Shryock Dominates Modified Field at Clay County Salute to Veterans Night

 One hundred and one degrees. That was the "feels like" temperature as the first green flag dropped on the Salute to Veterans Night on Wednesday night, July 28th at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa. Fortunately, the only thing higher than the temperature was the car count which was up over the one hundred and twenty mark for the five class program that would feature a salute to all veterans on hand. This was the first night of the three night salute with big races also scheduled for Thursday night in Algona and the wrap up event on Saturday night in Boone. 

What a great night it was for the veterans and their widows as free food and drinks were provided for them, the had many prizes and gifts bestowed their way and veterans were paired up with drivers for the feature races with those winning veterans getting more rewards. There was even a "fly over" just at National Anthem time and nine drivers, veterans themselves, had their cars specially wrapped for the occasion in appropriate themes and on display in front of the grandstand before the show. It was quite an undertaking and all those involved with the organization and soliciting of prizes, cash etc. should all take a bow for their efforts. 

And the fans supported this event in a big way, as there was a very large crowd on hand despite the very uncomfortable conditions of the evening. But that seems to be the norm here at Clay County this year as the fans seem to have supported the racing here in a big time way and the drivers have responded by turning out in full force and providing some excellent racing action. 

The money still was rolling in at race time through donations from businesses so I'm truly not sure what all the races paid to win plus the other finishing positions. I did hear Chad Meyer say that the Modified feature would pay $4500 to win(at last count) with the other winners getting very healthy payoffs also, I'm just not sure exactly how much. 

As usual, the pit area was crammed to overflow with the large car count but with the nice blacktop parking lot adjacent to the track and the grassy lot with shade trees no less, many of the teams head for those two areas even before the smaller main pit area is full. And who could blame them on this steamy night. Fortunately there was a breeze moving the air around because otherwise it might not have been tolerable except for the toughest of the tough. As it was, I was sweating from places that I didn't even know could sweat but I digress. 

They moved back the starting time by a half hour in deference to the temperatures but I really don't think thirty minutes did much to help that issue. Unfortunately, the one area that could use a little work at Clay County is their promptness at starting the program. Once they get going, they do a great job of moving things along but they never seem to get started on time. And a large part of that is they continue to hot lap all classes every race night and quite frankly, by August I just don't think that is either necessary or beneficial to the race track, particularly when triple digit temperatures are ongoing. So it was a quarter after eight before the first green flag flew on Wednesday which made it a late show. They did have many special ceremonies and presentations as a part of this night that were both appropriate and necessary but they all take time and one way to shorten things up a bit would have been to eliminate hot laps. But that I suppose, is a minor complaint in comparison to all the good things that they have happening these days. They did make some bigger heat races to cut down on the number of qualifying events to help shorten up the show too. 

I can't forget to mention how great the track prep was on this night also. With the weather conditions, a pass could easily and understandably be given if the racing surface didn't turn out too good. But to the contrary, the track was smooth, fast and wide with drivers racing all over it. A big track like this sometimes allows the action to get spread out  some but three of the five feature races came down to last corner battles and that is outstanding.  So the track prep crew should get a standing ovation for their work too. 

The Stock Car, Hobby Stock and Sport Mod feature races all were decided on the last corner amidst some excellent racing action. The Stock Car feature saw Modified standout Jake O'Neal fighting off the challenge of Devin Smith right up to the finish. The leaders hit lapped traffic in the last couple of laps and the decision where to go on the track was critical. O'Neal dropped to the low side of the track after running high most of the race and he almost got pinned on the last lap but was able to accelerate off corner four and nip Smith for a thrilling win. 

The Sport Mod feature saw Jake Sachau lead for all but the last lap. He was being challenged by Matt Looft and Colby Fett with Looft particularly right on his tail. A late yellow set a two lap sprint to the finish. Fett tried to go high and pass both but got too high and clobbered the wall, triggering the yellow again. 

The second attempt to finish off the race would work but on the last corner, Sachau just didn't get a good run off the bottom and Looft drove past him for a very thrilling  win. 

The Hobby Stock feature was also a two car battle that came right down to the final corner. Mike Smith had led all the way in the feature while he was challenged by Jason Kohl, Brandon Nielsen and Cory Probst. Probst, who seems to make a habit here of starting in the back of mains and then making fantastic charges to the front, did the same again on Wednesday as he worked his way to second and then put heavy heat on Smith.

On the last couple of laps he got his nose under Smith and they were running side by side. On the fateful last lap, as they dove into turn three, Smith suddenly lost control, made a hard left and slammed into Probst, sending him flying into the infield. Smith then recovered, straightened out the car and drove home for the win over Drew Barglof. A frustrated Probst was left to sit in a cloud of dust and then idle across the line for last place. 

Kelly Shryock took no prisoners as he drove to a dominating win in the Modified feature race to wrap up the evening. He started on the outside pole and drove away from the competition in a race that would go green to checkered with no yellow flags. Tom Berry Jr would make a nice run up to second after starting eighth but would not be a challenge to Shryock who was one of those with a veterans' themed car so I suppose it was only appropriate that he take the win. 

Jaedon Davis would hold off everyone but the tech inspector in the Sport Compact feature. He would lead all the way for the apparent win but was tripped up by some unannounced malfeasance and the win would then go to Cade Lehr who would unfortunately miss out on the winner's interview with Meyer. 

It was a late evening with the final checkered flag not waving until 11:30 pm. However, with all that was going on this night, it was understandable that it would run late and the racing certainly would be memorable enough to more than overcome the groggy feeling on Thursday morning. After all, not everyone is as foolish as me and would try to drive home over five hours after the show was completed. 

Every year there seems to be a track that has a real positive "buzz" about it with lots of good things happening, good racing and big car counts and it seems that all their promotions have great outcomes and really capture the fans' interests. I believe that track this year is the Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway and their schedule of limited events, run on off nights so that more drivers can attend, has really been working great this year. 

However, this time they don't have much time to sit back and reflect, as their next big race comes up this coming Monday night as the first night of IMCA Speed Week. They will run the Philip "Fatty" Oviatt Memorial race at Spencer on Monday night with all five classes again in action and highlighted by a $5,000 to win Stock Car feature. It should be a good one. 

O'Neal Edges Overton as MARS Invades

 Tuesday night, July 27th, the action was at the Davenport Speedway located at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds on Locust Street on the West side of Davenport Iowa. While the Fair employees were very busy as they get things ready for the opening of the annual Fair upcoming soon, the race cars were also rolling on to the grounds for a special Tuesday night of racing. 

Tony Izzo Jr was bringing his MARS Late Model series to the track for the first time and along with these Late Models, IMCA sanctioned Modifieds and Late Models would also be racing full programs too.  

A fifty lapper would be on the line for the MARS drivers with ten thousand dollars going to the winner and a healthy purse for the others too as Hoker Trucking would be the sponsor on this night, add extra money to the purse and also help as they made sure all the Hoker sponsored race cars, which are considerable, would be on hand to race too. 

This was one of those events where you just don't know exactly who will be on hand to race. Yes the purse was healthy but there also has been much racing of late and some big races upcoming such as the Prairie Dirt Classic this coming weekend so it would be hard to judge just who might be on hand. 

