Iowa Speedway collects admirers
Iowa Speedway in Newton landed an extremely big fish when it secured appearances by the Indy Racing League last year and this year. Visits by the IRL are anticipated in 2009 and beyond.
The IndyCar Series is North America's pre-eminent open-wheel racing series and its shows in Newton the past two summers put Iowa Speedway in the nation's face with live television coverage on ABC. But make no mistake, Iowa Speedway officials want a NASCAR race in the worst way, most likely a Craftsman Truck Series event, although the Nationwide Series is brought up in conversations.
The facility certainly got ringing endorsements from drivers who were on hand Sunday for an ASA Midwest Tour super late-model race, including NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch.
"Iowa Speedway, this is a very nice place and it's very fast,"
Busch said in front of a gathering of fans Sunday. "It would be pretty cool to see a Nationwide or a Truck race here to see what that looks like, and the speed those trucks will carry."
NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth was at the speedway Sunday, and finished third in the ASAMT main event behind regular super late-model drivers Tim Schendel of Sparta, Wis., and Jonathan Eilen of Hampton, Minn.
"The track certainly is racy enough and has all the stuff just to race on, but the rest of that stuff is all NASCAR's deal,"
Kenseth said in a post-race interview. "But the race track is certainly a great race track and it's certainly better than some of them we go to."
The ASAMT drivers were even more impressed than the NASCAR veterans.
"Iowa Speedway is a world-class facility,"
Schendel said after qualifying with the fastest time Sunday. "I've been to a lot of nice tracks across the country, and to have this — I'm from Wisconsin — right in my backyard, it's not that far away. To have this at your fingertips is just awesome. They did a great job with everything there is here, from the race track to the bathrooms in the pits. It's just all awesome."
Last month's IndyCar race drew 40,000 fans to Iowa Speedway and it's likely just as many would attend a NASCAR event. Saturday night's Nationwide race at Gateway International Speedway outside St. Louis drew an estimated 50,000 fans.
Sunday's super late-model race at Iowa Speedway drew 14,888 fans, according to track officials.
"The fans were great,"
Schendel said. "It's a hot day and I'm glad that they had an attendance like they did because I want to keep coming back here for years to come with the series and for myself."
Summer Series parity
Ray Guss Jr. won Tuesday's IMCA Deery Brothers Late Model Summer Series event at Davenport Speedway to become the ninth driver to win in nine series races this season. Guss, of Milan, Ill., led 49 of the 50 laps in the feature and held off Bettendorf's Marty Diercks for the victory.
Other winners in the series this season are Boone McLaughlin, Terry Neal, Tom Darbyshire, Justin Reed, Denny Woodworth, Andy Nezworksi, Mike Collins and Todd Cooney.
The series was scheduled to be in Oskaloosa last night, then at Highway 3 Raceway in Allison on July 30, Algona Raceway on July 31 and at Hawkeye Downs Speedway on Aug. 6.
Area strong in WDRL
John Kaanta of Elk Mound, Wis., won Monday's World Dirt Racing League event at Boone County Raceway in Albion, Neb., to maintain the series points lead, but several area drivers remain in the top 10.
Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon is second in points, his brother Chris Simpson of Marion is fourth, and Dave Eckrich of Oxford, Rob Moss of Iowa City, Denny Eckrich of Tiffin and Matt Furman of Iowa City sit seven through 10.
