Dodge City Raceway Park

Raceway Rumblings - April 29, 2005

Our opening weekend was a tale of two types of racetracks, different winners in two divisions and domination in the third race division. Saturday's race witnessed good competition and fast cars race for the win and when the checkered flag flew all who were in attendance viewed a great race. Sunday's race events were much the same honoring different winners with exception of the Street Stock Division.

The Street Stock events at Jetmore and DCRP seen Tyler Kraus from Ransom, Kansas take the checkered flag. Four race starts and four wins for Tyler! He deserves a closer look and eyes are upon him from the other competitors to reel him in and put him a little further back in the pack. The lead dog will always be challenged, and Tyler Kraus is currently the one racer that will surely be challenged in upcoming races.

Last weekend was an eye-opener for race fans, racers and the DCRP staff. As one of our local race fan experts declared; "NCRA Modifieds vs the IMCA Modifieds; that race at Jetmore is like Nascar vs Busch”. There supposedly is no comparison. We have no other way to explain this phenomenon. Busch won hands down at DCRP Saturday and Sunday.

Dale Wanger from Ft. Supply, Oklahoma won Saturday night’s Modified Main Event on an extremely heavy racetrack. A heavy racetrack is when those with the most horsepower stand out and others can’t keep up with them. With the track being heavy Dale Wanger told me, "I just have a farm built motor”. This essentially means he put the motor together himself and it’s surely not supposed to be able to race with the store bought variety. Dale raced at the IMCA sanctioned Jetmore track on Saturday finishing seventh and during the Sunday race finished third out of eight cars. Dale was also our "Hard Charger" at the Sunday DCRP race starting in the 23rd position and finishing 14th.

On Sunday Matt Rucker of Dodge City took home $1,500.00 and dominated the store bought engines again. He won his Qualifying race and then took the checkered flag in the 25-car Modified feature. Matt must be IMCA legal because he raced on Saturday at Jetmore finishing sixth and again raced at Jetmore’s Sunday Modified race finishing in the second position out of eight cars. Matt had pulled away from Darren Deloach during the race and Darren's only threat to pass was when they pulled up on lapped traffic. The race was called with four laps remaining and Darren was the car who gave a thumbs down when asked if we should continue the race with rain wetting the race surface. A thumbs down indication by the driver means a no go while a thumbs up means it is okay to continue.

We can point out that "the proof is in the pudding" and what happened at one race may be a fluke but two races with two different race track surfaces is no fluke. Some of the best and former Champions of NCRA race drivers were on hand and did not take home the money as had been predicted by a few locals. They now must dig a little deeper in the bag and find another reason to complain.

Promoting events form the World of Outlaws to the entry-level divisions of racing it has been noted it takes more than money to win races. Dave Rucker who is Matt's father and crew chief attended the thorough Chassis set up School in Denver over the winter. Dave came back with many new ideas and has put together race setups to help his car go faster. Matt Rucker, who wheels the car, has been in the hunt for the win at almost every race at DCRP. The winner is required to have more than an expensive engine and car. The driver, crew, and the chassis setup are the combination of things that must be put together to win the race. Would Matt and Dave want to have an expensive engine? Ask them. I’m sure you can guess their answer.

We are expecting over 20 Sprint cars for Saturdays Sprint Car Invitational race with cars expected from the American Sprint Car Series Rocky Mountain Region. Well known drivers like Keith Rauch and Gary Taylor from Colorado are expected to be on hand along with many others. Gary Lee Maier, Steve King, C.J. Johnson and many other local favorites are also expected to attend this race event.

Note: Due to unfavorable weather forecasts, the events for Saturday, April 30 are questionable.

Please make sure to visit our web site at www.dodgecityraceway.com for the upcoming races and special events. The two-day World of Outlaws race that will be Nationally Televised on October 7 and 8 has tickets now on sale. Make sure to secure your seat by calling Brownfield Promotions at 800-825-4832.