Carter, McBurnie Top Wild Harris Clash

First of all, sorry for the late nature of this report but a very late night of racing followed by an even shorter over night followed by a long drive to North Dakota all conspired to put this report on the back burner, so to speak. I'm sure by now most everyone knows how this race came out so instead of a blow by blow account, I'll just hit a few of the highlights and hope to do better next year.

There was much buzz about this race long before it ever took place. Certainly much of that buzz was due to the choice of facility that it was held at. The Harris Clash has been a long running event held at a number of tracks over its years of operation but its choice of location for 2018 has had everyone talking.

First of all, it seemed strange to have such a race so far North as compared to the other tracks that have held it plus I'm not sure that a major IMCA has ever been held in the state of Minnesota before. Certainly, Deer Creek Speedway has a strong reputation in the racing community, having garnered several awards over the years for the Queensland family for their strong management and promotion of the sport along with their solid operation of this track.

However, it did set many tongues to wagging when it was announced that Deer Creek would host the Harris Clash. After all, Deer Creek has long been a USRA sanctioned track with three of their support divisions also sanctioned by WISSOTA. And despite the fact that they have held both World of Outlaws and Lucas Oil Late Model shows at their track, their "calling card" has long been their big Modified events which have always been sanctioned by USRA or USMTS and to have one of the few remaining bastions of USRA racing run such a huge IMCA show set many to wondering.

I would have liked to have gotten some comment from a member of the Queensland family if this was just another opportunity to host a big race that they jumped at or if this was more of a trial balloon for something bigger but I wasn't able to secure any comment, either on or off the record, from any member of the family and since they were all extremely busy on race night, and even more so than normal following their weather incident, I chose to not bother them. However, a full squadron of IMCA officials was on hand for this show and they were clearly trying to "put on the dog" as much as they could, and were almost licking their chops in anticipation of the night. It would also be interesting to know what Todd Staley was thinking about all of this too.

Deer Creek has had an excellent year to date with their car counts, and I'm sure are averaging almost thirty cars a night in their three open wheel classes that they race weekly with USRA Modifieds, USRA B Mods and WISSOTA Midwest Mods all racing for weekly events. They are getting nearly one hundred open wheel cars in the pits for each show and that doesn't seem like a situation that they would want to mess with or change, but you never know in this business. I can confirm that Bob Harris and the Queensland family have signed a three year contract for this event so for those wondering, it will return to Deer Creek again for at least the next couple of years.

With much excitement for this event and race cars rolling into the pits, the only thing that could have screwed up this night was the weather, and it did its best to try and do just that. It rained steady for at least ninety minutes during the afternoon with the rain starting around 2:30 pm and coming down steady after that. And I can tell you that not many tracks could have handled this amount of rain and still have been racing.

However, along with everything else they do right, track prep is another area where they mostly shine. They had the track rolled in tight in preparation for the precipitation, they have the equipment on hand to handle most any weather issue plus they have a track that drained extremely well. All these things allowed them to take what was likely a rain out at most tracks and instead turn it into a ninety minute delay.  With the amount of race cars they had on hand, this was not an optimal thing, but it was still much better than asking everyone to return for another night, especially when that is not always possible for all racers and fans.

The track was not optimal but it was serviceable and it improved as the night went along. There were many fans on hand that hadn't ever been there before and what they saw was the track not at its best early but improving as the night went on. This place is at its best when it is shinny and smooth from top to bottom so that drivers can work the whole track and while they saw some of the "slide job" potential that the track has, they didn't get the "whole package" on Tuesday.

What was also a very interesting "side bar" was that so many of the drivers had never raced there before. I challenge you to come up with a special event where likely seventy five per cent of the drivers had never raced at the track before but I don't think you will find one. That too added to the interest level of the race. And every driver likes to try new tracks which also led, in part, to the huge car count with ninety six Modifieds and fifty five Sport Mods signing in to race and trying to find places to pit in the muddy pit area. Because the pits sits much lower than the track itself, the pits is always the trouble spot at this facility and it was quite the muddy mess for some but enthusiasm overcame wet feet.

The track was so heavy that passing in the heat races was tough, as everyone seemed to be about the same speed and moving forward was tough. However, to the driver's credit, they didn't turn their frustration into a "ramming contest" as the heats were played out in a very smooth and caution free environment. In fact, the stats for the heat races border on remarkable as the twenty races, all very important for the drivers as they tried to make the main events, saw the yellow flag waved only three times! That is almost unbelievable and helped the track get caught up after their late start. The "one and done" rule that was in effect on this night was a Godsend too, and I sure wish that other tracks would wise up and use this tool also as I continue to claim that long race programs are one of the chief reasons that we can't get more people to come to the track. The B Features, which might be even more important that the heats, were nearly as good with the yellow waving just four times in their ten B mains.

However, come main event time everyone kind of dropped their guards and let it all hang out and the yellow got more of a workout in the final two races, especially so the Sport Mod main. And it wasn't bad enough that the rain had put them behind the eight ball but now they were battling the fog too that rolled across the speedway as soon as the cars slowed or stopped so track officials worked super hard to keep the show moving and the cars rolling. It must have been one of the toughest nights ever for Race Director Justin Queensland but he was up for the task.

A word should also go out to the two announcers who did a great job of both informing and entertaining the crowd without being over bearing such as the announcer at another track I had to endure last night that shall remain nameless.

For those who are regulars of Deer Creek or have heard him at other area tracks, they know what a professional that Todd Narveson is and always enjoy his work. Many probably had not heard Chad Meyers before but I had caught his work many times over the years, primarily at Britt and Algona and I have always found him to be top notch. The choice to bring him in and join Todd was an excellent one as Chad really knows his stuff when it comes to Modified racing. They seemed to mesh well together and to hear them work as a team was a blessing on this night when it would have been awfully easy to leave the fans "in the dark."

The drivers managed to create two feature races full of drama that will leave the fans talking for weeks and hungering for the next Harris Clash, which is exactly what everyone hoped would happen. Both the Sport Mod and Modified feature races had plenty of drama and plot twists and the unexpected turned into reality on more than one occasion.

