The World of Outlaw Late Model tour began their yearly visit to the Heartland with a stop on Monday night, June 24th at the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence Iowa. From here, they will make another stop in Iowa before venturing North to Minnesota, North Dakota and then back to southern Minnesota for a fifty grand to win, three night extravaganza over the fourth of July holiday.
It has been a number of years since the WoO last visited Indee and they were welcomed by some real, Summer time heat and humidity when they arrived on Monday. With temperatures pushing ninety, a wind from the South blowing about ninety and the humidity also at about ninety, teams would be challenged to find the right set up for their cars on an unknown racing surface while track co-promoter Mike VanGenderen would be challenged to provide a racing surface that the drivers could use.
Along with the Late Models, three other IMCA sanctioned divisions would be in action and apparently they all wanted to be on tv as very strong fields assembled in those other classes, including a very impressive field of thirty eight Modifieds. Car counts would be such that B Features were needed for both the Modifieds and Stock Cars.
Previous to this night, there was some confusion over what sections and seats were being sold as reserved in the grandstand and I had assumed that we'd likely be sitting in the lower part of the grandstand which, fortunately, is still a good seat at this facility. However, upon arriving, we found that only certain sections were reserved and we ended up in the exact same seats that we would have had If I was allowed to pick my seats from an empty grandstand. So the day started off on a very good note.
I noted that since I was last here, the scale in the infield had been moved and is now behind the tower and about in the middle of the infield, going North to South. The track crew was exceedingly busy as they were dumping the water both on the track and also on the driveways in the pits. Driver's comments were interesting as for those that hadn't been here before, or perhaps for a number of years, they were surprised to see just how sandy the racing surface was, with most expecting to see the rich black dirt that most Iowa tracks are covered with. However, that is not the case here but the reason for that is one that I can't answer.
The WoO crew is at the farthest reaches of where they race when they make this Midwestern Tour and car counts are always near the top of the list when it comes to concerns. On this night, they managed to gather twenty seven cars to race, with the basic field of the top fourteen in WoO points supplemented by local and regional talent, many of whom are either underpowered or under financed to keep up with the travelers but they always give it a shot and occasionally once of them might shine.
Monday night would be heartbreak for one of that group as Chad Simpson managed to qualify well, win a heat race and then redraw the outside pole where he had a real chance to shine in the forty lapper. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep his car running as they rolled around the track, lining up for the main and he had to retire to the pits, a large blow to the many Simpson fans in attendance.
I was told in the pits before the show that Bobby Pierce was debuting a new car, one that had not even be tested yet but he wasted little time flexing the muscle of the vehicle, setting a new track record in qualifying at 13.575 seconds. That would guarantee him a front row starting spot for a heat and likely be a problem for the rest of the field throughout the night.
Heat races would start just before 7:30 pm once qualifying was over and these events ran off smoothly with just three yellows in thirteen preliminary heat races. Unfortunately for Late Model driver Lance Hofer from Wisconsin, one of the stoppages was for him and was actually a red flag when he dropped over the edge of the track in turn four and did a wild barrel roll followed by a tail balancing act that wowed the crowd and likely twisted his Rocket into a pretzel for the under funded team. But he was OK.
The track was completely redone for the feature races with a wise choice being that the Late Models would run first, giving them a fresh track and allowing those fans that had to scoot home early the chance to see "The Show" before they left.
With Simpson dropping out, Nick Hoffman was moved up to the front row and he got the jump on Pierce and he then would show the way for the first seventeen laps, with Pierce all over him looking for a way by. At this point, Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley and Max McLaughlin trailed the top two. Just when it looked like Hoffman might be able to hold off Pierce, the leaders found themselves catching slower cars and with some racing each other very hard for position and the top side of the track dominant, the leaders would have themselves some problems.
While jockeying through that traffic, Hoffman got himself trapped and Pierce was right on that, making a move to take over the lead and when Hoffman tried to cross him back over, he got tangled with a slower car, nearly went flying off the end in turn three and cemented the lead to Pierce.
A late yellow set up a five lap sprint to the finish and any thoughts Hoffman had of making a late move to take the lead back went South when Sheppard got by him for second and while those two battled, Pierce checked out for the win.
