High Side hit by lightning, down but not out

A quick update. Last Thursday morning my home took a lightning hit and I lost quite a bit of electronic-ware, including my computers. I am sending this quick update from the Pella Public Library. I hope to be up and running by the end of the week, and will start with an update from the IndyCar weekend at Iowa Speedway, including photos from Conrad Nelson. There are some big events on the horizon, including topless late models at Lee County Speedway this Friday, and the World of Outlaws from Knoxville this Saturday, so I hope to be in a position to report from the comfort of my home very soon.
Remember kids, lightning is not your friend!

Badgley saves the day as Boone Speedway sees three new winners for 2009 season

I debated all day Saturday where I was going to race, and ended up choosing Boone. Since I hadn’t taken my camera on my trip there early this spring, I was itching to get a few shots recorded. I was well rewarded for my choice, as I thought the racing had plenty to show as cars went two, three or four wide during the features. Outside of the sportmods, cautions were at a minimum, so the large crowd that was on hand saw a good show as over 160 cars were in the pits.
I left the house later than I intended to get to the track, so I did my usual scramble gathering things up and throwing them in the car. I forgot one major item, and that was the battery pack I left on the charger and it powers my camera. So much for being prepared at show time.
Fortunately for me, track photographer Bruce Badgley bailed me out and had the batteries I needed to power up my camera. So a very big thank you to Bruce in helping make the following pictures in this blog possible. You can check out Bruce’s work at motorsportsphotography.net. He has the latest from Marshalltown, Boone and Stuart throughout the race season. Thanks again Bruce!

A wheel up - Brian Efkamp lifts the left front as he dives through turn three in his IMCA stock car heat race. - BWJ photo

Heat action - Trent Murphy (25) slips under Don Vis (04) in IMCA stock car heat race action. Murphy would go on to win the stock car main event. - BWJ photo

Three-wide - Cory Bushnell (55), Ty Hill (3W) and Donavon Smith (35) race into turn four in their IMCA stock car heat. - BWJ photo

In addition to the large crowd on hand at Boone, the field of cars was sizable too, with both sportmods and modifieds running B mains, and the hobby stocks running two features. The track was relatively dust-free, and since it was re-worked before the features, it helped in putting on a good show.
Of the six feature winners on Saturday night, three of them were picking up their first wins at Boone in 2009. They were: Adam Larson in IMCA modifieds, Larry Embrey in IMCA hobby stocks and Dusty Masolini in dwarf cars. Boone repeaters included Scott Davis in IMCA sportmods, Trent Murphy in IMCA stock cars and Alan Van Gorp in IMCA hobby stocks.
The pictures are going to do the talking for the rest of this section. You should be able to see that there was plenty of racing to be had last Saturday. Personally I went home thoroughly entertained, having a good fill of position changes and foot-to-the-floor racing. The cool evening coupled with the competitive modified field put in the frame of mind for Super Nationals, but since we have just gotten a good start in to June, I’ll put that notion on hold and enjoy all of the shows there are left to run between now and September!

Dwarf winner - Dusty Masolini was the dwarf car feature winner Saturday night. - BWJ photo

Duck and cover - This free-for-all took place in the sportmod main event. Several cautions slowed the race, but fortunately, major damage was at a minimum. - BWJ photo

For the win - Scott Davis (81D) works the topside around to take the lead from Dustin Dalton (2) in the closing laps of the IMCA sportmod feature. - BWJ photo

Digging in - Kelly Lyons (27) digs in on the low side as John Logue (69) goes up top in the IMCA modified feature. - BWJ photoPoint leaders - Going into Saturday night Mike Molle (33M) and Cale Sponsler (93) were one and two respectively in the Boone IMCA modified points. They would head home with Sponsler leading Molle by one point. - BWJ photo

To the front - Adam Larson (2L) goes underneath early leader Craig Carlson (77C) on his way to the win in the IMCA modified feature. - BWJ photo

More action - Scott Baker (15X) and Tim Stevens (49T) race for position in the IMCA modified main. - BWJ photo

Position shuffle - Leroy Staub (20), Donald Wear (28W) and Carl Yaw, Jr., (73C) find their line in the IMCA stock car feature. - BWJ photo

My spot, thanks - More three-wide IMCA stock car action with Donavon Smith (35), Robert Stofer (50) and Bryan Trogdon (12). - BWJ photo

Four wide - Three-wide not enough, try four. Rodney Richards (23HR), Wayne Gifford (22), Terry Cornelison (556) and Bryan Trogdon (12) dice through the corners in the IMCA stock car main. - BWJ photo

First winner - Alan Van Gorp won the first of two IMCA hobby stock features. - BWJ photo

Winner number two - Larry Embrey won the second IMCA hobby stock feature. - BWJ photo

Thanks to everyone at Boone for their hospitality, and I encourage those of you that haven’t been there for a while to head that way some Saturday night. If you see action like I did this past weekend, it will be well worth your drive.

