Daring the Rain Pays Off

 I just finished reading fellow blogger Ryan Clarks' account of the rain at Independence, Ia. last night, and he was exactly right. Earlier in the week, we made plans to take in the MARS vs UMP $5,000 to win late model show at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. Checking the weather forecast on Thursday and Friday, it showed a 30% chance of rain, certainly not a deal breaker. Again on Saturday morning that was the case, as I checked before my wife and myself took our weekly shopping trip. Arriving home around 1:00, things had changed completely, and there was now a 100% chance of rain at 6:00, with hot laps set for 6:30! But Lane Evans was already headed down from Mt Pleasant to meet Darryl, Fred and I in Taylor, Mo., so after off I went for our 2:15 meet up. My wife said the radar looked a bit more promising away from Pevely, but we decided to head that way, knowing we could also check in at Montgomery, Co. if I-55 pulled the plug. About 15 miles from the track, around 4.:45, the skies opened up. We stopped for a bite to eat to wait out the rain, which continued to stop and restart. Arriving at the speedway about 5:45, we were greeted with a mostly empty grandstand, a whole bunch of folks waiting outside the gate,a packed pit area, and no rain. When the drivers meeting was called, we decided to go on in.  The track was pretty much ready to go, and hot laps began about 6:38 with the AARA  sportsman cars. 26  sportsman, 27 UMP modifieds, 21 Pro 4's signed in to compliment the 36 super late models. Late model hot laps came second, and late model time trials - one lap per car - began about 7:00. Group qualifying was used, with Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce, and Shannon Babb paced the first three groups before Billy Moyer scorched the 1/3 mile high banks in group four with an overall fast lap of 12.409 seconds. The 6:00 hour had passed with dry skies, and racing began with three sportsman heats at 7:30. The four late model heats came next, and the lightning fast track boasted a top side that was the place to be. Unfortunately, the small cushion also wanted to suck the high flyers into the turn two concrete wall. Tim Manville was the first victim on lap four of heat one, and on the restart, defending track champion Jeff Johns took advantage of the Delaware restart to slip by Jason Feger for the fourth and final qualifying spot behind Shirly, Jack Sullivan, and Billy Moyer Jr. In the second heat, it was polesitter Pierce who tagged the wall while running third, although he was able to recover to finish fourth behind Jason McBride, Randy Korte, and Dane Dacus. Terry Phillips lost a third place run in heat three thanks to the same issue, and he collected Ed Dixon and Dewayne Kiefer in the process. While Phillips recovered in time to take a MARS feature provisional, Dixon was done for the night. Kiefer had a damaged machine, and slammed the turn four wall coming to the white flag. Outside polesitter Michael Kloos took the win over Babb, Michael Long in the Frankel # 33F, and Mark Voigt, in a race that featured a ton of back and forth racing, slide jobs included!
In comparison, the final heat was a mostly uneventful, with Moyer outlasting Brandon Sheppard in his own # B5, MARS points leader Jesse Stovall, and second generation driver Tanner English.
 Three modified heats ran next, and the sprinkles began, on and off. There were three 4 cylinders heats up next, and when three cars piled up in turn four of heat one, I thought our night might be coming to an end. After a lengthy cleanup, however, the sprinkles eased up and the heats came to an end. The late model B mains came next, with the first ten lapper showing only six of the ten starters on the track. It potentially could have been a whale of a race, but Kiefer, Phillips, Manville, and Dixon all missed the call. The two transfer spots went to Feger and Adam Tischhauser. The final qualifier was ten cars strong, with Tony Jackson Jr. taking an easy win, while local racer Ron McQueery slipped by MARS regualr Justin Asplin for the runnerup spot. Asplin, however, was awarded the second
provisional.
 The off and on sprinkles would not give up, and track officials made the sparse crowd happy by calling the late model feature to staging as the modifieds ran their B -main. They then drew another round of applause, when a backstretch accident pared the eight car field down the five after one lap, with the top six eligible to transfer. After one false start, the checkers waved, and the late models hustled to the track.
  The green flag waved for the 40 lapper at just before 10:00 - no intermission! - and Shirley shot to the front from the pole, with Moyer in pursuit. On lap five, Sullivan moved to fourth, and Korte to fifth as the top two began to put distance on the field. The first caution waved on lap eleven, as Long spun in turn three while running tenth. He collected Sheppard, who showed displeasure with being sent to the tail with Long. On the restart, Korte took third, as Feger advanced into the top ten.. Moyer Jr entered the top five now as Shirly on the top and Moyer in the middle raced side by side. On lap 20, the younger Moyer took the fourth spot, and five laps later, as the leaders split the lapped car of Tischauser, Moyer gained the lead but Shirly contacted Tischauser with the # T4  coming to a stop in turn one, bringing out the caution and giving the point back to the # 3s. After the restart, Moyer led lap 26, with Shirley the leader with 27 down. One lap later, Moyer Jr grabbed third, challenging his father for second. With 29 in the books, Long was back to eleventh, but came to a stop to bring out the final caution. On  the final restart, Babb moved to fourth, and Moyer charged to the lead out of turn four on lap32. With three circuits remaining, Moyer Jr found his way around Shirley, giving the Arkansas family a one, two finish. In his victory lane interview, daddy Bill said Jr may hay had a better car, and might have one, but chastised Shirley, for what he thought were blocking maneuvers. " Squirrel " came home third, with Babb and Korte completing the top five. Six through ten went to Pierce, who started fourteenth, Stovall, Sullivan, Feger, who started seventeenth, and 22nd starting Phillips. The final checkers waved about 10:15, and as the sportsman cars came to the track, we headed to the car. So even with a 100% chance of rain at hot lap time, the powers that be not only refused to cancel, but had the track ready to go, and ran the program as quickly and efficiently as possible, doing all they could to get the premier class feature completed. In short, it was a clinic on how to manage a special show with threatening weather. Thanks, I-55!
  There is rain in LaGrange as I type this morning, if it passes quickly, there will hopefully be racing tonight at Quincy Raceways. Check back later for news and notes from the Broadway Bullring.