Jimmy Cummins' 2016 Mississippi Thunder Roadtrip!!

Debbie Cummins

Debbie Cummins

Bomber Momma #19
And so it begins! Jimmy and Bruce left the driveway at 10:06 p.m. tonight, headed to Mississippi Thunder Speedway and the 2016 $20,000.00 to win B-Mod extravaganza. I just heard that Jimmy is driving and they have reached Litchfield, IL It takes 8 hours to get to Fountain City, WS, where the track is located. They will be staying in Winona, Minnesota, just across the river from the Wisconsin track.

Here's the link to all the track info.... http://www.mississippithunder.com/

Also competing in this HUGE trip are Robbie Eilers, driving an A-Mod this year so he will be in for the $40,000.00 purse in his race, Ryan Eilers, Doug Tye, and Steve Maisel. Same crazy crew as last year, so they must have really enjoyed it! We lovingly call them the "618 boys", right "Mrs. Doug" Diane Tye and Janet Eilers? We include Steve Maisel in this title, too, even though he hails from Missouri, but we're not going to hold that against him. He's one of our boys!

So, this is how my day began....Bruce packed up all his gear, coolers, food, and stuff (well, not all of it...he forgot the butter/margarine, apples, and bananas he had bought which made him very mad at one point), and we headed up to Troy, IL at 6:30 a.m. to babysit our grandsons today. The boys were very good and I even got Evan to the preschool bus on time and picked him up with no problems. After eating supper with them and having a pre-birthday celebration with cupcakes and candles for Bruce's birthday on Friday, the 9th of September, we headed to Highland to Jimmy's house to dump Bruce off and pick up the adorable Boondog. I was sort of glad to turn Bruce over to Jimmy, as he was becoming a nervous wreck and I had about enough of that. Boon, on the other hand was a very calm, well-behaved doggie on the way back home to Waterloo. He sat in the front seat with me and put his nose on the AC vent and/or curled up and rested all the way home. He doesn't much care for big 18-wheelers when I passed them, but he was enjoyable company and we had a few good conversations and laughs on the way home.

Anyway, I got back home to Waterloo at 8:00 p.m. to find a very happy Buddydog waiting for Boon and me to let him outside. No messes in the house! Good dog Buddy! The dogs are both sprawled all over the floor here, not concerned that I am embarking on another marathon race reporting adventure in the next several days.

As usual, I'll post as I hear stuff. Jimmy wanted to go up a day earlier this year to take part in practice and get a "good parking spot" so they could watch the other races without having to walk forever from their pit spot to the track. He said they want to park where they did last year!

Good Luck boys! Have a safe and successful trip. Be careful and have fun! Enjoy yourselves, but behave please!

P.S. Jimmy is now just past Springfield and Bruce has passed out.
 
Check this out from Mississippi Thunder's website and Facebook posting today: I hope I can figure all of this out!

2016 Modified Nationals Qualification Process Clarification
Drivers, please refer to this sheet to explanation of qualifying process.
Both Thursday and Friday... will be a complete show with Heats, B Mains, and Features. The Top 10 cars in the Feature event each day for B mod and A mod will transfer to Saturday’s A main to fill the first 20 positions. We will start 30 cars, 3 wide for both of Saturday’s A Mains, with the last 10 cars coming from Saturday’s B Mains.
Thursday and Friday B Mods will run 10 (12) laps heats with the top 12 in passing points transferring to that nights A main. The top 8 will redraw. We will then run 7 (20) Lap B Mains with the top 3 transferring to the (30) Lap A Main to make up a 33 car field. The top 10 transfer to Saturday’s $20,000.00 to win A Main.
Thursday and Friday A Mods will run 7 (12) laps heats with the top 12 in passing points transferring to that nights A main. The top 8 will redraw. We will then run 5 (20) B Mains with the top 4 transferring to the (30) Lap A Main to make up a 30 car field. The top 10 transfer to Saturday’s $40,000.00 to win A Main.
Saturday – The top 10 cars in both A and B Mods that have not qualified for Saturday’s A mains will be locked into the first (10) Spots in Saturday’s B Mains. The top 10 cars in both A and B mod will be determined by each driver’s best finishing position in either Thursday or Friday’s qualifying attempt. For example, if you finished Thursday’s A main in 11th, just missing the top ten to transfer, you would start in the 1st position in Saturday’s B Main. The car that finishes 11th in Friday’s A main would start in the 2nd position in that same B Main and so on. We will only use each driver’s best night qualifying finish to determine their starting position in Saturday’s LCQ’s and B Mains. In the event of a tie, order of events will always be the deciding factor.
For B Mods, the balance of the B Main cars will come from 6, (20) Lap LCQ races. The top 3 will transfer to the B main to make up a 28 Car field, with the top 10 transferring to the $20,000.00 A Main, and positions 11th thru 28th transferring to the $2000.00 to win Non-Qualifier race. The LCQ’s 4th place cars will also transfer to the $2000.00 to win Non-Qualifier. LCQ Positions 5th thru 8th will transfer to the B Mod Non-Qualifier #2.
For A Mods, the balance of the B Main cars will come from 3, (20) Lap LCQ races. The top 5 will transfer to the B main to make up a 25 Car B Main field with the top 10 transferring to the A Main and positions 11th through 25th to the $2000.00 to win Non-Qualifier race. LCQ Finishing positions 6th thru 8th will also transfer to the $2000.00 to win Non-Qualifier race.

There will be a Hot Lap session for the 20 cars qualified in both A Mod and B Mod directly after the B Main races. Be in line up if you want to hot lap!

There will be a driver introduction ceremony for the A and B Mod Feature Qualified Drivers on Saturday following the last Non-Qualifier races. We will need the 30 Qualified drivers in both classes in victory lane immediately following the last non-qualifier race.

Teching procedure- A Sticker will be provided to each driver at the scale to identify what rule package you want to be tech to (IMCA/USRA/Wissota). This stick must be on the driver side front window pillar. Cars will not be required to pass through pre-tech but we encourage all drivers to go over scale and ask any questions you may have regarding your legality for the event. It will be the drivers responsibility to make sure the car is legal. If you have any questions please ask at the scale.
Teching will be intensive so be prepared to spend some time in the teching area following the qualifying nights and main events. We will take tire samples from the top 10 cars in both classes each of the 2 qualifying nights. We will also take samples from the top 5 in each class after Saturday’s main events. Both the qualifying samples and main event samples for the top 5 finishing drivers will be sent for testing to Blue Ridge Labs and both must pass to be awarded the position and pay.

WOW!!!!
 
At 2:11 a.m. they were past LaSalle and Bruce took over the driving. At 3:00 a.m. they were into Wisconsin. Doug was ahead of Jimmy somewhere. The Eilers were a couple of hours behind them. I thought they should stop and sleep until dawn and continue on then, but Jimmy said they were OK and would continue on. The dogs are looking at me like I'm nuts for staying up so late/early, so because they are urging me to quit and go to bed, I'm calling it a night. I've been up since 5:30 a.m. and I think I'm done. Good night.
 
Jimmy left me a text message at 6:47 a.m. saying they were in Winona, Minnesota, and it was still raining. "LOL great" Then Bruce sent a text at 7:54 a.m. saying they were at Mississippi Thunder and it was lightning and raining. They got a parking spot just across from where they were pitted last year because the spot they had last year was a mud puddle today. He was able to save 4 spots together so he's happy with that. So they accomplished what they wanted to do by leaving early -- getting a good spot! Mike Higley is pitted across the road from them so that makes Jimmy happy. Steve Maisel and his step-son Shad Prescott (314 area code) are parked elsewhere (he brought a camper with him). So the 618 guys are all together.

Evidently Doug Tye stopped to sleep, and so did the Eilers (smart!). Bruce and Jimmy just kept trading the driving back and forth until they got there. When the Eilers heard that Jimmy was there and got spots, they went to a Cracker Barrel restaurant to eat breakfast (in Winona?, I don't know). Jimmy said he just ate a ham sandwich for breakfast. [Note: James, if you wanted to go eat with them, you should have said something, but then you had your Dad, the "anti-restaurant-eating-guy" along with you, so maybe he wouldn't have wanted to go. Speak up, James! Communication is key! Just leave the old man to fend for himself and go. He'll come around eventually, maybe.]

I guess they will try to get some sleep, maybe a nap in at some time. Hopefully it will stop raining soon. I'll check on the weather report for Fountain City, WS---> 60% chance of rain today until 1:00 p.m. when it is 40%, then no rain again until 10:00 p.m. Showers tonight with a low of 66 degrees. It is 72 degrees there now. As Jimmy said, "Great".

But they got there safely, so I'm happy about that!!!! The dogs are fine!

Mississippi Thunder posted on Facebook that they will try to have practice tonight if they can. If not, they will have practice tomorrow during the day with an estimated start time between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. More details to come this afternoon. They also said that they missed the heavy rain.
 
My buddy Gene Morton, father of JC Morton, just got to MTS and posted this pic...Gene also posts the line-ups for just me (haha) from Legit Speedway Park and other tracks that our sons race at.
14237502_1238717532826470_7570296775158111724_n.jpg
 
Bruce just called me. All is well. "They're working the hell out of the track right now." he says.

Ryan and Robbie are parked just across the pit road from Jimmy because they have a big toter. Doug Tye and Jimmy are parked together where they can see the track and the races from the trailer. I don't think Steve Maisel is there yet but he has a camper so he won't be parking near Doug and Jimmy.
 
Report from both Jimmy and Bruce on tonight's practice:

First Jimmy said they had been working the track since 10:30 a.m. "It didn't look that bad, it will probably be hammer down and smooth, but I don't need to practice on that." Then he said practice went good. "They are still re-working and running but it was wide open and choppy so I am done." Jimmy went out 2 times. Both Jimmy and Bruce said the car was fast!

