Monmouth, IL (Friday, March 11, 2016) - It has been over four and a half months since I have written anything, but with the nice warm weather we having been having lately, and the 2016 racing season just on the horizon. I have decided to take a quick look back at the my 2015 season.
My 2015 number of attended events came in at 76. Seventeen of those nights were at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA, and 14 nights were at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA. In which I worked at both of those tracks on Friday and Saturday nights. Quincy Raceways in Quincy, IL came in with 9 nights, which could have been more if it hadn't been for the hours at my past job. As I started out working at this track on Sunday nights, until my hours at work forced me to resign. The Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, IA was next, with 7 nights attended. I made 5 trips to the Boone Speedway in Boone, IA, with 4 of those nights coming during the 2015 IMCA Super Nationals. Up next was one of my favorite tracks the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, MO, where I attended 4 events. Back in 2004 this track is where it all began for me as far as me starting to work at a track. Three trips to the Marshalltown Speedway in Marshalltown, IA came in next, as well as 3 trips to the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL for the NASCAR weekend, and 3 visits to the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA for the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals weekend. Followed by 2 trips to the Davenport Speedway in Davenport, IA, and 2 visits to the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence, IA.
The 2015 season ended with 1 visit each to the following tracks: the Jackson County Speedway in Maquoketa, IA, Benton County Speedway in Vinton, IA, Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway in Dubuque, IA, West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, IA, Peoria Speedway in Peoria, IL, Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, IL, and the Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, IL.
During the 2015 season I was able to cross another, well maybe two, tracks off the list that I have never been to. The first would be the Marshalltown Speedway in Marshalltown, IA, not only did I make my first appearance at the track. But I went back for a second and third time. Then the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, IA was the maybe track, as I haven't been to this track in nearly 25 years. I can barely remember the last visit, as it was back in the late 80's to early 90's when they held the Hawkeyeland Pro Stock Nationals.
It was a year of firsts for the 2015 season at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA, as they crowned 5 new track champions and about a dozen drivers picked up their first feature wins at the track. Even though Scott Hogan has won many IMCA Modified track champions at other tracks, the one he earned at LCS in 2015 was his first at the track. Hogan, who didn't win a race until season championship night, was consistent enough to pick up the track champion. Just like Hogan, John Oliver Jr., who has won track championships at other tracks, would claim his first IMCA Stock Car title at the LCS. Joey Gower, who raced in a Late Model for several years at Quincy Raceways in Quincy, IL and 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA, before both tracks decided to do away with the IMCA rules package to go to a more open rules package. Gower would set out a season from racing, before returning in 2014 in the IMCA SportMod class. At the end of 2015 he would claim his first IMCA SportMod track championship at LCS. Kevin Koontz was the only IMCA Hobby Stock driver to attend all the races in 2015 at LCS, which paid off with his first career track title. Then Kimberly Abbott became the first female to pick up a track title at LCS. Abbott was consistent enough to score her first IMCA Sport Compact championship.
While LCS crowned 5 new track champions, there was also several drivers who scored their first feature wins at the track during the 2015 season. Tyler Droste kicked off the season by earning his first IMCA Modified feature win at the track during the spring special. That was followed up with Tyler Groenendyk picking up his first win at the track in the first points race. He would then go onto score two more wins. Carter VanDenBerg, who moved up from the SportMod class, claimed his first career IMCA Modified feature win at LCS in his rookie season. He two went onto score two more wins, and fell a few points short of winning the track title. Blake Woodruff was another driver who scored their first career IMCA Modified win at LCS. And finally, Jerad Fuller picked up his first IMCA Modified feature win at the track....Jake Wenig was the only IMCA Stock Car driver to win their first feature win at the track. As many of the seasons feature wins went to Abe Huls, John Oliver Jr., and Jeff Mueller. For Mueller he went onto win four out of the last five feature wins at the track....One thing that stands out to me about the IMCA SportMod class at LCS, was there was no repeat winner in the first seven races. Joey Gower would break the string in week 8, when he scored his second win of the season. During the course of the season Bobby Six, Brandon Dale, and Logan Anderson claimed their first SportMod wins at the track. For Six and Anderson it just so happened to be their first career in the class....Leah Wroten and Brandon Potts, who's win was his first career in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, were the only two drivers in the Hobby Stock class to win their first at the track. This was mainly because of Dustin Griffiths domination of the class. Dustin finished the season with 9 wins in the class, even after missing a few weeks....The IMCA Sport Compacts only had two new winners at LCS, as Mike Reu, which was also his first career in the class, and Jake Benischek scored feature wins.
