A lot of race tracks were struggling with the weather on Saturday, April 11th with the vast majority of them getting rained out. Across the entire Midwest region, finding a race track that was running on Saturday was difficult.
And then there is Boone. They probably lucked out to a certain degree, not getting the very heavy rain that some places did. But they were also resilient in that they didn't pull the plug as soon as the first showers hit. They posted, and then did wait until after the rain stopped to check their track conditions and then announce that they were still racing. It was not a nice night and it would have been very easy to just call it a wash out and come back next Saturday.
But instead they chose to fight the elements, bringing out their arsenal of equipment and working the track with no less than eight tractors with dragging equipment behind each one.
But they weren't done with the weather battle yet. Around 5 pm, with the pits full of racers and then nearing time for hot laps, they got hit with another round of rain, and it did come down fairly hard for a few minutes. At this point, virtually every other track that I can think of would have then called it a night, congratulated themselves on giving it their best effort, and calling it a night.
However, those others aren't Boone. The tractors kept circling the track, even in the rain and they just kept on working the surface after the the rain stopped. They got some great help from the racers with a large number of them willing to come out and finish off the packing and that is not often seen any more either. I'm guessing that part of this was due to the fact there were so many out of towners that didn't drive a long way to race just to load up and go home. By 8:15 pm the hot laps were completed and it was time to go racing. I would never have thought it possible but then again, I don't get to Boone too often to see their resolve in action. Thank you from a pair of goofs hundreds of miles away from home that don't know any better than to try and get a race in on a Saturday night.
The car count was gigantic with one hundred and sixty six drivers signing in to race in the four IMCA core classes. Throw in over two dozen Mod Lites and you have a very impressive field on hand. Obviously the threatening weather didn't scare of the drivers with virtually all parts of Iowa represented by racers on Saturday.
Interestingly though, even though there was a monster field of competitors on hand, there were barely enough Modified drivers on hand to fill out a full field. This would seem to indicate that even in this area, Modified car counts are going to be an area of concern at many tracks in 2026.
This would be a huge night of racing with multiple B Features needed in three of the competing classes. There were nineteen heat races alone not counting the Mod Lites and twenty nine races in total. And not a whisper of dust all night as the black dirt stayed heavy and was throwing mud up through the final laps on the track. The track work that needed doing was done during two breaks to simply pack the cushion and try and widen out the groove as much as possible.
The secret that Boone knows only too well about running off a quick program is to have the races lined up and move through them quickly while also laying down the law that yellow flags simply aren't allowed! How about this statistic. They went through fifteen heat races before the first yellow flag was waved and as it turned out that was the only yellow in all the heat races! Total!
That is a mind blower, especially on what was a wet track with many drivers on hand running new cars making their first runs of the year and certainly a number that had never raced at Boone before. I wish there was a way to send this message out to a number of other tracks that shoot themselves in the feet weekly by running a dragged out program that is peppered by yellow flag slowdowns. In the meantime, I will just enjoy my visits to places like Boone, Marshalltown and Stuart that dazzle with their quick shows. I love to watch starter Logan Kelly stare down drivers and make them move, no matter where they are sitting on the track wanting a yellow.
Before we go into the race results , I must give a "shout out" to Hobby Stock driver Seth Butler. On Wednesday night at Stuart we all saw him take the wildest of flips with his car disintegrating before our eyes. The machine looked to be a write off and I had to wonder if that was his season done hardly before it even started.
But then, in the surprise of the night, Butler shows up tonight with a different Hobby Stock and racing at Boone just three days after his wild ride. Granted, the car looks a little rough but he was racing and that was the big thing. An apparent overheating issue in his heat put him behind the eight ball early and he couldn't fight his way out of a B Feature to make the main, but the most important thing on this night was that he was back at it and didn't let the racing Gods beat him. Way to go Mr. Butler.
The feature race action saw a variety of outcomes. Half of the features were won by drivers that had to gain four or five rows to get to the front and two of the features were won by drivers that started right in the front row. The track remained heavy and a cushion started to build up but there were certainly some drivers that were able to move forward a considerable amount.
The were some familiar faces up front in victory lane and some upsets and I thought perhaps the biggest surprise was in the Modified feature where Jacob Snyder drove an excellent race to take the win. Even though he started on the pole, it was not an easy win by any means and he actually didn't take the lead until the fourteenth lap.
