ESTEVAN - Estevan’s Aaron Turnbull went up against the best modified drivers in the U.S. and came away with a fourth-place finish.
Turnbull was competing at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa, this month. Starting 11th on the grid in Saturday’s 40-lap feature, known as the Big Dance, he said he had a good start, and quickly worked his way up to sixth.
“I’ve been there before, and I know you don’t want to get stuck to the outside on the start,” he said. “I started in the middle and the guy beside me didn’t get a very good start.”
He moved up to third at one point, but was passed on a restart with 19 laps to go.
“The car was a lot better in the middle of the race and it was kind of fading in the end, so I was still happy to hold on to fourth,” said Turnbull.
More than 250 drivers entered Super Nationals. Only 33 made it to the Big Dance.
“The best guys from all over the country are there,” said Turnbull.
Super Nationals has several days of qualifying to whittle the field down to 33.
He tried to qualify during races last Wednesday but had a bad draw and came up short. Turnbull reached the final thanks to a couple of strong results on Thursday. He won his qualifying heat to reach one of the two A features that night, and then he worked his way up from 11th on the grid to finish second and punch his ticket for the final on Saturday.
“The car was really good, and we made some good ground,” said Turnbull.
It meant he didn’t have to go through the numerous qualifying rounds that occur on Friday and Saturday at super nationals.
Turnbull noted the driver who won the prelude feature on Sept. 3 – which had a mere 150 drivers entered – wasn’t able to qualify for the Big Dance race a week later, thanks to some bad luck in qualifying.
“There are a lot of good cars who are capable of winning it [the Big Dance], or at least running in the top five of the main event. If things don’t go perfect, they might not even make the show. Just making the show is pretty tough in itself.”
Turnbull was in the feature race for the prelude as well. He started 23rd and worked his way up to 14th.
“That was helpful to get the laps on the car, because I had never driven the car before, and made a lot of changes to it and made it a lot better all week,” said Turnbull. “It definitely paid off to have a lot of laps on the car.”
The car is owned by Terry Henry of Bakersfield, Calif., who is connected with a driver named Cody Laney, who won Super Nationals in 2021. Laney, who also hails from California, has raced in Estevan during the Dakota Classic Modified Tour and at other events, and suggested Turnbull pilot the car.
Turnbull had to choose between racing at Super Nationals or returning to the John Seitz Memorial late model race in Grand Forks N.D., the top late model race in that state. Turnbull won the memorial race in 2019 and 2020. But he hadn’t been to Super Nationals in at least seven years and decided this was the year to make his return.
“I was offered a pretty good ride to drive the car and thought we had a pretty good shot at, and it worked out,” he said.
His brother, Tyson Turnbull, also competed at Super Nationals. He made two of the A qualifier features last week, and picked up points each night to give himself a shot at qualifying. He finished fifth in a last chance qualifying race Saturday and just missed out on the Big Dance.
