Tucker Cox takes command late for wild Late Model victory to headline Lucas Oil Speedway Fall Brawl program
WHEATLAND, MO. — What has been a challenging season for Tucker Cox at Lucas Oil Speedway, including a massive crash that sidelined him for nearly two months, ended with his biggest triumph on Saturday.
The Jefferson City driver, who broke his foot in a hard crash in mid-April, took control late in a wild State Tech Hermitage Lumber Late Model Fall Brawl to walk away with the $4,000 winner's check.
The inaugural Fall Brawl Presented by SMC also saw Chris Tonoli take the $1,500-to-win Springfield Mechanical Services Inc. POWRi Pure Stock Shootout. Also earning feature wins were Damen Clevenger (Show-Me Vintage Racers Series) and Bart Miller (American Iron Racing Series).
The rare daytime event, moved up in anticipation of evening rain, turned out to be a memorable one with Cox scoring an emotional win in his new Capital Race Car.
Cox was running fourth or fifth most of the race, but pounced when misfortune found the frontrunners in a wild last 10 laps. He took the lead on lap 34, lost it to Tommy Cordray on lap 36 and regained it the next time around in the 40-lap main event.
"I was just trying to be patient," Cox said. "I had to calm it down. I was getting a little too anxious there the first 15 or 20 laps.
"I apologize to Cordray, for getting into him, but I wanted to win really bad. We were going for four grand, so rubbin's racin."
The two main contenders were eliminated in an incident on lap 31, changing the complexion of the season-ending special for drivers in the Hermitage Lumber Late Model weekly division.
Johnny Fennewald led the first 30 laps but as 11-time 2023 winner and track champion Justin Wells was passing him for the top spot on lap 31, those two tangled and wound up wrecked. Two laps leader, Jace Parmley fell out of contention, with mechanical issues, while leading.
Fennewald started on the pole and set a fast pace in the first half of the event, but got bogged down in lapped traffic on lap 25. That allowed ninth-starting Wells to close within .066 seconds. By lap 30, Wells was right on the leader’s bumper and challenging for the lead.
Wells was making an outside pass coming into turn two on lap 31 and Fennewald appeared to drift up and make, sending them spinning to a halt with significant damage to both cars. Fennewald’s vehicle had to be towed to the pits and Wells was able to slowly drive his there, but was done for the day.
Third-running Parmley inherited the lead with Cordray second and Cox in third. Cox advanced to second on lap 31, but the race took another big turn on lap 34 as Parmley’s car suddenly slowed and he pulled to the infield.
A caution flew for debris from Parmley’s car littered turn four. That left Cox in front with six laps remaining, with Cordray second and Bryon Allison third. Just one lap was completed when a two-car incident in turn one brought out another caution.
Cordray took over the lead on lap 37 going around Cox on the outside of turn two. Cox battled back on the inside to regain the front the next time around, coming off turn four.
Cox drove to the win from there, holding off Larry Jones by .877 seconds as fireworks exploded overhead. Cordray faded to third with Allison fourth and JC Morton fifth.
"I've grew up watching (Cordray) here and he won a lot of races," Cox said. "It's pretty damn cool. I just want to thank all my sponsors, my mom and dad and everybody else that helps me."
Tonoli drives to SMSI Pure Stock Shootout win: Chris Tonoli emerged from a caution-filled 25 laps to capture the SMSI Pure Stock Shootout. The Fair Grove driver went from 20th at the start to victory lane.
Tonoli passed race-long leader Mason Beck, Friday's feature winner, with three laps remaining and held on for the $1,500 win.
"I had some back luck in the heat race and ripped the whole right side off," Tonoli said. "Everybody in my pit and all our friends helped us fix it."
Mark Simon started up front and led through a caution-plagued first eight laps, which saw five yellow flags. Beck was second and Robert White third when action resumed on lap nine.
Beck used the restart to get a good outside run down the backstretch and overtake Simon. Two laps later, Simon spun while in the midst of a four-way battle for second and that brought out caution No. 6.
Tonoli drove from 20th at the start into second midway through the event, but with a few green-flag laps finally strung together Beck opened a one-second lead on lap 16. Beck was working hard to hold off Tonoli when caution No. 9 slowed things on lap 22, leaving three laps to settle the outcome.
Tonoli edged ahead by a couple of feet at the start-finish line to complete lap 23. On the final lap, Beck appeared to cut down a tire and Tonoli drove away for the victory, beating Grayson McKinney by three car lengths.
Robbie Jones wound up third, Beck fell to fourth and Payton McDowell came home in fifth.
Clevenger rolls to SMVR victory: Damen Clevenger of Parkville, Mo., led all but the opening lap to take the Show-Me Vintage Racers main event.
Clevenger started 12th, but rolled to second by the end of lap one and went around Kevin Anderson for the lead on lap two. Clevenger wasted no time opening a two-second lead over John Martin just five laps into the 15-lap feature.
