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See You At The Races!!! |
| The
Big ‘E’ is for “Effort” by Kirk Spridgeon |
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May 4, 2005....Mother Nature would not be allowed to spoil my
first race of the season. Although Friday Gas City weather was bleak
and the Eldora grounds had to be more than saturated, I had set my
mind to get home for a weekend and get back to the track. The one
consolation on my mind was that both tracks make every effort to
race in spite of the weather conditions. I was hoping my trek back
from school would not be solely for some of my mom’s food! With many thanks going to my roommate’s
girlfriend, Andrea, I made it back under very gloomy skies. Gas City
promoter Jiggs Thomason had the track sealed very tight with the
imminent threat of rain. While the car count certainly suffered
because of the forecast, a stout field of 44 cars still swarmed the
pits. I was keen on seeing them battle for the 22 starting spots
and, as the track would assuredly improve as the night wore on, a
feature that had a field full of threats to win. Unfortunately, hot laps would be my only taste
of how the field would perform. Throttle-mashers were everywhere as
the track did not have its usual slimy layer on top, leaving nothing
but traction for the hot lappers. A little dust even sprung up
during practice, but that was met with a few sprinkles to rejuvenate
the track before each session. Attacking the corner with maximum
speed was the way to go in hot laps. Among our small contingent of turn-one fans, a
few drivers received extra attention. Garnering many votes for
unofficial champion of hot laps was Critter Malone, who twisted his
DRC low on the track, seemingly putting it wherever he wanted.
Malone’s new deal, which he put together with two other partners,
still sports sponsorship from TransCorr Trucking, the main sponsor
on Critter’s midget as well. By giving himself a ride that he does
not have to share, Critter will have the option of racing where and
when he wants. Even though he has won a few races in the last couple
years, it has been more than noticeable that Malone’s chances in
each sprint car he raced never became regular rides. Others challenging Malone for most exciting
status included Tom Hessert III, Jay Drake, and Daron Clayton.
Hessert admitted beforehand that he thought he cost himself a chance
at victory while running just behind Drake at Bloomington two weeks
before. Hessert may have made himself into a dark horse candidate to
run up front in USAC points this season, running very well on the
tar at Anderson and revealing some resolve to be a contender on
dirt. Not only was he quick in Gas City hots, but he also backed it
up at Eldora by qualifying ninth overall, even though he came out 31st.
Only one car came out after Hessert and went faster, and that was
Clayton, who was the eighth and final car in the 15-second bracket.
Actually, the top seven qualifiers came out in the first fifteen
cars, and Clayton came out 37th. Clayton’s night ended early at Eldora as he
caught the wall in turn three while running right behind Brad Sweet,
just inside the top ten. He had been attacking the high banks with
fervor all night long, leading his new team member Bubby Jones to
rave about his on-the-gas style. Jones was already impressed at the
way he ran the Terre Haute half in his first attempt, and his
bravery around Eldora could not go unnoticed. The straighter and smoother style of Brad Sweet
lent itself to a gradually improving night at the E. His first turn
of Gas City hot laps saw him fly over the bank. He was aided by a
moist track early at Eldora that let him progressively move up the
banking until he eventually ran very near the wall. His qualifying
run left him mid-pack, but he found himself as a frontrunner in the
semi after attrition took out many of the contenders for the
transfer spots. These laps really seemed to get him comfortable as
he continued to work the high side. His patient and mistake-free
drive in the main was very impressive, passing cars on the high side
as the track slicked off. It should be a very exciting summer just
watching guys like these two acclimate themselves to the USAC dirt
sprint car circuit. Speaking of Eldora, 42 cars graced the pits,
and 40 more attended at Lincoln Park Speedway. I must say that I was
impressed with Eldora’s persistence in getting this race in the
books. With the weather, they could have cancelled early without any
flak. With a small crowd coming out into the cold, they had every
reason to postpone the show, but they went on anyway, and that makes
a huge difference for fans. Thanks, Eldora! Jimmy Stinson’s flip came right as hot laps
kicked off, with his wheel flying high in the air and over the
inside fence as he completed the vicious tumble. After watching a
couple barely outrun the flying debris, I was happy to see Jimmy
emerge from what was a very beautiful Simon sprinter. Fortunately,
this team should be able to recover and hit a mix of winged and
wingless shows as the season progresses. On the down side, we had
lost one of the favorites to run the wall to victory later in the
night. Hot laps ended with another wicked flip, this
time coming in turn one. Darren Hagen had been very fast throughout
hot laps, but it ended in a heap when he caught the wall and gravity
took over and brought him to the bottom of the banking. Although
quite sore and swollen, he will return in another red 71 very soon.
