Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Gupton Wins 360 Wingless Sprint Race & Point Title At Paradise

Saturday, November 9 – Pat and I flew to the island of Maui, one of the Hawaiian Islands, on Friday afternoon arriving before Kerry and Cindy Meitzler did from their flight from New Jersey. We secured the rental car and waited for the Metzler’s to arrive. We stopped on our way from the airport to pick up sandwiches from Jersey Mike’s and checked into the Hilton Maui Bay Villas and settled in for the night. The next day was a ride down to Maluaka Beach to show Kerry and Cindy some of the rugged beauty of the Aloha State before heading 11 minutes away to the ¼ mile dirt oval known as Paradise Speedway near Puunene for their final race of the season also called Championship night.

On tap tonight was a nine division program of Hawaii racing with the following car counts. Non-wing sprints (5), micro sprints (2), mini mods (3) which was a full size sprint car with a four cylinder engine. Also, two super streets, four street stocks, three V8 bombers, eight 4 cylinder modifieds/trucks, ten 4 cylinder bombers and seven 4 cylinder youth bombers. Admission price for the show was $15 and when signing the release we found that the lady who signed us in was originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana along with our husband who was the ticket seller. It just goes to show you it is indeed a small world!!

We had last been here about nine years ago and they have been some changes, the main one being about a 14 row aluminum grandstand on the homestretch. A very good crowd was on hand for the final race here for 2024 and it was a crowd that a lot of tracks on the mainland would love to see. It was way higher than the last time we visited. Racing was scheduled to begin at sundown at 6:34 and actually kicked off early at 6:25. The mini mods were first up with their first heat with every class scheduled to contest two rounds of heat races. Point leader, Brian Andrade, took this one with John Taylor (JT) Gupton taking the first 360 non-wing heat. The other divisions all ran one heat each with only the four cylinder modifieds/trucks and the four cylinder bombers running two.

Two things I hadn’t mentioned yet was the temperature was in the ‘70’s but the wind was at our backs at least at 20 to 25 miles an hour and was relentless continuing the entire evening. The other was that the Maui Brewing Company donated $1500 so the first 150 ticket buyers received free admission, a very nice gesture. After the two rounds of qualifying the entire grandstand was invited down onto the track to meet and greet the drivers from the various divisions. That started at 8:22 and was wrapped up by 9 which was nice for the local patrons to participate in. This was followed by track prep which lasted over a half hour but you can’t fault a track for trying to make the track racier for the drivers and fans. It was a little bumpy in places but was never dusty. The second groove up high never came in the entire evening so it was tough to pass or race much side by side.

By 9:26 it was time for the 12 lap mini mod feature but the participants dwindled from three to two to one by feature time. Brian Andrade came trackside and spun off five laps of hard running taking the checkered and securing the track championship.

The 360 wingless sprints were much more reliable with the same five racing in both heats and the feature. Their feature went green at 9:33 and checkered at 9:39. John Taylor Gupton led from flag to flag with some late skirmishes causing some confusion but not altering the finish. Guyton would get the win and the championship winning the race over Peter Belford III, Doug Fitch, Kainoa Perry and Grant Teruya with three of the five drivers traveling over from Oahu to race.

It was a fun night of racing and the locals seemed to enjoy the action and that is what it is all about. Further improvements are announced for the 2025 season with new lighting scheduled to go up for the facility. Glad to see things on Maui are going well on the racing scene and good luck to them going forward.

That’s it for this special column and we don’t know when the next one will happen but check back every so often to see if we decide to go somewhere more in November or December. In the meantime, get out there and catch the last few races of 2024 in your area and have fun and be safe. News, comments and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you continue to enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Remember to be nice to everyone you meet as you don’t know what is going on in their lives on that day.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Roahrig, Santos, Hamilton & Swanson Win At IRP On Championship Saturday

Saturday, October 19 – This would be the last race for us in Indiana in 2024 and the sunny, warm day in the 70’s was a good way to end the racing season in the Hoosier state. The destination for the day was the .686 mile asphalt oval of the Indianapolis Raceway Park for Championship Saturday. Racing today would be four classes of open wheel machines with the 600 Sprint Car Tour (20) being the first ones to run their feature event, a race of 40 laps in distance. The National Pavement Midget Championship (14) would be the second race of the day going 30 circuits around the .686 mile oval. Then it would be the All-Star Pavement Midgets (13), a new addition to the slate in 2024, featuring midgets powered by Ecotech/Focus engines. They are less powerful than the normal midgets but are able to race deeper into the corners and to us have more side by side racing than the other classes. The last class of the day would be the USAC Silver Crown series (18) running their final race of 2024 and crowning a champion also on this day going 100 laps in their main event.

It was a busy day at IRP with not only the racing going on but also a car show and trunk or treat activities making for quite a bit of congestion and some confusion over where to purchase tickets for the races but we figured it all out. A $25 admission was a good value for all the racing you would see today and early evening and it seemed quite a few of the car show crowd purchased tickets to watch the races making for a nice sized crowd. Illinois resident and trackchaser, Jon Jay Mooney, dropped by to chat along with good friends, Max and Suzie Niemann, joining us after attending the Indiana/Nebraska football game earlier in the day in Bloomington.

The posted schedule was right on the mark with opening ceremonies kicking off at precisely 5:20 with the invocation followed by the National Anthem sang by a member of the Indianapolis Opera. The 40 lap 500 Sprint Car Tour feature would go green at 5:34 with Dakoda Armstrong powering into the early lead. Lap four saw the first caution wave when Derek Bischak lost the handle in turn four spinning to a stop against the wall. Bischak was able to restart the race. On the restart Kody Swanson dove low in turn one to grab second from Nathan Byrd with Jake Trainor following suit for third. Tyler Roahrig slipped by Byrd for fourth in turn four on lap eight as Armstrong had now opened up about a seven car length advantage. Roahrig was the man on the advance as he next picked off Trainor for third on the homestretch on lap thirteen. Six laps later Roahrig drove past Swanson into second and took up the chase of Armstrong. Lap 20 saw the second and final caution wave as Tony Main was blowing smoke and was possibly dropping some oil so the race was slowed to check out the situation.

On the ensuing restart Armstrong was quick on the gas pedal and moved back out front. This time Roahrig was not going to let him get away so quickly and over the next nine laps was all over him like white on rice. Finally on lap twenty nine Roahrig dove low in turn three and cleared Armstrong for the lead exiting turn four. Eighth starting Kyle O’Gara caught and passed Trainor for fourth on this lap. From that point forward it was Roahrig in command pulling away from the chasing Armstrong. O;Gara closed the gap on Swanson for third but was unable to pass Kody for the position. Jackson Macenko was able to slip by Trainor for fifth exiting turn four on the final lap for that position. When the checkers waved at 6 PM it was Tyler Roahrig across the line first for his fourth win of the tour and an incredible fourth straight win at IRP in the process. Armstrong would have to settle for second with Kody Swanson crossing the line third and winning the 2024 500 Sprint Car Tour for the second time. Kyle O’Gara would like home fourth with Macenko rounding out the top five. Jake Trainor slipped to sixth at the end with Bobby Santos III seventh, Taylor Ferns eighth, Nathan Bryd ninth and Billy Wease tenth. A good race with some good passing and a good way to start off the day. In a nice tribute Roahrig had the name of two year old Marshall Hancock on the visor of both his sprint car and Silver Crown car for the youngster who passed away unexpectedly last month and welcomed his parents in victory lane.

Next up was the 30 lap National Midget feature taking the initial green flag at 6:22. Chase Locke, the youngster out of New Hampshire, took the early lead and looked strong in the first nine laps of the event. Bobby Santos III reeled in his fellow New Englander and stormed by on lap ten to take the lead. Santos steadily pulled away from the field as he was flying around the big oval. This race would go non-stop in 11 minutes with Santos scoring the win over a very fast Jerry Coons Jr who made it interesting with an intense battle with Kyle O’Gara for many laps before finishing second with O’Gara third, Kody Swanson fourth and Chase Locke rounding out the top five. It was decent race for second through fifth throughout the 30 lap go.

The third feature of the day would highlight the All-Star midgets contesting a 20 lap main event. This was a good race also but confusing as it didn’t seem like anyone knew who was in what car including the announcers. It turned out that Kyle Hamilton came out of retirement and jumped into the Davey Hamilton midget and surprised everyone by winning this affair. Chase Locke ran another impressive race bringing home one of the former Wilke #11’s second with Kyle O’Gara third, Billy Wease in the second #11 fourth and Jim Anderson rounding out the top five in one of three #88’s in the field. The racing in the top four was fierce and was a very entertaining race ending at 7:07.

That left us with just the 100 lap, $10,000 to win USAC Silver Crown feature to run. The green flag waved at 7:28 with outside front row challenger, Bobby Santos III, taking the early lead over Kody Swanson, who earned his seventh fast time of the year, a new single season record in the Silver Crown division. Swanson was quick to rebound passing Santos for the lead between turns three and four on lap two. The caution waved on lap twelve for the stopped car of Nathan Moore in turn four. On the restart Swanson led with Santos in hot pursuit. One lap after the restart Santos charged around Swanson for the lead in turns three and four to reclaim the lead.

In the meantime, Tyler Roahrig was coming quickly closing on the front two and soon it was a three car dog fight. Lap nineteen saw Roahrig roar by Swanson in turns one and two and went to work on Santos. Santos and Roahrig went side by side for several laps in a crowd pleasing duel for the top spot during a stretch in the late twenties. Lap thirty saw fifth running Dakoda Armstrong roll to a stop in turn three ending his strong run too early. When the field was ready to go back to green on lap thirty four second running Roahrig slowed exiting turn four with others weaving around him on the homestretch. Roahrig stopped in turn one with a magneto issue and one of the strongest contenders for the win was done. When racing resumed Santos held sway and led for the next thirty laps with Swanson right behind. Lap sixty two saw Swanson make his bid for the lead entering turn one and the two ran wheel to wheel for the entire lap with Santos leading by inches at the start/finish line. As the pair continued to run side by side Swanson edged ahead exiting turn two and cleared Santos to take the lead. Swanson began to pull away as the race progressed but the next man to watch was Logan Seavey who found something as he marched from fifth to second in a matter of eight laps cumulating with him passing Santos for second on lap seventy five. Seavey was quite a distance behind Swanson (about two to three seconds) but narrowed the gap over the next ten laps.

Over the remaining fifteen laps Swanson began to stretch his differential again and at 8:11 he flashed under the double checkers for his 45th career Silver Crown triumph and his ninth career win at IRP. Swanson also took down his eighth Silver Crown title and became the driver who has now won the most USAC championships, breaking the tie with AJ Foyt and Mel Kenyon who were at seven each. Kody Swanson has been amazing how he has dominated this series over the last ten years and truly deserves a shot at an Indy car ride. How about it one of you Indy Car owners!!!

Seavey crossed the line second with Santos third, CJ Leary in a good run for fourth with Justin Grant rounding out the top five. Rookie of the year, Trey Osborne, finished a great sixth with Nathan Byrd seventh, Russ Gamester eighth, Kyle Robbins ninth and Kaylee Bryson rounding out the top ten.

It was a good day of racing with the 500 Sprint Car Tour race, the best of the lot.

That’s it for a while but get out there and catch some remaining races in your area or in the south before the winter months move in. Comments, rumors or facts and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Take care, be good and be kind to everyone you meet.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Takes 14th Win To Tie Bigelow & $20,000 At Fall Nationals

Saturday, October 12 – We woke up Saturday morning in downtown Lawrenceburg, a town we had never visited before in all our trips to the Lawrenceburg Speedway. It is a quaint, nice smaller town with a population of 5192 located on the Ohio River. We were impressed and looked forward to returning in the future. We met Steve and Maggi Kimmel along with Coach at the Proof 124 Table and Tavern to celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary and dined on some delicious food in the process. From there the gals visited a few stores to shop while Steve and I sat on a park bench waiting for them and had a good conversation. We splurged on some good hard ice cream before venturing back over to the Kimmel’s motorhome to hang out a while before the races began.

By six o’clock hot laps began for the USAC sprint cars preparing for the 17th running of the Hoosier Fall Nationals paying a whooping $20,000 to win. After hot laps 35 sprint cars took to the 3/8 mile high banked dirt oval to battle for the top time trial of the evening. When it was all said and done it was Daison Pursley in the Team AZ #21AZ setting his second straight fast time in as many days with a lap of 14.213 seconds around the Lawrenceburg oval. Kale Drake took a nasty tumble in turn one of the start of his second timed lap rolling over several times before coming to rest on his wheels in the middle of the turn. Drake quickly exited his damaged machine AOK but one of the Benic #2B’s was finished for the evening.

That left us with 34 sprint cars joined on the dance card tonight by 14 UMP modifieds as the second division. The first of four USAC sprint car heats took the green flag at 7:30 with the top five cars moving directly into the big 30 lap feature event. Daison Pursley quickly popped from the sixth starting position to take the lead early looking for a sweep of the evening winning heat one over Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr, Briggs Danner and Jake Swanson. Heat two went to a high flying Kyle Cummins beating Robert Ballou, Logan Seavey, Stevie Sussex and Carson Garrett. Scotty Weir looked strong in the second Benic #2B capturing heat three over Brady Bacon, Shawn Westerfeld, Saban Bibent and Chase Stockon coming from the tail after pitting with a mud packed right rear tire to qualify. CJ Leary would pace heat four besting JJ Hughes, Mitchel Moles, Matt Westfall and Ryan Gray, last night’s winner of the Kokomo Klash. All sprint heat action was completed by 7:58.

The UMP modifieds would contest two heats for their 14 car field before the sprint cars returned to the track to run off their semi event with the top four joining the already qualified 16 from the heat races. Jadon Rogers would prevail in this one outrunning Hayden Reinbold, Nick Bilbee and Kayla Roell, the last person qualifying for the second night in a row. Joey Amantea and Hunter Maddox would join the field on provisionals to make it a 26 car starting field for the $20,000 to win prize.

In a change of schedule management decided to run the 20 lap UMP modified feature first to give the sprint car teams extra time to prepare for their big event. It turned out to be the wrong decision as the modifieds spun and wrecked to the tune of seven cautions in twenty laps of racing with only a 14 car starting field making it one of the worst races we’ve seen all year and losing 24 minutes of my life that I will never get back! Matt Hamilton would fend off Ben Harmon with an ill running engine for the win with Pete Holt completing the podium finish.

So all we had left to run was the 30 lap, $20,000 to win Hoosier Fall National race which took the green flag at 9:39. Briggs Danner was quick on the draw bursting from second into the early lead but that would not last long as CJ Leary and Daison Pursley clipped wheels racing down the backstretch on the opening lap sending Leary flipping end over end numerous times and Saban Bibent with no where to go ran into Leary sending him over also. The red flag quickly appeared with both drivers climbing from their damaged sprinters OK but done for the evening. On the next restart the green lasted until the second turn when Kayla Roell lost the handle on her sprint spinning to the inside of that corner. The third time would not be a charm as they say when leader Briggs Danner biked in turn one before barrel rolling into the turn one wall and causing the PA youngster to become a zero after being the hero last night in winning. Danner was OK but also finished for the event.

On the fourth try we would stay green with Mitchel Moles snatching the lead with Kyle Cummins second. Logan Seavey who started fifth on the initial start would slice his way by Cummins into second on the opening lap. By turn three on lap two Seavey executed a slider in turn three sliding by Moles and taking the lead all in one fair swoop. By lap eight Seavey was into lap traffic holding down a two second lead over the field. Daison Pursley up from sixth on the start, finally was able to clear Cummins for third on lap fourteen and take up the chase of Seavey and Moles.

While Seavey was increasing his lead and making a statement to the field up front Moles and Pursley put on a crowd pleasing duel for second. Seavey was gone as he rode the top side to perfection pulling away from everyone. The checkered flag would wave at 10:15 with Seavey first across the line tying Tom Bigelow for the most wins in a USAC sprint car season at fourteen and increasing his point lead back to 84 points with two races remaining at Red Dirt Raceway. Seavey still has a chance to establish a new single season win record and also claim his first USAC National sprint car title which would make him an USAC Triple Crown winner. Similar to Bigelow’s 1977 season Seavey went on a dry spell not winning a race in two and one half months.

Moles would cross the line second with Pursley third, Cummins fourth and Chase Stockon rounding out the top five. Brady Bacon finished sixth and earned his second Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster award paying a bonus of $10,000 for being the champ of this 10 race series. Justin Grant came home seventh with Robert Ballou eighth, Rylan Gray ninth and Jadon Rogers tenth after starting twenty first and claiming the hard charger award.

That’s it for this summary and check back next weekend to see where we end up on another typical weekend. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or make a late season road trip but either way, have fun and be safe. News, comments, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you continue to enjoy them as much as we enjoy them to you. In closing remember to be kind to everyone you meet as you never know what they are going through and how much a hello or a smile can change their day.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Danner Takes Advantage of Mole’s Misfortune To Win Staab Memorial

Friday, October 11 – It was time to travel to the southeastern corner of Indiana where the Hoosier state meets with Ohio and Kentucky to attend the two day Hoosier Fall Nationals in the river town of Lawrenceburg. On tap tonight was night one of the two race weekend at The Burg christened as the Inaugural Greg Staab Memorial, in honor of the five time Lawrenceburg track champion who passed away two years ago at the age of 68. The USAC sprint cars would run 30 laps tonight with $6,444 on the line including a neat helmet trophy that rotates with the Staab colors and number on it.

The three division program would consist of USAC sprint cars (30), hornets (17) and pure stocks (13). The sprint car time trials, two at a time, were first on the agenda pushing off at 7:34. By 7:49 Daison Pursley had clocked the fast time around the 3/8 mile banked dirt oval to the tune of a lap of 14.049 seconds. Next up after hot laps for the pure stocks and hornets were the four USAC sprint car heats with the top five moving directly into the 30 lap main event. Heat one saw the 2024 Lawrenceburg Speedway sprint car track champion, Nick Bilbee, capture the race beating Kyle Shipley, Hayden Reinbold, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley. Heat two was won by Kevin Thomas Jr over Shawn Westerfeld in the Staab tribute car, Matt Westfall, Joey Amantea and Logan Seavey. Heat three went to Chase Stockon besting Robert Ballou, Todd Hobson, Brady Bacon and Jadon Rogers. The fourth and final heat was taken down by CJ Leary outdistancing Kyle Cummins, Mitchel Moles, JJ Hughes and Briggs Danner.

The pure stocks and hornets followed with two heat each for their divisions before the sprint cars reappeared for their semi race with the top four joining the previous 20 qualifiers. Kale Drake triumphed in this one over Carson Garrett, Brandon Mattox and Kayla Roell. All qualifying action was in the record books by 9:37.

The next race on the dance card would be the 30 lap, $6444 to win Greg Staab Memorial with the front row of Mitchel Moles and Robert Ballou bringing the 22 others to the initial green flag. Moles was quick on the throttle and surged into the early lead. Moles pulled away to two second lead in the first half of the race with Ballou and Danner in pursuit. At the halfway mark Moles’ race almost turned to disaster as he touched wheels with Todd Hobson, a lap car, in turn two sending Hobson bouncing and interrupting Moles’ momentum for a moment. No caution was needed as the pair went along on their way and the race continued.

Lap 26 would see the first caution of the evening when Kale Drake, running 11th at the time, looped it in turn four wiping out Mitchel’s second and a half advantage. There would be no lap traffic as a hinderance for the remaining four laps as the race went green once again. Under caution it was noticed that Moles’ right rear brake rotor was red hot. On the restart Moles raced out front with Ballou edging to the inside in turns one and two but Moles’ momentum on the high side allowed him to clear Ballou racing down the backstretch. With three laps to go Danner was able to make a pass on Ballou for second in turn three and was ready to challenge Moles for the top spot. On the white flag lap Kyle Shipley entered turn one, caught a hole and bounced nearly turning over coming to a halt with Drake with nowhere to go slid into the side of Shipley.

Under the caution Moles pulled down onto the push off area on the homestretch with a throttle issue and was pushed to the pit area out of the race. This would give Danner the lead with Ballou and Bacon on his rear nerf bar. It would be a green, white, checker scenario with Danner the leader. Briggs was able to power to the lead followed closely by Ballou. Danner was able to hold sway over the final two laps and crossed under the double checkers first for the third time this year winning over Ballou, Bacon, Pursley and Thomas Jr. It was redemption for Danner would had let several races slip away near the end during the year including a mid-summer run here at Lawrenceburg as engine woes sent him to the infield while leading. Danner also ran out of fuel, exiting turn four on the last lap during Eastern Storm while leading along with smacking the wall while leading with eight to go at Port Royal. He was also nipped at the line at Action Track USA by Logan Seavey in that week. So it was nice to see the Pennsylvania youngster finally come out on the good end of the stick and be the benefactor in this one. In another note Danner become the first native Pennsylvania driver to win three or more USAC National sprint car races in a season since the great Mitch Smith pulled off the feat way back in 1971.

Leading the second five across the line was Chase Stockon in sixth with CJ Leary seventh, Justin Grant 13th to 8th, Kyle Cummins, the hard charger after starting 16th and finishing 9th with Logan Seavey sliding from 5th to 10th at the finish. Now with three races to go in the season Seavey’s point lead has now dwindled to a mere 65 points over Brady Bacon looking for his fifth point title. The next three races will tell the tale.

That is it for this column put check back Sunday for night two of the Hoosier Fall Nationals paying a cool $20,000 to win. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road as winter approaches. Either way, have fun and be safe. Comments, words of wisdom, rumors or facts can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts. In closing be kind to everyone you meet and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Scores First Silver Crown Win Of Year In Sumar Classic

Sunday, October 6 – It was day three of the three race weekend and the destination was the legendary Terre Haute Action Track to watch the legendary USAC Silver Crown cars. It was a bright, sunny day in the 80’s and was an excellent day to watch racing in October. First though was lunch at Piloni’s Italian Restaurant in North Terre Haute where we were joined by Arizona friends Steve and Maggi Kimmel for some wonderful Italian dishes and good conversation. Highly recommend this place if you are in the Terre Haute area. Then it was back to the Vigo County Fairgrounds via the back streets where I purchased gas for $2.99 a gallon before settling in to watch game 2 of the NLDS between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets on the Kimmel’s big screen TV on the outside of their motorhome. The Phillies were trailing when we left to go over to the covered grandstands to settle in to watch the races. I followed it on my phone and the back and forth tussle was decided by a Nick Castellanos walk off single in bottom of the ninth to secure a 7-6 win and evening the series at one game each. Whew, what a classic!!

Now onto the races at hand. Time trials for the 29 car Silver Crown field pushed off at 6:16 with two at a time runs around the big half mile. When it was said and done by 6:46 Brady Bacon had set the fast time of 21.414 seconds with the Chris Dyson #9 to win the first starting position for the 20th Annual Sumar Classic. The top sixteen locked into the 100 lap main event with Allentown Pa’s Briggs Danner in the DMW #10 the last man in on time. The second class on the menu were the UMP modifieds which would run two heats for their 16 car field. After those heats were completed, it was back to Silver Crown action as the remaining 11 cars vied for the final 8 spots to start the Sumar Classic. Matt Goodnight would cop the 12 lap affair in the Haggenbottom #24 besting Jimmy Light, Mark Smith, Carmen Perigo, Kevin Newton making his first Silver Crown start, Nathan Moore, Chris Fetter and Gregg Cory. The oldest man in the field, Dave Peperak at age 71, came up one spot short of starting the 100 lap main. CJ Leary who had engine woes earlier in the evening was able to fix the problems and would start shot gun in 25th on the starting grid.

The 15 lap UMP modified feature was next on the slate and it turned out to be one of the most competitive modified races we have seen at Terre Haute. Justin Jones and Scott Martin ran side by side for much of the race swapping the lead several times in the process. In the end Jones prevailed besting Martin and Everett Bradham for the win.

The track was dusty on this evening and some additional track prep was performed before the 100 lap Sumar Classic and we believe it helped to make for a better track for the feature. Yes, it was still dusty but the track built up a new cushion and was racier. In fact, the Silver Crown cars ran the cushion like the USAC sprint cars do making for an entertaining main event.

Brady Bacon and Daison Pursley brought the 25 car field down to Tom Hansing’s green flag at 8:51 with Bacon assuming the early lead. It looked like in the first 25 laps that Bacon was going to decimate the field like he did at Belleville before dropping out as he pulled away from the field. Then suddenly the pack began to close the margin as Pursley and seventh starting Logan Seavey were closing quickly. Pursley and Seavey continued to reel in the leader, Bacon, as the race ventured into the 30 lap range. As the fuel tanks went down it seemed that Bacon was dealing with a loose setup as second and third continued to close. On lap 40 Seavey used a slide job in turn one to polish off Pursley by turn two and took up the chase of Bacon. Lap 41 saw Moles use a slider to take away third from Pursley in turns three and four as he made a charge to the front. There was good racing going on for the top ten positions as well as from eleventh through fifteenth.

Just after the race passed the halfway mark Seavey was stalking Bacon and going into turn one on lap 55, he made his challenge for the lead with a slider just past the nose of Bacon in turn two to secure the lead as Bacon braked to avoid contact. This allowed Moles to get a good run going down the backstretch on Bacon sliding by in turn three to take over second. By the 60 lap mark Seavey had opened a two second lead over Moles with Pursley and Justin Grant closing on Bacon. On lap 64 both drivers stormed past Bacon and dropped him to fifth at this point The top five ran that way until lap 86 when Moles slowed on the frontstretch while running second, a victim of a blown power plant. Another driver making some big moves was CJ Leary who started 25th on a provisional and had moved into the top eight at this point battling with Matt Westfall and Briggs Danner, who was also running a steady race. Seavey by this point with Moles out was now five seconds ahead and appeared headed to an easy win. But that changed on lap 91 when 13th place runner, Carmen Perigo, got sideways in the middle of the field bringing out the caution and tightening up the field wiping out Seavey’s big lead.

Seavey pulled away on the ensuing restart to a comfortable advantage until 10th running Shane Cottle in the Bill Rose owned #66 tagged the turn one wall ending a fine run prematurely. On the lap 98 restart Seavey was prepared for all comers getting a good restart to thwart any turn one sliders. Over the final two laps Seavey pulled away to a second lead and crossed the line first at 9:45 for his first Silver Crown triumph of the season and ninth of his career tying him with Tracy Hines for 14th on the all-time Silver Crown win list. Seavey has now also won at least one Silver Crown race in four straight years. Daison Pursley crossed the line second and we are really going to miss him in USAC racing as he ventured into the winged sprint world as a member of the High Limit group. Pursley has come a long way in the last few years making a miraculous recovery from a vicious midget crash in Arizona with many thinking he would never walk again. Daison has turned into a real wheelman and we wish him all the best going forward in his career. Justin Grant came home third and fell short of making it three straight Sumar Classic wins. Chase Stockon came across the line fourth and was the hard charger after starting twelfth. Brady Bacon rounded out the top five after leading the first fifty-four laps of the event. CJ Leary capped off a good run from 25th to 6th with Briggs Danner 7th, Matt Westfall 8th, Jerry Coons Jr ninth in the last run for the Patty Bateman #55 who is calling it a career after running the team a few years after her husband’s death with Kody Swanson rounding out the top five.

It was an entertaining contest with lots of good, tight racing and lots of passing throughout the race. Kody Swanson heads into the last Silver Crown race of the year in two weeks at Indianapolis Raceway Park with a mere six point advantage over Justin Grant who is trying to knock him off the throne. We will see on October 19th.
That’s it for a fun filled, three race weekend as we look forward to next weekend and what lays in front of us. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, be safe and have fun. Comments, news, tidbits and any other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next in one of our typical weekends. In closing be kind to everyone you encounter and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Ballou Bags $8000 With Harvest Cup Win At Tri-State

Saturday, October 5 – We made the long haul to southwestern Indiana today for the final race of the season at the finely prepared ¼ mile bullring at the Tri-State Speedway for the Harvest Cup race. On the way down we stopped in at the Gasthof Amish Village in Montgomery to feast on the wonderful buffet at their restaurant there. As usual the food was delicious with good roast beef, meat loaf, chicken pot pie and egg noodles along with so many other things to feast on. After having a hearty meal, we headed south on I-69 near the town of Haubstadt where the Tri-State Speedway is located. We secured a good parking place on the backstretch side of the grandstands, marked our seats and notified Arizona friends, Steve and Maggi Kimmel where the seats were located. After exiting the stands, we chatted with Kevin and Whitney Thomas briefly along with Jadon Roger’s grandparents who anchor his souvenir trailer. Then we walked around turns three and four down to the pit booth in sign in for the evening. We ran into Don and Burleigh Skidmore, our friends from Illinois who we filled in on our Newfoundland vacation before walking back over to the backstretch to gather up our stuff before heading into the grandstands for hot laps.

IMCA Racesaver 305 sprints. Each division would run timed hot laps to determine heat starting positions with the top four inverted. Both classes would run four heat races with the top four advancing to their respective feature events.

After hot laps the track crew went to work on sections of unruly dirt in the corners even though extensive work by the track crew had been done beforehand. But when it is off it is best to rectify it as soon as possible. By 7:02 the green flag would drop on the first of four Midwest Thunder heats. Kevin Thomas Jr would post himself as one of the favorites for the 30 lapper later powering away to take the win over JJ Hughes, Adyn Schmidt and CJ Leary. Heat two would fall to Kale Drake looking good in the Scott Benic #2B besting Jadon Rogers, the Midwest Thunder series point leader, Kobe Simpson and Kayla Roell. Home track favorite, Kyle Cummins, nailed down heat three beating Brady Short, Dustin Beck and Aric Gentry. Heat four was captured by Robert Ballou over the returning Jason McDougal, Chase Stockon and Carson Short. Their four heats were spun off in 26 minutes.

Next up were the IMCA Racesaver 305 sprints with Justin Matthews drawing first blood taking down heat one over Jordan Welch, Carson Dillion and Levi Hinck in from Missouri. Heat two went to Greg Dillion topping Rod Henning, Jonathan Vennard and Jeff Wimmenauer. Ethan Barrow was the winner of heat three beating Dakota Jackson, a former wingless runner, Tres Mehler and Bradley Galedrige. John Paynter was the man in heat four capturing the win over Dillan Baldwin, Keith Langley and Bradley Sterrett making it a Bloomington three, four finish.

Then it was back to the wingless sprints and their B main with four joining the tail of the lineup for their 30 lap feature. Sam Scott topped this affair outrunning Kendall Ruble, Travis Berryhill, second in Midwest Thunder points and Carson Garrett. Donny Brackett would miss by one spot and would use a provisional to make it a 21 car starting field. The 305 sprints would go12 laps to determine their final four starters with Cole Parker pulling off the win over Jadon Rogers, doing double duty, Eric Perrott and Kayla Martin. All preliminary qualifying was completed by 8:39 with some additional track prep next on the agenda before the two main events hit the track.

By 9:11 it was time to go Harvest Cup racing with $8000 on the line with the front row of Brady Short and Jadon Rogers bringing the 21 car field to the green flag. Short jumped to the early lead over Rogers and fourth starting Robert Ballou. By lap three Ballou found his way around Rogers into second on the homestretch and took up the chase of Short. Ballou was a man on a mission powering by Short for the lead on the outside of turn four on lap four. Fifth starting Kyle Cummins was also making his hunt to the front dusting off Short for second on the backstretch on lap six. Lap traffic started to become a factor by lap twelve with Ballou picking his way through with Cummins in hot pursuit. Jason McDougal was up to third from eighth and didn’t look like he had only driven a wingless sprint only once or twice this year. Another man making his presence known was seventh starter, Kevin Thomas Jr, cracking the top five by lap fourteen. Two laps later Thomas had third from Rogers and on lap nineteen he passed McDougal in turn two to take over third as Ballou and Cummins weaved their way through lap traffic up front.

The caution would wave for the first time on lap twenty five when Kale Drake spoiled another fine drive by looping his car between turns one and two while running fifth. Drake would restart at the tail and end up tenth in the end. Ballou was the only one who did not want to see a caution at this point as it seemed he had a good handle on the field. On the ensuing restart Ballou was hard on the loud pedal as the green reappeared. Carson Short, who many had missed previously, grabbed fifth in turn three on lap twenty sixth after marching from sixteenth to crack the top five.

Cummins and Thomas battled it out for second as Ballou pulled away over the final five laps and cruised under the double checkers at 9:21 taking down the win and the big bucks that went along with it. Cummins would come home second with Thomas third, McDougal fourth and Carson Short rounding out the top five. Positions six through ten at the finish were filled by Jadon Rogers with Brady Short seventh, CJ Leary eighth after starting thirteenth, Dustin Beck ninth and Kale Drake rebounding for tenth. It was a good race to watch with much going on throughout the field and a great way to end the season at The Class Track.

But we were not done as the IMCA Racesaver 305 sprints had 25 laps of their own to spin off before the racing at Tri-State was in the record books for 2024.

Kentucky’s Dillan Baldwin was quick on the throttle on the start and sped into the early lead with Dakota Jackson in hot pursuit. These two were off to the races opening up a good lead on the rest of the pack. Tres Mehler, who started eleventh, was the first to break out of the pack and worked his way into third. Only two cautions slowed this event as the 305’s put on a good show. Baldwin was not to be beat tonight as he flashed across the line at 9:58 to bring down the curtain on the 2024 season at Tri-State. Jackson would follow in second with Mehler third, Rod Henning fourth and Ethan Barrow rounding out the top five.

We thought the 305’s ran well tonight and hope that they will get more dates here in 2025. Thanks to the Helfrich’s for their hospitality and thanks to the track crew for never giving in on this evening and getting the track almost perfect at the end. Good job!!

That’s it for tonight but check back Monday as we travel north to the Terre Haute Action Track on Sunday where the USAC Silver Crown cars will take on the big half mile in the Sumar Classic for 100 laps of racing. Until next time, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun and be safe. Comments, new ideas, news or any other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the emails and in person compliments, we receive. Please take a few minutes today to pray for all the people in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virgina who were devastated by the remnants of the hurricane. If you can please send some money to any of the relief groups who are on the ground helping their fellow Americans who are in dire need. Thanks!!! And in closing be kind to everyone you meet and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Lewis Wins On Last Lap At Circle City

Friday, October 4 – Well, it’s been a while since our last column but we are now back from our Newfoundland vacation and back on the race circuit. It was a tough decision today as Xtreme Outlaw Midgets were running at Jacksonville Speedway tonight but instead we opted for the BOSS/Midwest Thunder co-sanctioned race at Circle City Raceway. We expected a good car count for this event and we were not disappointed when 42 sprinters showed up to do battle on the evening.

The only two problems with Circle City are that they start too late, scheduled for 8 PM and taking the first green flag at 8:28, and the second being they run too many divisions, tonight six of them, which drags the show out past midnight. We don’t understand why with so many houses surrounding the fairgrounds why they are not better neighbors and try to complete their shows earlier. Here is a breakdown of the divisions and car counts for each. BOSS/Midwest Thunder sprints (42), Crown Vics (25), hornets (15), super stocks (13), pure stocks (12) and crate late models (11). With that many classes and heat races to run you would think they would start at their scheduled starting time but instead started close to a half hour late. We will say that once they get underway, they move the program along in a quick manner having the next heat ready to roll onto the track as soon as the last one ends. In fact, 15 heat races for the six divisions were completed in an hour and seven minutes.

The sprint cars were the first division to hit the track for their four heat races taking the first green flag at 8:28. The heat racing was good with Ricky Lewis grabbing heat one over Jake Swanson, Chance Crum and Travis Berryhill all advancing to the 25 lap feature later in the evening. Heat two saw JJ Hughes triumph besting Joey Amantea, Chase Stockon in the Moose #92 and Matt Westfall. The third heat was taken down by Shane Cottle wheeling the #57R beating Donny Brackett, Koby Simpson and Jesse Vermillion. The fourth and final heat was captured by Robert Ballou in a runaway over Kale Drake, Trey Osborne and Jadon Rogers. All sprint heat racing was completed by 8:49.

The other five divisions ran their heat races with everyone having two each except for the Crown Vics who ran three heats and were the best heat racing of the evening. Then it was back to the sprint cars who contested two B mains with only the top two advancing to the main event. Zack Pretorius claimed B main one over Arizona pilot, Cameron LaRose in a Jerry Petty owned #13P. Harley Burns prevailed in B main two outdistancing Austin Nigh. Now the 20 car field was set by 10:07 with two provisionals added with Korbyn Hayslett representing BOSS and Aric Gentry representing the Midwest Thunder series.

Thirty minutes of track work followed before the 25 lap sprint car feature rolled onto the track for the first feature of the evening. The front row of Joey Amantea and Jake Swanson brought the 22 car field to the green flag at 10:46 with Swanson grabbing the early lead. It didn’t take Robert Ballou long to find the top spot using the inside groove to overtake Swanson in turn three on lap one. Another driver on a mission was Kale Drake wheeling the Benic #2B into third within the first five laps of the tussle from eighth. The first caution appeared on lap five when Aric Gentry lost the handle in turn four. The red flag would wave on lap six when fourth running Shane Cottle met his nemesis, the turn four inside tractor tires ramping over one of them and rolling over two times while battling for third. Cottle was OK but done for the evening. On the restart Ballou went to the point chased by Swanson and Drake. One lap later sixth starting Ricky Lewis, the current BOSS point leader, slipped by Drake to take over third on the homestretch. Lap nine saw Drake’s strong run come to an end when he came up lame in turn four rolling to a stop ending his night prematurely.

On the next restart Swanson was all over Ballou as Swanson worked the high side while Ballou kept his run on the inside. The outside groove prevailed at the start/finish line to start lap eleven when Swanson motored by Ballou to take the lead. Swanson opened up a several car length lead through the middle stages of the event until the caution waved on lap sixteen for a three car tangle involving Harley Burns, Austin Nigh and Koby Simpson. On the restart Swanson held sway over Ballou and Lewis. Lewis was all over Ballou over the next several laps looking for a way around the Mad Man. Contact on the backstretch (reported by Lewis) forced him into the backstretch wall which resulted in a short slider by Lewis on Ballou in turn four with contact made resulting in a spin by Ballou. Front end damage found Ballou on the wrecker and done for the night.

Over the last five laps of the race, it was a slide fest with Lewis providing the sliders and Swanson countering his every attempt until the final lap when Swanson tried to block Lewis’ advances resulting in Swanson jumping the cushion in turn two with Lewis scooting by for the lead. Swanson tried to track down Lewis in the last two corners but had given up too much ground in turn two with Lewis crossing the line first at 11:18 to snatch the win with Swanson settling for second. Joey Amantea ran a strong race to finish third with Trey Osborne running a heady race to advance from twelfth to fourth with Jadon Rogers coming from sixteenth to fifth at the finish. Matt Westfall would use the low side to move from fourteenth to sixth at the end with Korbyn Hayslett salvaging his night racing from twenty first to seventh. Jesse Vermillion went fifteenth to eighth with Zack Pretorius eighteenth to ninth and Cameron LaRose nineteenth to tenth.

It was a good feature being very entertaining but it was time to call it a night as the close to three hour drive to southwestern Indiana tomorrow lay on the horizon. We followed the progress of the show on the way home on My Race Pass and saw that four of the six features were over by midnight. That’s too long of a program in our opinion.

Check back tomorrow as we venture down to the finely prepared Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt for their final race of 2024, the Harvest Cup paying a cool $8000 to win as part of a rare Indiana October three race weekend. In the meantime, get out there and catch some good short track racing in your area, have fun and be safe. The season is winding down and soon winter will be upon us. News, comments, rumors and facts along with anything other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. As always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy our writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing be kind and be good.

Grant Wins Finale Night At Smackdown For The Fourth Time

Saturday, August 24 – After having nice, comfortable weather the last two weeks, the hot weather is back!! It was hot and sticky with temperatures in the low 90’s on a sunny Saturday. After ten of us ate lunch at Half Moon we worked our way over to Kokomo to take in the finale night of Smackdown XIII at the ¼ mile dirt oval on the north side of Kokomo. There was $30,000 on the line tonight for the winner of the 40 lap main event plus lap money of $500 per lap to the race leader. After walking the pit area with Bill and Pat chatting with numerous drivers and crew members I had to retreat to the SUV and some air conditioning as the weather kicked the snot out of me. After some time in the cool and some cold drinks I was ready again to venture inside for the final night of Smackdown competition.

Forty one sprinters returned for the last race of Smackdown with the format different than the previous two nights. First off, no time trials would be run but instead the top eight in points over the first two nights were locked into the 40 lap feature event with them squaring off in the King of the Hill competition. They would be paired with the eighth point man squaring off with the top point man, two versus seven, three versus six and four versus five. The excitement started early as the eighth seed, Mitchel Moles, shocked the first seed, Justin Grant, by beating him in race #1. CJ Leary (5th seed) surprised Brady Bacon (4th seed) in race #2. The upsets continued as Robert Ballou (6th seed) upset Logan Seavey (3rd seed) as the crowd response got louder and louder as these two swapped sliders on each other over the three lap distance like lovers exchanging kisses but there was no love lost here!! Finally, normalcy returned for a short time when Kevin Thomas Jr (2nd seed) defeated Daison Pursley (7th seed). It didn’t last long as Moles swept around Leary off turn four on the final lap to steal the win and move to the final against Thomas who defeated Ballou in their matchup. So, it was Thomas and Moles in the King of the Hill finale. After two false starts by KTJ it was a single file restart nose to tail with Moles out front. That was the way it stayed with Moles becoming King of the Hill after being the lowest seed of the evening.

The remainder of the starting field (24) would be determined by four qualifying heat races with the top three moving into the big stakes feature event. Briggs Danner, the young, impressive talent from Pennsylvania, earned the ninth slot for the 40 lap feature by sweeping heat one over Stevie Sussex and Brandon Mattox. Heat two saw Shane Cottle grab the tenth starting position by besting Ricky Lewis and Max Adams. Rookie Kale Drake would nail down the eleventh starting position by capturing heat three beating Jake Swanson and Trey Osborne, who impressed all three nights qualifying for the feature events in his under financed sprinter. Heat four and the twelfth starting position went to Kyle Cummins triumphing over Carson Garrett and Jack Hoyer who also qualified for all three feature events for the first time.

Next up on the dance card was the C main with the top four joining the back of the field in the B main. Hunter Maddox claimed the win in this one outdistancing David Gasper in the Burton #04, Indiana’s Cody Williams (in his first 2024 Smackdown appearance) and Max Frank from Michigan. The B main would follow with Brayden Clark qualifying for his first Smackdown finale beating Chase Stockon, Jadon Rogers with another late rally and Matt Westfall the last man in.

Management decided to try something different allowing race fans from both the backstretch and frontstretch grandstand areas to proceed to the infield where they formed a reception line to greet the 24 starters in tonight’s Smackdown XIII finale. It worked much better than most of us felt, taking about 15 minutes from start to finish. Now it was time for the Smackdown XIII Finale with thirty grand on the table for the winner.

The 24 car field rumbled to USAC starter, Tom Hansing’s green flag at 9:34 with Kevin Thomas Jr scurrying into the early lead. Thomas was flying and would pace the field for the first 17 laps until a rock punctured his radiator and steam emitted from his sprinter as he pulled to the infield out of the race after an impressive run looking for his second Smackdown finale victory. The epitome of the agony of defeat. Thomas would still go home with $10,000 ($1500 purse money & $8500 for leading 17 laps) but not the cherished victory.

On the ensuing restart on lap eighteen Mitchel Moles was the new leader and looked to top off his crown with an accompanying championship belt but Justin Grant was now lurking in second. Grant who had dropped back early from fifth to seventh had rebounded and was now ready to pounce. Moles paced the field entering lap traffic on lap twenty five with Grant now closing to his tail tank. Grant stuck his nose down low several times but Moles was able to retain the lead. Turn one on lap thirty was Grant’s opportunity as the bottom groove opened up entering turn one and Grant stuck it down there and motored by Moles to take the lead for the first time tonight.

The complexion of the race almost drastically was altered as the non-stop race up to this point came to a halt as Ricky Lewis tagged the turn two wall climbing it and rolling over right in front of Grant. The leader was able to avoid the rolling Lewis but Lewis was done for the evening.

On the restart Grant was quick on the throttle and moved back out front. Over the final seven laps Grant extended his lead to almost two seconds crossing the line at 9:51 for his fourth Smackdown victory in the thirteen year history and also winning back to back titles. With his 11th USAC sprint car win here he would take home $35,000 ($30,000 to win plus $5000 for leading ten laps). It was also his eighth USAC National win of 2024 and his 53rd career USAC National win moving him into sole possession of third place on the all-time list ahead of Tom Bigelow. Moles would cross the line for a disappointing second for him as he so wanted to end this magical day for him on a good note with Robert Ballou recording his third straight Smackdown top five placing third. CJ Leary and Logan Seavey would close out the top five on the evening.

Brady Bacon would ride home sixth with Kyle Cummins seventh, Daison Pursley eighth, Shane Cottle ninth and Smackdown rookie of the year, Kale Drake in tenth. Matt Westfall would receive $200 for the hard charger award starting 24th and finishing 15th and a new right rear Hoosier tire for being the last qualifier from the semi.

It was a good race that spun off in 17 minutes and ended up before 10 PM making it a timely program to boot.

That’s it for now as Smackdown XIII is in the record books and we look forward to next year for good racing and good fellowship. Until next time, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, be safe, stay hydrated and have fun. News, comments, items of interest and anything else pertinent can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you continue to enjoy our writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Thomas Jr Flag To Flag To Win Night Two Of Smackdown XIII At Kokomo

Friday, August 23 – Before the race took place tonight our gang descended upon The Foxes Trail in downtown Kokomo to feast on some good food and good conversation. Irvin and Mary Jane King, Steve and Maggi Kimmell, Ken Wagner, Bill and Judy Burns and us had a great time together swapping stories and chowing down on delicious food before heading to the north side of Kokomo to watch Smackdown XIII, night two.

Bill and I walked the pits chatting with several drivers and pit crew members before returning to the grandstands to settle in for tonight’s racing action. By 7:33 it was time to kick off the time trial qualifying portion with the first of 49 entries tonight taking Tom Hansing’s green flag tripping the timing clock and eventually determining who would be fast timer on the evening. By 8:03 Mitchel Moles driving one of two Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ’s laid claim to the honors clicking off a time of 12.626 seconds around the ¼ mile dirt oval groomed by Reece O’Connor.

The first of five heats would take the green flag at 8:19 with ten drivers battling for the top four positions to move forward to the 30 lap feature event. Trey Osborne, the six foot eight inch driver or “Tall” as he is known continues to impress the crowd on hand with his good runs at Kokomo during Smackdown. Osborne powered to the win in heat one over Mitchel Moles, Harley Burns and Anton Hernandez. Heat two would fall to the Pennsylvania hot shoe, Briggs Danner, who would outdistance Daison Pursley, Logan Seavey and Jack Hoyer. Heat three was taken by Brady Bacon after some time trial engine woes besting a late race charging Robert Ballou, Todd Hobson, the Australian entrant, and Max Adams. Justin Grant continues to run strong winning heat four over Hayden Reinbold, Jake Swanson and Kale Drake. CJ Leary motored to the win in heat five beating Shane Cottle, Kevin Thomas Jr and Kyle Cummins. That would give us twenty drivers locked into tonight’s A main with the C main and B mains next on the program. All heat racing was completed by 8:51 as no one wrecked or flipped during the preliminaries.

Brayden Clark, a second generation driver, would claim the C main and move forward to the B main after turning back Kobe Simpson, Matt Goodnight and Weston Gorham making a last lap pass of Michigan driver, Max Frank, sending him to the trailer earlier than he wanted to.

The final four qualifiers would advance from the B main with Brandon Mattox leading the charge over Stevie Sussex, Frankie Guerrini and Jadon Rogers. Rogers made some last lap moves to edge Kyle Shipley and others to be the last man in.

That left us with only the 30 lap feature to contest on night two of Smackdown XIII. The front row of Anton Hernandez and Kevin Thomas Jr brought the 24 car field to Hansing’s green flag with the front row racing side by side for the entire first lap until Thomas edged Hernandez at the start/finish line to officially lead lap one. Justin Grant slipped by Hernandez for second in turn three on lap two and took up the chase of Thomas. Lap three saw fifth running Mitchel Moles tag the rear bumper of fourth running Robert Ballou sending Ballou spinning and collecting tenth starting Daison Pursley in the process. Ballou and Pursley went to the work area and both returned to action with Ballou pulling alongside Moles before the restart displaying his displeasure with his fellow Californian driver.

On the restart Thomas went to the point with Grant and Hernandez next in line. Moles was the next to slip by Hernandez with a low side move into turn one to grab third on lap five. Lap eleven saw Hernandez and Briggs Danner tangling in turn four dicing it out for fifth with both spinning. Kyle Cummins with nowhere to go slid into the side of Danner’s car sending both drivers rolling over in the accident. Danner was done for the evening while Cummins and Hernandez were able to restart at the tail of the field.

On the restart Thomas jumped out front again but Moles was quick on the throttle gliding by Grant for second entering turn three to move to second. Thomas continued to maintain a one second lead as the race past the halfway mark and lap traffic began to be a factor. Moles was able to close some as Thomas picked his way through and on lap twenty Thomas made a nifty move between Hayden Reinbold and Jack Hoyer in turn one to get some breathing room as Moles had drawn closer. Suddenly Harley Burns flipped hard in turn four while running a good race in tenth at the time to bring out a quick red.

On the ensuing restart Thomas was quick on the loud pedal using the low side to pull away from Moles. Over the remaining ten laps Thomas would maintain his one second lead and flashed across the line at 10:30 scoring his third Friday night win in four years at Smackdown and fifth overall over the thirteen year history of this event. It was also his sixth career USAC win at Kokomo and 43rd career USAC National sprint car win moving him by Pancho Carter into eighth on the all-time win list. Moles would cross the line second after starting sixth with Grant third, Brady Bacon fourth after starting thirteenth and CJ Leary fifth after starting ninth.

Logan Seavey would finish sixth with Shane Cottle finishing seventh after starting sixteenth with Ballou rebounding from the tail to take eighth with Jadon Rogers claiming the hard charger award after starting twenty four and finishing ninth with Max Adams rounding out the top ten.

It was another good show wrapping up in a timely fashion with some good dicing throughout the field tonight. After the first two nights of racing the top eight are locked into the big finale Saturday with Justin Grant the top point getter followed by Kevin Thomas Jr, Logan Seavey, Brady Bacon, CJ Leary, Robert Ballou, Daison Pursley and Mitchel Moles the last man locking in.

That’s it for this report and check back tomorrow to see who takes home the big bucks on the line for the finale of Smackdown XIII. Until then, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun and be safe. Comments, news, words of wisdom and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you continue to enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Remember be good, be kind and stay hydrated.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Sweeps To Fourth Consecutive Opening Night Win At Smackdown XIII

Thursday, August 22 – It was a good day to go racing with temperatures in the 70’s and low humidity as we worked our way northeast toward Kokomo Speedway, the home of Smackdown XIII, one of the richest races in non-wing sprint car racing. Upon arriving we met Bill and Judy Burns from Pennsylvania who had saved us a parking spot. We loaded into Bill’s vehicle and headed over to the Windmill restaurant for a fine meal before returning to the track with Judy going back to the hotel while we got our three day wristbands. We ventured into the homestretch grandstand area, secured our blanket on our reserved seats for the three days and ran into Ohio trackchaser, Benny Trask, who sat with us for the evening. Bill and I strolled the pit area checking out the 50 sprinters entered for tonight’s racing action which was a record number of entries for a Smackdown event.

The first order of business after hot laps were time trials for the 50 sprint cars on hand with the first sprinter taking the green flag from Tom Hansing at 7:15. By 7:47 the field had all qualified and Kevin Thomas Jr in the Rock Steady #3R had set fast time for the 40th time in his USAC career moving him into sixth place on the all-time list passing Levi Jones with a time of 12.782 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring here at Kokomo.

The solo division program was a welcome relief from some of the five, six and seven division marathons we have witnessed lately. Five heat races would be contested with the top four moving directly to the 30 lap main event later in the evening. Harley Burns surprised the entrants in heat one with a wire to wire victory outpacing Carson Garrett, Jake Swanson in the Tom Eades #47 and Kobe Simpson, the young Texan driver. Fast timer, Kevin Thomas Jr, and Briggs Danner were shut out of the top four and was forced to run the semi-main event. Stevie Sussex, back from his frightening crash at Lincoln Park during ISW swept to the win in heat two in the Sturgeon #77S as another surprise winner besting Shane Cottle, Daison Pursley and Brady Bacon in a last corner pass of Chase Stockon to nail down the last qualifying spot relegating Stockon to the semi. Joey Amantea took a wild flip in turn three during this heat after biking his sprinter on the cushion. Hunter Maddox also turned turtle in turn two in this one. The surprises continued as Anton Hernandez placed the Baldwin/Fox #5 at the head of the field going on to win heat three over Mitchel Moles, Kale Drake and Max Adams sending Robert Ballou to the semi along with Trey Osborne. Heat four saw normalcy return as Justin Grant made a strong run to the front to capture this one over Kyle Cummins, Ricky Lewis and Logan Seavey in a packed heat. Jadon Rogers nailed down heat five in the Amati/Wade #66 beating CJ Leary, Jack Hoyer in the Paul Hazen #57 qualifying for his first Smackdown A main and Brandon Mattox turning back a swarm of drivers for the final qualifying position.

The C main was next on the agenda with the top four finishers joining the rear of the B main. Kyle Shipley scored the win over Brayden Clark, Nate Schank and David Gasper. In a weird scenario in the C main Aaron Davis who missed by one flipped on the backstretch after the event was over. That led us next to the B main where the top four would move into the A main. Kevin Thomas Jr would secure a spot in the A by capturing the B over Briggs Danner, Robert Ballou and Trey Osborne who made a spirited charge to claim the last dance card into the feature event.

Now it was time for the 30 lap opening night Smackdown XIII feature with Hunter Maddox joining the field as a provisional to make it a 25 car starting field. The front row of CJ Leary and Logan Seavey brought the field to Tom Hansing’s green flag at 9:57 with Seavey the early leader but the red flag waved quickly as third starting Mitchel Moles biked in turn three flipping several times right into the path of sixth starting Brady Bacon who would restart but was forced to be so at the back of the field. Moles was finished for the evening. Seavey went to the point on the restart and quickly pulled away to a comfortable lead over Leary and the rest of the field. Seavey looked real strong leading the field past the halfway mark and many people were starting to think that history was going to be seen tonight as Seavey was gunning for his 14th win of the year. Daison Pursley, Leary and Kyle Cummins were having a good race for second with seventh starting Justin Grant also in the thick of the battle. Meanwhile, 12th starting Thomas and 14th starting Danner were coming forward in a hurry with Danner working the bottom like Shane Cottle usually does.

Grant first picked off Cummins for fourth when Pursley for third and pulled to Leary’s rear nerf bar by lap seventeen also using the low groove. One lap later Grant dove under Leary exiting turn four to grab second and took up the chase of Seavey still out front. The race’s turning point occurred on lap nineteen when Bacon and Rogers tangled in turn one racing for 11th with Rogers spinning collecting five other cars with Bacon driving away. On the restart Seavey was the leader but Grant was right on his tail tank looking for a way around. Lap twenty saw Grant dive low off turn four sliding by Seavey into the lead with ten to go. Surprisingly Grant was able to motor away by several car lengths as the race wound down. Seavey and Leary began to back peddle at this point with Pursley and Danner making the most moves forward. Cummins running seventh ruined a good finish looping his sprinter in turn four on lap twenty one.

On the restart Grant was in command with Seavey, Pursley and Danner following. Lap twenty three saw Pursley drive by Seavey in turns one and two for second and tried to reel in Grant. Danner was not done yet as he used the inside groove to perfection once again entering turn one with three to go dropping Seavey back to fourth. The double checkers would wave at 10:24 with Grant streaking beneath them to claim his fourth consecutive Smackdown opening night win over Pursley with Danner in a fine 14th to 3rd run with Seavey fourth and Robert Ballou slipping by Leary late to grab fifth after starting 13th. In addition, for Grant it was his tenth Kokomo USAC win passing the legendary Dave Darland for most USAC career wins at Kokomo. Grant’s 52nd career USAC National sprint car win ties him for third on the all-time list tying him with Tom Bigelow. Some impressive company for Grant to join!!

Leary led the second five across the line in sixth with Thomas seventh, Bacon from the rear to finish eighth, Jake Swanson from 19th to ninth and Ricky Lewis, the hard charger, advancing from 24th to 10th at the finish.

It was a good night of racing at the baddest bullring in Indiana with no dust the entire evening as Reece O’Connor and crew worked the track all night long to provide a racing track surface which produced some fine racing. Looking forward to night two tomorrow.

That’s it for this report but check back tomorrow for night two of Smackdown XIII. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road, either way have fun and be safe. Comments, news, stories, words of wisdom or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. As always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy reading these writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Take care and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Wires The Field At Springfield In Bettenhausen 100

Saturday, August 17 – We left the hotel a little after 9 AM to make our way over to Springfield, Illinois, the home of the Illinois State Fair, and the home of the Bettenhausen 100 for the USAC Silver Crown series. It was the 61st time the grand old dames of USAC racing have tackled the one mile dirt oval and we always look forward to coming to Springfield in August. It was a nice, sunny day in the mid 80’s with a nice breeze blowing north to south. We paid our admission and parking fees and walked over to the huge, covered grandstand from our fourth turn parking space to purchase our tickets for the day. We ran into Jenn Kelley and Dan Hetser and struck up a lively conversation finding that their plans including eating their way through the fair after the races!! Hope they enjoyed the cuisine and didn’t get belly aches!! we dined on the delicious pork chop sandwiches located behind the main grandstand run by the port producers of Illinois and they were worth the six dollars and more!!

Time trials for the fine field of 40 entries on hand kicked off one minute early at 11:29 and by 12:22 Justin Grant had set fast time with a lap of 31.641 seconds around the big mile at Springfield. Grant, the 2017 Bettenhausen 100 winner (first Silver Crown win) would pace the 31 car field to the green flag later in the day. Between hot laps and time trials the finicky Grand Old Dames had been whittled down to 35 due to mechanical woes. Next up on the game card was the 12 lap, semi main with the top six joining the locked in 24 from time trials to form the feature field. Shane Cockrum in the Hans Lein #97 and Briggs Danner in the DMW #10 locked up in a crowd pleasing duel for the win with Cockrum getting the eventual win and the 25th starting position for the 100 lap event. Danner came home second with Trey Burke third, Danny Jennings coming on late to grab fourth with Dave Berkheimer fifth and Kenny Schrader nailing down the last qualifying position. Schrader would turn over the McQuinn #14 to Mario Clouser whose Legacy #60 did not take time and he is in the point’s hunt. CJ Leary who had numerous mechanical woes on the day, would take a provisional and start 31st on the grid.

The thirty car field (McQuinn #14 did not start & was pushed to the pits off the grid) would come for the initial green at 2:13 with Justin Grant out dragging Kody Swanson to turn one for the lead with Shane Cottle edging by Swanson for second. The red flag would appear on lap three when Steve Gennetten and Kory Weyant banged wheels in turn three both sliding into the wall with Gennetten rolling over. Both drivers climbed from their machines uninjured but were done for the day. On the restart it was Grant again at the point followed by Cottle and Swanson. By lap ten Grant had increased his lead to ten car lengths over Cottle. Meanwhile, Shane Cockrum was moving up quickly advancing from twenty fifth to fourteenth by lap twelve. Mitchel Moles was another one made up ground moving into tenth on the homestretch on lap fourteen after starting fifteenth. Cockrum picked off two more cars moving to twelfth on lap fourteen just as Chase Stockon slowed in turn four with a shredded right rear tire to bring out the second caution.

On the drop of the green flag Grant powered out front chased by Cottle and Swanson. Lap fifteen saw Briggs Danner move into sixteenth after starting twenty sixth and coming forward in another march from the tail. Daison Pursley was another who was making up large chunks of real estate cracking the top sixteen by lap twenty four after starting twenty ninth. Lap twenty five saw Cockrum pick off two more cars racing down the backstretch to enter the top ten at this point in an amazing drive. Danner meanwhile had advanced to thirteenth by lap twenty seven. Cockrum sped by Matt Westfall for eighth on the homestretch on lap thirty while Danner moved to twelfth on lap thirty one. Danner wasn’t done as he broke into tenth on lap thirty five. The first seven at this point had opened up a good distance on the remainder of the field as the laps clicked off. Lap forty eight saw Cockrum slip by Westfall for seventh as his run continued.

By the halfway mark it is Grant continuing to pace the field with Cottle and Swanson next in line. Mitchel Moles slowed on the backstretch while running eleventh and pulled into the infield done for the day. Two laps later Grant had pulled away to a comfortable ten car length lead and one lap later Pursley moved into twelfth. Cottle’s fine run came to a sudden halt as smoke bellowed from his car on lap sixty one while running second. This allowed Pursley to crack the top ten at this point. By lap sixty six there were six car length gaps between the top three of Grant, Swanson and Logan Seavey.

Lap sixty eight saw a major contender, Shane Cockrum, tremendous run come to a sad ending as the Lein #97 threw a rod in the engine and slowed off turn four pulling to the pit area. On the restart it was Grant in front trailed by Swanson and Seavey with Coons in fourth and Brady Bacon rounding out the top five as the race went green on lap seventy. Lap seventy four saw Kyle Steffens race by Russ Gamester for tenth on the homestretch as the steady runner was turning in another good run. Grant was cruising out front as the laps clicked off with no serious challenge from Swanson. Daison Pursley claimed eighth from Danner on lap eighty six. Danner surged back past Pursley for the spot on the homestretch on lap ninety. Steffens was not done either as he picked off Pursley for ninth on lap ninety four. Steffens gained another spot on lap ninety five as Danner began to slow with fuel issues. Danner continued on the track but slipped out of the top ten over the last five laps to end up a disappointing fourteenth. Chase Stockon clawed his way back from the shredded tire to move into tenth in the last several laps.

When the double checkers waved at 3:29 it was Justin Grant first across the line winning his second career Springfield Silver Crown race and his sixth career USAC Silver Crown victory tying him for 20th on the all-time list. Grant led wire to wire to score this big win turning back Kody Swanson, Logan Seavey, Jerry Coons Jr and Brady Bacon. Carmen Perigo had a fine run to finish sixth with consistent Matt Westfall coming home seventh, Kyle Steffens eighth, Daison Pursley, the hard charger from twenty eighth to ninth and Chase Stockon rounding out the top ten.

It was a good race, maybe not the best we have seen here, but the runs by Cockrum, Danner and Pursley were impressive and kept your interest throughout.

That’s it for this report and check back Friday as we head up to the Kokomo Speedway for three night’s of racing for their big Smackdown show. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road for some racing action. Either way, be safe out there and stay hydrated. Comments, news items, words of wisdom or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Thanks for your continued interest and support and keep checking back to see where we end up next. Take care, be good and be kind,

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Goodno & Jones Score Wins In Night Before The Mile Action At Lincoln

Friday, August 16 – A nice mid-August day with temperatures in the high 80’s and plenty of sunshine greeted us as we arose on this Friday. The game plan was to leave in the afternoon, cross the Illinois state line and gain an hour back on our way to the Lincoln Speedway. On tap tonight at Lincoln was a five division program consisting of MOWA sprints (36), MARA midgets (18), UMP modifieds (20), pro late models (9) and Crown Vics (9) billed as the Night Before The Mile at Springfield tomorrow.

On arriving at the track and securing our seats around 5:30 we noticed a lot of dirt pushed up against the berm between the ¼ mile track and the old horse track that is between the grandstand and the current track. Which leads me to comment on the fine effort from the track crew on this evening and the fine job done by the announcing crew all evening filling the race fan in on the whole story of the day’s happenings. The Lincoln area had received over two inches of rain the night before and the track crew had been diligently working on the track the entire day. The normally prompt starting operation was pushed back 45 minutes to allow the track crew to work the track into running condition. The crew returned several times during the course of the evening making sure the heavy and gnarly track was suitable for all divisions competing on this evening. This is exactly what more tracks should do, keeping the race fans aware of why they are starting late and not having people just sitting there wondering what is going on. A novel idea! A valid explanation can go a long way in keeping fan’s attitudes good and most fans will understand and appreciate a good explanation of what is happening.

Now onto the racing at hand. The MARA midgets would be the first division to run their heats with two for this class. Jace Sparks would capture heat one winning over Alex Midkiff, Luke Wackerlin, Patrick Bruns and Charles Kunz. Heat two was taken by Parker Jones besting Daltyn England, Cale Coons, Tyler Roth and Korey Weyant. Next up would be the Crown Vics for their two heats before the UMP modifieds were trackside for their three heats won by Ray Bollinger, Michael Long and Jared Thomas.

The MOWA sprints were next on the dance card with 36 entrants necessitating four heat races. The MOWA sprints use passing points to determine the top 20 to lock into the main event with the final four coming from a B main. Reed Whitney, a 16 year old driver from Jasper, IN whose father I met the next morning at breakfast, making only his seventh winged start captured the first heat win over Tyler Duff and Steve Short. Heat two went to Knoxville, IA invader, Riley Goodno, besting Zackary Sokol, a New Zealand driver, hopping into the second Neuman entry, taking second with Korey Weyant third. Shelby Bose nailed down heat three beating Darin Naida and Scotty Thiel. The fourth and final heat went to Jake Blackhurst winning over Preston Perlmutter and Joey Moughan. The pro late model division would wrap up heat racing with two heats for their nine car field with all heat racing completed by 9:18.

The first feature event of the evening would follow with the Crown Vics taking to the track. Dakota Damron would triumph in this affair before the sprint car B main would be run. Ryan Bunton would score the win in the B outrunning Joe B. Miller, John Barnard and Jeremy Standridge, the last man in.

The MARA midgets would get first honors at running their 25 lap feature cut to 20 tonight with Alex Midkiff driving for Brad Loyet in his famous #05 leading the race to the halfway mark. Then Parker Jones tracked him down from his sixth starting position and passed him to take the lead. The race up front among the top five was fierce but Jones would prevail at the finish with Midkiff second, Tyler Roth third, Patrick Burns fourth and Korey Weyant driving from tenth to finish fifth. Another good run at Lincoln for the MARA midgets.

Originally the 25 lap MOWA sprint car feature was to be last but with the late start management in another good move decided to give the fans what most of them came to see and give them the choice to stay or leave after this feature. The green flag would drop at 10:16 with Riley Goodno getting the jump on fellow first row starter, Joey Moughan, and into the early lead. With Goodno out front the racing was going on behind him from third to sixth with Scotty Thiel, Jake Blackhurst, Shelby Bosie and Reed Whitney going at it. The race would stay green for the first 17 laps until the first caution appeared. On the restart Goodno assumed command once again but Moughan was not letting him get too far ahead. Sterling Cling, Joel Myers Jr and Darin Naida were making their way forward from eleventh, tenth and ninth respectively cracking the latter part of the top five.

Lap twenty saw the red appear when Tyler Duff jumped the right rear tire of Shelby Bose and flipped wildly to the turn two fence causing the red to appear with Duff able to climb from his wrecked machine and walk away. On the restart Goodno led with Myers slipping by Moughan for second. Blackhurst also moved by Moughan and into third on lap twenty one. Lap twenty three saw Cling and Moughan battling for third on the homestretch tangle with Cling running over the left front of Moughan knocking out the front end. This caused a melee in turn one with everyone trying to avoid the disabled Moughan with Bosie turning turtle.

On the final restart Goodno raced into the lead with Myers looking for a way around. Goodno was not to be denied his first career MOWA win flashing across the finish line at 10:46 beating Myers, Blackhurst, Cling and Naida. Overall it was a good race.

The 20 lap UMP modified feature would go green at 10:53 with Ray Bollinger taking the early lead. Michael Long passed Bollinger on lap three for the top spot and never looked back securing the win at 11:04 beating Bollinger, Jared Thomas, Brandon Roberts up from 7th and Tim Luttrell up from 9th.

We decided to skip the pro late model feature and head for the exits satisfied with a well run program where the fan was kept in the loop and good racing was the order of the day.

Check back tomorrow as the report will come from the Springfield mile where the USAC Silver Crown contingent traveled to take on the mile oval for the Bettenhausen 100. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area as the season progresses and tracks are starting to close for the season with school and football starting. News, items of interest, comments and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as usual thanks for reading our efforts and the feedback from you all. Remember to be good and be kind to everyone you meet. Take care and be safe.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Trainor & Swanson Led The Way In Wednesday Night Thunder At IRP

Wednesday, August 14 – The poorly publicized Wednesday night racing program at the Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg featuring asphalt midgets and Eco Tech/Focus midgets was brought to our attention by a friend late last week. Initially we were not going to go for two reasons. First, we felt a midweek show depending on many midgets coming from New England would not draw many cars and second, we were planning to go to Red Hill Raceway on Thursday. Well, Red Hill canceled their USAC National sprint car race on Wednesday due to a poor weather forecast on Thursday so IRP was back on the radar. And the fact that they had an All Star race featuring Ricky Thornton Jr, racing for the first time on asphalt along with Sammy Swindell, Jerry Coons Jr, Mike Fedorcak and Kaylee Bryson driving Eco Tech/Focus midgets or NEMA Lite midgets if you are from New England made it more interesting.

The feature racing was scheduled to start at 8:05 after qualifying via time trials earlier so we arrived at IRP around 6:30. A very reasonable $15 admission was the price to enter the grounds. We walked into the huge aluminum grandstands and spotted friend, Max Niemann, and headed up the stairs to sit with him. We chatted while the two classes of midgets had hot laps and qualifying with Kody Swanson setting fast time in the regular midgets with a lap of 20.928 seconds around the 5/8 mile asphalt oval.

The first feature of the evening would be the All Star Spectacular with ten Eco Tech/Focus midgets taking the green flag at 8:32. Taking the early lead from his second starting position was 68 year old Sammy Swindell in one of the famous Wilke #11’s. Swindell would fend off the challenges of the youngsters, Kody Swanson, Kaylee Bryson and Jake Trainor until lap twelve when Trainor was able to pass the veteran driver. Bryson and Swanson also worked by Swindell in the latter stages of the contest and had a hearty battle with Trainor for the lead. Trainor would pull away at the end and flashed under the double checkers from Brian Hodde at 8:40 in a non-stop race besting teammate, Bryson, and Swanson for the win with Swindell fourth and his teammate, Ricky Thornton Jr, fifth.

Next up on the agenda was the thirty lap midget feature with eleven cars taking the green flag at 9:06. Nathan Byrd took the early lead in turn one and would only lead until Kody Swanson swept by him on the outside in turn three on the opening lap and would never look back in the fleet Bertrand #47 as announcer, Drake York, said afterwards that “he took the dogs behind the woodshed” as he raced to a 7.255 second margin by the end of the thirty lap contest. Jake Trainor in the Seymour #29 chased the entire distance in second with Nathan Bryd third, Justin Grant fourth and Logan Seavey rounding out the top five in an Abacus #57. This one also went non-stop in eleven minutes.

The final feature contest of the evening would pit the Eco Tech/Focus midgets in a twenty five lap main event starting the largest field of the night with 13 starters. This was the most competitive race of the evening edging the All Star race for top honors as Kyle O’Gara and Jake Trainor put on a whale of a race for the lead swapping the lead back and forth over the course of the middle part of the race before Trainor was able to finally secure the top spot around lap fourteen. Kaylee Bryson had another good run in this one in her first time driving an asphalt midget climbing to third at the finish at 9:50. Bobby Santos III would wheel the Seymour #29 home fourth with Jerry Coons Jr rounding out the top five.

It was a great way to spend a beautiful Wednesday night watching some good racing with your friends and on the road home before 10 PM. Though a train did delay our departure from the parking lot as indeed trains do pass through that entrance area where the stop sign is before you cross the railroad tracks to proceed over to the track.

That’s it until this weekend where we are headed into the Land of Lincoln to catch two shows on Friday and Saturday. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take a racing vacation to catch some racing action at some bucket list tracks. Comments, news, rumors or facts can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and sharing your thoughts and opinions with us. Remember to be kind to everyone you meet and love the unlovable. Take care and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rogers Makes It Two In A Row In Midwest Thunder Race At Paragon

Saturday, August 10 – Saturday was a beautiful August day with temperatures in the low 80’s, low humidity and sunny with a few clouds. We left the house by 11 to drive down to the Sullivan, IN area to watch some junk car racing at the Thunder Valley Dirt Track located in the woods behind the Thunder Valley Auction. Admission was $10 and you walked a short path back to an opening where there were located three sets of wooden enclosed bleachers and also plenty of room to set up lawn chairs which we opted for. Also on the grounds was a good truck serving BBQ. There were three divisions of junk cars, 20 four cylinders, 13 six cylinders and 10 trucks/SUV’s/Mini Vans. It was about a half mile road course configuration with a dirt surface and became very dusty during the races. It was not much to talk about but everyone there, including the drivers, seemed to enjoy themselves so that is what mattered.

From there we headed north on Route 67 to the Paragon Speedway where Jen Kelley and Dan Hetser had saved us seats toward turn one. We all chatted a while until the races began promptly at 7:28 when the first of three heats for the Midwest Thunder 410 Wingless Series rolled onto the track. It didn’t take long for the action to begin as current MTWS point leader, Travis Berryhill, went for a ride flipping in turn one on the opening lap of the night. He was OK and would return later to start the main event. Isaac Chapple won the opening heat race over Anthony Nicholson, Gabriel Gilbert and James Boyd, an Illinois invader. Heat two was a rock them, sock them affair with Jadon Rogers prevailing over Cody Trammell, Hunter Maddox and Michael Clark. The third and final heat was won by Jake Scott beating Andrew Prather, JJ Hughes and Aric Gentry. No B main would be needed for the 23 car field.

Three other divisions were on the card with the hornets (20) next up and probably running the most competitive heats of the evening. They were followed by two heats for both the bombers (13) and the mod lites (10). The numbers were down a lot in each division but credit management for moving the program along quickly. When you can have your first feature trackside by 9:20 you are doing a good job. Much better than the last time we visited Paragon so we hope they keep up the timely running of their shows.

If Jadon Rogers could go back to back tonight in Midwest Thunder events, he would receive an extra $500 in addition to the $2500 to win on the line. Jadon had a good chance as he was starting second on the grid for the 25 lap feature event. At the drop of the green flag Rogers bolted to the lead with Scott close behind. Lap three saw the first caution wave as a three car tangle in turn four sent third starter, Isaac Chapple and sixth starter, Hunter Maddox, to the rear of the pack and fifth starter, Cody Trammell, pit side unable to make repairs before the green flag reappeared. One lap later Reed Whitney spun in turn two to bring out the second caution. Michael Clark up from eleventh grabbed fifth from JJ Hughes on the homestretch on lap five as the action continued. As Rogers led Scott and Nicholson were engaged in an exciting race for second swapping the position on each end of the track as Nicholson was better in turns one and two and Scott had the advantage in turns three and four. Nicholson moved ahead for second in turn one on lap ten while Scott returned the favor on the homestretch on lap twelve. Just shortly after that pass Chapple looped his sprinter in turn three bringing out another caution. On the restart Adyn Schmidt jumped the cushion in turn one and ended up sitting outside the turn one wall.

On the ensuing restart Rogers was quick on the throttle and spurted back into the lead. Scott retained second as Nicholson pressured Andrew Prather reeling in the pair as he moved into fourth. On lap eighteen Hughes was able to slip by Prather into fourth as the top three remained the same. Scott was beginning to catch up to Rogers, closing the gap to about two car lengths as the field took the five to go sign. Rogers accepted the challenge and opened up another two car lengths or so on Scott as the laps clicked off. At 9:47 Rogers crossed the line first making it two wins in a row and adding an extra $500 to the till. Jake Scott would have to settle for second with Anthony Nicholson third, JJ Hughes fourth after starting ninth and Andrew Prather rounding out the top five. Michael Clark led the second five to the finish after starting eleventh with John Sluss who had a rough heat race came from fourteenth to seventh at the finish. Parker Frederickson placed eighth from thirteenth with Travis Berryhill racing from twenty second to ninth with Aric Gentry rounding out the top ten.

It was a good race and the entire program was run in good order and we decided to call it a night and drive the hour and twenty minutes north to home and get a good night’s sleep. Good racing, good company and a good run program.

That’s it until at least Thursday so in the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, words of wisdom, news or any other items can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next. Remember to be good and be kind out there.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rogers Wins In Midwest Thunder Series Race At Circle City

Friday, August 9 – We left Crawfordsville today at 5:30 to make the trip over to Circle City Raceway on the Marion County Fairgrounds and the GPS directed us the best route was around the south side of Indianapolis on I-465. It was a surprise as we drove through that area with no problems as the road is mostly completed so it seems. The other surprise was that on tap tonight were seven divisions (cringe worthy) with other 150 total cars in the pit area and overflowing with some of the grub getters parked on the hillside outside of turn three (seems very dangerous and I can’t think insurance carriers would approve of that). Twenty nine sprint cars were joined by nineteen UMP modifieds, twenty four MMSA mini sprints, fourteen Kenyon midgets, twenty nine Crown Vics, thirteen hornets and sixty one grub getters. All divisions would run heat races except for the grub getters with the program scheduled to start at 8 PM. And it was very windy passing straight across the grandstand from west to east making it quite cool even with the sun still up.

