Stats Blitz Bonus 2!

With only three weeks left in the season, I thought I'd throw in another Stats Blitz.

* Darin Duffy has now won five of the last seven I.M.C.A. Modified features. That feat has not been accomplished in at least the last 20 years of weekly racing at the speedway. The last driver to come close to that type of streak was in 1999 when a driver reeled off seven wins in 10 nights. The driver? Darin Duffy. Coincidentally, Duffy's first Modified win in Independence came on June 5, 1993, the weekend of his father's birthday. He has won 32 sanctioned weekly Modified features in Independence since that time.

* Duffy's Modified win on August 8 marked the third time in his last four wins that he took the lead on lap six.

* Darin Duffy is the only Modified driver this season to earn more than one feature win. Not since 1993 has only one driver in the division won multiple features. That season, Jeff Aikey (yes, Jeff) was the only Modified driver to score multiple wins. He scored two wins that season. In a rain-shortened 11-week season, the other winners in 1993 were Tim Donlinger, Kevin Schroeder, Duane Van Deest, Buck Swanson, Garry Stuber, Steve Droste, Jim Abben and Owen Grube. Grube won the track title that year by 56 points over Garry Stuber and Steve Droste. That is the largest championship margin in the final standings in the last 20 years.

* For all of you Indee historians, here is a list of drivers and the dates they won their last Modified feature in weekly points racing at Independence. Keep in mind, some of these drivers went on to compete in other divisions, the Indee Open Series or other special events, however these dates include their final weekly points wins in the I.M.C.A. Modified division:
Denny Ansel - July 8, 1989
Jeff Barkdoll - June 24, 1995
Ron Barker - June 3, 1989
Tom Bartholomew - June 25, 1994
Arlo Becker - June 30, 1990
Merlin Benning - August 17, 1991
Dave Bentley - May 30, 1992
Dan Bohr - July 30, 1994
Corey Dripps - July 12, 1997
Steve Droste - July 13, 1996
Owen Grube - June 18, 1994
Doug Hillson - May 20, 1989
Ron Hurst - August 10, 1991
Timm Jensen - July 26, 2003
Todd Jensen - July 6, 1991
John Light - June 20, 1992
Dean Mahlstedt - May 11, 1996
Tim McBride - August 11, 2001
Jack Mitchell - July 23, 1994
Keith Pittman - June 28, 1997
Kevin Pittman - August 18, 1990
Mike Sampson - June 5, 1999
Larry Schmidt - August 1, 1992
Deon Turner - May 3, 2003
Duane Van Deest - May 21, 1994

* Brian Irvine has now won five of the last six I.M.C.A. Stock Car features. The last driver to have a comparable streak was Dan Trimble during the 2000 season when he won seven features in nine weeks and eight of 11. Over the course of the end of the 1999 season into the start of 2000, Trimble won seven straight features.

* The starting position to produce the most feature wins this season among all five divisions is outside of the front row. That starting spot has produced 10 of the 55 feature winners, however eight of those wins were during the first five weeks of the season. Winners have come from the front row only twice in the last five weeks (25 events).

* Drivers with the current longest top-10 feature finish streaks include:
Late Model: Brian Hunter (4 straight), Curt Martin (2), Darin Burco (2), Tysus Pattee (2). No driver has earned more than four straight top-10s in the Late Models. Along with Hunter, Darren Ackerman, Jon Passick and Travis Smock are the only drivers to earn four straight top-10s this season.
Modified: Darin Duffy (11 straight), Troy Cordes (8), Max Corporon (3), Vern Jackson (3). All 11 of Duffy's finishes have been top-4s, including four straight top-3s.
Stock Car: Kevin Rose (8 straight), Dan Trimble (7), Justin Tememyer (7). All seven of Temeyer's finishes during his current streak have been top-3 finishes.
SportMod: Danny Dvorak (3 straight), Joel Rust (2), Josh Sherbon (2), Curt Hilmer (2), Marty Rouse (2). Chris Luloff and Kyle Bentley have had the longest top-10 SportMod streaks this season. Each had five straight earlier this season.
Hobby Stock: Quinton Miller (11 straight), Wes Stanek (6), Joe Sprague (3), Josh Irvine (2). Josh Irvine is the only driver to earn more than two straight top-3s this season. He earned four straight earlier this season during his four-race winning streak. Miller's streak includes top-5 finishes each of the last three weeks and seven top-5s overall.

* Jarod Weepie (Stock Car) holds the distinction of being the only driver to have earned at least one finish in each of the top-six feature finishing positions.

* Through 11 weeks, 14 drivers have earned at least eight top-3 heat race finishes. The breakdown is as follows:
Late Model: Darren Ackerman and Jon Passick (8 each);
Modified: Darin Duffy and Troy Cordes (10 each), Johnathan Thimmesch (9). Among his 10 top-3s, Cordes has no heat wins;
Stock Car: Justin Temeyer (9), Dan Trimble (8);
SportMod: Danny Dvorak (10), Kaleb Bentley, Curt Hilmer and Drew Fish (8 each);
Hoby Stock: Josh Irvine and Quinton Miller (9 each), Matt Brown (8). Among his nine top-3s, Miller has no heat wins.