His incident also took in Justin Barger, who is piloting a Bullet
chassis himself. Barger looks to be following the USAC circuit as
well, including Silver Crown shows. Qualifying went off without a hitch, and at
times that haven’t been seen at Eldora in years. Although no one
could match Jac Haudenschild’s lap of 15.386 during last fall’s
Four Crown, more cars joined the 15-second bracket as Clayton’s
time put eight cars below 16. In order to catch the 32-car invert in
the heats, a sub-seventeen second lap had to be established. Dave
Darland, the fourth car out, followed the moist ridge approximately
⅔ of the way up the track to become quick time as the fourth
car out onto the track. Mat Neely followed him out and came within
.014 seconds of Darland’s mark. Jerry Coons, Jr. had come out
second and finished up third overall. Jay Drake’s fourth quick
time was accomplished as the 13th car onto the track.
Shane Cottle and Levi Jones set themselves up to be on the front row
for the feature while Josh Wise, Clayton, Hessert, and Shane
Hollingsworth rounded out the top ten. A post-qualifying rain shower made the track
quite a bit quicker, but narrower, for the opening heat race. The
outside row took advantage of their positions to move up quickly at
the start. Darland went to the outside and climbed all the way to
fourth by the time he exited turn two. Hessert put himself back in
front of Darland quickly before disaster struck. Going into turn
one, the front of the field stacked up as Mike Miller ran lower and
forced Scotty Weir to lay off the throttle. The chain reaction made
its way to Shane Cottle a few cars back and saw him vault the right
rear of Dave Darland’s blue F-5 chassis. After a series of
twisting and hard-hitting flips, the Edison Motorsports car was done
and Cottle would be banged up enough to garner some medical
attention and a short layoff from driving. The rest of the heat went
off without incident as Hessert and Darland moved past Scotty Weir,
who could not find a way around Mike Miller and the invigorated
Kissel 320. After Darland moved by Weir, Scotty found the top line
to his liking and was just as fast as the leaders, but his chances
for a transfer through the heat were gone. For a young driver with
very little experience at such a daunting track, those laps could be
very crucial for his future trips to the Big E. Heat two went off quickly as passing was again
at a premium. Aaron Pierce, in a four-bar car wrenched by Phil Poor,
set the pace out front and could not be bypassed. Alex Pruett found
a good line, as well, and held off the challenges of Shane
Hollingsworth and more after Critter Malone got by him. Both Pierce
and Pruett were debuting at Eldora in sprint cars, but Pierce has
visited in a champ car before. Left out in the cold were both of the
fourth-row starters, Levi Jones and Mat Neely. In a race where the
leaders ran through the middle, neither could find the top line to
their liking as Darland did in heat one. The third heat was marked by multiple great
moves by Jerry Coons, Jr., although his night as a whole was another
“under-the-radar” performance from the smooth veteran. Riding
the high side to third, he found Jonathan Vennard trapped in the
middle behind Kevin Besecker and put his Hoffman F-5 on the top
shelf to take the win. Vennard followed him around and ran
comfortably in second before scraping the wall late and losing some
ground. Rob Chaney was patient in his run to third while Josh Wise
made a splendid move on Sweet for the final transfer. Heat four saw another big turn two flip, as a
slide job went wrong for Jay Drake. Although it appeared that his
car was upset a little in the middle of the corner and might have
helped him into the side of the Charlie Brown number 99 driven by
Todd Kane, Drake put all the blame on himself. In his victory lane
interview, Jay spent more time apologizing for the earlier mishap
than anything else, showing what a true class act he is. For Kane
and Brown, it marked a very big obstacle thrown into the season of
an extremely low-budget team. Nothing Drake said could have likely
eased their anger, but Jay expressed the bittersweet emotions of his
victory after the heat race predicament and getting the win because
of the misfortune of Levi Jones. Jay will surely not be making such
sloppy moves in the future, as I cannot remember him making a
mistake such as this one before. The heat ended with all the third- and
fourth-row starters make the transfers as Drake got around John
Scott late in the going. The B Main saw Bryan Stanfill catch the
wall, apparently with some help, on the first start. The second try
ended with Bill Rose spinning all by himself in turn two, piling up
cars behind him. The inside row of racers took a hard hit as Casey
Shuman, Josh Ford, Scotty Weir, Dustin Smith, Corey Smith, and Jerad
Parsons all sustained damage. Ford was said to have an injury to his
leg, but he was reportedly released. All but Corey Smith went pit
side for the night. Parsons looked great in hot laps, showing a lot
of confidence in running a high line. He took a step back after
finding the wall during qualifying, but his improvement was evident.