So, wouldn’t you think that they would start on time? No, they placed themselves behind the eight ball to start with the first green flag dropping on the Midwest Thunder sprint cars at 8:23. Twenty three minutes might not sound like that much but when running a seven division program every minute counts especially since there is a new development built outside the fairgrounds off of turn one and you know how new, non-racing people can be with the regard of dust and noise.

The four sprint car heats would take the top four directly to the main event with the top two redrawing to determine the top eight starters in the main event. Donny Brackett broke the ice by winning heat one over Jadon Rogers, Reed Whitney and Aric Gentry. Rylan Gray captured heat two besting Austin Nigh, Evan Mosley and Kayla Roell. Harley Burns nailed down heat three over JJ Hughes, Matt Goodnight and Tony Helton. The fourth heat race was the highlight of the night in a fierce battle up front with Hayden Reinbold prevailing over Tye Mihocko, Zack Pretorius and Travis Berryhill with the always exciting Ricky Lewis battling for second late and catching the turn four cushion sending him into the turn four wall and to the B main.

They moved the program along well as one race ended the next one was moving onto the racing surface but with so many divisions it still was a tall task. Three heats followed for the UMP modifieds, three heats for the MMSA cars, two for the Kenyon midgets before the sprint car B main was called to the track. Mike Larrison would win this one leading Aidan Salisbury, Anthony Nicholson and Michael Clark across the line. It was a tough night for Ricky Lewis as he was battling for the lead when he jumped the turn one cushion and flipped wildly into the second turn ending his night prematurely. Following the sprint B main were three heats for the Crown Vics and two heats for the hornets and luckily there were no heats for the grub getters as the clock hit 10:19 at this point.

Some track prep was next before the 25 lap Midwest Thunder wingless sprint cars would take the green flag at 10:33. We would like to tell you this one was a classic like some other sprint car races we have seen here in our five visits but that was not the case tonight. Jadon Rogers jumped to the early lead from his first starting position and held a good sized lead until lap four when JJ Hughes running in the top five at the time spun in turn one with two others involved bringing out the first caution. On the restart Rylan Gray passed Hayden Reinbold for second in turn two and took up the chase of Rogers. Kayla Roell looped her sprinter in turn three on lap six bringing out the second caution of the feature. Rogers led on the restart with Gray and Reinbold in tow. Tye Mihocko slides by Reinbold for third in turn four on lap eight moving into contention. The next caution appeared on lap ten when Kayla Roell spun in turn four ending her night early as the two spin rule was in effect.

On the ensuing restart Rylan Gray hit the turn four inside tire, lifted the front end of his sprinter and upon returning to the ground spun into the infield causing him to restart at the tail of the field. Rogers now found Mihocko and Harley Burns nipping at his tail as the race restarted. Hayden Reinbold, running fourth, brought out the next caution as he suffered a flat tire in turn two and slowed off turn four bringing out the dreaded yellow flag. Evan Mosley moved into fourth on the restart as the young man looked stout the entire evening. Also Anthony Nicholson was using the inside well and moving forward from his nineteenth starting position into the back end of the top ten. Travis Berryhill tangled with JJ Hughes in turn two on lap eighteen to bring out yet another caution flag. Zack Pretorius spun on the backstretch while running fifth on the restart spoiling another good run at Circle City for him.

On the restart Rogers again took command and pulled away with only Mihocko keeping pace as the remaining seven laps spun off. Rogers would cross the line at 11:08 victorious in this one trailed by Mihocko, Burns, Mosley and Anthony Nicholson driving from nineteenth to fifth at the finish.

We did want to see the UMP modifieds and MMSA features but with the wind still blowing hard and the Crown Vics rolling onto the track for their B main we cut our losses and headed for the exits along with quite a few others. Pat monitored the races on My Race Pass and noted that the two features we wanted to see did not end until almost midnight as we approached our home. With four features still to contest after that we can’t imagine what time that program finally ended but it will not get Circle City the good neighbor award from Marion County. Sometimes race promoters can be their own worst enemies! And the poor grub getters had sat there since about 5 PM and seven hours later had still not seen track time!

That’s it for this round but check back Sunday for what we did on a Saturday afternoon and evening in the state of Indiana. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take in the Knoxville Nationals in person or on TV but have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, news, stories or other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where our typical weekend finds us going racing. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Danner Scores First ISW Win & Seavey Wins First ISW Title

Sunday, August 4 – Another hot, humid and sunny day awaited us as we arose in Princeton on Sunday. It was not just any other hot, humid and sunny day during the late summer in Indiana, it was the final day of racing in Indiana Sprint Week #37. A lot was on the line today in Bloomington and it did not involve anything at Indiana University. It involved deciding the champion of ISW24 with three contenders squaring off for the $10,000 top prize for the championship along with the finely handcrafted two rocking chairs going to the point champion and the winning car owner. Logan Seavey left Tri-State Speedway with a 46 point advantage over Brady Bacon and 53 points over Kyle Cummins and these three still had a mathematical shot at the top prize.

Thirty nine sprint cars returned for the finale at Bloomington Speedway and things got underway at 6:50 as the first car pushed off from the backstretch runway and emerged over the banking to storm to the line to start time trials. No flips in time trials tonight as the cars negotiated the tricky ¼ mile dirt oval with a gnarly turn four to their credit. The track really had a lot of “character” tonight as the Spiker track crew did their magic making it better with each track session with the equipment. The never say die attitude produced a racy surface into the heat races and onward to the feature. At 7:12 Brady Bacon had shaved some points off the advantage by setting his 52nd career fast time putting him fifth on the all-time list with a fast lap of 11.755 seconds edging Ricky Lewis for the honors.

Next up were the four heat races with the top five locking into the 30 lap main event later in the evening. Daison Pursley took the Team AZ #21AZ to the front and captured the first heat turning back Justin Grant, Brady Bacon, Mitchel Moles and Frankie Guerrini in the tussle. Heat two was taken by Kevin Thomas Jr besting Matt Westfall, Joey Amantea, Brayden Fox and Sam Hinds in a kick and scratch battle for qualifying positions. Hinds would qualify for his first ever USAC National sprint car event in a race that saw Chance Crum flip wildly off turn two losing his tail tank in the accident trying to move into a qualifying spot. He was OK after the hard tumble but done for the evening. Heat three was wild and wooly with Hunter Maddox scoring his first USAC sprint heat win over a gaggle of cars led by Chase Stockon, Logan Seavey, Jadon Rogers (who fell from the lead to 4th in the last two laps) and Briggs Danner. The dog fights continued in heat four with CJ Leary winning after getting into Harley Burns causing him to spin with Leary later apologizing for his contact in heat winner interviews. That was a stand up gesture on his part. Robert Ballou, Shane Cottle, Rylan Gray and Kyle Cummins clawed at the leader throughout this one. All heat qualifying was accomplished in just 46 minutes.

That left us with just the semi feature and the main feature to contest on this Sunday evening with the semi taking to the track after some track touch up with the top four moving into the final feature of ISW. Ricky Lewis scored the semi win off a victory in Amarillo, Texas last night with the ASCS Elite Non-Wing series pocketing $5000 before flying back for tonight. Max Adams and two Texans, Weston Gorham (an earlier victor at LPS this year) and Kobe Simpson making his first ISW feature after trying all week to do so. Way to go, Kobe!!! Next up would be the finale of ISW24 going 30 laps to determine the 2024 ISW champ.

By 9:23 it was feature time with the front row of Rylan Gray and Briggs Danner bringing the 25 car field (with the addition of Kale Drake as a provisional) to Tom Hansing’s green silk with Briggs Danner storming into the early lead. Daison Pursley raced by Gray for second on lap four in turn three and went after Danner for the top spot. Logan Seavey used the same move as Pursley to secure the third position on lap five. Meanwhile, Danner was wrestling with the cushion almost every lap off turn four and lap ten saw him ride the top losing ground to Pursley as Pursley dove low on the homestretch racing side by side with Danner for the lead. They continued to battle around the track with Danner barely able to maintain his lead to start lap eleven. Robert Ballou, moments later, lost the handle in turn two and spun causing the caution flag to wave.

On the ensuing restart the entire complexion of the ISW title race stood in doubt as Seavey, running third at the time caught the fourth turn cushion wrong turning his sprinter sideways and into a series of rolls leaving his front end in disarray. With only minutes to make hasty repairs many of his rival’s crews helped in the process as time slipped away. It was noted that the point situation was that if Seavey did not return Brady Bacon would have to win the race to secure the point title. He would be third on the restart. Alas, the Abacus crew with many helping hands were able to repair the damaged sprinter and Seavey returned to the event where he would have to finish 18th or better to secure the title and did so by soldiering to a 15th place finish.

At the restart Danner went to the point but Pursley made his move diving low in turn three to take the lead away. It looked like Danner would have to settle for second for the second straight year at Bloomington but things took a good turn for him on lap twenty. Exiting turn four in heavy lap traffic Pursley choose to go low getting boxed in by two lappers and allowing Danner to retake the lead in a grand turnabout. With three to go things got interesting again as Pursley threw a slider at Danner in turn one with Danner responding by going three wide around the lap car of Joey Amantea in turn two to fight off the serious challenge. Moments later Kyle Cummins and Frankie Guerrini tangled in turn two to bring out the caution setting up a green, white, checker scenario to the finish probably the last thing Danner wanted to see at that point.

On the ensuing restart Danner was prepared for the challenge of Pursley and got a good jump to power away over the remaining laps to score his first ISW win of his career and his second USAC National sprint car win overall. Danner also became the first driver from Pennsylvania to win an Indiana Sprint Week race. Pursley chased Danner to the line for second, Bacon was third, Kevin Thomas Jr finished fourth with Rylan Gray rounding out the top five. Gray ran a fine race and scored his highest finish in his short USAC racing career. CJ Leary took sixth with Mitchel Moles finishing seventh after starting twentieth and earning the hard charger award. Chase Stockon moved from thirteenth to eighth with Shane Cottle advancing from fifteenth to ninth and Justin Grant rounding out the top ten with the final checker waving at 9:51.

It was a well run show ending in a good hour on a Sunday night with very good racing throughout the evening and a great way to wrap up ISW24. Can’t wait for ISW25!!

That’s it for Indiana Sprint Week coverage from us and check back next weekend as we stay local and take in two Midwest Thunder 410 Wingless series events. Until next time get out there and take in some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road but either way, enjoy yourself, be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, news, stories and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the nice comments and such you send along. It is much appreciated and makes it all worthwhile to share our views of the sport we love to watch. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Prevails In Hard Fought Battle With Moles At Tri-State

Saturday, August 3 – With temperatures in the mid 80’s you would think that it wouldn’t be that bad outside but the humidity was once again the killer as it hung in the air like a heavy blanket draped over you. After leaving the hotel it was a quick stop across the street at Rural King for some snacks and a case of spring water where we placed six of them in our cooler for later consumption. Then it was off to the highly recommended Sandy’s Pizza in Fort Branch for lunch and it did not disappoint us first time visitors. Their sandwiches and pizza were delicious. The Flo Sports crew was there also enjoying the good food. I was going to tell Bryan Hulbert that I had spent my lunch money here so I couldn’t go to Tri-State Speedway tonight!! Next stop was the short three mile drive down to the track which was almost disastrous as we were stopped at a light in a construction zone when an eighteen wheeler bore down on us and used the left turn lane to pass us, never lifting. WOW!!!

Once at the track we found a good parking space on the backstretch, gathered up the Indian blankets and headed into the grandstand area to “expand” our seat area that good friend, Irvin King, had already secured. After that was accomplished, it was back to the Equinox to relax and enjoy the coolness of the air conditioner for a while.

Later as the cars began to warm their engines, we gathered up the cooler and other essentials and passed through the gates to join the other race fan settling in for race six of Indiana Sprint Week. It didn’t take long for the action to begin as Kendall Ruble flipped his brand new sprinter in hot laps several times between turns three and four reducing the 42 car field by one almost immediately.

Sprint car time trials were next on the docket taking the initial green flag at 6:46 and during this activity Kevin Thomas Jr took the Rock Steady #3R for a nasty ride in turn three as the right rear seemed to dig in lifting his machine’s left side up as he began a series of flips and rolls before landing back on the track surface. Thomas was OK after the scary ride but the same could not be said for the primary #3R ride after getting upside down for the second time in ISW. The crew went to work on the backup car but it was not ready in time for time trials. This would mean a long night of starting last in all his events and having to pass a lot of cars to advance to the big dance. Briggs Danner, the Allentown, PA invader, posted his second career fast time in USAC National competition and first since 2021 with a blistering lap of 13.193 seconds around the finely manicured Helfrich ¼ mile dirt oval located in the southwestern corner of Indiana.

Joining the USAC National sprint cars tonight were the MMSA mini sprints who brought 20 cars to Haubstadt. After their hot lap sessions, it was some track maintenance and then four sprint car heats with the top five moving directly to the big dance and the rest to the semi-main later in the program. The first heat took the green flag at 7:53 with the Colorado Kid, Carson Garrett, motoring to the front and winning the first race over Brady Bacon, Jadon Rogers, Brandon Mattox and Charles Davis Jr. Heat two was captured by Mitchel Moles who says he loves this place and his performance spoke for itself as he raced with Chase Stockon over the course of this one passing Stockon to secure the win. Stockon, Robert Ballou, Logan Seavey and Adyn Schmidt followed. CJ Leary nailed down heat three in a very competitive run with the top five in a giant cluster and at times three wide battling for position. Brady Short came up short in second with Shane Cottle third, Carson Short fourth and JJ Hughes hanging on to finish fifth. The final heat race was taken down by Justin Grant besting Kyle Cummins, Kale Drake, Donny Brackett and Matt Westfall locking in twenty cars for the feature with sprint heat racing completed by 8:16.

The MMSA gang was next up for their two heat races which were spun off in quick order with Eli Wihelmus and Jake Roell winning their respective heats.

It was time for the sprint car semi with the top four moving into the 30 lap main event coming up shortly. Kevin Thomas Jr was the show in this one as he started dead last (20th) and worked his way forward to third at the finish. Daison Pursley would go on to win this semi feature over Briggs Danner, Thomas and Aric Gentry, the last man in.

The MMSA mini sprints would contest their 20 lap main event first with some good action throughout the race. Eli Wihelmus would lead the majority of the race but a late caution with three to go saw Wihelmus suffer a left front flat tire and dropped from the event. Jordan Shipley who steadily worked his way forward from tenth starting position was closing on Wihelmus at the end and it would have been interesting to see these two battle it out for the win but it was not to be. Shipley went onto win over twelfth starting Steve Justis and Parker Baumeyer in one of the best races we seen the MMSA group run though there were many dropouts during the course of the feature.

We were ready to go feature racing with the front row of Carson Garrett and Justin Grant bringing the 24 car field to the initial green flag at 9:40 with Grant quickly into the early lead. Garrett, Leary and Seavey chased early and then Mitchel Moles was picking off the front runners from his sixth starting spot working his way into third on lap nine. Three laps later Moles would slip by Seavey for second and take up the chase of the high flying Grant up front. By the halfway mark the leaders were into heavy traffic as Grant picked his way through with Moles not far behind. Racing down the backstretch on lap eighteen Grant was attempting to move by Shane Cottle when he ran out of room up high and banged the backstretch wall with his right rear tire losing some momentum and allowing Moles to dive low and grab the lead. It looked like Grant’s past few months frustrations would continue when he lost the lead but Grant reached down inside and mustered up the fortitude to battle back.

Lap nineteen saw Briggs Danner tangle with another car causing his front end to collapse while running ninth careening across the track collecting Robert Ballou coming on the inside sending Ballou into a spin and Danner ending up drifting to a stop in the infield. Grant went to attack mode as he and Moles began to slide each other over the next two laps exchanging the lead three times in the process. Grant emerged with the lead on lap twenty but Moles was not finished yet. Moles was all over Grant attempting to retake the lead over the next five laps until disaster struck for the BGE/Dougherty team as fourth running CJ Leary biked entering turn three sliding to the wall, make contact and flipping over right in front of his teammate, Carson Garrett, running in sixth who had no where to go running into the disabled sprinter bringing out the red and ending two good runs and one complete race team at the same time.

On the ensuing restart Grant went into defense mode taking the middle away to help ward off any sliders by Moles. Over the next three laps, with Moles looking every which way to attempt a pass Grant held sway. Lap twenty seven saw the final yellow wave as Kale Drake running eleventh tagged the turn three wall and came to a rest ending a good run by the youngster. On the restart Grant used his strategy to keep Moles at bay over the last three laps and flashed across the line at 10:01 as a mad scramble brought loose behind him as Kyle Cummins running third turned sideways in turn four forcing everyone to take evasive action including fifth running Kevin Thomas Jr crossing the line running in the infield losing two positions at the end.

It was a long time coming for Grant and the TOPP Motorsports team as they have struggled mightily for the past three months with many sub-par runs to show for it. Grant would score his tenth ISW career win and his fifty first career USAC National sprint car win. Moles would have to settle for second at the end with Seavey coming home third, Cummins fourth after starting 13th and Daison Pursley rounding out the top five. Brady Bacon would finish sixth with Kevin Thomas Jr taking seventh and the hard charger award after starting twenty fourth, Shane Cottle eighth from fifteenth with Jadon Rogers ninth and Chase Stockon up from eighteenth to tenth.

It was another good race during Indiana Sprint Week as every race has been hotly contested and produced some great racing. This is why we moved to Indiana ten years ago to witness such close, competitive racing. Now it onto Bloomington Sunday for the series finale.

That’s it for this segment but check back Monday to see who wins the Indiana Sprint
Week title and the final race at Bloomington. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road to catch some good racing. Either way have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. News, comments and any other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and continue to check back often to see where our typical weekend takes us. In closing remember to be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain Ends Bloomington Run Prematurely, Pushes ISW Final To Sunday

Friday, August 2 – Friday was another day with temperatures in the middle 80’s with high humidity and chances of rain. It was the best overall forecast in the last three days and wouldn’t you know it, we got rained out! Here’s how the night played out.

Tonight was supposed to be race six in the 37th running of Indiana Sprint Week and the highest percentage of rain for today in Bloomington was 24%. But this is Bloomington and we were once rained out on a night with a 10% chance of rain so anything was possible.

The Bob & Sheldon Kinser Memorial race was ready to go at 6:59 with time trials for the fine 47 car field on hand and when finished at 7:26 it was Carson Garrett being interviewed on the homestretch after setting fast time with a lap of 11.455 seconds around the high banked, red clay ¼ mile bullring for his first career USAC fast time.

The green dropped on the first of four heat races at 7:42 with Anton Hernandez having a steady week in the Baldwin #5 winning the first heat over Matt Westfall, CJ Leary, Carson Garrett and Jadon Rogers. The second heat was nailed down by Brady Bacon besting Briggs Danner, Logan Seavey, Hunter Maddox and Harley Burns. As the third heat prepared to line up the sky darkened, the temperature dropped about five degrees or so and it began to spit some rain. Pat reached for the small umbrella she had brought in as the rain increased in intensity. We decided it would be in vain to try to scurry back to the SUV so we huddled under the umbrella as the rain pounded down, It continued for around 15 minutes but the intensity of the downpour would end up postponing the rest of the evening prematurely as the grounds were too saturated and it was determined the conditions were too dangerous to continue after the track crew worked on the track for around a half hour. The predicted rain over the last few days finally bested us on this evening.

The big news circulating out of this evening was that now the final race of ISW would return to Bloomington Speedway this Sunday evening after Tri-State’s round is contested on Saturday night. So hang onto your wrist bands and come back on Sunday evening for the final round of ISW. Catch you then!

Until next time, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. News, comments, stories and words of wisdom can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and your kind comments on our writings. It makes the effort seem worthwhile. And it’s been good lately talking in person with readers, Kevin and Dan, and their feedback on racing matters. Thanks, guys!! In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Bacon Sizzles With ISW Win At Terre Haute

Thursday, August 1 – Today started out hot and humid with some rain mixed in. When it was time for us to depart for tonight’s round five at the Terre Haute Action Track reports from Steve Kimmel trackside said it had rained but the rain had now passed so come on down. As we transversed the backroads of Indiana we discussed how the weather in this state can change so quickly. Upon arrival on the Vigo County Fairgrounds we found the camping area of Steve & Maggi along with Irvin and Mary Jane King parked side by side under the one large pavilion behind the main grandstands. Some good conversation followed and when I went to purchase some food I ran into Ken Wagner, former West Coast resident currently living in Oklahoma and invited him down to join the group.

The track crew went to work on the wet surface and when Steve, Pat and I went to survey the progress we came away with the opinion that they were going to be able to run tonight but it was going to be a late start. As we sat under the roof of the building, we heard the first rumbling of a race engine and spirits were high. Soon thereafter hot laps commenced and before you knew it the first car for time trials was taking the green flag at 8:21. What a comeback by the hard working track crew to whip the track surface back into racing condition after earlier having water standing on the bottom of turns one and three!! Our hats off to the track crew for a job well done allowing everyone in attendance to witness racing action tonight!!

By 8:42 Mitchel Moles had toured the ½ mile dirt oval to the tune of 19.639 seconds to set the standard for the evening over the 38 car field on hand. Next up were the four heats for the one division program this evening with the top five advancing directly into the 30 lap main event. The first heat took Tom Hansing’s green flag at 9:04 with Max Adams in the Guerrini #63 holding off a furious attack from Shane Cottle to capture heat one with Mitchel Moles, Chase Stockon and Anton Hernandez trailing. Matt Westfall in the Marshall #33 fended off all challengers to claim heat two besting Kyle Cummins, Daison Pursley, Logan Seavey and Kale Drake in this one. Heat three fell to Brady Bacon in the Dynamics #69 outpacing Carson Garrett, Charles Davis Jr, Nick Bilbee and Briggs Danner. Joey Amantea, the youngster from Pennsylvania, had a strong run to capture heat four walking away helping to ease the rough week he has suffered through with two flips in five races. CJ Leary, Brandon Mattox, Kevin Thomas Jr and Justin Grant chased him to the finish. All heat racing was completed in just 29 minutes.

The sprint car B main was next on the dance card with Robert Ballou running away in this one beating Ricky Lewis, Trey Osborne and Arizona’s Nate Schank to all move into the feature event. For Schank it was the first time he qualified for an ISW feature and he did it on his birthday nonetheless.

By 10:33 it was time to go feature racing with the twenty four car field brought to Tom Hansing’s green flag by the front row of Kyle Cummins and Chase Stockon. Cummins scooted into the early lead with fellow Southern Indiana racer, Chase Stockon, right on his tail. Lap three saw Brady Bacon move by Stockon in turn two to take over the runner up position and take up the chase of Cummins. Outback of the field all eyes were on Robert Ballou, who was scheduled to start twelfth but went to the work area prior to the start and had to start shotgun on the field in twenty fourth. Ballou ran the Bubby Jones groove, one which Ballou said ‘Ol Bub taught him, running above the cushion advancing ten positions in the first five laps and into the top ten by lap eight in an amazing exhibition of fence riding extremes. Meanwhile, Stockon reloaded and passed Bacon back for second using the outside in turn two on lap seven to reclaim the runner up spot. Cummins continued to pace the field as the race neared the halfway mark but Stockon was closing quickly nosing to the outside for several circuits until being able to pass Cummins on the outside exiting turn four to take the lead on lap eighteen. It was good to see Stockon have such a strong run after floundering lately in the KO Motorsports #5S. Meanwhile, Ballou’s march saw him crack the top five by lap sixteen and looking for more. This had the crowd buzzing as the impressive drive continued.

Bacon began to diamond turns three and four using this technique to close on the front two as the race progressed. Bacon slid to the inside rail in turns three and four to grab second from Cummins on lap nineteen. Bacon went to work trying to track down Stockon and got his break on lap twenty three when Stockon jumped the cushion in turns three and four slowing his momentum enough for Bacon to close the gap diving low off turn four to racing into the lead as they raced down the homestretch. Then the big track master pulled away over the next seven laps to over a two second lead and flashed across the line for his fifth career ISW win and first in over three seasons in ISW action. Bacon sizzled to the win on a real hot and humid day that matched his performance. Stockon would cross the line second with Cummins third, Seavey fourth and Ballou fifth after starting at the tail in his impressive march forward. Mitchel Moles led the second five to the finish claiming sixth with Kevin Thomas Jr seventh, Briggs Danner eighth, Daison Pursley ninth after starting sixteenth (official hard charger award) and Justin Grant coming home tenth.

It was a very good night at the legendary Terre Haute Action Track and one of the best races we have witnessed here in the past several years and no dust to boot.

That is it for this account but check back tomorrow for round six of Indiana Sprint Week coming to you from the red high banks of Bloomington. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, items of interest and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our stories and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing remember to be good and be kind because a friendly smile or cheerful hello can brighten that person’s day as you never know what they are going through at the moment.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey White Hot Scoring Another ISW Victory At Circle City

Wednesday, July 31 – It was the last day of July and the Indiana weather can change in a moment’s notice so scattered showers were on the radar blip as night four of Indiana Sprint Week moved to the Circle City Raceway, the ¼ mile dirt oval located on the grounds of the Marion County Fairgrounds. On tap tonight was a two division program consisting of USAC Sprints (46) and Crown Vics (25). The Crown Vics are a perfect filler division to complement the wingless warriors of USAC giving the sprinters some time to work on their cars between the heat races and the C and B mains.

Time trials started off the show commencing at 7:03 and completing at 7:37 with CJ Leary posting fast time for the second straight night and 53rd time of his career putting him fourth on the all-time fast timer list. The USAC sprint cars would contest four heat races with the top five moving directly to the A main and the rest either to the C main or the B main. Heat racing kicked off at 7:59, one minute ahead of the scheduled starting time and were spun off in good order wrapping up at 8:29. In between we saw some good, competitive racing with Mitchel Moles winning the first heat passing Harley Burns on lap six to score the win with Burns holding off Logan Seavey for second with Anton Hernandez fourth and CJ Leary grabbing fifth. Daison Pursley put the second sprinter of the evening carrying AZ as part of the number up front claiming heat two over Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr, Shane Cottle and Chance Crum. Robert Ballou became the first driver to reach double figures in heat wins notching his tenth triumph besting Brady Bacon, Ricky Lewis, Evan Mosley and Brayden Fox for the win in heat three. Carson Garrett nailed down heat four over Kyle Cummins, Jake Swanson, Matt Westfall and Briggs Danner.

The three Crown Vic heats followed, being spun off in just 12 minutes. Next up would be the sprint car C main with the top four joining the back of the B main. Honest Abe himself, Kevin Newton, won the C main beating Jadon Rogers, RJ Johnson subbing for Stevie Sussex and Scotty Weir. The B main would fall to Australian driver, Todd Hobson, qualifying for his first ever USAC sprint car main event. Kale Drake, Kyle Shipley and Chase Stockon would join him in the A main along with two provisionals, Joey Amantea and Hunter Maddox, making it a 26 car starting field.

By 9:51 starter, Tom Hansing, was ready to drop the green silk over the front row of Shane Cottle and Logan Seavey with Cottle getting the early lead in turn one. Cottle worked the low side like only he can and paced the field for the first seven laps with Ricky Lewis slipping by Seavey for second off turn four on the opening lap. Lap six saw Seavey reload and take second back from Lewis entering turn one with Kyle Cummins following suit a lap later to take third from Lewis. Seavey rode the top while Cottle remained loyal to the low side for two laps until Seavey was able to move around Cottle off turn four and grab the lead at the line to start lap nine. CJ Leary slowed suddenly on the backstretch on lap eight while running fifth, ending his night prematurely and relegating him to 26th at the finish.
On the restart Seavey moved back out front with Cummins and Cottle in tow. Kevin Thomas Jr was coming forward from his fifth starting spot by the halfway mark had managed to slip by both Cottle and Cummins into second. Lap nineteen almost saw the race take a sudden change as Kyle Shipley running 19th at the time tangled with another lap car directly in front of Seavey and flipped almost taking out the leader if not for his quick reflexes. On the ensuing restart Thomas began to apply the pressure and slid Seavey for the lead in turns three and four. Seavey countered with a slider in turn one to retake the lead but drifted up the track in turn two allowing Thomas to regain the lead at that point. Lap twenty two saw a three car tangle in turn one among Harley Burns, Kale Drake and Justin Grant bringing out the caution and ending the night for all involved. This gave Seavey another opportunity. Thomas drove low in turns one and three gliding across turns two and four taking away any slider attempts by Seavey. Lap twenty four saw Seavey dive low in turn one with him and Thomas side by side exiting turn two. Seavey was able to edge ahead as the pair raced into turn three and was back on top. The caution came out one lap later when Mitchel Moles ruined his good night spinning in turn four while running sixth and forced to go to the tail on the restart. Lap twenty seven saw another incident slow the action as Joey Amantea and Chance Crum were battling for 14th touching wheels on the backstretch sending Amantea into a series of violent flips ending up in turn three. Amantea was visibly upset after climbing from the Jon Stanbrough wrenched #88 and let the crowd know his feelings about the contact from Crum as he endured his second flip of the series when other cars slid into him.

On the restart Seavey was gone and cruised to over a two second victory over Thomas with Cottle third, Cummins fourth and Briggs Danner achieving the hard charger award advancing from twelfth to fifth at the finish at 10:24. It was Seavey’s third win in four ISW starts in 2024 and six out of the last seven USAC sprint car races run along his 13th victory of the year. He now is tied for second with JJ Yeley and Robert Ballou for most wins in a season and just one behind the all-time record of 14 set by Tom Bigelow in 1977 and we are just beginning August tomorrow!

Brady Bacon came home sixth after starting 11th with Ricky Lewis seventh, Robert Ballou eighth after clipping the infield tires twice in the last five laps, Carson Garrett ninth and Anton Hernandez rounding out the top ten after starting 15th.

It was a well run program starting on time and ending in a decent hour with very good racing throughout the evening even though it was dusty the racing did not suffer. Onto the Vigo County Fairgrounds, home of the legendary Terre Haute Action Track, where race #5 of the 37th Indiana Sprint Week will take place on the only half mile dirt oval in Indiana.

That’s it for now but check back tomorrow to see if we get Thursday’s race in and what all happened. Until next time, get out there and catch some good short track racing in your area and have fun and stay hydrated. Comments, opinions, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And thanks for reading our efforts and passing along your opinions and compliments about our writings. It is much appreciated and we hope you will continue to follow our writings. And in closing remember to be kind and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Cummins Sweeps The Night In Race Two Of ISW At Kokomo

Saturday, July 27 – It was a beautiful day in the 80’s with plenty of sunshine as we prepared for night two of Indiana Sprint Week at the baddest bullring in Indiana, the Kokomo Speedway. A late lunch/early dinner at Foxes Trail in downtown Kokomo preceded our track time and it was delicious but was much too much food.

Back to the track we went with the Kings and Kimmels to settle in for another night of action during the 37th running of the Indiana Sprint Week. Time trials were pushed off at 7:17 with 53 cars ready to take their two laps around the ¼ mile dirt oval at Kokomo. When it was all said and done it was Kyle Cummins on top of the speed charts with a time of 12.687 seconds to start the evening.

USAC Thunder midgets which are a combination of full blown midgets and D2 midgets mixed in were the second class on the dance card and they brought 23 entries to the dance. After their hot lap sessions, it was right into the heat racing for the USAC sprint cars with five heats on the agenda taking the top four finishers directly to the 30 lap main event later in the evening. Kyle Cummins copped the first heat win to keep his night perfect after setting fast time with Jack Hoyer second in the famous Hazen #57, Rylan Gray and Jadon Rogers chasing him across the line. Heat two was captured by Mitchel Moles besting CJ Leary, Shane Cottle and Robert Ballou. Kevin Thomas Jr placed the Rock Steady #3R up front to take the third heat over Briggs Danner, Kale Drake, back after his exit through the fence at Lincoln Park the night before, with Frankie Guerrini fourth. Logan Seavey put the Abacus Racing #57 in victory lane in heat four beating Brady Bacon, Harley Burns and Daison Pursley. The fifth and final heat was won by Pennsylvania’s Joey Amantea whose mother sat next to Pat cheering him on to victory over Justin Grant, Ricky Lewis and Chance Crum. Now twenty positions were determined for the feature with the last sprint heat wrapping up at 9:14.

The Thunder midgets would contest three heats with Kayla Roell winning heat one over the boys with Chett Gehrke and Matt Lux chasing the lady. Heat two fell to Michael Magic beating Jakeb Boxell and Alex Watson. The third heat was captured by Zach Wigal over Luke Hall and Tyler Nelson. The sprint car C main was next on the race card with the top four adding onto the tail of the upcoming B main. Max Adams in the other Guerrini car won this one over Donny Brackett, Matt Goodnight and Sam Hinds. The sprint car B main was next to the post with four moving forward into the 30 lap feature. Charles Davis Jr of Arizona copped this affair with Scotty Weir, Anton Hernandez and Chase Stockon locking into the main event. Two provisionals would join the field making it a 26 car field with Carson Garrett and Matt Westfall joining the party.

The 20 lap Thunder midget feature was the next race and it almost went non-stop with only one caution with the veteran Kentucky racer, Chett Gehrke, leading every lap from his outside pole starting spot holding off the race long challenges of Luke Hall and Zach Wigal for the win.

The 26 car, 30 lap USAC National sprint car feature would take the green at 10:39 with Justin Grant surging to the early lead from his second starting position. That didn’t last long as the weirdness surfaced as Charles Davis Jr lost power off turn four slowing on the homestretch with CJ Leary and Chase Stockon caught up in the melee. Leary did a series of flips on the homestretch fence ending up pointing skyward on the fence. All drivers were OK but done before one lap had been completed.

One lap after the restart it was three wide in turn two with sixth starting Kyle Cummins sweeping by the cars of Robert Ballou, Justin Grant and Briggs Danner in an incredible move to go from sixth to third. Eight laps in with Bacon pacing the field Cummins passed Daison Pursley for second in turn one and took up the chase of the Dynamics #69. The next caution appeared when Anton Hernandez looped the Balwin car in turn one wiping out Bacon’s big lead. On the restart Cummins went to work on Bacon and on lap eighteen he slid Bacon for the lead in gnarly turn two but Frankie Guerrini spun in turn four negating the pass and placing Bacon back in first for the restart.

On the ensuing restart Cummins quickly made his move surpassing Bacon entering turn one to grab the lead as Kevin Thomas Jr did the same to Pursley as they raced through that corner for third. Thomas was not finished yet as he charged into turn three on the outside and pulled alongside Bacon to challenge for second. Bacon took away the real estate between turns three and four causing Thomas to run out of room slamming the wall and launching into a series of flips ending up in the turn four fencing and bringing out the red. Thomas climbed from the wrecked machine done for the evening after an impressive run from seventh to third before crashing.

During this red flag period as the cars were beginning to push off for the restart a bizarre incident happened when one of the Thunder midget teams lost their way out of the pit area and were attempting to exit the track by the backstretch pit entrance to the racing surface. Reece O’Connor quickly reacted to the potentially dangerous situation by riding his ATV from the infield to the entrance blocking the path of the vehicle and yanking the driver’s door open to discuss the situation before backing the rig back down the entrance road!! Whoa!!

This suddenly moved Logan Seavey into the hunt moving up to third and positioning himself for a run at trying to make it five straight USAC sprint car wins which hadn’t been done since 1968 by Larry Dickson. On the restart Cummins led with Bacon second and Seavey third. That would change on lap twenty four when Seavey slid Bacon for second in turns one and two when Bacon countering in turn three until a lap later when Seavey made the move permanent in turn one setting up a six lap battle through traffic for Cummins and Seavey.

Cummins had over a second lead at this point but Seavey was able to close to his rear nerf bar as the pair picked their way through lap traffic. On the final lap Cummins moved high to pass the car of Jack Hoyer as Seavey went to the open middle and actually edged ahead slightly exiting turn four but Cummins never lifted and his momentum off the top powered him back out front as the pair raced to the finish line with Cummins holding on by a car length to beat Seavey at the finish and end Seavey’s four race win streak in the process. Bacon would come home third with Pursley fourth and Robert Ballou rounding out the top five. It was an exciting finish and for a moment it looked like Seavey would steal one on the last lap. Cummins was up to the task scoring his first USAC victory of 2024 and the first career win for car owner Jerry Petty, as the much heralded combination struggled in the early season just recently stringing some good finishes together. It was Cummins’ 19th career USAC National sprint car win placing him 35th on the all-time list. It was also his eighth Indiana Sprint Week win in his career.

Ricky Lewis turned in a fine run advancing from twelfth to sixth at the end with Briggs Danner slipping to seventh with the hard charger award going to Shane Cottle who used the inside (Cottle groove) to perfection marching from twenty third to eighth with Matt Westfall just as impressive moving from twenty sixth to ninth (no hard charger award due to him using a provisional) with Mitchel Moles rounding out the top five at 11:19.

It was another weird night with some good racing and flips but no fire this evening. Speaking of fire Stevie Sussex is coming along well with some burns to his arms and legs and sat right near us on the backstretch for a heat with his family and that was good to see. Heal up and get well soon Stevie!!

That’s it for this column but check back Wednesday to see if Lawrenceburg gets their rescheduled program in on Tuesday as Sunday’s contest has been rained out. Comments, opinions, questions or any other tidbits of information can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road and catch some action at another track you’ve always wanted to go to. And be safe and stay hydrated. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing have fun out there and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Scores Four In A Row In Wild Night At LPS In ISW Opener

Friday, July 26 – Logan Seavey is on a roll scoring his fourth straight USAC National sprint car win taking the opener of the 37th NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville in a wild night of racing with flips, fire and much racing action in between. Seavey became the first driver in USAC sprint car annuals to win four straight times since Rickey Hood did it 39 years ago back in 1985.

Indiana Sprint Week culminates in the gathering of race fans from all over the country and others from Australia and New Zealand. Our core of travelers found Steve and Maggi Kimmel towing in from Arizona and Irving and Mary Jane King trekking in from West Virginia while we took the 35 minute drive down from Crawfordsville to Putnamville, just outside of Greencastle to take in the opener of ISW for the 37th year of the event. Seven races in nine days at seven different tracks will find us all crisscrossing Indiana to witness the action packed seven nights of racing. It is a ritual unlike many others and it can be grueling but it is also gratifying also. After sitting in the shade of the camping area with the clan Steve and I ventured down to get in the prepaid line to enter the grounds and stake our claim or seating area for tonight’s event. A five dollar discounted arm band purchase not only got you through the gates a half hour before anyone else it got you a nice meal and get together the night before at the Moose Lodge in Greencastle. It was a very nice night of good food, good dancing and good company and the hospitality of Joe and Jill Spiker to host such an event is very much appreciated by everyone and we thank them for that.

Now onto the racing portion of the evening where a fine field of 57 USAC sprint cars, the largest ISW field in 20 years filled the pit area as a large crowd filled the seating area ready to watch the warriors of USAC battle for the $8000 top prize and the early point lead of ISW. Time trials would start the proceedings with the first car pushing off at 7:30. By 8:08 Logan Seavey was being interviewed after setting fast time with a lap of 12.078 seconds to claim his 14th career fast time award. I told Pat before the start of tonight’s program that this was Seavey’s night as the number 57 was coming up in various ways. This was our 57th race of 2024 and there were 57 entrants for tonight’s racing and with Seavey’s car number being 57 it was a shoe in. The flip action started early with Ivan Glotzbach turning the Brian Hayden owned #2H over four times in the cushion in turns three and four during the time trial session climbing from the car uninjured.

Heat racing was the next order of business with five heats scheduled for the 57 car field with the top four locking into the 30 lap main event to be held later in the evening. Matt Westfall would draw first blood on the evening copping the first heat race win in the Marshall #33 over Scotty Weir, Briggs Danner and Logan Seavey. Stevie Sussex, the Arizona invader drove the Sturgeon #77S to a surprise victory in heat two, besting Jadon Rogers piloting the Wade/Amati #66, Kevin Thomas Jr and Daison Pursley. Heat three was won by Kyle Cummins in the Petty #3P beating Justin Grant, Geoff Ensign and Zack Pretorius. Heat four was a thriller with CJ Leary in the BGE Dougherty #15X making some late moves to wrestle the win from Anton Hernandez in the Baldwin #5, Chance Crum and Seth Parker. Heat five went to Jake Swanson wheeling the Landon Simon #24 to victory after on the opening lap the middle parted like Moses parted the Red Sea to allow him to streak through on the opening lap and pull away. He outdistanced Ricky Lewis, Carson Garrett and Brady Bacon for the win. All heat racing was completed in just 37 minutes in some fast and furious action.

The C main was next on the docket with the top four moving into the B main at the tail of the field. Kyle Johnson controlled this one posting the win over Kobe Simpson, Evan Mosley and Brandon Mattox. That took us to the B main went the flipping picked up again as early in the event Kyle Shipley and Joey Amantea collided in turn two with Amantea turning turtle and he was not happy after the incident in his post-race interview of the early contact in the event. In the latter stages of this race Robert Ballou did a slow roll in a multicar tangle in turn four and he would use a provisional to join the feature field. With this one was all said and done it was Mitchel Moles scoring the win in the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ over Max Adams in the Guerrini #63, Brayden Fox and Kyle Shipley. Kale Drake, the midget driver out of Oklahoma who was making his USAC sprint car debut and also his first race in a sprint car, missed by one spot. The Benic #2B was high enough in the point standings to garner the second USAC provisional for the feature event. The difference in the responsiveness of the steering between the midget and sprint car seemed to be giving Drake some problems during the evening.

By 10:23 the 26 car field was brought to the green flag by Anton Hernandez and Justin Grant with Grant sprinting to the early lead. Logan Seavey was quick at the start and moved from sixth to third by lap two. Lap seven saw a very serious tumble in turn one when Kale Drake jumped a right rear tire entering the turn and went end over end through the billboards in turn one ending up upside down in the parking lot and if he didn’t touch anyone’s vehicles parked out there they should make sure they go to church Sunday and thank God for that. It was a wild ride for the first time sprint car entrant and he was OK quickly climbing from the wrecked sprinter.

On the ensuing restart Seavey was able to slip by Danner to take over second and took up the chase of Grant for the lead. Lap twelve a four car tangle in turn two saw Matt Westfall, CJ Leary, Max Adams and Jake Swanson all involved with Leary and Westfall able to join the rear of the field on the restart. On this restart Seavey went to the cushion in turns one and two to challenge Grant and by the time the pair hit the backstretch Seavey streaked by to assume the lead. Several other drivers were working their way forward such as Stevie Sussex (10th), Mitchel Moles (12th), Brady Bacon (14th) and Robert Ballou (25th) as things got interesting as the laps spun off. Seavey hit the afterburner and opened up a comfortable lead as the race entered the final five laps. With just two to go a frightening incident happened as Stevie Sussex’s car was engulfed in flames on the backstretch. Sussex quickly exited the flaming sprinter and did the proper thing, dropping to the ground and rolling as the emergency crew rushed to his side to extinguish the flames. Mrs. Sturgeon who was seated behind us broke into hysterics as the scene unfolded with Pat jumping up and going to her side to comfort her in the next few minutes until we were all delighted to see Sussex walking on his own over to the ambulance to be checked out after the shocking incident. Prayers go out to Stevie as we have no updates on his condition but with him walking away it was a promising sign.

On the restart Kyle Cummins was able to work the cushion in turns one and two to slip by Grant to grab second and Briggs Danner saw a chance to take third as Grant faltered off turn two. In turn three Danner made an ill advised attempt to pass Grant slamming into him sending Grant sideways in turn three getting clipped by Bacon which sent him sliding sideways in the path of Carson Garrett, Brayden Fox and Chance Crum. Garrett and Fox got upside down in the tangle ending their race early and Grant was also done as his front end was wrecked.

The second attempt to complete the race was more successful with Seavey blasting back out front with Cummins in hot pursuit. Seavey was able to hold off Cummins over the final two circuits to score his first ISW win since 2021 but making it four in a row in 2024 and eleventh win of the year in a stellar performance. That brings Seavey within three wins of the all-time season win record in USAC National sprint cars set by Tom Bigelow (14) in 1977 and was his 21st career USAC National sprint car win overall. Cummins would cross the line second for his best finish of the season in USAC competition with Danner third, Mitchel Moles fourth and Bacon rounding out the top five. Daison Pursley would come home sixth with Robert Ballou seventh, CJ Leary eighth, Kevin Thomas Jr ninth and Jadon Rogers, the hard charger award winner after starting twenty third and finishing tenth. Geoff Ensign was the top LPS regular runner marching from twenty fourth to eleventh at the finish.

It was a wild night of racing with the final checker of the evening not waving until 11:30 in the 50th time that USAC sprint cars have visited the Putnam County oval.

That’s it for now but check back tomorrow to see what happens in race two of ISW with the action shifting to the Kokomo Speedway. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good racing in your area and have fun and stay safe and hydrated. News, comments, opinions and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and keep coming back to see where we end up next in a typical weekend. Take care, be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Scott Makes Late Race Pass To Capture Sprint Win At Paragon

Friday, July 12 – It was a nice day, sunny with temperatures in the mid to high 80’s and a good day to go racing. We had three viable sprint car choices on the evening with Circle City Raceway running winged FAST sprint cars (we had just seen 9 nights of winged racing in PA so that one was off the board), Paragon Speedway running a Friday night special with non-winged sprint cars and Bloomington Speedway running non-winged sprint cars. We chose Paragon for several reasons such as closer to home, only three divisions and we figured they would have more sprints than the other two. We were right on the sprint car counts as Paragon had 30 while Circle City had 24 and Bloomington had 19. Also Circle City had a rogue storm that wiped out their program as only time trials were the sprint cars were completed. Where did that come from? Also it was HARF night at Paragon and with a reasonable $15 admission fee plus a HARF discount of $5 it made this program a bargain. Now they were the good things about the evening, now let’s delve into the not so good things.

We would like your opinions on this subject which is starting on time. Hot laps were scheduled for 6:30 and racing at 7 but racing at Paragon did not start until 8:23 without any explanation or apologies for starting this late. Usually when we go to a race, we are fine with them starting within a 15 minute range of their posted starting time but how can you start almost an hour and a half late with no reasoning given? Why do many tracks have no sense of urgency and act like everyone in attendance only lives 10 minutes away from their racetrack. We thoroughly enjoyed our June 22nd visit here but they regressed big time tonight. If racing wants to be considered a big time sport in the same breath as baseball, football, soccer and others they have to present a timely program starting at the scheduled starting time. When a quarter of your crowd is gone but ever seeing a feature event how many of those will return in the future. Do you go to a baseball game that is scheduled to start at 7:05 and it doesn’t start at that time (unless rain or another problem)? Do you go to a Colts football game scheduled to start at 1 PM on a Sunday and it doesn’t start until 2:30 PM? NO!! So, why do racetrack promoters think it is OK to post a scheduled starting time for racing at say 7 PM and not start racing until close to 8:30. And it is not just Paragon we are picking on but the majority of short track racing in the United States. Send us your thoughts on this matter as we get back to the night of racing that unfolded when they decided to start the races.

The three division program tonight consisted of non-wing sprint cars (30), hornets (30) for the Randy Smith Memorial race and crate late models (13). The sprint cars were the first to contest their heat races with four on the agenda with the top four moving to the 25 lap feature event later in the evening. Brandon Mattox would start off the evening winning the first heat over Travis Thompson, Aric Gentry and Mike Larrison. Heat two was captured by Aiden Salisbury besting Logan Calderwood from Arizona, Evan Mosley and Joss Moffatt, a Lawrenceburg regular. Heat three fell to Andrew Prather beating Travis Berryhill, Cody Trammell and Jackson Slone. Heat four was taken by Jake Scott outdistancing Trey Osborne in a brand new car finished this same morning, Hunter Maddox and Colten Cottle. Next up were two heats for the crate late models won by Derek Groomer and Tyler Cain before the hornets took to the track for their four heat races. There were two youngsters all the way from North Carolina in the hornet heats with the youngest at 9 years old and the older one at 11 years old. We are sorry but we feel that is too young for a kid to be racing in a race car. It is different if they are racing quarter midgets, go karts or juice box racers but to be in a full size race car is entirely too young in our opinion. While we are soliciting opinions how about voicing yours on this subject also. All heat racing was completed by 9:47 with a B main for the sprints and hornets to follow.

The sprint B main was first and a combination of spins and flips made this one a long affair. Australian Troy Carey got into an awkward position entering turn one and ramped on the side bar of another competitor and rolled several times in between turns one and two. Carey was OK but done for the evening. When it was all said and done another Aussie, Todd Hobson, was the winner over Colin Parker, Isaac Chapple and Zach Pretorius. The hornet B main also had a rollover in turn two and by the time the two B mains were over it was now 10:38.

No need to push the program along now as folks began to exit the track grounds before the first of three features even started. Our hint of sarcasm!

It was not until 10:58 when the initial green flag dropped on the 25 lap sprint car feature with Logan Calderwood taking the early lead. It would not last long as Trey Osborne got sideways in turn four on the opening lap with Travis Thompson crashing into him. Both would restart but in turn one Osborne tangled with Colin Parker with both spinning invoking the two spin rule on Osborne who was waved to the pits for the remainder of the race. The next restart saw Joss Moffett pirouetted in turn one after ramping over a left rear tire of someone and doing everything but actually flipping as he bounced hard several times on the racing surface. Moffett was OK but probably will be sore tomorrow morning! It was a real rough start to this one but actually once they got their early mishaps out of the way it turned into a good feature.

Logan Calderwood went to the point on each of the restarts and would pace the field for the first ten laps until the fourth caution appeared when Todd Hobson and Parker spun in turn one invoking the two spin rule on Parker. On the restart it was Calderwood on the fast pedal first with fifth starting Andrew Prather and eighth starting in tow. The final caution would wave on lap fourteen when Travis Thompson spun in turn one while running sixth after coming from the tail of the field.

On the ensuing restart Calderwood retained the lead with Prather and Scott ready to pounce. While Calderwood and Prather worked the high side Scott found the inside to his liking and nipped away at the front two. Scott moved by Prather for second on the inside of the homestretch for second on lap sixteen. Two laps later Scott used a slider entering turn one on Calderwood and had the lead by turn two. Meanwhile, Cody Trammell, who started 11th, was making a serious late race charge passing Prather for third on lap nineteen and reeling in the leaders over the next several laps. Taking the white flag on the homestretch Trammell slipped by Calderwood for second but ran out of time to make a serious challenge to Scott for the lead. The checkered waved at 11:25 with Jake Scott grabbing the win over Trammell with Calderwood turning in his strongest performance of the summer in Indiana with a third, trailed by Prather and Travis Berryhill slipping into fifth at the finish. Rounding out the top ten were Aidan Salisbury in sixth, Evan Mosley seventh, Isaac Chapple eighth, Brandon Mattox slipping to ninth with Hunter Maddox rounding out the top ten. With an hour and twenty minute drive home, we hit the road even though we wanted to watch the crate late model feature. We arrived back in Crawfordsville at 12:50 AM, much too late for a three division show scheduled to start at 7.

That’s it for now and check back often to see where we end up next. In the meantime, get out there and support your local short track and have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. Opinions on the above commentary can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And thanks, as always for reading our efforts and hope our comments are not too harsh above but sometimes promoters can be their own worse enemies. And in closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Dietrich Takes Third Win But Falls Short For PA Speedweek Championship At Selinsgrove

Sunday, July 7 – The temperature only hit 91 degrees today but the big difference was the lower humidity from life sucking proportions to near livable proportions!! It was the final day (day 10) of Pennsylvania Speedweek and race nine as last Saturday’s show at Lincoln was the only one to get rained out. Not bad!!

Tonight 23 sprint cars pulled northward into Snyder County nestled in the Susquehanna Valley with the Appalachian Mountains as a backdrop to the small town of Selinsgrove where the half mile clay oval known as the Selinsgrove Speedway is located. Anthony Macri led Danny Dietrich by 63 points headed into the last show of the ten day run so it would take a herculean performance by Dietrich to wrestle the title away from the Concrete Kid. The IMCA modifieds would be the second class on the dance card and they would run two heats and a feature for their 16 car field.

First up after hot laps for both divisions were time trials for the sprint cars running two at a time which made for a short session starting at 7:03 and competing at 7:18. Danny Dietrich set fast time with a lap of 17.222 seconds around the big half mile cutting three points off Macri’s 63 point lead and pocketing $300 for being fast timer.

One IMCA modified heat would be run before the sprint cars came out for their three heats so as to keep the down time to a minimum. All cars in each division would qualify for their respective features so the heats would only determine the redraw drivers for the sprint cars. Kody Hartlaub who had blossomed during PA Speedweek with some good showings, continued tonight by winning the first heat race over Steve Buckwalter, Danny Dietrich, Jake Karklin and Spencer Bayston. Heat two went to the steady Troy Wagaman Jr besting Mike Walter II, Devon Borden, Austin Bishop and T.J. Stutts. The third heat was claimed by Anthony Macri defeating Lucas Wolfe, Jessie Attard, Mark Smith and Jeff Halligan. The second IMCA modified heat followed and all heat qualifying was completed by 8:16. An unnecessary 50 minute track rework was performed which didn’t help a darn bit as it was as dusty as when the last heat ended!!

The 30 lap, $10,000 to win sprint car feature was first on the agenda with the front row of Kody Hartlaub and Danny Dietrich bringing the 23 car field to the green flag at 9:08. Hartlaub led the majority of the first lap but Dietrich moved by him off turn four to take the lead on the opening lap. Anthony Macri moved by Hartlaub for second on the second lap and the race was on. Cameron Smith spun between turns one and two bringing out the only caution of the race on lap two. On the restart Detrich led with Macri second with Troy Wagaman Jr using a turn three move to wrestle third from Hartlaub. Spencer Bayston was making up chunks of real estate marching from 14th to 7th by lap five but that was the high mark for the youngster from Lebanon, Indiana. He would languish around the middle of the top ten for the remainder of the event and eventually end up outside the top ten at the end.

Lap seven saw the leaders start to encounter lap traffic and began to weave their way through. Lucas Wolfe was the next driver to pass Hartlaub for fourth on the homestretch on lap twelve. Devon Borden dispatched Hartlaub out of the top five with a pass for fifth on lap fourteen. Borden continued his march catching Wolfe for fourth in turn one on lap eighteen. Justin Whittall who had mechanical woes before starting his heat, started twenty first and slipped by Wolfe for fifth on lap twenty three in his run to the front.

Meanwhile Dietrich was maintaining about a four car length gap on Macri up front as the laps ticked off. Whittall was able to pick off Borden for fourth in the last few laps but no one was catching Danny Dietrich as he raced under the checkers at 9:21 for his third win of PA Speedweek tying Macri for most wins in the ten day period. But it still was not enough as Dietrich fell 29 points short of unseating Macri for the point championship as Macri came across second at the finish. Troy Wagaman Jr finished third with Justin Whittall coming from twenty first to fourth and Devon Borden finishing fifth after starting ninth. Dietrich also did receive the Selinsgrove Ford 10 for 10 bonus of $5000 for finishing in the top ten in all the Speedweek races run.

Positions six through ten were filled by Lucas Wolfe, Blane Heimbach who started 20th and finished seventh. Hartlaub ended up eighth with T.J. Stutts ninth and Cameron Smith recovering from his early race spin to move from 19th to tenth at the finish. It was the end to a long, grueling week for drivers, crews and fans alike as the hot weather was a killer but everyone made it through and Macri won his second straight PA Speedweek point championship in the process. Macri finished 29 points ahead of Dietrich who finished 283 points ahead of third place, Troy Wagaman Jr so you can see it was a two dog race to the finish.

That’s it until next weekend as we return to Indiana and check back next Saturday to see where a typical weekend takes us. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. News, words of wisdom, sarcasm and other comments can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next. And in closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Wagner Breaks Through For First PA Speedweek Win At Port Royal

Saturday, July 6 – We arose early Saturday to drive over to Ephrata to visit the new home of Bill and Judy Burns, our friends for many years. First we met them at Gus’s Keystone Family Restaurant for a delicious, reasonably priced breakfast before venturing over to their new community where the new houses are built in 50’s Craftsman stye housing which was very impressive. Many years of happiness we wish upon the Burns’ in their retirement home.

Then it was north again for the second time this week to the Port Royal Speedway for round nine and race eight of the 34th edition of Pennsylvania Speedweek presented by the fine folks at Red Robin. It was another scorcher with temperatures peaking at 97 but as it turned to early evening sitting in the shade in the aluminum grandstands it was not that bad.

The same format as previous races would have time trials followed by four heats with the top five moving directly to the 30 lap, $10,000 to win Greg Hodnett Classic feature event. The heat winner and the top time trial guy that qualified in his heat would move to the redraw to determine the top eight starting positions for the main event unless the heat winner was also the top qualifier in that heat then one draw spot is eliminated. This race was being run in honor of the late and great Greg Hodnett who was killed in a 2018 sprint car crash at BAPS Motor Speedway while competing there. He was only 49 at the time of his passing and his wife, Sherry, continues his memory as she has established the Greg Hodnett Foundation to present two deserving young adults with $3000 scholarships for furthering their education. Five sprinters that Greg drove in the past were in attendance and paced the field before the 30 lap feature event began.

Time trials kicked off at 6:53 for the 39 car field on hand with Jeff Halligan setting fast time around the half mile oval to the tune of 15.820 seconds by the time the clock struck 7:27.

The first sprint car heat race would take the green flag at 8:02 as three cars dropped from competition prior to the heats leaving us with 36 to do battle for the 24 starting positions. Justin Whittall scored the win in heat one over Devon Borden, Michael Walter, Mike Wagner and Jeff Halligan. Heat two went to Danny Dietrich beating T.J. Stutts, Troy Wagaman Jr, Jake Karklin and Mark Smith. Heat three was won by Logan Wagner over Chase Dietz, Steve Buckwalter, Dylan Cisney and Austin Bishop. Brent Marks would capture the fourth heat besting Spencer Bayston, Anthony Macri, Lucas Wolfe and Brock Zearfoss. Macri’s #39M was sporting the Jim and Sandy Kline bright yellow #22 top wing to honor Hodnett on this evening.

The super late models, 22 in number, were the other division on the race card tonight and would do battle in three heats with everyone transferring to the A main. Justin Weaver garnered heat one over Hayes Mattern and 68 year old veteran, Gary Stuhler. Heat two fell to Rick Eckert besting Bryan Bernheisel and Colton Flinner. The three heat was won by Trever Feathers outdistancing Andrew Yoder and brother, Dylan Yoder. The super late models would not need a B main but the sprinters would.

Blane Heimbach, the dairy farmer from Selinsgrove, would jump out front at the beginning and win going away over Ryan Smith, Lance Dewease and Kody Hartlaub the last man in. All prelims were in the books and all that was left were the two feature events.

It was go time for the 410 sprints by 9:29 with the front row of Logan Wagner and Brent Marks bringing the 24 car field to the green flag. Wagner, known as “The Pilot,” because he is a private jet pilot during the week blasted into the early lead running up high against the railing in turns one and two. Wagner was setting a torrid pace in the early going catching the tail end of the field by lap six. Wagner went to work weaving his way through the traffic with Marks chasing in a high speed chase.

Anthony Macri caught and passed Marks for second in turn three on lap fifteen but Marks was not going to go away that easy as he returned the favor passing Macri back in turn two on the next lap. Lap nineteen saw the first of two cautions wave as Michael Walter slowed on the homestretch to bring out the yellow flag. On the restart Wagner was gone again leaving Marks and Macri to do battle. Danny Dietrich made his presence known passing Macri in turn four on lap twenty. One lap later the second and final caution would fly when the mayor of Port Royal, Dylan Cisney, slowed down the backstretch stopping on the track.

On the ensuing restart Wagner hit the throttle and was at the point again with Macri racing past Dietrich down the backstretch past the houses off that straightway and back into third. T.J. Stutts also picked off Dietrich to take over fourth on the backstretch on lap twenty four. Dietrich would fade further back possibly because of tire wear or contact with the turn two wall and drop out of the top five in the late stages of the race. Meanwhile, Wagner in the legendary Kreitz blue #69K wrenched by 90 year old Davey Brown was not to be denied his first Pennsylvania Speedweek win as he breezed to the win flashing under the checkers at 9:44 for the big win over Marks, Macri, Justin Whittall and T.J. Stutts in a fine run from 11th to fifth at the finish. Devon Borden came across the line sixth followed by Mike Wagner, the hard charger from 15th to seventh with Dietrich ending up eighth, Chase Dietz ninth and Troy Wagaman Jr tenth. Macri will take a 66 point lead into the final Sunday at Selinsgrove and barring anything major should capture the 2024 PA Speedweek point title.

We still had 25 laps of super late model action to spin off before the evening was completed and at 10:02 the green cloth waved on the 22 car starting field. Justin Weaver was quick to the early lead and would hold sway through three cautions to go onto his first career win in the super late models at Port Royal fending off Andrew Yoder with Colton Flinner third, Rick Eckert advancing from eighth to fourth and Hayes Mattern rounding out the top five as the clock hit 10:19 wrapping up the good night of high speed racing at the Speed Palace.

That’s it for this report but check back tomorrow for the last night of Pennsylvania Speedweek where the point championship will be determined at the half mile speed plant of the Selinsgrove Speedway located in Snyder County along the picturesque Susquehanna River. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area on a Sunny Sunday and be safe out there and stay hydrated. Comments, news, tidbits of information or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and for your input. In closing be good and be kind to everyone you meet as you don’t know what a kind word or a smile could do for that person.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Macri Collects Third Win Of PA Speedweek In Wire To Wire Run At Williams Grove

Friday, July 5 – I hope we get a break from this hot and humid weather with temperatures in the mid 90’s and a heat index over 104 degrees. It makes trying to do anything outside miserable and that includes watching races. We can’t imagine how hot it is for the crews and drivers on such a day. We hung out at our Home2 in Mechanicsburg until 2:30 and then made our way over to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Fiesta Mexico, for an excellent meal before driving the short distance over to the track. We secured a good parking space and sat in the SUV in the AC until closer to start time. Before climbing up into the aluminum grandstands we bought ice cream once again with Pat choosing black raspberry while I opted for peanut butter swirl. It was cool and delicious!!

Once up in the grandstands we chatted with Bezz and Karen and Milt before settling in to watch time trials for the 32 sprints on hand. The two at a time around the half mile made quick work of qualifying for the group starting at 7:44 and wrapping up at 8:07. Anthony Macri set another fast time with a lap of 17.102 seconds and claimed $300 for his efforts. Tonight was the 36th Mitch Smith Memorial honoring one of Central Pennsylvania’s early stars of open cockpit racing who left a mark on all who saw him run with his exciting racing style. Tonight’s race would pay a cool $20,000 to win and some invaders including Brent Marks, Logan Schuchart, Daryn Pittman, Brock Zearfoss, Skylar Gee and Spencer Bayston were in town to try to steal the big bucks from the PA regulars.

The first of four heat races taking the top five directly into the 30 lap main event would follow. Brent Marks raced away from the field to an easy win in heat one beating Lance Dewease, Chad Trout, Chase Dietz and Steve Buckwalter. Heat two went to Lucas Wolfe over Danny Dietrich, Cameron Smith, Troy Wagaman Jr and Justin Whittall. Wagaman busted a driveline completely after crossing the finish line and the Heffner crew went to work on the car to try to make repairs before the feature race. Heat three went to Oklahoma’s Daryn Pittman steering the Krietz #69K to victory over T.J. Stutts, Anthony Macri, Ryan Smith and Ryan Taylor. The fourth heat was captured by Freddie Rahmer in the Eichelberger #8 outrunning Mike Wagner, Logan Schuchart, Kody Hartlaub and Brock Zearfoss.

Fireworks were next on the agenda and a good display was witness by all as the track crew worked the surface to make it the best that they could. The B main followed the fireworks with Mike Walter II winning this affair over Spencer Bayston, Skylar Gee and Devon Borden. The feature race was next on the dance card with the Heffner crew still working to repair their sprinter. Time ran out as the first alternate was called to the track and Jeff Halligan in the #1W was in the field.

It was 9:54 when the green flag waved on the front row of Anthony Macri and Chad Trout with Macri quickly moving into the lead. Brent Marks was making some early moves advancing from sixth to third in two laps. By lap seven Macri had reached lap traffic at the end of the field and began to work his way around the slower cars. Marks was beginning to close the gap on Trout as they raced for second position by lap nine. The only caution of the event flew on lap eleven when Ryan Smith lost the handle and spun between turns three and four. On the restart Macri was quick on the throttle jumping back out to a comfortable lead leaving the rest of the top five to do battle among themselves. Devon Borden had made great progress storming from twenty third to twelfth at this point but would only gain one more spot over the next nineteen laps but still would garner the hard charger award.

On lap fourteen Logan Schuchart made his move taking fourth with a high side pass of Freddie Rahmer in turn two and was looking for more. Schuchart sped by Marks for third also in turn two on lap twenty six but Marks countered and retook the spot in turn three. Meanwhile Macri was cruising up front and easily crossed the line first at 10:10 notching his third win of Pennsylvania Speedweek and taking a 36 point lead over Danny Dietrich into the final two rounds tomorrow and Sunday in a two dog race. Trout crossed the line for a fine second with Marks third, Schuchart fourth and Rahmer closing out the top five. Positions six through ten were filled by Lance Dewease, Lucas Wolfe, Dietrich, T.J. Stutts and Chase Dietz.

Ran into the creator of Hoseheads.com, Allan Holland and the guy who lets us write our columns for his site when exiting in the parking lot and had a short conversation with him before departing. It was good seeing you Allan!!

That’s it for this round and check back tomorrow to see what happens at round nine of Pennsylvania Speedweek at Port Royal Speedway. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun and stay hydrated. Comments, news and any other information can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the kind words you sent along. Be good and be kind to everyone you meet.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Schuchart Doubles Up With PA Speedweek Win At Hagerstown

Thursday, July 4 – Today’s weather was the big story on our nation’s Independence Day as the temperature soared into the 90’s and the humidity was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was instant wet t-shirt weather as soon as you stepped out in the life sucking humidity. We ate lunch at title sponsor of Pennsylvania Speedweek, Red Robin, before venturing down the road into the state of Maryland for night seven and race six of the series. There was a threat of thunderstorms during the day but a dry drive until we were within five miles of the track was the case. As we exited I-81 we encountered rain as we traveled east. Along the route we noticed a Sheetz gas station with prices of $2.45, twenty four cents cheaper than the fuel in Pennsylvania! So on exit from the races tonight a stop for fuel was in order. As we drove closer to the track the rain intensified with high wiper speed the order of the day. We pulled into the parking lot in a steady rain and the parking attendants were still doing their job (which was appreciated) as they directed us to a good spot closer to the exit as if you have ever been at Hagerstown, you know that is only one way out and everyone is funneling up that road. We sat in rain for about another 15 minutes before it began to let up. The race fans were ready to see some racing so almost as the drops subsided, they exited their vehicles and headed for the ticket booth to secure their seats in the large aluminum grandstands on the homestretch. We soon followed and it was good to be back at the ½ mile Hagerstown Speedway with the red clay and the nice facilities. The track had been prepared and closed up before the rains began and the track crew felt that it would be ready to go at the scheduled time for hot laps which was 7:30. They were almost on the mark with the first sprint car circling the track at around 7:45. Joining us on the evening would be Pocono Mountain residents, Guy and Pam Smith, making the three hour tow from up north to join us on this evening. Ice cream was the first order of business once situated in our seats taking the lead of the Smith’s who purchased the first order shortly after their arrival. Soon Pat and I each had a dish of strawberry and black raspberry ice cream in our hands respectively and it was delicious especially on this hot, hot night.

Time trials were the first order of business after hot laps were given for all 31 sprinters in attendance with the first of two cars at a time taking the green flag at 8:18. By 8:39 Justin Whittall had stopped the clocks with the fastest time of 15.247 seconds around the ½ mile red clay oval. Next order of business was the first group of the Eastern Motorsports Museum vintage cars taking a cruise around the track.

After that it was time to spin off the three eight lap heat races for the sprint cars with the format of six to qualify with the winner and the fastest qualifying driver moving to the redraw to determine the top six starting positions. Kody Hartlaub would streak out front in the first heat and win going away with Anthony Macri, Justin Whittall, Freddie Rahmer, Mike Wagner and Robbie Kendall making his first start of the series trailing. Heat two went to the Heffner #27 steed with Troy Wagaman Jr at the controls winning the race over Danny Dietrich, Chad Trout, Jacob Allen, Devon Borden and Billy Dietrich. The third and final heat was captured by Logan Schuchart beating T.J. Stutts and Lance Dewease returning to the sight of his first ever sprint car win of his long and successful career. Camerson Smith, Kyle Reinhardt and Skylar Gee were the other three qualifiers.

After a second round of another division of vintage race cars it was time to spin off the sprint car B main with twelve cars battling for the last six positions into tonight’s 30 lap, $10,000 to win feature event. Lucas Wolfe would claim the win in this one over Ryan Smith, Australian Jessie Attard, Derek Hauck, Dylan Norris and Michael Walter being the last man in just ahead of Jason Loss. Hunter Mackinson, another first time competitor in the series, took an end over end flip in turn two during the B main and he was OK after the incident. Another round of vintage cars consisting of sprints and super sportsman preceded the start of the 30 lap PA Speedweek contest.

By 10:18 we were ready to go feature racing with the front row of Logan Schuchart and Troy Wagaman Jr bringing the 24 car field to the green flag. Schuchart was quick on the loud pedal taking the early lead, one he would relinquish for the remainder of the event. Danny Dietrich was making early hay slicing from his eighth starting position up to fifth by lap two. Lap five saw Dietrich continue his march forward with a backstretch pass of Justin Whittall for fourth. Schuchart began to encounter lap traffic by lap ten allowing Wagaman to close the gap on Schuchart to within three car lengths. Schuchart was able to keep the distance between him and Wagaman to a comfortable margin as they worked their way through the end of the field. Meanwhile, Dietrich gained another spot when he raced by Kody Hartlaub in traffic off turn four on lap thirteen. Anthony Macri had worked his way up from seventh to fourth by lap eighteen and he was not done gaining positions. One lap later the only caution of the event waved as Michael Walter slowed to a stop off turn four. On the restart Schuchart held sway with Wagaman in tow. Macri blasted by Dietrich racing through turn two on lap twenty five and then dove low on Wagaman and executed a slider in turn three moving momentarily into second but Wagaman would have none of this and countered low off turn four to regain the runner-up position as they raced to the line to start lap twenty six. Meanwhile Schuchart had checked out once again and at 10:31 the Shark Racing #1S flashed across the line first for his second PA Speedweek win of the week. Troy Wagaman Jr finished second with Anthony Macri third, Danny Dietrich fourth and Justin Whittall rounding out the top five. Chad Trout led the second five across the line in sixth with Lance Dewease seventh, Kody Hartlaub eighth, T.J. Stutts ninth and Devon Borden advancing from 14th to tenth. After tonight’s action Dietrich leads Macri by 30 points in the PA Speedweek standings with three races to go.

It was a fast paced race on a juiced up surface and hats off to the Hagerstown track crew for whipping the surface back into shape after the afternoon rain and allowing the good crowd on hand to watch some good sprint car racing on the evening. And for us it was nice to return to a track that we have not been to in at least 15 to 20 years and see that it is still looking good.

That’s it for this report and don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see who wins race seven of night eight of Pennsylvania Speedweek as the grueling ten straight days of racing continues with the weather to be hell like hot today with temperatures in the mid 90’s and the heat index even higher. So be safe out there and stay hydrated as this hot, hot weather is upon us. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Macri Scores Second Win Of PA Sprintweek At Port Royal

Wednesday, July 3 – Today was another pleasant day with partially sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 80’s as we made our way northward along the shores of the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers to the small town of Port Royal, home of the Juniata County Fairgrounds and the ½ mile oval known as the Speed Palace, the Port Royal Speedway. The mayor of Port Royal is Dylan Cisney, also a 410 sprint car driver at the track. The community is very race oriented and supports the track wholeheartedly even lowering a sprint car on New Year’s Eve from a pole to ring in the new year!! When you sit in the huge aluminum grandstands and look out over the town which surrounds the fairgrounds with the mountains in the background it is an awesome sight to behold. It is like looking at a picture post card and is so beautiful to behold.

Two divisions of open wheel sprint cars were on the card for this evening, the actual fifth race of the series though it is the sixth stop with Lincoln having been rained out this past Saturday. The high point of 410 sprints was reached tonight with 39 entries and the United Racing Club (URC) 360 sprints brought 31 sprints to race tonight in Juniata County. Time trials were first on the agenda with the first car pushing off at 6:35 and the last one tripping the clock at 7:03. Chase Dietz, the driver of the Zemco #1 at Port Royal, was fastest of the lot turning a lap of 15.953 seconds around the half mile oval to garner the $250 fast timer award. After URC sprint hot laps, it was time for the first of four heat races with the top five locking into the 30 lap main event while the heat winner and fastest timer who qualified within the top five moving to the redraw where the top eight starting positions for the main event would be determined.

Heat one would go to Derek Hauck of Allenwood in his #33H over Billy Dietrich, Kody Lehman, Mike Wagner and Chase Dietz. Heat two was captured by Logan Wagner of Harrisonville aboard the Krietz #69K over WOO invader, Brock Zearfoss, with Danny Dietrich third, Troy Wagaman Jr fourth and Jeff Halligan taking fifth. Heat three was taken by High Limit runner, Brent Marks, a PA boy from Myerstown, over Anthony Macri, Ryan Smith, Garrett Bard, a 305 sprint graduate, and Kyle Reinhardt. Michael Walter of Selinsgrove nailed down heat four in impressive fashion outdistancing Justin Whittall, Devon Borden, Lance DeWease and Emerson Axsom from Indiana.

Three URC sprint heats were next on the dance card with the top six moving into their 25 lap feature later in the evening. Derek Locke of Mechanicsburg claimed heat one over Adam Carberry, Robbie Stillwagon, JT Ferry from our Hoseheads creator’s hometown of Drums, Ron Helmick and Tyler Ulrich. Heat two went to Seth Schnoke of Pine Grove over Jake Karklin, Doug Hammaker, Josh Weller, Reese Nowotarski and Owen Dimm. The third and final heat was won by Tyler Ross of Lincoln University over Kyle Smith of Massachusetts, Cody Fletcher, Ken Meisner, Hayden Miller and Jacob Galloway.
After a half hour track rework, it was time for the 410 sprint B main and a wild scene unfolded before the start of the race when the cars were lining up to begin the race. Freddie Rahmer at full throttle stormed down the homestretch and Vince Snyder who must have been unaware that Rahmer was coming, pulled to the right with Rahmer ramping over Snyder’s right rear tire and launching into a series of wild flips. Rahmer quickly emerged from the upside down sprinter which was wrecked quite extensively.

With the top four moving onto the rear of the feature starting lineup it was Steve Buckwalter of Royersford winning over Austin Bishop, Jessie Attard and Lucas Wolfe. The URC sprint B main was next with Stockton, New Jersey’s Jared Kreider taking the win over Preston Lattomus, Brandon McGough, Frankie Herr, Devin Gundrum and Brett Wanner to qualify for their feature race. All qualifying was completed by 9:49 and as the URC sprints exited the track the 410 sprints rolled out of the turn four gate to be pushed off for their 30 lap, $10,000 to win PA Sprintweek event.

The 30 lap Pennsylvania Speedweek feature was led to the green flag by Michael Walter and Chase Dietz at 10:01 with Walter going to the lead in turn one. Walter would proceed to lead the first 12 laps of the race with Dietz, Marks, Macri and Danny Dietrich in pursuit. Lap nine saw second place runner, Dietz, bounce off the turn three fencing and ride it into turn four until pulling his sprinter off and continuing but not before Brent Marks sailed by for second. Lap twelve saw Macri and Dietrich move by the wounded Dietz for third and fourth on the grid. Marks raced with Walter down the backstretch and into turns three and four before Marks was able to clear Walter to claim the lead on lap thirteen. Macri would power by Walter for second on the homestretch one lap later while Logan Wagner cracked the top five on the same lap. The only caution of the race would fly on lap fifteen when Brock Zearfoss slowed on the homestretch to slow the action.

