Jonathan Davenport had a hell of a weekend at I-80 Speedway, picking up $10,000 on Thursday night and $53,000 on Saturday night. - Kyle Ealy Photo
Cedar
Rapids, IA – It’s been a while since my last column, May 26, 2014 to be exact.
You could say that when I picked up the camera, I dropped the pen. There was a
time when I thought about writing a column, but after uploading 400-500 photos,
cropping them and finally, posting them on this website, I didn’t have the
motivation.
But after
this last week of racing, I felt compelled to write about the two great racing
events and venues I experienced. So, with a flick of the Bic, here I go…
(For my
younger readers, a Bic is a ballpoint pen. It has a little clicky deal on one
end and you “flick” it and by magic, a metal ball exposes itself and distribute
ink to almost anything. Ideally, it’s best uses are for writing “Kick Me” on a
piece of paper and taping it to a co-worker’s back. It can also be used for
underlining bible verses.)
On Thursday,
July 19, I made my annual trek to Greenwood, NE, and I-80 Speedway for the eighth
annual Silver Dollar Nationals. Considered one of the crown jewels of dirt late
model racing, this has become the one “must-go” races of the year for me.
As always, I
stay with Lee Ackerman, my partner in crime on our sister publication, Midwest
Racing Archives. He set me up in his cellar (where he stores pickles, green
beans and other garden variety vegetables that can be condensed in a dirty
mason jar) with an old cot he stole from the Marines during his basic training
days and a rusty Sanka coffee can to crap in. Lee really rolls out the red
carpet every year for me.
Usually, Thursday
nights for three-day events are meaningless, but this wasn’t the case at I-80.
Thursday night’s card included modifieds racing for $1,200-to-win, SLMR Late
Models competing for $5,300 to win and the postponed (from May 20) “Go 50"
for the Lucas Oil Late Models paying $10,000 to win.
The Modified
feature saw a familiar Nebraska name in victory lane, Jordan Grabouski of
Beatrice. Grabouski and RC Whitwell dueled it out for most of the race with
“Grabbo” just edging out Whitwell at the finish.
The SLMR
feature appeared to be Tad Pospisil’s as he led for most of the feature, but
Bill Leighton Jr. found an extra burst of power and passed Pospisil with just a
few laps left to seal the victory.
The Lucas
Oil “Go 50” would be one for the ages. Jonathan Davenport and Scott Bloomquist,
two of the heavy hitters in Dirt Late Model racing, going side-by-side for
nearly 50 laps with Davenport edging Bloomquist by a fender at the start/finish
line.
As everyone
filed out, the buzz of the crowd was exhilarating. All three features came down
to the wire and left the crowd and me asking, “How can they top that?”
For me,
Friday night was a bit of a letdown with double qualifying heats for the Lucas
Oil Late Models and the USMTS Modifieds. The racing was decent but not even
close to the excitement that was produced on Thursday.With the exception of
Davenport and Bloomquist, no one showed me that they were even on the same
level as those two during qualifying heats.
But as it is
every year at the Silver Dollar Nationals, not everyone shows the hand they
were dealt until it’s time to call. That would be the case again…
Let’s dial
it back a bit to put Saturday night in perspective…
In 2016,
Ryan Gustin blows an engine in his heat, has to qualify for the main event thru
the B-main, starts dead last in the 32-car field and much to the shock of the
capacity crowd, slices and dices thru the field, and takes the lead. Even
though he wouldn’t win the race, it was the talk of the dirt late model world
for months afterwards. In 2017, same scenario, different player. Brandon
Sheppard also blows his mount, qualifies thru the B-main and ends up taking
runner-up honors after starting 32nd.
As someone
said, “It doesn’t matter where you start at the Silver Dollar Nationals, you
have a chance to win the race.”
The race
started with Bloomquist off and running when the green flag dropped. It quickly
appeared that “Black Sunshine” was going to make it a runaway but out of
nowhere comes the first surprise of the evening, Ricky Weiss. Weiss, who drove
almost 700 miles from Headingly, Manitoba, Canada, sped past a surprised
Bloomquist on lap 16 and led for the next four circuits, until Bloomquist was
able to recover and take over the top spot again. Bloomquist would hold on to
the top spot for 20 more laps until a new leader emerged.
Bobby Pierce
Jr., who started 28th, rode the high side and methodically started picking off
car after car, much to the crowd’s delight. On lap 41 Pierce was on
Bloomquist’s bumper and as the overflow crowd was on its feet, Pierce took the
top line past Bloomquist on lap 42, much (again) to Bloomer’s surprise. Once
again Bloomquist would recover and regain the lead only to lose it back to
Pierce five laps later.
