We were up and off to the Iowa Speedway on Sunday morning and in the parking lot by 7:15 a.m. with friends and family ready to tailgate until race time. However, Mother Nature decided to put a damper temporarily on our activities but the rain passed quickly and timing couldn't have been more perfect to fire up the grill. We ate, got to the grandstand just as the National Anthem played and the fly over commenced, and in our seats as the command to start the engines began. It turned out to be a very warm and sunny day, but with the Iowa Corn Indy 250 over in right at 100 minutes, things were wrapped up pretty quickly.
Though we are not very familiar with some of the IRL drivers, we always enjoy seeing those more famous names to the league--Helio Castroneves, the recent Indy 500 winner, Dario Franchitti, who had won previously at the Iowa Speedway, Scott Dixon, Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, and Dan Wheldon. The first half of the race had several cautions, slowing the action. When we say action, that is at 170 mph plus! The fastest lap turned was right at 179 mph. It's quite the sensation to be sitting close to the track with the cars flashing past!
It appeared that Tony Kanaan was finally going to have a good day at the track unlike his previous two races there. He led quite comfortably until pitting for fuel and tires and we were expecting him to make up time quickly, but after one lap on fresh tires, he broke loose coming out of turn two, hit the outer wall and came to a rest on the apron of the backstretch. His day once again, was ended at the Iowa Speedway.
At the end of those 250 laps, it was Dario Franchitti taking his second win at the Newton track, having won in 2007. Ryan Briscoe from Team Penske was the runner-up, Hideki Mutch from Japan taking third, Dan Weldon in his National Guard Panther Racing ride came home fourth, and rounding out the top five was Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon in fifth.
On Monday evening we got back to some good old dirt track racing at the Iowa State Fair
Speedway for the rescheduled USMTS race. It was as hot as an August state fair night too with high temps and high humidity. The series's drivers always put on a good show for the fans no matter where they run. On this evening, USMTS promoter Todd Staley would join up with regular promoter of the State Fair track, Mick Trier to put the show on for the fans.
Also on the program was the mid-season track features for the IMCA hobby stocks, IMCA Northern SportMods, and Trucks as well as an open show for stock cars.
The SportMod feature saw point leader Austin Kaplan jump to the lead with Jesse Sobbing in tow. Sobbing would get around Kaplan and then Kaplan's night would end when he left the track while under a yellow flag. Jesse Sobbing would take the checker's first followed by Bryon Weyer, Tommy Killen, Jr., a red #2 car which I believe was the H2O car of Gary Stajcar, and finishing fifth was Jack Myer.
The next feature was the IMCA hobby stocks. After seeing an unusual sight of a car almost pirouetting on his left rear wheel after a racing incident and a yellow following. the action continued with point leader Shannon Anderson taking the win easily over Rob Allison, third went to Ray Stock, Jr., fourth to Alan VanGorp and fifth to Kenny Loftus.
The Dirt Trucks ran their mid-season feature next which was started, as was all of the mid-season features, straight up by points. This put Carl Moyer on the pole position. That would be where he finished, taking home the win. Following him across the line was Ed Nelson, Rick Clark, Brett Moyer and Lou Sipolt.
With the show moving right along, a sudden flying mud clod during the stock car feature was hurled into the air in turn one, which struck a transformer, and soon the track went dark. There was about a 30 minute delay until lights were back up and action was resumed. In the meantime, none other than NASCAR's Kenny Wallace, who was on hand to compete in the USMTS race, was doing his best on the mic to entertain the fans during the power outage. He is always upbeat and by no means shy in his dialog with the crowds. When racing resumed, several incidents would cause the yellow to fly and ultimately, the race was ended under a yellow/checkered when an incident between second and third place cars of Todd Inman and Tory Reicks caused a pile-up on the front stretch. The incident also took out fourth place runner at the time of Kyle Harwood. The finish saw the leader before the incident of Nathan Wood from Webster, take the win, 12M Brian Mitrisin second, 34 of Pat Rachels third, fourth to 57V Mike VanGenderen (all of those being weekly competitors at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa) and fifth to "Hot" Rod Richards.
The finale of the night was the USMTS modifieds. It's always a stirring moment when they make the parade lap with the American flags flying and Lee Greenwood's God Bless the U.S.A. playing. Early on, Colt Mather would lead the field but an incident with his hood coming up, and then his exiting the track, would end his night. Pole sitter Richie Gustin would then take the lead, but Jason Hughes ended that when he passed Gustin. In the meantime, New Sharon, Iowa driver Zack VanderBeek was gaining positions from his 17th starting spot. as well as Kelly Shryock from his 14th spot. The finish would see Hughes take the win with Richie Gustin in second, Zack VanderBeek in third over Kelly Shryock in fourth and Bowbelles, North Dakota driver Steven Pfeifer taking fifth. Although we don't remember ever having seen Pfeifer race previously, he ran very well. We also noted his hometown of Bowbelles, North Dakota. The only other person we remember from there would be a former Iowa Hawkeye basketball center, Les Jepsen.
It was a hot, sticky night watching the races, but the Positively Racing family was covering the event well, with Jeff Broeg and Kevin Trittien in attendance as well. It's always fun to see their different take on the the races we attend together. Do check out their blogs.
More racing events to come. Get out and attend a race somewhere. Happy racing!
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