Iowa Evacuation

By Kevin Eckert

September 11, 2009 South Lineville, Missouri: Relief and sadness swept over me at once. There was relief to roll down a highway in a state other than Iowa, where I had spent 38 straight days. Coincidentally, it is the only one of 50 states that has forbidden me to drive until Memorial Day 2010. But there was sadness too, as there always is whenever the time comes to leave Knoxville.

I had to leave a dear friend of 21 years, Kris Krohn, who has the easy manner that enables vagrants to visit without end. Krohn’s corner of the world overlooks the south side of town and is a nice place to sequester one’s self. Or as Kris Kristofferson said, South Attica Road is a good place to drop Out of Mind and Out of Sight. The phone never rings. The television’s never on. And the only people who knock merely ask permission to harvest walnuts.

How did I spend four weeks decompressing from Knoxville Nationals? After a brief court appearance, I was free to leave but found it not so easy. First of all, there was much to do. There was the last avalanche of August data to process, an overdue column to construct, an advertising partner to add (cheers to The Dingus), a warehouse of yearbooks and a Ford Escort with an ugly noise.

Robuck Automotive took care of the broken strut and coil. Dwayne Robuck has served more than two decades on the Marion County Fair board. He and son Mike have fielded sprint cars longer than that, winning with Skip Jackson and Brent Antill at Knoxville, Travis Cram in Sioux Falls, Randy Anderson in Bethany, and Colin Northway at U.S 36. There were Robuck racers at Nationals for Bruce Drottz, Cliff Woodward, Terry Thorson, Craig Dollansky, Dennis Moore and Don Droud Jr. Others who wore Number 12 were Bob White, Kurt Winker, and Australian pilots Peter Murphy and Marty Perovich.

Racing is a tight circle. Advertising dollars from Dingus and DMI went from my hands to Robuck, who then redistributed some of it back to Dingus and DMI. Though they closed Knoxville by winning for car owner Ed Gifford, neither Mike nor driver Dusty Zomer plan to continue with the Gifford 17G. Following the finale, Dusty rolled his Weseman engine out of Ed’s life. Robuck however, is someone Zomer wants to keep around, so Mike was pricing DMI components for the return of Dusty’s own car.

Zomer is a recent example of Knoxville’s powerful pull. Every week for six years, he has traveled 300 miles from his Sioux Falls, South Dakota home. That’s the town that Doug Wolfgang put on the sprint car map; the one that he joked was five hours from his home track (Knoxville). No other track in America regularly draws fans and competitors from five states, not even in New England with states the size of Iowa counties. These are vast stretches of Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Illinois that get covered every Saturday to reach The Sprint Car Capital of the World.

Knoxville fans take much for granted. They pay a nice price ($12) for access to countless chair-backed bleachers, get two (now three) sprint car classes without a single hobby stock, rarely see a speck of dust, catch replays on a jumbo screen, three push trucks to every racer, and tow truck operators that know how to hook a sprint car. That last little detail was grossly overlooked this weekend in Grain Valley, Missouri and Terre Haute, Indiana.

Knoxville draws so many trucks to help pack and push that before hot laps, they all park on the inside edge of the backstretch for one massive mud-scraping session. When the trucks leave to go shove a sprint, the backstretch looks like circus animals have passed through. But in a few hours, all that beautiful black clay is bladed back to the track.

These are the good points. The downside is that the Knoxville Raceway is a big, fast home of the biggest (410ci), fastest machines on a circle track. They distance themselves immediately. They pass, but do so in milliseconds. There is rarely resistance or re-passing. Heat races are as bad as winged racing can be because early evening surfaces are seldom wide enough for slide jobs, and too few cars and too few laps do not let leaders catch the tail of the field, where winged races are universally won and lost.

Twice in 15 years, Johnny Herrera adopted a weekly ritual of reaching the airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a flight to Kansas City or Des Moines for a ride to Knoxville. And twice, Herrera has emerged champion.

