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See You At The Races!!! |
| Wagsworld by Ken Wagner |
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J
J YELEY HAS THE RIGHT TOUCH IN |
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It
was an interesting four days of Indiana Sprint Week for me, one that
didn't include any rainouts or other bad weather as had been the
norm in Indiana the week before. It all came too quickly to an end
this past Sunday at Habstadt. It was almost totally dominated,
except for a Jay Drake
bump that kept J J Yeley
from the first half sweep of the annual series. Four tracks that had
varied large numbers of cars attacking the dirt tracks made for some
interesting fun. J
J Yeley first
went to Indiana a few years ago to move up in his racing world. He
had a short dance in the IRL, but something went amiss and he
returned to work even harder to go back to the big money racing he
so desires. From the time he was a rookie with SCRA until today, he
has just continued to get better. After winning 19 main events with
the SCRA, he moved to Indiana under the ABC Sand & Rock colors
of Dave Waltemath and partner Bob Price. It wasn't an
immediate success, but he was a quick thorn in the side of
the midwest teams he competed against while he learned the lay of
the land that was so different from the west coast sprinters. Times
have sure changed as he is threatening the all time season win total
as the next race approaches. He is so hot, he could put it out of
reach on his way out of town to the next level. Will it be Busch or
IRL or what? Even
though he drives a two-seater at IRL events, giving rides to
"the special" people, the ride he wants has still eluded
him. J J deserves a chance to move up and, in what has to be his
last year with USAC, he is literally tearing up the dirt tracks and
adding a few pavement wins as well. Now under the Tony Stewart
colors, as is Cory Kruseman, J J is shining bright as he reached the
seasonal total of 18 USAC wins on Sunday night at Tri-State Speedway
in Habstadt, Indiana. It is just one short of the record now held by
Jay
Drake, Sleepy Tripp and AJ
Foyt. When the huge Yeley, Stewart, Mopar hauler arrives at the
track, his competitors know they are often running for second, as he
proved three out of the four nights. All
the young lion Yeley did was lead 60 laps to win the first two, then
start farther back in the last two and patiently go to the front. He
finished second by a wheel at Putnamville and won the last one
before the break. J J ran away with the opener when Jay Drake
didn't have enough to chase him down. Same song, second verse the
next night at Gas City as Drake again couldn't catch him. On
Saturday, the Drakester was hot and took the lead until the last lap
where J J drove under him thru turns three and four, but Drake
wasn't having any of that! Jay came back off the fourth turn high
cushion and bumped his way to the checkered flag first, by a foot or
so. Jon Stanbrough looked
uncatchable early the last night, but Yeley tracked him down and won
it before the two day break. Sprint
week in Indiana brings out all the cars and fans that the tracks can
hold. With over 60 sprint cars and packed grandstands, the success
of this yearly event continues to shine. It is an outstanding series
that showcases the best traditional sprint car drivers that can make
the tow. With the strong California/Arizona additions, it just gets
better every year. Twin Cities, Gas City, Putnamville and Habstadt
finished the first half of the 8 race series and the first two
nights were especially racy, with all four features big winners with
the fans. Still to come are Kokomo, Lawrenceburg (it's a live TV
night on the Speed channel), Bloomington and Terre Haute, so there
is plenty of action left if it don't rain. Jay
Drake
isn't far behind the latest USAC master as he won one, was 2nd twice
and had a third the last night for enough points to be only four
behind the leader for the sprint week championship. Jay is beginning
to make Yeley's path a little harder as he has several victories of
late and it is looking like the Keith Kunz junket is about to
explode with more. Drake dominated this series two years ago when he
had his record 19 wins. Others have done the same as Dave Darland,
Tony Elliott and few more were dominant for a season at least. Tracy
Hines is 3rd in overall points as he has led a little and hung
in there behind the two leaders. Damion Gardner is 6th,
with Cory Kruseman 8th and Levi Jones 10th. Damion
Gardner is showing his high flying style, but has only one fast time and three
top tens to show for it. You have to understand that his crew is
home resting up, while he is on the road doing ISW. He is using a
makeshift crew led by Tony Smiley and being directed by the Demon
himself as he learns these new venues. At home he doesn’t have to
worry about every little thing, but back here in this series, he is
totally focused on what to do and drive the car. His heat race win
on friday at Gas City had the locals take notice as he passed for
the lead on the last corner going up and around the leader, where
few go there. He is concerned that he isn't doing as well as he
wants for his fans, but time will improve his dry slick technique
and you will see some scalding results, maybe even this week. Cory
Kruseman finished 6th, 8th, 10th and dropped out with a broken motor in his four
nights of racing, not what he was hoping for as the defending
champion. The brand new Keith Kunz car performed very well, but the
slick tracks and some normal Indiana "bumping" seemed to
hold him back a little. He was in the hunt on Saturday when the
motor broke. It looks like he will do better the 2nd half of the
sprint week with all the set-ups coming around for him and crew
chief Bobby Barth. John
Scott
missed the main the first two nights and then promptly ran over an
errant wheel when he made the third feature, and ended up putting
that car in the dumpster after a nasty quick flip. He was 2nd quick
at Habstadt and ran 4th for his best finish, and maybe the brand new
Maxim had something to do with it. He and his crew worked hard to
earn that 4th, his best finish so far in Indiana. Maybe his shiny
tires helped him, they did look great. Spunky
Mike Spencer
got a ride in the BWB car that Derek Davidson, Dave Darland and
others have done some seat time in. He looked good, and had 2
feature appearances, with a 13th his best finish. Getting used to a
totally different car on new tracks has to be tough, but he looked
better each night. The youngster is looking to improve and a few
nights back in Indiana will help to make that happen. Charles
Davis Jr
had some good and bad as he took on the Indiana clan. He made two
features with 12th his best finish. He had a fuel fire on Friday
that looked really bad, but it only burnt the new fuel filters, that
were just installed, and some hoses up, not the motor like I feared.
