Hello everybody. I know I haven't been blogging much this season, and there is a good reason for that. I was without a computer from the third week of March up until sometime after Labor Day. I won't go into details, but needless to say it was a struggle!
Anyway I've had a lot of people ask me where I've been and how many races I've attended. So I thought I'd give a full-season breakdown of my travels.
For the first time in recent memory, I failed to make it to a race in March. I had plans to attend a USMTS event in Missouri, but those plans changed. That being said, I will outline the chronological order of events I attended. I started off the season with plans to only attend one race per week. However, those plans were adjusted in June when I connected with some new race friends.
April 6 - Frostbuster at Marshalltown
April 7 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Burlington
April 15 - Mason City weekly race
April 22 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Dubuque
May 5 - Webster City weekly race
May 8 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Vinton
May 12 - Webster City weekly race
May 16 - Oskaloosa weekly race
May 19 - Webster City weekly race
May 22 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Marshalltown
May 26 - USMTS at Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley, MN
May 28 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Mason City
June 5 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Webster City
June 8 - Marshalltown weekly race
June 9 - Boone weekly race
June 12 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour & IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Tipton
June 16 - Jackson, Minnesota Northstar Series (IMCA mod tour for MN)
June 20 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Oskaloosa
June 21 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Cresco
June 22 - Marshalltown weekly race
June 23 - USMTS at Grain Valley, Missouri
June 26 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Alta
June 27 - USMTS at Deer Creek Speedway
June 29 - USMTS at Allison
June 30 - Cornbelt Clash/MARS/MLRA Late Models at Corning
July 2 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Independence
July 3 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Algona
July 4 - Stock Car Shootout at Oskaloosa
July 7 - Gopher 50 (World of Outlaws Late Models) at Deer Creek Speedway
July 8 - Hogan Memorial at Vinton
July 11 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Mason City
July 12 - USMTS at Winston, Missouri
July 13- USMTS at Lakeside Speedway (Kansas City, KS)
July 15 - IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models at Dubuque
July 17 - Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Oskaloosa
July 19 - Harris Clash at Knoxville
July 21 - Independence weekly race
July 25 - USMTS World Dirt Track Championships at Deer Creek Speedway
July 28 - USMTS World Dirt Track Championships at Deer Creek Speedway
July 30 - Season Championships at Webster City
Aug 1 - USMTS at Alta
Aug 3 - Marshalltown weekly race
Aug 6 - World of Outlaws Late Models and IMCA modifieds at Independence
Aug 9 - Night of 1,000 Stars (Hawkeye Dirt Tour event) at Britt
Aug 10 - Cornbelt Clash Late Models at Lansing, MN
Aug 15 - Season Championships at Alta
Aug 17 - Marshalltown weekly race
Aug 18 - USMTS at Decorah
Aug 24 - Marshalltown weekly race
Aug 25 - Boone weekly race
Aug 29 - USMTS at Fairmont, MN
Aug 31 - Marshalltown weekly race
Sept 1 - USMTS & Cornbelt Clash Late Models at Deer Creek Speedway
Sept 3-8: IMCA Supernationals at Boone
Sept 13 - Wissota 100 at Huron, South Dakota
Sept 14-15: Yankee 100 at Farley
Sept 16 - Season Championships at Vinton
Sept 20-22: USMTS Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek Speedway
Sept 27-29: Knoxville Late Model Nationals at Knoxville
Oct 5 - Fall Challenge at Oskaloosa
Oct 6 - Liberty 100 at West Liberty
Oct 12 - Bruce Sommerfeld Memorial at Fort Dodge
Oct 13 - Fall Nationals at Hays, Kansas
Oct 19-20: MLRA Late Models and modifieds at Lakeside Speedway (Kansas City, KS)
Oct 21 - Fall Nationals at Donnellson
Oct 27 - Thunder on the Hill at Mayetta, Kansas
Oct 28 - Memphis Fall Nationals at Memphis, Missouri
Nov 3 - Larry Phillips Memorial at Springfield, Missouri
Nov 10 - Atchison, Kansas
Nov 17 - Turkey Classic at Springfield, Missouri
I attended 80 races at 36 different tracks in 5 different states. I finally made it to my first "new" track in September when I made my first trip to the Wissota 100 in Huron, South Dakota. At the beginning of the season, one of my goals was to attend a Wissota show and hopefully watch their modified division.
The biggest highlight of my season is the many different road trips that I took with several different friends. The month of June provided several memorable trips, with a couple being memorable for totally opposite reasons. The Hawkeye Dirt Tour made their way to the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta back on June 26, and I was able to convince two friends (Jessica Miller and Kalena Albert) to tag along with me. Those two sure know how to keep things rockin!! A road trip in July found me venturing south into Missouri and Kansas for two USMTS races. September saw perhaps the wackiest and craziest couple of consecutive days for me. On a Thursday my friend Brett McCollough and I drove to South Dakota to watch the second night of the Wissota 100. After spending the night, we woke up early to drive back on Friday. I was barely home for thirty minutes before I met up with Grant Oskvig and headed east to the Farley Speedway to take in the Yankee Dirt Track Classic.
That along with all the crazy miles I put on road trips for fall specials. That is why many of my friends used the word "crazy" when they saw me show up at a race.
Throughout the season I had many people ask me if I "quit" writing or why I hadn't been writing. To be honest, I was a bit surprised to hear that many people actually read what I write. While I do plan to get back "into the groove" at some point, I am uncertain when that time will come.
For now, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and will enjoy a festive Christmas and New Year's. Who knows, you may hear from me again before New Year's. Only time will tell.
PS - This blog was not written today. I have been working on it for about a week now, and just completed editing it with a few final thoughts.
