Notebook: Ballard embraces the boos at Benton County Speedway

When Marengo driver Nathan Ballard got out of his car after his IMCA Hobby Stock main event on Sunday evening at Benton County Speedway, he was showered with boos.

He'd won again, and as with most nights when he wins in Vinton, there's a group who loves to let him know how much they dislike it. But this time around, when standing on top of his car, victorious, Ballard cupped his hand to his ear — Hulk Hogan style — and encouraged the crowd to boo louder.

As Dale Earnhardt was famously credited with saying, any noise is good noise. Ballard subscribes to that theory, and absolutely feeds off the hate.

'I love the boos. The more boos I get, the more motivation,' Ballard said. 'I've got a little group up there that kind of started a few years ago. They like whoever can run with me up front or beat me once in a while. I just love it.

'If you're cheering for me or booing for me, I stick with the idea that you're still my fan. It really makes me get out there and drive hard. It's something to look forward to. To make them boo, it really feeds me.'

Ballard is aware, too, that this kind of reaction comes with the territory.

He's seen a tremendous amount of success in the last few years in his Hobby Stock, with nearly 30 wins last year and was a finalist for The Gazette's Eastern Iowa Driver of the Year award. Racing history is littered with successful drivers being shunned by fans who want to see someone else win for a change.

The only thing that does bother him is that fans sometimes take their rhetoric to an extreme level with many young fans in the stands.

'Some of the language kind of gets out of control with the profanity and stuff,' Ballard said. 'We're not up there to please all the fans. We're up there to win races. When you're running good, you're not going to have 95 percent of the people. You're out there to have fun and win races.'

Ballard's reaction to Sunday's boos, in particular, were born as much out of his being fired up at the win in general. Two weeks ago, he suffered a pair of DNFs — something that didn't happen twice in one weekend at all last season — and to recover from that and go right back to Victory Lane fired him up.

'After coming off that weekend where we had two DNFs, to come back and win again shows how hard we work in the shop,' Ballard said. 'We have a fast car, but you're not going to win every race. After having a year like last year, we said in the shop, we're going to have bad luck. It's just a matter of time.

'It's how you bounce back and show what you can do after you have some bad luck.'

As much as the boos fuel Ballard, he said his family and fans love seeing him respond to the hate the way he does. If the driver is motivated, the crew often follows suit, and clearly Ballard has found motivation there.

And before long, Ballard hopes fans are booing him for more winning than one class. His IMCA Sport Mod has yet to hit the track, but he's hoping it will soon. Motivation — both from winning and its reaction — has Ballard, his dad and his crew eager to take on a new challenge.

'If you go up there and you're not excited, (the people booing) might think they've got you down a little bit,' Ballard said. 'They think they can get you down, but for me it makes me drive harder and want to win more races.

'And I don't want to rush the Sport Mod. We're going to try to get to Farley this Friday, but I won't promise anything. We're going to try to (eventually) run both when we go racing.'

MAQUOKETA RESCHEDULES DEERY SHOW

The IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models and Maquoketa Speedway have postponed its originally-scheduled race for Wednesday to a date later this summer.

Summer Series director Kevin Yoder made the announcement during the driver's meeting on Sunday at Quad City Speedway in East Moline, Ill., and said he and first-year track promoter Scott Schurbon had talked and agreed with the way the track has raced so far this year, waiting was the right call.

Schurbon confirmed the reason for the decision to The Gazette on Monday, pulling no punches with how rough the track has been to open the season.

'We've been struggling so much with the racetrack — with so much moisture under the track, we just haven't had four days in a row of dry weather to work in the track,' Schurbon said. 'We decided that rather than stick a bunch of Late Models out there on a green racetrack we know is going to get rough, it would be smarter to postpone it since we're working on the track.

'It'll just be a lot better when they come back. It was terrible last week. The track was rougher than rough. We run the packer and all the normal stuff, but you could still see the ground roll, there's that much water under it.'

Schurbon was candid in saying he understands his rookie status as a promoter invites more criticism when things play out as they have so far this season. But he also said decisions like this one are made with his racers in mind.

Giving the chance for the track to rid itself of underlying moisture — as well as install brand-new Musco lighting — will help for a traveling show like the Summer Series, but more importantly his weekly program.

'We got a chisel plow out there and worked the wet spots, and it's looking better,' Schurbon said. 'It's been rough getting it dried out, and it's painful to cancel shows when the sun is shining, but I don't want to get people hurt on my watch.

'There's popular decisions and correct decisions. You need to make decisions based on facts and not feelings. When you can see your drivers are on two wheels, we don't need to hurt these guys. You have to be able to admit when you have a problem, and while it wasn't all our fault, but I'd rather lose a car or two than to hurt someone.'

DAVIS IN HOSPITAL AFTER VINTON WRECK

MicroMod racer Jeff Davis is awake and alert — though considerably sore — at an Iowa City hospital after a nasty wreck on Sunday at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Davis, a La Porte City native, flipped end over end and several feet into the air before coming down hard on his roof during Sunday's main event. He was transported to Iowa City and has been there since.

His longtime girlfriend, Heather Rose, told The Gazette on Monday that Davis suffered four fractured vertebrae in the accident. Davis fractured his C7 and T1 vertebrae in his neck, and L1 and T12 in his lower back. As of Monday afternoon, no surgery is expected, and the hope is for Davis to go home on Tuesday. While a full recovery is expected, Davis' recovery period will likely be 8-12 weeks.

In a message to The Gazette, Rose added she wanted to 'thank everyone for the many thoughs and prayers coming from all over Iowa.'

TRI-TRACK CHALLENGE KICKS OFF THIS WEEK

The first legs of Simmons Promotions' Tri-Track Challenge series gets underway this weekend.

IMCA Late Models will race for $2,000 to win on Friday night at Farley Speedway, then again on Saturday night at West Liberty Raceway.

The main event at Farley will be a 50-lap race for the Late Models, with a full night of weekly racing running in support of that main event. Saturday's race in West Liberty will be a 40-lap main for Late Models, and also has a full weekly show running.

Hot laps at Farley are set for 7 p.m., while hot laps at West Liberty begin at 6:30.

SUNDAY SERIES RETURNS TO VINTON

The second race in the IMCA Late Model Sunday Series is set for this Sunday at Benton County Speedway.

Defending race winner Todd Cooney is expected to return to face off against the likes of John Emerson, Ryan Dolan and others in one of just a handful of times Late Models will hit the track in Vinton this season.

Hot laps for Sunday are set for 6 p.m.

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