Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

If you want mid 90's temps and rain in Ohio, just wait until Ohio Sprint Speedweek, it usually happens more than not each year at Speedweek. Last week's 27th annual Ohio Speedweek was no different. With many days in the mid to upper 90's, the heat was not just on the track. Rain made Speedweek history last week, raining 2 shows out at 1 track. Attica's original show, the Speedweek opener on Friday, was postponed until Thursday. Well mother nature roared her ugly head again on Thursday. All other shows went off as planned except the every year saga at Wayne County. It must of been too sunny for the crew and they actually seen they had a water truck, so they canceled. With no point fund for the first time in several years, one was not sure how many cars would run the entire week outside of the handful of All Star regulars. Let me say, this year, car counts were excellent, and the quality of cars was the best in years. 60 was the high count and 43 was the low. Plus, the crowds were good all the nights. I only hit 5 of the 6, skipped Hilltop but, heard they had a crowd of over 3000. Night 1 of Ohio Speedweek shifted to Eldora Speedway after a rain out on Friday. A stout 48 car field was on hand. It was pretty much typical Eldora heat races, not a knock, just true that most go single file quickly and pretty stay that way. Jason Johnson, Brock Mayes, Dean Jacobs, and Phil Gressman won the heat races. The track became very racy for the B Main. Brando Martin had a great run from 16th to 8th in 3 laps, end up against the wall. Ryan Myers held off a fast Terry McCarl for the win. Greg Wilson and Stevie Smith paced the field for the 30 lap A Main. When the green waved, all hell broke loose in turn 1 on the start. Chris Andrews and Brad Sweet flipped hard, collecting David Gravel, Ben Gregg, and Phil Gressman. Andrews and Sweet both would have to rebuild cars if they wanted to continue the week. Once the carnage was cleared, the green waved once again. Stevie Smith took the lead. Lap 2, Ed Lynch Jr spun. Smith held on to the lead as Wilson trailed the first handful of laps. Terry McCarl and Craig Mintz were starting to move through the pack from 11th and 13th place starting spots. T-MAC was already in the top 5 and Mintz was just outside of it. Lap 15, Butch Schroeder had a good top 5 run end with a hard flip in turn 4. Smith lead on the restart, but McCarl was running towards the front. Lap 18, Dale Blaney stops on the track with a flat. Blaney is not allowed to return due to a tire compound issue with the replacement tire. Its still Smith on the restart but T-Mac is racing closer to the front and looking for his 1st ever Eldora A Main win. Lap 23, Mintz runs out of fuel after just taking over 7th and on the tail tank of the 6th place car. Restart, McCarl makes his moves and takes the lead, leading across the line to complete lap 24. later on lap 24, Dean Jacobs spins. During the yellow, it is determined by the All Star officials a red was needed for a fuel stop. A brief delay and the race was on, with only 13 cars remaining for the final 6 laps. T Mac gets a great restart and the rest was history. McCarl takes the win after starting 11th, over Smith, Wilson, Rob Chaney, up from 10th, and Randy Hannagan. This was an excellent race up to the last yellow/red. McCarl was working his way up as well as Mintz and Chaney from mid-pack. 2 of the top 5 started 10th or worse and with a pinch of luck, Mintz would of made it 3 of 5. Another great All Star A Main at Eldora. Not as good as the one in May but, still a pretty good one. Night 2 shifts to Findlay Ohio and Millstream Speedway. One of the longest running stops of Speedweek at one time, Millstream opens in doors on the 09 season with the return of Ohio Speedweek to the Sunday night track. 60 All Stars and 24 305 sprints are pit side. Plus, another huge crowd. Not as big as the 7000 people last year but I would say mid 5000 range. The Roe's have a track that people want to attend, with help from Rich Farmer and Andy James, the show was a huge hit for the All Stars once again. Hopefully, this was a good sign and we can see about a 6 to 10 race schedule from Millstream each season. It don't need to be a weekly track, just a special events one that races a handful of times each season. Anyways, back to the results. Even tho Millstream was the only place it was used, the All Star have a rule if there are too many cars, the top 44 go to the heats, the rest to a Non-Qualifiers