Car races at Dakota State Fair Speedway
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HURON — David McDonald of Huron had an eventful day on Saturday. After becoming a grandfather to a set of twins, he capped the day by earning his first-ever WISSOTA modified feature win during the Advantage RV Modified Tour event at Dakota State Fair Speedway.
“We’ve got family down in Sioux Falls with the new twins and they were watching on their phones, so we had a good night,” said McDonald. “It can’t get much better than that.”
Despite this being his rookie season in the modified division, McDonald has seen his share of success at his hometown track. He won his first track championship at DSFS in the street stock division in 2000, claimed super stock track titles in 2002 and 2003, before making the move into the late model division, where he won the 2007 track championship.
“I skipped this class and I kind of wish I wouldn’t have now, because these cars are just a riot,” McDonald said of the modifieds.
“With my son, Tyler, and son-in-law, Alex Guthmiller, racing mods for so long, we had so many spare parts that we literally built this thing out of the spare parts we have,” McDonald said of the car he used to claim the $1,500 top prize on Saturday. “It’s just a riot and so much fun to drive. I wish my late model raced as well as this car right now.”
After winning his heat race on Saturday, McDonald selected the No. 2 starting position on the re-draw for the 30-lap feature race, which put him on the outside of the front row, alongside Landon Atkinson of Little Falls, Minn., who was sitting second in the tour’s point standings after the first seven races.
McDonald snagged the lead on the opening lap and held the top spot until the race was slowed on lap six for the only caution flag of the event.
When the race resumed, McDonald was able to use the top of the track to maintain his stronghold on the top spot. However, things got quite interesting at the midpoint of the feature race as the leaders reached slower traffic on lap 16.
McDonald’s comfortable advantage eroded in quick fashion.
“I was getting signals that they were on me and there were lap guys or just guys racing really hard, doing their thing in front of me,” McDonald said. “There were guys two wide and three wide and I knew I had to go, so I started sticking my nose in there.
“At one point I saw a flash outside of me and I knew that that guy was way too aggressive for a lapper,” he said.
That guy on the outside was Atkinson, who was able to close the gap considerably on lap 18 and reached the flagstand first to lead lap 19. It would turn out to be the only lap not led by McDonald, however, as he battled back to regain the lead in turn No. 2 on the following lap.
“I don’t know how I did it, but I just kept digging,” McDonald said of moving back to the front. “I don’t know how many lapped guys we passed all in one big wad there. We had to work through them and then when we did I just took off.”
While the slower traffic was a definite help to Atkinson, it also paid big dividends for a handful of drivers, who were chasing the top duo.
McDonald was able to stretch his lead back to a bit more comfortable margin on lap 21, with Atkinson in tow. Tyler McDonald, who was the 2015 modified track champion at DSFS, would catch the leaders on lap 25 and use the low groove in turn two to make the pass for the second spot on lap 27 before setting his sights on catching his father.
The elder McDonald would hold on to collect feature win No. 36 of his career at DSFS.
Photo:
David McDonald of Huron (52X) leads his son, Tyler (5M), through turns one and two during a heat race in the Advantage RV Modified Tour event at Dakota State Fair Speedway on Saturday. PHOTO BY MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN