Into the championship stretch at Dodge City Raceway Park

By Lonnie Wheatley

DODGE CITY, Kan. – With another successful Lewis Automotive Group Driver Appreciation Night in the books at Dodge City Raceway Park, another pair of events are on the docket for this month at the state-of-the-art facility in southwest Kansas as the final portion of the 2018 season kicks into gear.

The most recent card atop the 3/8-mile clay oval on July 27, played out before a packed grand­stand with Brendon Gemmill coming up just two positions short in the “Back to the Front Chal­lenge” that would have awarded a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu to a lucky race fan.

Had he pulled off the win from the 20th starting position, some lucky race fan would have driven home with the new car. However, a caution-free 25-lapper didn’t allow Gemmill enough rounds to get to the front of the IMCA Modified feature as defending track champion Clay Sellard reeled off his third consecutive win.

Other Driver Appreciation Night winners included Mike Roach in the IMCA SportMods, Dusty Witthuhn in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and Lyle Russell in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks.

After a couple of idle weekends, the track fires back into action with the first of three consecutive Saturday nights beginning with the fifth annual SportMod Mayhem event on Saturday night, Aug. 18.

The special card offering up a $1,000 winner’s share for the SportMods also includes champion­ship chase action for sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks.

A full card of championship chase action follows seven nights later on Saturday, Aug. 25, in­cludes all four IMCA divisions.

A third consecutive Saturday night of racing once again featuring a full slate of championship chase action will follow on Sept. 1 to lead the way into the Sept. 15 sixth annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship event that wraps up the 2018 title chases.