We made it through another Super Nationals.....our 27th straight year and all at the Boone Speedway. The 32nd Speedway Motors Super Nationals had it all....from 865 plus cars, to torrential rains the night before, flooding parts of the pits, the infield of the track and areas of the camping area. Then the heat and humidity moved in and later in the week, it got down right chilly at night. It also had some of the earliest nights we can remember in recent times. The latest being 12:45 a.m. There were fans and drivers from far and wide, some drivers repeated their prestigious wins from previous years, and a rookie to his class claimed a Super Nationals title.
Monday, Labor Day, Day 1
The first day of the 2014 Super Nationals was really sounding iffy the night before and all through the night when we heard the rain coming down. When we arrived at the track, some areas of the pits, the camping areas and the drives were a mess! We heard that they began working the track at 8:30 a.m. and when we arrived shortly after noon, the infield that had been flooded, was now drained.....all on it's own without pumps, and the track was looking good. Racing was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (as it was each of the six days) but was about 45 minutes late. The track was even WATERED, before the racing began. What could have been a really ugly day of racing, turned into a night of good racing, and one that was completed at 10:41 p.m.
That first day of racing was a full show for the 41 IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models, plus qualifying for the 145 Hobby Stocks and 167 SportMods. The 50 lap Deery Brothers feature saw a familiar face back on the podium as Jeff Aikey led all 50 laps on his way to capturing his fourth Super Nationals Championship.
In the Hobby Stock division, it was Shannon Anderson capturing the first qualifying feature and securing his pole starting spot for Saturday's A feature. The second Hobby Stock feature was won by Nebraska racer Jesse VanLaningham, earning him a front row starting spot from the middle row on Saturday night.
The IMCA Northern SportMods also had a qualifying feature on the first night of racing. Ben Kates, the Tonganoxie, Kansas driver who has called Boone, Iowa home this racing season, won that A qualifier, putting him on the pole for the Saturday show.
Tuesday, Day 2
The Super Nationals, had the second Champion crowned, this time in the IMCA Sport Compact class. Adam Gates was a surprised winner of this Super National's Championship, as he was not aware he was leading at the checkers---thinking instead that Nate Coopman was a runaway. Coopman had his engine expire with a handful of laps remaining, but Gates did not notice him sitting in the infield.
In the Hobby Stock class on Day 2, Atlantic, Iowa driver, Dusty VanHorn won the A qualifier, putting himself on the front of the outside row come Saturday night.
Two more drivers earned front row starting spots in the SportMod division. Jerry Hoffman was awarded the front row of the middle row for Saturday night's big show. This was after finishing second to Bobby Anders, Jr. who had crossed the finish line in first.....but was later found to have an illegal shock. The second A qualifier, putting the winner on the outside front row, was a popular win. Hometown boy, Jake McBirnie put his bright metallic blue ride on that coveted position by winning that race.
Wednesday, Day 3
Wednesday was "Ground Pounder" day, the IMCA Modifieds making their first time racing and qualifying as did the Stock Cars. By my count, 277 Modifieds ran heats and there were 167 Stock Cars. Things were also beginning to get busier and the crowd was growing. The Hobby Stocks and SportMods qualified their final six cars to tag the end of their Big Dance, the Stock Cars qualified four cars for the inside row and four cars for the middle row as did the Modifieds.
Taking the win for the final shot in the Hobby Stocks was Andrew Burg, who had been a strong runner weekly at the Boone Speedway all year long. In the last gasp for the SportMods, it was Chad Ryerson from Wellsburg, happy with his win and a chance to race in the Saturday night feature.
Two Stock Car A qualifiers ran on Wednesday night, and the first one went to a familiar name around the oval. Jerry Gifford, from right there in Boone, won #1. The second one, went to Jay Schmidt, another weekly racer at the track who had a successful season at "Iowa's Action Track".
