Lebanon, Mo.- For Springfield’s Tim Swearengin any time you can be in victory lane it is an awesome feeling, but Saturday Night on Military Appreciation Night none was sweeter than his 1st NASCAR Pro Late Model since 2002 when he captured the 1st ever Larry Phillips event at The “High-Banks: of The Lebanon I-44 Speedway. Swearengin started on the outside of the front row and took command on the opening lap and never looked back in a flawless and caution-free 30 lap Late Model feature. Driving a car owned by Kansas City owner Dwayne Carmicheal, Swearengin and the team had been working hard on dialing-in a chassis that is much older that amny of the cars he competed against every Saturday Night. With Swearengin making it look easy, the real battle was stagged for 2nd place through 5th spots as point leader Mike Slone had to fend back leading Missouri NASCAR rookie Jake Piel for 2nd place for several laps and last weeks winner Brian Brown and Joe Ross swapped spots back and forth.For Swearengin, he didn’t fall of his qualifying pace all night as in race mode he recorded the fastest lap of the night with a 15.064 while he qualified at a time of 15.034. Swearengin’s margin of victory was a win of .641 seconds over Slone with Piel, Brown and Ross following. Swearengin who was a Late model champion at the track from 2000-2002 and a Modified champion in 2015 and 2016 is searching for a record setting 6th I-44 Track title as he is currently tied with Larry Phillips and Ken Essary with 5 titles. ” Our qualifying has hurt us a little in the points and we had a small streak of things not going right,but the crew and friends have been working hard getting the car to victory lane and this is Dwayne’s first feature win as a car owner. Slone set the fast time in qualifying with a lap of 14,732 while Steve Holt took the qualifying heat and Swearengin grabbed the quick dash honors.
A special event held Saturday night saw USRA rules Dirt B-Mods compete on the asphalt in a special Dustin’s Dream 20 presented by Auto Body Supply of Springdale, Ark. and TJR Racing of Lebanon with $500 going to the winner. For 3rd generation Midwest Modified driver Dayton Newell he had to fend back repeated attempts for the lead as Arkansas hot-shoe Steve Holtzkamper ran door to door with the 16 year old from Stoutland until contact between the duo saw Holtzkamper spin coming off turn 2 while going for the lead on lap 8 bringing out the only caution of the feature. Following the restart, Newell added his family name as a feature winner at I-44 history which included grandfather Big JC Newell, Father Ben Newell and older brother Little JC Newell. While Newell pulled away with his Midwest Modified, the race for 2nd was outstanding as Austin Fullerton, Den Green, Rex Merritt, Steve Butler and Holtzkamper were swapping positions until Green took the spot late in the feature has Merritt, the 1989 NASCAR I-44 Modified champion charged from 10th to 3rd while the Arkansas team of Steve Butler and Holtzkamper completed the top 5. Qualifying heats went to Holtzkamper amd Green.
Current NASCAR Street Stock point leader Michael Juergensen played the patient waiting game early and then ran down early leader Aaron Wilke on lap 10 to capture the Mike-E-Auto Sales 30 for the Street Stocks in taking his 5th win of the season. The 30 lapper went caution free with some excellent door to door racing as Wilke took the early advantage from his front row starting spot as Tony Johnson and Jordan Nisbett were door to door. Juergensen who started 9th in the feature made the high-side pass in turn 2 to overtake both Johnson and Nisbett on lap 7 before running down Wilke. After a spirited battle Juergensen took over and never looked back leaving the race for 2nd place between Nisbett and Wilke as Nisbett took the spot on lap 18. Following Juergensen were Nisbett, early leader Wilke, Jimmy Fohn and Tony Johnson in the top 5. Tony Johnson and Nisbett grabbed the heat wins with Juergensen setting a new qualifying record with a time of 17.163 breaking his own mark of 17.169 seconds.
Nascar Modified point leader Ricky Icenhower had to fend a 2 lap early battle with David Bates from the front row and then drove away surviving a mid-race caution in taking the 20 lap feature win. With the lead duo locked-in, the race for 3rd spot was tight fron beyond. Brian Lewis wad fending back Mark Riddle and Chris Johnson and Joe Bunkers were dicing while last weeks winner Richard Lewis came late to join the fun. As Icenhower streaked to a 1.5 second win, followed by Bates and then Brian Lewis, the blanket was tight as Riddle, Johnson and Richard Lewis were deciding the 4th spot before following in that order. Johnson took the qualifying heat as Icenhower made it a clean sweep by grabbing the dash win. Icenhower just nipped out Bates for the quick qualifying honors with a lap of 15.460 just a tick oof a new record while Bates turned an early qualifying lap of 15.530 seconds.
