Sports : Brian's View from the Grandstand: July 10 race in Vinton

Welcome to another episode of Brian's Views from the Grandstands. 

It's been a few weeks since I got back into the habit of being at the birthplace of the IMCA Modified.  Last night was the Annual Hogan Memorial race and a passing rainstorm around 2:30 dumped a quarter of an inch of rain on the track in 10 minutes time.  The track crew had to really get to work on the track to make it raceable for the big show.  115 cars were on hand to compete in the 5 racing divisions with 33 Modifieds going after the big bucks. The first feature up was the IMCA Sport Compacts.  19 cars started the feature with Dustin Stansbury taking the early lead from the outside front row.  The first caution flew on lap 2 for the stopped machine of point leader, Merv Chandler.  Two laps later, Brad Chandler made the pass on Stansbury and went on to score the feature win.  Nathan Chandler finished second with Gary Peiffer, Dallas Chandler, and Neil Nabholz rounding out the top 5.  Heat race winners were Peiffer, D Chandler, and Travis Losenicky. Next up was the IMCA Hobby Stocks.  17 cars started the feature.  Four cautions would slow the event down and there was a lot of taking with very little giving in the feature.  Jacob Kaiser led flag-to-flag to take the win.  Wes Stanek finished second with Brad Forbes, Doug Laughridge, and Vince Bucholz completing the top 5.  Heat races were won by August Bach, Bucholz, and Adam Streeter. Track officials then decided to work on the track for about 15 minutes as there were some large holes developing with the rain the track received earlier in the day. Next up was the IMCA Sport Mods.  22 cars started the event with Curt Hilmer taking the early lead.  4 cautions would slow the event down, but Hilmer drove a nearly flawless race and took home the victory.  Dave Schulze, Mike McDonald, Jason Doyle, and Bryan Rodman rounded out the top five.  Heat race winners were Rodman, Schulze, and Kyle Olson.  B-Main winners were Kurt Hogan and Danny Dvorak. The IMCA Stock Cars were next with 14 cars starting the feature.  This would be a survival of the fittest race as again there was a lot of taking and not much giving.  Jason Deshaw would be the early leader until Phil Holtz made his way around Deshaw on lap 3.  Five cautions would slow this event down as during the second caution Curtis Roster and Jeff Mueller both went off the track in turn 1.  Track officials sent Roster to the pits for rough driving, but to me it looked like both should have been sent to the pits.  Damon Murty made his presence known at around the halfway point passing the Holtz machine.  The final caution flew when Scooter Dulin got a little loose off turn 2 and clipped the Mueller car on the backstretch.  When Dulin came back around, Mueller and Dulin stopped to talk about "how good the bean field looks on the backstretch." 

Mueller went in on the hook and Dulin was sent to the pits for getting out of his car to answer Mueller?s question.  Murty pulled away from the field on the restart and kept it there as the checkers waved.  Deshaw finished second with Justin Temeyer, Tommy Thompson, and Jim Schaefer rounding out the top 5. 

Heat races were won by Richard Quail and Roster.  Norman Chesmore actually won the heat, but was Dq'd since he lost a block of weight on his car during the heat race. Next up was the event everyone was patiently waiting for, The 40 lap Hogan Memorial IMCA Modified Feature.  After the first 20 laps there is a five minute break in which crews can adjust anything on their cars on the front stretch.  Notable non-weekly drivers at this event included Dan Chapman, Ricky Stephan, and Landon Cassill.  25 cars started the feature with Tim Stevens drawing the pole chip out of the 12 cars that qualified through the heat races.  Tim Stevens took the early lead.  On lap 3 Richie Gustin made his presence known taking over the lead from Stevens.  Around lap 11, local favorite Scott Hogan passed Gustin for the lead.  The leaders encountered heavy lapped traffic towards the end of the first segment.  The top 5 at the end of the first segment was Hogan, Gustin, JJ Wise, Tim Murty, and Jay Schmidt. After the halfway break Hogan continued to lead and second place car, Gustin was racing with a broken left front.  The final caution flew when Gustin's car finally gave up on him with 6 laps to go.  Troy Cordes and Jerry Luloff were both making their way towards the front at this time, but no one was going to deny Scott Hogan a victory on this night.  Tim Murty finished in second place with Cordes, Jay Schmidt, and Jerry Luloff the top 5.  Last year's winner Michael Long finished in sixth place.  Heat race winners were Pat Flanagan, Brian Krall, Ricky Stephan, and Tim Murty. B Main winners were Jon Thimmesch and Mark Schulte.  It was a late night at the track as the final flag flew around 10:30. That's all for now and we'll do it all over again next week.