However, when the pits opened and among the first cars to roll through the gates included Hudson O'Neal, Brandon Overton, Ricky Weiss, Bobby Pierse, Jimmy Owens and the Bloomquist car among others, you knew that some tough racing was set to take place.  While the numbers may not have been anything to set the world on fire, there would be no doubts about the quality of the cars and drivers we would be seeing. Twenty two MARS cars would eventually sign in with nice fields of both Modifieds and IMCA Late Models also. Justin Kay would be the only driver to attempt to race in both divisions of Late Models on this night while Spencer Diercks would race both MARS and Modifieds. 

MARS might be the "red" planet but on this night it was also the hot one, with both a hot field of drivers on hand to run their race and a hot, hot night in the heartland once again. The race time "feels like" temperature was ninety two degrees under a blazing sun and if there is anyone that deserves the award of the night, perhaps even more so than the drivers, it would be the track prep crew. Now I don't know just who all was involved on this night with that chore, other than track promoter Ricky Kay, any and all who had a part in the track prep should take a big bow. It was an excellent track on this night with racing all over the track, no dust or bumps and just a fine job of preparation, perhaps even more impressive given the tough conditions to deal with. If you give the drivers a good track to race on and with the outstanding quality of the competitors on hand, you know they'll put on a show. And they sure did. 

Qualifying amounted to eight quick heats and with no B Features needed, the show moved along quickly and to  the credit of management, realizing that this was a week night and recognizing just who the majority of the spectators had come to see, the MARS Late Model, for fifty laps, would be the first feature on the card. Again, congrats to the promoters for making a wise call on this. 

And the Late Models would not disappoint. Stormy Scott, who set fast time and then won the first heat, would start on the pole. The format didn't show much imagination but the drivers would overcome that on this night and put on a passing clinic. Scott would lead just over the first half of the race but he had drivers all over him for the lead. Jason Feger, Overton, Pierce, Brian Shirley and O'Neal were all right in the hunt and taking turns as they swapped positions on the track. What was most impressive was the different lines they were using on the track and racing on every inch of the quarter mile, which is as it should be done if everything is correct. 

A yellow slowed the action and this is when O'Neal did his magic on this night as he was fifth on the restart but within two laps had charged up and took over the lead as his burst to the front was spectacular. And once in front, he had to fight off several more challenges, primarily from Overton. 

Overton worked him very hard but with about ten laps to go, O'Neal pulled away slightly and then it was Pierce and Shirley who's battle for third was a dandy too. However, with only two laps to go, the yellow flew when Feger slowed on the track. I'm glad that no change took place on the last two laps because this was a yellow that could and should not have happened as Feger was getting out of the way and there really didn't need to be a caution flown.

However, there was and it made for great drama for the two lap sprint with O'Neal pounding the cushion and Overton working the inside. O'Neal was barely holding off Brandon and on the last corner decided to drop low and protect the bottom. This nearly back fired on him as he slid up to the middle of the track where he wasn't so good and Overton made one last push off the bottom and came up just .026 seconds short of winning as O'Neal hung on with the crowd on their feet. Pierce would hold off Shirley and Garrett Alberson quietly moved into the top five. It was a dandy race with much action and only three minor yellow flag slowdowns. 

As it was early, most in the crowd stuck around to watch the Modifieds and IMCA Late Models with many in the crowd being weekly observers of those two classes. The Modified feature saw three different leaders before Matt Werner locked down the top spot on lap fourteen and would go on to lead the last six laps for the win. 

Young Charlie Mohr would start on the outside pole and lead the first nine laps. However, feeling the heat from Spencer Diercks, Mohr would go too hot into turn three and spin in front of the entire field. Fortunately there was no contact with other cars but he went to the back and Diercks inherited the lead. 

Werner had moved up from twelfth to third by this time and following the restart, it took him only two laps to snatch away the lead. Running the cushion, Diercks would fight back and lead another lap before Werner, racing off the bottom . would "catfish" his way back under Dierck to take the lead and then after that, he would gradually pull away for an impressive victory with Diercks and Jason Pershy next in line. The Mods did a great job with  only that one yellow and all starters were still on the track at the finish. 

The IMCA Late Models would wrap up the evening with a good feature race also. Earlier I noted that Don Pataska was sporting a car with the "Desert Storm" colors that were made famous by Gary Webb during his run to the NASCAR weekly racing series title in I think the year 2000. Webb told me later that Pataska chose those colors to honor Webb for his fiftieth year of racing which Webb said was a very nice tribute. 

Pataska would later be battling for the lead on the opening lap of the feature which saw Kay take the early lead. The IMCA Late Models would see three different leaders during their event too, with Kay only holding the top spot for four laps before Brian Harris went flying by him on the top side of the track to take the point. 

He looked strong up there but even stronger was Matt Ryan who had started fifth and when he found the low groove to his liking, he advanced quickly to the front and on lap nine passed Harris for the lead. This race would go nonstop and while Harris pushed the cushion as hard as he could, he would have to settle for third as Kay made a recovery and fought his way back up to second. However, no one had anything for Ryan as he drove away for the win. 

All racing was completed by about 9:45 pm in what was just an excellent week night program. Management didn't fall into the trap of trying to run too many classes and they ran off a quick program. They supplied a great track to race on and the drivers did the rest. There was a big crowd on hand as there always seems to be at Davenport and I have noted that their weekly shows seem to draw big fields of cars in a year when many tracks are truly struggling in that regard. They are clearly doing many things right here and much of the turnaround has to lie with the management team of Ricky and Brenda Kay who have seemed to inject new enthusiasm for racing into the Quad Cities. Thanks to them on this night and watch their schedule page as they still have some big races upcoming on their schedule. 

The Fighting Ends Long Enough For Mills to Collect a Grand at Park Jeff

 Wow! It was one of those nights on Monday night, July 26th at the Park Jefferson International Speedway located just North of Jefferson South Dakota. I had made an attempt to see a race earlier here this year but got rained out so with my Monday open, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to make a second attempt to see some racing here. Scheduled on Monday was a Fast Shafts Qualifying event for the Modifieds with the winner to go home with a thousand dollars while the sanctioned Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks would also be racing. Perfect. Four classes was just about the right number for a Monday night show. Little did I know that I should have brought my pith helmet with me for protection as it turned into one of the stormiest nights of the racing season so far with rumbles on both the track and in the grandstand before I could make my getaway. 

Perhaps it was the heat that finally broke everyone's rationality, as it was at a "feel like" temperature of ninety eight degrees when I walked into the pits and it didn't cool down much if at all during the evening. 

Before I go any farther I need to give a tip of the hat to the real heroes of the evening and that was the track prep folks. Between the blistering hot temperatures without a lot of humidity to help the track, the blazing sun and a strong wind blowing, it was the worst of scenarios but the track turned out just fine. It stayed smooth, there was no dust and they didn't even have to touch it during the half time break. I am getting so tired of seeing more laps by the water trucks recently than the race cars that this night was a very refreshing treat. 

As a side note, I finally got to see the driver with one of the most colorful of names finally race. I had been reading his name in the results for quite some time but Monday night was the first time that I finally got to see Sport Mod driver Casey Cakebread race. We'll spare all the bad jokes about his racing being a piece of cake etc and just report that he would get a top ten finish in the main event. 