The Modified feature saw Richie Gustin and Kyle Strickler manage to take each other out with nine laps to go and open the door for Cayden Carter to take the victory. Gustin was probably all "wired up" before the main ever started, having had quite a dramatic night as he was DQ'd after winning his heat, had to come from thirteenth to win a B Feature and also won the Harris Dash, all this before the feature even started!

He then drove from thirteenth once again to take the lead, only to see Strickler come barreling up in the closing laps to try and ruin his party. Strickler appeared the quicker at the end but Gustin managed to hold him off until Strickler got a good run down the front chute and drove low into turn one. Gustin saw him coming, tried to drop low to block him and the two got together.

In my view there was blame to share and the call to send both to the back seemed correct. Strickler left the track in a huff but Gustin hung around and displayed his frustration by not lining up as he should have and then hanging around right in front of the leader as the laps ran down. Fortunately, he didn't mess up Carter who had nothing to do with his incident, other than benefiting from it.

The Sport Mod incident between the leaders was not quite as readily accepted by the fans, including yours truly. It amounted to a great battle between Jared Boumeester and Johnathan Logue Jr for the lead that saw some wicked "slide jobs" attempted following a series of yellow flags that continually bunched up the field. Finally, on one of the very aggressive moves by Logue, there was contact between the two and then the wall for Boumeester, who then came flying off the wall, across the track and caught up several other cars.

The call on this one went against Boumeester and the crowd about tore down the facility as they didn't agree. Neither did Boumeester who then took a shot at Logue under yellow, which cost him a black flag, something that I swear Gustin also did to Strickler but went unnoticed.

Anyway, the only noise louder than the crowd complaint against the call was when they went back under green and Jake McBernie drove past Logue to take over the lead and the hold on for the win. Logue did finish second and there were many that didn't believe that he should have been on the podium afterward. However, there was probably not a soul in the crowd that wasn't entertained by the final two events and the promoters were likely licking their lips in anticipation for next year already.

The crowd was a big one, not as big as at a few other events I've seen at Deer Creek, but a big one nevertheless and likely the gloomy weather may have played a part in that. The track officials did an amazing job of running off the show at lightning speed once they got going and if they hadn't done so, there would possibly have been the need for the concession stand to start serving breakfast! However, 1 am is still miserably late, and while none of their fault, it still made for a dangerous, late night drive home for many with one of the North Dakota drivers reporting to me later that they just missed being in a head on collision caused by someone in too much of a hurry leaving on highway 63 in the heavy fog. Fortunately, no bad accidents were reported, just a lot of tired people on Wednesday morning.

After this year, my suspicions are that this event will do nothing but grow so I'm going to offer my "two cents" worth on a suggestion for next year. The one thing about too much success is that the car counts start to get unmanageable and they were very close to that point this year. At least if the event is to remain as a one night event. My suggestion is that next year it should be a Modified only event for the Harris Clash and if they want to also have Sport Mods as a part of that, then they should be run on a separate night. If something isn't done, then the show, no matter how well it is run, is going to last way too long and ultimately, that will cause some spectators to stop coming and that is the last thing you want to do. But having problems like too many cars is a nice one to have to deal with.

Cooney Records Rousing Victory at West Union

Despite the weather doing all it could to ruin things, track officials and a great number of cooperative drivers all helped to make the return of the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series to the Fayette County Speedway in West Union Iowa a successful night on Wednesday night, July 25th.

The weather forecast was grim and track officials were aware of it as they made contingency plans with officials of the sanctioning body should weather become a factor. Plans had been laid earlier but the overwhelming feeling from the meeting was that the track officials would be doing everything in their power to get the show completed, including changing the order of events and whatever track work was necessary should it come to that, which, by the way, it did. Track officials plus the local fans were very excited for this show to take place and that would later be reflected in a packed grandstand despite the less than chamber of commerce weather.

This was another race in cooperation with a Fair, this time the Fayette County Fair as my list of attended Fairs for 2018 continues to escalate. Despite it being Fair time and all the changes that occur as a result of that in regards to the racing , everything went smooth early with the pit gate open early, the drivers entering and the track receiving its last minute prep as the skies began to darken to the Northwest.

There was still much talk in the pits by those that were in attendance the previous night at the Dirt Knights Modified race at Britt Iowa and the unbelievable sight of the Sport Mod feature winner's mother "flipping off" announcer Chad Meyer, right in front of the entire crowd,  apparently because he failed to interview her son in victory lane. It was one of the most bizarre and strange things that I have ever seen and one that none of us on hand could fully either explain or comprehend. But it was indeed one for the books.

Fortunately, except for the weather, things were proceeding much more smoothly in West Union despite the fact that it was a strange and unusual alliance of sanctioning bodies on hand Wednesday to put on the show. Even the folks from IMCA agreed it was a very unusual circumstance that saw the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models share the pits and the track with three USRA sanctioned divisions for a sanctioned show at a USRA track. Both the IMCA and USRA officials were clothed in their garb but from what I could tell, both groups were happy to be at West Union and seemed to work well together, at least from everything I could see and tell and no inside remarks or "cutting" actions were taken by either side as the Deery Brothers cars were invited to race at West Union and they were pleased to be back there after a long number of years having not raced there.

Things started right on time and we were eight races into the program; actually the third and final Late Model heat, when the laden skies finally started to "leak" and the track quickly became too wet to race on. The cars in that final heat were stranded in the infield while the heavy equipment came out on the track to start repacking immediately, even as the rain continued to fall during this "sun shower."

It took awhile and they had to blade off a considerable amount of dirt but they eventually won the war after fighting the good battle and racing returned. Interestingly, the stranded Late Models remained in the infield while a couple of Hobby Stock heats were run off to help rework the track, then the Late Models returned to the track to finish off their heat race.

A special mention should go out to the track announcer who did a great job of helping "kill time" during the track delay by hosting a "dance off " competition on the stage in front of the crowd. It really made the time go by much quicker and kept the fans entertained during what could have been otherwise a very restless time for them.

There was then no delay and they moved right into the main events and quite frankly, other than the considerable lost time reworking the track, the rain was the best thing that could have happened to the track all night. Previously to the shower, everyone was hanging on the bottom and the track was very one grooved. However, after the rain it was a totally different track with the high side fast, drivers racing all over the track and the fast lane moving so much during the Late Model feature that it was hard to keep up.

