G-Money Good at Marshalltown

Tuesday night, June 4th, the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour, on their third attempt, was finally able to get in the first race of their series at the Marshalltown Speedway. Like most of the other tracks and series in the Midwest, and really beyond , it has been difficult getting races in the books and the Dirt Knights have had their brass corroded just like everyone else this Spring.

But finally, on Tuesday night, fine weather for racing and in fact, a very Summer like feel to the evening. However, early on, the forecast was not a particularly favorable one, with storms being promised, but as the day wore on, the storms kept getting pushed back and then finally eliminated from the forecast during the racing hours. Some places got bombed with heavy rain, but for once, it wasn't right on top of the Marshalltown Speedway which has been having a devil of a time getting in any special events so far this year. For once, Toby didn't have to sweat it out getting the show in, however, with the hot and steamy conditions, he probably did just a little sweating just to keep in practice.

Thirty six IMCA Modifieds were on hand to battle it out for a very generous top prize of two grand and not only did the field have quantity but it had plenty of quality as well and just making the field would be a task on this night. For one of the rare times in Iowa racing, passing points were used to set the field for the Dirt Knights main event with the top twelve in points moving straight into the show and then redrawing for those starting spots with the rest of the field battling in out in a pair of B Features to make the show. Iowa and IMCA racing has been slow to adopt the passing points format for race qualifying and hopefully by the Dirt Knights doing this, perhaps it will start a trend. This mostly eliminates the complaining about drawing a bad number and while no system is perfect, it does seem eminently more fair than the draw/redraw format so favored in this part of the world.

As a bonus, the IMCA Late Models were also on hand for a full program too. The official flyer for the Dirt Knights did not include the Late Models and I was told they were added on as their shows so far this year have been severely diminished also by all the rain outs. Three of the other classes that normally race at Marshalltown were also on the card but their numbers were down quite a bit from normal with just a couple heat races needed in each. And quite frankly, there was plenty of other racing to do so that it wasn't necessary that there be huge numbers in the support classes.

"The Boss", Jeff Broeg, was on hand on Tuesday and I'm sure his report will be more detailed and complete than I could ever hope to compete with, so I think I will focus on a few other items rather than breaking down all the race events.

I have been interested in all the out of state drivers that have been invading the local racing of late so I made a point of talking to a few of them to find out their stories as far as racing in the Midwest.

Cody Laney and his father left California on Sunday morning and drove straight through with their small pick up truck and trailer, arriving in Iowa on Monday just in time to race at the IMCA TV race in Britt on Monday night where he charged through the field to get a fine second place finish. Cody will spend the Summer in Iowa racing, where they have friends that will put him up and provide shop space for him to work on his car while his father will fly back to California the end of the week.

They have also made arrangements to have Pete Van Iderstein bring his famous #32B Late Model to the Midwest in July and Cody will race a bunch of Lucas Oil Late Model races during that time also. Cody would go on to have his second strong run in a row, finishing just out of the top five.

Kollin Hibdon from Pahrump Nevada is only fifteen years old. However, he came to Iowa as soon as school was out for the Summer and will spent the Summer in Iowa also, racing as many races as possible. His father supplied a nice toter home for him to use and he is actually staying with Jeff Aikey for the Summer. His dad also hired a crew man for him to work on the car and drive the truck since Kollin, at fifteen, only has a "learners permit" and not a real driver's license! He will fly back to Nevada when school starts and then return for Super Nationals at Boone.  Kollin would later make the show on Tuesday and get a mid pack finish as he continues to learn.

Ricky Thornton Jr continues to race at a frantic pace, running here, there and everywhere both with his Modified and the Stock Car. He will leave Wednesday morning for Eldora, where he has a ride in "The Dream." However, he has never seen the car before or even sat in it and that will be the first task when he arrives in Ohio, to get fitted for the car before they can even hit the track. He will return for the Stock Car special at Stuart next week, perhaps also with the Modified on Wednesday and who knows where after that?  One can certainly see that the Midwest is the only place to be if you want to run a schedule like Thornton's, who is the second coming of Ken Schrader, both in attitude, demeanor and performance.

Tuesday marked the first time I was able to see Lucas Lamberies in person, even though he lives in the same state I do. However, he is on the other side of the state and I don't get to the eastern shores of Wisconsin too often. He was cleaning up in the Sport Mods and they were growing tired of it so they decided that the move up to Modifieds was the thing to do. Even though he is just a rookie in the class, he has already won three feature races this year, two at Shawano and one at Luxemburg. And believe me when I say that both tracks offer stiff competition and to fight through the invert and win at both tracks is quite an accomplishment. Both he and his dad are "working stiffs" so they have to save their vacations to travel which doesn't allow them to hit all the big shows but there are plenty of good money shows in the Cheese state, coming up with Toby's big show at 141 two weeks off.

I really like the work of announcer Jerry Van Sickel who is one of the best around. He is not afraid to  "call a spade, a spade" as he did a couple of times Tuesday when cars were wrecking each other in hot laps and the back two cars in the Sport Mod feature decided to play not so nice with the leaders bearing down on them. He is both entertaining, informative and enthusiastic, and a lot of other announcers would be wise to follow his style. No more "happy trails" though at the end of the night.

The Modified feature saw Richie Gustin race his way past Tim Ward for the lead and then he checked out on the field. Jordan Grabouski came from eleventh to second but even with the last seventeen laps of the race going nonstop, he couldn't cut into the lead of Gustin who drove on to a impressive win at his home track which played well for the local crowd. Joel Rust, who has been on a roll of his own, came home third with Thornton Jr and Ward following. Thornton Jr may have ruined his chances when he made a rare "boo boo" in his heat, almost going off the end of the track, losing two positions and forcing himself to run a B Feature instead of being in the redraw.

The Late Model feature saw a strong performance by Jeremiah Hurst saw him lead from start to finish in the nonstop main. Jeff Aikey and he battled nearly side by side for a few laps until Hurst was able to edge away and the distance between the two stayed pretty constant after that. Justin Kay and Andy Eckrich moved into third and fourth but they weren't able to catch the top two while DD came from eleventh to round out the top five after he missed his heat.

