Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

Finally, we were treated to some great weather over
the past weekend. I took full advantage of it and hit
Attica Friday, Eldora Saturday, and Winchester Sunday.
   Attica presented the Merrill Lynch/Scout night last
Friday. 24 410 sprints and 33 305's were pit side.
Another special treat allowed all fans to roam the
pits for about 45 minutes before the racing action
started, without needing a pit pass. It looked as many
fans took advantage of this. Many drivers were
standing beside their rides, just waiting for the next
group of fans to stop by and chat or sign an
autograph. A great way to make new fans and make a
young fans night. It could of had a factor in to why
the crowd was a pretty decent size. Plus, many local
Scouts got a night at the track.
   The 3 410 heats were pretty decent races. Caleb
Griffith, Mike Linder and, Daryn Pittman took the
wins. Caleb held off a last lap charge by Bruce
Robenalt to take win. Linder won without much of a
challenge. Pittman survived early contact with Aaron
Middaugh, that sent Aaron pit side, to take the win.
Scott Curren ran a great race to take the B Main win.
Troy Vaccaro spin going in the B, going into turn 2.
Chris Andrews and Travis Philo couldn't avoid the
spinning Vaccaro and got collected in the spin. Philo
was sent tumbling as the other two stayed grounded.
Mike Linder scratched from the A before the B, so 5
cars made the transfer. Chad Blonde just back to the
United States on the previous Tuesday after a 3 month
racing tour in Australia. Chad drew the pole position
for the 30 lap A Main in the re-draw. Brian Lay got
up-side-down coming off 4 on the start. Byron Reed got
collected as well. Reed restarted. Lay is in his
rookie year on dirt. Brian has ran the AVSS and HOSS
pavement sprint series the past few years and has made
the switch to dirt for 08. Daryn Pittman made another
Attica visit after the Outlaws got rained out for the
weekend. Pittman was wanting some revenge after
finishing 2nd the week before. Once the green flew,
Chad Blonde, who was on a hot streak when the season
ended in 07, showed he wanted to keep the streak a
going in 08. With 1 win under his belt down under, he
was looking to get a win state side quickly. A few
early cautions for a few spins kept the field tight
for the first dozen laps. Just past the half-way mark,
Blonde opened up a straight- away lead. Pittman
started 8th and was up to 2nd looking for Blonde.
David Harrison was on Pittman's tail. All for not,
Blonde was too strong and took the win in his first
start of the year in the states. Pittman, Harrison,
Mike Dussel, and Lee Jacobs rounded out the top 5.
   Bryan Sebetto, Duane Zablocki, BJ Haudenschild, and
Bobby Clark took the heat wins in the 305 sprints.
There was no incidents in the 305 heats. With 33 cars
on hand, 2 B Main were ran. I think this is a pretty
good idea. For one, the majority of the 305 guys are
still in the early stages of their careers. This gives
them a better shot to run some competitive laps and
more of a chance to make an A Main. Bill Kraylek took
the 1st B Main. Shawn Colvin came home the winner in
the 2nd B. Matt Ferrell took a pretty decent tumble in
turn 2 during the 2nd B. Matt was OK. Cap Henry has
been hot in 08 and pulled the pole position in the
re-draw. If you are not familiar with the draw and
re-draw procedure, he is a brief overview. On a
regular show at Attica, the cars draw for starting
spots. The top so many cars in the heat that transfer
to the A Main, depending on car count, re-draw for the
top 12 spots in the A Main. Thus, the re-draw term.
After the 1st start was yellowed for Dustin Stroup
blowing off the top of turn 1, Cap took the lead as
the green waved. The fast cars were spread out pretty
decent and plenty of passing was happening already.
The 1st 9 laps seen 3 cautions for spins. Once the
green waved for the 25 lapper after the lap 9 caution,
is was all racing to the end. Racing it was. An
excellent battle shaped-up for the top spot. The laps
were winding down and a group of car were upfront. 5
cars fighting for the top spot. Any of the 5 could of
won. Clark, Brubaker, Sebetto, Henry, and Heuerman are
all fighting it out the last 5 laps. Henry trys to
hold for 2 in a row. Clark uses his experience and
takes the lead off 4 to complete lap 23. Brubaker gets
a good bit too and runs towards the front. White flag,
still no clear cut winner. They all battle off 2, down
the back stretch. Clark gets a runs and holds on off 4
to take the win. Stuart Brubaker, Henry, Sebetto, and
Todd Heuerman, up from 15th, round out the top 5. A
very good 305 A.
   Saturday, Eldora Speedway hosted the All Star
Circuit Of Champions for their first visit of the
year. With word out Friday night that the Outlaws had
canceled for the weekend, much speculation was made
about who would be in the Eldora pits. All the
Outlaws, half the Outlaws, a handful of Outlaws, no
one knew for sure. What about a NASCAR star? Once the
gates kicked open, 37 cars signed in for the night. 9
WOO, 10 full-time All Stars, 9 part-time All Stars, 1
NASCAR superstar, Kasey Kahne, and a handful of local
drivers were pit side.
   The heat races were pretty loaded with talent with
such a variety of drivers on hand. Joey Saldana, Dean
Jacobs, Paul May, and Greg Wilson took the heat wins.
Saldana made a statement with a strong run in his
heat, that he was going to be tough to beat on this
night. He was the only heat race winner that wasn't
from the front row. With that said, the heats still
had some pretty decent battles especially for transfer
spots. 4 WOO regulars and 4 All Star regulars were in
the B, so you knew the battle would be on for the 4
transfer spots. Steve Kinser cruised to the win but a
heated battle was on from 3rd to 7th. The Chad's,
Blonde and Hillier made late race runs to take the
final 2 transfer spots. Kraig Kinser's last to 4th
run, fell 2 spots short. Randy Hannagan took the Dash.
Paul McMahan and Daryn Pittman made-up the front row
for the $5000 to win, 30 lap event. Pittman shot to
the lead on the start. Pittman got a good run a going
but Joey Saldana was on a mission. Joey took the lead
on lap 6 and crushed the field after that. Joey was on
a Saturday night cruise. A brush with the wall on lap
21, at the flag stand, just about ended Joey's run. A
quick correction and off he goes again. Joey lapped up
6 or 7 cars and was hot on their tails when the
checkered flag flew. I have seen some run aways and
strong runs at Eldora but this one has to rank up
there as one of the biggest. Pittman, Schatz, The
King, with a strong run from 11th, and McMahan rounded
out the top 5. Joey said he had to impress his boss
since not only was he there but, racing against him as
well. A pretty decent crowd was on hand as well to
witness the excellent run by Joey.
   It may have been delayed a week, thanks to mother
nature, but the 18th annual Rich Vogler Classic was
ready to rock Winchester Sunday. A bright sunny sky
and 25 USAC Sprints ready for action. A great crowd
was ready to take in some sunshine and some wicked
fast action. My forehead is still red to prove the sun
was out in full force. Tracy Hines was just a few
ticks off the track record when he set quick time of
the day.
   The 3 heat races were typical Winchester heats.
Fast, tight, close action take at times could set you
on the edge of your seat. Dave Darland, Aaron Pierce,
and Shane Cottle tamed the high-banks enough to take
the heat race wins. A quick program was the order of
the day. Since all but 3 car made the transfer, and
one of them scratched for the day, the B Main was
scraped and all car were in the A. An excellent move.
Not only does the save time, it saves the teams money
and actually granted the few that would miss the show
a bonus. Now all we have to do in convince USAC to add
a few cars to the A Main and heat races when they get
40 or more cars on hand. OK, sorry, just had to put my
2 cents in there. With a 2 PM heat race start time,
the A Main was ready by 2:30 and pushed on the track.
The 30 lap contest featured Brian Gerster and Dakota
Armstrong on the front row. Many of the young guns
such as Dakota were having strong runs on the high
banks. Gerster gets the lead as the green waves. Brian
opens up a quick lead but not for long. In typical
Winchester fashion, the field was bunching up quickly.
Darren Hagen starts a charge to the front and gets
there on lap 6. A quick caution for Damion Gardner
spinning, puts the pack nose to tail again. Hagen is
strong but a very fast Chris Windom is lurking in 2nd
place already. Darland and Hines work to the front as
well. As the laps fly past, the lead pack is getting
tighter and the mid-pack guys are on top of each
other. Less than 10 to go, Windom is on Hagen's rear
bumper. He takes a shot but can't do it. Going into 3,
Chris gets a huge run, dives low in 4, the car drift,
aka like you see on the NASCAR race, contact off 4,
the bump again, get sideways, Hagen gathers it in,
Windom finds the inside wall. This puts Hines and
Darland on his tail. Brady bacon as worked his way to
the front as well. Restart and Hagen's car seems to be
just as fast. A huge pack of car are fighting it out
for about 5th to 11th. Less than 5 to go, Hines trys
to mount a run and gets within a few car lengths at
times. Heavy contact off 4 in the mid-pack bunch, Brad
Sweet slams the inside wall, ending his day and pretty
decent run. Just puts Hines and Darland nose to tail
with Hagen for a 2 lap shootout. Green, Hagen is ready
and gets an excellent start. Hines has trouble and
Darland takes 2nd. Checkered is waving, its Hagen,
Darland, Hines, Bacon, and Gerster. An excellent race
once again at Winchester. i will be the first to
admit, I am not a huge pavement racing fan but if you
don't like the action you get out of seeing sprint
cars at Winchester, you better pick another sport. If
you have never been their for a sprint car race, go
there, you will see what I mean.

