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The final Saturday night in September, I joined my racing buddies for the trek north to the Muscatine, Iowa fairgrounds speedway for the final night of the 11th edition of the Liberty 100 in West Liberty, Iowa. If you have a genuine need for speed, the big 1/2 mile will never disappoint, and apparently the first night of action, which we skipped was run on a hammer down, flat out, track. Darren Miller, a popular midwestern driver who has raced all over the country for the last several years before a self imposed hiatus for most of 2009, set a new track record in time trials with a blistering 18.149 second lap. This was the best of the 30 late models that came to contest the $7,000.00 top prize offered in the Saturday night 100 lapper. The invitation only Race of Champions on Friday saw Jeremiah Hurst collect the $2,000.00 first place check, making the two veterans the early favorites on Saturday. 28 of the original 30 returned for night two, with " crossover " drivers Tommy Elston and Darrell Defrance the only no shows. Tommy was involved in an incident which ended with his Lynn Richard owned # 15 stuffed in the fence, after which it took his team over an hour to make the damaged car fit to load in their enclosed trailer. " Double D " had engine issues in time trials, and did not make the heat race call on Friday. Four support classes also raced over the weekend, although only the " A " modifieds had a car count worthy of a two day show. The mods and late models ran a pair of last chance races to fill the feature field, sandwiched around two rounds of hot laps, and followed by position dashes in all five classes. Much of the preliminaries could have been eliminated, and the show might have been better had they just went straight to the five features. The last chance race for the late models was designed to advance six cars to the 24 car feature field, thus eliminating four drivers. As ir turned out, Jay Johnson who it looked like had a radiator problem in hot laps actually blew his engine, so seventh running Wayne Brau, racing for the first time in '09, was added to the field. The modified feature was as good as advertised, although it was somewhat disappoiting when Brad Diercks, # 29D headed pitside as the race began. Diercks had made an amazing run through the field on our last visit to the track, and we were looking forward to seeing how he would fare this time. As it turned out, no one had much for popular veteran and track champion Bruce Hanford, who kept his familiar # 61 out front for the win. A scary moment occured when second generation races Scott Dickey in the well known " backwards " # 40 lost a drive shaft on the front stretch, and was carried into the turn one wall by an on coming car with no place to go. Although Scott seemed to be OK, his ride looked to be totaled, and had to be carried off the track with all four wheels off the ground. After some " farming " of the track and the on track introduction of the 24 starters, the 100 lapper finally rolled off a little after 10:00 PM. One thing that is pretty constant in 100 lap races on dirt tracks, is how often your opinion changes about who may be the car to beat. This race was no exception, as several drivers seemed to be the strongest at various stages of the race. While the battle rages up front early, Dave Eckrich, who was forced to come through the last chance race after a Friday night mishap, picked off cars at a startling pace. After moving quickly into the top ten, Dave leveled off, eventually rolling home seventh. Polesitter Chris Simpson as, well as second row starter Andy Eckrich, took turns up front, with Miller pushing them hard through several restarts. As the laps ticked off, it was the other Simpson brother, Chad who took over the top spot. Chad was one week removed from a win in the Yankee Dirt Track Classic at Farley, Iowa, and he quickly showed the win was no fluke. Although tenth starting Hurst closed to his bumper late in the race, Chad worked traffic well, and left no room for Jeremiah to attempt a pass. Miller held on for third, and it occured to me that Darren must have built his endurance quickly, having run only a handful of races this year before the 100 lap challenge on the big 1/2 mile. Andy Eckrich took home fourth, and middle brother Denny Eckrich slipped past Chris Simpson on the final lap for fifth. Following older brother Dave, was the trio of Rob Moss, grandson of legendary Big John Moss, one of the racing Kile brothers, Kurt, and long time racer Ron Boyse completing the top ten. All but Boyse were on the lead lap, with 13 of the original 24 starters still running. The program ended around the 11:00 hour, and was a fun albeit chilly evening. The fairgrounds oval is no place for the faint of hear, and even the 4 cylinder cars generate plenty of speed. If you have never made the trip to this speed plant, put it on you schedule for 2010. Thanks to Simmons Promotions for a quality late season show! New and notes : With a bunch of high paying shows around, the only driver from out of the area in attendance was Edina, Minnesota pilot Andrew McKay # 71. Boone McLaughlin was among the handful of IMCA regulars making the show. Boone put his " big " engine in, loaded up his new enclosed hauler and made the short haul from Mediapolis. Friday night contact with the wall ruined a radiator and kept his crew busy all day Saturday making repairs. A spinning car mid race on Saturday caused Boone to find the wall again, ending his night. Former track regular Matt Furman made the show. Like Miller, Matt has been missing all summer, as his work has taken him away from racing. Jeff " Bone " Larson from Freeport, Il was the only driver to race in both the modified and late model divisions over the weekend. Former track regular Tom " the Dog " Christensen, who has not competed for several years, took a turn in Ron Schriers # s9. Tom came home in 13th position. Besides the racing Eckrich, Kile, and Simpson brothers, Andy Eckrich's twin sister Amanda is married to Chris Simpson. Congratulations to Pepsi Nationals runner up Mark Burgtorf, who captured the $ 4,000.00 top prize at the Quad City Speedway in East Moline,Il. Sunday night in an IMCA rules 100 lap finale of the two day show on the 1/4 mile. If the weather forecast improves, my plans for the coming weekend are to take in the final day of the three day Late Model Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa. Whether you can make one, two, or all three days, this shows needs to be on every dirt late model race fans " can't miss " list. At last check, there were 80 super late models entered, including many who were in action this weekend at West Liberty, as well as a couple of drivers from my home track in Quincy, Il. In case of weather issues, I am going to work on some alternate plans. Hopefully I will have some action to report on next week, as the season winds down quickly. See you at the races!
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