowd, of which, many had never seen these drivers in action before. It was a bit disappointing that Tim McCreadie, after hauling all the way here, wasn't able to race on Friday as the word in the pits was that he was suffering from a kidney stone attack and believe me from personal experience, if you are having trouble with kidney stones, the last place you want to be in lashed down in a rough riding vehicle.
The WoO feature was a very entertaining event with Sheppard and Brent Larson being the story on this night. For Sheppard, he was finally able to get back on track and win his first feature win with the series so far this year. And Larson ran as I have never seen him run with this series before, nearly taking the win after a stirring drive. Tyler Bruening would lead the early laps but Larson was the story as he came tearing up from the fourth row, passing cars at will on the low side of the track. When he made a strong move low on lap seven and passed both Sheppard and Bruening to take the lead, I thought the roof was coming off the joint. Larson was blindingly fast and opened up quite a gap on the field.
But perhaps his fast pace caught up with him later as he was really abusing his tired and his gate would start to slow a bit later. Sheppard kept hammering away on the high side and eventually that groove started to pick up and when it did, he was able to reel Larson back in.
Just at the halfway point, Sheppard was able to drive around Larson and take over the lead, a lead he would not relinquish. Bruening had a top five run going until he lost a driveshaft with thirty two laps complete and on the restart Larson showed more pep again as perhaps his tires came back, and he gave Sheppard all he wanted in the closing laps, staying close but not able to provide a serious challenge. Ryan Gustin had another strong run going but again he was unable to finish as he hammered the turn one wall on lap thirty five, taking himself out of the action. Jimmy Mars drove a nice steady race, starting eleventh and using the last yellow to sneak past a couple of cars and he ended up third ahead of Cade Dillard and Chris Madden. There were only three yellows in the fast paced race, five cars that failed to finish and no one was lapped.
And the "support class" did much more than that as they provided an exciting twenty five lap finale to complete the night. Cudos to everyone for running the Late Models first for those that wanted to leave early and also to provide the Late Models with the best surface to race on that they possibly could. However, the Modifieds also found plenty to race with and their main came right down to the end.
I must mention that it was good to see local driver Josh Angst back at the track and surprisingly, with race car also. Last Saturday night at the Deer Creek Speedway he took a violent multi flip ride with his Modified. Surprisingly, the car didn't have any major structural damage and it was taking to the MB Custom shop in Menomonie Wisconsin on Sunday and they had it back by Tuesday night. A lot of late night "candle burning" sessions this week and the car was freshly lettered and ready to race and for the first time out, they were happy to get a top ten finish.
The Modified feature started all twenty four cars on hand and with only two yellow flags and the last twenty one laps being green flag racing, it too was an entertaining event. With Rodney Sanders starting on the outside pole, it was however assumed that everyone else would be running for second but that's not the way it turned out.
Sanders had to work hard to get past Cory Crapser for the lead and he no more than gained the top spot when he spun, unassisted and shockingly so, in turn four and collected Crapser. Cory got his spot back and Sanders headed for the pits and just like that, the complexion of the race changed dramatically.
Jake Timm was a factor also and his hammer down, pound the cushion style of driving was most exciting as he battled with Crapser fore the lead with Cory Mahder lurking close behind. The cushion was fast but it was also choppy after the Late Models had pounded it and when Timm hit it right, he would gain and surge into the lead but just about as often he would jump the narrow sweet spot and get tied up and Crapser would drive back under him.
Lap after lap, Timm would push harder and harder, making some fast laps but also hammering the wall harder on those laps when things went back while Mahder still lured close behind. Finally Timm walloped the wall a big blow and he lost some ground, making Crapser the leader but just then Cory started to have trouble holding the bottom where he was running and Mahder took a hard drive into turn one and passed him for the lead. Those two continued to battle but Crapser couldn't make up the distance and Mahder, who seemingly came from no where, drove on for the wind. Crapser finished a close second and one last venture with the wall cost Timm third to Alex Williamson.
One of the best parts of the night was that we saw two good feature races but because there was only two classes and the whole show was run off at a crisp pace, all racing was done shortly after 10 pm, giving fans a lot of time to visit the pits, socialize or if so inclined, head home early.
I'm not too much about passing out awards but both MTS and the Outlaws hit a home run on this race. I remain stunned at what a great advancement MTS has made with their new bleachers and the way the track has been racing, I must say it now must be rating as among the elite tracks in the Midwest without question. Now on to the next challenge for the track and that is running water and real restrooms, not the portable johns now in use. But one mountain at a time to climb, as they say.
Thanks to the Oulaws and Bob Timm and both staffs for a top notch night of racing.
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