8/14/2018
RacinBoys
I-44 Speedway to host Back to School Bash and Military Appreciation Night
By Dylan Bates (Lebanon, MO) -- This Saturday, August 18th, racing returns to the High-Banks of Lebanon I-44 Speedway and any active or inactive Military personnel can experience the action for free! Lebanon I-44 Speedway has a very close relationship with our troops in Fort Leonard Wood and this is our way of saying thanks. But wait, there is more! Any student from Kindergarten through 12th grade as well as Boy or Girl Scouts in uniform will also be able to attend the races for free! With 2018 being one of the most exciting seasons of racing yet, you’re going to want to take advantage of these amazing admission deals.
photo: Chris Kerperien, currently a maintenance tracker in the U.S. Army, runs his No. 15 U.S. Army backed Modified nearly every weekend at I-44 Speedway. --CREDIT: Jamie Martin
Week in and week out the newly re-vamped Charger division have been putting on spectacular shows on the new 1/5-mile inner track. This season we have invited the dirt Hornets to come join the fun on asphalt and so far, the dirt drivers have been dominant! Crystal Blake, a 2018 Rookie, is leading the Championship so far but the “dirt brothers” of William Garner and Shannon Geller have been moving up the Championship ranks each week clicking off a win almost every week. Another driver has stepped up and is hoping to spoil Garner and Geller’s Championship hopes. The No. 44 of Chris Albright was the winner of the last event and now has two wins on the season. Many Chargers should be in attendance on Saturday as this will be the first weekend of the new Charger/Hornet Series taking place at I-44 Speedway and Dallas County Speedway, check out our website for more details regarding the series. This Championship battle is going to go down to the wire between these four drivers!
The new Big 10 Late Models series is a throwback to the old days of Late Model racing. These cars are running old school setups creating great battles between every driver. With seven races completed so far this season, the Big 10 Late Models have seen four different winners producing an incredible Championship battle. Two weeks ago, Jimmy Fohn came into the night with the Championship lead until he was plagued with a mechanical failure on lap 3 of the feature allowing the Rookie, Dylan Bates, to pick-up his second win of the season and ultimately, the Championship lead. The No. 7 of Justin Blake also has one win this season and is sitting third in the standings behind Bates and Fohn, he is looking for another win to propel him to the top of the Championship leaderboard. Only 26 points separate the top three, with a race win paying 100 points, these drivers must be on their game each week!
If you were to ask a fan what the most entertaining division has been this year they would most likely tell you the Street Stocks. Each week these 1970s and 80s model street cars turned race cars go to battle for 20-laps around the High-Banks, often times three-wide! So far Jordan Nisbett has control of the Championship, but the No. 00 of Tony Johnson from Lebanon has shown that he has what it takes to win races and possibly a Championship. In the last race, we got to see the shootout we had been waiting for between Nisbett and Tony Johnson. This time, Nisbett picked up the win by a few car lengths over Tony. Steve Shaw also showed great speed last weekend after an intense battle with Tony Johnson from Lebanon along with Brock and Ben Johnson from Miller. Shaw was able to hold off the Miller Johnsons for third, can he continue his hot streak and challenge Nisbett for the points lead?
In the Modified division, we have seen one driver come from the back and pick up the win almost every weekend. Ricky Icenhower has six wins on the season so far and a commanding point lead. This Saturday night there is something new in store for the Modifieds. A $250 bounty has been placed on Ricky Icenhower. The first driver to beat Icenhower in a Feature race will take home an extra $250. So far, Richard Lewis, from Nixa, is the only driver to win a feature other than Icenhower. Does he have what it takes to do it again? Michael Juergensen has been leading several laps this season but has been losing his lead to the No. 7 of Icenhower late in the races. Maybe Juergensen will be the one to fend off Icenhower and take home the $750 pay day. Juergensen’s stable-mate, Chris Johnson, picked up the win at the Historic Bolivar Speedway last week, can he go two-for-two and take a trip to Victory Lane on Saturday night?
Finally, the premier Pro Late Models! Coming into the last event, Ken Dickinson only has a single point lead over Springfield’s Tim Swearengin. After Swearengin lost his engine in the feature, Dickinson was able to extend his Championship lead over Swearengin to 23 points, but the Championship was in the back of everyone’s minds as they witnessed Jake Piel pick up his very first Pro Late Model win. Last year’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Rookie of the Year has had an up and down season and was even forced to miss a race after the St. Louis based team had to completely rebuild the front half of his race car. The wait was well worth it for Piel as he had been trying for a Pro Late Model win for two years. Piel is looking to finish off the second half of the season with many more wins. The top three in the Championship are only separated by 31 points, but the Rookie driver, Ryu Taggart, has been putting together solid runs the past few weeks and may have a chance to crack the top three very soon.
We hope to see all of you this Saturday as we pay tribute to our Country’s military personnel and honor the Boy and Girl Scouts of America! Adults are $12, seniors are $8, active and inactive Military, Scouts, students K-12, and kids 10 & under will be admitted free into the races. The gates will open at 6:30PM with racing starting at 7:30PM. For more information and news, head over to our website at http://www.i44speedway.net or find us on Facebook!
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
