Tyler Davis Holds Off Sanders in USMTS Finale For 2022

 The USMTS wrapped up their 2022 racing season on Saturday night, October 29th with the running of the third annual Modified Spooktacular at the 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas. In a marathon main event that tested the mettle of both man and machine, Tyler Davis held off all challenges over the last twenty five laps of the race, including a last lap banzai move by Rodney Sanders to record his second USMTS win of the season and put a cap on a season that also will see him crowned USRA National Modified champion at the USRA banquet. In the companion B Mod feature race, Jon Sheets took over the lead just before the halfway point of the event and then pulled away for a dominant win. 

Before the event I had a chance to talk to USMTS head Todd Staley to get a preview of what the 2023 season for the USMTS will bring. Staley informs that they have approximately fifty races booked for next year which is up from the forty plus that were scheduled to be held this year before rain cost them several events. They will return to Rocket Raceway Park in Petty Texas to start the season off as they did this year and that event will be held the first week of March. 

One  big change will find that the majority of the races will be three day shows and all at the same facility for three days in a row. Only four events all year will be one day, stand alone races. And for the first time ever, there will be no racing scheduled the weekend of Labor Day. The points champion will again earn one hundred thousand dollars, just as Dustin Sorensen did this year. The complete schedule is expected to be released within a couple of weeks. 

Staley also will be celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of racing at the Mason City Motor Speedway with a twenty five thousand to win, twenty five hundred to start event with a date yet to be determined as well as hosting special events at his other track, the home town Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City. 2023 will be another busy season for the Staley family and both USRA and USMTS. Todd did also say that as of Saturday, they had not yet replaced Bryce Hall in the announcing position that will be open next year. I also informed Todd , to his relief, that I was not applying for the position!

In a pre race ceremony, Sorensen was crowned USMTS champion along with Cayden Carter who was named Rookie of the Year and Chris Clark who got the Sportsmanship award for his dedication at not missing a race for the last two years, even though he lives in Jackson Wyoming and every trip is a long one for him. Carter will return next year for another year of open motor Modified racing. Special congratulations to Dustin who at the age of only twenty one, perhaps has just scratched the tip of his driving talent. It will be interesting to see if they try to advance their Late Model program next year after dabbling with it some this year while also being steady as a rock with their Modified endeavors

There was more local participation on Saturday from local and area Modified drivers from the Wichita area and thus the Modified car count bounced up to forty two, a number that I would have expected throughout the weekend. Thirteen drivers made their first start of the week on Saturday and for the weekend, there were fifty five different drivers that took a green flag. 

The numbers on Saturday would dictate that an extra heat be run for the Mods as they were split into five groups for qualifying and heats. The track was heavy to start with and gradually the times picked up with Dan Ebert being quickest overall at 17.678 seconds. 

From early on, it was clear that the track was going to be giving fits all night. It took some additional packing between and before races to try and roll it in as best they could but it would be a fast and bumpy ride all night. The track was pulling very heavy so it became a challenge to man and machine . It was considerably different than it had been for the big Late Model show last week and there was conversation that rains this week had affected the track. That may be true but I also think that they might just have overwatered it a bit too. 

A big hole in turn one was a problem for the heats and considerable time was spent before the features to fill that in with heavy equipment and lots of heavy vehicles to pack it. Still, it would be a bumpy and challenging ride all night for both classes. 

Twenty eight drivers would start the Modified forty lap main event and while Davis would be scored the leader for the vast majority of the race, it was anything but an easy run for him. He had constant pressure on him for the lead and the many restarts added to his worries. 

 Early on it was Jason Ingalls who challenged Davis for the lead. Then they were joined by Rodney Sanders who battled back and forth with Ingalls while both challenged also for the lead. Then they were joined by Darron Fuqua with Fuqua then swapping second back and forth with Sanders. 

Fuqua really got fast following a lap eleven restart as he passed Sanders for second and then, with a breathtaking move up against the wall in turn four, squeezed by Davis to take over the lead. Just as it looked like he might be the man to beat as he started to pull away, he suddenly halted in turn four in a cloud of rear end gear oil smoke and he was done. 

Davis inherited the lead once again but it was Sanders who would prove to be his steady challenge, restart after restart as challengers Jason Hughes and Dereck Ramirez would both break and be out of action. 

The longest stretch of green flag racing would be the last twelve laps of the race, after the yellow has slowed the field nine times. Davis would get a small advantage and then Sanders would turn a good lap and be right back behind him. They ran in tandem fashion the last few laps and on the final corner of the race, Davis got bogged up a bit and Sanders dove hard to his inside, trying to steal the win. There could have been a massive collision but Sanders gave the leader room and as they raced off the last corner, it would be Davis that would get the best run and he would nip Sanders by less than a car length for the ten grand. Add in the ten grand for the point title and it was a nice night for him. 

Behind Sanders, Tyler Wolff would come home third with Dan Ebert from fourteenth to fourth and Tanner Mullins completing the top five. Only thirteen of the starters were still running at the end and most of the cars looked like they had been in a war, and lost. 

Twenty nine B Mods signed in to race and it was definitely the strongest field of the three night swing with both Friday and Saturday night's winners on hand along with a good mix of some of the best drivers around in one of the very few races going on this weekend. 

Three heats and a B Feature would determine the twenty four starters and while this race went smoother than the Modified main did, it started out on a rocky note with the front row starters tangling on the opening lap and sending cars scattering down the back chute. Gabe Hodges, considered to be a threat to win from the front row, suffered a flat tire and was done early. 

Henry Chambers would take the early lead with such strong runners as Reece Solander, Jon Sheets, Kyle Slader and Shadren Turner chasing him. Sheets was especially strong as after starting seventh he quickly got up to third and was still charging. Following a lap three yellow, he got around Solander and pushed to catch Chambers for the lead and on lap eight he drove around Henry in turn four and took over the top spot. 

He quickly put distance on the field and despite one more yellow that bunched the field, he would pull away by a comfortable margin in dominating the race to take the win. The battle behind him was good though, with Solander fighting his way up to second and holding off Turner at the finish. Chambers slipped to fourth and Kenton Allen would complete the top five. 

81 completed the season in fine fashion, even hosting some very big races after a storm knocked out some of their lighting. Two big poles on the front chute have been inoperable for the last part of the season and have been replaced by six portable lights that do the job and while the grandstands are a bit darker than they would be if the big lights were working, the portables were a good fix for what could have been a season ending problem. It was also nice to find a working scoreboard to end the weekend. 

Thanks go out to host John Allen and the Sartain family from 81 Speedway as well as to all the working folks of the USMTS. Good luck to Bryce Hall on his new job and hopefully I will be back at 81 again next year for some great racing action or their second track at Humboldt. 

Ramirez Wins "Modster Mash" Thriller Over Phillips at Lakeside

 Night number two of the wrap up weekend for the USMTS Modified series would take place on Friday night, October 28th at the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City Kansas. Despite rain to the South of us, it remained sunny and comfortable for racing in the Kansas City area as this would be the final night of the 2022 season for Lakeside and racing in the Kansas City area. 

The program would offer the same three classes as the previous night in Pocola with the USMTS Mods backed by the USRA B Mods and Stock Cars with both still racing for national points and while there were no drivers in either class on hand battling for national titles, there were some still fighting for position on the top ten so these races would be important to them. 

While this would be the last weekend for USMTS racing this year, this weekend would also wrap up the announcing career, at least for the foreseeable future, for USMTS announcer Bryce Hall. Bryce has taken a job as the General Manager of the new Arrowhead Speedway in West Siloam Springs Oklahoma. This is an old track that has been in existence for a number of years and has gone under various names as ownership and promoter teams have changed their over the years. 

The new owner of the track is Willie Gammill, a Modified and B Modified driver from the area who in fact was racing just last night at Pocola. He also owns a very successful electrical business in the local area and has set to completely renovate the track. I have attended races there a couple of times over the years but it has been quite a few years since I was last there and Bryce assures me that except for the general shape of the race track being the same, everything else on the grounds is either completely new or redone. They are rushing to complete all the changes to the track by next Spring and Bryce tells me that they plan to open in mid April of next year with regular Friday night racing up to Labor Day with a couple of late season specials planned. As of now, at least tentatively, the USMTS season is scheduled to be completed at Arrowhead the second week of October, 2023. 

They will run a weekly schedule featuring four USRA classes, the Modifieds, B Mods, Stock Cars and Tuners as they attempt to build up the last two classes in that area. Bryce tells me that rules for other classes that race in that area are very conflicting and limiting so they are still mulling just what other classes might be featured at the track. 

Bryce has had two stints as USMTS announcer but he hopes that the Arrowhead job will be a long term thing for him and the beauty of it is that he will only be forty minutes from his home and will be able to commute daily to his new job. He is anxious and very busy as he gets set to take over a week from Monday at his new employment. No word on who his replacement with USMTS might be. 

Lakeside would be the second high speed track that USMTS would be visiting this weekend and the big half mile would be smooth and fast on this Friday night as the Fall cool air helped hold moisture into the surface. Eventually the track would start to slick off during the Modiifed feature and that made for the best racing of the inght. 

Thirty one Modifieds would sign in for the ten grand to win show on Friday night and again, that seemed like just a bit lower car count than I was expecting. Perhaps everyone is just raced out at this point as the local Modified support was minimal at best with only six of the top twenty five in local track points even bothering to show up. However, as we should have learned long ago, it doesn't take a pit area jammed with cars to put on a good show and we would eventually get to see a great Modified feature on this night. 

The field was divided into four groups for qualifying and heat races with passing points as usual determining who made the show and who had to go B Feature racing. The track was still just a bit slimy for qualifying and Dalton Kirk would be quickest at 19.522. That quick time didn't benefit him much as he would still have to run a B just to get into the feature. Last night's winner Dan Ebert also had to run a B as did Tanner Mullins, Rodney Sanders and several others as passing in the heats was tough. The lone exception was Terry Phillips who charged from fourth to win his heat but then the redraw bit him as he would have to start eighth in the forty lap main. 