Herrera drives for Hawaii’s Larry Woodward, an Ascot Park alumni lured back to the madness of owning sprint cars in time to win $200,000 with Jac Haudenschild at Eldora in 2003. Since that glorious night, Woodward went several seasons with the World of Outlaws behind Joey Saldana, Brooke Tatnell and Craig Dollansky. This year, Larry hired Herrera and crew chief Troy Renfro to be Knoxville champions. They partially succeeded.

Troy and I go way back. He and his brother Todd are sons of Royce Dean Renfro, who I knew as “Dizzy Dean” when he ran the Reading Fairgrounds out of Millers, Maryland. For a character who called also himself Chief Wahoo and arrived by stretch limo, Dizzy has one grouchy kid. Rather than join my toast to friends Johnny and Carla (Rick Ideus also part of Perfect Circle), Troy took time to vent.

Renfro was angry that Knoxville “allowed” McCarl and Lynton Jeffrey to share Number 24 and take the car owner championship for Tod Quiring. Troy felt that Herrera had done his job but that he had failed at his. Renfro revealed that Woodward was so upset that they will not defend the crown in 2010. He wanted me to hold management to the fire, but I see a loophole that cannot be tightened too easily.

If a guy like Quiring wants to try 20 different drivers on 20 different Saturdays, who is Ralph Capitani or John McCoy to tell him differently? The whole thing reminded me of the Saturday in ‘64 when Knoxville told Pappy Weld that he and his sons Greg and Kenny were barred. Instead, the winner was Bob Williams in a car “bought” from Pappy Weld and promptly “purchased” back. Knoxville had no more idea how to shred a gentlemen’s agreement in 1964 as it did in 2009. Knoxville now splits $30,000 between its top owner and driver, so splitting that in half again is about more than ego.

No point fund pays as well as deeply as Knoxville. It is a big reason why Lynton Jeffrey can move from Australia or Calvin Landis from Arizona. Their point system is complex and ever-changing. Last year, Danny Lasoski was so far ahead that he skipped the final race yet was still crowned king. This year’s “solution” dropped points from time trials but that only led to less-than-honest efforts. Twenty years ago, Wolfgang was among the Top Five despite limited starts so a percentage rule was enacted. But this year, that percentage rule meant that McCarl’s name did not appear until the very end.

On the podium, Terry accepted Tod’s championship as every ear waited for a farewell speech. It never came. Rampant speculation said Big Game Tree Stands was so devastated at losing the Knoxville Nationals that Quiring had kicked McCarl to the curb. Yet in the weeks following the false foreclosure, McCarl and Quiring won in Sioux Falls and Superior to raise their 2009 win production to 18.

McCarl has many kids at Knoxville running scared. Under caution, he may roll up beside one on the chance that it makes the boy nervous enough to surrender that position. In his first post-Nationals start, Terry messed with the mind of Rager Phillips. Though he did pass Phillips shortly after the next green, the next yellow saw Rager coast up next to McCarl as if to say, “You might’ve passed me but I’m still right here.”

Rager is from the remarkable family of Kyle and Sue Phillips, local Pleasantville farmers who put two daughters through medical school and two sons in sprint cars. Rager currently studies agriculture at Iowa State. He and his kid brother Tasker are quick studies of sprint racing too. Rager (not named for Roger) made the 360 A-main in his first try; little bro needed two starts. Tasker is a throttle-happy teen who will need to curb the crashing before a sister sets his broken bones.

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, Dustin Selvage passed beneath the white flag and shed a wing panel that knocked flagman Justin Clark down. Justin’s dad Doug hit the red, helped son to his feet and handed him green, white and checkered to show Selvage, who won without his right sideboard. The kid from Indianola is another bright part of the future of an oval once promoted by Ray Grimes, grandfather and car owner to Dustin. Out of his comfort zone in 2009, Selvage was eighth and eleventh in my visits to LaMonte, Missouri and Columbus Junction, Iowa.

Of the 18 Knoxville A-mains for 360s this year, only six were won by Iowa natives. Missouri’s Jonathan Cornell won three; Ricky Logan (AR) and Clint Garner (SD) won twice; and Matt Covington (OK), Ryan Roberts (NE), Bryan Dobesh (SD), Wayne Johnson (OK) and Gregg Bakker (SD) won once. McCarl’s sweep of 360 Nationals led Selvage, Brett Mather, Johnny Anderson and Jon Agan as Knoxville winners from the host state.

