What A Show At Du Quoin

[CIRF]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Won the Junior Knepper 55 in grand fashion Saturday night. Stenhouse restarted dead last in the 20 car A-main and took the lead from Bryan Clauson with 4 laps to go.

As bad as the Indy Invitational was last weekend this race was just that good, all night long.

Standing room only crowd and over 60 cars signed in less than a week before Christmas is just about as good as it gets. USAC is scheduled to be back to The Du Quoin Mini Magic Mile in March and it will be a National points event. Get your tickets early because they will go fast!

[DirtDirtCrazy]

Wow is right. Saturday was my first experience at Du Quoin. I cannot wait to go back. Thrilled to hear that USAC will open the Midget season there in March. I cannot wait!

[CIRF]

DDC, this December show was one of the best kept secrets the first 4 or 5 years of it's existence but once word got out it has taken on an aura of a Crown Jewel. I don't mean to compare it to races like Turkey Night Grand Prix or The Belleville Nationals but it's gaining more stature every year.

You have guys like Bryan Clauson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Saldana and Justin Allgaier showing up along with almost 60 other cars that race in front of a sold out arena "Crown Jewel" crosses your mind. Tony Stewart is a past winner of this race so the stars have been showing up for a while. Levi Jones is now running the midget division of USAC and he's really making headway in building on the foundation that USAC presents on a national level.

It's a great time of the year, everyone is in a festive mood and there is virtually nothing else going on in the world of dirt racing so the natural groundwork is in place and it's almost guaranteed that the racing will be some of the best you'll see all year.

The only minor criticism I could possibly come up with is to not make the berms in the corners too high. It appeared that those were the cause of many of the crashes Saturday night. I looked at some pictures I took from 2014 and 2013 and the berms were just as high but they seemed not to cause as much havoc as they did this year. However, it's hard to be critical of the kind of success Du Quoin has had.

[DirtDirtCrazy]

CIRF, I went to this event for the first time with a friend who had been at this event several times and had tried convincing me for several years to come along. This year I did, and was darn glad that I did so. I have been to a lot of big Dirt Track Shows (USAC, Power I, UMP & WOO) over the past 4 to 5 years....this event is in the Top 5 that I have been to. Can't wait to go back to the Southern Illinois Center in March!

BTW - I went to the Leffler Memorial in October and it was also a great show. Levi and the his crew are doing a great job re-vitalizing this class for USAC!

[CIRF]

DDC, here is a link where you can by both reserve and general admission tickets for the March race at Du Quoin. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shamrock-classic-at-duquoin-tickets-20089747977?aff=es2

If you are sure you are going you'd probably better get tickets very soon. This is a Bryan Clauson/Jonathan Byrd's promotion and they definitely expect to sell out the place. I ordered tickets earlier today. If you opt for the reserve seating you will buy your tickets now and the promoter will contact you later so you can choose where you want to set. I'm not sure why they're doing it this way but I'm assuming it's because they haven't numbered the seats yet. As of Saturday night the seats weren't numbered and I'm thinking they are probably in the process of doing that now or in the very near future.

I've told several of my friends that this place has some great races. Most of them are tunnel vision dirt late model people who turn up their collective noses at anything but DLM's but I had a hard core DLM fan with me Saturday night and he was highly impressed and is spreading the word.

I will put the racing that takes place indoors at Du Quoin up against any show I've ever been to and that includes the PDC, H&R 100, and all of the midget Crown Jewels. Du Quoin has the quality along with the quantity of cars and drivers and they have the track prep down pat to insure a great show. Du Quoin isn't a party venue like the World or the Dream but if we're talking strictly about the racing I'll put it up against them all, except maybe The Chili Bowl.

Your absolutely correct about the Leffler Memorial. I've been to all but one of those and it rivals Du Quoin for quality and quantity of the drivers and cars.

I'll repeat, get those tickets soon!! I'll see ya' in March!!