Twenty five drivers would take the green for the Modified main and they would be on their "A" game for this one as this race would go nonstop for forty laps and see three different leaders and finish off with a white flag lap pass for the win. 

Dereck Ramirez would take the early but his advantage on the point would only last for few laps as Tyler Wolff would come storming up from the third row and he would pass Ramirez to take over the lead. But the man on the move was Phillips who quickly advanced from that fourth row starting spot and soon was up to third. 

He had a good battle with Ramirez before passing him for second and then he closed on Wolff and completed his charge, taking the lead. Wolff would slide back to third as Ramirez got past him too and those three would remain in that running order for a number of laps.

Phiillips' lead would lengthen and then wane from time to time as he worked through the heavy lapped traffic and it was spectacular to watch the top three slicing and dicing as they worked through the slower cars. Phillips would look unbeatable at times but Ramirez refused to give up and stayed within striking distance. Meanwhile, Darron Fuqua and Jacob Bleess were running strong and the top five were all fairly close together. 

Phillips' lead would start to shrink with about ten laps to go as he was clearly having trouble in the corners and was fighting his car. He would later claim that contact with a lapped car, which would give him a badly crinkled right rear corner panel, made his car very tight and he would have trouble making it turn. He certainly was having that issue no doubt, but isn't it a sad commentary on the state of racing when a dinged up body panel, a staple in dirt track racing, would affect the aero so bad that a Modified wouldn't turn after that!

In any event, Ramirez would dramatically close up on T.P. in the final laps as Terry was really struggling and coming to the white flag, Dereck would power inside Phillips to take over the lead. Terry went all out on the final lap and the two racing tremendously hard into the final corner, both on the edge of control but Ramirez would be able to get a run off the top side and edge out Phillips to get a very exciting win. This was half mile racing like you seldom see. Bleess made a late charge of his own, passing a fading Fuqua and Wolff to get third ahead of Tyler and Jason Hughes who completed the top five. 

Fifteen drivers would go the distance with many pulling off as they got lapped or saw their efforts not able to keep up with two drivers a lap down at the conclusion. It was a quick and entertaining forty laps for sure. 

Their were twenty four B Mods on hand which calculated to three heats with all getting the start in their twenty lap main event. After a first lap tangle slowed the action, it would be Jaylen Wettengel that would take the early lead. After winning the Stock Car feature, Jaylen was going for a double win but after leading for just a couple of laps, he was overtaken by the flying Shadren Turner, who had started fifth on the grid. And once Turner took over the lead, there would be no stopping him. 

Despite a couple more yellows during the second half of the race, no one had anything for him as he got up on the cushion and simply drove away from the field. It would be easy pickings for him the rest of the way as he won by a comfortable distance and earned his twenty ninth feature win of 2022, in dominating fashion. 

While the win was not in doubt, a great battle for second saw Gabe Hodges and Mark Schafman battle it out right down to the wire for that spot. They threw a series of entertaining slide jobs back and forth at each other over the last couple of laps that were great and clean but at the line, Hodges was able to edge out Mark to take second. Wettengel would end a successful evening by finishing fourth ahead of Reece Solander. 

Seldom do you see a Stock Car feature when the winner started right on the pole and would lead from start to finish but that is what Wettengel would do. Despite being pressured by Chad Clancy the whole race, Wettengel never made a mistake as he rode the cushion from start to finish to bring home the win. Rodney Schweizer would finish a solid third. 

There were only fifteen Stock Cars on hand this night as this class is still a work in progress in this area and there were only seven of the top fifteen that raced tonight as for many I guess their seasons are done. 

This show was Todd Staley's as he rented the track for this night and the crowd was an OK one, with the tiered parking group in turns one and two blazing away with their bonfires.  We got going in much better order on Friday with the Modifieds not hot lapping but going straight into their qualifying which is a tough thing to do. We were racing by 7:15 p.m. and the final checkered of the night waved before 10 p.m. Again my lap estimates were just that as for the second straight night, the scoring tower was lighted but the numbers never changed and if you are like me, you miss the lap board more than anything. 

Ebert Tops USMTS Modified Drivers at Tri-State

 It has come down to the last weekend of the long USMTS racing season. Event number thirty six would start off a three night swing through Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas and by Saturday night, a new USMTS champion will be crowned. 

The first night of the three night swing would be held on Thursday night, October 27th at the Tri-State Speedway just across the border from Fort Smith Arkansas in Pocola Oklahoma. Always a bit confusing, while the official address of the speedway is Fort Smith, the track itself actually is about two miles into the state of Oklahoma where it was built in the Poteau and Arkansas River valley just outside the city of Fort Smith. The track was built on a hill and offers a panoramic view of the river valley region.  

Tri-State is one of the more historic race tracks in this part of the country, having been in operation since 1969. The track was paved in 1971 and some of its biggest years under the direction of famous promoter Cecil Harlan where among the track champions of that era were some pretty famous drivers such at Larry Phillips, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace. The asphalt era wore thin and in 1979 the track was returned to dirt. Since then, it has gone through several owners and in 2018, Mike and Jenny Hoover bought the track. 

In recent years, the track has had many upgrades including new bleachers, lights, concession stands, a new press tower, paved walkways, p.a. system and many other items too numerous to mention. A big one was when the inside wall was added all the way around the track. 

The track is a three eighth mile oval with long chutes and tight, high banked corners. The race cars pit off turns three and four and there is also infield pitting but most prefer to pit outside the track, as they should. The races are staged down the infield pit asphalt strip, a left over from the days when the long distance asphalt races were held and live pitting was done in the infield. The track is is a red clay surface, one that most of the tracks in this area feature. 

It has been a number of years since I was last at Tri-State and I believe the last time I was there might have been the infamous "all night" race when the last checkered flag of the night(day) flew at 5:12 a.m. and the only fans left in the bleachers were myself and the late Gary Story. I remember they ran the Modifieds last and Gary and I were bound and determined we would see the Mods race, even if we had to be there for breakfast!

Fortunately, those days are long gone and tonight's program would be run off must smoother, even though is was 7:45 p.m. before the first green flag waved but after that, things moved along at a very quick pace and the drivers had to be on their toes as their events were called off in quick order. 

Thirty three Modifieds were on hand for the opening night of the last round of the USMTS season, a number that I found somewhat disappointing as I perhaps in error, expected that with this being the last go round of the season and good weather in the offering, that there would be more drivers ready to go one last time. The USMTS regulars were out as expected with seventeen of the top twenty in points on hand. However, the local support was minimal with only four out of the top twenty five in local Modified points on hand, despite the fact that this is a USRA track and runs the same rules that USMTS does. 

The Modified format would be the same as normal, with the drivers split into four groups for qualifying, the top four in each group inverted and then passing points from the heats would determine the starting field for the feature with a pair of B Features to round out what would be a twenty four car starting field for the forty lap main, paying ten grand to the winner. Tyler Wolff would be the quickest overall, at 18.655 seconds. 

Tri-State is a track where they typically run things dry and slick. The red clay really polishes up and normally provides a smooth and slick surface from top to bottom and allows the drivers to run all over the track. They had just gotten over running their "Spooker" last weekend, their biggest race of the year in terms of cars and laps over four nights. The track appeared quite dry tonight and while they were able to find a fast groove early right up against the wall, by feature time things had changed. 

One of the announcers for the night, Trenton Berry from RacinDirt, indicated as much when he commented that the track looked like it was in heat race shape when the hot laps were taking place. By feature time, it went from a wide open track to a mostly one lane groove right on the inside with the drivers scraping the inside wall almost as they hugged the low groove. 

Quite frankly, it made for not such a great racing conclusion to the night. A few drivers tried the outside with little success and the only driver able to make some headway on the top side was Terry Phillips. He started seventh on the grid and had gained a couple spots when the only significant yellow flew with twenty three laps in the book. Restarting fifth, he was the only one to go to the top side and he made it work as he gained two spots and then squeezed by Dereck Ramirez to get second before he felt the need to get back to the bottom quick. After that, he rode in second but never was able to make a challenge for the top spot. 

Dan Ebert, the Minnesota driver who has supported the whole series and currently rides in eighth place in the points, would take the lead at the start and would still be there after forty laps. Ramirez would follow him for the first half of the race, sometimes closing in slightly and then sometimes falling back a few lengths. However, Ebert never wavered off the bottom and never gave an opening to anyone to make a pass. 

They hit lapped traffic at about the halfway point, a situation that could have proved difficult with everyone hugging the low groove and not wanting to budge. However, a yellow for a slowing car came out just past the halfway point and that took care of that problem. 

With the large surface at Tri-State and a few drivers dropping out, Ebert never caught the slow cars again and all he had to do was "milk" his tires, as several drivers dropped out with flats, likely caused by what seemed to be a rather abrasive surface. 

At the finish, Ebert had several car lengths on Phillips with Ramirez, Joe Duvall and Tanner Mullins completing the top five with all by Phillips also starting in that same top five. Seven drivers didn't finish and all left running were on the lead lap. 

There is an interesting connection between the Ebert and Phillips clans. Of course, Terry's father Larry was an all time great racing in this part of the country on both dirt and mostly asphalt. Dan Ebert's father Russ, who was in attendance in Dan's pit on this night, was a crewman for years for the late Dick Trickle and those two drivers engaged in a number of epic battles across the nation on short tracks in their day so the Phillips and Ebert families have a strong connection. 

It was announced after the race that based on their finishes in the main that Dustin Sorensen had clinched the USMTS title as he went into the night with a sizable lead over Mullins. Sorensen made a nice gain as after qualifying poorly, he had to run a B Feature but was able to move up from fifteenth on the grid to a seventh place finish, only two spots behind Mullins after he avoided the one big wreck on lap one that collected several cars. 

Unlike the Mods, the local B Mods well supported this race with thirteen of their top twenty in track points on hand in the field of twenty nine. USRA national points were still on the line for this event and the Thursday night race drew a few travelers as well. Four heats and a B Feature would set their field for the twenty lapper, paying $800 to the winner. The #27 seemed to be a very popular number for this class with no less than five cars bearing this number. 

