There are some all-time statistics included, dating back to 1967. While the track was believed to have opened in 1965, my records date back to the beginning of the 1967 season. All of the “all-time” statistics here include races from only the five divisions that currently compete weekly at the speedway. Modifieds started competing in 1983, Hobby Stocks in 1989, Stock Cars in 1993 and SportMods in 2008. The information included for the Late Models dates back to 1967.
As always, special thanks to track photographer Scott Tjabring of Action Track Photography for allowing me to use his photos. Check out his excellent work at Action Track Photos. This month, there are a few "oldies" thrown in. Thanks to Mark Jacobs of Speed Shots and Les Houser for offering up old pics.
Car Count
Division - Average - High - Low
Late Model – 22.0 - 29 - 18
Modified – 25.6 - 29 - 20
Stock Car – 15.7 - 18 - 13
SportMod – 17.6 - 24 - 13
Hobby Stock – 21.3 - 23 - 19
TOTAL – 102.2 - 111 - 96
Points
* 181 drivers have earned points so far this season.
* 63 different hometowns are represented on the points sheet.
* Points leaders account for eight of the 50 total feature wins through 10 weeks. Jerry Luloff (Modifieds), Jarod Weepie (Stock Cars) and Vince Buchholz (Hobby Stocks) lead the standings in their respective divisions, but have yet to record a feature win in 2011.
IN THE HUNT
* 27 drivers have remained in the top-10 in the points following all 10 weeks of the season. Those drivers include:
Late Model (4): Darren Ackerman, Tyler Bruening, Jon Passick, Travis Smock;
Modified (6): Mike Burbridge, Troy Cordes, Patrick Flannagan, Adam Johnson, Jerry Luloff, Tony Olson;
Stock Car (6): Norman Chesmore, Austin Evens, Tim Helle, Sean Johnson, Dave Stricker, Jarod Weepie;
SportMod (6): Jim Buhlman, Tyler Droste, Danny Dvorak, Lucas Lundry, Ray Lundry, Josh Sherbon;
Hobby Stock (5): August Bach, Vince Buchholz, Nathan Christie, Chris Wiltse, Steve Wiltse.
* 13 drivers have remained in the top-5 in the points following all 10 weeks of the season. Those drivers include:
Late Model (3): Darren Ackerman, Tyler Bruening, Travis Smock;
Modified (2): Patrick Flannagan, Adam Johnson;
Stock Car (4): Norman Chesmore, Sean Johnson, Dave Stricker, Jarod Weepie;
SportMod (3): Tyler Droste, Lucas Lundry, Ray Lundry;
Hobby Stock (1): Vince Buchholz.
FRONT-RUNNER - Adam Johnson has remained in the top 5 of the IMCA Modified points all season at Independence. His two feature wins this season have kept him in contention for his first track championship in the division.
* There have been 31 different feature winners in 50 feature events this season.
* There have been five different winners the last five weeks in both the Late Model and Modified divisions.
Making history…
Late Model: Tyler Bruening carries a 22-point lead into the final month of the season. The defending track champion in the division, Bruening looks to become the first back-to-back titlist in the Late Models since Curt Martin won three straight from 2004-2006. Martin was also the last Late Model driver to record his first two track championships in back-to-back seasons. He did that in 1984-1985, then won the division again in 1986.
BACK-TO-BACK BRUENING? - Tyler Bruening is looking to repeat as track champion in the IMCA Late Model division. He is four weeks away from becoming the first repeat champion in the division in five years.
Modified: Jerry Luloff is the all-time leader in Modified track championships at Independence. Entering the 2011 season, he won four titles outright and shared one, giving him five championships. The points leader entering the final month of the season, Luloff is positioning himself to earn his sixth track championship in the division at the track. He currently has no feature wins this season, however he won his last title in 2006 without a single trip to the winner's circle. In fact, three of the last five Modified champions at Independence won their titles without a single feature win (Luloff, 2006; Troy Cordes, 2008 and 2010).
SIX PACK - Jerry Luloff is a month shy of becoming the first-ever six-time IMCA Modified track champion at the speedway. No other Modified driver currently has more than four titles.
FIVE OF SEVEN? - Jarod Weepie is looking to earn his fifth IMCA Stock Car title at Independence in the last seven years.
UNCHARTERED TERRITORY - Tyler Droste is seeking his first career track championship in the IMCA SportMod division. He leads a close battle among six drivers heading into the final month of the season.
DOUBLE TROUBLE - Vince Buchholz is looking to become just the third Hobby Stock driver in speedway history to earn a second track title in the division.
Top-10s
* 128 drivers have earned at least one top-10 finish this season.* 5 drivers have earned top-10 finishes in all 10 features:
Late Model (0): None; Tyler Bruening, Jon Passick and Travis Smock lead the division with nine top-10s;
Modified (1): Jerry Luloff;
Stock Car (1): Jarod Weepie;
SportMod (3): Danny Dvorak, Lucas Lundry, Ray Lundry;
Hobby Stock (0): None; Vince Buchholz leads the division with nine top-10s.
