The " Real Deal " Hits the Jackpot

Every now and then, you just feel like taking a chance, and Saturday was one of those days. The weather has stood in the way of a fair portion of the 2011 racing season, but the nearly 400 mile rainout 11 days earlier was not going to influence our next road trip. So Keagan, Darryl, Fred and I loaded up early Saturday morning and headed to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where we met up with Bill Brown and headed off on yet another adventure. If the rain stayed away, it would be the first visit for all but Bill to the I-80 Speedway near Greenwood - think Omaha - Nebraska for the final night of the inaugural Silver Dollar Nationals. The Saturday lineup included a complete USMTS modified show for the second consecutive night, plus last chance races and the 80 lap feature for the MLRA late models. As none of us has the weather app on our cell phones, we made several calls along our journey across Iowa, as the rain began north of Oskaloosa and stayed with us off and on all the way to our destination. Thinking positively, we stopped in Omaha to get motel rooms, then headed to the speedway. Even with the clouds hanging over us, we bought tickets so that we could go to the pits before the 3:00 PM cut off. The late model count of 51 was a bit less than might have been expected, but that has been a recurring theme this season, but we knew what we had going in, and there were more than enough quality cars and stars to fill the 34 car starting field. Our first look at the Kosiski family owned 4/10 mile high banked facility confirmed what we had heard - that this was a top notch speed plant, wide and smooth with plenty of good seating, complete with backs for added comfort.
20 cars were already prequalified for the $25,000 to win finale, seven drivers would earn provisionals from various methods, the 34 th spot would be auctioned off, leaving slots 21 thru 26 to come from the two last chance events. Although we were not on hand on Friday, everyone we talked to - fan wise - thought the qualifying format of each car running two heat races, with the second heat lineups inverted against different cars and passing point totals used to line up the top 20 was a success. Apparently some of the drivers who had pre entered but did not show did so because of the format., preferring the time honored two lap time trials instead even thought he ten heat races each had a total purse of $500 split among the top three finishers. Another unique idea was to have the heats and last chance races total two more laps than the number of cars in the field, making the last chance races 17 laps each. The combination of six open spots, the provisionals from the MLRA, SLMR, and three previous I-80 late model specials, plus the auction spot kept 48 of the 51 cars on hand. In addition, Dave Conkright rolled in for night two only to try and make the field.
The first last chance event saw Kelly Boen, driving # 33x advance from a row three slot to lead pole sitter Al Humphrey and RC Whitwell for starting spots. The second 17 lapper rolled to the track with pole sitter Mike Collins missing. This moved UMP regular Jason McBride to the outside front row. Collins rolled out at the back of the field, starting in the 14th position. As McBride pulled out to a big lead, Dan Schleiper moved for row four to the runner up spot. Meanwhile, Collins worked his way all the way to third, only to lose the transfer spot to Denny Eckrich after a late caution.
With the modified field pared down to 24 from the 34 cars that signed in and the late model grid set except for one spot, intermission time came. In another unique move, the qualified drivers from both classes came to the grandstand side and mingled with the fans as they were introduced. It was at this time that the announcers called for any late model drivers that wanted to bid on the final late model starting spot to come to the flag stand. Three drivers made the call, including Collins, Mike Wallace, and Bill Koons. The auction rules, were as follows - it would take a minimum bid of $1,500 to buy in to the $1,000 to start race. All money bid over the $1,000 start money would be split amongst to last twenty finishing spots. The bidding started slowly until the announcer auctioneer invited the large crowd to offer up extra cash for the driver of their preference. The bidding came down to Collins and Koons, before Koons, the restauranteur sealed the deal with a bid of $2,700. When asked what had just happened, he replied, " I just did something really stupid! "
With all the hoopla dying down, the USMTS cars rolled out for 35 laps of action. Springfield, Missouri pilot Jeremy Payne left his late model at home and concentrated on his # 74 modified, earning an outside row one starting spot. Payne paced the field for thirty non stop green flag laps before Friday nights winner, Kelly Shryock was able to close a straightaway lead and make the pass to the front. Less than two laps later, as the leaders negotiated lapped traffic, there was a three car tussle in turns three and four that collected Shryock, and left Payne with minor damage. Kelly went pitside and changed a tire, came back out, but retired to the trailer before the green waved again. Jeremy inherited the lead back, and held on the final four circuits, as his teammate and mentor Terry Phillips came home second. Iowa ace Ryan Gustin had blown an engine on Friday night, stuck in a new one, and finished a strong third. Jason Hughes needed a B- main win to make the show from row seven, and had advanced to fourth on the restart, but faded back in the pack in the closing laps.