Moving on, the field of cars was not overwhelming on this Monday night but there were enough cars for two heats and a main in each class with the Modified field being the largest. and the heats went so smooth. After starting within a few moments of the advertised time, the heats cracked off very fast with one lone yellow flag and before we knew it, it was time for a quick break with the feature races to quickly assemble and roll on to the track. The one spin rule, by the way, certainly helped keep the heat races moving along. 

Let's start with the first two features which both were quite smoothly handled before things got crazy for the Stock Cars and Modifieds. The Hobby Stock feature saw Tyler Smith start on the pole and lead all twelve laps to get the win in that race. A late yellow bunched the field after he had built up nearly a full straightaway lead but he controlled the restart, pulled away again and drove to a nice win with Jeremy Ertman and Kelvan Lansink trailing. 

The Sport Mod feature would see some hard driving and some highly entertaining but cleanly executed slide jobs that spiced things up. The track was fastest on the top side but it was prime for sliders to break out and the Sport Mods tested that theory. Josh Blom would lead the first six laps before he was overtaken by Keegan Nordquist for the lead. Keegan had done a great job working his way up from the fifth starting spot by throwing a series of sliders that worked well for him and following the only yellow of the race when Mitch Schultze dropped a driveshaft on the front chute, he powered past Blom to take over the lead. 

It then became a two car race as Jake Sachau got to the runner up spot and pushed for the lead. He made several attempts to pass but Nordquist was quick enough to hold him off. One last surge on the final lap saw Sachau almost give the farm away when he went way too hot into turn thee and went flying off the end but he was able to fight his way back on to the track and still get second with Nordquist getting a fine win. Blom would settle for third. 

About this time I was thinking to myself that they sure seemed to be driving hard on this night and I wondered just what was stirring them up so. Well, things hadn't even broke the surface yet compared to what we would see in the last two feature races. 

The Stock Cars came out first for their main and they were driving as if racing for many thousands of dollars to the winner as no one was giving an inch and most were taking far more than they were willing to give. 

Travis Barker would lead fourteen and three quarters laps of the race but his lead was anything but secure. He had first Ryan Harris and then Mike Albertsen challenging him and when I say challenging, that means they were beating on his quarter panel on every turn. However, Barker would continue to fight them off through three yellow flags, during which Harris and Albertsen would also be battling for second with Mike losing both front fenders in the skirmish. 

Harris was able to regain second and he put more pressure on Barker, again hitting his quarter panel on each corner but Barker would continue to fight him off with Albertsen just waiting for an opening. It came down to the final lap when Harris would throw a slider that I would judge to be clean and clear Barker in turn three. Barker tried to cross back over on him while at the same time Albertsen dove low to the inside of Barker. All three got knotted up leaving the corner, sideways and fighting for control as the field bore down on them. 

Somehow, Albertsen found some open spare on the inside and came across the line as the winner with Harris crossing second. Poor Barker got collected by traffic and not only didn't finish, he had a damaged race car on top of it. I have to give Barker credit for keeping his cool and not starting an incident which would have been easy to do. And apparently Barker "tapped out" and said that they were just racing for the win so Harris got to keep his second spot while Barker ended up tenth as a DNF. I think he might have been too nice on that deal, as while the last corner slider looked clean, the way that Harris was literally beating on his car on every corner before that was more than just hard racing in my judgement. By the way, this race provoked the crowd to the point that security was called to settle down some folks in the grandstands. 

 It was then time to move on to the Modified feature, scheduled for twenty laps or two knockdowns, which ever came first. Ricky "The Racer" Stephan would be the early leader of the race with Shawn Barragan closely following. Highly entertaining was watching both Chris Abelsen and Cody Thompson as they worked their way up through the field after starting in the fourth and third rows respectively. They were using every move in the book as they came charging through the field. 

A Midrace yellow bunched the field and then Bob Moore and Matt Bonine proceeded to tear each others cars up, triggering another yellow, inflaming the spectators even more and there was tension in the air as somehow one had the feeling that things weren't over yet. 

Abelsen had powered past Stephan to take over the lead with Thompson close behind and after the fifth yellow, the field went single file in the few laps left and that proved to cut the chase to between Abelsen and Thompson. Thompson would try and drive under Abelsen in the corners but Chris had just enough to hold him off. 

The last lap triggered the dynamite as Thompson dove low and hard into the final corner and didn't let up. In fact, neither let up but Thompson's momentum drove Abelsen right up the track and into the dingle berries off turn four. Thompson would cross the line first as the crowd, split between the two hard chargers celebrated the win while others flipped "the bird" to Thompson as he crossed the line. 

Abelsen did not take the last lap maneuver well and on the cool down lap, he found Thompson and drilled him, spinning him out and then doing threatening "dive bomb" maneuvers around his car. 

Not surprisingly, the decision was made to disqualify Thompson for over aggressive driving and Abelsen for his pay back, so Chris Mills, who crossed the line third, was summoned back to the infield to receive the winner's trophy and check. Interestingly , in the official rundown, the two were listed as DNF and not DQ's which allowed them I would assume to get paid but that may be changed later.  The crowd was frothing at the mouth by this time and I determined a quick exit stage left seemed most appropriate as most of the crowd was headed for the  pits and I didn't think they were headed there for autographs.  Sure enough, I was no more than a couple of miles down the highway when I met two squad cars, lights blazing and sirens screaming, heading for the race track and I don't think that was because the free donuts had arrived. This evening reminded me so much of a race night in the brawling old days of the 60's and 70's that I began to look for Mr. Peabody and his "way back machine." I thought I might have stepped into a time warp. 

So, it would turn out to be a memorable night, but not for all the right reasons. The crowd turned out to be of decent size, especially given the brutal heat and the racing was good until folks just got carried away for whatever reason. Thanks to Adam Adamson for clearing me for the evening and all the other nice folks at the back gate where working was just plain miserable on this night. I believe the next race for these classes is the two night Iron Bowl which might be properly named since some may have to race while in irons!

Sheppard Continues To Roll at Red Cedar Speedway

 The World of Outlaws Late Models wrapped up their northern swing with a visit to the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie Wisconsin. Regular travelers with the World of Outlaws series have spent the last couple of weeks here in the northern climes where it has been very un northern like with very hot temperatures being the rule for this whole time. And they finished it off with another scorcher as it was a hot and sunny day in the Dunn County area of west central Wisconsin. The finish of this tour has been a tough one as teams had a relatively long overnight pull from Fergus Falls Minnesota here to Wisconsin and will surely be looking for a couple of days off and a nice long week break before the series starts for those teams not heading to Nebraska for more racing. 

Along with the WoO Late Models, the night would feature a full racing program for open Modifieds and Limited Late Models running under USRA rules but not being sanctioned on this night. The choice of support classes for this event would seem to be a little suspect as running open Modified rules would seem to do nothing but punish the weekly racers who support the class and with the first appearance of the Limited Late Models not being sanctioned, the word was that many of the teams had decided not to participate and come race time, an embarrassingly low number of six were on hand to take the green. With this class set to be one of the featured classes in an upcoming Dunn County Fair race here this coming Thursday, this low car count was probably not a very great way to get people excited about that program. Frankly, featuring "slow Late Models" with open Late Models is not what I would call good promoting either. 

