Saturday night Jackie Boggs of Grayson, KY, driving the McDonalds / Miller Brothers Coal / Hawkeye Trucking / Richard A. Mitchell Motorsports / Cropper Racing Engines Swartz Chassis Monte Carlo led all 100 laps of the Charter Communications sponsored 2004 Race Fest at the West Virginia Motor Speedway to claim the $15,000 feature prize.

“I won $22,000 this weekend,” said Boggs. “That’s a lot of money!” Jackie also said he was lucky and that he couldn’t have run three more laps due to engine problems. Boggs said that he was breaking valve springs and that they had been experiencing this problem for a while.

At the drop of the green, pole sitter Boggs took the lead and going down the back straight increased it to six car lengths over outside pole sitter Steve Shaver, third starting Bart Hartman, fourth starting Scott Bloomquist, fifth starting Darrell Lanigan and sixth starting Tim McCreadie. Through the first six laps the order remained unchanged with Boggs increasing his lead on every lap over Shaver. Finally on lap 7, Hartman drove his #75 Seubert Calf Ranches / Imler's Poultry / MCB Motorsports / Cornett Engine/Hoosier Tire / Rocket Chassis Gran Prix by Shaver and took up the chase for the lead.

By lap nine Boggs had caught the rear of the field and was beginning to lap cars. Even while lapping cars Boggs was increasing his lead every lap as the rest of the field from Hartman on back, remained close with everyone fighting for position. The first casualty of the race occurred on lap 12 when Rick Aukland took his #12 Ostrom Painting & Sandblasting / Malcuit Engines Dodge Intrepid pit side. One lap later World 100 winner Chub Frank stopped the #1* Lester Buildings / Corry Rubber/Allstar Performance / Nystrom's Auto Sales / Draime Racing Engines / Rocket Chassis / Pierotti Motorsports / Slavic Custom T-Shirts / Farr MotorSports / Corry Laser Chevrolet Monte Carlo on the back straight with rear suspension damage. After frantic work by several members of the 1* crew and several other crews, Frank called it a night.

At this point Boggs led Hartman, Shaver, Bloomquist, Lanigan, Eckert, McCreadie, Johnson, Moyer, Lucas, Barbara, Francis, Schlieper, Richards, Smith, Conley, Balzano, McDowell, Blankenship, Blair, Sheltra and Dohm, with the two retirements of Frank and Aukland.

When the green flew Boggs motored off leaving Hartman to contend with Shaver and the rest of the field. On lap 16 Rick Eckert in the #24 Raye Vest Excavating / J&J Steel / Hoosier Tire / Afco Race Products / Cornett Race Engines / Rocket Chassis Ford Taurus moved to 5th by Lanigan’s #29 Lanigan Autosports / Accutex Signs / Cornett / AFCO / GottaRace / Hoosier Tire / Rocket Chassis Ford Taurus. On the next lap it was Lucas and Francis who were on the move, passing McCreadie.

At the 20 lap mark Boggs led Hartman, Shaver, Bloomquist, Lanigan and Eckert by almost a straight. The next caution flew on lap 22 for the slowing of Billy Moyer’s #21 J&J Steel / Hawkeye Trucksales.com / Mcarthy One Hour Heating and Air / Banner Valley Hauling Chevrolet Monte Carlo. At this point the running order was Boggs, Hartman, Shaver, Bloomquist, Eckert, Lanigan, Lucas, Francis, Johnson, McCreadie, McDowell from 24th, Schlieper, Richards, Smith, Balzano, Blair, Blankenship, Barbara, Sheltra and Dohm.

As usual Boggs charged forward, but the action was in the pack. Eckert was now all over Bloomquist and was applying heavy pressure. Finally on lap 29, he made the pass stick and passed Bloomquist for fourth with Lanigan passing as well. On lap 33 Francis also passed Bloomquist dropping him to seventh. Francis had his #15 Valvoline / Mopar / Freeport Recycle Center / Action Auto Mart / Rocket Chassis Dodge Intrepid on the move and dropped Lanigan to sixth on lap 25. The top five now consisted of Boggs, Hartman, Shaver, Eckert and Francis. McDowell at this point had moved his #17M Larry Shaw Race Cars / S&H Motorsports / Dover Cylinder Head / Racetek/Petroff Towing / J&J Steel / New Vision Graphics / Rocket Chassis Pontiac Grand Prix into the top 10 with his pass by McCreadie.