Carter cops B-mod bonus bucks in Southern Iowa Speedway feature action

Time to get caught up. After attending the races sat Oskaloosa on Wednesday night, I don’t think I stopped moving until I got to the infield at Boone on Saturday night. With school out, my wife’s birthday on Friday and trying to sneak in a race or two when I can, time flies.
Thankfully, the PositivelyRacing.com team was out in force at Oskaloosa and could keep you informed in more of a timely manner. My apologies to Conrad as well for not getting his pictures posted sooner. I hope you enjoy his look at SIS on Wednesday. I’m throwing in a few of mine for good measure. $700 winner - Cayden Carter topped the B-modified feature to win the bonus money last Wednesday at Southern Iowa Speedway. - Conrad Nelson photo

Gas Man - Cayden Carter on the pedal at Oskaloosa. - Conrad Nelson photo

As usual, it was high speed event at Oskaloosa, and with extra money on the line for the B-mods, there was a good turnout in that class. I always like it when promoters feature each of their classes over the course of the season. By putting some extra money on the line, not only do they reward their regular drivers, but they also attract some travelers to give the fans some new names to watch. In a way, it’s having a special, without having a special, if you know what I mean. Great battle - Nathan Wood (52) and Bobby Greene (32T) put on a show as they raced each other in their USRA hobby stock heat race. - Conrad Nelson photo

Southern Iowa Speedway is also showing its mean side in my last few visits. You have heard of the “Darlington stripe”, SIS is developing the reputation of the “Osky scrape” as the fence outside the corners has been coming into play. One of last year’s USMTS races as well as this year’s saw the driver leading the race make contact with the outside fence and eventually lose the race. Wednesday night’s B-mod main saw its leader also come into contact with the fence and lose that position as well as the win. Drew Lawson had a comfortable lead in the early going, then a tangle with the turns one and two fence put him out of contention and Cayden Carter in control. A possible battle was shaping up between Lawson and Carter, but it wasn’t to be after Lawson’s scrape.

Weller wins - Shane Weller was the USRA stock car feature winner Wednesday. - Conrad Nelson photo

Congratulations - Somewhere in this mix is stock car feature winner Shane Weller. - Conrad Nelson photo

Feature action - Donavan Nunnikhoven (2N), Dale Porter (31) and Steve Allen (3s) race for position in the USRA hobby stock feature. - BWJ photo

Side-by-side - Colt Mather (8) and Scott Dickey (40) fight for the same piece of ground in the USRA modified feature. - BWJ photo

Into three - Brandon Banks (22) and Greg Cox (62) head into turn three during the USRA modified feature. - BWJ photo

Osky is a fast track, and sometimes it is a fine line between jumping the cushion and maintaining control, and drivers in every class have had their moments with the fence. If the competition wasn’t tough enough, the track likes to bite too.

Kubli, Brown and Mather use dominating performances to reach victory lane at Knoxville

I ventured back to Knoxville this week, looking forward to catching a “normal” show at the track. If you look at their schedule, Knoxville has a lot of shows that qualify as “specials”, as several sanctions and types of cars visit over the course of the season. Saturday night, both the 360 and 410 sprints were on the card. There were also 305 sprinters there too as the class was making the first of six visits over the course of this season. That is about as close to normal as you could get I guess.
This column also allows me to introduce to you the photographic efforts of Conrad Nelson, who is a regular shooter at both Knoxville and Oskaloosa. I will be sharing some of his work with you throughout the season and I appreciate his efforts very much. Last night at Knoxville I was armed with only a notebook and wandered around the pits for most of the night. Conrad handled the heavy lifting and shot victory lane. Thanks Conrad!
I went to last weekend’s midget weekend, but as you notice, didn’t write. The tragic circumstances of Friday night I felt were best covered by Jeff in his blog, and Saturday I sat in the stands to watch Kevin Swindell make his run, followed by a good battle between Johnny Herrera and Sammy Swindell. Still feeling the effects of Friday, I let the weekend go by and looked ahead.

