Well
where do I start... I guess with the street stocks. I
didn't see how Mark Schultz #70 got to the front, however I
did notice he withstood a number of cautions to hold onto the
win. Brian Drexler #8 finished second, but held on to the
points lead by 1 point due to winning his heat race earlier.
Jerry Kope brought the #4 home in third, holding off Noah
Schepp #89.
When it came to the Grand National feature it was experience
running to the front with Kenny Richards #9 holding off the
Red, White, & Blue # 5 of Tim Doehling who grabbed second.
Scott Houpt # 67 took home third.
The Modified took to the track and I'm sure Ben Brinkman in
the #94 Air Force supported car was ready for a win, although
the car wasn't. I give Ben a load of credit, as he just
about ran the wheels off the car, sometimes it looked as
though he was going to take flight. There was just not
enough there to hold off the charging field. When the dust
settled Mike Wedelstadt in the # X took the checkers for the
win. MJ Hintz held out for second, followed by Mitch McGrath.
The Late
Model feature charged the track hard, which brought a number
of cautions. The Checkers flew for Troy Springborn #81
Dan Wanta in the #27 thought he held on for second... however,
as he rolled over the scales he came up under weight.
This opened the door for Scott Lewis in the #6 for the second
position. Joe Reuter #20 graciously took the third
place.
The Dirt
Devils took to the track needing to go green to checkers do to
curfew... The race came to a finish as Aubyn Vogel rolled her
car 4 times. I do have it on video and will get it posted here
soon. When the Red Flag and checkers flew, Tyler Lind #97 got
first, Dave Wilkens in the #222 took second and Chris
Quaintance placed third. Aubyn suffered a fractured thumb, but
intends to race this coming week. It's should be noted,
that whenever a car rolls over... it is mandatory for the ambulance
to come out and the driver goes for a ride to be checked
out!
Race day started out early, cold and
disappointing for me. I had to be at the track at 4:30
am to open things up for Channel 5. They did a number of live
broadcasts from the track during their early morning
show. They highlighted our opening night and the U. S.
Air Force's plans to swear in new recruits during opening
ceremonies. I was disappointed... because, I was worried
the cooler than normal temps would keep fans away. Not
only does the track suffer financial when we get weak
attendance, But it's heart breaking to think of all the time
spent to put the show together... and then have the cold keep
the fans from seeing the great shows that take place at the
zone. I frozen my butt off all day...Then at around 5:00
mother nature decided to wake up and fly right... The clouds
parted and it warmed up for a nice night of racing.
Being the first night... things went quit well considering all
the new stuff we were trying to implement. Sure there were
some glitches, but nothing that will not be worked out. I took
a little flack from some fans over the rules on "starts
and restarts". They just didn't quite understand the
rules of them so it appeared to be inconsistent. I will
have Todd explain these rules this coming week. This
should help many fans understand... Folks, it really don't
matter one bit to my partners, the flagman, or myself who
wins. Many fans think we have favorites... We don't!
Simple as that. With that said, we all were honored with
a couple of first at the Speedzone. We were treated to
the swearing in of about 30 of America's Best into the U.S.
Air Force for the first time. Father Dale Grubba was on
hand to bless the new recruits and the drivers alike. 
Aubyn
Vogel showed us 2 firsts for her, she won her first ever
race... and later in the feature put her car wheels up 4
times, which was a first for her. Keeping cars going in
the right direction seemed to be troublesome for all the
divisions on this opening night. Being that I was not
down in the infield shooting photos... I really didn't get to
see much racing, so we will not have very colorful stories
this week on how the racing unfolded. 