The three-time SMVR winner in 2023 kept pouring it on from there. His lead was 5.4 seconds by lap 10 when a caution for a stalled car on the front stretch slowed the action and took away Clevenger’s huge lead.
Clevenger took it home from there, holding off David Isaacs by .688 seconds at the checkers. Tom Charles was third with Martin fourth and Rodney Ashworth coming home fifth.
"The track was a lot different, during a day race. It was a lot slicker and I just tried to keep the car under me," Clevenger said.
Miller claims American Iron Racing Series win: Bart Miller of Clarence, Iowa, drove his 1962 Ford Galaxy to the feature win in the American Iron Racing Series. It was his sixth series win of the season.
"This is quite a class," Miller said. "Most people think we just come out single file. We race. And we have a good time."
Miller started seventh and worked his way into the runner-up position by lap three, closing in on Tracy Quigley. Miller made the pass for the lead on lap eight, as Quigley slid high in turn two.
As Miller had opened an .811-second lead, a lap-nine caution took away his margin and bunched the field with Quigley second, Doak Allen third and Jake Hayes in fourth. Allen moved into second on the restart, but Miller was able to open up his lead to nearly a second over the next couple of laps.
Allen closed onto the leader’s bumper on the final lap, but Miller was able to hang on to win by .575 seconds. Quigley finished third with Brian Gade fourth and Jake Hayes fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Sept. 23, 2023)
Fall Brawl Presented by SMC
State Tech Hermitage Lumber Late Models
A Feature - 1. 1T-Tucker Cox[7]; 2. 99-Larry Jones[14]; 3. 5-Tommy Cordray[6]; 4. 1A-Bryon Allison[4]; 5. 72-JC Morton[5]; 6. 7J-Jake Morris[13]; 7. 81-Jimmy Dowell[11]; 8. 73-Francisco Escamila[8]; 9. 13-Shawn Whitman[10]; 10. 6-Bob Cummings[17]; 11. (DNF) 82-Jace Parmley[2]; 12. (DNF) 14-Kyle Graves[12]; 13. (DNF) 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 14. (DNF) 98-Justin Wells[9]; 15. (DNF) 15-Bobby Ruff II[19]; 16. (DNF) 40-Josh Newman[15]; 17. (DNF) 90-Joe Walkenhorst[3]; 18. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[16]; 19. (DNF) 28-Jim Greenway[18]
Wasoba Seed & Trucking Heat 1 - 1. 82-Jace Parmley[4]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald[10]; 3. 72-JC Morton[7]; 4. 73-Francisco Escamila[2]; 5. 13-Shawn Whitman[6]; 6. 14-Kyle Graves[1]; 7. 7J-Jake Morris[5]; 8. 40-Josh Newman[9]; 9. 28-Jim Greenway[3]; 10. 15-Bobby Ruff II[8]
Reed Environmental and Dirt Track Specialist Heat 2 - 1. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[2]; 2. 1A-Bryon Allison[4]; 3. 5-Tommy Cordray[3]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[6]; 5. 98-Justin Wells[7]; 6. 81-Jimmy Dowell[9]; 7. 99-Larry Jones[5]; 8. 21P-Darren Phillips[8]; 9. 6-Bob Cummings[1]
SMSI POWRi Pure Stock Shootout
A Feature - 1. 71-Chris Tonoli[20]; 2. 05G-Grayson McKiney[11]; 3. 20-Robbie Jones[8]; 4. 5-Mason Beck[3]; 5. 216-Payton McDowell[9]; 6. 30-Trevor Wilson[6]; 7. 5M-Justin McDowell[15]; 8. 07-Jordan Goddard[16]; 9. 7-Spencer Reiff[10]; 10. 69-Dylan Bowman[13]; 11. 7G-Shannon Geller[12]; 12. 19-Trenton Houston[7]; 13. 14-Shane Headley[18]; 14. (DNF) 21-Darin Porter[4]; 15. (DNF) 136-Bobby Brown[2]; 16. (DNF) 99-Robert White[5]; 17. (DNF) 23-Mark Simon[1]; 18. (DNF) 92-Josh Payton[17]; 19. (DNF) 88-Chris Messerli[14]; 20. (DNF) 54-Dennis Crenshaw[21]; 21. (DNS) 17-Shayne Healea
