Saturday we wrapped up our 2024 racing season with our annual pilgrimage to Springfield, Mo. Raceway for the final night of the 18th annual Turkey Bowl. B and A mains for the Midwest Mods, B Mods, A Mods, and Legends, plus a full show for open Late Models would make up a very full card of action in front of a large crowd. Only the Late Models would hot lap, kicking things off about 4:15 on what would slowly become anticipated chilly conditions. At least that is what was on the schedule. But checking once more after arriving in town, hot laps had been pushed back one hour. Perhaps the bright sunshine and stiff breeze would have made track prep more challenging, but whatever the reason, we were gifted with a smooth and fast racing surface helped along by several spritzes of water and a couple of somewhat lengthy "farming" sessions. The good news is there was side by side racing all night long with plenty of passing. The bad news is with 277 cars checked in for the evening, the thirty two race program (complete with a fireworks display!) took about eight hours to complete, with the final checkers waving about 1:12 A.M., leaving us well chilled, but happy. And, hey, we were racing in November! With three other classes having wrapped up competition on Thursday or Friday, the forty nine Super Late Models signed in swelled the weekend car count to a record 404 cars in this the eighteenth year of what had became known as the Turkey Bowl!
If I may be permitted small criticisms, I do think the twenty two B main qualifiers could have been staged with fewer laps. Twelve circuits for Legends and Midwest Mods, fifteen for the other divisions seemed a bit long, and having qualified only eight feature starters in the five Late Model heats (as well as the other classes on prior nights) also seemed a bit light. On the plus side, the vastly improved track lighting, upgraded speaker system and parking attendants were steps in a positive direction.
But now, on to the racing. With all qualifying and a brief intermission in the books, twenty four Legend cars would run the first feature, twenty laps around the quick quarter mile. Chance Gilbert would lead the first seven laps after his pole start. Just as Glenn Mitchell grabbed the lead, the first caution came for a spinning Gilbert. Row six starter Jackson Lewis would charge to the front on the restart, while Trenton Simon and Sean Johnson locked in a tight battle for second. A second and final yellow came with five laps to go, but Lewis was not to be denied, making the long tow from Lakeville, Minnesota pay off, collecting the unique Turkey Bowl trophy and getting to set off a firework, as did each feature winner. Simon won the fight for second ahead of Johnson, Mitchell, and Ty Olson.
Twenty Midwest A class cars came out next for twenty laps. Mike Striegel started on the pole and was well out front working the inside line. As the race came to the mid point and the leader approached slower traffic, Mark Simon suddenly slowed, bringing out the yellow flag and ending his top five run. Back under green, ninth starting Pete Richardson used the Delaware Style restart to jump from third to the runner up position and began to hound the leader. With the leaders working the low line, Jerad McIntire took his #9X to the cushion, moving quickly to third. As the pack came through the final set of turns to the checkers, McIntire made a final charge, but slipped off the tricky cushion, recovering to cross the line in fifth. However, he apparently did not survive post race tech, earning a DQ. The final rundown had Striegel with the win followed by Richardson, Daniel Anders, Ben Newell, and JC Newell.
Track work was followed by the A Mod thirty lapper, twenty cars strong. The star studded field saw Kyle Steffens outrun his row one mate Zack VanderBeek and row two starters Kenny Wallace and Terry Phillips to turn one. On lap six Phillips moved to third ahead of a yellow flag, and he then took second on the Delaware restart. VanderBeek returned the favor following another stoppage with a dozen laps scored. Again the caution came at lap fourteen, and now it was Phillips moving once more to second. California transplant Trevor Fitz was now on the move to fourth after lining up in row six while Chase Holland used the high line to enter the top five. Phillips worked close around the tall inside berm while Steffens preferred a middle groove in the nip and tuck battle. Steffens held the lead by inches with six laps remaining, but Phillips nosed ahead the following trip across the line. In the closing circuits, the second generation hometown star increased his lead, and as the checkers flew it was Phillips scoring his fifth Turkey Bowl crown. Steffens would settle for second in front of VanderBeek, a late charge by Darin Duffy, and Wallace.
Another rework of the surface preceded $6,064 to win Late Model headliner. Forty nine entrants had been whittled down to twenty for thirty laps of action. Daniel Hilsabeck and Dillon McCowan brought the field to green. Tony Jackson Jr. followed Hilsabeck as lap one was scored while Justin Zeitner and Ryan Gustin trailed McCowan in the first five. With a lap three restart, McCowan and Gustin took up the chase. Gustin would bring out another yellow as he slowed nine laps in, his run finished. As the green flag waved once again, Jackson Jr. jumped the cushion and was shuffled all the way back to tenth. Logan Martin had started in eleventh, but he powered to third ahead on lap twenty, one circuit before another stoppage for Hilsabeck, who had a tire go down nine laps from payday. McCowan would inherit the lead and survive one more caution on lap twenty three. From there he would cruise to the win, besting Martin, Louisiana driver Clayton Stuckey, Zeitner, and hard charging and row nine starter Dustin Hodges. Hilsabeck was able to bounce back to run sixth, topping Rich Bell, Kylan Garner, Scott Crigler, and John Briggs.
B Mods would wrap up the night and the season after seventy six entrants were pared down to twenty for twenty five laps. Pole sitter Ryan Gilmore led early, passed by Glenn Styres ahead of a major pileup that brought out a red flag three laps in. Colson Kirk would grab the front position as racing resumed, pulling well ahead before a second caution with eight in the books. Logan Anderson drove from fifth to second on the restart taking along fellow Iowan Brayton Carter. Talan Willis was working near the front before going over the top of turn four just after the halfway mark to bring a final yellow. Carter would take over the top spot with nine laps to go, pulling away to collect the Turkey in his first visit to Springfield. Kirk finished second, chased by Anderson, Gilmore, and twelfth starting Logan Hickerson from Linden, Tennessee.
Before the short trip to our hotel was complete, we were well along with plans for Turkey Bowl XIX in 2025!
As I type on Monday morning, a pair of phone calls informed me that shockingly Lucas Oil has decided to shut down the iconic MLRA series as of today. This will certainly shake up the mid west Late Model landscape in ways we hesitate to hazard a guess! So grab the popcorn and hold on!
Although the Racin' Down the Road tour is probably complete for 2024, there is still one major mid west event to go, the indoor Gateway Dirt Nationals at the Dome in St. Louis December 5-7. When that is in the books, we will follow with our 2024 season recap and perhaps a look ahead to 2025. Stay tuned!
