James Leffew and Jared Schlipman have broken from the pack in the early voting for modified DIRT-y Driver of the year online balloting.

Leffew had 31.4 percent and Schlipman 28.3 percent of the vote as of 10:49 p.m. Thursday. Shawn Deering at 11.4 percent was running third after after more than 180 votes were cast.

Defending champion Tony Dunker and 2009 runner-up Dave Wietholder both had 4.3 percent of the vote and were sequestered near the  back of the 10-driver field. The top 10 in the final track points standings were eligible for the ballot.

Voting for the mods continues through Oct. 6.

And now it’s the modifieds’ turn.

Voting opened this morning for the modified DIRT-y Driver of the Year online ballot. Tony Dunker is the defending champ. Dunker won a spirited battle with Dave Wietholder in 2009, a competition that drew more than 5,200 votes. I doubt is we see those kind of numbers again, but the balloting should be close.

The top 10 drivers in the final track points standings are eligible for the ballot.

Andrew Griffin is the new stock car DIRT-y Driver of the Year.

Griffin finished with 34 percent of the vote in this year’s online ballot. Steve Steinkuhler, the 2009 champ, was second in the balloting with 19 percent. Aaron Brocksieck was third with 18 percent.

Griffin dominated early and late, with Steinkuhler and Brocksieck making a run in the middle of the week-long ballot that saw more than 500 votes cast.

Griffin joins hobby stocker Nathan Hayes as the first two winners in this year’s competition.

1. Hot chocolate is being sold at the concession stand.

2. Tony Dunker, Brandon Brown and Justin Reed are talking about the latest episode of “Rubicon” on Sunday nights, rather than what just happened in a heat race.

3. Denny Woodworth knows he won’t be referred to as the “late model lawyer” again until next April.

4. Jason Frankel won’t have someone tell him he could be Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s double until next March’s mall show.

5. Ice forms in turns one and two following the pre-race watering of the track.

6. There is a sense of calm in the hobby stock pits, as opposed to the weekly fisticuffs in July and August.

7. Terry Houston and/or Dave Moore are no longer making Iowa stock car drivers mad.

8. Race fans are given a coupon that can be used toward a Thanksgiving turkey.

9. The Rev. Dennis Thomas, the unofficial track pastor, wishes all in attendance a happy holiday season before the start of the last night of racing.

10. Hope Cernea is wearing a winter jacket in victory lane.

Hawaii Five-O is over, so here’s the scoop for what Sunday night’s lineup will offer:

The ILMO Lightning Mini Sprints will be part of a schedule that also includes late models, modifieds, stock cars and hobby stocks. Keep reading, because there are some special rules for most of the events.

The Mini Sprint event is a first for the track, with more than 20 of the 1000cc to 1205cc powered winged midgets expected to be on hand for a purse that guarantees at least $400 to win for 20 or more cars registered to race. There are more event specifics listed on the flyer posted on the Quincy Raceways website at www.quincyraceways.com.

The late model shootout will pay $1,000 to win for 15 or more cars entered and $700 to win for 14 or fewer cars entered. This special event will feature cars from the IMCA late models, UMP Pro Crate late models series and possibly cars that race under the ULMA sanctioning body rules. Specific rules concerning tires and weights can also be found at the track’s website.

The UMP modifieds will race for $500 to win and $115 to start, plus UMP national, region and state points.

The hobby stocks and stock cars will also be participating in another special as the two classes will be combined, along with the Lee County Speedway and 34 Raceway hobby stocks in a event that will pay $400 to Win and $65 to Start. The Quincy 9:1 360ci hobby stocks may run any two- or four-barrel carburetor and must pump and whistle to their usual specifications. The Lee County and 34 Raceway hobby stocks must be legal to their respective track’s rules. The IMCA stock cars must compete under the normal IMCA rules. Any Quincy hobby stocks that do not want to use the 9:1 360ci engine may compete under the Lee County and 34 Raceway hobby stock rules.

Negotiations continue between Team 4 officials and young Tanner Klingele, the 15-year-old, second-year hobby stock driver. Well, actually, most of the negotiations are with Tanner’s parents, former track champ Jeff Klingele and mom Teresa.

Team 4 patriarch Tony Dunker said he would eventually like to put Tanner in a third modified, but 2011 might see the youngster in a stock car as a stepping stone.

Nothing is firm at this point, but this will be one of the off-season stories worth watching. Tanner’s family might want him to spend one more season in a hobby stock and there would be nothing wrong with that.

Team 4 expanded in 2009 when it added Justin Reed as its second modified driver and he won the track championship that season. Dunker has two track titles to his credit and is one of four drivers to win 100 races in his career at 8000 Broadway since 1999.

The third annual Stevie Dirt All-Dirt teams for late models, modifieds, stock cars and hobby stocks will be revealed here following the completion of the Quincy Raceways season.

A driver of the year in each class, plus a first and second row will be selected.

And all of a sudden we have a race!

Andrew Griffin’s big lead has dissipated in his quest to be the stock car DIRT-y Driver of the Year as the fans of Aaron Brocksieck and defending champ Steve Steinkuhler have come out in the last 24 hours to bunch up the online balloting that runs hrough Wednesday.

Griffin had 24.7 percent of the vote as of 2:07 p.m. Sunday, followed closely by Brocksieck’s 22.2 percent and Steinkuhler’s 21.1 percent. Terry Houston and Abe Huls each ahd 11.3 percent.

So far, the second annual balloting as drawn 274 votes in the stock car division, a pace that will likely see the series fall short of its 2009 ballot count of more than 800.

Nathan Hayes was voted hobby stock DIRT-y Driver of the Year in last week’s voting.

The modifieds are up next, beginning Thursday. Tony Dunker is defending mod champ.

The late models will close out the DIRT-y driver voting following the modified competition.

Too much rain in recent days has forced cancellation of Sunday night’s scheduled event at Quincy Raceways. This marks three straight rainouts in what was supposed to be the “extended season.”

Look for word later todayabout information for the Oct. 3 show.

GMF and JAF

The most important elements of this blog are all of those race fans who read it and take part with their comments. In three seasons this “Stevie Dirt” thing has mushroomed beyond all imagination — and you guys are the reason.

Thank you!

This is first year we started awarding weekly “medals” for blog contributions. I just wish I had started it three years ago. I’m not sure who had more fun with the awards — the “winners” or myself. Each week I would go back re-read all of the comments and try to pick the most deserving winners. Maybe it would be for a series of comments, or just one. Each week was different.

It seems only appropriate that we name a gold, silver and bronze medal winner for the season. So here goes:

Gold medal: The two hardest-working blog contributors — and two of the craziest — were “Just A Fan” and “Girl Mod Fan”. As the season wore on, it became obvious to other readers JAF and GMF were not only sisters, but blonde sisters, which opened up a whole new world of jokes for all of us. From start to finish, JAF and GMF were awesome. I could not differentiate between the two for the gold, so they both get one!

Silver medal: Finishing a close second in my estimation was “Team 4 Fan,” whose zany ALL CAPS COMMENTS were always entertaining. He also amde some excellent points, even though I had to bleep quite a few of his contributions.

Bronze medal: “DaveMoore#97crew” may have delivered the best single comment of the season when he told us his wife was upset because he was not paying enough attention to her. Instead, Dave was spending too much time on the  Stevie Dirt blog. When we start our hall of fame for blog contributors, Dave will be a charter member.