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.
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