The 7th Annual McCarthy Auto Group Show Me Spectacular is now history but WOW WHAT A HISTORY! The racing was simply superb, no that word does not describe it, it was better than that, maybe awesome, well that word is closer, but we are looking for that one word which describes edge of your seat lap after lap side by side leaders changing almost every lap racing, oh that is the word, the racing was SPECTACULAR! Before we describe the racing action though let’s get to the facts – 125 of the best drivers in competition, a super-fast super-smooth race surface, a slight chill in the air for an October evening, a grandstand full of race fans, and extra money on the line, yep that about describes this past weekend’s event.

A couple of notes on some of the competitors, we had Kaden Miller compete in the B Mods and finish fifth. What is significant about Kaden Miller, well he resides in Cabool, Missouri. Of course as he signed in the girls asked where is Cabool, Missouri and he stated just east of Mountain Grove, Missouri. Well I just happen to know where Cabool, Missouri is located because an important event occurred there in January 1958. Cabool, Missouri is located at the Junction of Highway 60 and Highway 63 approximately 75 miles east of Springfield, Missouri and about 30 miles north of West Plaines, Missouri. This was easily a five plus hour travel to come participate in this race. The important event that occurred on January 18, 1958 at 6:05 a.m. of that town, Cabool, Missouri, the writer of these behind the scenes race recaps was born in the local doctor’s office.

Because this was the Show Me Spectacular there were extra laps for several of the classes. The Midwest Lightning Sprints went 15 laps, the E Mods normally 12 laps were upped to 15, the B Mods normally 15 laps raced for 20 laps, the A Mods increased from 20 to 25 laps, and the WAR Non Wing sprints added five laps to make 30 circuits around the track before seeing the checkered flag. There were very few yellow flags in the races. To tell you how outstanding the racing was, please consider, the 20 E Mods starting the feature ran their race in 9 minutes. One E Mod driver in the pay window, as I congratulated him, stated it was awesome fun racing but he somehow felt cheated he only got 9 minutes of racing. The B Mod race, which had four people battling for the lead and saw a three wide battle for 2 laps, took all of 10 minutes to complete.

Let’s also mention since this was the Show Me, it was great seeing the leaders do the parade lap with the Missouri State Flag. All classes except the sprint classes accomplished the flag carrying leading to the A Mod four side salute to the State of Missouri and our Country the United States of America. In the A Mods the front row carried the state flag and the remaining competitors were carrying the flag of the United States of America. Coming out of turn 2 the fifth row of Joey Galloway and Houston Johnson led the remainder of the field up even with the first row making four rows of four wide A Mods with Austin Johnson as a lone flag at the back. This picture perfect scene created the flow of adrenaline for everyone in attendance, race fan, competitor, officials, and track workers.

Let’s talk about the spectacular racing for moment, in the E Mods we had a last lap last turn pass for the win, which is always exciting racing, in the B Mods we had four drivers vying for the win and sometime they were three wide in the turns, and in the A Mods we had a slide job to take the lead with two laps to go only to see the winner come back by on the high side of the track on the last lap. If you were not here, you missed some of the best racing of the 2016 season. But guess what you have two more weeks to catch all the great racing action before the season is complete. October 22 and October 29 we will be racing, make your plans to be here, because there is spectacular racing to be completed each and every week at I-35 Speedway.