A Full Day of Racing at Springfield

  For the past dozen years, Springfield, Mo. Speedway has ended their season with the event known as the Turkey Bowl, scheduled the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Though well to the south, the weather always makes this race a gamble, and over the years it has often been moved back one day to Sunday, or if necessary even the weekend following the holiday. 2019 marked my third time as an attendee, all in the last three seasons, and for the second time, an unfavorable forecast saw the action moved to Sunday. After spending Saturday night in the Ozarks, we arrived early at the 1/4 mile facility to what appeared to be an already crowded pit area. As we speculated about what the car count for the six division program might have been had this days' sixty degree temps and sunny skies come a day earlier, haulers continued to come in waves down pit road.
  The drivers were informed in their pre race meeting that their would be no hot laps, and with good reason, as the final tally was an even two hundred cars checked in to race! For us long distance travelers with our own self imposed curfew, this represented a mixed bag of good and bad news.
  As advertised, heat races started right on time at 2:30, and there would be twenty three of them along with ten B main qualifiers needed to set the feature fields.
  Although the racing surface had obviously received quite a bit of precipitation, the crew had done a nice job of creating a smooth, racy track, which they continued to work to maintain between races. One unfortunate result of the abundance of mud was a tall berm around the inside groove which effectively prevented competitors from exiting to the infield. This along with a decision to forego a one spin rule, a quick on the draw flagman, and the aggressive driving needed to advance in to a qualifying spot created caution periods measured in dozens.
  The qualifying action wrapped up about 6:45, with feature races still to go. First up was a twenty lapper for the twenty one legend cars on hand. Long distance visitor Drew Papke made the tow from Bismarck, North Dakota, started in row three and took home the familiar turkey trophy and the big check that goes with it. Following a pair of early yellows, Papke took the lead for good, then walked away for the win. A trio of Joplin, Missouri drivers, Justin Comer, Grayson Cox, and Trenton Simon sandwiched fourth place Tim Brockhouse from Shakopee, Minnesota with top five runs. Super late model driver Jesse Stovall was the two hundreth driver to sign in, wheeling a sharp looking #00 legend car, but his top ten run ended with a multi car accident between turns three and four.
  Next up all but one of the twenty Midwest Modified qualifiers, whittled down from forty five entrants lined up for twenty trips around the oval. Trent Wynn, Elijah Keeper, and Casey Burnett were locked in an entertaining three car battle before contact sent the front runner Wynn spinning to a stop. Keeper powered through the infield without stopping, and was lined up in the number two position for the restart. He overtook Barnett in the closing laps and held him off the rest of the way for the win, followed by another pair of home state pilots, Jerad McIntire and Jaren Martin. Overland Park, Kansas driver Shawn Burns completed the top five.
  The clock now read 7:40, and although the track was still smooth and racy with three grooves in play, track officials followed their pre race plan, bringing out the grader. This was to be followed by a hot lap session for twelve of the qualified late models, then features for USRA B mods, late models, IMCA mods, and finally mini late models. Knowing this would take us well past our 8:30 curfew, we headed for the car to begin the five plus hour trip home.
   A check of the results shows Ryan Gilmour topping J C Morton, Clint Johnson, Jackie Dalton, who also qualified his late model, and Ricky Watkins in the B mods and Logan Martin cashing the $2,000 late model check after besting Payton Looney, Scott Crigler, and Cole and Justin Wells. Topeka Kansas driver Steven Bowers Jr. outran one of the two Iowa pilots on hand, Ethan Braaksma, from Newton to capture modified honors, followed by Robbie Reed, Denison, Iowas' Shane Demay, and Sawyer Crigler. Jaxon Ertel topped the ten mini late models in his car number 1/4.
   Even though we were not able to stay until the end, we were still treated to a full night of action with thirty five races. Hopefully the 2020 version of the Turkey Bowl will happen on Saturday and we can stay until the final checkers!
   Cold and snow may be upon us, but I hope to squeeze out one more night of racing this season. The fourth annual Gateway Dirt Nationals is set for December 19-21 at the Dome in St. Louis, with  open late models in action along with modifieds and midgets by invitation. How can you turn down racing in December!?!