More Vacation Racin'

With careful planning and a run of good weather, I was able to put together a string of six nights of racing in 11 days, while enjoying some much needed vacation. The final three nights filled this past weekend, and started with the seventh appearance of the IMCA late models at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. Promoter Terry Hoenig used one of his draw, redraw nights in conjunction with no racing in Davenport, Iowa due to the county fair. 22 cars signed in, and although my buddies and I had thought there may be a few more travelers, it would have been impossible to be disappointed with the group of drivers that showed up. My thought was that every car there was Deery Series quality. 106 total cars took part in the six class program, and every race was competitive as we awaited the late model finale, which ran last on the card. Michael Long again put on a show in the IMCA modified feature, starting from the 11th spot and taking the lead on lap seven without benefit of a caution flag. Brandon Rothzen gave chase, but settled for the runnerup spot. Longs IMCA car owner, Jim Gillenwater nabbed the sportmod feature after a good battle with Phillip Cossell. Dan Wenig won a spirited match over Jim Lynch in the hobby stocks, and Matt Greiner used a late pass to edge Jim Redman in the stock car main. Mike Hornung Jr. picked up a big Wild Thing win.
The late model redraw found first heat winner Ray Guss Jr. on the pole for the 25 lapper, and as strong as the " River City Hustler " was in the preliminary it would be a tough row to hoe for the rest of the field. However it looked like the # 58 team set up to run the lower groove, and as of late the top side has been the fast side at Donnellson. It was only Guss second trip to LCS this season, so he was at a bit of a disadvantage in that area. Meanwhile, second row starter Jeff Aikey has been highly successful running the cushion in 2010, and he used that groove to overtake Guss. Although Ray stayed close, he was unable to reclaim the top spot, and he soon had his hands full with ninth starting Mark Burgtorf. Mark was trying to coax one more night out of a very tired IMCA spec engine, and in fact did not hot lap to try and save as much as he could. The powerplant did hold up, and Mark maintained his rather comfortable points lead over Denny Woodworth with a third place run. Lonnie Bailey, who has struggled mightily in 2010 went back to the drawing board with his set ups, found something that worked, and rolled to a fourth place run ahead of Woodworth. It was the third feature win for Aikey as he is the only repeat winner. The final checkers flew about 10:30, concluding a very good night of racing.
After a quick trip to the pits, we hustled home, and after a short nights sleep, I headed out along with my wife, daughter and two oldest grandsons for a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks. After an afternoon of shopping, grandson Keagan and I left the others around the hotel pool, and we headed
15 miles north to Kevin and Tammy Gundakers Lake Ozark Speedway. It was our first ever visit to the 3/8 mile facility, and my 14th different track of 2010. The featured class was the MARS late models running topless for $3000 to win, and the 30 car field exactly matched my prediction. The track does not run late models weekly, as 360 sprint cars are the weekly attraction. It was obvious by the large and enthusiastic crowd that the super late models are popular none the less. We were a bit concerned with six classes of cars scheduled, including $1,000 to win for the 4 cylinder class, but with several other tracks running within 100 miles, the car counts were in the teens and the show started in good time even though there were several late arrivals. The 9:00 intermission was also a concern, but the crate late model feature clicked off quickly, with track champion Brandon Imhoff holding off visitor Bobby Pierce for the win. The B-mod feature was up next, and as is so often the case, turned into a caution fest. Mercifully, the time limit was finally met, with Lonnie Wyman Jr. collecting the win. The running order was then switched, with the 22 car Mars feature coming to the track. First heat winner Terry Phillips was the pole sitter, and the very popular Springfield, Mo. driver was going to be the man to beat. His front row mate was heat four winner Dave Eckrich, with the first 15 spots set by passing points. Row two was Iowa City driver Matt Furman, and Quincy,Il ace Mark Burgtorf. Mark had headed home from Donnellson and replaced his IMCA engine with his aluminum powerplant before his head hit the pillow. He then brought both of his spec engines with him, while his Arkansas engine builder, Kuntz, met him to take them back to the shop. It was third row starter and Phillips teammate Jeremy Payne who charged to the second spot and began to run down the # 75. Soon however it was Burgtorf who hooked up his #7, and he took up the chase. He stayed on Phillips bumper through two mid race cautions, as the two ran through lapped traffic. Mark may well have had a faster car, but Terry was not giving up the preferred low groove, leading all 35 laps for the win. Brandon McCormick made a late race charge to capture third, with veteran Al Purkey holding off Payne for fourth. Dave Eckrich finished sixth, young Brandon Sheppard was seventh, while Frank Heckenast Jr. wheeled the Randy Korte # 00 to an eighth place run. Mark Voigt and Eric Turner completed the top ten. Denny Eckrich started 15th and finished 12th, with Quincian Rickey Frankel making the show and being credited with 17th. Series points leader 16 year old Gary Christian fell out of the main event early, while former IMCA national champion Justin Wells dropped out of his heat race and could not start the B-main. with the clock easing past 10:30, we headed for the car with three features remaining. The facility which sits along highway 54 is a top notch venue, and I am looking forward to another visit soon.
The weekend concluded with a Sunday night visit to Quincy Raceways for weekly racing. Heat, breakage and dwindling funds hurt the car counts somewhat, with only 11 IMCA late models signed in along with 20 UMP mods, 10 IMCA stock cars, and 13 hobby stocks. The KIDZ Mods also made a special appearance. The 30 lap late model feature was an entertaining one, with only two caution periods slowing the event. First heat winner Darin Weisinger led the first eight laps before Dustin Griffin took over. Point leader Denny Woodworth worked his way from the tenth starting slot, and took over at the halfway mark. From there he stayed in control for his fourth checkers of the season. Number two point man and last weeks winner Jason Perry moved to the second spot, and held off Keith Pratt for the spot. Griffin wound up fourth ahead of " Wild Willy " Genenbacher. Woodworth now leads Perry by six points with three points nights remaining. For 18 laps it looked as though Michael Longs victory streak would end, as he ran a somewhat distant third behind Steven Delonjay and visiting Rusty Griffaw from Festus, Mo. in the modified finale. When the caution flew with seven laps to go, everything changed. With the top two running the bottom groove, Long went up top and charged by both cars. Lapped cars came in to play on the final lap, and Long and Delonjay came to the stripe side by side. The electronic scoring device shows Michael with an edge of less than one second. It made the driver of the #18 eight for eight in feature starts at QR in 2010. Eleven year old Jake Griffin hit the front stretch wall hard in his heat race, badly damaging his UMP modifieds, minutes after being forced to scratch his KIDZ Mod due to mechanical issues. Steve Steinkuhler grabbed the stock car main, with point leader Steve Carlin holding off Bobby Anders in an edge of the seat hobby feature. Logan Moody of Catlin, Ilcaptured the Kidz Mod finale.
Life returned to normal today as I went back to work, and started thinking about the options for next weekend. See you at the track!