In the case of the “Hoosier Sprint Nationals,” track promoter Tom Helfrich and Midwest Sprint Car Series(MSCS) president Sam Stockon devised a plan to create one of the higher-paying wingless sprint car races. Offering $10,000 to the winner and $5,000 for second, the purse at the front of the field easily exceeded that offered by USAC. While it only attracted 37 cars, the vast majority of them were fast cars, and we easily had enough to make it exciting.

Helfrich and his preparation mastery took to the track before the heat races commenced. These heat races featured a straight draw, so the caliber of cars would be mixed and mingled throughout the line-ups. Just one heat was worthy of the price of admission. As the top three cars dove to the bottom late in the race, Mat Neely circled turns three and four along the high groove and found himself in the lead heading to the flagstand. He would go on to win. The heat had started with a bang when Michael Pickens speared Bryan Clauson, resulting in a “tommy tipover” for the 7c. With a draw format, a driver who does not finish a heat race is bound to be mired in the back of the semi-feature.

The second heat provided our biggest bit of controversy for the night. Dickie Gaines and Critter Malone had exchanged some bumps before Malone hooked Gaines’ push-bar exiting turn two. The result was a backwards slide by Gaines into the infield. The MSCS officials must have decided that it was not far enough to warrant a yellow, or a possible decision to do such was not related to the flagman. Gaines climbed from the cockpit as the race continued, and the fans voiced their displeasure of the lack of a caution. Gaines worked the crowd, gesturing dramatically in the infield. The result of the display was Gaines being placed at the back of the fourth heat. While MSCS made a mistake, in my opinion, by failing to throw a yellow, they recovered in a way that a series such as USAC never would. I applaud them for trying valiantly to right a wrong.

The strength of Levi Jones’ 2B Racing Ultramax was showcased in the third heat, but not before Daron Clayton put on his usual display. Luckily, I pointed out Clayton’s yellow 92 to the relatively uneducated sprint car fans in front of us, and they were not disappointed. The fairly young guys had not seen a sprint car race in quite a few years, but both had been regulars in years past at Haubstadt. The one’s family had sponsored Tim Engler, and they were happy to be seated near some people who could keep them informed on all the racers and cars. One put ten dollars on Dickie Gaines with ten-to-one odds versus the field for the feature. The other took the bet, and his favorite became Clayton.

Unfortunately for Clayton, his heat ended in the wall. While trying to re-produce Neely’s move from heat one, Clayton found the right rear of Kyle Cummins and veered straight into the turn-four wall. His lack of patience aside, the awe-inspiring way he wheels a sprinter can certainly attract new fans. As Jones won the heat, his new teammate John Scott worked hard but fell one shot shy of a transfer. An early unloading of an all-white Ultramax by Levi and family left me scratching my head, but I predicted early that it was the new destination of Scott. Teaming with someone who can help him a bit more than Dan Roberts, in my opinion, Scott was aggressive all night, and I think he will improve by leaps and bounds during his short “trial period” with Benic.

The fourth heat was wild, especially with the addition of Gaines to the tail of the field. Jon Stanbrough held a comfortable lead before he coasted to a stop right where Clayton had previously cleaned the wall. Before the restart, Brady Short relinquished his runner-up position due to a broken brake caliper. The B Main was quickly becoming an interesting event with the top-notch cars starting back there.

A.J. Anderson showed that he is fully recovered from his Sprintweek flip at Lawrenceburg. He apparently ran well at Bloomington, and his torrid battle with John Scott during the B Main showed that he is ready to get the elbows up and race hard. Those two were the class of the field at the front. Clayton again put on a show, passing about five cars in three laps to climb to 7^th. As he came up on two cars running side-by-side, he seemed unsure as to how he could pass them both at once. Instead of being patient, since he was easily the fastest car on the track, he attempted to go even higher in turn two, grabbing the white wall again and performing a roll-over to end his night. Our grandstand friends were beside themselves. One wanted a t-shirt. I accommodated him with a year-old Clayton shirt donning a wing, which Clayton labeled with the words, “Gas it up!” It is obvious to many people that Clayton will win a lot of sprint car races one day, pending that he eventually learns how to slow down to go fast. The guy can flat-out wheel a sprint car.

Brady Short was then the only car to make drastic moves forward, but a last-lap move to pass Alex Coonan only moved him to 5^th spot, one short of a transfer. The event status continued when the announcer asked the crowd to decide how many they would invert for the feature, and driver introductions and fireworks followed. The aeronautical pyrotechnics accompanied a few four-wide parade laps, which continued to get the crowd pumped.

