Exit 300 was the place to be on Wednesday night, June 2. Not just the exit but more specifically at the 300 Speedway located at exit 300 off highway 20 in Farley Iowa. It was the second of their Wide Open Wednesday series for the IMCA classes and featured once again on this night were the Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods. The four class program is designed to knock off a quick program and get folks on their way home at an early hour and for the second straight time in this series, that's exactly what they did.
On a spectacular night for racing, the first heat would start just a few minutes after 7 pm and the final checkered would wave well before 9 pm, making the whole show a less than two hour entertainment event.
The race track was significantly different than when I was here for the opener a couple of weeks ago. At least three hard days worth of work were put into the track to fix things up after the weather fighting Lucas Oil race was held here recently. Instead of a heavy, "hammer down", high speed track, they had produced a smooth and slick, top to bottom track that put a premium on handling and driving skills and not so much on raw horsepower and nerve and reminded me much more of the tracks that I see back at home.
The drivers seemed to like the change although we only heard from the winners on their views and after a victory the winning driver likely wouldn't care if the track surface was composed of 90% horse manure! However, to my untrained eyes, it seemed to race better Wednesday rather than the heavy track did and was probably not as hard on the racing equipment although those drivers that took a ride into the concrete may have begged to differ. After just a little dust during hot laps, they sprinkled the surface a couple of times and it was fine after that .
The most obvious and startling development noted early was the disappointing turnout of race cars for Wide Open Wednesday, part two. Two of the classes needed only a single heat race while the other two two ran two heats. A total of thirty six race cars were on hand in the four classes. I must admit I don't remember the last time I was down to a race in the Hawkeye state and ran into a field of cars that was so small. As the time got closer to the scheduled starting time and just no more race cars were showing up, I got more and more nervous. When they called for the driver's meeting I was half expecting an announcement that they were going to call the show, given the fact that there weren't many more fans in the stands than there were cars in the pits. Fortunately, this did not happen thanks to management and the show proceeded on just as scheduled. And also to their credit they resisted the inclination to make the show feel bigger by dragging things out and instead ran off a very crisp program that saw the heats completed in thirty two minutes, followed by a very brief break before Big Boy was calling for the Stock Cars to line up for their feature event.
My thought was that despite the fact that it was a beautiful night for racing, the fact that this was a Wednesday right after a long holiday weekend probably made it not the best of dates, something management will probably look at when they set next year's schedule.
However, despite a short field of cars, the drivers went about their business just fine thank you, and put on four good feature races. Interestingly, three of the winners on this night were also winners on opening night with only the Modified class producing a new victor. That doesn't mean, however, that all the wins came easy. In fact, two of the mains were locked up with late race passes including one that saw the decision swayed on a daring last lap pass.
The Stock Cars would run their main first. Scheduled for twelve laps, a decision was made at some point to up the laps to fifteen for their main event which I thought was a very good move. I thought their twelve lap main for Wide Open Wednesday number one was too short and it would have been tonight too, so the increase in laps was a good choice.
Tom Schmitt was the early leader of the race while opening night winner Johnny Spaw was moving forward after starting fifth on the grid. He moved up behind Schmitt and looked for a way past the leader. A yellow at the halfway point set up the winning pass. Spaw dogged Schmitt following the restart and showing great speed, beat him down the front chute and pulled up past him into turn one. After that Spaw sped away and opened up his lead over the last few laps. Jason Doyle would finish third.
It would be a tough night for Stock Car driver Chase Zaruba. He would hammer the wall in the heat race but through some hard work they got the car ready for the main event. However, things went from bad to worse when he would contact the concrete even harder in the main and end his night.
The Modified feature would find the first new winner of the night as Timmy Current would lead all twenty laps of the feature after starting on the outside pole. After Current took the early lead, a great three wide battle for second saw Eric Pollard, Bone Larson and Jeff Aikey fight for position with them exchanging lanes on the track as they fought it out. Eventually Larson would secure the spot and take off after Current with Aikey moving into third.
A lap twelve yellow would bunch the field and on the green, Aikey would take over second and take off after Current. However, the co-promoter with Ryan Duhme of special events would be up to the challenge. I'm not sure if Current is "Dark" or "Side" but on this night he was definitely "gone" as Aikey couldn't close the gap at all and Current drove on for the win.
The race of the night would be the Sport Modified feature where a last lap, very bold outside pass would secure the win for Troy Bauer. Justin Becker would lead the opening lap of the main before being passed by Jason Roth. However, one lap later and Becker was back in front.
He continued to lead as Bauer moving into second and started to put the pressure on. Troy tried both high and low and while he was able to get close, he couldn't quite get past Becker for the lead. A lap ten yellow for a spin set up a five lap sprint to the finish.
Again Bauer would try low and high but Becker was in the groove and not anxious to yield the lead. As they came off turn four to receive the white flag Bauer tried a very daring move as he went high up against the wall near "no man's land." The dust went flying but somehow Bauer kept his car off the wall and the momentum up and he squeezed past Becker up against the concrete and would extent his advantage on the last lap for the win. And in fact, Becker would try so hard to get the lead back that he would slip out of the groove and Roth would sneak past him for second. Bauer, who seems to have more fans here than anyone, as a rightfully so very happy winner. He became another of the back to back winners and in victory lane pointed out the fine shape the track was in and implored more drivers to join the field for the next event.
The finale was the Late Model feature and the nonstop twenty five lapper would be all Matt Ryan. He starred on the outside pole as the Late Models were still using the draw/redraw for their starting positions on this week and he benefitted, despite the fact that he won the last race here. Ryan built up a big lead and when Justin Kay got past Pollard for second, he was about twenty car lengths behind with less than five laps to go. However, the track was taking rubber at this point and while Ryan was struggling in the corners, Kay was bolted and he cut the lead to two car lengths when Ryan took the checkered. However, catching some one and passing them are two different things and Ryan remains unbeaten.
The next Wide Open Wednesday event at 300 Raceway comes up quickly as they will again be racing next Wednesday night at 7 pm. Hopefully the word will get out this week and both the car count and folks in the stands will be increased over this night.
Thanks to the folks at 300 for a good night of racing that was conducted in a very prompt manner, something appreciated by myself and all those others that sees Thursday morning come up quickly.
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