The Stock Car feature also went nonstop and Damon Murty got to the front and rode the high banks to drive to a dominating win. Thornton Jr also had his Stock Car on this night and he got to second but had nothing for the leader. It was a surprisingly small Stock Car field Tuesday with only twelve of them to take the feature green flag.

The Sport Mod feature saw Brayton Carter continue the hot streak he has had lately, but he may have caught a break Tuesday. He had built up quite a lead but Jake McBurnie was closing on him at a rapid rate and it looked like there was going to be a change of leadership. But just when Jake was ready to make his move, the yellow flew for "Laurel and Hardy" at the back of the pack and McBurnie's momentum was broken.

Carter got away good on the restart while McBurnie had to battle to maintain second and he wasn't able in the four short laps left to mount a challenge. Rookie driver Dylan Vanwyk came home third but he may be starting to ruffle a few feathers among his opponents with an aggressive driving style that has seen him bend a few other drivers' tin as he made his way to the front.

The Hobby Stock feature was a two car battle all the way with Shannon Anderson setting the pace early and Dylan Nelson trying to catch him unsuccessfully. The two cars seemed remarkably equal and with Anderson getting to the front first, he proved too hard to catch.

This race saw a grinding crash where Luke Bird took a violent hit right in the driver' door, so violent that it caused him to flip all the way over. Afterward he was mad at the driver that slammed into him but point of fact was that Bird was the one that spun out, was sitting sideways in the corner and the car that slammed him was running in heavy traffic with little chance to avoid the broadsider. The best news was that all walked away to race again another day.

And now, to point out the real heroes of Tuesday night's show. And that would be the track prep crew and the officials that ran off the show. The track was in marvelous shape and I can't even imagine a track being in better shape to race on from start to finish all night. They started right at the advertised time and kept the show moving with no breaks at all. When the last heat race was over, the Hobby Stock feature was ready to go and rolled on to the track immediately. One after one, the races clicked off in rapid order and the final checkered of the night waved before 10 pm! I challenge any other track to match it with a five class program that included one extra distance race.

And the track track remained racy all night with drivers running many different lines and not a ripple to be seen in the racing surface. I know that it was a humid night which often produces a good racing surface but they still had to get the moisture into the track during a sunny and windy day. And the special bonus was that once the first green flag waved, they never touched the track after that. The constant watering and manicuring of the racing surface that goes on in my home areas just drives me wild, although I must concede that your Iowa black dirt makes a much better racing surface to work with than the sandy loam and gravel we have to deal with in the land that the glaciers stole all our good top soil from and deposited it in Iowa!

If I was ever to build a race track I would get the exact dimensions and degree of banking of Marshalltown and copy those. Of course I would build the grandstands larger and move them back a little farther from the track and give Jerry a nice covered booth to work from but the track itself is a gem. Thanks to Toby and everyone at Marshalltown for a great midweek show.

Waits Refuses to Fold at MTS

After over a three week break due to scheduling and the many rain outs that have occurred, the United States Modified Touring Series was back in action on Friday night, May 24th at Bob Timm's Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City Wisconsin.

And Friday night's show was in doubt for much of the day too. Just like most of the Friday night tracks in the Midwest, rain had moved through over night on Thursday and into the day on Friday. While many of these tracks were forced to cancel, MTS was able to fight through the adversity and get their show in. Perhaps if it was just a regular Friday night show, they might not have put so much extra effort into getting the program in, but with the USMTS making only one of their two stops this year and drivers obviously towing long distances to get to Fountain City, they made a tremendous effort to get the show in.

When I first arrived at the track just when the gates opened, I was dubious to say the least when I saw what the track looked like. However, one of the heavy equipment operators who works for the track and was taking a short break, told me that it was a lot better than it looked. There was lots of "frosting" (what he called the slimy top layer of the track), but he said that as soon as they were able to move that, that the surface (or "cake") was hard and firm underneath. And that is exactly what did eventually happen. They moved a ton of dirt to the inside of the track(there would definitely be no cutting of the corners on this night!), and the solid racing surface was revealed. The track would remain smooth and blinding fast all night except for one persistent dip going into turn three that has been there all season so far. The racing would be good in all four divisions on hand this night and while they did get about a forty five minute delay, racing would indeed take place.

Twenty seven Modifieds would sign in to race on Thursday with three conspicuous absences in the top ten in USMTS points in Terry Phillips, "Big Daddy" Duval and Tyler Wolff. Phillips was later observed running his Late Model in Missouri this night so apparently he isn't going to follow the tour as religiously as he did last year. Some solid local and area drivers filled in the gaps and three full heats and a B Feature(of which everyone made the main) set up the grid for the forty four lap feature race to honor Chris Bruns, a racing fan that passed away recently. The field was down to twenty five before they even started racing as AJ Roschen(Craig Thatcher's son-in-law) broke in hot laps and Adam Kates was a "phantom" entry in Jake O'Neil's back up car after Kates' rig broke down in Des Moines.

To look at the statistics, it would show that Waits led all forty four laps and you might think that the race was not a good one. However, that would be far from the case as Waits was under the gun for nearly the entire distance as drivers took turns putting heavy pressure on him, but the veteran southern Minnesota driver absolutely refused to make just even one mistake.

Waits got the jump from the outside pole and the top side quickly was established as the fast way around the track, just as it was several weeks ago when Jake Timm shocked the Late Model field that night. Timm moved into second but he was challenged by Ryan Gustin, newly sponsored by "Spike" energy drink and they produced some of the best racing of the night as they slid back and forth for position and then both moved in to challenge Waits for the lead. Things were really busy up front as the top three diced it out.

They continued this for the first seventeen laps until Timm stopped with a flat tire and now it was Gustin that was the primary challenger. However, both O'Neil and Dereck Ramirez had moved in to challenge for the lead. O'Neil, who started fourteenth, showed as much daring as Gustin as he tore to the front with the crowd "wowed" by the wild slide jobs taking place.

Gustin got into the wall and dropped a couple of positions and then it was up to O'Neil alone to unseat Waits. Jake did get past in turn one on a brief occasion but Waits turned right back under him to regain the lead as O'Neil tried everything he could but Waits just refused to make a mistake.

A yellow with six to go gave O'Neil one last shot. He backed off just a little and then made one last charge low in the corners on the final lap. He got a good run off turn four but came up a half car short as Waits drove on for the win. Rodney Sanders drove a steady race and gradually moved up as he finished third while Ramirez blew a tire in the last corner and lost several spots. It would have been a classic race except that it was slowed six times by yellow flags but was nevertheless a very good contest.

