Thursday night was the opening night of the three night run of the annual Fall wrap up event at at the 141 Speedway in Francis Creek Wisconsin, the "Creek Classic." This show has an interesting format. On Friday and Saturday nights, a full program is held for all the divisions that race at 141 weekly which would include the IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts as well as the local Street Stocks and Grand National divisions.
To kick off the event, on Thursday night a full show of Late Models, running under the Dirt Kings Tour Series banner is held along with a thousand dollar to win Modified show which is a part of the "Red, White and Blue" Series of three specials for the Modifieds with points kept for the three events and a series champion crowned. Along with these two classes, open practice is also held for any other car that wants to show up.
This is the second straight year that the Late Models have been invited to be a part of this event but since it is the final event of the season for the first year Dirt Kings Tour, their first champion will be crowned on Thursday.
With just the two classes racing and practice interspersed between racing events, normally their wouldn't be a time crunch for this event but with the events that played out before the final checkered waved, the curfew did indeed become a "player" in the night's activities.
One of the entrants for the evening in the Late Models was former national driving star Dan Schlieper who was driving a former numbered A-1 car that despite his best efforts, he came up one position short of making the main event.
The format for this event is just a bit strange. Activities begin at 6 pm with an hour of open practice for who ever chooses to buy a pit pass and try out their car. At 7 pm they play the National Anthem and then run off the heats for the Mods and Late Models. Another open practice session then proceeds the B features in each class. Here is the weird part. Many of the cars that have just raced in the heats make some quick changes and then come right back out for the practice session. I don't know that I've ever seen any other race where the heat race cars have a second practice session before they race either a B or get ready for the main.
A second practice after the B features was also scheduled but scrapped when the weather got threatening so they could rush right into the mains.
Twenty seven Late Models signed in to race which I thought was a very good number for a Thursday night. The new Dirt Kings Tour has had very fine turnouts of drivers throughout their first season of operation and their initial must be considered a big success. Not only have they provided opportunities for Late Model drivers to race, some at new tracks to them, they have established rules and payoffs that have improved the Late Model situation in eastern Wisconsin. More new drivers seem to be coming out all the time and this will likely continue during the off season as more drivers switch to running Late Models or more drivers move up to the class, mostly because they now have some organization and more dates available to them.
Forty three Modifieds signed in to race in the "Blue" race for the IMCA cars. Included in this number were about a half dozen Sport Mods who took off their spoilers and joined the Mods on this night. Why they would do so, I'm not sure as they weren't competitive and finished well back but perhaps they were just looking for more seat time as there was no entry fee above and beyond the pit pass cost. Chase Rudolf came all the way from Iowa to race his Sport Mod, which he entered with the Mods on Thursday but I would assume that he will race as a Sport Mod the rest of the weekend.
Three heats and a B feature using passing points set the stage for the Late Model main. However, just as the Late Model feature was set to roll on the track, the showers that had been skirting the area, struck. The cars quickly exited the track and it then rained for about fifteen minutes or so, some times quite hard. Many of the spectators headed home or to their campers at this point but track management was determined to try and get the show in.
Eventually the showers diminished and the packing vehicles hit the track. They worked as hard as they could to try and whip the track back into shape and at some point, the Late Models returned to the track and assisted. As it grew close to the 10:30 pm hour, it became increasingly important that the race quickly start, as after that time no racing is allowed to start, even though the 141 Speedway sits in a bucolic area wrapped by dairy farms.
With seven minutes to spare, the Late Models took the green for their thirty lap feature race. Defending champion of this event, Mitch McGrath, had problems early and scratched out of his heat but he was slated to take a provisional. However, both he and the Schefffler duo of Rick and Taylor loaded up and left when it started to rain and they weren't around to run the main which then started with just eighteen cars.
The track was quite slippery and the mud was flying as they took the green flag. Passing was at a bit of a premium given the conditions but Nick Anvelink and Brett Swedberg battled it out for the win with Ron Berna close behind. Anvelink led all the way but Swedberg was a consistent challenger, including the one time when the two leaders collided rather heavily and quite frankly, Anvelink was lucky to escape with his car in one piece.
Late in the race, Anvelink began to realize that going slower actually made him faster as he determined that no one was going to pass him on the outside so he took it easy in the corners and then began to pull away. Anvelink was guaranteed the point title just by signing in on Thursday but it was icing on the cake for him to win the finale of the series. No announcements were made about 2018 but I would assume that with the success that the first year series had that they would be back bigger and stronger for next year. Interestingly, while Anvelink won the points title, he is one of the few drivers running the series using a spec motor as he is running a WISSOTA legal motor while most of the drivers in this area have now switched over to the open motors which used to run under a handicap but now race the spec engines "straight up."
The Modifieds used the draw/redraw format for their part of the program with five heats, and three B features setting the field for the twenty five lap finale. The Modifieds raced before the Late Models and their track was considerably different, having raced their finale before the rains hit.
Track champion Johnny "hitman" Whitman showed how he earned that title as while most of the field went to the low side of the track, Whitman stormed to the cushion and it only took him five laps to race from sixth into the lead. Once in front, he chose to continue that line while Benji LaCrosse raced into second and was running the low groove tight to the infield tires.
Gradually, lap after lap, LaCrosse slowly began to whittle into the lead. with the race split into two equal parts by yellow flags, the top side started to go away as the race continued and LaCrosse began to reel in the leader. With only a couple of laps to go, LaCrosse made the winning pass in turn four and then pulled away to take the win over Whitman. Jay Matthias, Jason Czarapata and Mark Joski completed the top five.
The Packers were playing the Bears just up the road a half hour or so and so there was a festive atmosphere as the game was played on the pa during the rain delay and the lightning delay at Lambeau Field was the first tip off that 141 could be dealing with some weather issues. Unfortunately, they weren't quite able to get that last race in before the weather threw a "monkey wrench" into everything but they did prevail and for those tough fans that stuck things out, they got to see an entertaining Late Model feature.
Somewhat surprisingly to me, co-promoter Toby Kruse was doing the announcing on this night. Not that Toby isn't an excellent announcer but with his Race Director duties, I'm surprised that he took on the extra duties. As usual, thanks to Toby and the other folks at 141 for a good night of racing. Things seen to be rolling strong at this track which has transformed from an asphalt track on the verge of closing to perhaps the most popular dirt track on the eastern side of the state.
On a totally unrelated note, I'm been doing some research on the history of local racing here in western Wisconsin and it jogged my memory to some things that have changed in the sport. Let me list a few for you and see if they are things that you remember to.
Does anyone remember when white pants were required to get into the pits? It was not that long ago but tell me, do you see anyone anymore that wears whites in the pits?
Remember when women weren't allowed in the pits at all. It seems ludicrous now but it wasn't that long ago that women that worked in the pit concessions or took money in the pits had to have an escort into the pits because they weren't allowed to be in the pits otherwise.
I can remember a time when crates were something that your new, shop built motor, was delivered in, not something that you raced.
Does anyone remember a time when not only were there no dogs in the grandstand area but also in the pits? Now days they're everywhere.
Lastly, does anyone remember when the purse was paid off in cash on race night? Now, checks are pretty standard and more and more tracks don't pay off until the following week.
Very quietly, there is a mounting scandal going on involving the Modified class and some basic safety rules. The standard measurement for the main roll cage bars is .095 inches. However, it is now being discovered that many of the roll cages do not meet that basic safety requirement.
At the recent Jamboree held at the Deer Creek Speedway, a source tells me that at least forty of the cars checked didn't meet the basic safety requirements. That's approximately twenty five per cent of the field! Cars were also checked at the recent WISSOTA 100 and some were found there that also didn't meet the minimum requirement.
Just this week, WISSOTA issued a technical bulletin stating that every driver's responsibility will be to make sure that their car is legal and that any car that doesn't pass inspection will be immediately disqualified. Not surprisingly, in this day and age, the sanctioning body is now being criticized for their basic safety stand, as these days its the messenger that is always criticized, not the message.
Apparently, for some reason, it is the sanctioning bodies fault that they are pointing out these basic safety hazards, not the builders who are putting drivers at risk, and many times unknowingly. My sources tell me that there are at least three different builders that have had cars that didn't meet the requirements and not just one chassis company. We haven't heard from a number of the sanctioning bodies on what, if anything, they are doing to check these cars, but it clearly is a problem that exists everywhere.
I don't know about you, but it seems that something should be done before a car folds up due to poor construction materials and someone gets hurt badly or worse. Everyone is in business to try and find a competitive advantage but when it starts to affect driver safety, I think it has gone too far. It would behoove every driver to contact their builder to make sure their car is safe and if not, the builder should make it so. The sanctioning bodies also need to take their heads out of the sand and take a united stand on this.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Friday, September 22, 2017
Dillard Takes Opening Night Win at Deer Creek; Hughes Nails Down the USMTS Championship
Thursday night, September 21st was the opening night of the three night Featherlite Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway just north of Spring Valley Minnesota. On tap was a full show of USMTS Modifieds along with a full show of USRA B Mods. For the Modifieds, it was also the final race of "The Hunt" Series and the 2017 National Champion would be crowned at the conclusion of the evening.
Jason Hughes was in the "cat bird's" seat in terms of the National Championship title, holding a comfortable lead over Stormy Scott. However, it was not assured as of yet as a series of circumstances could play out that could rob him of the title. So, it was incumbent upon himself that race hard and not leave the issue to chance.