Two qualifiers were run in the Modifieds. Though Adam Larson took the checkers in the first feature, he was later disqualified for an infraction on the chassis. This gave the win to Californian, Paul Stone. Qualifier #2 went to "the Flying Banana", Mike Jergens. Jergens drove his #37X machine from row seven, to take the checkers.
Thursday, Day 4
Day #4 was a hot one and a humid one! Qualifying for the Stock Cars and Modifieds continued....each running two qualifying features with four drivers from each advancing. The first of the Stock Car events went to rookie to the class, Devin Smith. Smith, who moved up from Hobby Stocks this year, looked to be on a mission in taking his solid win. The second of the qualifiers saw Marcus Fagan make it to the checkers first. However, he was later disqualified for an infraction, giving the win to Belmond, Iowa driver, Heath Tulp.
The Modified's were qualifying for the middle row on Thursday. The first A feature went to Earlham, Iowa's Josh Gilman. It took a while to get through the second A qualifier with at least five yellows flying plus a red flag when a car took a flip. When it was finally scored complete, Chris Mills from Sioux City took the win.
Friday, Day 5
Mother Nature decided to throw a little curve into the Super Nationals again with rain, rain and more rain in the early morning hours on Friday. Despite all that "liquid sunshine", racing began just 16 minutes late, at 2:16 p.m. A few sprinkles returned just about starting time and tried to interrupt the festivities and right before heat #9, it halted the racing as the sprinkles became heavier. Wheels were kept on the track though, both the hard working "green" farming machines, and the race cars, and after about an hour delay, things picked back up where they had let off, and the roar of the engines resumed. That rain had also moved in a cold front, and the temperatures began to fall. The evening turned into a jacket night for sure!
Friday featured the Modified All Star Invitational Race----30 cars for 30 laps. Kyle Strickler, known as the "high side tickler" pretty much dominated this one after getting to the lead by lap seven and leading the rest of the race to the flying checkers.
There were also two more Stock Car qualifying A's as well as two for the Modifieds. In the first Stock Car A main, a brand new car and driver showed up and took all the marbles. Casey Werkmeister from North Platte, Nebraska won his heat as well as the qualifying A, putting his #24W on the outside row of the "Big Dance". An interesting fact about Werkmeister is that he is a Junior Varsity football coach back home and was not about to let his team down by being absent at their game the previous night! An Iowa driver won the second Stock Car qualifier. Justin Temeyer started in row five, and took over the lead before the halfway mark of the 25-lap race and held it to the finish.
Feature one of the Modifieds found De Pere, Wisconsin racer, Johnny Whitman snaring the win and the right to start in the outside row come Saturday night. Race #2 went to Kyle Strickler, taking the checkers for the second time of the night, after his earlier prestigious All Star Invitational win. That second qualifying feature had a scary incident on the backstretch, when Billy Davis, Jr. was slowing on the track, when the cars approaching him tried to take evasive action, and the situation did not end well. Davis took a real hit and rolled just before turn four, his car sitting demolished on the track in the outcome. It was a big relief to see him emerge from the car and okay.
Saturday, Day 6, - The Big Dance
Saturday was finally here. There were still some last chance races for the Modifieds and Stock Cars before their "Big Dance" was set as well as Race of Champions features for the Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods and the Hobby Stocks. Making it into the main event by winning the Stock Car qualifying A was Derek Green from Granada, Minnesota, and winning each of three final qualifiers for the the Modifieds, were Mike VanGenderen, Ryan Ruter and Joel Rust.
The Race of Champions winners were:
Hobby Stock - Austin Luellen, Iowa
SportMod - Clint Luellen, Iowa
Stock Car - Devin Smith, Iowa
Modified - Keith White, Texas
The Big Dance for the IMCA Hobby Stocks found pole sitter Shannon Anderson lead the entire 30-lap race from start to finish, on his way to his third Super Nationals Hobby Stock Championship. Anderson motored home to the victory by a comfortable distance. Second went to Mike Pruitt, who had to fend off third place finisher Jesse VanLaningham. Fourth was regular Saturday night racer at Boone, Eric Stanton, and Austin Luellen rounded out the top five.
