Osky Mid-Season Report

It’s mid-season already and it’s time for my report card edition of Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway. There has been some great racing this season so far. The stock car and hobby stock divisions are providing a lot of close side by side racing, rubbin’ fenders, and the Modified cars have been decent racing as well

The Modified class has seen a jump in car count for sure compared to last season. I don’t think we will ever see the days of 20 Modifieds again, but 10-12 cars weekly is an improvement than 4-6 last year. Jacob Murray has won 4 features although only running a handful of races. He has been tough to beat. Point leader Cayden Carter has won 3 features in his rookie season in this class.

SportMod class has been dominated by Jesse Sobbing as he has five wins and leads the points. He had one bad week with a DNF, but no one is even close to being as fast as this guy. Bryan Weyer has won 3 features and Jason McDaniel has 2 wins. Curtis Van Der Wal was leading the points for a while as he has consistently been in the top five every week, but is still looking for his first win of the season.

The Stock Car class is by far the most entertaining and competitive. Four different drivers have won two features, point leader Nathan Wood, Matt Greiner who is 8 points out from Wood, Damon Murty, and Zack VanderBeek. Kyle Harwood is fourth in points with one feature win, and Corey Stout is third in points and is still looking for his first win. Every week this class impresses me with close side by side racing. It’s been great to see USMTS Modified aces VanderBeek, Colt Mather, and Brad Pinkerton competing regularly as well in this class. Pinkerton picked up a win on June 13.

In Hobby Stocks it has been all Shannon Anderson. He has a 15 point lead over Kevin Fee and 6 feature wins. Donavan Nunnikhoven has two wins and is the only driver to have more than one besides Anderson. Bobby Greene, Fee, and Jamie Songer are the other feature winners this season.

The Sport Compact 4 cylinder class is a real snoozer in my opinion. Typically there are only 5 or 6 cars and Merv Chandler has won 6 times. Maybe this class will grow on me, but right now it’s not entertaining, they’re slow, it takes up precious time, and the only gain I see is a few more pit passes and handful of fans who might like them.

First year promoter Mike Van Genderen has done a good job building up the events and trying several new ideas to improve attendance and car counts. His energy is refreshing for sure. Ideas such as discount nights for certain towns in the area, free popcorn, $2 beer happy hour before the races, costume nights, candy dashes, kid rides in cars, they have all seemed to help build to the crowds up.

We have seen some King of the Hill races, which gives the fans even more racing for the same money. He has also tried several entertainment things during intermission for the fans to have some interaction with the drivers, and for the drivers to earn a free pit pass by participating. I’ve enjoyed all of the gimmicks and I give Mike VG credit for trying to add to the entertainment value for the fans. I think the crowd is split about 50/50 on some of these gimmicks. The down side to this is some fans complain about how long the intermissions are, it drags out the program, and I have even seen cars leaving the parking lot before the features started on a couple of late nights. I think on a week night race, people want to see racing and be entertained, but they also want the program to run as quickly as possible and be driving home by 9:30. Most nights are over around 10:00 but there have been a couple of nights past 10:30. There was one week where three features needed made up from the week before, so most people can understand why that would be a later night, but there still needs to be a conscious effort to get the races done as soon as possible and not have intermissions longer than five minutes if possible.

The week of June 13 was a late night as there was a costume contest and trick or treat for the kids. Great idea there… anything to add to the fun for the youngsters I’m in favor of as long as it doesn’t take up too much time. But then we had a SportMod King of the Hill that took 24 minutes and a Stock Car Australian pursuit that took only 4 minutes to run. Some nights there is just too much on the agenda, and more than one gimmick a night really frustrates some fans. I think Mike has heard that message now as he apologized for that on the Tuesday radio program this past week and this past Wednesday night’s show went more quickly it seemed. But I love Mike’s energy and enthusiasm. He certainly has a passion for racing and wants to put on the best show possible and you can’t fault him for that. Hopefully the gimmicks will continue, but be condensed to appease the time frame fans want. But the racing on the track has been great and I think Osky is on the right track in 2012. You can also see some of my video clips from the stands on my YouTube channel at the link on the right side of my blog, including some action from the Deery Brothers Late Model from this past week.

