300 Raceway
Andy Eckrich gunning for third straight at Farley
By Bill Martin
IMCA Late Models
Andy Eckrich
With back-to-back victories to his credit, Andy Eckrich looks to continue his recent Deery Brothers Summer Series success when the IMCA Late Model tour travels to Farley Speedway next Tuesday.
The 2010 tour and national IMCA rookie of the year, Eckrich won for the first time in his Deery career on the 3/8-mile dirt oval at Farley last August. The Iowa City driver led all 90 laps in adding two more trophies to his collection with series wins May 17 at Marshalltown and at Boone on Memorial Day.
“A lot of it has been luck. We’ve had some good runs in our heat races and then drew good for the features,” said Eckrich, who started on the pole at Marshalltown and from outside the front row at Boone. “When you bring a good car to the track, you’ve got to capitalize on everything and we’ve been able to do that.”
Now just four points behind Tom Darbyshire and one back of Terry Neal in the tour standings, Eckrich is a two-time NASCAR champion at Farley. He shares plenty of local track time with the likes of defending Deery champion Ray Guss Jr. and six-time tour champ Jeff Aikey.
“I know the competition is going to be stiff. This can be a challenging track, but a lot of the other drivers in this series have raced at Farley, too,” he said. “We’ve been extremely lucky with the cards we were dealt lately but I’ve got a real strong team. We’ve adapted pretty well to setting up the car at different tracks.”
Fifty laps will be the distance for the June 7 event on the half-mile dirt oval. First place is good for $2,000 with a minimum of $250 paid to start the sixth event of the silver anniversary series.
Pit gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 6 p.m. Hot laps are at 7 p.m. with racing to follow.
Grandstand admission is $16 for adults, $13 for seniors 62 and older, $10 for students and free for kids 12 and under accompanying a paid adult. Pit passes are $25.
More information about the June 7 show is available by calling 563 744-3620 and at the track’s www.simmonspromotionsinc.com website.
Besides the upcoming Farley event, Deery Brothers competitors return to the popular Iowa oval for the Sept. 16-17 Yankee Dirt Track Classic. That main event will pay $7,500 to win as the track also hosts a $7,500-to-win event for Super Late Models.