Five thousand dollars was on the line for the Modifieds on Thursday as well as $1,250 dollars to the B Mod winner. This race has always draw large fields of cars and did so once again on this night. Ninety seven Modifieds signed in to race with a few more stragglers likely the next two nights as each show is independent from the others with a new draw and qualifying taking place each night. Generally speaking, the best of the USMTS crew show up to race this event and a lot of regional drivers from other groups join in on this show as they like to test themselves against the USMTS cars and let's face it, at this time of the year there aren't too many choices if one wants to race plus the money is very good.
Deer Creek has a lot of B Mods of their own and added with the drivers from northeast Iowa that race under USRA rules, that makes for quite a field right there. Also, there are always a number of drivers from the Kansas City area where USRA is in control that also tow up for this event. All told, sixty five B Mods signed in to race so that gave us quite a field of only open wheel cars.
The weather couldn't have been nicer however with the temperatures more July like than anything and a strong South wind blowing, we probably saw more track prep time than normal at Deer Creek.
Passing points were in effect Thursday for both divisions with the heat race action intense as one might expect. The B Mods had to get it done quickly with only eight lap heats while the Mods had virtual mini features based on laps and car count for each.
The B Mods ran off seven heats and four B Features to set their thirty car field for their main event while the Mods also had seven heats and five B Features that set their thirty car field. A couple of provisionals were added and then Keith Foss scratched out of the main so they started thirty one cars in the Mod main.
And what a polar opposite each main would be. The Modifieds ran forty laps nonstop and saw a lead change just before the half way mark of their contest while the B Mods had an awful time with a wreck and yellow flag plagued event that never could string together more than a few laps in a row before the yellow waved once again.
Perhaps his time away from racing full time in the Modifieds has developed a chink in his armor, but in the past, if you would have put Rodney Sanders on the pole for a feature, you might as well start heading toward the parking lot because the decision has already been rendered. Not so much anymore as while Rodney led the first fourteen laps of the main, soon after the start his lead started to shrink and it wasn't long before he was in a defensive mode.
Ryan Gustin was pounding the cushion as he is wont to do and was moving up, while Cade Dillard was also challenging. Gustin appeared to be ready to take over the lead but when they got into lapped traffic, it was Dillard that found the opening and took over the lead. Dillard was doing a masterful job working through the traffic and Gustin lost considerable track position before he finally freed himself.
It also seemed that Dillard turned it up a notch as he started to lengthen his lead and at the end, Gustin had nothing for him. Lucas Schott also was able to get past Sanders for third and Brady Gerdes, a WISSOTA racer who only enters these races when they are in his area or when he goes to Arizona in January, rounded out the top five in an excellent showing.
As far as the National Championship, it was hardly mentioned at all because there was really no drama. Scott started eighth and finished up sixth and Hughes moved forward, all the time looking for the world like he was just keeping Scott in his sights. Hughes started fourteenth, finished eighth and didn't make a move during the feature that would put himself in any kind of jeopardy. It was a smart move to guarantee the title and now he can cut loose and see if he can win some of the big money upcoming in the next two nights.
Young Jim Chisholm led from start to finish to win the twenty lap B Mod feature. He had plenty of pressure from J.T. Wasmund, Ben Moudry, Jerry Young and Dakota Foster but he remained in front the whole race. There were so many yellows that broke up the flow, no one could mount a consistent effort to track down the leaders as they battled among themselves while Chisholm happily rode away from them . Nearly a third of the field was on the sidelines before the checkered waved including a first lap flip by Miah Christensen and a big pile up on a restart that eliminated several contenders including Andy Bryant.
I was very impressed that they were able to start the show right on time. The tech line was moving incredibly slow and there was still such a line at 6 pm that they postponed the start of the driver's meeting. The line was still there just before race time but they dropped the first green flag right at 7 pm and no one missed their race. They then rammed the show through as fast as possible, knowing that they had a large number of events to run off.
There were several breaks for track prep that did run quite long but as far as administering the actual race program, they were very efficient. Of note particularly was how fast they were able to realign cars under the yellow and get the show back under green. I believe Justin Queensland is the man that should get the credit for this.
For those veteran fans out there who remember both Tim Donlinger and Jay Ihrke from the "salad days" of Modified racing, it was interesting to note that both were back in the saddle on Thursday and both looked like they hadn't missed a beat as both made the main and showed no evidence of rust. Donlinger was driving a second car for Dereck Ramirez while Ihrke was wheeling one of Steve Wetzstein's cars.
The wind played havoc with the track on this night and while I didn't notice that it affected the racing at all, it was one of the dirtiest nights in the grandstands that I have ever had to endure at Deer Creek and certainly one of the worst of the Summer, despite all the watering and tilling of the track. And despite all the prompt racing with so many races to run off, as has been the case with many of the Fall specials, it turned into a long night with the final checkered waving well after Midnight. For those that were camping on the grounds, it wasn't bad but for a goof like yours truly, who still had a three and a half hour ride home to pull off, once again I would be pulling down my driveway just about the time the roosters were making an "all call."
Jason Hughes was in the "cat bird's" seat in terms of the National Championship title, holding a comfortable lead over Stormy Scott. However, it was not assured as of yet as a series of circumstances could play out that could rob him of the title. So, it was incumbent upon himself that race hard and not leave the issue to chance.
Five thousand dollars was on the line for the Modifieds on Thursday as well as $1,250 dollars to the B Mod winner. This race has always draw large fields of cars and did so once again on this night. Ninety seven Modifieds signed in to race with a few more stragglers likely the next two nights as each show is independent from the others with a new draw and qualifying taking place each night. Generally speaking, the best of the USMTS crew show up to race this event and a lot of regional drivers from other groups join in on this show as they like to test themselves against the USMTS cars and let's face it, at this time of the year there aren't too many choices if one wants to race plus the money is very good.
Deer Creek has a lot of B Mods of their own and added with the drivers from northeast Iowa that race under USRA rules, that makes for quite a field right there. Also, there are always a number of drivers from the Kansas City area where USRA is in control that also tow up for this event. All told, sixty five B Mods signed in to race so that gave us quite a field of only open wheel cars.
The weather couldn't have been nicer however with the temperatures more July like than anything and a strong South wind blowing, we probably saw more track prep time than normal at Deer Creek.
Passing points were in effect Thursday for both divisions with the heat race action intense as one might expect. The B Mods had to get it done quickly with only eight lap heats while the Mods had virtual mini features based on laps and car count for each.
The B Mods ran off seven heats and four B Features to set their thirty car field for their main event while the Mods also had seven heats and five B Features that set their thirty car field. A couple of provisionals were added and then Keith Foss scratched out of the main so they started thirty one cars in the Mod main.
And what a polar opposite each main would be. The Modifieds ran forty laps nonstop and saw a lead change just before the half way mark of their contest while the B Mods had an awful time with a wreck and yellow flag plagued event that never could string together more than a few laps in a row before the yellow waved once again.
Perhaps his time away from racing full time in the Modifieds has developed a chink in his armor, but in the past, if you would have put Rodney Sanders on the pole for a feature, you might as well start heading toward the parking lot because the decision has already been rendered. Not so much anymore as while Rodney led the first fourteen laps of the main, soon after the start his lead started to shrink and it wasn't long before he was in a defensive mode.
Ryan Gustin was pounding the cushion as he is wont to do and was moving up, while Cade Dillard was also challenging. Gustin appeared to be ready to take over the lead but when they got into lapped traffic, it was Dillard that found the opening and took over the lead. Dillard was doing a masterful job working through the traffic and Gustin lost considerable track position before he finally freed himself.
It also seemed that Dillard turned it up a notch as he started to lengthen his lead and at the end, Gustin had nothing for him. Lucas Schott also was able to get past Sanders for third and Brady Gerdes, a WISSOTA racer who only enters these races when they are in his area or when he goes to Arizona in January, rounded out the top five in an excellent showing.
As far as the National Championship, it was hardly mentioned at all because there was really no drama. Scott started eighth and finished up sixth and Hughes moved forward, all the time looking for the world like he was just keeping Scott in his sights. Hughes started fourteenth, finished eighth and didn't make a move during the feature that would put himself in any kind of jeopardy. It was a smart move to guarantee the title and now he can cut loose and see if he can win some of the big money upcoming in the next two nights.
Young Jim Chisholm led from start to finish to win the twenty lap B Mod feature. He had plenty of pressure from J.T. Wasmund, Ben Moudry, Jerry Young and Dakota Foster but he remained in front the whole race. There were so many yellows that broke up the flow, no one could mount a consistent effort to track down the leaders as they battled among themselves while Chisholm happily rode away from them . Nearly a third of the field was on the sidelines before the checkered waved including a first lap flip by Miah Christensen and a big pile up on a restart that eliminated several contenders including Andy Bryant.
I was very impressed that they were able to start the show right on time. The tech line was moving incredibly slow and there was still such a line at 6 pm that they postponed the start of the driver's meeting. The line was still there just before race time but they dropped the first green flag right at 7 pm and no one missed their race. They then rammed the show through as fast as possible, knowing that they had a large number of events to run off.
There were several breaks for track prep that did run quite long but as far as administering the actual race program, they were very efficient. Of note particularly was how fast they were able to realign cars under the yellow and get the show back under green. I believe Justin Queensland is the man that should get the credit for this.
For those veteran fans out there who remember both Tim Donlinger and Jay Ihrke from the "salad days" of Modified racing, it was interesting to note that both were back in the saddle on Thursday and both looked like they hadn't missed a beat as both made the main and showed no evidence of rust. Donlinger was driving a second car for Dereck Ramirez while Ihrke was wheeling one of Steve Wetzstein's cars.