race, The NQ race transfer 4, 1 to the tail of each heat, the rest to the tail of the C. I hate that rule. Why not have 5 heats and transfer 4 cars to the A main and have a C and B, or have 2 B's, like many groups now? Putting 12 cars directly to the C after time trails, well pretty much since the NQ is like 6 or 8 laps, just seems a little bit unfair especially if track conditions are tricky and when you only get 1 lap to time trail. Jamie Miller flipped in hot laps. John Ivy won the NQ race. Brandon Martin flipped coming to the yellow in the NQ race. Terry McCarl, Chad Kemenah, Daron Clayton, and Dale Blaney took the heat wins. 3 of the 4 heats seen cars that started past the 6 car invert, transfer to the A Main. Tho the track crew did much prep, the dust was a flying pretty heavy through out the night as the track smoothed out and widen, making for a multi groove racing surface. Brooke Tatnell took the C Main. Told you the competition was tough this year at Speedweek. Tatnall in the C. The start of the B seen Chris Andrews and Ben Gregg flip for the 2nd night in a row. Both cars were bad damaged. This put an end to Andrews's Speedweek run, trashing 2 cars in 24 hours. Caleb Helms found the wall in the B as well. Cale Conley took the win. Rob Chaney and Brock Mayes pace the field for the 30 lap A. Daron Clayton's good might turns bad with a flip going into turn 1 on the start. Chaney takes the lead on the restart. Chaney is looking strong but Tim Shaffer is quickly on his tail tank. The duo battle and Shaffer takes over the lead on lap 6. Lap 7, Brandon Wimmer stops. On the restart, Blaney and Danny Smith get together. Shaffer maintains his lead while the track is under green. Cautions seem to be in abundance tho tonight. Lap 12, Kenny Jacobs stops. Restart, Conley spins. Next restart, McCarl stops with a flat. Green, its still Shaffer, Chaney, and Hannagan upfront. Lap 17, Lee Jacobs stops. Lap 18. Brock Mayes stops. After several laps of chaos on lining the cars up, the red is displayed to kick Danny Smith off the track for not obeying his radio. Well his radio don't work, so it seems he gets to stay on the track. After re-firing all the cars, Blaney stops on the back stretch and is out of, or low on fuel. Now, we stop the cars again for a fuel stop. I know some nights go bad and they all can't be perfect, and most of us couldn't do things any better than the people doing it but, I hope there wasn't too many new fans in the crowd because they would wonder what was going on, hell I wondered and have been to thousands of races. This leaves for a 2 lap showdown. Shaffer has been strong but Chaney has hung tough and Hannagan seems to be getting faster each lap. Plus, you have Wilson and Stevie Smith who started farther back making a run towards the front. Restart, its all Shaffer. Chaney is slipping some as Hannagan gets past for his shot at Shaffer. Shaffer is strong but with 2 to go Hannagan is closing. Shaffer is too strong and holds on for the win. Hannagan, Chaney, Wilson, up from 9th, and S. Smith, up from 20th, round out the top 5. A pretty decent race. A shout out to Tatnell was well. Brooke went from the C, to the B, to the A. Plenty of passing on this night. 24 305's were on hand for the big $1000 to win event. Todd Heuerman, DJ Foos, and Zac Kramer took the heat wins. Dustin Dinan has a tire blow in heat 1, slamming him hard into the turn 3 wall. Dustin would spend the night in ICU due to a bruised heart and chest. He was later released and will race soon. Todd Heuerman dominated the 305 show at Millstream last October and looked for more of the same. Shawn Valenti and Kevin Lee pace the field for the 25 lap event. Green, Heuerman makes an excellent move from 3rd to 1st before lap 1 is complete. Picking up where he left off at Millstream, Heuerman is on the hammer. The only thing slowing Todd was a caution for a stopped car, and 2 for cars that found the wall. One car finding the wall was Travis Hoffbauer at the mid-way point. Travis had charged from 18th to 6th before his night came to an end. It was all Heuerman in this one, spanking the field once again. Paul Weaver, Stuart Brubaker, up from 11th, Chad Wilson, up from 17th, and Lee rounded out the top 5. Heuerman ran away but Wilson, Hoffbauer, and Brubaker was well worth watching charging past many cars. After the make believe rain at Wayne County and skipping Hilltop, my next stop on Speedweek 09 was Wanyesfield Motorsports Park for night # 4. 