34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA runs 6 classes weekly, well you can say 7, as 2 rotate throughout the season. In those 7 divisions, 6 claimed their first track title in the class they raced weekly in. They included Justin Newberry in the 305 Sprint Cars, Shane Watts in the IMCA Stock Cars, Joey Gower in the IMCA SportMods, Brad Lucy in the Mod Lites, Aaron Schuck in the IMRA Midgets, and Kimberly Abbott in the 4-Cylinders. While Jeff Waterman won back-to-back titles in the IMCA Modified division. At the beginning of the 2015 season Justin Newberry announced it would be his final season behind the wheel of a race car. He would go out on top, by winning his first 305 Sprint Car title. Despite only winning 1 feature win all season, Jeff Waterman showed enough consistency to claim back-to-back IMCA Modified championships at 34 Raceway. Going into the final night of racing Shane Watts needed to pick up the feature win and hope that Tom Bowling Jr. had some bad luck in order to win his first IMCA Stock Car title. Well he got both of those to claim his first Stock Car title by 1 point. Joey Gower led Sean Wyett by 2 points going into the final points night in the IMCA SportMod class, as both drivers were in search of their first title at the track. But mechanical troubles would put Wyett in the pits early in the feature event, which Gower went onto win to claim the title. It was Gower's second IMCA SportMod title of 2015, as he claimed the title at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA. The Mod Lites only raced 4 points events at 34 Raceway, thanks in most part to mother nature. Brad Lucy came out on top of a three driver race to earn his first title at the track. Aaron Schuck used 2 feature wins and a consistent season to claim his first IMRA Midget title at the track. Kimberly Abbott trailed Jerrod Nichols by 3 points going into the final night of points racing in the 4-Cylinder class. A win in her heat race made it a tie a top the standings going into the feature event, which meant whoever finished ahead of the other would come out with the title. Well Abbott went onto score the feature win, which also helped her to become the first female to claim a track title at 34 Raceway. It just so happened to be her second title of the 2015 season, as she also won the title at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA.
Nobody showed any dominance in the 305 Sprint class, as Donnie Steward, Jayson Ditsworth, Ben Wagoner, and John Schulz all scored 2 feature wins. This would allow Harold Pohren and Nick Guernsey to pick up their first wins of the season at the track. It would also allow Cody Wehrle and Shane Quam the opportunity to score their first career 305 Sprint feature wins....Brandon Rothzen, who won 4 features, and Tyler Glass, who won 2, were the only drivers to win more than 1 IMCA Modified feature at 34 Raceway. Fans also got to see a veteran in the sport, Dean McGee, pick up a feature win at the track. It's nice to see that Dean still has what it takes to run up front every time the H7 hits the track....Even though Tom Bowling Jr. won 4 IMCA Stock Car features at the track, it wasn't enough for him to secure the track title. Chad Krogmeier, Jason Cook, Damon Murty, and Shane Watts each claimed a feature win victory. While Chase Klenk won his first career Stock Car feature win in his first year in the class....Austen Becerra led the IMCA SportMod class with 4 features win in his rookie season in the class. For Becerra it fell way short of his 30+ total feature wins in 2014 in the 4-Cylinder class. Brandon Lennox was able to score his first win at the track, as well as Dakota Simmons and Bobby Six who each claimed first career wins at the track....Andy Baugh and Aaron Schuck were the only drivers to win 2 features at the track in the IMRA Midget class. While Brayden Gaylord scored his first career win at the track....Mike Morrill missed 1 points night at 34 Raceway or he might have been crowned the champions in the Mod Lites. As he won 3 features in 3 points races. The other victory went to Jake Halcomb, who scored his first career feature win. Travis Stensland ended the season at 34 Raceway by claiming his biggest win of his career, the $1,000 to win Mod Lite National event....Ten drivers won 4-Cylinder features in 14 races, with Austen Becerra, Michael Grossman, Kimberly Abbott and Ron Kibbe each winning 2 features. Bryan Shipley, Larry Miller, Jerrod Nichols, and Jeffrey DeLonjay would score their career first wins at the track in the class.
