Brody Willett takes win on night of Landon Cassill's return to Hawkeye Downs

CEDAR RAPIDS — Friday night's Cassill Motors Military Night at Hawkeye Downs Speedway was headlined by Cedar Rapids native and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Landon Cassill returning to race a Late Model for the first time since 2009.

But it was 15-year-old Brody Willett who stole the show and much of the attention away from the guy who used to be the teenager winning races on the historic 1/2-mile.

The Alburnett driver provided a little Hawkeye Downs symmetry by taking the $1,000 payday with a last-lap winning pass of Griffin McGrath after racing the final seven laps side-by-side. His ear-to-ear grin after the race said enough, but he tried to put into words what a win like that means.

A multi-time go-kart national champion, Willett wasn't shy about where Friday's win ranks for him.

'This tops every last one of them,' Willett said. 'To have a race like we did was just unreal. To beat Landon — a wonderful guy and smart racer who made it hard to get around him — was just awesome.

'It was such an awesome run, and such an awesome car. This tops them all.'

Cassill ended up third at the finish after taking his No. 10 — owned and usually driven by former NCAA wrestling champion for Iowa, Mark Ironside — to the pits for adjustments under a long yellow flag.

The 27-year-old pulled his car up to Victory Lane when the race was finished to give Willett congratulations. Willett said Cassill told him, 'we had a good race, congratulated me, and I appreciate that because he's a great wheelman.'

Cassill laughed at the question of the winning symmetry between the two. More than just the fact that Willett is a teenager winning races against accomplished competition, Cassill watched from third as Willett raced door-to-door with McGrath. He was impressed, and said as much after.

'I think Brody's a good racecar driver; I don't think he needs any good juju from me coming back,' Cassill said. 'I think Brody does all right on his own, and you'll probably see him race at places beyond Hawkeye Downs.

'It was cool to see them racing side-by-side like that.'

Cassill's return to his home track meant a lot to him for many reasons, but one of the big ones was the recent death of racing legend Arlo Becker. Cassill shared a story on Twitter on Monday, the day Becker died, about racing 'The Ageless One' for a heat race win when he was 14.

To be able to come back and see people he's not seen for a long time, connect with his hometown fans and also offer a tribute to one of his racing heroes made the trip very much worth it.

The only thing better would to have been able to race for the win.

'That was a lot of fun, but my car was pretty loose — I don't know if (people) could tell or not,' Cassill said through a laugh. 'I think it really tugged on me coming back, especially the week of Arlo's passing. I got to see a lot of people I raced with when I raced with Arlo.

'Iowa has great racers on asphalt and dirt, and it's cool to see this live on.'

The free admission Friday night had Hawkeye Downs' stands the fullest they'd been this season, and Willett and McGrath's race was something McGrath said he was thankful for, to be able to show them something for which it would be worth coming back.

McGrath was his usual jovial self after the race, despite leading all but the final lap in the second segment of the 50-lap race.

'It was honestly fun to race somebody for that long,' McGrath said. 'That's a blast to race 50 laps and come down to the last lap. It's a cool night to put on a good show for a lot of people who probably don't come every week. I hope they remember that.

'(Willett) definitely deserved to win.'

Willett won the opening segment with a last lap pass of Caleb Adrian — who ended up wrecked out after contact with Brad Osborn, similar to his wreck two weeks ago. Willett won the race with a last lap pass.

Both, he said, showed his plan of patient aggression — which is what has had him at or near the front all season at Hawkeye Downs. To finish it off on a night where all eyes were on his race meant a lot to the young driver who has dreams of a lot more than Victory Lane in Cedar Rapids.

Racing against Cassill at a different level isn't exactly far out of his radar.

'We came here with the same mentality as always that we were gonna race hard and clean and in the last 25 laps go all out, and that's what we did,' Willett said. 'I'm just so glad we could pull this one out. Hopefully some day we can race Landon again — sometime in the near future, if possible.'

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