With Bryce Carey blowing up in hot laps and both Tyler Breuning and Tim Simpson missing their heats due to mechanical issues, there was no need to run a B Feature and all Late Models made the main, although only Carey didn't start the forty lap finale.

The Late Model feature was an excellent race with Chad Holladay using the high side to move out to a big lead early. The top side was very fast and he stretched his lead to nearly a full straightaway at one point before he started to get into lapped traffic and a few of the others started to catch him. Todd Cooney and Denny Eckrich were battling for second and as usual, Justin Kay was slowly creeping up as he was one of the few to use the lower groove.

They made eighteen laps before the yellow waved when Jeff Aikey rolled to a stop and under the yellow, Eckrich developed a flat tire which he changed but was never a factor after that. The race turned into a three car battle between Holladay, Cooney and Kay.

A couple of times, Kay was just ready to drive under Holladay and take over the lead and then the yellow would wave as it was apparent that the outside was slowing down and Holladay was just holding on for dear live.

Things changed once again when the yellow waved with only nine laps left and on the final green, Cooney came roaring up on the outside and blew past the other two to take over the lead. Now it appeared that the inside was worn out and the top side of the track, which had been abandoned earlier, was again the fast side.

Cooney held on for the exciting win while many in the crowd cheered on the efforts of Breuning, who started twenty third as the flag dropped and gradually worked his way to the front. He really picked up the pace following the late yellows, and ended up passing Holladay for third near the end. Darrel DeFrance also had a nice run to finish in the top five.

I was surprised to see that Rob Moss was fielding a car on Wednesday after his bad wreck at Columbus Junction. He went with a new color combination as he was using a different car, a Barry Wright chassis that Precision Performance helped him put on the track. But Moss' bad luck continued, as a tangle on a restart saw him crash and tear the front end of the car all up once again.

While the Late Models put on a fine show, the other classes were definitely not "second fiddle" on this night either. Many in the crowd were very interested in seeing how the local mains came out and they put on an excellent show too.

The B Mod feature saw the Maitland brothers battling it out with Dalton Simonsen and Dan Hovden for the win. The two brothers had quite the battle for the lead and then on the last lap, Simonsen made a bold cross over move that found him to the inside of Brandon Maitland where they raced to the line, with Brandon winning by a nose in a race that had only one yellow flag.

The Stock Car main went nonstop and Stock Cars generally are, they were running in a big pack as they battled for the lead. Mitch Hovden found a fast lane around the top side and he drove into the lead and then pulled away from Tom Schmitt and Kyle Falck at the end for the win.

Hobby Stocks wrapped up the night and they finished things off with a thrilling feature that saw the leaders three wide on the final corner and while Joshua Ludeking made a fearless attempt to slide into the lead, Justin Lichty held him off for the win with Brady Link a close third.

Despite the long rain delay, the final checkered flew before 11:30 pm as all track officials worked very well at moving the program along. If they would not have had the delay, the program would have been done at an early hour as the drivers didn't require a lot of yellow flags and they flowed from one race to the next in very short order. It was a well received program and I would be shocked if the Deery Brothers is not back at West Union again in 2019.

Brian Mullen On Top at 141

This has been a week to put a lot of miles on the vehicle, attending races in South Dakota, Iowa and now back up into my Cheesehead state, albeit the opposite of the state from where I lay my head down on the pillow.

Some of my running around this week had to do with my attempts to avoid nasty weather and get the maximum number of shows in while out on the road. As it turned out, the weather never really played a factor for me, as all races that I showed up at were held and a couple of nights when I bailed for "plan B" also got their shows in, so everyone was happy.

After feeling that the chances of rain in Iowa on Thursday were quite high, I decided to head back to Northeastern Wisconsin where if seemed that racing could beat the approaching line of rain. And again, as it turned out, everyone was happy as I saw a good show at 141 Speedway and the track I left also got their show in too.

141 pulled off an interesting last minute change that I doubt many tracks could have pulled off. Their original schedule for this week was to run a "Cowbell" Street Stock series race  on Thursday night along with the Modifieds while the Stock Cars would have a practice night. Then, on Friday and Saturday there would be a Stock Car special with qualifying for them on Friday night and their main event on Saturday along with full shows for the Sport Mods. I believe the Stock Car feature was scheduled to pay either four or five grand to win with entries coming from all parts of the Midwest.

However, the weather forecast for the weekend was very grim with rain likely both days that would likely disrupt the entire program. So, here's what Toby Kruse and the staff at 141 came up with. With the weather still sounding OK for Thursday night, they would continue to host the Modified and Street Stock special plus they added Stock Cars to the mix, likely to give them at least one show for the weekend for those out of towners still on hand, and then the rest of the program, including the finale on Saturday night, would be rescheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, thus not interfering with other tracks weekend events.

This trio sounded appealing to me, plus the fact that the rain would seem to hold off for the evening sent me heading back up through Milwaukee(always a treat during road construction season) and then up toward the hallowed grounds of Green Bay(I did have a Lambeau siting), and to 141 where I received a warm welcome and a "what the hell are you doing here!" greeting.

I'm wondering just how many tracks in America could change up their program so drastically within twenty four hours of the first green flag dropping and still make a success of the evening. And you're wondering just how big a success? Well, what about one hundred and three cars in only three classes with four heats, two B features and three main events for the show? Not back by anyone's standards I would say, particularly for a last minute addition to the schedule. Of course, part of this success is because Kruse knows his crowd. He has been getting tremendous fields of cars lately in the race car rich Fox River Valley area along with Green Bay and there are a wealth of race fans within a short freeway drive from the track. Fans like to come to his track and drivers like to race on it also and that, my friends, is the formula for success.

The Cowbell Street Stock Series is a traveling series for the Street type cars, using an amalgamation of rules between the eastern Wisconsin tracks that run Street Stocks and the WISSOTA cars from western Wisconsin. Thirty five of them were on hand Thursday night including series from the western part of the state, which seems to produce the fastest cars, whether it be because of rules or perhaps they just are quicker on my side of the state.