Three USRA classes were on hand also to round out the program. The Hobby Stocks fielded twenty three cars as this class has certainly taken off at MTS the last year or so after being added a few years ago. Fourteen year old Triton Krause fought off several challenges to take his second feature win of the year here as he held off Travis Krause and Nick Schwebach for the win. There was a lot of nice racing in this feature with much side by side action and jockeying back and forth before the youngster took the win.

The B Mods fielded twenty cars and it was a night of Dan Hovden and Ryan Olson battling it out. They raced hard in a heat race for the win until Hovden moved to the top side of the track and blew past in the late laps for the win.

The same scenario took place in the feature race where Olson started on the pole and built up a good sized lead until Hovden broke free and started to track him down. He was closing in when the yellow waved for the only time in the feature race.

Hovden opted for the top side on the double file restart and on the green got a big run on the cushion in turn one and blew past Olson to take over the lead. Once in front, he pulled away for the win over Olson with Shaun Walsky a close third.

USRA Late Models wrapped up the night with sixteen of them on hand as new drivers continue to show up for this class almost weekly. Running one of three engine options, most drivers either use a B Mod motor or a 604 crate motor and they get around this track quite well and like the Hobby Stocks, they have gained in both number and quality of cars in the last year or so.

Friday night, point leader Lance Hofer drew the pole and that took the drama out of this event. He pulled to a big lead until a yellow bunched the field up just past the halfway point but then he proceeded to pull away again as he took an easy win over Shaun Mann and Justin Sass. he was receiving one hard challenge from Alex Williamson but Alex dropped out of the race under yellow and that gave Hofer breathing room.

What looked like it was going to be a night of futility instead turned into a fine night at the races with good action in all four classes and by keeping the intermission as short as possible, they caught up on much of their late start and the final checkered flag didn't fly too much after 10:30 pm. It was a good job by all involved.

The crowd is always deceiving at MTS because they all come at the very last minute but it looked to be a good crowd but perhaps not quite as big as for the Late Model show previously. It's hard to believe but this is now the tenth year that Bob Timm has run this facility that was on its last heart beat until he and his partners purchased the place and turned it around.

It was good to run into Bryce Hall again tonight. Hall was "the voice" of the USMTS in recent years until he took a job as the promoter at the Salina Highbanks Speedway in Oklahoma. He is now back working for Todd Staley as he is running the USRA side of things as Todd focuses on USMTS and Hamilton County Speedway.

For any Late Model fans reading this, I learned Friday that Jake Timm, fresh off his Dirt Kings win several weeks ago in his first ever Late Model race, has purchased a wide bore Pro Power motor and plans on doing some open motor racing as well as spec engine racing and the Dustin Sorensen Racing Team out of Rochester, who run MB Modifieds, has purchased the equipment of the Mike Stadel Late Model team out of South Dakota which includes both spec and open motor cars and that their equipment is currently at Mars shop in Menomonie Wisconsin being upgraded.

A Short, Wet, Windy, Noisy and Frustrating Night at M-Town

Thursday night, May 16th, Toby Kruse and the folks at Marshalltown Speedway made their second attempt to get in the Dale DeFrance Memorial race after rain and wet grounds shut down their efforts the previous week. The weather had made a big swing this week and it was downright hot across the Hawkeye State. After having had only one seventy degree day so far this year in my home area, a sudden boost of over twenty degrees had me panting and records were being broken across the state of Iowa.

There was the threat of rain in the forecast but various sources(apparently just guessing) had the rain coming in at any time from 9 pm to after Midnight. Of course, hoping to see racing, I went with the later prediction which proved to be totally out of wack.

An excellent field of race cars showed up with near or over two dozen cars in each of my five trackable classes, there were one hundred and twenty three cars in the pits and it looked to be a great night of racing ahead, if only we could squeeze it in. Toby and his crew had been working tirelessly on the track all day and they had it in what appeared to be excellent shape for the racing action, even with the extreme temperatures, sunshine and strong winds blowing.

As hot laps were getting starting, we had the dubious privilege of watching a strong storm built up nearly right over our heads and head toward the Marshalltown Speedway. Light sprinkles started during the Mod Lite heats but track officials pressed on with the program.

The Sport Mods hit the track and although it was just a bit slick, they pressed on with Jake McBurnie taking the first heat. Then it started to sprinkle just a bit harder and more fans headed for their vehicles. As the intensity picked up, they sent the cars to the pits and truly, it was probably a good thing that it started to rain a little harder at this time which allowed most fans to get to protection. Because within just a few minutes, it cut loose and when I say it cut loose, it cut loose! The wind was screaming and the rain came down sideways, coming so hard that it just sat on top of the ground. Then it started to hail and what a noise that made on the inside on the car. I would estimate quarter size hail and it lasted for quite some time.

How many of you remember times when you sat in your car with the window cracked, getting soaked while you waited for some official word from the announcer? Well, leave it to Toby and crew to be on the ball as they had a low frequency radio station on so we could just listen to our radios to get the word, not surprising indeed, that the show had been canceled and indeed, the whole weekend as the rain came so hard and the forecast was so bad they pulled the plug on Friday night racing as well. Heading home after the storm settled, wet pavement was found to just East of Ames where it was bone dry. It was a classic Summer storm, very hard rain for one area and just down the road, nothing. We just happened to be located in the wrong area as the Marshalltown Speedway continues to get nailed by bad early season weather.

We were set to see what I believe would have been a really good night of racing Thursday and to lose it was very frustrating, but only marginally so compared to the race crew that put in a hard, long day of work, only to have it all literally go down the drain. Here are a few things I learned while roaming the pits before the show.

The Gustin family was strongly represented as they were set to honor their mentor Dale DeFrance. Janae Gustin was set to make her first run of the year in the Sport Mods. Richie Gustin had both a Mod and his Late Model on hand, Jimmy Gustin had his Mod and Ryan was scheduled to drive the car normally run by Tyler Madigan. Of course DD was also set with his Late Model as well has his good friend Gary Webb who towed over from the Quad Cities to race.