This month marked my first time in Iowa during the famed Boone IMCA Nationals. Reviews of that raceway are so stellar that for one New York minute, I pondered an 84-mile run to break new ground. Krohn advised against it. He knew that 17 spec sprints were not enough sedatives for 380 stock cars. Travelers like Keith Barto hope Boone plays into the Iowa Speedweek proposed by Terry McCarl since there have been no significant sprint races there since ‘81 (when The Outlaws visited twice) or ’77 when Wolfgang beat Rick Ferkel in the final wingless summer of IMCA.

Madison, South Dakota’s Jerimiah Jordahl was the only driver to race on Labor Day in Sioux Falls and the next night in Boone.

Ramona, South Dakota’s Ryan Bickett began his season in Florida, attacked Eldora during Kings Royal, and ran Knoxville Nationals of both cubic inch limits before winning the Labor Day show in Sioux Falls that included Austen Wheatley of Washington and Chris Schmelzle from British Columbia.

Two weeks after the Knoxville Nationals, I spotted the Wheatley Wolf Weld in the Wal Mart lot. Mr. and Mrs. Shannon Wheatley have been away from home longer than me. In six weekends after ASCS debuted in Oregon, Austen ran ten times from Knoxville to Jackson, Sedalia, Husets, Eagle and Butler County, Nebraska. Wheatley wants his kid to race with both feet and believes the Skagit Speedway of his old boss Steve Beitler does not teach Austen much more than how to hold his breath.

Two weeks after the Knoxville Nationals, a red flag sent me for a cheeseburger. I saw a guy wearing a Danielle Huson T-shirt and recognized him as her father Marc, six-time Skagit champ and current horsepower merchant at Shark Racing Engines. “Marc the Shark” pointed to wife Debbie and explained how she had never seen Knoxville. Until then, I never realized that Danielle was also daughter to Debbie Kracke, herself a competitor in six straight Dirt Cups. After the Husons returned from Iowa, Jason Solwold steered Shark 73 to ninth-place against the World of Outlaws at Skagit.

Imagine for one moment that you live in Canada. Okay, you may be healthy of body but not of mind because you in Alberta have but one chance to see The Wild Child! Last summer, Jac Haudenschild made his Edmonton debut. This year, you bought tickets. But when The Outlaws filed onto Castrol Raceway, Toni Lutar was in Jac’s R19. With all due respect to the blocky Canuck, that was like searching a cereal box for a prize someone stole. Now imagine how you felt upon discovering that Haudenschild was kept off Canadian soil by some asshole with an attitude.

Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson is squeezing in as many starts as he can. Third in the Johnny Key Classic at Watsonville with a winged 360, Kyle and car owner David Vertullo took wings off, increased to 410 and competed with USAC/CRA at Calistoga. Two nights and 450 miles later, they met the World of Outlaws in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Overnight, they bounced back down to Chico with a Civil War 360. This year was Larson’s third Gold Cup and first one that cracked the final grid.

I really had my heart set on being in Calistoga and Gold Cup. The money that fixed my car could have fueled that same car to Chico and back. But that would have been stupid even for me. I wanted to coax football stories from Dick Vermeil over a glass of Napa wine. I wanted to hear about him winning the ’76 Rose Bowl for UCLA, 2000 Super Bowl for St. Louis, or why Rod Martin (Raider) was Ron Jaworski’s favorite target during the Super Bowl of 1981. Dick once told the tale of walking into his dad’s garage with proud details of football glory only to have Louie Vermeil tell him to change the oil in a customer’s car.

Two nights of the 2009 Louie Vermeil Classic for USAC/CRA sprint cars were won by Kevin Swindell and Mike Spencer, who stopped a Swindell sweep by putting the fruit and vegetable merchant from Madera (Ron Chaffin) ahead of the cattle baron from Fresno (Dennis Roth). Gold Cup saw Roth pair Tim Kaeding with Paul McMahan in Paul’s first Roth races in 12 years.