Before that, the race lead was controlled by the western Iowa veteran Jay Noteboom who used momentum from the outside starting position to jump into the early lead. And after a first lap yellow for a spinning car, the race would go remarkably well with many laps of green flag racing.
Snyder was all over Noteboom, looking to the outside and inside lanes and trying to get past but each time, Noteboom had just enough to fight him off. Russ Dickerson, Izac Mallicoat and Owen Barnhill were having a good battle for third that stretched past the halfway point.
On lap fourteen, Snyder got a good run off the top side in turn four and powering down the front chute, he squeezed between Noteboom and the wall to take over the lead, after which he put some distance on the field. A late yellow caused by a driver needlessly stopping on the track while running a lap down at the back of the pack shouldn't have happened, but it did and that bunched up the field.
Snyder got away cleanly at the start and put some distance on Noteboom as he drove on through the final three laps for the win. Noteboom fought off Mallicoat for third while the big loser was Barnhill who got moved up into the mud and lost a bunch of spots. Dickerson finished fourth with Cory Sauerman completing the top five.
The deepest drive from back in the pack was performed by Jake Sachau who started on the outside of row five in the Sport Mod feature. Rocky Caudle had gotten the jump on the start but then his car conked out on him, stacking up the pack and creating quite a wild mess.
The restart saw veteran Randy Havlik take the lead with Sachau flying to the front and up to third by lap eight when the yellow flew for the second time for a spinner. Sachau then put the pressure on Havlik who was able to hold him off for a few laps but just at the halfway point Sachau blew past to take over the lead and from that point, he stepped away from the field.
As Ben Chapman moved into third, Brett Thomas lost a good top five run when his car slowed and he headed for the infield. Sachau was long gone by this time as he stretched his advantage to a full straightaway and with no stoppages the last half of the race, he drove home in the clear for the win. Havlik was able to hold off Chapman for second while the driver on the move the last half of the race was Mike Smith. He came from twentieth on the grid to race up to fourth and was still coming when he ran out of laps.
Braden Richards came from the fourth row to win the Stock Car feature, a race that saw a long three car battle for the lead until Richards finally asserted his dominance.
David Smith used the outside pole to take the early lead but he was soon joined by Buck Schafroth and Richards in a battle for the lead. The only yellow of the race came from a lap six tangle that saw several cars strewn down the front stretch. However, the same three continued to fight it out after racing resumed with Smith having his hands full as both Schafroth and Richards were all over him as they jockeyed for position.
Richards was finally able to get into second and then he quickly challenged Smith for the top spot. Using that same high line in turn four that others found successful, he blew past Smith who was guarding the low line and roared into the lead on lap twelve. After that, he pulled away as Smith now had Schafroth challenging him again.
Ultimately, Schafroth was successful as he took over second but no one had anything for Richards as she drove on for the win. Hunter Smith and Tyler Pickett completed the top five.
A first lap tangle on the front chute was Eric Knutson go off on the hook in the Hobby Stock feature which was then followed by the most dominant performance of the night. Joren Fisher used the outside line to jump into the lead and simply power away from the field.
It didn't hurt that the rest of the race went off nonstop and the field got spread out, but Fisher was so much faster than his competition, pulling to nearly a half lap advantage over the competition.
Most of his time was spent working through lapped traffic which he did expertly and at the finish, he had a comfortable lead over the field to garner the win. Matt McDonald started in the second row and fought his way into second but he was quite a distance behind the winner. Jamie Coady finished third while Braden Gifford started dead last on the grid and drove all the way up to fourth at the checkers. A huge field of fifty three Hobby Stocks made just making the feature a challenge.
Jerry VanSickel reported that the final checkers of the night waved at 12:29 am and while that is late, it was still much better than it could have been. We were looking at a program that lasted just over four hours and when you consider the number of races run, it was done in a pretty efficient manner. Thanks to the track officials and the vast majority of the drivers for their work and cooperation. I doubt the track made much money on Saturday. There was a small crowd on hand with the cool and threatening weather and that's part of what could have made it so simple to just cancel. But they proved to the drivers and kept their reputation going that if there is any way in creation that races can be held, Boone will find a way. And that's what keeps everyone coming back.
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