Darin Duffy caps ‘bittersweet’ few weeks with emotional victory at Independence

Sports are littered with goosebump-inducing coincidences or instances of seemingly supernatural performances.

Think Brett Favre throwing for nearly 399 yards and four touchdowns on Monday Night Football the day after his father died. Think Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the first race at Daytona after his father died there.

Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway, there was another one — IMCA Modified racer Darin Duffy beat Jeff Aikey to the line to win the main event on the night in which the track, its racers and its fans honored Jessica Miller. Miller, who was a co-founder of Karsyn's Krusaders, was a longtime family friend of Duffy and his wife Jennifer and helped sponsor Duffy's cars.

The week-plus after her death in a car accident in Wisconsin was nothing short of 'bizarre,' Duffy said. Winning on that night in the way he won — erasing a sizable gap late in the race — was enough to evoke an emotional reaction from pretty much everyone.

Standing in Victory Lane, holding back tears, Duffy said in his winner's interview that, 'I think Jessica got his tires a little warm for me.'

Sometimes that stuff happens and you can't explain it.

Duffy didn't try to Monday when he was asked more about the win. All he could do was be grateful.

'This was the top for me, just because it was her night,' Duffy said. 'With seven laps to go, I didn't think I was going to have a shot to win it. It was just…so many things. It was the most emotional victory I've ever had.'

Duffy was one of the original drivers to don the Karsyn's Krusaders logo in 2010 and help spread the message of 'Kicking Cancer's Butt One Lap at a Time,' as the organization's tagline states.

Saturday night wasn't the first time he honored Miller with a victory, though.

Miller died in a car accident on July 11, and four days later, Duffy went to Davenport Speedway for Modified Madness — and took the win and the $2,000 that came with it. He almost didn't make that race, getting stalled on I-80 thanks to a car accident. Duffy missed his heat race and almost turned around to go home, but thought better of it.

Duffy said he arrived just in time to run his B-main, made it in via the last transfer spot, started 22nd in the main event and raced his way to victory.

Sandwiched in between the two wins was a trip to Wisconsin with a group of Miller's friends and a few family members to pick up the contents of the race trailer that was being pulled by the vehicle Miller was in when she died. Duffy took his trailer to pick up Levi Nielsen's USRA Modified and bring it back to Eastern Iowa.

As hard as that trip was — both physically and emotionally — to sandwich it with the two wins made for one of the most 'bizarre' stretches of time Duffy has experienced, he said.

The tribute night at Independence raised $12,518 to be given to the Miller family, who Duffy said was putting it all into Karsyn's Krusaders. The helmet-passing in the stands and multiple drivers donating their race winnings totaled $6,259, which was then matched by Scott Braun, who owns Performance Bodies in Cedar Falls.

Duffy said everything that's gone on will have a bittersweet feel to it when he looks back on it years down the road, but that he couldn't be prouder of it all.

Sometimes sports give those moments to people.

'Losing Jessica and then both races, I didn't really think I was going to win them, and the endings were so crazy with both right down to the wire, the craziness worked out; bittersweet is the right word,' Duffy said. 'We've won some fairly big races. We've won the Super Nationals in the Late Model. (Saturday night) was a neater feeling than any of them.'

STAT OF THE WEEK

Benji Irvine's fifth consecutive IMCA Hobby Stock win Saturday night marked the 11th time in Independence Motor Speedway history that a driver earned at least five consecutive feature wins.

Others include fellow Hobby Stock drivers Chris Wessner (five consecutive wins in 1995) and Nick Wroten (five, 1998); Roadrunner driver Dennis Fink (six, 1981); Pro Stock driver Vern Jackson (six, 1996); Modified driver Jack Mitchell (six, 1984); Stock Car drivers Dan Trimble (six, 1994), Larry Portis (six, 1995), Chris Wessner (five, 1999) and Sean Johnson (five, 2011); and Sport Compact driver Adam Gates (seven, 2013). Wessner is the only driver to have done it in multiple divisions.

-Ryan Clark, IMCA

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