50 cars were ready for action. Caleb Helms rode the guardrail in hot laps, just having it bite him enough to do a small tip-over. The tight Waynesfield oval usually provides some close racing and some wild action as well. This night was no different. Tim Shaffer, Lee Jacobs, Jimmy Stinson, and Randy Hannagan took heat wins. The tight battles and at times contact racing, sent a few cars a flipping. Todd Kane took a ride in heat 2. Mike Dunlap and Travis Philo both took tumbles in heat 4. Daron Clayton took the C. Brandon Martin looked strong and held on for the Dash win. Another loaded B Main, flavor of the week at Speedweek, loaded B Mains, seen Craig Mintz hold off Dean Jacobs for the win. The been seen Tim Hunter, Mike Linder, and Steve Irwin flip. Plus, a excellent battle for the final transfer spot, that involved some contact. When it was all said and done, Cale Conley held off an aggressive Terry McCarl. Steve Irwin's last lap flip was kind of crazy since it happened before the checkered and the flagman just left his car lay there, leaving the green out. Stevie Smith and Cole Duncan made-up the front row for the 40 lap A Main. With the track crew working on the track all night long, the place showed little dust and was fairly smooth for the A. Smith shot to the lead at the start and was looking to keep his strong runs a going for the week. This 40 lapper was a pretty decent race. Smith lead but Brandon Martin and Duncan followed closely. With some tight quarters in traffic, the Smith never got too far ahead. A few cautions in the 1st half of the A was all that slowed Smith down. After the halfway point, Daryn Pittman mounted a charge towards Smith. With just a handful of laps to go, Pittman was in 2nd and looked to be faster than Smith. just as Pittman got close, the yellow waved for a stopped Brad Sweet. Pittman had one last shot but, Smith got a great restart and took the win. Pittman, Martin, Duncan, and Chaney rounded out the top 5. Smith lead flag to flag but, it wasn't a cake walk either. An ok A Main event. With running to the races all week and returning back home to work the next day, when Thursday came around, it was time to get the RV out and head to Attica. 48 cars were ready for action and took to the track for hot laps. After a few cars timed in, the rains came and drowned the place. Needless to say, it would of took several hours to even attempt to get the track ready. The night was canceled once again. What to do now after the rain out and stuck in the RV at Attica. A trip to the carryout and DVD's on the tv was about as good as it got. Night 5 now shifts to Limaland Motorsports Park for the All Star NRA Challenge. 49 cars were ready for action. Jody Keegan started the night off bad by flipping at the end of his hot lap session, after the yellow and checkered was displayed. LMP and its 1/4 mile oval always provides some excellent racing action when the All Stars come to town. With a strong wind, the track became dusty but still was very racy. Mike Linder, Chad Kemenah, Brandon Wimmer, and Dale Blaney won the heats. Some tight battles sent a few cars a tumbling. In the 1st heat, Brandon Martin took a big ride after heavy contact with Tim Shaffer. In heat 4, an excellent race for the transfer spots was going on until Chad Blonde got crossed up coming off 2 and collected Stevie Smith and Hannagan. Blonde and Smith both flipped. Jody Keegan recovered to win the C. Roddy Bellbowen took a tumble in the C. Lee Jacobs charged from 8th to win the B Main. Brock Mayes and Danny Smith drew front row starting spots in this 40 lapper. Phil Gressman flipped on the start. Once the green flew again, the battle was on. A nonstop 40 lap race on a tight 1/4 mile oval and it was a good one. Danny Smith shot to the lead on the start. Smith was strong but quickly Tim Shaffer was in his tire tracks. Lap 11, Shaffer takes the lead. not to be denied, Smith never let Shaffer out of his sights. The duo battle for the next few laps and Smith regains the lead on lap 18. Just after halfway Smith opens up a little bit of a lead. The final third of the race, Greg Wilson, and the man missing from the top most of the week, Dale Blaney, are on the move. Blaney is looking to turn, what for him would be a terrible Speedweek around in this one. 10 to go, Smith leads. The last 10 laps Blaney is closing some but Smith it hitting every mark perfect in traffic. Smith takes the win. Blaney, Wilson, Shaffer, and Mayes round out the top 5. A real good race and a great win for Smith. P.S. camper, Speedweek, and some cold ones equals excellent time