I missed the chance to see Nevada's Kollin Hibdon, apparently on tour from his home in Pahrump as well as Modified star Jake O'Neil who has an IMCA car as well as his open Mod. Debuting his IMCA car was Zach VanderBeek as more and more Modified drivers cover their bases with big money races under different sanctioning bodies, they don't want to miss out on the action. Hunter Marriott was also on hand from Missouri.

Two dozen Late Models were on hand and would have put on a good show I feel .It would have been my first chance to see Johnny Emerson race this year as well as Jill George, who is back in racing this year after having taken several years off. The Hartzell Racing Team has gotten themselves one of those bright yellow transporters that I am so attracted to.

The biggest news from the Late Model pits was a report from Rick Dralle that he will have Jeff Aikey in his potent #1D for the rest of the racing season as Ryan Dolan is out for the year after having shoulder surgery. It was lucky that such a strong "wheelman" as Aikey was available and a good break for Aikey to get back in a strong Late Model after parking his own car and focusing on the Modified action. This should be a good and successful pairing.

 As I write this I'm waiting to find out what the rain date for this event will be and hoping that Toby picks an off night with no conflicts so that I can get back down to central Iowa.

Cody Nielsen Takes Big Bucks at Spencer

A rare Wednesday night race at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Iowa gave me the opportunity to visit one of the nicest facilities in the entire Hawkeye State for one of the few chances I have to take such a trip. It was also what I would characterize as the nicest racing day of the year to date and for me, I think just the second day that I have been able to experience temperatures that got into the 70's. That's how bad the Spring has been for me and for most of you also. So, what been way of celebrating the arrival of Spring for at least one day by going to the dirt track races?

I found out that last Winter there was much discussion locally about cutting back the racing programs here at Spencer to about a half dozen or so for the 2019 racing season. However, a number of city leaders and local businessmen decided they needed to do something to keep weekly racing alive in Spencer and at the historic Clay County Fair Speedway so they put their heads together and dipped into their pockets to help sponsor some special events at the track. They also decided to mix up the schedule some and not just stick with a Sunday night only schedule so they have some races scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays along with their staple Sunday shows. I like this kind of things as while I understand that midweek shows are tough for some racers and fans, it also gives different drivers the chance to check out the track and not risk home track Sunday points and these midweek races can be very interesting as you just don't know who is going to show up. On this night it was the Hobby Stocks that were getting the special boost in pay but all the regular classes that race at Spencer were also running. Hobby Stocks would be using the draw/redraw format while other classes would be racing on point average as usual.

I got to meet the Race Director Wednesday but I must apologize that I didn't do my due diligence and find out ahead of time what his name might be and I am not able to find it now after the fact. He did tell me that he is also the promoter at Park Jefferson and Rod Olson is listed as Race Director and Manager at Park Jefferson so I'm going with Rod as the gentlemen I met. If I am wrong, I apologize and he will pound me into a pulp the next time we meet as he is as big as Paul Bunyan and looked to be twice as strong! Anyway, I was greeted warmly and asked if I needed anything or if I had any questions and I was stunned as this just doesn't happen to me very often. Usually I have to hide in the Satellites to avoid detection by security in the pits!

Anyway, he was the one that told me about the great local support the track is receiving and that is refreshing in this day and age when there are those communities that would just as soon push racing out the door and turn the land into a housing development.

I also found that attending races at Spencer and trying to keep everyone straight might be the most confusing task that I have taken on in quite some time. I suspected that I would see the famous racing Smith family from Lake City on hand this night but I did not digest the scope of what the Smith name means for racing in this area. I can only assume that there was either a lack of imagination when it came to naming families in this area or many people are racing under aliases as there were a total of seven Smiths racing on this night! They are Jeremy, Mike, Daniel, Doug, David, Devin, Donovan and Jeremy(different from the previous Jeremy). Ouch! I am having difficulty wrapping my head around who is who and what class and car they are driving.

That wasn't bad enough until I also found out that there are two Jason Brees (or Briese) racing in the Modified class! It's spelled different but pronounced the same and oh my goodness, this is all very confusing.

Veteran announcer Chad Meyer has his hands full when he calls the action here for sure. However, I suppose that he, if he forgets a name of a driver, can just call them Smith and his odds are good he will have correctly named them! Use that tactic and announcing is a Briese (or Brees). Bad pun.

Chad is a busy guy as I believe he is still calling the action at three different race tracks as he also works at Algona and Britt so if there is something you need to know about racing in western Iowa, he is the man to see. Announcing here is a challenge as just getting to the "crows nest" where they announce is quite an undertaking. First one must walk to the top row of the monstrous grandstand and they climb aboard a ladder that is inclined at about 45 degrees to Mother Earth and scale that to the "nest." I was offered the opportunity to climb up there if I wished but I declined with a quiet and meek, "Hell No." 

In fact, the hike up to the tower is so daunting that once Chad comes down at intermission to do the giveaways etc, he just stays down at track level on the paddock area to call the main events and interview the feature winners. An Olympic athlete couldn't be asked to scale that catwalk five times to come down and interview drivers and still have enough breath to talk.

The one thing I did notice and surprised me about this beautiful facility is that they don't have a scoreboard. They have everything else with a huge grandstand, most of which is covered, great lighting and sound system etc but no scoreboard and not even just a lap counter. That might be the next thing that perhaps the business community could consider getting involved in.

Car counts were just about the right number of a midweek show with two heats of everything, except the featured Hobby Stocks had three and only one for the Sport Compacts. I have noticed that the Sport Compacts seem to be short on cars at most of the western Iowa tracks and I wonder why. What was supposed to be the entry level  class has not turned out to be that way in this area for some reason.

The heat races were spun off quickly and after a break where the night's sponsor H & N Chevrolet did some promotions, it was feature race time. The night would produce three dominating wins and two close finishes, including the last two races of the night and there would be two Smiths in victory lane before the evening's final checkered was waved.

The Sport Mods came first and they came close to getting the "gong" after they spun and stumbled their way during their big event. Doug Smith started tenth on the grid but his car was handling superbly and he was able to drive under car after car, soon getting to the front. After that, it was just a matter of keeping his patience through the six yellow flags as drivers spun time after time. The last yellow was for more of a grinding collision that eliminated contenders Zech Norgaard, Justin Klynsa and John Foreman. At the finish, Smith was comfortably in front of Tim Rupp and Brady Joynt in the 1AND car(I just report 'em, I don't explain 'em).

