Beckendorf Domniates Minnesota Knights Event

On Wednesday night, August 7th, the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour made their first stop ever in the state of Minnesota at the big, half mile speedway in Fairmont. Appropriately, it was home state driver and current track point leader Brandon Beckendorf who led all twenty five laps and dominated the main event.

Forty nine Modifieds were on hand to race Wednesday on another beautiful day for racing with just enough of a West breeze to keep the air moving. The Modifieds are in the midst of a huge week of racing in northern Iowa and across the border here in Minnesota after running at another Gopher State track last night. With cars on hand from all parts of the country, they carried a strong field of cars here to Fairmont and perhaps one of the biggest fields ever to race at this Martin County Fairgrounds half mile.

A full show was held for the other four IMCA sanctioned classes that normally race at Fairmont too. Thus, it made for a pretty long evening of racing as there was some appropriate ceremony too since it was the Bob Shryock Memorial Race with son Kelly on hand to race and many of the Shryock family members on hand to help the celebration. One of Bob's old wedge Late Models had been restored and was on hand for Kelly to drive in a match race with the old timer cars.

The Dirt Knights race was the high light of the evening with twenty four cars slated to go twenty five laps. The track was very fast but the high groove was clearly the line to be in and after starting on the outside pole, Beckendorf never relinquished the lead. Beckendorf would receive his strongest challenge from Jay Noteboom who had started right beside him in the lineup. Things got tight as the leaders raced through lapped traffic with Beckendorf almost getting caught in the wrong lane on the track but he managed to hold off Noteboom. The yellow changed things dramatically on lap seventeen for a spin when Noteboom retired to the pits with some sort of issue and Beckendorf lost his most severe challenge.

He would go on to lead the last nine laps without a serious challenge and drive on for his first Tour win on this series. Tom Berry Jr would finish second for the second straight night while Richie Gustin protected his point lead with a third place finish.

The other four divisions were somewhat short on cars on this night and with the evening getting later and the track officials wanting to get the Modifieds on the track for their main, most of the other features were shortened in length.

Only eight Stock Cars took the green for their main and Luke Saathoff was the winner with Shryock trying his hardest to get at least one feature win for the Shryock Memorial night but settling for second. He would advance from nineteenth to seventh in the Modified feature later.

The Sport Mod feature  would see Troy Gochanaur start on the pole and lead for all twelve laps as Jared Boumeester attempted to make up for Tuesday night's disappointment at Deer Creek but settled for second.

The Hobby Stock ten lap feature saw a big crash in turn four eliminate several of the top running cars early and allow Cory Probst to drive on for the win. Greg Sidles drove a borrowed car to the second place finish.

The Sport Compacts had two yellows before they finished a lap so they were reprimanded by having their main event cut to six laps as several cars fell out early. Terry Blowers won the race with R.J. Esqueda second.

Lonn Oelke was on the microphone calling the action on this night as the voice of the Fairmont Raceway and my first opportunity to hear Lonn working since his days with the USMTS. As usual, Lonn was his irreverent self, taking turns pointing jabs at everyone from the track officials to the spectators and to himself. I believe he has a more sardonic sense of humor than ever Mr Meyer.

It was a good night of racing and my first chance to catch a race in Fairmont in quite a few years. Thanks to everyone and especially the pit gate workers for their assistance.

Harris Clash To Arneson and Carter

The 28th annual (but second at Deer Creek) Harris Clash was held on Tuesday night, August 6th at the Deer Creek Speedway. The winners were Austin Arneson and Brayton Carter, both in exciting main events that featured a lot of hard racing, very few yellow flags and few drivers that didn't finish either event.

The Clash drew a huge field of cars with ninety two Modifieds and fifty two Sport Mods signing in to race for this huge event. Politics and racing make for strange "bedfellows" sometimes, and this event is among the strangest when it comes to that. In its second year here at Deer Creek, the event seems to be at its strongest that it has been for quite some time, with lots of cars and lots of people in the stand watching. But how it came to be held at Deer Creek is somewhat strange indeed.

Deer Creek is a track that is sanctioned by both USRA and WISSOTA. Deer Creeks runs two USRA classes weekly and three WISSOTA classes. They don't have another IMCA sanctioned event here all year, yet somehow this race came to this track and it's not even in the hotbed of IMCA racing in Iowa but over the border in Minnesota to a region in Minnesota that is not an IMCA hot bed at all. But when you can put on a show like the folks that Deer Creek do, I guess everyone would like to race at your facility. Where as most tracks are actively engaging various sanctioning bodies to put on events at their track, Deer Creek seems to be just exactly the opposite with the sanctioning bodies lining up and hoping to get dates at their track. Lucas Oil, World of Outlaws(Late Models), IMCA and USMTS as all desirous of bringing racing to this track. Only the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars tried to dictate when they would come to Deer Creek and they no longer have a date at the track.

But when you can deliver great racing and big crowds in the stands, I guess everyone wants to race at your track, despite the letters in your sanctioning name and no matter what other groups are also racing here at some point.

While there was a good group of local fans that turned out for this race, many just out of curiosity because from their conversations I could tell that many were unfamiliar with the drivers, there was a huge contingent of Iowa fans on hand, following the drivers that they knew well. So while the crowd wasn't probably quite as large as the one for the Gopher 50 for WoO Late Models or the Fall Jamboree for the USMTS, it was still very large indeed.