On the restart Marks assumed the point using the high side up against the fencing while Macri who is usually a rim rider also chose to work on Marks using the bottom groove. The two combatants went at it tooth and nail until Macri was able to make the low side pass in turn four on lap nineteen. Wagner took fourth with a backstretch pass of Dietrich on the same lap. Wagner advanced another position with a turn three pass for third on lap twenty five as Macri sailed away in the lead. The last five laps spun off rapidly with Macri crossing the start/finish line at 10:14 for his second win of PA Speedweek beating Marks with Logan Wagner third, Danny Dietrich fourth and Kody Lehman in a late charge completing a fine run from 11th to fifth at the finish. Walter would end up sixth at the end with Dietz seventh, Justin Whittall eighth, Billy Dietrich ninth and Lance DeWease finishing tenth after starting seventeenth.

There was still one other race to contest and by 10:35 the green would drop on the 25 lap URC sprint feature but would quickly be replaced by the red flag as a massive turn one crash had four cars flipping in the melee. The cars of Kyle Smith, Seth Schnoke, Jacob Galloway and Kruz Kepner all got upside down and the good part was everyone was OK after the nasty crash. On the restart fourth starting Tyler Ross was quick to get to the front and paced the field. On the only other caution of the race Jake Karklin was able to challenge Ross for the lead with the pair racing side by side for several laps with Karklin edging ahead for a brief time. Ross was able to battle back and reclaim the lead which he would not relinquish for the remainder of the race coming home the winner at 11 PM with Karklin second, Dale Hammaker third, Cody Fletcher fourth and Derek Locke moving from eighth to fifth at the finish.

It was a good night of racing at the Speed Palace and we left happy with what we had witnessed.

Check back tomorrow as we head south on I-81 into Maryland to take in the next round of Pennsylvania Speedweek and read what went on in this outing. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road and see some different racing. Either way be safe out there and stay hydrated. Comments, points of interest and any other news or tidbits can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you continue to enjoy our musings of what we see and encounter. Until next time be good and be kind.

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Schuchart Wins In Return To PA In Tight Duel At Grandview

Tuesday, July 2 – Temperatures in the low 80’s with sunshine greeted us today as we prepared for race four of the 34th Pennsylvania Sprint Week presented by Red Robin at the Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, PA. The 1/3 mile dirt oval is a standard stop during the week of speed but is not in Central Pennsylvania and is during the week so many of the normal Central PA teams do not support this race. Hence the smallest of the four nights of racing with 24 entrants awaited us on this evening along with 26 of the weekly 358 modifieds that race here on a typical Saturday night. Our hour and forty five minute drive from Mechanicsburg found us arriving at 5 PM and thanks to the seat saving expertise of Rich Rauser we had good seats just one row from the top of the homestretch grandstands next to friends, Kerry and Cindy Meitzler, for the night of racing action.

On tap this evening was the Hodnett Cup, named after Greg Hodnett, who won many times here during sprint car competition at the track on the hill. His widow, Sherry, has graciously donated one of his trophies to be presented to the winner of this race with their name permanently engraved upon it.

Time trials were the first order of business commencing at 7:07. Logan Schuchart with a week off from World of Outlaw competition and with all their drivers granted a free week of racing without using their four free race cards decided to come home to the Hanover area and race with the PA regulars during their sprint week. He was able to set fast time (12.073 seconds) in only his second ever appearance at Grandview, the first one being 12 years ago.

From there we proceeded into the sprint car heats after some track maintenance was performed with three heats for the 24 car field with everyone moving into the 35 lap, $10,000 to win feature event. The winner of the heat and the quickest timer finishing behind would move into the redraw which would determine the top six starters in tonight’s Hodnett Cup. Danny Dietrich was able off the draw jumping out front in the first heat going away to win over Skyler Gee, Aaron Bollinger in this third different car of the series and Logan Schuchart. Devon Borden took heat two looking for redemption after last night’s tough decision winning over Troy Wagaman Jr, Anthony Macri and Ryan Taylor. The third heat went to Australian Jesse Attard taking nicely to the cozy confines of Grandview spanking the field in winning heat three besting Kody Hartlaub, Emerson Axsom and Lucas Wolfe.

The three 358 modified heats were won by names from the ‘90’s at Grandview who are still going strong at this track them being Craig VonDohren, Duane Howard and Doug Manmiller. After these heats were spun off it was another track rework to the tune of a half hour before the 35 lap sprint car feature was called trackside.

The front row of Logan Schuchart and Anthony Macri would bring the 24 car field to the green flag at 9:04 and this race would go flag to flag without a caution. Macri took the lead in turn three from Schuchart on the opening lap and paced the field over the early going. The leaders already reached lap traffic by lap four and Macri and Schuchart began to pick their way through the tail enders. Schuchart closed on Macri in the traffic and executed a turn two high side pass of Macri to grab the lead on lap nine. The front two see-sawed back and forth exchanging sliders and the lead as the field passed the halfway mark in a high speed chase. Meanwhile behind the front two Devon Borden was first having a battle with Jesse Attard before Attard faded and Danny Dietrich arrived upon the scene as the race for third heated up also. Canadian Skyler Gee also threw his helmet into the fray with these three locking up in a great duel. Lap twenty saw Macri draw side by side with Schuchart but was not able to pull off the pass at that time. Macri reloaded and racing down the backstretch on lap twenty three pulled the trigger and blew by Schuchart for the lead.

Schuchart was not done by any stretch of the imagination as he found the inside to his liking after using the top side most of the race and hammered the throttle under Macri off turn four on lap twenty eight to once again assume the top position. Schuchart opened up a small lead in the next few laps but Macri recovered and was on his tail tank by lap thirty two. The pair raced around the oval like two dancers in a high speed dance and on the final lap Macri made one last charge blasting into turn three and sliding up into the turn three wall almost ruining his night but recovered off the wall to race home second behind Schuchart at 9:13 in the non-stop contest. Borden came home third with Dietrich fourth and Skyler Gee rounding out the top five. Emerson Axsom ended up sixth with Troy Wagaman Jr seventh, Kyle Reinhardt the hard charger eighth after starting fourteenth, Kody Hartlaub ninth and young Dylan Norris rounding out the top ten.

We sat around some listening to the top three interviews and chatting with our many friends before realizing the track rework being done was going to be extensive before the 358 modified race so we decided to pack up and head toward the exit to make the hour and forty five minute trip back to central Pennsylvania for a good night’s sleep. This was the 155th Thunder on the Hill race presented by Bob Miller and thanks to him for bringing us some great open wheel action to the track on the hill and all his hospitality to us over the years.

Whoever said that you can’t go home again was wrong and Logan Schuchart is glad they were. Schuchart and the Shark Racing Team have been having a trying year so far in 2024 with only one win (coming last week at Cedar Lake) so after finishing fourth at Lincoln last night and with this win tonight hopefully Shark Racing has turned the corner and only better results are awaiting them.

That’s it for this segment but that is not all as we continue on the Pennsylvania Sprint Week tour heading northward to the beautiful Tuscarora Valley nestled at the foot of the Tuscarora Mountain where the picturesque town of Port Royal is located and the home of the Port Royal Speedway known as the Speed Palace where round five will take up tonight. In the meantime, get out there and catch some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, words of wisdom, news and stories can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope that you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Macri Breaks Through For PA Sprint Week Win At Lincoln

Monday, July 1 – The month of July is upon us and today the weather was less oppressive than yesterday with temperatures only in the upper 80’s, much less humidity but the sun was still intense. Tonight’s action would be at the 3/8 mile clay oval in the Pigeon Hills of Pennsylvania near Gettysburg outside the small town of Abbottstown. Thirty six sprint cars were in attendance with the addition of the Shark Racing team of both Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen. The World Racing Group has allowed its drivers to compete on the fourth of July week anywhere they want without using their allotment of 4 mulligans due to the number of rainouts recently. On the card with the sprinters were cars of the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in nearby York Springs driving some exhibition laps to show the crowd some of the cars of yesteryear.

Time trial activity pushed off at 7:36 and by 7:59 Anthony Macri had set fast time of 13.461 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval. It was worth an additional $250 for his efforts. After some early midgets and sprints along with earlier late models and modifieds touring the oval, it was time to begin the 410 sprint car heats.

Before I go into the heats, I wanted to make a correction on some information I gave you yesterday. I stated that the winner and second place finisher of the heat races went into the redraw for the first eight starting positions but that is incorrect as it is the winner and the highest finishing time trialer from each heat that lock into the redraw. Anyhow there would be four heats with the top five locking into the 30 lap main event with the rest getting a second chance to qualify in the B main with the top four advancing into the A main.

The first heat was surprisingly won, not because of the driver but because of the margin that he won by, as Chad Trout dominated the race beating Anthony Macri, Cameron Smith, Aaron Bollinger and Danny Dietrich. Heat two was captured by Devon Borden outdistancing Troy Wagaman Jr, Logan Schuchart, Chase Dietz and newcomer, Emerson Axsom from Indiana. Heat three went to the impressive youngster, Kody Hartlaub, besting Matt Campbell, Dylan Norris, Kyle Reinhardt and JJ Loss making his first sprint week A main. A backstretch tangle on the opening lap found Tyler Ross and Hartlaub tangling with Ross bouncing off Hartlaub, careening into the inside fence and twirling around before rolling onto his side in the incident. Ross was OK and would return to run the B main. The veteran Lucas Wolfe claimed heat four outrunning Brandon Rahmer, Jacob Allen, Logan Rumsey (the 358 driver with 410 power making his second straight main) and TJ Stutts. Kyle Moody was not too happy with the sprinter who lambasted him in the middle of turn four sending him over onto his side and was dropped off by a jeep in turn one under caution to voice his displeasure.

After another round of old sprint cars from the EMOMR it was time for the sprint car B main. Freddie Rahmer who did not look good in his heat race won this affair over Billy Dietrich, Tyler Ross and Jordan Givler with all prelims in the books by 9:22.

Next up was the 30 lap, $10,000 to win Red Robin sponsored PA Sprint Week feature event. The green waved at 9:49 on the front row of Kory Hartlaub and Matt Campbell off turn four but by the time they crossed the start/finish line third starter, Devon Borden, was three wide and almost took the lead in turn one but Hartlaub pulled slightly ahead (remember this move as it came into play later in the event). Borden wrestled lead away from Hartlaub in turn two on lap three to become the new leader. Anthony Macri who started fifth took second from Hartlaub in turns three and four on lap five. Matt Campbell grabbed third on the homestretch on lap ten from Hartlaub as the action continued. The leaders hit lap traffic by lap thirteen and began to weave their way through the back markers. Logan Schuchart made his way up to fourth with a turn one pass on lap seventeen. Three laps later the caution appeared on lap twenty and this is where the fun began. At this point leader, Devon Borden, was set back two positions for jumping on the original start and he was none too happy about it. But if you look at the official rulebook it states clearly, “any car not in nose to tail formation, not to either side of the cars ahead or they will be subject to jumping penalties which is two spots for each car jumped.” That is why Borden was set back giving Macri the lead on the lap twenty restart. With clean air in front of him Macri pulled steadily away as Borden worked his way past Hartlaub for second but could not get close to Macri. At 10:04 Macri flashed across the finish line first for his tenth overall win of 2024 and first of PA Speed Week snapping the two race win streak of Danny Dietrich.

Devon Borden had to settle for second with Kody Hartlaub third in a good run, Logan Schuchart fourth and Troy Wagaman Jr from ninth to fifth at the finish. Matt Campbell finished sixth with Danny Dietrich seventh from seventeenth and the hard charger award and retaining his PA Sprint Week points lead. Chad Trout took down eighth with Dylan Norris ninth and Lucas Wolfe rounding out the top ten.

A decent night of racing with the nighttime being very pleasant temperature wise.

That’s it for now but check back tomorrow as we head toward the track on the hill in Bechtelsville, the Grandview Speedway for racing night four of Pennsylvania Sprint Week. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun and stay hydrated. Comments, news, stories of interest or stats of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the comments you say to us or send to us. And in closing be good and be kind to one another, you never know what the person that you cross paths with is enduring and a smile or cheery greeting can mean to them.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain At Lincoln & Dietrich Makes It Two In A Row At BAPS

Saturday, June 29 – Night two of Pennsylvania Sprint Week was scheduled at the Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown with the weather looking sketchy at best. We decided to only buy one ticket and Pat ventured in early to secure us some good seats and returned to the Equinox to bask in the air conditioning until returning before time trials began. I kept checking the weather and the prospects were 60 to 75 percent chance of thunderstorms so I decided to sit it out in the car until they were ready to bring out the first heat. After time trials ended, they were calling the sprinters to the track for the first heat when some rain hit the speedway so they went into rain delay. I kept wavering between they might get it into no way are they going to run. Pat came back to the SUV to sit out the rain delay and when we saw Danny Dietrich’s rig pulling behind us on the exit road with the skies darkening, we tucked ourselves into the exit line and just as we turned the corner to exit the parking lot the skies let loose. We have to give it to Lincoln as they try to run if at all possible but tonight it was not possible. So, night two became the first rainout of the ten day run.

Sunday, June 30 – Today it was sunny but oh so humid as it felt like you opened the oven door when you walked outside. It was one of those days that your shirt was soaked in the back just from walking around at the track. Today’s racing was at the BAPS Motor Speedway located in York Haven and we arrived early and secured a parking spot facing the exit road. We sat in the SUV with the AC running until the gates opened then we headed for the front gates to stake down our seats. We ended up moving up to the top row when Bezz waved us up as he had extra seats available when his wife and some others didn’t show up. It was good seeing some other of our PA race friends such as Mark Garman, his son, Harry, and his girlfriend, Bailey. Also we ran into Rich Rauser, John Hopple and Dan Cohen in the parking lot and had a lively conversation.

By 6:30 it was hot lap time and with rain not far away we believe management decided not to add any additional water but it never rained after an afternoon shower passed through. So it was one of those damn if you do, damned if you don’t times. It was dusty and slick but the racing went on and that is what we came for. A good crowd turned out for the night’s activities and that was good for everyone.

Time trials commenced at 6:47 and by 7:26 young shoe, Kody Hartlaub, the new hired gun for the John Trone #39, set fast time with a lap of 16.119 seconds.

That led us into the first super sportsman heat with the green flag waving at 7:36. Matt Ondek would score the win over Mike Enders and Troy Rhome. In a wise move of time management, the powers to be at BAPS then ran the four 410 sprint car heats before returning to the other two super sportsman heats to allow the 410’s some time to prepare for their B main. Two more heat races were run for the 22 car field of super sportsman with Russ Mitten grabbing the win in heat two over Timmie Barrick and Kevin Gutshall. The third heat went to Kenny Edkin who walked away in this one beating brother, John, and Allan Hallman. The super sportsman were always one of our favorite classes in their prime but nowadays it seems the number of cars has dissipated and the competition is not as stout. In their glory years at Silver Spring Speedway, they drew fields of upwards of 50+ cars every week and it was not uncommon for one week’s feature winner to not qualify the following week due to the stiff competition. Sometimes you don’t realize what you had until it is no longer there. Not trying to take away from the current teams and drivers but it is not as good as it used to be.

The thirty six 410 sprinters on hand tonight would battle in four heats with the top five moving directly into the 30 lap main event later in the evening. The first and two place finishers would have a redraw to determine the top eight starting positions for the feature. Heat one fell to Anthony Macri in a cakewalk beating Tyler Ross, Kody Hartlaub, Troy Wagaman Jr and Mark Smith. Heat two was conquered by Chase Dietz over Freddie Rahmer, New Yorker, Jonathan Preston, Kyle Moody and Alberta, Canada’s Skylar Gee. Heat three was captured by Danny Dietrich besting Cameron Smith, Dylan Norris, Aaron Bollinger and Logan Rumsey. The fourth and final heat was taken by New Jersey’s Kyle Reinhardt over Billy Dietrich, brother of Danny, Devon Borden, Kody Lehman and Domenic Melair.

After the two other super sportsman heats the sprint B main was called to the post with the top four only moving into the 30 lap feature event. TJ Stutts would claim the win in this one over Dallas Schott, Gerard McIntyre Jr and Lucas Wolfe, the last man in. All qualifying was completed by 8:55.

Next up would be the 30 lap, $10,000 to win PA Sprint Week feature with the green flag waving on the 24 car field at 9:21. Danny Dietrich would take the lead on the high side of turn two on the opening lap with fourth starting Anthony Macri slipping into second also on the opening lap. The first caution waved on lap two when Jonathan Preston lost the handle and spun in turn three. On the restart Dietrich was at the point with Macri right in his tire tracks with Kyle Reinhardt in third. Two more laps were spun off until the second and final caution waved on lap four for a Cameron Smith spin in turn four.

Danny Dietrich was quick on the gas for the restart and began to pull away from Macri and the rest of the field. Lap twelve found the leaders approaching lap traffic which allowed Macri to close the gap. Meanwhile, Freddie Rahmer was slicing his way forward in the Eichelberger #8 from his tenth starting position passing for fifth on the backstretch on lap fourteen. Macri was beginning to pressure Dietrich for the lead as he powered on the high side banging the turn two fencing in successive laps after the halfway mark. Rahmer gained another position on lap twenty one moving by Skylar Gee into fourth. As the laps ticked down Dietrich established his lead to five car lengths and Macri was not able to mount another serious challenge. The checkers waved at 9:37 with Dietrich taking his second straight PA Sprint Week win and his 20th career win at BAPS tying him with Bobby Abel for 12th on the all-time win list and passing Bobby Gerhart and Mitch Smith. Macri finished second with Reinhardt third, Rahmer fourth and Tyler Ross rounding out the top five. Positions six through ten were filled by Skylar Gee, Billy Dietrich, Chase Dietz, Mark Smith, the hard charger from 18th to ninth and fast timer, Kody Hartlaub rounding out the top ten.

We still had the 25 lap super sportsman feature to run with the front row of Allan Hallman and Troy Rhome bringing the 22 car field to the green flag at 9:56. Rhome took the early lead but that was short lived as third starting Kenny Edkin powered by for the lead in turn four on the opening lap. This one was pretty much over at this point though Scott Dellinger made some runs at Edkin on the six restarts. But when it was said and done at 10:21 it was Kenny Edkin in for his 36th career win at BAPS, tops for the super sportsman division here, besting Scott Dellinger with John Edkins up from ninth to third. Russ Mitten advanced from eighth to fourth with Jay Fannasy came from 13th to claim fifth as the cream rose to the top in the top five.

It wasn’t the best racing but it was an enjoyable night as the weather cooled nicely after the sun went down and we were glad to get in another night of racing as other people’s travel stories coming to the track running through heavy rain made us appreciate that BAPS was able to present a program tonight and it didn’t turn into our second straight night with a rainout.

Come back tomorrow as round three of PA Sprint Week travels back to the Lincoln Speedway where the virtual flagger will wave off the field on a Monday night. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or hightail it out to the Pigeon Hills of Pennsylvania for tonight’s action. Either way, have fun, stay hydrated and be safe. Comments, news, stories of anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for coming along on our travels and hope you enjoy the musings of our trips. So be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Dietrich Sweeps PA Sprint Week Opener At Williams Grove

Friday, June 28 – After stopping in Fleetwood, PA to visit Pat’s 92 year old aunt and others in the family it was time to head west to the Mechanicsburg area for night one of Pennsylvania Speed Week being held at the Williams Grove Speedway. It was a hot day with temperatures in the mid-80’s but a nice breeze made it pleasant enough. Thirty four 410 sprints and twenty seven 358 sprints were signed into the pit area to do battle on night one of the grueling 10 straight days at seven different tracks that is called PA Sprint Week for the 34th time. We sat with friends, Bezz and Karen, tonight on what was my 69th birthday so I was hoping for a good present and Williams Grove came through on this evening.

Sprint car time trials would start off the evening commencing at 7:35 with two sprinters at a time taking their turn trying to be the fastest. When it was all said and done at 8:00 it was Danny Dietrich standing on the homestretch being interviewed after stopping the clocks with the fast time of 18.560 seconds around the half mile dirt oval.

Next on the schedule were three heats for the 27 358 sprints with Jude Siegel, son of Jim and third generation driver, taking the first heat over Doug Hammaker, Wyatt Hinkle and Cole Knopp. Heat two was captured by Seth Schnoke, a newcomer in only his fourth start, besting Derek Locke, Logan Rumsey and Scott Fisher. The third heat fell to veteran Chad Criswell beating Preston Lattomus, Dylan Norris and Kyle Spence.

Danny Dietrich would keep his chances for a sweep of the evening alive, copping the first heat win with a spectacular pass for the lead in turn four over the mayor of Port Royal, Dylan Cisney, Freddie Rahmer, Logan Wagner and his father, Mike Wagner. Troy Wagaman Jr would bring the Mike Heffner #27 home first in heat two over Devon Borden, Chase Dietz, Tony Jackson and Aaron Bollinger. Ryan Taylor rolled his sprinter in this one over in turn three and was OK after climbing from the wrecked sprinter. Heat three was claimed by Anthony Macri by a country mile (over 10 seconds) trumping Kody Hartlaub, Ryan Smith, Lucas Wolfe and Jeff Halligan. Heat four went to Justin Whittall by a healthy margin besting Billy Dietrich, Kyle Reinhardt, Dylan Norris doing double duty and Chad Trout. All heat qualifying was in the books by 9:23.

The 410 sprint car B main was next on the dance card with the top four joining the twenty already locked in for the 30 lap main event. Young Cameron Smith would score the win in the B over TJ Stutts, Kyle Moody and Lance DeWease claiming the last qualifying position with a late race pass of Steve Buckwalter after missing his heat race.

So now it was time to go feature racing with 10 grand on the line and the green flag would wave on the front row of Justin Whittall and Danny Dietrich. Whittall would grab the early lead in turn two on the opening lap and would pace the field before a caution for debris in turn one would slow the action on lap four. On the restart Whittall went to the point with Dietrich and Anthony Macri in hot pursuit. Macri would slip by Dietrich for second with a high side pass in turn two on lap six and set his sights on the leader, Whittall. Lap seven saw 12th starting Freddie Rahmer move up to 7th and was coming forward in a hurry. Rahmer advanced another spot by lap nine. Lap twelve saw the front runners approaching lap traffic as they began picking their way through the heavy pack. Whittall continued to pace the field but a wrong choice on lap sixteen saw him dive low on a lap car while Macri stayed high and took the lead racing down the backstretch with Dietrich also slipping by Whittall. Macri began to pull away but Dietrich never let him get too far away. The unlikely occurred on lap twenty six as Macri charged hard into turn three, jumped the cushion and slammed the turn three wall spinning around several times like a top. Just like that Dietrich found himself in the right spot at the right time and assumed the lead.

Dietrich was at the point on the ensuing restart and pulled ahead of Whittall and Troy Wagaman Jr who had been quiet back in fourth. Wagaman made his move for second on lap twenty seven powering by Whittall for the position in turn four. His chase of Dietrich was in vain as the Kaufman #48 streaked across the finish line at 10:39 for the sweep of the evening and Dietrich’s 13th career PA sprint week win. Wagaman Jr claimed second with Whittall a close third, Freddie Rahmer making a late race pass for fourth with Chase Dietz rounding out the top five in an entertaining event. Lucas Wolfe came home sixth with Dylan Cisney seventh, Logan Wagner in the Krietz #69K eighth, Devon Borden ninth and Kyle Reinhardt rounding out the top ten.

We still had the 20 lap 358 sprint car race to contest which took the green flag at 11:06. Jude Siegel would take the early lead and pace the field for the first twelve laps in an impressive run until the veteran Doug Hammaker tracked him down in turn three on lap twelve to take the lead. Derek Locke who has been dominate over the past couple of years in these ranks at the Grove made a late run to finish second with Chad Criswell taking third, Preston Lattomus comes home fourth and young Jude Siegel slipping back to finish fifth after a strong early run. The complete show was in the books by 11:13 and we packed up and headed to the SUV satisfied with our first night racing action of Pennsylvania Speed Week.

Check back tomorrow as we try to make it a doubleheader on Saturday. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and check out some bucket list tracks. Either way have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, news, notes of interest or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope your enjoy our honest reviews of what we see and how it might give you an idea to take in one of the tracks that we have visited. And in closing remember to be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Courtney Makes It Two In A Row In Maverick/IRA Finale At Terre Haute

Sunday, June 23 – It was hot again today but not as hot as the previous three days with temperatures barely touching 90 but it was more humid. The plan today was to head to the famous Terre Haute Action Track for the finale of the first Maverick/IRA Mayhem four days of racing at four different Indiana tracks. Terre Haute is a big half mile and some teams don’t like running on the big tracks as their engine program is not as strong as some others. Therefore, the sprint car count was down to 37 but still a pretty decent showing of 410 winged sprinters. Also on the card were the Racesaver 305 sprints and they brought a dozen sprinters to do battle. Though the car count was good again tonight the crowd again was sparse as was Lincoln Park. Maybe the combination of not much advertising, hot weather, higher ticket prices and Indiana race fans being wingless lovers attributed to the lower crowds. We don’t know but hopefully if they run this series next year the news will get out that the racing was good and more people will turn out.

Time trials would be the first business of the day with the Maverick/IRA boys starting the clock at 6:40 going two at a time with the last two crossing the line at 7:01. Justin Peck would claim fast time driving the Michael Dutcher #17GP with a time of 17.251 seconds around the Vigo County half mile. This would be the highlight of Peck’s day as engine woes after finishing second in heat one would find him scratching from the 20 lap feature. And yes, that is not a misprint! The sprint car feature was only scheduled for 20 laps. Why? You’ve got me! We don’t understand charging $31 for the event and only running the main class 20 laps. At least run 25 laps because the sprinters can run easily 25 laps on a half mile oval. If anyone knows the logic behind this let us know.

Anyway, the sprints would run four heat races with the top five locking into the 20 lap main event. The first two finishers in each heat would move to the dash race to determine the top eight starters in the feature event. Brenham Crouch looked strong winning heat one going away over Justin Peck, Emerson Axsom, Ayrton Gennetten and Tylar Rankin. Heat two was claimed by Noah Gass also looking fast tonight beating veteran South Carolina invader and former Pennsylvania runner, Brian Paulus, with Sterling Cling, Austin Hartmann and Max Guilford chasing. Pennsylvania’s Dylan Norris who is more familiar with big half miles from back east scored the heat three win over Tyler Courtney, Darin Naida, the Michigan youngster looking better and better in each outing, Jake Blackhurst and Zach Hampton. Chris Windom took down heat four in convincing style over Scotty Thiel, Jacob Allen, Blake Hahn and Bryce Norris, the hometown boy. The 305 sprints contested two heats with Jordan Welch and Carson Dillion triumphing.

The sun was now a problem as the bright ball shined in all its glory behind the third turn causing a 45 minute delay for safety concerns for the drivers having to race down the long backstretch blindly into the third turn. Good call.

The dash was the first race after the sun delay with Brenham Crouch securing the first starting spot with his win in this race followed by Chris Windom, Tyler Courtney, Noah Gass, Sterling Cling, Scotty Thiel, Dylan Norris and Darin Naida. The sprint B main would be next with five cars instead of four qualifying because of the Peck’s scratch. Colorado’s Geoff Dodge would dominate the B main beating Danny Schafer, Joel Myers Jr, Scott Neitzel and Chase Stockon, the last man in even after being set back two positions for jumping on a restart.

The 15 lap Racesaver 305 sprint feature would take the green flag at 9:51 and go the distance non-stop. Unionville, Indiana’s own Ethan Barrow would win his first ever race at Terre Haute beating Dustin Clark and Terre Haute’s native son, Carson Dillion for the win.

It was now time for the 20 lap Maverick/IRA sprint car feature to push off taking the green flag at 10:19. Chris Windom would take the lead on the high side of turn three on the opening lap from Brenham Crouch. Noah Gass would make short order of Crouch to grab second on lap two. Tyler Courtney moved Crouch back another position driving by him on lap three. Windom continued to lead as the front runners approached lap traffic by lap six. The most amazing move of the night was when the leaders were racing in lap traffic through turn four on lap seven and Courtney executed a two for one pass to go from third to first in one fair swoop by using the high side of turn four passing both Gass and Windom. Gass was able to dispose of Windom for second in turn two on lap nine and took up the assignment of trying to track down Courtney. He came close several times in traffic until lap fifteen when Blake Hahn flipped in turn two.

On the green Courtney moved to the point and began to open up the lead as Crouch rebounded to snatch third from Windom on the homestretch on lap sixteen. The off and running. Scotty Thiel, known as The Wheel, went to work over the next several laps like he was shot out of a rocket. He shot by Windom for fourth on the backstretch on the restart and tracked down and passed Crouch for third with two to go. Thiel was gaining ground on Gass but the laps ran out before he could challenge Gass for second. Tyler Courtney flashed across the line for his second Maverick/IRA win in a row with Gass second, Thiel third, Crouch fourth and Windom holding on for fifth. Jacob Allen would finish sixth even after being penalized on the previous yellow (brought out for him jumping which to us is a lame rule, do it at the end or if the yellow appears before the end). Sterling Cling turned in a good run to grab seventh with Ayrton Gennetten advancing from 13th to eighth, with Emerson Axsom ninth and Darin Nadia rounding out the top ten. With his ninth place finish that was good enough for Axsom to claim the four race Maverick Mayhem point title. Also, the hard charger award goes to Joel Myers Jr who started 22nd and finished 11th.

Not a bad feature but again we felt 20 laps was not long enough for the price.

That’s it for now but we have some traveling plans coming up next week as we venture back to Pennsylvania to take in the 10 race version of Pennsylvania Sprint Week held at seven different tracks. Check back to hear all about it. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing as the summer season is upon us. Comments, news and any other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Remember to be safe, be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Westfall Scores Johnson Memorial At Paragon With Late Race Pass

Saturday, June 22 – Another hot, somewhat cloudy day was upon us as we finalized our race plans for today. Originally it was going to be WOO late models at Brownstown Speedway but we changed at the last minute and the choices became BOSS sprints at Lawrenceburg or the Johnson Memorial at Paragon. Since Lincoln Park was not running this Saturday, we felt the sprint car field would be good at Paragon so it was off to Paragon Speedway for the first time in 2024. A stop at the junction of Routes 231 and 67 found us purchasing some Amish bakery delights before proceeding east on Route 67 to Paragon. We arrived, purchased our tickets and placed our blanket down in one of the sections of the aluminum grandstands with backs on them in the top row. Then we retreated back to the SUV and the comfort of the AC before returning later as hot laps approached.

It was a four division program for tonight’s Johnson Memorial with wingless sprints (38), hornets (23), super stocks (20) and bombers (13). The sprint cars would be the first to run their heats with four on tap with the first one taking the green at 8:21 due to a pushed back starting time because of the heat. Daylan Chambers would draw first blood capturing the first heat over Hunter Maddox, Jake Scott and Arizona’s Logan Calderwood. Tye Mihocko took down heat two besting Geoff Ensign, who’s t-shirt even reads the human highlight reel, Seth Parker and Colten Cottle. Heat three was paced by Andrew Prather beating Harley Burns, Brayden Fox and Aric Gentry. The fourth heat was claimed by Cody Trammell returning for the first time in several weeks after suffering injuries here at Paragon in a crash. Trailing him to the finish were Matt Westfall, Evan Mosley and Anthony Nicholson.

The super stocks were next on the card running three heats followed by the bombers for two heats and three heats for the hornets after the two sprint car B mains were contested.

The first of two B mains with the top two moving into the 25 lap main event was won by Trey Osborne with Braxton Cummings taking down the other qualifying position. Travis Thompson would claim B main two over the rim riding Joey Amantea who rebounded from an early race tangle and spin to claim the last qualifying spot into the feature race. All qualifying was completed by 10:30 which left four feature races to run.

Twenty wingless sprint cars would be brought to the green flag at 10:45 by Daylan Chambers and Harley Burns with Burns the early lead. But Chambers fought right back on the inside and retook the lead at the line to complete lap one. Burns reclaimed the lead in turn two with Chambers and Trammell in hot pursuit. Trammell used a high side turn two move to take second from Chambers on lap seven. Lap nine saw Matt Westfall slip into third on the homestretch past Chambers. Two laps later Westfall would use the inside in turn two to breeze into second ahead of Trammell. In the meantime, Burns was long gone opening up a straightway lead by lap fifteen. Lap seventeen saw the red appear as Mihocko racing in fourth at the time caught the cushion and rolled over landing on top of his roll cage. He was OK after the tumble.

On the ensuing restart Burns was at the point but not for long as Westfall drag raced him down the homestretch and edged ahead for the lead entering turn one. Lap eighteen saw Trammell motor by Burns on the backstretch to take over second. Geoff Ensign raced past Chambers for fourth in turn two on lap twenty but Chambers returned the favor two laps later. Chambers continued his comeback slipping by Burns for third with two to go. Meanwhile, up front Westfall had a comfortable lead over Trammell. Ensign dropped Burns back another spot with one to go. At the finish at 11:09 it was Matt Westfall in for his first ever win at Paragon over Cody Trammell, Daylan Chambers, Geoff Ensign and Harley Burns. Positions six through ten were slotted by Jake Scott for sixth with Seth Parker seventh, Andrew Prather eighth, Trey Osborne advancing from seventeenth to ninth and Brayden Fox rounding out the top ten.

It was a good night of racing at Paragon and we both felt it was some of the best racing we have seen here in many a year. A likely return trip could be in the offing. We packed up the blanket and bags including our fan which helped quite a bit and headed to the car satisfied with an entertaining evening of racing.

That’s it until Monday as we prepare to load up once again and head south to Terre Haute to take in the final night of Maverick Mayhem co-sanctioned with IRA at the Action Track. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, stay hydrated and be safe. Comments and critiques, news and so forth can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where a typical weekend takes us. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Pretorius & True Win At Circle City

Friday, June 21 – It was another scorcher in the Hoosier state as temperatures rose into the mid 90’s and the heat index reached triple figures. We took a ride into Indianapolis for two reasons, the first being that Pat wanted to purchase a rowing machine so she could work out on her off gym days. Mission accomplished on item one and after eating a delicious meal at McAlister’s it was off to our second reason to be in the capital city, racing at the ¼ mile Circle City Raceway. Half of the adventure getting around Indianapolis is trying to figure out where I-465 East is closed and how to get where you want to go. Thank goodness for GPS as we were able to maneuver around on the city streets to get to our destination.

The Hoosier Auto Racing Fans (HARF) is a fine club organized to support racing in the state of Indiana and they do a great job in their endeavors. For the price of only $20 per year you can become a member, support racing in Indiana and get great discounts at many of the Indiana racetracks to boot. Tonight Circle City Raceway was offering free admission to any card carrying member of HARF and if you do the math with the admission price being $20 or $17 for seniors you already recouped your membership fee after only one race!! What a great organization who do so much for racing in the Hoosier state.

On tap tonight was a six division program with 30 BOSS wingless sprint cars, 17 All Star Circuit of Champions TQ midgets, 16 UMP modifieds, 13 hornets, 5 outlaw wingless 600’s and 41 grub getters which we never saw compete.

Andrew Prather dumped his sprinter after impacting the turn one wall in hot laps ending his night prematurely dropping the sprint car field to 29. Nick Bilbee scored the win in heat one defeating Korbyn Hayslett, Brayden Fox, Luke Hall and Garrett Abrams. Tyler Kendall captured heat two besting Zack Pretorius, Kyle Shipley, Austin Nigh and Blake Vermillion. The third and final heat went to Chance Crum, the Washington state driver who beat Anthony Nicholson, Jesse Vermillion, Matt Westfall and Jack Hoyer. Thirteen year old Easton Zent took the lone outlaw 600 heat while Johnny Goff from sixth took the first TQ midget heat over Logan Rabourn and Addison True. Kirby Petry won heat two but was DQ’d due to being underweight at the scales. Evan Shatto was awarded the heat win over Stephen Davis and 86 year old Nelson Stewart, father of Tony.

Three UMP modified heats were contested with Derek Groomer, Brayden Watson and James Walters winning. Two hornet heats were spun off before the Ohio based BOSS sprints returned to run their B main with the top five joining the previous 15 qualified through the heat races in the 25 lap main event. Rylan Gray would be victorious in this 12 lap B main over Shawn Westerfeld, 2023 BOSS point champion, Ricky Lewis, Brayden Clark and Jake Scott.

After a short break to work on the track surface which was bumpy going into turn one and also some work off turn four it was feature time. The 25 lap BOSS sprint car feature was first on the dance card with the green flag dropping at 10:29. Zack Pretorius was quick to the early lead with Nick Bilbee slipping by Anthony Nicholson to take over second. The only caution of the race waved on lap six when Rylan Gray ramped up over Blake Vermillion’s left rear and spun to a halt. On the restart Pretorius assumed the lead again with Bilbee and Nicholson trailing. Luke Hall who started tenth was coming forward quickly, taking over fifth by lap seven and fourth on lap ten off turn four using the high side to do so. As Pretorius paced the field with a comfortable lead the rest of the pack battled it out for positions. Hall made another outside sweep to blast by Tyler Kendall for third on the backstretch on lap twenty one as the race was in the latter stages of the event. When the checkers waved just ten minutes later at 10:39 it was Pretorius in for what we believe was his first career sprint car win over Bilbee with Hall third, Kendal fourth and Nicholson rounding out the top five. Chance Crum led the second five across the line at the finish with Matt Westfall advancing from 12th to 7th with Ricky Lewis 18th to 8th, Kyle Shipley 9th and Korbyn Hayslett rounding out the top ten. With the exception of Pretorius way out front the rest of the field was close and racing back and forth with each other making for an interesting race.

Next up were the UMP modifieds for their 25 lap feature with Brayden Watson grabbing the early lead and never looking back though a late race challenge made it interesting as Derek Groomer put on some pressure but Watson prevailed over Groomer and Derek Losh. Next up was the 10 lap outlaw 600 feature with Eastpn Zent dominating leading flag to flag in this one.

The 20 lap All Star TQ midget feature was next on the dance card with 86 year old Nelson Stewart taking the early lead. Stewart would proceed to lead the first 12 laps of event before Addison True took advantage of Stewart opening up the inside groove off turn four to take the lead away. True, who started fifth would hold off the charge of 17th starting Joey Paxson for the win with 12th starting Parker Bupp third, Stewart dropping to fourth with Evan Shatto rounding out the top five at 11:22.

We had now seen all that we came to see and exited before the hornets and grub getters raced their feature events. It was a good night of racing but a little too long of a night especially for the nearby neighbors outside the fairgrounds facility.

Check back soon as we are not done yet for this weekend and we hope neither are you. So get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and don’t forget to stay hydrated, drink plenty of water and not beer and have fun. Comments, news, stories and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Axsom Opens Maverick Mayhem With Win At LPS

Thursday, June 20 – Today dawned sunny and hot with temperatures climbing into the low 90’s as we prepared to head south on Rt. 231 to beautiful downtown Putnamville to the Lincoln Park Speedway. It was the opener of the four race series dubbed Maverick Mayhem co-sanctioned with the IRA sprint car series based out of Wisconsin. Tonight will be LPS, Friday is Bloomington, Saturday they move over to Tri-State in Haubstadt and the series finale is Sunday at the Terre Haute Action Track. We were surprised on two accounts, one good and one bad. First the good one is that they had an amazing car count of 55 sprint cars along with 14 super stocks. The bad one was the crowd was sparse, probably due to two factors, the first being the heat and the second being that it was a workday for many on Friday.

The night started out on the down side as the track crew tried to make for a tacky race surface but the timing of the last watering has to be questioned. With hot laps scheduled for 6 PM with racing slated for 7 PM why would water the track after 5 PM for the last time causing the track to be slick and delaying the program. Why not water it at 4 PM and work it in so the program can start on time. With 55 sprint cars on hand, you need to run an efficient program and tonight they missed the mark once again. The announcers apologized for the delay and blamed it all on the heat but it has been hotter before and not such a big delay. It would be better if they announced that they just screwed up and overwatered after 5 and maybe people would be more understanding. Just our opinion from two people who have attended races for over 60 years.

Onto the racing and what you really came to read! The time trials commenced at 7:44 and were finished at 8:31. During time trials two drivers got on their heads with Harley Burns rolling in the cushion on turn three with Brian Bell joining him later after tangling with the cushion. Joel Myers ended up setting fast time with a new track record of 11.136 seconds breaking the mark of Kyle Larson.

The first of six heat races for the sprinters would not take the green flag until 9:11 PM with only the top three moving directly into the 30 lap feature and only the winner advancing to the dash race to determine the top six starters in the main event. Brady Bacon driving one of Kevin Newton’s Honest Abe’s #16’s nailed down the first heat win over Joel Myers and Jordan Goldesberry. Heat two fell to Missouri’s Ayrton Gennetten besting New Zealand’s Max Guilford and Jake Neuman. Kokomo’s own Parker Price-Miller captured heat three over young Darin Naida out of Michigan and Jacob Allen. Heat four had some extracurricular activity as Illinois’ Trevin Littleton lost his battle with the turn four cushion rolling over several times in the process. Emerson Axsom won this battle over J.J. Hickle and Scotty Thiel. Heat five went to Texan Brenham Crouch beating Cale Thomas in the Dutcher #17GP wearing a wing on the evening and Brian Bell recovering nicely from his time trial trial rollover. Heat six saw Corbin Gurley flip in turn four. Chris Windom would score the win in this one over Karter Sarff in the Chase Briscoe #5 and Zach Hampton.
Two super stock heats would follow before the sprinters returned for two B mains with the top three locking into the main event. Thomas Messeraull who was leading heat two until late in the race when he suffered a flat tire limping across the line one out of qualifying, made sure he qualified winning B main one over Travis Philo and Gage Montgomery. B main two went to Illinois driver and IRA runner, Jake Blackhurst beating midget driver, Hayden Reinbold, donning a wing and PA’s Dylan Norris. The dash followed with Brady Bacon fending off Ayrton Gennetten, Emerson Axsom, Chris Windom, Brenham Crouch and Parker Price-Miller to grab the pole position for tonight’s big $6000 to win feature event. And just like that as the IRA announcer said the preliminaries were over (10:53 PM)!

It was time finally to go feature racing and the super stocks would contest their 20 lap feature first giving the B main sprinters time to regroup. Tucker Chastian would beat the field with Justin Massie and Wade Goodale trailing.

By 11:23 the green flag would wave on the 24 car field with Brady Bacon and Ayrton Gennetten leading the field into turn one. What happened next was a shocker as Bacon lost the handle between turns one and two spinning his racer and miraculously everybody was able to avoid the spinning Bacon. On the ensuing restart Gennetten jumped into the early lead but it was short lived as Emerson Axsom took the lead at the line on lap two. Axsom would pull away over the next several laps until encountering lap traffic by lap eight with Axsom picking his way through the backmarkers. Axsom had Gennetten closing on him but was able to hold sway past the halfway mark. Chris Windom passed Gennetten for second on the homestretch on lap eighteen but Gennetten returned the favor one lap later. Parker Price-Miller caught Brenham Crouch for fourth also on lap eighteen as the field began to shuffle. Gennetten closed the gap again on the leader with Axsom holding a two car length lead as the pair raced to the white flag. At that moment Bacon’s night got even worse as he caught the cushion in turn three wrong and flipped over with J.J. Hickle sliding into him. Everyone was OK but done for the remainder of the race. On the restart Axsom sped out front with Gennetten in hot pursuit. Entering turn four racing to the white Axsom bobbled off the cushion allowing Gennetten to pass him on the low side as the pair raced under the white flag. Axsom responded with a slider in turns one and two retaking the lead as the pair raced down the backstretch. Gennetten executed a slider in turn three sliding in front of Axsom in turn four with Axsom cutting back low with the two racing side by side to the finish line. It was Axsom by feet for the win over Gennetten with Windom third, Price-Miller fourth and Crouch rounding out the top five with the checkers waving at 11:42. Positions six through ten were filled by Joel Myers with Cale Thomas racing from 12th to 7th, Max Guilford 8th, Jacob Allen 9th salvaging a top ten after a night of problems with Zach Hampton rounding out the top ten. Dylan Norris would receive the hard charger award after starting 24th and finishing 14th.

It was a very good feature but it didn’t quite make up for the time spent waiting for it.

That’s it until tomorrow as we head toward Indianapolis for a night of BOSS wingless racing at Circle City. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, stay hydrated and be safe. Comments, news, stories or tidbits of information can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next. Remember to be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

McIntosh Takes Illinois Speedweek Final At Macon

Saturday, June 15 – After two days of stock car racing in Wisconsin it was back to open wheel action with a visit to the 1/5 mile high banked bullring of the Macon Speedway. On tap tonight were eight (too many) divisions of race cars highlighted by the POWRi National Midget League in what would end up being their final race of the 11th Illinois Speedweek. The last race of the series scheduled for Sunday was canceled due to excessive heat predicted. So tonight the 16 POWRi midgets on hand would do battle for the win and also the war, the POWRi Speedweek title. In the other divisions here were the car counts: pro modifieds (16), sportsman (12), street stocks (11), modifieds (9), hornets (8), outlaw winged 600’s (4) and HSRA (High School Racing Association – 2).

Racing would kick off at 7:06 PM with the first of two heat races for the POWRi National midgets. In the first heat the action started early as racing down the backstretch off turn two Thomas Meseraull slide sideways off the corner making contact with Karter Sarff sending Sarff sideways and into a series of at least four barrel rolls before stopping on the backstretch. Sarff was OK after the wild ride but the same could not be said for his midget as he was done for the evening. Gunnar Setser went on to win the first heat over Kale Drake, Chase McDermand and Meseraull. Heat two was won by Gavin Miller beating Cannon McIntosh, Jacob Denney and Zoe Pearce, a young Australian lass, in the McQueen #7Z.

The outlaw winged 600’s would run one heat with Jacob Tipton scoring the win. Two heats for the sportsman and modifieds with two heats for the pro modifieds and street stocks along with one heat for the HSRA and hornets completed the preliminary heat racing.

A bit of track maintenance was necessary as the track turned up rough in turns three and four before the POWRi midget feature would be called to the post.

The front row of Kale Drake and Cannon McIntosh would bring the 15 car field to the green flag at 9:02 with Drake getting the early lead. A lap two caution would slow the field before the race went green again. Drake would pace the field on the restart moving into a several car length lead as he worked the bottom and middle of the track in the early going. McIntosh was having problems maneuvering the middle of the track as it had developed character again. So McIntosh took his midget to the extreme outside of the oval up against the fence and began to close the gap between him and Drake. McIntosh would streak by Drake on the high side entering turn two on lap twelve when Drake countering in turn three with McIntosh prevailing off turn four to retake the lead. McIntosh would never waver from his rim riding style for the remainder of the contest as the battle raged behind him for positions two through five.

Drake would stay close for the remainder of the race but never mount a serious challenge to the high flying McIntosh who would flash across the finish line at 9:11 for his second POWRi win of 2024 and his twenty fourth career POWRi National win. Drake would finish second and claim the war as he became the 2024 Illinois Speedweek point champion with Gavin Miller taking third and making it an all Kunz podium finish on the evening. Thomas Meseraull would come home fourth with Jacob Denney about the only one using the bottom soldering on to claim fifth.

It was a good race and fun watching the front runners pound the cushion lap after lap hoping no one would make a mistake and pound the wall.

We decided to watch the 15 lap outlaw 600 feature which went green to checker in just three minutes with Alex Midkiff doing double duty as he piloted the Loyet #05 in the midget feature claiming the 600 win. Clay Frederick came home second with Seth Buell taking third.

The 15 lap sportsman feature was a good one with only one caution running the distance in five minutes with Guy Taylor holding off Wes O’Dell and Randy Huffman for the win.

The last feature we decided to watch in the evening was the 20 lap modified feature taking the green at 9:53. In another race with only one caution the six minute contest was won by Jeremy Nichols besting Terry Reed and Tim Luttrell. This one ended a minute before 10.

With tomorrow’s Lincoln date canceled we are headed for the first time to Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Illinois for one of the DirtCar Hell Tour late model and modified doubleheaders.

So, until next time get out there and catch some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road and catch one or two of your bucket list choices. Comments, news, stories or any other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and keep coming back to see where we end up next in a typical weekend. Remember to be safe, be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Pursley Wins IMW Final At Kokomo Along With IMW Point Title

Sunday, June 9 – Today was the final day for the 20th Indiana Midget Week and the O’Connor family at Kokomo Speedway would be hosting round five of this midget series. The traveling crew of Bill and Judy Burns, Dale O’Brien and Pat and I all packed our bags as we were all staying in Kokomo for the evening before heading our separate ways on Monday morning. Bill and Judy were heading back to their native Pennsylvania while Dale was headed north to his old home of Wisconsin for the summer. We were staying for the XR late model series special Monday also at Kokomo Speedway before driving home after the event.

We all dined at the Windmill Grill in Kokomo with everyone enjoying their meals before venturing over to the track where we had planted a car for a good parking spot as parking spaces are limited due to sewer pipe installation along the roadside and in part of the parking lot. We also saved a seat for our West Virginia friend, Irvin King, who joined us on the backstretch for tonight’s racing action.

USAC midget time trials would be the first order of business on the evening after hot laps for both divisions on hand where the midgets were joined by the wingless sprint cars. The first midget pushed off at 7:08 and by 7:27 fast timer, Logan Seavey, was being interviewed on the homestretch after blistering the ¼ mile bullring to the tune of 13.318 seconds. Next up would be the four heat races for the good 32 car field in the pit area.

Jake Swanson in the Benic #2B moved from third to the lead and went on to win heat one over Max Adams, Kokomo’s own Parker Frederickson and Trey Osborne. Jack Hoyer placed the Sprint Car Hall Of Famer, Paul Hazen’s #57, in heat two outdistancing Scotty Weir in the #47, Anton Hernandez in the Baldwin #5 and Austin Nigh. Heat three went to Robert Ballou outdistancing Ricky Lewis, Braydon Cromwell and Zack Pretorius. The fourth and final heat fell to Andrew Prather beating Aaron Davis, Sam Hinds and Nathan Snee.

The mighty USAC midgets would also contest four heats with the top five moving directly to the main event. Daison Pursley scored the win in heat one, besting Logan Seavey, Drake Edwards, Chase McDermand and Ethan Mitchell. Cannon McIntosh would top the field in heat two over Taylor Reimer, Michael Pickens, the New Zealand driver, getting a phone call from Keith Kunz to drive the midget driven earlier in the week by Emerson Axsom and fulfilling a bucket list item in driving a Kunz midget. Jacob Denney and Kyle Jones were the other two qualifiers in this one. Young Kale Drake motored to victory in heat three over teammate Gavin Miller, Zach Wigal, Jade Avedisian and Hayden Reinbold. Jake Andreotti placed the Four Kings #14 in the winner’s circle in heat four beating Zach Daum, Blake Brannon, Hank Davis and Justin Grant. Ryan Timms took a nasty end over end flip on the homestretch in the fourth heat and was OK returning to race later in the evening. All heat qualifying was completed by 8:49, less than an hour after starting.

The sprints would return for their B main with the top four moving to the A main with Rylan Gray walking away in this one beating Harley Burns, Nathan Schank and Brayden Clark. The USAC midget semi would also transfer four cars to the big dance with Frankie Guerrini taking down the win over Steve Buckwalter, Daniel Whitley in the RAMCO #7M making the fourth different driver in this entry for the week reminding us of the Cactus Jack Yeley musical chair one year in the USAC sprint division during sprint week. Ryan Timms would return to grab the last qualifying position after dumping his midget in the heat race.

All that was left now were the two feature events with the sprint cars getting the call to the post first with Robert Ballou and Jake Swanson bringing the 20 car field to the green flag at 9:55. Ballou would take the early lead with Swanson and Scotty Weir in hot pursuit. Weir would slip by Swanson to take over second in turn one on lap five. Ricky Lewis was on the move passing Swanson for third and catching and passing Weir for second off turn four on lap seven. Meanwhile Ballou was out for a Sunday drive opening up a half-track lead by lap eleven. The caution appeared on lap seventeen when Andrew Prather came to a stop in turn four. Ballou was off again on the restart but lap eighteen saw Weir suffer a left rear flat tire in turn four with Anton Hernandez with nowhere to go got into Weir and spun around ruining a good run for Hernandez who was in fifth. Once again Ballou powered into the lead and comfortably led the remaining eight laps to score the win at 10:11 over Ricky Lewis with Jake Swanson third, Max Adams in a good run from eighth to four in the Guerrini #63 with Rylan Gray running the best race I ever seen him run advancing from 17th to 5th at the finish.

The 30 lap USAC midget feature was next on the docket and with Daison Pursley just starting the race he had clinched the 2024 Indiana Midget Week title but he was not satisfied to just ride it out to the finish. A scary incident happened as the cars lined up on the homestretch when it looked like Daniel Whitley’s throttle stuck with Whitley’s car driving into the infield on the homestretch crashing into the Lawrenceburg safety truck wedging under the front bumper. The midget was severely damaged and done for the evening. The front row of Jade Avedisian and Ethan Mitchell brought the 24 car field to Tom Hansing’s green flag at 10:32 with Avedisian taking the early lead. Michael Pickens up from fifth slide underneath Avedisian in turn four to take the lead on lap two. Meanwhile sixth and seventh place starters, Logan Seavey and Daison Pursley, began their quest to the front.

Seavey and Pursley hook up in a crowd pleasing duel for second with Pickens out front pacing the field. Pursley slipped by Seavey for second on lap nine but Seavey was not done yet and battled back to regain second on lap twelve. Pickens continued to lead the pack with Seavey and Pursley chasing as the feature reached the twenty lap mark. Seavey began to close the gap on Pickens at this point and dove low on consecutive laps off turn four pulling alongside Pickens at the line but not fully able to take the lead. Pickens changed lines to cover the bottom from the attacks by Seavey and at the same time Pursley challenged Seavey for second passing him on the backstretch on lap 23. The last five laps exploded into an all out war as Cannon McIntosh and Kale Drake suddenly joined in the fun making it a five car battle for supremacy. Drake went to the top in turn three and looked like he was going to sweep by everyone but slid too high in turn four and ended up back in fifth. Pursley made his move for the lead in turn two on lap twenty five on the high side clearing Pickens as they exited the turn to assume the top spot. The red flag slowed the bedlam on lap twenty seven when Blake Brannon dumped his midget in turn two. Brannon was OK after the flip. On the restart Pursley hit the loud pedal and was off to the races pulling away and would lead the last three circuits with no challenge crossing the line at 10:47 scoring his second win of IMW and third overall in 2024 as the CB Industries #86 has been amazing to start the year as Pursley has seven podium finishes in eight USAC midget races in 2024. Pursley won the IMW title by 74 points, the largest margin in the 20 years of Indiana Midget Week and gave car owner, Chad Boat, his second IMW car owner title.

Pickens who made the most of his one off drive in his bucket list Kunz ride finished second with Seavey third, McIntosh fourth after starting ninth and Kale Drake fifth for his highest USAC midget finish to date for the impressive rookie. Zach Daum led the second five across the line in sixth after starting 18th with Gavin Miller earning the Irvin King Hard Charger award advancing from 23rd to 7th with Jacob Denney 14th to 8th, Chase McDermand ninth and Ryan Timms salvaging a wild night finishing tenth after starting 16th.

It was a real good night of racing and was a good wrap on Indiana Midget Week for another year with five of the six nights getting in with only Circle City being washed out on the first night.

That’s it for this report and check back this weekend to see where we end up on another typical weekend. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area such as Eastern Storm in PA or Ohio Sprint Week. Comments, news, stories or any other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts as we hope you enjoy reading our columns as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. And remember to be safe out there and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Gets First Win Of IMW & First Time At Tri-State In A Thriller

Saturday, June 8 – Round four of Indiana Midget Week found the guys making the long haul to Haubstadt after lunching at the Second City Café in Crawfordsville (if in Crawfordsville check this place out, you won’t regret it) while the gals had a girl’s day out back home. We arrived at 3:50 on the grounds of the Tri-State Speedway and ventured inside to find Irvin King’s checkerboard tablecloth tying our Indian blanket over top of it for some cushion. The Tri-State track crew was hard at work grooming the track surface for the tonight’s racing and we don’t know of any track that works harder at getting things right on a track surface.

The new Midwest Thunder Sprint Car series which replaced MSCS were making their debut at Tri-State along with the mighty USAC midgets on this evening. A good field of 30 sprinters joined the 33 midgets tonight with midget time trials getting underway at 6:54. When completed by 7:15 it was Daison Pursley securing the fast time of the evening with a time of 13.551 second around the ¼ mile bullring as the Chad Boat Industries #86 continues to perform flawlessly on the week.

The Midwest Thunder sprinters would be first to the post to contest their heat races with three heats scheduled taking the top five to the main event later in the evening. Kendall Ruble was the first to take down a heat win garnering heat one over Carson Short, Aric Gentry, Dustin Beck and Stan Beadles in the colorful Beetlejuice #84. Heat two went to Brady Short beating Mitchel Moles, JJ Hughes, Charles Davis Jr and Jack Hoyer. Jadon Rogers copped heat three outrunning Chase Stockon, Adyn Schmidt, Reed Whitney and Sam Scott.

Next up were four heats for the 33 midget entries with fast timer, Daison Pursley, speeding out front and winning heat one over Jacob Denney, Ryan Timms, Kale Drake and Jake Andreotti all advancing to the 30 lap feature event with Kyle Jones flipping in turns one and two in this one. Heat two fell to Zach Wigal who is looking better each time out besting Justin Grant, Steve Buckwalter making his first main event, Jade Avedisian and Ricky Lewis. Chase McDermand scored the win in heat three besting Logan Seavey, Hayden Reinbold, Gavin Miller and Hank Davis. Veteran Zach Daum captured heat four beating Kyle Cummins, Cannon McIntosh, Taylor Reimer and Michael Pickens. All heat action was completed by 8:44.

The sprint B main was next on the agenda with the top five joining the field for the 25 lap main event. Travis Berryhill came home victorious over Carson Garrett, Mike Larrison, Donny Brackett and Colin Ambrose. The midget semi went to Adam Taylor in a unique sounding midget powered by a V4 Fusion engine making his first USAC midget race in over two years. Ethan Mitchell, Drake Edwards, Kyle Jones and Blake Brannon trailed rounding out the midget qualifiers.

By 9:50 after track prep it was time to go feature racing with the Midwest Thunder sprints get first crack at the newly worked surface. The front row of Kendall Ruble and Brady Short brought the twenty car field to the green flag with Short taking the early lead. Short would lead the opening eight laps until Mitchel Moles raced around him in turn two to grab the top spot. There was a lot of good racing behind the top three as the race moved forward. Moles was on a rail as he pulled away from his challengers and flashed across the line at 10:03 for the win over Brady Short with Kendall Ruble third, Jadon Rogers fourth after taking a wild ride through the infield coming to the checkered when he was forced low with Carson Short rounding out the top five.

Now it was time for what most everyone had come for and saved their lunch money for, the 30 lap USAC midget feature with the front row of Ricky Lewis and Jake Andreotti bringing 23 other competitors to the green flag at 10:19. Andreotti sped to the early lead and proceeded to pace the first seven laps of the feature. Third starting Kyle Cummins made several bids on laps six and seven but Andreotti countered and retained the top spot. Lap eight saw Andreotti jump the cushion and bang the wall allowing Cummins and Logan Seavey to streak past. These two would be the pacesetters over the next ten circuits with Daison Pursley inching forward to take over the number three position moving into contention at the same time. Pursley began to challenge Seavey for second using sliders in turns two and four on lap eighteen but Seavey said not so fast and countered the sliders both times. Traffic began to play into the equation at this point for Cummins as he looked to pick his way past the back markers. Kyle Jones spun in turn four on lap twenty three to bring out the caution and clear the highway in front of the leaders for the final seven laps.

Then the fun began as on the restart Cummins and Seavey began to put on an entertaining slide fest beginning in turn one where Seavey slid past Cummins for the lead but Cummins responded with a slider in turns three and four to take back the lead. Lap twenty four was the same scenario as the previous lap with lap twenty five seeing Cummins slid Seavey in turn one and Seavey responded with a turn four slider for the lead off the corner to start lap twenty six. One lap later Jade Avedisian stopped in turns three and four to bring out the final caution and restack the deck for the remaining three laps of the war up front. Cummins attacked again on the restart with Seavey able to hold sway. Racing into turn four coming to the two to go Cummins pulled alongside Seavey but was not able to pull off the pass as the pair streaked to the start/finish line. Seavey was able to retain control over the final two circuits and raced under the double checkers of Tom Hansing at 10:33 for his second USAC midget win of the year and first ever at Tri-State. Cummins would have to settle for second with Pursley in the cat bird seat finishing third. Justin Grant’s final drive was almost lost in the battle up front as he advanced from 15th to fourth with Zach Wigal rounding out the top five. Chase McDermand came home sixth with Gavin Miller seventh, Jacob Denney eighth from sixteenth, Zach Daum ninth and Jadon Rogers using a provisional to charge from 24th to tenth. Cannon McIntosh would be awarded the Irvin King Hard Charger award though as provisionals are not eligible as he started 23rd after going to a backup car and ended up 11th at the finish.

It was a barnburner and had the crowd buzzing as they exited the track. We quickly scurried to our car and made a quick exit onto north bound Route 41 and arrived back in Crawfordsville by 2:40 AM after some fine wheel twisting by Dale O’Brien who learned some lessons watching tonight’s great race.

Until the next installment get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe. Comments, news, stories and other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the kind comments and continue to check back often to see where the race chasing Eckels end up next. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Bloomington IMW Win Goes To Pursley In Strong Run

Friday, June 7 – Tonight’s racing action for Indiana Midget Week traveled to the red high banks of the Bloomington Speedway just south of the city which houses Indiana University, the home of the Hoosiers. The crew of Bill, Dale, Pat and I arrived on the grounds of Bloomington around 4 and placed our lawn chairs in the already forming ticket line. We had the pleasure of talking with the owner of the Skegness Stadium, an English racetrack, and his wife in the parking lot before heading over to the line and into the track to secure our seating spots. We were joined again by Irvin King as we chatted in the glorious sun before racing began.

After sprint car hot laps/qualifying and midget hot laps it was time to place the midgets on the timing clock and see who would set fast time on the evening. Chase McDermand in the Josh Ford Motorsports #8W which is Chevy powered surprised the 32 car field by posting the fast time of 12.143 seconds around the ¼ mile high banked red clay oval besting 31 others.

The wingless sprinters would contest their four heats for their 31 car field first taking the green for their first heat at 7:46. Tye Mihocko, the Arizona native, would guide the Jamie Paul #24p to victory in heat one over Harley Burns, Brayden Fox and Chance Crum. Heat two was captured by Brandon Spencer over Braxton Cummings, Gabriel Gilbert and Andy Bradley. Ricky Lewis grabbed the win in heat three besting Brandon Mattox, Matt Thompson and Logan Calderwood. Heat four went to Jadon Rogers beating Rylan Gray, Charles Davis Jr and Daylan Chambers.

The USAC midgets took to the track for their four heats with the top five automatically moving to the 30 lap main event. Gavin Miller who has been in a slump broke out in a big way by winning heat one over teammate Kale Drake, Kevin Thomas Jr in a new Mounce/Stout steed as his regular ride had motor issues, Hank Davis and Chase McDermand. Heat two got off to a rough start when Jade Avedisian spun in turn four coming to the start with her, Logan Seavey and Taylor Reimer flipping in the process. Logan Seavey returned to action and prevailed in heat two outdistancing Ethan Mitchell, Zach Wigal, Kayla Roell and Colorado’s Lance Bennett qualifying for his first feature of the week. Jake Andreotti ran strong in heat three in one of the Four Kings entries winning over Justin Grant, Zach Daum replacing Kaiden Manders in the RAMCO #7M after his main ride broke, Michael Pickens and Kyle Cummins. Daison Pursley took the Boat #86 out front in heat four and won going away over Drake Edwards, Cannon McIntosh, Ryan Timms and Jacob Denney. All heat qualifying was in the books at just over an hour’s time.

The sprints were back for their B main with just four moving forward to join the field for their 25 lap main event. Jeff Bland Jr back in the Burton #04 scored the win besting Jack Hoyer, Nathan Schank from Arizona and Saban Bibent. The midget semi was next with four also advancing to their 30 lap feature event. Hayden Reinbold captured the semi win over Kyle Jones, Jade Avedisian and Ricky Lewis riding high, wide and handsome on the berm to capture the last qualifying position. The fields were now set and it was time to go feature racing.

The 30 lap USAC National midget feature would be led to Brian Hodde’s green silk at 9:43 with Justin Grant bounding into the early lead. Jacob Denney followed him through to take second with Daison Pursley up from seventh to third by lap two. Lap seven saw the first caution appear when Chase McDermand went over the banks in turn two and shortly thereafter Kale Drake joined him on the wrong side of the banking with Drake never stopping and returned to the track while McDermand was done for the evening.

On the restart while Grant and Denney held the low line Pursley decided to try the high line and at the line to complete that lap soared by Denney for second. Ryan Timms brought out the caution for the second time on the evening stopping on the track but was able to rejoin the field as he was suffering through a bad night. On the next restart Grant continued to lead using the low groove while Pursley pursued the high line. Lap sixteen saw a change for the lead as Grant decided to run high in turns one and two with Pursley diving low and racing down the backstretch together with Pursley taking the lead in turn three. Pursley began pulling away at this point as the potent Boat steed was off to the races.

Pursley looked like he was home free but with four to go in turns one and two Kyle Jones slowed with mechanical woes and Jade Avedisian had no where to go and ramped over his right rear tire and barrel rolled five times before landing outside of turn two. She was OK after her wild ride and was done for the evening. On the restart Pursley was quick off the start and over the last four laps opened up over a second lead and cruised across the line at 10:04 scoring the win over Grant with Denney third, Seavey fourth and Gavin Miller advancing from ninth to fifth at the finish. Cannon McIntosh picked up the Irvin King hard charger award after advancing from 13th to 6th with Zach Daum up from 12th to 7th. Ethan Mitchell was eighth, Hayden Reinbold ninth and Jake Andreotti rounding out the top ten.

Pursley has been hot so far in the month of June with four starts in the month so far finishing in the top three in each. Pursley also has taken the lead in both the national midget points race and the Indiana Midget Week standings.

The 25 lap wingless sprint car feature was next on the dance card with 20 strong brought to the green flag by Brandon Mattox and Tye Mihocko. Mattox got the jump and took the early lead on a track that was going away quickly. Ricky Lewis pounded the cushion after starting fourth and quickly worked his way backward dropping back to seventh. Mattox ran the middle to bottom grooves to maintain his lead as the laps clicked off. Mihocko and Brandon Spencer trailed. Lewis continued to remain loyal to the top and wasn’t going anywhere until past the halfway mark when the bottom rubbered up and Lewis began to gain ground. With about five to go Mihocko was able to move by Mattox for the top spot and looked to be the top dog. Lewis still had some bullets in his gun and streaked by Mattox with three to go and started to reel in Mihocko. Jadon Rogers followed the trail of Lewis and moved into fourth with a couple to go. Lewis closed the gap on Mihocko and pulled to his bumper in the last lap. With the checkers waving Mihocko was able to fend off Lewis in the non-stop feature and flashed under the black and white flag at 10:27 to score the win over Lewis, Mattox, Harley Burns and Brayden Fox from ninth. Rogers dropped to sixth with Braxton Cummings seventh, Rylan Gray eighth, Matt Thompson ninth and Andy Bradley coming home tenth.

It was another good night of racing and ended at a good hour allowing us to arrive back in Crawfordsville by 12:30 AM. Onto Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt for round four at Tom Helfrich’s finely groomed racetrack. Until next time get out there and catch some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and catch some action at a new track on your bucket list. Comments, news, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. As always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy the content. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain and Axsom Highlight Start Of Indiana Midget Week

Tuesday, June 4 – This is one of our favorite weeks in racing in Indiana, the 20th Indiana Midget Week with Bill and Judy Burns along with Dale O’Brien coming in for this week and staying with us. First up on the agenda was the Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis at the Marion County Fairgrounds. We left for Indy at 3:30 and dropped down onto Emerson Avenue to work the streets of Indianapolis on our way to Circle City. As we drove within ten minutes of the racing venue, we encountered one of the Keith Kunz tractor trailers heading toward us. That is never a good indication and as everyone in the car checked their social media, we discovered that showers had canceled the first night of IMW. It was disappointing but we all went out to dinner after arriving back in Crawfordsville. We attempted to watch the High Limit Series race from the ¼ mile dirt oval at the Davenport Speedway but their parade.

Wednesday, June 5 – The plan for tonight was for Bill, Dale and I to venture to the southeast corner of Indiana where the Hoosier state touches up against Ohio and Kentucky. We had kept a close eye on the weather for Lawrenceburg for the past few days and the forecast was pretty dismal. It started improving the day of the race but we will talked it over and didn’t want to risk the five hour round trip and get rained out for our efforts. We tuned into Flo instead to watch the racing and see if they would be able to sneak the program in. Hats off to track management and USAC for running an efficient and quickly run program completing their race by 8:30 and it was none too soon as reports had a steady rain dropping just five minutes after the second feature with the wingless sprint cars had wrapped up and soon turning into a monsoon proportion rainstorm.

Thursday, June 6 – Today turned out to be a very special day as Bill and I ventured up Route 39 toward Lebanon to visit the shops of the legendary Mel Kenyon. It took us a while to find his home and shops but the effort was worth it. Upon our arrival Mel was exiting his house onto the back porch and greeted us. He proceeded to give us close to a two hour tour of his shops including a small story on everyone of the photos, clippings, posters and cards on the walls of the shop. At 91, the King of the Midgets, was still very sharp minded and also continues to straighten axles and other racing components alongside his brother, Don. It was an amazing visit with an amazing individual and will be a lifelong racing memory. Both of us purchased a copy of his book which he autographed along with our shirts. It was a well worthwhile visit with one of most talented drivers in racing history. Mel is friendly, kind, knowledgeable and truly a humble human being and one of the nicest people I have ever met over my 60+ years involved in following this great sport of auto racing. God Bless, Mel.

Tonight’s racing action was down Route 231 South to beautiful downtown Putnamville where the Lincoln Park Speedway is located for round two of the 20th edition of Indiana Midget Week. Thirty eight USAC midgets were joined by an equal number of wingless sprint cars on this beautiful evening with low humidity and temperatures in the low 80’s. We were joined on the evening by Irvin King, former racer and longtime farmer, who resides in West Virginia. He is also the man who funds the hard charger award at many of the USAC events. Hot laps for both divisions were first on the docket followed by the USAC midget time trials kicking off at 7:38. Daison Pursley, in one of the Chad Boat entries, continues to shine setting the fast time with a lap of 12.705 second around the high banked 5/16 mile dirt oval. In hot laps for the sprints a scary moment happened when AJ Hopkins in the Burton #04 pulled to the top of the banks in between turns one and two quickly jumping out of the cockpit as the sprinter was on fire. He was on fire and the safety crew tried to remedy the situation. He was OK after a few moments of frantic action.

The sprints would get the first nod to run their heats with four on the plate for their 38 car field. The first heat took the green flag at 8:19 and Mitchel Moles powered the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ to the front to capture the heat win over Brayden Fox, Ricky Lewis and Charles Davis Jr in a hotly contested race. Jadon Rogers ran a hard race in the Michael Dutcher #17GP to claim heat two over Andrew Prather, Rylan Gray and Kyle Shipley. Heat three was taken by Seth Parker in an impressive drive fending off Jack Hoyer, Nathan Schank and Austin Nigh. The fourth and final heat was won by Paragon invader, Jake Scott, over Brandon Spencer, John Sluss and Logan Calderwood.

The track was a little choppy but I referred to it as having character and it didn’t affect the hard driving by the participants in either division as the heat racing was highly competitive and very enjoyable to watch. Next up on the dance card were the four heats for the now 36 cars after time trials.

Kyle Cummins ran away with heat one in the Styres #3G besting Kyle Jones, Daison Pursley, Jacob Denney and Cannon McIntosh. Jade Avedisian turned in what I thought was her best performance that I have witnessed capturing heat two using the entire track to pass everyone in front of her. Kale Drake, Emerson Axsom, Zach Daum and Hayden Reinbold followed. Justin Grant captured heat three beating Ryan Timms, Jake Andreotti, Michael Pickens and Ethan Mitchell. The fourth heat fell to Chase McDermand over Zach Wigal, Taylor Reimer, Gavin Miller and Logan Seavey. All heat qualifying was in the books in less than an hour at 9:12.

The first of two B mains for the sprint cars were next up with a double flip taking place in between turns one and two. Everyone was OK in the tangle and racing resumed. Minnesota driver, Rob Caho Jr, prevailed in B main one over California driver, Eddie Tafoya Jr. The second B main was taken by Brandon Mattox in a late run to the front besting Daylan Chambers. Australian Kaiden Manders nailed down the midget semi as he has been looking good some far during Speedweek besting Ricky Lewis, Kevin Thomas Jr, Drake Edwards, Kayla Roell and Hank Davis the last person in.

At the drop of the green at 10:12 Ryan Timms took the lead from fourth and proceeded to pace the field for the first eleven laps with Cannon McIntosh, Kale Drake and Daison Pursley pursuing. By the halfway mark McIntosh had crossed the bad lead of Timms drawing closer and closer each lap. In the meantime, Emerson Axsom was coming into the battle advancing to fourth halfway in. Lap seventeen saw the caution wave as Ethan Mitchell stopped in turn four. On the restart Axsom decided to go topside passing Pursley in the first two corners for third and took second in turn four passing McIntosh. Timms was wrestling with the cushion off turn four for several laps slamming it pretty Hard causing him to lose some momentum and allowing Axsom to close. Lap eighteen saw Axsom slide past Timms off turn four but Timms was able to cross over and retain the lead. A lap later Timms slid up high in turns three and four allowing Axsom to slide underneath and take the lead. From that point forward Axsom moved away and closed the line at 10:22 taking the big win over Timms with Pursley third, McIntosh fourth and Taylor Reimer rounding out the top five. Four of the top five were Kunz entries. Chase McDermand was sixth with Jade Avedisian seventh, Kale Drake eighth, Kyle Cummins ninth and Gavin Miller rounding out the top five. Timms now takes a one point lead over Pursley heading to the next round tomorrow night at Bloomington.

We still had the 25 lap sprint car feature to contest with the front row of Brandon Spencer and Seth Parker bringing the field to Brian Hodde’s green flag at 10:39. Spencer grabbed the lead on the first lap until Parker slipped by in turn two on lap three to assume the top spot. Behind the leaders it was a donnybrook battle for third among Mitchel Moles, Brayden Fox and Ricky Lewis on lap five. The only caution appeared on lap twelve and on the restart Moles took the lead away from Parker in turn one. Lewis moved to second sliding by Spencer on lap thirteen and took up the chase of Moles. Lewis was able to pass Moles for the lead on lap fifteen and would lead the final ten laps of the feature crossing under the checkers at 10:49 for the win with Moles second, Parker third, Jadon Rogers fourth and Rylan Gray taking down fifth. Jake Scott led the second five to the finish in sixth with Fox seventh, Austin Nigh eighth, Rob Caho Jr ninth and Andrew Prather rounding out the top ten.

It was a good night of racing at LPS and we move onto the high banks of Bloomington Speedway tomorrow night for round three of Indiana Midget Week.

Until the next installment get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Mihocko Triumphs In Night Before 500 Race At Lincoln Park

Saturday, May 25 – It was a nice day to go racing so Pat and I along with guest, Kerry Meitzler, who was making his debut at Lincoln Park Speedway headed down Route 231 South toward beautiful downtown Putnamville and the home of the 5/16 mile dirt oval known as the King of the Cushion. LPS is our favorite place to watch a race from as the aisles are wide and allow lounge chairs to be placed in them to increase your comfort on the evening. Along with allowing coolers (minus beer) and having good concessions it makes for an enjoyable fan experience. The problem we have with Lincoln Park is it seems they never start on time anymore. Tonight, with many first timers in town for the Indianapolis 500, this is an opportunity to impress them with a snappy show spun off in a good time frame. With racing scheduled to start at 7 PM management placed themselves behind the eight ball from the start not starting the first heat until 8:11. Our philosophy is you only get one chance to make a first impression and to attract new fans you need to run an efficient, timely race program. This was not accomplished on this evening as over one third of the good crowd on hand left before seeing a feature event and the likelihood of them returning is low as fans going to the 500 the next day need to rise early to get to the track and hopefully beat the race day traffic. Kerry was one of them on this evening.

A solid field of 26 non-wing sprints were joined by 23 D2 midgets, 22 UMP modifieds, 15 bombers and 14 super stocks for tonight. The normal number of divisions for LPS is four and adding one without dropping a regular division on this night is not a good plan for a speedy evening. Joey Amantea scored the win in heat one over Daylan Chambers, Lee Dakus, the Edmonton, Alberta driver, back after a few years absence to regroup, Lee Underwood and Blake Vermillion. Heat two went to Kyle Shipley besting Jesse Vermillion, Harley Burns, Ivan Glotzbach and Austin Nigh. Tye Mihocko triumphed in heat three beating Brandon Spencer, Frankie Guerrini, Brayden Fox and Bryan Brewer with the top five from each heat locking into the 25 lap main event.

