Plattsmouth, Nebraska, modified driver Jacob Hobscheidt had the adventure of a lifetime last weekend. Hobscheidt, 19, and his cousin, Tony Koskovich, 18, jumped into Hobscheidt’s Ram and drove 1,600-plus miles in just over 24 hours to race at Antioch Speedway in California. At Antioch, Hobscheidt hopped into a friend’s IMCA modified. He raced it en route to the victory of the $5,000-to-win, inaugural Bill Bowers Memorial.
“It all started with a call,” Hobscheidt said of his California adventure. “I sold my 2017 Harris modified to Sean Wilson, of Oakley, California. He had to have surgery on his elbow, so he called me and asked if I wanted to drive his car in a big race.”
Hobscheidt jumped at the chance and arrived in Oakley the Monday prior to the race.
“I brought my setup sheets for I-80 [Speedway],” said Hobscheidt, referencing his home track in Greenwood, Nebraska, where he won the 2020 modified championship. “I had no idea how those numbers would work at Antioch Speedway.”
Hobscheidt used that setup in Thursday’s practice and made adjustments after.
“We changed the left-rear shock and the right-front shock, and put a few turns into the left-rear spring,” Hobscheidt said. “That was all we did. We didn’t change a thing Friday and Saturday night.”
Jacob Hobscheidt led every lap of the Friday preliminary feature. On Saturday, he led the first 29 laps of the 40-lap feature. Track ace Troy Foulger caught him in lapped traffic to take the lead for two laps. Hobscheidt then retook the lead and kept it to the checkered flag. In victory lane, Bill Bowers’ son, Billy Bowers, presented Hobscheidt with the trophy (pictured).
“It was a week I will never forget,” Hobscheidt said. “Racing there was so much fun. We raced all weekend and there wasn’t a dent in the car.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
