The second annual Ernie Mincy Early Thaw kicked off on Thursday night, January 18th at the Central Arizona Raceway at Eleven Mile Corner East of Casa Grande Arizona. And it would be a memorable night as Late Model Hall of Fame driver Billy Moyer Jr. would earn, according to his website, his eight hundred and fifty first feature win as he topped a wild Late Model main event.
On a night when quality racing would produce some exciting action including two feature races decided in the last couple laps, other winners would include Chaz Baca Jr, Trent Grager, Lucas Rodin and Cam Reimers.
The renewal of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw started in 2023 after this Winter series had been dropped for a number of years. Minnesota promoter and Winter resident of the Phoenix area Don Shaw, who also happens to race Late Models when he isn't promoting, was looking to keep Late Model racing alive in the Desert area so he, along with track promoter at CAR Brad Whitfield, came up with the idea of restarting the Mincy Thaw, a series of races that had been discontinued for a number of years.
This series brought a field of quality Late Model drivers to the Desert for the first time in 2023 and it was successful enough that Shaw chose to do it again this year. One of Shaw's goals was to also provide some Winter racing for his WISSOTA drivers that he runs with and promotes races for in the Summer so his Late Model package here is much like that used by Joe Kosiski for his SLMR series with rules that try to equalize the open motors with the spec engines and even the 525 crate motors that are becoming increasingly popular. The series this year would see drivers running all three types of that motor package with reasonable success. With little support surprisingly from the area Late Models of Arizona, the drivers responded wonderfully from the Midwest with a number of drivers on hand from North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin plus Manitoba Canada providing a field of thirty five drivers, most than any night of last year's series.
Shaw also wanted to provide some Winter racing for some of his other drivers so he has developed a Limited Modified class that races in this event that combines the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds along with the B Mods and X Mods from New Mexico and although there was only one of them, the Midwest Mods provided enough numbers to put on a good show. The other three classes racing at this event are the IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods, a nod to the fact that this area is dominated by that sanctioning body and those classes and three of the classes that Whitfield runs weekly here.
Unique to this event is that Shaw brings in most of the officials from his own track, the I-94 emr Speedway in Fergus Falls Minnesota to administer this event and even hauls down some of his own track equipment for track prep. Shaw passes on racing at his own event and instead focuses on track prep and the other multiple duties that a race promoter has to worry about on race day. He brings in his own announcer, race director, track prep and tech folks and even the flagman, Mike Witherell who is the starter at the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks North Dakota.
Locally, "The Hook" was on hand to work this race. They are the team of track recovery experts that work many of the special events in the Arizona area including here and Cocopah and used to be seen at Tucson and the Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek.
CAR is a three eighth mile oval with long straights and tight corners with medium banking. It is a fast track but has no outside walls and one of the issues that continues to present itself is that lots of drivers seen to slide off the edges of the banking as often the fast line is right on the track with little margin for error. If the drivers are able to get back over the banking and continue to race, they are allowed to do so but if they are forced to go all the way around to try and get back on, they are black flagged and sent to the pits. A one spin rule was also in effect with this track having a curfew and urban growth starting to invade their space, such as it has at many tracks in North America. There used to be quite a large berm around the inside of the track that kept drivers from pulling into the infield when they slowed but that is gone now. New dirt was added last Fall in turns one and two and that would be a focal point as they say that part of the track would have some "character" on this night.
One hundred and twenty cars would sign in for night number one of this six race series with the car count expected to rise for the weekend shows when local and area drivers would not have to make as many sacrifices to get to the track. No hot laps were held as Wednesday was the practice night so they proceeded directly into racing shortly after 5 pm. local time.
The only classes of the five that needed a B Feature was the Late Models and the Modifieds with the Late Models topping the charts with a fine field of thirty five of them on hand with drivers representing nine states and two Canadian Provinces.
Stock Cars would be up first for their main and it was outside pole starter, North Dakota's Aaron Olson that would take the early lead. He was chased by local fan favorite Bo Partain as the two battled for the top spot. On lap six, Jason Rogers and Trent Grager would get their bumpers locked and both would slide off turn one, triggering the first yellow of the race. Grager would get his spot back which was key based on what would happen later in the race.
Olson would continue to lead to lead with Partain pushing his very hard at the halfway point with Boone Evans, Grager and Jordan Zillmer following. Partain would get a nose under Olson on several occasions but just couldn't complete the pass as the laps ran down.
Buddy Wade would stall with just three laps to go when it appeared his motor blew up and this would set up a sprint to the finish. The Delaware restart would see Partain chose the low side for the green but as the race resumed, a shocking move saw Grager move to the outside of the track and pass both Partain and Olson as they raced out of turn four. And once in front, he would pull away over the last two laps to pull off quite the upset. Partain would also get past Olson for second on the final lap.
However, there was still a tech inspection to deal with and unfortunately, both third place Olson and fourth place Evans would fail. The final running order would then see Grager trailed by Partain, Chris McCurdy Sr, Mike Albertsen and Zellmer. Grager would also a winner here in 2023 when the series was resumed.
Four heats and a B Feature would set the running order for the thirty three car field of IMCA Modifieds with Tom Berry Jr starting on the pole driving a car provided by Wisconsin's Mike Wedelstadt. However, it would be Chaz Baca Jr, from the outside, that would take the early lead. A scrum before one lap was completed would trigger a yellow but then the drivers would go nonstop for the twenty lap distance.
