Show goes on at Benton County Speedway

VINTON – The devastating storms that moved across Eastern Iowa early Monday morning impacted the Benton County Speedway.

According to the track's race promoter Dana Benning, damage caused by the strong winds will be fixed in time to hold the Benton County Fair points races Thursday at 7 p.m. The races were the first of three straight days of shows originally scheduled at the track, including a Race ‘Em and Wreck ‘Em Challenge on Friday and demolition derby on Saturday.

“The fair is going to go on,” Benning said in a phone interview Tuesday while travelling out-of-state for work. “The show is going to go on as scheduled.

Benning praised the Benton County Fair Board for their efforts. Seventy-five volunteers showed up to clean the fairgrounds, and many of them started work Tuesday to repair the damage suffered at the track.

Benning said a shack where drivers check in and register their cars for races was picked up and moved by the winds that reportedly reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. Stretches of a fence that separated the pits and track from the main area was blown down and some billboards were blown away. The bare dirt track was fine.

“When people come to the races on Thursday, other than this horse barn they built a couple years ago being damaged, they may not even know the storm affected the fairgrounds,” Benning said. “It was purely because of volunteer help and the diligence of the fair board.”

Windstorms destroyed the grandstands at Independence Motor Speedway in 2008, but Benton County Speedway was more fortunate.

“That's the first thing that came to mind when I heard about these winds,” Benning said about the past damage in Independence. “The grandstands (in Vinton) were unharmed other than some minor cosmetic damage.”

Many residents of Vinton were without power, which could have been a concern with night races. It won't be an issue Thursday when race car drivers compete in IMCA Sportmods, hobby stocks and sport compacts.

“We have power there,” Benning said. “That's probably an advantage of being on the edge of town is we can get power quicker than the people deeper in town where they have a lot more tree damage and lines down.”

The races will be part of an event that will attempt to give the community some momentary relief from the devastation of Monday morning's storms. Local fans may be reeling from those effects, but the goal is for the races, and fair as a whole, to provide a brief escape.

“This fair is going to give them something to provide them some normalcy,” said Benning, noting that some will have to return to a house with damage or without electricity. “They can come to the fair and enjoy themselves. We'll do our part to make it a good experience for them.”