Three heats were contested for the UMP modifieds and the D2 midgets while the super stocks and bombers ran two each. The only division needing a B main was the sprint cars with Seth Parker scoring the win over Aaron Davis, Kaiden Manders, a Western Australia driver behind the keyboard of the Burton #04, Nic Harris and Zack Pretorius. All qualifying was completed by 10:11. With about a third of the crowd having exited by this point we were ready for the first of five feature races.

The green flag would drop on the 25 lap sprint car feature at 10:23 with Joey Amantea grabbing the early lead. It did not take Tye Mihocko long to get to the front from his third starting position taking the lead on the backstretch on lap one probably remembering the sting of the defeat the night before at Bloomington in the Burton Memorial on the last lap pass by Robert Ballou. Kyle Shipley also moved up to third at this point. Shipley slipped by Amantea on the start of lap nine in turn one and took up the chase of Mihocko, his fellow Arizona racer. Harley Burns was another making headway coming from eighth to fourth with Brandon Spencer moving into fifth. Amantea made an infield incursion off turn four on lap seventeen dropping to fifth as he returned to the racing surface on the homestretch as Spencer took third from Burns on this same lap. Seth Parker was pounding the cushion advancing from sixteenth to fifth with five to go. Spencer moved by Shipley for second with two to go but didn’t have enough time to seriously challenge Mihocko for the top spot. Parker was able to take fourth from Amantea in the closing laps for an impressive run indeed. At the 10:30 finish in the non-stop event it was Mihocko in for the win beating Spencer with Shipley third, Parker fourth and Amantea rounding out the top five. Positions six through ten were filled by Harley Burns, Brayden Fox, Frankie Guerrini, Ivan Glotzbach and Nic Harris from 19th.

It was a good, racing feature but with it being already 10:30 we decided to forgo the UMP modifieds and D2 midgets for Kerry’s sake and missed a 21st to 3rd run by Cale Coons, son of Jerry, in the D2 midget event. Management needs to work on running a more timely, fan friendly show.

That’s it until at least Sunday but the weather does not look good for Saturday with an Indianapolis Indians baseball game on the docket for Friday. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and have fun and be safe. Comments, news, stories or other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and giving us feedback on our writings. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Ballou Strikes Gold With Last Lap Pass At Josh Burton Memorial

Friday, May 24 – It was time for the 11th Josh Burton Memorial at the Bloomington Speedway and the four of us piled into the Equinox for the drive south to Bloomington. We stopped at Olive Garden in Bloomington before making our way over to the track where we secured a great parking spot where Kerry Meitzler and I joined Steve Kimmel in line to stake our seating area for the evening. We were able to get a top row location in the concrete grandstand right up against the railing behind us. It was a great location for all six of us. The weather had an hour or so that was troublesome but as the day went on it dissipated as the rain moved across north of us. Indianapolis Raceway Park was not so fortunate as the rain postponed the 71st running of the Hoosier Hundred until the next morning. The Burton Memorial has turned into one of the biggest shows on the Bloomington schedule with the family and friends continuing to add to making it a must see event. The sprint car winner tonight would receive $10,000 to win with the UMP modifieds and super stocks getting a paycheck of $1000 to win.

Ceremonies to honor Josh Burton were first on the docket with many race teams lining the top of the banks extending from turn two through turn three. Also many teams paint their Goodyear embossed tires orange to honor the man who left us too soon. And a special moment of the night is when Josh’s special friend, Casey, sings the National Anthem. A very nice tribute to a fine young man.

The sprint cars would run four heats for their good 34 car field with the top four moving directly into the 30 lap feature. The UMP modifieds would contest two heats for their 13 car field and the super stocks also two heats for their 13 car field.

The first sprint car heat would take the green flag at 7:55 with Shane Cottle in the Epperson #2E taking down the win over Tye Mihocko, Braxton Cummings and Harley Burns. Heat two went to the Daming Excavating #5T of Jake Swanson beating Kyle Cummins, Brayden Fox and Jadon Rogers. Ricky Lewis in his own #41 captured his fourth heat win in four nights outrunning Cody Trammell, Rylan Gray and Brandon Spencer in heat three. The fourth and final heat for the sprinters went to the Rock Steady #3R of Kevin Thomas Jr defeating Robert Ballou, Hunter Maddox and Max Adams. After the modified and super stock heats the sprint car B main was spun off with Chase Stockon getting the win over Charles Davis Jr, Jeff Bland Jr with a late race charge placed the Burton family owned #04 into the starting field with Daylan Chambers taking down the final qualifying spot.

The 30 lap, $10,000 to win sprint car feature was ready to rumble by 9:53 when Tye Mihocko and Kyle Cummins pacing 18 others came to the green flag. Mihocko bolted into the early lead chased by Cummins, Jake Swanson and Cody Trammell. Only two cautions would slow the action and each time Mihocko was back out front. Robert Ballou who started fifth was working his way forward while on the other hand Kevin Thomas Jr who started seventh was back peddling backwards out of the top ten. Ballou went to work picking off Trammell followed by Swanson and caught and passed Cummins to move into the runner up position. Mihocko was setting a good pace in the Paul #24P at the point but Ballou began to cut into his comfortable lead. With three to go Ballou was right on the tail of Mihocko as he tried to figure out a way past. The top two raced around the quarter mile bullring nose to tail taking the white flag and racing into turn one. In turn two Ballou closed to Mihocko’s tail as the pair raced down the backstretch. Entering turn three Ballou went for the win throwing his sprinter on the low side sticking there allowing him to slide Mihocko with plenty of room to spare pulling in front of him in turn four and racing to the line winning the race in very exciting fashion. Mihocko finished a disappointing second with Cummins placing third, Thomas rallying in the second half of the race to advance to fourth with Cody Trammell rounding out the top five. Jadon Rogers was the hard charger coming from 14th to finish 6th with Ricky Lewis 7th, Jake Swanson 8th, Brayden Fox 9th and Shane Cottle 10th.

Next up was the fireworks display and it was wonderful with lots of color and large sky lighting shots. After the fireworks we decided to hit the road for the 1 ½ hour drive home satisfied with a good night of racing on the red high banks of Bloomington.

That’s it for now but we have another night of racing to bring you tomorrow as our racing this week is not yet finished. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and have fun and be safe. Comments, news, notes of interest or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next. Take care and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Scores Fifth Win Of Year On Night Two At Circle City Salutes

Thursday, May 23 – Another nice day welcomed us as we arose to greet the day. Pat was back in town after a 12:30 AM arrival at Indianapolis Airport from New Jersey and our friends from Pennsylvania, Kerry and Cindy Meitzler, were flying in today from Philadelphia. Cindy had bought Kerry tickets to the 500 as a birthday present for his 70th birthday and they were going to take in as much racing beforehand as possible. That meant picking them up at the airport at 5:45 PM and wheeling them over to the Circle City Raceway for night two of the Circle City Salutes special two day show featuring the USAC sprint cars. We used some of the city roads to make our way to the Marion County Fairgrounds and arrived at 6:30, in plenty of time to catch the festivities. We ran into Northern California residents, Michael “Chiller” Lindbeck and Leslie, traveling East to take in some racing including their first Little 500 and the Indianapolis 500 where they specially came to watch Kyle Larson who they have known since he was a young kid.

We settled into our seats with our group of friends all around as time trials opened the program commencing at 7:18 for the 35 car field on hand. When it was said and done at 7:46 it was CJ Leary getting the homestretch interview after setting his 49th career fast time tying him with Brady Bacon for fourth place on the all-time list. The other division in action tonight would be the D2 midgets with 19 cars entered to do battle on the quarter mile oval.

Four heat races for the USAC sprint cars were first up with the top five moving forward into the 40 lap, $10,000 to win main event. Ricky Lewis, the young California driver, has been on a tear this week winning his fourth heat race of the week in four races contested. Lewis beat Jadon Rogers, Logan Seavey, Charles Davis Jr and fast timer, CJ Leary in heat one. Heat two was captured by Chase Stockon who is having a consistent week outrunning Brady Bacon, Jake Swanson, Joey Amantea and Shane Cottle. Daison Pursley who is proving he is a title contender with consistent good finishes, nailed down heat three besting Kyle Cummins, Matt Westfall, Frankie Guerrini and Chance Crum. The fourth heat was taken by Robert Ballou over Brent Beauchamp, Carson Garrett, Brandon Mattox and Justin Grant.

The D2 midgets would run three heats for their 19 car field with Matt Lux, Bryce Massingill and Michael Magic capturing heat wins. Then it was back to the sprint cars with 15 cars racing for just 4 spots into the main event. Kevin Thomas Jr who had problems in his heat ran away from the field in this one trailed by Mitchel Moles, Anton Hernandez and Harley Burns with a last lap pass of Rylan Gray to claim the last starting position for the feature.

That brought us up to the two feature races with the 40 lap USAC sprint car feature the first called to the lineup shoot. As the green flag dropped on the 24 car field Kyle Cummins jumped off the inside front row for the early lead. Cummins would pace the field for the early laps with third starting Logan Seavey tucked in behind Cummins. On lap nine the first caution appeared when Joey Amantea lost the handle and spun in turn two. On the restart Seavey was right on Cummin’s rear nerf bar and ready to pounce. Seavey took the lead in turn one on lap ten and fended off a counter by Cummins in turn three and pulled fully ahead exiting turn four. At that point it was off to the races for Seavey as he checked out on the remainder of the field as the laps clicked off. Cummins, Brady Bacon and Daison Pursley locked up in a race long battle way behind Seavey as the trio swapped back and forth over the course of the feature. Cummins clipped the turn two wall allowing Pursley to slip by into second and on lap later Cummins said hello to the turn four wall allowing Bacon to motor by in third. On the white flag Bacon dove low on the homestretch on Pursley and secured second entering turn one. The checkered flag would fly one lap later at 9:55 with Seavey crossing the line first with over a four second lead with Bacon second, Pursley third from seventh as he continues to impress with Ricky Lewis in a fine performance advancing from ninth to fourth at the finish with Robert Ballou rounding out the top five.

Cummins would wind up sixth at the end with CJ Leary seventh, Chase Stockon eighth, Carson Garrett ninth and Mitchel Moles rounding out the top ten. For Seavey that was his fifth win of the season in the USAC sprints becoming the earliest driver to win that many times in USAC since Larry Dickson in 1970. It was also his 15th career USAC sprint car win tying him with Bobby East, Cory Kruseman and Brian Tyler on the all-time list in 40th place. Chance Crum was the hard charger of the evening advancing from 23rd to 14th at the finish.

There was still some racing to go as the D2 midgets were next on the card to contest their 25 lap feature taking the green flag at 10:09. Alex Watson paced the field for the first 12 laps until Bryce Massingill was able to work his way by to take the lead. Watson stayed close and the pair were joined by Michael Magic as a good three car duel ensued. Massingill was able to fend off all challenges and crossed the finish line at 10:23 to take the win with Watson and Magic right in his tire tracks.

It was a good night of racing with Wednesday night’s USAC feature being more competitive but overall a better track surface in tonight’s racing.

That’s it for now but check back tomorrow as we will bring you highlights from the 11th Josh Burton Memorial race at Bloomington Speedway which is one of the premier races on the Bloomington docket. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun and be safe. Comments, information, stories or other items of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Remember to smile, say hi to a stranger and be kind as you don’t know what that person is going through at the present time.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Bacon Breaks Through For First Of Year At Circle City

Wednesday, May 22 – The forecast for today going back a few days ago was for scattered thunderstorms and projected bad weather. Well, things changed which is common with the weather forecasts in Indiana and the threat of bad weather was replaced by partly sunny skies with temperatures in the 80’s along with 15 mph winds. It was on the dot as the day proceeded. I arrived on the grounds of the Marion County Fairgrounds, home of the Circle City Raceway, for night one of two at the quarter mile dirt oval in Indianapolis. Found a good parking spot and went off to find Steve and Magi Kimmel and their motorhome. Found that Steve just missed getting into the track before they locked the gates to lay down the tablecloths to secure seats so we all hanged out at the motorhome until close to 5:30 when the gates were scheduled to reopen. We went inside and with the wind blowing it was a two man job to secure the plastic tablecloths to the aluminum grandstand but after some struggle the mission was accomplished. We returned back to the camping area and chatted and before going in for the night Magi brought out some great dip and Fritos along with strawberries and cherries direct from New Mexico. We settled into our seats for a night of racing.

We were surprised that the starting time for racing was not until 8 PM on a weekday with neighbors encroaching closer and closer to the fairgrounds we thought it would be a wise decision to start an hour earlier. Anyhow the action picked up quickly as time trials pushed off at 7:24 with two drivers taking rides into the turn one wall rolling over and ending their nights early. First it was Rylan Gray sliding hard into the turn one wall which turned his car sideways executing two barrel rolls ending up against the wall in turn two. A few sprinters later Frankie Guerrini caught the cushion wrong entering turn one sending him sideways and impacting the wall and rolling over once in the process. That brought the 35 car field down to 33 for heat action. Robert Ballou normally not a good qualifier surprised everyone setting fast time with a lap of 12.679 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring. Next up on the agenda were hot laps for the second division on the card, the crate late models, who brought 21 cars to the dance.

The four USAC sprint car heats were called to the post with the green flag dropping on the field at 8:21. Kyle Cummins wheeled the Jerry Petty #3P to the cushion and powered around those ahead of him to score the first heat win over Logan Seavey, CJ Leary, Robert Ballou and Harley Burns. Mitchel Moles was the man in heat two placing the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ out front and nailing down the win over Shane Cottle, Brady Bacon, Brent Beauchamp and Matt Westfall. Chase Stockon scored the win in heat three wheeling the KO Motorsports #5S to the win over Hunter Maddox in an impressive run finished second followed by Daison Pursley, Charles Davis Jr and Justin Grant. Ricky Lewis paced the field in heat four using a 360 powerplant after losing one of his two 410 power plants the night before at Terre Haute winning over Jake Swanson, Joey Amantea, Anton Hernandez in the Baldwin #5 and Kevin Thomas Jr. The four heats were run in 24 minutes. Three crate late model heats followed with Steve Peeden, Zack Burton and Jack Dossey taking down wins.

The sprint car semi was next on the schedule with Carson Garrett blasting from eighth after having problems with the car in his heat race and pulling away in this one besting Chance Crum, Jadon Rogers and Matt Goodnight. Garrett would start 24th in the main event and move forward which we will hit on again later.

It was now time to run the 30 lap, $5000 to win USAC sprint car feature with Shane Cottle and Harley Burns bringing the 24 car field to the green flag at 9:38. Cottle squirted to the early lead using the low side (his preferred groove) and led the opening two laps until third starting Kevin Thomas Jr went high side in turn four to swoop past Cottle for the lead. Thomas moved away from the pack opening up a straightway lead over the next several laps. Brady Bacon who started fifth was moving forward in a hurry, catching and passing Cottle for second with a low side pass in turn one on lap nine. Kyle Cummins who started seventh was the next to dust off Cottle passing him for third on the high side of turn four on lap eleven.

Thomas still held a healthy lead at the halfway mark with Bacon and Cummins separating themselves from rest of the field as they went to work tracking down Thomas. Lap traffic loomed ahead for Thomas as Bacon was clearly reeling in the Rock Steady #3R but the caution waved on lap sixteen when Brent Beauchamp and Joey Amantea tangled and spun in unison in turns one and two right in front of the leaders who managed to avoid them both. On the restart Thomas powered out front as Bacon and Cummins locked up in a battle for second. Cummins edged ahead several times but Bacon was able to counter and regain second. Cottle reappeared on the bottom challenging the top three moving by Cummins for second briefly until he encountered a turn three infield tire sending the Epperson #2E spinning to a stop. Cottle would end up 18th at the finish after looking like a serious contender.

On the restart with eight to go Thomas decided to come off the top and run the bottom while Bacon did the opposite going from bottom to top. The racing was intense among the top six running side by side in groups of two as the battle was on. With six to go Thomas and Ballou trolled the bottom while Cummins ran the middle and Bacon was up against the wall racing through turn two. Bacon got the run and passed Thomas for the lead between turns three and four and was in front for the first time in this one. Bacon opened a few car length lead as the laps dwindled down and as Bacon raced to the white flag this one looked like it was over. Well, it was not as two cautions at the end would necessitate two green, white, checker scenarios. CJ Leary brought out the first caution slowing on the backstretch with a flat right rear tire and the second occurred on the restart when second running Cummins caught the turn two wall ramping him up on the wall on the backstretch and riding it for a distance before returning to the track surface. He raced into turn three and front end broke causing him to spin and spoiling his good run on the evening.

On the final restart Bacon got a good jump and was able to stave off all comers over the final two laps crossing the line first for his 54th career USAC National Sprint Car win and first of 2024 after a dismal start to the year and the proverbial monkey on his back was thrown off in grand style. Thomas rode home second with Daison Pursley in the mix over the last five laps placing third after starting fourteenth with Robert Ballou fourth and Chase Stockon fifth after starting ninth. Mitchel Moles led the charge of the second five across the line in sixth with Jadon Rogers coming home seventh, Ricky Lewis eighth, Chance Crum advanced from 20th to 9th with Matt Westfall rounding out the top ten. Crum looked like a good choice for hard charger but remember Carson Garrett from before he advanced from 24th to 12th to claim the hard charger award in a good run. The checker on this one dropped at 9:54 but since I didn’t have to pick up pat at the Indianapolis Airport until at least 11:30 (ended up being 12:30 arrival after congestion problems at Newark Airport) I decided to watch the 25 lap crate late model feature as the parking lot emptied of about half the Dossey fourth and Tyler Neal fifth with the final checker waving at 10:25.

It was a real good night of sprint car racing even though the track was dusty in the feature there were multiple racing grooves and plenty of side by side racing throughout the field in a very entertaining contest.

Check back tomorrow as night two of Circle City is next on the agenda with more USAC sprint car racing on the docket. Until then get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area but be safe and have fun. And thanks for reading our efforts and hope you are enjoying the busy Memorial Day week of racing we have here in the Hoosier state leading up to the Indianapolis 500.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey’s Late Pass Gives Him Fourth Win of Year At Terre Haute

Tuesday, May 21 – It was a beautiful day in the Hoosier state, sunny with temperatures pushing into the low 90’s with steady winds at 15 mph from the south. The direction of the wind was the key for today as it was at our backs in the covered grandstands and not blowing in our faces. Our Arizona friend, Steve Kimmel, wasn’t expecting Indiana Sprint Week temperatures though!! Left Crawfordsville at 3 and pulled onto the grounds of the Vigo County Fairgrounds at 4:20. Hung out in the car reading emails and such until just after 5 and made my way to the ticket booth and into the covered grandstand finding Don and Burleigh who were saving me a seat in the top row. The wind was blowing at our backs but felt good with the temperature in the 90’s. At one point my writing pad and bag blew two rows in front of me before I was able to retrieve it!! We were joined later by friends, Max and Suzie Niemann, and good conversation followed after introductions.

As far as the racing is concerned 27 USAC sprints along with 11 UMP modifieds were ready to do battle on the only ½ mile dirt oval in Indiana which had been prepped nicely by the track crew for tonight’s racing. It was the 54th Tony Hulman Classic honoring the former owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the winner receiving the traditional rifle in victory lane. The night kicked off with two at a time trials for the 27 car field starting at 7:02. Just 15 minutes later it was Logan Seavey being interviewed after setting the fast time with a lap of 20.152 around the half mile oval. Hot laps for the UMP modifieds followed before the USAC sprints returned to the track to contest their three heat races with the top six moving into the 30 lap, $10,000 to win feature event.

Mitchel Moles placed the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ in victory lane after the first heat was completed besting Jake Swanson, Chase Stockon, Logan Seavey, Max Adams and Kevin Thomas Jr. Heat two was a surprise not in the fact that he won but by the margin of victory as Ricky Lewis checked out in this one beating Matt Westfall, Brady Bacon, Justin Grant, Carson Garrett and Jadon Rogers with a last lap pass of Saban Bibent for the last qualifying position. The third heat race was captured by CJ Leary on the last lap sliding Kyle Cummins for the win with Daison Pursley, Charles Davis Jr, Robert Ballou and Tye Mihocko in the Cheney #42 following. The two UMP modified heats were won by Kentucky’s Hunt Gossum and Tyler Weiss.

The sprint car B main was next on the agenda with Shane Cottle winning in the Epperson #2E in a race shortened by one lap when Matt Goodnight slid into Kevin Newton between turns three and four resulting in Newton barrel rolling four times before stopping on the track. Newton was OK after the wild ride and the race was checkered at this point as all remaining cars (6) were qualified. This allowed Nate Ervin driving the Algieo #11 to qualify for his first USAC sprint car feature.

The 15 lap UMP modified feature was the first called to the post with Tyler Weiss the early leader. Hunt Gossum would work his way by around lap 7 and outdistance Will Krup for the win with Justin Jones finishing third.

Now it was time for the 54th Annual Tony Hulman Classic with 24 cars brought to Brian Hodde’s green flag led by Kevin Thomas Jr and Carson Garrett. Thomas took the early lead with Robert Ballou charging from fourth into the runner-up position in quick order. Joey Amantea looped it in turn one on lap one and had the field bearing down on his racer which had to make for a few anxious moments for the young driver. Everyone was able to avoid the spun car and Amantea restarted at the tail of the field. On the restart Justin Grant spun in turn two with no contact from anyone and also was relegated to the tail of the field where we ended up finishing an uncharacteristic 15th at the end.

Thomas would lead on the restart with Ballou in tow. The race went green until lap nine when first time starter, Nate Ervin slowed on the backstretch. On the ensuing restart Jake Swanson in the Benic #2B executed a slider on Thomas in turn one to grab the lead with Brady Bacon catching Thomas in turn three to take over second. Swanson and Bacon pulled away opening a half straightway lead on Thomas as the race neared the halfway mark. Lap thirteen saw Logan Seavey who had worked his way from eighth into contention sliding Thomas for third in turn three but if he was going to catch the top two he had his work cut out for him as they held a half straightway lead as the race crossed the halfway mark. Seavey was fast and began to close the gap on the high flying top two.

Lap 21 saw Bacon try to dive low in turn three for the lead but Charles Davis Jr blocked his line and Bacon was forced to pull around Davis behind Swanson and just in front of the surging Seavey who had caught the leaders. With six to go Seavey threw a perfect slider on Bacon entering turn one and held off Bacon exiting turn two to take over second at this point. Coming to the flag stand with five to go, Seavey knew it was time to go after Swanson. With just three to go Swanson lapped Grant through turns one and two with Seavey caught up behind Grant tapping his rear nerf bar in turn two and losing valuable ground. Everyone thought this was enough to give Swanson the breathing room he needed to fend off Seavey but Logan was not done yet. Seavey cleared Grant in turn three and took up the chase of Swanson as time was running out quickly.

With the white flag waving Swanson led with Seavey closing quickly. Entering turn two Seavey closed to Swanson’s rear nerf bar and racing off the turn raced down the backstretch racing side by side with Seavey edging ahead entering turn three. Racing to the line Seavey would win his fourth USAC sprint feature of the year by two car lengths over Swanson who had to settle for a disappointing second with Bacon third, Thomas fourth and CJ Leary completing the top five with the final checker waving at 9:51. Seavey also became the first fast qualifier to win the Hulman Classic in 21 years, the last being JJ Yeley who was racing Xtreme Outlaw midgets at Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina tonight. It was an impressive run by the Sutter, California native as he added to his point lead on the evening.

Daison Pursley turned in a strong run coming from 12th to finish 6th with Chase Stockon up from 13th to 7th with Robert Ballou fading to eighth, Mitchel Moles ninth and Shane Cottle rounding out the top ten. Wanted to give a shout out to USAC rookie, Joey Amantea, who if you remember spun on the first lap and went to the rear of the field (23rd) and rebounded to finish 11th. The hard charger is based on your starting position so actually Amantea started 19th but still received the hard charger award. A fine performance by the series rookie!!

That’s it for today but check back tomorrow as the action continues as the USAC sprints move up to Indianapolis and the quarter mile at the Circle City Raceway for two nights of action. Comments, news, racing rumors or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. So if you haven’t already done so get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and have fun and be safe. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where a typical weekend ends up.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

A Visit To Kansas Produces Some Good Racing At Salina & Belleville

Thursday, May 16 – We started the long trek westward toward Kansas stopping for the evening at a Sleep Inn in Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Samuel Clemons or you may know him by his author name, Mark Twain. We left Hannibal by 9:30 AM after having a wonderful breakfast at the hotel (recommend this place for its breakfast alone) making our way westward to Salina, Kansas, our home for the next two days.

Friday, May 17 – We decided to take in the local racing action at the 3/8 mile dirt oval at the Salina Speedway instead of traveling up the road to watch the USAC midgets at Belleville. We are glad we did as we witnessed some good IMCA sanctioned racing here with five divisions totaling 80 cars. After hot laps the track was a little dry so the water truck came out to put down some liquid love and we couldn’t believe the amount of water that came out of the three sprayers attached. This would cause a 15 minute delay but even starting 15 minutes late was better than we see at tracks in Indiana and other parts of the country who start 45 minutes to an hour late with no explanation or apology to the paying customer. The announcer here gave an apology before the racing began. Eleven heat races were run for the five divisions wrapping up in less than an hour. Amazing how quickly you can run races with the IMCA spin rule in place that disqualifies anyone bringing out the caution in a race!!!

The racing was close and competitive in every division with the hobby stock and sport modified features deemed the best by us. All racing was completed before 11 after starting at 8:15. Good show, good enthusiastic crowd and good food at a fair price. We both enjoyed this one very much.

Saturday, May 18 – After hanging out at the Hilton Garden hotel in the morning we ventured out for lunch at the local Perkin’s. Very tasty food with good portions filled our stomachs before making the hour plus trip northward to the small town of Belleville. We met up with Steve and Magi Kimmel, Ken Wagner along with Coach from Kokomo in the campgrounds and did some bench racing and storytelling before the night’s racing began. It was our first visit to Belleville in 20 years and it felt good to be back. We would be seeing racing on two tracks tonight, the inner oval which measures a quarter mile in length and is completely separate from the high banked half mile dirt oval. The USAC midget would be doing battle on the ¼ mile while the mighty USAC Silver Crown division would be taking to the big half mile on this evening. We sat in row 5 of the aluminum bleachers and got pelted quite a bit by the Silver Crown cars hot lapping around the half mile banked dirt oval and it was good to see the track tacky.

USAC midget time trials would start the evening of entertainment commencing at 6:50 with Ethan Mitchell in the Honda powered midget setting fast time of 12.462 seconds around the ¼ mile oval completing at 7:07 and beating out 26 other drivers for quick time. Next on the agenda was time trials for 25 Silver Crown entrants with five drivers including Logan Seavey and CJ Leary not taking time during this session. Twenty five cars would start the 50 lap main event later in the evening though. Kaylee Bryson, the only female driver in the field, driving the Aaron Pierce #26 showed the boys how it was done setting fast time around the almost total circle with little straights a half mile in size with a time of 17.264 seconds. Bryson became the first female in Silver Crown history to set fast time in an event. And there was more to come.

The midgets were back trackside for their three heat races with the top six moving directly into the 40 lap main event. Daniel Whitley in the LeVecque #60X replacing Hank Davis tonight who moved over to the Cornell #8 surprised everyone by copping the first heat besting Zach Daum, Justin Grant, Jerry Coons Jr, Kale Drake and Ethan Mitchell barely cracking the top six. Heat two went to the defending USAC midget champ, Logan Seavey, after having a trying time last night ending up eighth from twenty third as the berm gave him fits last night. Tonight was different as he scored the win in heat two over in the new Joyner team #27X, Ryan Timms, Jacob Denney, Kevin Thomas Jr and Cannon McIntosh, last night feature winner snapping a long losing streak in USAC midget action. The third and final heat fell to Daison Pursley in his new ride in the Chad Boat Industries #86 beating Jake Andreotti, Steven Snyder Jr, Gary Taylor, Ashton Torgerson and Gavin Miller. The midget semi was next on the dance card with six to qualify and after one lap with Kaylee Bryson. Bubak was awarded the win. That has not happen in USAC annuals since 1999 in a USAC sprint semi at Terre Haute.

So, all we had remaining were two main events, one on the quarter mile and the other on the half mile. First up on the evening would be the 40 lap USAC midget feature with the front row of Ashton Torgerson and Ryan Timms bringing 22 of their friends to the green flag at 9:25. Torgerson would get the edge at the start and lead the first three laps of the event. Timms was riding the rim and passed Torgerson for the top spot up high in turn one on lap four. Daison Pursley who started fourth also breezed by Torgerson for second on the fourth lap. Timms would pace the field through lap eleven when he slid up in turn one past a lap car and tagged the turn two berm with his right rear tire and momentarily became airborne but was able to regain control and maintain the lead over Pursley. The red flag would wave on the fourteenth lap when Jake Bubak and other car banged together on the backstretch with Bubak barrel rolled three times before landing on all fours. Bubak was OK but done for the evening.

On the restart Timms led with Pursley in close pursuit. These two pulled away from the others with Pursley making his move for the lead on lap twenty six in turn three sliding up in front of Timms and leading by a car length at the line. Three laps later rookie Kale Drake passed Timms for second and tried to reel in Pursley. Daison went to the bottom while Drake tried to make the high side work as the race went on. Timms dropped back several positions but went back to work and moved forward once again. With less than ten to go Timms passed Drake to regain second but Pursley was too far out front for him to mount a challenge. At 9:46 Pursley streaked across the line first for his first win of 2024 and his third career win in USAC competition and first since August of 2021. Timms would finish second with Drake third and Cannon McIntosh making it an all-Oklahoma top four with Illinois’ Zach Daum placing fifth. Logan Seavey led the second five across the line in sixth with Ashton Torgerson seventh, Ethan Mitchell eighth, Kyle Jones ninth and Gary Taylor rounding out the top ten. Hard charger went to Zach Wigal from 23rd to 13th at the finish. A good competitive race setting the stage for the big 50 lap USAC Silver Crown feature.

At the start of the 50 lap USAC Silver Crown event with the front row of Kaylee Bryson and Mario Clouser bringing the field to the green flag at 10:18 it was Brady Bacon looking like he was shot out of a cannon blasting by Matt Westfall and the front row into the lead by the end of lap one. What Bacon did over the next 34 laps was put an ass wiping on the field as he streaked around the half mile going every which way passing cars left and right. Bacon opened up a six second lead in the first 15 laps as he raced around the oval like it was his personal playground. In fact, by the halfway mark, he had decimated the field with a ten second lead that saw he lap ninth place runner, Jerry Coons Jr, at that point. Bryson and Clouser trailed as Bacon ran away. But as Dick Trickle once said, “You have to first finish before you finish first” and no words rang truer as exiting turn four on lap 34 Bacon’s Dyson #9 puffed a white cloud of smoke as the leader slowed on the homestretch and continued around to the backstretch where he pulled to the infield while he still led. That is how much of a lead he had!!!

A lap later the only yellow flew when an errant wheel cover lay in the groove in turn three. When opportunity knocks you grab the bull by the horns and take advantage of it. That is what Kaylee Bryson did as the green flag dropped on the restart, she hit the loud pedal and was off being chased by Mario Clouser and Kevin Thomas Jr who had worked his way to third after starting ninth. CJ Leary who started 20th after taking no time trial and replacing an engine, was back in sixth on the restart but it didn’t take him long to dust off Justin Grant, Thomas and Clouser charging by them all in five laps. Leary continued to cut the deficit and with six to go was within two car lengths of Bryson. Everyone thought that Leary was going to track down the young lady but she had other plans. Bryson was almost flawless over the final laps holding off all challenges by Leary and racing across the finish line at 10:40 making history in the progress as Bryson became the first female driver in 69 years of USAC racing to win a National event as the crowd went wild roaring their approval as she scored the very popular win besting Leary, Clouser, Grant up from ninth and Daison Pursley in his Silver Crown debut advancing from 12th to garner a top five in his first outing in the Team AZ #21. Veteran Jerry Coons Jr brought the Bateman #55 home sixth after starting 13th with Chase Stockon seventh, Thomas eighth after fading down the stretch, with Robert Ballou ninth in his maiden voyage in the Hans Lein #97 after starting 17th with Matt Westfall ending up tenth. Pennsylvania driver, Briggs Danner, also in his first Silver Crown run came home an impressive 11th in the DMW #10.

It was an exciting race to be at with history being made and folks were still talking about Bryson’s win as they walked toward their cars to leave the facility. It will be something we will always remember and we were glad we were there to witness this race!

That’s it for now but check back Wednesday as this is a busy week of racing in Indiana culminating with the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 with much short track activity also during the week and weekend. So, in the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and catch some action in another part of this great country. Either way enjoy yourself and be safe. Comments, news, stories of interest and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And last but certainly not least is thank you for reading our efforts and sending along comments about our writings. Catch you soon!!!

Courtney Carries Hoosier Colors To High Limit Win At Kokomo

Monday, May 13 – This race was originally scheduled for Tuesday but Tuesday is the first day of Indianapolis 500 practice and Kyle Larson is entered this year so they bumped it up to Monday. It was for the better as I type this column it is raining in Kokomo and Indianapolis and has been and will be doing so for the rest of the day. It really didn’t end up mattering for Larson as he had a rough night which we will touch upon later.

The day was partly sunny with temperatures reaching the 80’s and the race fans turned out in good numbers to take in the High Limit sprint car series at the ¼ mile dirt oval of the Kokomo Speedway. This is the kind of program we enjoy, a week day show with only one division. High Limit is doing many good things in their first expanded year of competition and we will note these things throughout this column. First of all they are paying good money especially to win, $20,000, on this evening with $1500 to start. There is a separate pay structure and point fund for the midweek money series and regular High Limit schedule with a $100,000 point fund for the midweek series and more than $5.8 million dollars on the line for a 60 race schedule. Also there is a franchise option where the top five in points in 2024 will be franchisers and share in the streaming revenue starting in 2026. The 2025 season will lock in an additional five teams for revenue sharing.

Back to the racing a fine 42 car field squared off for the evening starting with time trials two at a time broken into two qualifying groups of 21 each. Time trials commenced at 6:45 and by 7:08 group one qualifier, Cale Thomas, clicked off the quickest time of the evening at 10.945 seconds. This was our first High Limit race of the year as weather forced us to choose other options in Florida and with a $40 admission price (a bit pricy) but someone has to pay the purse it was time to go heat racing.

The action was quick and furious as heat one unfolded with Cale Thomas and Kyle Larson racing hard for position off turn two on the third lap with the two getting together. Larson got the worse of the tangle turning sidways and barrel rolling three to four times down the backstretch. Larson was done for the heat but would return for the C main later. Tyler Courtney grabbed the heat one win over an impressive Cole Macedo, James McFadden, Zeb Wise and Brent Marks. Rico Abreu scored the win in heat two besting Parker Price-Miller, Brenham Crouch, Brandon Wimmer and Ryan Timms. Heat three was captured by Buddy Kofoid who used one of his four passes by WOO to run tonight at Kokomo beating Cory Eliason, Spencer Bayston, Hunter Schuerenberg and young Darin Naida. The fourth and final heat went to the impressive Corey Day turning back Brad Sweet, Jacob Allen, Justin Peck and Skylar Gee. All heat racing was completed in less than a half hour.

Next up was the dash redraw held at the base of the flagger’s stand with Buddy Kofoid and Tyler Courtney starting on the front row. Next was the C main which included Kyle Larson with the top two finishers joining the tail of the B main. Larson’s car did not seem up to snuff and he failed to crack the top two in a race won by Danny Samms III over Kasey Kahne. Another good feature of High Limit is that they don’t play favorites proved by the fact that Larson did not receive any provisional and two when the top six starters in the dash race were not in the staginKofoid ended up winning the dash and the pole position fending off Corey Day from eighth, Rico Abreu and Tyler Courtney.

It was now time for the B main with the top four drivers moving forward to the 40 lap A main. On lap six of the B main Cap Henry rolled over in turn two after catching an infield tire ending his evening early. Henry’s ride from last year, the Lane Racing #4 driven this year by Zane DeVault went for a wild ride catching the wall off turn four going for the last qualifying position and flipping end over end numerous times ending up almost at the pit gate entrance. DeVault was OK after that scary ride!! Tanner Thorson would go on to win the B main outrunning Chris Windom, Brady Bacon and fast timer, Cale Thomas.

Another good thing High Limit does for the fans is that they draw a name of a fan who bought an online ticket and that person gets to roll two dice and the number that shows is the starting position of the driver he is assigned. It came up four meaning that Tyler Courtney and the fan would split $4000 equally if Courtney went on to win the feature. It would be the second High Limit race in a row where the bonus was paid out, the last at Tri-City Speedway on Saturday.

Now it was time for the 40 lap, $20,000 to win High Limit main event with Kasey Kahne using a provisional to raise the starting field to 25 entrants. Tom Hansing dropped the green flag on the field at 9:16 with young Corey Day getting the hole shot into the early lead. The leaders caught lap traffic early on lap five with Day leading Kofoid and Courtney. Lap seven saw the complexation of the race change drastically as leader Day lost a right front wheel entering turn two and pulled to a halt. Day returned briefly but would end up 24th at the finish.

Something we don’t like with High Limit is the cone and the lane changer option. They end up running too many laps under caution (usually five) and it does not make a difference. Should shelve this one. After two more quick cautions officials went to a single file restart and racing returned.

Kofoid squirted away on the restart with Courtney and Eliason from sixth in tow. Darin Naida catches the homestretch on lap twelve almost flipping but staying on allon Kofoid entering turn one but the caution waves again and the move is negated. Kofoid leads on the restart with Courtney in his tire tracks as the top two ride the wall around the oval. The leaders close on lap traffic on lap nineteen and on lap twenty one in traffic Courtney dives low and passes Kofoid to gain the lead. Spencer Bayston in the meantime has worked his way up from 12th to 3rd and begins to dog Kofoid for second. With twelve to go Bayston picks off Kofoid for second and goes after Courtney as two Indiana boys are going to duke it out for the win. Bayston pulls to Courtney’s rear nerf bar with five to go but it is going to be a task to unseat Courtney. Tyler holds sway and crosses the line first at 9:43 with Bayston second with Kofoid settling for third, Cory Eliason in a good run for fourth and Brad Sweet rounding out the top five after starting tenth.

Justin Peck led the second five to the finish in sixth with Rico Abreu seventh, James McFadden eighth, Parker Price-Miller ninth and Brenham Crouch tenth. It was a good race and we enjoyed it but have to think twice about slapping down $40 for another High Limit race. By the way Tyler Courtney pocketed a grand total of $22,000 with that dice bonus and the fan took home $2000 for buying his ticket early. Not a bad deal!!!

That’s it until the weekend when we have a road trip planned to a couple of distant tracks. Check back next Monday for a report on our road trip. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or put together your own road trip to a bucket list track. In the interim be safe and be kind. Correspondence can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com to let us know your thoughts. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where a typical weekend finds us.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Split Weekend Finds Thornton Scores At Farmer City & Thomas At Tri-State

Friday, May 10 – There were two good options for the weekend with USAC National sprints running at Bloomington Speedway on Friday and Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt on Saturday. The other option was Lucas Oil Late Models at Farmer City on Friday and Fairbury Speedway on Saturday. What to do? Well, Pat came up on the perfect solution suggesting we attend Farmer City on Friday and Tri-State on Saturday. Problem solved!!!

So on a nice sunny day in the mid to upper 60’s it was west on I-74 into Illinois where we gain an hour going over but lose an hour on the return trip. We arrived in Farmer City around 3:30 and found a good parking spot off of turn one before securing our blanket in the covered grandstands on the homestretch. Farmer City is a neat ¼ mile bullring with the homestretch sitting above your normal eye level. The track has the famous black clay that Illinois is known for and usually is tacky.

A fine field of 54 super late models and 32 UMP modifieds turned out to be part of the Farmer City 74 tonight with super late model time trials kicking off at 7:19. Jonathan “Superman” Davenport set the mark at 12.578 seconds around the fine Illinois clay before the first of six heats for the LOLM’s commenced at 8:11. By 8:40 the six heats were in the books followed by three UMP modified heats. Three super late model B mains were next on the dance card with the top two advancing to the 74 lap feature event. The big surprise of the evening was that the top man in WOO late model points, Brandon Sheppard, along with the number seven man in WOO points, Bobby Pierce, did not crack the starting field. Lucas Oil took an incredible six provisionals chose by points led by Hudson O’Neal (5th), Brandon Sheppard (10th), Tyler Erb (11th), Max Blair (12th), Brenden Smith (17th) and Cory Lawler (18th). Pierce who was 33rd in Lucas Oil points did not make the cutoff and loaded up early.

The race was decent with Jonathan Davenport leading the first 55 laps dueling with first Ricky Thornton Jr and then veteran Shannon Babb who made a two for one pass in turn two on lap 55 to go from third to first in one fair swoop the delight of the crowd on hand. Thornton slipped by Davenport for second soon after and took up the chase of Babb. RTJ was all over Babb down the stretch trying several times to take the lead. The pair raced side by side down the backstretch and exiting turn three Thornton was the new leader with Babb pulling to the infield with motor woes to end the upset bid. Thornton would lead the final four laps to score his third straight LOLM win over Davenport with Garrett Albertson coming home third and his first LOLM win is just down the line as he is running stronger in every outing. Dennis Erb Jr garnered fourth with Jimmy Owens advancing from sixteenth to fifth at the finish at 10:34.

It was time to head for the exits for us arriving back in Crawfordsville at 1:20 AM. A good night of racing but now it was time for some sack time!!!

Saturday, May 11 – Another beautiful day in Indiana and after having lunch at our favorite dining spot in Crawfordsville, the Second City Café, it was off to southwestern Indiana and the Class Track, Tri-State Speedway, in Haubstadt. The two hour, forty five minute tow there is relaxing as we use mostly back roads until connecting up with I-69 in Elnora. We arrived at 4 PM and secured a great parking spot on the backstretch side of the quarter mile bullring and tied down our blanket three rows from the top and took a walk over to the homestretch side to sign in and visit with some of our racing friends, Don and Burleigh along with Dan and Jen, having some good conversation before heading back to the backstretch.

It was the Spring Showdown for the USAC National sprints and was the 54th time USAC has raced the sprint cars here at Tri-State which makes it the 10th most visited track in USAC sprint history. Thirty one sprint cars and twenty six MMSA mini sprints made the tow to Haubstadt with festivities pushing off with time trials starting at 6:57 after a hot lap tangle in the MMSA mini sprints resulted in a delay after one of the drivers was injured. By 7:16 Justin Grant was being interviewed in the infield by Kristy after setting fast time for the 34th time in his career. That would move Grant into 11th place on the all time list ahead of Chase Stockon and just one shy of the number 10 man, Rich Vogler.

Next up on the agenda would be four heats for the sprinters with the top five locking into the 30 lap feature event. Carson Short making his first USAC start in quite a while as a teammate to Brady Short (no relation) in one of the red Edward’s machines proved he had not lost the magic nailing down the first heat win over Jake Swanson, CJ Leary, Justin Grant and Donny Brackett. Heat two went to Kyle Cummins in his new ride in the Petty #3P besting Mitchel Moles, Brady Bacon, Adyn Schmidt and Aric Gentry. Heat three went to Jadon Rogers in the Dutcher #17GP coming off a hard flip the night before at Bloomington beating Kendall Ruble, JJ Hughes, Dustin Beck and Daison Pursley. Heat four went to the Hank Byrum Rock Steady #3R over Brady Short, Robert Ballou, Kayla Roell and Chase Stockon.

The MMSA mini sprints would spin off three heats for their 26 car field before the USAC sprints would return for their semi race with the top four qualifying for the main event. Matt Westfall would hold off point leader, Logan Seavey, for the win with Carson Garrett and rookie Joey Amantea closing out the qualfiers. All sprint qualifying was completed by 8:53. The MMSA B main followed and then the track equipment went to work on the surface before the 30 lap feature event would be called to the post.

Justin Grant had some problems and went to the work area before the start of the 30 lap feature relegating the sixth starter to the rear of the field and moving everyone up one position before the race went green. Mitchel Moles and CJ Leary brought the 24 car field to the green flag at 9:36 with Moles getting the early lead. Kevin Thomas Jr slipped by Leary into second on the opening lap and trailed Moles in the early going. The first nine laps would go green until a five car tangle at the exit of turn four saw Jake Swanson and Adyn Schmidt tangling with Swanson spinning. Dustin Beck and Justin Grant came upon the scene and with no where to go piled into Swanson with Grant turning turtle.

The race went green again with Moles leading Thomas and Kyle Cummins. Lap twelve saw the second caution appeared after a tangle between Kayla Roell and Donny Brackett. On the restart after probably noticing that the other #3 (Cummins) was third on the scoreboard Thomas went to the cushion off of turn two to take the lead from Moles. Thomas increased his lead over the midsection of the contest and began to pick his way through lap traffic with Moles and Cummins chasing. Robert Ballou was the man on the move coming forward from 15th into the top ten and moving forward at a rapid pace. With seven to go Cummins moved by Moles for second in turn one and Moles countered repassing Cummins in turn three but slide a little high allowing Cummins to grab the runnerup position back again. Thomas was able to maneuver through lap traffic well to maintain his lead as he exited turn four at 9:55 to claim his third Spring Showdown win and his 41st career USAC National Sprint Car win. That win would tie Thomas with the late Bryan Clauson for ninth on the all time win list. Thomas was reminded of this in his victory lane interview and became emotional speaking of Clauson and what it meant to tie him in the win column. Thomas also became the fourth different Rock Steady driver to win the Spring Showdown in the #3R machine. Cummins would cross the line second with Moles coming home third, Leary fourth and Jadon Rogers rounding out the top five. Daison Pursley would lead the second five across the line in sixth with hard charger award winner, Robert Ballou, advancing from 15th to 7th with Brady Bacon 13th to 8th, Brady Short ninth and Logan Seavey rounding out the top ten.

It was a quick exit to make the long haul home arriving back in Crawfordsville after 1 AM and quickly into bed for the evening.

That’s it for this weekend but check back Tuesday as we have plans to take in the High Limit sprint series for the first time in 2024 racing at the Kokomo Speedway on Monday. In the meantime, get out there and see some good short track racing in your area and be safe out there. Correspondence can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And remember to be kind to everyone you meet as you don’t know what has happened to that person recently and maybe just a smile and a pleasant hello will make them feel better. And thanks for reading our efforts and the columns should start coming more regularly after our 14 day vacation to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Thomas Scores At Lawrenceburg While Armstrong Nails Down Anderson

Saturday, April 13 – It was time to get back to some dirt racing so we decided to take the 2 ½ hour driver down to southeastern Indiana toward Cincinnati where Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana meet for the Midwest opener for the USAC sprint car series. The temperatures rose into the 70’s as we made the pleasant drive as we arrived around 5 PM and secured our seats in the massive partially covered aluminum grandstands for the inaugural running of the Justin Owen Memorial honoring the 2022 Lawrenceburg Speedway track champion who was killed in a horrific turn three and four crash in April of 2023. The crowd was massive as the race fans turned out to honor Justin Owen and was the largest crowd we have ever seen at Lawrenceburg. The Owen family and many friends put together various bonus money awards for the teams and the pre-race tribute and gathering of Justin’s family and friends was heartwarming.

Justin Grant received $400 each for being the second fastest car in hot laps and second fastest in time trials. While an additional $400 would go to the hard charger on the evening and $4004 to the highest finishing Lawrenceburg regular in the feature in addition to the $54JO ($5400) first place prize to the feature winner which they look to raise to $7400 in 2025. Time trials kicked off at 6:13 with two sprinters at a time transversing the 3/8 mile dirt oval where the banking has been cut down from 28 degrees to 14 degrees making it a more progressive banked track much like its “clone” track Bridgeport Motorsports Park in New Jersey. By 6:29 Daison Pursley in the Team AZ #21AZ was being interviewed after setting fast time with a lap of 14.026 seconds around the newly configured track besting 21 other drivers. Warmups for the other two divisions were next with 28 UMP modifieds and 11 pure stocks taking hot laps/qualifying as dust bellowed off the turn four exit. With spot track maintenance during the program the dust was controlled and the surface held up well over the course of evening considering all the rain during the week and sun and wind today.

Twenty two sprinters ran three heat races after Nate Carle broke in time trials. The first heat race would fall to Kevin Thomas Jr in the Rock Steady #3R besting Robert Ballou, Daison Pursley, Matt Westfall, Jake Swanson and Garrett Abrams. Heat two was won by Chase Stockon driving one of the KO Motorsports entries beating Carson Garrett, Justin Grant, Jadon Rogers, CJ Leary and Saban Bibent. The third and final heat was captured by Brady Bacon after passing Shawn Westerfeld in the Fischesser/Owen #4J making its first appearance since the accident last year in the middle stages of the race crushing a story book scenario. Logan Seavey, Westerfeld, Mitchel Moles, Kyle Cummins and Nick Bilbee chased. No semi would be needed on this evening. The UMP modifieds would contest four heat races and the pure stocks two. After a short break for some track maintenance where the track crew cut up the lower groove and watered the entire track, we were ready for the UMP modified B main.

By 9:21 it was time to go USAC sprint car racing with the front row of Kyle Cummins and CJ Leary bringing the field to the green flag. CJ Leary would get the early jump and power into the lead and would pace the field for the first six laps until he biked his sprinter in turn four almost going over but somehow able to regain control but this dropped Leary back to fifth and gave Cummins the lead. Cummins would hold sway until lap eleven when Logan Seavey making the top side work chased down Cummins and executed a slider in turn three and took the lead in turn four cutting across the nose of Cummin’s #3P to assume the lead. Seavey opened up about a half second lead as the race hit the halfway mark with seventh starting Kevin Thomas Jr reeling in Cummins using the low side passing him for second on lap sixteen. One lap later the red would wave when Robert Ballou and Daison Pursley made contact off turn four with Ballou flipping over twice in the tangle. Ballou would return after hasty repairs were made but the car was not right and he ended up 19th at the finish.

On the restart Seavey went to the high side and led into turn one but Thomas found the low side to his liking and passed Seavey for the top spot in turn two. Shortly thereafter Justin Grant, running sixth at the time, biked in turn three sliding across the track with Jake Swanson trying to avoid the out of control Grant running up over Grant’s left front and knocking the front end out in the contact. Grant swerved to the right and dug in causing him to flip three times in the process. Justin was OK after the wild ride but the same could not be said for the Topps Motorsports #4, On the ensuing restart Thomas went to the point but Seavey had visions of first diving into turn three low sliding past Thomas but catching the cushion and bobbling allowing Thomas to regain the lead off turn four by diving underneath. With ten to go Brady Bacon followed suit like Thomas and moved by Seavey to take over second.

Lap traffic was becoming a factor as Thomas picked his way through but Bacon began to close the gap. Thomas switched to going low in turns one and two and high racing through turns three and four. Thomas maintained a two car length margin over the last several laps and flashed under the checkers first followed by Bacon coming home second after a rough Florida stretch with Seavey recording another podium finish for third with Leary fourth and Swanson rounding out the top five. Daison Pursley came home sixth with Cummins seventh, Stockon eighth, Mitchel Moles 18th to 9th for the $400 Hard Charger Award with Nick Bilbee riding home tenth gaining the $4004 home track bonus.

Thomas scored his first USAC sprint car win in almost nineteen months in his seventh start in the Hank Byram Rock Steady #3R. It was also Thomas’ 40th career USAC National Sprint Car win moving him into a tie for 10th on the all time sprint win list with the legendary Gary Bettenhausen. One other caveat was this was KTJ’s sixth USAC sprint car win at Lawrenceburg moving him into second behind Dave Darland’s seven wins here. Also, that was Seavey’s seventh consecutive top three finish breaking the USAC record for most consecutive podium runs to start a season held by Tracy Hines back in 2002.

It was a good night of racing and an impressive second race for the new regime of STM Motorsports led by former Dearborn County Sheriff Shane McHenry and family. Hopefully continued work on the big 3/8 mile oval will improve the track and racing going forward. Best wishes to McHenry and family as they move into the future and hope that only good things are in the future.

Sunday, April 14 – It was another beautiful day in Indiana with temperatures soaring into the 80’s with plenty of sunshine on this Sunday. We decided to head east over to Anderson to take in the 24th Annual Glen Neibel Classic for the 500 Sprint Car Tour Series along with the USAA Kenyon midgets and the thunder roadsters. We arrived at 4 PM for the scheduled 4:30 race start and were greeted by a parking lot almost filled to capacity with cars which was a pleasant surprise. Another pleasant surprise was that this race was a Hoosier Auto Racing Fans event which cut the $18 admission for adults in half to $9 and could basically be considered two for one deal. It is a great deal offered by the HARF club as they do a great job helping out the Indiana based fans in making the racing more affordable and so much more that they do to promote racing in the Hoosier state.

We found a seat to the right of the flagger’s stand one row from top and settled in for the day of racing action. The 500 Sprint Car Tour were running time trials for the 21 asphalt sprinters on hand and wouldn’t you know it the last car out, Kody Swanson, back in his first race since a serious off season foot injury set fast time with a lap of 11.274 seconds around the ¼ mile asphalt bullring. Next up were two heats for the USAA Kenyon midgets taking the green at 4:46 with Ryan Huggler and Clayton Gaines copping the heat wins.

After the heat races it was right into the 100 lap Glen Neibel Classic with the front row of Kody Swanson and Tyler Roahrig bringing nineteen of their friends to the initial green flag at 5:10. Swanson secured the early lead with Roahrig and Dakoda Armstrong in tow. The speed these asphalt sprinters turn racing around this ¼ mile oval is impressive as the top three chased each other during the early portion of the race. Many eyes were on Kyle O’Gara, a two time winner of this race, who started 14th and was making his way forward using the chrome bumper to let people know he was behind them and they were slowing him up. O’Gara cracked the top ten by lap 13 as the front three looked inside and out for the fastest line.

The key moment of the race came on lap 34 on the backstretch as the three front runners encountered heavy lap traffic with the front two checking up running up on one back marker too quickly having to brake momentarily allowing third running Dakoda Armstrong to dive low and make a two for one pass from third to the lead in one fair swoop. Armstrong was fast and he began to open a several car length margin over Swanson and Roahrig. Caleb Armstrong and Taylor Ferns were catching second and third and now it was a four car race behind Dakoda. Meanwhile O’Gara continued his march moving into 7th by lap 44. Billy Wease was running sixth with O’Gara all over him like white on rice. We didn’t see the spin of Wease on the homestretch on lap 67 as we were watching Justin Grant running the Hoffman #69 today in a rare asphalt sprint car run skid up the turn two banking but he was able to gather it up without losing any positions so we don’t know if any contact was made between Wease and O’Gara.

On the restart Roahrig slowed entering turns one and two and pulled into the infield with mechanical woes taking him out of the hunt. Lap 72 saw Floridian Shane Butler lose the handle in turn four looping it to bring out the second and last caution. This now moved O’Gara into the top five and he wasn’t done yet. Again the race went green and Armstrong motored back into lead and opened up the margin as the laps ticked off. The top five consisted of Dakoda Armstrong, Kody Swanson, Caleb Armstrong (who’s wife & 3 children were sitting in front of us), Taylor Ferns and Kyle O’Gara. With six to go O’Gara forced the issue diving low in turn four taking Ferns exit of the turn away and took over fourth. A few laps later Ferns gave O’Gara a good shot in the shorts off turn four to let Kyle know that she didn’t appreciate his move. The clock struck 5:38 as Dakoda Armstrong flashed across the finish line first by almost four seconds for his second straight 500 tour win winning the final show of 2023 also. Swanson would hold off Caleb Armstrong for second with Kyle O’Gara fourth and Taylor Ferns rounding out the top five. Ferns gave another love tap after the checker on the backstretch to O’Gara. They later shook hands before the podium photo. Billy Wease led the second five across the line in sixth with Jackson Macenko seventh, Justin Grant eighth, Nathan Byrd ninth and Kyle Robbins rounding out the top ten. It was a good, fast paced race with O’Gara putting on the show from 14th to 4th.

Next up was the 30 lap USAA Kenyon midget feature with the 14 car field brought to the green flag by Clayton Gaines and Ryan Huggler. Gaines would power out front at the start with Huggler and Jase Petty in pursuit. Gaines would lead the entire distance but Dameron Taylor made things interesting over the last six laps reeling in the youngster but ran out of laps after getting to Gaines’ bumper with the non-stop 30 lapper taking a mere six minutes to complete. The top five was Clayton Gaines for the win over Dameron Taylor, Evan Hammond, Jase Petty and Kyle Sheard. We decided to call it a day at this point and headed to the parking lot with about half the crowd in tow and pointed the Equinox westward bound back to Crawfordsville after witnessing a real good day of racing once again.

That’s it for a couple of weeks as we take a break but will be back in May so in the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take a road trip to somewhere special. News, comments, tidbits of information and the such can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. So be safe out there and enjoy yourselves wherever you end up. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Ocala USAC Sprint Car Run Goes To Leary

Friday, February 16 – The plan was to meet up with Steve and Maggie Kimmel and Irvin King and his wife, Mary Jane, at the camping area at Ocala Speedway on late Friday afternoon for a cookout of burgers and salads. The problem was the horrendous traffic on I-75 on a Friday and the corresponding bad traffic when we tried to take the alternate route of Route 301. We arrived late but they saved us food and everyone was pleased with the bakery cookies we brought up from Dade City. After filling our stomachs and doing some bench racing things were cleaned up and everyone prepared to head into our seats in the grandstands for tonight’s USAC sprint car and 270 micro sprints competing on the 3/8 mile dirt oval this evening. Sprint time trials were first on the agenda commencing at 6:39 with the field reduced to 25 after last night’s two nasty flips over the wall in turns three and four by Zach Daum and Trey Osborne. Kevin Thomas Jr in the Rock Steady #3R set fast time for the 38th time in his career moving him past Larry Dickson into seventh on the all-

Hot laps/qualifying for the 21 winged 270 micro sprints in town were spun off next before the USAC sprints returned to run their three heat races with the top six finishers qualifying for the 30 lap feature race. Logan Seavey drew first blood on the evening capturing the first heat in another strong performance beating Robert Ballou with a late race pass for the lead with Briggs Danner third, Kyle Cummins fourth, Tye Mihocko fifth and Kevin Thomas Jr barely sneaking in with a sixth. Jadon Rogers brought the Michael Dutcher #17GP across the line first in heat two besting Mitchel Moles, Daison Pursley, Brady Bacon, Joey Amantea and Alex Bright. The third heat was taken by Justin Grant who had won the previous three contests here at Ocala over Carson Garrett, CJ Leary, Jake Swanson, Chase Stockon and Brandon Mattox.

Pat Bealer won the first 270 micro sprint heat over Colten McAndrew and Dustin Roberts. The second heat was won by Michael Petrock over Bill Gray and Blake Eshlam. The third and final heat was won by Chris Kennedy besting Clifford Evans and Matt Henon. The sprint car semi was scrapped with everyone added to the starting field for a 25 car main event.

The 30 lap USAC sprint car feature event would be the first one on the agenda with the front row of Chase Stockon and Brady Bacon guiding them to the green flag. Stockon was quick on the draw taking early lead from Bacon. Kevin Thomas Jr was quick on the throttle and raced past Stockon for the lead from his sixth starting position on lap three with a good run down the backstretch. Logan Seavey was also coming quickly and used a turn one slider to wrestle the lead away from Thomas on lap four. The leaders reached lap traffic early and it was heavy indeed with Seavey picking his way through. Seavey was walking away through the middle stages of the race with Thomas and Bacon in pursuit. Bacon was able to move by Thomas in turn two on lap twenty one but had his work cut out for him as Seavey had a straightway lead at that point.

Bacon was able close at a rapid pace to within a car length of Seavey with six to go but Robert Bell almost collected the pair as he looped his sprinter in turn four right in front of Seavey and Bacon who were able to avoid contact. At this point the complexion of the race would change as the track rubbered up and became abrasive to the tires. Pat was first to notice the white band through the middle of Justin Grant’s right rear tire as the cords began to show and everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before the tire went flat. Two laps later on lap twenty six fifth running Grant lost the right rear and coasted to a stop in turn one. Meanwhile Leary had snuck by Thomas for third in turn three on that lap.

On the restart Seavey went back to the point with Bacon and Leary close behind. Leary passed Bacon for second in turn four on lap twenty seven just before fifth running Daison Pursley was the next victim of a flat right rear. On the next restart Seavey led again but Leary was like a shark smelling blood as he charged after the leader going down the backstretch. Entering turn four, coming to the white flag Leary stuck it low and passed Seavey for the lead in an excellent move. Matt Westfall would fall another victim of the tire eating surface and retired with a flat. As Leary stretched his lead over the final two laps Brady Bacon’s bad Florida luck continued as a sure third place went away in turn four of the final lap when the tire monster stuck again with Bacon slowing and dropping to seventh as he limped across the line. Bacon had a terrible Florida trip and dug himself a hole in the sand as far as the points race is concerned but never count the four time champion out especially just six races into the season.

Leary raced across the line first for his 23rd career USAC sprint win tying him for 28th on the all-time list with Roger McCluskey and his first win at Ocala in five years. Seavey came across the line second for his sixth consecutive podium finish and early point lead heading out of Florida with Chase Stockon taking advantage of all the tire drama to place third with Thomas fourth and Jadon Rogers also moving up several spots to claim fifth. Mitchel Moles crossed the line next for sixth with Bacon seventh, Alex Bright eighth, Briggs Danner ninth and Carson Garrett tenth. Joey Amantea finished 11th and earned the Irvin King Hard Charger Award after starting 20th.

Since it was only nine o’clock, we decided to stay for the 20 lap 270 micro sprint feature which turned out to be a real good contest up front after early leader and last night’s winner, Pat Bealer, dropped out while leading. Michael Petock from Bloomsburg, PA was able to hold off a swarm of challengers to win the very exciting event. Bill Gray chased him to the finish to place second with Kiptyn Stratton placing third after starting eighth with Colten McAndrew fourth and Dustin Roberts fifth. The final checker of the evening fell at 9:24 in a well-run program.

This would end up being the final race in our 2024 Florida tour as rain rolled over Florida early Saturday with many programs including USAC canceling their final show on Friday. East Bay ended up being the smart ones moving their three day 360 sprint nationals up one day to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday arriving them to get all three shows in.

That’s it from rainy Florida and we don’t know when we will be back as our next race is not scheduled until March. But check back to see if something popped up in between and get ready for the 2024 racing season. News, comments and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@comcast.net. Be safe out there and keep warm. And thanks for reading our efforts as we hope you continue to enjoy our writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Farewell To East Bay With Exciting 360 Sprint Feature To Austin McCarl

Thursday, February 15 – Today dawned bright and warm with temperatures in the high 70’s. We were excited and at the same time sad as it would be our last visit to the little bullring known as the Clay By The Bay, the East Bay Raceway Park. East Bay has been a staple for our Florida racetrack stops and this year would be the last as the property has been sold to the Mosaic Company who mines phosphate which is used in fertilizers for crop nourishment. The giant mountain behind the backstretch has been growing every year we visit and next year sadly it will envelope the grounds of the East Bay Raceway Park creasing racing operations at the famous Clay By The Bay. One last visit to watch sprint cars there was a must before our trip back to the Midwest and tonight would not disappoint.

A stop at the original Fred’s in Plant City yielded another outstanding buffet spread featuring turkey and gravy, country fried steak and smoked port among many choices or vegetables and desserts. Then it was back into the traffic of I-4 and I-75 to make our way over to Gibsonton and the home of the East Bay Raceway Park. It was a shame to see such a small crowd on hand for the King of the 360’s program but maybe the locals had spent their allotted extra spending money on the two High Limit programs but they would miss a classic tonight.

After hot laps for the fine 58 car sprint car field on hand along with 17 mod lites as the filler division it was time to go heat racing. Six heats would be run with the top sixteen in passing points locking into the 30 lap feature event tonight. New Jersey’s Davie Franek would claim heat one over Brett Wright and six starting Dale Howard. Heat two was captured by the Steel City Outlaw, Tim Shaffer, of Pennsylvania over fifth starting Chris Martin and Max Stambaugh. Heat three went to Ocala, Florida’s Brandon Grubaugh besting fellow Floridian A.J. Maddox and sixth starting Cole Macedo who is having a good Florida run. Adyn Schmidt, the youngster from Haubstadt, IN, up from the micro sprint ranks claimed heat four over Sam Hafertepe Jr and Jason Blonde who is more well known as a pavement sprint car driver. Iowa’s Austin McCarl took down heat five over eighth starting Floridian ace, Danny Martin Jr, and young Ryan Timms. The sixth and final heat was won by Eric Riggins Jr of North Carolina beating Tyler Clem and sixth starting Justin Peck. This last heat saw Canadian Ryan Turner flipped hard in turn one with the driver emerging OK after the wild ride.

Two mod lite heats followed won by Jeff Teeters and Tim White before the sprinters returned for their four B mains with only the top two advancing to the main event. The 12 lap B mains were next up on the dance card with Danny Samms III, another Florida product, winning over the veteran Wayne Johnson. Max Stambaugh won B main two over Arizona’s Sterling Cling who made a last lap pass for the second spot. Ryan Timms nailed down B main three over Lance Moss. Terry McCarl, the veteran out of Iowa, claimed B main four beating fellow Iowa driver, Riley Goodno. Now the fields were set for the two feature events with the mod lites taking to the race surface first for their 20 lap main event. We would like to say this was a good feature but we would be lying as these guys struggled through their 20 lap feature with six cautions and twenty minutes later Delaware’s Tim White was victorious over Dylan Evans, Jimmy Wills, Ryan McKinney and Justin Williams. The 30 lap 360 sprint car feature would more than make up for this one.

The front row of Danny Martin Jr and Davie Franek brought the 24 car field to the initial green flag with Martin claiming the early lead. He would lead the first couple of laps before Franek was able to work his way by for the lead. The racing throughout the entire field was fierce with much passing and dueling going on everywhere you looked. The grit from the surface made it difficult to watch but the racing was simply outstanding none the nonetheless. Only one caution would slow this contest with slicing and dicing racing through and around some of the lap traffic. There was good racing within the top five and great racing right behind in positions six through ten.

Austin McCarl was catching the front two from his sixth starting position and first worked his way past Martin and then picked off Franek in heavy lap traffic for the lead. Meanwhile Justin Peck in the Dyson #20 was coming forward from twelfth into the top five along with thirteenth starting Tim Shaffer. These two worked by some of the youngsters up front and showed that the veterans know how to work lap traffic to their advantage as they cracked the top five in the process. Eight minutes later at 10:17 the checkered flag would wave on Austin McCarl winning a hard fought battle with Danny Martin Jr picking off Franek for second late in the contest with Franek third, Peck fourth and Shaffer rounding out the top five.

Sam Hafertepe Jr led the second five across the line in sixth after running as high as fourth with Ryan Timms flying from 19th to garner seventh, Parker Price-Miller came home eighth after starting 15th, Chris Martin taking ninth and Cole Macedo taking down tenth. It was a fabulous race with oodles of passing and hard running and a grand way for us to say goodbye to one of our favorite tracks to watch racing at.

Thanks for all the memories over the years East Bay and thanks to management and the entire staff for making us feel at home every time we visited. We will sorely miss our February racing vacation time spent at The Clay By The Bay.

That’s it for this segment and check back Saturday for what will probably be our last race of our Florida swing tomorrow night as Saturday looks like a total washout everywhere in the Sunshine State. Until next time be safe out there and stay warm. Comments, news, stories and tidbits of information can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you enjoy our musings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. And remember to be kind to everyone you meet as you may not realize what a smiling face or a few kind words might mean in a person’s life on the particular day your paths cross.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain Leads To Seavey Double Win At Volusia Speedway Park

Monday, February 12 – Today we played the rain game. That is when you checked the weather forecasts for three different speedway locations to decide which one has the best chance of getting in their show on a forecasted rainy evening. We decided to forgo High Limit at East Bay and attempt to sneak in USAC at Volusia. We came ever so close but came up short by about a half hour. East Bay made it as far as the C main before calling it a night. New Smyrna got all their features in except for one with the rain arriving there at 9:45. We did not win the rain game on this evening.

Time trials for the 27 USAC sprint cars on hand pushed off at 5:49 with three running at a time helping to conclude the time trial process in just 11 minutes. CJ Leary was fast timer for the 46th in his career setting a new track record in the process with a time of 16.173 seconds around the fast 3/8 mile dirt oval. DirtCar late models had their group time trials next with Ricky Thornton Jr setting fast time with a lap of 15.666 seconds.

Next up on the dance card were three heats for the USAC sprint cars with the top six moving to the 25 lap sprint car feature. Alex Bright, one of the USAC East Coast sprint car series, placed the Mike Heffner #27 out front in the first heat and went wire to wire besting Jadon Rogers, CJ Leary, Brady Bacon, Carson Garrett and Robert Ballou. Justin Grant put the TOPP Motorsports #4 in first winning heat two over Kyle Cummins, Kevin Thomas Jr, Briggs Danner, England’s Tom Harris and Mitchel Moles. The third heat was captured by Logan Seavey in the Abacus Racing #57 who crossed the line first but blew the engine coming to the line. Timmy Buckwalter came home second with Jake Swanson third, Joey Amantea fourth, Chase Stockon fifth and Zach Daum sixth. The DirtCar late models ran four heats for their 47 car field before the sprints came back to contest their semi event with an additional six cars moving forward.

Daison Pursley won this one over Tye Mihocko, Matt Westfall, Brian Ruhlman, Hunter Maddox and Trey Osborne. The late models ran two B mains with all qualifying completed by 8:15. Just as the second B ended a light sprinkle began to drop. The rain was not predicted until 9 and if the forecast would have been totally correct, we believe that they would have snuck the sprint car feature in before the rain came. Since we were literally parked right outside the gate we decided to head to the Equinox and sit it out until the rain subsided. The sprinkle turned into a light rain for about 15 minutes and then the big drops came and so did the announcement that the remainder of the program would be postponed with the USAC sprint car feature being run last on the docket tomorrow and the late model feature tacked onto the end of the Wednesday program.

Tuesday, February 13 – We were back again tonight for night two of the USAC National sprint cars and the DirtCar late models. The format was the same with the USAC sprints taking to the big oval at 5:57 for group time trials wrapping up at 6:07 and once again it was CJ Leary setting fast time and establishing another new track record with a time of 16.151 seconds while Bobby Pierce top the late model speed charts with a time of 15.256 seconds.

Next up were the USAC sprint cars to run their three heat races with the top six moving directly to the 30 lap, $10,000 to win feature. Logan Seavey with a new powerplant under the hood would capture the first heat win over Jadon Rogers, Matt Westfall, CJ Leary, Chase Stockon and Briggs Danner. Brady Bacon nailed down heat two winning over Timmy Buckwalter, Kyle Cummins, Justin Grant, Tye Mihocko and Zach Daum. Heat three was won by Kevin Thomas Jr making a late race pass of a strong running Brian Ruhlman with Joey Amantea third, Carson Garrett fourth, Mitchel Moles and Alex Bright.

Kyle Bronson, Bobby Pierce, Chris Madden and Hudson O’Neal claimed the four DirtCar late models heats with all heat racing completed by 7:52 after a 7:09 heat start. The sprint car semi was next up with Robert Ballou winning over Tom Harris, Trey Osborne, Brandon Mattox, Jake Swanson and Hunter Maddox. They were followed by two B mains for the late models and we were ready for the first of three feature events.

The 30 lap, $10,000 to win USAC sprint car feature was brought to the colorful Dave Farney’s green flag at 8:37 by Carson Garrett and Kyle Cummins. Garrett would assume the early lead and pace the field for the first five laps until Cummins went high side to take the lead on lap six. Logan Seavey was picking his way forward from the ninth starting position and by the halfway mark he dove low to take second away from Brady Bacon and set his sights on Cummins. With ten to go Seavey made his run at Cummins using a slider in turns one and two but Cummins countered off two to regain the lead. Seavey dove low in turn three and slid past Cummins between turns three and four to take the lead which he would not relinquish over the final ten laps. Things took a turn as the white flag appeared as in turns three and four Bacon and Thomas were battling for third with lap car Jadon Rogers on the outside. Bacon slid up slightly getting into Rogers with the pair flipping over and oncoming Trey Osborne also turned turtle trying to avoid the crash.

After the cleanup they went back to green and Seavey was quickly back to the point in the green, white, checker finish crossing the line at 9:04 by over a second beating Cummins, eighth starting Kevin Thomas Jr, CJ Leary and Carson Garrett. It was Abacus Racing’s first USAC National sprint car victory and Seavey’s first sprint win of 2024 for the back to back Chili Bowl winner. Daison Pursley came from a provisional 25th place start to finish sixth with Mitchel Moles seventh, Briggs Danner eighth, Chase Stockon 18th to ninth and Justin Grant rounding out the top ten.

We were not done yet as two more features needed to be run with the 25 lap DirtCar late model feature next to the post. It went green at 9:18 with Bobby Pierce motoring quickly to the lead. Behind Pierce a fierce battle was on among Kyle Bronson, Devin Moran, Chris Madden and Ricky Thornton Jr. This group duked it out as Pierce looked like he was on cruise control. Moran wrestled second away from Madden through the middle stages but this one looked like it was all Pierce’s.

But on a restart with six to go Pierce slowed off turn four as a fuel line came off piling the field up behind him with 13 cars involved going every which way and loose before it was over. Pierce, Madden, Hudson O’Neal, Mike Marlar, Nick Hoffman and Brandon Sheppard were done for the evening.

Moran would inherit the lead with Thornton on his heels. Moran pulled away but Thornton tracked him down and pressured him until going high in turn two with a few laps to go. Moran would cross the line at 9:18 with the win with Thornton second, Bronson rebounding for third, Max Blair fourth and Cade Dillard rounding out the top five.

The 25 lap, $6000 to win USAC sprint car feature was the last race to run on this evening and would line up 24 strong brought to Dave Farney’s green flag at 10:08 by Chase Stockon and Mitchel Moles. Stockon quickly went to the point and led the opening two laps before Brady Bacon slid by in turn one to take the lead on the black, slick track. Seavey who started fourth in this one caught and passed Stockon for second on lap four and went to work on catching Bacon. It was not until lap eleven that Seavey passed Bacon on the backstretch but the caution appeared for a spinning Stockon who went for a ride after contact with Justin Grant racing for seventh. That wiped out Seavey’s pass and put Bacon back on the point for the restart. It was another three laps before Seavey used a slider in turn one to take the lead again.

Lap twenty saw Robert Ballou jump the cushion and barrel rolled several on top of the wall in turn two. Jadon Rogers running close behind threw it sideways to avoid Ballou and flipped several times in the process. Everyone was OK and remarkably Ballou was able to push off and continue. On the restart Seavey drove back out front again and pulled away over the remaining five laps to garner his second win of the evening and the Big Gator trophy for being the top point man in the two events. Bacon followed Seavey across the line at 10:35 for second with CJ Leary moving from sixth to third at the finish with Daison Pursley advancing from twelfth to fourth with Justin Grant rounding out the top five. Alex Bright would edge Kevin Thomas Jr for sixth after a race long battle with Briggs Danner eighth, Mitchel Moles ninth and Kyle Cummins tenth. The Irvin King Hard Charger award went to Tye Mihocko in the Wilson #5T finishing eleventh after starting twenty third in a good run.

Seavey added to his accolades tonight by becoming the first USAC driver in 22 years to win two sprint features in the same day with the last being Bud Kaeding back in October of 2001 at Terre Haute. Seavey is coming off an incredible 2023 where he captured both the USAC Midget and Silver Crown titles and would like to add the third jewel (USAC sprint car title) to make himself a Triple Crown winner in USAC. In addition, he scored back to back Chili Bowl wins in Tulsa in January as this young man is on an amazing streak right now which he hopes doesn’t stop.

That’s it for now but check back Friday when we venture back to the East Bay Raceway Park for night two of the 360 sprint car nationals and our final visit to one of our favorite tracks around. In the meantime, put together your racing calendar to get to some good short track racing in your area or a road trip to a couple of bucket list tracks on your agenda. Comments, new, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Be safe out there and dig out of the snow if you got any with the last storm and be kind to everyone you meet. And as always thanks for reading our column and check back often to see where we end up next.

A Typical weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Goes Back To Back To Open USAC Sprint Season At Ocala

Saturday, February 10 – Today was a very nice and warm day in Florida and we arranged to meet our racing gang at Sam’s St. Johns Seafood House for an early dinner before venturing over to the renamed Bubba’s Raceway Park which is now simply Ocala Speedway because of a change in ownership. The large table of ten racing folks all gathered together enjoying great seafood and even better conversation.