Their main event saw Jimmy Randall from Rice Lake lead early but he couldn't keep his car from drifting up the track in the main and ultimately, it was the Genett brothers, Karl and Kyle, from the central Wisconsin burg of Auburndale, that dominated the action. They both have Street Stocks for both asphalt and dirt tracks and run both surfaces and they have always been very fast. Karl put on a driving clinic on Thursday, using the cushion to come up from the fourth row and drive by Cody Potter for the win.

A late race yellow made things interesting but Karl hung on for the win with his brother Kyle finishing third behind the retro 1957 Chevy that Potter drives. Gary Kasperek, who races both Stock Cars and Street Stocks and also races enduros and basically anything on four wheels, finished fourth with his unique Pontiac Ventura ahead of 141 point leader Jordan Ross.

A powerhouse field of thirty eight Stock Cars was on hand to race, including three drivers from Kansas that were too far along on their trip to turn around and head home. Their plan was to hopefully beat the weather the rest of the weekend and find some racing on their way back to "The Sunflower State."

While the Street Stocks started twenty four cars in their main event, the other two classes started only twenty for some reason, and just making the field for both classes was a tough chore. Come Stock Car feature time, the pole car would be Benji LaCrosse, crossing over from the Modifieds to drive one of Travis VanStraten's cars for the night. and he shared the front row with former Wisconsin and now Hawkeye state driver "General" Troy Jerovetz.

They battled for the early lead in the race until a yellow just past the midpoint of the event really changed things around. Aaron Stolp, second in track points, got a great restart and he blew past the front row with a well placed slider and took over the lead. The rest of the event saw everyone chasing Stolp with Kyle Frederick nearly pulling off a late race pass as he was the only one to get the low groove figured out. Jerovetz, LaCrosse and J.J. Heinz completed the top five.

By the way, two of the Kansas entries made the main event and were led by Jeff Tubbs who finished seventh.

On a night when yellow flag slowdowns were scarce to begin with, the Modifieds upped the stakes as their main event went nonstop, green to checkered. It was probably not the most dramatic of races but Brian Mullen didn't care as he got up on the cushion from the drop of the green and led all the way for the win. Russ Reinwald chases him for twenty laps but couldn't provide a serious challenge. There was a good battle for third with veteran R.M. VanPay holding on for the spot over Kyle Kudick and Tony Wedelstadt. And not only did they run off the main event nonstop, all twenty starters were still on the track at the finish and not a single car got lapped.

One of the things that Kruse is famous for is for his quick programs. While the drivers race hard, they know that the starter isn't going to throw the yellow flag unless you're upside down and on fire so they move when they spin. This helps create a slowdown free environment that the fans love, trust me. I was told that last Saturday night they had over one hundred and sixty cars in the pits and the final checkered flag waved at 10 pm , after a 7 pm start. And they've been doing this on a regular basis.

On Thursday, the first green flag waved at 7:01 pm(have to get on them for that late start) and by 10 pm I was driving out of the parking lot on my way home. And I didn't race to the parking lot either but made a stop before I evet left the grandstand area. And all this was accomplished even with a fifteen minute delay during the fourth Stock Car heat when a renegade shower spitted on the track for a few minutes. However, the heavy equipment was on the track as soon as it stopped raining and they had the track ready to race on in a few precious minutes. There is a reason this place is receiving national awards year after year. There is quite a list of other promoters that should visit this place and see how to do things the right way. 

It was a fine night of racing even though a couple of the mains weren't spine tickling events not decided until the last lap. Sometimes it just turns out that way. But I left feeling I'd seen a good show and a show that was run in a pleasing manner by people that knew what they were doing and were doing their level best to run off a quick and entertaining program. And that's all I would ever ask for.

With 141 now off this Saturday night because of the weather, many of the track officials at the track were planning a visit to the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday. With the terrible storms of Thursday afternoon however in the Marshalltown area, I'm not sure if those plans still hold and indeed, I have not heard if Marshalltown is even racing now with the situation in town. Best wishes to everyone from that city and area and hopefully, all is well with the racing people of that community.

Chad Holladay Dominates at CJ Raceway

With several different options to chose from, I weighed all the different choices, threw in the chances that rain would mess up my plan, and ultimately selected the Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model show at the CJ Raceway in Columbus Junction Iowa to attend on Wednesday night, July 18th.

Add another Fair to the list of those I have been at already, with the biggest part of Fair season just starting now. It was assembly day on Wednesday for the Louisa County Fair at the bottom of the hill and next door to the river in Columbus Junction. Along with the Deery Brothers Late Models, the Stock Cars and Modifieds would also both be racing with extra money on the line for both classes in their extra distance events.

It has been several decades since I was last at a race at Columbus Junction. I'm not sure but it might have been way back in the 80's but I'm not sure. I can remember attending a couple of races at Columbus Junction very early in the month of April, on perhaps a Friday night but that's kind of a guess on that also. Once I saw the track on Wednesday, i did kind of remember a number of things about it that haven't changed.

It is a true paper clip track with long straights, very tight and short corners and relatively little banking. It looks like it would be a "hug the tires kind of track" but it slicks up very fast and once it does so, I found that the drivers were able to run all over the track and there was a lot of three wide racing in the heats.

An old style wooden grandstand with a roof and multiple pillars to hold up same gave it a classic fairgrounds feel. The appearance of the track is somewhat unusual as there is a levee that starts right off the end of the grandstand, wraps all the way around the first and second corner, down the back chute and then straight off the property to protect the track and grounds from flooding for which the area is prone do do. There is a smooth transition right from the outside lane of the track to the levee and several of the cars got up on it on Wednesday and kept right on going. In fact, if you hit it just right I think it could be a nice propellant.

There is a wall in the third and fourth corner but according to Gary Webb, that wall is a left over from days when the track was even bigger and now is kind of a backup to stop the cars should they go off that end and not be able to stop in the runoff area over the top of the track.

The pits is off the corner of turns three and four for this event but normally in the infield. They are working to move all the pits outside the track but right now the Fairboard has rented the land outside the track to a construction company for storage space but fortunately they were between jobs and most of the outfield was available while about twenty or so cars still parked in the infield. They were mostly open and small enclosed trailers; good thing since even they did block the view of part of the back chute for the fans in the stands.