The Outlaw car count was not suffering like the Limited cars were however. They actually topped the four race mini series on this night with thirty four cars signed in to race. The Outlaws owe a big gratitude of thanks to the spec engine WISSOTA cars who supported these four races even though they did so knowing that they would be facing a tough task, giving up a hundred or more horse to the open cars. Yet there were thirteen of them on hand Sunday plus about four more drivers that would be considered locals that beefed up with open motors for this invasion. A bonus for the highest finishing spec engine car would have been a nice additional promotional trick that failed to be used.  The fact that this track is the home track for Jimmy Mars and that the MB shops are just miles away and that MB's dominate the numbers of racers in this area all probably helped the willingness of so many drivers to sign in and race on this night.  Ironically, the spec engine cars did not fair nearly as well as they did at other races on this tour when at least a couple cracked the top ten each night. At Red Cedar, the best finishes were eleventh and twelfth by Pat Doar and John Kaanta. 

Thomas Hunziker and Ashton Winger showed how tough a racers they are as after racing with the Summer Nationals tour last night in Ohio, both towed all the way to central Wisconsin to race on Sunday and perhaps a few other racers before that tour begines. Hunziker is , I believe, just trying to get as much racing as he can in while here in the Midwest while Winger likely will have a stop at Mars shop to patch up some equipment and perhaps even pick up a new car after trashing one in Illinois not so long ago. 

This evening would not go swimmingly for Winger either as his motor would lock up and while scheduled to start seventh, he would jump in Sam Mars' spec engine car and start tail back and later finish sixteenth, one lap in arrears. 

After Brandon Sheppard and Frankie Heckenast timed in quickest in their groups, four heats and a pair of B Features would set the twenty four car field for the main event. Ricky Weiss, still looking for a win and seemingly getting closer to that every event, would lead the first seven laps after drawing the pole. it took Sheppard that long to build up his momentum on the high side of the track but with that groove speeding up and Weiss still hugging the bottom, Sheppard blew past on the high side to take the lead. 

Dillard was quick too and he moved up to second and the battle was on between him and Sheppard. Dillard would nose past on the inside to lead a single lap but Sheppard would then again overtake him for the top spot. Some times they were very close and then there were times when Sheppard would pull away by several car lengths but they were clearly the class of the field. There was quite a bit of lapped traffic that made things interesting but every time Sheppard seemed to prevail when this happened as he made all the right choices and a couple of times Dillard got pinned back by traffic and lost a little ground. 

There were three yellows in the first nine laps but the last thirty one would go by nonstop and that was when the traffic started to accumulate. At the finish, Sheppard would have several car lengths and the lapped car of Doar between himself and Dillard as they lapped up to the eleventh place finisher. Chris Madden would finish a relatively quiet third while Mars would fall back to seventh but would rally late and pass Weiss on the last lap to get fourth. 

For the four race mini series, there would be sixty three different drivers that would attempt qualifying efforts and twelve drivers that would make all four races. Perhaps most importantly, very large crowds would be on hand for all four events as promoters were graced by great weather all week. 

The Modified feature would be led from start to finish by A.J. Diemel, a local driver who on this night was driving an open motor car that occasionally races with the USMTS. Matt Leer would stay with Diemel briefly but Diemel would pull away to the point that the only way he wasn't going to win was if he made a mistake. And running the very high groove, he would manage to put his outside tires on the concrete in turn two late in the race but would still soldier on for the win. John Doelle, a very infrequent racer at this track, would put together a strong third place run. 

The Limited Late Model feature would be significant only by what happened after the race was over. Joe Provinzino drew the pole and ran away from the field in the nonstop feature, crossing the finish line a full straightaway in front in what was not a scintillating event. Afterward, in victory lane, Joe Provo's main comment was his complaint that his glasses kept steaming up during the race and he stated that he ran both his heat and feature having a very difficult time seeing where he was going, which should have given the rest of the field some pause. 

However, that steamed up glasses issue apparently continued even after the victory lane ceremony as Joe drove right past the tech area and to the pits, which prompted an immediate disqualification of the driver as Joe went from hero to zero just that fast!

With the disqualification, second place finisher Brett Shafer was awarded the win and got the post event photo op but no interview. 

After a one year break following the first Outlaw race here in 2019, this event was surely a success and will likely be on the schedule once again next year, with all racing done by 10 pm on this Sunday. 

#28's Are Hot as Erb edges Out Mars at River Cities Speedway

 Friday night, July 16th, the World of Outlaws Late Models headed for the prairie and ended up at the "legendary bull ring", the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks North Dakota where they would battle it out on the high banked quarter mile oval that provides action like perhaps no other track around, certainly in this area for sure. 

Along with the Late Models, the 410 Sprints and WISSOTA Street Stocks would also  be racing a full program as RCS maintains their tradition as one of the few tracks in the country that runs Late Models and 410 Sprints on a weekly basis. Even when one class or the other is running a premier program such as this, the other class is still always a part of the program as track management has determined that local fans' interests are pretty much split right down the middle and if one division is being featured, the other one better still be racing to get those fans to come out too as apparently both groups are rather narrow minded in their tastes. So even if the WoO Sprints are here, which is twice a year, the NLRA Late Models will also be racing along with one of the other support classes. 

Thirty Late Models signed in to race on this night, a good field of cars supported by at least a dozen of the local, spec engine WISSOTA cars as pretty much the same situation occurs here as was the case at Gondik Law on Tuesday and will also be the case at I-94 Sure Step and Red Cedar the rest of this busy weekend. Without the local cars, there would hardly be enough cars to put on a respectable show but they cut the locals little slack, even requiring the crate engine cars to weigh the same as the other cars, even though they are carried much less horsepower. 

But despite all this, it was certainly good that the local cars did participate and they did darn well. Brad Seng started fifth, ran third for quite awhile and even though he faded slightly at the end, he still finished seventh. Joey Pederson started sixth and finished right behind Seng and Cole Schill just got edged out by Chris Madden for tenth at the line. All this from steel block, 366 cubic inch motors. 

It was good to see Cade Dillard back on the track after missing the Gondik Law show because of illness. He apparently was quite ill and it is believed that he got some kind of food poisoning that required his hospitalization. Local rookie driver Mike Greseth, winner of five feature races already this year, had terrible luck as his time trial effort was quick enough to put him on the second row for a heat but just as he crossed the line, his drive shaft ripped out of the car and he was done for the night. It would have been fun to see him race. 

Brandon Sheppard and Dennis Erb were the quick qualifiers in their groups and Erb would win a heat also as this would be his night to shine. Sheppard was caught up in a bit of controversy as he was called for a jump start in his heat, set back a row and then finished second to Jimmy Mars in that heat. He was still not happy when he appeared for the redraw and when he redrew seventh he was even more irate. His feature run was nothing special on this night either as he just didn't have it and settled for fifth with a late pass of Frankie Heckenast to get that spot. 

Four heats and a B Feature with some DNF and DNS cars allowed all seven who finished the B to get into the main event. Among the victims was Dan Dowling who flipped his car during the B when he got into a multi car tangle. 

Erb would start on the pole for the main event and would lead thirty nine of forty laps to get  the win. He would shock some as instead of running "the ditch" as he normally does, he was up on the cushion and rim riding throughout the event. This is a very unlikely spot to find him and even more so at this track which is highly banked yet has no outside wall and with the cars running dangerously close to the edge, one slip and a wild ride occurs off the banking with an uncertain outcome at best. 