Heat 1 - 1. 21-Darin Porter[2]; 2. 136-Bobby Brown[7]; 3. 19-Trenton Houston[6]; 4. 7-Spencer Reiff[5]; 5. 88-Chris Messerli[3]; 6. 07-Jordan Goddard[1]; 7. 14-Shane Headley[4]
Heat 2 - 1. 23-Mark Simon[7]; 2. 99-Robert White[5]; 3. 216-Payton McDowell[4]; 4. 7G-Shannon Geller[1]; 5. 69-Dylan Bowman[6]; 6. (DNF) 17-Shayne Healea[2]; 7. (DNF) 71-Chris Tonoli[3]
Heat 3 - 1. 30-Trevor Wilson[1]; 2. 5-Mason Beck[7]; 3. 20-Robbie Jones[6]; 4. 05G-Grayson McKiney[5]; 5. 5M-Justin McDowell[3]; 6. 92-Josh Payton[4]; 7. (DNS) 54-Dennis Crenshaw
Show-Me Vintage Racing Series
A Feature - 1. 6-Damen Clevenger[12]; 2. 45-David Isaacs[18]; 3. 81-Tom Charles[14]; 4. 88-John Martin[8]; 5. 1A-Rodney Ashworth[10]; 6. 2B-Brian Cox[15]; 7. 54-Lawrence Waters[13]; 8. 711-Darrell Doerr[7]; 9. 113-Jim Thorne[11]; 10. 9D-Bryant Moyer[9]; 11. 3-Ed Neil[17]; 12. 58T-Jeff Triggs[5]; 13. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[16]; 14. 44-Terry Price[3]; 15. 58-Beth Martin[4]; 16. 42-Rob Brash[20]; 17. (DNF) 72-WIlliam Holohan[19]; 18. (DNF) 1-Angela Ashworth[21]; 19. (DNF) 8-Rocky Rhodes[6]; 20. (DNF) 48-Kevin Anderson[1]; 21. (DNF) 08-Dan Schmidt[2]
Heat 1 - 1. 88-John Martin[4]; 2. 48-Kevin Anderson[1]; 3. 9D-Bryant Moyer[5]; 4. 8-Rocky Rhodes[3]; 5. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[8]; 6. 3-Ed Neil[7]; 7. 1A-Rodney Ashworth[6]; 8. (DNF) 08-Dan Schmidt[2]
Heat 2 - 1. 6-Damen Clevenger[2]; 2. 81-Tom Charles[4]; 3. 113-Jim Thorne[1]; 4. 45-David Isaacs[8]; 5. 2B-Brian Cox[6]; 6. 54-Lawrence Waters[3]; 7. (DNF) 32W-Bob Werkmeister[5]; 8. (DNF) 35-BILL BERENS[7]
Heat 3 - 1. 58T-Jeff Triggs[4]; 2. 711-Darrell Doerr[3]; 3. 44-Terry Price[1]; 4. 58-Beth Martin[2]; 5. 42-Rob Brash[6]; 6. 1-Angela Ashworth[7]; 7. (DNF) 72-WIlliam Holohan[5]
American Iron Racing Series
A Feature - 1. 501-Bart Miller[7]; 2. 01-Doak Allen[10]; 3. 22Q-Tracy Quigley[2]; 4. 5-Brian Gade[4]; 5. 11-Jake Hayes[1]; 6. 16-Robin Atkins[9]; 7. 17SR-Ron Cook[8]; 8. 42-Bruce Yoerger[3]; 9. 31-Daniel Wauters[13]; 10. 51-Matthew Hirst[17]; 11. P 51-Dave Bielenberg[11]; 12. 23-Lisa Miller[14]; 13. 80-Scott Tiedt[5]; 14. A1-John Fish[15]; 15. (DNF) 29-Owen Hayes[12]; 16. (DNF) 68-Travis Heier[6]; 17. (DNF) 2-Domanic McNabb[16]
Heat 1 - 1. 11-Jake Hayes[4]; 2. 68-Travis Heier[3]; 3. 5-Brian Gade[5]; 4. 51-Matthew Hirst[7]; 5. 01-Doak Allen[2]; 6. 42-Bruce Yoerger[6]; 7. P 51-Dave Bielenberg[8]; 8. 31-Daniel Wauters[9]; 9. (DNS) 2-Domanic McNabb
Heat 2 - 1. 16-Robin Atkins[1]; 2. 80-Scott Tiedt[2]; 3. 501-Bart Miller[8]; 4. 22Q-Tracy Quigley[7]; 5. 17SR-Ron Cook[6]; 6. 29-Owen Hayes[5]; 7. 23-Lisa Miller[3]; 8. A1-John Fish[4]
Summit USRA Nationals next: There is no racing next weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway, but it's a busy week after that. The Summit USRA Nationals return with a Test and Tune scheduled for Monday, Oct. 2 and race programs each night Oct. 3 through Oct. 7. Check out usraracing.com for more info.
For ticket information on any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984
DLorton@lucasoilspeedway.com
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Lucas Oil Speedway is considered by fans, drivers and industry insiders to be one of the top five racing facilities in the nation. Located in Wheatland, Missouri, approximately an hour from Springfield, Missouri, and just an hour and a half from the Kansas City metro area, the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" lives up to its title.
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