The Marshalltown Speedway was the scene on Tuesday night for the IMCA Great American Stock Car Series. What was suppose to be the second of a three night series, was actually the first night since wet grounds cancelled the previous night's opener at the Buena Vista Speedway in Alta, Iowa. Forty-eight of the "Class too Tough to Tame" came to try their hand at the $1,000 top prize and to try and conquer the high-banks of Marshalltown Speedway. There were also fifty-five IMCA Northern SportMods running for $1,000 to win, along with twenty-three IMCA hobby stocks and a class not normally seen at the track, the IMCA Sport Compacts. The Compact class brought a dozen competitors.
The Sport Compacts ran their feature before the b-mains for the stock cars and sportmods. The 00W car of Bill Whalen, Jr. took a rough ride off of turn two just as action got underway. The car rolled, but he was okay. The ironic thing is we started our season off at the Beatrice Speedway back in early March, and watched him do the same thing. It's a class we seldom see, so he probably doesn't want us sitting in the stands anymore when he runs!
The feature action would then continue and it was pretty much a Chandler/Whalen show with several family members of each family, running. Nathan Chandler was the winner of the A main followed by Merv Chandler...a veteran of racing, as we recall him in one of the early IMCA modifieds. Third through fifth was Tyler Whalen, John Whalen and Dallas Chandler. I believe there is a family connection with the Chandlers and the Whalens, so it was a family finish for sure.
The hobby stocks ran next with a 20-lap affair. Kevin Fee took off to the lead from his pole starting position and was pulling away from second place runner Eric Stanton, who in turn was putting distance between himself and third place, Brandon Pruitt. We were watching the 62B of Andy Boeckman, always a hard charger, taking flight on the topside of the track and reeling in the leaders. Boeckman had started around the 14th spot and appeared to going to be a challenger. A flat tire would end that run however. Several caution flags followed, bunching the front of the field, with Fee still in command of first place. As laps wound down, Fee got shuffled backwards when contact was made during the battle for positions. That would be when Dexter, Iowa driver, Brandon Pruitt seized the moment and took the lead. Pruitt would then pull away to take the victory. Michael Murphy finished a distant second. Randy Embrey finished in third and Eric Stanton and Dustin Elliott were fourth and fifth.
Twenty-laps for the IMCA SportMods came next, with Scott Davis and Cayden Carter sitting on the front row. It took a while for the action to finally get underway, as caution flags plagued the early going. A scary incident on the front chute left the #19 ride of David Schlicht a real mess. Doug Smith appeared to be having problems keeping his car running, and coming out of turn four, dove to the apron, right in front of Schlicht. Schlicht hit Smith hard, resulting in his car being left in a pile of rubble on the track. Schlicht was not hurt, but can't say the same for his car.
The entire race was centered on the front row starters, with Carter in command except for one brief moment when Davis nosed ahead. Carter took the win over Davis, his 12th of the season over all. Third place went to Randy Robert, fourth to Austin Kaplan and fifth to Kyle Brown, who came through the pack from starting in 20th spot.
The 30-lap featured stock car event, capped off the night. There was action all over the track with three and four-wide racing. Mike VanGenderen took advantage of his redraw #1, as he held Damon Murty and Sean Johnson at bay in the early laps. Murty suffered a flat about lap seven, brought out a yellow, and had to join the field at the tail.
I don't think anyone could have missed the 19J of Jay Schmidt who was taking flight on the cushion and clicking off positions rapidly. Schmidt had started 16th, put his car topside, and by lap nine or ten, took the lead. Schmidt was flying, but a pesky yellow flew, bunching the field behind him. Upon the restart, he had Trent Murphy and Donavon Smith to contend with. Before the final yellow flew, making for a green-white-checkered finish, it was Smith who had made the pass underneath Schmidt on the backstretch to gain the lead. Smith took the checkered/yellow finish when two cars piled it up in corners one, leaving Schmidt the bridesmaid for the night. Trent Murphy took third, Sean Johnson fourth, and Damon Murty was credited with a fifth place position, after tagging the field early.
Our plans are to head to the Independence Speedway tonight for the Deery Brothers Late Model $5,004 to win special in honor of the late Red Dralle, veteran racer who passed away last fall. A check of the IMCA website showed us the answer for the odd amount of $4.00 on the end....it is in tribute to the last car number that Dralle raced. The Great American Stock Car Series is also on the agenda. We look forward to some great racing again. Thursday we hope to head southeast for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA modifieds scheduled for the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. There are a lot of specials around this time of the year, so be sure and check the calendar of events on www.positivelyracing.com. We enjoy taking in these specials at the different tracks in the area and we encourage all of you to make a trip to one of them. Happy racing!
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