Again on lap 32, Boggs caught the rear of the field and began lapping cars. About the same time McCreadie’s #39 Sweeteners Plus / A-C Speedworld / Texaco Havoline / Rocket Chassis Chevrolet Monte Carlo stopped in turn two with a right rear flat. McCreadie went pit side and returned to the rear. Bloomquist also dropped his #0 Miller Brothers Coal / Hawkeye Trucking / Custom Race Engines / Allstar Performance / Hoosier Tire / Sweet Manufacturing Ford Taurus from his seventh spot to the pits for a quick right rear tire change and also returned to the rear. At this juncture the field was Boggs, Hartman, Shaver, Eckert, Francis, Lanigan, McDowell, Lucas, Johnson, Blair, Richards, Balzano, Smith, Blankenship, Barbara, Sheltra, Dohm, Bloomquist, Moyer and McCreadie.

On the restart Boggs again took off followed by Hartman. Shaver, who didn’t seem to be as strong as he had earlier, had to contend with Eckert who was all over his rear bumper. On lap 33 both Eckert and Francis got by Shaver, and McDowell was now sixth over Lanigan. Boggs increased his lead every lap and by lap 40 he was leading by 15 car lengths. This long green was to the advantage of Bloomquist as the tire change put new life in him and he was working his way back to the front. By lap 50 he was back in seventh behind Lucas and on lap 55 when he got around Lucas he was almost a straight behind 5th place McDowell. In fact it took him until lap 70 to catch up to the rear bumper of the 17M.

On lap 72 Bloomquist passed McDowell and was now on the rear bumpers of Francis, Eckert and Shaver who were running together. He disposed of Shaver one lap later and began working on Eckert.

The action came to a stop on lap 76 when Josh Richards rolled to a stop on the back straight and then drove to the pits with what looked like engine problems. Now the order was Boggs followed by Hartman, Eckert, Francis, Bloomquist, Shaver, McDowell, Schlieper, Lanigan, Johnson, Balzano, McCreadie, Blankenship, Blair, Smith, Barbara, Sheltra and Moyer. At this point all the cars from Johnson back were lapped cars.

This time, when the green flew, Hartman powered under Boggs coming down the front straight and into turn one. As Hartman slid up the track, the two made slight contact between turns one and two with Boggs getting the best of it. He got straightened out, on the gas and back into the lead, but Hartman lost momentum and two spots. Both Francis and Eckert got by, dropping him to fourth.

By lap 80 Boggs had opened up a 12 to 15 car length lead over the now second place Francis who was trying to hold off the charging Eckert. On lap 81 Bloomquist passed Hartman for fourth and the next lap McDowell dropped him out of the top five. About this time Eckert also moved by Francis for second. On lap 81 Shaver who had run in the top five almost all night retired with a bent rear bird cage which resulted from earlier contact between he and Eckert.

With 15 laps to go, when the caution came out for a spinning Blankenship, the field was Boggs, Eckert, Francis, Bloomquist, McDowell, Hartman, Shaver, Schlieper, Lanigan, McCreadie, Johnson, Balzano, Smith, Blair, Barbara, Sheltra and Blankenship. McCreadie was the first lapped car.

When the green flew Boggs again took off and began building his lead. On lap 87 Bloomquist moved to third with a pass of Francis and on lap 90 to second with a pass of Eckert in turn four. At this point Boggs held a ½ straight lead over the now second place Bloomquist.

Over the final 10 laps Bloomquist cut Boggs’ lead in half but ran out of laps. Boggs took the checkered with Bloomquist, Francis, Eckert and McDowell rounding out the top five.

“I’m really happy to win here at this race track,” said Boggs in victory lane. “I’ve always raced here and it used to be my favorite race track. Used to race here every week and never won a race here.”

Boggs also noted that he was lucky, stating “I think I’ve got two or three broken valve springs, my motor wouldn’t crank ‘til about 7400 and just flatfooted all the way around the race track. Those restarts were really bad, I mean, those Fords and Mopars were getting it on through there but after we got through the corners we were all right.”