I met promoter Larry Richardson who characterized CJ as an understated gem of a track as they are averaging over one hundred cars per night and the area is really talking about the races again although all their supporters agree that the closing of West Liberty was a boon to them as well. But there is plenty of excitement in the air again about racing at Columbus Junction and it was reflected on Wednesday as the grandstand was jammed full for the Deery show.

Some familiar faces were on hand as Kevin Feller is working the scoring tower and Doug Haack is the starter at the track, both taking positions there this year. Paul Vetter flew in from California and I spotted him hanging out in the tower but his plane landed too late for me to make connections with him tonight.

Among the procedures they used on Wednesday that I really liked was that they lined up each heat in the infield and drove out on to the track on the back chute and they took the green when they came around the first time. No one more lap and then we go stuff. I really liked the quick way they moved from event to event.

The track features Musco lighting which does a great job of illuminating the track. However the grandstands are very dark and I hope a scoreboard is on the "wish" list too.

I believe the excitement the races generated on Wednesday was more important than how the races themselves actually came out. In point of fact, two of the three features were won right off the pole and all three winners dominated their main events.

The Stock Cars had twenty one of them on hand and all ran the feature. Damon Murty had looked extremely fast in his heat and he did the same thing in the feature. He started in the third row but it took him no time at all to get up and challenge for the lead. And once in front, he built up nearly a straightaway over the field. Only a late yellow made things interesting as Jason See put the pressure on him following that restart for a few laps until Murty gradually pulled away. See held on for second while the driver on the move was Adam Bell who started seventeenth and finished third.

Thirty Modifieds were on hand and four heats and two B features were needed to set their field for the twenty five lap finale. This turned out to be a two car race between Kurt Kile and Justin Kay. Kile started on the outside pole and led from start to finish but it got dicey at the end. Kay started right behind him and chased him for the whole race, sometimes getting closer and other times fading back. The race had only one yellow flag and the last seventeen laps went nonstop.

Near the end of the race, Kile started losing the handle, having a particularly difficult time getting through turn one. Kay started to reel in the leader as he seemingly always gets faster near the end of the race.

They were nearly side by side at the white flag and Kay drove low into turn one and took over the lead for a second but then Kile did a cross over maneuver and retook the lead. Kay then blasted into turn three using the high side and he had some momentum as he came out of the last corner. However, Kile used the whole track and drifted up to the wall and while Kay tried to squeeze by on outside, Kile was able to hold him off by a half car length, to the approval of the southeastern Iowa crowd. Derrick Stewart finished third and the "Big Show", Jason Walla, came from twelfth to finish on Stewart's rear bumper.

Virtually none of the Late Model drivers had raced at Columbus Junction before so it was a new experience for most of them. It didn't take Chad Holladay long to figure things out as he led from start to finish to win the forty lap Deery Brothers Late Model feature. He set a blazing pace and no one could keep up with him. Several times he had built up a big lead, only to have the yellow wave and he would lose his big advantage.

The last one resulted from a tie up between the lapped cars and some drivers battling for position and set up a five lap sprint to the finish. For Holladay, he just needed to maintain his line as the track had started to take rubber and just holding his line was his ticket to victory. And he did that spotlessly, flashing under Haack's checkered with room to spare. Denny Eckrich ran second for most of the race and Darrel DeFrance had a great run, coming home third.

It was disappointing that the announcer could interview the winners for TV but the paying crowd on hand got to hear no interviews from the winners. That's not right, period and it's a slap in the face for those folks who paid their money to be on hand and watch the race in the flesh, so to speak.

Early in the evening during a Late Model heat, Rob Moss took a wild ride down the front chute after he got turned by another car into the wall. He smashed and rode the wall, then slammed into the pole that holds the caution lights entering turn one. He was OK but his car was anything but, taking two wreckers to remove him to the pit area. And later, during the Late Model feature a bunch of cars came together down the front chute once again and Tim Simpson got launched up and one the wall where his car sustained significant damage.

By all regards, this was a successful night of racing and certainly this show will want to be held again next year with it opening up a new venue for the Late Models to appear at.

Johnny Scott Continues to Roll on USMTS Circuit

After a two plus week break to refresh and rearm their equipment, the "Road Warriors" of the United States Modified Touring Series returned to action on Wednesday night, July 17 at the the track located right at the home base of the USMTS, The Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Iowa.

Along with the Modifieds of the USMTS, the Iron Man Series for the B Modifieds and Stock Cars would also be in action along with the local Hobby Stocks.

My assumption would be that there would be some extra pressure felt by the sanctioning body with this race being held at the home track of the organization plus Todd Staley, the head of the USMTS, taking over as the promoter of the Hamilton County Speedway this year. However, quite the opposite seemed to be the case, as everything seemed to be moving at a very leisurely pace with the pit gate not opening at the advertised time and the first green flag flying nearly a half hour late. However, after that time the pace was quick with very few, if any beaks in the racing and the final checkered flag flew just after 10:30 pm.

Thirty Modifieds signed in to race for the show on Tuesday. Actually, all the sign in sheets showed thirty one cars but Ryan Gustin, although he was listed as being there on paper, was no where to be found in Webster City in the real world. The numbers might be slightly misleading as around ten of the participants were regulars at Webster City on Saturday nights and were running under transition rules which means that when the true USMTS cars show up, they haven't a bloody chance in Hades of winning but do  add to the numbers and can race for a nice check and help fill out the field.

The top twelve in USMTS points were on hand so the names that were advertised to be on hand did deliver and the fans got to see the best of the racers that run with this group. Four heats and two B features set the starting field for the main event which started the odd number of twenty three cars on this night.

The Modifieds finished up the program with their thirty five lap main event. Once the racing got started track officials did no additional track prep except to roll in the cushion a couple of times early with the heats and the track made some interesting changes as the night progressed, changes that would affect the outcome of the main event for the Modifieds.

Stormy Scott would start on the pole and lead the early first few laps with Lucas Schott moving up to challenge him. One of the bright young stars in Modified racing right now, Schott would jump up to the high side of the track where the Stock Cars were running and blast past S. Scott to take over the lead. Soon joined by Johnny Scott, the top three would pull away from the pack and form their own race. Schott would continue to lead but the Scott brothers were applying plenty of pressure.