After dinner we all descended upon the parking lot of Ocala Speedway finding parking spots and were all ready to see night two of the USAC National Sprint Cars tonight. Time trials were the first order of business with 28 sprinters under the clock starting at 6:41. By 7:02, Fort Branch, Indiana’s Chase Stockon had set the fast time of the night at 14.075 seconds around the unique D shaped 3/8 mile dirt oval. This was Stockon’s 33rd fast time of his career tying him with Justin Grant for 11th on the all-time list. On the card with the USAC sprints were outlaw 4’s which looked like a miniature version of a late model with seven in attendance. A perfect filler division!!

The first racing of the evening would take place starting at 7:34 with the first of four heat races for the USAC sprints with the top five moving to the 30 lap feature event. Jake Swanson in the Benic #2B put his new ride in victory lane after heat one outrunning Matt Westfall, rookie Joey Amantea, Kevin Thomas Jr in his new ride of the Rock Steady #3R and fast timer, Chase Stockon. Heat two was wired by England’s Tom Harris besting Briggs Danner, Jadon Rogers, Daison Pursley, the new pilot of the Team AZ #21AZ and Alex Bright. Carson Garrett looked strong in heat three winning over Kyle Cummins in his new steed, the Petty #3P, Timmy Buckwalter in the Hummer #20, Logan Seavey in the Abacus #57 and Trey Osborne aboard the Baldwin #5. Robert Ballou in his familiar #12 claimed heat four beating Justin Grant, Tye Mihocko in his own sprinter, Mitchel Moles back in the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ and Mark Smith taking the top foil off the Witherspoon #43M to take on the big boys. The sprint car heat racing was in the books by 8 PM. Two outlaw 4 heats were quickly spun off with the sprint car semi called to the post next.

CJ Leary back in the BGE Dougherty #15X took down top honors defeating Zach Daum, Brady Bacon and Brandon Mattox the last man in.

That led us into the 30 lap USAC sprint car feature with the front row of Joey Amantea and Daison Pursley bringing the 24 car field to the green flag. Amantea jumped into the early lead and would pace the field for the first two laps until Kevin Thomas Jr passed him at the stripe to start lap three. One lap later Trey Osborne lost the handle in turn four spinning to a halt. On the restart Thomas remained in command with Amantea and Justin Grant hot on his heels. Chase Stockon and Robert Ballou were hooked up in a torrid battle for fifth. Lap nine saw the two combatants get together with Stockon spinning in turn four to bring out the second caution.
On the restart Thomas pulled away from the pack and opened up a comfortable lead but just before the halfway mark Brady Bacon went into the spin cycle looping it in turn two with Kyle Cummins spinning also to avoid contact. When the race went green again Thomas was in front with the impressive Amantea second with Grant third. Grant moved Amanta up in turn four with his right rear and motored by the rookie for second on lap fifteen. Grant began to close the gap on Thomas and by lap twenty was right behind when Thomas left the bottom open off turn four and Grant sped by to take the lead. Over the last ten laps of the event Grant pulled away and cruised under the checkers at 9:12 for his second straight win of the year and his 47th career USAC sprint win moving him into a tie for fourth on the all-time list with recent National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, Tracy Hines. Thomas in his 400th USAC sprint car start had to settle for second in his new ride with Logan Seavey gaining back to back third place finishes. CJ Leary was fourth advancing from 11th with Robert Ballou rounding out the top five after starting tenth on the grid.

The second five was led to the line by Hard Charger Award winner, Alex Bright in the Heffner #27 with the car color matching Bright’s last name, with Daison Pursley seventh, Amantea coming home eighth, Briggs Danner ninth and Tye Mihocko claiming tenth after starting 16th.

Though it was dusty it was a decent feature with some good dicing and over in a good hour.

Check back Tuesday for our next installment as the plans are to go to East Bay for the High Limit opener but rain could be an issue so we will have to wait and see. In the meantime if possible get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or maybe catch an ice race of indoor race. Comments, news, stories and other tidbits of information can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And be safe out there and try to stay warm. Continued thanks for reading our column and hopefully you are enjoying it as we enjoy bringing the action to you.

A Typical weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Courtney Makes Last Corner Pass Of Abreu for Volusia WOO Win

Friday, February 9 – It was off to Volusia Speedway Park on this beautiful, sunny Friday but before towing to the track we made a stop on Route 40 at the Essex Seafood House for a delicious late lunch of grilled grouper for me and haddock for Pat filling our stomachs before checking in for some WOO sprint car and UMP modified racing.

The DirtCar Nationals were on tap this evening with 42 WOO sprint cars joining 102 UMP modifieds in a night of action leading up to Saturday night’s finals. Track activities got underway at 6:02 with the WOO sprint cars taking to the track for their time trials with Pennsylvania’s Brent Marks setting the standard with a time of 13.199 seconds around the big Volusia County oval wrapping up at 6:24. The UMP modifieds were next up with their hot lap/qualifying seasons commencing at 6:30 and completing at 7:16. Opening ceremonies were next on the card with the WOO sprints up next for their four heat races with the top five moving forward to the 25 lap main event.

Brent Marks scored the win in heat one besting Zeb Wise, Sam Hafertepe Jr, Austin McCarl and Buddy Kofoid. Heat two went to Gio Scelzi beating Tyler Courtney, Carson Macedo, Justin Peck and Spencer Bayston. Heat three fell to Iowa’s Brian Brown defeating David Gravel, Brad Sweet, Anthony Macri and Donny Schatz. Rico Abreu claimed victory in heat four over Landon Crawley, Brock Zearfoss, Logan Schuchart and Riley Goodno.

In this format they mix in the UMP modifieds who run only 20 lap qualifiers for their big 30 lap, $5000 to win Gator feature on Saturday. Michael Leach from the state of Montana grabbed the first guaranteed spot for Saturday with the win over Tim Ward and Curt Spalding. This was followed by the second 20 lap UMP modified contest with Will Krup of Illinois overcoming mechanical woes from the past two days while leading and was able to hold off Dustin Sorensen and Mike McKinney for the win.

Then it was back to the sprints for the dash redraw followed by the C main with the top two joining the back of the B main or last chance showdown. Iowa’s Chris Martin won going away but had engine problems crossing the line and was done for the evening with Danny Sams III coming home second. The dash was won by 16 year old rookie, Landon Crawley, out of Arkansas giving him the pole over Rico Abreu.

Next up was the B main or the last chance showdown with the top four moving to the tail of the twenty drivers already qualified. seventeen year old Corey Day out of California wired this one besting Brenham Crouch, Justin Whittall and Danny Dietrich.

Then it was back to UMP features three and four with Indiana’s Zeke McKenzie taking his first Gator win over Tom Berry and Kyle Strickler. Tyler Nicely, Kentucky’s finest, claimed his fourth win of the week defeating Michael Long and Mitch Thomas.

That lead us into the 25 lap WOO sprint car feature with the front row of Landon Crawley and Rico Abreu bringing the 27 car field to Dave Farney’s green flag at 10:30. Abreu ripped the top through turns one and two to take the early lead with Courtney slipping by the youngster to take second on the opening lap. Rico powered away with Courtney and Crawley chasing. Lap six saw a spin necessitating a restart and on the restart all hell broke out on the homestretch with five sprinters tangling and the machines of Sheldon Haudenschild, Justin Whittall and Justin Peck turning over in the pileup with Haud sitting on top of Austin McCarl and Spencer Bayston.

On the restart Abreu went back to the point with Courtney right behind. Tenth starting Brad Sweet began to make his presence know moving up to fourth past Gio Scelzi and Crawley into the top five slotting in behind David Gravel in third. The caution appeared at lap fifteen and on the ensuing restart Sweet snuck by Gravel for third and began to chase the top two. With ten to go Abreu caught the cushion wrong off turn four which threw his sprinter sideways colliding with Brenham Crouch off the corner causing Crouch to spin with Abreu able to continue forward as the caution appeared. On the restart Abreu scooted out front with Sweet testing the low side edging up on Courtney to challenge for second. Courtney countered the Sweet move and found a new line to run and it allowed the Hoosier native to gain ground on the leader. The laps clicked off and with the white flag waving Abreu dove to the bottom entering turn one to block Courtney’s progress and was successful streaking down the backstretch with a comfortable lead. Abreu opted to run high in turns three and four opening the bottom groove to Courtney’s advance. Rico stumbled just enough on the cushion exiting turn four with Courtney surging ahead allowing Courtney to steal the win at the line for his first Volusia triumph.

Abreu crossed the line a disappointing second with Sweet crossing third, Gio Scelzi fourth and David Gravel rounding out the top five at 11:08. Donny Schatz led the second five across the line garnering the hard charger after starting 18th with Logan Schuchart seventh, Brent Marks eighth, Sam Hafertepe ninth and Anthony Macri rounding out the top ten.

We decided to let the crowd and parking lot thin out a bit so we settled in to watch the fifth UMP modified twenty lapper. David Stremme copped the Gator in this one beating Lucas Lee and Michael Altobelli to the finish at 11:38. We decided it was too late to stay for the last UMP run so we packed up and headed to the parking lot to begin the 1 ½ hour trip back to the condo.

That’s it for now as we prepare to head to Ocala Speedway tonight for round two of the USAC winter tour. If possible in your area get out there and support a local short track near you and have fun and be safe. Comments, news and other interesting tidbits can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And last but not least thanks for reading our efforts and we appreciate your comments and thoughts on our writings.

A Typical weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Patterson Claims TQ Midget Win At Auburndale

Thursday, February 8 – Tonight’s racing action would find us on backtop at the ¼ mile oval track at the Auburndale Speedway. But before heading to the track we made our yearly food stop at Smokin Jim’s for some fine barbeque. On tap tonight were the mighty TQ midgets from New York state and Canada with a few Pennsylvania and New Jersey cars mixed in along with 602 modifieds and legend cars. Time trials for all divisions and only heat races for the TQ’s were on the agenda. Tonawanda, New York’s Andy Jankowiak set fast time for the TQ’s with a lap of 13.553 seconds around the quarter mile which was hauling.

Heat races commenced at 7:39 with Blu Metz’s #33 driven by Tyler Wagner of Chester, NJ claiming the first heat win over Ohio supermodified ace, Charlie Schultz, and Josh Patterson. Heat two fell to East Aurora, NY’s Kyle Hutchinson besting a pair of Canadians in Dominique Smith and Daniel Hawn. The third heat was won by Ronnie Flaim of Olean, New York over Ft. Pierce, FL resident, Jimmy Wilkins III and Andy Jankowiak.

The first of two 30 lap features for the 602 modifieds was next on the agenda with one of Tommy Baldwin’s boys, Jack, making a last lap, turn four pass of Max Handley for the win after Handley made a mistake entering the last turn. Jackson Denton prevailed in the 30 lap legend car feature with four different classes of legends combined together. Teagan Dempsey and Ayrton Brockhouse joined him on the podium.

It was now time for the 25 lap TQ midget feature which went green at 9:38 but it quickly went red when a multi-car tangle happened in turn one with Daniel Hawn turning turtle and sliding into turn one concrete wall cage first. Luckily Hawn was uninjured in the scary mishap. Ronnie Flaim was the early leader with Kyle Hutchinson and Andy Jankowiak in hot pursuit. The first caution appeared on lap eleven and on the restart third starting Josh Patterson made a nifty move entering turn one passing the front row runners to take the lead. Patterson would fend off the constant challenges of Hutchinson who poked his nose underneath several times looking for an opening. At 10:04 a joyous Patterson crossed line first besting Hutchinson for the win with seventh starting Jankowiak third, Flaim fading to fourth with Charlie Schultz rounding out the top five.

We decided to stay for the second 30 lap 602 modified feature with North Carolina’s Cody Norman scoring the win over Jack Baldwin and Max Handley with the final checker falling at 10:31 on a damp night.

Check back tomorrow as we head northeast to Volusia Speedway Park to take in the WOO sprint cars and UMP modifieds take to the blistering fast 3/8 mile clay oval. In the meantime plot your schedules and if you lucky enough to have racing in your area now, get out there and support a short track near you. News, stories, comments and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And remember to stay warm and safe and be kind everyone you cross paths with today. Thanks for reading our efforts and the comments you send along.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain, O’Neal and Erb Take Down First Three Nights Of East Bay Winternationals

Monday, February 5 – This is our annual crossing over to the dark side as we always write a column concerning our trip to East Bay Raceway Park to watch the Lucas Oil late Models who put on a great show at this bullring. We always enjoy our visits here and encourage you even if you are a devout sprint car fan to check a night of late model racing out at East Bay, you will not regret it!!

Also this is the last year that East Bay Raceway Park is scheduled to run as the encroaching Mosaic company’s giant mountain of mined land digging for phosphate will cover the track grounds in the near future. Therefore if you don’t want to read about this segment of late model racing come back on Friday when we return with racing from Auburndale and WOO sprints from Volusia.

A storm front passing over Florida Sunday evening into Monday morning was enough to make the grounds and track at East Bay unraceable postponing Mondays’ racing. In an unique format over the next several days Mondays’ program will be divided over the ensuing days. After Tuesday’s program is completed time trials from monday will be run with heats and B mains run after the Wednesday’s show and Monday’s feature run after Thursday’s program.

Tuesday, February 6 – Tonight was clear so it was the opening night of 48th annual East Bay Winternationals with 71 late models doing battle in six heat races and three B mains on this evening. group time trials kicked off at 6:28 completing at 7:07 with Hudson O’Neal clicking off the fastest time of 14.666 seconds around the 1/3 mile dirt oval. Six heats were next up with the top three locking into the main event with three B mains to follow. All qualifying was in the books by 8:32 and only the 30 lap feature paying $5000 to win was left to run.

The front row of Hudson O’Neal and Tyler Erb brought the 24 car field to the green flag at 8:55 with O’Neal taking the early advantage. O’Neal held the lead until Erb powered by on the outside on lap four to take the top spot away. O’Neal stuck to his game plan and continued to drive the inside groove retaking the lead on lap eleven from Erb at that point. Daulton Wilson who started sixth was the next one to pick off Erb as he grabbed second and took up the pursuit of O’Neal. Jonathan Davenport worked his way to third racing with Wilson as the pair tried to close on O’Neal. Meanwhile back in the field Devin Moran was putting on a driving clinic slicing his way forward from his eighteenth starting position. O’Neal worked his way expertly through the lap traffic and maintained a healthy advantage until the last five laps as Wilson was able to close the gap but was not able to mount a serious challenge.

As the non-stop event reached its conclusion at 9:05 it was O’Neal across the line first for his third straight win at East Bay going back to last year’s last two Lucas Oil races making that his fifth career win here to go along with his 27th career win on the tour and third win of 2024. Daulton Wilson raced home second for his ninth career second place finish in Lucas Oil competition and is surely knocking on the door to garner his first career win soon. Davenport finished third with Ashton Winger fourth with Devin Moran completing his fine run with a fifth. Positions six through ten were filled by Tyler Erb with Chase Junghans seventh, Brandon Sheppard eighth, Ricky Thornton Jr ninth and Spencer Hughes tenth.

Wednesday, February 7 – A nice sunny day awaited us on this Wednesday even though temperatures were only in the high 60’s. It was time to head west to Gibsonton and the “Clay By The Bay” at the East Bay Raceway Park. Another fine field of 71 cars would participate in the six heat races and three B mains on the evening as the fans filed in for night two with the Monday show’s heats and B mains tacked onto the end of Wednesday’s regular program. Jonathan Davenport started off the evening setting the bench mark topping the field with a lap of 14.221 seconds around the 1/3 mile dirt oval.

The first of six heats went green at 7:29 and they were ran off in rapid succession with the last one ending at 8:11. Shortly after the first of three B mains hit the track with only two advancing to the big dance, 40 laps in distance on this evening paying $7000 to win. All qualifying was completed by 8:37 as the program moved along rapidly like a well oiled machine.

The 40 lap main event would be brought to the green flag by the front row of Jensen Ford and Jonathan Davenport with Davenport taking the early lead. Davenport would lead the first eleven circuits until Tyler Erb used the high side to sweep around Superman to move to the point. Daulton Wilson and Devin Moran were right in the hunt up front as the top four duked it out as the race progressed. After a restart Moran, running third at that point, cocked it too hard entering turn one and spun sideways to a halt forcing him to restart at the tail. Moran would end up finishing twelfth. Exiting turn four on lap twenty Davenport ran Erb high to grab the lead off the corner but Wilson took advantage of the altercation to slip by the pair to lead the field at the line. Davenport was the new leader as they exited turn two and would lead until lap twenty six when Terbo found his way back past and regained the lead from Davenport.

The track was very racy on the evening, vintage East Bay, with grooves inside and outside plus down the middle. Guys were working their way forward from deep in the pack especially Mike Marlar who started inside the final row in 23rd and was now in the latter part of the top ten and coming forward at a fast clip. Marlar cracked the top five in the final ten laps of the contest and still had more for the field. Tyler Erb was pulling away over the final laps but the battle was still raging behind him over the rest of the top five and top ten.

At the finish at 9:28 it was Tyler Erb in for the win, his 21st in Lucas Oil series history and first of the year with Marlar nipping Davenport at the wire to grab second with Davenport third, Daulton Wilson fourth and Dennis Erb Jr rounding out the top five after starting twelfth. Jimmy Owens ran a strong race to finish sixth with Tim McCreadie advancing from 18th to 7th, Brian Shirley coming forward from 19th to 8th with Kyle Bronson running as high as fourth before finishing 9th after starting 15th with Garrett Smith finishing 10th after starting 24th.

It was an amazing feature with oodles of passing and side by side racing and again was vintage East Bay late model racing which will be sorely missed after this year.

That’s it for now but check back tomorrow as we switch gears and head over to Auburndale Speedway, a quarter mile asphalt oval, to take in some tar racing with various classes including TQ midgets with a decent field of 19 in town as of yesterday. In the meantime plot out your schedules for the year or if possible catch some ice racing or indoor racing in your area but be safe and have fun. Also remember to bundle up and stay warm and be kind to everyone you meet as you don’t know what they are going through and your kindness could make a world of difference in their day. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and keep those emails and verbal comments coming as it gives us a good idea of what you want to hear from this column.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Hamilton Jr & Bettis Split Twin 35’s At Showtime In Steele Winged Championship

Saturday, February 3 – We left early to take the drive over to the Gulf Coast and the town of Pinellas Park, the home of the Showtime Speedway, a 3/8 mile asphalt oval. On tap for the evening was the Dave Steele Winged Championship for the 360 ci sprint cars (17) along four other divisions of race cars including Crown Vic Figure 8’s (13), small block modifieds (7), race cars of yesterday (6) and street stock (6).

Time trials for the 17 sprinters kicked off at 7:14 and completed by 7:33 with Davey Hamilton Jr topping the speed charts with a time of 12.383 seconds around the 3/8 mile oval. Next up were one heat each for the only two divisions running heat races on the evening, the small block modifieds and the race cars of yesterday.

Next up was the first of two 35 lap features for the winged sprint cars taking the initial green flag at 8:23. L.J. Grimm would go to the early lead outgunning Sport Allen for the top spot. Davey Hamilton Jr who started fifth steadily would his way forward moving by Allen for second on lap eight and took off after Grimm. Hamilton caught and passed Grimm racing down into turn four on lap eleven. Fourteen year old, Colton Bettis, used the same inside move in turn four on lap sixteen to take second Hamilton by lap twenty and rode behind him for several laps trying to determine a way by Hamilton. Lap traffic began to play a role in the race with Hamilton able to pick off cars and keep Bettis at bay.

Bettis was able to clear the lap cars also and pulled to the rear bumper of Hamilton as the laps wore down. He looked high and low but was unable to mount a serious charge and by 8:52 the Lutz, FL resident beat his neighbor Bettis to the line to score the first 35 lap win worth $2500 dollars with sixth starting Bettis second, Sport Allen sneaking by Grimm late for third with Grimm fourth with Dylan Reynolds rounding out the top five.

The race cars of yesterday were next up on the agenda with their 12 lap feature and it was a competitive one with fifth starting Clay Fray winning over Cush Revette and Dave Edwards. The temperatures had dropped into the fifties by this time but it was damp and chilly as some fans began to exit the grandstands. The 25 lap small block modified feature was the next race with their seven car field taking the green at 9:24. By 9:46 Doug Miller stood in victory lane besting Mike Meadows and Brian Scalise. Aaron Anderson took the 25 lap street stock main even as the clock struck 10 and the chill factor was not getting any better.

The second 35 lap winged sprint car feature took the green flag at 10:14 and the front row both went high between turns one and two causing a jam up with eighth starting Colton Bettis getting a big break diving low in the corners and moving to third at that point. A lap four restart saw Bettis surge by Dylan Reynolds racing down the backstretch and into the lead. Hamilton was mired in the pack back in sixth and would work his way through the traffic to eventually take second in turn one from Reynolds on lap fourteen. Hamilton was able to close the gap quickly as young Bettis encountered lap traffic and began to maneuver his way through. With six to go with Hamilton to his rear bumper Bettis was able to pull off a nifty move entering turn one making it three wide and pulling off the move which gave him space and probably was the time needed to fend off Hamilton over the final six laps. When the checkered fell at 10:36 it was Bettis in for the win with Hamilton second, L.J. Grimm making a third wide pass for third at the line dropping Reynolds to fourth and Allen rounding out the top five. The overall champion for the winged championship would be decided on the tiebreaker as Hamilton and Bettis tied in the points. The tiebreaker was the fastest time trialer with Hamilton getting the title. Showtime Speedway promoter, Robert Yoho, turned in a solid performance ending up sixth at the finish. We decided to skip the Crown Vic figure 8 race and head for the exits.

That’s it for this segment but check back Thursday for our annual going to the other side column on Lucas Oil Late Models at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Florida. Until next time put together your racing schedule and try to stay warm. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and keep those emails coming to eckel9K77@gmail.com. Be safe out there and try to always be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Volusia USCS Sprint Shootout Worth $10,000 Goes To Ryan Timms

Saturday, January 27 – We stopped at Perkin’s for a late lunch before venturing up to Volusia Speedway Park for night three of the Germfree USCS Southern Sprint Car Shootout. Tonight the feature distance would be increased by five laps to 30 laps with the winner taking home $10,000 to win. The sprint car field was down tonight from the first two nights of 42 as 37 sprinters answered the call for racing this evening while the ¾ modified field shrunk from 17 on Thursday to 13 tonight.

Group time trials for the USCS sprints commenced at 6:25 and when they were completed by 6:52 Florida’s own Danny Sams III who went on the road racing last year nailed down the quick time with a lap of 14.296 seconds around the ½ mile dirt oval. The ¾ modifieds hot lapped/qualified right after and by 7:16 the first sprint car heat went green.

The top four across the line in the heat races would move directly into the main event while everyone else would race again in one of two B mains later. The heat winner plus the fastest timer in the heat that qualified would move into the redraw with whoever drew the wild card in the redraw having the option to start first or eighth with eighth paying an extra $500 if you win the feature event.

Austin McCarl, nicknamed the Big Unit because of his height, copped the first heat race over Eric Riggins Jr, Ryan Timms and Chris Martin, the talented youngster out of Iowa, all moving to the big dance. Heat two fell to Justin Peck of Indiana wheeling the Chris Dyson #20 for the series besting Canadian, Ryan Turner, Danny Martin Jr and Danny Dietrich. Faster timer, Danny Samms III finished fifth and was relegated to one of the B mains. Cameron Martin, brother of Chris, captured heat three in another strong run beating New Jersey’s, Davie Franek, Tyler Clem and Glenn Styres. Sam Hafertepe Jr nailed down heat four in a strong performance outrunning Christopher Thram of Minnesota, Landon Crawley of Arkansas and Ryan Roberts of Nebraska. All sprint heat racing was completed by 7:48.

The ¾ modifieds would run two heats for their group with the #26’s again dominating with Colton Lane taking the first one and Timmy Hogan capturing the second one. Then it was right back into the sprint car B mains with the top three qualifying joining in behind the 16 already qualified through the heat races.

Liam Martin, another Canadian entrant, scored the win in B main #1 over Danny Samms III and Wayne Johnson. Ryan Harrison, the United Kingdom runner, copped B main #2 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Brandon Grubaugh, another local Florida driver from the Top Gun sprint ranks. All qualifying was completed by 8:35 and all that was left to run were the two feature events.

The 15 lap ¾ modified feature was the first to the post and this one ran with only one caution as compared to five the night before with Timmy Hogan of Lake Helen, Florida getting out the broom after passing Colton Lane late to sweep the three race series for these cars.

Now it was time for the 30 lap, $10,000 to win final race of the three race series and the anticipation grew as the field pushed onto the track off the backstretch. Four provisionals were added to the starting field swelling the starting field to 26 entrants. The green flag waved on front row of Austin McCarl (who drew the wild card for the third straight night) and Ryan Turner with McCarl taking the early advantage. Justin Peck from fourth and Sam Hafertepe Jr from eighth raced into second and third by the end of lap one and took up the chase of McCarl. Peck sailed around McCarl in turn three on lap two to grab the lead. Lap four saw a major shakeup as McCarl lost the handle in between turns three and four looping his sprinter and bringing out the first caution and forcing him to restart at the tail of the field. Peck paced the field on the restart with Ryan Timms challenging Hafertepe for second. Hafertepe was able to hold sway and retained second and went to work tracking down Peck. Meanwhile Davie Franek who started tenth was up to fifth by lap seven as the race continued.

Hafertepe made his move on Peck entering low in turn four on lap ten to take the lead but the second caution appeared as Brandon Grubaugh slowed on the track negating the pass and placing Peck back at the head of the field. On the restart Timms got a run on Hafertepe diving low to grab second in turn two. At the halfway point it was Peck with a half second lead over Timms with Hafertepe third, Cameron Martin fourth and Franek rounding out the top five. Many eyes were on Austin McCarl as he was flying and moved into eighth with a head of steam and elbows up for the 2023 Knoxville Raceway 410 sprint point champ. Two laps later Timms dove low on the backstretch to snatch the lead away from Peck. By lap twenty three McCarl was knocking on the door of the top five moving up to sixth.

Timms began to pull away from the pack and opened up a half second lead by lap twenty five. McCarl at the same time took fifth from Franek and went after Cameron Martin for fourth. With two to go McCarl passed Martin for fourth as the race was winding down. With the white flag waving Hafertepe passed Peck for second but the caution again saved Peck as Ryan Roberts slowed to a stop. On the restart Timms jumped out front and over the last two laps he would hold off Peck to score the big win with Hafertepe third, Austin McCarl in a fine run taking fourth and Danny Dietrich sneaking into the top five on the last lap like the night before bouncing Martin back to sixth at the finish at 9:28. Martin would lead the second five across the line with Franek seventh, Danny Martin Jr eighth, Tyler Clem ninth and Eric Riggins Jr tenth.

It was a very good race with oodles of passing and Dietrich was awarded the hard charger moving forward from 14th to 5th at the end. A two division program wrapping up before 9:30 is our idea of a good show. Excellent job by the USCS officials on keeping the program moving along at a steady clip and not wasting time with unnecessary delays. Thank you.

That’s it for this segment as we continue our Florida vacation and check back often to see where we end up next. In the meantime get out there if you can and check some good short track racing in your area if possible or if not start marking up those calendars with race dates in the upcoming months. As always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy what you read as much as we enjoy bringing it to you. And be safe out there and be kind to everyone you meet. See you soon.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

McCarl Holds Off Hafertepe To Score Night Two USCS Win At Volusia

Friday, January 26 – We woke up in Ringgold, Georgia early to hit the road toward the Sunshine State as we had a date with the second night of the Germfree Southern Sprint Car Shootout for the 360 sprint cars sanctioned by the USCS sprint car organization. We amazingly sailed through Atlanta averaging 65 miles an hour before encountering a couple of other slowdowns further south arriving on the grounds of the Volusia Speedway Park at 5:30.

It was plenty of time as the combination hot laps/qualifications commenced at 6:30 with Iowa’s Cameron Martin surprising the stout 42 car sprint car field setting fast time of 14.425 seconds around the fast half mile oval.

The other division on the race card for the three day program are the ¾ modifieds and with 16 on hand they make the perfect filler class for the evening’s activities. They ran their hot laps next which was also qualifying before the USCS sprinters returned for their four heat races. The top four finishers in the heats moving directly into the 25 lap feature with the heat winner and fastest man in time cracking the top four advancing to the wild card redraw deciding the top eight feature starters.

The first of four USCS sprint heats took the initial green at 7:21 with Oklahoma’s Ryan Timms checking out early on his way to the first heat win over Chris Martin, Christopher Thram and Danny Martin Jr. The second heat was corralled by Charlotte, North Carolina’s Eric Riggins Jr besting Justin Peck, Austin McCarl and Sterling Cling. Heat three was won by Bubba’s boy, Florida’s Tyler Clem, rebounding from a homestretch flip the previous evening to take this one over Sam Hafertepe Jr, Danny Dietrich making his first appearance of the year and multi-USCS champion, Terry Gray. The fourth and final heat fell to Binbrook, Ontario’s Liam Martin in a strong run outdistancing Brendan Mullen, Cameron Martin and Wayne Johnson.

The two ¾ modified heats were captured by Timmy Hogan and Ethyn Hwan. Then it was right back to the USCS sprints to run their two B mains with the top three joining the tail of the field behind the heat qualifiers. Florida’s Danny Sams III claimed the first B winning over Ryan Turner and 15 year old Landon Crawley who will make his WOO sprint car debut next week here at Volusia. Ricky Stenhouse Jr missed by one spot of qualifying and would be awarded a provisional but ended up not starting the main event. Pennsylvania’s Josh Weller captured the second B main beating Davie Franek and 13 year old Elijah Gile of Arizona in the process. All qualifying was completed by 8:40 and all we had left to run were the two main events for the sprints and ¾ modifieds.

The 15 lap ¾ modified feature was the first to the post taking the green flag at 8:57. Timmy Hogan went to the early lead with Colton Lane in hot pursuit. These two had a race long battle joined at times by Ethyn Hwan and Steven Powers. Lane grabbed the lead about midway through the contest and looked like he was on his way to the victory before a late race caution changed the complex of the race. On the final restart Lane seemed to stumble and got a slow start allowing Hogan to race back past for the lead. Over the final three laps Lane tried every possible move but Hogan was up to the challenge holding him off for his second straight win. Lane tangled with Steven Powers on the backstretch on the last lap and spun ending up seventh at the finish at 9:19. Powers would grab second with Hwan taking down third.

Now it was time for the 25 lap USCS sprint car main event brought to the green flag by Cameron Martin and Austin McCarl at 9:40. McCarl grabbed the early lead from his second starting position and quickly distanced himself from the field. Lap three saw Christopher Thram moved by Martin for second. Lap 4 saw Sam Hafertepe crack the top five from his eighth starting position. Hafertepe moved by Liam Martin for fourth on lap five with Justin Peck moving into fifth. Hafertepe continued his march forward dusting off Camerson Martin for third and passing Thram for second on lap eleven. McCarl at this point had a two second lead but by lap fifteen the lead was down to 1.1 seconds. By five to go the lead was down even more as the top two raced through lap traffic. Lap twenty two saw Davie Franek and Sterling Cling tangle at the top of the homestretch spinning in unison inside the inside guard rail bringing out the only caution of the event. It was shaping up like last night’s feature when McCarl led the first nineteen laps before the caution appeared and Hafertepe passed him on the restart and went onto win.

McCarl hit the loud pedal hard on the restart and surged out front but Hafertepe was right in his tire tracks. Hafertepe pulled alongside McCarl down the backstretch but McCarl edged ahead entering turns three and four. The two raced close into turn one on the white flag lap with Hafertepe looking high for a run to the finish. Hafertepe was able to draw alongside McCarl in the last two corners but McCarl edged slightly ahead racing down the homestretch and to make sure the same thing didn’t happen as did last night McCarl used a defensive move to shut the door on the high side racing across the line first for the win with Hafertepe having to settle for second with Peck coming from tenth to third picking off Cameron Martin on the last lap with Martin fourth and Danny Dietrich gaining several spots over the final two laps to crack the top five from twelfth with the final checker waving at 9:51 capping a good night of racing.

Christopher Thram led the second five across the line with Ryan Timms seventh, Tyler Clem eighth, Danny Sams III claiming the hard charger award with a 17th to ninth run with Wayne Johnson tenth from 16th.

That’s it for this first column of 2024 and check back tomorrow for the final night of the USCS Germfree Southern Sprint Car Nationals with the winner taking home $15,000 to win. Comments, news, stories and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com and if you are not in Florida you can go indoors for your racing fix in New Jersey or find an ice race something in the frozen tundra regions of the country. In the meantime start plotting your 2024 calendar and put some bucket list tracks on that list. As always thanks for reading our efforts and the emails that you send along. And be safe out there and try to be kind to someone today as you never know the effect a smile or just a hi can have on someone going through something tough.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

SprintOberfest Wins At Bridgeport Go To Reinhardt, Bright & Williams

Saturday, October 28 – Pat was going back East to Atlantic City for work and attending a New Jersey state school board convention so I decided to tag along for the eats and friends tour. We were in AC on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before heading north into Pennsylvania to visit Pat’s aunt, Dolores or Aunt Sis, to celebrate a belated 92nd birthday. We then stayed two nights at Kerry and Cindy Meitzler’s house in Kutztown dining out both on Friday morning and night with Bill and Judy Burns for lunch and Kerry and Cindy for dinner before heading back to New Jersey Saturday for the races.

On tap for a beautiful Saturday afternoon and evening with temperatures in the 80’s was the SprintOberfest at the 4/10 mile dirt oval at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park. It would be a three division program consisting of winged 410 sprint cars paying $15,000 to win drawing only 25 sprinters to participate. I don’t get sprint car teams sometimes as $15,000 to win is a good amount and only 25 cars show!! We guess it could be the combination of teams that are done for the season and teams that are preparing for Charlotte the following weekend but with that much money on the line we thought the field would be in the 30’s to 40’s. Also on the card were the USAC East Coast 360 wingless sprints (20) and the eastern big block modifieds (26).

Action got underway at 5:28 with the first of three heats for the 410 sprints and it didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin. Joey Amantea, normally a USAC East Coast runner, had a 410 winged ride today and promptly dumped it on the backstretch in a two car tangle. Amantea’s car was done for the day. The top five from each heat would move to the main event with Justin Peck in the Buch #13 scoring the heat one win over Devon Borden, the 2023 Port Royal point champion, Anthony Macri back in the family car and Tim Buckwalter doing double duty. Heat two went to Tyler Ross defeating Danny Dietrich, Justin Whittall and Dylan Norris. Heat three went to New York invader, Paulie Colagiovanni, besting Freddie Rahmer, Kyle Reinhardt and Lucas Wolfe.

Next up were the USAC East Coast sprinters running two heats for their 20 car field with Joey Amantea having better luck in wingless action taking heat one over Patrick Chilmonik, Ed Aiken and Kenny Miller III. Tim Buckwalter cruised in heat two in the Hummer #20 beating Steven Drevicki, Alex Bright in just his second run after breaking his wrist at Lawrenceburg during Indiana Sprint Week and Mike Thompson.

The eastern modifieds would contest three heats and their heats were the best of the afternoon with Sam Martz Jr winning heat one over Billy Osmun III, Neal Williams and Joseph Watson. Heat two was captured by “The Quaker Shaker”, Rick Laubach besting HJ Bunting, Jim Gallagher and Dillon Steuer. Cale Ross claimed heat three over Dominick Buffalino, Ryan Grim and Davey Sammons.

No B mains were needed only a dash race for the 410 sprinters determining the first eight starters in the 35 lap feature with Justin Peck winning over Kyle Reinhardt and Anthony Macri.

That led us up to the three feature events with the 35 lap winged 410 sprint car main event the first one called to the post taking the green at 7:15 with the front row of Peck and Reinhardt battling for the early lead with Reinhardt edging out front as the pair raced down the backstretch on the opening lap. Macri, Colagiovanni and Dietrich were pursuing the leaders in the opening five laps. Lap nine saw Macri involved in a chain reaction crash in turn four turning the Macri Concrete #39M backwards sliding up to the wall. Macri’s evening came to an abrupt end at this point. On the restart Reinhardt, the home state favorite, retained the lead with Peck and Colagiovanni in tight pursuit with Devon Borden in the mix racing with Paulie for third. Whittall raced by Dietrich for fifth in the middle portion of the race but met disaster on lap nineteen when he got turned in turns three and four spinning to a halt. At this point the race went to an open red while the sprinters were allowed to add fuel.

On the restart Reinhardt was quick to the lead with Danny Dietrich who had made great progress coming from sixth to second in the middle stages of the contest, took up the chase of Reinhardt. Also, Freddie Rahmer and Tyler Ross who started at the tail when he had problems firing at the beginning of the race were now fourth and fifth on the restart grid. It looked like Dietrich was edging closer but over the final five laps Reinhardt was able to move away to score the rich and popular win in his home state in front of many fans and friends. Dietrich would take down second after starting eighth with Peck third, Ross edging Rahmer for fourth and Rahmer fifth after starting ninth. It was a good, competitive run for the 410 sprinters.

The headline division on a normal Saturday night, the east coast big block modifieds would break up the two open wheel divisions by running their 25 lap main event in between. Davey Sammons and Joseph Watson led the 26 car field to the green flag at 8:01 with the caution quickly waving when a three car tangle in turn two on the opening lap slowed the action. On the complete restart Watson took the lead with Neal Williams, Rick Laubach, Sammons and Dominick Buffalino racing in the top five over the first five laps. The second caution waved on lap six when Clay Butler looped his mount in turn three. Watson was quick on the throttle on the restart with Williams and Sammons close behind. Watson and Williams continued their battle up front over the middle stages of the contest running side by side with each other for many laps. Billy Osmun III who was involved in the opening lap tangle and restarted last was making steady progress through the field advancing into the top ten until he stopped suddenly in turn two on lap eighteen ending his evening prematurely.

On the ensuing restart Watson bounded out front but the gang of Williams, Laubach, Sammons and Bunting were racing hard banging each other with Laubach and Sammons getting the worst of the encounter with Laubach stopping in turn two ending his strong run and Sammons pitting also. The green appeared again with Watson and Williams racing side by side down the homestretch and into turns one and two with Williams edging ahead as they raced down the backstretch. Williams would lead the final seven laps finishing several car lengths ahead of Watson for his third win at Bridgeport (most of anyone) in 2023 winning on his first wedding anniversary to boot. HJ Bunting came home third at the end with young Dillon Steuer fourth and Dominic Buffalino rounding out the top five in what we felt was the best race of the evening.

Next up was the 25 lap USAC East Coast sprint feature with Alex Bright and Mike Thompson bringing the field to Nicole “Giggles” Flood’s green flag at 8:40. This one would go the entire 20 lap distance non-stop in seven minutes with Bright the rabbit of the field taking off quickly with Kenny Miller III in pursuit. Briggs Danner was the man on the move steadily moving forward like the tortoise up to third by lap fifteen. Danner caught and passed Miller for second on lap sixteen and went to work to see if he could catch the high flying Bright. Joey Amantea took over third from Miller a few laps later trying to reel in the front two. As the laps ticked off Danner was coming but ran out of time to make a serious challenge finishing about four car lengths behind when the checkered flag waved at 8:47. Alex Bright won the battle but Briggs Danner won the war taking the 2023 USAC East Coast point championship at the finish. Miller was able to work his way back past Amantea for third with Tim Buckwalter rounding out the top five. It was a decent race but somewhat difficult to follow as the dust began to blow and it was hard to follow the wingless sprinters as they raced.

It was a well run program on a beautiful, warm fall afternoon with some good racing to boot. It was a fine way to end our 2023 season as I don’t think we at the moment have any other plans for racing this year unless we take in an autocross event.

So, until next time get out there and catch some remaining shows in your area or take the show on the road and catch a bucket list item. News, comments or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. In the meantime be good, be safe and be kind.

Cold Kokomo Klash XVII Goes To Ballou & Baldwin

Friday, October 20 – In our return back to the Hoosier state we got the opportunity to take in the rained out night one of the Kokomo Klash XVII rescheduled to this Friday. There was a lot of rain the previous two days but today was clear and cold as temperatures were only in the fifties during the day dropping into the forties after the sun dropped below the horizon. Hot laps were scheduled to start at six but did not commence until an hour later and we understand it was a yeoman’s job for the track crew minus Reece O'Connor who was in California and the delay of the start could be excused. What in our opinion that could not be excused was the lack of urgency once things got underway. We did not enter the backstretch grandstands until 7 PM with many already having been there much earlier. A very small crowd was on hand, probably the worst we have seen in quite some time at Kokomo. The combination of high school football and cold weather kept the crowd at a minimum.

The first heat for the 21 non-wing sprint cars on hand took the green flag at 8:24. The track was fast and wet and passing was difficult as it is usual when the track is fast. It is more a speedway and not a true racetrack where there is plenty of passing. Not taking anything away from Trey Osborne in his first ride in the newly constructed Baldwin #5 tall chassis DRC as he jumped out front and was never headed in heat one besting Rylan Gray, Frankie Guerrini and Clayton Rossman. Heat two was won by Jake Swanson take a spin in the Benic #2B while Logan Seavey is racing at Tulare in California and made the most of the opportunity by capturing the win over Jadon Rogers, Robert Ballou and Sterling Cling. Heat three went to Shane Cottle in the Epperson #2E beating Dave Darland who was taking the last ride of his career tonight as “The People's Champ” is retiring after a spectacular career in sprint car racing. He will sadly be missed but we all hope to see him spectating in the grandstands with a beer in hand enjoying his life after a tremendous racing career. Brandon Mattox and Brayden Clark trailed the top two in this heat.

Next up were the thunder cars for their four heats with 33 cars making the call to the post. Five sportsmen ran one heat before the Racesaver 305 sprints pushed off for their three heats for their 19 entrants. Kayla Martin would best the boys in heat one beating Rod Henning and Honest Abe's Roofing owner, Kevin Newton. Heat two was won by the Kentucky driver, Dillan Baldwin over Tres Mehler and Carson Dillion. Heat three fell to Alfred Galedrige beating Nathan Franklin and AJ Hopkins jumped into a winged car for the evening.

All qualifying was completed including two B mains by 9:58 and at this point it was announced that there would be a twenty minute intermission. That might be OK if it was seventy degrees but at the time the temperature had slipped to the low 40's and it was getting colder by the minute.

By the time the non-wing sprint car feature took the green flag it was 10:27 and thankfully the feature was a good one which made you temporarily forget the cold temperatures. Trey Osborne took the early lead in the straight up start but it was short lived as second starting Jake Swanson tore around him on the outside of turn two on the opening lap. Third starting Shane Cottle grabbed second from Osborne off turn four on lap two and took up the chase of Swanson for the top spot. Robert Ballou was the man on a mission charging from his eighth starting spot to wrestle third from Osborne in turn three on lap five but an encounter with the cushion a lap later in turns three and four had Ballou slipping back to fifth at that point.

The lead duo encountered lap traffic soon thereafter with Cottle getting his opportunity to grab the lead in turn two on lap eight when Swanson was stalled by a lapper. Cottle lead until lap 13 when Jamie Frederickson lost the handle in turn four in bring out the first caution. On the restart Cottle led the field with Swanson close behind. Ballou had worked his way back to third at this point and was closing on the front two. Lap 17 saw Ballou catch and pass Swanson for second in turn one and before Ballou got a chance to challenge Cottle the second caution waved when Sterling Cling spun in turn two on lap 18.

It would be a seven lap shootout for the finish with the front five consisting of Cottle, Ballou, Swanson, Jadon Rogers and Osborne. On the restart Cottle jumped back out front but Ballou was all over him like white on rice with Swanson hot on their heels with Rogers nipping at Swanson' heels also. With two to go Ballou made his move diving to the inside of Cottle off turn four and beating him to the line to take the lead at the wire. Cottle and Swanson then hooked up in a good race for second as they entered lap traffic once again. While Cottle and Swanson went to the middle to clear the traffic Rogers dove low in turn two making contact with Swanson and pulling off a two for one pass on the white flag circuit as Ballou raced ahead. When the checkered flag flew at 10:39 it was Ballou in for his first win of 2023 holding off Rogers with Cottle third, Swanson fourth and Osborne rounding out the top five. Speaking of rounding out, Dave Darland would finish seventh in his last tour of duty finishing off a fine career to the applause of the thin crowd on hand. Lost in all the action up front was the performance of “The Human Highlight Film”, Geoff Ensign, wheeling the Gass #17G from 14th to 6th at the final checker. A good feature to round out the 2023 season at Kokomo.

We decided to stay to watch the 25 lap Racesaver 305 sprint car feature which took the initial green flag at 11:02. We would like to say this one was a good one also but would be lying as four cautions and one red slowed this affair taking 30 minutes to run. Kentucky's Dillan Baldwin would triumph from fifth taking the lead on lap seventeen and going on to win over Kevin Newton, AJ Hopkins, Nathan Franklin and 13th starting Justin Mathews but take might be a misnomer as only seven cars finished so most the position changes were due to attrition. This checker waved at 11:32 and with two features still to go it was uncle for us.

The non-wing sprint feature was a good race but three hours in the cold with two to go is not a good way to attract new fans to your track. Overall not one of the best shows we have seen at Kokomo and the lack of urgency seems to be the new pandemic spreading across the Hoosier state in the racing circles.

That's it for now but check back after next weekend as we make a road trip to New Jersey and see where we end up maybe for our last race of 2023. In the meantime get out there and catch some good short track racing in your area as the racing season is quickly coming to a close with winter soon upon us. Comments, news, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and your encouraging words as we hope you continue to enjoy reading these efforts as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing be safe out there and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Burns & Mitchell Take Championship Night Wins At Lincoln Park

Saturday, September 30 – There were a plethora of choices for this Saturday night of racing with USAC midgets taking on the dirt track at IMS for the BC39 but because of the cost and hassle of the big event we passed on this one. Two other tracks were running in the Indianapolis area with the Speedrome offering a HARF free admission night but with interest only for the Kenyon midgets on that card we passed on this one also. Circle City Raceway was running the first Ashlea Albertson Memorial for the young TQ midget racer who was killed a tragic highway crash a few weeks ago with a $12 senior admission but we decided to pass on the All Star TQ midget and other divisions program. So it was down to two choices, the Amati 68 for the wingless sprints at Paragon or championship night at Lincoln Park for all four of their regular divisions. Lincoln Park would win out and for the 10th time in 2023 it was off to our “home track” in beautiful downtown Putnamville, just 40 minutes south of our home base of Crawfordsville.

There were actually five divisions on the evening as the mod lites were added to the card with 21 wingless sprints, 17 bombers, 15 UMP modifieds, 12 mod lites and 11 super stocks in the pit area for the final weekly Saturday night program at the 5/16 mile dirt oval. Two winged sprint cars of Harley Burns and Ivan Glotzbach were on hand also to promote the two upcoming winged shows at LPS with the new Maverick Sprint Car Series started by Honest Abe’s Roofing’s owner, Kevin Newton, on Friday, October 6th with $6000 to win and the High Limit Series of Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet on Tuesday, October 10th paying $23,023 to win.

The first heat of the evening was green flagged at 7:33 with the wingless sprint cars doing battle. Heat one fell to Jake Swanson driving the Daming Excavating #5T over Brayden Fox, Jadon Rogers and Brent Beauchamp. Heat two went to Tye Mihocko in the Jamie and Michelle Paul #24P defeating Shane Cottle, Brandon Spencer and Zack Pretorius. The third and final sprint heat went to Matt Thompson who has shown strides forward this year running consistently all year long. Harley Burns, Kyle Shipley and Chance Crum chased Thompson to the finish.

The UMP modifieds would contest two heats for their 15 car field with Jimmy Hayden fending off Matt Mitchell and RT Gamble in heat one and Roger Mills besting Scott Carrington and Wes McClara in heat two. Wade Goodale and JD Nash would nail down super stock heat wins also. The bombers and mod lites ran two heats each with the qualifying being completed in one hour. Intermission with track prep also being performed was next on the agenda.

By 9:08 it was time to go feature racing and is always the case at Lincoln Park the wingless 410 sprints were the first feature called to the post. The front row of Harley Burns and Shane Cottle brought the 21 car field to the green flag with Cottle getting the early jump. The key word was jump as officials felt Cottle fired too soon and waved off the initial start. On the restack Burns would lead the pack into turn one but it was short lived as Sterling Cling lost the handle spinning in turn two on lap two to bring out the first official caution. On the ensuing restart Burns went to the point with Cottle and Brayden Fox in hot pursuit. Sixth starting Jake Swanson would nudge intp fourth on lap three in turn two with seventh starting Jadon Rogers cracking the top five on lap five. Burns continued to pace the field as the front runners approached lap traffic on lap eleven. Ivan Glotzbach pirouetted the Hayden #2H in turn three on the cushion but never went over bringing out another caution on lap twelve. We got two more laps into the books before Kyle Johnson rolled his black #99 on the turn one cushion to bring out the red flag. At that point fourth running Jake Swanson retired to the pit area with mechanical woes moving everyone up one position on the restart.

Nathan Ervin who was over all the place all night with an ill handling machine flipped in turn four on the restart bringing out the second red of the evening. During this stoppage fourth running Jadon Rogers headed pitside with a flat tire and would return at the tail of the field for the restart. On the restart Burns held sway but Cottle continued to pressure him down low diving to the inside of turns one and two. Tye Mihocko snuck by Fox on the backstretch on the restart to take over third and took up the chase of the top two. The top three were nose to tail as the race progressed until the yellow waved for Jadon Rogers coasting to a stop in turn two on lap twenty two. On the restart Burns led into turn one with Cottle showing him his nose racing through turns one and two. Meanwhile Mihocko went to the high side and found some traction blasting by Cottle on the backstretch with two to go. Burns continued to run the inside to middle as Mihocko pounded the cushion all the way around. Racing down the backstretch on the white flag lap Burns and Mihocko were side by side and it looked like Mihocko was going to pull off the pass but Burns found some extra traction low in turn three to pull a couple of car lengths ahead entering turn four and Burns would have enough to stave off the challenge of Mihocko and breezed across the finish line at 9:56 scoring his second win of the year at LPS and first since his rain shortened win in May edging the 2023 LPS sprint car point champion, Mihocko, for the win. Cottle would settle for third with Brandon Mattox marching from 13th to 4th at the finish in a consistent year at LPS for him with Brandon Spencer rounding out the top five.

We decided to stay for the 20 lap UMP modified feature which went green at 10:08. Jimmy Hayden would bound into the lead at the start and held sway until Matt Mitchell nipped him at the start/finish line on lap 13 and Mitchell would lead the remainder of the distance to not only score the victory but also secure the 2023 LPS UMP modified title in the process. The two hour trip each Saturday night from Rensselaer paid off in the end with Mitchell securing the point championship. The eight minute feature had us packing up our gear at 10:16 as we wrapped up the 2023 season at Lincoln Park for the last time this year.

That’s it for now and for a while as we have another journey on the horizon as we venture to Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada on the Canyonlands bus tour starting Thursday. Check back in the middle of October when we return to see where we end up next. Until next time get out there and take in some good short track racing in the fall season before the winter sets upon us. News, comments, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Be good and be safe out there in your travels and remember to be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Cottle On The Throttle In Sprint Win At Lincoln Park

Saturday, September 9 – It was the ninth visit of the year for us to our “home track”, the Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, just 45 minutes from our home in Crawfordsville. Tonight was the Red Hayden Memorial in honor of one long time runners at Lincoln Park and a former track championship and their four regular divisions would each run 30 lap features with an increase winner’s share for each one.

For Lincoln Park it was close to their starting time of 7:10 with the first heat taking the green flag at 7:32 (only 22 minutes late). That’s living on Spiker time!!

Thirty one wingless sprint cars were joined on the race card by 24 super stocks, 20 bombers and 17 UMP modifieds for the full night of racing action.

The wingless sprint cars were the first division called to the track for their four heats with the top four moving directly into the 30 lap main event. Seth Parker of West Terre Haute would claim heat one besting Brandon Spencer, Tye Mihocko and Brent Beauchamp who would later scratch from the feature making it five to advance from the B main. Brayden Fox from Avon took down heat two over Hunter Maddox, Blake Vermillion and Matt Thompson. Jordan Kinser from Bedford nailed down heat three winning over Mario Clouser, Jesse Vermillion and Mitch Wissmiller. The fourth and final heat fell to Shane Cottle of Kansas, IL who turned back Harley Burns, Kyle Shipley and Chance Crum.

The UMP modifieds would contest two heats for their 17 car field with Wes McClara and Brayden Watson taking wins. The super stocks ran three heats with Josh Litton, Paul Wright and Larry Raines victorious. And finally the bombers ran three heats after the sprint car B main.

The sprint car B main was taken by Evan Mosley of Lapel triumphing over Zack Pretorius, Matt McDonald, Jackson Slone and Lee Underwood. One track provisional would be added to the field when Ivan Glotzbach, driver of the Brian Hayden #I1 who is the son of Red Hayden, which was a nice gesture by management on this night. Track maintenance was the next order of business and a half hour later it was time for the 30 lap wingless sprint car feature.

At 10:02 the front row of Harley Burns and Mario Clouser brought the 21 car field to the green flag with Burns getting the early lead. Burns and Clouser raced side by side through turns three and four with Clouser taking the lead at the start/finish line to complete lap one. Jordan Kinser was the man on the move motoring the Jerry Burton #04 into fourth on lap four. Clouser continued to pace the field as the laps clicked off and moved into the teens with Burns, Brandon Spencer, Kinser and Shane Cottle chasing him. Kinser moved up another position into third passing Spencer as they raced down the backstretch on lap seventeen. A crucial caution waved on lap nineteen as Tye Mihocko running sixth at the time did a complete 360 spin and kept moving as the caution waved. In a clarification from Pat Sullivan unlike when a spin occurs in USAC racing it is an automatic caution and the driver moves to the rear. At Lincoln Park if you spin and do not stop and the caution waves you receive your running position back on the restart. I don’t like the rule as I feel if you bring out the caution you should go to the rear. Just my opinion!!

On the ensuing restart Clouser powered back out front as the cars were shuffled behind him with Kinser moving to second at the line to complete lap twenty while Cottle used the inside of turns three and four to take the lead away from Clouser pulling off a two for one pass to move from third to the lead. Mihocko blasted the cushion through turns one and two charging into fourth by turn three where he drives hard into turn four pushing Clouser into the cushion in an overly aggressive move to take third and dropping Clouser all the way back to seventh. Mihocko was not finished as he powered by Kinser down the backstretch for second on lap twenty eight bringing the resurgent Burns with him. Mihocko tried to close the gap on Cottle over the last two laps but the veteran of open wheel competition was up to the challenge and streaked under the checkered flag at 10:14 in the Tony Epperson #2E for a popular win with Mihocko second after starting ninth, Burns third for the second night in a row with Kinser fourth and Brayden Fox rounding out the top five in a real good feature event.

The 20 lap UMP modified feature was set on its head early as pole sitter, Derek Losh, was forced to start at the tail of the field (17th) after pulling into the work area prior to the race start. Brayden Watson, who is third in Brownstown Speedway points, made a rare appearance at LPS on an off night at Brownstown pay off as he led the entire 30 lap distance for the extra money win beating Jeff Deckard second with Derek Losh picking his way through the field to rebound for a third place finish with Matt Mitchell fourth and Will Bennett taking fifth. It was 10:55 so we decided to call it an evening with two features still to run.

The racing was good especially in the sprint car division as we discussed the night of racing as we made our way north on Route 231 to end the evening in our bed in Crawfordsville after watching the final 25 laps live from the World 100 at Eldora where Hudson O’Neal became the first driver from Indiana to ever win the World 100 in 53 tries. Also we caught the last eight laps of the USAC sprint car race at Texarkana Speedway won by Matt Westfall who triumphed in USAC sprint car action for the first time in 17 years. Congratulations to both Westfall and O’Neal on their big wins this Saturday night.

That’s it for this segment and it could be a week or more before our next report as we head north on vacation to Minnesota and Ontario to take in the beauty of the great North. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take in one or more new tracks on your bucket list on your own trip. Comments, news, opinions or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and thanks for the emails that you send. Remember to be good and be kind to everyone you meet.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Lewis Wins The Battle, Burns The War At Bloomington

Friday, September 8 – It was a cloudy day all day in Crawfordsville as we prepared to make the two hour tow south to Bloomington. As we ventured down Route 231 and Route 46 in Spencer the skies became sunny and about five degrees warmer (70 to 75) as we drew closer to the ¼ mile high banked red clay oval located on the south end of the city that houses Indiana University. We arrived around 6:30 and were surprised to see a small crowd on hand for the final race of 2023 at Bloomington. We returned to our favorite hillside lawn chair setting going toward turn one after hiking up the steep hill to get there. We settled in for a good night of racing and before the racing began we dined on chicken fingers and later our Rural King peanuts in a shell. The car counts were 21 non-wing sprints (which fell to 19) before the heats began though it was what we considered a quality field of drivers. Also on the bill were 14 winged 305 Racesaver sprints, 14 hornets and 11 super stocks to round out the card of racing.

The non-wing sprint car heats would be the first order of business taking the initial green flag at 7:17 with the close sprint car point race on the line tonight. Brady Short, multi-time point champ at Bloomington, held a four point lead over Jordan Kinser and twelve points over Harley Burns. Geoff Ensign, the defending Bloomington point king, nailed down the first heat win in the Finkenbinder #3F besting Aussie, Todd Hobson, Trey Osborne and Ryan Thomas. Heat two went to Harley Burns with a heat winner being awarded one point for a win dropping the deficit for Burns down to 11 behind Short. Brayden Fox, Mario Clouser and Chance Crum would chase Burns across the line in this one. The third heat would go to hometown boy, Matt Thompson, who has had a good year at Bloomington beating Isaac Chapple, Ricky Lewis and Tye Mihocko for the victory.

The super stocks would be next up contesting two heats with Kenny Carmichael Sr and Zach Sasser winning their respective heats. The Racesaver winged 305 sprints would also contest two heats with Jordan Welch taking down the win in heat one over Rod Henning and Charlie Stines. Heat two was captured by Ethan Barrow defeating Cody Trammell and Keith Langley. The hornets would wrap up heat qualifying with two heats for their 14 car field. All heat racing was in the books by 8:08 and the track crew went to work to massage the racing surface so the drivers would have the best surface to compete on for their championship runs.

By 8:42 it was time to go wingless sprint car racing as the green flag dropped on the 25 lap feature with Harley Burns starting first, Brady Short fourteenth and Jordan Kinser fifteenth. Burns raced out to the early lead leading Geoff Ensign and Todd Hobson in the early going. Ricky Lewis was on the move advancing from his ninth starting spot into the top five by lap five and coming forward. Lap eight saw Lewis and Trey Osborne racing for position down the backstretch with Lewis forcing Osborne over the backstretch berm bringing out the caution and regrouping the field. Burns continued to lead with Short back in eleventh and Kinser in thirteenth. Lewis was making hay picking off Ensign for second and going to work on Burns for the lead when the red flag would wave when Trey Osborne began flipping past the starter's stand and ended up on is side outside of the entrance to turn one. Safety crews righted the machine and Osborne gingerly exited his wrecked sprinter and sat down on the turn one banking. All this time the ambulance did not move from its turn four location and to us and many around us this was unacceptable and questioned why!!! This was not a Tommy tipover but instead a major crash and no response from the ambulance crew was poor to say the least. Instead Osborne was helped into the a cart and driven up to the ambulance where he was checked out. If anyone knows why the ambulance did not move to the scene of the crash let us know as usually when there is a serious crash safety personnel are right on the scene. And to the parents of the youngsters who ran down to the fence at the scene of the crash and were asked to come get their children and did not we question their parenting skills!!!

Anyhow the race was restarted after the delay with Burns still leading Lewis and Ensign. Lewis was able to wrestle the lead away from Burns on lap nineteen with Ensign moving to second a lap later. Burn's point lead was now down to one with five to go as Short was up to eighth at this point. Matt Thompson passed Short for eighth late but bobbled in turns one and two on the last lap allowing Short to regain eighth. Thompson recovered and passed Short in turns three and four to drop Short to ninth which gave Burns a one point advantage as the checkers flew on Ricky Lewis who scored his first ever win at Bloomington over Geoff Ensign with Burns crossing the line third, Brayden Fox garnering fourth and Tye Mihocko rounding out the top five at 9:15. It was a good feature and it was fun tracking the points battle with Harley Burns scoring his first Bloomington sprint car title by one point over Brady Short and seven points over Jordan Kinser vaulting from third to win the title in the last race of the year!!

The 20 lap super stock feature was next on the agenda with Josh Litton in a close battle for the point championship in this division also with Isaiah Sasser for the championship. Zach Sasser who has had a rough year at Bloomington leaped off the pole position to lead the entire 20 laps with Tucker Chastian glued to his rear bumper the entire distance scoring his first win of the year. Rookie Hayden Groomer would come home third with Josh Litton fourth and Isaiah Sasser finishing fifth giving Litton the point championship by a mere four points at the end. Rookie Hayden Groomer finished third in the points, 46 markers back, with fellow rookie Jordan Almanza just 51 markers back and Groomer will probably be crowned the rookie of the year.

The 20 lap Racesaver winged 305 sprint car feature was next up with Ethan Barrow holding a comfortable 19 point lead entering the final race and starting second on the grid while closest competitor, John Paynter Jr was grided eighth. The green flag dropped at 9:45 with Barrow streaking into the early lead. Knowing Barrow's prowess in the 305's and at Bloomington we figured it was a race for second at this point but no one informed another Bloomington boy, Cody Trammell, of this news. Trammell came out of the fourth hole to track down and pass Barrow for the lead in turn four on lap eight and pull away over the remainder of the race. When the checkered flag waved at 9:55 it was Trammell in for the win with Barrow second and winning the point championship by 25 markers with Rod Henning third, Jordan Welch fourth and John Paynter Jr finishing up fifth after starting eighth.

It was a good night of racing and at this point we decided to call it a night and make the trip back north to Crawfordsville pleased with our fifth visit to the red hills of Bloomington.

That's it for now but check back on Sunday for our report on our visit to Lincoln Park Speedway on Saturday night. Until now get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and have fun. News, comments and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as is the usual thanks for reading our efforts and letting us know how you enjoy reading about our travels and comments on the tracks we visit. So while you are out and about be good and be kind to everyone you meet and give them a smile to brighten their day.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Lewis Wins The Battle, Burns The War At Bloomington

It was a good night of racing and at this point we decided to call it a night and make the trip back north to Crawfordsville pleased with our fifth visit to the red hills of Bloomington.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Cops 69th Running of Ted Horn 100 At DuQuoin

Saturday, September 2 – Our 9 AM departure from our hotel had the new Eckel mount, a 2022 Chevy Equinox, on the road again for its maiden longer journey. We arrived at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds at 11 and hopped a golf cart that delivered us in front of the ticket booth. A long line found us reaching the ticket booth by 11:20 and then into the large, covered grandstand to catch the USAC Silver Crown time trials. The original entry list had 36 cars on it but Silver Crown regular, Travis Welpott, failed to make the trip to Southern Illinois leaving us with a 35 car count. After hot laps the car count was down to 30 as mechanical woes sidelined five entries before time trials began. On that list was Trey Osborne, the six foot eight 20 year old driver from Columbus, Ohio who had timed fifth quickest in hot laps but engine woes sidelined the youngster making his Silver Crown debut after turning heads at Kokomo’s Smackdown the previous weekend. Also suffering mechanical woes were former winner at DuQuoin, Jacob Wilson from our hometown of Crawfordsville, along with Matt Westfall, Cary Oliver and Dave Peperak. Patrick Bruns got into the turn three wall hard on his second time trial lap ending his day prematurely. Now the car count was down to 29 and one more was questionable as Wayne Johnson broke a rocker arm and his crew went to work swapping engines to get him to the starting grid starting 29th on the field.

Justin Grant was one of the last cars out for time trials and shocked the crowd turning the only sub-par 32 second lap at clocking in at 31.870 seconds around the dirt mile to grab fast time over CJ Leary and Davey Ray. UMP modifieds were also on the card with their field running two 5 lap heat races before the Silver Crown cars were called to the track to stage and for driver introductions.

The 29 Silver Crown starting field was brought to Tom Hansing’s green flag at 1:53 by Justin Grant and CJ Leary with Leary taking the lead in turn two but it would not last as Casey Buckman lost the handle in turn two after starting 17th but kept it off the wall and everyone missed him so he was able to restart at the tail of the field. On the complete restart Leary again surged ahead of Grant racing down the backstretch on the opening lap and would lead the first lap but that would be the only lap that Leary or anyone else would lead on this cloudy Saturday afternoon. Grant snatched back the lead diving low in turn three and never looked back but that was not the true story of the race as many drivers turned in impressive performances throughout the day.

Logan Seavey, the current Silver Crown point leader, quickly moved forward from 5th taking 4th on lap one and 3rd going down the backstretch on lap two. Davey Ray who started third and slipped back early rallied to grab back third in turn one on lap 6. Ray challenged Leary for second entering turn one on the inside first catching the inside rail with his left front bouncing off and darting him to the right where he touched Leary sending both array with CJ in the fluff before recovering relegated to third. Lap 12 saw Wayne Johnson storming forward from 29th all the way up to 18th as he came onto many people’s radar at that point. Another person coming to the front was Kaylee Bryson up to 12th from 19th by lap 15. Bryson gained another position moving into 11th on lap 19 in her run to the front. Taylor Ferns was another female making some noise marching from 18th to 12th by lap 21. Ferns moved by Bryson one lap later to garner 11th as the Michigan runner was on the move.

At the 25 lap mark it was Grant out front by six car lengths over Ray and Leary. Lap 26 saw Bryson’s strong run come to an early end as she slowed on the homestretch bringing out the caution. On the ensuing restart Grant jumped out front again with Ray in hot pursuit. Leary began to pressure Ray and passed Ray for 2nd off turn four on lap 32 as Kody Swanson cracked the top five one lap later on lap 33. Swanson was becoming racy moving into 4th at the end of the backstretch on lap 36 with 11th starting Shane Cockrum picking up the ride in the Hans Lein #97 starting to show his muscle with a turn one pass in turn one on lap 37 to grab 5th. Wayne Johnson made a homestretch pass on lap 38 to move to 12th. Yet another impressive run was picked up on when Casey Buckman rolled into the top ten after starting at the rear after his lap one spin on lap 42. Kody Swanson pulled a slider in turn three on Ray to take third away for a brief moment on lap 48 as he then slid high allowing both Ray and Cockrum to move by dropping Swanson to 5th. As the crossed flags were displayed at lap 50 Grant was comfortably out front trailed by Leary, Ray, Cockrum and Swanson.

Lap 53 saw Ray get loose in turn four and slide wide opening the door for both Cockrum and Swanson to move by dropping Ray back to 5th. Emerson Axsom made his presence known on lap 54 after starting 12th passing Jerry Coons Jr for 6th. Coons was not done repassing Axsom in turn two on lap 55. The Haggenbottom #24 was ready to rumble as Coons caught Ray in turn one on lap 57 for fifth as the beautiful Cornell #8 began to show smoke. Seavey who had slipped backward after his early charge to the front, began to work his way forward again taking 7th on the homestretch on lap 61. Casey Buckman’s fine run came to a sudden end as the Arizona driver spun backwards into the turn three wall taking him out of the running. This would move Johnson into the top ten for the first time today as his impressive run continued. Under the yellow another good run came to a premature ending as Davey Ray pulled to the infield with smoke trailing his machine.

Lap 68 would see Cockrum drive by Leary for 2nd in turn one and begin to reel in Grant over the next several laps. Coons slipped by Swanson for 4th on lap 69 while Johnson moved up to 9th. Johnson grabbed 8th from Chase Stockon on lap 70 while Ferns cracked the top ten at the same time. Cockrum was coming and close to the rear nerf bar of Grant by lap 75. Swanson slipped back by Coons for 4th on lap 77 and on lap 81 Chase Stockon slowed in turn four on lap 81 with a flat tire bringing out the caution.

On the restart Grant went to the point with Leary slipping by Cockrum in turn two on lap 85 and Swanson passed Cockrum for third in turn three on the same lap. Seavey gained another spot on the homestretch on lap 88 to secure 5th. It was a three dog race at this point as Grant, Leary and Swanson moved ahead in a half straightaway lead by lap 95. Leary closed within a few car lengths over the remaining five circuits but never made a serious challenge as Grant roared under the double checkers at 2:58 securing his first Horn 100 victory and his fifth career Silver Crown win tying him for 26th on the all-time list while in the process snapping an 18 race winless streak in Silver Crown competition. CJ Leary came home second with Kody Swanson third, Shane Cockrum fourth and Logan Seavey rounding out the top five and retaining the Silver Crown point lead by just a single point going into the final two races of 2023, one on dirt at Eldora and the other on asphalt at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Jerry Coons Jr in another steady run came home sixth with Emerson Axsom seventh, Wayne Johnson eighth, Taylor Ferns ninth and Kyle Steffens tenth in a strong run.

It was a fast paced race ending in just an hour and five minutes allowing us to head back over to the St. Louis area where we attended a Frontier League baseball game between the Lake Erie Crushers and the host Gateway Grizzlies in a see saw contest with Lake Erie prevailing by a score of 6 to 4.

That’s it for this segment and check back this weekend as we stay local heading for Spiker land visiting the Bloomington Speedway and the Lincoln Park Speedway. In the meantime, get out there and take in some good short track racing in your area or take a road trip and knock off a few of your want to see tracks in the near future. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you continue to check back to see what happened in our travels on a typical weekend. Until next time be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Tinsley Captures Night One Of Winged Outlaw Nationals at Doe Run

Friday, September 1 – It was a long haul Friday afternoon to arrive at our Friday night destination, The Doe Run Raceway, in the town of the same name on the Illinois/Missouri border in the Show Me state. Traffic was not bad until we got below St. Louis when an accident caused a delay and we used back roads to bypass the accident. We arrived for the 7 PM start at 7:15 and only missed two of the LO 206 classes for the younger participants. The 1/6 mile clay oval is nice with a good surface and decent wooden bleachers that stretch the entire homestretch with the pit area located off turns one and two. The food was decent with good brats and hamburgers consumed on the evening. Five divisions were on the docket with 50 winged outlaw 600’s, 15 restricted winged micros, 15 junior sprints, 10 LO 206 intermediates and 9 LO 206 beginners.

By 7:35 the first of six heats for the winged outlaw 600’s was trackside with the field divided into two groups, A & B, with each running their own 25 lap feature on the evening with the top three from each feature locking into the $5000 to win final on Saturday night. In group A, Cole Tinsley, Erin Couch and Dominic White won their respective heat races as the 600’s flew around the clay oval. Heat winners in Group B went to Chad Elliott coming from eighth to win his heat race with Craig Ronk from Warsaw, Indiana taking heat two and John Tindall winning heat three. Two B mains were needed for the winged outlaw 600’s with Arizona’s Colton Hardy winning the Group A one while Ryan Criswell took the other B main.

Things were moving along well at this point until management decided to rework the track which did not need a complete redo. It was like the wheels fell off the wagon at this point with an hour down time as the weather became damp and cool after the sun dropped below the horizon.

All of the other four divisions on the card would run their features before the two 25 lap winged outlaw 600’s would take to the track again. It seemed to take forever going forward as many wasted laps were taken realigning fields of nine and ten cars.

It was not until 11:01 when the Group A 25 lap feature took the green flag with Cole Tinsley taking the early lead. Tinsley would hold sway until veteran Joe B. Miller swept by Tinsley entering turn one on lap 13 and set sail. Miller had a good lead by lap 20 when disaster struck in the form of a blown engine ending his night five laps too early. Tinsley would inherit the lead and led the remaining five laps of the contest passing under the checker at 11:14 for the $1000 win over Joe Wirth, Dylan Kadous, Reed Whitney advancing from 9th to 4th with Cale Goodwin rounding out the top five.

With the late hour (we were on Eastern time of 12:15) we decided to bag the second 25 lapper and head down the road to our hotel for the evening. Craig Ronk went onto to win the second one and looking at the results from Saturday night the Hoosier resident took home the big $5000 paycheck the following evening.

The racing was decent, the track surface was good but the lack of organization was their ultimate downfall as this program should not have taken four hours to present.

That’s it until tomorrow when we will update you on the rest of the weekend adventure and what all we visited on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area as fall approaches and tracks are starting to close for the season here in the Midwest. Comments, news, stories and any other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always, we appreciate your emails and hope you enjoy our writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Remember to be kind as you don’t know what that other person you just met might be going through and a kind word or smile can go a long way.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Tinsley Captures Night One Of Winged Outlaw Nationals at Doe Run

Friday, September 1 – It was a long haul Friday afternoon to arrive at our Friday night destination, The Doe Run Raceway, in the town of the same name on the Illinois/Missouri border in the Show Me state. Traffic was not bad until we got below St. Louis when an accident caused a delay and we used back roads to bypass the accident. We arrived for the 7 PM start at 7:15 and only missed two of the LO 206 classes for the younger participants. The 1/6 mile clay oval is nice with a good surface and decent wooden bleachers that stretch the entire homestretch with the pit area located off turns one and two. The food was decent with good brats and hamburgers consumed on the evening. Five divisions were on the docket with 50 winged outlaw 600’s, 15 restricted winged micros, 15 junior sprints, 10 LO 206 intermediates and 9 LO 206 beginners.

By 7:35 the first of six heats for the winged outlaw 600’s was trackside with the field divided into two groups, A & B, with each running their own 25 lap feature on the evening with the top three from each feature locking into the $5000 to win final on Saturday night. In group A, Cole Tinsley, Erin Couch and Dominic White won their respective heat races as the 600’s flew around the clay oval. Heat winners in Group B went to Chad Elliott coming from eighth to win his heat race with Craig Ronk from Warsaw, Indiana taking heat two and John Tindall winning heat three. Two B mains were needed for the winged outlaw 600’s with Arizona’s Colton Hardy winning the Group A one while Ryan Criswell took the other B main.

Things were moving along well at this point until management decided to rework the track which did not need a complete redo. It was like the wheels fell off the wagon at this point with an hour down time as the weather became damp and cool after the sun dropped below the horizon.

All of the other four divisions on the card would run their features before the two 25 lap winged outlaw 600’s would take to the track again. It seemed to take forever going forward as many wasted laps were taken realigning fields of nine and ten cars.

It was not until 11:01 when the Group A 25 lap feature took the green flag with Cole Tinsley taking the early lead. Tinsley would hold sway until veteran Joe B. Miller swept by Tinsley entering turn one on lap 13 and set sail. Miller had a good lead by lap 20 when disaster struck in the form of a blown engine ending his night five laps too early. Tinsley would inherit the lead and led the remaining five laps of the contest passing under the checker at 11:14 for the $1000 win over Joe Wirth, Dylan Kadous, Reed Whitney advancing from 9th to 4th with Cale Goodwin rounding out the top five.

With the late hour (we were on Eastern time of 12:15) we decided to bag the second 25 lapper and head down the road to our hotel for the evening. Craig Ronk went onto to win the second one and looking at the results from Saturday night the Hoosier resident took home the big $5000 paycheck the following evening.

The racing was decent, the track surface was good but the lack of organization was their ultimate downfall as this program should not have taken four hours to present.

That’s it until tomorrow when we will update you on the rest of the weekend adventure and what all we visited on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area as fall approaches and tracks are starting to close for the season here in the Midwest. Comments, news, stories and any other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always, we appreciate your emails and hope you enjoy our writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Remember to be kind as you don’t know what that other person you just met might be going through and a kind word or smile can go a long way.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Becomes First To Conquer All Three Nights At Smackdown

Saturday, August 26 – With temperatures and the humidity dropping even more on this day we looked forward to the final night of Smackdown XII at the Kokomo Speedway. But before we headed over to the track a luncheon date was set up with Irvin and Mary Jane King and our newest friend, Ken “Wags” Wagner, the California transplant now living in Oklahoma. The Fox’s Trail in Kokomo was the choice and what a choice it was, with delicious food (huge portions) and great company to boot. My chicken dish was so large that I only ate half of it and took the rest with us after placing it in our larger cooler with ice packs inside. Then it was off to Kokomo Speedway to try to find a good parking place and our mission was accomplished when we were able to park just down from the pit entrance with our back up to the pit fence. I decided to take advantage of our full access three day ticket which includes pit access and strolled the pit area talking with various drivers and crew members along with a few of our race fan friends. The most interesting story I came up with was the usual number of cars (four that I know of) that suffered fuel nozzle issues over the past two days. Could it have been a bad batch of fuel nozzles from a manufacturer?? Makes you wonder as this is not a usual occurrence. The best encounter was listening to Drake York interview young Trey Osborne and then having a few minutes to converse with the up and coming racer in his first full season of sprint car racing. He has already captured three wins in 2023 with the season about ¾ of the way over. Trey was the talk of Smackdown as he qualified his low buck operation (pulls car with open trailer) for all three nights including his first USAC heat win on Friday. This is a very humble and appreciative young man who has a bright future going forward and remember the name Trey Osborne in the future. Any car owner looking for an impressive young driver who knows how to race who do themselves well by putting this guy in their sprint car!!!

