Notebook: Droste finding his groove after rough start to 2016 in Late Model

WATERLOO - The first month or so of the 2016 racing season wasn't exactly kind to Waterloo driver Tyler Droste.

Coming off an IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series Rookie of the Year campaign - and a year in which he won his first Late Model races - Droste had a new car and seemed poised to hit the ground running. But what he and his Doug Cue/Gene Budzine-owned race team found often was frustration. A couple wrecks and searching for setup will do that.

But in the last two weeks, Droste said he and the team feel like they've turned a corner. His evidence stands in back-to-back wins at Dubuque Speedway in IMCA Late Model.

'The first couple races out, we were struggling,” Droste said. 'We had a couple things wrong on the car, and then we got wrecked. That got us down a little bit. But we started coming back and were running the older car, the orange car, a little bit. We decided to get the new one back out, the yellow one, and took that to Dubuque. It was really good, really fast, and it's been nice to rebound off the struggles we had and compete for wins since then.”

Having raced for Cue and Budzine for the last few years, and having been family friends with them for a long time, the valleys of racing didn't sink them.

It could be easy for a driver-owner relationship to sour when parts and pieces are bent or torn up, but Droste said through what they've dealt with this year, not once has any of the group gotten down on each other. It's why they've been able to get things back on track, Droste said.

'We always knew, it's racing. That stuff happens. When you get into the deal you know it's going to happen sooner or later, and we've been lucky the last five or six years that we've never wrecked much really bad,” Droste said. 'It's going to happen if you race a bunch. It's just part of it.

'I think we've got both of our cars dialed in now (after all that).”

The 31 team is hitting its stride at a solid time, too.

With a few rainouts, it's been nearly a month since the Summer Series has gotten to race. The Late Model series makes its return at Marshalltown Speedway in a combo event with the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds (see below for more on that) on Tuesday.

It was in that race a year ago where Droste looked headed to his first Summer Series win. Ultimately he got a lesson in preserving tires instead, and Jason Rauen took the win after Droste led ¾ of the race. He doesn't feel like Marshalltown owes him anything, and he's not coming back with any kind of chip on his shoulder about it.

Like any other race - and any other racer - he's there to win. If the luck and circumstances that followed him the first weeks of the season can stay hidden, Droste said he likes his chances.

'It's out the door; it's last year, it's in the past. There's nothing you can do about it now,” Droste said. 'Going on from there, I learned that I got out front and instead of pacing myself, you could say I was running like a scared chicken. I was running as hard as I could, it was slick out and I burned the tires up. That's what got me there last year, and we'll learn from that mistake and go back and see what we can do.

'I'm hoping for a win. That's the plan. Whether we do it or not, we're going there shooting for it.”

DEERY, HAWKEYE DIRT TOUR DOUBLE IN MARSHALLTOWN

Both the IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series for Late Models and Hawkeye Dirt Tour for Modifieds have long been going to Marshalltown Speedway, but on Tuesday night, the series converge on the 3/8-mile oval together.

The first of multiple Summer Series/HDT combo events, the Late Models will race for $2,000 and the Modifieds for $1,000. The Hawkeye Dirt Tour had a record field of 48 cars in its opening race at Benton County Speedway, won by Joel Rust. The Summer Series is coming off a rainout in Boone.

'We're pretty excited to have these two series running here the same night,” Marshalltown Speedway promoter Toby Kruse said via news release. 'We always look for a perfect fit and I think we've found it.

'I've already been getting calls from all over about Tuesday night. The Deery Series is always a hit here. Benton County Speedway had a record number of Hawkeye Dirt Tour entries on Memorial Day and we've been averaging between 25 and 26 Modifieds weekly at Marshalltown, which is fantastic for this day and age. I think we're going to have a great night.”

Curt Martin is the all-time Summer Series wins-leader at Marshalltown, with five, and current points leader - and seven-time champion - Jeff Aikey is next with four. Richie Gustin and Darin Duffy each have two HDT wins at Marshalltown, leading all drivers.

Pit gates open at 4:30 p.m., the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. and hot laps are at 7 p.m. with racing to follow.

WORLD OF OUTLAWS IN KNOXVILLE

The premier Sprint Car racing series in the country, the World of Outlaws, makes its return to Knoxville Raceway this weekend - for a twin bill of 410 and 360 races on the famed ½-mile track.

Current Knoxville 410 points leader Brian Brown, last week's winner (and longtime Outlaw) Danny Lasoski and many other local racers will take aim at defending home turf against the likes of Donny Schatz, current WoO points leader Brad Sweet, Darryn Pittman and Shane Stewart on both Friday and Saturday.

Tickets can be purchased either at the gate or at knoxvilleraceway.com. Hot Laps are set for 6:45 p.m., with time trials at 7:15.

SPORTMOD CHALLENGE IN DAVENPORT

Davenport Speedway held its annual Modified Madness a few weeks ago on May 18, with State Center's Kyle Brown taking the $2,000 winner's check.

Drivers in a different class get the spotlight this week, as IMCA Sport Mod will race for $2,000 in the fourth annual Sport Mod Challenge on Friday night. The 50-lap main event went to Eric Pollard in its first year, Austin Moyer in 2014, and saw Jenae Gustin beat Tracy Wassenberg and Cedar Rapids' Tony Olson for the win last year.

Olson - who had to race another driver's car last week after his engine blew up during his heat race - enters the event as the Sport Mod points and wins leader so far this season.

Pit gates open Friday at 4:30 p.m., the grandstand at 5:, with hot laps at 6:15 and racing at 6:45.

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