305 winner - Milo, Iowa's, Rob Kubli showed the way in winning Saturday 305 sprint main at Knoxville. - Conrad Nelson photo

Last night was a good way to get back on track, as there were plenty of cars (18 305s, 33 360s and 24 410s) to put on a good show. The track was well-watered, very fast, and did allow for some position changes, though the front row of all of the features seemed to have the deck stacked – more on that later. Although the afternoon looked to threaten rain at any moment, we stayed high and dry, and it turned into a beautiful night as the dust was at a minimum.

On the gas -Brett Mather is fielding his own car in 2009 and he put it in victory lane Saturday. - Conrad Nelson photo

Trophy winner - Brett Mather and crew celebrate his 360 feature win. - Conrad Nelson photo

- A side note, of the races I have attended in 2009, at every track I have been too, I think it would be safe to say that 85 percent of them would be considered dusty. Dry slick has become more of a trend over the past few years, and coupled with some very windy days so far this spring, this has led to plenty of dust flying. Maybe I notice it more trying to take pictures through it (and other photographers will back the trend I’m sure) but dust has been a key word this year. Remember when you went to the track and it was like driving through a bog when they started to roll it in? All of the cars went out to pack and huge, football-sized mud clods used to arc through the air and cover the cars? And at the end of the night, when you headed to the pits, the track was still tacky enough it could pull your shoes off? Those days are gone, but unfortunately well remembered by many of us. Today’s cars, tracks and tires seem to be set up for an entirely different style of racing and dust seems to be the bi-product, which sunny and windy days just seem to accelerate. Not a gripe on my part, just an observation.
Fortunately, last night, the viewing was clear and good.
I like the addition of the 305s to the program. I though t they put on a decent show, with several drivers in contention for the win. There was contact on the start of the race, with Earl Tice coming to a stop in turn two with terminal damage to his front end. Bob Lamb saw damage to his nose wing, which would lead to his early exit a few laps later.
Once the action began to flow, it was a good show between Rob Kubli, Marty Stephenson, Mitchell Alexander and Tasker Phillips. Kubli and Stephenson raced for position while Alexander and Phillips did the same. With seven laps complete, an incident in turn four (I was standing in turn two) eliminated Phillips from the mix.
The restart found Kubli out front, followed by Stevenson. Alexander would drop out before the end of the race. A seventh-starting Matt Stevenson was making a charge as the laps wound down. He would end up grabbing second, but didn’t have enough time to gain on Kubli.
Brett Mather, behind the wheel of his own car for 2009 started on the pole of the 360 main and took advantage of it as he motored off into the lead in a 15-lap feature that would see no cautions and finish only two seconds shy of the track record. Johnny Anderson would stay in tow in second for much of the feature. In the closing laps, Dennis Moore, Jr., made a charge and would pass Anderson. He set off after Mather through traffic, but ran out of laps to make a run at the lead. A tenth-starting Jon Agan looked to be moving quickly early on in the feature, but reached a point where he could catch nobody else and finished seventh. I kept an eye on him as he looked like he was going to be the race’s biggest mover, but the field leveled off and his charge wound down. It was a good win for Mather.

From the pole - Brian Brown blasted the 410 field while winning at Knoxville - Conrad Nelson photo

In the 410 feature, the scenario looked the same as the 360s as the pole-sitter took off and hid. Brian Brown was the recipient of this good fortune as this feature ran without cautions and through traffic until the checkered flew at the same time as the red flag. More on that in a minute.
Brown was impressive, at times having a half-lap lead, a big improvement on his start last week that saw a front wheel fall off in hot laps. Fellow front-row starter Wayne Johnson kept his eye on Brown, but had his hands full with Kerry Madsen in the closing laps as Madsen would end up taking second.
Point leader Johnny Herrera was having a bad night, and started the feature 17th. If you have watched Herrera this season, you’ll know the car shows a fair amount of smoke over the evening, and last night was no exception, as it puffed out decent-sized clouds as it went into the corners. Still, the 2W was moving and Herrera had made it up to seventh on the white flag lap.
That all changed in turn two. As I stood there and watched, the 33R of Ricky Montgomery was off the power, in the very low groove, and trying to get off the track, headed toward the back pit entrance. Herrera rocketed out of turn two low and there was Montgomery. Herrera blasted into Montgomery’s right rear and went flipping toward the turn two fence. In my opinion, Montgomery was out of the way the best he could be and was truly a surprise to Herrera as he raced for the checkered. Fortunately Herrera climbed out OK.
As Herrera was flipping, Brown was taking the checkered flag, so the race ended strangely as the emergency crews hit the clay to come to the aid of the 2W in turn two.
In all, I thought it was good night at Knoxville, with the festivities coming to an end before 10:30 p.m.