Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway Opens May 8

Friday May 8th marked the season opener for the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway. It would be my first-ever trip to the 3/8 mile speedplant. While most other tracks in Iowa fell victim to Mother Nature, Bloomfield remained dry and the program was a go. There were threatening skies off to the west and north, but fortunately those clouds stayed in those directions. I was informed that last year the speedway only hosted five nights of racing action as the weather was unkind.

The first feature of the night would be the USRA b-modifieds. Fourteen cars checked into the track for action that saw last year's USRA National Hobby Stock Champion Jason McDaniel draw the pole. Unfortunately, his luck would run out as he made contact with the outside retaining wall in turn three and would not finish the race. Jamie Gruendike (sp?) would take command early on in the race until Andrew Schroeder found the bottom groove to his liking and slipped passed on lap four. Schroeder would go on to the checkers. One of the Fullencamp cars (either Brian or Eric, not sure as both were number 10) would finish second, but was later disqualified for not having the 6400 RPM chip in his motor. This would move the rest of the field up, handing Mike Shelton second place, Jamie Gruendike third, Jim Walker fourth, and Todd Holman fifth. It was nice seeing the Fullencamps back in action after both had taken a few years off from racing.

Twenty USRA hobby stocks found their way to the track next for their feature event. Mark Morr jumped out to the early lead as there was three-wide racing going on behind him. Dustin Griffiths mounted a charge and took over the top spot until an incident involving him and front runner Danny Thrasher halted his efforts. Thrasher kept his car moving, but Griffiths had to restart from the tail of the field. Derek Kirkwood would take advantage of the situation as he went on to the victory. Thrasher came home second, Griffiths battled back to garnish a solid third place, and Mark Morr was fourth. (Unsure of fifth place car, 01s)

A solid field of sixteen USRA modifieds were up next and it would be Jim Lynch taking the top spot early on from his front row starting spot. David Holder would quickly race down Lynch and make the pass for the lead on lap five. Deeper in the field Richie Gustin was making a charge to the front as he suffered problems in his heat race and started at the tail of the field. He quickly worked his way up to third at the half-way point of the race. Several cautions would slow the race down, one involving race leader Lynch as it appeared he was trying to make his way off the track when Colt Mather made contact with Lynch's rear bumper, sending Lynch's car into a spin. Lynch retired to the pit area while Mather was sent to the tail for "questionable driving." This handed the reigns over to David Holder with Gustin giving chase. Gustin had ample opportunities on restarts, but was unable to take the top spot away as Holder raced to the checkers. Gustin wound finish second, Dennis Elliott third, Brandon Banks fourth, and Greg Cox fifth. Both Banks and Cox are competitors at other weekly tracks, but were cancelled early enough that they made the trip to compete tonight. Track announcer Tony Paris also mentioned that Elliott was a regular at US 36 Raceway in Cameron, Missouri on Friday nights last year, so it's possible his normal track was cancelled as well.

Ten mini stocks were on hand and it would be Mike Fisher taking the checkers. Mini stocks are equivalent to central Iowa's "hornets".

The final event of the night would be the USRA stock cars. Only twelve cars were on hand, but their feature provided some good racing action for the crowd. Pat Rachels used his outside front row start to take command early on while Shane Weller and Matt Griener battled each other for the runner up spot. That side by side battle was all Weller needed to pull away for the victory. Weller finished in second, Griener third, Mike Robinson fourth, and Mike Hardwood rounded out the top five.

The night seemed to be a tail of two stories. The heat races were run very efficiently and at a fast clip. The features were a different story. One piece of criticism I have for the night was a amount of laps under caution after it appeared the field was realigned after a restart. Officials also had the field go an extra lap after the "parade lap." On the other hand, the racing action was pretty good. The track dried out, but the conditions didn't slow the cars down too much. Plenty of side by side action was seen in all the classes. Other then the extra laps, my first trip to Bloomfield was a fun one. It was also fun hearing stories from Howard Gordon Jr as he was sitting behind me in the grandstand. Howard does not have a car at this time, but mentioned he might get one put together later on in the year or for next year. Keep an eye out for a 409 machine in the future!

- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!