Hometown Kid Mason Mitchell Wins ARCA 150 at Iowa Speedway

Winner Mason Mitchell found another Superman fan at Iowa

Newton, Iowa isn't far from West Des Moines but 2014 ARCA Racing Series Champion Mason Mitchell could tell you otherwise after he won at his home track Friday July 17th with a last lap pass in a race that was scheduled for 150 laps but actually went 159 under ARCA's green flag finish rule. Everyone at Iowa endured a day in a Midwest steam bath as temperatures and humidity were oppressive all day and into the evening. Once the race was finished, an exuberant but exhausted Mitchell and his team quickly ran out of gas in the Victory Lane celebration. I'll bet they got a second wind later as Mason promised they would "celebrate like animals"! It was fun to see this local product get a win at home, and he did it in style as seems to be his habit. There was no questioning his enthusiasm when he took the checkered flag. Before driver introductions, I had given Mason a fist bump to encourage him so it was cool to see him snag the win.

Except for the heat, weather was great at Iowa Speedway

It was an incredibly long, hot day at Iowa Speedway, and I know there were a lot of people who suffered under the sweltering conditions that never really relented even after the sun went down. I knew we were in for a hot one when I left the hotel in Newton for the track that morning. At 6:30 a.m., it was already 74 degrees with 90 percent humidity, and it only got worse as the day wore on. I wasn't done editing my race photos until after midnight so the hottest 18 hour day at a racetrack I have ever experienced was certainly one for the record books. I went through two changes of clothes and could have changed again, but didn't have another shirt to wear so I just had to push through the sultry atmosphere like everyone else. With my soccer and basketball officiating, I am in pretty good physical shape but I felt badly for anyone who was wilting in the heat. Lots of folks had ice bags on their heads or necks, or inside their firesuits, and by no means was I feeling fresh as a daisy as Saturday rolled around. But I made it through and set a new personal best for steps on my phone's pedometer app at 23,874 for the day.

Turn 1 action was intense all night

I had originally intended to stay for Saturday's Indycar race but with my mother's death two weeks earlier, I had to drive back to Indy on Saturday and then head for Akron to work on her estate again on Sunday, so I got a bunch of miles across the Midwest last weekend. I did get to see part of one Indycar practice session on Friday and they are quite impressive on Iowa's little oval. While not in the same class as Indycars when it comes to speed, the ARCA machines seem perfectly suited to the progressive banking on the 7/8ths mile track. Drivers could really choose their lines for whatever suited their styles. I decided to shoot in Turn 1 at the start of the ARCA race and witnessed lots of three and four wide racing going into the corner, which was very exciting. And even though the track is short in length, there was plenty of room for side by side racing which lent itself to plenty of action during the race. I hope it looked as good on FoxSports as it did in person. For my first visit to Iowa Speedway, I was thoroughly impressed and the track photo staff were very helpful and accommodating. I am looking forward to going back again!

Austin Cindric (99) challenged  ARCA regularTom Hessert

This race proved to me once again why people need to get out and see an ARCA race when the series comes around, as a lot of these young guys have tons of talent and aren't afraid to mix it up on the track. Winner Mason Mitchell is only 20, second placed Kyle Weatherman just turned 18, Austin Cindric (son of Penske Racing President Tim Cindric) finished fourth and is about the same age. Cunningham Motorsports finished 2-3-4 with veteran Tom Hessert sandwiched in third by his two youngster teammates. Weatherman has already won a race this year and nearly won Iowa. Cindric seemed poised to win as well, so the depth of young talent is on display every week. Look down the Top 10 in season points and you'll see youth being served week in and week out in this series: Austin Wayne Self, Josh Williams, Sarah Cornett-Ching, and David Levine are all potential race winners every week.

This week the series comes to my hometown of Indianapolis to race on the Lucas Oil Raceway oval which is flatter and shorter than Iowa, but can also lend itself to excellent side by side racing. Hopefully the weather will be a little less extreme than last weekend, but with the ARCA CRA Super Series running a 100 lap feature before ARCA's 200 lapper, the racing promises to be plenty extreme! You need to be there! Look me up if you make it out to Clermont Friday!

Goodbye Mom - I'll Miss Calling You

Mom at the 2014 Indy 500 - she loved going in early

If you follow my blog posts, you know I mostly write about racing and my travels from racetrack to racetrack while working as a motorsports photographer. This post only peripherally relates to racing as my Mom, Reene Ann (Shue) Alley was a huge race fan and was able to attend the 2014 Indy 500 with us despite a lengthy bout with cancer. We wondered then if that would be her last 500 as we knew her time was limited with us, so we tried to make the most of it. Mom's father, Jacob Jay Shue, my namesake, was a racer at heart and helped get a little dirt track built at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds in Warsaw, Indiana. We spent a lot of each summer in Warsaw when I was a kid. I am headed out on the road again tomorrow, to Iowa Speedway, to shoot the ARCA event, and sadly I will not be able to call Mom on the road this trip, or on any future trip, as she died 10 days ago on July 5th in hospice in Fairlawn, Ohio. We had a wonderful celebration of life service in her adopted hometown of Tallmadge, Ohio this past Saturday July 11th and we laid her to rest two days later in her hometown of Warsaw. It is still hard to believe that she is gone so I am sharing the words I spoke at her Tallmadge service to help with healing, as we were very close, along with a song and her obituary:

Thanks so much to everyone for being here today. It's wonderful to see so many of Mom's Ohio friends and colleagues join our family to honor her and celebrate her life. And what a life she lived.