I will have my Knoxville report card next week.

WoO at Knoxville Dirtphalt & Spencer

Kerry Madsen won his first World of Outlaws race of the season this past Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway. It was his third career series win. Madsen is a native of Australia but calls Knoxville, Iowa home here in the states as he races full time with the Outlaw series in the summer. Madsen was the 2005 Knoxville track champion and since then he has made a persistent effort to compete at the highest level of the sport and it’s beginning to pay off after a slow start this season. After a fifth place finish on Friday night at Spencer’s Clay County Fairgrounds and a win on Saturday it appears his #29 Keneric racing team is putting the pieces together to be a team to watch over the next couple of months with a lot of big money races on the line culminating in August at the Knoxville Nationals.

The track conditions were very tough at Knoxville on Saturday night with high temperatures, wind, and very low humidity that didn’t allow the 70,000 gallons of water applied to the racing surface in the 48 hours prior to racing to hold up. Sammy Swindell took off with the lead but didn’t catch the rubber groove being built on the bottom side of the track in time and Madsen took advantage by making the winning pass on lap six, and from there it was a freight train on the bottom groove like a NASCAR race at Martinsville. Good news is some of the local Knoxville Regulars had some good showings as Brian Brown, Ian Madsen, and Terry McCarl finished in the top ten with several others qualifying well and making the A-Main. Ian Madsen and Ryan Bunton won their heat races to guarantee top ten starting spots in the feature. In the 360 sprint car class Clint Garner won his third feature of the season.

I felt bad for the Dunkin's though on this night as the track didn't hold up at all and deteriorated quickly. But I have faith they will have this dry weather situation figured out this next week and for the Nationals. But what a sour note to end on with a dirtphalt race. The teams didn’t learn anything for the Nationals, the fans paid a lot of money to see a bad race.

On Friday night I made the four hour drive to Spencer for the first time to watch the Outlaws. This is my tenth dirt track in Iowa I have been to. I was treated to a very good race on the 3/8 mile clay oval. Brad Sweet won his first career Outlaws feature there as he raced hard with leader Jason Sides the first half of the race and finally made the pass and pulled away in dominating fashion. I really like the track up there. It reminds a little of Bloomington in turns 1&2 and a little of Huset’s in 3&4.
The only gripe I had was the concessions taking forever. They need to learn to have more than 2 cash registers for 8 lines of people, and to have a separate line for nachos. But a good race and experience over all. I’m still not sure why the track has brown clay dirt instead of black Iowa dirt. The old half-mile track had sand in it from what I heard so maybe that’s why. Here is a link to my YouTube channel to see video from Spencer. I have the WoO Dash and the start of the 360 Non-Wing feature. http://www.youtube.com/arniebhg But it sure makes for a dusty experience. Surely the glaciers back in the ice age didn’t miss Clay County in Iowa did they?

Month of May

We have quite a battle for the 410 track championship at Knoxville this season. As I predicted, Davey Heskin is the mix and currently has the lead with 685 points, but only one point behind amazingly is Brian Brown who missed one week at the beginning of the season. Only 23 points back in third is Mark Dobmeier. Fourth is Terry McCarl 42 points back. Fifth is Bronson Maeshcen 96 points back. The lurkers who are by no means out of the mix is Ian Madsen, Dusty Zomer, Dustin Selvage, and although Danny Lasoski has missed two races, and will miss a third one in a few weeks while racing in PA Speedweek, the Dude is eighth in points with two wins in three starts.

Looking back at my pre-season predictions, I am dumbfounded that my pick to win Dusty Zomer is seventh in points and only has one top five finish. It’s obvious the Ingalls 91 team is down on horsepower in qualifying and that has hurt them having to start in the back of the features. Zomer’s qualifying average is 13.0 in five races this year with a best of sixth, and his average feature finish is 8.8.