A Bubba Brown search party is underway for the Sport Compact driver that apparently signed in and then failed to show. Brown, a prolific racer at any track in Iowa and beyond running Sport Compacts, failed to make the grid for either the feature or his heat and the area between Spencer and Fairmont is being checked for him. Announcer Meyer, who has a very dry and pointed sense of humor, made the comment that after the wife and husband team of the Devries, battling for the lead when Kaytee slammed into the side of her husband Jay, reported that was "the first time that they have touched!"
Jay would go on for the win over Jared Gross and Kaytee.

It was a Smith again at the point after the Stock Car feature ran off nonstop as Devin dominated, coming from the third row quickly to take the lead and then he pulled away to lead by nearly a full straightaway in a very, un Stock Car kind of main where normally they are four wide at the finish. Mitch Dowhower had a very nice run as he started in front and finished a strong second, holding off a late charge from Donovan Smith and Elijah Zevenbergen who was one of the few to move up the track and widen the groove.

Saving the show tonight and being its star by far was Modified driver Jay Noteboom. The track was narrow on Wednesday as it was dry and for some reason it didn't clean off very well with the loose material just laying in the second groove. Perhaps that was because, as one of the feature winners reported in his interview that there was still some "tack" right on the bottom and no one wanted to get off that lane. In any event, there was not much effort to try to move up the track and most were playing "follow the leader" right on the bottom.

But not Noteboom who apparently said "the heck with it" and decided to try the top, no matter what happened. And it turned out very well for him. It was a struggle but eventually he started to gain some momentum and while I don't think he got any faster, the cars in the low lane started to slow down as the race progressed and he was able to slowly work past him.

Near the end he caught race leader Chris Palsrok who was hugging the bottom and made a great effort to get past but came up just a car length short at the finish. Congrats to Palsrok for the win and also to Noteboom for putting on the show of the night. Cody Knecht was a close third. There was also a "Screamin' Yellow Banana" sighting as Mike Jergens was in action in the Modified class. He always had one of my favorite looking cars with his bright yellow wonders and while this car had just a taped on number and no sponsors to this point, I'm sure there is more to come. He did finish a solid fourth also.

The Hobby Stock feature, as the "big show", was saved for last and they did a good job of putting on an interesting race with a minimum of yellow flags to boot. Front row starters Zach Ankrum and Cody Probst ran each other up the track on the first lap and Cody Nielsen took advantage of that to take over the lead. Howver, Probst was very fast and he quickly caught Nielsen and then spent the rest of the race trying to re take him for the lead. Probst should be congratulated highly for running a very clean race. Several times he got the nose of his car under Nielsen and most would have then leaned on the leader and moved him off the inside lane but each time Probst would hit the brakes and back off if he didn't have his car far enough under the leader.

Several times I thought he was far enough by to drive it in deep in the corner but he apparently didn't think so and backed off and allowed Nielsen to retain the lead. Probst even got by one time but the yellow slowed the action and voided the pass.

At the end, Probst did everything he could under his code of ethics to make the pass but Nielsen held on for the win. I would say Nielsen owes Probst a handshake for racing him ultra clean. Ankrum would finish third.

It was a smooth night of racing and it appeared that a good sized crowd was on hand, although it was difficult to judge given the huge grandstand that Spencer has. With everything functioning nicely the final checkered waved just a couple minutes past ten with the racing done in a "Brees" or was it a "Briese"?  In any event, it was an efficient and quick run program which both entertained and got folks on the road home early. A perfect recipe for a weeknight show.

Jake Timm Shocks Late Models at Mississippi Thunder

Friday night, May 10th, the fans on hand at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway near Fountain City Wisconsin witnessed what I will label as one of the biggest upsets and most shocking results of the entire racing season, despite the fact that for a number of tracks in the upper Midwest area, their seasons have yet to begin.

Running against a quality field of Late Models, young Jake Timm, in his first night behind the wheel of a Late Model, stunned the field of drivers and everyone assembled to watch when he led from start to finish to win the forty lap feature race for the Dirt Kings Late Model series. It was one of the biggest surprises I have seen in a very long time.

Timm, who is a young veteran in his early twenties in the Modified class, is the son of Bob Timm, who owns Mississippi Thunder Speedway and was a long time outstanding driver himself in particularly the Modified class but he did also spend a considerable amount of time behind the wheel of a Late Model, particularly when there were more tracks in southern Minnesota that ran the class on a regular basis.

Earlier this year, when I ran into Bob down at Humboldt Kansas as he was helping out Jake with his Modified, I congratulated Bob for bringing the Late Models back to MTS. While he runs a weekly USRA Late Model class at his track, they have both very limited motor and suspension rules and are not to the level of the Late Models he was bringing in. I told him that even though he was a "Modified guy," I was glad to see that he was bringing back the Late Models. He gave a grin and told me that he was still a "Late Model" guy too! In fact, later this Summer, over the fourth of July holiday, he is bringing back the WISSOTA Wollak Construction Challenge Series for a doubleheader to his track that should be a very successful outing for him too.

Well, I didn't realize that he still liked Late Models to the point that he would go out and get one for his son to race! The car, an MB Custom, was previously raced by Cade Dillard and they had MB put a new front stub on the car and update it and they just got the car on Tuesday of this week! Jake ran a practice session and was not good so they completely went over the car and early this afternoon, Jake had another practice session at the track before anyone arrived and the car was much better. I guess that is the benefit of owning a race track.!

In any event, a fine thirty car field arrived for the Late Model portion of the show on Friday. The Dirt Kings Tour is in I believe, their third year of existence and they have put together a nice schedule of races that are held primarily in eastern Wisconsin. With only two tracks in the eastern part of the state that race Late Models weekly, the Dirt Kings have allowed Late Model racing to stay healthy in that part of the state and have allowed them to travel to tracks that normally don't run Late Models. This trip to MTS was their farthest trip to the western side of the state and as usual, their regulars supported the event as they have always done and no matter where the Dirt Kings race, they usually are guaranteed twenty five to thirty cars. Their visit to MTS saw them connect with some of the WISSOTA cars from the western part of the state as Red Cedar Speedway actually swapped their WISSOTA Late Models for the MTS USRA Limited Late Models for the night and that added strong runners like Jimmy Mars, John Kaanta, Pat Doar, AJ Diemel, Don Shaw, James Giossi and Jesse Glenz to the field Friday, making things much tougher for the Dirt Kings regulars.

