Hall of Fame Inductions/Kids Night Makes For Special Night At the Southern Iowa Speedway
By: Jerry Mackey
Oskaloosa, Iowa: Wednesday night was a very special night at the races as the Southern Iowa Inducted their Hall of Fame Class for 2026 plus it was Kids Night sponsored by Middlekoop Seeds and Dickey Transport. 10G Racing (Dustin Griffiths) and Sharkey Frame provided lots of prizes for the kids plus approximately 25 Bicycles were given away to the youngsters in attendance. Following the heat race action the families of five great drivers who are a very important part of the rich history of the Southern Iowa Speedway gathered on the front chute to honor the 2026 Hall of Fame Inductees. Those enshrined on Wednesday night were, Bill Zwanziger, Larry Mathes, Bill Shipman, Mike Niffenegger and Ron VerBeek, who were all paid their well earned accolades.
The Mid States Machine Stock Cars saw a very talented field of drivers sign in on Wednesday night and the drivers put on another very entertaining race. Maguire DeJong has been an infrequent visitor to the track this year with all of his commitments but the youngster showed he has not lost a step as he took command early and sailed on to an impressive feature win. DeJong raced to the win ahead of first time Osky racer, Steve Churchill of Creston, Iowa. Andrew Schroeder raced wheel to wheel with Churchill for second before settling for third.
Dustin Griffiths continued his mastery of the Mahaska County Monster in scoring another Stout Trucking Hobby Stock feature win. Griffiths shot into the lead early from his second row start and went on to record the win ahead of Keaton Gordon and Kris Walker.
Curtis VanDerwal followed up last week’s 10th to third run by topping the Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmod feature. VanDerwal took off from his outside front row start and scored the win ahead of Colton Livezey and Brayton Carter.
The Sport Compacts continue to put on great racing on the big track and Wednesday nights feature saw the strongest runner in the Sport Compact class score another win. Seth Meinders raced to the front from a sixth position start and went on to record the win ahead of last week’s feature winner Brandon Allison. Caleb Hildebrand took third on Wednesday night.
Cole Hughes won his second feature of the season in the all new Crown Vic class. Hughes broke out of the pack on the white flag lap to take the win ahead of Trent Kerr and Brendan Nantz.
Our Special guests on Wednesday night were the Vintage Late Models. The Vintage cars run two groups within one race and the Big Tired Cars portion was won by Dino Rodish in his cool looking 1980 Sanger Chassis. The Small tired group winner was Tyler Kelly in his Camaro. The Vintage Cars will return to the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday, July 22nd as the Season Championship races will be held.
The Southern Iowa Speedway will not be racing on Wednesday, July 8th as the entire Fairgrounds will be preparing for the 2026 Southern Iowa Fair which will include two big nights of racing. Wednesday, July 15th will be the 8th Annual Caleb Hammond Memorial, featuring all weekly classes racing for a greatly expanded purse.
Thursday, July 16th the Sprint Invaders will be in action with the 360 Winged Sprinters flying around the big track. In addition the Hobby Stocks and Stock Cars will race for Double points and Double their normal money.
Hall of Fame/Kids Night
Wednesday, July 1
Southern Iowa Speedway
Feature Results (Top Five)
Mid Sates Machine Stock Cars
1.. 30 M Maguire DeJong-Montezuma
2. 55 Steve Churchill-Creston
3. 02 Andrew Schroeder-Fremont
4. 85 Jason McDaniel-Eldon
5. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
Stout Trucking Hobby Stocks
1. 10G Dustin Griffiths-Hedrick
2. 7 Keaton Gordon-Ottumwa
3. 18 Kris Walker-Oskaloosa
4. 52B Brayden Wood-Sigourney
5. 91 Jeremy Dooley-Promise City
Oskaloosa Quality Rentals Sportmods
1. Curtis VanDerwal-Oskaloosa
2. 29 Colton Livezey-New Sharon
3. 01 Brayton Carter-Oskaloosa
4. 15K Kyle Harwood-New Sharon
5. 24 Chase Johnson-Agency
Sport Compacts
1. 65 Seth Meinders-Ottumwa
2. 69ER Brandon Allison-Oskaloosa
3. 11 Caleb Hildebrand-Oskaloosa
4. 22D Dalton Sowers-Oskaloosa
5. 2K Katelyn Watts-Oskaloosa
Crown Vics
1. 11 Cole Hughes-What Cheer
2. 5K Trent Kerr-Oskaloosa
3. 88N Brendan Nantz-Oskaloosa
4. 16T Tanner Bainbridge-Libertyville
5. 13T Mike Walsh-Creston
Vintage Late Models
Big Tires
1. 20 Dino Rodish-West Des Moines
2. 9 Bert McDaniel-Eldon
3. 25 Bobby VanBuskirk-Hedrick
Small Tires
1. 97K Tyler Kelly-Afton
2. 62 Ron VerBeek-Oskaloosa
3. 73C Carl Yaw-Pleasant Hill