The format tonight is totally different from the previous two evenings with no time trials but instead four heat races taking the top two into the 40 lap, $30,000 to win main event joining the top eight in point standings over the first two nights. Another unique twist to this is that the top eight do not automatically line up by their point standings but must participate in a King of the Hill event pitting them against each other in a three lap match race with the winner moving into the next round and so forth with the final two matching up to determine the winner and the front row.

First on the agenda was the heat racing with the track in great shape again tonight producing some good racing action. Carson Garrett, one of the drivers who had nozzle and rear end troubles the night before, put that all behind him by notching the first heat win besting Max Adams. Jadon Rogers having a great Smackdown in the Michael Dutcher #17GP claimed heat two over Matt Westfall. Ricky Lewis continued his fine Smackdown performances by taking down heat three over Chase Stockon who he passed for the win. Jake Swanson posted the heat four win over another youngster who has run well in Smackdown XII, Joey Amantea taking second.

The King of the Hill competition was next up on the program with #1 Justin Grant paring off with #8 Logan Seavey with Grant defeating Seavey to move to the next round. Number two seed Brady Bacon squared off with #7 Briggs Danner with Danner pulling the upset defeating Bacon after Bacon on the last lap came off the cushion in turn two making contact with Danner with Bacon spinning to a stop. Next up was #4 Robert Ballou matching up with #5 Kyle Cummins with Cummins prevailing in this one. Then it was #3 CJ Leary taking on #6 Shane Cottle with Leary moving forward. The next round had Grant vs Cummins with Grant winning and Leary taking on Danner with Leary winning. The final matchup was Grant vs Leary with Grant running the gauntlet beating all comers and becoming the King of the Hill.

That led us into the C main with the top two advancing to the back of the B main. Brandon Mattox won this affair beating the California driver, Nate Schank. The B main was next on the card with Texan Kobe Simpson taking a wild ride down the backstretch before landing at the entrance to turn three. Simpson was OK after the wild ride but the same could not be said for his sprinter. The race was restarted and went smoothly after that with Emerson Axsom punching his ticket to the big dance turning back Trey Osborne making his first final start with Stevie Sussex third, Daison Pursley, another rookie in the race, finishing fourth. Cole Bodine and Geoff Ensign were the last two to make their way into the big dance which was next on tap.

The drivers were introduced, the four wide salute to the fans with flashing track lights were performed and as Chet Christner says “it was time to drop the hamma” on the 22 car starting field at 10:07. CJ Leary got the drop on the heavily favorite Justin Grant on the initial start and proceeded to lead the first 11 laps of the event raking in a cool $5500 for his early success. As the front of the field caught up to the rear of the field Grant decided it was time to drop his own hamma as he dove to the bottom of turn one starting lap 12 and took the lead from Leary at that point. Grant tore his way through the back markers adding up the lap money in the meantime opening up a large two second lead by the halfway mark. Drop Grant from the equation and the race behind him would have been an instant classic with Leary, Brady Bacon, Kyle Cummins and rookie Briggs Danner duking it out like a bunch of boxers for positions two through five. Bacon took second from Leary in turn four on lap 23 as Grant motored away. Cummins was able to wrestle third from Leary on lap 30 in heavy lap traffic and caught Bacon for second on lap 32 using the high side. With five to go Logan Seavey entered the picture using a turn one slider to secure third from Bacon exiting turn two. It looked like this one was going to go the entire 40 lap distance non-stop until Leary slowed and stopped on the homestretch while running fifth. Leary was pushed off and restarted eighth, the last driver on the lead lap, as Grant’s relentless drive had lapped up to eighth with three to go.

Grant’s tremendous eight second lead was suddenly gone and everyone wondered if Cummins or anyone else could pull off a late race pass of the high flying Grant. On the restart the door opened for Cummins as Grant botched the restart jumping the cushion in turns one and two allowing Cummins, the defending champion, to pull alongside exiting turn two and down the backstretch. Grant took the middle line entering turn three trying to block any anticipated slider by Cummins but Kyle pulled alongside in turn four with Grant mashing the pedal off turn four to maintain the lead by mere feet.

Grant would complete the sweep of three nights of Smackdown by fending off Cummins’ late advances crossing the line at 10:21 with Cummins second, Seavey third, Bacon fourth and Robert Ballou sneaking by Danner for fifth on the last lap. Grant is white hot at this point winning his ninth USAC sprint race of 2023 along with his ninth career Smackdown victory tying Dave Darland for most Smackdown wins. Grant also became the third three time Smackdown champion (2018, 2021 & 2023) joining Dave Darland and Tyler Courtney on that prestigious list. Oh, did I mention that Grant also bagged a grand total of $44,500 ($30,000 + another $14,500 for leading 29 laps) nabbing his 43rd career USAC National sprint car win moving him by Pancho Carter for sole possession of 7th on the all-time win list. Grant took home a grand total of $56,500 for three days of racing in a total of 100 laps raced!!!

Briggs Danner headed up the second five in an impressive Smackdown debut with Jadon Rogers with three top ten finishes in three days of 5th, 4th and 7th. CJ Leary would come home eighth with Shane Cottle ninth and Jake Swanson rounding out the top ten.

It was a fun three nights of non-wing sprint car racing with plenty of passing but hopefully next year won’t be so darn hot and humid!!! After watching two dominant performances in the last two finals they might want to change the name to Spankdown instead of Smackdown!!!

That’s it until next weekend, Labor Day weekend where the plan right now is to see three races in two states (Missouri & Illinois) with two of them being new venues if the weather is our friend along with a baseball game squeezed in between. So as the summer slips away get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area while being safe, staying hydrated and having fun. Comments, news and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and keep reading. It was great to see our Missouri friends, Gary Dean and Sally Ebling, and chatting with them both. Thanks Sally for the 12 pack of your wonderful homemade salsa which we will enjoy throughout the year until next year at Smackdown!!!

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Doubles Up With Night Two Win At Kokomo Smackdown

Friday, August 25 – Today’s weather was still hot and humid but not as bad as Thursday’s furnace like weather. Temperatures were in the high 80’s with the feels like temperature only in double digits instead of triple digit figures. A visit to Bob Evan’s for lunch proceeded our run to the track. We found a good spot or so we thought to park but a Howard County Sheriff’s Deputy informed us we were in a reserved camping space and would have to move after sitting there for an hour. We ended up moving to a space past the pit entrance against the fence separating the pits from the outside areas.

On tap tonight was night two of Smackdown XII with the same format from last night with sprint time trials followed by heat racing and then a C main and B main before the 30 lap A main. Time trials pushed off at 6:54 for the 45 car field gathered for tonight’s racing minus the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ driven by Mitchel Moles who it was announced were done for the remaining two days after wrecking another sprinter last night in a tangle with Chase Stockon. For the second night in a row, we witnessed a surprise fast timer as Ventura, California’s Ricky Lewis, the winningest non-wing driver in the country in 2023 with 11 wins, knocked off the fastest one lap of the evening at 12.774 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring.

By 7:43 we were ready to go USAC sprint car heat racing with four heats taking the top four directly to the 30 lap main event. The track seemed to be wider this evening making for better heat and feature racing going forward. Brady Bacon was a man on a mission in heat one aggressively powering his way to the front of the field to claim the heat win over Ricky Lewis, Jadon Rogers and Korbyn Hayslett. Heat two was taken down by Trey Osborne who has been impressive in his first full season of sprint car racing, besting Emerson Axsom who he passed a few weeks ago for his third year of the year in Indiana at Gas City. CJ Leary and Briggs Danner chased the top two across the line. Kyle Cummins, rebounding from his bad luck last night when a fuel nozzle line came loose dropping him from third to tenth in the last two laps of the feature staked out heat three. Matt Westfall, Dave Darland qualifying for the second straight night via the heat and Cole Bodine followed. Justin Grant won the fourth heat by inches at the line nipping Shane Cottle, Robert Ballou and Kevin Thomas Jr.

The C main was the next race on the dance card with the top four moving to the tail for the B main. Australian Troy Carey flipped on the homestretch in this one and was OK after his tumble. Colten Cottle would go on to victory in the Paul Hazen #57 over Wyatt Burks, Brandon Mattox and Joey Amantea.

The B main or semi which you prefer also saw a sprinter go airborne when Chance Crum, a sprint car rookie moving into the sprint car ranks after piloting midgets. Jake Swanson in the Team AZ #21AZ would go onto win the B main over Logan Seavey, Daison Pursley, Stevie Sussex, Sterling Cling and Chase Stockon. Carson Garrett who had mechanical woes in his main car had to move to a backup machine starting last in the 18 car B main and missing the main event by only two positions causing him to use the only provisional of the evening.

When all the preliminaries in the books that set the stage for the 30 lap USAC sprint car feature race. The front row of CJ Leary and Jadon Rogers brought the 23 car starting field to Tom Hansing’s green silk at 9:42 with Rogers getting the jump off the outside of row one to take the early lead. Rogers would lead the first five laps of the feature until Trey Osborne lost power and glided to a halt on the homestretch ending his evening prematurely. In the first four laps of the race Shane Cottle was passing people left and right advancing from 21st to 12th in the march forward as the Epperson #2E was on a rail.

On the restart Rogers went to the point once again but Briggs Danner and CJ Leary were working the low side when the trio going three wide off turn four with Roger’s momentum off the high side helping him maintain the race lead. Justin Grant was also making his presence known lurking right behind the top three looking for some racing room. Brady Bacon was on the march and using the low side in turn one on lap twelve to make a sweep by both Danner and Leary to take over third slotting in behind Grant who had moved to second. Closing on the halfway mark Grant made his first challenge for the lead on a slide job in turn three taking the brief lead but Rogers countered off turn four and retained the lead at the line. Grant executed a slider entering turn one and Rogers stormed down the backstretch executing his own slider in turn three with Grant countering in turn four and taking the lead at the line for lap fourteen. Rogers was not quite finished retaking the lead in turn one for a brief moment until Grant retook the lead exiting turn two for good.

Bacon meanwhile worked the bottom and caught Rogers for second on lap seventeen and took up the chase of Grant for the race lead. Lap eighteen saw Shane Cottle continue his assault sliding by Rogers for third on the inside of turn one. Cottle was able to slip by Bacon for second on lap twenty two before encountering lap traffic who was occupying his bottom lane with Bacon moving to the middle groove and recapturing second from Cottle on lap twenty three. Grant meanwhile was long gone opening up an almost three second bulge as the laps clicked off. Grant would flash under Hansing’s double checkers first at 9:53 besting seventh starting Brady Bacon with twenty first starting Shane Cottle taking down the third podium position and the $300 for being hard charger once again for the sixth time in the last nine USAC sprint starts. Jadon Rogers would end up fourth with Kyle Cummins rounding out the top five. Logan Seavey topped off a good run from tenth to finish sixth with CJ Leary seventh, Jake Swanson eighth, Briggs Danner holding on for ninth with Ricky Lewis ending up tenth. Bacon would finish second for the second straight night and tenth time in his USAC career at Kokomo still without a win. On the other hand, Grant would take his second straight win in Smackdown competition and sixth overall in the 12 years of Smackdown the most of any driver. It was also Grant’s 42nd career USAC National win breaking a tie with Bryan Clauson for eighth and moving him into a tie for seventh with Pancho Carter on the all-time winning list.

It was a good race tonight overall with a wider racing surface the main ingredient in the racing formula making for better racing on the entire evening.

That’s it for now but check back Sunday afternoon for a review of Saturday night’s finale of Smackdown XII where $30,000 to win plus lap money is on the line and the question is can anybody beat Justin Grant who is on a roll and could be tough to beat on Saturday. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or #GYATK for the Smackdown XII final. Either way be safe out there and stay hydrated in the sun and humidity. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and for the comments sent our way. Until next time be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Takes Third Straight Smackdown Opener At Kokomo

Thursday, August 24 – The weather was brutal for the day with temperatures in the 90’s and the heat index as high as 114 degrees today for the opener of Smackdown XII at the Kokomo Speedway. Winds of 12 to 14 miles an hour were our saving grace as when we arrived at Kokomo and I opened the car door it felt like I was sticking my head in an oven. We decided to secure our seats for the three days with our blue tarp, visit several of the souvenir stands before heading back to the car and sitting in the cool air conditioning until we heard the sound of race engines on the track. We gathered our stuff to take in and headed trackside for night on of Smackdown XII.

Forty six cars and teams graced the turns one and two pit area to contest tonight’s $6000 to win opener. Time trials would be the first order of business commencing at 7:48 with Robert Ballou surprising the field by posting the fast time of 12.900 seconds around the ¼ mile dirt oval. Kevin Thomas Jr set the second fastest time which was disallowed because the Dwight Cheney #42 came up light on the scale dropping him to 46th on the grid which would mean he would have to start last in every race this evening.

The four heats taking the top four directly to the 30 lap main event kicked off at 8:36 with the action starting early when Emerson Axsom clipped the turn four infield tire and launched his Clauson/Marshall #47BC skyward and began a series of end over end flips ending up near the flagger’s stand. Axsom would return for the B main but would not qualify and be forced to use a provisional and start 23rd in the feature tonight receiving national points but not Smackdown points. Shane Cottle in the Epperson #2E would capture the first heat win over Daison Pursley, Justin Grant and Robert Ballou with Kayla Roell the 15 year old girl missing by one spot in a strong run. Joey Amantea, the 18 year old driver from Pennsylvania, checked out from the field in winning heat two besting Korbyn Hayslett, CJ Leary and Brady Bacon. Rylan Gray, another youngster at 17 years old, walked away with heat three beating Trey Osborne, Ricky Lewis, the winningest non-wing driver in the US with 11 wins, third and Kyle Cummins fourth. The fourth heat was taken by Carson Garrett over Colten Cottle, Max Adams and Dave Darland sneaking by Chance Crum on the last lap to snare the fourth qualifying spot for the former three time Smackdown champion. Mitchel Moles banged wheels with Chase Stockon on the homestretch in the fourth heat with Moles twirling in the air several times before rolling over one and a half times ending up at the entrance of turn one.

The C main was the next race on the agenda with only the top four moving into the B main. Jadon Rogers taking a spin in the Michael Dutcher #17GP won this affair over Sterling Cling, Kevin Thomas Jr charging from 16th and Wyatt Burks edging Riley Kreisel in the Jack Yeley #2 for the last advancement position.

The B main was next up with the top six moving into the feature event tonight. Chase Stockon won this one over Logan Seavey, Jake Swanson, Briggs Danner, Matt Westfall and Cole Bodine with Jadon Rogers coming up one spot short of making the field. Rogers would use the second provisional available and start 24th in the main event.

The 30 lap, $6000 to win feature event was ready to go by 10:32 with the front row of Kyle Cummins and Justin Grant bringing the 24 car field to Tom Hansing’s initial green flag. It didn’t last long as a five car tangle on the bottom of turns one and two eliminated Colten Cottle and Trey Osborne for the rest of the evening. On the restart Grant shot into the early lead with Cummins in chase mode. Brady Bacon up from fifth slipped by C J Leary for third on the low side of turn one on lap two. Grant was in cruise mode pulling away to a good lead as he approached lap traffic as the race neared the halfway mark. Cummins and Bacon were in a good battle for the runner-up position as they continued to chase Grant up front. Justin made a great move in lap traffic in turn four with ten to go sweeping by a trio of lappers and gaining him some breathing room at that point. The challenge was not over for Grant as many others raced in front of him running all over the surface and he would have to pick his way through them being as careful as possible.

With six to go Bacon was finally able to make a good run at Cummins for second diving low in turn three and clearly the defending Smackdown champ in turn four to see if he could reel in Grant over the last six circuits. Grant in his dominant run was not to be challenged as he had lapped up to the top nine as he crossed under Hansing’s double checkers at 10:46 for his third straight opening night Smackdown win and his fifth overall Smackdown win over the 12 years. Grant also scored his season leading seventh win of 2023 along with his seventh USAC win at Kokomo. To top it off it was his 41st career USAC National sprint car win moving him by Gary Bettenhausen into 8th on the all-time list tying him with the late Bryan Clauson on the all-time sprint win list. Bacon would cross the line second with Ballou claiming the third podium position. In the last two laps Cummins began to slow, the result of fuel nozzle line that came loose, and faded to tenth at the finish in a heartbreaker for him. Carson Garrett came from seventh to finish fourth with the show being Jadon Rogers charging from 24th to finish 5th at the end. Unfortunately, by using a provisional Rogers was not awarded the hard charger award but he still put on one heck of a driving performance in this one.

CJ Leary would fade to sixth at the finish with Shane Cottle seventh, Briggs Danner eighth after starting sixteenth and receiving the hard charger award, with Joey Amantea turning in a solid performance capturing ninth with Cummins ending up tenth.

Grant’s dominant performance makes him a favorite to win the $30,000 on the line for Saturday night but it is not a given. It was a decent race, not great, but the most impressive part of the evening was how the track surface held up under extreme temperatures and a steady wind with hardly a speck of dust the entire evening. Fine job done by Reece O’Connor and the rest of the Kokomo track crew!!

That’s it for today but check back tomorrow for night two of Smackdown XII and see what plays out on this night. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and have fun and stay hydrated. Comments, words of wisdom, news and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where our travels have us ending up at. And remember to be kind and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Double The Pleasure, Double The Fun As Seavey Claims Macon Midget Gold

Saturday, August 19 – After leaving the Illinois State Fair we headed eastwardly stopping for gas before driving 46 miles over to the Macon Speedway, the high banked black clay 1/5 mile speed bowl for USAC National Midgets (30) along with two local support classes, modifieds (11) and hornets (15). Time trials were the first order of business kicking off at 6:48 with Tanner Thorson setting fast time with a lap of 10.462 seconds around the 1/5 mile oval.

Hot laps for the other two divisions followed before the midgets returned to compete in three heats with the top five moving directly into the 30 lap main event later in the evening. Cannon McIntosh would be the first driver to nail down a heat win taking heat one over Jade Avedisian, Tanner Thorson, Jacob Denney and Karter Sarff. Heat two went to the veteran Thomas Meseraull fending off his teammate, Justin Grant, Hayden Reinbold (2nd fast qualifier in a surprise), Kevin Thomas Jr and Gavin Miller. The third and final heat fell to Daison Pursley besting Zach Daum, Mitchell Davis in a strong run, Daniel Whitley and his teammate, Logan Seavey in the best heat of the night.

The mods ran two heats with Austin Lynn and Jacob Steinkoenig winning while the hornets ran two good heats with Casey Eskew winning by inches and Billy Mason winning the other one.

The USAC midget semi was next up on the dance card with the top seven moving into the main event. Chase McDermand prevailed in this contest beating Bryant Wiedeman, Taylor Reimer, Ethan Mitchell, Ryan Timms cheered on by his parents who sat two rows in front of us, Jake Andreotti and Daniel Adler who edged out Mariah Ede for the last transfer spot.

The modifieds would be first up for their 20 lap main event which saw the green flag at 8:30. Only two cautions and seven minutes later Jeremy Nichols won from second over fourth starting Tim Luttrell and sixth starting Austin Lynn.

The hornets outdid their modified buddies by running their 15 lap feature event in seven minutes with only one caution and put on an action packed race for the fans in attendance. Allan Harris came from sixth to win this thriller over fifth starting Tristin Quinlan and fourth starting Billy Mason.

Now it was time to go USAC midget racing and after the four wide salute to the fans the green flag waved at 9:02 with Logan Seavey getting the jump from his second starting position and quickly pulled away from the field. Thomas Meseraull who seemed to be out of control all night living up to his slide or die statement, fed the right rear tire to Hayden Reinbold on lap five knocking him into the turn two wall to bring out a caution. Seavey took off again on the restart and quickly reached lap traffic by lap ten and then the fun began as he looked to pick his way through the slower traffic. Six cautions would slow the action and give Seavey the breaks he needed to stay out front with no traffic to contend with. Gavin Miller and Karter Sarff had a good battle for second as Thomas Meseraull followed the pair before picking off Sarff and battling with Miller. Lap twenty five saw Meseraull again make contact with a car in turn two sending second running Miller into the concrete but Miller got a huge break when Jake Andreotti spun in turn one allowing Miller to restart in second with Meseraull pulling to the infield with mechanical woes. Tanner Thorson who had dropped back early from his sixth starting spot made some adjustments under the many cautions and late in the running found the inside groove to be the way forward cracking the top three. Seavey was gone again on the restart and opened up over a second lead over the last five laps flashing under the checkers at 9:26 with his third win of 2023 and his 11th career win. It also made him a member of an exclusive club winning two USAC races in the same day joining Billy Vukovich (1967) and JJ Yeley (2004) and now Seavey (2023). Seavey has been on a roll in USAC midget competition in 2023 having now scored an amazing nine straight podium finishes in 2023 opening up a large point’s lead in the process.

Gavin Miller would garner second at the finish for his best run since winning at Bloomington in June. Tanner Thorson came home third with fellow low rider, Zach Daum, advancing from 12th to 4th with Karter Sarff in a fine run rounding out the top five. Ethan Mitchell would lead the second five finishing sixth after starting fourteenth with Cannon McIntosh seventh, Daniel Adler eighth in his first USAC start since 2017 receiving the hard charger award after starting 22nd, Chase McDermand ninth after starting seventeenth and Jacob Denney coming home tenth.

As Dick Trickle use to say it is like flying jet fighters in a gymnasium when you watch racing at Macon Speedway which is always action packed.

That’s it for now but check back Friday as Smackdown XII lurks with the first of three nights of racing at the baddest bullring in Indiana kicks off on Thursday with the final race paying a great $30,000 to win plus $500 for each lap led. Can’t wait!!!! In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and head to Kokomo, Indiana for Smackdown XII. Either way be safe out there and stay hydrated. Comments, news, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as is always the case thanks for reading our efforts. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Hot On Dirt Winning Five Of Last Seven Sweeping Springfield Mile

Saturday, August 19 – It was a short half hour ride over from Lincoln to Springfield as our destination today was the Illinois State Fair and specifically the one mile dirt oval located there. On tap today was the 60th running of the Bettenhausen 100 for the USAC Silver Crown series or as I like to call them, the grand old dames of USAC. I like that name better than some who call them the fat bottomed girls but call them what you want they are fun to watch on the big one mile ovals as well as the half miles. Forty four entrants were on the pre-race list but only forty made it to Springfield. The Silver Crown cars among the three classes that USAC sanctions seem to be the ones who have more mechanical woes than the others. We were down to 39 when defending Bettenhausen 100 champion, Shane Cockrum, lost his motor in hot laps and we lost two more as A J Fike, a former winner at Springfield, and rookie Ryan Thomas failed to make it out for time trials. Shane Cockrum was back in as he drove the second Sam Pierce #126 replacing Aaron Pierce and made the top 24. It was still a stout 37 car field that challenged the Springfield mile today with Logan Seavey notching his first career fast time in the Silver Crown class touring the mile to the tune of 31.317 seconds. The fastest 24 cars locked into the Bettenhausen 100 with Casey Buckman, the Arizona driver the last man in on time.

Six more would join the festivities after the 12 lap Last Chance Qualifier which started 12 cars with an all-female front row of Kaylee Bryson and Taylor Ferns leading them to the green flag at 12:55. Bryson dominated this one finishing about a half straightway ahead of Ferns at the finish and they were joined in the Bettenhausen 100 by Korey Weyant, Russ Gamester, Travis Welpott and Chris Fetter holding off Matt Mitchell for the last ticket to the big dance.

We were ready to go with the 60th Bettenhausen 100 with the front row of Logan Seavey and Emerson Axsom bringing the 31 car field (Dave Berkheimer took a provisional) to the green flag at 2:05. Axsom took the early advantage with Seavey on his heels. Seavey drove hard into turn three on the second lap on the outside and drove by Axsom to take the lead. Rookie Chase Dietz in his second Silver Crown start after finishing second at Port Royal in his debut motored into fourth on lap five after starting sixth with Kody Swanson on the move from tenth to sixth on lap six. Shane Cockrum was also moving forward in the second Pierce entry up to twelfth by lap nine. Swanson picked off Justin Grant to move to fifth on lap eleven. Cockrum started to fade at this point and finally slowed to a stop on the homestretch on lap sixteen when his throttle pedal broke.

On the restart Seavey went back out front with Axsom close behind. Jerry Coons Jr drove the Mike Haggenbottom #24 into twelfth on the restart after starting eighteenth and grabbed eleventh one lap later. At the same time Grant worked his way back past Swanson for fifth. Shane Cottle at the throttle of the Dyson #9 powered by Axsom for the runner-up position on the inside of turn four on lap twenty. In the meantime Seavey was cruising up front as he increased his lead as the race approached the quarter century mark. Chase Dietz caught and passed Axsom for third on the homestretch on lap twenty six while Taylor Ferns was on the march moving from twenty sixth to eighteenth on lap twenty eight. Axsom took back third from Dietz on the inside of turn four on lap thirty four with Grant following through to take fourth. Lap thirty nine saw Seavey reach lap traffic as he worked his way through but this allowed Cottle to close the gap. Cottle got a good run on the backstretch on lap forty one and took the lead away from Seavey at that point. Axsom slid high in turn three allowing Grant to snatch fourth on lap forty three. One lap later Korey Weyant slowed on the backstretch to bring out the second caution of the event.

On the restart Cottle retained the lead with Seavey and Grant in close pursuit. Kody Swanson slipped into fifth on the restart on lap forty nine and right into fourth as he got a good run on the restart. Lap fifty four saw a strong run by Wayne Johnson end early when he pulled pitside on lap fifty four. At this point the field began to ride with little action occurring. Cottle was in command and pulled away as the laps clicked off. As the race pushed to the sixty lap mark Seavey began to move closer to Cottle as the front two distanced themselves from the rest of the pack. After the top two cleared the lap traffic Cottle hit the gas and opened up over a two second lead at this point. The third caution would appear on lap eighty one when ninth running CJ Leary slowed the Bob East #6 on the homestretch with a blown powerplant. This would bunch up the field for the restart.

On the lap eight six restart Cottle jumped the gun restarting in turn three and brought a quick caution on the field. They regrouped and took the green again on lap eighty eight with Cottle moving back out front to a five car length lead entering turn one. Seavey at this point drove it extra hard and long into turn one on the outside and then diamonded it off down to the rail in a brilliant move sneaking by Cottle as the pair entered turn two and raced down the backstretch. Seavey powered away and opened over a second lead as the race moved into the last ten laps. With three to go Travis Welpott clobbered the turn three wall bringing out the fourth and final caution and setting up a green, white and checkered scenario as Seavey’s lead was wiped out.

The crowd tensed as the green flag waved wondering if Seavey and the others had enough fuel to go the rest of the distance as they anticipated a run to the finish and waited to see if Cottle had any tricks up his sleeve over the final two laps. Seavey was up to the challenge and led the final two laps flashing under the double checkers at 3:21 for his first Bettenhausen 100 win and his fifth win out of the last seven Silver Crown races run on dirt besting Shane Cottle with Justin Grant third, Kody Swanson fourth and Springfield rookie, Emerson Axsom bringing the Nolen #20 home fifth. Cottle was quite disappointed as he felt he let that one get away from him being two cautious entering turn one on the lap eighty eight restart finishing second here for the second straight year. Jacob Wilson in his first Silver Crown run in three years brought the family owned #07 home sixth and made two Crawfordsville residents happy with Davey Ray in a steady run in the beautiful Cornell #8 taking seventh with Mario Clouser eighth, Chase Dietz slipping to ninth but still two for two in top ten finishes with Jerry Coons Jr in a steady run taking down tenth. Matt Westfall just missed the top ten finishing eleventh with Taylor Ferns receiving the hard charger award after starting twenty sixth and finishing twelfth, Chase Stockon thirteenth, Russ Gamester in a good run for fourteenth and Casey Buckman rounding out the top fifteen. It was a decent race with some good drives and it was not over for Seavey on the day either so check back tomorrow to see what the California kid did Saturday night at Macon Speedway in the USAC National Midgets.

Until tomorrow get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated as a heat wave is sweeping over the Midwest and will be headed East. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you are still enjoying them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Nienhiser and Bruns Win Night Before The Mile At Lincoln

Friday, August 18 – It was a weekend we looked forward to for a while as we packed up the Chevy Equinox and headed west into the Land of Lincoln for two days and nights of racing in Illinois. Friday’s destination was the Lincoln Speedway, the ¼ mile black clay oval located in Lincoln, Illinois. The race was billed as the Night Before the Mile (Springfield Silver Crown mile race). We arrived right around 5 and ventured into the covered grandstand to secure our seats for the big night of racing that was scheduled for tonight. We usually don’t like five division programs but when the car counts are lower and they start on time it can be enjoyable. The MOWA 410 winged sprints brought the most cars on the evening with 23 while the MARA midgets towed in 15 entrants. The pro late models contributed another 12 cars while the UMP modifieds only had 10 entries and the hornets only showed up with 3 cars.

We have to venture over into Illinois to find a show that starts on their posted starting time for racing at 7 PM and actually the first green of the evening dropped on the first MARA midget heat at 6:59. And to top it off as one heat exited the speedway on the backstretch the next heat was entering the race track from the turn four lineup road and taking one lap around oval before starting their heat.

Mark McMahill from Peoria would score the win in heat one over Greg Ross and Jace Sparks in a very competitive heat. Patrick Bruns from Champaign would capture heat two over Tyler Roth and Miles Doherty. Next up were the UMP modifieds running two heats with Jared Thomas and Brian Lynn taking heat wins. The MOWA sprints were next on the agenda with Paul Nienhiser besting Colton Fisher and Steven Russell who would do double duty tonight and tomorrow afternoon racing on the mile at the Illinois State Fair. Jeremy Standridge would score the win in heat two over Terre Haute, IN driver Bryce Norris and Jake Neuman. Heat three went to Mario Clouser, another double duty pilot, over Jake Blackhurst and Preston Perlmutter from SanAntonio, TX and current MOWA point leader.

The pro late models would contest two heats also with Jose Parga and Blaise Baker claiming wins. The three hornets would run their 12 lap feature event next with Bridget Fulton turning sideways in turn one on the opening lap and going for a series of barrel rolls before stopping in turn two. She quickly climbed from the mangled machine OK after her wild ride. Billy Mason would go on to win this one.

The second feature of the evening would be the 20 lap main event for the UMP modifieds with Jared Thomas making short work of this one taking the lead from the first starting spot and never being headed winning the seven minute feature over Brian Lynn and Brandon Roberts.

The 20 lap MARA midget feature was next to the post and went green at 8:26 with Daltyn England getting the jump on Korey Weyant for the early lead. The caution came out for Jace Sparks when he ran off the homestretch onto the horse track and stopped. On the restart England led Miles Doherty and Weyant. England opened up the lead but the battle between second through sixth was amazing with numerous slide jobs thrown as these guys duked it out behind England. Greg Ross was able to advance from sixth into second and took up the chase of England. Patrick Bruns was another driver working his way forward from ninth moving into third on lap five. Ross meanwhile used the high route to take over the lead from England on lap six. Bruns continued his march taking second from England on lap eight and the race for the lead was on. Bruns caught Ross on lap thirteen and took the lead briefly before getting sideways handing the lead back to Ross. Weyant turned turtle in turn two bring out the red. On the restart it was Ross the leader trailed by Bruns and England. Bruns executed a slide job in turns three and four with just three to go to grab the lead but Ross was right there not giving up as they raced closely together. Bruns was able to move ahead by two car lengths on the white flag lap and would flash across the finish line at 8:42 for his third win of 2023 with Ross and Tyler Roth in close pursuit. Tim Siner made a late charge to finish fourth after starting fourteenth with Mark McMahill rounding out the top five in a top notch feature race.

The 20 lap pro late model feature would run next and Jose Parga made short work of the field taking the lead on the start and winning easily and in the process remaining unbeaten when he has raced at Lincoln in 2023 in this division.

Last up for the features on this evening would be the headlining MOWA sprint cars taking the green flag at 9:11. Trevin Littleton would gain the early lead and pace the field for the first six laps until fifth starting Paul Neinhiser made a nifty move in lap traffic on the inside of turn four passing both a lap car and leader Littleton in one fair swoop and never looked back on his way to his second MOWA win of 2023 and his 25th career MOWA win holding off a late charge by sixth starting Will Armitage for the victory, Trevin Littleton would finish third with eighth starting Jake Neuman fourth and Jake Blackhurst fifth with the final checker waving at 9:38.

It was a great run program and we were able to watch the USAC midget feature from the comfort of our hotel room in Lincoln on Flo Racing on Pat’s phone before retiring for the evening.

That’s it for race one of our Illinois weekend and check back Monday for the daytime half of our Saturday double in the Land of Lincoln. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing your area and be good and be safe. Comments, news, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and for your comments passed along. Until tomorrow be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Parker Wins For First Time In Nine Years In Lincoln Park Run

Saturday, August 12 – Today was forecasted to be partly sunny with scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon but mostly they were non-existent. We arrived at Lincoln Park Speedway after taking in an afternoon UTV race in North Salem at 7:15 and hot laps were still taking place and you can always count on LPS to not start on time. Just before we walked into the grandstand area Jake Swanson flipped the Daming #5T end over end several times in turn one necessitating a move into the Thompson #26T for the rest of the evening. The five division program had 33 non-wing sprints, 23 super stocks, 20 UMP modifieds, 17 bombers and 11 mod lites in the pit area along with the 3rd Little Feet Bike Challenge for the youngsters pedaling around parts or all of the 5/16 mile dirt oval.

Non-wing sprint car heats would kick off the racing action commencing at 7:50 with Tony Helton rolling over in turn four in heat one for the second flip of the night. Brayden Fox would go onto win the first heat over Tim Creech, John Sluss and Jake Swanson. Heat two went to Brandon Spencer besting Kyle Shipley, Chance Crum and Daylan Chambers. Kyle Johnson nailed down heat three beating Sterling Cling, Aidan Salisbury and Weston Gorham hailing out of Colleyville, Texas. The fourth heat was taken by Geoff Ensign over Seth Parker, Jordan Kinser and Harley Burns.

The mod lites followed with two heats won by Michael Mann and Brandon Freeburg before the UMP modifieds participated in three heats with Derek Losh, Tyler Loughmiller and Matt Mitchell winning. The super stocks spun off three heats and then the sprint cars ran their B main before the bombers ran their two heats. The sprint car B main was captured by Tye Mihocko who spun while running second in his heat race and was forced to the B main. Austin Nigh, Ivan Glotzbach and Austin Cory joined Mihocko at the tail of the 25 lap main event.

That left us with the five feature races to run with the non-wing sprinters running their 25 lap feature event first. The 20 car field was led to the green flag by Seth Parker and Sterling Cling with Cling getting the early advantage but that didn’t last long as Brayden Fox tangled with several other cars racing down the backstretch on the opening lap with Fox rolling over several times ending his evening early. On the next restart Parker got the jump but a turn four tangle among Harley Burns, Ivan Glotzbach and Tye Mihocko on the inside of the turn brought the yellow out again with Glotzbach done for the evening.

The third time was a charm as Cling grabbed the lead in the first two corners with Parker on his heels. Kyle Shipley was able to clear Parker for second on lap three. Geoff Ensign moved to fourth in turn four on lap five with Shipley able to briefly gain the lead on the bottom side of turn two on lap six. Cling would race around Shipley between turns three and four to regain the lead with Parker slipping by Shipley for second off turn four when Shipley bobbled on the cushion and lost some ground. Cling would lead with Parker and Shipley right behind until Ensign was able to polish off Shipley for third at the line on lap thirteen. Shortly thereafter Kyle Johnson slowed to a stop in turn four to bring out the caution.

On lap after the restart Parker got a good run on Cling passing him for the lead off turn four on lap fourteen. Parker pulled away by a few car lengths as Ensign began to apply the pressure on Cling passing him for second on the homestretch on lap seventeen. Parker was able to fend off any advantages by Ensign as the laps dwindled down. Coming off the backstretch on the final lap Aidan Salisbury and Harley Burns tangled on the bottom of turn four bringing out a caution instead of a checkered for Parker.

Parker would have to hold off any sliders by Ensign on the restart and he was successful in turn one as Ensign went for the slider but Parker was able to pull away in turn two and down the backstretch. Parker would hold sway as he raced to the line to accept the double checkers for his second career sprint car win at LPS besting Ensign, Shipley, Cling and Chance Crum up from 10th at the finish. Jake Swanson would bring the Thompson sprinter in for sixth with Tim Creech seventh, Tye Mihocko coming from the tail to finish eighth with Brandon Spencer ninth and Daylan Chambers rounding out the top five at 10:57. Seth Parker, out of West Terre Haute, IN, won for the first time since 2014 when he nipped Carson Short at the line for his first career win.

We decided to stay for the mod lite 20 lapper and the UMP modified 20 lapper. First up was the mod lite feature which only had one caution with Brandon Freeburg out of Illinois winning this one over Jeff Cast and ninth starting Mike Pershing in eleven minutes.

The UMP modifieds were next up to contest their 20 lap feature with Jake Leitzman taking the early lead. Derek Losh out of the number six hole took the lead from Leitzman at the line on lap four and led the remainder of the distance to score the win at 11:39 over Wes McClara, Leitzman, Matt Mitchell and Tyler Loughmiller.

With two features still to run we headed for the exit for the 40 minute drive back to Crawfordsville.

That’s it for this weekend but check back next week as an Illinois triple is on the horizon. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, be safe and have fun. Comments, news, stories or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as usual thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where our typical weekend takes us.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Adams Notched Second Win With Flawless Run At Gas City

Friday, August 11 – The weather for today at Gas City was a chance of scattered thunderstorms but we have learned that the weather in that area can change quickly and that was the case this Friday. Originally the forecast was for scattered thunderstorms from 6 to 8 PM with percentages of 40 to 50 percent. Then it was pushed back to 10 PM and on the drive up to the Derrick City it dropped to the highest percentage of 15 percent. Quite a change over a short period!!! After a stop at Texas Roadhouse in Marion for a fine meal it was off to the races.

Tonight, was billed as Hornetpalooza for the hornet class with an extra distance race of 25 laps with $1000 to the winner. This brought 18 hornets to Gas City to battle for the big bucks in their division along with 27 wingless 410 sprints, 24 steel block sprints, 14 UMP modifieds and 14 trucks for a grand total of 97 vehicles in the turn three and four pit area at the ¼ mile bullring. This would be our fifth trip to Gas City in 2023 making it the third most visited track in our 2023 race tour. With five divisions (too many for a weekly program) you would think they would start on time (7:30) but the first racing action, a hornet dash, did not take the green until 8 PM. Once underway they moved the program along in good order but it seems for some reason they waste time relining races after cautions. Don’t get the extra laps when everyone is lined up and ready to go as 3 minutes here and there adds up over the course of the evening when you have five divisions.

The wingless 410 sprints were first on the dance card for their heat racing with three heats scheduled for the 27 entrants in the pit area. Max Adams would score the first heat win over Colin Grissom, Tye Mihocko and Saban Bibent. Jack Hoyer strapped into the Baldwin orange crate #5 for the first time and unfortunately he did not make it past the first corner on the first lap being involved in a three car tangle and flipping several times end over end. Hoyer would return for the B main but would not transfer to the 25 lap main event. Scotty Weir back in the Benic #2B for the second straight week captured heat two besting Rylan Gray, Austin Nigh and Dustin Ingle. The third and final heat would fall to Colten Cottle in Sprint Car Hall of Famer, Paul Hazen’s famous #57, beating Evan Mosely, Ricky Lewis and Matt Westfall.

The hornets would be next up spinning off two good, competitive heats before the wingless steel block sprinters took to the track. They brought a good 24 car field to the dance in a race billed the Steel Block Nationals. Heat one fell to Tres Mehler of Illinois over Bryan Schroeter. Heat two went to Wisconsin invader, Ryan Marshall, over Troy Carey, the, New South Wales Australia driver. Heat three was taken by Tyler Miller from nearby Kokomo, Indiana besting Michael Clark.

The wingless 410 sprint B main would follow with Clayton Rossman winning over Brayden Clark and Nate Schank. The two UMP modified and truck heats followed with all qualifying competed by 9:31.

That left us with the five feature races to spin off with the 25 lap wingless 410 sprint car feature the first one called to the post. The front row of Scotty Weir and Max Adams brought the 20 car field to the green flag at 10:04 with Adams getting a good start and storming into the early lead. Last week’s winner, Trey Osborne, was quick at the start moving from 14th to 8th in the first two laps until Colin Grissom slowed and stopped in turn two on lap two to bring out the caution. On the restart Adams again took command over Weir and Colten Cottle. One lap later Tye Mihocko in the Paul #24P slipped by Rylan Gray to move into the top five after starting 7th. Saban Bibent was another driver coming forward as he cracked the top five on lap five after starting tenth. Adams held a comfortable lead as the battle raged behind him with Weir, Cottle, Mihocko, Bibent and Osborne going at it tooth and nail. Ricky Lewis was another one making his presence felt as he lurked just outside the top five in sixth as the race progressed. Mihocko slipped by Cottle for third on lap eighteen with Bibent on his heels into fourth. Mihocko picked off Weir for second on lap nineteen with Bibent following suit by Weir. These two closed somewhat on Adams but Max had a good lead that would hold up over the last five laps with Adams in the family car flashing under the checkers at 10:18 for his second win of 2023 at Gas City over Mihocko and Bibent with Trey Osborne claiming fourth with Scotty Weir dropping to fifth at the end. Ricky Lewis led the second five in sixth with Rylan Gray seventh, Cottle eighth, Colin Grissom rallying back for ninth with Evan Mosley taking tenth.

It was a good feature event with lots of positions changing from second through five the entire distance. Up next would be the 25 lap Hornetpalooza feature and it turned out to be a good one with only two cautions run off in 12 minutes. Ryan Crocker invading from Michigan scored the big win along with the six foot plus trophy and the $1000 check at 10:37 beating last week’s hornet winner, Heisman Skeens, in a good run.

The 25 lap steel block sprint feature was next in the lineup chute and took the green flag at 10:51. Troy Carey would lead the opening three laps until Tres Mehler assumed command. Mehler who has won several of the group’s races this year, looked strong and led the first fourteen laps. Then fourth starting Ryan Marshall began to use the high side of the racetrack to reel in Mehler and passed him in turn two on the 14th lap. From there on Marshall would hold sway and pull away from Mehler by several car lengths over the remaining 11 laps to score the victory crossing the line at 11:11 for the Wisconsin driver over Mehler and Michael Clark.

At this hour, it was time to call it a night with two features still to go and an almost two hour drive home. We were satisfied by the overall program and talked about various aspects of the evening during the ride home arriving back in Crawfordsville at 1 AM after encountering heavy traffic on I-465 West in the Indianapolis area after midnight.

That’s it for this segment but check back Sunday as we report on our Saturday racing action. Until then get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road to catch some new tracks on your hit list. Either way have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Osborne Surprises With Late Race Pass Of Axsom For Gas City Win

Friday, August 4 – Originally this weekend was sparse for wingless sprint car racing in the state of Indiana. No one was scheduled to race on Friday with Circle City, Gas City and Bloomington all off on the first Friday in August. Then Gas City stepped to the plate and announced on Monday via social media that they indeed were going to schedule a race on Friday. Well, that was a no brainer for us as we love Gas City and they were now the only show in town. So, it was across Route 32 to Cicero first to dine at Big Dog BBQ and then continuing over to Northeast Indiana and the Gas City I-69 Speedway. Unfortunately, the crowd that turned out was on the light side but the ones who did turn out were treated to a very good and competitive program from start to finish.

We didn’t even mind the late start allowing spectators to take 15 minutes before the racing began to visit the pit area and interact with the cars, drivers, crews and owners. Once under way the show was spun off in quick order with great racing in all three divisions.

The car counts were down with 18 wingless sprints joined by 14 hornets and 10 UMP modifieds. There was talk of a boycott or protest by the modifieds to voice their displeasure of not being scheduled more here in 2023 but to us showing up with only ten cars on a night that you are scheduled is not the way to get invited back more often in the future.

Anyhow the first of three sprint car heats took the green flag at 7:53 with Zack Pretorius turning in a good run outdistancing hot laps/qualifying quick timer, Brayden Fox, and Max Adams. Heat two saw Emerson Axsom edge Scotty Weir in the Benic #2B by inches to win with Tye Mihocko in the Paul #24P third. The third heat was another doozy with Colten Cottle in the Hazen #57 in a photo finish over Trey Osborne with Sterling Cling third. Getting beat by inches in heat three would give Osborne the first starting spot in the feature as a six car invert pill was drawn after the heat races.

The hornets would run two heats for their 14 car field with Greg Marlow and Heisman Skeens scoring wins. The UMP modifieds would contest two heats with Derek Losh and Brad DeYoung winning. All heat racing was over by 8:24 and no B mains would be necessary so the next race up would be the 25 lap wingless sprint car main event.

The front row of Trey Osborne and Scotty Weir brought the 18 car field to the green flag with Weir gaining the advantage on the outside of turn one. Zack Pretorius would slow to a stop in turn two on lap two to bring out the first caution. On the restart Weir went to the point with Osborne and Brayden Fox chasing. Lap three saw Colten Cottle slip by Fox for third in turn four with Emerson Axsom taking fourth from Fox on lap six. Weir continued to lead but Osborne was keeping pace not far behind. Axsom started to make his move catching Cottle for third in turn three on lap twelve. Axsom picked off Osborne for second on lap fourteen and went after Weir for the lead. Axsom continued his surge racing past Weir into the lead at the start/finish line to start lap fifteen. At this point most people figured this one was over but nobody informed Osborne of this fact as he slipped by Weir for second. Two laps later the second and final caution waved when Colin Grissom slipped off turn three and stopped.

On the ensuing restart Axsom went to the point with Osborne right on his heels. Lap eighteen saw eighth starting Tye Mihocko slip into fourth while Osborne was all over Axsom for the lead like white on rice. On lap twenty Osborne charged to the top and swept by Axsom for the lead to the surprise and delight of the crowd on hand. The 19 year old from the small town of Clintonville, Ohio outside of Columbus was not going to accept defeat tonight holding off Axsom over the last five laps and flashed under the checkered flag at 9:03 scoring his third wingless win of 2023 and first ever at Gas City. Axsom would cross the line second with Mihocko ending up third with Cottle fourth and Max Adams rounding out the top five. Colin Grissom would rebound for sixth with Scotty Weir slipping to seventh after a jingle late costing him several positions. Harley Burns was eighth, Sterling Cling ninth and Rylan Gray finished tenth.

It was an upset win for the youngster who only has raced sprint cars since late 2022 after competing in quarter midgets, Kenyon midgets and full midgets racing for the Kenyon’s at the indoor racing at Fort Wayne during the winter previously. Osborne decided to pack his bags and leave Ohio to chase his dream ending up in Indianapolis where he is basically a one man band building and working on his cars with little help and pulling his sprinter to the track on an open trailer. This looks like a guy with good work effort and limitless future. A car owner would do well if they decided to sign this guy on.

Since the hour was still early, we decided to stay and watch the other two features that still remained. The 15 lap hornet feature was next in the lineup chute and took the green flag at 9:10. Heisman Skeens executed a last lap, last turn pass of Jason Spencer to steal the win in this one in the competitive race which went the distance in six minutes with only one caution.

There was still one more feature to contest and it involved the UMP modifieds for 20 laps. They went green at 9:23 with Dillon Nusbaum taking the early lead. Nusbaum would hold a comfortable lead the entire distance but anytime Derek Losh is in the field you can’t get too comfortable. Losh had worked his way from sixth to third by lap nine and was challenging Clayton Bryant for second when he made a rare mistake and looped it in turn one to bring out the caution. On the restart Nusbaum was quick to move away again but the race was behind him as Bryant, Zeke McKenzie and Cole Sink locked up in a torrid battle. Nusbaum would not be challenged the remainder of the distance and raced under the checkered flag at 9:30 completing a night of some great racing with Bryant edging Sink by inches for second with McKenzie fourth and Losh only able to manage a fifth.

We were glad that Gas City decided to run tonight and the folks that came out were treated to some very good racing throughout the evening. Gas City I-69 Speedway did not disappoint running an entertaining program in a timely manner allowing us to be home before midnight.

Without any possible pop up races being scheduled that is all for this weekend but in the meantime get out there if the weather is good in your area and take part in some good short track racing in your area and have fun and be safe. Comments, critiques or any other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always the case thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we might end up next. And remember to stay hydrated and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Soggy Ending To Indiana Sprint Week With Rainout At Tri-State

Saturday, July 29 – The final night of the 36th annual Indiana Sprint Week was scheduled to conclude at Tom and Loris Helfrich’s Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt on Saturday but mother nature had other plans. After dining at Gasthof Amish Village Restaurant in the afternoon and having a delicious buffet of many items it was over to Haubstadt and the ¼ mile black clay semi-banked oval located along Route 41. We parked our car on the backstretch and decided to wait it out in the car with the air conditioning running as it was still quite humid today. It was the best decision we ever made as later in the afternoon The Weather Channel was tracking a nasty line of thunderstorms traveling across southern Illinois and bearing down on the Evansville area. By 5 PM the skies had turned quite dark and it looked like nightfall but the sun was not expected to set until around 9 PM.

At 7 PM it started to rain lightly at first but shortly thereafter the high winds and the bulk of the front hit us and it turned into a torrential downpour and at this point we knew that it was all over but the shouting. ISW would end in a soggy mess with all the rain that dropped on Tri-State Speedway. The open Sunday rain date would not be used so Indiana Sprint Week had been shortened by one race and we will never know if the close point race (8 points) would have changed or not.

So as the record books will show Brady Bacon came away with his second Indiana Sprint Week title and first since 2016 taking home the rocking chairs and the loot ($10,000) for winning the title. It was consistency not feature wins that won the ISW crown for Bacon as he finished in the top five six times out of seven starts with no victories in ISW23.

The seven nights of racing produced some very good racing and we felt was some of the best Indiana Sprint Week action in quite some time. The closest finish of the week occurred the first night at Gas City’s I-69 Speedway which also had the largest car count of the week at 58 entrants. Justin Grant nipped Robert Ballou for the opening night win by a scant .005 of a second to score his first of three wins in ISW23 with Bacon coming home third. Night two at Kokomo for the Darland Classic produced what we felt was the best overall show of the series with 54 cars pitside. CJ Leary came back from a nasty flip the night before at Gas City to drive a sprinter that had sat on blocks for three years having never been run. Bacon would come home second with Leary’s teammate and vastly improved Carson Garrett joining the podium pictures.

We skipped the long drive to Lawrenceburg and watched on Flo that evening witnessing a rough night of racing where four sprints flipped including leader CJ Leary with just four laps to go handing the lead and eventual two win of ISW23 over to Justin Grant. Pennsylvania invader, Alex Bright, got the worst of the flips barrel rolling at least 12 times down the homestretch on the second start suffering injuries with the most severe being a broken wrist which ended his week early. Brady Bacon would recover from coming up light on the scale after qualifying forcing him to start 22nd in the feature where he went elbows up and drove to 3rd at the end. Circle City Raceway on the southeast side of Indianapolis was the fourth stop of ISW with Kyle Cummins scoring his first win of the series over Logan Seavey and Shane Cottle. Bacon would finish 16th on the evening after clipping an infield tire and spinning with eight to go. Eighteen year old Xavier Doney from Missouri was the talk of this race leading a total of 17 laps before being shuffled to fifth at the finish, not indicative of the great run he turned in.

An off night on Tuesday for a rest with the racing picking back up on Wednesday at the historic Terre Haute Action Track where Justin Grant dominated to win his third race of the series over Kevin Thomas Jr and CJ Leary in a well run show. Thursday it was down to beautiful downtown Putnamville and the Lincoln Park Speedway where a late afternoon deluge of rain played havoc on the evening with a valiant effort by the track crew wiping the track into some semblance of racing shape though heavy and greasy because of the high humidity which was at its peak on this evening. No less than seven flips occurred on the night and pushed the finish time to almost 12:30 AM when Jake Swanson using his home track advantage to tame the field and rebound from a flip the night before at Terre Haute winning over Robert Ballou and who else than Brady Bacon.

The last night of racing would take place on the red hills of the Bloomington Speedway where Emerson Axsom also rebounded from the night before to score his first career ISW win over Briggs Danner, the young man from Allentown, PA, who almost pulled off his first USAC National sprint car win finishing second with Chase Stockon getting his best finish of the series with who else, Brady Bacon, in fourth.

As stated above the last night was flooded out giving Brady Bacon (474) the ISW point championship over Justin Grant (466), Robert Ballou (418), Kyle Cummins (403) and Emerson Axsom (399). Sixth through tenth in the standings were taken down by CJ Leary (371), Kevin Thomas Jr (366), Shane Cottle (346) and five hard charger awards out of the seven races ran with Jake Swanson (342) and Carson Garrett (340) rounding out the top ten. Mitchel Moles had the dubious distinction of getting upside down four times in the seven races.

That’s it for now as it is a sparse racing weekend so don’t know when the next column will come but check back to see where we end up next. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and have fun and be safe. Comments, news or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the kind words sent our way.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Axsom Rebounds From Tough Outing To Score Win At Bloomington

Friday, July 28 – Jim Reeder did the driving today as we headed south to the university town of Bloomington for night seven of the 36th running of Indiana Sprint Week. The weather again was quite hot and maybe just slightly less humid but still an uncomfortable day. Since Route 231 South in the Greencastle area and below is closed for road repairs our alternative route became I-74 to I-465 to Route 37 which turns into I-69 south of Indianapolis. We made good time and arrived on the grounds of the Bloomington Speedway just before 5 PM. A good crowd of fans were already on the grounds but our Arizona based buddy, Steve Kimmel, had already staked out our claim to seats in the concrete grandstands on the homestretch with crime scene tape (aka yellow caution tape. We ventured into the facility and what is usually the case on a nice day the view that you encounter once you climb the steep hill is a sight to behold. As our friend from Allentown, PA, Canary Bob Walker, said on talking to him tonight after attending Bloomington for the first time was it is a gorgeous place with the well manicured grounds combined with the high banked red hills of the speedway and is now my favorite track here in Indiana. We went back out to the parking lot area after setting up our folding chairs and chatted with long haul trucker, Steve Kimmel, who had a load of artificial tree limbs to cover telephone towers along with a load of corn to deliver on his way back from Indiana to Arizona. He then decided he was going to take a nap before the racing began so we went back to Jim’s Ford Explorer to sit in the air condition for a while.

It was the Sheldon Kinser Memorial at Bloomington tonight with 31 USAC sprint cars being joined by 22 Racesaver 305 winged sprints for the night of racing. To be honest we were disappointed in the low car count for the USAC portion of the program after seeing over 50 entrants the first two races of the series but sometimes quality over quantity is good also. The reason for the lower car count tonight was that Paragon Speedway just 30 miles away was having a BOSS sprint car program along with FAST winged sprints which drew an additional 31 wingless sprinters.

USAC sprint car time trials began at 7:22 with Brady Bacon setting fast time for the second night in a row, this time with a lap of 11.244 seconds around the high banked, quarter mile oval. During time trials Scurry, Texas driver, Dalton Stevens, caught the turn four cushion wrong on his second lap of his time trial run and rolled several times before stopping. Stevens climbed from his sprinter unscathed but with plenty of work in front of him. Dalton would miss his heat race but would return for the semi but failed to qualify for the feature event.

Four USAC sprint car heats were next on the program card with the top four moving directly into the 30 lap main event. Brandon Mattox spun off a good run in heat one outpacing Eddie Tafoya Jr, the California entrant making his third straight A main appearance after struggling early in the week. Mitchel Moles and Brady Bacon would be the other two qualifiers in heat one. Charles Davis Jr, the Buckeye, Arizona driver, picked up his second heat win in two nights scoring the win in heat two outrunning Briggs Danner, Geoff Ensign and Daison Pursley. Carson Garrett, the 21 year old driver from Littleton, Colorado who is looking better and better each time out captured the heat three win besting Kevin Thomas Jr, in the Cheney #42 backup car, after blowing the engine in the primary car last night at Lincoln Park. Emerson Axsom and Matt Westfall trailed the front two and moved into the main event. Justin Grant would use a turn four, last lap pass of Logan Seavey to steal heat four from his fellow California driver with Chase Stockon third and Kyle Cummins coming home fourth. Hunter Maddox rolled his sprinter over in turn four in the fourth heat on the last lap after the checkered waved for the leaders.

The Racesaver 305 sprints would contest three heats with all 22 cars moving into their 20 lap feature event later in the evening. Ethan Barrow captured heat one outrunning Jordan Welch and Cody Trammell. Heat two fell to Rod Henning over Jeff Wimmenauer and John Paynter Jr. Heat three was taken by Andy Bradley beating Greg Dillion and Blayne Ridgley.

The USAC semi was next on the dance card with last night’s winner, Jake Swanson, prevailing over Robert Ballou, CJ Leary, Shane Cottle, Brent Beauchamp and Texan Justin Zimmerman qualifying for his first ever USAC National sprint car race.

The 22 car field was now set for the 30 lap Kinser Memorial with Briggs Danner and Chase Stockon bringing 20 of their friends to the green flag at 9:40. Danner gained the early advantage with third starting Emerson Axsom slipping underneath Stockon for second exiting turn four on the opening lap. Entering turn one on lap two, Axsom made his move for the lead on Danner diving low but slid up the racing surface allowing Stockon to regain the runner-up spot. The only caution of the event waved on lap five when Mitchel Moles slowed dramatically off of turn two heading down the backstretch scattering other cars and bringing out the yellow. Moles would go to the work area and return to finish 14th.

On the restart Danner was quick to the top retaining the lead with Stockon and Axsom in hot pursuit. Axsom quickly disposed of Stockon for second racing down the backstretch and took up the pursuit of the leader. Danner was pulling away over the next several laps until he began to encounter lap traffic which allowed Axsom to close the gap quickly as the race approached the halfway mark. Axsom passed Danner for the lead on lap fifteen in traffic in turn three and Danner then caught the cushion wrong in turn four on the same lap costing him valuable time and distance ending his crusade for his first USAC National sprint car win. Brady Bacon had cracked the top five around the same time and on lap twenty two gained fourth racing by Kyle Cummins in turn four. That was about all she wrote at that point with the order remaining the same as the laps clicked off.

At the double checkers just 10 minutes after the start it was Axsom across the line first scoring his first ISW win of his career and his sixth career win in USAC sprint competition three of them coming this year. Briggs Danner crossed the line second tying his best career USAC National sprint car finish barely holding off Chase Stockon for the position. Brady Bacon came home fourth taking both the National point lead and the ISW point lead as the traveling band head to southwest Indiana for the last night of ISW at Tri-State. Kyle Cummins finished out the top five with CJ Leary advancing from 12th to 6th with Justin Grant a quiet 7th, Robert Ballou 13th to 8th, Jake Swanson 9th and Charles Davis Jr rounding out the top ten. Shane Cottle claimed his 5th hard charger of ISW now having an extra $500 in his pocket after moving from 21st to 13th in this run.

In the winner’s interview Axsom expressed some disappointment after having to use a provisional last night taking him out of the running for ISW champion but also he looked at the bigger picture of the season long points race.

There was still the matter of running the 20 lap Racesaver 305 sprint car race with Rod Henning and Ethan Barrow bringing the field to Brian Hodde’s green flag at 10:08 with Barrow racing from the outside of the front row into the lead. Only one caution would slow this contest and Barrow would not be headed the entire race. Jordan Welch would run second in this one over Jeff Wimmenauer with Andy Bradley fourth and Rod Henning rounding out the top five with the final checker waving at 10:15 dropping the curtain on a snappy run program allowing the race fans some extra sleep time after last night’s late finish.

Check in tomorrow in the late afternoon to see how Indiana Sprint Week wraps up as we make the haul down to Haubstadt for night eight of ISW. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated as the sweltering summer heat is upon us. Comments, news, stories or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as is always the case thanks for continuing to read our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next. And remember to be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Swanson Rebounds From Flip Last Night To Score LPS ISW Win

Thursday, July 27 – Today was a steamer!!! Humidity through the roof and temperatures in the 90’s with the heat index over 100 degrees. And thunderstorms that rolled through beautiful downtown Putnamville between 4 and 4:30 producing heavy rain would cause a lengthy delay before the Lincoln Park track crew would be able to whip the track back into racing shape for night six of Indiana Sprint Week which is the 36th edition of this classic which has brought out great crowds each and every night of the eight race run. Tonight’s edition was a sprints only affair and that was good for many reasons. With the delayed start due to the heavy rain and 50 USAC sprints signed into the pit area any additional division would have only added to the late hour finish. Seven flips during the evening’s competition including one while lining up the field for the fourth heat also added to the program pushing past midnight. But for Jake Swanson and his Team AZ group nothing mattered to them except being able to converge on victory lane at 12:30 AM after their yeoman efforts to field another car for Jake after he flipped at Terre Haute last night while running third in the feature.

The long and bizarre evening finally got underway at almost 9 PM when the first of 48 cars took to the 5/16 mile semi-banked dirt oval for time trials. By 9:28 after tying for quick time with Mitchel Moles with identical times of 12.370 seconds Brady Bacon was declared fast timer on the tiebreaker criteria of the driver’s faster other lap in their runs. The night would be made longer as no less than seven flips were registered during the evening with the first occurring in heat one in turn two when Daison Pursley did a light roll but he was able to continue after being righted. Arizona veteran, Charles Davis Jr, scored the heat one win over Justin Grant, Eddie Tafoya Jr making his second straight A main and Jadon Rogers. Mitchel Moles got caught up in a skirmish that occurred in front of him forcing him into the homestretch wall causing him to flip end over end for the fourth time in Indiana Sprint Week. Kevin Thomas Jr would go on to win heat two besting Stevie Sussex who broke his close but no cigar qualifying record by solidly putting his #77 into the main event. Chase Stockon and Tye Mihocko in the family car would join him for the feature. We got through the third heat without anyone turning turtle with Matt Westfall running a solid race to win this one over Jake Swanson, Kyle Cummins and Logan Seavey. The most bizarre flip or roll of the night occurred before the start of heat four when Hunter Maddox caught the lip off of turn two and rolled his sprinter over lightly. Like Daison Pursley he was able to return to start the heat though at the tail of the field. During heat four two more flips happened with first Braxton Cummings flipping end over end in turn one landing outside of the turn in the runoff area. The second one happened when sliding through turn three CJ Leary clipped the left rear of Emerson Axsom sending the point leader rolling over to a stop. Robert Ballou would go on to win this marathon heat race over Shane Cottle, Jordan Kinser and Brent Beauchamp. When the four heat winners were interviewed in front of the starter’s stand Ballou hit the nail on the head when he stated that the track was greasy because of the humidity and when someone in front of you slid in the corner it would throw up slop in the groove and hitting it was like slipping on a banana peel. With a C main and B main to follow and some additional track maintenance performed before the A main the track finally worked into good running shape. For the fans though the humidity did not seem to decrease much as it was quite uncomfortable sitting outside.

The tumbling continued in the C main when Justin Meneely caught the turn three cushion wrong and rolled over ending his night at that point. Ivan Glotzbach would claim the victory in the C main moving to the back of the B main along with Dalton Stevens, Zack Pretorius and Tim Creech. The destruction continued in the B main when a multi-car pileup in turn two saw Brandon Mattox turn over in the melee after being slammed into by several other cars. The top six would advance to the 30 lap feature event with fast timer, Brady Bacon, taking down the win over duplicate fast timer, Mitchel Moles, with CJ Leary third chased by his teammate, Carson Garrett, Hunter Maddox and Pennsylvania’s Briggs Danner picking up the second half of ISW and qualifying for his second straight feature. Emerson Axsom and Daison Pursley would be forced to take provisionals to join the field making it a 24 car starting field. All prelims were finally completed by 11:53 with only the 30 lap, $8000 to win main event left to run.

The field was now set and at 12:16 the green silk of starter Tom Hansing was waved on the 24 car starting field with the front row of Logan Seavey and Jake Swanson ready to fire off. Swanson was quick on the throttle and took the early lead from Seavey with Kevin Thomas Jr in their tire tracks. Swanson was on a rail as home track advantage played into the equation as Jake runs LPS whenever he is not competing with the USAC gang. The track was super-fast but it did not produce a ton of passing in the first ten laps of the contest as the leaders approached lap traffic for the first time in the race allowing Seavey and Thomas to close the gap. Lap 11 saw Thomas sneak by Seavey for second on the low side of turns three and four as the Dwight Cheney owned #42 looked like it might have something for Swanson. Lap 13 saw Thomas challenge Swanson for the lead pulling alongside as the pair raced around lap car, Hunter Maddox, battling for the lead. Suddenly in between corners three and four Thomas began to slow pulling to the infield as the Cheney machine lost power taking him out of contention for the win.

On the restart Swanson bounded back into the lead with Seavey now his main challenger. Swanson began to pull away again but with a spurt of power Seavey surged forward closing the gap to a car length by lap 18 when the only caution appeared when Mitchel Moles spun in the middle of turn four getting clipped by Briggs Danner collapsing Mole’s front end and finishing off another frustrating night for the Raisin City, California driver who has had a dismal ISW with nothing but problems. Under caution Logan Seavey exited the speedway in turn three heading to the work area with mechanical woes as well taking another of Swanson’s challengers to the sidelines. On the ensuing restart Swanson now had Robert Ballou to contend with as the Rockland, California driver was in second after starting eighth on the starting grid. Chase Stockon in his best run of ISW so far was lurking in third on the restart with Justin Grant not far behind. Grant wrestled third away from Stockon in turn two with ten to go as everyone was wondering if Grant could pull off another ISW win tonight. One lap later Brady Bacon up from tenth powered by Stockon to grab fourth as the heavy hitters were rising to the top. Bacon was on a mission and began to pressure Grant for third, finally picking him off in turn four as Grant slid high on lap 27.

Swanson continued to lead with Ballou right there waiting to make a move if Swanson stumbled but Jake was not going to let this one slip away as the laps clicked off. Swanson would flash under the double checkers at 12:26 taking down his sixth career USAC win and getting redemption for his mess up the night before and the team effort going forward was rewarding for all involved and a great relief in the sweltering heat of the past few days. Ballou who also has struggled over the course of this ISW with two big crashes earlier, had to be happy with his second place finish with Bacon racing home third in a good run. Justin Grant was able to grab fourth and Chase Stockon finished fifth. Kyle Cummins led the second five across the line in sixth, Carson Garrett advancing from 15th to 7th, Charles Davis Jr. came home eighth, Jadon Rogers ninth after starting nineteenth and Brent Beauchamp taking the hard charger award after starting 22nd and finishing 10th.

It was a long night and Joe Spiker and crew could have thrown in the towel early and no one would have thought any less of them but they chose to stick it out for the large crowd on hand and give them a racetrack to run on. I applaud the entire LPS staff for going the extra mile and not giving up when they could easily have done so.

Onto night seven tonight at the high banked red hills of Bloomington Speedway where the storyline will be played out to determine the story for the final night at
Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt.

Until the next installment get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and have fun, be safe and stay hydrated as this weather is moving across the entire country. Any comments, stories or other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the critiques you pass along as we try to provide our love for the world of auto racing and all the nice people and characters that we encounter along the way. So be good and be kind even to the people who it is difficult to do so.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Dominates For Third Win Of ISW At Terre Haute

Wednesday, July 26 – The summer weather in Indiana has officially moved into hot mode as the temperatures have climbed into the 90’s and the humidity has increased immensely. The saving grace today was a wind blowing from behind us at Terre Haute to help ease the heat. Jim Reeder has joined us at the house and on the tour for the next three days starting today and our trip south to Terre Haute for our first visit to the Action Track in 2023.

As usual USAC sprint car time trials started off the evening commencing at 7:17 with the two at a time format on the big half mile at the Vigo County Fairgrounds. Thirty four cars would take time with only thirty three participating in the heat races. Robert Ballou would surprise the good crowd on hand by posting the fast time of the evening with a lap of 20.289 seconds around the Bill Rose promoted Vigo County half mile. Hot laps would follow for the eighteen UMP modifieds on the card before the sprints would return for their four heat races with the top four moving directly into the 30 lap main event.

Robert Ballou wasted no time charging to the front from sixth to claim heat one and move closer to a potential sweep of the evening besting Sterling Cling, Emerson Axsom and Justin Grant who had contact while racing for the fourth spot in the heat resulting in Matt Westfall bouncing off the wall. Westfall was not a happy camper as his car came to rest on the homestretch exiting his machine quickly and gesturing his displeasure with Grant as he passed by. Heat two was more civil as Mitchel Moles powered to the win beating Brady Bacon, Shane Cottle and Tye Mihocko in a pleasing race. Kyle Cummins looked good winning heat three over Jake Swanson, newcomer and eastern driver, Briggs Danner and Eddie Tafoya Jr making his first race of the series. Kevin Thomas Jr captured heat four in a good run besting Daison Pursley, Carson Garrett and Joey Amantea. Two UMP modified heats would follow before the sprint semi would come to the track surface.

CJ Leary rebounded from a broken shock in his heat race to score the win in the semi over Logan Seavey, Ricky Lewis making his ISW23 debut, Brandon Mattox, Charles Davis Jr and Chase Stockon. Two Texans, Justin Zimmerman and Dalton Stevens would be the first two alternates just missing the starting field.

The 15 lap UMP modified feature was first to the post with Will Krup dominating this race easily outdistancing the remainder of the field.

By 10:34 the front row of Jake Swanson and Brady Bacon would bring the 23 car field (Matt Westfall joining the field as a provisional) to Tom Hansing’s green silk for the Don Smith Classic. Jake Swanson got the early jump but it was deemed it was too much of a jump bringing out a quick yellow to regroup the field for another start. This moved Swanson back to the second row and moved Justin Grant to the outside of Brady Bacon for the restart. Bacon got the legal jump into the early lead but action was slowed quickly on lap two when Joey Amantea went flipping into turn one with Ricky Lewis doing a fine job avoiding the flipping Pennsylvania youngsters spinning backwards contacting the turn one wall with his tail. Both drivers were OK with Lewis returning but Amantea was not so lucky as heavy damage was evident on the #88.

On the restart Bacon went to the point but a massive run by Jake Swanson off turn two saw him blast by Bacon to take the lead. The pair raced down the backstretch with third running Grant trying to pass the pair in turn three with Swanson retaining the lead with Grant moving by Bacon for second. Lap four saw Grant slide Swanson in turn three but Swanson countered in turn four to retain the lead on that lap. Swanson would lead until lap ten when Logan Seavey slowed on the homestretch with a flat right rear tire and went to the work area and returned.

Swanson was the leader on the restart but Grant had a head of steam racing to the top side of turn two and storming by Swanson to take the lead. Grant proceeded to check out as he pulled away from the rest of the field and left Swanson and Bacon to battle for second behind him. Just past the halfway mark Seavey slowed again, this time with mud in his right rear tire from the lack of a wheel cover from the earlier tire change and a quick scrape of the right rear allowed Seavey to return to the contest. Seavey would rally to claim tenth at the finish of the 30 laps to salvage a decent night.

On the restart Swanson made a run at Grant pulling alongside entering turns one and two but Grant was able to repel the move and hold the top spot. Bacon would catch Swanson for second in turn one on lap nineteen. Bacon closed the gap on the leader and racing through turn two on lap twenty four Grant almost gave away the farm bouncing off the cushion allowing Bacon to almost grab the lead. Right behind the top two Swanson performed the same move as Grant but with different results as Swanson turned his sprinter sideways rolling over several times and ended his good run prematurely.

On the ensuing restart Bacon threw a slider entering turn one at Grant but Justin was able to ward off the challenge charging off turn two with the lead. Bacon lost some momentum at that point allowing third running Kevin Thomas Jr to make a run at Bacon down the backstretch and passing him in turns three and four to take second. Bacon would almost ruin his entire good run on lap twenty five entering turns one and two getting high and bouncing in the air and landing back on all fours but losing all momentum and five positions in the process dropping back to eighth taking him out of any chance to win. Bacon would rally to finish inside the top five but it was another costly mistake for the four time USAC champion.

Over the last five laps Grant opened up a tremendous lead of five seconds over Thomas who tried to catch him but it was all in vain as Grant streaked across the line at 11:12 for his third win of ISW23 in five races and his sixth win of 2023. It was also his 40th career USAC sprint car win moving him into ninth on that list. Thomas Jr would take second from seventh with CJ Leary advancing from eighth to third with Bacon salvaging fourth after nearing losing it all and Emerson Axsom completing a good run from tenth to fifth. Kyle Cummins would lead the second five to the finish with Shane Cottle collecting another his fourth hard charger award of the week moving from seventeenth to seventh with Mitchel Moles eighth, Robert Ballou ninth and Logan Seavey tenth. After crossing the line Robert Ballou veered to the left and smacked one of the Jersey barriers, almost taking out several spectators standing behind it. Luckily, he did not clear the barrier as it could have been real bad. Ballou bounced off the barrier and proceeded to flip several times out into the middle of the homestretch and thank God no one impacted him while he was sitting there. He quickly climbed from the wrecked sprinter.

It was a good, competitive feature except for Grant checking out but the racing behind was quite good.

That’s it for night five of Indiana Sprint Week and check back tomorrow for the report from Lincoln Park Speedway. As always thanks for reading our efforts.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Cummins Prevails In Good Run At Circle City On Monday

Monday, July 24 – Today’s forecast was highs in the mid 80’s with increased humidity which could cause thunderstorms. The percentages were not high for the Indianapolis area but the ominous skies as we made our way across I-465 East had to make you worry about this one. We pulled into the parking lot at 5 PM and found a great parking spot close to the ticket booths. One thing we really appreciate about Circle City is that they always give a senior discount for their races. Tonight was $5 off the $30 price tag and sometimes it is even more. We only initially bought one ticket and hung out in the car until the darkest clouds passed over the area with no rain dropping. The skies got brighter from the west and we thought we were home free. Right before hot laps a light rain began to fall causing a delay until it stopped and the track surface was worked in. Once that shower passed, we indeed were home free!!

Thirty seven sprinters were on hand joined by twenty five UMP modifieds for the two division program this evening. By heat time for the sprints, we had already lost two off the count as Geoff Ensign made right rear to left front contact on the backstretch with Tayte Williamson collapsing Williamson’s front end and sending him into a flip. In time trials we lost our second competitor as Matt McDonald took a nasty ride in turns one and two when he caught the cushion wrong which launched him into a series of end over end flips resulting in McDonald clearing the concrete wall without hitting it landing on the outside of turn two. Both drivers were OK but their machines were done before they really started.

Time trials were pushed off at 7:40 with CJ Leary, the last man out to qualify, setting fast time with a lap of 11.990 seconds around the ¼ mile fairgrounds dirt oval. Hot laps for the UMP modifieds were next on the card before the USAC sprint cars returned to contest their four heats for the remaining 35 cars with the top four from each heat moving directly into the 30 lap main event.

Carson Garrett who continues to impress scored the win in heat one and I predict that Garrett will score his first USAC National win in 2023. It is coming!! Sterling Cling finished second with Chase Stockon third and Kevin Thomas Jr sliding into the fourth qualifying position late in the contest. Emerson Axsom turned in another strong run winning heat two besting Jake Swanson, Xavier Doney and Charles Davis Jr who held off the relentless challenges by Robert Ballou to qualify fourth. Mitchel Moles worked the high side and finally succeeded in winning the third heat over Daison Pursley, Shane Cottle and Kyle Cummins. Brady Bacon powered to the win in heat four winning over Brent Beauchamp, Logan Seavey and Braxton Cummings. Dalton Stevens, the Texan, was racing for a qualifying spot when he rolled over in turn four on the last lap.

The UMP modifieds would run three heats with Dylan Woodling, Dustin Bruce and Jeff Deckard triumphing in those events. The sprint car semi was next on the dance card with the top three time trial qualifiers all relegated to this race. Robert Ballou would claim the victory with CJ Leary second, Justin Grant third, Brandon Mattox fourth, Matt Westfall fifth and Joey Amantea fending off Geoff Ensign and Stevie Sussex who has been so close to qualifying every night out.

With all preliminaries in the books, it was time to go feature racing with the USAC sprint cars called to the post first with the green flag unfurling on the 22 car field at 9:58. Xavier Doney, the 18 year old youngster from Odessa, Missouri, bolted out to the early lead with fellow front row starter, Carson Garrett, in hot pursuit. Garrett made his first move for the lead on lap four when he pulled alongside Doney on the homestretch with the pair touching wheels with Doney retaining the lead. Two laps later Garrett slid by Doney in turn three but Doney countered off turn two to retake the lead. Lap eight saw Garrett take the lead in turn two with a slider and the race was on. Lap ten saw Garrett do a half spin in turn two turning the lead back over to Doney and seeing Garrett getting freight trained back to fifth. Kyle Cummins was now second followed by Logan Seavey and Brady Bacon.

