Notebook: Fitzpatrick gets first IMCA Deery Brothers win; Kay runs strong at Davenport

WHEATLAND — Scott Fitzpatrick had felt the monkey on his back for a few years now. Through three full seasons in an IMCA Late Model, the Wheatland driver hadn't won a single feature event — not weekly or otherwise.

So when he finally crossed the finish line first at Hamilton County Speedway on Saturday night in Webster City, he became a winner — and did so in an IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series event. Even 48 hours later, Fitzpatrick said it still hadn't fully set in.

'It's pretty awesome. I finally got the monkey off my back and I feel like I can put a full feature together to get a win,' Fitzpatrick said. 'If you can tell yourself you can win, you're going to win. If you can tell yourself you're going to do well, you're going to do well. It's a mental sport. If you've got the confidence, you can do just about anything.

'I about didn't go to Webster City. But I had Tyson (Gheer) tell me, 'You need to go race and show yourself you can do it.' We went, got lucky in the draw and finally capitalized on it and put the full feature together.'

The win came just about how Fitzpatrick expected it would, too.

It wasn't that he expected to dominate a main event en route to a win, or even that he'd do it at a track he doesn't normally race. He figured he'd finally get a win and basically none of his inner circle would be there. And that's exactly how it happened.

When the Gheer'd Up crew, led by chassis builder Gheer, decided to do more Open Late Model racing with Justin Kay and Brian Birkhofer, everyone knew there would be nights where Fitzpatrick would be at the track without being able to bounce ideas off Gheer and Kay in person. They even joked specifically about this scenario playing out.

Even if they were busy at 34 Raceway in Burlington, it's not as if Gheer and Kay's influence weren't in Webster City.

Fitpatrick said he called Gheer before the main event and told him the changes he was making to the car, and said Gheer reassured him the changes were the right call. Knowing the lessons he's learned were applied made not having them around in person a little easier to handle.

'(Tyson) still was there, to me, with his advice and help,' Fitzpatrick said. 'Working in the shop, I sometimes tune myself out because I try to go away from what Tyson's doing. Maybe it helped me that he wasn't there and wasn't trying to do something different than what they were doing. I was doing what I knew Tyson would do to a racecar.'

And if anything, it just means the next time Kay is at a Summer Series show, Fitzpatrick has one more first to achieve: winning a race with Kay in the field.

Fitzpatrick won by pulling away late from the Summer Series' all-time wins leader, Jeff Aikey. He has a ton of respect for the Summer Series competitors, and he got his first win against the crowd he wanted to get it against. Nothing against weekly racing, he said, but that's the level at which he wants to win.

'I haven't yet satisfied myself, because I have to win a race with Justin there and beat him. A little shop rivalry. I won a Deery show, but what if Justin was there? I think I still would've gotten it done, but now I have to win when he's there to be sure,' Fitzpatrick said. 'Everybody told me to go weekly racing to build confidence. And being one of the only Gheer'd Up cars not to get a win last year ate at me all winter. But to me, winning a weekly race doesn't mean as much as going to a Deery show and beating the best of the best. In IMCA, the Deery is the best of the best. If I'm going to say I beat the best, I had to win a Deery show. I wanted all of them there.'

Most of all, the respect and admiration Fitzpatrick received from his fellow competitors was what made the win the most special.

Whether it was racers who were in Webster City or the dozens of calls and texts he received, having people be so happy for him rendered Fitzpatrick nearly speechless. Getting a first win — especially after working so long to get it — is something many racers can identify with. Add to it that Fitzpatrick is a well-liked guy around the pits anyway, and the response is magnified.

'I can't even put the words out. It's pretty surreal that it all happened and they're as excited as I was,' Fitzpatrick said. 'It didn't really soak in until Sunday it really happened. It was just very cool and a humbling experience seeing everyone reach out and makes me want to keep going after it.'

KAY HAS STRONG RUN IN DAVENPORT

Justin Kay has been the undisputed man to beat in IMCA Late Model racing for the past three years. More than 80 wins and a pair of IMCA National and Deery Brothers Summer Series championships will do that.

Headed into 2016, Kay and his crew chief, Tyson Gheer, wanted a new challenge. Open Late Model racing was it. Kay has admitted he never really felt comfortable in the high-powered machines before this year, but with bringing in Brian Birkhofer as a teammate, the time was right to make a bigger go of it.

The choice was backed up on Friday. Kay and the crew raced on the half-mile at Davenport Speedway for the Cornbelt Clash/MARS DIRTcar Series combination event, and ran second to winner Jimmy Mars. A venue at which fans had almost become bored — leaving their seats when he took the lead in a feature many times — saw its fans cheer when Kay briefly took the lead. A solid finish against a field that included Rodney Sanders, Chris Simpson, Jason Feger and Frank Heckenast Jr. left Kay almost as happy as if he'd won.

'That was pretty exciting. We haven't ran that good in the Open stuff, and to be in contention for the win was really cool,' Kay said. 'It's a whole other game with those guys. Those guys aren't forgiving. You make one mistake against them, they're going to drive by you and you might not get a chance to pass them back. It's so much more competitive and everything happens so much faster that it makes it way different. In the IMCA stuff, you can have a few mistakes and gather it back up. You do that in an Open, it's quite a few spots.'

Kay missed his first Summer Series races in three years to be able to race Friday night in Davenport, which he said was a possibility before the season started.

A few reasons led to the change in priorities, including the Gheer'd Up crew wanting to expand its sales into the Open Late Model market, but most of all it was because Kay had plenty left to prove to both himself and everyone who pays attention to Late Model racing.

'We've done the Deery stuff, and hadn't missed one. It's nice to have a break from that,' Kay said. 'And they cut the pay in the Deery series, so that made the decision easier, too.

'I'm excited. The way this (new) motor runs fits my style better. It's got plenty of power, but it's easier to drive than other motors I've had. I feel more comfortable running them now, too.'

WEEKLY RACING ABOUNDS

Weekly racing got started this weekend at Marshalltown Speedway, Maquoketa Speedway and Benton County Speedway in Vinton.

Those Friday, Saturday and Sunday tracks will be joined in getting their seasons kicked off this weekend, as Davenport Speedway and Farley Speedway get weekly points racing started on Friday night. West Liberty Raceway and Independence Motor Speedway have their first weekly points racing on Saturday, and Dubuque Speedway gets rolling with its season on Sunday.

Maquoketa kicks off its racing program each Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Davenport and Dubuque each get things started with hot laps at 6 p.m. Farley, West Liberty and Independence roll off at 6:30 p.m. Marshalltown hot laps are set for 7 p.m.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com