The wind played havoc with the track on this night and while I didn't notice that it affected the racing at all, it was one of the dirtiest nights in the grandstands that I have ever had to endure at Deer Creek and certainly one of the worst of the Summer, despite all the watering and tilling of the track. And despite all the prompt racing with so many races to run off, as has been the case with many of the Fall specials, it turned into a long night with the final checkered waving well after Midnight. For those that were camping on the grounds, it wasn't bad but for a goof like yours truly, who still had a three and a half hour ride home to pull off, once again I would be pulling down my driveway just about the time the roosters were making an "all call."
Monday, August 28, 2017
Cummins On Top As Controversy Reigns(Rains) at MCMS
It was a tough weekend of battling the weather to try and find some racing action and that included Sunday night, August 27th. To find three nights of racing, it required visiting three different states(I could have headed to Canada on Saturday but opted instead of southern Minnesota) with eastern Wisconsin and Iowa also in the mix.
On Sunday all the local tracks were still getting rained on, but some searching around found the sun shining in northern Iowa so I took off for Mason City Motor Speedway for their Season Championship night. Now, I knew that the feature races would be started straight up but what I didn't know was that it was a "features only" night of racing with no qualifying heats in any of the classes. I guess this must be an "Iowa Thing." as I have never heard of this before. One time before I accidentally ran into this same format at Vinton Iowa but that was the only other time.
Some tracks at home on championship night start the heat races straight up but still make the drivers qualify for the feature based on their heat race finishes. That's as close as I have come to the "features only" format. Now that I think about it, I might have also experienced this once before at Osky also, but again in Iowa.
Sixty seven cars signed in to race in the five USRA classes that race on a weekly basis at Mason City. Among those was Blooming Prairie Minnesota's Doug Hillson. Here it is the last week in August and this is the first time that I have seen Hillson racing this year. However, he told me that he just hasn't been racing much this year as he has had lots of other things going on to fill his weekends and he lacks sponsors and pit crew help compared to years past. Noteworthy however is the fact that this is the fortieth year of racing for Hillson. And on Sunday I wouldn't get to see him race many laps either for a couple of reasons.
Hot laps proved costly as both Dave Kuykendall and Alex Yohn blew motors and were sidelined for the main events. With extra time on their hands, track officials made a special "deal" out of each of the five features with driver introductions, season trophies and pictures and interviews following each main event.
I should have known that weather would still be a factor on Sunday even though earlier in the day the sun shown and it was a nice afternoon. However, thunderstorms brewed to the North and just missed the track before things seemingly cleared up once again.
We weren't done yet though, as a second line quickly cooked up and seemed to be heading directly toward the track. Perhaps a little too much "raz ma taz" earlier ate up too much time and when the order was given to skip the Modified introductions and quickly start the race, it was a battle against time.
Jason Cummings is locked in a tight battle for the USRA National points title and every race is important for him. J.D. Auringer was the early leader of the Modified feature with Cummins quickly moving into second. Several times, as the sprinkles fell and the lightning cracked around the track, Cummins would dive to the inside of J.D. but he couldn't make the pass. Finally, Cummins pulled up beside Auringer down the back chute and Jason made a deep drive into turn three. However, he seemed to catch a rut which threw him up the track and forced Auringer over the cushion with Cummins taking over the lead.
One lap later a car slowed on the front chute and the yellow flew and with the race half over and the sprinkles continuing to fall, the race was quickly called complete. Auringer was not at all pleased and "dive bombed" Cummins a couple times as the field scrambled to the pits to load up. It was an unsatisfying way to end up the night and I'm sure that even Cummins wasn't pleased with the way things finished up. However, once it started raining there was no way that the track could be restored to racing form.
Of the five point champions who started on the pole, only two went on to win the final feature races. They were Brandon Hare in the B Mods and Luke Sathoff in the Stock Cars. Other winners included Kyle Balik in the Tuners and Andrew Borchardt in the Hobby Stocks.
To my surprise, the crowd was a very good one for the final race of 2017 at MCMS. Obviously most of them knew what they were going to see and it didn't seem to bother them and there seemed to be a high percentage of fans that were directly associated with one or more of the racers, again a good thing.
Co-promoter Al Hejna spoke to the crowd briefly and declared that 2017 was more successful than 2016 was and hinted that there would be some changes for next year but he didn't elaborate. It would seem that racing in Mason City finished up strong this year.
On Sunday all the local tracks were still getting rained on, but some searching around found the sun shining in northern Iowa so I took off for Mason City Motor Speedway for their Season Championship night. Now, I knew that the feature races would be started straight up but what I didn't know was that it was a "features only" night of racing with no qualifying heats in any of the classes. I guess this must be an "Iowa Thing." as I have never heard of this before. One time before I accidentally ran into this same format at Vinton Iowa but that was the only other time.
Some tracks at home on championship night start the heat races straight up but still make the drivers qualify for the feature based on their heat race finishes. That's as close as I have come to the "features only" format. Now that I think about it, I might have also experienced this once before at Osky also, but again in Iowa.
Sixty seven cars signed in to race in the five USRA classes that race on a weekly basis at Mason City. Among those was Blooming Prairie Minnesota's Doug Hillson. Here it is the last week in August and this is the first time that I have seen Hillson racing this year. However, he told me that he just hasn't been racing much this year as he has had lots of other things going on to fill his weekends and he lacks sponsors and pit crew help compared to years past. Noteworthy however is the fact that this is the fortieth year of racing for Hillson. And on Sunday I wouldn't get to see him race many laps either for a couple of reasons.
Hot laps proved costly as both Dave Kuykendall and Alex Yohn blew motors and were sidelined for the main events. With extra time on their hands, track officials made a special "deal" out of each of the five features with driver introductions, season trophies and pictures and interviews following each main event.
I should have known that weather would still be a factor on Sunday even though earlier in the day the sun shown and it was a nice afternoon. However, thunderstorms brewed to the North and just missed the track before things seemingly cleared up once again.
We weren't done yet though, as a second line quickly cooked up and seemed to be heading directly toward the track. Perhaps a little too much "raz ma taz" earlier ate up too much time and when the order was given to skip the Modified introductions and quickly start the race, it was a battle against time.
Jason Cummings is locked in a tight battle for the USRA National points title and every race is important for him. J.D. Auringer was the early leader of the Modified feature with Cummins quickly moving into second. Several times, as the sprinkles fell and the lightning cracked around the track, Cummins would dive to the inside of J.D. but he couldn't make the pass. Finally, Cummins pulled up beside Auringer down the back chute and Jason made a deep drive into turn three. However, he seemed to catch a rut which threw him up the track and forced Auringer over the cushion with Cummins taking over the lead.
One lap later a car slowed on the front chute and the yellow flew and with the race half over and the sprinkles continuing to fall, the race was quickly called complete. Auringer was not at all pleased and "dive bombed" Cummins a couple times as the field scrambled to the pits to load up. It was an unsatisfying way to end up the night and I'm sure that even Cummins wasn't pleased with the way things finished up. However, once it started raining there was no way that the track could be restored to racing form.
Of the five point champions who started on the pole, only two went on to win the final feature races. They were Brandon Hare in the B Mods and Luke Sathoff in the Stock Cars. Other winners included Kyle Balik in the Tuners and Andrew Borchardt in the Hobby Stocks.
To my surprise, the crowd was a very good one for the final race of 2017 at MCMS. Obviously most of them knew what they were going to see and it didn't seem to bother them and there seemed to be a high percentage of fans that were directly associated with one or more of the racers, again a good thing.
Co-promoter Al Hejna spoke to the crowd briefly and declared that 2017 was more successful than 2016 was and hinted that there would be some changes for next year but he didn't elaborate. It would seem that racing in Mason City finished up strong this year.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
James Dominates Oshkosh Corn Belt Clash
The Corn Belt Clash Late Model series traveled to the Oshkosh Speedzone Raceway on Friday night August 25th as they wrapped up their very abbreviated season. The Speedzone specializes in Modified racing but they also have a couple of races each year for the Late Models and do also run the Sprint Cars a few times each year.
Tonight, along with the Late Models, they would be running IMCA sanctioned Modifieds plus the local Street Stocks and the Grand National class. The Modifieds would also be wrapping up their mini series, "The King of the Ring", a series of one grand to win races that have been tied in with other special events held at "The Zone" this year.
Even though Cam Granger's Corn Belt Series comes out of Iowa, the majority of the cars that would be on hand Friday are from Wisconsin, spiced up with a few Iowa cars that travel the series along with a few random open motored cars from Minnesota. In total they had a nice field of thirty five cars sign in to race. This was particularly impressive given that it was a "stand alone" event with many of the participants towing a long ways for just the one show.
I guess they feel that since its an open motor series, they are required to bore us with time trials which they held with the cars timing in two at a time. Since the transponders are hooked up to the scoreboard here, at least we could hear what the times were and since they did then two at a time, it only delayed the start of the show by fifteen minutes from the advertised time. Pretty good by comparison to most of the time trial events I see. They then roll a dice or something like that to establish the invert and on this night it turned out to be four. The feature race was then lined up straight up from the heat finishes.
Four heats and two B features set the starting field plus two provisional starters and the twenty six car starting field was set. The very first time I came here to a Late Model race, the action was good with lots of passing and side by side racing. Since then, virtually every Late Model race has seen a "rubbered up" track with everyone hugging the bottom and passing at a premium. But, being an eternal optimist, lots of other people along with myself continue to show up for these races hoping against hope that something will change. Unfortunately, Friday night was not the night that change occurred. While the other three classes were able to race all over the track and race side by side, in the Late Models they dropped the green, everyone dove to the rail, and they lined up and ran nose to tail for fifty laps essentially. Occasionally some one might try and move out a lane but they were usually met by frustration when they got "fright trained" back several spots.
