For the first time since 2000, an open motored big Late Model race was held at the Adams County Speedway in the heart of Corning Iowa. The Lucas Oil Late Model Series made a strong here on Tuesday night, July 14th on their way to the Silver Dollar Nationals, to be held this week just up the road in Harlan. And after the kind of race that was produced on Tuesday and the crowd that attended, I'm guessing it won't be quite a quarter century before the Lucas Oil Series in back in town. What was included i all the "behind the scenes" action that took place to bring this series here I do not know and it is odd that a track that ran so many big Late Model races back in the days of the WDRL went so long before another big race was held here. Tuesday night's race here would also be the richest in track history with the winner going home with fifteen grand for a forty lap victory.
It was another steamy day and night in what has been a whole series of "cookers" but that didn't seem to deter the crowd which filled the big grandstand here in Corning. It has been since the WDRL days I believe that I had last been here to a race, but much of what the place looked like has not changed. Parking was a challenge back then and remains so with just small lots on grounds for folks to park with most parking along the city streets and some having to walk several blocks or more to the Fairgrounds. The track is an old time Fairgrounds half mile but is located right in the city of Corning so when they have a race, literally everyone in town knows about it, with their dogs howling and their windows rattling and folks they didn't even know parking in their driveways.
The city pool is right next door to the Fairgrounds and track and ironically, it appears the waste water treatment plant is located right behind the pool and off turn three of the track. Space is tight at this Fairgrounds for sure.
This is one of the few half miles around not surrounded by a wall or guardrail with a big dirt bank topped with utility tires, I'm assuming to cushion the blow off turns three and four and a run off area off turns one and two, hopefully to stop before getting to the tree line on the edge of the property. Off the back straight, a corn field with the crop looking good in 2026. I know announcer James Essex was secretly hoping that someone would go flying into the corn field but it didn't happen.
The one down side at this facility is that they still pit all the race cars in the middle of the track, something most tracks have long ago gotten away from. I suspect space limitations have had something to do with that plus quite frankly, the size and composition of their weekly fields for racing probably doesn't include thirty or more monster stacker trailers plus support vehicles.
And for some reason they parked the Hobby Stocks in the front row and put all the big trailers in the second row, thus rendering the back straightaway just a rumor to be watched on the Jumbotron located in the infield. A forty dollar ticket to get into the races on this night provided only a view of the front straight with the back stretch purely a "hit or miss" proposition on how much you could see. To be fair to the fans, some creative thinking should be done before the next big race to figure out how and where the big rigs can be parked so that fans can have an unobstructed view of the track since they are laying down good money to see these shows.
Typically, half mile racing does not provide the most passing and more features just the rush of very high speeds. That was not the case on this night though, as we saw plenty of passing and some good battling for position throughout the field. I sensed a note of "take this!" from the local announcers when they repeatedly reminded us that there can be passing on a half mile. And they were correct on that point.
However, to be completely fair and transparent here, it must also be considered that the extremely humid weather of late is also a very good thing for track conditions as I have been seeing for the last week or so. Tracks have been in excellent shape for racing and minus dust and much of that has been due to the humidity, so think you can almost cut it.
Also, if given any kind of surface at all to work with, these open motored, big horsepower Late Models will find a way to pass and race each other, that's what they do.
The Half Mile Hustle also featured the local Hobby Stock class as their support class. They use IMCA style rules with DOT tires but are sanctioned by NASCAR as this track is one of the very few left in the Midwest still sanctioned by NASCAR. Perhaps because of that, there were very few of the drivers in this class that I was familiar with.
The track record was blasted in time trials with Dillon McCowan setting the new one lap standard at 18.697 seconds. They have a radar gun on the front chute that times speed of the cars down the front chute and it was in the triple digit range many times with 113 mph the fastest that I saw.
Standard format prevailed for the Lucas Series with four heats and a Last Chance race setting the order for the forty lap main event. The way the provisional starters played out, the minimum field of twenty four would start the event.
The feature race was an entertaining event that saw three different leaders plus plenty of drama as drivers surged and the some fell back with other drivers than making the big moves. McCowan led the first eight laps from the pole as he searched for his third straight win. He would eventually fade back in the field and a trip over the edge of the track didn't help his cause.
Early on it was Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman challenging but then Sheppard faded back and Hoffman can on, taking the lead on lap nine. He was running a lower line on the track but others were up on the banking and making that work also.
The big movers were Mike Marlar who started tenth but was up to third by the halfway point in the race and looked for all the world like the driver to beat. But as he does so often, just as we overlook Bobby Pierce he puts on a charge that leaves us wondering where he came from. He started twelfth and was going no where when suddenly something kicked in an he picked up the pace as perhaps he was saving his tires for the right moment.
In any event, when he took off he started knocking off positions on nearly every lap and by lap thirty, he was up to second and looking for Hoffman. And just at that moment, Hoffman's car began to smoke and it just got worse on each lap. You could hear the motor starting to "lay down" as he came down the front chute but he kept his foot in it, hoping that it would hang on.
This allowed Pierce to close up quickly but Hoffman did a good job using the track to keep Pierce at bay. Finally, with just six laps to go, Pierce made the winning pass down the front chute and then pulled away.
As Bobby drove on for the win, there was a wild scramble for position behind him as Hoffman really started to slow on the final lap and a mad dash down the front chute to the finish. Garrett Alberson, who had lurked in the top five most of the race, was able to get second and Hoffman hung on for third. Marlar zigged when he should have zagged and he dropped back to fifth with Brian Shirley, who started eighteenth, coming home fourth. Seven drivers didn't finish but all who did were on the lead lap.
Could Pierce have caught Hoffman in the ten remaining laps after he moved to second if Hoffman's motor hadn't started smoking? I say no but we'll never know for sure. Either way, it was a good showing by the WoO drivers, nearly finished one, two.
The Hobby Stock feature which preceded the Late Model main didn't provide the same kind of action. Adam Hensel started on the pole and led all fifteen laps of the main. He was constantly challenged by Konner Mikesell who ran close to him for the distance, but never was able to get into a position to provide a big challenge.
The majority of the Hobby Stocks, after some early jousting, pretty much lined up as they barreled around the track at high speed. The order got shuffled some when several of them decided to pay a trip to the outfield and check out the corn, but they all did a great job of fighting their way back on to the track and allowing the race to continue as only a single yellow slowed the action.
Mikesell made one last challenge off turn four but he came up short as Hensel drove on for the win. Anthony Davis, Tucker Tepoel and Bennett Johnson completed the top five with only two drivers not finishing.
Track officials had to have been thrilled with the large crowd in attendance, despite the less than perfect weather conditions. Every track official and employee I spoke with were thrilled and honored to be allowed to host such a high level event and they were all great to work with, pleasant and accommodating. Being nice is nice! The final checkered flag waved around the 10:30 pm time and a large number of folks then headed to the pits to meet the drivers, see the cars up close and spend a little cash on some merch and surprisingly, for what looked like such a cluster, the traffic flow leaving was very smooth and relatively quick.
It was a good job by all involved. No doubt there were plenty of folks across the country that were looking at their atlases, trying to ascertain just where Corning Iowa was as they plan their racing vacations for 2027.
Adams County will be one of the very few tracks that gets to host both Lucas Oil and WoO Late Model races in 2026 which is quite the jump from nothing in a quarter century to both in one year. The WoO will be at the track on August 28th.
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