Iron Man Challenge heads to Fallon

The minds behind the success of this year’s Octane Fest don’t intend to let motorsport action fall asleep in Fallon, let alone Nevada, any time soon.

This year is a year of firsts for motorsport fans since Lahontan Auto Racing Association’s Chris Lumsden and Jerry Roseland, two of the essential hands in Octane Fest’s success, teamed up with head coordinator and sponsor Steve Evenson to revive the Iron Man challenge, 10-days of racing through five tracks in Northern Nevada including the finale at Rattlesnake Raceway July 3 and 4. Evenson, who has raced the full 10-days in two Iron Man events, saw its beginnings beside Roseland and Lumsden in 2011 when Kenneth Hanson, the promoter from Colorado, began the challenge formerly in conjunction with a different series called the Wild West modified tour.

“That Iron Man went on for three or four years until 2013, I think and then this year Chris approached me about sponsoring it again and see if I’d be interested in coordinating it and running it,” Evenson said. “I like the sponsorship opportunity, I like the racing, and I wanted to see the promoter side of things.”

The 10-race challenge, open to all comers, begins Saturday at Tonopah Speedway, divided into two days of racing at each of the five tracks in Northern Nevada. The race moves to the Hawthorne Centennial Speedway on Monday through Tuesday, followed by Lovelock Speedway Wednesday through Thursday and Fernley’s Highway 95 A Speedway on Friday and Saturday. Iron Man’s last two days are in Fallon on July 3 and 4 as a part of Fallon’s Independence Day parade, though the race will not interfere with the fireworks display. All races begin at 7 p.m.

Evenson, an IMCA racer since 1995 when he won his first main event in the Hobbystocks at Tonopah Speedway, said he has seen some promoters do something similar to the challenge since but not exactly like this.

“Ten races in 10 days, it’s a marathon-it’s grueling,” Evenson said. “It’s challenging to the competitors, to the tracks to the families, and some fans are planning on doing all 10 too. There’s a whole lot of moving parts but its going to be great.”

Roseland, a track official along with Lumsden for this year’s event, said he has seen racers from as far as Arkansas, Nebraska and Iowa with 30-40 cars easy pass through Nevada the three times Rattlesnake has seen the challenge.

Lumsden also noted their duties as directors, however, tasked not only with enforcing IMCA Modified rules but ensuring the cooperation of the directors from each track according to Lumsden.

“It definitely takes a lot, especially considering how far away some of the tracks are for us,” Lumsden said, “but it’s a great event. It was sad to see it discontinued three years ago since it’s such an awesome show and always brings a great car count.”

This year’s crop promises a diverse event with racers coming from New Mexico, California, Oregon, and naturally from all over Nevada including Las Vegas and Parumph.

All come for the love of the sport, Roseland said, but the purse of $1,000 a night to the winner is also what brings in many racers, with a cool $3,000 to whichever racer has won the most races in 10 days.

Despite the prospect of a grand a night, racers are not obligated to compete in all 10 days because of understandable travel restrictions and maintenance issues.

“That’s the challenge in and of itself to see if your equipment can hold up between 10 straight races,” Roseland said.

The racers aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit since Iron Man is sure to bring revenue to each of its locations between food, motels and autoparts needed for competitors to follow the tour to the end.

The only break between each race will be for Hobbystock races to give racers time to tweak their cars and rest.

This year each track’s officials are handling the event instead of handing it over to representatives from Colorado, though IMCA rules still are enforced. Though Rattlesnake Raceway has seen Iron Man before, Tonopah Speedway is one of the three tracks new to the competition, including Fernley and Hawthorne which was closed for a time.

“For the first year back each individual race track has been doing it on its own including us and Evenson,” Roseland said. “As far as track sponsorships go if we’re successful this year then next year we’ll be looking for support in that direction.”

As an open competition requiring no pre-registration —the number of heats is entirely dependent on the final car count come race time — though, Rattlesnake’s track is capable of hosting 20 cars a heat. Prize money is also paid to second, third and fourth place depending on the number of competitors, but the $1,000 to the winner of each day’s main is guaranteed.

“Logistics is probably the most difficult part of it,” Roseland said. “We’re traveling in my motor home and it also backs up as our office where the drivers just check in. But the excitement is just in the racing itself.”

Though the setup is a labor of love for promoters and officials alike, Evenson added endurance isn’t the only challenge to the racers who come from states all over to fill the bracket.

“Those guys aren’t driving that far to lose,” Evenson said. “They aren’t hauling their cars 400 miles just for that, so we can expect some really competitive racing.”