Danny Lasoski will likely pick up Knoxville career wins 99 and 100 this season. When I was kid I never dreamed anyone would crush Earl Wagner's record of 43 wins and now Wagner is sixth on the all-time wins list. 98 or 100 wins is mind blowing and surely a record I will never see broken, along with David Hesmer's 65 wins in the 360 class. Lasoski is 53 years old and shows no signs of slowing down. He has had horrible luck at the Nationals the past two years running 13th in the B-Main in 2010, and a humiliating fifth in the D-Main in 2011. Look for the Dude to be strong in August.

I'm really happy to see Bronson Maeschen in the top five of Knoxville points. He has one quick time and three top fives. His average feature finish is 9.6 and average qualifying position is 4.6. He had a win taken away from him a couple of weeks ago as he led the distance until a late yellow gave Lasoski the opportunity to steal it with a pass on the high side. Maeschen is still looking for his first 410 feature win at Knoxville and he is knocking on the door.

360 Class:
Clint Garner is dominating this class. two wins, five top fives in six starts, three quick times. It's not even close as he has over a 200 point lead over second. The race for second in points is a good one with Nate Van Haafton, Matt Moro, Joe Beaver, Russ Hall, Jon Agan, Casey Fredrichson and Carson McCarl all separated by roughly 100 points. But Garner is headed to win his fourth consecutive 360 championship. He is so fast he catches up to some cars and he doesn't have time to react. Just ask Jamie Ball. I seriously think Garner could run in the top ten in the 410 class looking at my stop watch during the features.

305 Class:
This has turned into a good race with Mike Van Haafton, Matthew Stelzer, Mitchell Alexander, and LarryBall Jr. I expected Ball to run away with this points battle, but I'm pleasantly surprised it's turning into a competitive field of cars, and that the flag man is throwing the black flag to some of the slower cars finally.

Kudos to the Dunkin's for great track prep this season, and the drivers for giving the safety teams and Doug Clark's red flag a rest for three consecutive weeks.

I went to the Natty Light Knoxville Shootout on Sunday... day shows stink. And there was maybe 200 fans there. Never a good sign when more people are on the inside of the fences than outside. That modified and stock car crowd just isn't going to pay $15 to see a show, not when they're accustomed to paying $10 or less.


Marshalltown Speedway:
I've had a couple of good experiences at the Marshalltown Speedway this season and this last week (June 1) was simply the best racing I have ever seen there. The track conditions were tacky and fast, but wide and great racing. The SportMod feature went non stop and Gaitlin Leytham took the win, but watching Jake Strayer and Janae Gustin work their way through traffic was a lot of fun to watch.


The Stock Car feature Trent Murphy lead early but broke and Damon Murty would hold off Brian Irvine for several laps and then Jay Schmidt was able to sneak by Irvine at the line for second. Lots of side by side and rubbin in that feature.

The Modified feature Josh Truman grabbed the early lead and held off Tim Stevens and Kyle Brown. As the race went on Luke Wanninger and Jimmy Gustin drove their way up from mid pack and Wanninger took the lead on lap 13. A caution came out late but Wanninger was able to hold off Gustin for the win with Truman third and a great race between father and son as Kyle Brown edged father David for fourth. If you haven't been to Marshalltown this year, plan a trip.

Bloomfield Speedway:

I found my way to Bloomfield on Memorial Day for a day show of Modifieds and Stock Cars. It was a decent show as far as day racing. Better than sitting at home on the couch for sure as it was a nice day. But the racing wasn't anything spectacular except for Carter Vandenberg passing several cars on high side to win a makeup feature from a few weeks before that was rained out. Nathan wood nearly had a car destroyed as he tried to cross the track to the pit area and was waived by the official to go that he was clear but he was tagged by a Modified as he went across the track. Bad deal.

Des Moines-Iowa State Fairgrounds:
I've also made it to the State Fairgrounds two Friday nights this season. The racing there hasn't been the best either as that hairpin track is fast and hard on equipment. Although Shannon Anderson put on a clinic in the Hobby Stock feature on May 18 when I was there. The dirt trucks tore up so many cars that night they weren't able to field enough cars the next night at Knoxville when they were scheduled and again on Tuesday at the Marshalltown Deery Bros special.

