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from a short hiatus; and, recovering from FIRST Little 500 by Kirk Spridgeon |
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June 1, 2004....Since
it has been a while since I’ve typed anything, let me write a few
paragraphs to catch up. With my final year of high school ending
during the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500, I was strapped for
time during finals time. The
first trip of the year to Putnamville was bookended by a benefit
basketball game in my hometown of Van Wert on May 14th and a trip to
Cedar Point the following Monday. The KISS show at Put was graced
with 56 cars and soggy grounds, which made it tough to pass for the
majority of the night. Unfortunately, Putnamville continues to
operate under their own little world, causing a sharp decrease in
cars and a possibility of dropping the sprint cars on a weekly
basis. Michael
Burthay scored a huge win, drawing out his points lead in the KISS
series while making it known that he could win races at places other
than Gas City. He gave up the lead in traffic to Matt Westfall, but
he showed some relentlessness and took it away from Westfall.
Westfall went low on the final lap, and they had a torrid battle to
the stripe with Burthay gaining the advantage and the checkers. Coming
home fourth was Dusty Wright in one of his most impressive
performances to date, steering an updated car without mistakes
throughout the race. With bright green paint donning his #12, Wright
still finds time to compete with the MSCS Steel Block division. Sticking
the John Baker Excavating car in the top ten after a solid charge,
Bill Rose lost use of his tow rig, leaving him out of the Butler
All-Star race. Rose recovered to three top tens in Ohio ASCoC
events, but he still hasn’t regained a top ten spot in points
after missing Butler. Bryan
Clauson worked his way to ninth at Putnamville and posted two
runner-up finishes recently. Of course, he flipped hard at the
finish of his latest placing. Scrapping his plans for 500 laps at
Anderson, noting that going against insurance rules wasn’t worth
the struggle, the fourteen-year old Clauson plotted to pilot the
Armstrong Farms Stealth at Bloomington, Lawrenceburg, and Kokomo
over Memorial Day weekend before having to be cut from his car at
Bloomington, leaving him out of commission for a few weeks. Another
teenager who finished in the top ten at Putnamville was Darren
Hagen, who just arrived for the summer from the West Coast. Hagen
became a good friend of mine while visiting the Midwest last year
with Jack Yeley. Still under the tutelage of “Cactus” Jack,
Hagen has graduated a year early and commuted to Indiana for a full
summer of sprinters, running anywhere and everywhere, including as
many USAC shows as possible. With a couple cars ready to go and some
exciting sponsorship opportunities, the “Yeley orange” #11 will
be a car to watch all summer. Finishing
second in his heat driving the Eubanks #17E, Ricky Hayden is racing
again in both a midget and sprint car. Hayden employed a strange
line at Putnamville, going to the very top of turn three, very near
the push-off lane, and rocketing down across the track with the left
front high in the air. Kevin
Newton, a USAC regular for the year with the Law Brothers team, put
on a great show en route to transferring to his first local feature
event. Newton banzaied the car in his heat, but he couldn’t pass
his way into a transfer. He was passed early in the B Main by Dustin
Smith, but Newton put the car on the top shelf and gassed his way
back by the other #77. Visiting
Newton’s hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana, I got to see a great
doubleheader weekend of midgets and sprint cars on the legendary
half mile, with the Hut Hundred and Hulman Classic serving as the
prestigious names attached to the events. The Action Track has
always been my favorite stop, but I can’t quite put my finger on
what the allure is that makes me like the place so much. I can tell
you that I already miss the trademark red, white, and blue
guardrail, hoping they can paint those concrete blocks in similar
fashion. Bobby
East picked up a huge win, quieting some of the naysayers by winning
at a dirt venue. The race came down to a showdown between two young
guys who would make a great rivalry in the midget series. East was
destined for greatness from the start as he had white number nines
in his future from the start. Davey Ray also comes from a racing
family, but he has had a tougher road on the way to his current
Wilke-Pak ride. Bobby has had a lot to prove to midget fans
nationwide, while Ray is a fan favorite for simply being a little
guy who isn’t afraid to stand on the gas. Ray diamonded under East
to the white flag, but he got out of shape aiming for the cushion in
turn one. East calmly circled the bottom of the track and held off
Ray for the win. Jerry
Coons, Jr. continued his qualifying prowess at Terre Haute by
posting quick time over 37 midgets in Karl Warnke’s Stealth and
second quick time in the field of fifty-four sprinters, driving for
Roger and Barb Tapy in the Truckers mount. With
fans still grinning from his performance at the Chili Bowl, Danny
Stratton showed up to take a top-five in the red 50. With plans to
compete at Knoxville’s midget show and the Buckeye Nationals with
USAC, Danny will have plenty of opportunities to thrill more fans. The
only winner so far this year under the Badger midget banner, Scott
Hatton brought down cars for two nights of Wabash Valley work.
