Wietholder races way back to victory lane with dominant performance in modified feature

QUINCY — It had been a while, but Dave Wietholder had no problem finding victory lane following Sunday night’s victory in the modified feature at Quincy Raceways.

The checkered flag was the first of the season for Wietholder, a four-time series champion, and ended a 22-feature winless streak dating to Aug. 6, 2023.

“The car felt good wherever I put it on the track,” said the 50-year-old Wietholder, who led 19 of 20 laps in the main event and turned back one final charge from Justin Reed following a green-white-checkers restart.

One of the turning points in the feature came midway through the event when Rick Conoyer, who had just taken the lead from Wietholder at the end of lap nine, got involved in a mishap moments later with a lapped car and was forced to restart near the back of the 12-car field. Coupled with damage to Conoyer’s car, it opened the door for Wietholder.

“I hated to see Conoyer get caught up in that (crash),” Wietholder said. “I thought we could have put on a good show.”

Conoyer was able to rally for a fifth-place finish, but the only car that stood a realistic chance of catching Wietholder during the second half of the feature was Reed, but he was never able to get close enough to make a serious run at the front.

Wietholder enjoyed breaking the winless run on his home track.

“This track is 15 minutes from home, and I just love racing here,” said Wietholder, a Liberty resident and a regular at the track for more than 20 years. 

Wietholder’s titles at 8000 Broadway include a 2001 crown in the old bomber series and a championship run from 2016-19 in the modified division. He also has three runner-up finishes in the modified series.

Wietholder’s victory was worth $800 and boosted his season earnings to a personal record $8,720. Austen Becerra, who has clinched the modified earnings title for the season with $13,245, was absent Sunday night. Becerra has been racing in the Boone (Iowa) Nationals the past week.

Following Wietholder and Reed across the finish line were Mike Vanderiet and Shawn Deering. Heat winners were Reed and Connoyer.

Other feature winners Sunday night included Denny Woodworth in crate late models, Tanner Klingele in sport mods, Rudy Zaragoza in stock cars, Kim Abbott in 4-Cylinders and Austin Johnson in Crown Vics.

Woodworth garnered his second feature win of the season with a comfortable flag-to-flag victory over Tommy Elston, Jason Perry and Sam Halstead.

“The bottom was good tonight,” said Woodworth, who pocketed $800 for his victory and remains in a tight three-way battle for the crate late money championship.

Elston ($7,280), Woodworth ($7,165) and Perry ($7,055) are separated by less than $250 with one week of racing left at the track.

Crate late heat winners were Halstead and Elston.

Klingele won his third straight and fifth overall sport mod feature, leading from start to finish. 

“I’ll tell ya, this car has gotten better as the year has gone on,” Klingele said. “We love this track, and we’ll be here as long as it’s open. Tonight the track was smooth and slick, and we ran the same line (most of the race).”

The week before, Klingele clinched his first track championship, and now he’s putting the finishing touches on claiming the series’ earnings title, too. Sunday night’s $600 payday boosted Klingele’s season total to $6,085, which puts him more than $1,500 ahead of any other driver in the series. 

Klingele can break his own sport mod record for money earned next Sunday by just starting the feature, which would guarantee him at least $100. He established the mark a year ago when he earned $6,120.

Finishing behind Klingele, who has 13 feature wins over the past three seasons, were A.J. Tournear, Logan Cumby and Quin Shelton. Heat wins belonged to Tournear and Klingele.

Zaragoza collected his first stock feature win of the season, a relatively easy triumph over Jake Powers, Codey Smith and Brandon Boden. Zaragoza won the lone stock heat.

“It’s about time I won one,” the good-natured Zaragoza said.

Zaragoza’s victory snapped a 20-feature winless streak. In 17 of those races, dating to late 2023, either Jacob Rexing or Robert Cottom had won, but neither were on hand Sunday night.

Zaragoza’s victory, worth $500, moved him into second place ($3,245) in stock earnings behind Rexing ($4,150).

Abbott led the final eight laps of the 4-Cylinder feature, repeatedly turning back charges by Spencer Coats.

“I think my new shoes were the key,” Abbott said with a smile. “Things just worked out pretty well, and the track was awesome, too.”

Jaden DeLonjay and Devin Harrell rounded out the top four. Danny Oates and Coats were the heat winners.

Abbott also clinched the runner-up spot in earnings. Her $300 payday increased her season total to $1,760, trailing only track champ Jaden DeLonjay ($2,865).

Johnson’s Crown Vic feature win was his first and bookended a heat win earlier in the evening.

Jacob Jones, Jordan Zumwalt and Sydney Brierton completed the top four feature finishers. The other heat winner was Dalton Tournear. Jones ($1,270) and Damron ($1,075) are the top two money winners with one week remaining.

Raceways notes

• Plans remain in place for racing to switch to Friday nights in 2025, according to new owners Jeff and Renee DeLonjay.

• Open “B” modifieds will be part of the season-ending Sept. 15 schedule.

• Chance Bailey is the new race director at the track. A promoter is expected to be named in the not-too-distant future.

• “Clean Livin'” Joe Bliven served as flagman Sunday night, and will likely do so for next week’s season finale. Bliven was the 2011 sport mod track champion.

• Skip Dunker emerged from retirement to drive a sport mod Sunday night, finishing eighth in the feature.

• Also emerging from retirement was Terry Houston, who drove a Crown Vic. Houston was a two-time stock car track champion in 2010 and 2012. He also finished runner-up in points in 2011 and 2013.