Doney held sway through lap fifteen when Mitchel Moles flipped onto the turn two wall sitting on top of it right side up but Moles was done for the evening as it looked like he also got his bell rung climbing from his machine a few minutes later. Doney was looking like he might pull the upset leading until lap twenty when Cummins was able to slip by in turn two but Doney returned the favor sliding Cummins in turn three. Cummins pointed his car to the left exiting turn four and slid into the lead at that point. Brady Bacon slid by Doney for second on lap twenty one and now it was shaping up to be a duel between two of the top USAC runners. Chasing Cummins through turns three and four on lap twenty three Bacon made his second mistake in three days clipping an infield tire, turning his mount sideways and stalling ending his chances to contend in this one. Bacon would end up sixteenth on the evening.

On the ensuing restart Cummins jumped out front with Doney and Seavey chasing. Seavey grabbed second on the backstretch on lap twenty four from Doney. Shane Cottle was another one on the move using the Cottle line (the inside groove) moving from 12th to 4th as the laps clicked off. Cummins was gone by over two seconds as the battle raged behind him with Seavey, Doney and Cottle running side by side over the last five laps. At 10:16 Cummins flashed under the checkers for his fourth win of 2023 and also his second win here at Circle City. Seavey would hang on for second with Cottle grabbing the show position. Doney was passed by Emerson Axsom for fourth on the last lap and the upstart who led the majority of the event ended up fifth at the finish. Carson Garrett came home sixth with Robert Ballou seventh, Jake Swanson eighth, CJ Leary ninth and Justin Grant ending up tenth.

It was a good and competitive feature and the track surface itself is showing improvement even though it was a bit dusty.

There was still the 25 lap UMP modified feature to run and it went green at 10:29. Dylan Woodling took the early lead but fourth starting John DeMoss was coming quickly. DeMoss would take the lead on lap seven and pace the field until a caution in the second half of the race found Woodling to his outside on the restart. Woodling was able to grab the lead on the restart and lead the remainder of the race but Brent Lee from seventh almost stole the win racing side by side with Woodling to the wire but falling about a half a car length short of winning. DeMoss ended up third with Logan Mounce fourth and Garrett Jameson advancing from tenth to take fifth with the final checker dropping at 10:44. For the third time in ISW this year Shane Cottle was the hard charger coming tonight from 12th to 3rd.

A good night of racing and sure glad the rains moved on by and we were able to get everything in on night four of Indiana Sprint Week.

The participants are off today (Tuesday) and ISW action picks up tomorrow night at the Terre Haute Action Track for night five of ISW.

Until Thursday get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you continue to enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Be good and be kind.

.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Leary Rebounds After Gas City Flip To Win ISW Kokomo Run

Saturday, July 22 – Another nice summer day was in order as we awaken in Wabash, IN with temperatures in the 80’s with partly sunny skies with the humidity on the low side. A stop at Harry’s Old Kettle Pub and Grill outside of Wabash produced a fine lunch offering of delicious food before we made the journey over to the Kokomo Speedway, the ¼ mile dirt oval known as the Baddest Bullring in Indiana, for night two of Indiana Sprint Week in its 36th year of existence. Tonight was the Darland Classic which drew a fine field of 54 USAC sprint cars with 25 USAC Speed2 midgets as the second class on the evening. A massive crowd of fans turned out for this one with cars parked almost to the traffic light heading south out of the speedway before turning east or west. The crowd was larger than any we have seen for Smackdown or any other event at the track and was great to see.

The Darland Classic would start off with single car time trials for the 54 in attendance starting at 7:18 and wrapping up at 7:50. Kyle Cummins picked up where he left off last year here at Kokomo setting fast time with a lap of 12.924 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring. USAC Speed2 midget hot laps would follow before the first of four sprint car heats would take the green flag at 8:32. Emerson Axsom was fast out of the trailer taking heat one over Robert Ballou, Kyle Cummins and Zack Pretorius fending off Stevie Sussex for the final qualifying position. Logan Seavey looked stout in heat two scoring the win over Matt Westfall with a late race pass for the win. CJ Leary and Jake Swanson followed. Carson Garrett looked strong winning heat three over Mitchel Moles, Kevin Thomas Jr and Shane Cottle. Chase Stockon ran a heady race taking heat four over Brady Bacon, Justin Grant and Brent Beauchamp.

Three heats would follow for the Speed2 midgets with Chett Gehrke, Zach Wigal and Michael Magic taking down wins. The sprint D main was run between heat two and three with Rylan Gray moving forward to the C along with Tyler Kendall. Pennsylvania’s Joey Amantea turned in a good performance winning the C main over Braxton Cummings, Saban Bibent and Cole Bodine advancing from 14th to 4th for the last advancement position. The midget B main was next on the agenda with Matt Lux winning this one. The sprint car B main or semi went to Brandon Mattox storming by Geoff Ensign late to grab the victory with Ensign second, Stevie Sussex third, Braxton Cummings eating some alphabet soup advancing from the C to the A main by finishing fourth with Trey Osborne fifth and Daison Pursley sixth. No provisionals were taken for tonight so the 22 car field was set for the big 30 lap main event. The track crew led by Reece O’Connor went to work to groom the surface for the two features.

By 10:29 the front row of Carson Garrett and Jake Swanson led the 22 car field to Tom Hansing’s green flag with Swanson using the high side to take the early lead through the first two laps. Lap three saw Swanson nearly roll over on the third turn cushion yielding the lead over to third starting Brady Bacon with Kyle Cummins also scooting by dropping Swanson to third. Cummins was all over Bacon over the next four laps and made his move to the inside off turn four for the lead just as Braxton Cummings spun in turn two to bring out the first caution.

Bacon led on the restart with Cummins and Carson Garrett nipping at his heels. Jake Swanson and Mitchel Moles were locked up in a good race for fourth as they exited turn four with Swanson low and Moles up high. As Swanson moved toward the homestretch wall as is normal Moles never lifted and ran out of racing room tagging the concrete wall and ramping up the wall into the lower catch fence ripping yards of the catch fence off and hitting a fence post. The impact tore almost the entire front end off the #19AZ as it settled back to the racing surface with severe damage. Moles quickly exited the sprinter to the relief of the crowd on hand. Swanson would suffer a flat right rear tire, go to the work area and return but he was only able to manage a sixteenth place finish at the end.

On the ensuing restart Kyle Cummins in second was having front end troubles as his right front shock tower was dangling causing his front tires to bounce up and down. The caution quickly appeared with Cummins going pit side and returning but he was never a factor again as he struggled with the handling the remainder of the race ending up 19th at the finish. Bacon was at the point on the restart with a resurgent Carson Garrett right there to make a challenge on the inside. Two laps later Garrett used the low side in turn two to wrestle the lead from Bacon. Brady slipped back by Garrett for second but Garrett was not to be deferred as he grabbed the lead back on lap eleven. Bacon started to change his line chasing Garrett using a diamond maneuver in turns three and four which closed the gap between the two. Lap seventeen saw Bacon regain the top spot using that move in turns three and four. One lap later Garrett’s teammate, CJ Leary, was watching closely and duplicated that move to take second on lap eighteen.

Bacon had a comfortable lead over Leary but CJ went to work and cut the gap on Bacon in big chunks. With six to go Bacon caught the cushion wrong in turn two sending him sideways and breaking his momentum allowing Leary to sneak underneath for the lead at this point. It was Brady’s race to lose at that point and the unusual bobble from the four time champion did cost him this particular race as Leary breezed away. Leary pulled away in the remaining laps to almost a two second lead for his second career ISW win at Kokomo & first since 2020 which ironically was the last time his backup chassis had been used since it was built in the Leary garage. It was Leary’s third win of 2023 and career win #22 tying him on the all-time list for 29th with three good ones in Bubby Jones, Ricky Hood and Sam Sessions. Bacon would cross the line a disappointing second after letting one get away with Garrett taking down third. Eighth starting Emerson Axsom would finish fourth with Logan Seavey rounding out the top five at 10:57. Robert Ballou would move forward from twelfth to sixth with Justin Grant advancing from eleventh to seventh. Shane Cottle would receive the hard charger award for the second night in a row in the Tony Epperson #2E driving from 20th to 8th with Kevin Thomas Jr ninth and Daison Pursley coming home 10th from 17th.

It was an excellent race and as one fan on Indiana Open Wheel stated it was KDD. That stands for Kokomo Doesn’t Disappoint. That might be better than #GYATK – Get Your Ass To Kokomo!!! Since it was almost 11 and a 1 ½ hour tow back to Crawfordsville we decided to forgo the USAC Speed2 race which went to the veteran Chett Gehrke.

Check back tomorrow as we pick up the tour once again after passing on Lawrenceburg with the Circle City Raceway hosting night four of Indiana Sprint Week in Indianapolis. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and catch some new tracks and racing action. Be safe out there and stay hydrated as the summer temperatures creep upwards. News, comments, words of wisdom or any other tidbits can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for the kind words and suggestions for some features to write about. Until next time be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant By Inches In Indiana Sprint Week Opener At Gas City

Friday, July 21 – It was a picture perfect day in Indiana with temperatures in the 80’s, sunshine and low humidity would greet us this day. A quick phone call to Irvin King secured us seats three rows from the top of the grandstand and we are certainly glad we made that phone call. Arriving onto the grounds at Gas City I-69 Speedway at 5 PM we observed that the entire front parking area was filled so we headed for the field off turns one and two and found a good spot across the way from the start of the camping area. With our seats reserved we lounged in the car for a while heading over to the grandstand area around 6 PM. The crowd was huge on this evening and so was the car counts with 58 wingless USAC sprint cars by 32 USAC Speed2 midgets. The sprint car count was the largest count for Indiana Sprint Week since 2005. Hot laps for the sprints began shortly thereafter followed by engine heat for the midgets.

Time trials would start off the night of activity with the first of fifty eight sprinters taking the green flag at 7:10. By 7:43 all cars had taken their runs with Brayden Fox surprising the field by recording his second career USAC National sprint car fast time and first since 2021 also here at Gas City. Fox toured the ¼ mile dirt bullring with a time of 11.639 seconds to start the night of surprises. Mitchel Moles turned it over on his second lap of time trial in turn four and would return for his heat race later in the evening. Hot laps for the Speed2 midgets would follow before it was time for the USAC sprint cars to return for their four heat races for their 58 car field with two heats of 15 starters and two heats of 14 starters with only the top four moving onto the 30 lap main event.

The first of four heats took the green at 8:20 with Kevin Thomas Jr. powering the Dwight Cheney #42 out front to never be headed to win heat one with Robert Ballou coming home second with Brayden Fox third and Brady Bacon fourth. CJ Leary claimed heat two in the BGE/Dougherty #15X turning back Thomas Meseraull in the Simon #23K, Carson Garrett and Emerson Axsom nipping Stevie Sussex at the wire for the last qualifying position. Larry Kingseed Jr, from Castalia, Ohio turned the crowd on their ear by running a perfect race and holding off the challenges of Logan Seavey to notch heat three with Justin Grant third and Jadon Rogers fourth. Colten Cottle ran a great race in heat four to park the Paul Hazen #57 in victory lane in heat four in a hotly contested race with Xavier Doney second, Geoff Ensign third and Alex Bright taking down the fourth and final qualifying position. Brandon Mattox and Shane Cottle both got upside down in heat four.

The USAC Speed2 midgets would spin off four heats for their 32 car contingent with Stratton Briggs, Tate Martz, Abby Hohlbein and z Michael Magic capturing heat wins.

The USAC sprints would need a D main with Brayden Clark beating Evan Mosley to the line to move to the C main. The C main would be garnered by Dustin Ingle over Brandon Mattox, Colin Grissom and Ryan Barr. Luke Hall would take the midget B main while the packed sprint B main was won by Kyle Cummins defeating Matt Westfall, Mitchel Moles, Max Adams, Logan Seavey and Shane Cottle. Stevie Sussex was in the wrong place at the wrong time rolling over on the backstretch during the B main. Jake Swanson, the USAC point leader going into tonight and Chase Stockon would have to turn to provisionals to join the starting field receiving national points but not ISW points for the event.

It was feature time with the front row of Colten Cottle and Justin Grant bringing the 22 car field to the green flag at 10:28. Grant moved to the lead but it didn’t last long as fast timer, Brayden Fox, flipped in the cushion between turns three and four to bring out the red flag. Fox was OK but done for the evening much too early. On the restart Grant was quick to get to the point and over the first seven laps opened up a good sized lead over second running Colten Cottle. The nastiest wreck of the evening occurred on the start of lap eight when fifth running Larry Kingseed Jr suddenly turned sideways on the homestretch after catching a rut and went into a series of barrel rolls entering turn one collecting sixth running CJ Leary in the process with Leary also launching into a series of rolls. After a short time both drivers emerged from their wrecked machines shaken but AOK to the relief of the huge crowd on hand.

On the restart Grant was gone again with Cottle in hot pursuit with Robert Ballou steadily having moved through the field from 14th to 7th by lap seven and he continued his march forward cracking the top five on lap eight and battling Brady Bacon for fourth in an intense, hold no quarter duel until Ballou slipped by for the spot. Bacon was able to pass both Ballou and Cottle to take second back in turn four when the pair bounced around allowing Bacon to storm back around. That was short lived as Ballou was on a mission and stormed back by Bacon by lap thirteen and took up the chase of Grant. Justin still had a comfortable lead by lap 20 until he began to approach lap traffic where Ballou was able to close the gap. Ballou was able to close to Grant’s tail tank with five to go as the pair weaved through the heavy lap traffic. With the pair coming to the white flag Geoff Ensign loomed in front of them with Ballou able to get a run and edge ahead of Grant at the line. Ballou had a car length lead exiting turn two as the pair raced down the backstretch. Into turns three and four they raced with Ballou going high to try to clear Ensign with Grant sticking low with Ballou allowing just enough room for Grant to go between him and Ensign as they raced to the finish line. At the line it was Justin Grant by .005 of a second nipping Ballou for his fourth win of 2023 and his 38th career USAC National win passing both Ballou and Sheldon Kinser on the win list at the same time. Ballou was second with Bacon third, Mitchel Moles salvaging a good finish after his earlier flip taking fourth from fourteenth with Kevin Thomas Jr rounding out the top five. Kyle Cummins would lead the second five to the line with Emerson Axsom seventh, Colten Cottle eighth, Logan Seavey ninth from nineteenth and Matt Westfall tenth. Shane Cottle would race from 22nd to 11th to receive the hard charger award. It doesn’t get much closer than that!!!

We stayed for the 20 lap USAC Speed2 feature with Wes Pinkerton beating Jakeb Boxell and Abby Hohlbein with the final checker falling at 11:30 ending a good night of racing.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Thomas Jr From 14th To Win MSCS Leon Gentry Memorial At Paragon

Saturday, July 15 – When we woke up the first thing we checked was the Weather Channel and the predicted rain for Saturday was gone!! In what we thought was going to be a lost day of racing turned into a double for us. The first order of business was to finish this column from Friday’s racing and then we prepared to head over to the North Salem area where the MWXC organization was running their Hunt Creek Madness event. The UTV’s were the countable class and this would be our 99th track to witness racing at in the state of Indiana. After taking in the UTV race we pulled out and headed south on the back roads of Morgan County toward Paragon as the Paragon Speedway was hosting a four division, all open wheel racing program on this evening. Our friends, Jen Kelley and Dan Hetser, were gracious enough to save us two seats in the row in front of them and we all chatted during the evening in between races.

It was the Leon Gentry Memorial with the MSCS sprint cars the top division on the card with 30 entrants on hand to chase the $5000 to win prize at the end of the night. They were joined by the MMSA mini sprints with 22 on hand, the All Star TQ midgets bringing 15 cars to the show and the USAC Speed2 midgets with 17 entrants parked in the pit area. As has been the case at shows in Indiana this year management missed the scheduled starting time for racing by an hour with the first heat taking the green at 8:03. The MSCS sprinters were first up with their three heats with the top five moving directly into the 25 lap main event. Jordan Kinser in the Burton #04 drew first blood capturing the first heat over Max Adams, Brady Short, JJ Hughes and Ryan Thomas. The son of Leon Gentry’s brother, Larry, which is Aric Gentry scored the win in heat two besting Jake Scott, Sterling Cling, Cody Trammell and Kevin Thomas Jr. The third and final heat went to Geoff Ensign behind the wheel of the Gass #17G beating Shane Cottle back in the Epperson #2E, Isaac Chapple, Trey Osborne and Travis Thompson.

The MMSA mini sprints would next contest three heats for their 22 car field with all drivers advancing to their 20 lap feature event. Mike Larrison, the current MMSA point leader, scored the first heat win over Hunter Wilson and Bryan Brewer. Heat two was a good race with Cody Knieriem holding off the repeated challenges of Eli Wihelmus and Jordan Shipley for the win. Heat three was taken by Andy Bradley, last night’s Racesaver 305 sprint winner at Bloomington, over Samuel Hinds and Hilton Rowett. The All Star TQ midgets were next on the dance card and would run two heats also with all cars advancing to the main event. Connor Wolf took down heat one over Johnny Goff and 85 year old Nelson Stewart, father of Tony. Heat two went to Joey Paxson besting Landon Browning and Logan Prickett. The USAC Speed2 midgets were the last class to qualify and we thought these heats were the best of the lot. Gunnar Lucius drove to victory in heat one over Ian Creager and Cole Morgan. Heat two was taken by Matt Lux over Stratton Briggs and Zach Wigal. All heat qualifying was in the books by 9:20 and only the sprints would need a B main. Pat Giddens triumphed in the B main beating Matt Thompson also driving a #26, Kayla Roell, the current MSCS point leader, Sam Scott and Donnie Gentry the last man in. Donnie is the son of Leon and it was great to see him make the main event honoring his father on this evening. So, both of the Gentry Kentucky clan were in the main event which would be the first one run on the evening. Actually, Leon’s first name was also Donald like his son.

It was time to go feature racing at 10:19 when the front row of Max Adams and Geoff Ensign brought the 21 car field to the green flag. Ensign took the early lead edging ahead in turn two on the opening lap with Adams on his tail. Lap four saw the first caution wave as Cody Trammell lost the handle in turn two to bring out the yellow. On the restart Ensign hit a rut in turn one sending him high and almost off the racing surface before recovering but losing many positions in the process. Adams would take the lead with Sterling Cling grabbing second and Jordan Kinser third. Shane Cottle began to come forward from his sixth starting position taking over third on lap five. Adams retained the lead as the leaders approached lap traffic by lap nine. As Max picked his way through the traffic Cling and Cottle were able to draw closer to the leader. Kevin Thomas Jr who had started fourteenth was coming forward rapidly approaching the top five by lap twelve. Pat had picked Thomas before the race started as Jen, Dan and I went with Jordan Kinser, Max Adams and Shane Cottle respectively. We all questioned Pat’s pick but she would have the last laugh.

Thomas joined the top five with a backstretch pass on lap fifteen just before Kayla Roell brought out the caution as she slid off the fourth turn while running midpack as her problems with that particular turn continued. Another caution appeared on lap eighteen and during this caution it was noticed that leader Max Adam’s right rear tire was going flat. He went to the pit area to change it and returned at the tail of the field and ended up fifteenth at the finish in a race which he looked like the favorite to win. On the next restart Aric Gentry spun in turn one with a little help sending him to the rear. When racing resumed it was Cling at the point with Cottle right behind. By lap twenty Thomas had cleared Kinser for third and went after the top two who were having a great battle for the lead. Lap twenty two saw Cling on the outside entering turn one with Cottle in the middle and Thomas down low a few car lengths back in third. Both Cling and Cottle slid wide in turn two and Thomas punched the throttle hard and pulled off a two for one pass exiting turn two and was the new leader. Cottle was now second with Cling falling to third as the trio raced around the 3/8 mile dirt oval in unison. Thomas was able to hold off Cottle and Cling flashing under the checkers at 10:41 coming home first in the Dwight Cheney #42 for the first time as a team. Cottle was second with Cling third, Kinser fourth and Jake Scott rounding out the top five. The track prep performed before the feature event truly made the track racier and was worth the time and effort. Thomas used this race as an Indiana Sprint Week tune-up and could have put his competitors on alert that the two time ISW champ might be in the hunt for his third hand made rocking chair!!

We decided to stay for the 20 lap MMSA feature race with the green flag unfurled at 10:55 with Eli Wihelmus taking the early lead in this one. At the start/finish line on lap three Wihelmus, Hunter Wilson and Andy Bradley were three wide!! Wihelmus would retain the lead with Wilson drawing alongside over the next five laps swapping the lead multiple times on every lap. Bradley was right there with the top two and first picked off Wilson for second and moved by Wihelmus for the lead on lap nine. Wilson had mechanical woes later in the race and dropped to the infield with Samuel Hinds moving into the top three. Point leader, Mike Larrison, was one of the five cautions early in the event spinning and restarting at the rear of the field. Larrison sliced his way back into contention over the remainder of the contest but it was Bradley home first for the second night in a row (last night in 305 sprint) besting Wihelmus at 11:18 with Hinds coming home third, Knieriem fourth and Larrison rallying for a fifth at the end.

We would have liked to have stayed for the last two features with the TQ midgets and Speed2 midgets but with an hour and twenty minute drive back to Crawfordsville it was time to go. That is where that hour late start cost us seeing the other two divisions in a timely manner. We enjoyed the two features we witnessed and the scoreboard in turn one and the new aluminum grandstands are a great addition to the historic facility. We encountered rain going north on route 231 around Greencastle which slowed our travel home somewhat arriving home at 12:58 ending another typical weekend.

That’s it for this segment but checked back next weekend as we prepare for Indiana Sprint Week kicking off on Friday at the Gas City I-69 Speedway. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take the show on the road and catch some tracks on your hit list. Either way enjoy yourselves, be careful and stay hydrated. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you enjoy reading about our travels as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. In closing be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Beauchamp, Welch & Bradley Get Sprint Wins At Bloomington

Friday, July 14 – It was a nice summer day in Indiana today so we took advantage of the good weather and decided to head south to the ¼ mile high banked red clay oval of the Bloomington Speedway. On tap for tonight’s racing were the following divisions: non-wing sprints (17), winged 305 sprints (24), UMP modifieds (16) and super stocks (13). A stop beforehand at the Hilltop Restaurant just above Spencer produced a good Alaska Pollock dinner with green beans, corn, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad and beets to fill the stomach.

The program would start off tonight with a makeup 20 lap 305 sprint car feature taking the green flag at 7:41. This race would go non-stop in four minutes with Jordan Welch grabbing the victory. The ending was chaotic when one sprinter slowed on the homestretch with field coming to the checkered. Instead of throwing the yellow they let the field scurry around the slowing sprinter as he continued into turns one and two. He stopped on the high side in turn two but one of the other sprinters ran into the back of him and rolled over the banking catching on fire briefly. Whoever decided not to call for the yellow should reach into his pocket and give the owner of the wrecked sprinter some cash for repairs!! Keith Langley finished second with John Paynter Jr third, Ethan Barrow advancing from ninth to fourth and Bradley Sterrett rounding out the top five.

Then it was right into the regular scheduled program with the non-wing sprint cars contesting their three heat races. Sterling Cling would capture heat one over Jake Swanson, Bloomington’s own Matt Thompson and Brayden Fox. Heat two fell to Brady Short from fifth over Jordan Kinser, Geoff Ensign and Braxton Cummings. Heat three was won by Brent Beauchamp besting Max Adams, Harley Burns and Michael Daugherty. The UMP modifieds would run two heats in between the two sprint classes with Derek Losh and Jacoby Hines winning.

The winged 305 sprints were next up contesting three heat races with Cody Trammell looking very strong taking heat one over John Paynter Jr and Kentuckian Dillan Baldwin. Ethan Barrow came from fourth to claim heat two over Texan Trey Burke and Kerry Kinser. Heat three was mastered by Andy Bradley beating Jeff Wimmenauer and Carson Dillion. The 305’s were the only class who would need to run a B main with Bradley Sterrett winning over John Wolfarth and Bryce Norris. Two super stock heats were run and all that was left were the four feature races.

The 25 lap non-wing sprint car feature would be the first one called to the post taking the green flag from Brian Hodde at 9:35 with Max Adams and Jake Swanson racing side by side around the entire track for the first three laps until Swanson assumed the lead on lap four. Swanson looked like he was in command but suddenly Brent Beauchamp found the low side to his liking and began to eat up big chunks of real estate as he closed the gap on Swanson. Lap seven saw Beauchamp power down low in turn two and move by Swanson like he was standing still. For the most part the race for the lead was over with Beauchamp maintaining a good sized lead as the laps clicked off. Meanwhile behind the front two a good battle was going on among Max Adams, Matt Thompson, Jordan Kinser and Geoff Ensign moving forward from eighth. They ran close and swapped positions numerous times during the non-stop feature. When the checkers waved at 9:42 it was Beauchamp in for the win over Swanson with Ensign working his way to third with Kinser fourth and Adams slipping to fifth and Thompson back to sixth at the finish.

The second 20 lap 305 sprint feature was next to the post taking the green flag at 9:52. Trey Burke, the Texas racer and Silver Crown runner, took the early lead and held on through the first five laps. Third starting Andy Bradley found a way around Burke to take the lead and would not look back after that. A very good battle sparked up among Ethan Barrow, John Paynter Jr, Burke and Cody Trammell over the middle portion of the race as Bradley ran free up front. When the checkers waved at 10:07 it was Andy Bradley in for the win besting fifth starting Cody Trammell who broke loose from the rest of the intense battlers to manage a second at the finish. Barrow would take down third with Paynter fourth and Burke ending up fifth after running strong early.

Pat and I both agreed on the ride home that the second 305 sprint car feature was even better than the non-wing sprint one. It was a good night of racing though the car counts were down but it was still an entertaining night of local sprint car racing.

That’s it until Sunday when we report on our Saturday night venture as it looks like the rain is outta here and we can go racing again tonight. News, comments, stories or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. And as always thanks for continuing to read our column and hope you enjoy it was much as we enjoy bringing it to you. Take care and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Brady Takes Home The Bacon ($10,000) With Top Gun Night Two Win At Macon

Saturday, June 8 – The forecast changed for the better for this Saturday with virtually no chance of rain in Macon, Illinois. This was a good thing as tonight was night two of the Top Gun USAC National Sprint Car racing at the 1/5 mile high banked black clay oval, the Macon Speedway billed as the coolest bullring in the country. On tonight’s dance card was the USAC sprints (29), hornets (24) and vintage stock cars (7). Before traveling down to the track from Decatur we stopped for lunch at Texas Roadhouse where I had a delicious sirloin steak with chili and a salad. Now it was over to Chevrolet Hall of Fame museum and the extensive collection of all things branded Chevrolet. Many Indianapolis 500 pace cars, other older Chevrolets and plenty of memorabilia with anything attached to the name Chevrolet. We met and chatted for quite a while with Brad Emery who oversees the museum and was a former late model driver at Macon and a fellow Christian.

From the museum it was a dessert stop at Krekel’s in Macon getting strawberry soft serve with chocolate syrup. We consumed the ice cream sitting in the parking lot at Macon after securing a prime time parking spot. Today was cloudy with temperatures in the low 80’s with a nice breeze blowing keeping the day comfortable. We enjoyed the down time by reading novels before the sound of racing engines alerted us to the start of hot laps for the sprint cars. We gathered our gear up and headed trackside where we climbed the stairway to our advanced reserved seats in section white, row 2, seats one and two for a great view only disturbed by Rotten Ralph who insisted on either standing on the top row of the section below on his seat blocking our view of turn one. The ill effects of alcohol can lead people to do such things without regard for anyone else.

After hot laps the USAC sprints returned to the 1/5 mile bullring for their time trials pushing off the first car at 6:18 and completing by 6:39 with Kyle Cummins setting another new track record, a time of 10.085 seconds, breaking the mark set one night earlier by Logan Seavey at 10.230. In fact, the first five fastest tonight all broke the old track record. It was a sign that the track was in perfect shape and ready to produce some fast and furious action. Eric Shelton rolled over in turn two in the first heat after Carson Garrett fed him a right rear after Shelton got in the way with the top four battling for position. Justin Grant looking to turn around his recent bad luck scored the win in heat one over Zach Daum, Kyle Cummins and Carson Garrett. Mitchel Moles, last night’s winner picked up where he left off last night garnering heat two besting Mitchell Davis, Shane Cottle in the Lear #77 and Aussie, Todd Hobson in the Daming Construction #5T, ironically beating out the normal pilot of that car, Jake Swanson, for the last qualifying position. Mitch Wissmiller held the Illinois state flag high turning back the invaders grabbing heat three over fellow Illinois resident, Mario Clouser, CJ Leary and Logan Seavey. The fourth and final heat race was captured by Emerson Axsom beating Brady Bacon, Colten Cottle jumping in the Daylan Chambers #8D and Daison Pursley.

The vintage stock cars would run one heat while the hornets held up their end of the deal spinning off three non-stop heats for their 24 car field. All heat racing was in the books by 7:50. The sprint car semi fell to Kevin Thomas Jr in the Cheney #42 over Jake Swanson, Max Adams and Robert Ballou, the last man into the 20 car starting lineup.

The vintage stock cars would go 15 non-stop circuits to kick off the main event agenda in just four minutes with Matt Ramer topping Austin Lipe and James Landis. The 15 lap hornet feature only had 3 cautions and ran in fourteen minutes with Billy Mason in his #357 winning for the second time this week with late model driver, Shannon Babb winning with the #357 on Thursday in a match race with two late model drivers (Babb & Ashton Winger) and two sprint car drivers (Logan Seavey & Chase Stockon) competing.

The only thing left to run was the big 50 lap, $10,000 to win USAC National sprint car race with the front row of Brady Bacon and CJ Leary bringing the rest of the field to Jake Croxton’s green flag. Leary bounded out front from his second starting spot as at the beginning of the event the cushion was the fastest way around and Leary proved it by leading the first ten laps of the event. Brady Bacon and Logan Seavey stayed close to Leary and on lap eleven the top three were side by side with Leary up top, Bacon blasting the middle and Seavey working the bottom with Seavey the leader at the line. Seavey slid a little high entering turn one and Leary and Bacon jumped on the miscue and went by. Leary reclaimed the lead with Bacon right there with Seavey sliding to third. Shane Cottle brought out the caution on lap thirteen when he slapped the fourth turn wall and came across right in front of Leary with rear end damage.

Leary would go to the point on the restart but Bacon was right there on his tail tank. Brady made his move in turn two on lap fourteen to grab his first lead. CJ returned the favor in the same turn one lap later as he refused to give up the lead for long. Lap eighteen saw Bacon make another run at Leary off turn four to take the lead. Justin Grant was in the hunt now moving by Seavey for third and chasing the leaders down. Kyle Cummins became a player in this game moving by Seavey for fourth on lap twenty one and Grant on the low side through turns thee and four on lap thirty one. Grant’s bad luck gremlin would rear its ugly head on lap thirty six as he caught the cushion the wrong way with his right rear sending him tumbling down the banking and out of the race while running fourth.

Bacon’s big lead was wiped out as they prepared to go green again with four to go. Most everyone was now lower on the track except for last night’s winner, Mitchel Moles, who was ripping the lip and making up some ground advancing from seventh to fourth in the closing circuits.

Bacon was prepared to go on the restart and he hit the loud pedal and stormed back into the lead with the others chasing. Over the final four circuits Bacon was not going to be headed as he crossed underneath Croxton’s double checkers first for the third time in the last four races and his fifth overall win of 2023. With this victory Bacon moved within one win of the #2 man on the all-time sprint win list, Tom Bigelow. Leary would have to settle for second on the night with the BGE/Dougherty team with their second straight second at Macon with Carson Garrett getting second last night. Kyle Cummins would come home third in less dramatic fashion than a night earlier with Mitchel Moles claiming fourth and Seavey rounding out the top five. Emerson Axsom drove from ninth to sixth with Carson Garrett from twelfth to seventh, Robert Ballou the hard charger coming forward from sixteenth to eighth with Mario Clouser ninth and Zach Daum from eighteenth to tenth.

It was another action packed night of racing though the race for the win last night was lights out. Both the small tracks (Kutztown & Macon) to us have earned a spot on the 2024 USAC schedule as full points paying events. Like the Silver Crown moving to more half miles the sprints trying smaller bullrings has been a hit with fans.

That’s it for this typical weekend but check back next weekend to see where we end up next. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe. Comments, news, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Until next time be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Moles Scores Hard Fought Win On Night One Of Top Gun Show At Macon

Friday, June 7 – There was a threat of rain in yesterday’s forecast for today but by the time we checked it on this sunny Friday the bad weather had dissipated. There was only one hour around 7 that had a 50% chance of a shower and some rain droplets did fall about that time but nothing to slow down the activity for the evening. On tap tonight was the first ever appearance of the USAC National Sprint Car series at the high banked 1/5 mile black clay oval in Macon, Illinois. As was the case with the Action Track USA in Kutztown, PA during the Eastern Storm these two nights would not be full point paying shows just 50 show up points to each participant. This did not cause the field to be short as 30 wingless sprinters showed up to vie for 20 starting points in the 40 lap feature event paying $5000 to win tonight. The second division on the card tonight was the 600 micros with 21 entrants in the backstretch pit area to take part in a 20 lap feature event.

The USAC sprint cars would be the first to take to the 1/5 mile bullring for hot laps immediately followed by single car time trials commencing at 6:48. By 7:09 Logan Seavey sat on the homestretch for the second straight race to be interviewed after taking his sponsor’s fast time award with a lap of 10.230 seconds, a new track record, around the 1/5 mile bullring. The 600 micros would take their hot laps and then it was time for the four USAC heat races with the top four moving directly to the big 40 lap main event later in the evening.

CJ Leary powered to the front in heat one and took the victory over fast timer, Logan Seavey with Mario Clouser third and Mitchel Moles fourth. The second heat fell to Justin Grant besting Brady Bacon, Kyle Cummins and Daison Pursley to move on. Heat three saw Max Adams storm to the front to win over Emerson Axsom, Carson Garrett and Robert Ballou. Kevin Thomas Jr. took a light roll in turn one after Matt Westfall got crossed up in front of him with Thomas ramping over him in heat four. KTJ returned to the back of the field and missed by one spot of transferring. The fourth heat also saw Daylan Chambers turn turtle in turn three after digging into the surface and rolling over. Chase Stockon would claim the heat four win over Matt Westfall, Jake Swanson and Mitchell Davis.

It was now time for the 21 micros to run their heat races with Hunter Pruitt taking down heat one over Cale Coons, son of Jerry Coons Jr and Jaylon Mills. Heat two was knocked off by Jordan Clary beating Hunter Walker and Joe Taft. Heat three was won by Reed Whitney besting Hayden Harvey and Nolan Bartley.

The sprint car semi was next on the dance card with just four cars moving to the 40 lap feature event with 20 cars starting on the smaller track instead of the normal 22. Brandon Mattox notched his first USAC semi of the season topping Kevin Thomas Jr, Logan Faucon and the last man in, James Lyeria returning after a few years hiatus. The fields were now set for the two feature events with the 20 lap 600 micro feature the first one called to the post.

Hunter Pruitt went to the early lead. He would remain at the point for the first five laps until eighth starter, Jaylon Mills, riding out of Indiana took the lead away. Cale Coons worked his way past Pruitt for second just past the halfway mark and took up the chase of his fellow Indiana driver. Coons out of the sixth hole started to reel in Mills but never was able to make a serious bid for the lead as the checkered waved at 9:01 with Mills in for the win over Coons with Reed Whitney taking down third, Pruitt fourth and Jordan Clary fifth in a good run for the 600 micros.

By 9:19 it was time to cut them loose for their big 40 lap, $5000 to win main event for the USAC sprinters with Jake Swanson and Carson Garrett bringing 18 of their friends to the initial green flag. Swanson took the early lead with Kyle Cummins and Garrett nipping at his heels. Lap three saw a four car skirmish in turn two involving Emerson Axsom, Justin Grant, Mitchell Davis and Brandon Mattox. All spun or ended up in the infield with Grant getting the worst of it with a busted front end underneath the back of a push vehicle damaging both. On the restart Cummins made rear end contact with leader Swanson sending Swanson for a 180 spin facing traffic and out of the lead and the race. Cummins would be the new leader on the next restart. The green did not last for long as Davis and Mattox got together in turn three bringing out yet another yellow. Brady Bacon running sixth on the restart and looking for his third straight USAC sprint win smacked the wall exiting turn two sending his mount sideways and into a series of rolls with Chase Stockon getting into the flipping Bacon and Mario Clouser launching over the left rear of Stockon and also getting airborne but returning to earth on all fours. Bacon was OK but done for the evening while Stockon and Clouser would continue.

After getting the wrecking out of their systems everyone settled down and we were able to get back to some racing. Cummins led on the restart and would open up a straightway lead by ripping the lip for the first eight laps with Garrett chasing down low and Moles also up top in third. Lap nine saw Moles pass Garrett for second. Moles quickly cut Cummins’s lead in half as the pair worked their way through heavy traffic. Lap sixteen saw Moles briefly grab the lead off turn two but Cummins countered in turn four with a nifty move splitting Moles and lap car Davis to regain the lead. The next change of leadership occurred on lap twenty one when Cummins had problems clearing Robert Ballou allowing Moles to slip into the lead again. Cummins rallied and edged Moles at the line for the lead but Moles stuck it up on the cushion entering turn one retaking the lead from Cummins.

The top three raced nose to tail with Moles pacing Cummins and Garrett as the laps ticked off. With four to go Cummins got loose in turn two allowing Garrett to slip by for second but the high flying Moles had a good lead at this point. Garrett began to eat up large amounts of real estate by using the low side and blasted into turns three and four with two to go and drove right by Moles to take the lead. Garrett was looking to notch his first ever USAC National Sprint Car win as he motored out front. Sixth running Logan Seavey slowed moments later but lap thirty eight was officially scored giving Garrett the lead on the ensuing restart.

On the restart Garrett stuck to the low groove while Moles and Cummins attacked the lip with reckless abandon. Moles and Cummins edged ahead of Garrett exiting turn two with the trio racing three wide as they headed into turns three and four with Garrett low, Moles high and Cummins in the middle with Moles edging ahead of the other two at the line to start lap thirty nine. Moles decided to swap lanes entering turn three diving to the inside taking Garrett’s preferred line away in the process. Exiting turn four the trio raced side by side with Moles and Garrett low while Cummins pulled out all stops throwing it against the fence as it was going to be a photo finish with the only thing on the three driver’s mind was winning, not points, not second just grabbing that win!!! It ended in spectator fashion with Moles winning by 0.093 seconds over Garrett, the closest finish since Jake Swanson nipped KTJ at the line at Perris in November of 2021 with Cummins catching the homestretch wall and flipping end over end several times crossing the line in third in spectacular form!! Cummins quickly was able to climb from his wrecked machine to the delight of the crowd on hand who had witnessed a great final ten laps of a race. This would be Moles’ first win in USAC sprint racing in almost precisely a year and denying Garrett his first ever win in the process. Garrett would claim his best USAC sprint finish with his second place finish though. A solemn Cummins in the podium interviews noted that he didn’t deserve to win as he got into Swanson early and apologized for his mistake and it takes a good man to admit when he made a mistake.

Lost in all the pandemonium up front was the fine drive Max Adams made advancing from tenth to fourth at the finish with Kevin Thomas Jr moving from eleventh to fifth at the end. Matt Westfall would be the hard charger coming from 17th to 6th with Emerson Axsom 7th after starting 13th, Daison Pursley 8th, Chase Stockon 9th and CJ Leary rounding out the top ten. A tip of the hat goes out to James Lyerla who returned to racing action after a several year hiatus and managed to race home 11th in his first outing since unretiring.

A very exciting race once the guys got their adenine shots out of their systems early and the fans seemed to enjoy the racing very much giving loud applause to the drivers after the race ended. With five cautions and a red it could not be considered a great race but it was entertaining none the less.

Check back Monday to see what happens in Top Gun Night Two with $10,000 on the line for the 50 lap shootout. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take in some racing at a bucket list track or two but either way enjoy yourself and be good. Comments, news, stories and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always the case thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Take care and be kind to someone even if you don’t think they deserve it because you don’t know what’s going on in their life at the moment you encounter them. A smile also goes a long way in a person’s day.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Bacon Sizzles With Runaway Win With USAC Sprints at Lincoln Park

Friday, June 30 – The original plan was to attend the two day show Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park Speedway scheduled for today and tomorrow. The problem was there was a line of severe thunderstorms that moved across Indiana on Thursday knocking out power to many across the state including service in Putnamville. Therefore Lincoln Park and USAC/MSCS decided to move the dates to Sunday, July 2nd and Monday, July 3rd. Plan B was to head south to Paragon as the Paragon Speedway was running a Friday night special with wingless sprints and some other classes so it was off to Paragon instead. We only made it out of the garage into the driveway before the engine light on the Nissan Rogue came on and upon opening the hood the engine was vibrating near the firewall so I put it in drive and drove back into the garage. It was already 5 PM and the local Enterprise Rental location was closed and so were all the repair shops in Crawfordsville for the weekend. So much for Paragon.

Saturday, July 1 – A rental car was secured in the morning and we were back in business but we will have to wait until Wednesday before taking the Rogue to get checked out to see what the problem is. The next problem for today was the weather. It had rained in many places the night before and the forecast for race time today, 7 to 9 PM range, was thunderstorms with percentages in the 80 to 90 percent range. Our choices for alternative venues all fell to cancellation so it was dinner and a quiet night at home.

Sunday, July 2 – Another day with thunderstorms forecasted across the entire states of Illinois and Indiana had us studying the Weather Channel deciding where to go today. Our two closest and best chances of seeing a race were Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis who were racing on the oval and figure 8 tracks and Lincoln Park Speedway for night one of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular. After much deliberation Lincoln Park was the choice and off we went. Ten miles down the road Pat checked the USAC racing Twitter and found out that minutes before that Lincoln Park was postponed due to a heavy thunderstorm that rolled through the Putnamville area. We turned the rental SUV around and headed back home where we decided to watch some shows that we had recorded. After the first one went off, I decided to glance at the Twitter account of Circle City Raceway as the sun appeared in Crawfordsville. To our surprise Circle City said they were going to run as they were able to work the track(s) into race shape. So the quick decision was made to head east on I-74 then south on I-465 which is reopened to Circle City. We left slightly before 6 PM and were in our seats at Circle City by 7 PM. Four minutes later the first race with the enduro cars on the oval began.

Thirty two cars started the 30 lap enduro with Francisco Santiago Jr. starting 18th and winning this event. The Crown Vics were next up and the first race on the figure 8 which was quite wet and sloppy with the rear wheel drive cars having a tough time racing with Brandon Smith besting the 10 car field. The front wheel drive stocks were next and were able to maneuver the wet figure 8 with little difficulty. Francisco Santiago Jr. won his second race of the evening outrunning this 10 car field. A trailer race was next and with only three entrants with the object to disengage the other’s trailer it was not really a race but a last man standing type of entertainment. The funniest moment of the night came when again Santiago was involved in his third race of the evening. On the second lap he had knocked off the trailer of another competitor but in the process had wrecked his front end and partly disabled his car. He slowly ran the course with the other remaining participant stalking him as he closed in for the kill. The other vehicle crashed into Santiago’s trailer but did not knock it off the hitch. Instead he caught his trailer into Santiago’s trailer and pulled his off the hitch thereby making Santiago the winner!!! A bizarre turn of events and giving everyone a good laugh!!!

The final figure 8 race of the evening was for the school buses with seven of them taking to the course. It was actually the best and closest of the evening’s races with Cole Rhoton prevailing in the event checkering at 9 PM. With only a demo derby and fireworks left we decided to call it an evening and head back to Crawfordsville happy with the evening of racing and the fact that we also notched a new track in the figure 8 course.

Monday, July 3 – Finally!!! Today was a bright, sunny day in the high 80’s with no chance of rain. So, it was off to the Lincoln Park Speedway for night two of the USAC/MSCS co-sanctioned Bill Gardner Sprintacular with $10,000 going to the winner of the sprint car main event. We arrived around 5:15 PM, secured our spot with our lawn chairs and walked around looking at the souvenir stands chatting with Whitney Thomas and Maddy Heidenreich along the way. Then it was back into the grandstands to settle in for a night of racing with a fine field of 39 wingless sprint cars, 16 super stocks and 8 bombers on the race card for the evening. After dining on some fine chicken fingers and cheese bites it was time to go racing.

Time trials started off the activities starting at 6:35 and completing by 6:59 with Logan Seavey in the Benic Racing #2B Honest Abe’s Roofing sponsored sprinter, taking the Honest Abe Roofing fast time award with a lap of 12.399 seconds around the 5/16 mile banked speedway. Some track maintenance followed before the super stocks and bombers hot lapped their machines. It gave me time to chat with good friends, Jen Kelley and Dan Hetser. about our Italy trip and the bad weather of this weekend before the sprint car heat races started.

The first of four heat races for the USAC/MSCS sprint cars would take the green flag at 7:50 with the top four finishers moving directly to the big 40 lap feature event. Kyle Cummins used a nifty turn three and four inside pass to steal away the first heat win over Tye Mihocko, Justin Grant and Max Adams. Heat two saw Thomas Meseraull in the Epperson #2E pull away from the field to score the win over Kevin Thomas Jr. in the Dwight Cheney #42, Geoff Ensign in the Gass #17G and Jake Swanson in the Team AZ #21AZ. Heat three was captured by Brady Bacon who looked like he was on a rail besting Brandon Mattox, CJ Leary and Emerson Axsom. Heat four saw Brent Beauchamp get into Brian Hayden battling for the lead in turns three and four sending Hayden up to the cushion losing enough ground to not place in the top four while Beauchamp went on to win. Robert Ballou came home second with Brayden Fox third and Carson Garrett fourth.
The super stocks ran two heats for their 16 car field with Josh Litton and Kenny Carmichael Sr scoring wins. The bombers had one heat for their 8 car field with Megan Cavaness getting the win.

In between the super stock and bomber heats the sprint car C main was run with the top four to join the rear of the B main lineup. John Sluss won followed by Kayla Roell, Alec Sipes in his first night in the Hayward #19 and Aric Gentry. The B main was next on the agenda with Mitchel Moles grabbing the win in the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ over Logan Seavey, Matt Westfall, Chase Stockon, Daison Pursley and Brian Hayden in a race many tracks would have liked to have had that field for their A main!! Two MSCS provisionals, Aric Gentry and Kayla Roell, would tag the field for the main event making it a 24 car starting field. All preliminary qualifying was in the books by 9:18. Some additional track maintenance was performed before the start of the sprint car feature.

The green would drop on the 24 car field led to the green by Brady Bacon and Kevin Thomas Jr at 9:49. Bacon jumped into the early lead and began pulling away. You didn’t know it at the time but Bacon would never relinquish the lead the rest of the 40 lap distance even with three cautions to bunch the field. In turn two of the opening lap eighth starting Thomas Meseraull rolled into the muck on the bottom of the infield and blasted his way back out but dropped from 8th to 24th in the process!! Bacon was in his own time zone by lap six opening up a straightway lead as he approached lap traffic for the first time. Bacon picked his way through as Thomas and Grant trailed the leader by a good distance. Brady comfortably led until lap seventeen when Carson Garrett came to a halt between turns one and two wiping out Bacon’s massive lead.

On the restart Bacon bounded back out front with Thomas and Grant in tow. One lap later saw Grant slip by Thomas low in turns three and four to grab second and see if he had anything for Bacon. He didn’t as Bacon scooted away again to over a two second lead until lap 29 when Brandon Mattox slowed to a halt on the high side of turns three and four to bring out the yellow with Mattox going to the work area. Under caution point leader, Emerson Axsom, headed off the backstretch to the work area also with a flat left rear tire after advancing from 16th to 9th and coming forward. Axsom would return but only manage a 15th and in the process lose the point lead.

On the next restart Jake Swanson slipped to the inside of Thomas in turn two as Thomas slid wide and took away the third position at that point. Bacon was checked out again with Grant and Swanson the next two in the running order. Lap 35 saw the last yellow wave when Carson Garrett spun sideways in turn two wiping out Bacon’s another time zone lead. It was go time again and Bacon was off to the races streaking out front once again as Brian Hayden slowed on the frontstretch and slowly rolled around the track over the last five laps as everyone knew what was coming. As Brent Beauchamp passed on the homestretch with one to go Hayden sped up and tried to crash Beauchamp in turn two and missed. Hayden made a final attempt to wreck Beauchamp making a kamikaze move in turn four at Beauchamp missing again and crashing sideways into the turn four cushion sending his sprinter flipping several times bouncing his cage off the homestretch wall and missing Beauchamp once again!!! We hope Hayden is OK but it was a stupid move and besides potentially hurting himself he could have hurt others. A fine and suspension should be forthcoming for trying to use his sprinter as a weapon from both USAC and Lincoln Park. Settle it like a man and confront Beauchamp in the pit area and discuss the matter or even fight it out but don’t try to wreck someone!!!
Bacon would cruise home the winner in a historic career mark becoming only the third driver to hit the 50 win mark in USAC National sprint car history joining Tom Bigelow (52) and Dave Darland (62) at that level. Bacon also became the first USAC driver in 2023 to hit the four win mark winning his second race in a row after struggling in the beginning of the season but it seems that the four time USAC National point champion made be in his sweet spot on his drive for five. Grant crossed the line second with Swanson third, CJ Leary fourth with Kyle Cummins rounding out the top five. Kevin Thomas Jr lost some positions late in the race and ended up sixth with Chase Stockon seventh after starting fourteenth with Robert Ballou picking up the Hard Charger award moving from seventeenth to eighth. The marked man, Brent Beauchamp finished ninth with Logan Seavey rounding out the top ten.

We decided to let the crowd thin out a little and stayed for the 20 lap super stock feature and it turned out to be a good one. Even though Larry Raines led from start to finish he was hounded by Kenny Carmichael Sr the entire distance with Carmichael almost passing him several times during the event but the veteran did not quite have enough to pull off the win. Tucker Chastian made some late moves to finish third after starting seventh with the Litton brothers, Josh and Justin, being right in the mix finishing fourth and fifth as the top five finished under a blanket. At that point we decided to was time to head home and exited stage right and made up way back up Route 231 North to Crawfordsville wrapping up a shorter than expected race slate for the Fourth of July weekend only adding two of four races scheduled.

That’s it for this segment with racing scheduled for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday weather permitting. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take your show on the road. Either way have fun, be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, news, stories and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where a typical weekend finds us.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

McIntosh Wins 3 of 4 & Illinois Midget Week Title With Win at Lincoln

Sunday, June 25 – It was another sunny, hot day in the 90’s but there was a stiff wind all day long which made the heat bearable. We ate lunch at Daphne’s in Lincoln before heading over to the Logan County Fairgrounds where the ¼ mile Lincoln Speedway is located. We found a great spot to park the SUV under a tree with good shade and pulled out our two folding chairs to enjoy the wind and the shade enjoying some reading before the races began.

This was the final night of the four race POWRi Illinois Midget Week along with another stop on the famous UMP late model Hell Tour. The UMP modifieds would be the third division on the dance card for this Sunday evening. The first order of business was time trials for the 28 late models pitside with Australian Kye Blight surprising the field by setting fast time with a lap of 13.309 seconds around the quarter mile bullring. The time trials were run early starting at 6:39 and wrapping up at 6:57.

The POWRi midgets (31) would be the first class to contest their heat racing with four heats on the agenda with the top sixteen in points locking into the 30 lap feature event automatically while the final six starters coming from the midget semi. Steven Snyder Jr., from Rising Sun, Maryland parked the second Mounce/Stout #40X in victory lane over Elijah Gile, Hayden Reinbold and Cooper Williams. Heat two went to Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Taylor Reimer besting Chase McDermand, Branigan Roark and Jake Neuman. Heat three was won by Mason City, Illinois’ Karter Sarff beating Mitchell Davis, Jade Avedisian and Chance Crum. The fourth and final heat fell to Ferndale, California’s Daniel Whitley over Mariah Ede, Adam Taylor and Jedd Ross. Thomas Meseraull scratched after hot laps with a blown engine ending his evening extremely early.

Next up were the UMP late models spinning off three heats with the top five moving directly to the 40 lap, $7500 to win feature. Billy Moyer Jr. claimed heat one outdistancing Myles Moos, Tyler Clem, Morgan Bagley and Stevie Sheppard. Heat two went to Jason Feger besting Ashton Winger, Frank Heckenast Jr., Bob Gardner and Tim Lance. The third heat was captured by Jake Little beating Brandon Eskew, Cody Bauer, Clayton Stuckey and Carson Brown. The UMP modifieds ran three heats with Mike Harrison, Allen Weisser and Tyler Nicely taking down wins. Periodic track prep was done throughout the evening and with the stiff winds and sun shining all day long the track held up extremely well.

The POWRi midget semi was next on the dance card with the top six going behind the top sixteen in points into the main event. Corbin Rueschenberg of Mesa, Arizona would cop the 12 lap semi over Jake Neuman, Chris Andrews, Gavin Miller, Cannon McIntosh and Patrick Ryan. Brody Wake would take a provisional making it a 23 car starting field for the 30 lap POWRi midget finale. The UMP late models would run a B main with Rich Bell securing the win.

The green flag would drop on the front row of Taylor Reimer and Chase McDermand with Reimer jumping to the early lead. Seventh starting Jade Avedisian quickly powered into second from a gaggle of cars in the opening laps to race into second with Mitchell Davis moving into third. Avedisian squeezed low on Reimer to take the lead on lap two before Steven Snyder Jr rolled his midget several times in turn two on the second lap. Snyder surprisingly would make repairs and return to the action. In just two laps Cannon McIntosh had remarkably advance all the way from 21st to 5th at this point!! McIntosh would continue to pick off cars settling into second behind Avedisian on lap seven and chased the young lady until the halfway mark when he made a run and slipped by Jade in turn three to take the lead. The track looked like it was going away as the field mostly dove low as they raced around the oval. Mariah Ede, in one of her best midget showings steadily picked off competitors coming from her 12th starting position to move into third in the second half of the race. Gavin Miller was another driver that had made some big advances having started 20th and moving to 4th after the halfway mark passing Chase McDermand in the process. The race wore on with McIntosh increasing his lead over Avedisian in the second half and passing under the checker at 9:52 with his fourth POWRI win of 2023 and his third out of the last four races. It was also his 22nd career POWRi National midget win tying him with Logan Seavey for fifth on the all-time win list moving within one of fourth place man, Brad Kuhn. McIntosh also claimed his third straight POWRi Illinois Midget Week championship.

Avedisian would ride home second with Ede third, Miller fourth and McDermand rounding out the top five. Taylor Reimer ended up sixth with Cooper Williams finishing seventh with Mitchell Davis eighth, Karter Sarff ninth with Corbin Rueschenburg taking tenth after starting seventeenth.

It was 10:07 when the 40 lap UMP Hell Tour late model feature took the green flag and promptly went wire to wire in 11 minutes eclipsing the 36 minutes it took the midgets to run ten less laps. Jason Feger went to early lead over Jake Little and Miles Moos, the hometown boy from Lincoln. Moos briefly gained the lead at the line to complete lap four after Feger jumped cushion off turn four. Feger quickly regained his composure and the lead exiting turn two and was not to be headed. Lap traffic would play a role in the middle stages of the race with Feger working top and bottom to pass the slower cars. Moos stayed close but only on the last lap when a pesky lap car slowed Feger momentarily was Moos able to draw close but Feger held by a car length as he crossed the start/finish line at 10:18 to claim his second win of the month and pocket $7500 plus an extra $10,000 for being the top point man of the month in the Hell Tour making a cool $17,500 on the evening. Moos would finish second with Ashton Winger coming home third, Jake Little hanging on for fourth with Billy Moyer Jr. rounding out the top five.

We quickly headed for the exits as it was already 10:18 Central Time which meant it was 11:18 Eastern Time where we were headed. Looking on Twitter today we saw that Allen Weisser beat Tyler Nicely by inches splitting a lap car at the line to score the UMP modified win.

That’s it for this three race weekend as the current plans for the Fourth of July weekend look like us staying close to home with four races planned in four days all in Indiana. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or plot a road trip somewhere to see some racing. Either way but safe and stay hydrated. Comments, news, stories and other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope you continue to enjoy these columns as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Until next time be kind and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Meseraull Snaps McIntosh Streak With Hard Fought Race at Macon

Saturday, June 24 – The heat has arrived!!! Temperatures soared into the 90’s today as we prepared to make the western trek into the state of Illinois. Our destination was the 1/5 mile banked black dirt oval at the Macon Speedway in the small town of Macon. We arrived early enough to park in the front parking lot and hung out a while in the air condition of the Rogue listening to the Phillies lose to the Mets before heading pit side to sign in. We tried a new seat sitting in the first section on the homestretch about a quarter of the way up (which I was skeptical of) with close proximity to the fourth turn fencing. It was fine as we did not get any flying dirt or cars in our lap as the fencing looks very secure. We scoped out our reserved seating in two weeks before purchasing our dinner of pork chop sandwiches and drinks.

The four division program for this evening consisted of POWRi National midgets (27), POWRi Outlaw 600’s (16), modifieds (18) and street stocks (9). The street stocks took to the track first for their two heats starting at 7:03 and were followed by the POWRi midgets for their four heat races. Cannon McIntosh would draw first blood defeating Kunz teammates, Jade Avedisian and Cooper Williams, a 15 year old out of Decatur, Arkansas, the latest find of Keith Kunz with Hayden Reinbold fourth. Heat two went to Steven Snyder Jr in one of the Mounce/Stout entries besting Andrew Felker, Clinton Boyles and Zach Daum. Heat three fell to Daniel Adler in a strong run beating Gavin Miller, Brody Wake, another 15 year old youngster from Lake Havasu City, Arizona and Branigan Roark. Heat four went to Thomas Meseraull over Brayton Lynch, Mariah Ede and Daniel Whitley. Ede started first and got sideways in turns one and two spinning and taking teammate, Taylor Reimer, for a rollover in the process. Both would return in the heat race.

The POWRi Outlaw 600’s running without wings tonight would contest two fast and furious heat races with Tyler Kuykendall beating Kale Drake and Jaxton Wiggs coming from seventh in this one. Heat two was claimed by Jordan Clary over Chad Baldwin and Parker Leek.

The modifieds ran three heat races with Jarrett Stryker, Austin Lynn and Jeremy Nichols taking wins before the POWRi midgets returned for their 12 lap semi with the top six joining the rear of the 22 car starting field. Karter Sarff would take down the win over Chance Crum, Corbin Rueschenberg, a 14 year old out of Mesa, Arizona, Elijah Gile, a 13 year old out of Phoenix, Arizona and son of racer, Dennis Gile, Taylor Reimer and Laci Ferno, a 19 year old out of Mooresville, North Carolina. Mitchell Davis would roll his midget in turn three and use a provisional to make it a 23 car field for the 30 lap feature event. All prelims were in the books by 8:23.

The first feature of the evening was for the street stocks going the distance of 15 laps taking the green flag at 8:41. Bobby Beiler, who almost lost the handle several times hung on to win this one, his fourth of the year.

By 8:59 it was feature time for the POWRi National Midget series ready to go green for 30 laps of furious action. Thomas Meseraull and Gavin Miller brought the 23 car field to the green flag with Meseraull edging into the early lead. Miller would remain in his shadow as T-Mez led over the first ten laps of the event until Miller lost the handle in turn two and spun ruining his good run in second. The green waved again with Meseraull to the point but it didn’t last long as fourth running Steven Snyder Jr. also spun in turn four spoiling his evening. The middle stages of the contest saw several cautions keep the field bunched as the first two night’s winner, Cannon McIntosh, was weaving his way forward from fifth into second and applying the pressure on Meseraull for the lead. The two went at it like gladiators swapping sliders instead of swords back and forth especially over the final ten laps.

One particular restart with seven to go did not please T-Mez as he felt McIntosh jumped him on the double file restart and entering turn one T-Mez threw a nasty slider across the front end of McIntosh forcing him to jam on the binders almost sending both of them into the turn two wall. McIntosh would race down the backstretch and take the lead for the next three laps until Meseraull was able to work his way back by with five to go. For the remaining five laps T-Mez ran the wall to perfection fending off the advances of McIntosh to snap his two race win streak in Illinois Midget Week and score his sixth career POWRi National midget win with McIntosh second, teammate Brody Wake third, Jade Avedisian fourth and Andrew Felker rounding out the top five. Karter Sarff came from 17th to finish 6th with Chance Crum moving from 18th to 7th, Daniel Adler 8th, Steven Snyder Jr recovering to gain 9th with Corbin Rueschenberg charging from 19th to finish 10th.

Most of the younger generation drove well and in control but the antics of Brody Wake were very questionable. He drove recklessly, out of control and all over the place and his final move in turn four with a haymaker slider on teammate, Cannon McIntosh, was ill advised. Dave Mac and Wake’s father had better have a talk with that boy before he hurts himself or someone else. This is not a video game where you wreck and hit reset, this is real life and death situations and should not be taken with no fear.

The 20 lap POWRi wingless 600 feature was next on the docket with the green flag waving at 9:34. Jordan Clary would lead the early going over Jaxton Riggs and Tyler Kuykendall as the field went at it tooth and nail in an action-packed feature race. Kuykendall would take the lead on lap five from Clary with sixth starter, Kale Drake, powering into the runner-up position. This pair raced side by side and nose to tail over the remainder of the 20 lap race while Drake’s teammate, Corbin Rueschenberg, was making a march from 16th all the way up to 3rd and closing on the leaders. Over the last three laps the trio ran within inches of each other with the checkered flag waving at 9:52 with Kuykendall scoring his first career POWRi Outlaw 600 win over Drake with Rueschenberg third, Hunter Pruitt fourth with Jordan Clary rounding out the top five in a top notch feature.

We decided to call it a night and head for our home for the evening, the Hampton Inn in Lincoln to bed down for the evening. We talked about the good racing on the drive north to Lincoln and how we enjoyed the evening of action-packed racing.

Check back Monday as we complete the three race weekend with the final of Illinois Midget Week at Lincoln IL Speedway where the UMP LM and modified Hell Tour will be joining the midgets on this Sunday evening. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and continue to check back often to see where our travels take us next. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Adams & Norris Win in Good Runs At Gas City

Friday, June 23 – Today was a nice day with temperatures in the 80’s with plenty of sunshine and hardly any wind. Tonight’s destination for the second time this year was the ¼ mile dirt oval at the Gas City I-69 Speedway. But first it was a stop for the first time ever at Pappies Smokehouse and Lunch Box on the west side of Gas City for supper. Pappies is located right next to Casey’s and from the outside is not much to look at but don’t judge a book by its cover. Pat had the pulled pork sandwich for $9 and I had the brisket sandwich for $11 and they were both stuffed with plenty of meat and were delicious. Definitely a return visit will be in the offing!!

We arrived at the track just past 6 PM and secured our seats next to our buddy, Phil, on the top row underneath the scoring tower and settled in for the night of racing. There were five divisions on the race card with wingless sprints (27), winged 305 sprints (13), UMP modifieds (11), hornets (9) and stock cars (3). The race tonight was leg #3 of the Chase For The Derrick, a special set of designated races for the wingless sprints culminating in a ten lap, ten car $1200 to win race plus the special Derrick trophy for the winner of this sprint car special on October 21st. Time trials were held for this race with three cowboys maneuvering the cowboy up surface. Time trials began early at 6:45 and finished by 7:04 with young Jack Hoyer setting fast time with a lap of 11.991 seconds around the quarter mile bullring.

Just seven minutes off the scheduled starting time of 7:30 the first of four heats for the 27 sprint car field took the green flag. Jack Hoyer would use the top side to move from fourth for the win in heat one followed by Max Adams, Tye Mihocko and Cole Bodine. Evan Mosley looking better each time out claimed heat two over Ricky Lewis, Colten Cottle and Brian Hayden. Heat three went to Dustin Ingle over Rylan Gray, Zack Pretorius and Dustin Burkhart in the #21AZ that Jake Swanson drove at Kutztown during USAC Eastern Storm. Heat four went to Colin Grissom who has vastly improved over the past year besting Kyle Shipley, Tim Creech and Jackson Slone. The 13 Racesaver 305 sprints would contest two heats with Kevin Newton besting Dillon Baldwin riding out of Kentucky and Kayla Martin. Carson Dillion claimed heat two over Bryce Norris and John Paynter Jr.

The UMP modifieds would run two heats while the hornets had two heat also and the stock cars had one heat. The wingless sprints would be the only division to need a B main with Brayden Clark winning this one over Ryan Barr, Ivan Glotzbach and Aidan Salisbury with all preliminary qualifying wrapped up by 8:28.

The 25 lap wingless sprint car feature was the first to the post taking the green flag at 9:15. It was not green long as second starting Dustin Ingle looped it in turn two with Ryan Barr running over his left front ending Ingle’s evening prematurely. On the restart the same scenario happened with new second starter, Jack Hoyer, losing the handle in turn two bringing out another caution with Hoyer relegated to the tail of the now 19 car field with the previous exit of Ingle.

The third start was a charm as the sprinters went single file for this start. First starting Colin Grissom bounded into the early lead and began to open up his lead. Lap eight saw Rylan Gray spin in turn three to bring out the third caution of the race. Grissom spurted out to the lead again on the restart with Evan Mosley and Max Adams in pursuit. Grissom was setting a good pace and the interval between him and the other two remained comfortable for the leader. Adams worked his way past Mosley for second just before the halfway mark. Lap sixteen saw the final caution wave when Gray spun for the second time, this one in turn two. Grissom retained the lead on the restart with Adams on his heels. Tye Mihocko slipped by Mosely for third on lap seventeen and closed on the top two. Grissom who was looking for his first sprint car win bobbled on the berm in turn three just enough to open the door for Adams and he powered the Michael Dutcher #17GP past Grissom on lap nineteen to take the lead. Mihocko would use turn three to pass Grissom for second on lap twenty one but could not close enough ground in the remaining four laps to seriously challenge Adams for the lead. When the checkered flew at 9:30 it was Max Adams first after starting fifth with Tye Mihocko second after starting ninth, Grissom in for a fine third but having to be disappointing for the youngster who saw his first win slip away. Cole Bodine turned in a very good drive from 13th to 4th with Jack Hoyer coming from 19th after spinning on the first lap to recover for fifth. It was a good feature with plenty of passing and the trackwork before the feature really helped turns three and four on the inside and middle.

Next up was the 20 lap feature for the winged 305 sprint cars which took the green flag at 9:42. Fourteen year old Kayla Martin went to the early lead from the pole with Bryce Norris right in her tire tracks. Martin led the first six laps until Norris edged her at the line to begin lap seven. Norris would lead the rest of the way but Martin never let him get far away as she drove a very good race. Max Guilford from New Zealand brought the second Norris car from 12th to finish 3rd with John Paynter Jr 4th and Kentuckian Dillan Baldwin nailing down 5th at 9:52.

The UMP modifieds were next up but with only 11 cars and a two hour drive home we decided to forgo their feature and head for the exits having witnessed two good sprint car features on a nice weather evening.

Check back tomorrow for night two of our small road trip into Illinois and see where we end up. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. News, comments, words of wisdom or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Cummins Rounds Out Eastern Storm With Non-Stop Win at Action Track USA

Sunday, June 18 – Today was Father’s Day and since both our fathers have passed away, we decided to do the next best thing and take my brother, Bob, to lunch at the Nazareth Diner. We had a great meal there and enjoyed each other’s company before biding our farewells with Bob heading back to New Jersey and Pat and I heading west to the Kutztown Fairgrounds, the site of Action Track USA, the 1/5 mile semi banked dirt oval, located there. On tap tonight was the final night of USAC Eastern Storm which would award only 50 show up points to everyone due to the fact that the track is smaller than any that the USAC National Sprints have ever run. The same will be true for the 1/5 mile dirt oval at Macon, Illinois where the USAC sprints are scheduled to run a two day show on July 7th and 8th. Tonight was the lowest car count for the USAC sprints because of several reasons, one being that some of the drivers and owners needed to be home Monday for work and some of them did not want to run such a small track. Still the 21 car field boasted the top 12 in USAC National points so it was a good quality field. The USAC sprints would be joined tonight by the regular 600 micro sprints who brought a hefty field of 51 entrants to do battle on this Sunday evening. The crowd was large, the weather nice and everyone was ready for some good short track racing. To be truthful we were skeptical of how the racing would be on this smaller track but after watching the heat racing for the sprinters it looked possible. USAC race director, Kirk Spridgeon, told the drivers in the driver’s meeting to go out there and show them you are the best drivers in the business and they truly did so.

Time trials would start the night of action commencing at 7:12 with Kyle Cummins setting a new track record with a time of 10.406 seconds on the 1/5 mile oval. Cummins liked the track and stated that it reminded him of a mini Haubstadt (Tri-State Speedway).

Five heat races for the 600’s would follow with the top four moving into the increased 30 lap feature tonight. Connor Gross, the current point leader in the division, won the first heat with Christian Bruno nailing down heat two. Teddy Reed would capture heat three with Kevin Thomas Jr making a rare 600 start taking down heat four and Alex Ruppert prevailing in heat five.

The USAC sprint cars would take to the cowboy up surface with no dust the entire evening prepared by former USAC Silver Crown competitor, Richie Tobias. The sprints were fast and wild but passing was at a premium. Chase Stockon would nail down heat one besting Brady Bacon, CJ Leary, Kyle Cummins and Emerson Axsom. Heat two went to the exciting Robert Ballou who was popping wheelies the entire distance. Ballou beat Matt Westfall, Charles Davis Jr, Preston Lattomus and Tom Harris was credited with fifth after flipping on the backstretch in this one. Heat three fell to Jake Swanson in a pieced together sprinter running a 360 powerplant as they saved their regular car for points racing. Carmen Perigo and Alex Bright finished behind the winner also sporting 360 motors with Justin Grant and Logan Seavey trailing.

No semi was needed for the sprints. Three B mains were spun off in quick order for the 600 micros setting the stage for the two features to follow.

The 40 lap USAC National sprint car feature was ready to take the green flag at 9:20 and if you had told me that it would go non-stop I would have told you that you were nuts!!! But non-stop it did go. Emerson Axsom clinched the Eastern Storm title just by pushing off tonight but starting his fourth race in a row on the front row Axsom decided to try to make it his third win in Eastern Storm by taking the early lead. Kyle Cummins who started sixth began to work his way to the front as the action was fast and furious. He picked off Logan Seavey quickly for fifth and caught Justin Grant for fourth in turn two on lap nine. Lap thirteen saw Cummins use the inside to perfection through turns three and four to slide by CJ Leary for third. Alex Bright was the only driver between Cummins and himself and lap fourteen saw Kyle polish off Bright to take second. Axsom ran into a roadblock when Billy Pauch Jr and Carmen Perigo battled two wide for position in front of him. Cummins closed the gap and almost grabbed the lead at the line to end lap 24. He was successful using the low side passing Axsom for the lead on lap 25 in turn two. Cummins opened up his advantage over the next ten laps having the race well in hand. CJ Leary meanwhile also found the low side to his liking reeling in Axsom for second on lap 36. The two banged wheels in turn four with Leary getting the advantage and position as they crossed the line to start lap 37. Over the last three laps Cummins built up a 3 second lead and crossed the line first at 9:27 for his first Eastern Storm triumph, his third win of 2023 and his 17th career USAC sprint victory tying him with Jim Hurtubise, Bud Kaeding and Jerry Coons Jr on the all-time win list.

It was an amazing display of driving by all the participants racing non-stop for 40 laps on a 1/5 mile oval without wrecking or for the most part banging together. Hats off to all the drivers for an impressive performance and great display of driving ability.

Leary would end up second with Axsom settling for third with Robert Ballou moving from 7th to 4th with Justin Grant rounding out the top five. Positions six through ten were filled by Alex Bright, Logan Seavey, Chase Stockon, Brady Bacon and Jake Swanson. Bacon would earn the Irvin King Hard Charger award by advancing from 16th to 9th at the finish.

We still had one more feature to go and if the crowd was not pumped after witnessing the previous feature they clearly would be after this 30 lapper was over. The green waved on the 30 lap 600 micro sprint feature at 9:45 with Alex Ruppert and Connor Mirabelli dicing for the early lead. Tim Buckwalter and Christian Bruno were coming forward and pressuring the top two with Bruno using the low side to his advantage taking the lead on lap 11. Lap 14 saw Connor Gross and Tim Buckwalter tangled in turn three battling for third with Gross doing an air spin and Buckwalter suffering front end damage that ended his night early. On the restart Damon Paul up from tenth disposed of Ruppert to take second and began to pressure Bruno for the lead. Also joining the battle up front at this point was 13th starting Gunnar Pio making it a three car battle for the lead. The top three swapped the lead among themselves over the next twelve circuits until Pio was able to secure the lead diving low in turn four on lap 26 for the final lead. Another competitor putting on a great run was Kevin Thomas Jr advancing from 9th to 5th at this point. Pio would open a two car length over the final four laps and raced under the checkered flag at 10:04 with his first ever win at Action Track USA beating Bruno with Paul third, Pat Bealer coming on for fourth and Thomas rounding out the top five. It was an impressive victory for the 13 year old driver and we are sure is the first of many to come.

It was a very good night of racing and far exceeded our expectations coming into the evening. We kept an open mind and sat back and witnessed an incredible display of top notch racing. After that next year should be a full points paying event on both levels (Eastern Storm & National points) as they proved that they can run on a small track also. Thinking that the upcoming races for the USAC sprints at the wider and higher banked Macon Speedway should be changed to full national point status and bring out all the stars of USAC racing.

That’s it for our coverage of Eastern Storm but that’s not it for race coverage as we have a three day race schedule for the coming weekend weather permitting. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road to catch some good racing. Comments, news, stories, rumors or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Be safe out there and be kind to someone if you can because people can use some kindness in their lives. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you and thanks to Allan Holland for giving us the opportunity to write for him on Hoseheads.com.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant, Seavey & Buckwalter Take Open Wheel Madness Races at Port Royal

Saturday, June 17 – Today was another bright, sunny day in the 80’s and the drive northward from the Harrisburg area takes you along the Susquehanna River on Rt. 22 before crossing the river near Duncannon where you pick up Rt 22/322 as the beautiful drive continues. We got off in Millerstown and went west on Rt. 17 for less than two miles where we stopped at Hall’s Ice Cream for some delicious homemade ice cream. The banana split that Pat ordered which was a medium with five scoops of your choice of ice cream was huge and well worth the $8 spent. She needed some assistance with this project and I was happy to oblige. We can see why this business is going strong after 75 years as the ice cream is some of the best we have ever tasted with over 40 flavors to choose from. Yum, yum!!! We continued the leisurely drive on Rt. 17 through the rolling countryside reaching Ickesburg where we switched to Rt. 74 to climb up and over the mountain into the town of Port Royal which was our destination. The ½ mile Port Royal Speedway in the center of town was hosting the second open wheel madness with the USAC National sprint cars (26), USAC Silver Crown series (30) and winged 410 sprints (36).

We had missed all the drama that occurred in the Mifflintown area when a deranged man pulled into the parking lot of the PA State Police barracks and promptly got out of his vehicle and began to spray the area with high powered rifle fire with bullets that could pierce police body armor. One officer was shot in the shoulder in the parking lot before the suspect fled in his vehicle. The story unfolded with the suspect calling in reports of himself being spotted in various spots in the area. He was able to lure one trooper in the false reports to a local road where we waited in ambush. The trooper was shot through the windshield and later died from his injuries. The suspect was truly spotted a while later and the state troopers formed a barricade between themselves and a restaurant that the shooter was approaching. A gun battle ensued with the suspect being killed in the process. It was a hectic scene and many people going to the races at Port Royal saw the scene unveil and were delayed in the hectic action. Please keep the slain trooper and his family in your prayers along with the other wounded trooper and a complete recovery for him.

A very good crowd turned out for the racing at the Juniata County Fairgrounds with parking at a premium. We were there early enough and found a parking place against the outside chain linked fence and sat in lawn chairs for a few hours chatting with some of our PA friends, Ed and his wife, Lori and Gary. It was an enjoyable and relaxing time.

We are able to place two large blankets down in successive rows where no reserved seat stickers were attached to and settled in for the long evening of racing. Another good racing friend, Will White, from Quakertown, PA happened to be sitting in the row in front of us and we invited him to join us on our big blanket. It was good seeing Will once again as our paths have not crossed for a good while. It was his first visit to Port Royal Speedway in 25 years and the first time he had seen all the improvements done at the track including the new grandstands replacing the wooden one on the homestretch where you could have reached through the fencing walking in the front row and grabbed a wing going by, it was that close!!!