Jacob Campbell would start on the pole and lead the first half of the race with Cody King and Kyle Slader close behind. As with the Mods, the B Mods would be hugging the low line around the track. Slader tried the high side but then quickly ducked back in line when that didn't work. However, he was able to edge past King with some braking into the corners and would take over second. 

The first half of the race would go nonstop until the race slowed with a car limping on a flat tire. It was hard to keep exact track of laps on this night as for some reason the scoreboard wasn't working but it was at about that halfway point of the race. The Delaware restart would see Slader get a big run on Campbell as it appeared that he jumped the gun but the race wasn't called back. It proved to be a non issue when the race was slowed again for a spin. 

Once again, on the green, it appeared to me that Slader jumped the start, perhaps even more so than the previous time. However, no one agreed with me and Campbell proved to be the loser because of it as Slader roared around Campbell, took over the lead and then extended it as he pulled away for the win with the race going green from then on to the checkers. Despite some complaints by the Campbell crew, they fell on deaf ears and Slader was awarded the win with Campbell, King, Daniel Cowett and Kevin Guinn completing the top five. The finish of this race was slightly confusing as the yellow flew for a slowing car after the white was waved. The race was scored complete and the results went back to lap nineteen. 

The Stock Cars were small in number with only eleven of them on the grounds. They ran two heats and a main event but that race did see three different leaders. Cody Jones would start on the pole and lead the first two laps but he was then overtaken by Jeff Metcalf would would then lead for a few laps himself.  

However, the driver on the move was Wesley Bourne and he would out power Metcalf into turn one and take over the lead, an advantage he would just build as this race would go green to checkered. Metcalf would hold on for second with Jones third at the finish.

One very unique aspect of this speedway involves how and where the cars are weighed and teched after races. The drivers required to weigh pull off the track in the middle of the back chute and then go around the outside wall, clockwise to the scale building which is located outside the track near turn four. They are then weighed and teched and they return to the pits by driving right in front of the main grandstand. There is a viewing area of sorts in front of the grandstands and the kids line it and when the drivers go by, they slow, pull over to the grandstand and high five or fist bump with the spectators. What a cool thing that is!

It sure makes for some fan interaction and allows all the spectators to see the drivers close up and minus their helmets. 

It was about a three hour program that was moved along nicely once the first wheels were turned on a cool but not frigid by any means night. While the show can't be classified as epic, it was still a nice way to spend a Thursday night in the last week of October and I can't think of any place else I'd rather be. Thanks to Todd,, Janet, Ryne and the whole USMTS crew as well as all the track employees of Tri-State Speedway. 

Marlar Puts It All Together To Top WoO Late Models at U.S. 36

 The Rick Eshelman Tribute Tour completed its three night swing with a Sunday night visit to the U.S. 36 Raceway near Osborn Missouri where the World of Outlaw Late Models would compete in their third straight night with another ten grand, forty lap main event to highlight the program. 

To complete the weekend, it was another unseasonably warm and extremely windy day as the whole weekend has been. However, another wrinkle was through into the mix as for the first time all weekend, rain became a threat. A line of storms blew up suddenly to the Southwest of Osborn and came flying through the area, as everything was doing this weekend. But despite some ominous looking skies, a few crackles of lightning and booming thunder, only a few sprinkles fell and with a few minutes the sun was back out again and we were in the clear. I think the track prep crew never even backed off on their watering despite the rain and it was a good thing as the very strong wind was blowing directly into the main grandstand of this track, which sits facing South while the race track itself runs West and East. 

It was reported that over thirty six thousand gallons of water was put on the track for Sunday's race and the track prep crew, headed by Jon Boller, did a wonderful job and we would end up with a very racy, if slightly bumpy track and the least amount of dust for the spectators despite having the toughest conditions to deal with. 

For most of the drivers racing on Sunday as well as myself, this was my first time to ever see racing at this track, despite having driven by the facility a number of times over the years while on my way to other racing venues. I would call the track a high banked, D shaped quarter brown dirt facility. Not narrow, but not overly wide either, the track has a concrete wall on the front chute in front of the spectators with a single guardrail at the top of turns one and two and just a drop off area with no wall or rail in turns three and four. The lighting was adequate but not spectacular and the sound system was solid. They normally race Modifieds and 305 Sprint Cars here as their top divisions with Late Models being a very rare selection for this area. The sight lines from the grandstands were good and the concessions and other niceties of the track were just fine. Most of the bleachers were boards set in cement with one high rise session of bleachers about the rest in turn four. The concessions and tower for the announcers was behind the grandstand.  Most of the spectator parking lines the drag strip which runs just to the North of the dirt track and it is a pretty good walk from the parking lots to the track but they have inclined walks to help the handicapped. When I first saw the track I thought it looked solid and turns out it raced even better than it initially looked. 

Along with the Late Models, there would be full shows for the track's E Mod class along with the Pure Stocks. Both those classes would do a good job with just enough in numbers to give the Late Models a break while running off smooth events that didn't bog the show down, always important on a Sunday night when both work and school on calling just hours away. 

As I walked into the pits, Mike Marlar was busy with a motor swap, a chore that later would provide ten thousand reasons why he should take on such a task while being short handed this weekend. The Kosiski Team had swapped cars after Saturday night's problems and were ready to race once again. A few drivers that had trouble on Saturday along with some from the Colorado and western Kansas area chose not to back track and weren't on hand but there were five new entries with drivers from Missouri and Iowa joining the fun on a warm Sunday night. Twenty six were on hand in total and after initially scheduling a B Feature, WoO officials changed their mind and started everyone in the main which was a good decision for everyone. 

Despite all the natural weather conditions weighing again them, the track prep crew had the track blazing fast for time trials and Tyler Bruening set a new track record with a time of  12.913 seconds. The track would gradually slow down just a little while widening out the racing group as several packing sessions before the start of individual races by all classes helped that situation. 

After two straight nights of running the Late Model feature first, it was somewhat strange and initially annoying when they were last to go on this night, especially with all the demands of Sunday night racing saying that the premier class should be first so fans that wanted to could leave when they were done. However, it proved to be a mostly moot point when all three features went very smoothly and all racing was done shortly after 9 pm. 

All twenty six Late Models on hand would start the main event and with the quick lap times and small track, the leading drivers had to be on their toes as lapped traffic quickly became an issue. Bruening would lead the first seven laps off the pole but he was soon challenged by Chase Junghans and Dennis Erb. When Bruening got hung up by slower cars down the front chute, Junghans blasted past him and took over the lead. 

Chase was really pounding the cushion as he put some distance between himself and Bruening. The only yellow of the race kit on lap seventeen when Tanner English broke the front end and slowed on the track. They weren't able to fix the car and he watched the rest of the race from the infield, giving up valuable rookie points to Max Blair in what has come down to a razor thin battle for those honors. 

Junghans again took off on the green as he continued to pound the cushion but as fast as Chase was, it was remarkable how fast Marlar was reeling him in. Mike got to second by the halfway point of the race and then, after clearing Bruening, he quickly reeled in Junghans for the lead. And as they sliced and diced through traffic, Marlar was able to find an opening and on lap twenty six, he drove into the lead. After that, with the race remaining under green, he was able to open up some distance on Junghans and eventual third place finisher, Bruening. Twenty drivers were still on the track when the checkered fell so there was plenty of late race action and everyone was very busy as this track stood up just as entertaining for the fans and challenging to the drivers as any Illinois bullring. 

The WoO really presented themselves well this weekend in my opinion. They had fine car counts, good competitive racing with plenty of passing, three different winners in three nights and none was the point leader of the series and all three shows spun off quickly with few yellows. Their adventure to take their series into some uncharted waters, so to speak, proved to be a wise decision and I'm sure we will see all three tracks back again in 2023. And while the crowd on Sunday was not a block buster like 81's was, it was still a very good crowd, especially for a Sunday. 

As for those two support divisions, a dozen E Mods would race a twelve lap main event with Blake Hayes taking the early lead. However, he was passed on lap three by Adam Dunwoodie who would go on to lead the rest of the race, an event that went green to checkered. Hayes would settle for second with Josh Adkins third. These E Mods struck me as being very similar to the Midwest Mods that I saw on Friday night at Humboldt. 

Twenty Pure Stock would take the green for their twelve lap main event, a race that would see just one yellow flag and three different leaders. The first two laps would belong to Jim Masoner Jr before he was passed by Blake Peeler. However, track champion Jake Starner was on the move after starting fifth and on lap five he would blow past Peeler down the front chute to take over the lead. After that, he would dominate to take the checkered ahead of Peeler and Jimmie Workman. Both support divisions raced well and did just exactly what was asked on them as support classes on this night. 

One last item to note. Normally on a Sunday night, especially when the featured division runs last, once the checkered flag waves it is a mad scramble to get out of the parking lot and on the road home with as many fender benders and toxic comments  seen in the parking lot as on the track. And this parking lot had many access roads with intersections with people coming from many different directions and only one goal in mind, getting out the one lane road to the highway. 

However, I must applaud how courteous all the drivers were as they left the parking lot. At every single intersection, folks were automatically taking turns without horn honking or other hand gestures and the exit from the track was incredibly smooth and moved right along. So thanks folks, from those of us with a long drive home for making our start so smooth. U.S. 36 Raceway exceeded my expectations in all regards. And with track officials like "Slick" Rick announcing and "Noodle" doing the flagging, how could you not have fun?

 

Sheppard Returns to WoO Late Models With 81 Victory

 The Rick Eshelman Tribute Tour continued on Saturday night, October 22nd as the World of Outlaw  Late Model Tour dropped in for a visit to the 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas. The second leg of this three night swing through Kansas and Missouri, the competitors were again greeted with unbelievable weather conditions with temperatures soaring into the mid 80's and the only downside being the strong and steady southern winds that were carrying the heat but also making track prep a big challenge. 