However, that was were Erb was fastest so he stayed out there. Mars came up to challenge on several occasions and actually appeared to be faster at a couple of junctures of the race, including leading lap twenty two, but each time Erb would get up on the wheel and take the lead back over. Mars' run was hampered too because the lapped cars of which there were about five, were all running right on the bottom and every time Jimmy would have to move up to get past them, he would lose time to Erb. At the finish of the race, Dennis would have two lapped cars between himself and Mars. Ryan Gustin and Dillard had a good battle for third until Gustin would finally drive by on the high side, which is right where you might expect him to run with Sheppard rounding out the top five with a rather quiet performance. There were only three yellows in the race and five cars that didn't finish. 

Eighteen 410 Sprints would race their main event with Austin Pierce quickly getting to the lead after starting in the second row and he would fend off all challenges from Jake Hastings to get the win. Recently returned from injury Mark Dobmeier would finish third after starting tenth. There would be the almost one red flag for a tipping Josh Swangler but no injuries with Wade Nygaard and Brendan Mullen completing the top five. 

Eighteen WISSOTA Street Stocks would also be on hand and this race would be a walk over for Tucker Pederson who would start on the pole, endure through four yellow flags and lead from start to finish for the win. Tucker, who's dad Joey would later take a top ten in the Late Model main, beat Ryan Johnson and Aaron Blacklance for the win. Blacklance has been very fast here lately but a poor starting position of ninth didn't allow him time to get to the front on the tiled and fast track. 

All racing was done before 10:30 pm and a very large crowd was on hand to support the racers with all seemingly pleased with what they saw. This town is a racing hot bed in the upper Midwest and they support their events here as well as at other area tracks. 

Casino "Summersota Nationals" To O'Neill

 Playing weather roulette, I ended up on Wednesday night, July 14th at the Casino Speedway in Watertown South Dakota. This was actually my original plan anyway, but as I traveled West and the radar seemed to confirm that it was more and more likely that I would need to turn around and head home when the official word was given, it was like I had been given new life when word came on the track's face book page that they were fully ready to go and that the weather had cleared. In talking to promoter Todd Good as I was on the way, he indicated that at that time they were still planning on racing but that they still had to sit through "some stuff" before they would know for sure whether they could race or not. It seems that "stuff" was much more on radar than in reality as no more than a few sprinkles fell at the track and they would have to water just as normal. I would later find out that in eastern parts of town and actually no more than a couple miles as the crow would fly from the track, they had downpours but no more than sprinkles at the track. Well good, it looks like they will race after all. 

On hand on Wednesday was the "Summersota" featuring the USMTS Modifieds racing a full program for five thousand dollars to the winner along with full shows for WISSOTA sanctioned Street Stocks and Midwest Modifieds. 

This would be USMTS's first mid week race of the year and they booked this event as the tour heads for central Minnesota this coming weekend for a pair of big races paying five and ten grand apiece. 

A powerhouse field was assembled for this race with forty five drivers signing in to race. The USMTS new formula that sees them racing much less often, mostly for weekend shows and for substantially increased amounts of money so far seems to be a winner although it is probably still too early in the game to make a definitive decision. The top fourteen in current points and eighteen of the top twenty were on hand for this race as clearly, so far, more drivers are following the entire tour. That was a sticking point that reached a head last year when a USMTS booked race would guarantee for sure no more that five or six drivers because the length of the tour had simply wore too many out either physically or in the pocket book. Thus the new plan put together during the off season by Todd Staley. 

Once again I sound the bragging horn for the drivers too in my region of the country as one of these races still doesn't become a big success unless some local talent adds to the show and helps to fill the pits and the WISSOTA drivers from my region do that as good as anyone. Just like the Late Model show last night in Superior, the Modified drivers from this region added between fifteen and twenty more cars to the field and for local fans it gave them someone they knew to cheer for. And once again they more than held their own with two or three(depending on your definition of who is a traveler) finishing among the top five and local star Scott Ward among them finishing a strong third. 

An interesting and unexpected addition to the field on this night was Iowa driver Kyle Brown. Brown, a stalwart of racing in that state and certainly prominent for both his racing and car building, was at a race up in North  Dakota and ran into a dispute about a technical issue with his motor. He was apparently disqualified and issued a very hefty fine. I will not go into any more details as they are all unsubstantiated but he clearly left that tour and instead would up with the USMTS racing here in South Dakota. With the mud still on his car from his previous race and likely no changes to the car except tires perhaps and a bigger spoiler, he failed to make the field on Wednesday but further ramifications on this story are likely to yet be told. 

USMTS still is doing time trial qualifications that they started this year and while I am never a fan of time trials, they have refined the process so that it goes smoother and doesn't take as much time. However, they put a full heat race worth of cars on the track at the same time to qualify and nine cars on this quarter mile bull ring here at Casino generally means that someone is going to get messed up by being too close to a slower car or one having troubles going the right way around the track. With a four car invert, I imagine that some of the drivers are now starting to get pretty good at "dogging" just enough that they make sure they start in the front row but not so slow that they get pushed back to row three. It is a tricky artform but there is always someone that masters the skill. 

Five really intense heat races and a pair of B Features would set the starting field for the main event with series, track and emergency provisional starters making a field of twenty five for forty laps. Jayson Good, son of the track owner, was the track provisional while Brooks Strength, the quickest qualifier overall needed an emergency when he failed to qualify through either a heat or B Feature.  And one of my WISSOTA buddies, Dan Ebert, would be the early leaded after starting on the outside pole and fighting off Tyler Davis. 

Ebert would lead up through the first and only yellow of the race would occur on lap thirteen. O'Neill was definitely coming at this point and Ebert was torn where to run on the track and he opted to come off the top and run the lower line. And on this case , it was not the right choice as O"Neill went steaming by him and took over the lead.  O'Neill would lead the rest of the race and would never be seriously challenged although Ebert was able to close some when O'Neill got into lapped traffic. 

To his credit, Jake was able to get past the slower cars and then get back up to the cushion where he then again pulled away from Ebert. Two WISSOTA regulars in Scott Ward and Dustin Strand would battle for most of the race for third and that was very entertaining for the crowd. Ward just started driving a Modified just a few weeks ago after having concentrated on his Late Model and also one for his daughter Morgan, for the last few years. He is simply a hired gun for the Modified but he drove the cushion well and finished a strong third. Unfortunately, Strand was disqualified after the race, reportedly for simply not scaling and Dustin Sorensein, who started thirteenth, got fourth with Davis fifth. 

Interestingly, the race had only that single yellow flag when Tanner Mullins slowed with a flat tire and all twenty five starters will still on the track after forty laps. O'Neill is on a roll and took over second in series points with the win, pole vaulting past Rodney Sanders into that spot. 

With Sixteen and twenty three cars respectively, either the Street Stocks or Midwest Modifieds needed a B Feature. The Street Stock feature saw the top two in current WISSOTA national points in the class battle it out for the win. Parker Anderson, a northern Wisconsin driver who has been spending much time in Minnesota and the Dakotas racing, is leading the national points with just under thirty feature race wins already this year while "the Badger", Justin Vogel from Brooten Minnesota, has been trying to catch him. 

On this night the win would go to Vogel who got to the front first and while Anderson quickly charged up from tenth to second, he simply had nothing for Vogel on this night. The last thirteen laps went off nonstop and with an open track, Anderson had his chance but he couldn't catch Vogel on this night. Only one car failed to finish the event. 