The fourth place also changed as Cade Dillard got past Shirley for that spot. Congratulations to Blair Nothdurft who finished sixth as I'm surprised he was even able to get out of flood ravaged South Dakota to race. On the final corner, McLaughlin and Tyler Bruening got together, pushing each other all the way through the corner as Bruening was nearly off the track while several other drivers took advantage of their issue to gain spots. Seven drivers in the twenty four car field failed to finish.
Stock Cars took to the track next for their main event with most of the crowd still sticking around to watch their show. Cole Mather drew the outside pole and he would ride that lane for twenty laps to take the win. In my last couple of visits here I have noticed that as the evening progressed, the top side seemed to develop as the fast way around the track. It is a tricky line however, and one slip would find that driver over the edge as their is no wall or guardrail to lean on.
Mather took that line and made it work as he led from start to finish. And while the battle for the lead wasn't spectacular, there was a fine race for position behind him with Tanner Allen, Vern Jackson, Tom Schmitt and eventually Damon Murty a part of that race. While the first part of the race went smoothly, there were several grinding accidents near the end that kept the field bunched and sent several cars to the pits on wreckers.
Murty just slowly and smoothly progressed through the field after starting thirteenth and when Allen gave him the top on a double file restart, it was much appreciated by Damon who then took second. The last four laps, following the final yellow, saw Murty stalk Mather, riding his rear bumper but Cole did not make a slip and drove home for the win. And unlike a later event, Murty didn't try a ridiculous last lap slider that would have required him to knock the other driver right off the track. Instead, he settled for second with Schmitt third over Allen.
Thirty eight Modifieds were whittled down to twenty four for their twenty lap main event but putting Tom Berry Jr on the pole was not a good thing for the rest of the field or for those in the crowd wanting a close feature race.
Because once they dropped the green flag, Berry Jr was gone and there would be no stopping him. Even the yellow flag conspired to help him and it was only used once and that was for debris on the track with just five laps to go. Ethan Braaksma, once he got to second after starting fifth, was starting to cut into Berry's lead as Tom worked through lapped traffic but with an open track and only five laps to go, there was no stopping Berry Jr from bringing home the win. Behind Braaksma, Jeff Aikey, Tim Ward and Florida visitor Owen Barnhill completed the top five.
Fireworks would finish off the night when the Hobby Stocks took to the track for their feature race. In my last report from here, I commented on it seemed that every time I saw Bradly Graham race, he won. Well, it looked like that was going to be the case again on Monday until the last lap when things happened.
Graham started on the pole and got the jump on Joren Fisher to take the early lead. Balls, Jim and Tyler slipped in behind the top two with Solomon Bennett experimenting with the low side of the track as most were running right on the top up against the berm. By the halfway point of the race, Zach McNeese was up to fifth and charging.
Lap after lap, the leaders ran nose to tail with Graham on top and Fisher inches behind him, occasionally giving him a bit of a tap but nothing too dramatic as it appeared that he was waiting to see if Graham would make a mistake.
As the laps ran down, the same front two raced nose to tail, with Fisher inches behind but not making a move at this point. However, that would change as the white flag waved. Going into turn one, Fisher dropped lower on the track and tried to drive up under Graham to make a pass. He was no where near clearing the leader but just kept right on coming up the track, knocking Graham out of the groove and in fact even displacing him from second as McNeese was also able to drive past.
Fisher then drove on for the win with Graham having to settle for third and some motor revving and finger pointing followed. In victory lane , Fisher said he didn't want to race that way, but he did anyway. These are the same kinds of limp excuses that are used on Saturday and Sunday by the tv racers when they run over someone and then claim they "had" to do it to win. No, you don't have to do it that way. You could either learn to pass cleanly or buck up and settle for second. Likely retaliation is in the future between the two, but you never know.
The final checkered waved just before 11 pm with a surprising number of folks staying until the end and even for the Hobby Stocks. These were the race fans, not just Late Model fans.
Thanks to all the folks from WoO for their help and as well as all the employees of Indee for their help and hard work. I enjoyed the conversations between Ruben and local track announcers Bucky Doren and Jim Roper who are both so well versed on Iowa racing history.
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