Saturday morning I climbed in with Jeff as we headed for Springfield, Missouri for the fifteenth annual Turkey Bowl at Jerry Hoffmans' Springfield Raceway. With seven divisions on the docket, the event was divided into two nights of action. Racing kicked off on Friday night with heat races for USRA B mods, Midwest A Modz, Midwest B Modz, and Legend cars, plus a full show for Pure Stocks. Two hundred and thirty cars checked in for the night. The Saturday program saw B mains and features for the other four classes, plus a full show for open late models and a combined A mod class using IMCA/UMP/USRA rules. What greeted us was a thirty nine race program featuring two hundred and ninety eight race teams!
The action kicked off with hot laps at 3:30, and we witnessed mostly non stop action before checking out around 11:15 with the Midwest B mod twenty lap finale preparing to close out the season at the quarter mile facility.
Although the temperature eased past sixty degrees by race time, things cooled down rather quickly, but what was the largest Turkey Bowl crowd in the few years I have been going stayed around to cheer on their local favorites as well as competitors from sixteen different states. Not only were most of the mid western states represented, but drivers ( and fans ) from as far away as California and North Carolina braved the chilly temps.
Springfield Raceway has seen many improvements since my first visit there in 2017, including upgraded lighting and a much appreciated ten position scoreboard off turn two. Hopefully next can come an improvement to the P.A. system, as it is difficult to hear the announcers from the main grandstand. And if I could humbly offer one more suggestion for this show in particular, it would be to implement the one spin rule for heat races and B mains. I can only recall one instance where a spinning car downshifted and rejoined the field without the benefit of the yellow flag waving. But we were racing in November, and darned happy to be there!
The giant turkey shaped trophies and the " big " check going to the feature winners is always a source of pride to the drivers, and Saturday was made special when two members of the younger generation were able to join their fathers in collecting those momentos. Sawyer Crigler captured the A modified $2,000 to win twenty five lap feature to join father Scott, a previous victor in the late model division. Moments later, after thirty hard fought laps, Cole Wells took home the $5,000 late model win much to the delight of father Justin, who had himself dropped out of the race on the opening lap.
For numbers nerds like myself, B mods topped the Saturday entry list with a whopping seventy six cars. Cole Campbell took the feature win after a back and forth battle with Kris Jackson and Ryan Gilmore in what was probably the best race of the night.
Sixty nine A mods signed in, with Shane DeMay and Steve Picou chasing Crigler to the checkers.
The Midwest Modz turned out thirty eight A class and forty two B class drivers. Anthony Ferrara bested Casey Burnett and Pete Richardson in the A's. As stated previously, we left ahead of the B class feature, and I have not been able to find any results as of now.
Drew Papke towed from Bismarck, North Dakota to top the thirty seven Legend car group in front of Dave Comer, and Daniel Adam from Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Four heats and two B mains whittled the thirty six car late model field down to twenty for their feature. Following a first lap caution and a false restart, Matt Becker led the first four laps of the headliner before Scott Crigler took over. Trevor Gundaker brought out the caution flag on lap fourteen, and back under green, fifth starting Justin Zeitner, eighth starting Cole Wells, and eleventh starting Will Vaught moved in to challenge the leader with a pile up in turns three and four bringing another quick yellow. When the green flag waved again, Wells charged from the Delaware style restart to the lead, and Payton Looney joined the party in fourth. Joe Godsey brought out a lap twenty one yellow, and now Vaught moved to the runner up spot as racing resumed. He began to run down the leader as the duo caught slower traffic two laps from the checkers. But as the white flag waved they were forced to avoid a two car mix up in turn two that brought a final caution and set up a green, white, checkers shootout. Wells was up to the task, taking the win over Vaught, Zeitner, Looney, and Godsey. Kylan Garner led the second five in front of Becker, Joey Smith, Crigler, and Gundaker.
Big thanks to Jerry and the crew for another great Turkey Bowl!
There is still one more racing event for the season in our part of the world, and that is the three day Gateway Dirt Nationals at the America's Center Dome in St. Louis December 2-4. As of now, I do not have plans to attend this year, but I will hold off with my "season in review" until after that time ( just in case! ).
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