Nationwide series at Iowa Speedway

 The NASCAR Nationwide series returns to Iowa Speedway for the second time in 2012 on Saturday Aug 4th.

Qualifying for the U.S. Cellular 250 begins at 3:35pm with the race at 7pm (Central).  The race will be broadcast on ESPN 2.

Some interesting entries for the race include: Michael McDowell in the Gibbs #18 after a good 3rd place run at Iowa earlier this year and Darrell Wallace Jr in the other Gibbs car finished 9th at Iowa this May.  Ryan Blaney will be running for Penske in the #22, Kurt Busch is driving the #54 for his brother Kyle and Kenny Wallace will be back in the #99 car for RAB.  Danica will try to break her bad luck streak in the #7 car after having contact and finishing 30th at Iowa in May.

Earlier this year on May 20th, Roush/Fenway driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr continued his dominance by winning his third Nationwide race in a row at Iowa Speedway, Elliott Sadler finished a distant second place.

Stenhouse must be happy to see Iowa on the schedule because he could use a win, he has fallen to third in NASCAR Nationwide points, 1 behind Austin Dillon and 13 behind point leader Elliott Sadler.

One year ago Stenhouse won by the smallest of margains when he and Carl Edwards crashed at the finish line.  Stenhouse had a motor blowing up and he blocked the track to get the win.  Here is the video courtesy of ESPN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUEjTd5CXGI

 We will cover all the action from Iowa Speedway Saturday morning 10-11am on KRWC 1360am and updates throughout the day on www.speedtalkon1360.com.  We will have interviews with numerous Nationwide drivers to be broadcast on Speedtalk radio Saturday Aug 11th.

Corey Lajoie won the NASCAR K&N Pro series race on Friday night.  http://www.iowaspeedway.com/aspx/AboutSpeedway/news.aspx?id=1250&cat=4


We will update with photos and video on our facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/groups/101840716792/  and Twitter with Jason https://twitter.com/speedtalkon1360 or Dean  https://twitter.com/DeanReller

A day in pictures at Princeton Speedway

Speedtalk on 1360 co-host Jason Searcy attended a night of racing at Princeton (MN) Speedway on Friday July 27th.  It was a great race night with a smooth, tacky track all night long and lots of side by side racing.  Here are a few images of that event.

After starting the Wissota Modified race fourth row outside Dave Cain scoured the track from top to bottom to find the grip and scored an impressive win.

Lexi Kastner won a wild race in the Hornets in which Lexi Gallagher rolled her car in corner #1 but was unhurt in the crash.

Matt Staab won in the Mod-4 division.

Dave Read picked up his 20th feature in the Street Stocks in 2012.

Shane Sabraski ran the cushion all the way around this high banked 1/4 mile to win in the Super Stocks.

Here are full results from the racing http://speednetdirect.com/results.php?track_id=6071

Bud Martini won the Midwest Modified feature and we will broadcast an interview with him Saturday on Speedtalk on 1360 radio.  Saturday 10-11am on KRWC 1360am and http://www.krwc1360.com/

A day in pictures at Raceway Park

Speedtalk on 1360 photographer Scott Searcy spent Sunday July 22nd at Raceway Park in Shakopee (MN) and captured these photo's from the track.

 

You can see all 99 photo's at Cricket Prints facebook page http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.451504258203382.100614.114819991871812&type=3

Listen for interviews with Mark Lamoreaux and Rick Martin on Speedtalk radio Saturday 10-11am on KRWC and  http://www.krwc1360.com/

Monster Trucks in St Cloud

 The 2nd Annual Monster Truck Summer Meltdown is Friday and Saturday July 13 & 14, 2012 in Sauk Rapids at the Benton County Fairgrounds.

Gates open at 5pm, Pit party from 6-7pm and the show begins at 7:30.

The Trucks competing this year include: Stinger, Heart Breaker, Xtreme Eagle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN0ggFrYLYo , Barbarian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5514HifkitY and Jim Burns in Mechanical Mischief. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn2FGXGSSKY

Kaila Savage in Heart breaker is from Delano (MN) and is a real talent with more guts than any female driver in the country, she is known for being one of the few crazy enough to attempt the back flip in a Monster Truck, and has done it numerous times during shows put on in Mexico.

