I thought I'd take a little time and make some picks for the 4th Annual Thaw Brawl at the LaSalle Speedway on Friday, April 3rd, and Saturday, April 4th plus do a little preview of the racing coming to the Quad City area this season.
The LaSalle Speedway changed the Thaw Brawl up this year making each night a complete show. Friday night is headlined by a $5,000 to win UMP Late Model feature plus a $1,500 to win UMP Modifieds as well as UMP Street Stocks and UMP Hornets. There's a list floating around Facebook with drivers that are planning on attending the shows so I'll make my picks off those lists (there is not Hornet list so I'm not going to make a pick in that division). In the Street Stock division I'll go with Quad City area driver "The Pitbull" Keith Blum for Friday night and Curtis Radke for Saturday night. The Street Stocks never disappoint at the LaSalle Speedway much like the Street Stocks in the Quad Cities. For the UMP Modifieds I'm guessing they'll be pushing 40 car each night so the competition will be top notch. For the Friday nights program I'll go with "The Quiet Riot" Jeff Curl and Saturday night I'll go with Nick Allen. The main event both nights will be the UMP Late Models and both those features will be stacked. Friday night I'll go with "Opie" Mike Spatola and Saturday night I'll with the reigning and defending UMP Late Model National Champion, "The Smooth Operator" Bobby Pierce. I'm a huge fan of the LaSalle Speedway, never been disappointed after a show there, so I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Checkout www.lasallespeedway.com for the prices and times.
Also this weekend, racing begins in the Quad City area with three practices and a race. The Quad City Speedway gets things underway with a practice Wednesday, April 1st. Davenport Speedway will host their first practice on Friday, April 3rd then QCS will come back with another practice on Saturday, April 4th. Check www.qcspeedwayracing and www.davenportspeedway.com for times and prices for the practices.
The racing season kicks off this Sunday, April 5th, with at the Quad City Speedway with racing in the IMCA Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, IMCA SportMods, Mod Lites, and 4-Cylinders.
Some other specials at the QCS include the return of Open Late Model racing when MARS, Corn Belt Clash, and UMP Late Models hit the 1/4 mile high banks on Sunday, April 19th. The annual Hershel Roberts Memorial featuring the IMCA Late Model Deery Brothers Summer Series will rumble onto the track Sunday, May 3rd. The 22nd Annual Gary Reinhart Memorial will be Sunday, May 24th, with IMCA Modifieds taking center stage. The first ever Dwaine Hasson Memorial, featuring the Street Stocks, will be Sunday, July 12th. Wednesday, July 22nd, the IMCA Late Model Deery Brothers Summer Series returns for the Rock Island County Fair Race. The following Sunday, July 26th, will be the 2nd Annual Ray Guss Sr. Tribute Race featuring the IMCA Late Models. Then the Sunday after that, August 2nd, will be 10th Annual Ronnie Weedon Memorial with the IMCA Modifieds taking center stage again. The last special of the season will be the Ron Marks Jr. Memorial with the ever entertaining Street Stocks main eventing the night.
The Davenport Speedway will also be hosting an array of specials in 2015. The season kicks off with the inaugural Rebel 5K featuring the IMCA Late Models on Friday, April 10th on the 1/4 mile. The very next Friday, April 17th, the annual Midwest Sanction Showdown featuring the Open Late Models from MARS and the Corn Belt Clash will take to the 1/4 mile. On Friday, May 8th, the Lucas Oil MLRA return to the 1/4 mile In Memory of Martin Diercks. The IMCA Modifieds kick off a swing of $2,000 to win races for the each class with the Modified Madness on Friday, May 22nd. Friday, June 12th, the IMCA SportMods take center stage for their SportMod Challenge with the winner taking home $2,000. Friday, July 3rd, its the Street Stocks turn to run for $2,000 with the Street Stock 4th of July Clash. On Friday, August 14th, its the 4-Stock Nationals with a top prize of $2,000. On Friday, September 11th, and Saturday, September 12th, the Open Late Model Govenor's Cup returns. On the 11th all the racing will take place on the 1/4 and all the racing on the 12th will be on the 1/2 mile.
I love traveling to different tracks and experiencing different styles of racing but a person could be perfectly contempt staying in the Quad Cities all season between all the specials at QCS and Davenport plus the tremendous weekly racing at each track. Kyle and I will be very busy this summer to say the least!!!
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 23, 2015
Quad City Area Gearing Up For 2015 Season
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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