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Troy Cordes' trial and error nets wins at Independence, Vinton
Aug. 14, 2017 8:00 pm, Updated: Aug. 15, 2017 10:07 am
Trial and error is kind of a way of life if you're a racer.
Unless you have your racecar totally figured out — which ranges from exceedingly rare to almost impossible — trial and error is the only way to push for more speed. That's especially true when you're in a racecar almost no one else is in.
Dunkerton driver Troy Cordes has seen lots of success over his years behind the wheel of his No. 71c IMCA Modified, but he's had a tougher time finding the consistency that saw him pass the 100-win mark two years ago.
In one of three — that he's aware of, anyway — Modified Longhorn Chassis currently racing, Cordes might finally have found what he's been looking for this season in earning his sixth career weekend sweep of Independence Motor Speedway and Benton County Speedway main events.
'It definitely doesn't hurt anything, I can tell you that,' Cordes said. 'You just keep trying. You just keep plugging away and trying stuff all the time. It's trial and error more than anything.
'Every car is different. You've just got to find what the car likes. Sometimes I get stubborn and stuck in my ways and don't want to change things. But you have to do that.'
Cordes had been with Rage Chassis for the last several years, but said he's always been a racer who wants to go his own way and be on something no one else is on.
With the tremendous success Longhorn has had in Late Model racing, Cordes trusted the operation and knew the Modified car was in its infancy. With North Carolina racer Kyle Strickler the only notable racer in one, Cordes had a chance to get in on the ground floor.
While he knew the move from Rage to Longhorn would make much of his notebook obsolete — and that Strickler wasn't going to be sharing notes — he wasn't afraid of that trial and error.
'I don't want to have what everyone else does (because) there's good and bad with that,' Cordes said. 'You've got more people to bounce ideas off of, but we just decided to do this. We knew it would be a challenge, but hopefully we've got it going in the right direction.
'Justin (O'Brien, owner of Rage) builds a hell of a good car and I get along with him still, but we wanted something different.'
A few years ago, there wasn't a Modified special Cordes would miss — running with the Hawkeye Dirt Tour and various other big-money shows — but this year he hasn't attended the myriad shows available in Eastern Iowa and neighboring regions.
It was simple, really: he didn't feel it was worth going in many cases if he couldn't be competitive.
The hope now, with IMCA Super Nationals and the Yankee Dirt Track Classic coming, is that going back weekly racing and throwing a few more things at it will put him in better position to race at the level he expects of himself.
If nothing else, he got an all-important boost of confidence.
'You're not going to get better if you don't race,' Cordes said. 'I wasn't comfortable going to some of the specials. Our performance showed that. If you can't compete at a weekly level, there's no reason to throw money away at specials. We buckled down and tried stuff. You've got to race to try stuff.
'I think we're in the right direction now. We've got to get better still. I'm starting to get my confidence back. I was pretty down for a long time. We're trying to get that built back up too.'
MARRIOTT, DROSTE STAR IN BRITT
Hunter Marriott completed another weeklong IMCA racing championship last week, traveling to Western Iowa for IMCA Speedweek — the final two Hawkeye Dirt Tour races combined with three nights of big-money racing at Hancock County Speedway in Britt.
Marriott backed up his Dakota Modified Tour title with a win at Clay County Fairgrounds in Spencer on Monday, ran second Thursday at the Night of 1,000 Stars in Britt and then highlighted his week by taking the Night of 10,000 Stars victory — and the $7,000 winner's check.
The Brookfield, Mo., driver, who races out of Oxford or West Union while he's in Iowa, led a troupe of Eastern Iowa racers across the state for the week of racing.
Waterloo driver Tyler Droste was the guy who made Marriott settle for second on Thursday, getting — at the time — his fourth win in four trips to the track and taking the $3,500. Droste missed the main on Friday, but came back for the Shryock Mejmorial All-Star race Saturday and finished ninth.
KAY DOUBLES UP AT FARLEY
Wheatland driver Justin Kay is trying to break new ground this season at Farley Speedway, and took another step toward that on Friday.
Kay leads the weekly points standings in both IMCA Late Model and Modified in Farley. His path to being the first driver to win both track titles in the same season was aided by sweeping both of Friday night's features.
The two-time IMCA Late Model national champion also vaulted into the lead for the Late Model national points lead once again, one point ahead of Des Moines driver Todd Cooney.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Troy Cordes' six weekend Modified sweeps between Independence Motor Speedway and Benton County Speedway is tops on the list of 15 drivers. Others with weekend Modified sweeps at the two tracks include Jack Mitchell (five times); Tom Bartholomew, Vern Jackson, Jerry Luloff and J.D. Auringer (twice each); and Mike Krall, Timm Jensen, Tim McBride, Darin Duffy, Joey Schaefer, Scott Hogan, Don Erger, Ronn Lauritzen and Jeff Aikey (once each).
Coincidentally, the drivers to sweep the most Stock Car, SportMod and Hobby Stock features at both tracks have each done it six times, as well. They include Justin Temeyer (Stock Cars), Tony Olson (Sport Mods) and Chris Luloff (Hobby Stocks).
-Ryan Clark, IMCA
l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com
Dunkerton driver Troy Cordes races through Turns 3 and 4 during the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at Knoxville Raceway on July 20, 2017. (Jeremiah Davis/The Gazette)