Despite a reported three inches of rain the day before the race, you wouldn't have noticed it as neither the pits nor track seemed to show it except for the infield track that had standing water. Wet pits and drainage issues used to be a problem here but they took action and now they are one of the few tracks that can usually withstand a hard soaking rain and still be able to get a race in.

Despite having to sign in all the race cars, tech them all and have some hot laps, racing still started within a few scant minutes of the advertised 7 pm start. Eight heats for the Sport Mods and twelve heats for the Modifieds set the majority of the starting field with a few B Features to finish off the qualifiers. My only question was with the size of the heat races as they chose to run no more than eight cars in a heat with my thinking that they could have consolidated things just a bit tighter with a few more cars in each heat, something that would not be a problem for this track. The one spin rule was a great help also to keep things moving.

The racing action was very good in the heats and B Features and a lot of excellent race cars were on the sidelines when the finals started. The Sport Mods went twenty five laps with twenty four cars starting the race. After one yellow with a lap completed when contender Jared Boumeester stalled, the rest of the race went nonstop. Brayton Carter was scored the leader of all laps but that was somewhat misleading as he was under the gun for the whole race, being challenged constantly.

Near the end, Colby Fett found a line that was very fast up against the wall and he closed rapidly on the leader as the last few laps were ran off. They drew side by side and the finish couldn't have been much closer, with electronic timing and scoring declaring Carter the winner by .019 seconds. Logan Anderson ran third nearly the entire race.

Did anyone else wonder what happened to current national point leader Cody Thompson after he won a B Feature and then didn't race the main, being replaced in the lineup by Kyle Bentley. It turns out that Thompson was disqualified from the B Feature for having a metal mud plug which has been ruled illegal for safety reasons. Fortunately for him, the DQ wasn't for a more serious issue that could have threatened his national points.

The Modified feature was a dandy race also. Again, with only one yellow flag, the last seventeen laps ran off nonstop and really made for an exciting finish. Cayden Carter and Tom Berry Jr were battled for lap after lap and for a time it looked like the Carter family was going to have an unprecedented sweep of the evening's proceedings. However, Berry didn't want to relinquish his challenge and the two continued to go at it for the lead.

Suddenly, sixth starting Austin Arneson became part of the lead pack after spending most of the race banging off the walls and sending sparks off into the Minnesota night on lap after lap. When Carter and Berry Jr left a hole, Arneson somehow found the room to put his car between the two others, and he raced into the lead. However, Berry Jr wasn't going to give up and the last lap was a classic as Berry Jr threw the "mother of all slidejobs" at Arneson in turn three, slipped past but then Arneson did the classic cross over maneuver and passed Berry Jr on the front chute to take a thrilling win. Carter had to settle for third in a most exciting event and a great climax to the evening.

Chad Meyer and Todd Narveson called the action and they did a great job keeping us all informed on who was who and what was what. Narveson did his home work as he doesn't get to see these guys race too often but you wouldn't have known otherwise. Meyer has really worked his way into the elite group of announcers in the Midwest, working a number of the biggest Modified races around and his subtle yet cutting humor made me laugh at various times over the course of the night.

The final checkered flag didn't wave until just before Midnight but I have no complaint as they had a huge show to run off with almost countless races to be run. There were very few yellows, and the only down time was for track prep and introductions. The crowd seemed happy and the drivers I believe like the track so I see no reason other than the shifting sands of racing politics that would keep this race from returning here next year.   

Mud Pies Tasty In Spencer

Monday night, August 5th was supposed to be the first night of a huge week of racing for IMCA Modifieds in Iowa and Minnesota. Monday night was scheduled to be the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour on display in an event sponsored by Hahn Roofing. From Spencer they are due to head for Spring Valley Minnesota for the Harris Clash, then on to Fairmont Minnesota for another Dirt Knights race and then on to Britt Iowa for Hobo Days and three nights of big buck racing at the Fairgounds there in the Thousand Stars, Ten Thousand Stars and All Stars races on consecutive nights.

However, things got off to a crappola start here in Spencer. It was very hot and humid and did feel like it could produce a storm at the drop of a hat. However, based the forecasts I saw and the way the radar looked, it seemed like a reasonable gamble to make the drive down to Northwestern Iowa.

And things were looking good when I arrived as it appeared that the light showers and come and gone and things were on schedule as planned with the pit gate already open and cars in the pits, some left over from Sunday night's show that was also a larger than normal payoff for the drivers too.

However, things started to go downhill when storms started popping up all over the place and when the last one made a right turn and bore right down on Spencer, we were in deep do do. It rained hard for fifteen minutes with a little hail thrown in for fun. As quickly as it started though, it stopped just as fast. However, the damage was done. The track itself was very wet with water in the  turns coming all the way up past the marker tires and on to the track. The pits was half under water and there appeared no way that there would be racing.

However, those in charge were bound and determined to try and get a show in and they started packing the track while at the same time dragging the pit area which was just as much of a mess. They packed and packed with out getting very much accomplished while at the same time the clock was ticking and it was getting later. Their last ditch attempt was to pull a grader behind one of the big tractors to try and skim off some of the muck and it worked to some degree but there was just so much mud and water and with time getting away from them, the car count in the pits being small due to the weather scaring off many and just a handful of spectators in the grandstand, even though it was past the scheduled starting time, they finally threw in the muddy towel and called it a night, refunding pit passes for those that were already signed in.