Hatton worked on East during the middle stages of the race before
his battery went dead. He missed the show on Saturday, but he is
definitely getting the handle of the Stealth sprinter. Critter
Malone was the show during the early part of the race, but he
eventually finished 7th. Charging from his starting spot outside row
four on the three-abreast grid, Critter had the lead early in the
race. With rides available to him with Gary Cravens from Illinois
and the Seelings out of Northwest Ohio, Malone will be able to race
a limited schedule between the two, still looking for a ride in his
own state of Indiana. Although
he fell from the early stages of the Hut Hundred, Travis Miniea is
excited to be back racing full-time. A NAMARS 500 winner and
quipping that he “may have won more money at the Speedrome than
any other driver racing these days,” Miniea will drive the full
USAC Midget Series for Margaret Owen, fielding what could be the
only Competition Welding midget in existence. Still teamed with the
sprinter that he raced some last year, Miniea will once again be
piloting the Hawk chassis out of Eastern Ohio in USAC pavement
races, as well as quite a few winged races on pavement. With
a USAC show opening a week of fun at Anderson, I expected a huge car
count where only 33 entered. Of course, the main reason behind this
was to save equipment for a 500-lap mauling on Saturday. Doug
Berryman was one of those drivers, choosing to sit out Wednesday
after going head first into the concrete in April. One
car who decided to race Wednesday but not Saturday was young Lee
Boss. A fellow Buckeye, Boss enters the sprint series from the MSA
Supermodifieds, competing against drivers such as Tim Jedrzejek and
A.J. Davis. After re-assembling an older Hoffman car, Boss plans to
wheel the car in all USAC pavement shows along with a large helping
of AVSS and HOSS races. With the help of his Gaerte Mopar, Boss
creeped past Marc Jessup to transfer into the feature, where he
started eighth, right where he qualified. After
missing the rain-shortened first round of Little 500 qualifications
and a rain-out at the Speedrome, I returned the high-banked quarter
mile in Anderson on Friday for Bump Day. With thirty cars trying to
get their way back into the field, it was truly a hectic day, unlike
the speedway in Speedway! Michael Lewis withdrew his original time,
which would have given him the 32nd starting spot on race day, and
he posted the second fastest overall time. He would have to start
16th at the start of the 500, however. Lewis’
teammate Tony Hunt was bumped, but he was ready to go right away,
and his time was the 5th fastest in qualifying. He would start
beside his teammate in row six. AVSS
competitor Troy Underwood may have been the biggest surprise of the
day. After he was bumped, Underwood rolled onto the track for the
10th best time of qualifying. With four smooth laps, I was
definitely impressed by the winged warrior from up north. Bentley
Warren finally snuck Jason Goacher’s beautiful #5G into the field,
and Dude Teate tried to qualify Wendy Mathis’ green #80 into the
field. He fell short of giving her a scratch starting position on
Saturday. Mike
Ford, a former USAC Western States sprint car and supermodified
competitor from Idaho, was the final car to be bumped. Just moving
here to work at Advanced Racing Suspension, Ford pulled his open
trailer into the speedway with an old van, making me an instant fan.
When employer Corey Fillip informed Ford that he would be safe after
his first-round time, Ford prepared his car for the race and rolled
it back onto the open trailer. When Friday saw insanely fast times,
Ford’s time balanced on the bubble before bursting with less than
25 minutes to go. Without changing a tire, Ford took to the track
and could not find the speed he needed. After some minor changes, he
went back on the track under a cloud with 15 minutes left, smoking
the failing brakes into the corner and sliding high on his old
tires. Finding himself just four one-hundredths short of the field
on overall time, another entry was filed, much as Michael Lewis did.
With only enough time for one more run, Ford did not have time or
money to change anything on the car, failing to qualify for the
33-car field and leaving veteran Don Townsend in the Rebman Truck
Service #77R safe in the field. Cars
who tried their luck on Friday and came up short included Dave
Baumgartner in Benny Rapp’s car, Brad Armstrong, who bit the wall
on his final attempt, Joe Rebman, Dorman Snyder in the Bellairs
roadster, Doug Fitzwater, Troy Lowery, John Scott, Mat Neely, who
might have made the field with his waved-off time, Ryan Katz, Mark
Hall, Danny Williams, Jr., and Shane Butler. Katz got to race after
Tom Fedewa qualified the other Katz car into the field, but Ryan did
not feel well after busting the concrete during the race. Friday
ended by watching Dave Darland steal a win from pavement specialist
Dave Steele at the Indy State Fairgrounds. With another small, but
stout, field, Dave smoked the right rear that had just been replaced
during a red flag to sneak by Steele in the middle of turns three
and four. Steele commented after the race to John Heydenreich that
he wasn’t quite ready for the pace of the race after the red flag.
