For the small amount of time we spent in our hotel rooms Saturday night we should have asked for a discount, but a pretty tasty complimentary breakfast and a nice visit with late model DJ "Dancin' " Bobby Hansen geared us up to get "On the Road Again." Taking along the prairie winds from the night before, we rolled through Kansas City pointed toward our destination, the Stuart International Speedway. Checking My Race Pass frequently along the way - we were mostly talked out by that point - it looked as though the final night of the Frost Buster mini series would yield lower than expected car counts in the six competing divisions. But as we drove into the quarter mile facility at approximately hot lap time, we could see that the pit area had overflowed into part of the normal spectator parking as track officials worked furiously to check in the eventual 136 car field.
As it turned out, running a few minutes behind, something almost unheard of at a Mike Van Genderen run event, turned out to be a blessing. Those same strong winds, now blowing non stop from turn four towards turn one, coupled with sunny skies and temps in the seventies had fairly baked the racing surface, creating a slicked up track and early follow the leader heat races. But this was hardly MVGs' first rodeo, and he was soon in the tractor, reworking the track, and as the sun gave way to clouds and cooler temps, the surface came around to produce outstanding side by side action. Looking to keep the surface in first class shape and keep the program moving at a fast pace, Mike would be poised to take a couple of manicure laps in the few seconds between the thirty races presented.
Come feature time, it was the outlaw mini mods that would line up first, and much like our experience the night before, the first feature proved to be the stinker. Despite pleadings over the radio for patience and smart driving, the crash fest was eventually shortened from fifteen to eleven laps. Through the carnage, Lucas Daniels executed a flag to flag win. Kamdyn Haggard moved up from row four to challenge, but settled for runner up honors over Garrett Seals, T.J.Findlow, and Zachary Schaefer.
When two dozen IMCA sport mods were up next for twenty laps, I confess to expecting more of the same. Boy, was I wrong! Early on it was the #26 cars of Jace Whitt and Mitchell Morris in a side by side battle for the lead. Soon Logan Anderson blew in from row three to take up the chase of Whitt. Tim Bergerson and Brayton Carter continued to stalk the leaders as the laps wound down, and after twenty non stop green flag laps, it was Whitt with his first ever feature win! Anderson, Bergerson, Carter, and Jake Sachau trailed in the top five.
All twenty five IMCA stock cars made the twenty five lap feature call. Jonathon Logue led the opening pair of laps as Damon Murty worked from row three to the lead on the third circuit. Son Dallon Murty joined the top five on lap five, coming from ninth, and by lap eight he was second, preparing to cut into the big lead his father had established. Damon caught the back of the pack thirteen laps in, and two laps later he came upon a gaggle of cars racing three wide for position. But Lady Luck was on his side, as the caution came out, giving him a clear track ahead. Now Dad worked the high line while son took the inside groove through another pair of stoppages. The duo ran side by side throughout the closing laps, with Dallon actually ahead as lap twenty three was scored. As the checkers waved, the finish was too close to call, and from my off center vantage point, I though Dallon had pulled it out. But the transponders gave Damon the win in a thriller by .007 seconds! Troy Jerovetz, Logue, and Buck Schafroth completed the first five
Kaden Murray from Beatrice, Nebraska started on the pole, tok the lead for good on lap three, and collected the non stop fifteen lap win in the IMCA sport compact division. Kolby Sabin, Mitchell Bunch, Michael Hotze, and Tyler Fiebelkorn followed.
Nineteen cars made up the IMCA modified field and they all came to the track for their twenty five lapper. Pole sitter Brint Hartwick grabbed the early lead while division rookie Dallon Murty got shuffled back from his outside front row redraw spot. Following a lap two caution, a three wide battle for the top spot developed between Hartwick, Drew Janssen, and Jeff James. Cayden Carter joined the party on lap nine after a row five start, but it was tenth starting Tom Berry who turned on the after burners as the race rolled on. On lap eleven he took the runner up spot, and a strong move put him out front as lap thirteen was scored. Carter moved to third a couple laps later, but this race was all Berry as he stretched out to a straightaway lead over the final five circuits. Slower traffic with three laps left presented no problem, but after he took the white flag, the yellow came out for a slowing car on the front stretch. This brought the field back to the #11x for a green, white, checkers finish, but he again pulled away for the victory. Carter used the final restart to claim second, while Tim Ward jumped to third. Hartwick was shuffled to fourth, trailed by Janssen.
We were now a couple minutes past our self imposed 9:00 curfew with one race remaining. So when the second caution waved halfway through the IMCA hobby stock finale, we headed for the parking lot. Dylan Nelson appeared to have things in hand as we departed, and reports show him hanging on for the win over Luke Ramsey, Brandon Cox, Solomon Bennett, and Skylar Pruitt.
Even with a bit of a late start and 136 race teams, the show moved along at a swift pace with no wasted time, wrapping up around 9:30. From a fan stand point, there were so many little time savers that seem obvious to me, but seem to elude many race promoters. And that started right away, with twelve cars at a time taking hot laps in a simple green, white, checkers format. Throughout the night, the cars would enter the track off turn four, and the next trip around, the race would go green. While victory lane photos were being taken, the next feature would already be coming to the track. And safety crews mobilized quickly when needed. It would seem to me that in many cases, nights that become too long at the track happen one and two minutes at a time - and then there can be those drawn out intermissions, but that was not the case on Sunday, so we will save that for another time!
Thanks to Mike and his team as always for their hospitality to this blogger. Hopefully there can be another visit or two to this fine facility in 2022.
Rough calculations put me at just over 1100 miles in two days chasin' race cars. A friend sent a message. asking when I might slow down a bit. I guess the answer is "not yet!"
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