Close races mark big night at Q-C Raceway
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By Christopher Maloney | Tuesday, September 23, 2008 |
EAST MOLINE, Ill. — On a night when seven area racing legends were inducted into the Quad-City Raceway Hall of Fame, the top two races provided even more memories for the packed house at Quad-City Raceway in East Moline on Sunday.
The seven Hall of Fame inductees on this second annual night of induction were: Flagman Doyle Bennett; International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) Modified driver Shane Davis; Late Model driver Jim Gerber; Late Model driver Dean Montgomery; Modified driver Jerry Reinhart; Sportsman, NASCAR and United States Auto Club driver Donald “Terry” Ryan; and Late Model driver Ernie Speth.
Ryan said the induction was a surprising honor.
The 70-year-old finished his 13-year racing career in 1980 at the Springfield Mile in Springfield, Ill, driving his 1979 Chevrolet Camaro that was on display Sunday night at the Quad-City Raceway.
“I was very pleased and surprised when I found out about being so honored,” Ryan said. “A lot of the fans at races now are younger fans but there are some old-timers like me who still remember when I raced here in the 1960s and ’70s. The track is very similar to back then except the banks were steeper when I raced at Quad-City Raceway.”
Fittingly, it was another Ryan that won the 100-lap IMCA Late Model Hall of Fame feature Sunday.
Matt Ryan of Davenport, who is no relation to the elder Ryan, beat out Bobby Toland of Moline late in the 99th lap and held on for the victory and the $4,000 prize.
For much of the race, 2008 IMCA national champion Jason Frankel was leading the pack until his car started smoking during lap 72.
“When Toland started breaking down about lap 98 and after Frankel fell out, I started to feel I had a chance,” Matt Ryan said. “It was about time things went my way this season.
“This was my first win of the year and the biggest win of my 9-year career. It was a gift horse, especially after Frankel fell out. I don’t think any of us had an answer for him while he was in there. The car wasn’t the best it has been this season, but I will take being lucky over being good on a night like this.”
Out of 20 cars, only eight finished the 100-lap race.
The postponed Reinhart Memorial Modifieds feature also came down to the last seconds, so much so that debate still lingers who actually won. The officials ruled that Eric Bruce of Peoria won the photo-finish but others believed that Gary Cook Jr. of Deer Creek, Ill., won after his late charge.
Cook was looming in third with three laps to go after starting the race in 10th. During the final laps, he made his move and possibly did win.
“If I had one more lap, I would have had him,” Cook said.
In the other race Sunday, Joe Zrostlik of Long Grove, Iowa, beat out Moline’s Todd Sibley in the 4-cylinder feature.
The two feature races were necessary when last week’s Reinhart Memorial were postponed by rain to this weekend.
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