I'm headed to Osky, Spencer WoO, and Knoxville WoO this weekend. Even missing my 20 year class reunion on Saturday. Priorities.... See you in the stands!

Heskin is THE Man!

Knoxville:
Davey Heskin could win the Knoxville track championship in 2012. I said that a couple of weeks ago and I’ll keep saying it. The kid is good, has good equipment, and last Saturday he drove like a veteran as he made his way through lapped traffic and when the track took rubber he found it and held off a hard charging Brian Brown and Terry McCarl at the end. Very impressive win and I can sense he is hungry for more and he is growing in confidence.

Heskin is qualifying well, racing well, and now winning. He is the brightest rising star in sprint car racing in my opinion. Just hope I don’t jinx him by saying all that. HaHa!

Wayne Johnson has won a 410 and a 360 feature at Knoxville. The 410 win was certainly with the help of the invert draw to put him on the front row, but Wayne finds his way to the front even when he starts back 6 rows. Good to see him doing well and in some good equipment.

Terry McCarl is solid as ever and will be with Heskin, Zomer, Dobmeier, to the end in the 410 points race. Look for T-Mac to win soon in his Larry the Cable Guy BBQ sauce car.

Ian Madsen is third in 410 points at the moment. Ian has certainly become an improved driver from a few years ago and I think he can stay close to the top five at the end of the season.

Dustin Selvage has looked good, as has Bronson Maeschen. Just a good field of cars at Knoxville this year.

Clint Garner is already out to a 144 point lead in the 360 class and we’re only three races into the season. He is the best driver, with the best equipment in that class, and when he drove by Jason Johnson two weeks ago for the win it was cool.

Larry Ball Jr. should walk away with the 305 points. This class seems down this year compared to 2011 when we had Carson McCarl, Jaymie Ball, and Tasker Phillips all racing for wins. Now we have one or two fast cars and twenty cars that are a step down. And lengthening the laps of the 305 feature from 12 to 15 this year is a bad idea. Yes, those guys need laps to improve, but it hasn’t added to the entertainment value of the races and they’re eating up the racing surface for the 410 cars which is the main reason most people are there.

I’m a geek when it comes to digging into the Knoxville Nationals history and stats. The past few weeks I’ve been sifting through all sorts of information and finding some cool and weird things. Follow me @KnoxvilleNats as I will be posting some stats, photos, facts, etc. there on twitter.

Oskaloosa-Southern Iowa Speedway:
Seen some good races the past few weeks at Osky with their weekly IMCA shows. This past Wednesday night was a SportMod special 20 lap race paying $500 to win. It also included a pit stop on lap 10 for teams to make adjustments and change one tire. Scott VanBuskirk took the lead from Racer Hulin on lap four and set sail. But Curtis Van Der Wal clawed his way up from his eleventh starting spot into third at halfway, and then took the lead on lap 14, only to have VanBuskirk take it away with two laps to go and get the win. SportMod point’s leader Jesse Sobbing broke the driveline on the first lap, and with him starting twelfth he would have made a good race even better I have a feeling.

Cayden Carter in Modified, Nathan Wood in Stock Car, and Shannon Anderson in Hobby Stock all seem to have a good hold on their class points chases. In Modified Shane Weller and Brandon Banks will be there competing til the end. But we’ve seen the car count in this class dwindle a bit the past couple of weeks as some drivers (such as Richie Gustin) have decided not to run full time at Osky. The big half mile is just too hard on their engines.

Shannon Anderson is the man to beat in Hobby Stock for sure. He was involved in a crash last week and it took away his cushy point lead, but a win this week will extend it some more. Donavan Nunnikhoven has been able to get some wins and has been Anderson’s toughest competitor. John Watson, Kevin Fee, Dustin Griffiths, Eric Stanton, Bill Bonnett, and Danny Thrasher have been vigorously competing in the top ten and week in and week out these guys have put on a great show.