Timm showed his strength early, making a daring outside pass on Glenz near the end of a heat race that allowed him to garner enough passing points to make the redraw and he redrew the pole for the main event. He got the jump on  Brett Swedberg at the start and took off like a rocket. After being a little choppy in the heats due to all the rain of late, the track crew graded and freshened the track for the main and it was black, slick and smooth from top to bottom for the feature races. The high side was the fastest way and Timm rode right up by the wall as he moved out to a good sized lead.

The race had only one yellow flag, with twenty two laps complete so Timm had to deal with a considerable amount of lapped traffic but he handled it masterfully, weaving high and low on the track as needed to make the passes.

The restart following the lone yellow was a concern but he pulled away once again and even though Mars passed two cars following yellow to take second, he basically had nothing for Timm as Jake continued to open up his lead. He had one near death experience in turn three when he got too high and clipped the wall, but he fortunately didn't knock off his spoiler and got back into his groove.

At the finish, he had a lapped car and several car lengths between himself and Mars. Of course, with his father owning the track and the family's well known presence in the local area, the victory lane celebration was a rousing one of epic per portions, and just as it should have been. It was indeed a race for the ages.

Mars finished second and that alone is quite a story too. Last Friday night he was involved in a grinding crash at Red Cedar when as a stalled car on the track he was rear ended at high speed in a violent way. It was first thought that the car was totaled but according to Paul Gilberts, the car owner and Mars' father-in-law, they were very lucky just where the other car hit and while there was damage, the frame was undamaged and needless to say, they had it back on the track this weekend and running fine.

Veteran Lance Matthees had a strong run in his first race of 2019 as he started and finished third, ahead of Dirt Kings regulars Swedberg and defending champion Nick Anvelink. WISSOTA spec engines were under the hoods of the top three finishers with winner Timm sporting a Tesar engine they purchased for $6,000 that had been freshened by Buckbuilt, which is one of the Timms' businesses.

There was other racing on the card Friday night. Three USRA sanctioned classes were also running, the Modifieds, B Mods and Hobby Stocks. What was good was the fact that they did eliminate a few of their weekly classes, thus making the show just a bit more manageable and yet still highlighting the local drivers to the visiting fans.

The Modified feature saw veteran driver Brad Waits lead from start to finish in the twenty five lap main He was challenged in the early going by Adam Hensel with Lucas Schott and A.J. Diemel eventually working their way to the front and try and catch Waits.

A late yellow set up a five lap sprint to the finish but Waits was not to be denied and he pulled away for the win. A surprising entry was that of Ryan Gustin who, with no where to race this weekend, is expected to spend his time in southern Minnesota the rest of the weekend running. However, he had a lousy heat race and started deep in the field for the main. He did make a strong charge as he passed a number of cars but he was too deep to make a dent on the front runners and ended up seventh.

The B Mod field was down just a bit on this night but they still had enough cars for two solid heats and a main and their feature race was a good three car battle. Taking advantage of the draw/redraw used weekly at MTS, last week's feature winner Taylor Skauge started on the pole but he couldn't get away from Alex Williamson, who rode the banking and challenged lap after lap with Skauge getting up the track down the chutes and blocking Williamson's advances.

Williamson, who is of that rare breed that runs weekly in two different sanctioning bodies with the same car that he just adjusts, continued to pressure Skauge lap after lap. Meanwhile, Dan Hovden moved in using the low groove and now Skauge really had his hands full.

A spin caused the lone yellow with five laps to go and when Skauge moved up the track in turn one on the green to block Williamson, Hovden drove right by him on the bottom and then proceeded to pull away for the surprising win.

Rounding out the program were the Hobby Stocks. This class is in its third year I believe at MTS and has really started to take off. Despite the fact that there is no other track in the area that runs this class, their numbers have now grown to two dozen and the quality of the cars has improved greatly in the last year or so. They do look a little different than most Hobby Stocks though, as they run racing tires which I don't think other Hobby Stock tracks allow and they truly look more like Stock Cars than Hobby Stocks.

Their feature race was yellow plagued on this night with six of them during the fifteen lap main. A good battle for the lead saw Steve Dwyer trying to hold off Dustin Gulbranson who towed all the way from South Dakota to race on this night. However, they got together and Dwyer went spinning into the infield. Both cars were sent to the back and Jay Mensink inherited the lead which he held to the finish, despite heavy pressure from Chris Hovden. A number of the cars that race at MTS is the support cars are Iowa based entries from the Decorah area under the same sanctioning as MTS.

I also saw one other thing on Friday that I probably won't again for quite some time. The wall that lines MTS is made out of Jersey Barricades that are stacked together and twice tonight the came barrier, on the back chute, was hit by a car and tipped over and had to be put back up by a wrecker. Weird indeed.

It was a good night of racing at MTS and the Late Models shined in their return. There was a solid crowd of spectators on hand so it was a win-win for management, actually in more ways then they could have probably imagined.

Pierce Continues To Dominate the Midwest

It doesn't seem to matter what the sanctioning body is or what the track size is, Bobby Pierce just continues to roll as he racks up win after win across the Midwest, running a schedule that sees him go where the money is and not worrying about points for any single series.

His latest domination took place at the Stuart International Speedway in Stuart Iowa on Thursday night, May 2nd as a part of a scheduled four night swing by the MLRA through the state of Iowa and then wrapping up in Illinois.

Thursday night's win was probably one of the more impressive as things were set up to be a bit tougher for him on this night. Stuart was a race track that he had never seen before and the tight quarter mile(or less probably) bull ring is a bit tricky to drive, although most of the other drivers in the field were probably in the same boat as Pierce.

Making things just a bit more interesting and challenging was the fact that MLRA was back to using their normal qualifying procedure that involved drawing for heat races and then using passing points to determine the feature race lineups. I guarantee that passing points makes the heat races about 200% more interesting than putting the fast cars right in front for the heats and also adds some drama to the event, which after all, is supposed to be at least part entertainment and not just a high speed contest. Plus, this allowed the program to commence right at the advertised time of 7:30 pm and despite the fact that track promoter Mike VanGenderen is one of the best at getting his shows stared on time, I guarantee that if they had time trials, even MVG couldn't have pulled off a 7:30 pm start.

