Chris Simpson wins 40th Yankee Dirt Track Classic

FARLEY — The 40th Yankee Dirt Track Classic is going to go down as a memorable one — for many reasons, for many different people.

With $10,000 on the line for the most prestigious IMCA Late Model race of the year, Farley Speedway brought in the best IMCA Late Model racers available, as well as one who normally makes his laps in an Open Late Model — all while the pit area buzzed about a shock absorber controversy.

That guy, Chris Simpson, is going to remember the 2017 Yankee as his best yet. The Oxford driver, racing in a car he built and owned by Jason Rauen — also one of the owners of Farley Speedway — swapped the lead at multiple points of the race with Joel Callahan, Justin Kay, Ryan Dolan and Rauen himself.

But the man who's won multiple big-money shows this season in an Open finally crossed the Yankee off his list, holding off Callahan and Kay on a late restart to win.

All of that came less than 24 hours after learning his grandmother had died late Friday night.

'I've come up here for a lot of years and never won this race, and always wanted it,' Simpson said. 'This is huge for my grandma and for my family. It's cool to remember her in this way and to know she was watching us for the win.

'We were driving all over tonight and it was a hell of a racetrack. This is awesome.'

Simpson won ahead of Callahan, Kay, Tyler Bruening and Chad Holladay.

While Simpson celebrated his win and the personal meaning behind it, he also encouraged anyone and everyone who wanted to take a look at the shocks on his racecar. Simpson's victory came amid what several racers called the weirdest Yankee they've experienced thanks to some controversy surrounding air shocks and whether or not they were legal to run in IMCA competition.

On Thursday, during one of the prelim nights for the Yankee, there was confusion about whether or not they were legal. Ultimately, after back and forth between IMCA and Farley Speedway Promotions, the shocks were deemed legal to run at the Yankee despite verbal protests from several racers in what became a heated driver's meeting.

IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series Director Kevin Yoder, who was the ranking IMCA official at the Yankee, said the series and sanctioning body fell back on the rule book regarding shocks, which reads, in part, 'Approved conventional closed end shock absorbers only.'

'We administered the rules as they're written in our rule book,' Yoder said. 'I think there's a little bit of confusion because of some miscommunication. We did our best to address the situation in the way that was the most fair.

'Our entire rule book is revisited in the offseason and this will certainly be an item that falls in line with other items that we'll discuss.'

Yoder said no car or driver had been disqualified for running an air shock this season, but declined to comment on whether or not racers had been told at any point if the air shock specifically was legal or illegal.

The air shock is run without a spring in the left rear, and allows the car to rotate harder on the right front tire, thereby theoretically increasing the ability to steer the car.

Rauen, who said he had tested the air shocks on his car, said the decision to allow them to run at the Yankee was the right call because 'you can't change the rules in the middle of the biggest paying show of IMCA Late Models in 2017. You can't change the rules a week before the race without having any addendum.'

From Rauen's perspective, allowing the air shock to be run at the event based on the IMCA rule book not specifically outlawing it was the only way to proceed because. In his estimation, he said, it's bad business.

'Let's say a guy wins and they DQ him for the air shock, and we take that guy's winnings away and pay it to the guy who got second; so that guy goes home and appeals it and pulls the rules up and it doesn't say anything in there about that shock,' Rauen said. 'It's kind of a judgment call. You can't disqualify someone for a judgment call. I had to clear that right out of the gate because we're paying $10,000 to win.

'Let's say that guy wins that appeal; now I've got to pay it out twice. It's about doing stuff right. I don't play games. You might hate me, you might love me, but that's the way it is. It's not in the rules. I had to stick by it.'

Several racers, who declined to speak to The Gazette on the record, expressed frustration at the whole situation. Rauen had discussions with several racers before and after Saturday's main event about it, trying his best, he said, to explain his side of the situation.

Those who were frustrated didn't limit the frustration to Rauen and FSP or IMCA, rather everyone involved. Bruening, who finished fourth, said after the race that amid all the uncertainty, he had ordered one initially, but said he was then told they were illegal and canceled the order.

Bruening said he doesn't know one way or the other if the shock is a huge advantage, but was extremely frustrated by the whole situation.

'I'm not against them, I'm not for them, I just wish they'd make a ruling on it and go one way or the other,' Bruening said. 'They need to make a decision. It was too wishy-washy this weekend. It was the weirdest weekend as far as is it legal or isn't it legal and who's doing what.

'We didn't really get an explanation. … It's a huge deal. I don't know if they make the cars any better, but make a rule and go with it so we all know we're on the same stuff and we're all competing and when it comes down to it the best driver wins.'

For Simpson's part in all of it, he smiled wide in the tech area. The veteran Late Model racer made sure the covers were off his shocks before the race, and both he and Rauen, who owns the car, allowed The Gazette to photograph the left rear shock on the winning car.

Simpson said he and all the others who tested the shocks removed them from their cars before the main event so as to avoid any controversy. IMCA officials confirmed to The Gazette that none of the top three finishers — Simpson, Callahan and Kay — had an air shock, and that their ignition boxes and tire samples would be taken for further testing.

Simpson said he hated the mini cloud of controversy around the event, but that he was going to sleep soundly knowing the car was legal — and without the controversial shock in question — as it sat in Victory Lane.

'I don't even own one, and I know that's what's going around the big series, but I told Jason (Rauen) when I got here, we're going to leave all the shock covers off so everybody can see and nobody thinks I'm cheating,' Simpson said. 'In the long run, anybody can come look underneath this car and know that the winning car and Kay's car and Callahan's car has absolutely no air shock on it. Whoever wants to complain about it, know they got beat by something legal. I've never owned one or driven one with one.

'This car is as legal as can be because I told these guys the last thing I want is to be stripped of a Yankee win.'

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