Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
It was quite a weekend of racing in the Upper Midwest and I turned what is becoming a rarity for me: a quadrupleheader. Gone are the days of rolling up and down the road, hitting races nightly from state to state. These days, it seems like quite a commitment to make it to one to two races a weekend. The weekend started in Fort Dodge, Iowa, at the Mineral City (who knew it had such a crisp moniker?) Speedway. The track, which ran sparsely in 2005 is up and running full-time in 2006 with a Friday night stocks and mods card but welcomed the Midwest 305s and a few of the Jackson Limiteds for a show, plus a make-up feature. They had 12 cars in the pits and Ryan Yager dominated the first feature. The Midwest 305s were purported to be heading to Jackson and Owatonna but few made the trip. No one raced at Jackson and only Bob Hildreth and Marty Stephenson showed at Owatonna. More on that later.
Back to the Mineral City. The raceway is certainly a work in progress as it needs permanent restrooms and concession stands but the raceway itself is quite impressive. It might not be a true half-mile but it is much larger than any other recently constructed dirt track in the area and plenty wide with a nice shape to it. The track layout reminds me of I-90 Speedway with the parking lot on a hill behind the raceway, which sits in a bit of a valley. Except at Mineral City, the bulk of parking is quite a jaunt from the stands and they offer a shuttle service! I didn’t stay for the make-up feature as I have a hidden clause in my mental contract with dirt tracks that I’ll not watch Hornets, Hobbies, Econos and Stock Cars in one evening. Nice to see the Midwest 305s expanding a bit this season and heading to tracks, like Mineral City, where they otherwise might not run Sprint Cars. It’d be perfect for a 360 race and hopefully that will happen one of these years. The Midwest 305s are scheduled to be at Knoxville on Friday, July 21, with the Lucas Oil Late Models.
Max Dolder, a photographer/harmonica player from Florida, was on hand at Knoxville and had a great quote following the carnage on Saturday night. “They didn’t tear them up, they twisted them up.” Tyler Thompson rode out a very hard series of tumbles down the frontstretch in the heat race and Mike Houseman Sr. and Troy Meyer tangled in the 360 feature. Matt Moro took the hardest hit in the 410 when he shucked a right rear on the entrance to turn one. All drivers were uninjured… Mike Trent sat in for John Schulz while the latter nurses a broken hand suffered in his grinder the previous Saturday night at Knoxville. No word on who will drive the car in the coming weeks but Schulz will most likely be out until at least the 360 Nationals… Ricky Logan’s first night in the Vermeer 55 at Knoxville gave him a third place finish in the first feature and no brakes in the second one. Logan said he thought about staying out without brakes for the second featch but felt with the inverted field, he might be better off fixing the problem on a yellow. Logan came to Cedar Lake on Monday and started on the outside of the 55’s former driver Kerry Madsen in the heat race. Each struggled in the A-main, spinning once apiece… Just like Lynton Jeffrey one week before in the 410s, 360 racer David Hall had his first Knoxville feature win in eyesight when a red flag bunched the field. Josh Higday promptly strode past for the win. Hall is one of the best budget racers at Knoxville and he’ll win a feature one of these days, hopefully by season’s end… Steve Wares finally got his first win at Knoxville as a car owner when Jeff Mitrisin drove away from the pack in the second 360 feature. Wares now has one win as an owner and one as a driver. It was Mitrisin’s first 360 win at the Raceway.
Brian Brown is having a statement season in the Doogs 21 and his commanding win in the first feature was his eighth of the year. Brownie had 11 last year. He certainly looks to be the favorite to win the Knoxville title this season but Billy Alley and Skip Jackson could reel him in if he stumbles… Alley was the last driver to sweep both ends of Twin Features when he won both 360 shows in 2003. This year, he came the closest with two runner-up finishes in the 410s. Danny Lasoski was the last driver to turn the trick in the 410s, a decade ago… Jesse Gianetto drove a brand new car to fourth in the second feature. Gianetto got his first win of the season on July 4 at West Liberty in Sprint Invader action. He completely destroyed a chassis the previous week when the rear end broke on the frontstretch, sending him tail first into the inside wall… Greg Jones looked as fast and straight as ever last weekend in a new car with Michael Robuck turning the wrenches. Nice to see his 3J roll up to staging for the second A-feature... Methinks Brent Antill would have garnered serious long shot odds if you’d wagered on him prior to Saturday night’s feature. Antill has raced sparsely this season and had never really turned a competitive lap at Knoxville in 2006. Congrats to the crafty veteran who always seems to sneak a win in each season.