Charles new darker yellow and red combo paint scheme looks good on
the # 94 car. Casey
Shuman has been in Indiana for a few months, but this week he brought out a
brand new Stanton built car for car owner Rooster Hawkins. The black
# 3 car (sound familiar?) ran pretty good as the week went on
finishing 10th on Sunday night. Gary A Howard, former VRA champ,
built this beauty at the Kentucky based Stanton factory and has high
hopes for it’s success. Besides
the big three, Yeley, Drake and Hines, there were still others who
had their moments. Jon
Stanbrough nailed the wall on the last night during qualifying
and the team had to rebuild the car so he could run the semi and
transfer, and he did. He started on the front row and took off, with
a few yellows and a red bringing him back to the pack. Boston
Reid is a young flashy driver who is 5th in overall points, but
hasn't scored yet. He can get to the front, but hasn't stayed up
there. Matt Neely gave a
memorable performance at Putnamville when he came from the 7th row
to get 3rd, passing some stout runners along the way. Another young
18 year old kid with a lot of talent. Justin Marvel, the
point leader at Bloomington and Putnamville, made the feature three
nights driving an old Gardner Sled Chassis. He was thrilled to have
just received another Sled recently and says now he has a back-up
for the rest of the season. He made the feature three nights with 15th
his best finish. Speaking
of haulers, the two Stewart sponsored teams have the biggest 18
wheeler's around. Very similar in size to Rip Williams big black one
in SCRA, but both are decorated with the Mopar colors and the
matching cars make for a striking appearance when you see them lined
up side by side, which happened once this week. Add Drakes brand new
hauler and similar looking sprint car, the three of them make the
rest of the field look small. There were other big haulers in the
pits, but most of the attention went to these three. I
have to rate the action at Gas City, and particularly the battles
behind the winner in the feature, as the most exciting race night. Bud
Kaeding, Jon Stanbrough and Damion Gardner put on a
"show" the last half of the feature. Each of the three had
the 7th position in their grasp several times before Jon took it by
the narrowest of margins on the last lap. Habstadt was 2nd,
but I was surprised that Tom Helfrich didn’t makeover the track
during the intermission like normal. Instead a little water and
wheel packing didn’t change the surface enough to make two good
grooves like normal here. North Vernon was pretty racy, but the
rough Putnamville made many a drivers night very rough, just like
the surface. Thanks
to Jack Kraemer for the hospitality as he picked us up at the
airport and chauffeured us around for the trip and we stayed at his
haunted mansion in Hooterville two nights. He made sure I remembered
his Wagsdash donation was properly recorded as last year I sorta
forgot. The great apple dumpling adventure was courtesy of Mike
Clark at an interesting place north of Indy was special. The tree
blocking the road on the way to the airport was big and shattered,
causing us to detour a few blocks to get around. Thanks to the
tracks at North Vernon, Gas City and Habstadt for letting this
scribe get in to cover the SCRA boys. And thanks to the weatherman,
it couldn't have been any better! Tickets for Oskaloosa $30,000 to win race will be available for race fans and family members that need to sit in the all reserved grandstands on tour. I will have a limited supply on this Saturday at the PAS, so come see me if you need them. Be at Perris where the heat is always on the wild track action. Good
luck to Mike Kirby at his stock car bonanza affair in Reno
this week. SCRA
POINT STANDINGS |