PERFECT 10 - Ray Lundry has earned 10 top-10 feature finishes in the IMCA SportMod division this season to remain within striking distance of the track championship.
* 80 drivers have earned at least one top-5 finish this season.
* No drivers have earned top-5 finishes in all features this season. The drivers with the most top-5 feature finishes in each division are as follows:
Late Model: Tyler Bruening (7);
Modified: Adam Johnson, Jerry Luloff (6 each);
Stock Car: Jarod Weepie (8);
SportMod: Josh Sherbon (8);
Hobby Stock: Vince Buchholz, Justin Lichty, Jamie Whitaker (6 each).
FIVE UP HIGH - Nobody has more top-5 feature finishes this season than Josh Sherbon. The IMCA SportMod driver has earned eight top-5 finishes in 10 nights of racing.
The longest current top-5 streak in each division includes:
Late Model: Tyler Bruening (3 straight top-5 finishes);
Modified: Adam Johnson (3);
Stock Car: Jarod Weepie (2);
SportMod: Tyler Droste, Josh Sherbon (5 each);
Hobby Stock: Jamie Whitaker (4).
Top-3s
* 58 drivers have earned at least one top-3 finish this season.
* No drivers have earned top-3 finishes in all features this season. The drivers with the most top-3 feature finishes in each division are as follows:
Late Model: Tyler Bruening (6);
Modified: Vern Jackson (5);
Stock Car: Sean Johnson (5, all wins);
SportMod: Tyler Droste (7);
Hobby Stock: Jamie Whitaker (6).
HOT SHOT - Jamie Whitaker is currently on one of the hottest streaks at the speedway. The IMCA Hobby Stock driver has recorded four consecutive top-3 feature finishes and six top-3s in his last seven outings.
* 69 drivers have led at least one lap of feature competition.
* Division lap leaders include:
Late Model (13 total different lap leaders): Luke Merfeld (50 laps led), Tyler Bruening (45), Luke Pestka (33), Rob Toland (25), Curt Martin (23);
Modified (16): Vern Jackson (50 laps led), Justin O'Brien (20), Leon Wilson (16), Adam Johnson (14), Troy Cordes (13);
Stock Car (11): Sean Johnson (85 laps led); Dave Stricker (26); Kirk Fauser (14); Thomas Thompson and Paul Fauser (6 each);
SportMod (13): Tyler Droste (36 laps led); Danny Dvorak (31); Josh Sherbon (24); Lucas Lundry and Ray Lundry (13 each);
Hobby Stock (16): Jamie Whitaker (28 laps led); Chris Luloff (20); Justin Stander (16); Rod Grother (15); Scott Pippert and Steve Wiltse (14 each).
PURSUIT OF 100 - IMCA Stock Car driver Sean Johnson has led 85 laps of feature action this season, tops among all drivers at the speedway. A flag-to-flag feature win next week will give him 100 laps led for the season.
* There have been 62 different winners in 132 heat races.
* Tyler Bruening (Late Models) leads all drivers with eight heat wins in 10 weeks, including six straight heat wins entering August. He has finished no worse than second in a heat this season, meaning 28 of his 389 points have come in heat race competition which is 12 points more than Jon Passick, who sits second in the Late Model standings.
* Vern Jackson (Modifieds) is the only seven-timer in heat race competition. He has won his heat each of the past two weeks. No other Modified driver has more than four heat wins.
* No other driver has more than five heat wins this season. The five-time winners include Josh Sherbon (SportMods) and Chris Luloff (Hobby Stocks).
Efficiency Stats
* A total of 188 races have been run this season.
* A total of 1,990 laps have been completed.
* A total of 213 caution flags have been thrown.
* Of the 188 races this season, 93 have been caution-free.
* 155 of the 213 cautions have occurred during features.
* The Hobby Stock division (33 cautions in 39 total events) has had the best caution per race ratio by averaging .85 cautions for every race.
* The Late Model division (40 cautions in 489 total laps) has had the best caution per race lap ratio by averaging 12.23 laps of green flag racing between caution flags. The Late Model feature ran caution-free four times over a five week stretch from June 18 to July 16.
* The caution flag has flown only four times in 29 heat races for the Hobby Stocks this season and just five times in the 20 Stock Car heats.
* The Late Model division leads the way by averaging 11.40 completed laps of feature racing before the first yellow flag. The Hobby Stocks have the second best mark in this category with an average of 5.30 feature laps completed before the first caution.
Since the year 1967...
* 654 Late Model feature events have been completed in weekly competition with 97 different winners. On average, a new Late Model winner visits victory lane every 6.74 events.
* 424 Modified feature events have been completed in weekly competition with 78 different winners. On average, a new Modified winner visits victory lane every 5.43 events.
* 272 Stock Car feature events have been completed in weekly competition with 40 different winners. On average, a new Stock Car winner visits victory lane every 6.8 events.
* 47 SportMod feature events have been completed in weekly competition with 13 different winners. On average, a new SportMod winner visits victory lane every 3.61 events.
* 333 Hobby Stock feature events have been completed in weekly competition with 86 different winners. On average, a new Hobby Stock winner visits victory lane every 3.87 events.
* Overall, in the last 44-plus seasons, there have been 1,730 features completed in the five divisions that currently compete at the speedway.
Qualifying Streaks
* The longest currently active feature qualifying streaks for weekly competition in each division include:
Late Model: Darren Ackerman has qualified for 69 consecutive features. His last miss was June 3, 2006.
Modified: Jerry Luloff has qualified for 207 consecutive features. His last miss was July 5, 1997.
Stock Car: Jarod Weepie has qualified for 146 consecutive features. His last miss was June 9, 2001.
Hobby Stock: Rod Grother has qualified for 25 consecutive features. His last miss was August 22, 2009.
SportMod: Jim Buhlman has qualified for all 47 features dating back to the first one at the speedway on June 21, 2008.
Rainout Trends
* The month of July was scheduled for five race events and four of them were completed successfully. July 2, 16 and 30 remain perfect all-time at Independence as all six times each of those dates have had weekly racing scheduled, the show was successfully completed. July 23 rained out for the first time in track history this season and 1988 remains the only July 9 rainout.
THE FORECAST
* There are four dates scheduled for weekly racing in the month of August this season (6, 13, 20, 27). Of those, only August 6 and August 20 have ever rained out - August 6, 1977 and August 20, 1983. August 13 and 27 are both a perfect 5-0 for scheduled weekly racing at Independence, meaning the combined record for weekly racing on the August dates on this year's calendar is 18-2.
* There have been 22 rain-free Augusts of racing, all in the last 35 years. There have been no rainouts at Independence in the month of August since August 4, 2007. That means there have been 16 straight Saturdays of August racing at Independence. Prior to the rainout in 2007, the last August rainout was August 28, 2004, meaning 24 of the last 25 weekly races scheduled in August at Indee have been successful.
* Since 1967, there have been 172 rainouts in 809 total weekly races scheduled. The month of August has had the second-best race-to-rainout ratio as only 29 events have been rained out of the 191 scheduled. That means 84.8% of all weekly shows scheduled for the month of August have been successfully completed.
* When breaking down the season into halves where May and June comprise the first half of the season (not including any April dates) and July and August comprise the second half, historically, there are nearly half as many rainouts during the second half of the season than there are in the first half. Entering August of 2011, there have been 104 rainouts during the first half of the season and only 55 rainouts during the months of July and August.
Stuff Nobody Should Know…
* The starting spot to produce the largest number of feature winners is inside row five. That position has produced eight winners overall this season.
* The starting spot in the first five rows to produce the fewest number of feature winners is the pole position. Only one time this season (Luke Merfeld on June 11) has a feature winner started on the pole. In the previous six seasons, by the end of July there had been a combined 30 winners from the pole position.
* No feature winners have come from the front row in the Modified, Stock Car and SportMod divisions. Only three front row starters have won this season, twice in Late Models and once in Hobby Stocks. No drivers won from the front row in the month of July.
* Dave Stricker (Stock Car) and Justin Lichty (Hobby Stock) are the only drivers to have earned at least one finish in each of the top-5 finishing positions so far this season.
* Prior to his first win of the season on July 30, Quinton Miller (Hobby Stock) had three second place finishes this season to three different drivers (August Bach, Rod Grother and Chris Luloff). The only other driver at the speedway with three runner-up finishes is Jamie Whitaker (Hobby Stock). He, too, has finished second to three different winners (Chris Wiltse, Steve Wiltse and Quinton Miller).
* Of all top-10 feature finishing positions among all divisions (a combined 50 positions), only three have not produced duplicate finishes by the same driver. Huh? Well, to make it clear (I hope), through 10 weeks, there have been 10 different fifth place finishers in the Late Model division, 10 different 10th place finishers in the Late Model division and 10 different 10th place finishers in the Modified division.
* Sean Johnson (Stock Car) has led the most feature laps of any driver at the speedway this season. He has led 85 of 154 total Stock Car feature laps. Johnson has held the lead in seven of the 10 features so far this season, including each of the last three weeks. The other five combined Stock Car feature winners have led a total of 16 laps.
* Every Late Model feature winner has taken the lead by lap 15.
* A car with a letter in its number has led 151 of 154 total Stock Car feature laps.
* A car without a letter in its number has led 142 of 150 total Hobby Stock feature laps.
* Tyler Bruening (Late Model), Dave Stricker (Stock Car), Ray Lundry (SportMod) and Vince Buchholz (Hobby Stock) are the only drivers to remain in the top three of his division's points every week this season. Bruening and Buchholz have been no lower than second. Adam Johnson leads the Modifieds in this category as his lowest position this season has been fourth.
* Danny Dvorak (SportMods) has recorded nine straight top-3 finishes in heat race competition, Justin Lichty (Hobby Stock) has recorded eight straight top-3s and Chris Luloff (Hobby Stock) has recorded a top-3 heat race finish in each of the seven nights he has competed this season.
* Six features have gone caution-free this season - Late Model (4 times), Hobby Stock (1), Stock Car (1).
* Since the 1989 season, 87 track champions have been crowned among the five divisions that currently compete at Independence. Of those track champions, 64 were leading the points in their respective division at the end of July. The breakdown is as follows:
Late Model: 17 of 22 Late Model track champions held the points lead at the end of July, including Denny Osborn (1989), Curt Martin (1990, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2006), Gary Crawford (1993), Greg Kastli (1994, 2002, 2003), Rick Wendling (1995, 1996), Kevin Pittman (1998), Darren Ackerman (2007, 2009), and Tyler Bruening (2010). CURRENT LEADER: Tyler Bruening - Dating back to the start of the 2010 season, Bruening has led the Late Model points at the end of seven consecutive months. It is the longest such Late Model streak in at least the last 23 years.
TWICE AS NICE - Rick Wendling earned two consecutive Late Model track championships in 1985 and 1986. He is shown here during his 1985 run. Tyler Bruening hopes to join Wendling as a back-to-back titlist in the division this season. (photo courtesy of Les Houser)
Modified: 14 of 22 Modified track champions held the points lead at the end of July, including Tom Bartholomew (1989, 1992), Owen Grube (1993), Steve Droste (1994, 1996), Scott Hogan (1997, 2003), Jerry Luloff (1999, 2000, 2001, 2006), Troy Cordes (2002, 2010) and Darin Duffy (2009). CURRENT LEADER: Jerry Luloff - Not including this year, in the past 12 seasons Luloff has held the points lead six times heading into the final month ('99, '00, '01, '04, '06, '07). He has earned five track titles in that time ('99, '00, '01, '05, '06). The year he won the title after not leading the points at the end of July (2005), Luloff was second in the standings heading into the final month, 12 points behind Troy Cordes.
MID-90s MODS - No stranger to the winner's circle, Steve Droste earned three straight track championships from 1994-1996. Jerry Luloff entered the division in 1997 and is seeking his sixth title since 1999. (photo courtesy of Mark Jacobs/Speed Shots)
PORTIS POWER - Larry Portis (shown here in 1995) is one of only three IMCA Stock Car drivers to earn a track championship after leading the points entering the final month of the season. (photo courtesy of Les Houser)
Hobby Stock: 17 of 22 Hobby Stock track champions held the points lead at the end of July, including Steve Holthaus (1989), Lon Gadow (1990), Jerry Luloff (1991), Forrest Frost (1992), Kevin Hoehne (1994), Chris Wessner (1995), Todd Temeyer (1996), Nick Wroten (1998), Doug Otto (1999), Scooter Dulin (2001), Patrick Stansbery (2002, 2005), Vince Buchholz (2003), Brian Irvine (2004), Josh Irvine (2007, 2009) and Chris Luloff (2008). CURRENT LEADER: Vince Buchholz - Buchholz has led the points twice entering the final month of the season ('03, '10) and earned the track title in 2003.
WHOOP WHOOP - During both of his championship runs, Josh Irvine (shown here in 2007) led the points entering the month of August.
SportMod: All three IMCA SportMod track champions held the points lead entering the final month of the season: Danny Dvorak (2008), Kyle Bentley (2009), Austin Kaplan (2010). CURRENT LEADER: Tyler Droste - In only his second year in the division, Droste has held the points lead at the end of a calendar month twice in his career - May and July of this year. He is in search of his first career track championship.
INAUGURAL CHAMP - Danny Dvorak (yes, he drove the #45) works the low side of Travis Brown in the first season of IMCA SportMod racing at Independence in 2008. Dvorak drove to the track's first championship. No repeat winners since that time, Tyler Droste is looking to become the fourth different titlist in as many seasons.
While 64 of 87 seems to be a guarantee that the current points leaders are bound for title honors, it still leaves a few questions. Odds are, one of the current leaders will not carry home the hardware. Who will it be, if any? With the tightest points battles in recent memory heading into the final month, the last four nights of weekly racing are bound to add a little more history to the speedway.
That will take care of this month. Check back at the end of August for the final Blitz of the summer! Thanks for reading!
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