I don't know what the answer is to this problem. Whether the track needs more banking or more water or whatever, but it certainly does make for disappointing racing. They do run this track extremely dry and it may be the slickest track that I see on a regular basis. Even some of the veteran Late Model drivers have a terrible time trying to make their cars turn on this track which is very much like racing on ice. The track is smooth and the speeds are very slow but for the support classes, it seems to make their racing interesting but it does nothing for the Late Models, unless you're a fan of train racing.
The heats are extremely important as track position is everything. Scott James, the veteran driver from Indiana who has been driving the Wisconsin based Dolhun XR1 Rocket started on the outside pole and got the jump on Paul Parker and he led all fifty laps. His only real issue was with the lapped cars and there were many as the leaders caught traffic before ten laps had been completed. The starter here does not use the move over flag and it is every man for themselves which is fine. James had to be very careful to not commit himself to trying to move out to pass and get caught on the outside so it was a race of "cat and mouse", raced at the speed of the back markers, not the leaders. When someone would slide out, James would jump on the opportunity and ease by the slower cars but he was very careful not to get himself caught while none of the other front running cars made the move to try and pass on the outside either.
The first thirty nine laps ran nonstop and a couple of times things got a little "dicey" for James but each time he made the right moves. The few restarts they had were done single file, in recognition of the racing conditions which was only fair. Each time James would move away slightly and put a little distance on the second place car. At the end he got very conservative so as not to slip off the bottom and runner up Billy Drake closed up on him but never provided a serious challenge.
It was a great run for the Illinois veteran and his best finish in a big race for quite some time. Also getting a nice finish was Paul Parker who after earning a good starting spot, just hung in there and maintained. Chris and Chad Simpson followed for fifty laps but couldn't do a thing about moving up. Chris would become the point champ of the Corn Belt Series following the completion of the main. Seventeen of the twenty six starters were still on the track at the finish with several dropping out once they got lapped. The race had three minor slow downs for spins and not a wrecked car in the event.
A couple on interesting notes on Friday night's Late Model field. Dan Schlieper, the former national traveling star from the Milwaukee area, returned to racing Friday night driving a back up car for Jimmy Mars. I believe this deal might have been "brokered" by Dan's brother Bill, who's engines Mars uses along with many others in the field. Dan showed little rust as he made the main but his free wheeling style and this super slippery surface did not mesh and he eventually pulled off and called it a night. A.J. Diemel, a former winner at this track, was debuting a brand new MB Customs car Friday night. However, they struggled to get it tuned to the surface and he was forced to qualify through a B feature. He did run the whole distance, probably if for no other reason than to get laps on the car and he was unofficially twelfth in the final standings.
Jim Schmidt, a local competitor, was a surprise entrant on Friday, only because he flipped his car on Thursday night during a practice session and they indicated that they likely wouldn't get it fixed by Friday. However, they were there, made the show and finished the fifty lap grind.
In terms of true racing, the three support classes provided much more in the way of racing, although two of the three proved to be big runaways for the winner. They probably had perhaps one too many support classes as the final checkered flag didn't fly until almost 11 pm when I thought they had a curfew that struck well before that time, but perhaps that no longer exists. But with great fields in the other three classes on hand (27 Grand Nationals, 21 Street Stocks and 33 Modifieds) they weren't about to not let one of these classes race as based on the size of the crowd Friday, this was a back gate financed event.
The "Speedzone" has one of the best weekly car counts of any track probably in the Midwest with one hundred twenty to thirty cars in the pits every week and their Modified fields are probably only challenged by perhaps Dacotah Speedway in Mandan North Dakota in terms of weekly numbers. Their thirty three car field Friday is just an example of the numbers they have on a weekly basis. Usually their mains are close affairs but on this night, Wausau's Marcus Yarie totally dominated the race. He came from the second row quickly to take the lead and then he ran off and hid.
Eventually Johnny "Hitman" Whitman did start to close up on him as did Benji LaCrosse but following a lap eighteen yellow, Yarie again pulled away from Whitman and LaCrosse struggled on the outside where he had been running so well previously. Yarie won easily and was crowned the "King of the Ring" for the mini series. Justin Ritchie had from eleventh to third with Mike Mashl and LaCrosse rounding out the top five. Nineteen of the twenty starters finished the race.
The Grand National class would equate to WISSOTA Super Stocks or perhaps Pro Stocks in Iowa. They run at many of the tracks in eastern Wisconsin but not really any place else. There are a ton of them around however, as Friday's show would indicate. On this night they had the option of removing the roofs and some took advantage of that while the majority didn't want to go through the "monkey work" involved for just one night .Brian Vinney led for the first part of the race but in this country the Richards name is known as the "kings of the hill" in this class and Kenny Richards came up from the fourth row to pass Vinney and then drive away for the win. Again, it was another smoothly run feature with only one yellow and all twenty starters were on the track at the finish.
The Street Stock feature saw heartbreak for leader Chase Solomon who had a healthy sized lead until his car suddenly just stopped and he pulled into the infield, done for the night. This left it up to the Crapser brothers, Adam and Alex to battle it out for the win. Adam liked the high side of the track and that worked for most of the race but Alex dropped low and was able to drive under his brother for the win. If the name sounds familiar, their Uncle Cory is one of the USMTS drivers racing their "Hunt" series right now with special logos on his car.
Once again, it was a very smooth race with only one yellow and three non finishers. Overall, the support classes were quite remarkable in both their lack of yellow flags in their mains and the small number of drivers that dropped out of their features. These classes, along with the Four cylinders and Sport Mods make up their weekly show and I could see where these classes would be highly entertaining on a weekly basis.
At least the "Speedzone" isn't under the gun like it has been for much of the Summer. Governmental agencies have been "hot" to close the race track down and turn it into a stage for concerts but after much fighting and anguish, the track promoters have fought off the county and city, at least for the short term. The county has decided it issue bids for promoters again for next year so for 2018 at least, it sounds like the track will still be there to race on. However, there is much hostility between the current promoters and the person that oversees the bid process and running the facility so it would not be surprising if another promoter gets the nod next year, that is assuming there would be others interested in promoting the facility and given the way things have been around here, that is certainly not a "given." But there can be no doubts that with the track properly prepared, this is one of the finest facilities in the state of Wisconsin and certainly beyond.
Tonight, along with the Late Models, they would be running IMCA sanctioned Modifieds plus the local Street Stocks and the Grand National class. The Modifieds would also be wrapping up their mini series, "The King of the Ring", a series of one grand to win races that have been tied in with other special events held at "The Zone" this year.
Even though Cam Granger's Corn Belt Series comes out of Iowa, the majority of the cars that would be on hand Friday are from Wisconsin, spiced up with a few Iowa cars that travel the series along with a few random open motored cars from Minnesota. In total they had a nice field of thirty five cars sign in to race. This was particularly impressive given that it was a "stand alone" event with many of the participants towing a long ways for just the one show.
I guess they feel that since its an open motor series, they are required to bore us with time trials which they held with the cars timing in two at a time. Since the transponders are hooked up to the scoreboard here, at least we could hear what the times were and since they did then two at a time, it only delayed the start of the show by fifteen minutes from the advertised time. Pretty good by comparison to most of the time trial events I see. They then roll a dice or something like that to establish the invert and on this night it turned out to be four. The feature race was then lined up straight up from the heat finishes.
Four heats and two B features set the starting field plus two provisional starters and the twenty six car starting field was set. The very first time I came here to a Late Model race, the action was good with lots of passing and side by side racing. Since then, virtually every Late Model race has seen a "rubbered up" track with everyone hugging the bottom and passing at a premium. But, being an eternal optimist, lots of other people along with myself continue to show up for these races hoping against hope that something will change. Unfortunately, Friday night was not the night that change occurred. While the other three classes were able to race all over the track and race side by side, in the Late Models they dropped the green, everyone dove to the rail, and they lined up and ran nose to tail for fifty laps essentially. Occasionally some one might try and move out a lane but they were usually met by frustration when they got "fright trained" back several spots.
I don't know what the answer is to this problem. Whether the track needs more banking or more water or whatever, but it certainly does make for disappointing racing. They do run this track extremely dry and it may be the slickest track that I see on a regular basis. Even some of the veteran Late Model drivers have a terrible time trying to make their cars turn on this track which is very much like racing on ice. The track is smooth and the speeds are very slow but for the support classes, it seems to make their racing interesting but it does nothing for the Late Models, unless you're a fan of train racing.
The heats are extremely important as track position is everything. Scott James, the veteran driver from Indiana who has been driving the Wisconsin based Dolhun XR1 Rocket started on the outside pole and got the jump on Paul Parker and he led all fifty laps. His only real issue was with the lapped cars and there were many as the leaders caught traffic before ten laps had been completed. The starter here does not use the move over flag and it is every man for themselves which is fine. James had to be very careful to not commit himself to trying to move out to pass and get caught on the outside so it was a race of "cat and mouse", raced at the speed of the back markers, not the leaders. When someone would slide out, James would jump on the opportunity and ease by the slower cars but he was very careful not to get himself caught while none of the other front running cars made the move to try and pass on the outside either.
The first thirty nine laps ran nonstop and a couple of times things got a little "dicey" for James but each time he made the right moves. The few restarts they had were done single file, in recognition of the racing conditions which was only fair. Each time James would move away slightly and put a little distance on the second place car. At the end he got very conservative so as not to slip off the bottom and runner up Billy Drake closed up on him but never provided a serious challenge.