Marshalltown Speedway:
I have been able to make it to Marshalltown for a couple of races this season. Two weeks ago both the stock car and modified class winners came from the fifth row when Brian Irvine and Ronn Lauritzen won their races. Adam Larson and Jimmy Gustin should have a close battle for the Modified point’s race there.

KXV Outlaw Report

The World of Outlaws event at Knoxville Raceway last Saturday was a good show. The A-Main was good as Brian Brown lead the first 14 laps until Sammy Swindell used some lapped traffic to take the point and pull away. Sammy looked really good in the feature, it was like he was lurking for the first half of the race and then turned it up a notch.

To begin the night I was a little disappointed the track wasn’t faster in time trials as only three cars timed in under 15 seconds, and the luck of the draw was critical as Joey Saldana was quick time after coming out ninth. Kerry Madsen was second quick (3rd) and Craig Dollansky was third quick (1st). Sammy went out 12th and qualified 16th which was the last spot in the heat inverts. If Ryan Bunton would have been 0.028 seconds quicker, Sammy would have been 17th and buried in the feature. Bout time Sammy had some luck come his way at Knoxville, and that ultimately is what won the feature for him. Sammy won his heat, went from tenth to seventh in the dash, and was in the top three in the feature in no time before he went on to win.

Qualifying is everything in the World of Outlaws format. The heat races only saw one car outside the top two rows advance to the feature as Dusty Zomer raced his way into the show as he passed Dollansky to get into a top four transfer, but since Dollansky timed in the top two he was locked into the Dash regardless. Zomer was rewarded with not having to run the B main and with the 21st starting position in the A main. Good thing he raced his way in from the heat or he would have started… oh yeah in 21st anyway. Zomer went from 21st to seventh in the A main. Jason Sides advanced from 23rd to eighth to take the hard charger award. See how lucky you were Sammy?

Random thoughts:
I was surprised that Saldana went from third to fourth in the feature, and Schatz went from 15th to sixth. Schatz made it to the front at the Nationals last year from that far back.

I think Craig Dollansky is a good pick to win the Nationals. (Sammy is the favorite.)

Brian Brown was impressive but I think he just over drove the car trying to chase down Sammy and fell back to fourth. Still a good run for the Casey’s/FVP team.

Danny Lasoski quietly went from eleventh to fifth. He’s still good.

The King has lost his edge at Knoxville the past few years, Steve Kinser started 12th and finished 11th. He raced a lot with Terry McCarl who started tenth and finished 10th.

Davey Heskin continues to impress me more and more. I think he has a legit shot to win the 410 track championship.

Trey Starks is a 16 year old kid from Washington who had a great showing in his first trip to Knoxville. He was one of the last cars to time trial and qualified ninth, won his heat, third in the dash, and dropped to 16th in the feature. But a helluva showing, especially timing so well late in the order.

What's the deal with the WoO not weighing cars after heat races? If it smells like BS....

I felt for Josh Higday on Saturday night as he won the 360 feature and was disqualified for a unapproved tire that was legal a few years ago but isn’t any longer. Had to hurt for him as he worked hard to put his own team together this year. Nate VanHaafton inherited the win, and he is looking smoother all the time. Carson McCarl drove from 11th to fourth in his first 360 race. Hopefully these guys can give Clint Garner a run this year for the 360 track championship who was second on Saturday behind VanHaafton.

Off the track there was a lot of talk about Cody Darrah. Apparently there is a fan out there with a twitter account mocking Darrah and well, he turned up at the same hotel in Knoxville that the KKR crew was staying and Darrah ended up in cuffs for assault. The track was able to arrange bail so Darrah could race. I feel sad for Cody Darrah, not sorry, but sad. Be professional and don’t stoop to the level of people who have nothing better to do than to talk trash like that. I’m sure it’s aggravating, but assaulting someone isn’t the way to solve things. Darrah is under unrealistic expectations from fans and the media because he drives for Kasey Kahne. For guys like Saldana, Schatz, and Meyers, it took them five years to be a competitive and winning races consistently. Why is Darrah expected to be any different? It’s a lot of pressure to be in Cody Darrah’s shoes I’m sure. Hopefully Cody learns from this and it all works out. And hopefully this race fan learned something too. Don’t tweet words your mouth can’t cash.

