My 2024 race season took off earlier than expected as I hitched a ride to a new to me venue, Park Jefferson International Speedway just across the Iowa border in Jefferson, South Dakota. With an early forecast of temps in the upper sixties, track officials two weeks ago made the unlikely decision to present a Saturday afternoon event dubbed the Spring Kickoff Classic. With the addition just last week of 305 Sprint Cars, six classes of cars would be in action,also including Modifieds, Sport Mods, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and Compacts. Hot laps were scheduled to hit the three eighths mile dirt oval at 12:30, with heat races beginning at 1:00. Officials were rewarded with a whopping 136 cars through the pit gate along with an announced crowd of 900! Surely this number could have been even larger were it not for the strong south east wind which blew into the open grandstands all afternoon. Fortunately this was not an issue for Jeff, Barry and myself, as we arrived just in time to secure chairs inside the "clubhouse," a leftover from the days when Park Jeff was a dog track with para mutual betting!
Hobby Stocks led the way with thirty two entries, which required four heats and a pair of B mains to set the feature field. The other divisions ranged between nineteen and twenty three cars, with three heat races in each, giving us twenty one preliminary events. With the one spin rule in effect, the qualifying action moved along fairly quickly once racing began, and it was about 3:13 when a fifteen minute intermission was announced. During the break, track officials decided to dump several loads of water on the black dirt surface even though there was multi groove racing and despite the sun and wind, dust never seemed to be an issue. As a result, it was about fifty minutes before the next green flag, and with our five and six hour drive back home, this put us dangerously close to our self imposed 5:00 PM curfew. Once the features kicked off, however the action again moved at a fairly brisk pace. Part of the delay was due to the unlikely front stretch flip of the #22T car of Tyler Smith as he helped to roll in the surface.
Hobbies would be up first, battling for fourteen laps. Four caution flags slowed the event, with Bo Lundquist using his pole start to lead the first four circuits before a flat tire ended his run. His row one mate Carter Davis then took over, fending off challenges from first seventh starting Matt Rezac, then outside third row starter Corey Black. At the checkers it was Davis, Black, and Rezac.
Sport Mods would be next, racing for sixteen trips around. Outside pole sitter Willy Kirk, who I believe is a third generation hot shoe powered to the lead followed closely by Brayton Carter in the Carter Vandenberg #7V through an early caution. Back to racing following a final lap seven yellow flag, pole sitter John Rebstock used the Delaware double file restart to beat Carter to turn one. As Kirk opened a comfortable lead, Rebstock and Carter followed to the checkers.
Now it would be Stock Cars dueling twenty laps. Daniel Eckblad took off from the pole to lead ahead of a lap two caution. Back under green, row eight starter Levi Feltman methodically worked his way through traffic, moving to the runner up slot at the halfway mark, then used an outside pass to grab the lead with just six laps to go. As the pack migrated to the inside line, Feltman stretched his margin, soon catching the back of the field, with Eckblad and Jason Fisher soon cutting into his lead. With only two circuits remaining, a car spun in front of the leader, bringing a final caution. When racing resumed, Feltman drove on to the hard fought victory chased by Eckblad and Fisher.
We were still a few minutes ahead of our curfew, which we decided to extend as Modifieds rolled to the speedway for their twenty lap finale. Following a first lap restart, third starting Jeremy Mills shot to the front, trailed by his row two mate Cody Thompson, and pole sitter Jerry King. Sixth starting Shane Demay climbed to third after a lap five caution, while Nebraska late model standout Justin Zeitner began a march forward to fourth. Just past the halfway mark, Zeitner suddenly rolled to a stop on the front stretch, bringing out a yellow before then driving to the pits. Troy Cordes had lined up ninth in his #71C, but used this last restart to charge to third. That was where he would stay, as Mills cruised to the win while Thompson came home the runner up.
As always, it took a while for the Sprint Cars to go through the process of getting to the green flag, but by now we were hooked, and soon they took the green for twenty laps. There would be four yellow flag periods during the race, but fortunately zero reds. Andrew Sullivan would shoot from the pole, and lead throughout. The track appeared to be a "tire eater," as several front runners fell by the wayside with flats during the event. Things were getting interesting up front as the lead pack caught the tail of the field, staying in formation for several trips around before a spin by third running Brandon Bosma reset the field seven laps from the checkers. There was yet one more stoppage with just two laps left, but Sullivan was up to the challenge, taking a flag to flag win. Dusty Ballenger advanced from row three to claim second while Trefer Waller powered all the way from row eight to fill out the podium.
We were now nearly one hour past our original curfew, so it was time to hit the road as Sport Compacts prepared to close out the program. A check of the results shows that Kaytee DeVries, a standout performer in the Compacts, took the win over Tyler Thompson and Kaylee Richards.
It was for this reporter a most enjoyable and unique experience. I cannot remember the last time I attended a scheduled afternoon race, but it quite possibly goes back to the 1970's? Also the diverse field included drivers from eight different states competing, one of the reasons that we so enjoy the early spring and late fall specials.
Thanks to the operators of Park Jefferson International Speedway for taking a chance on what appeared to be a successful idea. I would expect to see this on the calendar again in 2025, weather permitting, of course. And who knows, maybe we will be there to cover it once again! In the meantime, where the road takes us next will depend a lot on the forecasts, so stayed tuned. Race season has begun!
Edit: For whatever reason, Andrew Sullivan was a DQ in the Sprint feature, turning the win over to Dusty Ballenger and moving Lee Goos Jr. to third.
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