It was a great run for the Illinois veteran and his best finish in a big race for quite some time. Also getting a nice finish was Paul Parker who after earning a good starting spot, just hung in there and maintained. Chris and Chad Simpson followed for fifty laps but couldn't do a thing about moving up. Chris would become the point champ of the Corn Belt Series following the completion of the main. Seventeen of the twenty six starters were still on the track at the finish with several dropping out once they got lapped. The race had three minor slow downs for spins and not a wrecked car in the event.
A couple on interesting notes on Friday night's Late Model field. Dan Schlieper, the former national traveling star from the Milwaukee area, returned to racing Friday night driving a back up car for Jimmy Mars. I believe this deal might have been "brokered" by Dan's brother Bill, who's engines Mars uses along with many others in the field. Dan showed little rust as he made the main but his free wheeling style and this super slippery surface did not mesh and he eventually pulled off and called it a night. A.J. Diemel, a former winner at this track, was debuting a brand new MB Customs car Friday night. However, they struggled to get it tuned to the surface and he was forced to qualify through a B feature. He did run the whole distance, probably if for no other reason than to get laps on the car and he was unofficially twelfth in the final standings.
Jim Schmidt, a local competitor, was a surprise entrant on Friday, only because he flipped his car on Thursday night during a practice session and they indicated that they likely wouldn't get it fixed by Friday. However, they were there, made the show and finished the fifty lap grind.
In terms of true racing, the three support classes provided much more in the way of racing, although two of the three proved to be big runaways for the winner. They probably had perhaps one too many support classes as the final checkered flag didn't fly until almost 11 pm when I thought they had a curfew that struck well before that time, but perhaps that no longer exists. But with great fields in the other three classes on hand (27 Grand Nationals, 21 Street Stocks and 33 Modifieds) they weren't about to not let one of these classes race as based on the size of the crowd Friday, this was a back gate financed event.
The "Speedzone" has one of the best weekly car counts of any track probably in the Midwest with one hundred twenty to thirty cars in the pits every week and their Modified fields are probably only challenged by perhaps Dacotah Speedway in Mandan North Dakota in terms of weekly numbers. Their thirty three car field Friday is just an example of the numbers they have on a weekly basis. Usually their mains are close affairs but on this night, Wausau's Marcus Yarie totally dominated the race. He came from the second row quickly to take the lead and then he ran off and hid.
Eventually Johnny "Hitman" Whitman did start to close up on him as did Benji LaCrosse but following a lap eighteen yellow, Yarie again pulled away from Whitman and LaCrosse struggled on the outside where he had been running so well previously. Yarie won easily and was crowned the "King of the Ring" for the mini series. Justin Ritchie had from eleventh to third with Mike Mashl and LaCrosse rounding out the top five. Nineteen of the twenty starters finished the race.
The Grand National class would equate to WISSOTA Super Stocks or perhaps Pro Stocks in Iowa. They run at many of the tracks in eastern Wisconsin but not really any place else. There are a ton of them around however, as Friday's show would indicate. On this night they had the option of removing the roofs and some took advantage of that while the majority didn't want to go through the "monkey work" involved for just one night .Brian Vinney led for the first part of the race but in this country the Richards name is known as the "kings of the hill" in this class and Kenny Richards came up from the fourth row to pass Vinney and then drive away for the win. Again, it was another smoothly run feature with only one yellow and all twenty starters were on the track at the finish.
The Street Stock feature saw heartbreak for leader Chase Solomon who had a healthy sized lead until his car suddenly just stopped and he pulled into the infield, done for the night. This left it up to the Crapser brothers, Adam and Alex to battle it out for the win. Adam liked the high side of the track and that worked for most of the race but Alex dropped low and was able to drive under his brother for the win. If the name sounds familiar, their Uncle Cory is one of the USMTS drivers racing their "Hunt" series right now with special logos on his car.
Once again, it was a very smooth race with only one yellow and three non finishers. Overall, the support classes were quite remarkable in both their lack of yellow flags in their mains and the small number of drivers that dropped out of their features. These classes, along with the Four cylinders and Sport Mods make up their weekly show and I could see where these classes would be highly entertaining on a weekly basis.
At least the "Speedzone" isn't under the gun like it has been for much of the Summer. Governmental agencies have been "hot" to close the race track down and turn it into a stage for concerts but after much fighting and anguish, the track promoters have fought off the county and city, at least for the short term. The county has decided it issue bids for promoters again for next year so for 2018 at least, it sounds like the track will still be there to race on. However, there is much hostility between the current promoters and the person that oversees the bid process and running the facility so it would not be surprising if another promoter gets the nod next year, that is assuming there would be others interested in promoting the facility and given the way things have been around here, that is certainly not a "given." But there can be no doubts that with the track properly prepared, this is one of the finest facilities in the state of Wisconsin and certainly beyond.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Schatz Changes Up; Now He's Beating Up the Late Models Too
Wednesday night, August 23rd found me at the Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo North Dakota for a rare midweek race for this track that now pretty much is a Friday night track only. The NLRA(Northern Late Model Racing Association) had been scheduled to race here a few weeks ago on a Wednesday as the first night of a four night swing through eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota but that show got rained out.
Promoter Jake Bitker however, clearly wanted to get this show in so it was rescheduled to this Wednesday, even though it now became a stand alone event. Also racing on this night were three of his regular divisions, the IMCA Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. The Legend Cars were also racing as they do on many occasions here but I have never recognized them as a true racing class and there fore have never included them in any of my reports or kept track of their driver rosters, finishes etc just a I also don't for dwarf cars, figure eights, buses and the list goes on and on.
This was my first visit to RRVS in a couple of years and certainly the first time since Bitker took over the operations last year and got the track started again on a schedule that led to a full season of racing in 2017.
RRVS looks much different that it did many years ago when I first laid eye balls on the track. Back then it was an intimidating high banked half mile oval that would provide some spectacular speeds and only the bravest of the brave were willing to take on its challenge. However, it was also a motor eater and a track that would often see the field get pretty spread out and provide not necessarily to best of weekly racing.
There were problems between the group that ran the track and the Fair Board and there was a real possibility that racing would not continue. Danny Schatz agreed to take over promotion of the track and he really changed things, cutting the track down to a third mile oval and changing the race night to Wednesdays. He only lasted a couple of years though as more problems between the Fair Board Manager and him led to Schatz terminating his contract and with no one in the wings to take over, the track sat vacant. Bitker, who was running the show at Norman County Speedway in Ada, about forty miles northeast of Fargo, was contacted by the Fair Board but due to some issues, he declined at that point. So the track sat, a shame since the overall facility is one of the nicest around.
However, after a period of time, Bitker again reappeared in the picture. This time he was able to negotiate a few changes and a different Fair Board Manager made things much smoother too. So last year Jake restarted the track, with a little reshaping of the corners and a move back to the original race night of Friday.
IMCA Modifieds became the top class with Late Models and Sprints brought in on occasion. Things have progressively gotten better and they returned to a full schedule of races this year. The World of Outlaw Sprints got back on the schedule and while no big Late Model series has yet visited the track, most assume that is just a matter of time. The third mile is generally prepared so as to be black and slick and the smaller track and slower speeds are much easier on the race cars.
The NLRA is one of the great success stories of the upper Midwest. This is a club where the Late Model drivers actually join and have their say in how things are operated. Brad Seng from Grand Forks has long been one of the driving forces within the club and they have found a way for Late Models to not only survive but to prosper. In an area that has very few Late Model tracks running weekly, they take their traveling show on the road to a number of tracks in the Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba area as a special event. This way, they can guarantee a promoter a minimum number of cars so the promoter knows what he is getting and the Late Models in return are guaranteed many more shows than they would get otherwise and for a guaranteed purse, that while not huge, is far better than they would get for a weekly show and enough to keep them racing from week to week. In an area that has only one weekly Late Model track, that being River Cities Raceway in Grand Forks, there are well over forty Late Models in the area because the interest has always been there and the NLRA provides them the opportunity.
For this Wednesday night, stand alone race, there were twenty three Late Models in attendance. Donny Schatz has really taken a liking to Late Model racing and he often flies back to the Fargo area just to sneak in a night or two of Late Model racing, even at some smaller venues that you wouldn't expect a driver of such high magnitude to be interesting in competing at. But Late Model racing has developed into his "stress reliever" as he can run the Late Models with no pressure and no big expectations and return to the old days of just having fun. The Late Model drivers treat him as an equal and he can just roam the pits and be just another driver unlike the Outlaw shows where a camera or microphone is being thrust into his face every second.
However, this Late Model "gig" might turn into something more than just a relaxing sideline. I have been told by some people close to the "know" that are saying that within a couple of years Tony Stewart will be starting a Late Model team and that Schatz will be their driver and that he will at that time step away from Sprint Cars. Who knows for sure if there is anything to this but there are certainly some parts of it that make sense.
But back to Wednesday. Schatz has been lightning fast with his spec engine Late Model, having won two feature races with it last week and he showed that those weren't flukes on Wednesday. The NLRA had some top notch drivers on hand on Wednesday including Ricky Weiss, Seng, Pat Doar, Dustin Strand, Mike Balcaen and others but he put them all to shame.
After Weiss got the jump and led the first few laps, Schatz worked the track and found a passing lane and dove under Ricky in turn one to take the top spot and once he took the lead, he was gone. The feature race went nonstop with twenty three cars taking the green and all twenty three still around at the finish. However, only seven were still on the lead lap as Schatz lapped all the others and had both sixth place Adam Fischer and fifth place Cole Schill in his sites when he pulled up on the final tour and didn't push the issue. He was incredibly fast on the icy slick track and was able to put his XR1 Rocket anywhere he wanted on the track, lapping cars both high and low. It was a dominating performance to say the least. While the Late Model drivers seem to welcome his appearance, they'll probably also be happy to see him hit the road with the Outlaws anytime! Myself, I feel his presence gives the other drivers and the tracks some very good publicity and is a good thing for the sport. Plus, I just enjoy watching him race and "mix it up" with the other drivers in the pits.