Along with the Late Models, the USRA Modifieds and B Mods would also be competing with full programs scheduled for both classes. This would be only the second ever visit by the Outlaws to 81, having made their first trip there back in 2017. That race was won by Brandon Sheppard who was then in the midst of his glory days aboard the Rocket house car. Times would be different this year but the outcome would later be strangely familiar. Many of the drivers now racing the Outlaw series confessed to never having raced at 81 before and much like the previous night in Humboldt, 81 Speedway is much more of a  Modified and Sprint Car hang out with Late Models seldom seen here. However, we would soon learn that there is much of an appetite  for Late Models as the huge grandstand at 81 would be packed with race fans by the time the National Anthem was sung. 

The same ownership and management team that runs Humboldt is in charge of things here at 81 and their gamble to bring in the WoO series for this late Autumn doubleheader proved to be a very smart decision for sure. Of course, the spectacular weather didn't hurt either. 

Thirty four Late Models would sign in to race on Saturday night with the only new driver on Saturday being Dustin Bolster from the Sunflower state. Almost perfectly sized fields in the other two classes would find the B Mods running a pair of heats plus their main while the Mods would have three heats. The Late Model portion of the program would be the same as on Friday night and pretty much the Outlaw standard with four heats, a pair of B mains and the forty lap feature with the first and second place finishers in the heats redrawing for their starting spots in the main. 

They were really pouring on the water to the track throughout the afternoon with dust being an obvious concern. Fortunately the wind was quartering the track so that wouldn't be too much of a concern for the fans. The field started to get weeded out early and South Dakota fans were disappointed as Blair Nothdurft would have his accelerator hang up in hot laps and he hammered the first turn wall. They were soon loaded up and headed home. Andrew Kosiski smoked a motor in time trials and while they had a second car in the transporter, he made no more appearances on the track. Then Mark Brill, a Modified driver making his first appearance of the year here, blew up in hot laps also as this big three eighth was pulling hard. Mike Marlar would set a new track record with a time of 15.718. Later the track would slow down some and still provide at least two good lanes to race on as the efforts of the track prep crew bore fruit. 

Unfortunately, one annoying pattern repeated itself for the second straight night as the announced starting time seemed to be more like a vapor in the wind, rather than reality. As fans filed in and then mostly patiently waited, the cars finally rolled out for hot laps but it proved to be shortly after 8 pm before the first race would start, something not necessary at all. And for the second straight night, once they got going they tore through the show quickly but for whatever reason, it does seem to take them quite a while to get things rolling and I'm not sure if this is due to management, the sanctioning group or a joint effort. The only saving grace was that it was a pleasant night to be sitting outside in late October. 

The Late Models would race first and four heats went by relatively quickly with Ryan Gustin's charge from sixth to a win the highlight. A pair of B Features would qualify the rest of the field with Josh Richards, for the second straight night, having to run a B. No provisional starters were needed and twenty four starters would go forty laps as the first main on the track. 

Sheppard had redrawn the pole and ironically, Sheppard would go on to win his eighty first WoO win at 81 Speedway. The first twenty laps of the main would be some of the more interesting racing seen this year. The ageless one, Billy Moyer, was very fast on this night and he was all over Sheppard for the lead. While the top two would pound the cushion,  Gustin would be working the low side of the track, lap after lap trying to sneak under Moyer for second. It seemed a strange twist of fate and both of those two have made their living over the years running the exact different lines then they were running on this night. Marlar was right with them and the top four were very exciting as they started to work through traffic, which was heavy. 

Sheppard would continue to lead and on lap twenty three, Gustin would get past Moyer for second. However, four laps later, Moyer would return the favor with a little tin rubbing down the front chute. Dennis Erb was gradually working his way to the front along with Gordy Gundaker after Marlar dropped out after flipping a belt. 

In the second half of the race, Sheppard got stronger and gradually began to pull away. Moyer and Gustin continued to battle for second until Gustin lost a driveshaft with only three laps to go. 

This set up a late yellow that Sheppard navigated smoothly to take the win. Moyer showed that he is definitely a threat once again to take a win somewhere soon while Erb fattened his points lead with another steady run. Chase Junghans and Gundaker would complete the top five. For Sheppard, it would be his first WoO win since getting back into his own equipment and his recent announcement of joining forces with Riggs MotorSports for 2023. In fact, I watched in the pits when they removed the Ramirez MotorSports sticker from their trailer and replaced it with the new Sheppard-Riggs logo. Just a guess, but I'm saying he returns to the WoO full time in 2023. 

The Modified events of the last two nights have been highlighted by a battle for national points in USRA between Tyler Davis and Dillon McCowan. Going into this weekend, Davis held a thirty eight point lead over McCowan who was not driving his usual #8 car this weekend. 

And for the second straight night, Davis would add to his total with a twenty lap feature win. They would start side by side on the front row but Davis would jump into an immediate lead as McCowan struggled to stay up with him. Paden Phillips and the Schniepp brothers were making life rough for McCowan while Davis pounded the cushion to pull away. As Davis continued to lead, Bryce Schniepp would finally get by McCowan for second and that's the way they would finish with the last nine laps of the race going green. I believe they said that the win was Davis' twenty second of this campaign  as he drives for the owners of 81 and Humboldt, Katie and J.R. Sartain. 

The B Mods would wrap up the night and as B Mods can sometimes be, the early laps were a struggle with four yellows in the first eight laps, one big collision and several cars weeded out early. 

It would be a two car battle for the win with Gabe Hodges and Dustin Daniels fighting it out, sometimes a bit physically. Hodges is the track champ here at 81 this year but he would lead only the first lap before Daniels was able to get by him for the lead as Daniels pushed the cushion. Daniels would open up some distance on the field but a yellow near the halfway point would prove to be his undoing. 

Hodges would challenge following the last yellow and after a series of slide jobs between the two. some clean and some questionable, it would be Hodges that would find himself back on the point. Daniels pushed very hard the last few laps, but he just couldn't pull the trigger as Hodges gave him no openings. Tyler Frye drove a strong race with his IMCA car and finished third. 

Ruben Mireles and Ben Shelton continued to call the WoO action while local track announcer Eric Chesterman called the open wheel divisions .With the two night swing completed at the Sartain's tracks, thanks go out to them and General Manager John Allen as well as all the folks with the Outlaws. I would guess that with two positive nights of racing that these two tracks would return to the schedule next year. `

 

Junghans Pleases Home State Fans With WoO Win at Humboldt

 On Friday night, October 21st, the Rick Eshelman Kansas Tribute Tour kicked off at the Humboldt Speedway just outside of the small town of Humboldt Kansas. Nicknamed "The Hummer", this small bullring  in Southeast Kansas would be seeing Super Late Model racing for the first time in a number of years and I believe, the first time ever for the World of Outlaws Late Models. Most of the drivers on hand had never put in laps on this track before and even the Hall of Famer Billy Moyer had to admit that he had never raced here before. 

Primarily a Modified hotbed and the host of many big Modified races, new track owners Katie and J.R. Sartain along with track promotor John Allen brought in this Late Model series to give the fans a variety of racing action and allow them to see a whole new set of drivers that many in the crowd had heard of but never seen before. Along with the Late Models, the USRA Modifieds and local Midwest Modifieds would both also be in action for full shows. 

The weather was absolutely spectacular for this late October event, much like it was for much of the Midwest this weekend with temperatures in the 80's and lots of sunshine. When has anyone seen the flagman wearing shorts all night to a race this late in the year? Certainly not I. Of course, there seems to be a down side to everything these days and the downside to this spectacular weather was that with the very dry conditions in Kansas and the strong wind sucking the moisture right out of the ground almost from the minute it was laid on the track, the conditions for the fans got a bit dirty with the strong win blowing directly into the main grandstand. They had plenty of moisture in the track and when it changed its character later in the night, it really made things interesting as the drivers really had to be on top of their game to catch the changing track conditions. 

Of course the loss of Eshelman recently was on the minds of everyone associated with the Outlaws from drivers and crewmen to the employees of the World Racing Group and a nice tribute was paid to Rick before the show started along with the missing man formation to start the main event. Various big name announcers will be brought in to round out the rest of the season schedule to cover for Rick with six nights of WoO Late Model racing left this year. This weekend it would be the top not duel of Ben Shelton and Ruben Milreles that would be calling the action. 

Kansas is not a hot bed for Late Model racing with most of the weekly racing and specials in this state being of the Modified and Sprint Car variety. Also, not a lot of Late Model teams are bases in Kansas so various pundits had brokered the notion that they might be lucky to field a full field for this event and the rest of the weekend. As it turned out, that didn't happen to be the case as thirty eight Late Models signed in to race on this night. The top ten in WoO points were on hand along with a variety of drivers primarily from Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado to fill out the field. It was one of the most interesting fields of the year with a lot of different groups represented in the field. There were also fifteen Modifieds and twenty seven Midwest Modifieds to round out the program. 

One of the few downsides to having such sunny weather on this October Friday night was that "The Hummer" faces West and East and the drivers have to race right into the sun down the front chute. Therefore, the program had to be pushed back because the sun would be a potential danger to the drivers. So after a lengthy hot lap session and of course, time trials, the first race never hit the track until 8"45 pm. ungodly late except for the fact that it was so nice out that people didn't complain much. 

It would be the typical format for the Outlaws with four heats, a pair of B Features and a forty lap main event paying ten grand to win. The Mods would run a pair of heats and a main while the numbers led to the decision that the Midwest Mods would run a B Feature after heats before their main. We'll call this race the "Jeff Broeg Special" as fifteen cars would run this event with the top twelve making the feature! I'm sure Jeff would have paid extra money just to see this race!

They did run the Late Models first in the running order and did so all night. When qualifying was complete, there would be twenty four Lates set to run the forty lap main event. The summary of this race would be that Chase Junghans would lead all forty laps in a race that went nonstop from green to checkered. While that might be a bit misleading, I'd really have to say that this was quite an entertaining race, despite the fact that there were no lead changes. 

The track finally changed from a pretty heavy surface with even a bit of a berm, especially in turns three and four just as the feature race started as the wind finally dried it out. It changed crazy fast and certainly some of the entertainment value was watching the drivers notice this and then seeing how they reacted and how they changed their line and driving style. Junghans would take the lead immediately and he was pounding the cushion on both ends of the track. Shane Clanton started next to him but he immediately had his "reversers" on as he dropped like a rock. Dennis Erb hugged the inside line as he does just about all the time to move into second with Tyler Bruening and Max Blair both moving forward. 