Mike Nichols dominated the Midwest Modified feature leading from start to finish. He had the lead on lap one after starting fourth and with only one yellow early in the contest, he had much lapped traffic to deal with but that caused him no troubles and he had a substantial lead over Derek Rieck when the checkered flag flew. Rieck was surrounded by ten cents worth of drivers as he had Mike Nichols in front of him and younger brother Tommy Nichols chasing him at the finish. Only one yellow in this race and only one starter that didn't which made for a rather crowded race track throughout this contest. For those that don't know, Casino Speedway is a quarter mile high banked track that would qualify for "bullring status" event in a state like Illinois. Racing is close and intense here and the black dirt flies just like in Macon. And the fans here are especially passionate about the sport. 

The crowd was a very big one for this night of racing, one of the highlights on the Casino Speedway schedule. And I hope that promoters note the success of this event while running on a week night as so many have gone to having their special events as weekend shows which just makes it hard to get the kind of car county noting a special event when so many other tracks are running at the same time. I've often said that a good promoter could fill his bleachers on any day of the week but they need to work at it and not just expect to open the gates and have the spectators stampede to their seats. 

Thanks to to Todd Good and his staff and all the USMTS officials and their staff. 

Sheppard Edges Madden at Gondik Law

 Tuesday night, July 13th, the World of Outlaws Late Models made an appearance at the Gondik Law Speedway in Superior Wisconsin as a part of their swing through Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. With these name drivers seldom making an appearance at this part of the world, this race is always a highly anticipated event for race fans from the Twin Ports area of Superior Wisconsin and Duluth Minnesota and area. Along with the Late Models on this night, the WISSOTA sanctioned Modifieds and Hornets would also be racing. 

It was a warm and humid night in the Twin Ports which is generally a pretty rare thing although it has happened more this warm Summer than so for probably a number of years. And in fact, the track dodged a bullet on Tuesday as some big storms developed just South of Superior but it appeared that for once Lake Superior helped them out as it seemed that the relatively cool air near the lake steered the storms away from the city which it can do on occasion. All the speedway saw was one large clap of thunder and about two drops of rain. 

Gondik Law Speedway is a bit tricky to find the entrance into unless you're familiar with the facility and the Outlaw rigs were trolling the neighborhood as they drove back and forth before finally finding the proper entrance gate and eventually into the pit area. 

For those not aware, Gondik Law Speedway is a bit of an unwieldy name for a racetrack but the management team at this fairgrounds facility found a corporate sponsor in attorney Rick Gondik and part of his sponsorship included naming rights to the facility which used to be known at Superior Speedway and before that, Tri State Speedway. The four tenth mile red clay oval features long straightaway and banked sweeping corners and is generally prepared to slick up and be a handling rather than brute horsepower track and that was the way it would be on this night. 

The Outlaws showed up with about nine or ten(depending on who you count as an Outlaw) of their own cars and then depend on local and regional talent to fill out the field. Fortunately for them, the area Late Model drivers, running under the WISSOTA sanction, are generally ready to give it their best and show up to try and run against the open motors. While giving away lots of horsepower to the open cars, the area drivers generally show well as despite running spec engines, these teams are no slouches and have plenty of talented drivers in their midst. In fact, two of the WISSOTA drivers, Steve Laursen and John Kaanta, would make the redraw and Laursen would be lucky enough to draw the pole for the forty lap main event. 

There was considerable talk as one of the Outlaws best, Cade Dillard, was not on hand due to illness and was resting in Menomonie Wisconsin. He apparently became ill while at Mars' shop and was briefly hospitalized and was currently resting, hoping that he would be healthy enough to run the upcoming weekend races. Jimmy Mars taped a yellow #97 on his car so Dillard could receive owner's points for the night. What specifically was bothering Dillard was not revealed by the tight lipped crew of Mars and Outlaw officials and I suppose, it really is none of our business but hopefully he will be back behind the wheel soon. 

Qualifying heats and a B Feature would only leave three cars not making the feature for forty laps. Dennis Erb Jr, hoping to continue his recent success, would take the lead from the outside pole and hold the top spot for well over twenty laps until Brandon Sheppard would start to build up momentum on the high side of the track and gradually cut into the lead. He would make a big sweep off turn four and blast past Erb on the high side for the lead. 

Sheppard would be comfortably out front as Chris Madden moved into second and he would be able to cut into that lead slightly. However, with only two laps to go, a yellow for a slowing car would bunch the field and Madden would make a strong push in the final two laps. He would draw even with Sheppard down the back chute on the final lap but would race Brandon clean on the final corner, staying in his lane and allowing Sheppard room to maneuver on the top side, rather than try and crowd him into the wall or run him out of room. Sheppard would use the high side momentum to squeeze past Madden off turn four and score a narrow victory with Erb Jr hanging on for third. It would have been a shame for Sheppard to lose the race on that late yellow which was a manufactured one that didn't need to be called but as they say in the business, made for great theatre with a near photo finish. 

Laursen and Kaanta would hang with the big motors for quite some time but a couple of late cautions would hurt their efforts as "nitro" James Giossi would be the highest finishing spec engine car in fifth but finishing ahead of some pretty big names such as Gustin, Mars and Weiss. 

Earlier in the evening Weiss had told me that he had a new car in the upper berth of his trailer that he would be testing on Wednesday at the Norman County Speedway in Ada Minnesota as they  were looking for a slick track to work on setups and this track was on the way to Grand Forks.

The Modified feature got off to a rocky start with two yellows before a lap could be completed. After that, however, they ran off nonstop in their twenty lapper and it was local driver and legend Darrell Nelson who would come from the second row, lead lap one and then run off and hide on the field. He spanked the field to a level not often seen as he had a full straightaway on the pack at the finish as he had his MB cooking on this night. Shane Sabraski would eventually work his way into second but would have no chance of catching Nelson unless a yellow appeared and that did not happen. Sketter Estey would finish third. 

The Hornets wrapped up the night as many headed for the gates with Mac Johnston leading this race, which went nonstop, from start to finish and winning by a big margin over Casey Fitzpatrick and Tyler Schramm. 

A big crowd, which paid forty bucks a pop, grandstands or pits, was on hand for the show and they all seemed pleased to have seen what they did which likely means that the Outlaws will be back in town come July of 2022. Thanks to the Outlaw officials and the help at Gondik Law Speedway, a track I get to quite often during the year and only seventy five minutes from my back door. 

Aikey Tops Osborn Memorial Race At Independence

 In what turned out to be one of the most successful promotions of the year to date in the Hawkeye State, Jeff Aikey topped the first annual Denny Osborn Memorial Race on Tuesday night, July 6th at the Independence Motor Speedway. Aikey would take the lead one lap short of the halfway point and would hold the top spot the rest of the sixty lap distance. 

Independence typically holds an open Late Model race during the annual Buchanan County Fair which was just in the setup stages on Tuesday night which unfortunately meant that the "Fair Food" was not yet available. This year however, event promoter Travis Smock and area businessman and former promoter here Todd Summers decided to call it the Denny Osborn Memorial in honor of the local driver who was a star performer here for several decades and passed away in May after battling cancer. Much money was raised from the business community, such that the race paid $7,200 to win when it usually pays three grand and many other positions also got a purse boost. The IMCA sanctioned Modifieds and Stock Cars also got a boost in pay with both paying a grand to win their respective events. 

