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July
10, 2007
--- The 2007 King of Indiana
Sprint Series didn't simply end with a competitive race, or a satisfying
conclusion. No, it ended with an explosion of star shells, roman candles
and thunder-boomers. The KISS racers gave a textbook demonstration of
great old school sprint car racing as the series’ biggest campaign wrapped
up with one of the most electrifying events of the year. Some of the
Tri-State Speedway spectators from that night still haven’t sat down.
Through the first four races on the ’07 KISS schedule, Jon Stanbrough was
undefeated. Four green flags, four checkered flags and four photos of
Stanbrough with the trophy. Then his luck went south for a short time as
he was wrecked by other hapless cars in heats and the main events alike.
Billy Puterbaugh Jr. and Shane Cottle toured victory lane while Stanbrough
collected last, and within slapping distance of last, and what had appeared to
be a jolly cake-walk turned into, “Hey! What’s going on here?”
When the next two events were canceled (one by rain), the whole series
suddenly boiled down to one last 30-lap hurrah. Stanbrough continued to
hold the point lead, but Shane Hollingsworth was still in the game. Just
as important, a yellow, black and white sprinter had towed in from Missouri to
chase the KISS money, too - not the points, just the money.
The way it unfolded and because in draw racing anyone can ultimately start
anywhere, Stanbrough stepped smartly into the lead from his front row lineup
and began to drive away from the field…most of the field. A couple of
spots back, the Missourian, Daron Clayton was on a mission. He drives
every race like he’s on a mission. His lines are unorthodox as he
churns the clay in areas of the track where even the farm implements don’t
often tread. High into the turns, then slicing across the middle and all
the way out to the wall, the momentum carrying his right rear just inches from
the concrete before he rockets down the straightaway. There are other
versions of the same tune, depending on traffic and the track conditions, but
each produces the same result and has the audience holding their breaths.
Clayton ate up the ground between himself and Stanbrough quickly. Once
he caught the white and black Fox Brothers machine, he sparred for a couple of
laps before making the pass. But this was just an opening gambit and
Stanbrough was back in front in turn three. Clayton didn’t blink, and
retook the lead before the flagstand. This was the script for most of
the next twenty laps. Stanbrough, the 20-year veteran, measured the
yellow and black car and tried high, and then low without progress.
Stanbrough is a master of the art of the slide-job, which has nothing at all
to do with what NASCAR does on television, and the oval was conducive to great
racing. Stanbrough would run into the turn harder on the bottom and
slide up in front of Clayton in the center. But Clayton was ready and
drove back underneath and they raced off the turn wheel-to-wheel. More
than once, Clayton made better time in the turn and instead of sliding up in
front, it appeared that Stanbrough was aimed right at the young driver.
Each time Clayton kept his foot hard on the floor and Stanbrough would have to
turn his nose down as he slowed his slide and ready for another attack in the
next turn.
This nose-to-nose racing continued while they fought through packs of slower
cars. Stanbrough would make a gritty pass and lead off turn two, then
Clayton would re-pass in four, then they would do it again. A couple of
late race cautions did little more than let them rip a tear-off and take a
deep breath. On the last lap, Stanbrough tried a low run in turn one,
but didn’t quite have the mustard that Clayton had a little higher on the
track and they finished just inches apart.
“Stanbrough definitely made me drive my butt off out there. He’s the
best guy out right now and to beat him I think we proved something tonight,”
Clayton said later. Then he explained, “I could just cut back under
him real easy down in the moisture coming off the bottom. I wish he
would have slide jobbed me every lap because it would have made my job a lot
easier than trying to guess whether he was going to try me or not.”
Minutes later, Stanbrough told the crowd that it sucked from where he sat.
No champion takes enjoyment from finishing second. But in the coolness
of his hauler, he talked about the duel, “We were a little bit too tight
coming off and there was nothing I could do. I was hoping the car would
loosen up a little bit, but the car never loosened up for me. Brad and
Steve (Fox) did a hell of a job, but we thought the race track would go away a
little more than what it did. But it didn’t. If it had loosened
up getting off the corner I might have gotten in there on it and been able to
drive off the corner in front of him. I know it was a good show for the
fans - but I’m disappointed I didn’t get the win.”
Eleven KISS feature race wins and three championships puts Stanbrough in a
group of one, far ahead of anyone else competing in the series. Like
most top racers, Jon never lets the forest get in the way of seeing the trees.
“I never really set out to win championships, I just wanted to win races.
If we won races, then the championships would come. Now that we’ve
done it three times, those championships are more special to me than what I
ever set out to accomplish.”
2007 King of Indiana Sprint Series Summary:
Friday, May 11, Gas City: 1. Stanbrough 53 (7), 2. Gardner 71 (4), 3.
Hollingsworth 10 (9), 4. Short 2B (5), 5. Neely 17N (1), 6. Malone 5 (10), 7.
Darland 44 (18), 8. Cottle 10E (17), 9. Windom 17 (3), 10. Jones 11J (19), 11.