I myself, was the envy of many in the pits. I found my mud boots in the trunk that I usually have to use only once a year at the Red Clay Classic in Ashland Wisconsin where it typically rains and turns their red clay into a sea of  red goo and there is no way to walk around without having boots like these. This way I didn't ruin my tennis shoes and my feet stayed dry, even if I didn't exactly set a fashion trend unless that trend might be the most ugly costume ever seen in any pit area. Kevin Yoder said that no one would care what I looked like and I'm counting on him to be correct so no one better be laughing at me the next time I see them.

I admire the determination of the track officials at Spencer for trying to get the race in but sometimes there is no fighting Mother Nature. I was a dismal way to start the week though, that is for sure. Hopefully things turn around tomorrow.

Sheppard Continues to Roll With Win at Plymouth Dirt Track

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is back again in the Midwest for another round of events after having taken about ten days off to recover from their last swing through North Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

This swing began with a Monday night show on July 29th at the Plymouth Dirt Track in eastern Wisconsin. Plymouth is about fifty miles or so North of Milwaukee and just a few miles West of Lake Michigan. It is farm county with some of the states nicest dairy farms located among the scenic rolling hills of glacial drift in the state and despite a late state to the agricultural season, things look nice and green and that corn that was planted is taller than I am as we move closer to the month of August.

The Plymouth Dirt Track runs a regularly scheduled Saturday night program and is one of the few around that runs both 360 Sprint Cars and Late Models weekly. They also run Grand Nationals and Sport Mods on a weekly basis.

Like most of the eastern Wisconsin County Fairgrounds, this one is very nice and kept as neat as a pin. A large covered grandstand sits on the West side of the track with many concession and out buildings scattered around the grounds also. The parking lot is an neatly trimmed as a golf course with many of the access roads paved. The race track itself is somewhere between a quarter and third mile in length with wide corners but not a large amount of banking. Most of the racing(sadly) is done right on the tires with the high side lane being particularly poor to race on this night. Frankly, it looked like the track just could have used a bit more water on it as it turned dry and slick quickly. There was some dust on Monday but a strong West wind kept that from bothering us in the stands which do sit quite a ways back from the track itself with the remnants of the old half mile front chute in between the grandstand and the track. This is used to stage the race cars and they roll on to the track just beyond the flagman so they come right in front of the crowd for every event, which is kind of different and also kind of neat.

This is Sprint Car county with the weekly Late Models being an after thought to the Sprint Cars and until the WoO series started visiting here in the past couple of years, all the special events here involved the Sprint Cars with the IRA and All Stars most prominently featured.

In fact, this race was promoted by IRA head Steve Sinclair along with Bob Cullen, who owns the Brian Shirley Late Model team and is headquartered just down the road from Plymouth.

For this race, the WoO partnered with the Dirt Kings Late Model group, a group that is gaining traction in eastern Wisconsin as a traveling series that visits tracks once a year or so, some that run Late Models and some that don't and instead just feature the class for a special or two. They have a loyal following of drivers that support them well, since with only two Late Model tracks in eastern Wisconsin(and both racing the same night by the way!), if Late Model racing is to survive on the eastern shore than they must support the races in this series, which provide them their biggest checks and best chance of survival.

Thirty three Late Models signed in to race with the WoO bringing their ten top in points, the rest coming from eastern Wisconsin plus a few stragglers from other areas that showed also. The biggest surprise was the addition of Donny Schatz who dropped in to race on Monday and was pitted right next to Sheppard and Mark Richards as they attempt to get his Late Model program running better.  Sheppard was quickest overall in tt, but redrew the second row of the feature so there would be a show for at least a bit.

Twenty four cars would start the Late Model feature with Blake Spencer taking his one hundred and tenth provisional of the year so far(I'm exaggerating slightly) along with Paul Parker to start the race. Things got off to a shaky start when Tyler Bruening lost a wheel while the cars warmed up as an ex-crew member(just guessing)  apparently forgot to tighten the lug nuts before they dropped the car off the jack. By the time Bruening got on the track, he was six laps down and a third starting position.was badly wasted.

The track had been a "one laner" all night and was expected to be so for the feature. The only time I ever saw the outside line used much here was the year that they first had the Late Models here and they watered the track like they would for a Sprint Car show. The berm was huge that night and brutal on the cars but the racing was also spectacular.

Sheppard started on the outside of row two and after they packed the cushion before the main started, it held together long enough for Brandon to decisively make a move to the outside and in two laps he passed the front row cars and took over the lead. When Ricky Weiss nearly caught back up to him as he continued on the outside, Sheppard quickly made the move back to the bottom to block any advances.

From that point, the only real racing was when the leaders got to lapped traffic. Those cars were running the same line and the decision was whether to follow them or make a bold move to try and go around them. Sheppard did some experimenting with both theories and when he did try to go around a couple of the lapped cars, he very nearly got caught up top as Chase Junghans nearly got past him and in fact, was scored the leader for a single lap.