Phillips, Kyle Berck, and Chris Speiker all did double duty for the weekend, with Phillips driving the # 80 late model of Scott Koskovich. Of the three, only Speiker did not qualify in the late model finale, so Berck and Phillips would be running more than 100 laps on a muggy night - did I mention that the clouds almost magically drifted away after 5:30, prompting a somewhat nervous Ed Kosiski to jump back in the water truck!?!
Iowa driver Chris Simpson and Indiana hot shoe Don Oneal in the Freeport, Il based Moring Motorsports # 1 made up the front row for the finale. Simpson took off like a shot, with the first caution on lap eleven. On the restart, third starting Austin Hubbard, the young driver from Delaware, moved around Oneal for second. after a lap 20 stoppage, Billy Moyer the elder, who had been locked in a three wide duel with Oneal and Mars, took the fourth spot, with Oneal in third and Mars fifth. Oneal then took second from Hubbard, and after a lap 33 restart, he put a major league slide job on Simpson in turn two, clearing him with no problem for his first lead of the night. About this time, 20th starting Brian Birkhofer began to move after spending the first 30 laps outside the top ten. Brian moved to eighth on a lap 40 restart. Another yellow three laps later saw Hubbard take second, and fifth starting Dale McDowell renentered the top group in fourth. Throught the race, Moyer had been working the high side, where the cushion was nearly to the wall, and the footing was tricky. On lap 56, Moyer slowed in turn two, dropping about three spots, and one lap later he retired to the pits with apparent rear end or transmission issues. Birkhofer used Moyers misfortune to move to sixth as the field retook the green and Oneal continued to lead by a wide margin. On this, the final stoppage, McDowell moved to third/ Three laps later,Birky took fourth from Mars, and on lap 67 McDowell grabbed second from Hubbard. Two laps later, Birkhofer made the pass for third, but from the The Muscatine ace and the Georgia hot shoe could only watch Oneal, the " Real Deal " cruise to the $25,000 big check waiting in victory lane. McDowell was smooth and steady, taking the $12,000 runner up check, and Birky took home $7,000 for third. The rest of the top ten included Hubbard, Mars, Chris Simpson, New York standout Tim McCreadie, 18th starting Chad Simpson, Jesse Stovall, and 21 st starting Boen in tenth.
Even with a bit of a late start due in part to track prep, and all the festivities, the final checkers waved about 11:30, and no one seemed to mind. I would have to say that my long overdue first trip to this impressive speedplant will not be my last, and a big thank you to Ed and the entire Kosiski family for a well run show and a perfectly prepared track despite the weather. The field of late model drivers on hand was a fascinating mix, of World of Outlaw, Lucas Oil, MLRA, Mars, UMP,SLMR,CBC and independent racers, including some I had not had the pleasure of seeing race in several seasons, and some I had only read about and never seen. In addition, I finally got to see in action a late model # 62, the only
" regular " number I had never seen on a late model. In fact, " Lightning "
Leon Zeitner had possibly the best looking car in the pit area.
Ed Kosiski stated after the checkers flew, that he would have an announcement this week concerning the possibility of the Silver Dollar Nationals returning in 2012. If they do, I would certainly recommend attending!
We were able to make it back home in plenty of time to switch cars and head to Quincy,Il Raceways for weekly Sunday night racing. Helping up along was a starting time pushed back one hour to beat the heat. Despite several calls to the track and assurances that racing would go on as planned, we arrived to find a pit road and area so muddy that none of the
big rigs were allowed in, instead being directed to the east parking area. Track personnel, with help from the drivers attempted to make the racing surface rolled in, but the decision finally was made about 8:00 that the top side would not come in, and it would be too dangerous and too hard on equipment to race on. With that, the stands along with the regular and makeshift pits emptied out. There will be no midweek make up, with action resuming next Sunday night.
Check your calenders, the last weekend in July is upon us, lets go racing!