Erb just about caught Junghans for the lead until Chase made a strategy change and went to the low side in turns one and two. While three and four would still be wall pounding corners, it was necessary to get to the bottom on the West end of the track. With over twenty cars running the whole event, lapped traffic came into play soon and it was interesting to watch how the leaders picked their times and places on the track to steal away positions and it turned into a very much strategic race as to when and where to try and pass. 

Junghans did a great job in traffic and he always kept a car or two between himself and Erb and never allowed Dennis the chance to get too close. At the finish, he had three lapped cars as a cushion as he took the win by a couple of seconds over Erb with Blair driving up to third. The driver that entertained the second half of the race was Mike Marlar. After having to run a B Feature, he started seventeenth in the main event but in the last half of the race he was by far the fastest driver on the track. He picked off car after car under the green flag, storming turns three and four and then diving low on the other end of the track. He did a great job of forging his way to the front and passing so many cars without the aid of a single yellow was a significant drive for him. Now if he could just qualify better so he wouldn't bury himself in the pack. There were some new faces up front on this night too, as both Blair Northdurft and Jacob Magee started in the top ten of the feature race. Erb would pad his point lead and Blair would gain some ground on Tanner English who would finish eighth. 

It was a great win for the home state driver and highly appreciated by the local fans. It was the first win for Junghans since 2019 on the circuit and he became the twenty first different winner in the series this year. 

The Modified feature would also be an entertaining race with three different leaders during the twenty lap event. Andy Bryant would take the early lead off the pole but he couldn't hold off the charge of Dillon McCowan who would pass him for the point. 

However, we weren't done with lead swapping yet as Tyler Davis, who started fifth. would charge to the front and race past McCowan to take over the lead. He would then pull away for the win as for the second straight feature race, this event too would go green to checkered. There was also a good battle for the third spot with the drivers racing three wide for that position before Paden Phillips would fight off Tom Karrick and Bryant for those honors. 

This race also had some title implications as the top two in national USRA points, Davis and McCowan would slug it out with Davis, currently the leader, adding to his total on this night. 

Midwest Mods would round out the evening and a surprising number of the fans would also ride it out, staying to watch this event too as this is a weekly class at the track and no doubt some of their fans were in attendance too. This class is much like the original Modifieds of back in the 80's with not much for frills or special equipment and I have seen them race at other tracks, often with painful results. 

They tend to be yellow flag producers but on this night they did well with twenty two of them taking the green flag for their fifteen lap main and only producing two yellow flags. Pole sitter Jimmie Davis would lead the first two laps but would be overtaken by Matthew Kay who would pull away and lead the rest of the event. Only three cars wouldn't run the distance and Davis would hold on for second with Jesse Folk Jr completing the top three. All racing would be complete somewhere around 11:30 pm, meaning that once we got started, the whole show would last under 3 hours, the magic number in my book. 

The 2022 racing season at the Humboldt Speedway concludes next Sunday with a four class special to wrap up their season. The local track announcer, who called the Mods and MidMods, kind of missed an opportunity there as I didn't hear him even mention that they still had another race on their schedule. Short staffed early on this evening, track promoter Allen did what a good promoter does, as he was selling arm bands at the pit gate until the scheduled workers arrived. 

Murty Repeats; Schmitt Tops Mods at Iowa Dirt Nationals Night Two

 The Iowa Dirt Nationals at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway continued on Friday night, October 15th with round number two for the Stock Cars, Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Sport Mods. Night two found the Four Stocks replacing the Late Models while the American Iron Racing Series was also a part of the show. 

Car Counts increased with over thirty more drivers in the four core classes making their first appearances of the weekend. Throw in twenty nine Four Stocks and there were one hundred and seventy eight drivers in attendance for night number two. The AIRS cars also had about eighteen or so cars also to add to the fun. However, the AIRS cars also had one of their rockier nights in memory, as they had several hard collisions with cars going off on the wrecker left and right. 

The program format would be the same as on Thursday night with heats for all classes, B Features for those classes that needed them and finally, feature races for all classes. It was the draw/redraw format used once again with each position finisher redrawing against those drivers that finished in the same position in their respective event. The Stock Cars topped the chart as six heats were necessary in their class and the Mods, Sport Mods and Stock Cars all had enough cars to warrant a pair of B Features. 

It was another miserable night for dirt track racing in Northeastern Iowa on Friday. It might have been a few degrees warmer than Thursday and the wind wasn't blowing quite as hard, but it was still steel gray with occasional spits of ice and rain present during much of the afternoon. It never really threatened  the racing program but made it so miserable that again, just the very toughest of fans came out to watch and the stands were pretty barren. Again, let's hope that lots of people bought the pay per view to make this race viable. 

With twenty six preliminary events just to set the feature race lineups, and discounting the AIRS cars which I consider to be an exhibition event, you expected it to be a late night but with the hopes that some of the down time from Thursday night would be eliminated. That, however, didn't prove to be the case.  

For some reason, the Four Stocks got the call to run their feature race first and unfortunately, they picked this night to have a bad one. They were down from twenty nine to twenty four to start the race due to previous mechanical issues and wrecks in their qualifying events but they made matters worse in the feature with a five yellow fiasco that forced starter Doug Haack to stick a fork in their race two laps early when the event droned on and on. 

Josh Starr would lead the opening lap before Joe Lafrenz, who would start beside Starr in the front row, would make a pass for the lead. The rest of the event would see Starr chase Lafrenz closely but never make a repass for the lead. The top two would run away from the pack while most behind them spent the rest of the race spinning, trying to knock down the walls and or slamming into each other. At the premature conclusion, cheered as loudly as any win all night, about half the field was already on the sidelines minus wheel, fenders etc. 

Lafrenz would finish with Starr close behind as the top two ran the cushion with power that no one else seemed to have. Lukas Rick would finish a distant third. 

Sport Mods would square up things on Friday night as after a yellow plagued event on Thursday, they ran off a much smoother feature race on Friday night. Only one yellow would slow the event and all twenty four starters would be around at the finish. It was also the most domination shown by a winner as Jason Roth, who started on the outside pole, would lead the entire race and really not be seriously challenged until near the end when Tony Olson would get close enough to let him know he was there. 

For most of the race, Roth would have a full corner on the field until near the end when Olson would make it fairly close at the finish. However, Roth was never really in any danger throughout the race of losing the lead. Logan Anderson would make another charge up through the field, finishing third after starting tenth on the grid. 

The Stock Cars would be next with twenty five laps of racing worth five grand to one skillful driver. And that driver would be Dallon Murty as for the second straight night he would top the main event and earn the big bucks. With nearly fifty quality Stock Car drivers on hand, the odds of winning back to back would seem remote, but that didn't stop Murty from doing exactly that. 

He would start fourth on the grid and quickly move into second as he tucked in behind Dylan Thornton who had the early lead. Murty had some ground to make up first and he would gradually catch Thornton . Murty would experiment with different lines around the track and attack each corner differently but he would soon catch Thornton and it seemed Dylan was powerless to stop the Murty charge as Dallon kept chasing until he found a line that worked and made the winning pass on lap fourteen. 

Two yellows after that would pack up the field but each time Murty would control the point and gradually would pull away at the end. Thornton would complete a good run by finishing second with Tom Berry Jr third. Strong runs by Dusty Vis, Jason Doyle and Cade Richards were all negated by various problems. Kaden Reynolds would be spectacular as he came from twenty second to fifth and ran a line up against the concrete wall that no one else would even consider doing. 

Cody Staley and David Crimmins had a nice battle for the lead in the Hobby Stock feature. Staley would lead the opening lap before being passed on the tall side of the track by Crimmins  who would then lead the next ten laps. Meanwhile, Staley was all over Crimmins, looking to his inside on lap after lap. Made even tougher holding the lead was the fact that this was another clunker race, with six yellow flags to bog it down. This put more pressure on Crimmins who had to fight off Staley every time the green would again appear. 

Finally, Staley would get a good run at Crimmins and retake the lead and despite David trying his best to regain the top spot, Staley would hold him off. For Staley it was success in his first ever appearance at Dubuque with Crimmins a close second and Mark Neis third. 

It was the wee hours of the morning before the Modifieds, somehow chosen to race last, would hit the track for their feature event in front of what was left of the frozen crowd. This race would see Jeremiah Hurst take the early lead and hold the top spot for the first five laps until he was passed by Brandon Schmitt with Hurst then fading back into the pack. 

The battle for the lead would be a two car race as Schmitt had a hot running Kelly Shryock right on his tail. Shryock had moved up from the third row and really put the pressure on Schmitt, nearly getting by on a couple of occasions as they raced off the corners. There were just enough yellows to keep the  field bunched and each time Schmitt would fight off Shryock for the lead. A good battle for third saw Jason Wolla, Dave Cain and Joel Rust batting for that spot. 

The final yellow was on lap ten and this would allow the last ten laps to be run off green to the finish. This helped Schmitt who pulled away slightly from Kelly and he would go on for the win over a strong running Shryock. Wolla would take third. 

The hope was that after the "learning" night of Thursday, the show would run a bit smoother on Friday night. Unfortunately, Friday night's event even ran longer than the previous night with the final checkered around 12:30 am. For the second straight night it seemed like the yellows were plentiful and the recovery time by the safety crew slow and tedious. With just about everyone pitted outside the track and many up the hill, the exchange time between heats with race cars crossing back and forth across the track does slow things down. And unlike most events where after a practice night, there are no other nights that feature hot laps, here they run hot laps for all classes every night, something I think over reach. Especially when the first cars hit the track for hot laps at 6 pm and the first race doesn't actually start for a full hour! That's just too much wasted time for me, especially on a cold night in October. If they're going to hot lap every one, then cars should hit the track much earlier than they did. 

For the second straight night, the track remained in good shape for racing, especially considering the amount of races and amount of laps on the track. And on this night, once the first green flag flew, the track was not touched the rest of the night and it still remained racy throughout!