Sheppard made his most impressive drive of the night at this point as he really got up on the wheel, found enough traction on the high side to pull even and then edge past Junghans once again. Then, the lapped traffic played in his favor as he got his nose past one of the slower cars who reacted to seeing him by moving down the track and effectively blocking the run of Junghans and Weiss to pass him.

From that point, it was just a matter of not messing up, hitting his marks and not giving up the bottom lane for any reason. A multitude of late race yellows for minor spins kept the field bunched and allowed Brandon to not have to deal with any more lapped traffic plus the attrition rate was high, with less than half the starting field still on the track at the end and that also helped. Junghans and Weiss finished behind Sheppard and were the only two that were even minor factors in the race.

It was a good decision and a nice Monday night thought to run the Late Model feature as the first main and about half the crowd took advantage of that to "bail" at this point and head for home.

The Grand Nationals and Sport Mods still had their mains to go and they did not impress those that stayed much on this night anyway. The Grand Nationals are a unique class to this area of Wisconsin and while there are quite a number of eastern Wisconsin tracks that run this division, I haven't seen them race anywhere else. They look sort of like asphalt Late Models with small spoilers and rather stock appearing bodies and run limited motors and nine inch tires I believe.

On this night they should have been equipped with strong front bumpers too as most of the racers used them a lot in what turned out to be a most unsatisfying main event with most of the front runners either eliminated by spinning or crashing each other out in a five yellow flag demo derby. One wonders if this is how they normally race or if this night was just an aberration. Other way, the "rules of order" were seldom followed and driver after driver took turns "boggering out" their rivals. Luke Scholten, who started thirteenth on the grid, raced his own race and gradually worked his way to the front as car after car disappeared to either the pits or to the back of the pack after another "bogger fest" and he found himself in the lead, which he held to the conclusion of the event.

The Sport Mods did slightly better with only three yellow flags in their main event and a big field of twenty two cars starting the finale. The Sport Mods are not sanctioned by anyone here with some of the cars baring IMCA stickers from other eastern Wisconsin tracks that are sanctioned and some running "outlaw". Cory Klemkes, who was making his first start of the year here and who races at another Saturday night track, started on the pole and he led the entire race, jumping away from the field on each green flag and never being really challenged. Track point leader Tim Warner finished second.

It was a wise decision to run the Late Models first as by the time the two support classes got done hammering on each other, it was closer to 11 pm than any would have liked on a Monday night. The spectators that wanted to go see the Late Model cars and drivers however, were much the losers too as most of the big rigs had already loaded up and were out the gate before they were even allowed to go to the pits but that whole discussion is for another time. The crowd was a good one in the large grandstand at Plymouth and I see no reason why the WoO would not return again as it fits nicely into their Wisconsin swing this week. It was also announced early in the program that the grandstand was a "smoke free" facility, one of the few in this state unfortunately.

Pollard Gets First Deery Win at Fayette County

After a couple nights of good Modified racing, it was time to check out the cars with fenders on them for one night. Wednesday night, July 24th, I visited the Fayette County Speedway in West Union Iowa for the IMCA Deery Brothers event. The Fayette County Fair was in full swing and for that reason the Race Committee of the Fair Board had brought in the Deery Brothers event as a special attraction. It is an interesting mix as the other three divisions racing on this night would be the Stock Cars, B Mods and Hobby Stocks racing under the USRA banner. As many of you know, the IMCA and USRA get along like water and gas, at least at the highest corporate levels of each organization but from what I could see, there was a seamless mix of officials working together on this night to make the series race and the rest of the program go smoothly.

Of course, both groups stand to benefit from such an arrangement as the Fair Board gets a full house of spectators for this event and trust me when I say that the new aluminum grandstand was packed to the rafters for this race. The Deery Brothers also benefits as they get another race on their schedule at a location close to where many of the Late Model racers call home and dates are important for the Deery Brothers series, as their schedule has started to shrink in recent years and they can use all the racers they can muster up.

The most obvious change since I was last at Fayette County is the new covered aluminum grandstand that replaced the old wooden one that was not only a safety hazard but a difficult structure to even navigate in with it's extremely narrow aisles and splinter infested boards. It made a huge difference in the seating comfort for the fans and know I don't have to wish for a windstorm to hit West Union and take down that old wooden beast. Now if someone would just readjust those infield lights that shine right into the eyes of the fans once it gets dark, that would be great also.

The grandstand cost approximately $300,000 according to one of the Race Committee members that I talked to on Wednesday and he said that they have it about two thirds paid for at this point thanks to some generous benefactors and some fund raisers that are still ongoing. They would like to be able to pay off the structure once this year's Fair is over if possible.

A remarkable thing about the Fayette County Fair is that everything about the Fair itself is free. There is no charge for parking at the Fair and here's the big thing, all the rides are absolutely free at all times to everyone! I have never heard of such a thing at a Fair but the Fair Board has made this arrangement so that all citizens of the County and those that wish to visit from other areas don't have to worry whether or not they can afford to entertain their children and whether doing the Fair just wouldn't fit their budget. It seems to me that there are some awfully nice and progressive thinking people involved with this Fair. Perhaps the fact that everything else is free in part helps pack the grandstand for the races along with the fact that it is a rare opportunity for race fans in northeastern Iowa to see the Late Models race locally. The drivers, by the way, love to see the grandstands packed too and not just for economic reasons.

