March 29, 2024

Column: Sports sampler am I

Two different styles of racing will be on display this weekend at Iowa Speedway. And it’s going to be hot out there gang — hot racing on the track and hot weather.

First, on Saturday will be the ARCA Racing Series, which is a stock car series. Many of the drivers in NASCAR have seen racing days in the ARCA series. It’s a good racing series for young talented drivers to begin their careers and hone their skills with dreams of working their way up the ladder.

Second, on Sunday will be the IndyCar Series. Actually, there are three levels of the open-wheel racing packed into one day at the Speedway. The lowest level in the Mazda Road to Indy is the Cooper Tires USF2000 series. The Indy Lights is the third rung of the ladder system heading to the Verizon IndyCar Series.

The Indy cars will be on the track for practices and the IndyCar Series qualification for the 2017 Iowa Corn 300 on Saturday. The three Indy car races will be Sunday afternoon. There’s plenty of racing all weekend at the Speedway.

This is the 11th Iowa Corn 300 for the Verizon IndyCar Series in the 11 years Iowa Speedway has been up and running. One big draw for this non-motorsports fan is these are the stars of the IndyCar Series racing here at Newton.

I knew more Indy car driver’s names growing up than NASCAR. Mainly because of the Indy 500. I didn’t watch that many races period, and still don’t.

A week ago, I told you about my interest in the America’s Cup yachting competition. I guess you can call me a sampler of sports. There are several sports I love — football and wrestling (not WWE) — and several others I enjoy watching swimming, horse racing, horse eventing competitions, baseball.

Then there are those sports I just sample every once in awhile. I’ve had to pay a little attention to NASCAR racing and Indy car racing more since I been in Newton. I’ll watch a little professional golf, hockey and tennis. I used to watch the Tour de France, but that sport more than any other turned me off by the drug scandals and corruption involved.

I say baseball, but I really mean Kansas City Royals’ baseball. I don’t watch much of any other team play. And right now, the Royals are as hot as our summer weather is right now.

Going into their final three-game series before the All-Star break next week, the Royals have climbed back into contention — a half game out of first place in the American League Central. The Royals have one of the top starting pitchers — Jason Vargas — in all of baseball. Vargas has 12 wins, which is the most in the American League and second overall.

Mike Moustakas is tied for second in home runs with 25 for all of MLB. You got a love Salvy — Salvador Perez behind the plate and the whole cast.

I’ll take in a little college basketball if Kansas State is playing. I used to watch more NBA back in the 1970s and 1980s but the players now don’t interest me at all.

The horse eventing competitions are rare on television any more. You might see some during a Summer Olympics year. My interest in that sport came from attending a night of the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo., each year growing up. We’d go as a family one night of the horse show and enjoy the grace and beauty of the horses.

Of course, most of my time is spent watching and covering high school sports. I enjoy watching the youngsters develop through the years no matter what sport it is. We got softball playoffs underway this week and the baseball postseason starts next week.

There’s plenty of sports to sample from in the area.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets
at jsheets@newtondailynews.com