The Johnson train continued to roll through Independence Motor Speedway Saturday night. Brothers Adam and Sean each scored wins in their respective divisions on the final night before next Saturday's season championships.
For Adam, it was his fourth straight IMCA Modified win, his fifth in the last six weeks and his sixth of the season. For Sean, it was his second straight IMCA Stock Car victory, fifth in the last seven weeks and his seventh overall this season. To-date, the Johnson brothers have visited victory lane on the same night four separate times this year.
Adam Johnson took the lead eight laps into the Modified feature, then pulled away to dominate the 20-lapper. He won by a straightaway ahead of Shawn Ryan and Kevin Pittman.
Johnson joins Jack Mitchell as the only Modified drivers in track history to earn four straight wins in the division in weekly competition. Mitchell earned six straight wins to close out the 1984 season.
For his career, Johnson now has 14 Modified wins, which places him alone in seventh on the all-time list, five behind Mitchell. Johnson has earned 10 Modified wins in the last two seasons. The last driver to do that was Darin Duffy in 2009 and 2010. The last driver to exceed 10 wins over two consecutive seasons was in 2004 and 2005 when Vern Jackson won 11 times.
In his career, Johnson has 18 wins in weekly racing on the Independence oval. That places him in a tie with Joe Docekal for 27th all-time.
Sean Johnson wrapped up the 2012 IMCA Stock Car track title with his win Saturday. Johnson ran the high side into the lead following an early caution to take the checkers ahead of Jarod Weepie and Jason Hocken.
His seventh win of the season, Johnson now has 24 for his career in Independence. Compared to drivers all-time, Johnson is tied with Tom Bartholomew for 16th. Saturday's win marked the fifth time in his career Johnson has strung together multiple wins.
Dean Wagner took advantage of a late caution to drive to a thrilling win in the IMCA Late Model division. Following a lap 21 restart, Wagner powered to the outside of Tyler Bruening and Greg Kastli to take his third win of the year in the 25-lap feature.
It was Wagner's eighth career Late Model win in Independence, moving him into a tie for 22nd all-time in the division with Dan Nesteby and Joe Schaefer.
Quinton Miller made his way past Vince Buchholz following an early stoppage to drive to his first IMCA Hobby Stock win of the season. For Miller, it was his eighth career win on the Indee oval, moving him into sole possession of 12th place on the division's all-time list.
Miller has now won at least one feature each of the last six seasons. That ties the all-time mark set by Patrick Stansbery who also won at least one Hobby Stock feature in six consecutive seasons from 1998-2003.
Joel Rust took the checkers in the IMCA SportMod feature. Although that event was slowed frequently for cautions, Rust proved to be the dominant car as he pulled away from the pack each time the green flag waved. It was his third SportMod win all-time in Independence, his first since season championship night during the 2009 season. His three SportMod wins place Rust into a tie for sixth with Chris Luloff and Ray Lundry.
Steve Miedke took the lead on lap two, then led the remainder of the 10-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature to drive to his third win this season. It was the fifth track points race for the division in track history and Miedke has now won three times to lead all drivers.
It was a great night of racing in Independence. A stellar count of 114 race teams signed in, the most since opening night on May 5.
I need to apologize to Stock Car driver Roger Ciesielski. During intermission, he handed me a $100 bill to award to the evening's Late Model feature winner in honor of the memory of his father, Jim, who passed away last year. I forgot to mention the kind offer during my victory lane interview with Dean Wagner, however I will make mention of it next Saturday.
Tonight, it's off to Benton County Speedway in Vinton where I'll be filling in for scorer Kevin Kemp. After last week's rainout, I imagine many in the area will be ready for another exciting night on the quarter-mile. I hope to see you all there!
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