Cardboard Classic Cars A Hit At Speedway!
By Denny Grabenbauer

MARSHALLTOWN, IA (Aug 10) - Week number sixteen roared to life this past Friday night as raw horse power turned to foot-power as drivers and fans would climb into their home made cardboard racecars to compete in the annual New Hope Cardboard Classic event by Alltel. One-hundred twenty-three man made creations would compete along with local drivers stepping out of their cars into newly created cars. All who watched and competed in this yearly event had fun, and are already looking forward to next year. 102-race teams, which included drivers from Texas and Missouri, were on hand.

Friday night would go down into the record book as a night when fans would be thrilled by caution free racing through out the entire evening. Only one incident on the night would be at the end of the first Dwarf Car heat race when Dusty Masolini would break a wheel and roll down the back straight a way. Dusty would emerge uninjured from his battered racecar ending his night of competition. The rest of the evening would run caution free in all of the feature events. With two laps remaining in the last race of the night, the yellow would come out, for the first and only caution of the night.

Promoter Toby Kruse had the look of success on his face at the end of the night. “Our competitors tonight showed respect to one another, they raced hard and put on a great show for our fans. Having New Hope on hand for their special event really makes me feel warm inside when I watch the expressions on the kids faces looking at their creations. I just have to give credit to our staff for their hard work and effort.”

With the races all being run off in a green to checkered matter, the capacity crowd witness close side by side racing around the high-banked quarter mile raceway. Tim Hennigar would win his sixth Dwarf Car feature of the year and his first in five weeks. Hennigar would take the lead from Jeff Stensland on lap five then drive away from the rest of the field in route to victory. Point leader Andy Hennigar would finish second followed by last week feature winner Eric Hendrickson and Stensland.

Kyle Brown would lead the opening lap of the I.M.C.A. Sport Mod feature, but would loose the lead to fourteen-year-old Brett Moffitt on lap two. Moffitt, last week’s winner, would make it two in a row as he would pull away from the rest of the field, work his way through heavy lap traffic to outdistance his closest competitor by almost a front straight a way. Brown, Brett Meyer and Kevin Sather would round out the top four.

Friday night would be another night that Ford fans would cheer for, as Ford driver Rick Brown would again pilot his Thunderbird to victory in the Aarons I.M.C.A. Stock Car feature event. Brown who now has notched 103rd feature win of his career and his fifth of the season would lead from start to finish. Brown was never really contested throughout the eighteen laps even though lap traffic would be an obstacle at the end he would have to drive around, but was never really challenged by second place finisher Luke Veren. Mike VanGenderen finished third followed by Donovan Smith in forth. With Smith’s fourth place finish and point leader Tracy Gienger finishing fourteenth, Smith would close within five-points of the point lead, with three regular season nights remaining.

Last weeks bad luck would turn into this week’s good luck for I.M.C.A. Modified driver Jimmy Gustin. Gustin destroyed his car one week earlier, and after the challenge by his crew would construct a new car under Gustin for week sixteen. “I just can’t thank my crew and sponsors for standing behind me and giving me this opportunity. They made this win possible, what a bunch of guys”. Gustin would enter the night in second place one-point behind point leader Vern Jackson. Jackson would have engine trouble in the heat race leaving Jackson without a car for the feature. Defending track champion Jeff Schroyer would come to the aid of a fellow driver and loan his car to Jackson. Jackson would start last and finish forth in Schroyer’s borrowed car. Gustin would end the night back on top of the point chase and a two-point lead with three weeks to go.

Luke Wanninger would win his seventh I.M.C.A. Hobby Stock feature, but a late race yellow, the only one of the night, would again change the out come of the event. With three laps to go, then race leader Bo Hunter would make contact with a lap car, again ending his chances of breaking a six year feature win drought and sending him to a seventeenth place finish. On the restart Beau Kaplan would take the lead until Wanninger would make a last lap pass and score the victory. Behind Wanninger and Kaplan would be Gene Nicklas and Dustin Elliott.