NASCAR Charger action saw a new winner grace the winners circle as 2013 Street Stock champion Justin Blake took over on lap 3 from Jerry Ellis in taking his 1st win of the 2017 season and then had to fend back current point leader Ronnie Taylor and Jesse Poindexter at the finish. Jerry Ellis grabbed the opening lead for the first 2 laps with Blake staying right on his bumper before making the move for the lead.On the following lap, Ronnie Taylor and Poindexter came quickly behind as last weeks winner Nik Taylor joined the fun. Taylor threw everything including the kitchen sink at the leader Blake but Blake saved his fastest lap of the race on lap 12 by pulling away to a .438 second win over the hard charging Taylor with Poindexter, Gantt and Nik Taylor completing the top 5 in an edge of the seat thriler. Taylor and Blake took heat race wins as Blake brought the broom for a clean sweep by taking fast time with a qualifying lap of 18,836 just nipping Poindexters 18.843 seconds.
Action for Saturday Aug. 5th with feature the Bandit Big Rig Series as Big Rig Tractor Trucks take to the “High-Banks”. Coming off last week at Madison, Wisconsin, they had 15 entries showup for competition. Action will also include Legend Cars competing for INEX Legend Car points and NASCAR Modifieds, Nascar Street Stocks and NASCAR Chargers. Tier parking gates open at 5:30 with the grandstands opening at 6PM and racing at 7:30.For more information visit the website at WWW.I44Speedway.Net and check out our Facebook page.
Results-Military Appreciation Night
NASCAR Pro Late Models
A Ft-1) Tim Swearengin-Springfield 2) Mike Slone-Rolla 3) Jake Piel-St. Louis 4) Brian Brown-Strafford 5) Joe Ross-Independance 6) Jimmy Van Zandt-Springfield 7) Terry Smith-Belton 8) Steve Holt-Strafford DNS-Daid Strode-Independance-Crash, Ronnie Hartford-Raytown-Oil Pressure
Qualifying heat-1) Holt 2) Smith 3) Strode DNS-Ban Zandt, Hartford
Dash-1) Swearengin 2) Piel 3) Brown 4) Ross 5) Slone
Qualifying Top 3-1) Slone 14.732 2) 14.930 3) Piel 14.969
Dustin’s Dream Dirt B-Mods 20
A Ft-1) Dayton Newell-Stoutland 2) Dean Green-Silom Springs, Ark. 3) Rex Merritt-Billings 4) Steve Butler-Silom Springs, Ark. 5) Steve Holtzkamper-Gentry, Ark. 6) Tony Fincher-Lebanon 7) Austin Fullerton-Chelsea, Okla. 8) Thomas Hylton-Avilla 9) Jared Thompson-Silom Springs, Ark. 10) teddy Thomas-Springfield 11) Rick Allen-Kansas City 12) Kameron Grindstaff-Independance DNS-Daniel Yocum
1st Ht.-1) Holtzkamper 2) Fullerton 3) Newell 4) Fincher 5) Merritt 6) Yocum 7) Grindstaff
2nd Ht.-1) Green 2) Butler 3) Hylton 4) Thompson 5) Thomas 6) Hill
NASCAR Street Stocks-Mike-E-Auto Sales 30
A Ft-1) Michael Juergensen-Lebanon 2) Jordan Nisbett-Lebanon 3) Aaron Wilke-Bridgeton 4) Jimmy Fohn-Eldridge 5) Tony Johnson-Lebanon 6) Nick Cherry-Springfield 7) James Ellis-Richland 8) Brock Johnson-Miller 9) Robert Douglas-Camdenton
1st Ht-1) T. Johnson 2) B. Johnson 3) Douglas 4) Fohn 5) Cherry
2nd Ht.-1) Nisbett 2) Wilke 3) Juergensen 4) Ellis
Qualifying-Top 3-1) Juergensen 17.163 NTR 2) Wilke 17.886 3) Ellis 17.928
NASCAR Modifieds
A Ft-1) Ricky Icenhower-Fair Grove 2) David Bates-Fair Grove 3) Brian Lewis-Willard 4) Mark Riddle-Springfield 5) Chris Johnson-Lebanon 6) Richard Lewis-Willard 7) Joe Bunkers-Harrisonville 8) Wayne Lewis-Springfield 9) Michael Juergensen-Lebanon 10) Chris Kerperien-Lebanon
Qualifying heat-1) Johnson 2) Bunkers 3) W. Lewis 4) Juergensen 5) Kerperien
Dash-1) Icenhower 2) Bates 3) B. Lewis 4) Riddle 5) R. Lewis
Qualifying Top 3-1) Icenhower 15.460 2) Bates 15.530 3) B, Lewis 15.795
NASCAR Chargers
A Ft.-1) Justin Blake-Lebanon 2) Ronnie Taylor-Springfield 3) Jesse Poindexter-Willard 4) Justin Gantt-Highlandville 5) Nik Taylor-Bolivar 6) Jerry Ellis-Richland 7) Parker Ellis-Richland 8) Breken Johnson-Lebanon
1st Ht.-1) R. Taylor 2) J. Ellis 3) P. Ellis 4) Johnson
2nd Ht.-1) Blake 2) Gantt 3) Poindexter 4) N. Taylor
Qualifying Top 3-1) Blake 18.836 2) Poindexter 18.843 3) Gantt 18.906