EAST MOLINE, Ill. – The infectious smile in the winners circle told another story as Gary Webb climbed from his mount Sunday evening at East Moline Speedway.
The 73-year old hall of famer moved quickly from his 6th place start to the front of the Eriksen Chevrolet IMCA Late Model pack. He cruised to the 25-lap win in front of a very appreciative crowd.
“This never gets old, but I’m getting old,” Webb said and laughed. “This was win 523 and they’re coming a lot more slowly nowadays, but this was a good run.”
The 17-time track champion was really never challenged even after an early caution. His Kryptonite Chassis showed great acceleration off the turns as he extended the advantage.
“We had great forward bite in that feature,” Webb said. “(Track Promoter Jeff Peterson) had the track nicely done, we had the engine rebuilt a couple weeks ago so we had great power and I thank the fans here for watching.”
The 523 wins have come at 65 different tracks, but a bulk of them at EMS, which he considers his home track.
Matt Ryan, coming off a win at another track the night before, started tenth and moved by national point leader Dustin Schram about halfway through to take second. Joe Beal, Schram and Jacob Waterman rounded out the top five. Waterman’s EMS win streak was stopped at three.
Defending national champion Jeff Larson visited EMS again and won the J&J Camper Sales IMCA Modified 20 lapper for the second straight week.
Logan Veloz chalked up win number four in the Legacy Corporation IMCA SportMods beating hard running Erick Turner, T.J. Patz, Chuck Fox and David Engelkens in the 15-lap run.
Rob Henry used both the top and bottom grooves to move from his seventh starting spot en route to his second Dynamic Power Street Stock 15-lap victory.
Brandon Freeburg dominated the County Waste Systems IMCA Mod Lites night, taking the 15-lap finale.
Randy Lamar copped the 12-lap Rudy’s Tacos IMCA Hobby Stock ender, beating Logan Gustaf, Brandon Schneider, Michale Putt and Josh Lane.
Track champ Cyle Hawkins made a last lap pass to take the 12-lap Riverbend Pizza Place Sport Compacts feature over Michael Snyder, Drew Wise, Nolan Morrow and Tommy Staggs.
The American Iron Racing Series made its second 2022 EMS stop. Jake Hayes wheeled his 1957 Packard-bodied machine to the 12-lap win with Bruce Yoerger, Terry Mattly, Bart Miller and Dennis Etten following.