after the races by the pond. I am pretty sure we made California Dave's 1st Ohio Speedweek unforgettable. The Speedweek final switched venues this year and was hosted at Fremont Speedway. The Fremont crew has worked real hard the past few years to host some big shows, this was just another addition to that list. 43 All Stars and 22 nonwing 305's were ready for action. The heats had plenty of passing and saw 4 cars that started out of the 6 car invert, earn a transfer spot. Brad Sweet, Dale Blaney, Daron Clayton, and Kevin Lee won the heats. Heat 4 was a wild one. The 2 quickest cars in the heat both got upside down on the same lap, in different corners, Rob Chaney in turn 1, Ryan Myers in 3. Sheldon Haudenschild was in a transfer spot before getting airborne off turn 2. Lil Haud re-fired but a lap later took a huge tumble coming off turn 4. Tim Shaffer won the loaded B Main. Chad Blonde and Duane Zablocki paced the field for the 40 lap $10,000 to win event. As the green waved, Blonde took the lead. Blonde set a quick pace as the field entered lapped traffic a handful of laps later. As Blonde lead, Brock Mayes and Craig Mintz started to show they were going to be forces to reckon with. Just before the halfway point, all 3 cars were battling upfront. Lap 18, Mayes takes the lead. A yellow for Clayton slows the pace. Mayes leads on the restart but on lap 19, the fastest car on the track, Mintz, takes the lead. Pulling away from the pack, Mintz is by far the fastest car at this point. The next few laps pass by and Shaffer and Stevie Smith start making come noise after starting deeper in the pack. Upfront, Mintz is super fast but a problem starts to develop on the 20x machine. A oil line fitting is loose and oil is spraying all over Mintz's visor. Entering heavy lapped traffic with a visor that is oil covered, spells trouble. Mintz gets stuck behind the lapped car of Ivy, almost forced off the track, Mintz's pace is much slower. Lap 27, Mayes takes the lead. Mintz recovers to hang out to 2nd. With Mayes and Mintz still having major problems with lapped cars, Shaffer is quickly gaining. Lap 36, Shaffer takes the lead as Mayes is stuck behind a lapped car. Lap 37, Blaney stops. This would spell disaster for Mintz. Craig dropped to 4th but under the yellow, the oil that flew all over dripped on the headers and caught the 20x machine on fire. A quick stop and exit, the fire went out but, Mintz's excellent run and shot at a top 3 finish was gone. With a 3 laps shootout, Shaffer got an excellent restart and cruised to the $10,000 paycheck. Shaffer wins after starting 14th, Mayes, S. Smith, up from 11th, Blonde, and Sweet round out the top 5. A good race that seen some tough breaks for the fastest cars upfront. If Mintz never had an oil leak, I don't think anyone would of beat him. If Mayes didn't get stuck for 3 or 4 laps behind a lapper, Shaffer more than likely would not of gotten past him. That is why they call it racing, you never know what will happen. The 22 305 sprint went topless for this event. I personally think this is what they should do every week with the 305s. It would cut down on wing cost, tire cost, and engine wear, making what its is suppose to be, an affordable class. Anyways, some great action for the 305s. Steve Rando took a nasty tumble in hot laps. Paul Weaver caught the front stretch wall as well in hot laps. Weaver, Roger Shammo, and Bill Kraylek won the heats. Chad Wilson and Josh Muntz took wild tumbles in heat 3. All 22 305s were put into the A. A great race it was. Roger Shammo took the early lead on his 1st trip out in 09. Shammo lead until DJ Foos took over on lap 5. A lap 5 collision between the 2nd place battle of Shammo and Weaver, ended their shot at the win. Foos lead but Shawn Valenti is strong but, a few more cautions slows the pace and Valenti run at Foos. Lap 9, Valenti takes the lead. Valenti is pulling away from the pack. Just when it looked like Shawn had a easy win in his pocket, A fast Stuart Brubaker is on his tail tank after a lap 22 caution. A 3 lap shootout to determine the $1,000 to win event. Valenti gets a good start and leads, Brubaker settles in 2nd as the laps wind down. White flag its all Valenti. Wait, Brubaker gets a great run into 2, makes the pass off 2 and takes the lead. Brubaker takes the win on a last lap pass. Valenti, Nate Dussel, up from 10th, Heuerman, up from 18th, and Foos round out the top 5. A great race. Another fun night in the campground as well. Not as loud and as long as Friday's but good times.

