We are a racing family and a huge part of our family at I-35 Speedway is taking the time to get to know each other, especially our racing fans. We lost a very special fan this past week to leukemia in 16-year-old Tanner Sipes. This night began with a tribute from his favorite class the Sport Compact class carrying flags and making a reverse victory lap. Our fans stood, hats off, in respect for our fallen race fan. There was a slight situation to all this though, Tanner’s family got hung up in traffic and missed the tribute. But do not worry, we are all family, a quick check with the Sport Compact drivers, informing the officials of what had occurred, and the tribute was repeated at intermission, including the fans standing and repeating their respect. That is family, racing or otherwise!

One social media comment this week from Nicole Schildknecht Bennett: You were a very special person to all who knew you! I can only imagine how beautiful it is up there in Heaven! Tanner’s Family and Friends are thankful for all the prayers but it seems as though God has important plans in Heaven for Tanner. Please continue to pray for the family. Until we meet again buddy!

Almost every week we get to mention Mother Nature. This week she allowed us to work on Monday and Thursday, both days owner Mike Johnson was on the track, leaving it compacted on Monday because of the impending rains (2 inches) and then on Thursday he worked the track to compact it again and then smooth it in preparation for Saturday’s racing. My job this week was to work on equipment, weed eat (yuck), and mow. Thursday started out dreary and by noon was mostly dry, thank you Mother Nature!

This work obviously paid off because the following social media comments were observed – Daniel Wayne Pettit: “Had an Awesome track last night in my opinion” and Chet Querry “I-35 was good and fast”.

How about those theme nights, saw numerous superman/woman costumes and even discovered that Captain America now comes in a female version. Looking forward to the female Captain America movie starring our own Carley Bowling!

The 7th Annual McCarthy Auto Group Show Me Spectacular will be held at I-35 Speedway, Saturday, October 8, 2016. The super-fast WAR Series Non Wing Sprint Cars, the always exciting USRA A Mods, the ultra-competitive USRA B Mods, the spirited E Mods, and the Midwest Outlaw Lightning Sprints will headline the show. The Mod Lites, Pure Stock, and Sport Compact classes will also be in competition.

This super special night includes bonus money for the modified classes. The A Mod feature will pay $1,500 to win and $150 to start race. The B Mods will compete for $750 to win and $75 to start. The E Mod purse will be $500 to win and $50 to start. This will be a USRA point race for the A and B Mod classes. Pre=registration forms are out for the modified classes and can be found on the I-35 Speedway website.

Our racing season is winding down, we started the year wearing sweatshirts and I am now seeing more and more people wearing them each week. If you forgot your sweatshirt, purchase an I-35 Speedway sweatshirt at the souvenir stand or drink stand. I will miss Colten this week as his dad had to switch to the night shift and they will no longer be able to come to the races. Colten was our tower gate keeper.

There were 83 racecars in the pits last Saturday, the largest car count in the area, make your plans to be with us at I-35 Speedway this Saturday, where the race fan always gets the most racing for their money!