Sunday night racing at the Quincy Raceways in Quincy, IL happens with 5 class, the UMP Open Late Models, UMP Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA SportMods, and IMCA Sport Compacts. Out of the 5 classes, 3 of those classes crowned a new champion in 2015. Mark Burgtorf not only won back-to-back Open Late Model track titles, but it was his 16th overall at the track. There is only one word to describe what Michael Long did in the UMP Modified class at the track in 2015, and that is domination. Michael won 13 out 18 feature wins at the track to easily claim another track title. Jim Lynch claimed his first career IMCA Stock Car track title at Quincy Raceways. Even though Abe Huls won 50% of the feature events at the track, Lynch was able to hold on to claim the title. For Joey Gower winning his third track title of the season, the first coming at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA and the second coming at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA, didn't come easy. Despite picking up 8 feature wins in the IMCA SportMod class in Quincy, Gower went into the final night of points with only a 1 point lead, thanks to a feature win on that night he was able to secure the title. Kimberly Abbott started the season off strong at the Quincy Raceways in the IMCA Sport Compact division, where she ended the season with 7 feature wins. But then had to hold off Brandon Lambert, who won 8 feature wins, late in the season to secure her first track championship at the track. Just like Gower, Abbott was able to secure three track titles in 2015, as she became the first female to win titles at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA, 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA, and Quincy Raceways in Quincy, IL.
The UMP Late Models at the Quincy Raceways in 2015 really didn't have a driver who dominated the class, as 8 drivers scored feature wins in 13 races. Mark Burgtorf led all drivers with 3 wins, followed by Justin Reed, Jamie Wilson, and Bobby Pierce with 2 wins a piece. For Jamie Wilson his 2 wins in 2015 were very popular, as before 2014 it had been several years since he competed weekly in Late Model class. Late in the season Rusty Schlenk made the pull down from Michigan to win a Late Model feature. At the time he was in a battle with Pierce to win the UMP National Title....The same can not be said with the UMP Modified class, as one driver dominated the season at Quincy. Out of 18 feature races, Michael Long won 13 of them. Rick Conoyer was one of the lucky drivers to beat Long, as he picked up his first win of the season at the track....Like mentioned above, Abe Huls scored 50% of the wins in the IMCA Stock Car class, with 8 out of 16. He was followed by track champion Jim Lynch with 3, and Brandon Savage with 2. Michael Larsen, Beau Taylor, and Andrew Hustead, in only his second year in a Stock Car, each secured feature wins at the track....The IMCA SportMod class was very competitive, even though Joey Gower won 8 feature wins eight other drivers would go onto pick up wins. For Adam Birck, Patrick Phillips, Brandon Lennox, and Matt Dotson it would be their first of the season. But for Austin Howes and Bobby Six it was their career first at the track. Many might point back to Lennox's win as the most exciting race of the season, as he took the challenge to go to the rear and race for a bonus if he could win the race. Thanks to many sponsors and fans in the stands the bonus he took home at the end of that night totaled $1,100....While on the other hand, the IMCA Sport Compact division only saw 4 drivers reach victory lane. Brandon Lambert, with 8 wins, and Kimberly Abbott, with 7 wins, carried the class. With Michael Grossman scoring 2 wins, and Trent Orwig coming away with a victory.
I am going to try my best to take a look ahead for the 2016 racing season in my area sometime next week. That is before the first race around here kicks off with the Spring Nationals at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, MO on Friday, March 18th and Saturday, March 19th. But this event will not kick off my 2016 season, as along with myself, Micheil and Danica Far of D&M Track Photography are planning a Saturday trip to the Beatrice Speedway in Beatrice, NE to watch the final night of their Spring Nationals events. Just before posting this story 118 Modifieds, 53 Stock Cars, 75 SportMods, and 54 Hobby Stocks for a total of 300 cars signed in for competition on night one. Those same classes, along with the Sport Compacts will compete in a complete show on Saturday night. Bring on the 2016 RACING SEASON!!!
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