The wrap up of the nice, two night weekend of racing for the Midwest dirt finale would see the drivers, crews and fans trek across the southern Iowa border to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. The three eighth mile oval would host the once postponed Shiverfest, an annual event that typically wraps up the racing action in the Hawkeye State.
For the second straight night, Brian and Marcie Gaylord would be the hosts for the event which was a somewhat bittersweet night for them in that they would be stepping away from promoting at Lee County after being the promoters here for the last eight years. Fortunately for the track, they were able to announce the new promoters who are taking over while a number of tracks throughout the Midwest are currently struggling to find promoters to run their shows.
Neil Kohlmorgan and Patrick Profeta will take over the promoting for the 2024 season. Both have experience as racers, owners of race cars and both have also sponsored race cars. They are expected to announce their plans on classes they race along with other information soon. The persistent rumor that continues to circulate is that racing will be switched to Saturday nights in 2024 so we shall see.
One hundred and twenty eight race cars signed in to race on Saturday in the six divisions that were offered. The Mini Haulers would replace the Hobby Stocks from Friday night's Scotland County show with otherwise the same classes running which did a allow a number of out of town teams to travel and race at both tracks. Nearly seventy drivers that didn't race on Friday night would be added to the field with the Sport Mods needing a B Feature on Saturday while everyone got to race in the other five classes.
A different looking division was the Mini Haulers which are rear wheel drive pick up trucks. This is a class that used to race at my home track nearly thirty years ago when the NASCAR trucks were just coming into vogue. The class had a flaming period, being very popular for a couple years and then quickly crashing into oblivion.
Before the races I was able to take a few minutes to have a nice conversation with Iowa's "Iron Man", Darrel DeFrance. With forty some shows having been completed this year, it was kind of a different year for DeFrance. With not too much Late Model racing for him in central Iowa, he has taken to going on tour with the SLMR, traveling to races in both the Western and Eastern region of that series. He has enjoyed running this series but has been making a number of trips to western Iowa this year for series races.
He tells me that he plans to run the same car with updates while also updating his motor program for next year. He is still running his IMCA crate engine and with the SLMR so time trial orientated with the points that are awarded for good qualifying runs, his little motor makes it tougher to qualify well on big and heavy tracks. He says it races well but qualifying is tough and he might upgrade to a motor with more power.
The SLMR has lost its title sponsor for 2024 and is looking with Darrel saying that a prominent driver and business owner from southeast Iowa is the prime candidate as the replacement so we shall see. Darrel is also considering making an Arizona run in January to race that series out there as he can make it a duel purpose, both racing and visiting family that live out there.
Racing would begin shortly after six on a track that was quite heavy but would gradually dry out as the night progressed, causing the fast racing lane to move around and shift around as drivers searched for the fastest groove for their particular taste.
There were plenty of things going on for the fans too as Shiverfest always provides with hayrides through the pits for fans and trick or treat on the front chute before the races started. There were plenty of folks on hand, both young and old in costume.
The Stock Car feature would be first to roll out for action, with nineteen drivers taking the green. Abe Huls would lead the opening lap but just one lap later John Oliver Jr. would take over the lead. Oliver Jr., busy all weekend running in two classes, would then establish dominance and would lead the rest of the race. There was plenty of action going on behind him though, as Huls, Miciah Hildebaugh, Todd Reitzler, Tom Cannon and Dustin Griffiths all fought for position and jockeyed back and forth through three yellow and one red flag.
When Cannon spun with just two laps to go and Hildebaugh dropped out, the running order got jumbled as Oliver Jr. drove on for the win over Griffiths and Reitzler.
While Tim Ward would lead from start to finish in the Modified feature, it was not an easy win by any means. Austin Becerra was closely following Ward from start to finish and several times got plenty close enough to provide a challenge. Ward was forced to adjust his line on the track several times with Becerra several times diving to his inside in the turns and nearly making the pass.