They would not be let down. Over thirty-three laps of pure madness, the top four cars raced each other and lapped cars as they riddled the track with unbelievable speed. Young Kyle Cummins proved his meddle by holding off Kevin Briscoe, Jon Sciscoe, and Levi Jones. Briscoe went to the bottom in the heat of traffic to lead lap 25, but the non-downtube car of Cummins took the lead back for three more revolutions. Briscoe eventually overwhelmed Cummins and his choking engine. It would take a while, but the other two racing in the pack for the lead roared past Cummins, too. Kyle’s performance was more than impressive.

As the race found the final stages, Briscoe was hunted down by Levi Jones, who had to be the favorite all night long. As they tried to maneuver through lapped traffic, Briscoe’s Stealth was obviously better on the bottom. Levi was blindingly fast on the cushion, but he could not move around much to pass slower cars. Jones got close, but he could never complete a pass on Briscoe. For Briscoe, it was a huge confidence boost in addition to the huge paycheck.

Behind the top four cars, the racing was just as intense. Throughout the fifty laps, a pack of Casey Shuman, Mat Neely, Critter Malone, John Wolfe, and Justin Marvel wore each other out for every inch of ground. Dickie Gaines eventually caught them at the end in his climb to 7^th. Shuman dropped out, and Marvel caused the only caution when his powerplant went up in smoke on the 34^th lap.

Neely’s car may have been the fastest of anybody at the end of the race, but his car was way too tight for the majority of the race. Constantly pulling wheelstands as he exited turn two, his car would be hard to control down the back-stretch. He said that the car continually scared him as it leaned on the left-rear tire, shooting him toward the close outside wall time after time. Malone ran out of brakes, but he used a restart to pick up two quick spots and held on for whatever he could salvage from there.

Bill Rose disagreed with where he was placed, but he was scored 12^th. Noting that the payout for a spot such as his was still pitiful, Rose is nonetheless happy to be running primarily without the wing for now. His collaboration with Roger and Barb Tapy works well for Rose, and he can still field his winged sprinter when he wants. They will be towing to the Sprint Bandits “Tourin’ Topless” series as a team, fielding cars for Rose, Stanbrough, and Don Droud, Jr. Rose will run his winged car for the Mopar Thunder, simply because he feels that car works better at a place like Eldora than a specifically wingless car. He sold his Stealth to Kurt Gross on this night, so Gross should be out soon. Rose is also putting together a four-division effort for the September Eldora stop, needing to finalize a silver crown deal before knowing for sure that he would contest all divisions.

Brad Sweet’s night was not perfect, but it ended better than his USAC night. Sweet will compete in both divisions of the Lawrenceburg Outlaw/non-wing doubleheader on Wednesday. Todd Chandler was proudly the last to leave Haubstadt’s pits. The southwest Indiana team does not get to compete as much as they would like thanks to the hardships of traveling to other Indiana tracks. They were close to home, though, on this night. Todd is a student at Evansville, and the Ace has great t-shirts for sale this year, showcasing his white F-5 chassis.

While Gas City’s regular show from Friday was over-shadowed by Haubstadt, it was another quality show with a minimum of big names coming in to take the money. I will certainly be back for more next Friday.Critter Malone took off again, as he often does when the track is re-worked before the feature event. As I was at Gas City, Dave Darland was dusting Belleville during a preliminary event to the Nationals championship race on Saturday. Dave will be teammates with Sammy Swindell for the Mopar Thunder this coming weekend.

Darland’s midget teammate Jerry Coons, Jr., took home the big check on Saturday. Congratulations to Jerry! Also, bravo to weekend winners Jon Stanbrough, Jason Knoke, Marc Jessup, and Doug Heck. Jessup will be running a champ car at IRP for Johnny Vance before taking his sprint car out for the third time at the Mopar Thunder. For me, this week will include the Outlaw show at Lawrenceburg, the last asphalt race for the current silver crown cars, which is at IRP, Eldora, and Kokomo to go along with another Gas City regular show. All those shows should be top-notch, and they are definitely a great way for outsiders to get a taste of the racing I am able to enjoy each and every week.

Finally, I’d like to thank my good friend John Jones for his hospitality last weekend. Since I was heading to Haubstadt alone, he allowed me to find some lodging at his Martinsville home before we headed to Tri-State together. Joining us was Eric Roberts, and we had a great time hanging out at the track on Saturday. Bryan Clauson and his mechanic, Keto, joined us in the backstretch stands for the feature. My exploits in luring the gorgeous 50/50 girls to join us in viewing the fifty-lapper failed, and for that, I apologize. We had fun, though, even after Keto stole the pick-‘em pot and ran. I always have a great time with these guys, and Jones is one of the friendliest and most easy-going fans I have encountered in my years at the track. Thanks again, Jonesy!

To all travelers, be safe on the road and may we cross paths along the way!