Anyway, Pierce drew the back row for a heat and then with some bottle necks at the start, he was only able to advance from seventh to fifth in his heat so the result was that he started thirteenth in the main event. But then the show began.

We all know that Pierce has good equipment but so to do a lot of other drivers. The difference right now in the fact that Bobby is winning so much is that, quite frankly, he is just out driving the rest of the competition with his bold moves and willingness to move around and try different grooves. He also seems to be right at the top of his game when it comes to "reading" the race track and what changes it is going through as an event progresses.

The track started to slick off in the Late Model feature after having been very much tacky and high speed earlier and he was the first to spot what was happening and take advantage of it. The leaders at the start of the race went to the bottom and he took advantage of that by moving up the track which gave him room to preform a series of high side passed and despite the fact he started in the seventh row, he was soon challenging for the lead. It also didn't hurt that the four yellows in the first ten laps kept packing the field and giving him the opportunity to make multi car passes on restarts, not just knock off one car at a time.

Soon he was challenging for the lead and when he blew past Tyler Bruening on the outside down the front chute, the race was over. The rest of the event say his main challenge being to navigate through the traffic. Chris Simpson was eventually able to pass Bruening for second but he would have nothing for Pierce.

What bad luck for Payton Looney as he led the first couple of laps until blowing a motor and dropping out. One wonders is he even has a spare power plant to get through the rest of the weekend.

I do not know what has gotten into Jordan Yaggy this year, but I sure am liking what I have been seeing the past few weeks. He is still driving the same Rocket chassis he had last year and is still using the same motors from Pro Power but something has sure changed as he has found a lot of speed and at all sizes of tracks, particularly at the smaller tracks where I think he was probably weakest.  I did not talk to him after the race but I'm betting that he will consider the ten lap or so, side by side battle with Hall of Famer Billy Moyer, who he eventually passed for fifth as one of the highlights of his career to date. Moyer passed him, Yaggy fought back to ensure a side by side race that lasted a number of laps and then Yaggy eventually moved past him for good. The old Jordan Yaggy could never have done that.

A twenty four car field showed for the Late Models, which was plenty large enough for Stuart, particularly since there wouldn't be room to start more than that many cars anyway. Thirteen of the top twenty in MLRA points did make it to Stuart.  It was good to see a couple of  the SLMR cars from Nebraska join the competition as the Kosiski boys were on hand plus a couple of IMCA cars in the person of Richie Gustin and Chad Holladay were also on hand. With the Davenport race for MLRA already canceled for Friday, it would be nice to see the MLRA cars journey to Denison, put on a plate and race with the SLMR cars but that's likely not to happen.

Along with the featured Late Models, the IMCA sanctioned Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks were also a part of the show. All three classes provided nice fields of cars and some good racing. The Hobby Stocks kicked things off and they did a great job, with a twenty car field going nonstop in their main event and providing lots of action. Shannon Anderson, who has been very ordinary in the appearances I have seen by him so far this year, picked up his game at Stuart and came from the third row to take the win. The battle between himself and Chuck Madden Jr was a good one with Anderson eventually able to slip past for the win.

The Stock Cars had a wild finish with Buck Schafroth coming through for the win. On opening night I was on hand to witness Buck flip his car after clipping come infield tires but he has now come back to win his second in a row at Stuart. He started on the outside pole thanks to the point average and he took the lead right from the start. His team mate Todd VanEaton was giving him a strong challenge and was is a position to challenge for the lead until his car spit out a drive shaft, ending his night.

Then it was defending national champion Mike Nichols challenging Schafroth. They put on a great two car battle with Nichols trying to drive inside Buck on every lap. The tacky track was causing Schafroth to hike up the left side tire and it appeared he was very close to actually lifting off the track with both inside tires but he held on. Then, on the final corner as Nichols gave it his all, he actually got too much traction and the left side of his car took air, allowing Schafroth to drive home uncontested. Nichols' last lap bobble allowed Shawn Ritter to sneak into second. Ritter came out of no where after a nondescript heat race when he ran into the first turn wall forced him to start fifteenth in the main but what a charge he made after that. 

The Sport Mods wrapped up the evening with a rolling demolition derby as several multi car crashed cut down the field. Twenty five cars starting the main was probably just a few too many and the result was a lot of torn up cars. When they finally got down to racing, there was a nice five or so car battle for the lead with Tyler Inman making a late charge to take the win as he was able to get his car working on the bottom right at the end and make a couple of key passes. I was a bit confused as he was a part of a late crash but got his spot back and I'm not sure that happened to all cars that were involved is similar crashes but he really did make up a bunch of positions to earn the win. I was surprised how few spectators left after the Late Models were over and instead stayed for the Sport Mod main. Clearly, there were plenty or race fans and not just Late Model fans on hand.

The crowd was a good one although I thought that the opening night crowd might have been a bit bigger but I might be wrong on that. Either way, the $20 admission price(which was a very fair charge), should have helped to pay the large purse. The Late Models definitely put on a good show at Stuart and I would be shocked if they don't return again next year and it would almost seem that the Deery Brothers and Malvern Bank Series would also be a good fit at some point too.

Schmidt and Aikey Top List of Winners at Benton County Easter Race

This indeed was an Easter Sunday when I missed out on activities at home. On a three day pass when bad weather in the Upper Midwest saw me migrate down to the Hawkeye State for three nights of excellent racing and great weather, I wrapped up the weekend on Sunday night at Mick Trier's Benton County Speedway in Vinton.

And as great as the first part of the weekend was, Sunday was even more spectacular and certainly one of the nicest Easter Sundays that I can recall for many years. Topping off at over eighty degrees with bright sunshine, the only problem was the strong wind blowing from the South that made track preparation certainly a challenge. However, the folks in charge of that came through with flying colors, as we will discuss shortly.

This would be the opening night of racing for the 2019 season at Benton County as they lost their Frostbuster to the weather much earlier this month. And to open up the racing season on an Easter Sunday must be a challenge on many fronts, but everything seemed to be in mid season working order and I saw nary a "hiccup" by anyone all night.

