Weekend recap.

It's becoming an annual tradition for me to get rained on at the Knoxville Raceway. I rolled into the Marian County Fairgrounds around two in the afternoon and for a while it looked like we might get the show in.

However it wasn't meant to be. We watched those ominous, black clouds drift in from the west and soon it became apparent that the show would have to be postponed. The ladies and I quickly tore down our display and our evening was done.

I spent the rest of my night off enjoying Coppola's The Godfather in my Des Moines motel room. It’s a great movie, one of my all time favorites, but not how I wanted to spend a Friday night. Rain outs suck.

Saturday we were back in business. I left for the track mid-day, to give myself some time to look around at some of the cars in the infield before I had to go to work. It was good to see the midget racing crowd again. I've come to know a few of the teams over time and it's nice to talk with them.

Sunday I attended the IndyCar race at the Iowa Speedway.

My Take...

-Midgets are a sight to behold at Knoxville. They go fast, and they crash hard. With the cool, humid, cloudy conditions that track was very fast that night. I saw plenty of fast cars and hard crashes.

-Brad Loyet had one of the worst flips I’ve seen in a long time. He sustained some injuries, but I’m told nothing life threatening. Hopefully the kid will heal up and be able to get back in the car later this year. Stephanie Mockler had a wild ride as well. All in all there were several flips in both the sprint and midget divisions. Too many damaged race cars!

-Defending 410 track champion Billy Alley had some troubles. He junked his brand new car in hot laps, only to jump in his back up and crash it during the heat. Billy is a great driver who suffered through a bad, bad night.

-Brian Brown looked great in the 410 feature, passing several cars on his way to victory. His closing lap’s pass of Skip Jackson was a thing of beauty.

-Lincoln’s Don Droud Jr. looked poised to win the King Doodlebug make-up feature early on in the evening. Too many re-starts proved to be his demise however, as on lap 19 Darren Hagen got a good jump on the bottom and passed Droud for the win. I’m a big fan of both drivers but I really wanted Jr. to win.

-Jr. was running the potent Ford Racing #4 car owned by Terry Klatt from Hastings, Nebraska. Also running was their team car, the Ford Racing Clorox entry owned by Janice East and driven by Stephanie Mockler.

-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the second midget feature, running for Tony Stewart Racing. Darren Hagen looked like he might have made a late race charge but has his hopes dashed with a flat tire that knocked him out of the race.

-Ford, Chevy, Mopar, and Toyota powered entries with corporate backing. Seems like it’s a good time to be involved with midget racing.

-There were several representatives from the Indy Racing League on Saturday night. AJ Foyt IV was introduced to the crowd by his spotter-former sprint car racer, Knoxville Nationals competitor, and Indy 500 vet PJ Chesson.

-Later on the girls and I got to hang out for a little while in the suites with some of the IRL officials, including Brian Barnhart and Tony George. It’s cool to hang out with BTARS.

-I think the Knoxville and USAC officials did a pretty good job moving the programs along. Running two midget programs and a 410 program could have taken much longer than it did.

-Two of the Dover kids raced this weekend. Jack had a nice run in the 410 feature finishing 9th. His sister Trish skipped her 305 duties at I-80 to run a midget. She finished 14th in one of the B features.

-Three programs in one night and no rain!

On Sunday I went with my fiancé, dad and one of his buds to the IRL show at the Iowa Speedway. I am very glad that we have another IndyCar race so close to home. There are some things that Iowa Speedway MUST work on before their next big event.

To start, the journey to get into the track and park was an absolute nightmare. We were forced to take the first exit to Newton (there’s two of them), and sit on a road for almost an hour, only to be directed to turn around and get back on the interstate to continue our journey.

When we finally got within sight of the track, it was almost another hour to the parking lot. I’m sure with the heavy rains it made a lot of the fields for parking too muddy for vehicles. However it was not a good experience to sit for two hours waiting to park. I hope they address those parking issues before their next big event.

There’s something altogether depressing about getting to our seats with 55 laps already completed. Hell we spent more time parking than we did watching the race! They also need to do a better job of marking the seating areas.

Iowa Speedway is a new facility, and this is the biggest event they’ve run to date. I trust they’ll make the changes necessary to keep the fans happy and wanting to visit the facility again.

-The race was exciting, and I think with some improvements it could be made one of the League’s finest shows.

-The IRL needs more than 19 cars. There were only ten cars running at the end.

-Marco Andretti battled hard with race winner Dario Franchitti but I never got the feeling that Marco had anything for him.

-With some of the top teams out, I was hoping another program could sneak into the winner's circle. However, when the defending Indy 500 champ is still running it's not likely to happen.

-The big crash on the restart happened right in front of us. We were seated going into one, three rows up. You could really feel the impacts of the cars sliding along the fence, and smell the burning rubber. That was something!

And Finally…

We’re taking a week off from promoting NOS at Knoxville. Instead I’m helping out my dad with promotions at Junction Motor Speedway on Friday. Moses Motor Company is the title sponsor of the ASCS Midwest show.

From what I’ve heard, there should be a solid car count. We’re trying our best to organize an entertaining show for the fans. For more info on the event visit Junction’s website http://www.junctionmotorspeedway.com/. We hope to see you there!

Next Up…
ASCS Midwest, Junction Motor Speedway, Friday, June 29th
Eagle Championship Sprints, Eagle Raceway, Saturday, June 30th