Can’t wait for this weekend, it should be warmer!

April Showers: KXV and OSKY report

Knoxville:
Mother Nature is cruel. Knoxville Raceway was all set to go to kick off their 2012 season opener, the track was packed, cars were in the push off lanes, my son and I were in our seats with food and drinks, and then we felt sprinkles…. which was followed by more sprinkles. After an hour it let loose with heavy rain and thunder and it was washed out. What really punches you in the gut is waiting all winter to see racing and then to have Ma Nature give us an unseasonably warm March and early April where several Saturday’s came and went with beautiful weather for racing. Then we finally get to racing season and the weather turns cold and wet. “Thumbs down to Mother Nature,” said my six year old son. That sums it up. I will give Knoxville Raceway a thumb’s up for putting on a nice prerace event with a car show, inflatable bounce house and slide, heck we even caught part of a sheep sale earlier in the day and my kid loved all of it. Toby Kruse and John McCoy were easily accessible outside the ticket office meeting and greeting race fans like politicians. That was very cool for them to spread some good will. It genuinely seemed like a new attitude or aura about the place. At least we saw some cars on practice night which was exciting with a stop watch. The Dunkin’s had that track bad fast as Lynton Jeffrey was clocked at 14.5, just a tenth off the record. The new mufflers are a little quieter, and they have a different tone or ring to them as well. We’ll see how they sound in race conditions but casual fans won’t notice a difference.

Osky:
I have made it to all three Wednesday night shows at Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway so far. Weather has been dry but cool on those nights luckily. Car counts have been decent for the first two weekly shows at 67 and 72. A-Mod car count has been 11 and 8 so hopefully that number goes up a little more, but it’s still improvement from last year. Richie Gustin has been the class of the Modified field so far but he sits second in points behind Cayden Carter. I would look for Richie to pull away at some point in this class, he had mechanical issues in the week one feature and pulled in, but won handily in week two.

In SportMod Jesse Sobbing is the clear favorite right now after winning week one and a second behind Jason McDaniel in week two. If Sobbing continues to make the 3 hour drive each Wednesday night from Glenwood he will be tough to beat. Carter Vandenberg and Bill Gibson are strong contenders and Curtis Van Der Wal has won his heat race each of the past two weeks. Good field of SportMods.

The stock car and hobby features have been unbelievable racing so far with some serious rubbin, three and four wide at times. Shannon Anderson is the class of the Hobby Stock field so far. Starting 12th last week was a tall order to catch Donavon Nunnikhoven who set sail from the front row, but one or two more laps and I think Anderson had him. Very impressive drive for them and as long as Anderson is starting 5 or 6 rows deep every week this is going to be exciting racing.

In Stock Car Matt Greiner is leading points with a pair of top five finishes and the two feature winners being Kyle Harwood and Damon Murty. Looking like a tough class to predict anything here but look for Greiner and Nathan Wood to emerge at the top come July. Zack VanderBeek has competed in stock car the last two weeks and been strong but I’m sure he will miss some races with USMTS Modifieds having a handful of Wednesday night races this summer.

The new 4 cylinder Sport Compact class (look like Rally Cars) has seen small car counts and it’s a growing class it sounds like. Not a big fan of these cars yet, but when only 6 of them are out there for a feature and they’re slow it’s not engaging to me. We’ll see how this class develops.

I am very impressed with the new management at Osky under Mike Van Genderen. Crowd support has been solid despite cool temperatures so I would say his promotion to get butts in the stands is working. There is also some new sponsor signage on the front stretch as well and it looks nice. Last week was free popcorn, and he is trying out some new things like $5 admission for certain local towns. He says he has more things to come yet so I’m anxious to see what he has in the works. I’m glad to see my @OskySIS twitter account is up to 115 followers already in three weeks. Hope you followers have enjoyed the updates.