Again, thanks to Darkside Promotions and XR Special Events for putting on this show. Any racing at this time of the year is a gamble, with the weather being more temperamental each year it seems. By the way, while it was cold, we were racing in Iowa while at home I saw a picture from Friday morning that showed just about three inches of fresh snow on the ground!  

Dallon Murty Earns Opening Night Big Bucks at Iowa Dirt Nationals

 On Thursday  night, October 13th, the opening night of three nights of racing for the Iowa Dirt Nationals was held at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway on the West end of Dubuque just off highway 20. Hosted by Darkside Promotions (Tim Current and Ryan Duhme) and Race XR, Thursday night's show would feature five classes of cars in action, highlighted by the first of three nights of Stock Car action where five thousand dollars would go to the winner on each night. 

Also racing would be Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks for their first of three consecutive nights of racing with the Late Models also putting in a one night appearance on Thursday as well

. Good money would be on the line for all classes with the top prize increasing each night. But the stars of this weekend's show would clearly be the Stock Cars as along with the excellent prize money being offered, this would be a race would drivers could accumulate points as they work toward the big XR finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in November. In fact, these three shows would be the last ones offering points before that big finale and for the first twelve in points, they are automatically locked into the one hundred feature at Vegas, paying fifty thousand dollars to win. 

An excellent field of one hundred and fifty seven cars would sign in to race on Thursday night with more expected as the weekend approaches as each night is a stand alone event that allows drivers that can't get off work etc. for the Thursday night show to still be able to do some racing this weekend. 

There is not nice way to say it; the weather on Thursday night was brutal. Not only was it very cold and even spitting a few drops of rain from time to time but the wind was unrelenting. And to top it off, the wind was screaming right into the grandstand at 20 mph and above. It was miserable. Clearly, Darkside and XR should be commended for even racing on such a miserable night and while the pay per view might actually be helped by such tough conditions, this was a night when only the most dedicated of race fans would tough this out. There would be no casual fans accidently showing up on this night, for sure. 

For this event, they have just a few few cars pitted in the infieldj with the blacktopped parking area to the Southeast of the track used for pit parking this weekend. This works out great for the teams and with all the Fair buildings to block the wind, probably the most comfortable place on the grounds this weekend. It also gives the race fans a chance to watch some of the pit action up close if they so desire. 

One of the drivers on hand to chase the money and points this weekend was Jesse Sobbing from western Iowa. This will be a big weekend for Sobbing on a couple fronts. He is currently thirteenth in the XR Stock Car points and a good showing this weekend would vault him into the top twelve in points and lock him in at Vegas. However, he blew up the motor in his own Stock Car recently and hasn't gotten it back yet, so is racing with a borrowed car this weekend. 

He is also chasing points in the Malvern Bank Late Model series and their finale is Saturday at I-80 Speedway. He currently leads those points by only ten with the point champion to earn ten grand so much is on  the line for him this weekend. Things would not start out swimmingly for him later however, as he would fail to get out of B Feature in the Stock Cars. 

I'm going to be very honest here. It was so cold that my hands turned into popsicles early and I wasn't able to keep as good of notes as normal so bare with me on this night for somewhat less than detailed information. 

Hot laps took some time on this night and the show didn't get started until about 6:50 pm, almost an hour after hot laps were scheduled to start. All five classes ran heat races and the fields were large enough that B Features were needed for Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Modifieds. These were all run through as quickly as possible utilizing the one spin rule for both heats and B Features but for some reason, perhaps the drivers weren't as well schooled at this as some places, many just didn't move until the yellow flew so the number of slowdowns seemed larger than for most one spin rule shows. 

The Late Model feature would be first out and this was a good race with a close finish. Jaden Fryer, who I believe to be a rookie driver in the Late Models, very nearly won the contest tonight. He started on the outside pole and sprinted to an early lead after battling early with Darren Mish. Behind them, Jeff Aikey, Joel Callahan and Mitch Manternach battled for position. 

Fryer would maintain the lead through two yellows, both early in the race and with the last eighteen laps going green, he was able to build up some distance on the field. Ron Klein, who started seventh, would pick up the pace, finally getting by Callahan and then gradually starting to rope in Fryer. Fryer would approach the back of the pack and this seemed to slow him some, and Klein was able to reel him in with only about five laps to go. Klein would drive past Fryer and take over the lead and expand it in the last few laps to secure the win. Fryer would hold on for second over a late charging Nick Marolf. 

The Sport Mods had a bad night in their feature. The potential was there for a good race with Tyler Soppe, Logan Veloz and Tony Olson  battling for the front spot and putting on an entertaining race but every time they started to mix it up, the yellow would fly again and the race would get interrupted

In total, the yellow would fly eight times during what was supposed to be a fifteen lap race and that ended up getting trimmed by a couple of laps due to the high number of yellows. 

The last two laps would provide a thrilling battle between Veloz, Olson and a late arriving Logan Anderson as they went three wide. Veloz would hold off the other two and this could have been a real good race, except  that it was broken up way too many tiimes. 

Johnny Spaw would start on the pole for the twenty five lap Stock Car feature but it would be Nathan Ballard who would take the early lead until eventually challenged by Dallon Murty who started in row two. They would exchange a few slide jobs before Murty would secure the lead but he had Benji LaCrosse then challenging him. They would battle back and forth, throwing some sliders of their own but no matter who challenged, it always seemed the Murty came out on top and at the end, he would hold off LaCrosse and Nick Buckarma for the win. Twenty five laps for five grand; not bad work at all. 

By the Hobby Stock feature, I had lost all feeling in my hands so was writing with my teeth but I managed to catch a good three car battle between Nick Schliem, Andrew Burk and Jimmy Doescher for the win. Earlier, it had been Daniel Wauters battling with Burk for the lead with Burk finally passing him and then Wauters spun to take himself out of the battle. 

A late yellow set up a three lap sprint between the drivers with Doescher sneaking by on the top side of the track to grab the lead on the last lap and edge out Schliem and Burk, 

The Modifieds wrapped up the evening for those tough ones left in the grandstand. It was kind of an odd race in that there was very little passing with the top drivers seemingly holding their positions from start to finish. Early in the evening, it seemed that Spencer Diercks had great speed and he showed that in the main event. It didn't hurt that he drew the pole either and with a nonstop twenty lap race the product, he pulled away and had no challenges as he drove to the win. 

Kelly Shryock gained one position to finish second with Bone Larson driving the Snyder #98 to a third place finish. Besides going nonstop, all twenty four drivers that started the race were still on the track at the finish. 

On a night when a crisp, quick show would have been oh so nice, it was anything but. Despite the best efforts of management to move the show along, it just seemed to be one of those nights when the yellow flew a lot, there were a lot of bad starts that needed to be called back, drivers were having a tough time lining up, every wreck needed multiple wreckers and much time to disengage the participants, and the wreckers seemed to get lost on the grounds from time to time. All this amounted to a show that lasted until almost Midnight. And no matter how entertaining the races, it's just hard to enjoy the action when it is so miserable. 

The hope is that it will warm on Friday and everyone will have gotten the first night jitters over. It was nice to have both "Big Boy" and Jerry Mackey on hand calling the action and that helped pass the time on a couple of those multicar wrecks that seemed to take forever to separate.  

Fourth Straight Fall Classic Title at Ogilvie to Doar

 The nineteenth annual Fall Classic concluded on Saturday night, October 8th at the Ogilvie Raceway. All eight divisions participating would be running feature races and for some divisions, B Features, after the heat race action was concluded on Friday night. 

Improving weather conditions would greet the fans and competitors on Saturday with temperatures about ten degrees warmer and with the starting time moved up two hours from the Friday night action, it was much more comfortable attending on Saturday night. This was reflected by a full house that would attend the second to the last racing weekend of 2022 at "The Big O." 

One thing I neglected to mention in yesterday's report was the condition of the race track and that deserved to receive mention. With over thirty races and literally hundreds of laps of racing action on Friday night, you would naturally conclude that the track would turn one lane and take rubber at some point during the evening. However, that was not the case at all. Once the first green flag dropped on Friday night, there was absolutely nothing done to the race track as with the very cold weather, the point was to get the show done as quickly as possible and therefore there was not mid race delays for watering, scrapping or tickling of the track at all. What is was, was what the drivers raced on. And the great thing was that while the track became icy slick, it was still wide and did not take rubber at all. I base this on the cool weather, the racing order that saw the wide tired cars hit the track early and some good pre race prep. 

On Saturday there would be several sessions of misting of the track between races with some brief "roll in " time needed, but again the track raced well all night and the dreaded "rubbered up" track conditions never appeared as I will take any kind of surface over a "rubbered up" track. And I think the drivers pretty much feel the same way. 

Chris McClain, who flipped his car on Friday night and Zach Beaulieu, whose earlier problems were detailed in last night's report, both returned to race on Saturday night. 

Racing would begin just a few minutes after the advertised time due to one more squirt of water applied that required just a bit of extra track rolling. On tap to begin the evening would be eleven B Feature races for those classes needing one or more of those events to whittle down the fields to twenty five for feature action. As you might expect, these races are often the most trying with everyone wanting to race the main events and willing to do just about anything short of larceny to get into the "big shows." Only two of the eleven races didn't have yellow flags and there were two separate incidences of cars rolling over as they tried oh so hard. 

Finally it would be feature time and we would see quite a variety of feature races laid out for us. There were some strange things that happened in between the close battles and dominating racing and we saw everything from one driver inheriting the lead when the first and second place cars both dropped out of their race at the same time, to one winner announced only after a post race disqualification of another driver for technical issues to one driver waved off the track when he was the leader due to another technical issue to a mass disqualification post race in another class where  we saw a little of just about  everything!

The Street Stocks would lead off the action with former national champion Tim Johnson taking the early lead. He would be constantly challenged by Nick Traynor who would try both high and low to get past Johnson while Tim hung in the low side groove. Meanwhile, Justin Vogel, another former national champion and the best rim runner around, would try up against the wall to pass both but fair early. However, he would not give up and continued to press the issue. 

