Wallace tips cap to Lieurances on their final night as Adams County Speedway promoters

QUINCY — Kenny Wallace had not won a feature in Quincy since 2022, but that was hardly the most important topic on his mind.

Instead of breaking down what it took to win the modified main event at Adams County Speedway — in flag-to-flag fashion, no less — Wallace preferred his first thoughts be about Jim and Tammy Lieurance.

The Lieurances’ final night as promoters at the track was Sunday evening, wrapping up a three-year period that brought the speedway back to life after it had been closed for two years. And for Jim Lieurance, his association with the track dates to 1979.

“Jim and Tammy brought this track back from the dead, and I love them very much,” said Wallace, the 61-year old former NASCAR driver whose racing family has a long and rich history at the Quincy track and with the Lieurances.

His words meant a lot to the family who has been involved with local dirt-track racing for decades.

“It’s been real, and we’re going to miss it, no doubt,” the 65-year-old Jim Lieurance said. “We’re going to take a few weeks off, probably go camping a lot. Our family loves to camp.”

The Lieurances decided last month to retire from racing and said Labor Day weekend would represent their personal checkered flag. Numerous family members and close friends who have helped them coordinate events at the track over the past three years will also be leaving.

The final two weeks of the season will allow new operators Jeff and Renee DeLonjay some time to get their own workers in place in preparation for the 2025 season.

The DeLonjays presented the Lieurances with a going-away cake, and Sunday night’s crowd of about 1,200 gave the Lieurances a nice ovation during intermission. The DeLonjays bought the 28.5-acre complex in late June from Paul Holtschlag, who had owned the property since 2011. The Lieurances had run the track for Holtschlag since late 2021, when they agreed to help it get up and running again. The final few months of 2021, coupled with the first few months of 2022, were spent reorganizing, replenishing and rebuilding the site.

On the track Sunday night, joining Wallace as feature winners were Braden Bilger in crate late models, Tanner Klingele in sport mods, Jake Powers in stock cars, Jaden DeLonjay in 4-Cylinders and Jacob Jones in Crown Vics.

Bilger overtook Denny Woodworth with four laps remaining in the 25-lap crate late finale and hung on for his first feature win of the season, Bilger’s victory over Woodworth was by 1.154 seconds.

“We had not been having the kind of season we had expected, so we just went back to the drawing board … and we got two wins this weekend,” said Bilger, who also earned first place Saturday night at Spoon River Speedway in Lewistown, Ill.

Bilger’s Sunday night victory came against a stronger field than he encountered at Spoon River, which underscored his comeback weekend. 

“This win was just such a blessing, and I (felt) blessed to be in Quincy,” he said. “I can’t wait to come back.”

Tommy Elston finished third in the feature and Jackson Frankel fourth. Heat wins went to Bilger and Woodworth.

In the 12-lap King of the Bulling late model special, Woodworth pulled off a comeback of his own. The late model lawyer overtook Elston with two laps to go and held on to win the eight-car event that was the final stage of a three-race series that played out during the season.

“I love racing Tommy like that, side by side,” Woodworth said. “We’ve doing that for 25 years.”

Elston ($6,690), Jason Perry ($6,555) and Woodworth ($6,365) continue to battle for the late model money-earned title. Woodworth has led late model drivers in earnings seven times since 2010.

Perry has the most feature (4) and overall (10) late model victories. He finished fifth in the feature Sunday night, debuting a new No. 27 car. He sold his former car to aspiring late model driver Jeffrey DeLonjay.

Wallace repeatedly turned back longtime rival Rick Conoyer in the mod feature. Frankie Wellman and Steve Meyer rounded out the top four.

“I’m excited,” Wallace said. “Wins are hard to get, and Rick is a great race car driver who is one of the best in the Midwest. We have a  great, friendly rivalry.”

Wallace and Conoyer also won heat races.

Klingele’s last-lap pass of Matt Brucato provided his sport mod-best fourth feature victory. A.J. Tournear was third and Lane Huff fourth.

“I was either going to make that pass or I’d have been taking the car home on a wrecker,” Klingele said.

Klingele led for six laps prior to losing the lead to Brucato on lap 17 of the 18-circuit finale. Klingele, who won the lone sport mod heat, improved his series-leading earnings to $5,845.

Powers overtook Jacob Rexing, who has dominated the stock series most of this season, at the midway point of the 18-lap feature and never relinquished his advantage. Rudy Zaragoza finished second, Rexing third and Levi Long fourth. Rexing won the heat race.

“I tried the bottom of the track early, and there didn’t seem to be much there, so I went up top for a while,” Powers said. “I finally went back to the bottom and was able to (hold off Zaragoza and Rexing).”

DeLonjay led all 15 4-Cylinder feature laps to claim his series-leading sixth feature of the summer. Cris Courson, who won the heat race, finished second ahead of Devin Harrell and Landon Neisen.

DeLonjay ($2,740) has clinched the series earnings title, Kim Abbott, who has topped the money list four times in her career, is second with $1,4460.

Jones’ feature win was his Crown-Vic leading fifth. Austin Johnson, Dakota Damron and Garrett Austin completed the top four. Johnson won the heat.

Jones ($1,170) and Damron ($1,020) remain one-two in money earned.

Speedway notes

• The track will officially be known again as Quincy Raceways starting Monday. It had been Adams County Speedway since its 2022 reopening. The site was originally Quincy Raceways from 1975-2021.

• Rexing has won a combined 21 races (features and heats) in the stocks and mods, which ties him for 18th position all-time on the track’s single-season victory list. He needs four more wins over the final two weeks to crack the top 10. Michael Long’s 36 overall wins in 2007 is the speedway record.

• Austen Becerra was not on hand Sunday night, following the death of his father, Tony, earlier in the week. Becerra clinched his third straight modified track championship Aug. 25 and has won $13,245, the fourth-highest total of any series in track history.

• The award for the longest trek to the track this week went to Jay Kunce of Coosada, Ala., which is 719 miles from the Broadway Bullring. Kunce was competing in the 4-Cylinder division.

• Wallace was the fastest modified qualifier at 14.03 seconds, his first fastest lap of the season in four trips to Quincy.

• There were 52 cars in the pits Sunday night, the lowest total since the track reopened three years ago. Once points racing ends, car counts tend to drop dramatically. Points racing concluded Aug. 25 at 8000 Broadway. Through August, the average weekly count was 77.3.