Super-duper night at the races is how I would describe the races of April 23, 2016 at I-35 Speedway. A super fantastic crowd came to watch the WAR Sprint Cars, the Midwest Vintage, the USRA A Mods, USRA Stock Cars, USRA B Mods, the Chargers, the Pure Stock, and a full field of E-Mods. Fun was in the air. Everywhere I went from the pits, the pit sign in, the concessions, the tower, the grandstands, the Trackside Bar and Grill, the officials on the track and outside the track, the tow personnel, the safety personnel, it was everyone having fun. There were smiles everywhere!

Let’s start with the most smiles, we should all be like children. One of my enjoyments in my role at the racetrack is the interaction with the fans, especially the children. As I was travelling back and forth from the tower to the pits, there was a group of five boys sitting in the front row of the first upper section, amongst several Jeff Dixon fans, and they were the delight of the night! Each time I walked by the arms were waving their favorite drivers to the lead, the passion of the children reminded me of being that child in the 1960s rooting on my uncle, so obviously I joined in with them, but you know the passion of joining with them was only noticed by the adults because the boy’s eyes were glued to the track!

Speaking of the track what a great job of getting it ready by Mike and Mike (Knight and Johnson). It rained Monday through Thursday. This made working the track a challenge from late Friday afternoon to finishing touches on Saturday morning. Some of the grass and weed eating chores were not finished until after racecars were already in the pits. But back to the track, what else can you say the track was smooth and tacky most of the night which is a huge challenge when you add two classes of wide tire racecars (Sprints and Vintage). By the way we have received several emails stating this from several of the drivers.

Speaking of the pits we were graced with 94 various racecars in all the classes. We would have had even more cars had it not been Prom Night for so many of the schools. We have to give a shout out to one Prom Night racer, Houston Johnson, who did double duty with his girlfriend’s approval, of course, he attended the picture taking, the Prom dinner, beat feet to the track to race, then returned to the Prom dance. Of course those in the pits that heard this had this same comment several times, “Wow that girl (Cassidy French) is a keeper”.

Congratulations to all winners, Matt Dorssom, Carson Masoner, Buz Kaster, Jack Simmons, Steve Starmer, Clint Boyles, Dean Wray, and Zach Sanders. There was competition in all the classes and Racinboy Kirk Elliott and I were discussing this upstairs in the tower. His nephew Dennis Elliott and Zach Sanders put on one of the best side by side shows of the year racing and exchanging lines with each other for five laps. Buz Kaster and Houston Johnson were continually challenging each other, Dean Wray and Jason Estes ran side by side and then switching lines to the delight of the race fans. What we are seeing each week at I-35 Speedway is the talent level of some of the best racers in the area.

In four weeks of racing we have had four different winners in the A Mods and B Mods, three different winners in the Chargers and E Mods, and two different winners in the Pure Stock and Stock Cars. That means there is competition in all the classes.

We want to thank our sponsor of the week Seeburg Mufflers for a great night of racing. This week is America’s Best Value Inn Night at the Races. If you need a place to stay in Cameron, please stop at the America’s Best Value Inn and let them know you heard about them at I-35 Speedway. They will give you the I-35 Speedway discount or stop by the I-35 Speedway ticket office they have flyers you can take to the front office at America’s Best Value Inn.