The Hunting with Heroes Salute to Veterans Night races were halted at the Boone Speedway on Saturday after just one feature event was completed. Then the heavens opened up after a couple of laps of the IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMods were down. However, it did not interfere with the before race activities. Veterans received free admission to the races, a free meal and drink, and gifts. There were ten beautifully wrapped race cars honoring a diversified military theme that were on display in the Fan Zone prior to the races, and the pre-race ceremony was heartwarming and filled with patriotic pride, honoring all Veterans.
The ten cars that carried the Veterans wraps were quite impressive, and being able to see them up close before the races was a treat. The drivers were Jeremy Mills, Chanse Hollatz, Taylor Kuehl, Matt Looft, Jake Sachau, Johnathon Logue, Jake McBirnie, Wayne Landheer, Kelly Shryock, and Nick Meyer. Themes included the B51 bomber, Uncle Sam Wants You, Desert Storm, Stealth Black Ops, and my personal favorite, Rosie the Riveter on Taylor Kuehl's car.
The pre-race ceremonies were wonderful. All of the wrapped cars were brought to the frontstretch, along with numerous area firetrucks, police vehicles, ambulance, and a huge American flag was hung from an infield firetruck's ladder.
All veterans in attendance were recognized and honored as they stood. One special veteran in attendance was Jim "Pappie" Leonard, a 75 year old race car driver, who is still racing, and who came all the way from Arkansas with his car. He had his dress Marine coat on as he stood on the track during the pre-race ceremonies, and got very emotional when the announcers gave his story. He is a 21 plus year veteran of the Marine Corps, and decorated with 37 medals....thus his car #37. He had five tours of Vietnam and has five Purple Hearts. He said this was more of an honor and welcome home than he had ever received previously.
The "American Bombshells" ( https://www.americanbombshells.com/) sang God Bless America and the National Anthem, nostalgically dressed in vintage army uniforms, and did a beautiful job. There was also an army jeep and vintage American muscle car that led the Salute to Veterans cars around the track. All of this was worth more than the price of admission in my opinion.
One feature race was completed, the IMCA STARS Mod Lites got their 15 lap event in. Randy Bryan started on the outside front row, jumped immediately to the lead, and led all laps on his way to the win. He finished well ahead of second place Charlie Brown, and Joel Huggins finished a close third. Fourth went to Joe Glick, and Bryan Zehm finished fifth. This was Zehm's third win of the season.
The IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMods were just a lap or so into their feature event, when Mother Nature decided to spoil the rest of the evening. Next week, they will be the first up to complete their feature race, and then the Modifieds, Stock Cars, and Hobby Stocks will run their rained out events. The Modifieds will run for $5,000, the Stock Cars for $2,000, the SportMods for $1,300, and the Hobby Stocks for $1,100 for their Salute to Veterans third and final series race. After the make-up features are completed, the regular nights show will be run in its entirety. Double features for one night's admission. They will be going back to the earlier start times again, with hot laps at 5, and racing at 6.
So...some social media sites have many "fans" complaining that they can't get in next week free with their ticket stubs/bands. People....it has been the rule since I can ever remember....and I'm old....that if all of the show except for the features are done, it is called a complete show! No refunds or free pass for the next week.
The season is winding down fast. Get out and support a race track and help keep racing alive and well.
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