UPCOMING: a big holiday weekend, so support a track somewhere.

Friday: FAST Attica, USAC Sprint and Midgets Toledo, HOSS Angola IN, AVSS Dixie MI, All Stars KC

Saturday: FAST Fremont, All Stars Terre Haute IN, AVSS Owosso MI, MSCS Haubstadt IN

Sunday MASS North Vernon IN

Later

Last week was one of my newest favorite weeks of the year, Indiana's USAC Midget Week. I caught a few shows of it the first couple of years but, followed the entire week last year. After last year's Midget week, there was no doubt, I was chasing it again this year. I actually cheated a little. I had no plans of hitting the Thursday show but, with its rain out, I made them all. With Midget Week moved up a few months, many other races was going on too, so car counts were down just a bit.
Wednesday night, USAC Midget Week 09 started at the Gas City I-69 Speedway. 36 midgets and 20 sprints darkened the pit area. Speaking of darkening, rain was all over the area before the night was complete. The track was very heavy and fast the entire night. Jiggs and the boys pushed the program as you could see the rain was getting closer. It actually sprinkled a few times. Some great midget heat races seen Brad Loyet, Nathan High, Cole Whitt, and Shane Hmiel take wins. The loaded midget B Main seen a great battle. At 1 time, the battle for 4th to 7th was so close, 3 of the 4 cars spun out together, they were so close. Chad Boat took the B Main win. Daren Hagen and Jerry Coons Jr made-up the front row of the 30 lap A Main. Coons jumped into the lead as the green waved. Some early lap miscues put some heavy hitters to the tail. Brad Sweet, Josh Wyse, fast timer, Steve Buckwalter, Matt Sherrell, Ricky Ehrgott, and Shane Hmiel all were to the tail by
the end of lap 1, due to some contact in a bunching up of the field. Coons was fast upfront and with a super fast and heavy track, it was elbows up to even think of staying close to him. After a few cautions for some cars stopping, Coons was on the hammer once again. He never really got more than 4 cars lengths ahead but, he was always outfront. Brad Kuhn was charging up from 8th, moving into 2nd. Lap 27, the battle upfront took another twist. Bryan Clauson got loose off 4 and the pack bunched up some. Chad Boat flipped onto his side as Kody Swanson got collected too. This made for a 3 lap showdown. Could Coons hold off the charging Kuhn? Restart, Coons and Kuhn are nose to tail. Coons is in control and looks to have it in the bag when the yellow flys with just 1 lap yo go. Kevin Swindell was running 4th and made a dive to the inside of the track to attempt a pass on the 3rd place car. The Bulldog's car bogged down and Ryan Kaplan had no choice but to
tag Kevin's tail tank. Kevin spins, collecting Cole Whitt, and Dane McAllan. Restart, its all Coons. Jerry Coons Jr takes the win. Kuhn, up from 8th, Hagen, Clauson, up from 9th, and Kaplan, up from 13th, round out the top 5. A decent race, just not a barn burner.
The action for the Gas City sprints was just as fast. Kent Chrisitan, Dave Darland, and Sammy Imel won the heats. With 20 cars making the tow to Gas City, no B Main was needed. Cole Whitt and Dave Darland made-up the front row for the 25 lap A Main. The battle quickly heated up when the green waved. Darland danced into the lead on lap 1. That didn't last long as Whitt took over the lead on lap 2. Whitt and Darland stayed within a few car lengths apart the next handful of laps. After cautions on lap 4, 5, and 6 for spin outs, the green would wave once again. Whitt and Darland still battled upfront as Matt Westfall was making a charge from deep in the pack. Just after half-way, the battle upfront was getting tighter. Shane Cottle and Jon Stanbrough were entering the mix as Darland was slipping back a few spots. 5 to go, Stanbrough is wheel to wheel with Whitt. Inches apart, they battle for the lead. Lap 22, Stanbrough makes the pass. Whitt stays right
in his tire tracks. white is out, Whitt has one last run, looks good, but he just can't get it done through the lapped cars. Stanbrough wins. Whitt, Cottle, Coons Jr, and Westfall, up from 15th, round out the top 5. Once again a decent race. Actually a little better than the midget A. Plus, the show was pushed forward and was finished just after dark. How close was the rain? Well less than 3 miles up the highway, the roads were wet and rain was still falling a little.