With Pierce firmly
in command, I could almost sense defeat in Bloomquist. As his car sped by in
turns one and two, I could tell from his body language in the car, that he
didn’t have the horses to catch the “Smooth Operator”.
Jonathan
Davenport (remember him?), who had been driving a steady if unspectacular race,
got by Bloomquist as well and started his chase on first place. But as it were,
Pierce found a high line to his liking and to me and I’m sure the rest of the
crowd in attendance, it was just a matter of clicking off the laps before
Pierce claimed his third career crown jewel (2016 World 100 and 2017 Show-Me
100).
But, as Yogi
Berra once stated, “It’s not over until it’s over.”
As Pierce
slid by me in turns one and two on lap 77, I heard a rat-tat-tat coming from
his car. Immediately I thought to myself,” Oh, oh, that’s not good.” It wasn’t…
A blown
motor ended Pierce’s night with only three laps to go. It was heartbreaking to
see. I can’t imagine what Pierce felt being that close to a $53,000 payday only
to see it slip away.
Bobby Pierce Jr. sent the capacity crowd into a frenzy coming from his 28th starting position to first place. Unfortunately, Pierce's night would end three laps from the finish. - Kyle Ealy Photo
Jonathan
Davenport, who really didn’t have a chance in hell of catching Pierce was
sitting in the catbird’s seat when Pierce pulled to the pits. Now it was over…
A couple of
other drivers who showed nothing on Friday finished high on the scoreboard when
the checkers waved.
Jimmy Owens,
a former Silver Dollar Nationals winner, hasn’t seen the best of times this
year but after starting 17th, garnered a podium finish with Davenport and
Weiss. Tim McCreadie, the defending race winner, had a tough weekend and had to
win the non-qualifier race, the “Belt Bash” just to get in the 33-car field. However,
in the grand finale, McCreadie caught a second wind and finished a respectable
eighth. Chris Simpson was the highest finishing Iowan, starting 26th and
grabbing a top-10 finish.
The USMTS
35-lap finale was over before it started with Rodney Sanders starting on the
pole. Sanders has had I-80 dialed in for several years, winning handily during
every appearance, and it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to win
again. Former USMTS national champion Jason Hughes made a valiant run at
Sanders but in the end, the Happy, TX, pilot pocketed the $8,000 check.
As sluggish
as the USMTS portion of the SDN was, I will point out that the officials of the
Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series take heed on how to run an efficient program.
While there was a lot of pissing around between heats and during yellow flags
with the Lucas Oil crew, Todd Staley and his USMTS group ran off a snappy
program both nights with no time wasted. I overheard a lot of other people
making the same comments regarding USMTS’ well-run syllabus and Lucas Oil’s
poor time management skills.
Aside from
the racing, you always meet interesting people at I-80. One of the highlights
for me was meeting Rollie Frink of Davenport, IA. A lot of you old-timers will
remember Frink competing weekly during the 70’s and 80’s not only at his home
track but East Moline, IL, was well. He was also a regular with the NASCAR
Busch All-Stars. Frink is good friends with co-owner Steve Kosiski and comes to
the Silver Dollar every year to help out.
Lee and I
found him under the grandstands a couple of hours before the races on Thursday.
Like everyone else, he was trying to find some shade and stay cool, so we sat
down and chatted with him. As it turned out, we would do the same on Friday and
Saturday. This was one of those times when I closed the mouth and opened the ears.
Rollie had story after story about his racing days, a lot of which you won’t
find in print; and some stories just not printable.
I spent most
of the weekend hanging out with a couple of photographers, Chris Eiel and
Amanda “Teapot” Reitan. If you peruse this website, you’ve seen Chris’ work on
here. His passion is drag racing, but he’s been spending quite a bit of time
watching cars go around in a circle at I-80 and Shelby County Speedway in
Harlan, IA, the last few seasons. Amanda has been the track photographer at
I-80 Speedway for three years now and does an excellent job there.
We pretty
much took over turns one and two for the weekend, sending the “serious”
photographers over to the other side of the track. We had a lot of fun for
those three days…sometimes we even remembered to take pictures.
I thoroughly
enjoyed my weekend at the Silver Dollar Nationals and I’m ready to do it again
next year. Thanks to Lee Ackerman, Chris Eiel and Amanda Reitan for making my
visit pleasurable.
A great crowd was on hand to witness some great racing at the Fayette County Fair. - Kyle Ealy Photo
Wednesday,
July 25, took me to another favorite track of mine, the Fayette County
Fairgrounds in West Union, IA. The Deery Brother Summer Series was making its
triumphant return to the 3/8-mile for the first time in over nine years (June
17, 2009).
