The violent storm front that blew in over the weekend of March 14-15 created big problems for race track across America. Many cancelled their shows and there were only a very few that stuck it out and put events on. One of those that did race on Friday night, March 14th was the Humboldt Speedway in Kansas.
Conditions were far from great there and in fact, it turned out to be one of the most miserable nights to be watching racing that I can remember in quite some time. Unfortunately for the few and tough spectators that chose to brave the elements, the grandstands at Humboldt face to the South, which unfortunately for us, was then forcing us to sit facing directly into the blasts of wind that never did seem to let up all night. Quite frankly, it was brutal and many of the fans that did show up either stayed just to watch their favorite driver or called it a night early on after determining it was just too much to bear. Even the flagman almost got blown out of his stand one time when a mighty gust struck us full bore.
And with Kansas being bone dry this Spring and the wind so strong it was almost impossible to keep moisture in the race track, the combination of blowing dust from the wind, mixed with the dust from the track plus the infield, pits and anywhere else dust could be churned up, it was a sandstorm into the faces of the fans. And the blowing dust was everywhere, creating a visual that was uncomfortably weird until the sun set and we could see it no longer. Throw in the smoke from numerous grass fires that authorities were very concerned about and the air quality was considerably less than desired.
Promoter John Allen told me that since they had no classes running wings and with the hype of the opening night, it didn't want to cancel just because of the wind so the decision was made to go ahead and race, knowing that only the tough and perhaps loony fans would show up. And here I was.
Humboldt no longer runs Modifieds as a part of the their weekly shows with the USMRS B Mods being the top class. They are supported by the Midwest Mods, the Factory Stocks and the Mini Stocks/Hornets. This was the first night for points for the 2025 racing season as well as being the track opener.
No B Features were needed on this night with the largest car count being in the Midwest Mods where they had nineteen cars. Racing would begin just after 8 pm which is their normal starting time. 8 pm seems quite late for a show to begin but they must have their reasons for doing so but this does more than likely make for a late Friday night as it they were able to pull off a three hour program, which is optimal for any track, it still makes it 11 pm before they get done, something not tolerated so well by race fans these days.
Humboldt still doesn't have a scoreboard, something which I thought they were set to erect some time ago, so that makes writing stories a bit of a challenge. Something new procedure wise this year at "The Hummer" was that they instituted the Choose Cone for restarts, still using Delaware style starts but allowing the rest of the field to double up behind the leader, based on their choice. This seems rather straight forward to me but there were issues with it on Friday as some drivers just couldn't figure it out and on a night when you wanted things to go as smooth as possible, they had to explain things to a few drivers from time to time. Passing points were used to line up the main events with the top point earner in the heats getting the point, with no invert or some such thing.
The heats did click off quite quickly and it seemed for a fleeting moment that it might be a quick night of racing, with everyone on the grounds wanting to get out of the wind as quickly as possible. However, the wind did a job on the racing surface which turned icy slick by the end of the heats and with the dirt and sand flying across it, it made it even slippery. Plus there were probably opening night jitters among some of the drivers plus there were others that just drove like butt heads. The result was four labor intensive main events that took a long time to run, despite the best efforts of the track crew to keep things moving. They cut intermission to a scant ten minutes, calling for the drivers to line up for the feature races quickly and postponed the trophy presentations until all racing was done but those were just band aids on a problem of drivers over driving and spinning themselves plus others.
The Mini Stock/Hornet feature was first up and actually was the best of the main events. However, it ended with controversy when the top two drivers, racing for the win, crashed each other out coming to the checkers.
Dillon Box started on the outside pole and led the opening lap but he was passed one lap later for the lead by Clint Haigler. Haigler then led for two laps before Box got back past him as the leaders ran in tight formation. They were joined by Conner Rigsby in a nice three car battle.
Rigsby got into second by the halfway point of the race which had gone nonstop following a crash just seconds after the green flag was waved. However, Haigler found a new line higher on the track and he moved back past Rigsby and in the late laps closed on Bos once again for the lead.
Box took the white flag as the leader but Haigler moved up beside him and drove into the lead as they hit turn three on the final lap. Box, however, was not going to settle for second and he dove way too hard into the final corner, sliding up the track and turning Haigler into the outside wall where he also became entangled with Haigler and with them stranded, Rigsby drove by them and took the checks as the winner. Rick Andres ended up a surprising second with Dennis Aiello third with neither Haigler nor Box finishing. It was a tough way to begin what will be a long season of racing for them.
Midwest Mods were up next and the largest field of drivers created the most problems as this race was slowed a mind boggling eight times, mostly for one car spins and an occasional tangle thrown in for good measure.
The one constant of the race was Steve Muilenburg who took the lead from the pole and led all the way for nineteen laps which turned out to be many, many more. Dylan Daniels held the second spot for most of the race before he started to fade at the end and he finished up out of the top five with a flat tire hindering his late race run.
With all the yellows, the mid pack order was shuffled many times but gradually moving up after starting eleventh was Jacob Hall. He got up to second with a pass of Daniels and put the most pressure on Muilenburg of the race. Hall looked to the very low side of the track and challenged during the longest green flag run of the race, but at the end Muilenburg again pulled away for the win. Alex Schultz started thirteenth and finished third.
The Factory Stock feature was much the same with one leader for the whole contest and way too many yellow flags. Dylan Allen started on the pole and he was never challenged through seven yellow flags, each time pulling away once the green flag flew.
Early one the running order was shuffled when Jacob Ellison, Mike Keever and Kenny Schettler, all battling for second, piled up with Ellison done, Keever to the back and Schettler restored to his spot.
Through all the yellows and the restarts, Allen maintained his lead and was never pressured as the took the checkers as the winner. Keever used all the restarts to work his way back through the field and he ended up second with Schettler third.
The B Mods would complete the night and this race belonged to Jon Sheets as he led from start to finish and kept the field comfortably behind him. He took off from the outside pole and grabbed the lead immediately and while there was a good battle for second, he was not a part of that.
Jackson McGowan was holding that spot until he crashed out of the race and then a good battle for second broke out amongst Matthew Kay, Terry Schultz and Ryan Smith. Late in the race Schultz got past for second as he held off Kay but neither had anything for Sheets who drove home for the win.
All racing was complete by about 11 pm , that magic time they were hoping for and it would have been earlier had not the feature races droned on for what seemed like forever. Fifty seven drivers completed on opening night in the four classes.
Thanks to John Allen for his hospitality. he took time out of a busy opening night to talk for a few moments and he is always a great host to meet. Next week Trenton Berry's Heartland Modified Tour visits Humboldt for two nights of racing.
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