A late yellow would bunch the field with only eight laps to go and Traynor would pick the high side for the double file restart. This would cost him as Vogel would get past for second and then do what Traynor was unable to do throughout the race, pass Johnson on the high side. This is Vogel's specialty and he would do it once again, driving by Johnson with seven laps to go and then pulling away for the win. Traynor would then try up top again and Braden Brauer would pass Traynor for third at the finish. 

As he often does following big wins, Vogel would park his car up against the concrete wall and then do a smoky burn down for the crowd to celebrate. Apparently the tire shortage has eased!

The Midwest Modified feature would see the most dominate run of the night with Jason VandeKamp leading from wire to wire to beat a field of twenty six drivers for the win. He would start on the outside pole, take the lead from the green and then hold on through three yellow flags to claim the win. 

The last fourteen laps of the race would go nonstop and VandeKamp, who has not had his usual strong season, would pull away from the field for a comfortable win. Travis Schulte, looking for a repeat win in this event, would drive up from the third row to finish second with Haley Lee third. 

All twenty eight cars that signed in for the Late Models would start their forty lap feature race. Don Shaw started third but he ducked inside Harry Hanson on the first turn and would lead the opening lap. He then would go on to lead the first twenty two laps of the feature which would include four minor yellows. 

behind him, an excellent battle would take place for position between Dave Mass, Hanson, Doar and Shane Edginton. Doar would move in to challenge Mass and they would execute a pair of sliders with Mass tagging the wall quite hard in retaining his spot. When the yellow flew for debris, Mass stopped and then pulled from the track. 

Meanwhile, Shaw was showing smoke from the rear of his car and while he tried to restart, it was clear he had lost power and he dived to the infield. When another spin slowed the action, Doar suddenly found himself in the lead and for Doar, who runs very well here, it was then no problem as he would lead the rest of the way for the win. Edginton would drive a determined race to finish second and Jeff Massingill, who was bogged at mid pack for much of the contest, would come screaming forward from his fifteenth starting spot to finish a sparkling third. 

The Modified feature would be a two driver battle between Shane Sabraski and Jody Bellefeuille. Jody would take the early lead with Shane right on his tail and the sparing would begin with Sabraski trying different lines around the track and Bellefeuille using counter measures to keep him in second. Sabraski would get by for the lead on lap eight but Bellefeuille would stay right with him and not give him any breathing room. Clayton Wagamon would pound the cushion to move up to third and Dan Ebert was making a big charge from the eighth row up to fourth at the halfway point. 

The next ten laps would produce some great, exciting racing as Bellefeuille picked up the pace and he and Sabraski did some bold, slide jobs back and forth on each other with Bellefeuille gaining the lead for three laps until Sabraski got it back. 

A yellow slowed the action at this point and following that pause, it was Sabraski that picked up the pace and no matter what Jody tried the last few laps, he simply could not repass Shane and would have to settle for second as Sabraski recorded his twentieth Modified feature win of 2022. Ryan Gierke came on strong at the end to pass Wagamon for third. 

The Super Stock feature would see Sabraski start on the pole and with him dominating the division this year and ready to collect another national title, this race would be presumed to be his. However, as is often the case in racing, one can never predict that outcome as Sabraski would never lead a lap of the race and have to settle for fourth at the finish. 

Denis Czech would lead the first six laps of the feature before he was passed by a strong running Dexton Koch. Dexton had started ninth on the grid but using the extreme low line, he was able to drive his way to the front, ultimately passing Sabraski, Jeremy Nelson, Dave Mass and Czech to take over the lead. 

He then began to pull away from the strong field and he looked to be in great shape. He had a comfortable lead when the yellow flew on lap twenty one for debris on the track. Turns out the debris was a muffler and it was identified as the muffler off the car of Koch. Losing a muffled on the track is and automatic DQ and Koch disgustedly pulled off the track and rightly so. 

Mass would inherit the lead at this point and the race seemed to be his but with a surprise move, Nelson would drive to the outside of Mass, take over the lead and then pull away for the win. Mass would settle for second and Brandon Duellman would storm up from sixteenth to pass Sabraski and get third. And it was true heartbreak for Koch. 

The Mod Four feature would produce quite a surprise also. Bob Holtquist would lead the first five laps until he was briefly overtaken by Landyn Randt who would lead one lap before Holtquist would pick up the pace and regain the lead. Tommy Bawden would also move in and it became a three car battle. 

Following a yellow flag, Bawden would make a big move in turn one and pass Holtquist for the lead but seconds later, Holtquist would spin in turn one and the yellow would wave once again. The decision was to send Bawden to the tail of the field, a call he and many others questioned. 

However, Holtquist would regain the point but he was soon challenged again by Randt who brought along his younger brother Levi, age twelve, and both would put the pressure on Holtquist for the top spot. The Randt brothers would surround Holtquist and on lap fifteen, Landyn would drive past and take over the lead. 

A late yellow would set up a two lap sprint to the finish but Landyn was up to the task and he drove away for the win. The yellow would prove costly, however, for Levi who lost his second spot with David Slovick from eighth, and Connor Haas, from fifteenth, rounding out the top five. 

Landyn barely made it to the track on time on Friday to race as he had to play a high school football game for the Siren Dragons before his Mother rushed him to the track just in time to race with the rest being history. 

The last two race of the evening proved to be a crazy duo of racing events. The Pure Stocks had a small field of cars but they managed to keep people talking long after the checkered flag waved. Ryan Olson would take the early lead as he battled with Austin Carlson but James Rahn, who started thirteenth on the grid, soon moved into contention. On lap seven, Rahn would get to the inside of Olson and take over the lead. 

A couple of restarts would slow the action and then Rahn and Olson would rub as they battled for the lead and Rahn got a flat tire, taking him out of the lead and necessitating another yellow for a tire change. 

Josh Berg would take over the lead at this time but Olson then began to pressure Berg for the lead as Rahn tore back up through the field, a driver on a mission. Berg felt the pressure too much which resulted in a spin by him and that gave Olson the lead with only four laps to go. 

However, it took Rahn only two laps to power past Olson and retake the lead as he would drive on for the win, or so we thought. Following the victor's interview and the photos, Rahn headed for tech and the word came soon after that his car had been DQ'd and that Olson would be awarded the win. For Rahn, he earned the daily double as his car had also been DQ'd following his heat race win on Fridya night, which resulted in his deep starting position. 

For Olson, the high school senior, he came back out and got his victory lane pictures taken at the end of the night. No word on whether the big check came into his possession too. 

The Hornets would wrap up a long evening with another feature race that ended up with a crazy finish. Jena Hagemann would lead the opening lap before she was passed by Brandon Nyberg for the top spot. Hagemann would continue to challenge to get the lead back until she was replaced by Nathen Kohl in the race for the top spot.

Kohl would make what was the winning pass on lap eleven but this race would go right down to the wire. The last nine laps would see Kohl and Nyberg racing wheel to wheel for the front spot, never getting more than a car length apart. The front of the field was producing some fine racing while the back half of the pack seemed intent on destroying each other's cars as some hits that were clearly intentional started and then continued, even to the pit exit after the race was over. 

As for the leaders, they ran side by side right to the checkered with Kohl edging out Nyberg by a car length for the win. However, while Kohl would be OK, the rest of the finishers still had to fear the tech area and when all was said and done, second, third, fourth and fifth place finishers were all disqualified for technical infractions, along with the worst offender in the back of the pack demo derby. When all was said and done, Kohl was trailed by Hagemann and Jesse Turnvall. 

The tech team may have set some kind of record as for the night, there were a total of eleven cars disqualified. Add in the six from Friday night and the two night total of seventeen might also be some sort of record, dubious though it may be. One would think that this was the first race of the year, not the last. 

So it was certainly a wild conclusion to a big weekend of racing. FYE Motorsports Promotions once again produced this show and thanks go out to Chris Stepan and everyone from FYE as well as Nate Fischer, the Wagamon family and all the workers from the Big 0. 

Ogilvie still has one more weekend of racing upcoming with the 12th annual Topless Nationals to be held on October 21st  and 22nd. This is another race that generally produces a large field of race cars representing many different sanctioning bodies and produces interesting racing. 

Friday Night Heat Races Open Big Weekend at "The Big O"

Friday night, October 7^th was the opening night for the nineteenth annual Fall Classic at “The Big O”, Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie Minnesota. Traditionally one of the biggest end of the season events and certainly in the car count, this is one of the few races other than the WISSOTA 100 where all eight divisions that are sanctioned by WISSOTA get together and race during one extremely packed weekend of racing action. Despite the fact that Pure Stocks and Late Models are not among the weekly offerings at Ogilvie, those classes are also brought in for this weekend”s event so race fans can get a sampling of everything in terms of classes that WISSOTA offers if they are so inclined to do so.

It is also one of the last races on the WISSOTA calendar of santioned events with the last racing weekend on the calendar being next week so on those occasions when national point titles are still hanging in the balance, this weekend's racing can go a long way toward deciding national titles. As it turns out this year, most of the titles have already been mathematically decided, so there isn't quite the drama in that regard as in some years.

The weekend started off with bone chillling temperatures. However, even with temps pushing the freezing mark, it didn't seem to slow down the competitors as another gigantic field of cars signed in to race.

In all, two hundred and ninety six drivers in those eight classes signed in to race, only ten off the record turnout which was held just last year. In terms of numbers, the biggest field was in the MidMods where sixty four signed in to race and the smallest was the Pure Stocks, understandable since there aren't really any local tracks in this area that run the class. They had thirteen cars which made up two heats.

The biggest drop in car count from last year was in the Streets and MidMods where nine less drivers took part while the Modifieds had the biggest increase with thirteen more drivers than last year. There were drivers on hand from as far away as Montana and two Canadian Provinces.

I am not a fan of one feature events that are stretched over two days but this is one of those rare events that logistics simply wouldn't allow the completion of two full shows, given the large field of cars on hand. As it is, they do a great job of moving the show along here, especially appreciated given how cool the evening was. They started about ten minutes after 7 pm and by 11:30 pm all racing was completed. This involved thirty three heat races, most of the distance of ten laps. Passing points were used in all divisions on this night, which then almost required with large heat race fields that ten lap races be run.