Johnathon Logue made history by winning the IMCA Northern SportMod Big Dance. Logue, who's father is John Logue, five-time Super National winner in the Modified division, drove his #69jr hot rod from starting inside row four, to snare the coveted win. Logue passed second place finisher Randy Roberts by lap eighteen, and then held the lead to the finish. Third place went to Algona's Jake Simpson, fourth was Bakersfield, California racer Ethan Dotson, and Jared VanDeest from Holland, Iowa was fifth.
Devin Smith, rookie in the Stock Car class, was dominate most of the week. After his Race of Champions win earlier in the evening, he didn't let up when it came Big Dance time. Smith took the lead by lap eight and never looked back. Smith won comfortably over second place finisher Damon Murty. Murty started in the middle of row four to take the runner up spot. Third was Boone track champion Jerry Gifford, fourth went to Hortonville, Wisconsin's Travis VanStraten and Justin Temeyer from Independence, Iowa, completed the top five.
The grand finale of the six-day Super Nationals was the 30-lapper for the Modifieds. Starting across the 3-wide front row were Mike Jergens, Josh Gilman and Kyle Strickler. When the race went green, Strickler took immediate command of the lead, pulling away from all the remaining 32 cars. Strickler was still leading easily at lap seventeen, when a horrific crash on the frontstretch, right at the flagstand occurred. A car was limping toward the pit exit out of turn four, right up against the wall, when all of a sudden the cars approaching him that were racing for position, were swerving to avoid him, as they had committed to the top line of the track. It was mayhem as cars piled into each other. Todd Shute rolled and Mike VanGenderen took a late hit to the drivers door, Jimmy Gustin was in the middle of the mess, but quickly emerged from his destroyed car. Also involved were Adam Johnson, Nick Roberts and Chris Mills. VanGenderen commented that he was knocked out for a moment. From the looks of the resulting carnage, we'd say probably at least three race cars were destroyed. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt that we heard about.
When racing got back underway after a lengthy clean up procedure, Strickler took up where he left off, distancing himself from the field. Strickler took the win easily, putting his name in the record books as a Super Nationals winner. Richie Gustin made a late race pass to take the runner up spot. Gustin started on the inside of row five to finish in second. Third went to last year's winner Dylan Smith who started in the middle of row four. Fourth was Canada racer Aaron Turnbull from Estevan, Saskatchewan, and Mike Jergens finished in the top five after starting on the inside pole.
We mentioned earlier that racing was completed much earlier each night than in recent years. Monday was done at 10:41 p.m., Tuesday was 12:02 a.m., Wednesday it was 12:45 a.m, Thursday, 12:09 a.m., Friday, 12:32 a.m. and Saturday it was done by 10:21 p.m. We did stick around for the motor auctioning after the celebrating was done. Both the Hobby Stock and SportMod motors went for $2,400 and both the Modified and Stock Car, which was a Mopar, went for $6,000.
The 32nd IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals has come and gone. We are already looking forward to the 33rd! Where else can you see cars in six divisions from across the whole United States and Canada, come together for America's Racin' Vacation and run in such an efficient and orderly manner? We love it and by the size of the crowds and the car count, so do a lot of others!
I know this is late in getting completed. Thanks in part to an issue with the lap top that put it out of commission for a while. We are hoping to get just a couple more races in this year before we call it a season. We usually go racing into October, but my other half is soon to be getting a new knee and then down for some recuperation. We plan for the Southern Iowa Speedway's season championship tomorrow night, Wednesday, September 17 and we have our fingers crossed for the Marshalltown Speedway's World Nationals on Friday and Saturday. Please Mother Nature, don't rain on our last races of the year!
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