The first night of the 22nd Annual IMCA Budweiser/Musco Lighting Stock Car Shootout in Osky is in the books. Two surprising winners came from both the Stock Car and the Modified classes, both taking their first wins at the track. There was $1,000 each to the winner of the Stock Car, Modified, SportMod and Hobby Stock, and $500 for the Sport Compact.
The IMCA Sport Compacts kicked off the feature racing. Nathan Chandler, son of the late racing legend Merv Chandler, took the lead immediately, and never looked back. He withstood at least three caution flag restarts, but nothing deterred him on his way to the win. He finished well ahead of second place Josh Barnes. Third place was Daniel Fellows....who crossed the line in spectacular fashion! He was pushed across the line sideways by fourth place finisher Trent Orwig. Fellows then rolled just past the flag stand. He was not hurt. Nick VanHemert completed the top five.
The 20-lap IMCA Northern SportMod main event saw Curtis VanDerWal back in victory lane once again. He caught Carter VanDenBerg at lap nine, and they put on a good show for the fans... running side by side at times. Cautions would fly each time that VanDerWal would just nip VanDenBerg, and the restart was then reverted back to the last completed lap, putting VanDenBerg back in the lead to restart the race. The third time was the charm for VanDerWal however, and he made the pass successful on lap twelve. He then put some distance between himself and the pack, and took the checkers easily. Tim Plummer, got by VanDenBerg with two laps to go, as they finished second and third. Austin Paul, who led the opening laps, was fourth and Logan Anderson was fifth.
A young racer, Jarrett Brown, whom we had never seen before, put it to the field of IMCA Modified drivers, leading the feature all 20 laps. Colt Mather gave him some good looks a few times, but he had to be content with the runner up spot. Veteran racer Kelly Shryock just got by Cayden Carter at the finish line, as they went third and fourth. Brandon Banks rounded out the top five. Brown, from Ainsworth, Iowa will be a sophomore in high school this coming year, and will turn 16 next week. He looks to have a future in racing!
The early portion of the 18-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature saw an interesting scenario. Jeff Anderson, multi-time IMCA National Stock Car champion, led his son, Shannon Anderson, multi-time IMCA Hobby Stock champion. Shannon knocked on Dad's door several times before nosing under him to lead at lap seven. The final laps saw Shannon drive off to take another comfortable win. Anderson remains unbeaten at the track this season, though tonight, he was not under the bounty. Jason Fusselman, Shelby, Iowa, and who races at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa, just got by Brandon Cox in the final moments as they went second and third in that order. Aaron Martin took fourth and Scott Shull was fifth.
The finale was the 20 lap Stock Car feature. Michael Sheen, driving the #195 (the 9 was so small, it looked like #15) from Lamesa, Texas, paced the field for the opening laps, only to have Troy Jerovetz take command as lap four was scored. Jerovetz continued his run at the front, soon to be dogged by Dustin Griffiths, and other big time company in Damon Murty and Nathan Wood. Todd Reitzler threw his hat in the ring as well and battled for position. However, Jerovetz never waivered, and took the checkers for the win. Murty won the battle for second place over Wood in third, Griffiths in fourth and Reitzler in fifth. EDIT: A check of the results shows that Griffiths was scored 19th, (I believe he was caught up in an incident in turn four in the final moments) thus putting Reitzler to fourth, and Abe Huls to fifth. We have just noticed Jerovetz showing up in some results in the area lately. He is a transplanted Wisconsinite, who is now calling Webster City, Iowa home. I believe, he use to drive the #01 SportMod a few years back, and earlier in his career, was a hockey player and known as "The General". Don't quote me on that though! EDIT: Jerovetz ran the 01 car that looked like the General Lee. Knew there was some connection there. Jeremy Hedrick was known as the "Captain" from his hockey days. I got them confused.
It brought back memories to hear the familiar call of, "Hello Race Fans", from the announcer's stand last night. Jerry Mackey was back in the house, filling in for usual man on the mic, Tony Paris. Mackey made Wednesday night's his announcing home, back in the day.
The weather forecast has been a worry lately, and once again, The "R" word was thrown into the mix for the 3rd and the 4th. The call was made to make the Shootout, two complete shows this year due to that threat. Tonight will be another complete show. It was announced that 114 cars were checked in last evening, and tonight, I would expect more. Time will tell. Why not join us for some 4th of July racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
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