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Kyle Olson breaks Tony Olson’s IMCA Sport Mod streak
Jul. 12, 2015 11:30 pm
VINTON - For the sixth straight week, Team Olson Racing was in Victory Lane at Benton County Speedway in Vinton.
But for the first time since the opening week of the season, it was Kyle Olson, not his cousin Tony, who took the checkers first - this time for $750 in the Hogan Memorial. He led wire to wire in the A-main, holding off a hard-charging Danny Dvorak and Tony in third.
'I'm definitely excited, but it's a big relief,” Kyle Olson said. 'I'm sure (Tony) would rather me break it than anyone else. He's just as happy. He knows we both work on our cars all week long. I'm sure he's as excited as I am for the win tonight.”
Kyle's thought rang true when it came to his cousin, who finished third after winning five straight at what now serves as his home track.
Tony has dominated the Sport Mod division this season, and even if he hates getting beat, he's glad it was to someone who he believes truly deserves it for all the work he does and how far he makes equipment go on the budget Kyle has.
'He earned that race; he's had a hard, hard couple months,” Tony Olson said. 'He drove an awesome race and definitely had the preferred line.
'It's incredible for him. There's a lot of work that goes into the cars every week just like everyone else, but it's pretty much just him most of the time. We all try to help out when we can, but it's a lot of hard work on these cars.”
Kyle's month of May was full of setbacks and large investments to get his car running again, and the win came after taking a month off to save money and be able to race the rest of the season.
The 'relief” he mentioned was the mixture of enjoyment and feeling the pressure float away after stressing about money and availability to race. It's a story many racers can identify with.
'We've been struggling with this car. We've had motor problems, drivetrain problems and setup,” Kyle Olson said. 'Trying to balance all that out and finally we got it turned around after we worked on the car for several hours a day.”
Kyle and Tony both moved from the IMCA Modified division to Sport Mod to make their money go farther and to be able to race more often.
But as they and every other racer know, racing costs money no matter the division. Kyle knows what he's up against, but said what he was able to do en route to victory in front of the dominant driver of the year in his cousin and someone who's won a ton of races at Benton County Speedway in Dvorak speaks to his ability.
'It's definitely tough, knowing how much money it takes to be in this (sport),” Kyle Olson said. 'I'm just a week-to-week guy. It's all about setup, and the driver comes into effect when the setup isn't totally there. You've got to have a good driver and a good car, and there's a lot of those in this class.”
In other racing action, Brett Vanous won IMCA Hobby Stock by a bumper ahead of Nathan Ballard and also got a $750 winner's check. John Oliver Jr. took home $1,000 for his win in IMCA Stock Car. Don Erger won the BCS MicroMod main event.
TONY OLSON'S ENGINE TAKEN BY IMCA
After the IMCA Sport Mod main event Sunday night, IMCA took possession of Tony Olson's engine during post-race technical inspection.
IMCA President Brett Root was conducting tech for the Hogan Memorial, and wanted a closer look at Olson's engine to make sure it is and has been legal.
'We'll take it back (to the shop) tomorrow and take the intake off and look at it internally,” Root said. 'If it's legal, we'll put it back together. If it's not, he's disqualified and we won't.”
By IMCA rule, there's no contingency engine available to Olson while IMCA has possession of the engine taken out of his No. T23 car. But Root said if the engine is legal, Olson would definitely have it back in time to race this weekend.
All Olson could do in the infield after the main event was shrug his shoulders and laugh it off. He said he has no doubts the engine will come back to him put together.
'They're taking the whole motor back to check it. I'm not worried about it, it's legal,” Olson said. 'Just kind of a hassle to pull a motor at the racetrack.”
l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com
IMCA Sport Mod racer Kyle Olson goes through Turns 3 and 4 during his main event for the Hogan Memorial at Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Sunday, July 12, 2015. (Jeremiah Davis/The Gazette)