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Take Michael J. Rollin's "Bad to the Bone" or "Eye of the Tiger" and my use of such descriptive phrases such as "ground-pounding, mud-slinging and fire-belching" and multiply all this by threefold and you have the essence of the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa.

More than 300 of the volatile rockets assembled in this little city, known for its links to the railroad industry and the home of Mamie (Doud) Eisenhower, Sept. 5-8.

In addition to the races, the town also uses this opportunity to promote its "Pufferbilly" Days.

Three Pahrump Valley drivers made the 1,500-mile trek to the heartland to compete not for the money, but for the distinction of being crowned Super National Champion and the fame that crown brings.

Joining Leland Hibdon, Levi Kiefer and Jason Pike were two familiar faces to PVS regulars, Chad Farstveet and James Delaney. Notably missing was Dan Fitzgerald from Las Vegas, who was voted into the All-Star Invitational, but chose not to compete and relinquished that honor to Randy Brands of Boyden, Iowa.

I was told by popular IMCA driver, Todd Nunnally that the cost of fuel to make the round trip would exceed $2,200 so I was thankful that my wife and I were flying Allegiant Airlines into Des Moines along with Misty Hibdon, who was met there by her husband.

This wish of a lifetime was being fulfilled by Casey and Levi Kiefer and while they were re-skinning their modified, I was scurrying around buying film and making preparations to bring you the results, albeit a week or so late.

Having to undergo pre-op screening at a Summerlin hospital for a procedure this Friday, Kathie and I decided that having to get up so early in Pahrump and then drive back into Vegas wasn't feasible, we spent the evening before our departure at the South Point Casino.

The accommodations were superb and we highly recommend staying there if have to catch an early morning flight.

Boone Speedway, a 1/3 mile black dirt oval, is billed as Iowa's "Action Track and Home to the IMCA Super Nationals," and is situated at the intersection of Interstate 30 and S. Story Street. It is 17 miles from Ames, where Kathie and I stayed.

The speedway isn't hard to find when you see the little city that has sprung up over this week with haulers, motor homes and campers situated over the complex.

The track is high banked and wide enough to allow for four and five wide racing action. There is grandstand seating on both sides of the track and catwalks on the pit side that allow for additional visibility.

What makes this Super Nationals so special was that IMCA was celebrating the Silver Anniversary of this event. We arrived at the track just prior to the evenings first of 40 heats.

After hoofing it quite a distance from where we parked to the media center, we went to one of the two VIP suites (actually old storage buildings remodeled into suites). Thankfully, the one we chose was air-conditioned as the humidity was dense enough to bottle and we were both drenched in sweat.

After several heats we realized that there was something missing -- the smell of racing alcohol.

We migrated to turn four and were treated to two modifieds making banzai charges up and over the top of the track, one of which impacted a partially buried guard rail bringing out the red flag and my wife having beer spilled on her by someone who was obviously drunk.

So how did our local heroes do, knowing that just two drivers in each heat moved onto one of eight B-Mains?

Heat 16 had Pike, the only Nevada driver to have ever qualified for the A-Main, finishing fourth in a field of eight.

Considering that in his heat were John Logue and Ricky Alvarado, things were looking good for the popular Pike, who is still remembered for his near fatal accident a few years past when he contacted a light post in turn one.

Logue was adding to his record number of Super National appearances and has claimed the title of champion five times in modifieds and five times in late models. Alvarado is a highly respected driver from Colorado.

As the cars were exiting the track, heat 17 drivers were making their way onto the track.

This heat had Delaney carrying the hopes of a Nevada qualifier. Delaney made some dandy moves to finish third. The winner of the heat, Justin Auringer from Waterloo, Iowa, turned at that point the fastest lap of 16.57 seconds.

It was a long wait until the 36^th heat and the first attempt at qualifying by Hibdon. Last season's Pahrump Valley Speedway modified champion made a nifty turn four pass to move from next to last to fourth. Leland was in the race car driven by Bryan Wulfenstein at PVS.

Farstveet found little to be happy about after finishing dead last in the 37th heat. He just couldn't harness the changing track conditions (the preferred line constantly moved from top to bottom and then bottom to top) and could make no head way in the ten-lap heat.

Heat number 40, the last opportunity to qualify for the first nights A-Main and a guaranteed spot in the grand finale, found Kiefer starting on the pole.

Using the other heat results as a gauge, it looked very promising that Levi would make it into a qualifying position.

As the green flag fell, the usual hard-charging Kiefer stumbled and fell back to fourth. He was able to gain one spot and finished third. His only consolation was that another hard-charger, Ronnie Wallace from North Platte, Neb. finished seventh in the seven-car field.

Pike and Delaney qualified for B-Main No. 4 with Pike finishing 13th while Delaney out fought Chad Porter for 16th. This left Leland and Levi to face off against each other in the last of the B-Mains (No. 8).

Kiefer and Hibdon actually made contact with each other exiting turn four early in the 20 lap race. Kiefer held on to match Pike's earlier exploits (13th) while Hibdon's ill-handling modified carried him to an 18th-place finish.

After nine hours of racing plus the jet lag and with no one left to cheer for, Kathie and I decided that the advanced case of what superb announcer, Toby Cruse described as "bleacher butt," we opted for the comfort of the bed at the Country Inn in Ames.

A unique feature that deserves some mention is that the track runs 10 heats and then begins "farming."

Farming is the attack on the track surface by a team of John Deere tractors who churn up the soil and then another army of John Deere's compact with the help of a couple of school buses and a water truck. This whole procedure takes about 10-14 minutes all the while they play "Green Acres" or "Tiptoeing through the Tulips" over the loudspeakers.