With that being said, twenty seven Late Models signed in to race on Wednesday including eight of the top ten in Deery Brothers current point standings. A surprise was that co point leader Justin Kay was absent. However, I learned the reason why he was absent was due to the fact that his wife was very soon to deliver an addition to the Kay family and Justin needed to be close to his home for that event. So instead, he chose to run a race in Davenport that was in the backyard of where he lives, rather than all the way up to northeast Iowa, even though the Deery Brothers does not have a "throw out" race and his missing effectively killed his chances to be the Deery champion again.

Johnny Emerson was in a different ride on this night as he was driving the #19g of Richie Gustin. Seems that Emerson blew his motor up recently and with his back up motor being freshened, he had no available power plants for his car. So Gustin, busy beating up on the Modified drivers this week and with no need for his Late Model, loaned his car out to Emerson for the night. It was a productive procedure as Emerson would finish third while Gustin has been "schooling" the Modifieds elsewhere this week.

I have been to a number of shows at West Union over the years and have seen some great races from the Late Models on a track that has been wide and racy with multiple grooves. Unfortunately, Wednesday night would not be one of those nights. I hate to sound like a "negative Nancy" but the track was severely "rubbered up" and the Late Models had to dive into formation, hug the bottom lane and follow each other for forty laps. That doesn't make the win by Eric Pollard, his first ever in Deery Brothers action, any less significant but it is simply stating a fact to report that side by side racing was not in the cards on this night.

Pollard got the jump on Joel Callahan from the front row and led the entire race. That doesn't mean that he didn't have to work hard and hit his marks but the action was mostly of drivers working in line on the low side of the track. A couple of drivers, Tyler Bruening and Callahan, tried the top side briefly Along with Emerson but they quickly realized that they needed to be on the bottom of the track or they were going to get shuffled backward.

Near the end of the race, Pollard had his biggest challenges as he reached a group of three backmarkers, all running the same line as the rest of the field and tough to get by. The decision was whether or not to try and drive around them or stay in line behind them and hope that they were fast enough that no one was going to drive by him on the outside. Callahan went for broke and tried to drive around the whole group and it nearly worked until he got crossed up and collided with both Bruening and Emerson but fortunately all were able to keep right on racing with Callahan giving up three spots with his attempted pass.

Andy Eckrich was the beneficiary of this adjustment as he edged into second and followed Pollard home for second with Emerson, Bruening and Callahan trailing. It was a tough night for the point leaders as along with Kay's absence, Jeremiah Hurst had a bad night, settling for thirteenth as he jsut couldn't move forward and Callahan likely took over the point lead after the evening was complete. Pollard was thrilled and perhaps just a bit stunned with his win, coming during a season when I have seen him run better than I can ever recall before. It was also nice to see Gary Webb running very competitively against a solid field of race cars as he sorts out his new car.

After a smooth running heat race portion of the show with all heat races completed in less than an hour, the support class cars had a tough time of it in their main events with so many yellows that even the fans who were on hand to watch many of them as their familiar weekly favorites, grew restless with all the spins etc.

The Hobby Stocks had the toughest time with six yellows in their race that seemed to last almost forever. However, it was also the race that produced the closest finish and the most fan reaction. Mike Darnall, the local driver, had done a nice job of working his way into the lead but was being pressured by Troy Hovey for the top spot. After all the yellows and just near the end of the race following another yellow flag, Hovey drew up beside Darnell and edged past him in what I thought was a perfectly clean passing maneuver.

However, many in the crowd didn't see it the same way and there was a howl of protest when Hovey drove by for the win and then in victory lane where the cheers and jeers were about equally mixed. Perhaps this is all part of a West Union vs. Decorah rivalry either on or off the track. In any event, the crowd was frothing at the mouth after that race and many were needing a "cold one" to quash their unfulfilled hopes.

The face of the Hobby Stock racing on this night was changed dramatically when top runner Chris Hovden dropped a drive shaft in the first corner of his heat race and did not return for further action.

While the Late Models were stuck to the bottom for their main event, the other classes found that the high side was the quick way for them to get around the track and they chased each other while dancing on the edge of the cushion. The Stock Cars ran this route with Mitch Hovden getting to the front early after a pass on Brian Mahlstedt and then he held off Mahlstedt and Kyle Falck for the win. A near disaster saw Mahlstedt suddenly slow when he broke and Falck nearly rear ended him before spinning off the track but he was restored to his spot and he spent the rest of the race trying to get past Hovden to no avail. Dillon Anderson was a close third.

The B Mods wrapped up the night with their main event and they had their share of difficulties also with several yellow flags, most attributed to the same car that for some reason track officials let continue to race, even though he was a "time bomb" just waiting to spin for the third or fourth time before he finally headed for the pits, fortunately without spinning once again.

Minnesota invader Ben Moudry, who I believe is  a native of these parts, led from start to finish in the B Mods, holding off all challenges from Dan Hovden for the win. Racing was completed at about 10:45 pm on what was another spectacular night for racing and Fair attending.

This is a rather rural area of the state but I noticed immediately that there was a real sense of "ownership" of this Fair by both the officials and all the people attending this race and all the other events that surround the Fair. It is a truly "big deal" to these folks for Fair time and I don't see that at a lot of other county fairs these days and it is rather refreshing.