Weiss finished second but had six lapped cars between himself and Schatz with Balcaen, Seng and Strand completing the top five.
The Modified feature saw point leader Dave Shipley on the outside pole and he seemed to be the logical favorite, that is until they dropped the green flag and he nearly went off turn one, losing a number of spots because of that. Mike Greseth, one of the few non crate cars in the class, then took the lead and led the rest of the way for the win. Shipley did some nifty driving as he fought his way back up to second, with late race passes of Dale Kraling and Tyler Peterson to get second.
Jesse Skalicky, who shocked the troops in central Iowa earlier this year when he rolled into town and took the big money back to North Dakota, started on the outside pole and led all the way for an easy win in the Sport Mods. Jeff Talley and Kelly Jacobson trailed.
The Hobby Stock class is a new one this year for this area, transitioning over from a former Bomber class. Therefore, they don't have very many of them at any of the tracks running them as of yet, but like the Stock Cars who are also new to this area but weren't on the card Wednesday, patience is needed to see if the class will take off or not. Eight were on hand Wednesday with veteran Tim Church the winner.
The crowd was not particularly good on Wednesday but to be fair, they are in the midst of a four race in two week period, having raced regular shows last Friday and a Season Championship race upcoming in two days. On top of that they raced the Late Models tonight and last Saturday held a rain dated event for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and I'm told that six thousand people were on hand for that. On top of all that, Bitker held his regular Thursday night show at Ada last Thursday and has his Season Championships at that track scheduled tomorrow.
Fargo has always been a stronghold place for dirt track racing with plenty of fans and many race cars in all classes coming from the Fargo area. That's why the shutting down of the fairgrounds was such a shocking thing when it happened but hopefully they are back on "high ground" and gaining. The RRVS is one of the finest facilities around with seating for many thousands of people, excellent lighting and parking and now, with the pits moved behind the back straightaway, there truly isn't a bad seat in the house. If you're ever traveling out West on I-94, when you get to West Fargo just look off to the North and you can see the track right from the freeway.
Promoter Jake Bitker however, clearly wanted to get this show in so it was rescheduled to this Wednesday, even though it now became a stand alone event. Also racing on this night were three of his regular divisions, the IMCA Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. The Legend Cars were also racing as they do on many occasions here but I have never recognized them as a true racing class and there fore have never included them in any of my reports or kept track of their driver rosters, finishes etc just a I also don't for dwarf cars, figure eights, buses and the list goes on and on.
This was my first visit to RRVS in a couple of years and certainly the first time since Bitker took over the operations last year and got the track started again on a schedule that led to a full season of racing in 2017.
RRVS looks much different that it did many years ago when I first laid eye balls on the track. Back then it was an intimidating high banked half mile oval that would provide some spectacular speeds and only the bravest of the brave were willing to take on its challenge. However, it was also a motor eater and a track that would often see the field get pretty spread out and provide not necessarily to best of weekly racing.
There were problems between the group that ran the track and the Fair Board and there was a real possibility that racing would not continue. Danny Schatz agreed to take over promotion of the track and he really changed things, cutting the track down to a third mile oval and changing the race night to Wednesdays. He only lasted a couple of years though as more problems between the Fair Board Manager and him led to Schatz terminating his contract and with no one in the wings to take over, the track sat vacant. Bitker, who was running the show at Norman County Speedway in Ada, about forty miles northeast of Fargo, was contacted by the Fair Board but due to some issues, he declined at that point. So the track sat, a shame since the overall facility is one of the nicest around.
However, after a period of time, Bitker again reappeared in the picture. This time he was able to negotiate a few changes and a different Fair Board Manager made things much smoother too. So last year Jake restarted the track, with a little reshaping of the corners and a move back to the original race night of Friday.
IMCA Modifieds became the top class with Late Models and Sprints brought in on occasion. Things have progressively gotten better and they returned to a full schedule of races this year. The World of Outlaw Sprints got back on the schedule and while no big Late Model series has yet visited the track, most assume that is just a matter of time. The third mile is generally prepared so as to be black and slick and the smaller track and slower speeds are much easier on the race cars.
The NLRA is one of the great success stories of the upper Midwest. This is a club where the Late Model drivers actually join and have their say in how things are operated. Brad Seng from Grand Forks has long been one of the driving forces within the club and they have found a way for Late Models to not only survive but to prosper. In an area that has very few Late Model tracks running weekly, they take their traveling show on the road to a number of tracks in the Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba area as a special event. This way, they can guarantee a promoter a minimum number of cars so the promoter knows what he is getting and the Late Models in return are guaranteed many more shows than they would get otherwise and for a guaranteed purse, that while not huge, is far better than they would get for a weekly show and enough to keep them racing from week to week. In an area that has only one weekly Late Model track, that being River Cities Raceway in Grand Forks, there are well over forty Late Models in the area because the interest has always been there and the NLRA provides them the opportunity.
For this Wednesday night, stand alone race, there were twenty three Late Models in attendance. Donny Schatz has really taken a liking to Late Model racing and he often flies back to the Fargo area just to sneak in a night or two of Late Model racing, even at some smaller venues that you wouldn't expect a driver of such high magnitude to be interesting in competing at. But Late Model racing has developed into his "stress reliever" as he can run the Late Models with no pressure and no big expectations and return to the old days of just having fun. The Late Model drivers treat him as an equal and he can just roam the pits and be just another driver unlike the Outlaw shows where a camera or microphone is being thrust into his face every second.
However, this Late Model "gig" might turn into something more than just a relaxing sideline. I have been told by some people close to the "know" that are saying that within a couple of years Tony Stewart will be starting a Late Model team and that Schatz will be their driver and that he will at that time step away from Sprint Cars. Who knows for sure if there is anything to this but there are certainly some parts of it that make sense.
But back to Wednesday. Schatz has been lightning fast with his spec engine Late Model, having won two feature races with it last week and he showed that those weren't flukes on Wednesday. The NLRA had some top notch drivers on hand on Wednesday including Ricky Weiss, Seng, Pat Doar, Dustin Strand, Mike Balcaen and others but he put them all to shame.
After Weiss got the jump and led the first few laps, Schatz worked the track and found a passing lane and dove under Ricky in turn one to take the top spot and once he took the lead, he was gone. The feature race went nonstop with twenty three cars taking the green and all twenty three still around at the finish. However, only seven were still on the lead lap as Schatz lapped all the others and had both sixth place Adam Fischer and fifth place Cole Schill in his sites when he pulled up on the final tour and didn't push the issue. He was incredibly fast on the icy slick track and was able to put his XR1 Rocket anywhere he wanted on the track, lapping cars both high and low. It was a dominating performance to say the least. While the Late Model drivers seem to welcome his appearance, they'll probably also be happy to see him hit the road with the Outlaws anytime! Myself, I feel his presence gives the other drivers and the tracks some very good publicity and is a good thing for the sport. Plus, I just enjoy watching him race and "mix it up" with the other drivers in the pits.
Weiss finished second but had six lapped cars between himself and Schatz with Balcaen, Seng and Strand completing the top five.
The Modified feature saw point leader Dave Shipley on the outside pole and he seemed to be the logical favorite, that is until they dropped the green flag and he nearly went off turn one, losing a number of spots because of that. Mike Greseth, one of the few non crate cars in the class, then took the lead and led the rest of the way for the win. Shipley did some nifty driving as he fought his way back up to second, with late race passes of Dale Kraling and Tyler Peterson to get second.
Jesse Skalicky, who shocked the troops in central Iowa earlier this year when he rolled into town and took the big money back to North Dakota, started on the outside pole and led all the way for an easy win in the Sport Mods. Jeff Talley and Kelly Jacobson trailed.
The Hobby Stock class is a new one this year for this area, transitioning over from a former Bomber class. Therefore, they don't have very many of them at any of the tracks running them as of yet, but like the Stock Cars who are also new to this area but weren't on the card Wednesday, patience is needed to see if the class will take off or not. Eight were on hand Wednesday with veteran Tim Church the winner.
The crowd was not particularly good on Wednesday but to be fair, they are in the midst of a four race in two week period, having raced regular shows last Friday and a Season Championship race upcoming in two days. On top of that they raced the Late Models tonight and last Saturday held a rain dated event for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and I'm told that six thousand people were on hand for that. On top of all that, Bitker held his regular Thursday night show at Ada last Thursday and has his Season Championships at that track scheduled tomorrow.
Fargo has always been a stronghold place for dirt track racing with plenty of fans and many race cars in all classes coming from the Fargo area. That's why the shutting down of the fairgrounds was such a shocking thing when it happened but hopefully they are back on "high ground" and gaining. The RRVS is one of the finest facilities around with seating for many thousands of people, excellent lighting and parking and now, with the pits moved behind the back straightaway, there truly isn't a bad seat in the house. If you're ever traveling out West on I-94, when you get to West Fargo just look off to the North and you can see the track right from the freeway.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Pavlicek Tops Sanders Challenge Modified Event at NCR
The second annual Sanders Metal Products Challenge Tour started the first of its four night swing on Thursday, August 17th at the Norman County Raceway in Ada Minnesota. Along with the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA sanctioned Stock Cars and Sport Mods were also on the card along with WISSOTA sanctioned Midwest Modifieds.