The first yellow on lap fifteen would be significant as Johnny would go to the top side on the restart and drive around his brother Stormy who seemed to be more "married" to the low groove. Stormy then settled in for third as the laps clicked by.

Soon after, the track quickly changed as it started to take rubber and the leaders all dropped to the low side. With the last twenty one laps running green to checkered, the leaders soon got into lapped traffic and that is when things got dicey for Schott. He was running up on the back of the lapped cars but couldn't get past them and Johnny moved out just enough so that Schott could see him, even though there was little to no chance that Johnny could make an outside pass.

Schott, however, felt the pressure to pick up the pace and he made the decision to try and pass a slower car approaching turn one. However, as soon as he got out of the rubber he was in trouble and Johnny blasted under him to take over the lead.

Thus the new running order was established and that's the way it would stay the last few laps. Johnny had his own issues with a lapped car but he chose to tuck in behind that car on each corner when he couldn't get past down the straights. This proved to be the wise thing and on the final lap that car slipped up the track, Johnny drove under and past him and was then home free. Schott finished a close second with a lesson probably learned and Stormy was third.

Rodney Sanders was surprisingly never a real factor but he did catch the top three late in the race when the lap times got much slower as they fought with the slower cars. Casey"Duece" Arneson borrowed his brother's car and had a solid top five finish. The race was a smooth one with only the two yellows and only four of the starting field weren't around at the finish. The track didn't match the expectations set by the race I attended here several weeks ago but that could have been the product of many different things including such things as the weather. 

An interesting Stock Car feature saw an outcome that was both surprising and unusual. When is the last time you saw the promoter of a race also win a main event? It's been a while for me too although if you were a regular fan at Hamilton County Speedway, you saw it again just a few weeks ago.

Todd Staley, the head of the USMTS, has been "playing" with a Stock Car for a number of years. He doesn't get to race too often but perhaps more so this year due to his promoting at Webster City. After a nine year break, he won the Stock Car feature there just a couple of weeks ago and backed it with another win on Tuesday night. He drew the outside pole and led all twenty laps of the race, although it was anything but an easy win.

When the Stock Cars were running their main, the top side was very dominant and Staley used his preferred starting spot well. Lap after lap, he would pound the cushion up against the guard rail and continue to hold off Dillon Anderson who was challenging him. But Staley maintained a very smooth line and didn't let the pressure bother him.

A late race yellow changed things when with four laps to go, Kevin Donlan took a chance on the restart and tried the inside line. It worked well and he suddenly found himself in second and challenging. In fact, he was actually able to drive inside Staley and take over the lead briefly. But the dominating character of the high side came back and to Staley's credit, he didn't panic and change lines and instead pounded the cushion even harder. He was able to retake the lead, holding off Donlan and a charging Lynn Panos who started fifteenth.

I always felt it was a mistake for Staley to race at his own track or promotion as only bad things can happen from such a combination but so far, I'm not aware of any issues that have resulted from his participation at this own promotions and clearly he has a good staff that can run things even if he isn't always available. However, Staley minimizes the time he isn't right on top of things by having a crew that does all the prep work on the race car. He just wears his driver's suit while carrying on his other responsibilities and jumps in the car at the appropriate time.

A surprisingly small field of fifteen B Mods was on hand and it was Doug McCullough who led from start to finish to win the main event. He was pressured by Jake McBernie and Rocky Caudle throughout the race and a late race yellow made things a bit dicey but McCullough held on for the win.

The Hobby Stocks forgot about the race on Tuesday with only nine of them on hand. Surprisingly, for such a small field, they managed to produce quite a bit of action. Jeff Fink and Eric Stanton were battling for the lead early when they got together and Fink received a flat tire as a result of their confrontation. Fink changed a tire and went to the rear and Stanton was also sent to the rear for over aggressive driving.

The green flag saw another driver crowd Stanton up into the jersey barricades just past the flag stand. He hit the concrete with tremendous power, the car climbed the wall and he flipped once. He was OK but obviously out of the race.

Seth Jansen inherited the lead and most of the field following him either blew up or whipped out before the checkered could be thrown with only three cars still moving at the checkered. Dakota Feichert and Bryan Derry were the other survivors.

The crow, while late arriving, seemed OK on what was another hot and steady night in America's Heartland.

Marlar Takes the Point Lead at Grand Forks

On Friday, July 13th, I was at the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks North Dakota. On tap for Friday was an appearance of the World of Outlaws Late Model series along with the NOSA 410 Sprints and the WISSOTA Modifieds.

The World of Outlaws Series is a staple at this eastern North Dakota track with both the Late Models and Sprints making yearly appearances at this super high banked, quarter mile oval that is known as "The Bull Ring." And for good reason. Nearly as wide as it is long, three wide racing is the norm here while the cars are turning sub twelve second laps. The action is nonstop and and with seating for over eight thousand people, it is a huge attraction in the Grand Forks area with commercial and corporate sponsorship being very high. All classes of cars put on a good show here and with just the three divisions in action, there was something for everyone on Friday. The Sprint Car and Late Model fans are nearly split right down the middle here and even if a special is offered for one class of car, the management here makes sure that the other top class in always in action. It makes it a more pricey show for management but they know that while some in the crowd are cheering for Ricky Weiss, Dustin Strand, Rick Eckert etc, they also know that the Mark Dobmeier, Wade Nygaard and Thomas Kennedy fans wouldn't likely be there just to watch the Late Models race.

The WoO stumbled into Grand Forks on a "wing and a prayer", fresh off their embarrassing performance in Rapid City South Dakota where they were able to muster only fifteen cars for a race on the big half mile there. The Outlaws are loosing cars and in this area, where spec motor racing is king and open motored Late Models are as scarce as Hen's Teeth, when they only bring ten cars with them they are at the mercy of the locals, whether they opt to race or sit and watch, knowing that they are severely out powered.