There were a number of drivers on hand that ran in more than one division but the only driver to win heat races in two classes was Shane Sabraski.

Brock Gronwald, a MidMod driver with some great wins including at Bristol, was on hand again with a Modified instead of the MidMod that he had run most of the season. He told me that he still had that car but was planning on focusing his efforts on the Mod going forward except if the Wild West Shootout allows the MidMods to race competitively without a lot of changes in 2023 in which case he might take the MidMod to New Mexico. He is running a Lethal chassis from a drive in Ohio that he obtained the car from and has had it sitting in his shop all Summer, waiting to get it ready to race while he continued to race the MidMod.

Gavin Rowland, one of the best local Street Stock racers, made only his second start of the year this weekend. The car is for sale but since they live only five miles from this track, they felt the need to come out and join the racing this weekend. They hope to sell the car and they are going to try some other types of motorsports competition next year, just to change things up a bit. They will start with some ice racing this Winter for example.

Once Kyle Dykhoff clinched the Street Stock national title, he stepped out of his car and turned it over to Eric Riley, who was driving it here this weekend. Dykhoff is rumored to be moving up to a different class for next year.

The weekend has started off very badly for Zach Beaulieu. He flipped his Street Stock during practice last night. Not willing to call it a weekend, they took the car back to Wisconsin, worked on it and had it back out to race on Friday. However, more issues occured during his heat race with some kind of rear end trouble and he went off the track on the back end of a wrecker.

Another flip victim on the night was Mod Four driver Chris McClain. He came off the edge of the track wrong, dug in and barrel rolled twice during his heat race on Friday. Fortunately, he brings his race car to the track on a roll back, which was needed to get the car both off the track and back to his shop.

Even though the racing season is winding down, the tech folks are not backing down in their enforcment of the rules. There were six disqualifications handed out tonight, including the top two finishers in one of the Pure Stock heats.

A couple of the harder crashes of opening night involved Winnipeg's Scott Greer who had a nice run going in a Late Model heat when he pounded the wall on the front stretch and the other really hard collision saw J.T. Johnson and Ryan Kostreba get together in the Super Stocks when Johnson didn't see the spinning Kosteba and hit him at full speed, obviously doing much damage to both cars.

Using passing points really changes things up for the lineups for the main events. For example, Kennedy Swan started on the pole and won a MidMod heat, yet because there was so much passing going on in some of the other heats, she will start sixteenth in the main event on Saturday night. Using the draw/redraw format, she would obviously start somewhere in the first three or four rows of that same race but overall, especially when the fields of cars are so large, passing points still seems a more fair way of doing business.

As you can imagine, with nearly three hundred race cars on the grounds, the pit area gets pretty expansive with all the regular pit area jammed plus the field behind the back chute that gets utilized for this event. Getting around proves problematic so I need to thank Princeton and North Central Speedway tech man, “Big Kenny”, who by the way is in his forty third year of teching race cars, for giving me a lift for that one last “go round” to check up on the late arrivals on Friday.

Saturday night all the B Features and eight main events will be contested.

Bahr, Sabraski, Spacek and Nelson Dominate Red Clay Classic

 

The wrap up for the Red Clay Classic was held on Saturday night, October 1^st at the ABC Raceway just South of Ashland Wisconsin. After a full night of racing on Friday, the program would consist of B Features for all four classes plus the four big feature races.

The weather returned to what we would much more normally expect for the Red Clay as after a sunny, seventy degree day on Friday, on Saturday we would have gray slate skies, only about fifty degrees and a still Northeast wind directly off Lake Superior. It would be time to put away the shorts and break out the heavy, Winter coats and hats. But for the second straight night, the grandstand would be packed with fans and the pits jammed with over two hundred race cars. Friday night was a smooth night of racing with very few crashes and mechanical issues so just about the whole field returned to take a shot at making the field through multiple B Features.

Recently the Red Cedar Speedway had a fund raiser where they raffled off a new MB Modified race car with Travis Anderson having the lucky ticket. And Travis is going to use the new car as he has decided to move up from the MidMods to the Modifieds for 2023 which will be good for that class with another quality racer that has faithfully raced his two tracks every weekend. His old car, which is also an MB with perhaps only a dozen or so shows on it, will be for sale.

A tradition of the Red Clay is that Tim Ludwigson of Tim's Automotive, builder of some of the finest racing engines for all classes in this area, always hosts a big feed on Saturday of Red Clay featuring his special chicken recipe and he invites all his customers and friends to partake. Others bring dishes too and lots of great deserts and a feast is held for all. As always, thanks to Tim for doing this yearly as it involves a lot of work.

Track officials made the decision to move the show along as quickly as possible to try and beat the cold and any possible rain. In fact, we drove in rain for the first half hour on our way North Saturday and ran into wet pavement not far South of the track so it as a near miss. There were no hot laps, racing started right on the dot at 4 pm, and all driver out of car introductions were dropped to move things along(thank you!).

The B Features were most intense with everyone in the field wanting to make the main event. Yellow flags were quite numerous and in one of the most unusual moments of the weekend, after Tucker Budreau spun his Super Stock and then drove it head on into the guard rail as he tried to keep going, he literally stuck his car's nose right into the guardrail. The recovery crew was unable to pull the car off the rail and ended up having to cut the plastic nose of the car off to get him loose and for the rest of the night, the blue end of his nose was still imbedded between the rails of the guard rail.

With a fifteen minute time limit for the B Features, things got a little testy as several were called complete when the number of yellows built up and the time limit was exceeded. One could see the point of the drivers that got riled, as they stuck around for twenty hours to make one last shot to get into the show and then in a couple cases, only got five or six laps of racing to try and get to the front and qualify. This feels like punishing the cars that don't cause yellows by cutting them short because others were causing yellows.

It was pleasurable to wrap up the entire program by about 9:30 pm but I still felt bad for all those teams that basically got rooked out of their last chance to qualify.

The four feature races were not classics in the true sense but that was because a dominant driver emerged in all four classes. Twenty four cars took the green for the MidMod feature with Justin Bassa and Jason Schill battling for the lead early. Schill would take over the top spot but it was veteran Tony Bahr that quickly moved in to challenge. He would move to the high groove and pass first Bassa and then Schill to take over the lead and once in front, he would not be challenged.

Bassa had bad luck when he spun while batting for second and had to go tail back while Scott Splittstoesser and Cody Carlson moved forward. Splittstoesser caught a big break when he slid into the infield but would keep going while the yellow was thrown prematurely. He was given his spot back as he kept going and things would work out well for him as after restarting fifth, he would take advantage of a late yellow to motor up to second with Carlson coming on for third. The veteran Bahr, who only races when he feels like it these days, continues to win major events, as he has in the Super Stocks, Modifieds and Late Models over the years.

Ryan Adamzak, a veteran local MidMod driver passed away over the Winter and a local fan group, Finlander Corner, with the help of WISSOTA Board Member Dennis McCauley, solicited money in his honor with this money to be given to the ninth and seventh place feature finisher as his number was #97. The money collected amounted to a $3,100 bonus for two drivers. This turned into a bit of a drama as one car had a transponder that wasn't recorded that messed up the finish and then one top five finisher was DQ'd, but eventually things were sorted out and Zach Benson and Kennedy Swan eventually collected the big bonus.

Shane Sabraski has been a dominant driver in the Super Stocks all year and in fact, in a couple of weeks will be officially titled WISSOTA National Super Stock champion. In the meantime, his feature totals rise and his racing income mounts. On Saturday, it took him only five laps to drive past Terran Spacek and Steve Stuart to take the lead and then hold serve the last twenty five laps of the race for a dominating win. Several yellows brought the pack back to him but each time he would pull away again. This did result in a great battle for second between Spacek and Stuart for laps and laps. However, a yellow with five to go allowed Cole Chernosky to be a part of the fight and the Canadian driver would slip past both to finish second with Spacek holding on for third.

The Modified feature would produce a bit of an upset. Despite holding track championships and being third in all time wins at ABC, Jeff Spacek had not won a feature race at the track in three years so even though he would start on the pole, his route to victory figured to be a tough one. However, the Phillips veteran got the jump right at the start and quickly pulled to a considerable lead. And that lead never faded as there would be no one with the speed to stay with him.

The two race yellows hit at just the right time so as to avoid having to fight traffic until the end of the track and even that didn't show him as he navigated through three slower cars with ease, putting them between himself and eventual runner up A.J. Diemel at the finish. Shane Halopka would get past Ashley Anderson late for third.

Early during the weekend, I stopped by to talk elcctric scooters with Darrell Nelson and someone pointed out that during his distinquished career, he had never won the Red Clay in the Late Model class. However, it would not be many hours later until that couldn't be said again as Nelson would dominate the fifty lap feature for the Late Models, leading from start to finish.

Early on, Pat Doar appeared faster than Nelson but simply couldn't find a way by but as the laps progressed, Nelson got faster and Doar perhaps a little slower and Darrell would pull away.

The yellows were minimal and the last thirty laps of the race would go nonstop. Nelson would maintain a comfortable lead all the way to the finish with Nick Anvelink coming on strong late to get second from Doar.

The Red Clay is a weekend of giving and also one of traditions. One of the most interesting is what they call the “Bridesmaid's Challenge”. Somewhere along the way, the second place finisher, or “Bridesmaid”, started to get a bonus and the whole thing just gradually expanded. A local establishment, The Neighborly Bar, has a Thursday night fundraiser for this particular award and this year they went all out.

In exchange for donning a formal gown and holding a bouquet in the victory lane photos, the runner up gets a very healthy bonus. All four “Bridesmaids” donned the garb this year and in exchange, each received a nice bonus of $2,200 each! As crazy as it sounds, this made the runner up in each class go home with a bigger check than the race winner!

So another Red Clay Classic in now in the books. As usual it remains one of the most successful of the Fall racing specials with big attendance, lots of campers, plenty of partying and lots of race cars. Generally there is some sort of weather to battle but that almost seems like part of the flavor of this event, one that never lacks for action and entertainment.