Results from 2011 Monster Truck Summer Melt down:
Friday Jimmy Cretin in Bounty Hunter won all three events.
Saturday Barbarian won the Wheelie contest, Bounty Hunter won racing and Kaila Savage in Heart Breaker won Freestyle!

Here is a highlight video of the 2011 show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68-e4RJgZw4

The Friday night July 13th 2012 show saw Barbarian truck (above) win racing and the wheelie contest, he also tied Heart Breaker for best in Freestyle.

For an awesome photo gallery of this event go to http://www.facebook.com/cricketprints

Speedtalk on 1360 radio is having an interview with Friday night winner Devan Jones from Barbarian Saturday July 14th.  Listen to Speedtalk 10-11am on KRWC radio 1360am or www.krwc1360.com

Speedtalk extra interviews

Mark Bronstad and Todd Wilson from Big Kidz racing are sponsoring weekly "Speedtalk Extra" interviews with drivers from Raceway Park in Shakopee (MN).

Broadcast times are Thursdays and Fridays at 8:35am and rebroadcast at 5:25pm (unless a local sports conflict).   Listen to KRWC radio in Buffalo MN at 1360am or www.krwc1360.com

Here is the updated driver interview schedule for the remainder of 2012.

Mike Dimmick    July 5 and 6.
Molly Rhoads   July 12 and 13.
Bryan Syer-Keske  July 19 and 20.
Rylee Michaelson    July 26 and 27.
Ryan Varner    Aug 2 and 3.
Drew Skaja     Aug 9 and 10.
Chad Walen     Aug 16 and 17.
Jeremy Roche    Aug 23 and 24.
Tom Quade      Aug 30 and 31.
Matt Scharr       Sep 6 and 7.
Robby Carter   Sep 13 and 14.
Tim Olson      Sep 20 and 21.

Thank you to Big Kidz racing sponsors:
Discout Taxi
Dayna's Darlings Daycare
Turtles Bar
AMSOIL Chester and Penny Gustafson

Ashley Judd at Iowa Speedway

Her job as a Hollywood actress makes her rich and famous, but Ashley Judd has a very different job on IndyCar race weekends, tending to her husband Dario Franchitti.  I caught up with her at Iowa Speedway on pit lane on qualifying day Friday June 22nd 2012, it seems she was very happy to talk racing instead of Hollywood gossip.

Jason:  What do you think of Iowa Speedway?

Ashley: I love this track, fun track, great racing, nice speeds, the drivers have a lot to do with braking and shifting and acceleration.  Hopefully like last year there will be some nice overtaking and spectacular stuff for the fans to enjoy.

Jason: Dario has done well here.

Ashley:  Dario has always done well on short tracks, I'm slightly prejudiced but short tracks are really technical and quite difficult and I think they bring out his expertise.

Jason:  You must have a very busy schedule but, I see you at many of these races, you must really enjoy being at the track.

Ashley:  I LOVE coming racing, last year I missed all but two races while I was filming "Missing," and was based in Europe for four and a half months.  I had to keep up through timing and scoring in the middle of the night through crazy time differences so, its really nice this season to be back in a normal routine following my HOT husband around.

Jason:  What is your job on race day?

Ashley:  Well, hand around and give my husband love and support and that is different things on different weekends.  I think its a privilege to be with and athlete when they are in their preparation time.  He has taught me to be a very safe person around him and taught me what he needs and I've been able to adapt to that.  Every driver is different and every family is different and we have really found a routine that works well for us.  I just do silly things, I make sure he has his hydration drinks and make sure we both stay fed.  We ate so well at this Mexican place in town and tonight I'm the lady that ordered four pies from Newton Family Restaurant (laugh).. So I do stuff like that.  I always look after the dogs and he needs his back wrapped and I do that, its fun.

Jason:  Good luck.

Ashley:  Thank you so much. 

*Dario did won his qualifying heat race on Friday but had bad luck on Saturday, blowing a motor on the first lap and finished 25th place.

Here is a link to the radio show where we broadcast the interview with Ashley http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IUTJW5aTXhs

Listen for Speed Talk on 1360 with Jason and Dean Saturdays 10-11 (central) on KRWC 1360am or www.krwc1360.com