He didn’t think they would be going that hard after cruising for
so long. Heydenreich, again proving that he might have more energy
than any other man on Earth, said he didn’t have power steering
for the majority of the race, which made it tough for him to get the
car turned to exit the corner. He stole third at the end of the
race, anyway. Heydenreich’s crew chief, Greg Staab, discussed his
recent acquisition of a new Competition Welding car that he will
soon put together. Thinking of who Staab would have in the car,
three exciting shoes quickly came to mind, including Heydenreich,
Critter Malone, and Cary Faas, who was on hand to hustle the old
Galas number 12, which has seen victory lane at the Fairgrounds
before. Levi
Jones took the challenge and went to the rear of the field, picking
up some extra cash for each car he passed while getting the laps he
so desperately needs in USAC’s premier series. Hud
Cone was pumped after his charge from 29th to 10th, garnering the
Hard Charger Award for the night. Cone is excited to race the champ
car more, noting that they do not want to race at Terre Haute, but
that they will hit the rest of the races for the year. Even
after putting his car hard into the wall at the Fairgrounds, Danny
Ebberts was in high spirits. He had just gotten his dirt car
together, but he had trouble all night getting it to run right.
After it finally decided to go fast, something broke on the car and
ended his night. Danny is hoping to run his midget stuff quite a bit
more along with his pavement Silver Crown car. Danny will also have
some more opportunities to drive Buzz Shoemaker’s potent 360 on
the West Coast after his impressive debut in the car. He is also
looking forward to the possibility of racing Sal Acosta’s 410 with
SCRA and USAC/CRA back in Cali. After
the long drive home, I returned after a nice night of sleep to the
Anderson Speedway for my first Little 500, spending the day in awe
of all the happenings while being guided by Merrillville Al Longiny,
Greg Koons, and television superstar Brent Goodnight, who was
assisting Dave Argabright in the pits on this night. With the
pre-race festivities boggling my mind and loving the driver’s
meeting in the tent, I was ready for a three-wide start and 500
laps. I was joined low in turn one by another Little 500 virgin,
Shane Cottle, for the start. While the start didn’t live up to my
expectations after Troy Underwood was put into the wall and Dave
Durnwald and Jimmy McCune stacked up in turn two, the whole race was
a lot more exciting than I had imagined. Michael
Lewis was the one driver I had my eyes on for the first portion of
the race as he diced his way up into the top five. Levi Jones paced
the field for a long while before giving way to the veterans lined
up behind him. Of course, Eric Gordon is the best of the bunch, and
he proved that once again, but it was a great race behind him.
Wearing my Cory Kruseman attire, my eyes lit up as Cory gradually
worked his way from 12th to 2nd after his first pit stop. Pleading
for a yellow so he could make his second stop, it finally came when
the Kruser’s ignition went out and he came to a stop, ending his
amazing run and what he called the “coolest race I’ve ever
run.” Aaron
Pierce turned what could have been a snoozefest into a great race
after he started at the tail of the string of cars on the last
restart, the only car besides Eric Gordon on the lead lap. As the
laps wound down, Pierce still found himself nearly a half-lap behind
Gordon with ten to go. Pierce put on a Kasey Kahne-like charge, with
only a lapped car and a few car lengths between he and Gordon as he
took the white flag. Choosing to stay behind the lapper entering
turn one, that move sealed the win for Gordon, but Pierce made it
look very close at the checkers. Fremont,
Ohio’s Doug Berryman was another racer who was very fast at the
end of 500 laps. Happy to be finishing after last year’s DNF,
Berryman was also relieved to see his car in one piece after the
race, ready to head for Cedar Rapids to battle USAC in the next
week. Meeting Doug’s father after the race while he was visiting
with fellow Fremont resident Greg Koons, he was being talked into
breaking out a dirt sprinter by our congregation. Telling him to
bring one of the Eagles to Gas City some Friday, Mr. Berryman said
he would wait for a good time when the big dogs would be out of town
to re-introduce his son to the wingless wonders on dirt after a flip
during a practice session at Fremont. Graduating
on Sunday from high school, I will have plenty of opportunities to
see racing this summer, hoping to make a new personal high of races
attended this year. This weekend could see me in Iowa to watch the
pavement pounders or back in Gas City for a regular show(rough track
or not!). Saturday night I’ll be back in Terre Haute to watch the
big cars and making my return to Bogey’s go cart track after a
torrid battle with Trenton Darland in our last excursion to the
track across the street from the Vigo County Fairgrounds. If
a column does not follow those events, I could be just about
anywhere on the 11th and 12th. The Sheldon Kinser Memorial at
Bloomington is a possibility along with a Ford Focus date here in
Ohio. On Saturday, a rumored midget show at Anderson would take top
billing before a run to Lawrenceburg or a second night of Foci in
Ohio. |