Gustin Spoils the Upset at Dirt Knights Britt Visit

Tuesday night, July 23rd, the Hancock County District Fair in Britt was just moving into full swing, and the entertainment on this night was in front of the grandstand, as dirt track racing on the four tenth mile black dirt, paperclip shaped oval was the featured attraction, with the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Modified Tour on center stage. Along with the Modifieds, three other divisions that race at Hancock County on a weekly basis, the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks, would all be racing a full program.

The Dirt Knights Modifieds are in the midst of a very busy week, having raced already at Park Jefferson on Monday night with stops at both Alta and Algona yet remaining this week. The good thing is that all these tracks are quite close together so no UMP SummerNationals type of overnight banzai runs are necessary. For the other three classes, they are racing for State, Regional and National points as their Hancock County point season is already over as of last Friday night.  Oh, and by the way, they are also racing for money too as the points themselves won't pay for a new tire for the race car!

In my pre race visit to the pits, I got the opportunity to talk to announcer Chad Meyer briefly. He is coming off the opportunity of a life time, having been asked to announce the Dakota Classic Modified Tour recently. So I had to get his thoughts on that and find out whether or not he enjoyed the experience. We also shared some stories on our experiences from doing that tour and particularly, the interesting but different way that things are up in Estevan SK. as opposed to what we are used to.

I also got to meet track Head Flagman Logan Kelly for the first time. I have admired his work several times in the past but had never gotten the chance to either meet him or even know what his name was. I like the way he doesn't let any jump starts take place and insists on good, fair starts in all classes for all races. He also puts a little "show" into his flagging which is sorely needed these days by a whole group of starters that don't understand that they are part of the entertainment and as such, need to show a little "flair" as they do their important tasks.

Thirty one Modifieds signed in to race on Tuesday night. They would be divided up into four heat races with the heat race winners guaranteed starting spots in the main event along with the other top eight cars in passing points. Five would come out of each B Feature with two provisionals based on series points to produce a starting field of twenty four cars.

The other three classes had more like normal Friday night fields, with fifteen Hobbies, sixteen Sport Mods and thirteen Stock Cars with the assumption that some of the Stock Cars stayed home on Tuesday to save their cars for the big money race upcoming this Friday here.

Racing started right on the dot at 7:30 pm with the heat races clicked off in very fast fashion under the direction of John Pletcher, the former star Stock Car driver at this track. The most significant development in the heats was the bad break suffered by Slippy Eye Minnesota driver Matt Speckman who was blistering fast in his heat race and was moving up to challenge race leader Kelly Shryock when he suddenly lost power and pulled into the infield. Thus his good starting position for the feature was lost and the rest of the night found him digging his way back up to the front.

The Modified feature came very close to producing a huge upset winner, particularly for such a significant series and one being played live on TV. Young  Kollin Hibdon, not yet old enough to hold a legal driver's license, started on the pole and was the early leader. The Modifieds raced as the last race of the night and by this time, the top side was pretty much gone and everyone was hugging the tires on the inside lane. Hibdon continued to lead and indeed was slowly pulling away from the field as he continued to hit his marks on every corner and give no one the chance to close in on him.

Eventually, point leader Richie Gustin worked his way past Travis Hatcher and into second and slowly caught up to Hibdon. However, the Nevada driver refused to make a mistake and after "dogging him" for several laps, Gustin realized that if he was to win the race, he was going to have to find a way around the top side of Hibdon as Kollin didn't give the appearances that he was going to make a mistake.

So Gustin tried to roll around the top side of Hibdon and tried to do so for a number of laps but he just couldn't get it done. He came close a couple of times, but each time Hibdon would come off the corners strong and Gustin would lose several lengths. Eventually Gustin gave up and dropped back to the low side, but by this time he had lost some  ground and appeared to have worn out his tires trying to work them so hard up top on the track.

Everything was poised to produce the upset for the youngster. I was ready for a headline for the driver from "over the hump to Pahrump" which is the saying they have for his home city, which is "over the hump" from Las Vegas while in actuality, the "hump" is much larger than any hill anywhere in the whole state of Iowa.

However, there was one more hurdle that Hibdon would have to overcome and that was in the form of three slower cars that he caught before the race was over. All three were running the same groove as he was, and something would have to give. Perhaps due to his inexperience, or whatever, he did not press the issue when he caught the lapped cars and shut down prematurely early going into the corners and chose to follow the back end cars in the low groove.

It only took Gustin a couple laps to catch back up and the veteran sized things up quickly, pinning Hibdon behind a slower car and drove around him to take the lead. Once in front, "G-Money" drove away to record his second win in two nights of racing action on the Knight's tour. HIbdon learned a valuable lesson the painful way as he settled for second while Jeremy Mills came home third. The only driver that was successful at working the top side of the track was Kyle Brown who came from tenth to fourth and only ran out of laps as he continued to move forward.

The Sport Mod feature produced a sensational five car battle for the lead spot. After pole starting Nicholas Carpenter, all the way from Kansas, spun on the first attempt to start the race, Johnathon Logue took the lead but was pressured by Alec Fett and George Nordman. Soon Colby Fett joined the show and then Nate Whitehurst became the first to find the outside groove that Brown would use later. Whitehurst was using a "diamond" move off the corners that was giving him great momentum down the chutes and he drove past car after car on the outside, soon catching Logue for the lead.