Next week will feature cars from the past in competition during Nostalgia night number one of two. The grandstand will open at 5:30 with hot laps starting at 6:45 and the first race of the night will begin at 7:30.

“Aarons” I.M.C.A. STOCK CAR:

HEAT 1: Donnie Bown-Clemens—Jeff Wollam-M’town—Scooter Dulin-Cedar Rapids

HEAT 2: Rick Brown-Kellogg—Don Vis-M’town—Luke Veren-Laurel

HEAT 3: Shawn Hoskins-M’town—Mike VanGenderen-Newton—Jared Daggett-M’town

FEATURE: Rick Brown—Luke Veren—Mike VanGenderen—Donovan Smith—Jeff Wollam—Dusty Vis—Shawn Hoskins—Don Vis—Donnie Bown—Eric Flander—Shawn Anderson—Steve Meyer—Jared Daggett—Tracy Gienger—Todd Kearney—John Wilson—Jason Batt—Gene Stiegel—Wendy Reisinger—Scooter Dulin



I.M.C.A. MODIFIED:

HEAT 1: J.D. Auringer-Waterloo—Rob Olson-Cedar Rapids—Heath Kusel-Elberon

HEAT 2: Marv Halverson-M’town—Tom Pestka-Robins—David Brown-Kellogg

HEAT 3: Jeff Schroyer-M’town—Todd Conrad-Waterloo—Tom Rawlins-Kellogg

FEATURE: Jimmy Gustin—Todd Conrad—J.D. Auringer—Vern Jackson—Brett Ladehoff—Rob Olson—Billy Davis Jr.—Scott Simatovich—David Brown—Heath Kusel—Russ Dickerson—Marv Halverson—Tom Pestka—Tom Rawlins—Mark Hunziger—Shane Krafka—Jay Schmidt—Bradley Shatz



I.M.C.A SPORT MOD:

HEAT 1: Kyle Brown-Kellogg—Neil Follett-Conrad—Danny Dvorak-Vinton

HEAT 2: Brett Moffitt-Grimes—Shawn Simatovich-M’town—Mark McNeece-Albion

HEAT 3: Brett Meyer-Ames—Joel Bushore-Boone—Kyle Bentley-Fairbank

FEATURE: Brett Moffitt—Kyle Brown—Brett Meyer—Kevin Sather—Mark McNeece—Austin Kaplan—Danny Dvorak—Fred Schimmels—Neil Follett—Shawn Simatovich—Ryan Engelkes—Ben Wilson—Brad Iverson—Kyle Bentley—Dustin Filloon—Joel Bushore—John Dumer



I.M.C.A HOBBY STOCK:

HEAT 1: Bo Hunter-Saint Anthony—Kris Law-Boone—Luke Wanninger-Jefferson

HEAT 2: Terry Shaffar-State Center—Dustin Elliott-M’town—Adam Rickett-M’town

HEAT 3: Jamie Schirm-Dexter—Beau Kaplan-Ankeny—Gene Nicklas-Grinnell

FEATURE: Luke Wanninger—Beau Kaplan—Gene Nicklas—Dustin Elliott—Jamie Schirm—Joe Bown—Jennifer Hulin—Terry Shaffar—Gary Pfantz—Kris Law—Brad Bartling—Josh Saunders—Adam Rickett—Josh Bly—Jeff Gunderson—Bo Hunter—Leonard Loftus—Phil Morrison—Todd Reitzer—Eric Knutson—Troy Cowan



DWARF CARS:

HEAT 1: Johnny Mordock-Creston—Tim Hennigar-Clarion—Duane Coffman-Grimes

HEAT 2: Mike Morrill-Altoona—Randy Bryan-Ames—Andy Hennigar-Ankeny

FEATURE: Tim Hennigar—Andy Hennigar—Eric Hendrickson—Jeff Stensland—Mike Thomas—Mike Kennedy—Duane Coffman—Brent Detrick—Johnny Mordock—Charlie Brown—Mike Morrill—Jason Whitehead—Nathan Hovick—Randy Bryan—Terry Brown—Michael Thomas

ALLTEL DWARF CAR KING OF THE HILL: Tim Hennigar