Scott Winters has turned things around in a hurry after suffering through a stretch of blown engines (Knoxville and Owatonna), on track incidents (Huset’s) and a last lap steal by Wade Nygaard (Cedar Lake) to take two wins over the weekend. Winters benefited from Gregg Bakker’s flat tire while leading at Jackson and drove by Chuck Swenson to take the lead at Owatonna for his first ASCS Northern Plains victory. All this without his big hitting powerplants… Swenson has been very good in the Northern Plains and leads over Lee Grosz and Eric Lutz in the standings. Swenson, despite losing at Owatonna, is going to be very hard to catch in the standings… Leigh Thomas ran Owatonna on Sunday, drove back to Duluth after the race and then returned to Cedar Lake with his 410 car for the Monday night NST show… Jerry Richert Jr. showed up at Owatonna with a flat black tail tank on his sharp looking 63 Sprinter. Richert Jr. had survived a scary inferno on Saturday at Jackson when a brake rotor ripped his fuel tank open. The blaze was ignited by an exhaust flame. Richert was completely engulfed but suffered no burns, despite his suit being completely destroyed. In 25 years of racing, it was Richert’s first fire. Richert lost an engine after the checkers on Sunday… 17-year-old Casey Heser was impressive on Sunday night in his first visit to Steele County and was much better than his 10th place finish shows… With only four limited Sprints on hand, the division was canceled and Bob Hildreth and Marty Stephenson ran with the 360s.
Dusty Ballenger decided to hang around following Owatonna on Sunday night and run against the NST at Cedar Lake. He was the only 360 car on the speedway… Dustin Lindquist broke a driveshaft yoke in the second heat race at Owatonna and did not start the feature. Lindquist had hoped to have his good Singer Engines back for Saturday at Knoxville but he’ll most likely be in Jackson on Friday night… Tim Kaeding is now nine for 21 in NST action in 2006 and is chasing down Danny Lasoski in the point battle. Look out for Kaeding come Nationals time. He’ll be in my top three favorites list… Danny Lasoski continues to run his odd shaped top wing but sources say that it may soon become a thing of the past. The National Sprint Tour is reportedly trying to find the proper wording for the rule to disallow its use as the organization continues to recover from the sudden loss of a founder Fred Brownfield. Knoxville has already banned its use.
Mark Dobmeier had a great weekend, despite a less than stellar showing in the feature at Cedar Lake on Monday. He scored eighth and fourth at Grand Forks against the NST and nearly won the Saturday night finale. On Sunday, he drove to victory at Huset’s… Roger Rager made his first 410 start of the 2006 season in Butch Donahue’s 6R. The car was outfitted with a Mopar purchased from Guy Forbrook. Donahue is in the Dodge business full-time as he now owns Delano Dodge in Delano, Minnesota… Dean Jacobs plans on sitting in the seat of Lonnie Parsons’ 6 car until Tim Shaffer returns, which will more than likely be 2007. Jacobs blew a tire early in the feature event on Monday, ripping a brake line off and doing too much damage to return. He reports that Ray Pullins will most likely park the 29 until Jacobs returns. It was suggested in my ear that Dean Jacobs should be coined “The Ringer” as he’s become such a super sub for first Terry McCarl, winning at Lernerville, and now Parsons… Billy Balog is settled into Ronnie Wiuff’s 1H car and they are looking good thus far in NST competition. The Alaskan has parked his 360 car for the time being and will concentrate on his return to full-time 410 racing… Is it possible that Steve Kinser is rusty? He’s not racing as much this season and he spun in front of the field on Monday night while running third. Danny Lasoski clipped the King and also had to head to the work area. Steve Kinser has not won since February 26, which has to be one of the longest droughts, if not the longest, of his career.
Tidbits
Jason Johnson is lovin’ Speedweek. He’s off to a three for three start in ASCS land and is certainly letting everyone know he’s the best 360 racer in the country right now. I know, I know, Gary Wright. But, quite frankly, Wright is getting beat on a regular basis by not only Johnson but also Nick Smith… Congrats to Randy Anderson and his wife on the birth of a daughter last week. I understand she’s named after her father… The Jackson Nationals should be great this week with three classes of Sprints on Friday night, including the ASCS Northern Plains, the Limiteds and for the first time ever, the Jackpot Junction Series. Perhaps Sprint Car Mania will be Jon McCorkell’s legacy at the Speedway. That and the new grandstands… Danny Hutchins was in the stands at Knoxville a few weeks back and promises the F4 will be back in 2007 and mentioned Jaymie Moyle as his hired gun. Hutchins is sitting out this year after running with Eddie Leavitt Jr. in the seat… Brandon Geldner built a winning engine for Billy Johnson at Arlington on Saturday night. Geldner is the younger brother of Brett Geldner, who also borrowed an engine from little bro to race at NCMS with the ASCS a week ago… Long time photographer Bill Taylor was at Cedar Lake the other night. He recently penned a nice piece on local driver Neil Stevens for Sprint Car and Midget. The newest issue of FlatOut Magazine has a photo of Bill Johnson at Arlington, too. It is available at www.mompub.com... Jesse Drost and Jason Johnson have parted ways in the Mighty Mouse 27 car after a two-wreck weekend at Superior and I-80. No word on what either party will do… Jon Agan’s name has been mentioned as a replacement in the Vanderecken 10 at Knoxville that Rager Phillips raced last week. For his part, Agan resurfaced last Saturday at I-55 in the seat of Doc Sloan’s D12… Randy Martin got his 11th win of the year at Double X Speedway on Sunday night. Martin is right in the mix with several others for the nation’s feature win lead. Jason Johnson leads with 13.
That will do for this week’s edition of Upper Midwest Ramblings. Next weekend should feature reports from the first two nights of the Jackson Nationals, Knoxville’s weekly tilt and maybe something on Sunday night. That’s much too far away to schedule. In the meantime, keep me corrected and informed at Justin@mompub.com.
|