A trio of drivers — Kevin Rose (22), Mitchell Evens (8), and Tyler Travis (23) — put on show this past Monday. It wasn’t for a trip to victory lane in the stock car class at Independence Motor Speedway in Iowa. However, that did not negate the experience for Evens.
“We went three-wide lap after lap for seven laps until one of the other cars’ hood pins broke and had to go to the infield,” Evens, of Dubuque, Iowa, said. “I know it wasn’t for the win, but it was for the thrill of racing.”
Evens won the battle. Rose finished 19th and Travis 20th. Evens came across the line in 16th.
He started racing stock cars at age 14. Evens is now 27. In more than a decade of racing, he has yet to win a feature. He regularly races at two Iowa dirt tracks — Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway and Independence Motor Speedway.
“Success for me would be a top-five finish,” said Evens, whose best finish so far has been a seventh. “Racing is an awesome hobby to have for me, my brother, my wife, and my dad. It’s more about having a hobby, working on cars, trying to find speed, hanging out as a family. Finding enjoyment just being out there and driving. You don’t have to win.”
Don’t take that as Evens being content just making laps.
“I’m always hoping for better,” Evens said. “For example, we didn’t know we had a bent rear-end bracket and our setup was off this season. We found the problem, fixed it, and we’re getting dialed back in. We’re building my brother’s new car — it will be out next week. We look forward to being at the track to see how our work in the shop pays off.”
As far as improvement, Mitchell Evens views the three-wide action as a step in the right direction for him.
“It took me years to get comfortable enough to shoot for the gap [in between cars],” said Evens. “It comes down to knowing the drivers and knowing how well they will hold their line. We’re a big group of drivers that is small enough to all know each other.”
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.
Photographers
Scott Weber started photographing races while as a Lafayette County Speedway track official in 2012. In 2017 he went behind the camera full-time. You can find him in his signature black hat covering events in Iowa, such as at 300 Raceway and Independence Motor Speedway, and the Pro Late Model Series.