It was a brutally hot and steamy July night but the grandstand was packed come race time and probably hadn't seen a crowd this large since perhaps in the glory days of Iowa Late Model racing when Osborn was one of the king pins of dirt track racing in the state of Iowa. 

In a nice touch, the Late Model driven by Ben Seemann and the Modified of Troy Cordes both wore special tin for this race as both cars were adorned with the bright orange colors that Osborn made familiar and racing with his #72 on both cars. 

A very large field of thirty eight Late Models signed in to race along with twenty three Stock Cars and twenty eight Modifieds as everyone wanted to be a part of this special show. Particularly interesting were the number of driver changes for this night in the Late Models as many drivers that apparently didn't have legal cars for this race still wanted to be a part of it and made arrangements to have a ride for this show. 

Among the many driver changes were Darin Duffy in the car that Aikey has driven so far this year as Jeff would debut a new Rocket chassis for this show. Jeremiah Hurst would be driving the #40 car for Joel Callahan, Chad Simpson would be driving the #93 for Jay Johnson, Brian Harris would be driving the #99 Curless Motorsports entry, Ryan Gustin would be driving the #87 for Johnny Emerson and with Smock busy being the promoter, Dallon Murty would be taking his first Late Model ride driving Smock's #98 car. One could have made some good coin with a printed program with on this night with all the driver changes. Inde open rules would be used on this night which I believe mirror the SLMR rules while the other two classes would be running IMCA rules. 

Three heats and a feature race using the draw/redraw method would set the field in both the Stock Cars and Modifieds while passing points(eminently fairer) would be used to set the field for the Late Models with four heats and a pair of B Features to set the twenty four starters. Some strong runners such as Darrel DeFrance, Bobby Hansen, Seemann, Nick Marolf and Jill George would all be left off the starting field, not making it with their two chances in either a heat or a B and no provisional starters for a twenty four car field. 

Racing started right at 7 pm and with no more than a single yellow in all the qualifying events, it was not long at all before announcers Ryan Clark and "Big Boy" were ready to introduce the lineups for the main events with Stock Cars being first on the agenda. 

In this race we would be treated as a crowd to probably the best passing performance on the night as Dallon Murty one again left the crowd in wonder with the marvelous job of driving that he did as he almost with scientific precision, picked apart the Stock Car field. It was a joy to watch him as he moved high and low on the track, searching for the holes to make passes and always seemingly one step ahead of the field in figuring just where exactly on the track he needed to be to make passed and hook up in the fast lane. 

He would start in the third row of the race and would maneuver past Tom Schmitt, Cole Mather and Phil Holtz before batting it out with Johnny Spaw for the lead. Murty would go to the cushion against the low riding Spaw and would drive past him on lap ten to take over the lead. 

A couple of yellow flags would bunch up the field between laps ten and twenty and Spaw, not giving up, was able to nose back into the lead for a lap before Murty again resumed with the top spot. Late in the race, Spaw continued to pressure and with the top side of the track seemingly slowing down just a little, Murty found a new line that saw him diamonding off the corners which worked better and allowed him to open up a slight lead which he would hold to the finish. I can't say for sure but I believe that Murty was actually driving his father's car on this night. Spaw, Mather, Holtz and Dusty Vis would complete the top five in a race that saw only four starters not go the distance but they were so evenly matched that not a car was lapped in twenty five laps. Murty reported that his win Tuesday was number twenty five already this season!

The Modified feature presented a great battle, but unfortunately it was for second as Chris Simpson had the field covered easily for twenty five laps to get the win in this race, stopped only twice for minor spins. 

The Mars brothers and A.J. Diemel are trying to expand the MB Customs brand of Modified chassis to this part of Iowa and to whit, they have put one of the state's best drivers behind the wheel of their open wheel brand for special events and on this night Simpson was the class of the field. Of course, it didn't hurt that he redrew the pole but he powered away from the field to the extent that there was little doubt who was the fastest in class on this night. 

Simpson held a comfortable lead for most of the race while a great battle for second saw Mike Burbridge, Timmy Current and Troy Cordes battle for the runner up honors. Cordes and Current took turns trying to dislodge Burbridge from second but Mike proved tough to get past and he held off multiple challenges for that position. Late in the race Current would fade back a bit and the challenge came from Joel Rust who was pounding the cushion and came from the sixth row. 

He too would challenge Burbridge for second but come up short as the Delhi racer had one of his strongest runs that I have seen in quite some time. Cordes and a steady Derrick Stewart would complete the top five. 

The Late Models would wrap up the evening with their sixty lap main event. Since early in the afternoon, the discussion among many in the pits was how well would the race track hold up under the brutal weather conditions and the pounding of the big field of Late Models. Tracks "rubbering up" has been a constant issue for many Late Model events already held this year and I personally think I have seen more "rubbered up" Late Model shows already this year than I have for many years. Whether it is the tires, the weather, the tracks themselves or some other dark force, there have been a lot of one lane, follow the leader types of race tracks this year and unfortunately, despite their best efforts to water and scrape the track, Inde would follow that pattern once again on this night. 

It was less that ten laps into the race before it was apparent that the track had went one lane, with a rubber trail that the racers had to be in to go fast and if they slipped out of that lane, they dropped like rocks. It was necessary to go one lane racing and passing became very tough indeed. 

Before this came to a head, there was a scramble for the lead with Brian Harris leading the opening lap until he was challenged by Sean Johnson. Sean took over the lead on lap four when Harris slipped over the banking on the back chute.

Johnson would lead for eight laps but with his car not being able to hold the bottom lane, he slipped out of the groove and Justin Kay, who had moved up from sixth, took over the top spot. He then built up a comfortable lead until he caught lapped traffic and with the tail end cars not wanting to yield their spots and everyone at nearly the same pace, Kay got hung up there. 

The rest of the front five cars gradually caught up with him with Aikey making the most moves. He started tenth and was the best at moving forward as his very aggressive style of driving traffic gave him success but he was also doing a good share of leaning on other drivers to get by in the corners. He closed on Kay and the battle would begin. However, the sole yellow for a spin with twenty nine laps complete would change the course of the race and alter any strategy that might have been forthcoming. 

The Delaware double file restart would tell the tale of this race as Aikey got a great jump and was able to get up beside Kay and then drop past him down the back chute to take over the lead. Forgive me for playing the "Devil's Advocate" here but that restart looked for all the world to me like a jumped start by the #77 car and one that seemed to be more blatant than a couple of other starts over the course of the night that were called back. However, no call was made and the race continued.

Aikey would eventually catch the back of the pack and he would have his issues too. Twice he tried to pass cars on the outside of turn four, got out of the rubber and almost gave up the lead. On the second one, he had to make a panic move to the bottom, diving down so hard that he forced a closely following Kay to have to steer under the ute tire in that corner, costing him second to Simpson as Kay seemed to be in the wrong place all night. 

Simpson would have nothing for Aikey and a very popular win was achieved by Aikey in front of the home track fans. Aikey has raced at Inde forever and raced against Osborn and from being from the area, he well knows the significance of this win as it had special meaning to him, knowing the Osborn family well. Logan Duffy and Johnson would complete the top five in this race that saw only seven of twenty four not complete the distance. 

Despite a slightly less than scintillating Late Model feature, this was certainly a great event and the huge crowd mostly loved the finish with the home town driver taking the big money. All those responsible for organizing this event and gathering the contributions are to be applauded for their efforts. I happened to be sitting in the next section to the Osborn family reserved section and many of them were wearing racing t-shirts of their era and they alone were worth the price of admission. This was one of the "feel good" events of the year to date and it is always a good thing to honor the legends of our sport that drove it into the modern era. I don't know whether this race is destined to become an annual event or if this would be just a "one of a kind" but either way, it was a great way to spend a Tuesday night with the Fair atmosphere at the dirt track. 

Gansen and Kay Top Strategy Filled Dubuque Features

 What better way to complete a busy Fourth of July holiday than a trip to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway for their Fourth of July extravaganza. This Sunday night race would be Fast Shaft qualifier event with the Modified feature paying a grand to win and along with that , sponsor contributions had raised the Hobby Stock feature payoff to nearly five hundred dollars to the winner along with boosts to other finishing positions also. In addition, the Late Models and Sport Mods would be racing along with the Limited Late Models and AIRS series so a full night of racing action was promised. 

It was a really steamy night but just what you would expect, I guess, for the Fourth of July holiday. For the longest time it didn't seem like anyone was going to show up to watch the racing but I guess folks were just hanging out where it was cool until the last minute because by the time they dropped the first green flag, there was a very nice crowd on hand. And oh, by the way, there were also fireworks to conclude the program too. 

Eighty four race cars in five classes signed in to race on this night with only the Limited Late Models not fielding a group of cars that was sustainable. All other classes either had two or three heats while the Limited cars barely had enough for one small heat. With the seemingly minor differences in rules between the Limited Late Models and IMCA Late Models( in fact sometimes some of the Limited cars run with the regular Late Models at various times) it doesn't seem logical to be presenting both classes anyway. 

An interesting pattern change has seemed to develop over recent years at this track. Even though the Wisconsin border is barely a few miles from here and the only type of racing in Southwestern Wisconsin is either IMCA or IMCA type, the number of Wisconsin based cars at this track was always very, very small. In the meantime, there always used to be a large number of Illinois cars, particularly from the Freeport area, that always raced here. Now that pattern has done a hundred and eighty degree turn. While the Illinois cars are very scarce at the track, the number of Wisconsin based cars has ballooned. In fact, on this night, with twenty two Badger state cars, just at a quarter of the entire field was drivers that had crossed the Mississippi to race here at the Fairgrounds. While track announcer "Big Boy" proclaimed that it was sometimes hard to get racers to come out for holiday events, it seemed on this night at least that the field of cars was actually larger than their normal fields on a Sunday night would be. 

It was a brutal night to try and get moisture into a racing surface but they were dumping the water on continuously from the time I got to the track and while they might have had a little more dust than normal, and of course the wind was blowing right into the grandstands, the track actually seemed to improve as the evening progressed and I thought they had an excellent track to race of for the feature races with plenty of different grooves and lots of side by side racing that always seems to be prevalent here. 

While I confess to not knowing a lot of the drivers here, I did visit briefly with a couple in the pits before the show and one I talked to was James Curran who told me that he would soon have both a new Late Model and a new Limited Late Model to put on the track as he races in both classes as the opportunities present themselves. 

Spotted in the grandstands watching the show on this night was Hall of Famer Ed Sanger and while I'm told that he often attends the races here, it is still a thrill to see a man who has had so much to do with elevating Late Model racing as a whole on hand to watch the evening's show. In the years when I discovered Late Model racing in the state of Iowa, he was "The Man" and while there were plenty of other outstanding drivers at that time, he was still the one to beat. 

Sunday's show was a draw/redraw program for all classes which is eminently fairer for the racers but does not always do favors for the fans looking for racing with lots of passing. On this night the results were a bit spotty as three of the five feature races were won right off the pole with one driver leading all laps but that statistic might also be just a bit misleading. Let's look closer and seen what transpired on this corn growing night in northeastern Iowa. 

The Sport Mod feature was first and in this race Troy "King Kong" Bauer did kill the field. He started in the second row, had the lead before one lap was completed and would lead the rest of the way without a serious challenge being thrown his way. Gage Neal and Tyler Soppe did their best to keep up with him as he slalomed through lapped traffic but they could never really push his lead. 

The Hobby Stock class has made a very nice improvement at this track. On life support for a period of time when they just couldn't produce any cars, the number of local and area cars has enlarged recently and the extra money on this night likely produced a few more as twenty of them were on hand. 

This race too, was won right off the pole with Daniel Wauters leading from start to finish. However, it was a close race and Wauters was challenged by a pack of about four cars that seemed to be trading positions on nearly every lap. After a mid race yellow, Wauters drove a very conservative race, hugging the low groove and if he hadn't been so fast accelerating off the corners, he likely would have been passed. He indicated that he likely had broken a shock or something along those lines that made him drive a very conservative race. When I first met Daniel a number of  years ago at a race in Maquoketa, he was just getting started in the sport and was as green as the grass in our lawn at home after we got a needed storm on Sunday night. However, he seems to have picked things up nicely, thank you, as his win on this night was reported to be his twentieth of the year already!

The Limited Late Model feature was done quickly with David Webster passing Mitch Current after one lap and then holding off Steve Schueller for the win. Webster, the veteran racer from across the river, seems to have a Late Model for every sanctioning body that he competes from the biggest sanctioning bodies in the country to the local races. 

The Modified and Late Model features were both excellent. In the Modified feature, Bryce Garnhart led for the first fifteen laps but he was under constant attack from both Matt Gansen and Ryan Duhme. They were all over him in each corner as Garnhart worked the low line on the track. Gansen was relentless as he hammered the cushion and lap after lap he started to edge up on Garnhart. 

Finally, Bryce, feeling that his line was slowing down, jumped up to the cushion himself and that proved to be his downfall as Gansen then moved inside him and made the winning pass with just five laps to go. Gansen then moved back up to the cushion and Garnhart went back to the bottom to try and slide under Matt and retake the lead. 

However, Gansen had the high groove down pat and he drove on for the win. Garnhart pushed so hard on the last lap, trying to regain the lead, that he slipped out of his groove and Duhme was able to pass him for second. 

Kay started on the outside pole and while he would lead all twenty five laps, it got sticky for him near the end of the race. He made the low side work and had built up a good sized lead but Ron Klein and Luke Merfeld were working the top side and just like in the previous race, the top side started to pick up speed and both closed on the leader. But Kay wasn't born yesterday and he was monitoring the situation even as he tore around the track. When he made the decision that he needed to change lanes, he jumped up to the cushion himself and it did indeed help him as he picked up speed and gained a little distance. 

While Klein and Merfeld continued to push, Kay was in control and would drive on for the win with those two chasing him across the line. 

All racing was done just about 10 pm and normally I would have stayed for the fireworks show as I like fireworks, but it was a daunting nearly five hour drive facing me and with the opportunity to beat most of the spectators out of the parking lot, I reluctantly turned tail for home and instead watched all the back yard fireworks as I drove through Dubuque and other environs close by. 

Thanks to everyone at Dubuque for a fine wrap up to the holiday weekend and a special hello to starter Doug Haack who tells me that he'll take hot July weather anytime over the bone chilling cold of Winter.