Tony Olson leaves no doubt in Sport Mod Challenge at Davenport Speedway

DAVENPORT — A year ago in the IMCA Sport Mod Challenge at Davenport Speedway, Cedar Rapids driver Tony Olson lost the lead and the win on a late restart to eventual winner Jenae Gustin.

Fast forward to Friday night, and Olson found himself up front again — only this time he left no doubt who'd be taking home the $2,000 check.

Olson dominated the 50-lap race, taking the lead 10 laps in and running away to his 10th win of 2016 and his first in the Sport Mod Challenge.

'This car couldn't have been any better. It was working top to bottom, through lapped traffic like a champ,' Olson said. 'That's what we've been working for all year at Davenport, was for tonight.

'Tonight was so huge. I couldn't have asked for a better car. If we can keep this car working this good, watch out.'

Olson may not have thought much about last year's race before Friday night, and that's probably because he didn't have to.

Before the night's racing, his dad Randy and uncle Dave talked him into a change in the setup that they've been working on him about for nearly a year. He finally gave into the suggestions, and he couldn't have been more grateful he did so in Victory Lane.

Olson has always been quick to credit his dad and crew for their work, but he raved Friday night.

'I just can't thank them enough for giving me an awesome car,' Olson said. 'We threw some stuff at it tonight, and I have to thank them for talking me into it. Hopefully we can do this some more.'

The adjustments to the car allowed Olson to find a groove around Davenport Speedway most others weren't using. The cushion was vacant except for Olson, and he used it to drive around everyone.

Last year's track champion lapped all the way up to eighth place en route to the win, and said the car working like it did made it pretty easy.

Even in a 50 lap race, Olson said, there was no babying anything. And that was with only one caution — on the initial restart — to boot.

'When I hit that cushion, the thing just launched,' Olson said. 'I was pushing as hard as I could go. I never babied it one lap. It was as hard as I could drive it every lap.

'We ran 50 laps straight through, that's incredible. It wasn't too bad (physically).'

Olson was out of breath after the race, though, but not because of the longer race than normal.

He'd never won a check that large, and gave easily his most raucous Victory Lane celebration over the last several years. A group of around 20 family, friends and crew greeted him at the car after the victory, and he celebrated right with them — after standing atop his window and holding the check aloft.

No reason not to celebrate a win like that, Olson said.

'Yeah I was out of breath, I had to celebrate,' Olson said with a laugh. 'Having a car that works so good helps make everything better. This car was incredible. I've never won any (check) that big. It's awesome. That's over half of a new engine for our other car. If we can finish out this weekend strong, we might have a whole engine.'

IMCA SPORT MOD CHALLENGE

DAVENPORT SPEEDWAY TOP 5

1. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 2. 3 Tony Dunker, Quincy, Ill.; 3. 62 Jeff Steenbergen, Watertown, Wis.; 4. 81 Jared Boumeester; Waseca, Minn.; 5. 60 Dalton Simonsen, Fairfax.

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