Race Reports: 7/15–8/12/2012

Sunday 7/12/2012

Hastings Campground

Hastings, NE

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Fair warning again…

this is another racetrack report.  Skip it if you’d like.  I’m including this to help me remember when and what tracks I’ve visited as it seems I have no memory.

Wednesday, 7/18, I headed southeast to U.S. 36 Raceway near Osborn, MO.

The track is a 3/8 mile, high banked, clay track with 21 degree banking in the turns and 10 degree banking on the front and back stretch.  The pits are located outside turns one and two.

It was about a four-hour drive down there, and it was very HOT!!!  It was a great night of racing consisting of A-Mods, Sport Mods, and Super Late Models co-sanctioned by the MLRA and the Corn Belt Clash Series.  John Anderson of Omaha, NE, won the SLM feature for $3K to win, and Jimmy Owens won the A-Mod feature.  Since it was a four-hour drive, I decided to stay overnight at the Super 8 just a few miles east of the track in Cameron, MO.

The next day, Thursday, 7/19, I headed back home with a stop at the I-80 Speedway near Greenwood, NE, just west of Omaha.

This was my second visit to this track.  My first visit was back in June.  It’s a 4/10 mile dirt track.

It was another very hot day, and it continued into the evening.  It was a good night of racing consisting of B-Mods, four cylinder cars, and the SLMR Super Late Models.  Leon Zeitner of Lavista, NE, won the SLMR feature for $1K.  This was the weekend (Friday and Saturday) for the Silver Dollar Nationals, a two-day show for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at I-80, which I elected not to attend due to the excessively high admission prices.  Thursday night was a designated practice night for it with quite a few drivers taking advantage of the track time.  There was an extended practice time after all the racing was finished Thursday night.  I stayed for that and enjoyed watching the drivers dial in their cars for the weekend’s big race.

Friday, 8/3, I went to Eagle Raceway located a few miles east of Lincoln, NE, near the small town of Eagle.

The track is a 3/8 mile, nicely banked, dirt track with the pits located off of turns one and two and behind the back straight.

It was another excellent night of racing with Super Late Models co-sanctioned by the MARS and NCRA series and also the USAC (wingless) Sprint Cars.  John Anderson of Omaha, NE, won the SLM feature for $3k to win.  There were two separate roll-overs during the feature with no injuries.  The USAC Sprint Car feature was won by Bryan Clausen from Noblesville, IN.  My main reason for going to Eagle Raceway was to see the super late models.  The sprint cars were a bonus.  I didn’t find out that they were scheduled until the day before.  Those cars are fast, and I prefer watching them race over the winged sprint cars.

Friday, 8/10, I went back to Junction Motor Speedway near McCool Junction, NE.

This was my third visit to this track.  The track is a 3/8 mile banked dirt track.

They have a “campground” area located next to the main grandstand.  There are eight electric only sites available.

It was a good night of racing consisting of 4-cylinder cars, Cruisers, and Super Late Models co-sanctioned by the MLRA and the NCRA.  Kyle Berck of Marquette, NE, won the super late model feature for $2k to win.  The Cruiser cars are interesting.  It’s basically a street stock type of car, but each car has a co-pilot sitting in the front passenger seat.  I’ve never seen this before.

On Saturday, 8/11, I went back to Junction Motor Speedway for night two of the double header.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to go as the weather was a bit marginal.  Isolated showers were in the area, but I decided to go anyway.  I passed through several rain showers on the way, and it had rained at the track just before I got there.  I was a bit tentative on buying a ticket and going in, but I decided to just go for it and hope it didn’t get rained out.  The first time I went to this track back in June a track worker gave me a free ticket to get in for that particular night.  Well, it happened again.  As I was walking toward the ticket window, a man stopped me and asked me if I had a ticket yet.  I told him “no,” and he then gave me a free ticket to get in.  I don’t know who he was, I don’t believe he was with the track.  I think he may have possibly been associated with one of the sponsors for that night’s racing activities.  Anyway, getting that free ticket all but eliminated any worry about the weather since I had no actual investment in a ticket.  That made the whole evening that much more enjoyable.  They did get the whole show in with just a few sprinkles of rain about 10PM.  The night’s racing consisted of 4-cylinders, hobby stocks, A-mods, B-mods, late models, and super late models again co-sanctioned by the MLRA and NCRA series.  The start of the night’s activities was delayed about an hour due to additional track prep due to the rain shower that came through just before I got there.

John Anderson of Omaha, NE, won the super late model feature for $3k to win, and Jase Kaser won the late model feature.  It was another great night of racing.

So far since arriving here in Nebraska back in April, I’ve been to eleven nights of racing at seven different tracks in two states.  Quite honestly when we came here, I had no idea that I would get to go to all these tracks and events.  Now I just have to figure out where to go next!