Reminiscing and going through withdrawals

Just when you think a summer couldn’t get any rainier, it does. Luckily there have been a few tracks able to get shows in, but we are starting to get to a total washout point if the pattern continues, and it looks like it might. I’m starting to have withdrawals. It started back at the World of Outlaws show at Knoxville.

The Thursday night show had some intense action and a ton of slide job as the race for the win got wild at times. Swindell, Saldana, Meyers, Sides – they were all slide-jobbing each other without mercy. As I stood in turn four, Saldana cut off Swindell but Sammy didn’t brake, instead he gave Saldana a tap on the back bumper to let him know what he thought about it. Brooke Tatnell was impressive in always being able to pull away and keep the action behind him.

Tatnell wins - Brooke Tatnell won the Thursday night WoO show at Knoxville on June 3. - Conrad Nelson photo

305 winner - Randy Smith (center) was the 305 sprint winner at Knoxville on June 3 Tasker Phillips (left) was second, Tim St. Arnold (right) was third. - Conrad Nelson photo

Friday winner - Jac Haudenschild (center), was the June 4 WoO winner. Brian Brown (left) was second, Tyler Walker (right) was third. - Conrad Nelson photo

Friday’s show was a bit of a downer .With the Masters Classic on hand and only 15 Masters, it ended up being a 6-race program as the Outlaws only ran two Bs and an A; plus, they weren’t running for full points, and, they started the feature with an invert of the previous night. I have yet to see an Outlaw show with an invert and less than full points amount to much. Yes, all of the drivers line-up, but it seems like the back half to two-thirds of the field is working on R&D rather than racing since they aren’t getting full points.

They are racing for full money, and that has the first three or four rows of starters racing pretty hard for $10,000-to-win. Friday night’s feature had some intense racing between Tyler Walker, Lucas Wolfe and Kerry Madsen, but it was front row starters Haudenschild and Brown that finished one-two. Out of the top three from Thurday, Swindell did finish tenth, while Saldana finished 16^th and Tatnell 23^rd.
No other top-ten cars from Thursday finished in the top ten on Friday. All this did was get me fired up to see Saturday night’s show, a full WoO program with 360s, but the rain killed that, as it did last week’s show. The 2010 Outlaw schedule at Knoxville left a lot of us pining for the old days. This June appearance is it for this year other than the Nationals. Several of us were reminiscing about the old days when the Outlaws would roll into town in April, late June/early July, and then in September in addition to the Nationals. Area Outlaw fans were spoiled in those days. The Outlaws were needing dates, and Knoxville was happy to help out. Now the Outlaw schedule has grown, as has their sanction fees, and they make limited appearances at any one spot.
My favorite show used to be the September one. The tension was out of the air after the Nationals, autumn weather was on hand, and everyone was just laid back and enjoying the weekend. Everyone’s season was winding down and the show was just plain fun. I don’t miss the April shows as much, the weather for those was always iffy, but I have always missed the September dates coming off the schedule.
My withdrawal pattern continued with the rainout of the Deery Brothers race in Quincy last Sunday. Following two good shows at Marshalltown and Boone, I was ready to continue the run for the championship as once again in 2010, the competition at Deery shows has been solid. You have a mix of veterans and new faces that are putting on some good shows. Guss, Burgtorf and Aikey continue to be the ones to beat, but drivers like Matt Strassheim, Andy Eckrich, Jason Rauen, Tyler Bruening, Cory Goldbeck, and Joel Callahan among others are mixing it up well come feature time. I was really looking forward to Quincy with $3,000-to-win on the line, it was shaping up to be a big show, but it wasn’t to be. The next race on the Deery schedule is June 30 at Independence.
I did quench a bit of my Deery thirst with a visit to Lee County Speedway for one of their late model “Drive for Five” races, as with the drivers that show up for this, it is almost like catching a Deery show. The results were similar too, with an Aikey-Burgtorf one-two finish. Mainly what the trip to Donnellson did for me was once again have me wishing that the track was about an hour closer to my house so I could make the visit a little more often. I will be back there on July 1 for the Liberty Cup for modifieds, and the Great American Stock Car Shootout finale as both pay $1,000 to the winner.
Coming up, the forecast does not look promising, but maybe that is a good thing as all of the calls for rain might actually make it stay dry. This weekend I will be working at the IndyCar show at Iowa Speedway, something I always look forward to. I am one of these IndyCar holdouts that hopes the series will once again hold the power it did 20 or more years ago. I also hope they continue to race 30 minutes from my house, as you can’t beat that.
After Newton, I’ll have to see what the weather holds, and where I’ll show up again. I do promise that is won’t be so long between visits to the High Side.