After the last yellow though, Ward found a line that worked best for him and he was able to put some distance on Becerra who would settle for second. Charlie Mohr would move up from ninth to finish third.
The most dominating run of the night was completed by C.J. Horn who would lead from start to finish in the Late Model feature. He would again show great speed but without the drama of Friday night at Memphis where his last lap challenge went badly South.
This night he would lead without any challenge at all, having built up nearly a full straightaway before a lone yellow with six laps to go bunched the field. Horn, who's car didn't seem to be handling all that well, made up for that with exception speed that would see him pull away on the chutes. In fact, even his motor sounded different than everyone else's as he pulled away once again.
There was a good battle for second though, with Darrel DeFrance making his car work well on the inside as he ducked into second and then held off a strong rush from Jeff Tharp who was driving Andy Nezworski's car on this night. I slipped up on spotting this and thus can't say whether this was a one night arrangement or if Tharp had purchased the car for 2024.
A three car grinder on the second lap slowed the Sport Mod feature as Chris Spaulding took the early lead. Tanner Kingele and John Oliver Jr. tried to keep up with Spaulding who was setting a very fast pace.
Gradually moving forward were Brayton Carter and Tony Olson who were moving up after starting in the fifth and eighth rows respectively. As Spaulding continued to lead, Carter searched around on the track and finally found the openings he needed to move into second. A spin then would pack the field and set the race to the checkered in motion.
Spaulding was very fast and while Carter chose to push the cushion, he could stay with but never seriously challenge Spaulding for the lead. Spaulding was one of the very few USRA cars in the field and his speed showed. Carter pushed to the limit but just couldn't cut the margin that Spaulding had. Thus Carter, looking for feature win thirty two on the year, would instead settle for family honors in a tie with brother Cayden who also earned thirty one wins in his last year running Sport Mods.
Not noticed by many was the fact that Spaulding clipped one of the dreaded infield ute tires on the last restart which broke his left front suspension and while he remained just as fast dragging the left front, if a yellow had flown he would have been in big trouble. Fortunately for the Missouri driver, that never occurred.
Travis Demint would lead from start to finish to win the Sport Compact main event. He was not able to break away from Chevy Barnes and Dyllan Bonk who followed him closely through the early going. On the move was Wisconsin driver Brody Rivest who had broke in his heat and would start eighteenth Rivest showed great speed as he tore through the field and when David Prim slowed with just two laps to go, Rivest was up to second and all over the leader.
However, Demint drove a smart last couple of laps, not giving the inside line up and while Rivest had much speed, he couldn't make the outside work to the point that he could make a pass on the line. Demint would withstand one more challenge and drive on for the win. Rivest, who travels to big races all over on both dirt and asphalt tracks, would finish a strong second with Barnes holding on over a three car scrum at the finish line.
The Mini Haulers would provide a wild conclusion to the night as those tough enough to hold on for the last checkers on a rapidly cooling night would be entertained. Brian Tipps would take the early lead and hold the point for the first three laps. Fireball Brockett would then make the pass for the point and lead for the majority of the race.
Tipps would fall back a few car lengths but then make a nice charge back up into contention and would challenge Brockett for the lead in the last couple laps. Tipps would try the outside and after a few tense moments, manage to squeeze past up against the wall to take a mini lead as the white flag waved. Brockett would fight back and take the lead through turn one but Tipps would then again charge up on the outside to challenge.
Coming off the last corner, Tipps had a run and looked to be making the winning pass until Brockett moved up the track and pinned Tipps to the wall, where Brian would bang off the concrete and Brockett would hold on for the win. Score the win for Brockett but without any style points. Eric Detlefsen would finish third.
All racing would be complete just after 10 pm and with the ability to spin the clock back one hour, that was an added bonus. Thanks to Gaylord's for a fine weekend of racing and a great way to wrap up the Midwest racing season. Best of luck to them in the future and all are now looking forward to seeing the plans of the new promoters to keep racing alive and healthy at Lee County.
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