USAC at Iowa Speedway

9/17/06: USAC at Iowa Speedway

Qualifying was held on Saturday afternoon, no heat races were run so the Features on Sunday were started "straight up". Bobby Santos III was on the pole for the midgets with a time of 22.572 (139.553mph). For the sprints Darren Hagen won the pole and set a new world record for sprint car speeds with speed of 146.145mph with a lap of 21.554. The Silver Crown pole went to Dave Steele 23.162 (135.999mph)

Midget Finish (started): 1. #91 Dave Steele (2), 2. #5 Tom Hessert (6), 3. #1 Tracy Hines (9), 4. #05 Brad Loyet (11), 5. #20 Josh Wise (3), 6. #67 Jay Drake (7), 7. #6 Stephanie Mockler (13), 8. #21 Levi Jones (10), 9. #28 Joe Liguori (16), 10. #4 Bobby Santos III (1), 11. #9 Dave Darland (8), 12. #80 Billy Wease (4), 13. #97 Darren Hagen (5), 14. #71 Brian Gerster (18), 15. #129 Bradley Galedridge (12), 16. #11 Jerry Coons Jr. (15), 17. #20B David Byrne (14), 18. #88 Scott Thoman (17).

25 laps was the distance (21 7/8 miles). Santos led lap 1, but Dave Steele claimed the lead on lap 2 and was out to the early lead. David Byrne brought out the yellow on lap 7 with an apparent flat left rear tire. Darren Hagen was running 4th until he caused a yellow on lap 17 with motor problems and stopped in turn 4. Santos got by Steele on lap 20 but Steele wouldn't be denied and had taken the lead back on lap 21 for good. After taking the white flag, 2nd place Santos spun in turn 2 on his own and collected Dave Darland and Billy Wease. Santos was able to make repairs and finish 10th. It was Steele's 3rd Midget win of the season.

Sprint Car Finish (started): 1. #62 Jay Drake (3), 2. #20 Josh Wise (11), 3. #40 Billy Wease (12), 4. #44 Michael Lewis (16), 5. #67 Bobby Santos III (5), 6. #23 Ron Gregory (23), 7. #21 Levi Jones (7), 8. #51 Eric Gordon (10), 9. #27 Brian Gerster (9), 10. #36 Brady Short (15), 11. #69 Tracy Hines (2), 12. #4 Brian Tyler (18), 13. #11 Dave Steele (8), 14. #37 Mario Marietta (17), 15. #2B Matt Neely (13), 16. #22W Scotty Weir (21), 17. #67K Darren Hagen (1), 18. #14j Mark Jessup (20), 19. #5H Tom Hessert III (14), 20. #07 Cody Veenstra (22), 21. #11D Dave Darland (6), 22. #63 Rex Norris (19).

30 Laps. Hagen was out to a commanding lead from the start. A caution on lap 8 for Steele with a blow left rear tire. Unfortunately for Hagen his day ended with a second blown engine after leading the first 11 laps of the Sprint Feature, he limped to lap 19 where he stopped in turn 4 bringing out a caution. Lap 12 saw Jay Drake take to lead and never look back. There was great racing from 2nd through 5th between Wise, Wease, & Lewis as they traded position on several occasion with Lewis moving up to the middle of track to work his way up through the field. It was Drake's 1st win of the season anywhere in USAC competition.

Silver Crown finish (started): 1. #1 Dave Steele (1), 2. #191 Pablo Donoso (6), 3. #99 Pete Shepherd (10), 4. #18 Thiago Medeiros (13), 5. #29 Bud Kaeding (5), 6. #41 Jay Drake (4), 7. #17 Mat Neely (11). 8. #21 Brian Tyler (3), 9. #28 Tim Barber (8), 10. #8 Bryn Gohn (12), 11. #26 Aaron Pierce (7), 12. #00 Wayne Reutimann (9), 13. #14 Josh Wise (2).

100 Laps. Steele was out to a big lead early, leading the first 26 circuits. Reutimann pitted on lap 2 with mechanical ails. Lap 18 saw a caution for the #28 Barber who spun coming off of turn 4. Lap 21 restart saw Steele leading Pierce (who moved up from 7th to 2nd in 18 laps) Wise, Kaeding, & Drake. On lap 27 Pierce took the lead from Steele but Steele was content to follow about 4 car lengths back stalking Pierce. Wise pitted his machine on lap 36 with motor woes. Gohn pitted on lap 51 for 8 laps. On lap 60 when Pierce's engine expired giving Steele the lead. Restart on lap 71 saw Steele leading Medeiros (from 18th), Donoso, Shepherd, and Neely. On lap 75 the caution came out for Reutimann who wrecked in turn 2 (he was 70 laps down at the time). The green was back out on lap 85 with Steele, Medeiros, Shepherd, Donoso, and Kaeding in the top 5. Donoso made his way to 2nd on lap 95. Shepherd passed Medeiros on lap 96. Steele pulled away for his 2nd Silver Crown win of the season.

It was an interesting day with the 3 events, although I am not a fan of the new Silver Crown cars. They look like tanks out there or something. It doesn't look right. And the fact that only 13 cars in that division tells me people are staying away from the new pavement Silver Crown car due to expense and the fact that they only race 9-10 a year. It's a good idea, but it's way out in left field for traditional sprint car fans. But it was still a decent race. The sprint car feature was the best of the day with Wise, Wease, & Lewis putting on a great show. It was cool to see sprint cars going that fast. But their still made for dirt in my opinion.