This was the second year of the Sanders Challenge which is compromised of four straight nights of racing with each show worth a grand to win and a seven thousand dollar point fund for the top twenty cars in combined points with their three of four best shows used to total the points.
Besides Norman County, the other tracks on the tour are the Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo North Dakota, promoter Jake Bitker's other track that he runs, the Jamestown Speedway in North Dakota and the Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon Minnesota where the series would wrap up on Sunday night. Once you got to the area, the four tracks are all within a fairly short drive between them, but oh my, all four are a long way from most places. When you start getting North of Fargo, you know that you're a long way from the rest of the world.
The tours opening night was able by one to top the opening night field of last year's show as the featured division of IMCA Modifieds drew forty seven cars for their opening night show. I'm not certain but I believe that this years tour drew more local and regional entries as there were no drivers on hand from too far away such as there were last year. Most of the entrants were from the eastern side of North Dakota and across the border in Minnesota with a few western North Dakota drivers on hand along with one Wisconsin driver, Luke Schilling, who brought his car West to race with his brother who lives in Park Rapids Minnesota and races in this area.
NCR is about a three eighth mile oval with long chutes, tight turns and black dirt as the racing surface. It is located at the Norman County Fairgrounds with Ada having about seventeen hundred residents in a largely rural farm country. However, both Fargo and Grand Forks are within reasonable driving distance and Fargo particularly, provides both racers and fans. Because it is a Thursday night venue, everyone is very late arriving and on this night, when hot laps were offered a half hour before race time, something that normally isn't done, only about half the Modifieds were on the grounds yet and about twenty fans in the stands.
It's always a mad last minute scramble here, but it always seems to work out as they started the show right on time and as the first events unfolded, the grandstand filled up nicely. The track announcer pointed out that the grandstand is ninety nine years old and it looks every day of it! The grandstand has a West Liberty or West Union feel to it as the aisles are very narrow, posts that block your view seem to also be everywhere and the seating is very uncomfortable. Very much like the KRA Speedway in Willmar Minnesota that is in the same boat, they have been waiting for a tornado to come through for years and wipe out the grandstand so they can start over with something a whole lot better, but so far, no luck.
Five heats and two B features set the field for the twenty four car starting field for the Modified main event. In a main event that saw only two yellow flags, it was the two #17 cars of Rich Pavlicek and Mike Greseth that battled it out for the win. First Pavlicek took the lead and then Greseth drove around him to take over the top spot.
A yellow on lap nine bunched the field and Pavilcek was able to drive under Greseth to retake the lead as the bottom side of the track started to quicken up. Despite over an inch of rain the day before, the track crew had whipped the track into good racing shape and it raced very much like it normally does, with it being hard and slick. It started out top side dominant and as the night progressed, everyone started moving down the track and Pavlicek beat Greseth back to the low side and after that, they ran pretty much equal but Greseth was never able to make a challenging move.
Tyler Peterson, Johnny Correll and Austin Arneson rounded out the top five as area drivers dominated the action.
NCR added the Sport Mods a couple of years ago and so far, they have been able to get around a dozen that race most weeks at Norman County. They have also added the class at Fargo where they have a few more cars but many of them do not travel to Ada on Thursday. A couple cars are quite superior to the rest of the field with Andy "spud" Wagner and Jesse Skalicky, who central Iowa folks know all about after he came into their home territory this Summer and whipped them, usually battle it out for the win. Such was the case again with Skalicky getting to the front first and scoring a fairly easy win.
The Stock Cars are new to this area in 2017 and so far, they have not been able to generate more than just a few entrants. Again, Fargo gets a few more and occasionally gets a traveler from western North Dakota where they are firmly established. In the meantime, patience is needed until more drivers decide to get into the class, and that won't happen until they are sure the class will last. Aaron Olson, a former Modified driver won a very easy victory on this night.
Of the support classes, the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds by far offer the best racing. This is an established class in the area with lots of drivers and many to draw from who come from throughout the area. They were not scheduled to race on this night but were added and that turned out to be a good idea as without them, the undercard for the night would have been pretty weak. The MidMods ran two qualifying heat races and a non stop main event with their part of the program going just as a good support class should, with an entertaining main event, and not a lot of slowdowns to drag down the show.
In their main, point leader Dylan Goplen drove past early leader Brock Gronwald for the win with Jamestown's Jason Grimes, racing in two classes, coming home a strong third.
It was a good night of racing and for me, a chance to see a number of Modified drivers that I read about but seldom get the chance to see in person. The show got done just a bit late at 11 pm for a week night show but for most on hand it was just the start of a four day racing holiday so they weren't too worried. Also, most of them weren't as crazy as to drive five and a half hours just to watch one race and then head home.
This was the second year of the Sanders Challenge which is compromised of four straight nights of racing with each show worth a grand to win and a seven thousand dollar point fund for the top twenty cars in combined points with their three of four best shows used to total the points.
Besides Norman County, the other tracks on the tour are the Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo North Dakota, promoter Jake Bitker's other track that he runs, the Jamestown Speedway in North Dakota and the Buffalo River Speedway near Glyndon Minnesota where the series would wrap up on Sunday night. Once you got to the area, the four tracks are all within a fairly short drive between them, but oh my, all four are a long way from most places. When you start getting North of Fargo, you know that you're a long way from the rest of the world.
The tours opening night was able by one to top the opening night field of last year's show as the featured division of IMCA Modifieds drew forty seven cars for their opening night show. I'm not certain but I believe that this years tour drew more local and regional entries as there were no drivers on hand from too far away such as there were last year. Most of the entrants were from the eastern side of North Dakota and across the border in Minnesota with a few western North Dakota drivers on hand along with one Wisconsin driver, Luke Schilling, who brought his car West to race with his brother who lives in Park Rapids Minnesota and races in this area.
NCR is about a three eighth mile oval with long chutes, tight turns and black dirt as the racing surface. It is located at the Norman County Fairgrounds with Ada having about seventeen hundred residents in a largely rural farm country. However, both Fargo and Grand Forks are within reasonable driving distance and Fargo particularly, provides both racers and fans. Because it is a Thursday night venue, everyone is very late arriving and on this night, when hot laps were offered a half hour before race time, something that normally isn't done, only about half the Modifieds were on the grounds yet and about twenty fans in the stands.
It's always a mad last minute scramble here, but it always seems to work out as they started the show right on time and as the first events unfolded, the grandstand filled up nicely. The track announcer pointed out that the grandstand is ninety nine years old and it looks every day of it! The grandstand has a West Liberty or West Union feel to it as the aisles are very narrow, posts that block your view seem to also be everywhere and the seating is very uncomfortable. Very much like the KRA Speedway in Willmar Minnesota that is in the same boat, they have been waiting for a tornado to come through for years and wipe out the grandstand so they can start over with something a whole lot better, but so far, no luck.
Five heats and two B features set the field for the twenty four car starting field for the Modified main event. In a main event that saw only two yellow flags, it was the two #17 cars of Rich Pavlicek and Mike Greseth that battled it out for the win. First Pavlicek took the lead and then Greseth drove around him to take over the top spot.
A yellow on lap nine bunched the field and Pavilcek was able to drive under Greseth to retake the lead as the bottom side of the track started to quicken up. Despite over an inch of rain the day before, the track crew had whipped the track into good racing shape and it raced very much like it normally does, with it being hard and slick. It started out top side dominant and as the night progressed, everyone started moving down the track and Pavlicek beat Greseth back to the low side and after that, they ran pretty much equal but Greseth was never able to make a challenging move.
Tyler Peterson, Johnny Correll and Austin Arneson rounded out the top five as area drivers dominated the action.
NCR added the Sport Mods a couple of years ago and so far, they have been able to get around a dozen that race most weeks at Norman County. They have also added the class at Fargo where they have a few more cars but many of them do not travel to Ada on Thursday. A couple cars are quite superior to the rest of the field with Andy "spud" Wagner and Jesse Skalicky, who central Iowa folks know all about after he came into their home territory this Summer and whipped them, usually battle it out for the win. Such was the case again with Skalicky getting to the front first and scoring a fairly easy win.
The Stock Cars are new to this area in 2017 and so far, they have not been able to generate more than just a few entrants. Again, Fargo gets a few more and occasionally gets a traveler from western North Dakota where they are firmly established. In the meantime, patience is needed until more drivers decide to get into the class, and that won't happen until they are sure the class will last. Aaron Olson, a former Modified driver won a very easy victory on this night.
Of the support classes, the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds by far offer the best racing. This is an established class in the area with lots of drivers and many to draw from who come from throughout the area. They were not scheduled to race on this night but were added and that turned out to be a good idea as without them, the undercard for the night would have been pretty weak. The MidMods ran two qualifying heat races and a non stop main event with their part of the program going just as a good support class should, with an entertaining main event, and not a lot of slowdowns to drag down the show.
In their main, point leader Dylan Goplen drove past early leader Brock Gronwald for the win with Jamestown's Jason Grimes, racing in two classes, coming home a strong third.
It was a good night of racing and for me, a chance to see a number of Modified drivers that I read about but seldom get the chance to see in person. The show got done just a bit late at 11 pm for a week night show but for most on hand it was just the start of a four day racing holiday so they weren't too worried. Also, most of them weren't as crazy as to drive five and a half hours just to watch one race and then head home.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Scott Storms the Field in South Dakota
Have you ever had the feeling when it was kind of a slow day to just jump in the car and drive out to South Dakota? Me too!
So that's what I did. Specifically, Aberdeen South Dakota in the Northeast part of the state where the USMTS true road warriors were making up a rain out from earlier this Summer. The part that made this trip more significant was that with the rescheduling, this event became a part of their "Hunt" for the national championship so it put more weight on the trip.
