Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings: July 7

Welcome to the Inside Track's Eastern Iowa Driver Rankings. Each week of the racing season, the Gazette's Jeremiah Davis will rank the area's top 10 drivers across all divisions.

Think the list should be different? Tweet him at @jeremiahdavis10, send him an email at jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com or leave a comment at The Inside Track by Jeremiah Davis Facebook page.

New this week: Tyler Droste, Justin Kay 

Dropped out: Corey Dripps 

Others considered (in no order):  Troy Cordes, Matt Ryan, Zach Less, Bryce Garnhart, Rob Toland, Jeff Aikey, Norman Chesmore, Joel Callahan, Mark Schulte, Chris Zogg, Tyler Bruening, Dan Hovden, Leah Wroten, Kyle Olson, Matt Gansen, Cayden Carter, Sam Wieben, Johnny Spaw,  Jim Hanson, Troy Hovey, Joel Rust, Ronn Lauritzen, Daniel Wauters, Brian Irvine, J.D. Auringer, Jeremiah Hurst, Luke Goedert, Dalton Simonsen, Jenae Gustin, Corey Dripps, Ben Chapman, Troy Bauer, Richie Gustin

RANK

+/-

NAME

CLASS

THOUGHTS

1

--

Tony Olson

Sport Mod

I understand Tony Olson fatigue. He's won - a lot - over the last few years, and he's written about and talked about a lot. But things like the $1,000 challenge from SPI speak to the level he's reached in Eastern Iowa. He's up to 18 wins this season so far, and got a pair of Governor's Cup wins over the weekend. The IMCA national points title he's chasing against Tyler Soppe (hold that thought) should make the rest of the season fascinating.

2

--

Damon Murty

Stock Car

Ho-hum, just another week where the Chelsea Charger shows everyone why he's better than they are in a Stock Car. The worst finish he saw was a second place - in a heat race at the Stock Car Challenge at Osky. And that came to Kyle Brown, who was in Murty's backup car. He won at Marshalltown and at the Hogan Memorial. Dude is a wizard at Vinton, and showed it again this weekend.

3

--

Tyler Soppe

Sport Mod

Look, I understand Tyler Soppe gets played as the villain on social media. Here's what I know: every time I've talked to him he's been straight with me, and called it like he saw it - whether anyone agrees with him or not. He and Tony Olson's run-in at Indee was unfortunate for a few reasons, most especially for the bickering that followed online. The two best drivers in the area can and have put on great shows racing each other, and hopefully that can happen again while they race for a national title.

4

+1

Benji Irvine

Hobby Stock

There was a great picture from Sunday's Hogan Memorial at Benton County Speedway (find it in this gallery) when Irvine got out of the car that showed just exactly what winning means to a guy like this. Watching him duel with Nathan Ballard over a feature race was a treat, and is another battle of the area's best, but in Hobby Stock. He also won at Fayette County Speedway and was third on Saturday at Indee.

5

-1

Nathan Ballard

Sport Mod/Hobby Stock

Just the Hogan Memorial this weekend for Ballard, who didn't have an extra engine to run the Sport Mod this weekend. His second in Vinton was frustrating, but Ballard found solace in the fact that he gained a bunch of track points with the run. It's likely we won't see much of him double-classing the rest of the season with the workload it brings.

6

NR

Tyler Droste

Late Model/Modified

Droste fell out of the rankings after not racing last week. Well. He made up for that and then some. Droste found Victory Lane three times over the weekend, and a worst finish of seventh in two classes and against some stout competition. He won at Dubuque and Independence (the weekly show) in the Late Model, and took the $1,000 win in Modified at the Dale Miller Memorial. He takes great pride in running well when he's double classing, and had plenty to be proud of this weekend.

7

--

Hunter Marriott

Modified

No wins for Marriott this weekend, but in the two biggest events run for Modifieds, he was top three. He was one of just a handful who ran both Aftermarket Nationals and the Hogan Memorial. Not only did he make the show both times, but he finished third in both - and had a super fast car by the end of both races. He travels a lot, but when he's around Eastern Iowa, it's plain to see he's a major factor everywhere.

8

NR

Justin Kay

Late Model/Modified

He did it again. Every time I take him out of the rankings, he comes back and wins a bunch of races and makes it a no-brainer to put him back in. This time it was sweeping Night 1 of the Governor's Cup at Davenport in Modified and Late Model, then backing up the Late Model win on Night 2. He ran fifth in Modified on Night 2 as well. Wednesday was an odd night for Kay, who DNQd for the first time in many years in the Deery Bros show, but ran seventh in Modified at Independence.

9

--

Mitch Morris

Modified

Morris got back in the top 10 last week with a pair of wins, and stretched that to four straight overall this weekend. He won at Davenport on Night 2 of the Governor's Cup, then got another back-to-back weekly win at Maquoketa Speedway on Saturday night. My only wish was that he'd have come run against the stacked field at the Hogan Memorial on Sunday, at least.

10

--

Mitch Hovden

Stock Car

I wanted to move Mitch up, but there was a lot of winning and strong runs done by guys above him. Regardless, he had to stay in because he had his own stout statline. He ran second at Faytette County Speedway, won the Herme Halverson 60 on Saturday at Upper Iowa Speedway, then backed that up there a night later with a fourth place finish. I'd love a world where he and Damon Murty got to race each other. 

10a

-3

Kyle Brown

Modified/Stock Car

Yeah, it's a top 10. TECHNICALLY, this is still 10th...ish. But they're my rankings, and I'll do what I want with 'em. Brown hangs on despite an engine issue resulting in a DNQ at Aftermarket Nationals. He was eighth in the Hogan Memorial, which is less than what he wanted there, too. But what was most impressive was his climbing in a Stock Car for the first time in more than a year and being very fast very quick. The only guys to beat him in Murty's backup car have been Murty and Jeff Mueller - two pretty stout Stock Car guys. 

Previous weeks: April 27; May 4; May 11; May 18; May 25; June 1; June 8; June 15; June 22; June 29

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