It has been a very busy off season for myself and racing in the Quad City area. My wife and I welcomed our second son into the world, Bennett Thomas, on September 23rd, 2014. Kyle has been an outstanding big brother to Bennett, who's growing like a weed everyday.
As far as the racing community goes, the Quad City area has been exposed to dirt track racing all winter long. The Quad City Speedway has had several nights at the Quad City Mallards (our minor league hockey team) games where cars from various divisions are on display before the game and then they drive onto the ice during intermission and are introduced. It is a neat idea and I hope it gains new fans for our area.
On March 7th I hosted the inaugural "Slingin' Dirt in the SouthPark Mall" stock car show. It was an outstanding show with 28 stock cars, from several different divisions, on display, 7 track represented, 3 track photographers with products on display, several go karts on display, and a racing simulator that was free to the public. The racing community jam packed the mall with one of the biggest crowds in the mall I've ever seen. Security and maintenance at the mall said the crowd was bigger then Black Friday. I couldn't have been happier with support from the loyal racing community. Jim Comins and his #38 IMCA Stock Car won "Overall Best in Show", with Rick Schriner's #8 Street Stocks second, and Donnie Louck's #31 Street Stock third. I can't thank everyone enough for the support and I especially want to thank the volunteers (Russ Hines, Jeff Adams, Rick Stone, and Mike Thorman) that helped make the show happen. I already have meeting about the 2016 show set with the mall so hopefully we can make it bigger and better.
The Quad City area kicks off the racing season with racing at the Quad City Speedway on Sunday, April 5th, with action in the IMCA Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA SportMods, Street Stocks, 4-Cylinders, and Mod Lites. The Davenport Speedway starts their season on Friday, April 10th, with the inaugural Rebel 5K featuring the IMCA Late Models plus the IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, IMCA SportMods, and 4 Stocks.
My first race will be the 4th Annual Thaw Brawl at the LaSalle Speedway on Friday, April 3rd, and Saturday, April 4th. Both nights will be complete shows for all the divisions racing. Friday night will feature a $5,000 to win, 50 lap, UMP Late Model main event plus $1,500 to win UMP Modifieds and the UMP Street Stocks and UMP Hornets will be racing. Saturday night the UMP Late Models will race for the $15,000 grand prize in a 75 lap feature. Also racing will be the $1,500 to win UMP Modifieds plus UMP Street Stocks and UMP Hornets.
Its been a very long winter and personally I can't wait to plant my butt in a seat, take a deep breath, and watch some side by side dirt track action!
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