Before I
left Cedar Rapids I checked the weather forecast and radar just to be sure.
While there was rain in the area, it appeared the heavy stuff would be well
north of West Union…so away I went.
Upon
arriving at the track and walking to the infield, I bumped into a familiar face
from faraway. K.C. Rooney, whose originally from Waukon, IA, but has lived in
California for the past 20-something years, was in the early stages of his
annual two-week “Iowa Racing Trip”. I had met K.C. the first time over 10 years
ago at a WDRL race at West Liberty. He too, had been at the Silver Dollar
Nationals (how did we not bump into each other there?), pedaled a couple of
days of RAGBRAI with family and now found himself in the tiny northeast
community. He still had Fairbury, IL and Cedar Lake, WI, on his schedule. What
a great vacation…
Along with
the IMCA late models, B-modifieds, stock cars and hobby stocks, all sanctioned
by the United States Racing Association, were the support group. By the end of
the night, however, all four divisions shared the main stage with sterling
performances.
The skies
were dark off to the north, so track officials started clicking off heat races
in apple pie order. No wasted motion here; as soon as the checkers waved on one
race, the next line-up was marched out and the green was waving. We were making
excellent time but right during the third and final heat for the late models,
sprinkles became drops and the rains came. Not a heavy shower, mind you, but a
nice steady rain any farmer would appreciate.
After about
an hour delay, the blade came out to roll the track back in, followed by the
sheep’s foot and finally, a wave of drivers came out to pack the track. Team
work will get anything accomplished and this was a sterling example that there
is no “I” in team.
The hearty
faithful who came to watch some late models and great racing in general stuck
it out during the delay and they were all richly awarded with what became an
extremely racy surface. After finishing up the late model heat and a couple of
hobby stock heat races, the fans in the stands and myself were treated to four
very competitive features.
While the
late models may have been the marquee, the support divisions made their own
headlines with great side-by-side racing and finishes that came right down to the
wire.
The late
model finale saw Chad Holladay, last week’s winner at Columbus Junction, rocket
to the lead at the drop of the green and it looked like the race was well in
hand for the Muscatine, IA, pilot. Holladay’s car was a rocket ship and he
built a sizeable lead.
But a
caution late in the contest bunched up the field and, on the restart, Todd
Cooney, who had started eighth, jumped past Justin Kay and Holladay and took
over the top spot. Cooney would hold off an always stubborn Justin Kay for the win
and the $2,000 check. Not bad for a guy who had his car loaded up on the
trailer when the rains came.
It was a
family feud of sorts when Brandon and Ryan Maitland decided to keep it in the
family for B-modified honors. The two brothers dueled it out for the bulk of
the feature event before Brandon pulled away. Ryan would fade in the late going
and finish fourth. According to Brandon in victory lane, Ryan won the feature
last year, just beating him out for the victory. So, revenge is sweet…even if
it’s against you own kin.
The stock
car contest was as good as it gets with a familiar name in northeast Iowa
racing, Chris Hovden of Decorah, IA, in victory lane. Hovden and another stock
car veteran, Tom Schmitt of Independence, IA, ran side-by-side for nearly all
of the feature with Hovden winning by a car length. Behind them were Kyle
Falck, Dan Jones and Lynn Panos having their own three-car skirmish. And behind
them, Brian Mahlstedt, Kevin Donlan and Troy Hansmeier were staging their own
three-car fracas.
I’ve said it
once, I’ll say it again; the USRA stock car division in northeast Iowa is as
good as it gets. I’d put them up against the IMCA guys any day of the week.
Three-wide racing was the norm all night at Fayette County Speedway. - Kyle Ealy Photo
The hobby
stock feature ended the evening and what a show they put on. You could have
literally thrown a blanket over the front three drivers, Justin Lichty, Josh
Ludeking and Brady Link. Those three juked and jived all over the track and
even threw a couple of sliders on each other for good measure. Like the stock
car contest, the hobbies were going two and three-wide far back into the field.
Lichty, a
veteran hobbyist from Waterloo, IA, finally was able to distant himself (but
not a lot) to pick the victory. He gave credit to Ludeking and Link in victory
lane for running a clean but competitive race.
A special
thank you to the fine people of the Fayette County Fair and especially the
ground crew who made what was a good track into a spectacular racing surface
after an hour-long rain. As Todd Cooney said in victory lane, “You could run on
the top, on the bottom or right down the middle if you wanted to, it was
awesome!”
Everyone was
a winner at West Union on Wednesday night.
Thanks for
reading…finally after four years,
Kyle