   RANDOM NOTES: Young Rookie 305 driver, Jason
Keckler broke 3 vertebra in his back and neck after a
heat race accident at Fremont on opening night. Jason
is home and OK but will wear a brace for a while.
Speedy Recovery wishes to him!! The Rumble Series has
became just that for winter 08, a series. November 1st
the series will start off winter 08 in Columbus Ohio.
Next, just announced, December 19th and 20th, the
series will make a stop in Toledo Ohio at the Sea Gate
Center. Then on to Ft Wayne IN the next weekend for
the annual Rumble in The Expo. Each event will feature
the USAC National Midgets as well as the other
divisions at a typical Rumble event. Hats off to Tony
Barhorst and his crew for giving us a true winter
series...Fremont OH Speedway has just made their
weekly programs more interesting. The Fremont Shuffle
has been established. In the sprints if a 410 driver
is scheduled to start on the pole, he or she, can take
the offer to start 10th for an extra $1000 to win. If
the pole sitter turns down the offer, the outside pole
can take the offer. The 305's will feature the same
deal except the offer is $500 and they would start the
row behind the invert of the night. Sounds
interesting. Another great idea on our weekly front to
promote excitement.

UPCOMING:
Friday: NRA Limaland Raceway Park
MSCS Terre Haute IN

Saturday
SOD Crystal MI
USAC Brownstown IN

Later
Duane

E-mail Duane Here

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