The five regular classes that race at Vinton would be on hand for the opener along with the Bat Wings which also race their every week and the Legend Cars would join the show on this night also, with many of them coming all the way from North Dakota and Wisconsin to race. Late Models join the weekly fun starting in May.

It was looking quite grim in the pits for the longest time as it just seemed like no race cars were arriving. However, probably due to it being a holiday, many were running a little bit late with family activities to take care of first because when the cars started to arrive, they came rolling in all at once in droves. They ended up with eighty three cars in the five classes I count which was just a perfect number. That allowed full heats and no B Features, excellent for clock watchers like myself on Sunday nights facing a five and a half hour tote home.

Things started out on a rocky note when the first green flag for hot laps was still being waved in the starter's hand when Sport Mod driver Kyle Roose went cart wheeling off the third turn, ending up with a thud in the field. He was OK but the car was not. After that things settled down

The heat races were completed in very quick fashion and before you knew it, it was time for the first feature race to roll off. Since it was opening night, the draw/redraw format was in play and sometimes that helps the racing and sometimes not. I see the same thing in the tracks I frequent here in "Cheeseland" and in the "Gopher" state on opening night when they use the same qualifying procedure. Sometimes a fast car draws the pole with some blockers behind them and the racing is always the most exciting.

That seemed to prevail on Sunday in some of the early main events. In the Hobby Stock feature, Brett Vanous ran away for a dominating win. However, he didn't start right in front but actually in the fourth row but he was so much faster than the rest of the field that he just blew past everyone and ran away. Jacob Floyd finished a distant second with Bill Bonnett next in line.

The Sport Compact feature was much the same way. Luke Benischek started in the second row, found his way into the lead quickly and then drove away from the field, leading by almost half a lap in a race that was stopped just once by the yellow flag. Adam Gates would settle for second with Mitchell Bunch third.

Attrition in the heats would cut the Sport Mod field to a dozen cars for the main event and with Tony Olson elevated to the pole when Brady Hilmer failed to show, the drama in this race was little. Olson led from start to finish and only a late yellow flag that allowed Kyle Olson to move in behind him kept things close. Ben Chapman finished third.

By this time the wind was drying out the track and with the small tired, low horsepower cars on the track, everyone had migrated to the bottom groove and not a lot of racing was taking place. Fortunately, it was then time for the Stock Cars and Modifieds to take to the track. They quickly blew the "crumbs" off the track, widened the groove and we were then in for two excellent feature races to wrap up the night. The timing was perfect as everyone in the stands went home remarking about the great final two feature races and likely completely forgetting that the ones before that were a bit of "snoozers."

The Stock Car feature was a classic and was stopped only once by yellow flags. Jay Schmidt sat on the pole and while he may have been officially scored the leader of all eighteen laps, that statistic doesn't begin to tell the story of the race.

Schmidt was guarding the low groove and he was constantly being challenged by several different drivers at various points of the race. John Oliver Jr moved up from the third row to become his primary challenger when Damon Murty caught fire and after moving up from the fifth row, made it a three car battle for the lead.

The lone yellow set up a five lap sprint to the finish and it turned out to be a dandy. Murty was able to get past Oliver Jr for second and he began to put heavy pressure on Schmidt. After the yellow, Schmidt's car seemed to tighten up and he was really struggling to get it to turn in the corners as it was hiking up on him and he was opening the door for challenges. Murty stuck his nose under Schmidt as they took the white flag with Schmidt slamming the door shut in turn one.

However, Schmidt again struggled to get through that turn and Murty shot to the high side to try and pass. He got beside Schmidt when out of no where Oliver Jr. materialized and he shot to the middle between the two challengers. They went barreling into turn three side by side by side and no one giving an inch. Oliver Jr's momentum saw him slide up the track and with no where to go, he pretty much forced Murty over the top of the corner. Meanwhile, Schmidt stayed low and with the other two fully engaged, he snuck past both and drove home for the win. Oliver Jr did manage second ahead of Scooter Dulin with Murty unofficially nipping Brian Mahlstedt. It was a really exciting race and had the crowd in a state of ecstasy afterward as they were fully engaged, if you know what I mean.

The Modified feature was nearly as good with Kyle Brown and Troy Cordes battling for the lead along with Cory Dripps and Joel Rust. Jeff Aikey started way back in row five after he mistook the white flag for the checkered flag in his heat and dropped way back on the final tour.

He was making up for his mistake though, as he came charging up to challenge for the lead within a few laps. He moved in on Dripps, who was leading, and they began throwing slide jobs at each other and it was highly entertaining. They exchanged the lead several times while other drivers lurked close behind as the top five was in a big heap.

A yellow with five to go saw Aikey on Dripps' tail and it seemed that the leader was at a disadvantage as Aikey built up a head of steam down the back chute and blew past Dripps on the high side after Cory had opted to run the low line. Brown then made a charge , getting by Dripps for second and finishing a close second in what was another very entertaining main event and a great way to wrap up the evening.

A couple comments: Despite the challenging weather conditions with the sun and wind on a race track that had not seen any action to that point, I thought the track prep crew did a great job of offering up a nice, racy track for the drivers. Two water trucks were working constantly before the show, wetting down both the track and pits constantly and it paid dividends. Except for that short time when the narrow tire cars allowed the "crumbs" to build up and narrow up the groove, the racing was good all night and there were a variety of different lines to race on. Congrats to them for a job well done.

Sunday night race tracks in my area all need to pack up their bags, join me for an evening at Vinton and see how it is done to complete a seven class program at an early hour. Vinton had got it down to a science, making sure they start on time, use a one spin rule to keep the heats moving, take no breaks and shoot one race out on to the track just as the last one ends. It was beautiful to watch and a must if you want to keep fans coming on a Sunday night. In my area, things often drone on until almost 10 pm on a Sunday and then they wonder why the stands are so empty. It's not rocket science but it is just smart business sense. Congrats again to Mick, Race Director MVG and the rest of the staff on a job well done. I was on the road home before 8 pm and in my own personal "Happy Place."

It was good to see my old editor at Hawkeye, Jim Morrison, in the infield taking pictures. Somehow I missed him in the pits before the race and am sorry I did but it was good to see him still active and at the races. Sunday nights at Vinton. It's a good place to be if you're a race fan that likes action.