I was back in northern Iowa one more time, this time on Thursday night, May 16th for the season opening event at the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, otherwise known as "The Thunder Dome." This was their second attempt to get their 2024 racing season under way and it would be a gorgeous Thursday night to finally do so.
Five IMCA sanctioned classes would be in action on this Thursday along with a new, unsanctioned class that has been added to the program for 2024 but more on that later. Some familiar faces were back in charge at Kossuth County with Logan Kelly waving the sticks and Chad Meyer beginning what he would believe to be his twenty first year behind the microphone at Algona. Meyer is going to think I am stalking him as during a normal racing season I might run into him two or three times all Summer and now this is the second time I've seen him in less than a week! But as usual we found plenty of interesting things to talk about as we watched the race cars file into the pits before the show.
Of course, the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about was the car count, or perhaps I should say the lack of car count. Forty six cars in five classes would be the totals on this night plus then add six of the non sanctioned cars and nine Cruisers and there would be plenty of open spaces in the normally quite packed small pit area here.
The issues are multiple I would guess. While many tracks are still trying to open, in North Iowa this week this would be the third night of racing already with the weekend still to come, followed by five more week night races for big money yet to come next week. The drivers have to make some choices and take some nights off, they can't do them all and it appears that Algona drew the short straw this week. Honestly, for the population of the area and number of race cars available, there is probably way too much racing in this part of the country, be it specials or just weekly shows but who's to determine who should race and who should either shut down or cut back on their racing?
Also, the fields are full of farmers getting ready for planting and that certainly takes away some racers and fans for that matter, although Kossuth Co. always seems to have a nice group of fans in the stands for their shows, as they did on this night.
But on to the show itself. Eighty truck loads of new dirt had been placed on the track and with all the wet weather of late, that had to have been a concern. Early on the track was if anything, too tacky as three Stock Cars nearly went for heat race tumbles after they got too much traction in the corners and nearly went toppling over. Fortunately, all returned to Earth tires down. Later the track would get a bit choppy but really not to the point where it affected the racing. And there was not a whisper of dust to be seen either.
Barrels have replaced the big ute tires in the corners of the track for the most part and drivers were warned at their meeting that hitting one would trigger a two car position penalty either on the next yellow or following the race if no yellows occurred. This would be a factor in the Limited Late Model feature.
Speaking of the American Made Limited Late Models, that is the new class started here this year. And while it is a new class for this area, it is a class that I am quite familiar with, having seen them race frequently in my home area. They are very similar to the USRA Late Models except that they are on Hoosier tires here. They race at several tracks in Wisconsin while in western Minnesota and South Dakota, the Gen X Late Models, as they are called out there, would be nearly similar as well and even on Hoosiers too.
They are limited on shocks and tires and run a 9 to 1 B Mod, Sport Mod or Hobby Stock motor. No crate motors are allowed. They are designed to provide Late Model type action at a reasonable price to the teams and I guess the proof will be in the pudding as everyone waits to see how many other cars will show in the coming weeks and months. They had six for the opener which I guess is a good number.
There has apparently been some "push back" from the Modified teams of the area, feeling that this class might cut into power as the top dogs on the food chain. However, when only five Mods showed here for the opener on Thursday, it would seem that they have plenty of their own problems without worrying about other classes.
The natural order of things has been shook up as George Gilliland showed up on Thursday with of all things, an enclosed trailer! this threw everyone for a loop but George explained. Seems he has two trailers, one open and one enclosed. He uses the enclosed trailer for Algona because it tows better on the two lane roads he uses to get to Kossuth but on the freeway, which he uses to get to Mason City on Sunday, the enclosed trailer tends to wander all over the road when passed by big rigs, so he uses an open trailer on that night. Unlike many racers, George swaps trailers, not race cars. He is in his thirty seventh year of racing in 2024 and his current Sport Mod was built by himself in 2009.
With a small field of cars, it didn't take long to complete the qualifying and roll on to the main events. Interestingly, the Sport Mods ran two heats with only nine cars as that wouldn't be allowed in my area as there must be at least ten cars signed in to race two heats.
By far the best feature race of the night was the Hobby Stock feature that came down to the final straightaway before the issue was settled. The Hobby Stocks also had the biggest field of cars with thirteen taking the green flag.
Brandon Nielsen would take the early lead as he looked for his second win of the week. He had Seth Butler, Mike Smith and Jeremy Wagner all close behind him. Suddenly, Nielsen either locked up his car on the back chute or it locked itself up as he came to a very abrupt halt and was nearly creamed by the passing pack. He was done and Butler would inherit the top spot.
Butler and Smith than began their battle with Smith poking a nose under Butler on nearly every corner in an attempt to pass but Butler would fight him off. Suddenly Chris Krug became a factor and it turned into a three car duel. As the laps rolled by, they continued their battle when suddenly Josh Sidles came from no where to add to the action and he pulled up beside Smith, passed him and then went after Butler.
They were side by side on the final lap and Sidles made an all out attempt to pass on the final corner. However, he got a bit sideways and banged together with Butler. Somehow Seth saved his car and got straightened back out and was able to drive across the line for the win with Smith then sneaking back under Sidles to grab second in what was a race that had the crowd on the their feet.
The Sport Compacts had only six cars as perhaps this might be another track that could consider sending this class packing. Oliver Monson redrew the pole, immediately pulled to a big lead and won by a half lap over the field with Anthony Clark in second.
The same thing happened in the Sport Mods where Matthew Looft redrew the pole and then won by a considerable distance over the field. Alec Fett held off Charlie Stevens for second. Interestingly, Looft was able to redraw the pole, even though he was involved in a heat race tangle that messed up the front end on his car as only three cars finished that race. At home, you must be running at the end of a qualifying race in order to be eligible for the redraw which is obviously not a rule here.
Putting Kelly Shryock on the pole for any race is not good for the competition and that's where he would start the feature race for the Stock Cars. Not surprisingly, he would build up a big lead and take and easy win. Calvin Lange was up to second at one time and then had a good battle right down to the wire with McCain Jennings for that spot before McCain took it. .
All thoughts of a two class sweep by Shryock were dashed by Cody Knecht who drove past Shryock to that the win in the Modifieds. Pennsylvania visitor Randall Paxton led the first two laps of the Modified feature before Knecht drove past him for the lead. Shryock got the outside working though and on lap eight he would drive past Knecht to take over the top spot.
The race seemed over at that point but later on, Shryock started to have some trouble on the outside line and Knecht fought back up to him and with only three laps to go, passed for the lead and then the win. Shryock fought off Todd Stinehart to settle for second.
Gerald Curry would win the first ever Limited Late Model feature to complete the evening. Jerid Ratzke took the early lead but when he punted one of the barrels out of the way, even though he was leading he was actually in third, if you know what I mean. Later, Curry would pass Ratzke to keep it from being quite so controversial as you would hate to see the race winner docked post event. Curry then drove away for the win but Ratzke lucked out some as he was only docked one spot instead of two as only three cars finished and apparently you must be running to gain that spot.
All racing was done by 10 pm and it was interesting to note that I heard not a single person complaining about the small field of cars on hand as this must be a very patient group of racing fans, more so than at a lot of places. Most everyone I saw seemed to be having a fine time, which is ultimately what it is supposed to be about.
Thanks to Scott Schultze, Ron Reefer and the rest of the staff at Kossuth County Speedway for a quick night of racing before my long trip home and I expect I will be back again at some point this Summer.
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