After a Thursday night rain out, night number 2 now shifted to Bloomington Speedway on Friday night. After driving 232 miles one way, in dark clouds 1/2 of the time, it was a breath of fresh air to see the sun peaking out when arriving in the area. As it got later in the afternoon, a few huge dark clouds past with just a few sprinkles falling. 38 midgets and 38 sprints are ready for action, just as the sun finally starts to peak out for the rest of the evening. The track was fast and the action was hot. Steve Buckwalter set a new track record for the night. The 1st midget heat alone was well worth the 232 mile drive. Side by side, a little bumping here, a little banging there, 3 and 4 wide racing all through the heats. Cole Whitt, Thomas Meseraull, Chad Boat, and Brad Kuhn took the wild heat race wins. Josh Wyse and Henry Clarke tumbled together in heat 2. Andrew Deal got on his lid in heat 3. Wes Gutierrez took a nasty ride in heat 4. Wes was
transported to the hospital He was released the next day and, would race later in the week. With 38 cars, a huge, and loaded, B Main was ready to attack the wild 1/4 mile raceway. When the smoke cleared, Josh Wyse recovered from his heat race woes to take the B Main win. As the 30 lap midget A Main was lining-up, you could sense, it was going to be a shootout. Wyse and Brad Sweet paced the field for the A. These two would battle all race long, for the majority of the race, less than a car length apart, at times side by side. Wyse lead lap 1, Sweet took over on lap 3. Then they just kept glued to each other the rest of the race. A lap 10 cation slowed the pack. It was still Wyse and Sweet all over each other but Kuhn and Hines were coming towards the front as well. After aanother11 laps of playing cat and mouse for the lead, Wyse takes the lead on lap 21. 2 more laps, 2 cautions, as Sweet regains the lead on lap 23. A lap 25 yellow has brought Brad Kuhn
right into the mix as well. If you thought the 1st 25 laps was a dog fight, wait for the last 5. Sweet gets a great start but Kuhn is on his tail tank. They battle hard but Sweet still stays out front. coming to the white in turn 3, Kuhn tries to sneak under Sweet, as Sweet left a little opening. Contact, Kuhn gets into Sweet's left rear, it quickly goes flat. Sweet is still hammer down and leading into 1. off 2, down the backstretch, its still Sweet. Kuhn is waiting for a slip up off 4, Sweet drifts wide off 4, due to the flat, and Kuhn sneaks under and beats him to the line. Kuhn wins after starting 14th. Sweet, Wyse, Hines, and Bryan Clauson round out the top 5. An excellent race! 2 years in a row a kick butt, all out excellent race for Midget Week. Sweet, is all do respect, gave Kuhn a big love tap after the checkered waved. I really liked Brad's interview! Anyone, I mean anyone that had just had that happen to them would have felt cheated out of
the win too. I am not sure why he got all the boos. He just told it the way it was and chalked it up to just great short track racing.
An excellent field of sprint were ready for action at Bloomington. Brady Short, Jeff Bland Jr, Dave Darland, and Matt Westfall all won sprint heats. Once again some great heat races. The B Main was split into 2 B's. Kent Christian and Kenny Niflis took the B Main wins. Coons and Short paced the field to for the 25 lap A Main. Just as the green flu, Christian spun. Restart, Brady Short shot to the lead. After 2 early spins on lap 1 and 3, the green was displayed for several laps. It was all pretty much the Brady Short show. Short was working traffic to a t and was heavy on the go peddle. Coons held a strong 2nd as Stanbrough, Darland, and Bland tried to get to the leaders. Just when Short looked to be cruising to victory lane, a lap 23 caution. This would tighten the pack but, 2 lapped cars split 1st and 2nd. The lappers didn't an excellent job on the restart and quickly let the lead pack battle. Battle they may but, this night was all Brady Short.
Short wins. Coons, Chad Boat, Stanbrough, and Bland round out the top 5.
