Hawkeye Downs draws largest car count of Brian Gibson’s tenure

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hawkeye Downs Speedway saved the biggest for last.

A total of 147 cars across five classes entered competition on “Ken Schrader Night” at the track Saturday, concluding the dirt oval racing portion of Dirt at the Downs in celebration of the track’s 100th anniversary.

“One-hundred forty-seven is the largest field of cars we had (during Dirt at the Downs), and the largest in my tenure as race director,” HD race director Brain Gibson said. “For the 100th year, it’s been a tremendous amount of work, but it has been tremendously rewarding to see it all come together as well as it has.

“The car count has been ideal for what we wanted. We had a full field of race cars every night.”

Gibson has served as race director since 2021.

The IMCA Modifieds opened Saturday’s feature races, where Hawkeye Downs Wall of Famer Ken Schrader competed in his Federated Auto Parts No. 9 car.

“We’ve had a lot of good times up here, and we’ve had some pretty good fortune here,” Schrader said. “It’s just neat to go to a track that’s doing well and has a good car turnout and a good crowd.”

Schrader rallied to finish 11th after starting from the tail position (23rd ).

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“It’s always good to come up here and see all the fans,” Schrader said. “It’s neat to go someplace and be part of a big moment for the track, and 100 years is a hell of an accomplishment.”

Schrader spent nearly 30 years in the NASCAR circuit. He was inducted into HD’s Wall of Fame in July.

“We love having Kenny here,” Gibson said. “He is an absolute great ambassador to the sport of racing.”

Saturday’s second feature was the Scott Beauregard Memorial 30 Stock Car race. Beauregard was a longtime competitor on the dirt track at Benton County Speedway and died of cancer in January.

“We’re honoring Scott’s legacy,” Gibson said. “He was just an all-around great guy.”

Dallon Murty, 20, of Chelsea started 12th and charged his way to Victory Lane.

“I didn’t know him (Beauregard), but a memorial race always has a special significance to it,” Murty said. “It’s just cool any time you can honor someone, and it was definitely cool to win it.”

Murty competed in both nights of the Downs Dirt Classic on Oct. 10-11. He finished sixth in the IMCA Modified feature on Oct. 10, then took first in the IMCA Stock Car feature and third in the Pro Late Model feature on Oct. 11.

“Both weekends we've been here have had a good quality of cars,” Murty said. “Anytime you get 30-plus stock cars at a race, there's going to be 15 of them that are pretty stout. So, yeah, pretty competitive. I think all the divisions have had great turnouts and I just thank everyone that helped put the dirt on it.”

Other feature winners Saturday included Jerry Gifford of Boone (Hobby Stocks), Kyle Olson of Cedar Rapids (Sport Mods) and Dyllan Bonk of Hannibal, Mo., (Sport Compacts).

While the dirt oval season is over, two events remain on the Dirt at the Downs schedule. The track will host go-kart racing Saturday and a Dirt Enduro on Sunday.

“It’s been a fantastic experience,” Gibson said. “The crowds have been great. We’ve had great support from the community and surrounding communities coming out and watching our events. The drivers have been great. The track held up well. The weather has been to die for.

“When we imagined this in February, we could not have written a better script.”