Coons 14 (12), 12. Payter 23P (2), 13. Elliott 34 (14), 14. Bland 21S (8), 15.
Ballou 81 (16), 16. Martens 45J (15), 17. Morgan 11D (20), 18. Anderson 57
(13), 19. Puterbaugh 34 (6), 20. Petty 26 (11)
Saturday, May 12, North Vernon: 1. Stanbrough 53 (4), 2. Ballou 81 (5), 3.
Short 2B (1), 4. Cummins (3), 5. Hines 12 (9), 6. Shepherd 4N (10), 7. Whitt
29W (2), 8. Hollingsworth 10 (6), 9. Schuerenberg 10T (13), 10. Boespflug 90
(7), 11. Martens 45J (8), 12. Peterman 7P (14), 13. Williams 31 (12), 14. Ott
OT (11)
Saturday, May 26, Lawrenceburg: 1. Stanbrough 53, 2. Neely 17N, 3. Short 2B,
4. Anderson 57, 5. Hollingsworth 10, 6. Westfall 54, 7. Schuerenberg 10T, 8.
Light 23, 9. Whitt 29w, 10. Shuman 71p, 11. Welpott 18, 12. Boat 30, 13. R.
Williams 11wx (12), 14. J. Williams 31, 15. Boespflug 90, 16. Burdette 17b,
17. Osborn 11z, 18. Stone 16, 19. Moffatt 5J, 20. Clayton 69
Friday, June 15, Bloomington: 1. Stanbrough (4), 2. Neely (3), 3. Bland (12),
4. Boat (1), 5. Short (19), 6. Schuerenberg (5), 7. Hockett (16), 8. Deckard
(13), 9. Fox (11), 10. Sciscoe (18), 11. Holtsclaw (14), 12. Vennard (2), 13.
Babcock (7), 14 Stines (9), 15. Hines (6), 16. Cummings (20), 17. Martens
(15), 18. Anderson (10), 19. Whitt (8), 20. Light (17)
Saturday, June 16, Putnamville: 1. Puterbaugh (4), 2. Hollingsworth (2), 3.
Bland (13), 4. Holtsclaw (1), 5. Gaines (11), 6. Rice (3), 7. Martin (16), 8.
Tuttle (9), 9. S. Krockenberger (19), 10. Carmichael (12), 11. Clayton (5),
12. Pollock (15), 13. Prather (7), 14 Williams Jr. (17), 15. Whitt (20), 16.
Carmichael Jr. (14), 17. Sciscoe (6), 18. Deckard (8), 19. Schuerenberg (10),
20. Stanbrough (18)
Sunday, June 17, Kokomo: 1. Cottle (8), 2. Darland (19), 3. Anderson (4), 4.
D. Smith (9), 5. Morgan (18), 6. Hockett (7), 7. Hollingsworth (14), 8. Windom
(17), 9. Dennis (1), 10. Vennard (2), 11. Light (11), 12. C. Smith (6), 13.
Mellenberndt (10), 14 Gurley (20), 15. Boat (5), 16. Short (12), 17.
Schuerenberg (16), 18. Stanbrough (3), 19. Byrkett (15), 20. Burdette (13)
Saturday, June 23, Paragon
Rain
Saturday, June 30, Terre Haute
Canceled
Sunday, July 8, Haubstadt: 1. Clayton (5), 2. Stanbrough (2), 3. Short (4), 4.
K. Wissmiller (11), 5. Bland Jr. (7), 6. Cone (8), 7. Neely (17), 8. M.
Wissmiller (18), 9. Beauchamp (13), 10. Stines (10), 11. Memmer (6), 12.
Scheurenberg (15), 13. Cummins (16), 14. Shanks (19), 15. C. Gentry (14), 16.
Urish (1), 17. Rose (20), 18. Chandler (9), 19. A. Gentry (12), 20. Ruble (3)
Final KISS point standings: 1. Jon Stanbrough 806, 2. Brady Short 687, 3.
Shane Hollingsworth 650, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg 585, 5. Mat Neely 533, 6. Jeff
Bland Jr. 477. 7. Cole Whitt 413, 8. AJ Anderson 387, 9. Jimmy Light 305, 10.
Daron Clayton 297
SPONSORS. Sponsorship from Indiana Stone Works boosted the payoff
at each event and B-Main starters are guaranteed $100. Elliottbrand
Web Designs, in Westport, IN, created the KISS website, which provides a
highly functional and effective tool that places the King Of Indiana Sprint
Series within arms length of racing fans around town and around the world.
Visit them at www.Elliottbrand.com.
Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, Simpson Performance Products and RockStar
Paint sponsor the unique KISS champion’s helmet. Kiva Networking in
Bloomington is the host of the KISS website.
The King of Indiana Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual
Indiana sprint car race track promoters to put the best racing in the state on
a heavy metal old school racing tour. Information is now available on
our website, www.kissracing.com.
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