Overnight rains made things a bit "sketchy" but the sun came out and the thunderstorms stayed away the rest of the day and racing was on as scheduled. In fact, with the high winds blowing you couldn't have even guessed that they had any rain at all as South Dakota is starting to look like the Sahara with rain badly needed.
The troops shuffled into Aberdeen to race and I must say that this year's crew making the pull from place to place for "The Hunt" appears to be a little thin compared to some other years. Quite frankly some guys that are finishing up in the money in some races couldn't have done so in some years past, particularly at tracks where there was a strong local presence.
This six hour drive out of the way for just the one night of racing before doubling back to Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota before ending up in northern Iowa on Sunday was, if not the "trip from Hell", it was pretty darn close. The promoters really wanted the USMTS to come out to Aberdeen and they threw in several thousand extra dollars in the purse as an incentive but many of the regional drivers decided to wait and let the "Road Warriors" come back to them on Thursday and so the car count was only twenty three in Aberdeen. This also included about seven locals to thankfully, flesh out the field. Otherwise, things would have looked more than a little lean for the racing. Local veteran Terry Haven showed up with his car but didn't expect to unload or race but he did the math and rolled out his car in time to race both his heat and the feature and take home a check.
Missing also on Wednesday also were two of the "billboard" names that the USMTS has with them right now. Ryan Gustin was on hand but was too ill to compete and so he just collected "show up" points for the night. One must assume he was really under the weather to come all the way out to South Dakota and then not race.
Also missing was Tyler Wolff, the latest of the drivers to surprise with a feature win. He missed a plane transfer but is expected to compete in Wisconsin on Thursday so the second and fourth place drivers in the current "Hunt" points were AWOL.
All this was good news to current point leader Stormy Scott. He started on the pole for the forty lap main event and led all the way for what was less than a scintillation victory. But Scott could care less, as he was more than willing to collect the big check at the end of the night. Zach VanderBeek started on the outside pole and it looked like the only two VanderBuilt chassis in the field would slug it out for the win.
However, Zach made the mistake to try and run the high side of the track and by the time he had "shoe horned" his way back into line, he was all the way back to seventh. It was not a good night for the Brown County racing surface as it was bone dry, dusty and dirty and just wouldn't clean off which caused everyone to dive to the inside and bang their way into line. The support classes had no more success than the Modifieds did in widening out the track and it was a frustrating night for many.
However, rookie USMTS driver Travis Saurer was not complaining as he finished a career best second behind Scott and ahead of Jason Hughes. I guarantee his first win will be coming in short order also.
The track's best hope of a local doing well was the entry of "Showtime" Kent Arment with his Modified. However, it was a bad night for "Showtime." He no more than got the green in his heat when he banged together with another car and got a flat tire. This mired him in the back for the main and Arment, who is known for his high side charges to the front of races that can be spectacular, tried to do the same on this night. He was able to pass a few cars and then the top side gave up and while he stayed up there, he started to drop back like a rock. Finally he said the heck with it and pulled off the track, being scored eighteenth at the finish.
Being fairly close to the North Dakota border, there is much in the way of rivalry between the two states and on this night, North Dakota drivers went home gloating as both the support classes were won by drivers from North Dakota. Bo Gregor took the Street Stock win while Zach LaQua won the Midwest Modified main, both of which were WISSOTA sanctioned point races for the track.
I got the opportunity to visit with Modified driver Mike Stearns who was on hand for the event. He suffered a serious injury during the off season and has not as yet been able to race in 2017 and has but Denver Nickeson behind the wheel of his car.
How many of you thought that Curling was a dangerous sport? How many of you even know what the heck Curling is! I do know that it is contested on a sheet of ice and ice is slippery. Stearns fell while competing in Fargo in a tournament last Winter and hit his head and has been out since. He told me that he was in no hurry to get back behind the wheel of his MasterSbilt/Tim's Modified and might not race at all this year. And he was only half kidding when he said that his next race car just might be a Late Model.
I also got to visit with Chris Clark from Jackson Wyoming who was racing at Aberdeen. This guy might be even crazier than me. He was racing in Webster City Iowa on Tuesday night where I was also, then jumped in his truck, drove six hours to Aberdeen, bolted on a spoiler and raced with the USMTS guys. And instead of turning West and heading home from South Dakota, he is instead going to follow the USMTS the rest of this week to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Wow. As I type this, he is likely on the road driving from South Dakota to Wisconsin by way of the Twin Cities. Good luck with that.
Even though the field of cars was sub standard and the Modified racing not spectacular, the crowd on hand which appeared to be of a decent size, seemed OK with what they saw and this likely will not be the last time the "Road Warriors" see South Dakota.
So that's what I did. Specifically, Aberdeen South Dakota in the Northeast part of the state where the USMTS true road warriors were making up a rain out from earlier this Summer. The part that made this trip more significant was that with the rescheduling, this event became a part of their "Hunt" for the national championship so it put more weight on the trip.
Overnight rains made things a bit "sketchy" but the sun came out and the thunderstorms stayed away the rest of the day and racing was on as scheduled. In fact, with the high winds blowing you couldn't have even guessed that they had any rain at all as South Dakota is starting to look like the Sahara with rain badly needed.
The troops shuffled into Aberdeen to race and I must say that this year's crew making the pull from place to place for "The Hunt" appears to be a little thin compared to some other years. Quite frankly some guys that are finishing up in the money in some races couldn't have done so in some years past, particularly at tracks where there was a strong local presence.
This six hour drive out of the way for just the one night of racing before doubling back to Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota before ending up in northern Iowa on Sunday was, if not the "trip from Hell", it was pretty darn close. The promoters really wanted the USMTS to come out to Aberdeen and they threw in several thousand extra dollars in the purse as an incentive but many of the regional drivers decided to wait and let the "Road Warriors" come back to them on Thursday and so the car count was only twenty three in Aberdeen. This also included about seven locals to thankfully, flesh out the field. Otherwise, things would have looked more than a little lean for the racing. Local veteran Terry Haven showed up with his car but didn't expect to unload or race but he did the math and rolled out his car in time to race both his heat and the feature and take home a check.
Missing also on Wednesday also were two of the "billboard" names that the USMTS has with them right now. Ryan Gustin was on hand but was too ill to compete and so he just collected "show up" points for the night. One must assume he was really under the weather to come all the way out to South Dakota and then not race.
Also missing was Tyler Wolff, the latest of the drivers to surprise with a feature win. He missed a plane transfer but is expected to compete in Wisconsin on Thursday so the second and fourth place drivers in the current "Hunt" points were AWOL.
All this was good news to current point leader Stormy Scott. He started on the pole for the forty lap main event and led all the way for what was less than a scintillation victory. But Scott could care less, as he was more than willing to collect the big check at the end of the night. Zach VanderBeek started on the outside pole and it looked like the only two VanderBuilt chassis in the field would slug it out for the win.
However, Zach made the mistake to try and run the high side of the track and by the time he had "shoe horned" his way back into line, he was all the way back to seventh. It was not a good night for the Brown County racing surface as it was bone dry, dusty and dirty and just wouldn't clean off which caused everyone to dive to the inside and bang their way into line. The support classes had no more success than the Modifieds did in widening out the track and it was a frustrating night for many.
However, rookie USMTS driver Travis Saurer was not complaining as he finished a career best second behind Scott and ahead of Jason Hughes. I guarantee his first win will be coming in short order also.
The track's best hope of a local doing well was the entry of "Showtime" Kent Arment with his Modified. However, it was a bad night for "Showtime." He no more than got the green in his heat when he banged together with another car and got a flat tire. This mired him in the back for the main and Arment, who is known for his high side charges to the front of races that can be spectacular, tried to do the same on this night. He was able to pass a few cars and then the top side gave up and while he stayed up there, he started to drop back like a rock. Finally he said the heck with it and pulled off the track, being scored eighteenth at the finish.
Being fairly close to the North Dakota border, there is much in the way of rivalry between the two states and on this night, North Dakota drivers went home gloating as both the support classes were won by drivers from North Dakota. Bo Gregor took the Street Stock win while Zach LaQua won the Midwest Modified main, both of which were WISSOTA sanctioned point races for the track.
I got the opportunity to visit with Modified driver Mike Stearns who was on hand for the event. He suffered a serious injury during the off season and has not as yet been able to race in 2017 and has but Denver Nickeson behind the wheel of his car.
How many of you thought that Curling was a dangerous sport? How many of you even know what the heck Curling is! I do know that it is contested on a sheet of ice and ice is slippery. Stearns fell while competing in Fargo in a tournament last Winter and hit his head and has been out since. He told me that he was in no hurry to get back behind the wheel of his MasterSbilt/Tim's Modified and might not race at all this year. And he was only half kidding when he said that his next race car just might be a Late Model.
I also got to visit with Chris Clark from Jackson Wyoming who was racing at Aberdeen. This guy might be even crazier than me. He was racing in Webster City Iowa on Tuesday night where I was also, then jumped in his truck, drove six hours to Aberdeen, bolted on a spoiler and raced with the USMTS guys. And instead of turning West and heading home from South Dakota, he is instead going to follow the USMTS the rest of this week to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Wow. As I type this, he is likely on the road driving from South Dakota to Wisconsin by way of the Twin Cities. Good luck with that.
Even though the field of cars was sub standard and the Modified racing not spectacular, the crowd on hand which appeared to be of a decent size, seemed OK with what they saw and this likely will not be the last time the "Road Warriors" see South Dakota.
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