Callahan has stars align for back to back Yankee wins

FARLEY – In a 100-lap race on dirt, it takes a few different things behind the wheel to come home a winner.

Drivers have to be patient, conserving tires and negotiating traffic. Yet at the same time, they have to be aggressive enough to stay in the hunt, especially if he or she is starting up front. And of course, it takes a well-prepared racecar.

On Saturday night at Farley Speedway in the 37

^th

annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic, Dubuque's Joel Callahan had the right mix and took his second straight Yankee crown in the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models main event.

'To come back and do this two times? It's pretty special, because it was so tough to do it the first time,' Callahan said. 'The car was really balanced well, and we knew we were fast, we just had to be patient in those 100 laps.

'You can't have too much patience, because then you'll get passed. But you've got to have some patience to save your tires. It seemed like we had a good balance car, kept the car pretty straight and kept the tires underneath us.'

That balance, along with a problem for then-race leader Colby Springsteen is ultimately what gave Callahan the win.

Springsteen led the first 73 laps of the A-main, setting a torrid pace. At one point, Springsteen led by nearly a half-lap. But running that hard abused his right rear tire, which blew out with 16 laps to go and ending his chances at the win.

That's not to say that before the blown tire Callahan couldn't keep up. He was just biding his time.

'On the restarts, I could stay right with him; on a couple of them, I almost got around him,' Callahan said. 'It seemed like his car was a little more sideways, and in a long race like this, I knew if I was just patient he'd come back to me.

'Obviously I was pretty happy to see (his flat tire), because the last couple restarts I could get alongside him but couldn't quite get around him. But I think my car was getting better. The last 25 laps it got faster.'

Springsteen was far from the only driver to suffer a flat right rear. Deery Bros points leader and Eastern Iowa Driver of the Year Justin Kay also suffered a flat while running in the top five.

But unlike Springsteen, Kay's flat came just before halfway. And while he had to go to the back after changing the tire, having that fresh rubber allowed him to run a little harder than the others who were saving them.

He ultimately came back to finish fourth and pad his points lead over Andy Eckrich, who finished fifth. With another caution at the end, he might've had a shot at the win.

'Hate to say it, but we could've used some more laps,' Kay said. 'I wasn't happy (when the flat happened) because we were running good. But once we were running and I started passing cars, I got to thinking, 'You know, I've got a right rear tire on that's 58 laps newer than the rest of them. I can abuse it a little more.' And I was doing that. I probably could've pushed even harder.

'Being able to come back when something does go wrong and managing to get a top five out of it has made our year.'

The biggest test to the patience the drivers had to show throughout the race came in traffic.

Whether it was Callahan and Springsteen up front negotiating lapped traffic, Kay working his way back through the field, or someone like third-place finisher Denny Eckrich, who started 10

^th

and had to claw his way to the front, it took a level head to not abuse your car in pursuit of a position.

Eckrich said there was a decent level of frustration in how long it took to pass, but that's part of it.

It takes all those components, plus having the stars align for a win in a race like the Yankee.

'On those restarts, you had to drive hard for about 10 laps to get away from everybody because you get stuck to the bottom many times when the high groove is the way to be,' Denny Eckrich said. 'It's a factor of this place (Farley Speedway). You've got to start in the first few rows and save your tires.

'As you saw (Saturday night) it took most cars 10 laps to pass, and finally when you got around you could leave them. Ten laps wearing your tires down, that's like double wear. Starting far back, you've got to have a great car to do it.'

In other main events, Hunter Marriott won the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modified main event, Damon Murty won Stock Cars, Austin Moyer won Sport Mod and Brian Happel won Hobby Stock.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@sourcemedia.net