Kevin Swindell has won half of his four starts on the Calistoga Speedway where his father Sammy Swindell won seven of 33 including three in a row in 1997. The Vermeil Classic marked the first triumphant Saturday in two years for Kevin and his uncle Jeff Swindell. Research reveals the Sunday before Memorial Day ‘78 as a night when Bob Kinser copped Kokomo, Steve Kinser handled Haubstadt, and Randy Kinser captured Bloomington.

Back on the subject of football, Terry McCarl told his publicist Bill Wright that the highlight of opening a new Bass Pro Shop was sitting next to Hall of Fame defensive back Paul Krause, selected from the University of Iowa to play in four Super Bowls for Minnesota and intercept more passes than anyone in NFL history. “Bill W” was pleased to see how Hawkeye tight end Brandon Myers made the Raider roster. Myers is a Monroe kid who Bill used to coach in basketball.

Ventura, California’s Josh Ford brought USAC sprint and USAC midget 434 miles north to Calistoga and also packed his VRA 360 for sixth-place in a special wingless Friday at Petaluma. Sunday at ‘Stoga saw Ford first in a midget and third with his CRA sprint car.

Manhattan Beach boy Garrett Hansen leads USAC Western midget points while sitting fourth in USAC/CRA sprint points. Only the shrinking of each schedule could keep someone so high in two series in the same season.

Tucson, Arizona has averted its collision course with USAC at the Tulare (CA) Thunderbowl by turning its Western World extravaganza into three November nights for winged ASCS National 360s and wingless ASCS Regional 360 sprint cars. Bravo.

Littleton, Colorado’s Julee Jamison enjoyed her best RMMRA race of 2009 with third-place in Cheyenne, Wyoming with a Bullet midget that her father Bryan Jamison pulls in 20-year old Sooner trailer. Still pumpkin orange, it was delivered to Patrick Bourke at the Manzanita TNN series of 1992 by Frankie Kerr, who worked out of it during no fewer than 109 A-mains in 1991.

Crete, Nebraska’s Mike Boston, winning 25 of 63 at Eagle over the past four 360 seasons, rented a sprint car from Jeff and Jay Bogue for Mike’s mini sprint driving son Jordan. And on a Saturday when dad was getting wet in Lake Ozark, Missouri, the kid became an Eagle winner in just his third 360 start.

Labor Day was big for the burgeoning 305 sprint car class. URSS brought 28 cars to Norton, Kansas; Lake Ozark awarded $1000 to Brady Bacon; Fremont paid $2500 to John Ivy; Smiley Sitton brought a handful of cars and officials (Tony Hernandez) from Texas to Virginia; and CRSA conducted its first race ever in Vermont.

Wisconsin has assembled a nice MSA 360 circuit of strong car counts on Fridays at the Manitowoc Expo and Saturdays in Sheboygen County. Travis “T.J” Luedke led all winners with six. Wayne Modjeski and Jason Johnson won four features while Kurt Davis and Brian Kristan tripled. All dabbled in IRA 410 racing.

Even for a consistent winner like Keith Kunz, victory in the summer’s biggest open wheel event in his Springfield hometown had to be sweet. Though he had never fielded a winning champ car, Keith built and captained the win in the Tony Bettenhausen 100 with Cole Whitt, who had scarcely even raced one. Cole keeps Chuck Gurney Jr. on salary so that Cole’s own sprint car is always ready; they’ve won nine of 20 with 29w. It was nice that “Little Rim” got to stand with Whitt on the frontstretch of the Illinois State Fairgrounds where his father won two midget races and an astounding seven Bettenhausen 100s.

All back-slapping aside, the USAC decision to invert six on a single-file mile has not been done since Syracuse 1985, when irritated winner Sammy Swindell told the crowd that he should turn an Ithaca Gun trophy on those responsible (Glenn Donnelly).

