This was another very successful Racin for Rian night. The baby girl, who was only here for a short time has inspired the racing family many times over! There were 22 A Mods, 17 B Mods, 21 E Mods, 11 Pure Stocks, 13 Stock Cars, 8 Grand Nationals, and 6 Midwest Lightning Sprints, making a total of 98 race cars in attendance for this special night. Plus, we started with three makeup features from the previous week when Mother Nature decided she likes double features. (Fireworks weekend we will have double features for the B Mods and Grand Nationals). All in all the packed grandstands of race fans experienced 25 races for this great night of racing!

The racing, what can anyone say but “WOW”! The Pure Stocks started off the night with an exciting finish between Connor Masoner and Jon Boller, Jr.. How do I know this since I did not see the race, I saw the reaction from Beth Boller, Jon’s wife and Connor’s Mom, as she let me know what a great race I had just missed.

The USRA Stock Car race I did witness from turn 4. This is one of the best races of the year at any race track in the area! First it was Jon Boller leading with Brad Whitney immediately behind. Brad would get a run out of turn 2 and get up to the rear quarter panel but that was about it, lap after lap. In turn 4 you could see how close this racing was as Brad was within inches of Jon without either car touching. But lurking ever so slightly was the veteran, Dean Wray, gaining ground on this two-way race by hugging the inside groove until he was inside of Whitney who was inside of Boller, so all three drivers knew they had company. Three wide coming of turn 4 three laps in a row but as soon as the white flag was displayed by Flagman Bob Reber the positioning of all three cars changed. Boller ran more of the middle of the track, Whitney staying low, but entering turn 3 suddenly Wray is no longer on the bottom he has maneuvered to the top side. Out of turn 4, foot to the floor, Wray high, Boller middle, Whitney low, three wide and a little sideways at the finish, Dean Wray took home the checkered! What a way to start a great night of racing with heart pounding super exciting finishes – “WOW, just WOW”!

Thank you racing family for supporting “Racin for Rian” by attending, by purchasing a blue shirt, by showing up to race, in whatever capacity you were involved thank you! The feeling everywhere this night was nothing but family. This included the pink balloon tied to my suspenders until a little girl wanted the balloon. In a sport that sometimes can be selfish, the fans, staff, and racers of I-35 Speedway displayed there is more to our sport as we work together as a family for a cause, in this case supporting the St. Luke’s Neonatal Unit. This week we continue this support with Christmas in July, we will be accepting gently used/new clothing, coats, gloves, shoes, blankets, pillows & nonperishable easy to open food to be given to those less fortunate than ourselves.

Once again the track was fast and smooth. Drivers are loving the track from comments made to me.

Did you notice anything new at the track this week? Hint, they are located up high. They are in the new pit area. Yes the lights were added to the poles and most of the wiring was run, we still have some equipment to add to make them illuminate the area, but the owners are already in the process of purchasing the needed equipment to add this improvement to the track.

Congratulations to all the winners, USRA Modified Ricky Thornton, USRA B-Modified Ed Noll, Midwest Lightning Sprint Bobby Layne and Tom Brown, Grand National Donnie Brown, Pure Stock Connor Masoner and Jon Boller, Jr., and E Mods, Ben Stockton.

Now are we ready for fireworks? Let’s get those oohs and aaaaaahs ready.