Saturday the action switched to the super fast high banks of Lawrenceburg Speedway. One of the finest facilities in this region of the US, even tho I was a huge fan of the old new place. 28 midgets and 23 sprints were ready for action on a beautiful night. 21 mini sprints were on hand as well. Chad Boat was just off the midget track record. The speeds continued in the fast paced midget heats. Brad Kuhn, Ricky Ehrgott, and Cole Whitt took the heat wins. One of the fastest guy all week,l Steve Buckwalter found his groove in the B Main and took the w. Bryan Clauson and Buckwalter paced the field for the 30 lap A Main. Buckwalter got a great start and takes the lead as Clauson fades some. Buckwalter proves he is super fast and pulls to a huge lead in just a handful of laps. Sweet, Hagen and Clauson try to mount a charge at Buckwalter but, Steve is just too strong. A few mid-race cautions on lap 10 and 16 bunch the pack once again. Buckwalter is still just
too strong and drives off into the lead. Clauson gets a run a going and starts to close a little but, still a ways back. A caution on lap 23, may be just what the others needed. Restart, Buckwalter seems to be a little bit slower, as Clauson seems too be just as strong now. Lap 25, into turn 3, Clauson makes his move and takes the lead. A quick caution once again puts the field nose to tail in the last 5 laps of the race. Clauson gets a great starts and runs a perfect line the final 5 laps to take the win. sweet does an excellent series of slide jobs the last 2 laps to earn a 2nd place finish. Buckwalter, Hagen, and Hines round out the top 5. It turned out to be a great finish to what looked like a run away race.
The sprint cars heats at The Burg were pretty good heats. Coons, Shawn Westerfeld, and Josh Moffatt took the wins. Coons and Westerfeld made last lap passes to win their heats, Moffatt just flat run away with his. Once again, no B Main was needed for the sprints as track management put all 23 cars in the A. I think this is an excellent idea and a great gesture. Plus, a great way to keep the guys that support you a coming back. Coons and Westerfeld paced the field for the 25 lap A Main. Coons crushed the throttle and out the Hoffman 69 car into the lead on lap 1. After a lap 2 yellow, it was all green. With all green flag racing and Coons in the Hoffman 69 outfront, it was all over. Coons put a huge whipping on the field on this night. All was not a bore tho as Levi Jones and Shane Hmiel put on a rim riding clinic at The Burg in the Trucker's 24 hours cars. Both were elbows up on the cushion, just inches off the wall. Watching them work traffic was
awesome. Coons takes the win tho over, Jones, Hmiel, Short, and Moffatt. A run away race but the Trucker's cars stole the show. Another fasted paced show that was over just after dark, barely. It was just after 9:30, which meant danger for me since the big money pit is next door. Then again, maybe it was just my lucky night as when I walked out of the casino doors just past 1 AM, I actually made up for all the $$ I lost during the WOO weekend and all I spent that night.
As the week wound down, one race was left to run for Midget Week at Kokomo Speedway. After traveling from Lawrenceburg to Kokomo Sunday afternoon, weather once again was in the area. Traveling through some heavy sstorms all was clear about half-way between Indy and Kokomo. 33 midgets and 21 sprints pulled into the Kokomo pit area. Ricky Ehrgott took a nasty tumble into midget hot laps/time trials. Ricky went to the hhospital and was later released. Thank God because it looked pretty nasty for a minute or two. One thing about Kokomo and midget racing, it is awesome! The 4 midget heats were just plain kick ass, no other words to explain it. Cars racing 3, 4, and yes 5 wide in the heats, lap after lap as well. When the gun smoke cleared in the heats, Hagen, Clauson, Hines, and Dakota Armstrong walked away heat race winners. 2 of the 4 heats were on at the line. Steve Buckwalter was once again a quick car and took the B Main win. If you thought to heats