Baca Jr would be challenged by both Berry Jr and Jeff "Bone" Larson driving a Timmy Current car this week. The three would slice and dice for the lead with Larson passing Berry Jr temporarily for second and then nearly passing for the lead.
But then Berry Jr got back on his horse and would charge up past Larson, close on Baca Jr and with a slider, take the lead in turn four for just a single lap. Then things would turn sour very fast for Berry Jr as he got into turn one too hot and slid over the banking and was out of the race as the green continued to fly. This turn of events gave Baca Jr a nice sized lead over Larson and he was able to maintain it the rest of the race which stayed under the green.
Being a local favorite, his win was a popular one here. Ricky Alvarado Jr started sixth and drove up to third which he maintained over the final half of the race and was trailed at the finish by Michael Leach and Jerry Flippo.
There were many twists and turns to the Late Model twenty five lap main with WISSOTA 2023 National Champion Tyler Peterson taking the early lead. Outside pole sitter Josh Zimpel lost much time on the opening lap when he slipped over the banking with Bricen James moving into third behind Scott Ward. Ward was pushing hard for the lead and then he too slipped over the banking, losing a number of spots.
Peterson was fast in the early going and pulled to a considerable lead as James, Moyer Jr who started seventh and Dustin Strand battling for position behind him. Meanwhile, a driver to watch was Ricky Weiss who slipped over the banking in his heat race, had to qualify through a B Feature after being the big winner here in 2023 and then started twenty first in the main. But he was on the move early, driving by other competitors using the top side of the track and soon had cracked the top ten.
James, while running second, would slip over the banking in turn one and lose that spot as Moyer Jr would then be scored second on lap sixteen with Strand up to third and Weiss now right behind him. Suddenly, Peterson started to struggle badly in the corners with his car pushing up the track and his lead evaporating rapidly. Soon Moyer Jr. was on his rear bumper with Weiss moving past Strand for third. And shockingly, as he drove into turn one, Peterson's car shot up the banking and off the end of the track and Tyler was done as the yellow flew one last time.
The last nine laps would be a three car battle between Moyer Jr, Weiss and Strand. Ricky would make many attempts to get past Billy but Moyer Jr always had a counter move. Strand made life difficult for Weiss also as he drove under him several times in the corners and nearly stole the second place. Weiss made one last shot off the final corner, riding in high and turning down across the track but Moyer Jr had just enough speed to nip Ricky by a car length for a very entertaining win. Strand would finish a very close third with Shane Sabraski and Dustin Bluhm completing the top five. Moyer Jr, by the way, was driving the Longhorn that Shaw drove last week in the Wild West Shootout, not his own car.
The Limited Modifieds would provide their own thriller with a last lap pass deciding the winner of that race. Jake Smith would pull into the early lead over Blake Adams with Jess Brekke and Lucas Rodin close behind also. Both of them would shuffle Adams back to fourth as the first yellow flew on lap seven for a three car collision in turn one.
With racing resuming, Adams would make a sparkling move in turn one, splitting Rodin and Brekke and moving back into second. He would then challenge Smith for the lead on several occasions, running close behind despite emitting some smoke from the rear of the car. A debris yellow at the halfway point would find Rodin moving up to third with Jory Berg also getting past Brekke.
On that restart, Rodin would drive around Adams and take over the second spot and he would then move in to challenge for the lead. As the laps ran down, Rodin would ride close behind Smith who had led the entire contest. As the leaders took the white flag, Rodin made a strong move into turn one right on the bottom, got under Smith for the lead and then crossed him over down the back chute. Smith made a strong move to the bottom in an attempt to return the favor, but Rodin had that line covered and Smith was forced to back off as Rodin, a big winner here last year, would drive under the finish line as the winner. Adams would break on the final lap with a tire exploding and Berg would finish third, ahead of Brekke and Josh Cain, the only X Mod in the field.
The IMCA Sport Mods would complete the night's racing with another hotly contested feature race that also saw some adjustments after the final checkered flag flew. Minnesota's Bud Martini took the early lead from the outside pole with Cam Reimers, Taylor Kuehl and Boddie Parker chasing.
The race had gotten off to a shaky start with a turn four tangle on the opening lap saw Ryan Restad cart wheel over the banking, suffering much damage to his car.
Once racing resumed however, Martini was able to put some distance on the field as he led through the halfway point over Reimers and Kuehl. However, Reimers was picking up the pace as he gradually closed in on the leader and on lap fourteen, with a strong drive down the back chute, he passed Martini to take over the lead. And with the race remaining under the green, Reimers was able to pull away in the last six laps for a strong win.
Martini would hold on for an apparent second over Kuehl. However, the tech area once again proved troublesome for a couple of the drivers. Both Martini and Parker were docked two spots for having short wheelbases so the official finish found Kuehl second and followed by Tyler Johnson, Martini and James Meile.
All racing was completed just a few minutes after 9 pm with a very comfortable evening and so much more pleasant than what we had to endure last week in New Mexico. There was good racing in all features and perhaps the most positive note was that the crowd was perhaps the biggest for any event in what is now the second year of this series and for certain, the biggest week night crowd.
Racing will continue on both Friday and Saturday nights before taking a break and resuming next Thursday night once again.
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