A weakened field came down for another start. Jones and Neely took
off and left the rest of the field. Marvel, Gerster, and Sweet
fought in the middle of the pack. A great race for the transfer spot
developed behind them when Jon Stanbrough caught Kent Wolters, and
Luke Hall then caught Stanbrough. When Gerster dropped from the
field, Wolters and Stanbrough held off the charging Hall to go to
the A Main. Hall used to the top of the track, Wolters was a lane
below him, and Stanbrough tried the bottom to the middle of the
track for most of the race. As most of you know by now, Levi Jones had
victory snatched from his grasp when he caught the turn one wall on
lap 28 and bounced to the bottom of the track just as Kevin Huntley
hooked the wall and spun down the backstretch. Shane Hollingsworth
also got a part of the action as the field stacked up behind
Huntley, rendering him infield material for the remainder of the
evening. Hollingsworth looked better than ever up high at Eldora,
but his solid top-ten was quickly erased. He will not be able to
race as much as he would like until his college classes end in a few
weeks, but look for him to run all over and at the front when the
time comes. Some work still needs to be done on his champ car for
the Hoosier Hundred on Memorial Day weekend, and his Spike midget
and Maxim sprint car should see sufficient usage throughout the
summer. Jones had been on a rail all night, running
through the middle in turns one and two and absolutely blistering
the cushion in three and four. Behind him, a line of cars waited to
get by Josh Wise, who was not ready to challenge for a win yet in
just his fourth visit to Eldora. Drake got by first after repeatedly
running the top to counter Wise’s middle groove through the first
two corners. Jerry Coons, Jr. and Dave Darland also got by, but in
the process, they let Rob Chaney move onto the podium (at the time)
with a daring outside maneuver. Darland’s slider on Coons, Jr. put
him to third at the end. Darland found the winner’s circle for the
third time this year by fighting off young guns Kyle Wissmiller, Mat
Neely, and Daron Clayton throughout the MSCS feature event at
Haubstadt. Neely saw his best USAC run in a long stretch
at Eldora. Apparently Neely’s association with Don Kruse will help
him shake last year’s sophomore slump. He was fast but failed to
finish at Bloomington, but his runs at Anderson, Florence, and
Eldora have all looked good. He also has new shirts this year, and I
would suggest any race fan take advantage of the opportunity to nab
one of these eye-catchers that come in white or gray. Acquiring mine
from Mat’s ever-supportive girlfriend, Lacey, made it an even
easier decision. You can also find these shirts at the USAC shirt
trailer, along with both of Cory Kruseman’s 2005 designs. As was mentioned about Jerry Coons, Jr.
earlier, he was steady as ever in his run to fourth. Noting his
excitement and apprehension when contemplating his new combination
with the Hoffman Auto Racing team, Jerry is sure to produce
dividends for the 69 squad. He also will try for the Silver Crown
championship and many midget triumphs while racing for such owners
as Karl Warnke and the Wilkes. He also mentioned a teaming with
Rusty Kunz for Belleville, so 2005 should be very exciting for him.
He will be wheeling some of the best rides in the business, without
a doubt! Also of note from Eldora, Bud Kaeding’s crew
fixed a problem that caused him to stop at the pit entrance in turn
four, bringing out a caution. By getting him back onto the track, he
salvaged a top-ten finish, which could prove crucial later in the
season. Look for a new paint scheme from Kaeding at Beaver Dam next
weekend. Other tidbits Alex Harris was well on his way to winning
another California Ford Focus race this past weekend when his rear
end broke. This lowered his winning percentage on the season to 50!
He has two pavement wins in his combo car, and he captured one win
on the dirt. The former midget pilot was up front in two other races
this year as well, but contact from another car put him out of the
race in one and a broken panhard bar spelled doom in the other.