were a gun fight, you better of bbroughta bigger gun for the 30 lap A Main. Darland and Hagen pace the field for the A. Hagen gets the jump and the lead before lap 1 is complete. Lap 2, a grinding crash between 2 of the fastest car of the night, Chad Boat and Brad Sweet. Both cars flip and are done for the night. Bryan Clauson had a terrible start after almost losing his car in turn 1, dropping back to 11th. Hagen looks strong until he sudden slows and stops. This puts Darland in the lead. After another caution on lap 13, cars are racing high, low, and in between, once again 3 to 5 wide for positions in the top 10. Plus, the lead pack is nose to tail, side by side, just fighting it out. Darland, Buckwalter, Kuhn, Whitt, and he comes Clauson all battling hard upfront. With 8 to go, Clauson catches Darland. DD has to change his line as BC was was low and showed his nose to Darland. Whitt was working high and the others were all over the place. 5 to go,
and there is 8 cars upfront still battling for the win. Lap 26, another grinding crash with hard flips by Henry Clarke and Zach Daum. Buckwalter pulls pit side in 3rd under the red. This sets up a 4 lap war. Darland was kind of a sitting duck as Clauson was working good low and Whitt high, he couldn't block both of them. Darland runs just a car length and a half off the bottom to try and maintain the lead. Clauson gets a run but Darland pinches the door shut. Lap 27, Clauson gets an excellent run and takes the lead. BC opens up just a little distance as the others bump and bang for position. Still 3 and 4 wide, Clauson rides home across the finish line 1st, after falling to 11th on lap 2. Darland, Kuhn, up from 17th, Whitt, up from 16th, and Kevin Swindell, up from 10th, round out the top 5. Think there wasn't any passing, just look at that, guys in the top 5 after starting 10th, 16th, 17th, and falling back to 11th. Whitt and Darland had a little
contact after the show as well. Whitt got hooked and spun after he gave DD a love tap. The 2 exited the cars and talked about DD little pinch on Whitt with a few laps to go. Another excellent race and a great finish to a good week of racing.
Sprint cars at Kokomo always seem to race hard as well. For all the cars making the A main, you would of thought the heats paid $5000 to win as hard as they were racing. Kevin Thomas Jr, Kent Christian, and Ryan Kaplan took the heat wins. Coons Jr, Whitt, and Anthony Peterman all left the heats on a wrecker. Peterman actually took a wild tumble. Rookie Andrew Elson took his 1st ever checkered flag in the Dash. Once again, all cars to the A. Shane Cottle and Jerry Coons Jr pace the field for the 25 lap A. After some great runs all week, coons once again put on a beating in the sprint A. This time in the Trucker's 24 Hour car, Coon Dog ran away from the pack soon after the green was displayed. In a non-stop green to checkered race, Coons littery ran away from the pack and no one had a chance of catching him. Coons spanks them in this one, taking the win. Billy Puterbaugh, Whitt, Cottle, and Elson rroundout the top 5. Great night for the rookie Elson.
After attending the entire USAC Midget Week for the 2nd year in a row, I, in my humble opinion, thought of a few ways to even make it better. I love the idea of USAC Midgets and regular non wing sprints as the support class. This year car counts were down some but, timing of other shows made for many more races going on at the same time. How about a bonus like some others have done. Lets say get a sponsor, like Hoosier Park, to get an insurance policy to pay like a $100,000 bonus to win all 10 A Mains. $75,000 to win 9, $50,000 to win 8, $40,000 for 7, and $25,000 for 6 wins. These policies don't cost much and could create a lot of buzz and maybe many more cars or more double duty cars. Plus, how about a different track than North Vernon on Thursday. Just my 2 cents.

UPCOMING:: Ohio Speedweek starts Friday

Friday: All Star Attica,

Saturday: All Star Eldora, HOSS Anderson IN, KISS Paragon IN, USAC Sprints Kalamazoo MI

Sunday: All Star Millstream OH

Monday: All Star Wayne Co

Tuesday: All Star Hilltop

Wednesday: All Star Waynesfield

Friday: All Star Limaland Motorsports Park, SOD MT Pleasant MI

Saturday: All Star Fremont, SOD I96 MI, AVSS Berlin MI

Sunday: Bob Darland Memorial Kokomo IN, HOSS Plymouth IN

See You at most of the Speedweek shows and the Darland Memorial

Thanks
Duane

E-mail Duane Here

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