Focus back on racing at Hawkeye Downs

CEDAR RAPIDS - Racers got back to racing Friday night at Hawkeye Downs Speedway.

Yes, they were back in action last week, but with a whole lot more on their mind than racing. This week, though, it was a little easier to get the car loaded up and a lot easier to go racing without such a heavy emotions hanging in the air.

Make no mistake, Joan Feller has not gone from her fellow racers' and friends' minds, but the healing continued this week - and finally with a little fun inside the racecars.

'Last week was really rough to even come here. And still, the season's winding down and part of you wishes it was over,” said Legends driver Mark Ironside. 'But at the same time, when you get in the car, the green flag drops and the cars are going as fast as they can go, then your mind is focused at what's at hand.”

The pit area buzzed its usual buzz Friday night, a return to normalcy - or at least whatever normalcy is possible - that so many craved.

Drivers were back to complaining about the handling of their cars and excited to get back to competition, rather than going through the motions or willing themselves to keep it together.

Stacy Olson was among those who had the toughest time last week. She had gotten very close to Feller through practice night on Wednesdays. The two were both in their first year in the racecar to start this season, and not having Feller there with her at practice made the void feel just a bit bigger.

'Every week, I think, is going to be different - especially on Wednesdays. Normally, as far as Legends went, it was just me and her out here and we'd go out together,” Olson said. 'So I have to go out by myself now and it's different. But tonight is easier. She's still in everybody's head and everybody's thinking about her, but last week was extremely tough.”

All that said, the last two weeks could not have been more different for Olson - and everyone in her pit area.

She could tell the difference immediately when she went on track Friday night.

'Even in my hot laps I could tell a difference from last week. I wasn't in the game; I wasn't focused last week at all,” Olson said. 'I didn't even want to race or come out. You passed the spot where everything happened and it made you sick.

'I'm very happy I got back in the car and I think it's something everybody needed to do. Everybody needed to get back in the car and start fresh. I'm back in the game tonight. Tonight has been fun.”

On track Friday night - the penultimate points racing night of the season - everyone had a little fun and there was some hard and fast racing for wins. Nathan Ballard went 2 for 2 for the third time this season, winning in both Hobby Stock (11 of 12 this season) and Sportsmen. Cole O'Brien got his second straight win in INEX Legends, and Ethan Parrott got his first win of his career in Hornets.

Brian Gibson took the Late Model victory in the closest racing for the win in any division. He battled Brad Osborn and Tim Plummer for the final 13 laps of the race - 10 of which were spent side by side with Osborn, and one or two of which were three wide.

Gibson's win clinched the track championship in Late Models and, like most others throughout the night, put a much-needed smile on his face.

'That was incredible. We bumped, we rubbed, but we didn't take each other out. We kept going and we'd let each other collect it up and away we'd go into the next corner,” Gibson said. 'The heavy hearts we had last week, some of that weight came off of us and that's a good thing. We've all got to grieve in our own way, and everyone does it different. But as a group in general, this is our release and our way to get back to something we love.

'She's up there looking over us just smiling right now.”

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