Indiana’s restoration of Lincoln Park in Putnamville as a destination for good racing is a nice story. Never in all my years of race chasing had there been a “promoter” like Dave Allison who ran off fans and competitors alike. Joe Spiker however, is bringing back marquee names like Jon Stanbrough and Levi Jones. Spiker has also stacked a cushion on which Thomas Meseraull won two in a row. The downside of Spiker expansion is the closing of Vermilion County Speedway in Danville, Illinois. The cult of wingless sprint racing awaits Joe’s plans for Danville.

The new Tom Gorby G1 that debuted during Indiana Sprint Week and Kings Royal with Hunter Schuerenberg and Justin Henderson came under the care of Benic Motorsports, who hired Scotty Weir to sweep Lawrenceburg and Haubstadt over Labor Day.

Gas City made Hoosier Hundred victor Shane Hollingsworth the fourth winner of both sprint and champ car races in 2009 after Bud Kaeding, Cole Whitt and Bobby Santos III. Sharing the stage at Gas City by winning his first sprint race was Jonathan Hendrick, helped through his winged 600cc to wingless 410ci transition by Shane’s dad Blake Hollingsworth.

Ohio promoter Dean Miracle, instrumental in elevating the World of Outlaws in 1978 at Limaland, offered a Friday ticket of wingless 410 and winged 360 sprint cars at Waynesfield. Miracle has also assumed control of Millstream Speedway and on Sunday, September 20, he will stage Findlay’s first wingless 410 sprint race since Rusty McClure beat Frankie Kerr to a 1992 CRA checkered.

Taking his first All Star championship helped ease Tim Shaffer’s pain at losing Lernerville on the last corner just 36 miles from his Aliquippa abode. The man who picked Tim’s pocket was Randy Hannagan, who beat Outlaws and All Stars in the same season for the first time in his career.

The Attica Ambush accounted for ten wins in 46 features for Zemco and Stevie Smith this season.

Shawn “Big Block” Weaver’s win at Lincoln Speedway is a great story. Like many Hanover kids, young Shawn would hang around the shop of friendly charger Van May, who soon had him doing odd jobs. Van saw so much of his own enthusiasm in Shawn that he eventually put him behind the wheel. “Big Block” became Van’s pointed description of the girth that kept them from winning for seven straight years. Weaver spent two 358 seasons with Roy Vincent before May put another ‘69’ together last year.

The winged 410 season has seen Pennsylvania car dealer Pete Postupack employ Oklahoma’s Daryn Pittman, South Dakota’s Justin Henderson, Australia’s Brooke Tatnell (Port hot laps), Ohio’s Kenny Jacobs (Knoxville Nationals) and now, Kevin Nouse from the Quaker State.

Ocean View, Delaware’s Curt Michael won the first URC race in Georgetown, Delaware in 16 summers. It was only the 12th time that URC ever raced there. New Jersey’s Jim Maguire won the first one in 1963 followed by Dave Kelly (’87), Glenn Fitzcharles, Jim Baker (‘92), Kramer Williamson (’93), Jimmy Martin and local charger Greg Coverdale in 1994.

USCS sweeps of Georgia races at Boyd’s and Lavonia followed by Malden, Missouri lifted Tim Crawley and Mike Ward to 15 wins in 37 starts with a David McCarver 360 this season.

Boyd’s Speedway on the Georgia side of the Tennessee border held three midget races won by Johnnie Tolan (1953), Bobby Grim (’61) and Dave Strickland in 1968. Last year’s USCS win by Terry Gray marked Boyd’s first open wheel event in 40 years.

Tim Bertrand, champion of NEMA with Randy Cabral, has provided a second winged Drinan midget this summer for veteran Jeff Horn, Indiana’s Cole Carter (second in the Boston Louie Seymour show at Seekonk) and young Anthony Marvuglio.

New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway saw Bertrand bring the most versatile racer in New England back to NEMA midgets. Ted Christopher crossed seventh. Teddy and Kasey Kahne were recently afforded an unprecedented opportunity to race NASCAR modifieds around the concrete bowl called Bristol Motor Speedway. Kasey also got to hot lap a wingless supermodified during his Oswego USAC promotion.

Isn’t it great to be Kasey Kahne?


Ok