However, Logue wasn't born yesterday and he sensed that Whitehurst was coming at him hard and he started to let his tail end move up toward the wall on the chutes, effectively blocking Whitehurst's moves. This continued for several laps as Whitehurst tried to make his car narrower and slip past. Coming down the front chute the two leaders hooked together and as they fought to control their cars, Colby Fett made a great move to dive under Logue and take over the lead in a spectacular surprise. Fett then pulled away in the remaining laps to take the win, leaving the chagrined Logue and Whitehurst to follow him home.

The other driver to successfully move up the track was Derek Green in the Stock Car feature. Chad Palmer was the early leader in a car he hasn't raced in about a half dozen years but was forced to break out to race after totaling his car in a wild flip at Algona recently. While the car may have been dated, it was still doing the job as he was leading the pack until Green started to "diamond" the corners and found that it worked. He came up from the fifth row in an impressive drive and motored past Palmer to take over the lead.

Eventually the top side seemed to wear out for him, he felt himself getting slower and he moved to the inside line where his car was not near as fast. Palmer was slowly catching up to him, despite the fact that he was showing smoke off a tire where there appeared to be a rub going on.

Eventually the tire went flat while still running second, which was a tough break for him, but any sympathy was quickly outweighed when instead of turning into the infield, he "parked" in the middle of the back chute, triggering a yellow with a move that was so blatant that a disqualification flag was in order, I felt. However, none was forthcoming and he returned to race.

Green then held off the challenges of Kyle Brown to take the win, or so it seemed. But wait a minute! The official results as posted on MyRacePass showed that Green got disqualified for some sort of malfeasance, the specifics of which I am at this point uncertain, and Brown was awarded the win over Andrew Borchardt and Speckman who came from the back of the pack. Thank God for MyRacePass to remove the "egg" from my face if I declared Green the winner

The Hobby Stock feature was a brotherly show as Cody Nielsen topped his brother Brandon for the win. Cody found an opening early in the race that allowed him to slip into the lead and after that the two Nielsen cars seemed very equal with the distance between them not varying much as they pulled away from the pack. Tony Smidt finished third. Drew Barglof finished in the top five in what was reported by Meyer as his third car of the season already, as he has already wrecked a pair of cars. This one wore a "coat of many colors" and a taped on number but it did get the job done.

This well produced show, even with one extra distance feature as a part of it, was done in under two and a half hours and the drivers cooperated with few yellow flags on a smooth and slick racing surface.

The rest of the racing season at Hancock County is comprised of special events. This coming Friday night the Stock Cars are in the spot light with their main event paying over four thousand dollars. And then, from August 8-10, it is Hobo Days in Britt with Nights of a Thousand Stars, Ten Thousand Stars and All Stars going back, to back, to back in what is a traditional racing spectacular and one that all race fans will want to be a part of.

Thanks to everyone at Hancock County for a well run and interesting racing program. 

Mitchell Bunch A Last Lap Winner on TV at Stuart

The IMCA TV Monday night spotlight shown brightly down on the Stuart International Speedway on July 22nd as IMCA TV returned to where it all started last year with live TV from the track on a beautiful Monday night for racing in the Hawkeye State.

I had never been a part of Iowa's famous RAGBRAI event before and due to my ignorance, drove directly into it today as I was unaware of its presence in Stuart on Monday. Seems the course ran directly through Stuart this afternoon and the whole town was in an uproar with, as you might expect, traffic that New York City would have been proud of. Gridlock was an understatement and just trying to navigate a route to get to the race track was quite an undertaking as most major roads through town were blocked except to two wheeled traffic. Since I didn't want to take two wheels off the Camry in order to be allowed to drive through town, and I left my bike back in Wisconsin, it took some imagination and some failed efforts but eventually I found the tall light pole towers of SIS and did make it to the track. However the big haulers and other trailers found their way there I do not know but they did as eighty nine drivers signed in to race in the five classes offered on Monday night.

The field of cars was solid with only the Modified class being a bit short on drivers but much of that had to do with the Dirt Knights also having a tour this week and then racing in western Iowa on this same night. The crowd response was not the overwhelming packed house like it was for last year's Monday night spotlight here, but much has changed in one year at this track. Last year racing on a Monday night was quite a novelty and this track didn't host any special events of any kind. This year, with Mike VanGenderen at the helm, they have had many special events on most every night of the week plus they routinely race on Wednesday nights so the weeknight race was not nearly as unusual as last year's event. The hassle of RAGBRAI probably didn't help things either with many fans arriving late for various reasons and no doubt traffic issues was part of that.

Paul Vetter, the West Coast Director of IMCA was on hand Monday night as he is in the midst of his yearly racing vacation back to the Midwest and Iowa primarily. This year hasn't been perfect for him as he hit a couple of rain outs this year so far but the rest of his time here should be good as excellent weather is expected for the next few days. It is always good to visit with Paul at the races.

One of the first and most pleasant announcements from announcer Cody Mallicoat is when he reminds folks that it is illegal to smoke in the grandstands at all Iowa events. We had a most unpleasant encounter with that issue while out in Nebraska and am glad that it isn't an issue in this great state. Sadly, at home even they haven't seen the light and we have to put up with that problem from time to time with races in the Badger state.