I was also able to make it to Marshalltown Speedway for the Frostbuster but it was a very cold and late night with so many cars and I wasn’t able to stay for the whole show. My son had enough at 11pm but he was a trooper! Good showing there and glad to see Motown continue their success. I can’t wait to get up there for a weekly show in the coming weeks.

Let’s hope the weather forecast is wrong for this week as there is rain in there for Wednesday in Osky and Saturday when the World of Outlaws come to Knoxville.

Osky SIS 2012 Preview

Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway has a long tradition of racing on Wednesday nights and that tradition continues in 2012 but with a change in management and rules. Mike Van Genderen of Newton, a native of New Sharon, has been named the new promoter at SIS. The 43 year old racer turned promoter will bring a jolt of new energy to the program as the racing will change from the previous eight year reign of Todd Staley promoted USRA sanctioned races with some low car counts the past couple of seasons, to Van Genderen and a return of IMCA sanctioned racing and rules. IMCA had sanctioned the racing at Osky from 1984-2003.

IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks, SportMods and a new Sport Compact 4-cylinder class will run weekly. Van Genderen is ready for the challenge of rebuilding the rich tradition of racing in Osky. “Since I was a kid, running Southern Iowa Speedway has been a dream of mine,” said Mike. “This track is ready for a change and the Southern Iowa Fair Board is ready for a change. We’re going to do everything we can to see it return to its glory days.” Van Genderen has raced and worked at Southern Iowa Speedway in various capacities in past years, including flag­man for several years. “This is a great facility and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish here.” There is a new website at www.oskyspeedway.com and yours truly will be tweeting updates @OskySIS on most nights when I’m there. Some lower costs through the pit gate should help entries and there will be several nights of town appreciation night where if you show your ID from that town tickets are $5 per person.

The 2012 season kicks off on April 4 with the IMCA Frostbuster special with NASCAR legend Ken Schrader racing and the regular track point season will begin on April 11. Other highlights on the schedule include the return of the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models on June 20, Sport Mod special May 16, Hobby Stock special June 6, the Stock Car Shootout on July 4 with Fireworks after the races, Tuesday July 17 is the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified special, with the Southern Iowa Fair on July 18. Season championship is August 29, and the Fall Challenge special will be October 5 and 6. Don’t forget the All-Star and USAC sprint cars on August 6 and 7 before the Knoxville Nationals as well promoted by Terry McCarl.

Right now it’s hard to say how many cars will run weekly at Osky yet. With the new IMCA rules it definitely opens up the possibilities for teams that normally race at Marshalltown, Des Moines, and Boone to come in to race weekly or on part time basis.

Last years Modified (A-Mod) track champion was Oskaloosa’s Steven Blattler in his black 94 machine. This year he will have some tougher competition as with the new IMCA rules I am hopeful for higher car counts in this division. Some weeks last season there wasn’t enough cars to run two heat races. But in 2012 we already know that the 2011 B-Mod champion Cayden Carter is moving up to the A-Mod class and so is the 2011 Stock Car class champion Shane Weller. Right away you have two good drivers there to compete. It would be nice to see car counts closer to 18 or more on a weekly basis and I think that will happen.

In the Sport Mod (B-Mod) class with Carter moving up it leaves the door wide open for what is likely to be the largest class at the track. Carter VandenBerg will be the odds on favorite to win with Bill Gibson, Andrew Schroeder and Curtis Van Der Wal being a force each week to contend. Throw in about 20 other cars and this will be a good class to watch.

Stock Cars and Hobby Stock classes I don’t anticipate too much changing there. Kris Walker and Steve Allen had a close point battle in Hobbies last year with Walker winning by 36 points. Nathan Wood lost by a mere 32 points to Shane Weller in Stock Car, but with Weller moving up to Modifieds, Wood is the early favorite there. I would bet on quite a few more cars to be there.

I’m excited to cover more racing at Osky this year. I’ve always enjoyed the racing at that track and it’s a nice break in the middle of the week to get your racing fix. Through the new website you can find the complete schedule and information about tickets and season passes.