This weekend I was fortunate to feed my desire for November racing with nights two and three of the Larry Phillips Memorial Turkey Bowl at Jerry Hoffmans' Springfield, Missouri Raceway. A change in format this year drew us to the extra night, with A Modified double heat races determining passing points for the first few rows of the Saturday main event. However, along with five heats for the fifty one late models on Saturday, it seems a bit less than charitable to only advance eight drivers to their respective "money race." As an example, Iowa racer Ryan Gustin and Missouri hot shoe Logan Martin started in row one and captured their ten lap late model heat, but were forced to a B main. I guess I can challenge the process, but a three night total of 350 plus race cars and a big Saturday night crowd perhaps puts me in the minority.
If you followed this special weekend of racing, you are likely well informed concerning the issues with the safety crew, if not my Positively Racing and travel mate Jeff Broeg detailed it elsewhere on this blog site. But with all this being said, it was a solid two nights of racing which serve as a great season ender, and I will once again be marking it on my personal list of events to attend in 2024.
Seven total classes participated over the three nights with all but the late models running heat races one night, B mains and Turkey Bowl features another. For all but the Legends, those nights came back to back, and with the one day gap in their program, three extra Legend racers rolled in on Saturday and were allowed to tag the tail of their twenty lap finale, swelling the starting field to twenty seven. For all other divisions, it was twenty car mains, plenty on the quick quarter mile.
Allen Thompson claimed the unique Turkey Bowl trophy for the Pure Stocks on Friday, and as the evening progressed and the temperatures plummeted through the forties, we made the decision to head for our hotel ahead of the Midwest B Modified headliner, which went to Tyler Pearish.
Although the Saturday program was set to kick off near 4:00 PM, about two hours earlier than Friday, the 248 race teams combined with fireworks during intermission, multiple cars wanting hot laps, end of season B main action, etc., produced another marathon evening.
The tone may have been set in the first late model heat when outside pole sitter Carl Murphy got crossed up at the exit of turn two and collected a fair portion of the field. The contact resulted in Murphy getting upside down, with top contender Tony Jackson Jr. also nearly toppling over before coming down atop the Murphy #X2M. The result left both drivers sidelined for the night.
Young Sawyer Crigler was racing his #11 with a 525CT crate engine, which allowed him to employ a spoiler about twice as tall as his competitors. He was running a strong second in the first of three B mains when a cloud of smoke ended his run.
Austin Vincent was out front in the final B when he suddenly ducked to the pit area.
Legend cars would kick off feature racing, and it quickly devolved into a three car battle. The first half of the twenty lapper clicked off caution free, then three more yellows came in the next four circuits. But through it all, it was Jay Reynolds out front, and he took home the hardware, besting Tyler Garretson and Trenton Simon.
B Mods would line up for twenty five laps. Second generation driver Damien Kiefer and wily veteran Ken Schrader would fill the front row. That duo would swap the lead early before the hottest B Modder around, Kris Jackson arrived from row three to join the party. Pulling away from the field, the front three battled ahead of a lap eleven caution. On the restart Jackson powered to the lead, and from there stayed in command. Schrader stayed in range but failed to score his second Turkey. Ryan Gilmore charged all the way from row six to third, followed by Kiefer and Dalton Keith.
In another unique sideshow, as Hoffman reworked the racing surface, a decorated barrel was set up in front of the bleachers and the top eight A Mod qualifiers were trotted out and challenged to toss a football into the barrel from several feet away. The first to sink the shot would start on the feature pole, and the rotation would continue until the lineup was determined. While Schrader elected to not participate and start in eighth in his second main event, another double duty driver, Sawyer Crigler grabbed the pole on the opening toss. The veteran standout from my neck of the woods, Mark Burgtorf would line up alongside Crigler. Even with his somewhat under powered IMCA engine on the regroomed surface, Burgtorf paced the first seven laps before giving way to Crigler. Meanwhile, sixth starting Terry Phillips, top contender son of the honored driver, drove to the runner up slot on lap ten. Following a caution flag, Iowa standout Tom Berry Jr. worked his way to second on lap fifteen after lining up seventh. Berry then grabbed the lead on lap twenty two. As the halfway point of the fifty lapper was scored, a slowing Dakota Sproul caused Berry to check up and as he made contact with that car, Crigler eased to the front to be scored the leader for the restart. Unfazed, Berry quickly moved back to the front as racing resumed, setting a quick pace as he "catfished" around the bottom of the oval. One more caution came thirty eight laps in, but Berry remained in control. He collected the Turkey and the $7,575 payday in his first ever trip to the facility. Crigler took the runner up spot, but failed post race tech, turning second over to tenth starting Dylan Thornton. Phillips would be scored third, followed by Schrader and row seven starter Shawn Knuckles. Sixth through tenth went to Anthony Roth, Austin Rettig, Darron Fuqua, Ohio star Rusty Schlenk, and Burgtorf.
Thirty laps would be the distance for the $5,075 to win Late Model main event. Up and coming Arkansas racer Tyler Stevens and MLRA Rookie of the Year Dillon McCowan would fill out row one, pulling out in a two car breakaway. Meanwhile tenth starting Logan Martin was on the move, entering the top five on lap six. Slower traffic became a factor about lap ten, as Stevens was able to pull away a bit and Martin advanced to fourth. Now it was Nebraska ace Justin Zeitner moving in to challenge for second, followed closely by Martin. Continuing his charge, Martin then drove around Zeitner for third. Gustin, who started alongside Martin after their heat race debacle, came to fifth on lap eighteen, then fourth two laps later. But by now Stevens was cruising, and with zero cautions during the thirty laps, the #2 drove off to the win. McCowan gained some separation in second, while Martin, Gustin, and Zeitner crossed the line nose to tail. Scott Crigler led the second five in front of Caney, Kansas driver Jacob Magee, Jace Parmley, Dustin Hodges, and Jim Greenway.
There was one race remaining when we elected to call it a night and a season. Reporting shows Anthony Ferrara topping the Midwest A Mod finale.
On track racing in this area is down to the Gateway Dirt Nationals in December which will go on without me the season. But I will still be manning the keyboard with an end of season wrap up to come, and it seems as if this off season may be legendary for "news!" So stayed tuned and be sure and keep up with all of us here at Positively Racing as we navigate all the changes. Happy Thanksgiving, and we will be back soon!