Bruce said the track was smooth and heavy. Robbie Eilers went out 1 time and he thinks Ryan Eilers went out 2 times. I don't know how many times Doug Tye went out. Steve Maisel and Shad are there now but he got there too late to go out and practice. The track started getting rough so they reworked it. Jimmy went out both times right after the track was worked. They ran practice for 3 hours, until about 9:30 p.m. Bruce said again that Jimmy's car was fast!!! But Jimmy did run when the track was good, not rough.

They are going back to their hotel in Winona, MN now. They should be tired! They will call again later.
 
Of all days to be having computer problems, today is not the day to do this to me!

Bruce called this morning and said the weather is beautiful up there. They were going to hold another practice session this afternoon from 1:00 -2:30 and Jimmy was going to try to go out later so the track wouldn't be "fresh".

The hotel was good (same place they stayed last year) and they both got their complimentary breakfast of waffles AND, Bruce even got his banana, so he's very happy about that.

As soon as I hear about tonight's heat races and where they will start, I'll try to post.
 
Heat Line-ups:

A-Mods: Robbie Eilers is in the 3rd heat, starting 4th row pole, 7th position
B-Mods: Steve Maisel is in the 3rd heat, starting 5th row, outside, 10th position
Jimmy Cummins is in the 6th heat, starting 2nd row outside, 4th position
Ryan Eilers and Doug Tye are in the 9th heat, Ryan starts front row, pole position, Doug is right behind him Ryan, 2nd row, inside
 
B Mod Nationals - HEAT 3 September 08, 2016
Pos Car # Driver
1 14H Scott Harrington
2 431 Mike Gibson
3 80J Jared Van Deest
4 65 Kris Jackson
5 M14 Steve Maisel
6 43V Chad VanOverbeke
7 43 Zach Brom (DNF)
8 45 Cole Lonergan (DNF)
9 476X Troy Hovey (DNF)
10 19R Stan Rychlock (DNF)
11 714 Scott Styskal (DNF)
12 18Y Jerry Young (DNF)

Jimmy texted me that Steve started 10th and finished 5th but didn't pass any other cars....now I see why! 6 cars DNF Oh,oh.
 
B Mod Nationals - HEAT 9 September 08, 2016
Pos Car # Driver
1 3E Ryan Eilers
2 21C Chad Clancy
3 72L Brett Lowry
4 1A Austin Kaplan
5 11X Jason Schill
6 56H Brandon Hare
7 4D Doug Tye
8 10T Trevor Fecht
9 82 Rick Byrnes
10 35JR Garitt Wytaske
11 58 Tim Ims (DNF)
12 1 Jon Van Minsel (DNF)
 
Jimmy got 6th in his heat. He said he was "decent" and that a guy knocked him sideways on a restart and he lost a bit.

I don't know why, but Speednet Mobile is not posting all of the B-Mod heat race results. I can't find Jimmy's heat results but I know he finished 6th.
 
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A Mod Nationals - HEAT 3 September 08, 2016
Pos Car # Driver
1 12 Jason Hughes
2 29D Brad Dierks
3 7K Jason Krohn
4 89 Jesse Glenz
5 71 Jason Cummins
6 95 Keith Foss
7 17X Mike Striegel
8 01 Troy Jerovetz
9 3E Robbie Eilers
10 77 Mike Wedelstadt
11 431 Jason Miller
 
B-Mod B-Main Line-ups:
1st - Jimmy Cummins starts 8th, 4th row outside
3rd - Doug Tye starts 9th, 5th row inside
5th - Ryan Eilers starts on the pole!
6th - Steve Maisel starts 4th, 2nd row outside

A-Mod B-Main Line-up:
4th - Robbie Eilers starts 10th, 5th row outside
 
B Mod Nationals - B-MAIN 1 September 08, 2016
Pos Car # Driver
1 ZEE28 Randy Zimmerman
2 44A Ben Anderson
3 98 Kyle Anderson
4 65 Kris Jackson
5 14 Shawn Strong
6 80 Brad Seavers
7 6D Dylan Goplen
8 31 Cody Smith
9 86 Dan Tenold
10 19C Jimmy Cummins
11 8L Lyle Sathoff
12 82 Rick Byrnes
13 71 Nate Reinke
14 86W Christian Warner
15 12 Leon Schmitt
16 714 Scott Styskal
 
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Nobody we know in this B-Main. Doug Tye is in the next one.

B Mod Nationals - B-MAIN 2 September 08, 2016
Pos Car # Driver
1 81 Jared Boumeester
2 88X Jimmy Broszeit
3 56H Brandon Hare
4 66 Levi Chipp
5 78 Chris Roney
6 12L Kaleb Lienhart
7 88D Delray Dykstra
8 45 Cole Lonergan
9 27 Kevin Joachim
10 72 Alex Schubbe
11 TB81 Tommy Bawden
12 20 Jackson Hale
13 22Y Yancy Shepard
14 43V Chad VanOverbeke
15 07 Daniel Harris
16 34 Jeremy Schaufenbuel
 
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