Halloween Treat

On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from Positivelyracing head man Jeff Broeg asking if I would be interested in attending a race with him on Sunday afternoon. I was unaware of a race this late in the season, but when he informed me of the track I decided to meet him and do a little "road trippin" to Butler, Missouri and the Butler Motor Speedway. Time to celebrate Halloween "racin style".

Jeff and I had plenty of time to discuss several topics along the way during our lengthy trip south of Kansas City. We discussed many rumors floating about along with general racing news. It was a lot of fun bench racing with a man that has a plethora of racing knowledge.

The Sunday afternoon racing card saw late models, modifieds, b-modifieds, factory stocks, street stocks, 600 cc sprints, and hobby stocks (or better known as hornets here in Iowa). A healthy purse was up for grabs in the late models ($2,000 to win) and modifieds ($1,500 to win). While the modified car count was solid with 25, the late model count was unexpectedly low with only eleven or twelve.

The heat races provided some great racing action for a mid-day start time. Two distinct racing grooves were used throughout all divisions with the high side in turns three and four actually being a preferred line by many.

The first feature event would be the factory stocks. Paul Snyder would take the point and lead in the early going, but Don Danner made his move following a restart and passed Snyder on the inside for the race lead. Snyder would later lose his second position to Brian Ziegler following another caution flag, but the race belonged to Don Danner as he picked up the win. Brian Ziegler was second, Paul Snyder third, Jerry Schmidt fourth, and Devin Weymeyer rounded out the top five.

Next up was the b-mod feature. A solid field of twenty-three cars took the green flag with Bobby Maggard getting the early advantage over JC Morton. Several caution flags plagued the event, but it also presented an interesting game of chess. JC Morton and Jay Lamans were the players and the interesting plot was who would be in the second spot when the next caution flag was displayed. With the double-file restart the second-place car gets the option of starting on the inside or outside line. Every time it appeared the driver took the inside. However, every restart saw the outside guy get the advantage and take the spot away until the next yellow flag. It was definitely puzzling for Jeff and I as to why the guys didn't opt for the outside when they clearly knew that spot would get the advantage each time. But I digress back to the racing action.

One driver who benefited from the numerous cautions was Mike Striegel. After falling victim to the two-spin rule in his heat race, he was forced to start towards the tail of the field. He quickly dissected his way through the field and found himself passing Wayne Graybeal for the fourth spot. Another caution came out, and presumably after the flag had been waved, Morton and Lamans made contact with Morton coming to a stop inside of turn one. Both drivers were sent to the tail for their involvement. That put Striegel in the runner up spot, and a few laps later he worked his way under Maggard for the lead. Maggard would proceed to lose a couple more positions before I noticed he had left the track late in the race. Mike Striegel would go on to take the checkered flag ahead of Andrew Smith, Eric Tinderholdt, Andy Beauchamp, and Mark Evinger.

The nine-car field of street stocks were up next. Sundance Keeper (yes, that's his real name) started on the pole and bolted to the lead. Steve Shadden looked under Jessy Willard for the second spot about halfway through the race for the second position. Shadden would slide high exiting turn two and give the spot back to Willard. The race would go green to checkered as Sundance Keeper dominated the racing in picking up the prize. Jessy Willard would finish second, Steve Shadden was third, Don Danner fourth, and Paul Snyder rounded out the top five. And yes, you may noticed that Danner and Snyder were in both the factory stock and street stock top five. They raced the same car in both divisions, as did Brian Ziegler.

Following a caution-free race is always somewhat difficult to live up to, and this time the modifieds would be that class. Unfortunately they had a much different outcome as they had four attempts to complete just the first lap. When a lap finally got completed it was pole sitter Chad Lyle taking the top spot with Terry Schultz following him in second. Shad Badder would sneak inside of Schultz to take over the second spot prior to the caution waving once again. From that point on none of the top five positions changed as Chad Lyle picked up the win. Shad Badder finished second, Terry Schultz was third, Aaron Marant finished fourth, and Jody Tillman completed the top five.

The late models entered the track for their feature event with eight of the eleven cars on hand taking the green flag. Pole sitter Matt Johnson quickly took command out front with Larry Jones running second. With a small field of cars only one yellow was displayed, but very little passing was seen during the race as the track had locked down during the modified feature. Matt Johnson took home the win followed by Larry Jones, David Turner, Chuck Comer, and Jerry Morgan.

Following that race Jeff and I decided it was time to hit the road for our 5+ hour trip back home. Still to be run were the 600 cc sprints and the "hobby stocks" (hornets).

During the races Jeff and I were greeted by Trenton Berry. I had the pleasure of meeting Trenton at LA Raceway in LaMonte and have seen him at select tracks since then. He informed us that he was no longer with the Racinboys.com people, and had embarked on a new venture. He started a website of his own, www.racindirt.com, as he gave us his business cards. Be sure to check out his website, as that is where I got the names of the drivers Sunday as I didn't recognize very many.

Sunday's race at Butler marked race #90 for me on the season. While there is a strong possibility of it being my last, I can't rule out the chance of making it down to Springfield (Missouri) Thanksgiving Saturday for their Turkey Classic race.

On a side note, I noticed that the Marshalltown Speedway has already published their 2011 schedule on their website. Promoter Toby Kruse has also nullified all the rumors floating with the announcement that IMCA will indeed be the sanctioning as his facility in 2011. Be sure to check out that schedule. Also be sure to check out the special events calendar here on Positivelyracing.com as more tracks will be included starting in 2011 to provide a wider variety of options for a larger population of people.

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