Harris is still searching for a full midget ride, and his success in
the Focus cars proves he can still wheel a race car. With a win at Lawrenceburg on Sunday, Bryan
Clauson registered not only his first win of the year, but his first
top-five and top-ten. After two wins last year at the Dearborn
County facility, Clauson had to be happy to get back to a track
where he has had a lot of success. Finally getting their B&L
Motorsports Stealth to complete a night without any problems, it
showed that Bryan is still just as sharp as ever when his car gives
him a chance to win. The B&L team will have their car sorted out
now and last year’s black Armstrong Farms Stealth will be a nice
tag-team for Clauson to improve on 2004’s impressive results. Clauson is up, but Dickie Gaines is down. He
was rebuilding his engine, but his efforts fell short of readying
him for combat at Eldora, known to most as his favorite track. The
downtrodden Gaines did not search for a ride until it was too late,
leaving him at home for the Eldora show. He did make it to the
‘Burg on Saturday, but that ended when he tipped over, breaking
some front and rear end parts. Brandon Petty’s stock is on the rise. His
collaboration with Rodney Reynolds (and friends) has made a perfect
combination. His knack for running up front in season opening races
for each track is uncanny. He was 2nd at Gas City, won at
Putnamville, and found the podium at Lawrenceburg behind Clauson and
John Wolfe. Matt Brun’s first weekend of racing produced
two top-fives. He came into his own last year, setting a track
record at Gas City in the process. In contention for the win at
Putnamville, he came up short to Petty and Kent Christian. Christian
had more bad luck on Sunday, forcing him to scratch from the
feature. Hopefully it will not keep him out long, because he has
become a constant challenger throughout Indiana. Tom Busch recovered from a rough night at
Bloomington two weeks ago to notch a top-five at Lawrenceburg. We
will see if this means increased starts without the wing for Busch.
His teammate, Curt Trainer, is sitting out a bit after busting his
kneecap in a spill at Bloomington. The first weekend of action for Tony Beaber saw
him win a USAC heat easily and run 6th at Lawrenceburg.
Things are going much better for Beaber this year than last. His
Beaberbuilt chassis was hooking up well to the Eldora surface
Saturday. The latter portion of the top ten at
Lawrenceburg was an interesting group. Jason Knoke is returning to
sprint cars after a short hiatus and seems to be picking up where he
left off. Knoke will unquestionably miss North Vernon’s weekly
sprint car shows. Kevin Besecker’s beautiful new DRC was just
behind Knoke, and youngster Brent Beauchamp used his alternate spot
to climb ten positions. A new Maxim chassis has made Marc Arnold
anxious to hit the heart of the season. Although they missed the
set-up in the Gas City opener, he’s confident in the car, and his
rookie season showed that he can drive sprint cars. He will branch
out some on Saturdays while sticking close to his Peru home with
shows at Gas City and Kokomo on Friday and Sunday. Haubstadt’s MSCS show turned out to be quite
a treat for the fans braving the colder than average weather (it
always seems to be scorching when I go to Haubstadt). Dave Darland
picked up the win after a great duel with, first, Kyle Wissmiller,
and, later, Mat Neely and Daron Clayton. Do not overlook Kevin
Briscoe’s performance, either, as he came from his 15th
starting position to finish 3rd. With two top-tens in one weekend, Brady Short
has quickly acclimated himself to sprint cars from modifieds. Short
was always a frontrunner in the modified division, and he seems to
like the sprint cars as well. While Justin Marvel was racing at Eldora, his
dad was running at Putnamville. They also seem to be splitting on
Fridays. Justin has said that Gas City will be the track he
frequents on Fridays, and Brad seems loyal to Bloomington. Both will
be fun to watch in their Stealth chassis this season, and Justin is
hoping to put together some great runs while following the USAC dirt
scene. Also from Putnamville, Rob Botts raced in his
first event since destroying a car early last season at Bloomington.
Botts won his heat race but was scored 16th in the
feature. Best of luck to THRob! While USAC heads for a beautiful day in
Wisconsin this weekend, I have to wait at least one more week for
racing. Hopefully the powers that be will decide to move the Beaver
Dam show to later in the evening in order to save the track and take
advantage of the decent weather. It should be a great field in both
divisions. The next weekend, I will try to find a way to
take in the KISS opener at Gas City. That weekend also takes USAC to
Terre Haute for the prestigious “Tony Hulman Classic.” I hate to
miss such a big race, so my goal is to make another trip back to the
Hoosier state. If that trip is not an option, I will try to pull a
double on the 14th and watch the MAC track meet in the
afternoon and watch the WoO/All-Star race at K-C Raceway in
Chillicothe that night. Thanks again to both Gas City I-69 Speedway and
Eldora Speedway for their effort this past weekend. It goes without
saying that I appreciated them doing everything they could to beat
the weather. For anyone who is contemplating one of their shows in
the future and is wondering about the weather, you can feel safe in
knowing that they will not give up easily. And, in Gas City’s
case, the promoter himself will stand at the exit of the track
refunding money to paying customers. You can’t beat that! For those of you lucky enough to smell the methanol this weekend, enjoy yourselves and drive safely! |
