The second half of the Fall Futurity was held as a late afternoon event on Sunday, October 22nd at the new look, Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Iowa. Originally planned as a Friday and Saturday show, that schedule was changed at the end of last weekend when the miserable weather rained out just about everything in the Midwest.
The Mason City Motor Speedway ran their final event of the year instead on Friday night with the Fall Futurity backed up to Saturday and Sunday.
In the meantime, they were working furiously on the track in Webster City with some fairly substantial changes in the track taking place since the last race just weeks ago. The track was shortened with some light poles on the inside of the track being removed so that the track could be brought in on its ends and a lot of new jersey barricades were put in place to form an inside wall around the track. The old entrance/exit it turn one was covered up with that being a solid wall and the race cars now stage on the inside of the track in turn three where they then roll on to the track for the start of events. One trip by the grandstand and they are ready to race.
In essence, the track really hasn't been shortened as much as it has been widened but that is a good thing in that it really opens up the corners and allows racing of a more side by side manner. Some drivers were right up against the outside just as they had always been but there are now several lower lines in the corners to race on also. I suspect that after a few more races those lines will be come even more used. After all, Sunday was just the second race ever on the new configuration so it will take some time for the full scope of the changes to be effective. I was told that the low groove was pretty rough on Saturday but almost nonstop work by a wide variety of heavy equipment from before I got there right up to race time had changed that considerably and again, with a few more races I would assume it would get nothing but better.
The outside wall is now gone and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is debatable. There were still plenty of drivers right up on the top side but they had nothing to lean on. All I know is that going off the end could provide a pretty rough landing now. They did have to pull one Stock Car out of the weeds after he got too high in turn two. Fortunately, he ended up no where near the river that runs behind the back chute.
The race cars will park toward the front of the pits thus improving the site lines for the fans and making it easier to sit low in the grandstands and still see the entire track.
The last time I saw promoter Todd Staley, he was in a harness after having surgery but all healed up now, he was back driving his Stock Car in competition with that class as well as supervising the operation. Always a man on the go, I did manage to corner him long enough to get a few words from him.
Set to wrap up the USMTS season this coming weekend, he was hoping that they wouldn't leave the Lakeside Speedway surface open so that it could suck up the water from this week's expected rains. He is hoping to wrap up the season with races at Lakeside and 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas this weekend. Having already crowned a champion in Rodney Sanders, the Junghans Memorial at Lakeside is a big race and they want to get it in.
As far as next year for the USMTS, there has been a change in philosophy on their scheduling for next year. They have discovered that the multi day shows are difficult for tracks to make happen so look for no more than six of the three day shows in 2024 at such places at Deer Creek, Cedar Lake and Ogilvie. There will be a number of three race weekends but they will likely be at three different tracks with close proximity to each other and more two night shows at an individual track. The schedule is due to be released in about three weeks with the opener likely to be at Rocket Raceway Park in Texas once again.
Five sanctioned classes would be in action on Sunday with USRA Modifieds, Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks racing along with the Late Models who were running SLMR rules. Eighty cars would be on hand for the Sunday finale to the racing season with no B Features needed. This was a good number for what would hoped to be a quick show on a Sunday with some weather scheduled to move into the area later on.
And it was exactly that; a very quick show. All the heat races were spun off in under one hour and while they continued to work the track for the features, they had many specials at the concession stand as they were likely clearing things out there too.
Using the typical draw/redraw format of the USRA, the Late Models would be up first on the refreshened track. Bad news for the rest of the field would find Tad Pospisil drawing the outside pole. He would take the lead right at the start and would dominate the event, only running into any issues when he had to deal with lapped traffic that was running the same lane as he was.
Just like many other tracks, whether new or veteran facilities, making a track racey for the Late Models is a tough task with their wide tires and moisture seeking chassis. We would see the other four classes all over the track on this Sunday with them racing from right on the hub to the grassy confines right up next to the wall.
Except the Late Models that is. They would all line up right on the inside lane and hug the inside Jersey barriers, making it tough to pass and tough to lap the slow cars. However, Pospisil would get his way through the field to the extent that he would win easily. Brian Harris was the show as he came from eighth to finish second, working hard and using parts of the track that others scorned. Jason Hahne would finish third.
Dustin Gulbranson would lead from start to finish to win the Hobby Stock feature. Again, he drew the outside pole and would show the way from start to finish. There was a good battle for second with Chris Hovden outdueling Scott Dobel for the spot.
Then the Modifieds rolled out and we would be treated to by far the best race of the night. And while Brandon Davis was officially scored the leader of all twenty laps, it was not near that easy. Kyle Brown put on a show as he quickly moved up from the third row to challenge Davis and what a fight they had for the lead.
Brown would throw slider after slider at Davis and Brandon would cross him over time after time as they continued to jockey for the lead. Several times it looked like Brown was going to grab the top spot but each time Davis would re maneuver and lead back to the line. Brown would make his biggest attempt with just a couple laps left with another monstrous slider but Davis would hold him off and with his momentum killed, Brown would have to settle for second with Ron VerBeek third. Tyler Davis was point chasing all the way from Kansas but he would end up backwards on the track after just two laps and call it an evening.
It took until the fourth feature of the night to see the first pass for the race lead, but the B Mods delivered with Harley Dais leading the first six laps after starting in that prized outside pole position. However, Harley was getting looser and looser and drifting dangerously close to the front stretch wall and finally it would be Ty Griffith that would duck under him and take over the lead.
Griffith is a master at this track and the changes made didn't seem to bother him as he found a line high on one end and against the Jersey barricades on the other end that saw him pull away for the win. Shadren Turner, also likely chasing points, came from Missouri to finish second with a pair of #56 cars crossing the line in that order with Joe Chisholm third.
The Stock Cars would wrap up the evening with a two car duel for the win that saw Austin Meiners lead the opening lap, then give away the lead to Nate Whitehurst, only to fight his way back into the lead some seven laps later and then go on for the win.
Things got dicey with just three laps to go when the first yellow of the race flew and on the restart, Bill Crimmins would take Whitehurst for second and try to flag down Meiners for the lead but Austin had a big enough advantage that Crimmins couldn't catch him and would drive home for the win.
I believe the track prep crew spent a huge amount of time on the new surface and their efforts were rewarded with a much improved track on Sunday. A quick Sunday night show was much appreciated by all with the whole program running off in about two and a half hours. As always, thanks to Todd and Janet Staley and the whole crew at Hamilton County. With a whole off season to settle, it will be interesting to see how the new look track races in 2024.
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