Iowa Donor Network race ups the stakes at Hawkeye Downs

CEDAR RAPIDS - No matter the stakes, when racecar drivers get behind the wheel, they're after the win. It could be for $10,000 or pride and the competitive fire will take over.

But add in extra special meaning to an event, and the desire gets cranked up to the max.

Such was the case for multiple drivers Friday night at Hawkeye Downs Speedway on Iowa Donor Network Night. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase was back in town to race his Late Model on a night honoring, along with several others, his mom Mary Jo Gase.

Gase finished third in the main event behind back-to-back winner Brian Gibson and Brad Osborn. He thought he had a win while battling with Gibson, Osborn and Tim Plummer, but it wasn't meant to be.

'It's good I'm frustrated,” Gase said after the race. 'We had slowly made our way up through the field, waited for everyone to wreck each other and use up their tires. We got in there to take the lead but got hooked and almost got wrecked on the front stretch. It just sucks we were that close to a win.

'But it was fun to be back and be one of the fastest cars again.”

Gase has talked about the impact his mom's organ donation has had - highlighted before in The Gazette and in specials on ESPN and FOX Sports. And while that was the reason behind coming back to race his home track for a second time this season, he wasn't back just to pay lip service to the cause and his mom's memory.

He wanted a win.

'It's all fun and games and everything, but I'm competitive,” Gase said. 'Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, guys like that who go race dirt, they want to win, not just go race. It's like that here.”

Frustration from a loss doesn't lose Gase his perspective, though. He signed autographs and got to meet several families of organ donors.

He does things like that nearly every week through his Donor Network sponsorships on his Xfinity Series car, but having it all happen at Hawkeye Downs means even more.

'It's always special to see (donors) and thank them for what they've done,” Gase said. 'You always have a connection with them, having gone through what you've gone through.”

Gase wasn't the only one in the Late Model race to have a connection to organ donation, or even carry Iowa Donor Network as a sponsor. Race winner Gibson holds the cause close to his heart as well. His wife Jill, who died several years ago, was an organ donor.

Getting the win - his second in a row - meant a great deal to him as well.

'Back to back in a Late Model, I've never done that so that's really cool,” Gibson said. 'Tonight was a big night. This night means a lot to my son, myself, my family and her family. Joey Gase's family, too - everybody's family who's been through this. It's a special night.

'It gives you that much more drive to win - especially when Joey's here. You always want to be on you're A-game.”

In INEX Legends, Kevin Korsmo got the win, holding off 13 year-old Brody Willett, who restarted in last after an early spin. The organ donor night carried some meaning with Korsmo as well. One of the people the race was running to honor, Dale Miller, was a cousin to Korsmo's wife.

He had to sweat a final restart, but got his first win of the season ahead of Willett and last week's winner Mark Ironside, who was third.

'Dale being my wife's cousin, that was my motivation tonight,” Korsmo said. 'Dale was a donor and his family didn't even know it. It changed his family's life. It really opened my eyes, too. We've got a special group out here in that regard with the Gibsons, Gases and Chandlers, that have been affected by this.

'This was a race I really wanted to win for that purpose. When we had the caution late, that's when it sunk in for me. I'd done it before and knew I had to get up on the wheel. I wanted this extra special tonight and went and got it.”

In the rest of the racing action Friday night, Nathan Ballard got the victory in Sportsmen, his first in that division this season. Ballard took the checkers in Hobby Stock as well, but was disqualified after the race for ball joints that didn't meet Hawkeye Downs specifications. That gave the win to Matt Hudspeth.

The Hornets division ran in memory of Merv Chandler, who was also an organ donor. Derek Parrott took that main event win ahead of Merv's son Dallas Chandler.

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