I have come to believe through my own spiritual journey the last few years that there are no coincidences - that God has a plan for us that is greater than anything we can imagine. Yet who could have ever imagined the plan that He had in store for Reene Ann (Shue) Alley? That this small town girl from Winona Lake, Indiana would have lived a life so full and rich, who traveled so far, and touched so many lives? It's a long way from Kosciusko County to London, Paris, Venice and Sicily, but she did it and she did it her way.

Mom's sister Mary told a story at Mom's bedside in hospice last Sunday about Mom mailing her father, Jacob Jay Shue, a copy of her doctoral dissertation and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. After some ribbing from Grandpa Jay's cronies at Breedings Cigar Store in downtown Warsaw, he called Mom and said "Reenie, you done good." That was high praise from Grandpa who was an entrepreneur and adventurer, but only had an 8th grade education. Grandpa has been gone for nearly 30 years now, but I'm certain he is sitting with Mom now telling her how proud he is of all that she accomplished in her life.

Mom's life revolved around family, words, travel, puzzles and numbers. And books. And more books. She lived 80 years and 95 days, but as Abraham Lincoln said, "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Mom made those years count and even though her last few weeks were effected by changes in her ability to speak and to be understood, her message to us was clear: Tallmadge was her home and here she would stay until the end. Losing much of her communication ability was extremely frustrating for her and she had trouble finding words just like I had trouble finding words to share with you today. But you all know her. No one would be surprised to use words about her like educator; citizen of the world; historian; a fighter and trailblazer; militantly independent; passionate about learning, gardening and wildlife; opinionated. She lived her life without limits and showed us all how to persevere.

Over the last few weeks, it has become clear to me that God's hand has been upon Mom, and His plan for her was indeed far greater than anything we could have imagined. Otherwise how does one explain the deer I saw at her bird feeders the first night I arrived back in Tallmadge a week ago Tuesday? Or the doe and two fawns I saw the next morning? Or the fact that Mom ended up in a position to get help when her first stroke hit a little more than three weeks ago? For those of you who aren't aware, she was at the Tallmadge Shipping Center sending gifts for her Great-Grandchildren when that happened. We are thankful that Jackie got her the help she needed that day. That act of kindness enabled us to share Mom's final days with her which is a blessing beyond words.

Then there were the Blue Jay feathers I found last week, one at her house by the feeders the last night she was in Akron General Hospital, and the other the next day outside her room at the Rogers Hospice Center in Fairlawn. These are not coincidental events. Finally, there was the fact that Steve, Cari and I, Mom's sister Mary, my fiance Julie and my son Max, were all able to be with Mom in her final hours, despite great distance and disparate schedules. Who could have known that God's plan would favor us so?

Mom used to say quite often, "Not bad for a little old lady," when she would talk about her travels, or something she managed to accomplish, especially after her retirement from Youngstown State University as a professor. We would joke with her the least few years that she had "99 Lives" as she overcame one physical malady, hospitalization or chemo treatment after another. She was our biggest fan, and if you were her friend, then she was your fan too. She made a new life here in Tallmadge and found great neighbors on Starr Line Drive, wonderful friends through the Tallmadge Library, the Tallmadge Historical Society, the Northern Ohio Bibliographic Society and her many other community activities, and her colleagues at the University of Akron and YSU. For all of that, we in the Alley and Shue families will be eternally grateful.

Undaunted and unbowed by her cancer, Mom was not defeated by it. She never lost hope. She didn't want us to lose hope or worry about her. She didn't quit. She just ran out of time.

When I heard that Mom had found a spiritual home here I was relieved and happy for her. I knew she was tying up lose ends in her life, and would find comfort in knowing that God's plan for her had been fulfilled. Psalms 91-4 tells us that "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Mom's spirit is free now and the only other thing I can say is: "You done good."

God bless you all.

One other thing I wanted to share is a song and video that my best friend of over 40 years linked me to on the day Mom died. That Sunday was a beautiful day in north central Ohio and my brother Steve, my sister Cari and I were all with Mom in her final hours. I had posted the following on Twitter at 3:35 in the afternoon in the midst of feeling great sorrow and then played the song and video in Mom's room at her bedside a short while later. At 4:15 that afternoon, she left us and was no longer in pain.

https://t.co/Z1IE9hhMK1 Love you Mom. I'm not ready for you to go yet. Wishing you peace & comfort, I stand in awe of the life you've lived.

— Jay Alley (@alleygroup) July 5, 2015

I have included her obituary at the end of this post from the July 9th Indianapolis Star so you can get to know her a little better. Please watch the video I played for her - I hope it speaks to you as it did to me that afternoon. I think Mom liked it too. Godspeed to you. Until we see each other again...