Fortunately for the Outlaws, Grand Forks is the home of Late Model driver Brad Seng, who is as proud of his home town speedway as he is of his driving accomplishments in the Late Models. He would not want to see a race at his home town track turn into a "turd" and the fans be upset, management upset and the possibility that the Outlaws would no longer be welcome in Forks if the race was a big stinker.

So he got on the phone with WoO Race Director Matt Curl and told him just what might happen if the Outlaws didn't loosen up some of their rules for one night so he could convince his local driving friends to take to the track. Curl huddled with management of World Racing Group and agreed that it was important that they have a full field of cars and agreed that as long as the WISSOTA cars were teched as per normal, they would be legal to compete, knowing that a spec engined car is not going to win the race under any circumstances.

So, when everyone had signed in to race, there were twenty three cars on hand, enough to put on a good show with three full heats plus a fifty lap main. And of those twenty three cars, twelve were WISSOTA based cars from the local area. Minus them, it would have been a sorry field of cars trying to entertain the fans. Two of the WISSOTA drivers, Ricky Weiss and Dustin Strand, did have open motors in their cars but the rest were running their spec engines and there were even a couple of 525 crate motors that now run with WISSOTA too. There were several drivers playing the waiting game, seeing how many cars signed in and when the number was less than twenty four, they unloaded and raced.  So, the fans were happy and they turned out in big numbers, despite a sizzling hot Friday night in America's heartland where you could almost hear the potatoes growing under the soil.

Local fans were hoping for the upset and truly, if Ricky Weiss would have won it wouldn't have been an upset at all. He has shown how fast he is this year and except for his home track in Winnipeg, he probably has more laps on this track than any other. he won his heat and redrew the pole and the many visitors from North of the border, who are regulars here weekly, were in a tizzy.

However, there was no stopping Mike Marlar right now and he is on a roll. After trailing Weiss for the first twenty laps, he made a move in turn one to get under the Canadian and once in the lead, he wasn't challenged after that. There was, however, a very good battle for second through fifth that got very intense. If there was anyone driving harder that Marlar, it had to have been Devin Moran. He started slowly, slumped back but then got going and moved up nicely.

In a battle for position, he got "doored" by Shane Clanton and lost several positions but that just seemed to make him even madder, and he came tearing back up through the field on a mission. With a wild slide job on Weiss on the last corner of the race that had the crowd on their feet, he took the final podium spot. As you might expect, the top eleven positions went to open motored cars with the top spec car being Robert Bladow in twelfth. Ryan Corbett, with his crate however, was running about eighth midrace when he pulled off with problems under the yellow. There were only three yellows in the fifty lapper, all for minor issues and nearly as many cars in the pits at the finish as on the track, due to the many that pulled off after they went a lap down.

The NOSA Sprints were also on the card. This club fields Sprints that run every week at Grand Forks as well as traveling to other tracks in Minnesota and North Dakota. They always have solid support and seem to be sported more cars than ever this year. They have been near thirty on a couple of occasions for Forks races and on this night they had twenty one cars on hand.

No qualifying for this group as they drew numbers for their heats and then redrew a number to establish the starting order for their main. The draw did not work out well for the fans on this night as with the invert based on point standings, It put Mark Dobmeier on the second row of the feature race. While Wade Nygaard is no slouch, he couldn't keep Dobmeier behind him on this night and once Mark was in front, he was gone.

A full field of Sprints on the Forks track is always a spectacle and to watch the leaders work through lapped traffic is spectacular. Dobmeier was on a roll and didn't receive any challenges throughout the quick twenty five lapper. Thomas Kennedy eventually moved into second but he couldn't catch Dobmeier either.

The third class was the WISSOTA Modifieds. Modifieds aren't a part of the weekly program at Forks as they run WISSOTA Streets and Midwest Mods weekly in their trim four class program. But they occasionally bring in the Modifieds as well as offering them two nights of racing during the John Seitz race in September.

Nearly half the field of Modifieds(there were twenty two) were cars from the Winnipeg area. Most people don't realize how well this track is supported by Canadian drivers and fans who drive down to Grand Forks on a weekly basis. Other Modifieds were from across the border in Northwestern Minnesota as there aren't too many local drivers in this class, simply because they have never raced them weekly here.

Again, the redraw didn't work out too well for the fans as Dustin Strand redrew the outside pole, the absolute best place he could possibly be. While Strand is well known for his Late Model accomplishments, he was, and remains, a very tough Modified driver. He ran away with the main, not being challenged at any point, even though he was pursued by Ward Imrie, the defending national champion.

With twenty two cars on the track, the Modified drivers did an extraordinary job, especially given that many don't get too many laps on this track. The main went nonstop and only two cars didn't go te distance. Cudos to Dale Kraling, who slapped a big spoiler on his crate engine IMCA car and came from twelfth to finish third.

Despite the intense heat, the track remained racy all night with no evidence of it locking down for any of the features. The drivers were able to race all over the track with little dust and even the beating of three wide tired classes didn't wreck the track.

The final checkered waved at 10:30 pm on what was another solid night of racing at one of the central region's best dirt tracks.

Murty Holds off Carter for Extra Osky Bucks

I had not  been to the Southern Iowa Speedway all year. Every time I thought about going on a Wednesday night either the weather was questionable or I had some other commitment that would not grant me the six and a half hours needed to drive to the southern Iowa facility.

However, it would have been the first time in many years that I hadn't been to Osky if I didn't make a move soon, since they have only two shows left this year for their regular classes and I didn't want that to happen if I could help it. So, on Wednesday night July 11th, even though I had to other race to tie it in with and it would be just a quick run down and back, I elected to make the trip to Osky. On the positive side, the weather looked excellent with no chance of rain and extra money in the purse on this night for the Stock Cars would likely bring in some extra wheels in that class and probably even up the intensity, if that were possible.

It was a hot and steamy  night in southern Iowa, but not unlike many other Summer nights. There was  a nice breeze so it was not intolerable by any measure. The track prep crew was working as hard as they could to try and combat the strong and intense sun as they had two water trucks working nonstop on both the race track and the drive ways and infield roads, keeping the dust down quite successfully.

A little back round on this year. At midwinter it looked like there would be no racing at Osky in 2018 as no promoter stepped forward, interested in running the track and it seemed for all the world that the track might sit idle all year except for the Sprint Car races promoted by Terry McCarl in August. Speaking of McCarl, he was on hand on this night with his 410 Sprint to make a couple of series of hot laps, along with a couple of other possibly either 360 or 305 Sprints, one of which was driven by a former Stock Car driver. McCarl also spoke about the upcoming events, of which there will be two this year, back to back on a Monday and Tuesday just before the Knoxville Nationals and he indicated he may have a couple of surprises to spring before the race takes place.

Anyway, fortunately, at the last possible second, a group of area drivers and supporters stepped forward and agreed to promote a concentrated series of about ten races, ending in July, at the track. One of the casualties was the Modified class, which was not a part of the schedule as they chose to run just four classes of race cars. The Modified class had been struggling to get cars anyway the past couple of years and their inability to field a decent group of racers made them an easy target for cuts as the new group was both looking to streamline the program and also to cut down on the "nugget" they had to come up with each week.

I did speak to one of the group promoting the track who also happens to be on the Fair Board and he was very positive about how the season was going. They fought the weather early, as did many tracks and things started a little slow but in recent weeks he said that they have begun to pick up momentum with a number of local businesses stepping up to help them, once they saw that the races would take place and realized just how important the track was to both the local economy and also the general well being of the community. He told me that they did not receive a lot of complaints about losing the Modifieds and that the race fans in general where just more happy that racing would take place, no matter what class got the premier status.

This gentleman told me that there was no question but that racing WOULD continue next year at Osky with them planning for about ten races again next year and perhaps looking for a way to bring in the Modifieds once as a part of a series. They would expect to start their season early and wrap things up much as they did this year before August starts. They have already been speaking to people about sponsorship opportunities and things look very optimistic for 2019.

As a part of their program this year, both to increase car counts and minimize their expenses, they have run unsanctioned this year using basic IMCA type rules but also allowing other things more USRS orientated. Both the Hoosier and American Racer tires are welcome and I did see both brands on cars racing on Wednesday. They use the draw/redraw system of line ups every week instead of point averages and put the previous week's feature winner at the back of the heat and the redraw for the main event.

They have two races left this year next week on Tuesday and Wednesday as a part of the Fair and then McCarl's two shows. He did mention however, that they have been in discussions with other tracks in the area looking for a date for a Fall special so race fans should keep that in mind that there may be one more race in October added to the schedule yet.

On this night they had a solid field of race cars, many of which had raced there before, proof that the rules and sanctioning body doesn't make perhaps that much difference as long as the track they prefer is racing. The Stock Cars topped the chart on Wednesday with twenty two of them on hand while only the Sport Compacts were a bit short, as they seem to be at a number of tracks this year.

It was also Hall of Fame night at the track and with Tony Paris gone for baseball, it was appropriate that an old announcer at the track, Jerry Mackey, would handle the microphone chores on this night. I also had a Barry Johnson sighting too, although I didn't get the chance to talk  to either gentleman. Added to the Osky Hall of Fame on Wednesday were the late Johnny Babb and Dave Farren, along with the very much alive Ed Sanger and the Durien brothers, former promoters at the track. They had a very nice ceremony for them at intermission that ran just about the right length so as to properly commend them but also not to make the race night last too long.

On the track, the money highlight of the evening was the twenty five lap Stock Car feature that paid a grand to the winner and it was the "Chelsea Charger", Damon Murty who would take the money back North with him. He quickly moved up from the third row and slipped past early leader Brett Lowry, the same Brett Lowry that I believe was racing Sport Mods last year.

Once in front, Murty set a smart pace, not killing himself but staying just out of the reach of the competitors. As he always seems to do, late in the race it was Cayden Carter who made the most noise. He had slipped back some but made a charge to the front, moving into second and supplying a strong challenge to Murty. Several times he looked under Murty but just couldn't quite pull off the pass.

A late yellow set up a three lap dash to the finish and while Carter was able to stay nailed to the rear bumper of Murty, he couldn't pull off a passing move as Murty had picked up his pace also. Nathan Wood made a big advance, coming from twelfth to finish third and Mike Hughes came even farther, starting eighteenth and finishing fourth.

Curtis Vanderwal destroyed the Sport Mod field, winning by a large margin that could have been even bigger if he wanted it to be. He seemed to also just stay out of the reach of Blaine Webster and Tim Plummer who were driving the wheels off their cars, trying to keep up. Vandelwal must be thrilled with the draw/redraw format as he started outside pole, rather than the fourth or fifth row where he usually started under the point invert system.

Even though he led every lap, Jamie Songer and Dustin Griffiths made the Hobby Stock feature an interesting event with a very close finish. Songer had led all the way with his margin of lead varying throughout the race. Near the end of the contest, Griffiths came marching all the way up from the sixth row to challenge and the two veterans of the class fought it out for the win.

They put on an excellent show as on the final lap Songer went high in turn four, Griffths dove to his inside and they came to the line together, with Songer winning by half a car length. Interestingly, after the Hobby Stock feature was over, Songer would retire to the pits, put some big tires on the car and let Griffiths race it in the Stock Car feature after his own car went up in smoke during a Stock Car heat race.

Griffiths would start the Hobby Stock twentieth and last in the main event and ended up tenth so apparently the Hobby Stock had plenty of horsepower with the wider tires on it.

Brandon Housley, who has lost just once all season in the Sport Compacts, paced himself until he needed to go and then drove by Bill Whalen Jr with two laps to go to win yet another Sport Compact main event. There was a photo finish for second with Whalen Jr edging out Kyle Boyd for the second spot. Whalen Jr, who seems to appear in as many victory lane shots as the winners do, based on his timing at congratulating the winners, shared a few stories in victory lane with Housley while Mackey interviewed the winner.

The track was a little top side dominant on Wednesday but there was no dust and the new administration, likely in part due to the fact that Mike VanGenderen is still running the racing side of the show, cranked off a swift and compact program. Even with the special ceremonies at intermission the final checkered flag waved at 10 pm, straight up. The crowd, I thought, was a very good one and very local in nature with many being right from the community at large, which is just the way it should be for a local track to survive. While many had a short drive home, I pulled into my driveway at 4:15 am, just another night at the track completed.