Sport Compacts ran three heats, Sport Mods ran four and all other divisions ran a pair of qualifying heat races in preparation for the main events. With things moving along smoothly, the thirteen qualifying races took only forty four minutes to complete which might be a record of some sort. The Pole Position Dash was then held before the mains started. Unfortunately, Hobby Stock contender Corey Madden tore the whole guts out of his race car during this short event and he would, unfortunately, be unable to run the feature race as a result of this major problem.

The Sport Compacts were up first for their main event and their feature race would be the closest of the night. Eighteen cars took the green flag for the wild affair with cars all over the track and running three and four wide. Tyler Fiebelkorn had a brief lead before being passed by Logan Richards but the scrum for the top spot continued. Contact was made, cars were sliding in every direction and somehow Jacob Houston found a hole in the mess and drove into the lead. He continued to hold the top spot as Mitchell Bunch came charging up from ninth. Houston looked like he was going to be able to hold off Bunch for the win but when the cars came around to get the checkered, they instead saw a yellow as a car had stalled in the middle of turn one.

This then required a two lap dash to the finish and when Houston gave Bunch room off the final corner, Bunch slipped past him on the outside to take an exciting win. It was tough luck indeed for Houston, who pulled all the way from Burlington and deserved the win, but Bunch also did a good job on passing while not running over the leader.

The Sport Mod feature was a tedious affair with five yellows during the race. They elected to start all twenty five Sport Mods in attendance in the main event and let me tell you, twenty five cars of varying speed and talent, all bunched together on this tight little track makes for a rush hour that Chicago would be proud to claim.

It took about three attempts to finally let some racing in and the first few laps were run in fits and spurts between slow downs but once they settled in, they did a pretty good job of racing. Brayton Carter, who apparently has found a home here with his success at this track this year, came quickly up from the eighth starting position to take the lead as his car was working great right on the inside of the track. While drivers were racing both high and low on the track, Carter was unstoppable right on the ditch.

A late yellow set up a two lap sprint to the finish but it didn't bother Carter who pulled away once again for the win. Josh Sink edged past Carter VandenBerg to get the second spot at the finish.

The Hobby Stock feature saw Erik Knutson and Greg Gilbert has brief turns as the leader before John Watson moved up from the third row to take the top spot. Watson was running strong in the top spot as he showed much strength in driving to the front. Chuck Madden, as is the Madden tradition here, was pounding the cushion and fighting for second with Brandon Cox.

A late yellow set up a four lap finish and Watson, who looked so strong earlier, was suddenly in trouble as his car wasn't turning in the corners like it had previously. Cox was beating on his rear bumper in the turns and Madden was trying to drive around him, but despite his rather weak finish, Watson did manage to hold on for the win over the other two contenders.

Gilbert, who was an early leader, was later involved in a violent crash with Tonia Stevens that saw both cars heavily damaged but fortunately, there were no injuries in one of the hardest hits seen on the track lately.

Speaking of hits, it seemed like nearly everyone hit at least a few other cars during the Stock Car feature which was a rough one on Monday, with lots of car damage and nearly half the field in the pits by the time the checkered flag flew. Big hits all put Jeremy Gettler, Kenzie Ritter, Kurt Hansen and Buck Schafroth among others on the trailer with damage to repair this week.

Bryan Snell was an early leader before Robert Stofer passed him and looked like he might win the show. However, the Stock Cars had all moved to the low groove and when Stofer's car wouldn't come through the corners as he hoped, he was passed on the inside by Mike Goldsberry. Goldsberry would then hold off all challenges to take the win over Stofer with Josh Danels three wheeling his way into third.

Brandon Pruitt, who had all kinds of trouble early and was mired in the back, looked to throw caution to the wind at the end and he decided to try the high side, racing with abandon on the high banks. He managed to get all the way up to fourth in the few remaining laps and may have shown the Modifieds something as they were next to race.

And indeed, that is exactly where the most successful Modifieds ran and that was right up against the wall all the way around the track. Happy Gilman quickly got around Zack Rawlins on the high side and John Oliver Jr followed him to the banking and the chase was on as Oliver Jr followed Gilman for twenty laps.

They both pounded the cushion with Oliver Jr hoping for a mistake that did not come. Near the end of the race, the two leaders got into heavy traffic and that is where Gilman won the race as he did make some nice moves and got through the slower cars much quicker than Oliver Jr and that was the race in a nutshell. Joel Bushore finished third with his unusual sounding car that can be found anywhere on the track due to its different tone. Scott Bash managed to finish the feature after suffering the ultimate embarrassment when his tow rig died in the line on the way to the pits and he had to be pulled by a track vehicle into his pit stall.

Despite several of the feature races not having gone off nearly as smoothly as the heats did and several cars and collisions needing to be sorted out during the finales, the final checkered flag of the night waved shortly after 10 pm as the ability to run off a quick program has been a MVG staple here this year.

This may have been my last visit to Stuart for the year(one never knows), but if it was, thanks go out to Mike and all his crew at the track who have made my visits pleasant and provided some excellent short track racing this year as the close but generally contact free racing at Stuart is hard to replicate at most other tracks. Hopefully this first year at Stuart for VanGenderen has been a successful one.