Murty, Olson, Ackerman top busy night at Benton County Speedway

VINTON — Sunday night at Benton County Speedway in Vinton was a take-your-pick of impressive and memorable storylines for IMCA dirt racers.

Take IMCA Stock Car, where Chelsea driver Damon Murty moved to the doorstep of a big win milestone with IMCA win No. 199 in Stock Car. But the 'Chelsea Charger' was more concerned with busting what he called was a 'slump' than how many career wins he has.

Murty does his best to not let the milestone weigh on him too much, but he acknowledged it's hanging out there. In both his Victory Lane interview and afterward, Murty said he wants to get it done as quick as possible just so everyone can quit talking about it.

He said the win will most likely come either at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Speedway in Des Moines or back at BCS next week. With 77 career wins in Stock Car at BCS alone, getting win No. 200 there would add special meaning.

'I think it's just a monkey on my back. I'm not going out thinking, 'Oh, I've got to win because it's my 200th.' I go out like I do every race and try to win,' Murty said. 'Last year I had 10-12 feature wins at this time. If I'm not winning, just ask anyone who knows me. If we're not winning, we're in a slump. But we'll get through it.

'It would be neat to win my 200th here (at BCS).'

Or take IMCA Sport Mod, where Cedar Rapids driver Tony Olson drove from a mid-pack starting spot to win his third straight race at BCS, as well as earned his second straight weekend sweep of BCS and Independence Motor Speedway — the only driver in the history of the division to accomplish the feat.

It also marked his 25th win overall in Vinton, and was his eighth win this season. Stats like that are humbling.

'We could dream of this, but we just came into Sport Mod to have fun. We've never had this much fun in our careers,' Olson said. 'We're three wins ahead of where we were at this point last year, so as long as we're having fun, we're going to keep going for it.

'It's incredible to hear those stats. It just means we're doing something right.'

Or how about IMCA Late Model, which ran its second of five Sunday Series races, and saw Elk Run Heights driver Darren Ackerman dominate from the front row to get the win.

Like Olson, Ackerman also pulled the Independence/Vinton sweep, marking the first time in his career he won back-to-back races in the same weekend. The two wins were decidedly different, though. Ackerman battled tooth and nail with Tyler Droste for the win on Saturday night, but cruised home on Sunday.

Each have their own reward, Ackerman said.

'We struggled early in the year trying to get the car to run, and we've turned it around,' Ackerman said. 'Anymore in any of these races with anyone, it makes a huge difference where you start.

'You don't know (if it's easy) when you're out there, though, because you don't know who's coming. (Joe) Zrostlik is always fast. And Tyler Droste is fun to race with. He had every opportunity to move me (Saturday) if he wanted to.'

Whether it was Olson's continued streak, Murty's move toward win No. 200 or Ackerman's career weekend, the best summation of the night came in the last thing Ackerman said in his Victory Lane interview.

All three of those guys, plus IMCA Modified winner J.D. Auringer, IMCA Hobby Stock winner August Bach and BCS Micro Mod winner Don Erger could share the sentiment Ackerman offered.

'This is pretty great,' Ackerman said. 'I might just have to call in sick tomorrow.'

BENTON COUNTY SPEEDWAY

TOP 5 FINISHERS

LATE MODEL

1. 53 Darren Ackerman; 2. Z50 Joe Zrostlik; 3. 60 Ben Seeman; 4. 70 Jerry King; 5. 87 John Emerson

MODIFIED

1. 00j J.D. Auringer; 2. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 3. 8 Tony Snyder; 4. 20L Zach Less; 5. 71c Troy Cordes

STOCK CAR

1. 99d Damon Murty; 2. 14 Shane Ebaugh; 3. 67 Justin Stander; 4. 22 Jared Daggett; 5. 47 Scott Pippert

SPORT MOD

1. T23 Tony Olson; 2. 198 Sam Wieben; 3. 2 Joey Schafer; 4. 3r Danny Dvorak; 5. 22h Curt Hilmer

HOBBY STOCK

1. 19x August Bach; 2. 45 Justin Wacha; 3. 357 Brett Vanous; 4. 14c Leah Wroten; 5. 4p Matt Pohlman

MICRO MOD

1. 6 Don Erger; 2. 51 Cole McNeal; 3. 419 Josh Havlik; 4. 13 Scott Beaty; 5. 48L Carson Less

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