When I started compiling the 40-plus years of racing results for Independence Motor Speedway, I was uncertain if I'd be able to gather complete results for any single season prior to 1990 (I already had everything from 1990-2009) let alone a single division's entire history. I was just as uncertain exactly which divisions competed in a regular basis over the years.
I admit, I was a little surprised that more divisions weren't a part of weekly racing at some point in time since the track opened in 1966. I was just as surprised that I actually found complete results for many of the divisions that have ever competed there.
It's my understanding that the track opened for competition in 1966. The earliest results any resources offered me was Hawkeye Racing News, which began publication in 1967. Unfortunately, that means I have no records from that first season. If anyone has any results from the 1966 season, feel free to contact me if they can be confirmed. The only weekly result that probably exists for that season is the Late Model division.
Aside from that first season, I've collected results from every season since 1967. Thank you to Jeannie Tarvin and Shelly Haefner for their assistance as I could not possibly have done this without their help accessing the HRN archives. My continued thanks go out to the previously mentioned Les Houser and Kyle Ealy for providing me with a number of missing results, as well. I also spent some time in the I.M.C.A. offices in Vinton to research some of their old yearbooks to confirm my I.M.C.A. results. Thanks to Bill Martin of I.M.C.A. for all of his help.
My goal was to compile every race result from every weekly points race, along with "specials" that served as points races for some/all divisions that competed on those nights. While I'm not quite finished compiling all of those results, what I have put together is more than I expected. I was able to collect every race result for every Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock and SportMod feature. Tomorrow, I also hope to fill in the few missing dates I have for the Late Model division, which will complete the histories of every current day division.
In addition to the divisions that are scheduled to compete in 2010, the following is a breakdown of the divisions that have competed at the track in its history of weekly racing:
Late Model: 1966-current (2009 marked its 44th season at Independence)
Modified: 1983-current (27 seasons)
Hobby Stock: 1989-current (21 seasons)
Stock Car: 1993-current (17 seasons)
SportMod: 2008-current (2 seasons)
B Mod: 2004-2007 (4 seasons)
Pro Stock: 1991-2001, 2003 (12 seasons)
Street Stock: 1984-1990 (7 seasons)
Sportsman: 1973-1987 (15 seasons)
Roadrunner: 1972-1982 (11 seasons)
Mini Stock: 1970-1972 (3 seasons)
Cadet/Novice: 1967-1970 (4 seasons)
Of the divisions that no longer compete, I have collected the entire history of the B Mods and Pro Stocks. I found all results except one for the Street Stocks and am missing only a handful of results from the Sportsman and Late Model divisions, however I hope to uncover the rest tomorrow when I have more time to research them. As for the Roadrunners, it appears that A) they didn't compete every week even when they were a part of the weekly program, B) the track writers didn't consider them a priority division to cover or, C) they ended up being left out of the paper due to limited space at press time. The Mini Stocks and Cadet/Novice divisions seem to have met the same fate as I have many of those divisions' results, however I'm not sure if all results even exist today. For the old-time readers of the blog, there was a division called the B Mods back in the early 70s that doesn't seem to have competed on a regular basis during its short one or two-year run. It may have been discontinued due to the dominance of Arlo Becker and Dave Trower.
Since some divisions weren't complete, I turned my focus to the Pro Stock and Street Stock divisions when ultimately "doing something" with the results I collected. I dove into the numbers and came up with a variety of statistics that I also eventually applied to the Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and SportMods. While I already blogged on the Stock Cars, after continuing my research, I discovered interesting statistics in other divisions that I applied to the Stock Car division, as well. I'll add those Stock Car numbers in the near future.
In the coming days and weeks, however, I hope to recap each season, its victors and include division statistics right here at positivelyracing.com. I'll start with the Pro Stocks and Street Stocks since those results are the most complete of non-current divisions. After the "old" divisions are done, I'll get into the current day divisions, starting with the SportMods (and include the B Mods in that blog), followed by the Hobby Stocks and additions to the Stock Car blog from last week.
Following all of that, I'll bring you complete histories of the Modified and Late Model divisions. While it seems I may be teasing you with those divisions (yeah, I am kind of doing it for that very reason), I want to take the time to confirm the Late Model results. That, and it'll take a while to put into words all of the stats I've put together for 400 Modified features and over 600 Late Model features.
Coincidentally, throughout the process I also attempted to uncover all track champions. Interestingly enough, it seems that season championship feature winners carried more clout back in the day than earning a track points championship based on the words of the track writers. While I'm missing a number of Late Model titlists, I did manage to find every track champion in the Modified, Stock Car, Hobby Stock, SportMod, B Mod, Pro Stock and Street Stock divisions.
With all that in mind, it's time to start writing about the Street Stocks and Pro Stocks. With any luck, I'll have that Stats Blitz posted later tonight.
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