‘Weepers’ derail late models, modifieds at Hawkeye Downs

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Van Meter Celebrity Pride Race was supposed to supplement the regular weekly racing Friday night at Hawkeye Downs Speedway.

Unfortunately, the classes that compete on the 1/2-mile didn't get their chance.

Late models and modifieds saw their nights canceled due to 'weepers” - rising moisture from underneath the track surface - creating multiple wet spots on both ends of the track.

There was much debate from the minute drivers hit the track for hot laps about what should be done. Track officials made an initial decision to forego the heat races and just race features at the end of the night, hoping track drying efforts would be successful.

Ultimately, after a practice session and listening to driver feedback, track officials decided to push the main events to next week in the interest of safety and saving the equipment of the 10 late models and five modifieds - both season highs in car count.

'The water that has fallen over the last several days soaks into the track, and then as the sun heats it up (the water) comes back out,” said Hawkeye Downs Speedway Fair Board President Bob Bruce. 'We had hoped that as the sun went down, the weepers would dry out.

'After the drivers did their hot laps, they came back and said, ‘It's too dangerous.' If they got any speed at all they'd be sliding into each other. There's no sense wasting their money and no sense taking a chance on injuries.”

As tough a decision as it was for Bruce and other track officials to make given the sizable crowd in attendance and several new faces having showed up to race, it was met with resigned appreciation from racers.

They all obviously wanted to race badly, but wanted to keep their cars intact worse.

'It really sucks - there was a good crowd and Van Meter (who sponsored the night) does a lot for this place, and I know everyone's sentiment is they want to run really bad, but man it's just leaking too much water. We'd tear up a lot of stuff if we tried racing,” said late model points leader Tim Plummer. 'The track crews and stuff had been doing a pretty good job and got a couple (weepers) cleaned up and made it better. But then all of a sudden it was leaking in (Turns) 1 and 2 really bad. Fixed one problem and found another.”

In a show of good faith to the racers, anyone entered in the late model or modified class will have their entry fee and pit pass carry over to next week. In addition, the Liz Girl Logistics dice roll for a bonus to the race winner - which was done for all main events ran Friday night - will be done next week for both classes.

'Absolutely this was the best decision,” Plummer said. 'Gosh, we wanted to run for the good crowd, but the responsible thing to do was pull the plug.

'The track is being perfectly fair. There were a couple promotions on the line, some extra money, and they said they're going to honor that next week. As far as the way the track's handled it, couldn't have asked for anything better.”

The 1/4-mile had a few weepers as well, but far enough out of the racing line they weren't an issue.

Brad Chandler took the win in Hornets, Nathan Ballard in Hobby Stocks, Dave McCalla in Sportsmen and Brady Fox-Rhode in the Legends.

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