It was night four of USAC Eastern Storm and the USAC sprint cars would start the evening of speed with their time trials conducted two at a time commencing at 6:44. By 7 PM young Daison Pursley had set his second fast time of the mini series with a time of 18.834 seconds around the half mile. Hot laps followed for the winged 410 sprint cars before the USAC wingless sprints returned to run their three heats with the top five moving on to lock themselves into the 30 lap main event. It was 8:46 when the first heat race began with Kyle Cummins in the Rock Steady #3R prevailing in this one besting Briggs Danner, Mario Clouser, Emerson Axsom and Robert Ballou. CJ Leary took the BGE Dougherty #15X to the front in heat two beating his teammate, Carson Garrett, Brady Bacon, Mitchel Moles and Justin Grant. The third heat was captured by USAC East Coast regular, Steven Drevicki in the DeGre Motorsports #19 in an impressive showing beating Max Adams, Chase Stockon, Jake Swanson and Logan Seavey.

USAC Silver Crown qualifying was next on the agenda beginning at 7:49 and wrapping up at 8:15 also time trialing two at a time. Mitchel Moles in his debut in the Hans Lein #97 produced fast time at 20.899 which was a new track record for the California native but a slide into the turn one wall after completing his second lap sent his crew scurrying to make repairs to repair the machine for the 50 lap feature which was last on the dance card. Local sprint car driver, Chase Dietz, surprised everyone in attendance by setting the third fastest time of the evening in his first ever run in a Silver Crown car for car owner, Bruce Lee, in a brand new machine completed just a few days ago. His impressive evening was just beginning.

The very good field of 36 winged 410 sprints would contest four heats with the top five going directly into their scheduled 25 lap feature. Jeff Halligan would win heat race #1 over Gerard McIntyre, Devon Borden, Tyler Walton and Paulie Colagiovanni. Heat two fell to the ageless veteran, Mike Wagner, edging Steve Buckwalter, TJ Stutts, Austin Bishop and Garrett Bard. Cody Lehman ran away with heat three over Brie Hershey, Mike Walter II, Dan Shetler and Jason Shultz. Dylan Cisney, the actual mayor of Port Royal (how cool is that) won heat four beating Jason Whittal, Logan Wagner, Dallas Schott and Bill Jones.

The USAC semi feature taking the top seven to the main event was captured by Daison Pursley over Matt Westfall, Alex Bright, Charles Davis Jr, Preston Lattomus, Ed Aiken and Kevin Thomas Jr. For the third race in a row Great Britian’s Tom Harris miss the feature by one position. The winged 410 B main was next to the post with Blane Heimbach winning over Jake Karklin, AJ Flick and Jacob Dykstra out of Canada the last man in. The 12 lap semi for the Silver Crown cars was won by Oklahoma’s Wayne Johnson over Russ Gamester, Trey Burke, Steve Buckwalter, Ryan Thomas, Mark Smith, Mark Bitner and Gregg Cory rounding out the top eight who would join the top 16 in time trials to make a 24 car starting field for their 50 lap main event. Dave Berkheimer from Mechanicsburg, PA battled hard but fell one spot short of qualifying. It was now 10:23 and all the fields were set for their respective feature races with 30 lap, $6000 to win USAC National sprint car race getting the honors to run first.

The 2000th USAC National Sprint Car feature would take Warren Alston’s green flag at 10:51 with the front row of Brady Bacon and Emerson Axsom setting the pace. Axsom got the early lead and was looking for his third straight Eastern Storm win which hasn’t been done since Robert Ballou’s championship year back in 2015. Axsom opened up a good lead over the first four laps with Justin Grant sliding by Bacon for second in turns three and four on lap five and took up the chase. Axsom continued to set the pace but Grant was chipping away little by little as the race neared the halfway point. Lap sixteen saw Grant squeeze himself between Axsom and the outside wall off turn four to wrestle the lead away from young Axsom. Two laps later Ed Aiken slowed on the track to bring out the only caution.

On the restart Axsom went to the middle while Grant rode the high side. Axsom was able to regain the lead as the two raced side by side around the half mile for the next two laps. Lap nineteen saw Grant move back to the front with a backstretch pass as the two continued to duke it out. Grant went up against the fence for the remaining 10 laps and increased his lead flashing under the double checkers at 11:05 for his third win of 2023, his fourth Eastern Storm triumph and his first win in four weeks. It was also career win #37 in his USAC sprint car career tying him with Robert Ballou and the late Sheldon Kinser on the all-time win list for 11th. Axsom would score another good finish with second followed by Daison Pursley, the Irvin King Hard Charger coming from tenth to third at the finish. Brady Bacon would settle for fourth, the highest run for him in this edition of Eastern Storm with Chase Stockon claiming fifth after starting eleventh. Steven Drevicki would lead the charge across the line finishing an impressive sixth with Kyle Cummins seventh, Mitchel Moles eighth, Jake Swanson ninth and Briggs Danner coming home tenth.

The 25 lap, $5500 to win winged 410 sprint car feature was next on the docket taking the initial green at 11:21. Gerard McIntyre would take the initial lead with Steve Buckwalter in close pursuit. The top two would race hard and fast around the half mile pressuring each other for the top spot. Buckwalter was able to sneak by for the lead just before the halfway mark but McIntyre was not willing to give up. McIntyre went back out front a few laps later dropping Buckwalter to second. Moving forward was tenth starting Mike Wagner cracking the top five at this point. A caution would wave for fourth running Mike Walter II who made contact with another car causing him to spin to the inside wall on the homestretch. On the restart Buckwalter was on the tail tank of McIntyre for several laps before making another move to the front. Buckwalter was able to pick off McIntyre to retake the top spot and would lead the rest of the event with Mike Wagner nipping McIntyre for second at the wire with TJ Stutts fourth and Jeff Halligan rounding out the top five. This would be Buckwalter’s seventh career win at the Speed Palace in his career.

There was still the big 50 lap, $8000 to win USAC Silver Crown series race to run with twenty four starters rumbling to Alston’s green flag at 11:56 as the grand old ladies of USAC were ready to go. Mitchel Moles would lead at the start but his repaired front end began to act up with the front wheels bouncing up and down like basketballs. Moles was able to hang in the hunt but it was tough going. Kody Swanson quickly made his move from second to take the lead before lap one was completed and would lead the first 21 laps. Brady Bacon would move to second with Moles dropping to third with Logan Seavey running in fourth. Seavey would breeze by Moles for third on lap 13 and catch and pass Bacon for second on lap 16. Chase Dietz in his series’ debut slid by Bacon to take third one lap later. Lap 22 saw Seavey use a slider to take the lead away from Swanson in turn three. In the interim Bacon worked his way back by Dietz for third as the battle raged behind the leader. Dietz was not done with his masterful debut as he charged by Bacon on the high side of turn four on lap 35 to reclaim third. Dietz used the inside of turn three on lap 37 to take second away from Swanson which is no easy task but the rookie was on the march. Carmen Perigo, a Pennsylvania veteran was making his own march from ninth moving into the top five on lap 44 passing Justin Grant for the position. Perigo was not done either as he wanted more surging by Swanson for fourth on lap 48. Meanwhile Seavey was cruising out front with almost a six second lead and soon thereafter the double checkers would fly with Seavey crossing the line at 12:25 taking his fifth Silver Crown half mile victory in the last seven races that the series has run. Dietz would end his fine night with a second in his debut with Bacon third, Perigo coming home fourth in a career high finish for him with Kody Swanson rounding out the top five. Justin Grant would pace the second five in sixth with Matt Westfall moving from 12th to 7th with Shane Cottle 13th to 8th with CJ Leary ninth and Kevin Thomas Jr from 14th to 10th in his debut in the Legacy Motorsports #19.

It was a good night of racing with plenty of action in all of the divisions and worth the extra time to watch three quality divisions do battle on the big half mile.

That’s it for this segment but check back tomorrow as we will bring you the last race of Eastern Storm from Action Track USA in Kutztown. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and have fun. Any correspondence can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And last but not least thanks for reading our column and check back often to see where we end up next. Be good and be kind to your fellow human beings.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Axsom Makes It Two in A Row & Wagaman Gets His First Win at Williams Grove

Friday, June 16 – In the morning we sat in our hotel room on the fourth floor watching the rain fall and hoped that the weather would clear and we could go racing on this Friday night. A call from Steve Kimmel in the afternoon invited us over to their camping area to have a picnic with family and friends. It was a good time had by all with bench racing and good food mixed in. I walked with Steve over to the line at the gate where he had placed his tablecloths and went in with him to secure seats for the crew of twelve on hand this evening including a rare race appearance for Mary Jane King, wife of Irvin King, former racer and sponsor of the USAC Hard Charger Award. The rain had passed, the track was juiced and we were ready to go racing.

The first order of business was USAC sprint car time trials with their 31 car field taking to the track running time trials two at a time starting at 7:15. Thomas Meseraull was standing on pit road at 7:37 being interviewed by Kristy Bennes after setting a new track record for the USAC sprint cars in the Chris Dyson #20 with a time of 19.016 seconds around the big half mile. Hot laps followed for the winged 410 sprint cars before the USAC sprinters returned to run their four heat races.

The first USAC sprint heat took the green at 8:08 with CJ Leary taking advantage of his front row starting position and pulling away to take heat one over Tim Buckwalter, Thomas Meseraull and Briggs Danner. Brady Bacon who only timed 22nd fastest, needed a heat win to move up in the feature starting lineup significantly and he did so by winning heat two placing him tenth in the lineup. Bacon won over Charles Davis Jr, Justin Grant and Max Adams. Heat three fell to Robert Ballou, another driver who improved his starting position (7th) after qualifying 19th quickest. Ballou fended off Jake Swanson, Shane Cottle and Emerson Axsom for the win. Illinois’ Mario Clouser would score the win in heat four beating Alex Bright, Kyle Cummins and Logan Seavey.

The 21 car field for the winged 410 sprints would take to the track next with Billy Dietrich taking the first heat over Steve Buckwalter, Devon Borden and Kyle Moody doing double duty on the evening. Austin Bishop nailed down heat two over Aaron Bollinger, Danny Dietrich and Cameron Smith. Heat three was won by Troy Wagaman Jr, the new driver of the Mike Heffner #27, who placed second at Lincoln last Saturday in his first ride in this stead. He bested TJ Stutts, Freddie Rahmer and Steve Siegel in this one.

Only the USAC sprints would be a semi with the top six moving into the 30 lap main event. Mitchel Moles took top honors in the semi turning back Chase Stockon, Daison Pursley, Matt Mitchell, Kevin Thomas Jr in the second Benic #2B and Joey Amantea who had come close in the previous two events but had failed to qualify placed it in the field tonight as England’s Tom Harris would miss by one for the second straight night. With all the prelims in the books it was feature time.

The USAC National sprint cars would get the honor of running their 30 lap feature first with Warren Alston’s green flag dropping on the field at 9:55. Tim Buckwalter in the Lotier/Hummer #20T spurted to the early lead with Emerson Axsom in hot pursuit. Buckwalter was setting a torrid pace in the early going with the racing unfolding behind him. East coasters, Briggs Danner and Alex Bright were chasing the front two as the race progressed. Lap four and five saw Axsom show his nose underneath Buckwalter on the homestretch but Tim pulled a car length’s lead entering turn on each time. Buckwalter continued to set the pace as the race neared the halfway mark and visions of an USAC East Coast competitor winning a USAC National event might have been dancing in Buckwalter’s head. Lap thirteen saw Alex Bright loop the Heffner #27 in the second turn while running fourth and performed a complete 360 with his front end pointed skyward. Robert Ballou happened upon the incident and had no where to go and ran straight into the tail tank of Bright’s machine piercing a hole in the bladder of the tank causing fuel to flow from the mount. Flames shot from the back of the car and Bright drove the sprinter from turn two all the way to the end of the homestretch where the fire crew was waiting to extinguish the methanol fire as Bright climbed quickly out of the top of the roll cage. Everyone was OK after the scary incident but Bright and Ballou were finished for the evening and Brady Bacon having a real tough Eastern Storm series spun to avoid the others while running seventh and had to restart at the tail where he was only able to manage a 13th place finish at the end.

On the restart Buckwalter jumped back into the lead as Axsom searched for a way by the speedy Buckwalter. He choose the high side between turns three and four and used the low side in turns one and two. Using that new strategy Axsom was able to race alongside Buckwalter in turn four up against the rail and grab the lead on lap seventeen and pulled away as Buckwalter’s dream ended and Axsom’s began. Axsom opened the lead to about ten car lengths as the field reached the ten to go mark. With seven to go 14th starting Daison Pursley was on a rail and moved past Buckwalter into second and began to bite off huge chunks of real estate on Axsom’s big lead. With four to go Axsom’s lead was trimmed from nearly two seconds to only one as the crowd edged to the end of their seats. With two to go Pursley was at Axsom’s tail tank and ready to pounce as Volusia County flashed through my head. Axsom knew he had company at that point and hit the loud pedal a little harder. Axsom was able to increase his lead by a couple of car lengths as the pair raced close over the remaining four laps. Going down the backstretch on the final lap the advantage was two car lengths for Axsom as Pursley looked to make another move to steal the win. As they entered turn three Pursley pulled halfway alongside Axsom in a bid for the lead but Axsom was able to stave off the challenge and raced off turn four to the wire where he won for the second straight night by two car lengths over Pursley with Buckwalter third, Justin Grant fourth and Thomas Meseraull rounding out the top five at 10:22. Briggs Danner would come home sixth with Mitchel Moles seventh, CJ Leary eighth, Jake Swanson from 18th to 9th and Chase Stockon tenth. It was a good race with plenty of action and made up for the lackluster heat racing.

The 25 lap winged 410 sprint car feature was still to come with Billy Dietrich racing to the early lead with Troy Wagaman Jr and Austin Bishop in tow. A caution waved on lap three to slow the field. TJ Stutts made his moves on the restart picking off Bishop and working on Wagaman for second as Dietrich pulled away. Lap ten saw Dietrich made a big mistake jumping the cushion in turn four and pounding the fourth turn wall taking him out of the event ending any thoughts of winning tonight.

On the restart Wagaman was the next leader with Stutts challenging low for the next few laps until Wagaman was able to open up a small advantage. Meanwhile Freddie Rahmer was picking off cars left and right moving from his ninth starting position into fifth by the halfway mark. In the ensuing laps Rahmer continued to move forward moving to third with five to go as Wagaman paced the field encountered heavy lap traffic at this point but Wagaman was up to the challenge and worked the lap traffic to perfection. The checkers were waving at 10:57 greeting Troy Wagaman Jr for his first career Williams Grove victory over sixth starting TJ Stutts with Freddie Rahmer third, Steve Buckwalter fourth and Austin Bishop rounding out the top five. Positions sixth through ten were filled by Danny Dietrich with Devon Borden seventh, Kyle Moody eighth, Cameron Smith ninth and Justin Whittall tenth. This was a good run also with the features both being competitive.

That’s it for this segment but check back tomorrow to see what happens tonight for night four of USAC Eastern Storm at the Port Royal Speedway called The Speed Palace with USAC Sprints, Silver Crown and winged 410 sprint cars on the docket. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, words of wisdom, stories, news and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you all continue to enjoy what we bring you.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain Halts Bridgeport & Axsom Drives to Victory on BC’s Birthday at Big Diamond

Wednesday, June 14 – We arose early to drive over to Pat’s home office for a meeting before heading south toward the Bridgeport Motorsports Park for night two of the USAC Eastern Storm. As we ventured south on the NJ Turnpike we encountered some heavy rain but ran out of it and the skies turned bright and blue with puffy white clouds. We entered the grounds at Bridgeport Motorsports Park noting that in many spots there were puddles and standing water.

We entered the large grandstands around 5:30 and noticed a water truck running in the inner oval and not much more. We chatted with Gary Grim and Dwight Bucks for a while and then Paul Weisel joined us. A John Deere tractor with a tiller behind it started slowly riding around the 4/10 mile oval and eventually the water truck joined him on the bigger oval. Everyone we spoke with could not understand the lack of wheels on the track surface and maybe the grader would have been too heavy to run around but Bridgeport has more than one water truck so where were they?? We and many others sitting in the grandstand, some having traveled a great distance to be here were starting to question the sincerity of the track drying process. Maybe better communication on the process from the announcers with periodic updates and explanations and reasoning on what was going on would have been helpful.

A Tweet by USAC at 7 PM informed us that track work was continuing after the heavy rain that had fell earlier and that on track action would begin momentarily when the work is completed at the 4/10 mile oval. With only two vehicles running on the racing surface we seriously questioned this post. To prepare the surface for racing action anytime soon a slew more vehicles were needed to whip the track into racing condition. At 8 PM the announcement that we all dreaded came saying that the event was cancelled because the track would not be ready for a least another 2 ½ hours because of losing the wind and the sun beginning to go down.

Our opinion on the whole situation writing from the fan’s perspective which we try to do whenever we do a column was that a less than full effort (putting it mildly) was put forth by the Bridgeport management to present this program on this evening. If the track crew had presented a more concerted effort and many vehicles had been brought out to attempt to run in the wet surface, we don’t think anyone would have felt that everything possible had not been done and it was just not to be. But the perception and reality that with only two vehicles on the track surface it was not a serious attempt to do everything possible.

Doug Rose owes it to the many fans who traveled near and far on a work night for many to have showed a full effort to run the program tonight. Especially the many race fans from Pennsylvania who use the Pennsylvania Turnpike to get there and pay excessive fees, then have to put up with the traffic on the Blue Route and pay a $6 toll to enter back into Pennsylvania via the Commodore Barry Bridge on the return trip deserved a better effort than what they witnessed on the track this evening. And the drivers, owners and crew members that traveled from the Midwest to put on a show for the Eastern fans who only get to see them run once a year deserved much better also.

Thursday, June 15 – Today was a day we were looking forward to as we would return to the Big Diamond Speedway near Minersville, PA for night two of USAC Eastern Storm. It has been 11 years since USAC sprints have run at Big Diamond and we have had reports that the surface in the past few years has been much better. A good sized crowd showed up to watch the wingless warriors do battle on a nice evening in the hills of Schuylkill County with the 29 USAC sprint cars being joined on the race card by 27 358 modifieds and 7 roadrunners.

Time trials would be the first order of business as the 29 USAC sprints would take time two at a time starting at 7:42. By 7:59 Daison Pursley was standing in the infield being interviewed after he set a new track record with a time of 14.785 seconds around the 3/8 mile dirt oval.

The USAC sprints would take the first shot at qualifying with their three heat races kicking off at 8:14. Ohio’s Matt Westfall would claim the first heat win over Chase Stockon, CJ Leary, Thomas Meseraull and Alex Bright. Fast timer, Pursley, would be relegated to the semi after failing to crack the top five. Heat two went to Shane Cottle in the Hodges’ #74X besting Mitchel Moles, Max Adams, Justin Grant and Briggs Danner. On the last lap in turn two Robert Ballou passed Danner for the final qualifying position but Danner made an incredible move to reclaim the final qualifying position diving low in turn four and outracing Ballou to the line. Anton Hernandez turned in a strong performance in the Baldwin #5 claiming heat three outlasting Carson Garrett, Emerson Axsom, Tim Buckwalter and Jake Swanson.

The 358 modifieds also ran three heats with Jeff Strunk, Mike Lisowski and Duane Howard scoring wins. All heat qualifying was in the books by 8:51.

The sprint car semi was next on the dance card with the top seven moving on. Daison Pursley cruised to victory in this one over Kyle Cummins, Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, Steven Drevicki, Kyle Moody in the second Baldwin #5 and Carmen Perigo charging from tenth to take the final qualifying spot. Joel Smith would capture the modified consie and the fields were set by 9:22.

Max Adams and Emerson Axsom would bring the 22 car field to Warren “Wiggles” Alston’s green flag at 9:41 with Adams spurting into the early lead. Thomas Meseraull used the low side in turn three and four on lap two to sneak by Axsom for second bringing Allentown, PA’s Briggs Danner along for third. Lap three saw T-Mez get sideways in turn two and almost spin with Danner checking up right behind and Axsom reacting by diving low to avoid the pair and taking third at that point with T-Mez retaining second. Adams would lead the first six laps in the Dutcher #17GP before Meseraull caught and passed him in turns three and four on the sixth lap to take the lead away from Adams bringing Axsom along for the ride. Meseraull was now the leader and his line was running high in turns one and two and using the low side through turns three and four while Axsom stalked the leader pulling closer down the home stretch and into the first two turns but with Meseraull increasing his lead on the other half of the 3/8 mile. As the laps clicked off Axsom began to draw closer and on lap 21 made his move for the top spot by diving low in turn one and running side by side by with T-Mex in those corners before edging ahead racing down the backstretch. The front two increased their lead to over three seconds over third running Justin Grant as the race remained green. Lap traffic was reached in the latter stages of the race with Axsom having no problems maneuvering the slower cars and increasing his lead over the final laps. With no cautions slowing the race the double checkers waved on Axsom for the first time this year in USAC sprint competition and for the fourth time in his short USAC sprint career at 9:49 with Meseraull second, Grant third, Danner hanging on for fourth after a fierce battle with Shane Cottle for that position over the last half of the contest with Cottle rounding out the top five. Daison Pursley would ride home sixth with Robert Ballou charging from 14th to 7th claiming the Irvin King Hard Charger award with Jake Swanson a quiet eighth, Matt Westfall ninth and Anton Hernandez rounding out the top ten. It was a special night for the Clauson family as it was on the date of son Bryan’s 34th birthday of the former three time Eastern Storm champion and also gave the Eastern Storm point lead to their current driver, Axsom.

The 25 lap 358 modified feature was the next called to the grid and went green at 10:04 and would also go the entire 25 laps under green. Tim Fitzpatrick jumped off the outside of the front row and streaked away to a large lead. Female driver, Aleia Geisler, ran second and held off the rest of the field as the laps clicked off in rapid succession. About five laps from the finish Nick Rochinski was able to work his way past Geisler for second but ran out of time to make a serious challenge on Fitzpatrick for the lead. As the checkers waved at 10:10 it was Tim Fitzpatrick across the line first for his first win since 1998!!! Yes, folks that is a 25 year drought from victory lane!!! Congratulations Tim, it was a long time coming for win #2. Hope #3 doesn’t take that long!!! Rochinski finished second with Mike Lisowski slipping by Geisler for third late in the contest with Geisler fourth and Jeff Strunk making up the most ground advancing from tenth to fifth.

With the well run program ending two features by 10:10 we decided to head down the road toward Harrisburg and our home away from home, Home2. We followed the AME Electric rig down some of the backroads onto I-81 South and almost witnessed a track trailer collision as not once but twice the AME rig crossed the line in front of the other rig almost colliding with each other. After we backed off and caught our breath and wits once again we discussed the racing tonight. We found the racing at Big Diamond lacked the WOW factor as the cars did not seem to get much grip to drive forward and passing was at a premium and the evening of racing disappointed us though management ran a tight show in a very timely manner.

That’s it for the past two nights as we wait out the falling rain outside our window at the hotel hoping and praying that it will let up and allow us to see racing on this Friday night. Check back to see what happens and in the meantime if the weather is good in your area, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing and have fun and be safe. Comments, news, opinions, thoughts and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Try to be kind to your fellow humans even though in this crazy world it can be very difficult at times. And last but certainly not least thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy the writings as much as we enjoy bringing them to you as we try to be honest and don’t try to sugarcoat things.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Swanson Opens USAC Eastern Storm with Big Win at Grandview

Monday, June 12 – Kokomo with their Indiana Midget Week final was rained out on Sunday snapping our consecutive streak on the 16 races in 17 days tour at 8. Not to stress though as Kokomo was running the XR Super Series for the late models paying $100,000 to win so why not catch our first race of 2023 at Kokomo with this before heading East for the start of The Eastern Storm.

We won’t go into great detail on this one, just some observations on this night. First off a great crowd turned out for this event and with a very reasonable $25 general admission to enter the facility and youth under 17 free of charge it was a bargain. Even with the great crowd and 42 late models on hand we don’t know where the money comes from to pay this gigantic purse with $100,000 to win and $2000 to start. The night got underway about an hour late but moved along well once underway. Reece O’Connor did a good job working and reworking the surface making for a really good racing surface.

The race up front was very interesting with Hudson O’Neal, Ricky Thornton Jr and Bobby Pierce putting on a great battle until lap 18 when Thornton exited the turn one pit gate with a broken shock taking that dog out of the hunt. O’Neal led the majority of the event but not without challenges coming from a host of drivers including Pierce, Brandon Sheppard and others. There was a tense moment late in the event when the leaders entered lap traffic and O’Neal had problems getting by Dalton Wilson. Sheppard saw his opportunity and went high to pass O’Neal but Hudson slammed the door literally. Though Sheppard’s comments in podium interviews were good with him saying that it was what it was but O’Neal should not complain later in the year if the roles are reversed and they are battling for the lead in a big buck contest!! Bobby Pierce electrified the crowd over the final three laps trying to steal the win riding the fence all the way around aka Ross Chastian at Martinsville but came up short to O’Neal and Sheppard.

Very good race and talking with the late model people around me they were very impressed by Kokomo and the racing. We told them when you have a good racetrack with a well prepared surface any kind of racing will be good on it!! One guy next to Pat said it was the best late model race he had ever seen!!! That is the usual response for newbies no matter what division of racing they witness there.

Tuesday, June 13 – We drove from Kokomo 2 ½ hours southeast to Dayton, Ohio to position ourselves for the long haul over to Pennsylvania and the Grandview Speedway the next day. Pulling out at 8:45 AM we made two stops for gas and were able to stop for lunch/dinner at Hoss’s in Bedford until pulling onto the grounds at Grandview at 5:30. After chatting with several PA racing friends we headed to the grandstands to hunker in for the night of racing. Unfortunately, I dropped my cell phone through the grandstands landing far below. The results were not good with a busted screen and the phone itself not working properly. A visit Wednesday morning somewhere in New Jersey at a Verizon store is in my future. Guy Smith, a columnist for Area Auto Racing News, racing historian and racing website facilitator joined us for this evening of racing at another Bob Miller promoted Thunder On The Hill Series event featuring the USAC National sprint cars (28) and the Grandview 358 modifieds (31). The USAC part of the event is called the Jesse Hockett Classic honoring both a non-wing and winged sprint car driver gone too soon due to a garage accident at his headquarters in Missouri.

Time trials for the USAC sprints would commence at 7:07 with Kyle Cummins in the Rock Steady #3R posting fast time with a lap of 13.662 seconds with the time trials completed by 7:29.

The USAC sprints would run their four heat races first with the top four moving directly to the A main. The four heat scenario was used since 31 cars signed into the pit area but three never took time. One of them, England’s Tom Harris, had a rough day with first airline issues and then his hauler engine blowing up on the way.

Steven Drevicki, one of the East Coast USAC sprint drivers, ran a very strong heat race winning over fast timer, Cummins, Tim Buckwalter in the East Coast Hummer #20 and East Coaster, Briggs Danner. Mitchel Moles placed the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ in the winner’s circle over Thomas Meseraull in the Dyson #20, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley. Robert Ballou powered to the front to win heat three over Jake Swanson, Carson Garrett and Chase Stockon. The fourth and final heat went to fifth starting Emerson Axsom in a strong showing over Shane Cottle, Anton Hernandez in the primary Baldwin #5 (with PA driver, Kyle Moody, a winged driver in the second Baldwin entry) and Logan Seavey.

The 358 modifieds (regular top division here) would contest three heats with the top six moving on to the feature event. Alex Yankowski, Doug Manmiller and Jordan Watson prevailed in these heats. All heat qualifying was completed by 8:45.

Both divisions would run a semi or consie race with the sprints spinning off their semi first with the top six moving into the big 40 lap main event. CJ Leary in the BGE Dougherty #15X prevailed in this one topping Brady Bacon who spun in his heat while running second and failed to qualify through the heat race. Bobby Butler came home third with Matt Mitchell fourth, Alex Bright fifth in the Mike Heffner #27 with Matt Westfall sixth. Max Adams driving the Michael Dutcher #17GP had problems all evening getting the car to fire used one provisional to join the field with Arizona’s Charles Davis Jr using the second provisional to swell the starting field to 24 cars for the Jesse Hockett Classic. Kyle Smith would capture the 358 modified consie to move to the feature event.

When Warren Alston’s green flag waved at 9:37 Jake Swanson bolted off the inside of the front row to take the early lead. Thomas Meseraull and Briggs Danner were in pursuit but Swanson was flying around the 1/3 mile dirt oval and had a straightway lead in five laps. Swanson was setting a torrid pace and entered lap traffic with over a two second lead. He would keep that advantage until lap 17 when he was forced to go three wide in turn four and his huge advantage was cut in half. Brady Bacon was coming forward from his sixteenth starting position to ninth by lap eighteen until his luck turned bad again on the evening suffering a flat tire and going to the work area to have it changed. Bacon would return but the man who has dominated Grandview in the past, five wins in the past six runs here, would only salvage a fourteenth this night. On the restart Swanson and Meseraull were back out front in a two car tandem while the rest of the field duked it out among themselves. Emerson Axsom who earlier won his heat was finding the low side to his liking and quickly started picking off cars moving from sixth to third in two laps dusting off Briggs Danner, Justin Grant and Chase Stockon in the process. Axsom began to reel in Meseraull running second as the laps clicked off. He caught and passed Meseraull for second just before the red appeared for a multi-car pileup on the backstretch when seventh starting Grant slowed with a flat tire with Briggs Danner doing a 360 to avoid him with Matt Westfall piling in and flipping over in the process. The only one who would not restart from this wreck was Westfall.

On the last restart Swanson was at the point with Axsom right on his rear bumper. Entering turn two Swanson slid high opening the door for Axsom but Swanson was able to recover and speed down the backstretch with Axsom still behind him. After surviving that scare Swanson was able to hold off the pesky Axsom and crossed under the double checkers at 10:05 scoring his third USAC sprint car win over his last four outings and sixth consecutive podium finish and to say that Swanson is on a roll right now might be an understatement!! He also has assumed the point lead for his first time ever by one point over Kyle Cummins in the process. Axsom finished second with Robert Ballou also using the low side to advance from tenth to third, Tim Buckwalter, the highest finisher East Coast sprint driver, racing to a fine fourth from twelfth and Kyle Cummins after falling back early rallied to grab fifth. Positions six through ten were filled by Daison Pursley coming from 17th to 6th with Thomas Meseraull fading to seventh, Shane Cottle from 15th to 8th, Chase Stockon ninth and the Irvin King Hard Charger award going to Alex Bright from 22nd to 10th.

It was an interesting feature with plenty of action and at that point we decided to call it a night as Pat had to be at her home office in New Jersey by 9 AM and we had over an hour drive the next morning to get her there so the 358 modified feature was bagged. Pat was able to bring it up on her phone in the car on Flo and the 358 modified feature was not complete until a few minutes after 11 so we made the wise decision to leave.

Check back tomorrow as night two of USAC Eastern Storm is scheduled for Doug Rose’s Bridgeport Motorsports Park in south Jersey with some rain in the forecast but hoping that it is not much and passes through quickly allowing us to see racing at the track modeled after Lawrenceburg but with less banking and progressive banking which makes for better and closer racing. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take a road trip and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, stories, words of wisdom, opinions and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And last but not least is thank you for reading our efforts and the kind comments that come our way. We love doing this column and are so happy that you all like our honest writings. Take care and be kind out there in this crazy world.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Timms Triumphs in Indiana Midget Week Race at Lawrenceburg

Saturday, June 10 – Our traveling crew was reduced by one today as Pat decided to join Judy Burns in a shopping trip to Nashville, IN in the hills of Brown County while the boys headed further south to the Lawrenceburg Speedway, the 3/8 mile high banked dirt oval in Southeastern Indiana. Lawrenceburg is as far south as you can go before either being in Kentucky or Ohio and is the home of Seagram’s, the famous whiskey maker, which was acquired in 2023 by Bedford, IN based MGP Ingredients, a leading supplier of premium distilled spirits.

We arrived on the grounds of the track located across the street from the Hollywood Casino at just after 5 PM and made our way around behind the large grandstands to park exchanging two of our wrist bands for new ones before entering and searching out our seats laid down by campers Irvin King and Steve and Maggie Kimmel. The seats were prime time located in Section H, one row from the top of the aluminum grandstand.

On tap tonight was the first three division of the week with USAC midgets (24), joined by non-wing sprints (18) and UMP modifieds (14). Time trials for the midgets were the first order of business commencing at 6:33 with the 24 entrants taking two laps each to compete for the fast time. When it was said and done by 6:56 Justin Grant was being interviewed for the second straight night and for the third time this year posting the fast time of 14.762 seconds around the massive 3/8 mile dirt oval.

Next up were the three USAC midget heats with everybody advancing to the upcoming 30 lap feature but only the top five across the line participating in the inversion. Chelby Hinton, the youngster from Louisiana advancing out of the 600 micro sprint ranks, wheeled the Bob East #4 to victory in heat one over last night’s winner, Gavin Miller, Cannon McIntosh, Taylor Reimer and Ryan Timms. The fast timer, Justin Grant, missed the inversion and would not start any higher than seventh in the feature. Logan Seavey, leading the IMW points, took heat two over Jake Andreotti, Kevin Thomas Jr, Chance Crum and Ethan Mitchell. Heat three went to Jade Avedisian in her Kunz Mobil sponsored #71 claimed heat three besting Jacob Denney, Emerson Axsom, Daison Pursley and Chase McDermand.

Non-wing sprint car racing was next on the dance card with three heats for the 18 cars on hand. Mitchel Moles in the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ captured heat one outrunning Ryan Barr, Tyler Kendall and Noah Whitehouse. Logan Seavey in the Benic #2B notched heat two over Thomas Meseraull, Jack Hoyer and Braxton Cummings. Heat three fell to Nick Bilbee over Max Adams, Joss Moffatt and Travis Hery.

The UMP modifieds would contest two heats races for their 14 car field completing heat racing action. Track watering and maintenance was done four times during the evening to keep the dust under control and allow for better racing for the drivers with good results.

The first of three features would be the 30 lap USAC midget feature with all 24 cars entered starting the race. At the drop of Tom Hansing’s green flag the front row of Jake Andreotti and Taylor Reimer raced side by side into turns one and two with fourth starting Ryan Timms splitting the pair as they raced off turn two. Andreotti would manage to lead the first lap but Timms would make his move in turn two and grab the lead. Andreotti was not done with running up front reclaiming the top spot on the edge in turn two on lap three. Timms stormed back down the backstretch and dove low in turn three to repass Andreotti for the lead as the leaders approached the start/finish line to start lap four. Timms led the race from lap four to lap nine with Andreotti and sixth starting Logan Seavey in hot pursuit. Seavey disposed of Andreotti on lap nine and went to work to catch Timms. He quickly closed to his rear bumper but Timms continued to thwart off his challenges. The leaders were approaching heavy lap traffic on lap eighteen and things were going to get very interesting soon but it was broken up when Chelby Hinton bounced off the wall in turn four which resulted in a right rear flat tire to bring out a caution.

On the restart Timms stomped on the loud pedal and strapped the fourth turn wall in the process but Seavey did not gain any ground on him. The top two raced on the edge over the final seven laps running right up against the wall slicing through turns three and four. Seavey closed at times but Timms always seemed to have an answer as Timms held Seavey off and took the double checkers at 9:35 winning for the second time in 2023 and the first since Belleville with Seavey second, for his fourth consecutive top three finish with Jade Avedisian third, Bryant Wiedeman another consistent run from ninth to fourth with Justin Grant rounding out the top five. Daison Pursley came from 13th to finish 6th in a backup car with Cannon McIntosh advancing from 11th to 7th, Jacob Denney eighth, Taylor Reimer ninth and Kevin Thomas Jr tenth. Jesse Love would take home the extra $100 from Irvin King being the hard charger after starting 21st and finishing 12th on the night. Timms’ win was the third straight for a Keith Kunz entry and the third time this this particular car on the week.

There were still two features to go with the 25 lap non-wing sprint car feature the next one up. Mitchel Moles and Logan Seavey would bring sixteen of the eighteen entrants to the green flag at 10:10 with Seavey getting the early jump on Moles. The caution would wave quickly on lap one when Thomas Meseraull made a sharp right turn toward the wall exiting turn four looking like the steering wheel may not have been locked properly in place and jarring loose. Meseraull would restart at the tail of the field. On the restart Seavey would move back to the point with Moles and Ryan Barr chasing. Seavey and Moles would stretch their advantage over the rest of the field quickly pulling away. Lap seventeen saw the leaders entering heavy lap traffic with Moles able to sneak by Seavey for the lead. That was short lived as seventh running Noah Whitehouse had something break on his front end turning his sprinter directly right into the wall and fencing causing him to flip over with Moles bearing down on him. Moles was unable to avoid the flipping Whitehouse and banged into the flipping machine. Luckily Whitehouse was OK after his ride but Moles being involved was forced to rejoin the field at the back.

When the race went back to green Seavey was the leader with Tyler Kendall breathing down his tail pipe. Racing into turn three on lap twenty in a battle for third a pair of 5’s tangled with each other with Joss Moffatt getting the worse of the deal turning nose first into the wall and bouncing upward encountered a bracing pole on the fencing almost immediately stopping the sprinter in its tracks. It was a scary moment as the sudden stop made us fear that the hit could have been bad. Fortunately Moffatt was able to climb from the severely bent sprinter and was OK after his hard shot into the pole. Back to green Seavey led Kendall and Adams. A good battle for fourth and fifth between Ryan Barr and Thomas Meseraull ended up badly as the pair tangled racing down the backstretch on the final lap with both drivers spinning wildly thankfully not making any contact with the walls. Seavey flashed under the checkers at 10:41 fending off Kendall with Adams third, Braxton Cummings fourth after starting eleventh in a good run with Mitchel Moles rebounding from being taken out while leading to round out the top five.

With the UMP modifieds still to go and the hour approaching 11 with a 2 ½ hour journey ahead of us we decided to call it an evening satisfied with the car counts and the racing that we had just witnessed. We all discussed the previous six races of IMW that we had seen and the consensus was that Circle City was the best of the six. The conversations made the ride seem short and we arrived back in Crawfordsville at 1:07 AM ready to hit the sack and prepare for the last night of IMW.

Sunday, June 11 – Today’s weather forecast was not promising for Kokomo as we monitored the situation from the time we arose until the call was made at 4:14 PM that we expected to happen. Persistent showers starting in the morning were just too much to overcome forcing USAC and Kokomo Speedway to cancel the final night of Indiana Midget Week and bring the curtain down on a fine six nights of midget racing action with Logan Seavey declared the 2023 Indiana Midget Week point champion for the second time and first since 2019. Seavey tallied 405 points over the six races beating out Justin Grant (374) by 31 markers to claim the title for a second time. Bryant Wiedeman (353), Jade Avedisian (331) and Emerson Axsom (329) rounded out the top five for Indiana Midget Week.

That’s it for this weekend as we will pick it up again on Monday as the XR late model series travels into Kokomo to race for $100,000 to win before we head East early Tuesday morning to make the long haul over to the Keystone state to take in the six straight nights of USAC Eastern Storm featuring the USAC National Sprint Car series starting off at the Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, PA for one of the Thunder on the Hill series races promoted by Bob Miller and ending up Sunday night at Action Track USA in Kutztown, PA where the sprinters take on the 1/5 mile dirt oval. See all our Eastern racing friends there and for everyone else get out there and enjoy some good short track racing wherever you may be and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, opinions, words of wisdom or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Try to do good and be kind out there in this crazy world we live in and thanks for reading our efforts and continue to check back every day as we will try to keep you on the date on the happenings in Pennsylvania and New Jersey where the USAC National Sprint Car Series will be visiting.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Miller Wins Career First with USAC Midgets at Bloomington

Friday, June 9 – Another chamber of commerce day greeted us upon awakening with sunny skies, low humidity and temperatures in the 80’s. The destination today was the beautifully manicured grounds and high banked red clay hills of the Bloomington Speedway for night five of Indiana Midget Week and night seven of the 16 races in 17 days tour. The trip to Bloomington was interrupted by several areas of road construction including a backup between Spencer and Ellettsville on Route 46. The normal two hour drive was extended by ten minutes or so but the seat saving efforts of Steve and Maggie Kimmel and Irvin King were our saviors once again securing us prime time seating in the homestretch stands for a great view of the ¼ mile bullring.

This was another two division show featuring the USAC midgets (28) and the non-wing sprints (21) with time trials kicking off the action for the USAC midgets at 6:33 and wrapping up at 6:49. Justin Grant was fast timer for the first time this year with a lap of 11.945 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring and being the only midget to break the 12 second barrier on the evening.

The USAC midgets would get first honors of running their heat races spinning off three of them in short order. Justin Grant moved closer to a sweep of the evening by notching the first heat win over Steve Buckwalter, Cannon McIntosh, Ryan Timms jumping behind the wheel of the vacated Kofoid Kunz’s entry and Jake Andreotti. Chase Johnson making his first IMW start in the brand new Beilman #31 surprised everyone by capturing heat two besting Daison Pursley, Bryant Wiedeman, Kevin Thomas Jr and Gavin Miller. Thomas was back in the Mounce/Stout #23 with a borrowed engine from Tanner Thorson. Heat three was claimed by Emerson Axsom in the Petry/Hayward #19A over Daniel Whitley, Jade Avedisian, Taylor Reimer and Ethan Mitchell.

The non-wing sprint cars would run three heats also with all cars qualifying for the main event. Jack Hoyer looked good in heat one winning over Brayden Fox, Brandon Spencer and Braxton Cummings. Heat two went to Jordan Kinser in the Burton #04 beating Tye Mihocko in his own car, Saban Bibent and Brandon Mattox. The third and final heat fell to Zack Pretorius never giving up on the high road and blasting past Geoff Ensign who had passed him earlier with Brady Short third and Hunter Maddox fourth. All heat qualifying was completed by 7:52 and only the midgets would need a semi.

Logan Seavey would garner the victory in the semi on his 26th birthday outrunning Jesse Love, Jacob Denney, Thomas Meseraull, Chance Crum, Kyle Beilman in his debut and Chase McDermand. Hayden Reinbold would use another provisional to make it a 23 car starting field for tonight’s 30 lap main event.

The 30 lap USAC National midget feature was brought to Brian Hodde’s green flag by the front row of Jade Avedisian and Gavin Miller, teammates at Kunz Motorsports, for the start at 8:48. Avedisian got the early lead over Miller but the first of five cautions waved on lap two then Chase Johnson and Logan Seavey banged wheels on the backstretch with Johnson flying over the turn three banking into the grass on the other side. Jesse Love was also involved with Seavey continuing, Johnson done for the evening and Love restarting at the tail of the field. Avedisian took command once again on the restart working the high side and pulling away from her two teammates, Miller and Ryan Timms over the first 10 laps of the contest. Jade led through lap 14 when Emerson Axsom stopped at the end of the backstretch bringing out the second caution and wiping out Avedisian’s comfortable lead.

On the ensuing restart Miller dove low on Avedisian as they raced side by side exiting turn two when Avedisian drifted to the edge of the backstretch top and drifted over a bit ending her bid for her first USAC midget win as seven competitors stormed by dropping the former leader to eighth. Miller was the new leader and the 16 year old Allentown, PA resident and former six time USAC quarter midget national champion was the car to catch. Kevin Thomas Jr, Justin Grant and Ryan Timms were the pursuers as the laps ticked down to ten to go. Grant nipped Thomas for second at the wire to start lap 21 and took up the chase of Miller looking to complete the sweep of the evening. With nine to go the caution appeared again as Chance Crum went over the turn in three to bring out the caution.

On the restart Miller changed his line from running high to the bottom with Grant in hot pursuit. Grant was applying the pressure until he dropped a cylinder but he was still able to maintain the second position. Seavey was the new dog in the hunt using the high side as it looked like he might breeze by Grant but Justin was able to hold him off over the remaining nine laps. Miller would race under the double checkers at 9:12 scoring his first career USAC National midget win and adding to the win total of car owner, Keith Kunz, in his tenth start in USAC competition. Remember this could have come four days earlier as he led the race at Circle City past the halfway mark before catching the cushion and flipping out of the lead and the race at that point. Grant would hold on for second with Seavey third moving into the IMW point lead with Kevin Thomas Jr coming home fourth with Cannon McIntosh finishing fifth after starting twelfth earning his highest finish of the week and also the Irvin King Hard Charger Award and an additional one hundred dollars to his total. Ryan Timms would soldier home sixth with Bryant Wiedeman seventh, Daison Pursley eighth, Daniel Whitley ninth and Jade Avedisian rounding out the top ten.

There was still one race to run and that was the 25 lap non-wing sprint car feature with the green unfurling at 9:28 with Jordan Kinser pouncing off the outside of the front row to take the early lead. The third row of Geoff Ensign and Tye Mihocko were quick to move forward chasing Kinser for the lead. The track blackened up quickly as several drivers tried to work the outside but the majority of the competitors went to the inside to continue their race. Mihocko edged by Ensign for second but Ensign returned the favor two laps later. Meanwhile Kinser was keeping his mount tight and straight on the bottom allowing no one to edge underneath him. Jack Hoyer, the pole sitter, continued to spiral backward through the field as he battled the slick surface. Brady Short and Saban Bibent tried to work the top with little success with Short getting the best results ending up sixth. At the finish at 9:42 it was Jordan Kinser crossing the line first with Ensign second, Mihocko third, Brayden Fox fourth and Brandon Mattox making the black work advancing from eleventh to fifth at the end.

It was another good night of racing ending in good time and we enjoy the two division format and being able to get on the road earlier especially having to drive a distance with more races on the horizon.

That’s a wrap on Friday night live at Bloomington as we prepare to make the long haul to Lawrenceburg for night six of IMW which looks to be the final night as the weather Sunday in Indiana does not look good at all. But time will tell. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, stories, news, rumors and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and the kind comments you send our way. Be good and be kind in this crazy world of ours.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Kofoid Wins Second Time in IMW Run At Lincoln Park

Thursday, June 8 – Today would mark race four of IMW and night six of our own personal 16 out of 17 tour as the USAC midgets ventured to the Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, IN on another postcard picture perfect day with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80’s. Lincoln Park is the closest track to our home base in Crawfordsville and we were able to leave at 4 PM and still be there before the gates opened around 4:45. After storming the gate with Steve Kimmel we staked out our area to sit with the folding chairs. From there we all went off in different directions to talk with other friends, look at souvenirs or collectables, gather up additional gear and coolers and such before we settled in for the night of racing. On tap tonight was a two division program of USAC National midgets (29) and non-winged sprint cars (28). Unlike the other four times this year we have been here tonight they started on time and moved the show along nicely.

After hot lapping both divisions the USAC midgets came out for their individual car time trials starting at 7:04 and completing by 7:23 with last night’s winner, Logan Seavey, setting fast time with a lap of 12.834 seconds around the 5/16 banked dirt oval.

Heat qualifying would start with the non-wing sprints going first contesting four heats with the top four moving directly into the 25 lap feature event later in the show. Mitchel Moles brought the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ to LPS tonight and scored the win in heat one over Geoff Ensign tonight in the Gass #17G, Mario Clouser and Brandon Mattox. Jake Swanson in the Daming #5T won heat two over Seth Parker, Brian Hayden and Hunter Maddox. Heat three went to Buckeye, Arizona’s Charles Davis Jr besting Jadon Rogers, Tye Mihocko and Jack Hoyer. Matt Mitchell from the hometown of Richard Nixon, Yorba Linda, CA, notched heat four beating Brandon Spencer, Brayden Fox and Ivan Glotzbach.

The mighty midgets were next on the schedule racing three heats taking the top five to the 30 lap main event. Buddy Kofoid racing in his last race of Indiana Midget Week as he has been named the new driver of the Vermeer Motorsports #55 starting Friday in night one of the All Star Sprints Ohio Speedweek, won heat one over the very consistent Bryant Wiedeman with Logan Seavey third, Hayden Reinbold fourth and Emerson Axsom fifth. Ethan Mitchell had the Honda powered Bundy midget honking garnering heat two beating Jake Andreotti, Daniel Whitley, Brenham Crouch and Daison Pursley. Heat three fell to Thomas Meseraull in a new RMS #7X after having problems in another car in the last two nights over Chase McDermand, Justin Grant, Jesse Love and Taylor Reimer.

The heat racing was quickly followed up by the sprint car B main taken by Zack Pretorius over Harley Burns, Nate McMillen and Austin Nigh. The midget semi was pushed off with Kevin Thomas Jr at the keyboard of the Tanner Thorson #88 for the remainder of the week as they hurt the motor in the Mounch/Stout #23 with no spare available taking the semi over Jacob Denney, Cannon McIntosh, Jade Avedisian, Ryan Timms, Gavin Miller and Chance Crum. No provisionals on this evening so it would be 22 starters for night four of IMW.

The green would wave on the 30 lap USAC National Midget feature at 9:17 with Emerson Axsom jumping to the early lead but the action was halted quickly as Cannon McIntosh hopped the right rear of another car entering turn one and flipped over the turn one banking. McIntosh was OK after his disappointing tumble. Resuming the race Axsom moved out front once again and would pace the field over the first eight laps without a challenge. That would soon change as Logan Seavey was on the march from his sixth starting position and closely quickly on the leader as the caution waved for the spinning Hayden Reinbold in turn four.

On the ensuing restart Axsom moved back to the point with Seavey and Justin Grant in tow. Grant found something on the bottom and snuck by Seavey for second on lap 12. The front three were going at it tooth and nail and closing the line to start lap 14 they were three side with Grant down low, Axsom in the middle and Seavey on the high side with Axsom holding the slight edge. Lap 15 saw Seavey edge out front off turn four ahead of Axsom but Axsom was not done coming back and taking the lead on lap 16. The top three looked stout but suddenly Buddy Kofoid, running a pedestrian fourth came to life as he found momentum on the top side and surged forward. Lap 20 saw him move by Seavey for third in turn three and one lap later used the cushion off turn four to breeze by Grant with a massive run for second. Lap 22 saw Kofoid continue the surge racing alongside and past Axsom to take the lead just past the start/finish line. A tangle between Brenham Crouch and Chance Crum in turn two slowed the action on lap 24 and regrouped the field.

On the restart Kofoid raced out front and began to pull away over the final six laps crossing the finish line at 9:41 scoring his 24th career USAC National midget victory tying him with Billy Englehart for 21st on the all-time list. The Keith Kunz driver scored another record breaking win for his car owner and as Buddy said at Circle City he wanted to win one the proper way and not by another’s misfortune and he sure accomplished it tonight in his parting race of Indiana Midget Week leaving as the point leader with two wins, a second and a fourth in his four races run during the series and taking the Irvin King Hard Charger Award from seventh to first. Emerson Axsom who has come so close so far in the four races and will surely score a victory over the next three nights finished second with Seavey settling for third, Grant taking fourth and Thomas Meseraull rounding out the top five. Bryant Wiedeman placed sixth with Jade Avedisian seventh, Taylor Reimer eighth, Gavin Miller ninth and Daison Pursley rounding out the top ten.

There was still a 25 lap sprint car feature to run and for the ones who left early they missed out on a special performance. When the 20 car field took the green flag at 9:59 Jake Swanson took the early lead with Mitchel Moles on his heels. Ivan Glotzbach rolled his Hayden #I1 in turn two on lap one to quickly halt the action. On the restart Swanson moved back out front and paced the field until lap 8 when Mitchel Moles clipped Swanson’s front end in his move for the lead and went out front. Swanson had his elbows up at that point and kept pace with Moles with Charles Davis Jr lurking in the shadows in third. Jadon Rogers was the highest running Indiana driver at this point but was a distance back in third. All of a sudden Rogers changed his line entering turns one and two driving straight into turn one and making a diamond move between the two turns pointing straight down the backstretch exiting turn two which allowed him to close on the front three. Entering turn one on lap 14, the top three were side by side by side with Rogers closing the gap quickly. In an amazing move exiting turn two Rogers made it four wide as the group raced down the backstretch where Roger’s momentum saw him slingshot from fourth into the lead in one fair swoop before they reached turn three. WOW!!! The move of the year so far!! Rogers would increase his lead over the remaining 11 laps and score the big win to the approval of the crowd on hand with thunderous applause as the young driver exited his sprinter in victory lane. Unfortunately, the mic did not function properly and we did not get to hear Rogers’ remarks in victory circle. Moles rode home second closing in traffic but Rogers pulled away each time to score the win. Davis edged by Swanson to take third with Swanson fourth and Brandon Mattox beating Geoff Ensign at the wire for fifth after starting 13th.

It was a good ending to a good night of racing and a tightly run program that it recent times has disappeared at Lincoln Park and hopefully this is a resurgence of better times at LPS.

That’s it for this segment so check back tomorrow for night five of Indiana Midget Week as the caravan travels south of I-70 to the home of Indiana University, Bloomington, and the home of the ¼ mile high banked red clay oval of the Bloomington Speedway hosting its 100th year of auto racing. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your own area or take a road trip. Be safe out there and have fun. Comments, news, stories and other points of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and continue to follow a Typical Weekend to see where we end up next. Be good and be kind in these crazy times.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Seavey Streaks to IMW Win at Gas City

Wednesday, June 7 – We packed up Bill Burn’s SUV and headed out the door toward the Gas City I-69 Speedway for night three of Indiana Midget Week and day 5 of the 16 in 17 tour. The weather was postcard worthy as we wound our way on the backroads to Gas City. We passed through Fairmount, the childhood home of James Dean before jumping on I-69 for a short stretch. There was one stop to make before arriving at the track and it was to sample the famous strawberry shortcake at Ivanhoe’s in Upland. The $10 price tag for the combination of ice cream, strawberries, shortcake and whipped cream was well worth the cost. Simply delicious and highly recommended!!!

Once again Steve and Maggie Kimmel along with Irvin King, sponsor of the Hard Charger Award, saved us seats in the top row at Gas City as we settled in for a night of racing. After hot laps for both divisions, USAC midgets (33) and non-wing sprints (34) it was time for time trials for the midgets starting off at 6:36. Just twenty minutes later it was Jesse Love being interviewed by Kristy Bennes after setting a new track record with a time of 11.788 seconds around the ¼ mile dirt oval.

Next on the dance card were four heats for the 33 car field of USAC midgets with the top four advancing directly to the 30 lap main event. The green on heat one at 7:28 saw the first time for us this year in Indiana to see racing start at the scheduled starting time. Kudos to Gas City management for running a tight show tonight. Heat one saw Buddy Kofoid master the field winning over Emerson Axsom, Logan Seavey and Chance Crum. The new one lap track record holder, Jesse Love, would not qualify and be forced to run the semi. Also, in this one Seavey and Gavin Miller raced hard into turn one battling for position with Miller’s car hitting some rough spots, hopping up and down before turning sideways and doing a quick snap flip before landing back on its wheels. Miller would return in the semi and qualify for the feature. Heat two went to the highly improved Bryant Wiedeman besting Kevin Thomas Jr, Ryan Timms and Chelby Hinton who looks like he is starting to acclimate to the midget car. Brenham Crouch in his first USAC midget start of IMW captured heat three over PA’s Steve Buckwalter also making his first 2023 IMW start with the #25 sporting a Honda powerplant under the hood, Justin Grant and Taylor Reimer. Jacob Denney continues to impress nailing down heat four over Chase McDermand, another driver looking good in IMW action, Jade Avedisian and Jake Andreotti.

The 34 wingless sprint cars that graced the pit area would contest four heats also with the top four moving on. Rylan Gray would be impressive winning heat one over Jake Swanson, Ricky Lewis and Geoff Ensign. Robert Ballou sailed home first in heat two beating Logan Seavey, Jack Hoyer and Harley Burns. Arizona’s Charles Davis Jr took down heat three beating Brayden Fox, Dave Darland and Colin Grissom. Heat four was a photo finish with Thomas Meseraull in the Simon #23K edging Tye Mihocko by inches with Trey Osborne and Saban Bibent following.

The USAC midget semi would fall to Tanner Thorson over Cannon McIntosh, Jesse Love, Daison Pursley, Daniel Whitley and Gavin Miller. Hayden Reinbold would use a provisional to join the starting field and boost it to 23. The sprints would run two B mains with the top two joining the rear of the feature fields. Tyler Kendall won B main one over Evan Mosely while Mario Clouser posted victory in B main two over Nate Schank. The prelims were all in the books and the only things left to run were the two main events.

The green flag would drop on the 30 lap USAC National Midget feature at 9:25 with the front row of Emerson Axsom and Jacob Denney presenting a torrid battle over the first five laps for the lead. Logan Seavey who started fourth was in the leader’s tire tracks and briefly stormed by both of them to take the lead on lap four but Axsom countered to regain the lead on lap five. Seavey continued to work Axsom throwing successive sliders in turn one on laps seven and eight but Axsom countered and retained the lead exiting turn two each time while Denney fell backwards through the field. Lap nine saw Seavey dive low in turn one but remaining on the bottom which gave him the advantage exiting turn two. Seavey was on a rail and opened a straightway lead as the field completed 20 of the 30 laps of the feature grind. Behind the leader, Axsom and Buddy Kofoid, were having their own war racing each other in a spirited duel for the runner up position. Seavey who had Monday night’s race at Circle City in the bag when an ignition switch failed him wanted this one badly. With six to go Seavey bobbled on the turn four cushion and lost a big portion of his lead and three laps later lost it entirely as Daison Pursley slowed to a stop in turn four with a flat tire exiting the track cutting across the approaching pack.

On the restart Denney and Cannon McIntosh tangled in turn two racing for eighth with both stopping in the corner and Hayden Reinbold happening upon the scene and catching a wheel rolling over in the process. The race would go back to green with three to go and unbeknownst to most Seavey had lost his left rear shock earlier which would play havoc for the final three laps with the field at his doorstep. On the restart Seavey went high with Axsom diving low to pull alongside of Seavey in turns one and two. Axsom assumed the lead in turn three sticking low but Seavey rebounded and raced back out front in turns one and two. Seavey jumped the cushion exiting turn four on lap 28 with Axsom pouncing once again and it looked like Seavey would come up short for the second race in a row, Seavey fell back several car lengths but entering turns three and four racing for the white flag Logan threw caution to the wind and ripped the lip to surge back by Axsom on the homestretch. Seavey led by a car length down the backstretch briefly rimming over the backstretch banking before throwing it hard down low entering turns three and four where he was able to fend off Axsom to take the win his first in USAC midget action since Turkey Night at Ventura in November of 2021. The jubilant Seavey climbed to the top of his roll cage in victory lane letting out his frustrations. Axsom would settle for second with Chase McDermand lost in all the racing for the lead turning in another impressive run to gain third with Kofoid from 8th to 4th and Bryant Wiedeman rounding out the top five. Justin Grant would manage a sixth with Kevin Thomas Jr seventh, Taylor Reimer advancing from 13th to 8th with Tanner Thorson ninth and Gavin Miller charging from 19th to 10th to garner the Irvin King Hard Charger Award after overcoming adversity earlier.

We still had the 25 lap wingless sprint car feature to go with the green flying at 10:02. Robert Ballou would surge to the early lead from third and pace the field for the first six laps until Saban Bibent lost the handle on his sprinter in turn two to bring out the caution. Lap eight saw Charles Davis Jr wrestle the lead away from Ballou in turn two on lap eight as Ballou continued to work the high side. Brayden Fox began to race side by side with Ballou over the middle stages of the contest as Davis stretched his lead up front. The inside was the place to be as the track was wearing out in the middle and high side but Ballou stuck with it as Fox moved by and veteran Dave Darland began to make his presence known also. Geoff Ensign was also making hay advancing from 13th pushing the top five for position. As the laps wound down Davis had a comfortable lead with Ballou finally able to take second back from Fox on the high side and then he tucked in on the low side. When the final checkered waved at 10:16 it was Davis in for his first career win at Gas City over Ballou, Fox, Darland and Ensign taking fifth at the finish. The ecstatic Davis climbed to the top of the cage while a crew member handed him a beer which he cracked and drank some waving to the crowd who were cheering for the Arizona driver’s win.

It was a very good midget feature and a very efficiently run program with everyone working away happy after the night’s racing.

That’s it for Wednesday’s report but check back tomorrow for round four of IMW from beautiful downtown Putnamville, home of the Lincoln Park Speedway. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and have fun. Comments, news, words of wisdom or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. If you are in the East being diligent with the air quality problem stemming from the wildfires in Canada and keep hydrated. Until tomorrow thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.

Kofoid Gets Gift Win in Night Two of Indiana Midget Week at Circle City

Monday, June 5 – We packed up the gang of five and headed eastbound toward Indianapolis and the Marion County Fairgrounds to the ¼ mile dirt oval called the Circle City Raceway. We met Steve and Maggie Kimmel and Irvin King there who saved us seats one row from the top of the large aluminum grandstand to the right of the flagger’s stand. On Friday as you know we visited Circle City for the FAST sprint car show which started late and was quite dusty. Tonight, the temperature was down in the 80’s with a cloudy sky and the track looked well-watered but they again started late. Before the racing began, I started to have a conversation with the two gentlemen in the top row to the left of me and found that they were from the UK and were over here on holiday taking in as many races at different tracks as possible. They knew a mutual friend of ours, Colin Casserley, a UK race photographer and we discussed racing around the world. It was a pleasure to make two new friends, Mark Webster and Andy Coleman. Welcome to the US and enjoy your travels and be safe.

Time trials commenced at 7:47 for the 28 USAC midgets in attendance and by 8:09 it was Kevin Thomas Jr in one of three Mounce/Stout entries tonight knocking off fast time with a lap of 12.385 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring. The filler division for the evening was 34 Ford Crown Vics and people were worried that with this many cars it would turn into a long show. To Circle City management’s credit, they only hot lapped/qualified the Crown Vics during the show and ended up running their heats, B main and feature after the entire USAC midget program was completed.

The USAC midgets would contest three qualifying heats with the top five moving directly into the 30 lap main event later in the evening. The first heat went green at 8:34 with Daison Pursley powering out front early and winning over Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson, Jake Andreotti and Buddy Kofoid. Cannon McIntosh has things back in sync winning heat two over Bryant Wiedeman, Jacob Denney, Gavin Miller and Ryan Timms. Logan Seavey in the Abacus #57 walked off with heat three over Jesse Love, Chance Crum, Emerson Axsom and Hayden Reinbold in a race where Jade Avedisian took a header between turns one and two tumbling end over end several times before climbing out uninjured. She would go to a backup car and start last in the semi qualifying fifth to put herself into the starting field.

Fast timer, Kevin Thomas Jr, failed to qualify in his heat race being beat out by Buddy Kofoid and was forced to run the semi in which he finished first besting Daniel Whitley, Taylor Reimer, Kyle Cummins, Jade Avedisian, Thomas Meseraull and Bryan Stanfill. Chase McDermand would take a provisional increasing the starting field to 23 for the main event.

By 9:49 it was time to go feature racing with Tom Hansing dropping the green silk on the front row of Gavin Miller and Buddy Kofoid. The rookie Miller, a six time USAC national quarter midget champion, surprised everyone by spurting into the lead past Kofoid and pulling away from the field to a 1.5 second lead. Miller was starting to look like he might pull off his first USAC National midget win as he led the first 13 laps of the contest until he entered turn one where he jumped the cushion and rolled several times into the outside wall. The only thing that was hurt for the youngster was his pride as the 16 year old driver will have other opportunities to win a USAC feature.

On the restart Kofoid would assume the lead with fifth starting Justin Grant in hot pursuit. Seventh starting Logan Seavey quickly polished off Grant for second and went after Kofoid who was at the point. Seavey pulled a slider entering turn one on lap 21 and by turn two was the new leader of the race. A lap later Kyle Cummins took a tumble in turn four to bring out the red mangling the front end of his #3G ending his night prematurely.

The final eight laps of this event were literally like a swarm of bees as the field behind the leaders were slicing and dicing and sliding each other with reckless abandon as Seavey ran roughshod at the front of the pack. For the second time in the evening Kofoid was given a gift as the ignition switch on Seavey’s car failed while leading with three laps to go. Kofoid now had a comfortable lead with several competitors making big moves in the closing laps to garner top five positions. When the checkered flags waved at 10:18 it was Buddy Kofoid first in only his second midget start of the year scoring his 23rd USAC National Midget win of his career and moving into 22nd place on the all time list. For car owner, Keith Kunz, it was his 29th career Indiana Midget Week team win with multiple drivers wheeling for him.

Jacob Denney emerged from sixth to finish second with Bryant Wiedeman turning in an impressive performance advancing from 15th to 3rd with Tanner Thorson picking up the Irvin King Hard Charger award marching from 17th to 4th and Emerson Axsom gaining seven spots in the last two laps as bedlam reigned to round out the top five. Cannon McIntosh led the second five across the line in sixth with Taylor Reimer motoring from 19th to 7th, Jade Avedisian eighth, Justin Grant slipping to ninth and Kevin Thomas Jr finishing tenth.

The evening turned out to be a pleasant experience with the track holding up well and the midget portion of the program being spun off in a timely manner leaving us all happy with our night at Circle City.

That’s it for round two of IMW and night four of our 16 races in 17 days tour. Today (Tuesday) is an off night before resuming tomorrow with round three of IMW taking place at Gas City I-69 Speedway. So in the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and catch some new tracks on your bucket list. Comments, news, stories and other tidbits can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and thanks for your support as we enjoy bringing our reports to you.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Denney Triumphs in Indiana Midget Week Opener at Tri-State

Sunday, June 4 – Today was another nice Indiana summer day with highs in the low 90’s and sunny skies and a nice breeze. It was time for night three of the 16 races in 17 days tour and also the opening night of the 19th Indiana Midget Week. The race tonight was scheduled for the Tri-State Speedway in the southwest corner of Indiana near the town of Haubstadt. The ¼ mile black clay oval would welcome 28 USAC midget racers and 29 MSCS sprint car drivers to the pit area to do battle on this evening.

After MSCS hot laps/qualifying the USAC midgets took to the track to run their individual time trials kicking off at 6:57. By 7:14 Ohio driver, Jacob Denney, was being interviewed after posting the fast time of 13.612 seconds around the ¼ mile bullring.

The MSCS sprint cars would be first up with their heat racing running three qualifiers for their 29 car field. Daison Pursley coming off a hard flip the night before at Knoxville during the Cornbelt Nationals proved that it didn’t have any ill effects as he motored the KO Motorsports #5Z to victory in heat one over Brady Short, Kendall Ruble and Aric Gentry. Heat two went to the consistent Jadon Rogers
In the family car beating Adyn Schmidt, Donny Brackett and Jake Scott. The third heat fell to Colorado’s Carson Garrett in the Dougherty #15 over JJ Hughes, Seth
Parker and Kayla Roell.

The USAC midgets were next on the dance card and ran three action filled heat races with Daison Pursley in the Reinbold/Underwood #19 nailing down heat one over Buddy Kofoid, Thomas Meseraull, Bryant Wiedeman and Jacob Denney. Justin Grant brought the RMS Racing #2 home first in heat two over Zach Daum, Jesse Love, Kevin Thomas Jr in the second Mounce/Stout entry and Ryan Timms. Tri-State favorite, Kyle Cummins, in the Styres Racing #3G notched heat three over Chase McDermand, Jake Andreotti, Logan Seavey and Hayden Reinbold.

The MSCS B main was next up with Dustin Beck pacing the field to victory over Collin Ambrose, California’s Matt Mitchell, Critter Malone and Ricky Lewis. Eddie Vancil would use a MSCS provisional to make it a 21 car starting field for the 25 lap main event.

Jade Avedisian, the sixth fastest timer failed to make it through the heat qualifying so she went out and won the midget semi in short order over Allentown, PA’s Gavin Miller, Chance Crum, Emerson Axsom, Taylor Reimer, Bryan Stanfill and Louisiana’s Chelby Hinton, the 600 whiz in the Bob East #4 the last one in by qualifying. Cannon McIntosh would tag the field with a provisional making it a 23 car starting field for tonight’s 30 lap main event.

After a 40 minute extensive track rework the 25 lap MSCS sprint car feature was called to the post and went green at 10:08 with the front row of Daison Pursley and Jadon Rogers swapping the early lead before Pursley took command. Carson Garrett who started third worked his way by Rogers for second and went after Pursley. The two went at it tooth and nail before Garrett got the advantage. Pursley was not finished and charged back in lap traffic to try to pass Garrett but ramped on the right rear of a lapper and went for a ride rolling several times in turn two. Garrett would control the remainder of the contest with the best battle after being for third between JJ Hughes and Kendall Ruble running side by side for many laps before Ruble crept past. There were seven cautions in the event which took away from the race but when it was said and done at 10:38 Carson Garrett crossed the line first for his second win of the year at Tri-State over Jadon Rogers, Ruble, Hughes and Aric Gentry in a fine run moving from tenth to fifth at the finish.

Justin Grant got the jump on Ryan Timms at the drop of the green flag at 10:52 and the race was on. Timms made several sliders in turns one and two over the next couple of laps but Grant countered and retained the lead. Jacob Denney who started sixth was coming forward and picked off Timms for second on lap five. Denney quickly closed the gap on Grant and made his move for the lead diving low in turn three to grab the top spot. Buddy Kofoid running third made the same move two laps later and was now in second. The red flag would wave on lap thirteen when Thomas Meseraull and Taylor Reimer tangled in turn four and both turning over with T-Mez done for the evening and Reimer returning.

The green waved again and Denney who was really strong bounded back out to over a second lead as the race pasted the halfway mark. Kofoid kept Denney in his sight but wasn’t making any challenges at this point. Justin Grant running third at the time did a half spin in turn two on lap twenty five and with Kevin Thomas Jr close behind in fourth finished off his spin sending both contenders to the rear. On the restart Kofoid was lurking behind waiting to execute a slider which he did entering turn one with Denney crossing over in turn two to retain the lead. The next lap saw the same scenario with the same results as Denney was not going to let this one get away from him. Denney would lead the remaining four laps and score his third career USAC victory besting Kofoid with Kyle Cummins turning in a good performance advancing from eighth to third with Chase McDermand in an equally good run placed fourth after starting tenth with Logan Seavey rounding out the top five. Jake Andreotti came home sixth to thirteenth with Cannon McIntosh powering from 23rd to 7th with Jade Avedisian eighth, Zach Daum ninth from seventeenth and Gavin Miller getting the Irvin King Hard Charger award finishing tenth after starting twenty first. The final checkers flew at 11:10 which is late on a Sunday night but we feel the track needed maintenance before the features. Maybe a 6:30 start on a Sunday would be a better option.

That’s it for this segment as we prepare to gather the gang to head over to Indianapolis and night two of Indiana Midget Week at Circle City Raceway where the USAC midgets will be joined by the Crown Vics. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road to catch some racing. Comments, news, stories and other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back daily over the next 14 days to see where we end up next and what happened. Take care, be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Mihocko Claims Sprint Car Win at Lincoln Park

Saturday, June 3 – Today was a short trip down to Putnamville and the Lincoln Park Speedway as our hell tour continues on. On tap tonight was a five division program on Fans Remembrance Night honoring the many loyal LPS fans who have passed away over the years. A nice concept!! The non-wing sprints who brought 34 sprinters through the back gate for tonight’s racing as Paragon had an off night on their schedule. They would be joined by 18 UMP modifieds, 21 super stocks, 14 mod lites and only 8 bombers for tonight’s racing. We have been to Lincoln Park four times this year and they have not started on their scheduled time once. Tonight the 7 PM racing start was not accomplished until 8:26. We can understand some track maintenance needs to be done but starting almost an hour and a half past your scheduled starting time is unacceptable. If you are not going to follow your race schedule then start hot laps sooner and allow for track maintenance in that time frame to start the race on time.

The first of four heat races for the non-wing sprints took the green flag at 8:26 and Californian Frank Guerrini looked like a contender for the evening holding off Tye Mihocko, Brandon Mattox and Jordan Kinser for the win. Seth Parker continues to impress and show improvement as he captured heat two besting Evan Mosley, Brandon Spencer and Ricky Lewis. Heat three fell to Jadon Rogers who has put together a very consistent season to date with several wins and many runner-up finishes bested Alec Sipes, Matt McDonald and Adyn Schmidt who ran with a wing last night at Circle City. The fourth heat went to Brent Beauchamp beating Harley Burns, Tim Creech and Zack Pretorius. Sprint heats were spun off in just 21 minutes.

The UMP modifieds were next on the docket with Tennessee invader, Logan Mounce, taking heat one, Derek Losh heat two and Travis Shoulders taking heat three. The mod lites which were a late week addition ran two heats for their 14 car field. The super stocks three heats for their 21 car field and the bombers one heat for their 8 car field. Starting to worry about the future of the bomber class as their numbers are dwindling every time out.

Next up was the sprint car B main with four more cars to join the rear of the field making for a 20 car starting lineup for the upcoming 25 lap main event. Brayden Fox, last night’s winner at Bloomington was humbled tonight having to run the B main which he nailed down for the win over Rob Caho from Minnesota, Gabriel Gilbert and Shayna Ensign, wife of Geoff, putting her sprinter into the starting field. A fine run by Ensign after just missing qualifying in her heat race.

Alec Sipes and Evan Mosley would bring the 20 car field to Brian Hodde’s green flag at 10:20 with Sipes edging out into the early lead exiting turn two. Third starting Tye Mihocko would power around Sipes for the lead in turn three of the opening lap. Mihocko would pace the field for the first three laps until the caution appeared when fourth running Frank Guerrini and fifth running Matt McDonald would hook bumpers and stop on the backstretch. On the restart Mihocko paced the field with Sipes second and Jadon Rogers third. Rogers raced by Sipes for second in turn two on the restart and took up the chase of Mihocko. Rogers bobbled in turn one on lap five, losing second to Brandon Mattox and third to Sean Parker. Mihocko continued to pace the field as Rogers began his comeback bid passing Parker in turn two on lap fourteen for third and storming by Mattox for second in turn three on lap sixteen. Mattox was not giving up easily as he battled back against Rogers using the inside while Rogers went to the top. Their midrace battle for second was the highlight of the race as Mihocko pulled away up front. Brayden Fox was working through traffic on his march forward from his seventeenth starting position into the top ten as the laps clicked off. Tye was on cruise control having this one well in hand as the clock struck 10:33 when he crossed under the checkered flags first with Rogers second, Mattox turning in another podium finish in third and has been running quite strong in 2023 after some jinxed seasons previously. Seth Parker came home fourth and Brayden Fox worked his way up to fifth at the finish. Jordan Kinser came from thirteenth to sixth at the end with Brent Beauchamp seventh, Harley Burns eighth, Alec Sipes fading to ninth and Brandon Spencer rounding out the top ten.

We decided to stay for the 20 lap UMP modified feature which took the green flag at 10:41. With Derek Losh starting first the true question was who would finish second. Losh led the entire distance with invader Logan Mounce second, Travis Shoulders third, Matt Mitchell fourth and Tyler Loughmiller completing the top five. It was now 10:52 and we decided to call it a night. Night two was in the books as we plot our trip to southwest Indiana for night one of Indiana Midget Week at the Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt at the Helfrich’s finely manicured ¼ mile oval.

Check back tomorrow on a report from Haubstadt and check back often as we will be attending quite a few races in the next 17 days. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy the warm weather and some good short track racing wherever you are and be safe and stay hydrated. Comments, stories, news flashes and any other tidbits of information can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading about our travels and hope you enjoy the content as much as we enjoy bringing it to you. Be good and be kind.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Hampton Scores FAST Sprint Win at Circle City

Wednesday, May 31 – We arrived back in Chicago late afternoon after taking an 11 day vacation tour of Italy. We had a fun time seeing all the sites of Italy but there was sure a lot of walking on the tour and our feet are still hurting after the trip. Now it’s back to USA and racing once again.

Friday, June 2 – Tonight will be the start of racing (weather permitting) for us seeing races in 16 of the next 17 days!!! To start it off night one would see us venture to the Circle City Raceway on the grounds of the Marion County Fairgrounds to watch an appearance of the FAST sprint car group based out of Ohio and they brought a nice field of 26 sprinters to the facility. They would be joined by 19 UMP modifieds, 17 super stocks and 10 legend cars in a full night of racing. It was hot and sunny with temperatures in the low 90’s which is normal for this time of year in Indiana. To hear the announcers tell you would think that the temperature was predicted to be in the 70’s and they were caught with their pants down when the temperatures pushed into the 90’s. Come on guys this is the way it is suppose to be in June in Indiana so don’t use this as an excuse why you started racing almost an hour and a half late off the scheduled starting time!!! At least you apologized while some other tracks would not have even given any kind of explanation as lame as this one was. You need to start your program on time if you want people to come out and support your track. You don’t see other major sports start 1 ½ hours late unless there is a rain delay or something else. Bloomington Speedway was running tonight also starting at 7:30 and they had their wingless sprint car feature finished before the third heat of FAST sprints was done at Circle City with three other divisions still to run heat races here. How is that so as they had the same weather as we did here?? Come on auto racing, we must do better at starting on time to draw crowds back to see your racing once again. Enough said, let’s move onto the racing itself.

Time trials (not racing) started at 8:15 and completed by 8:35. The first FAST sprint car heat took the green flag at 8:53. Jack Sodeman Jr won the first heat besting McKenna Haase, Danny Smith, the ageless veteran, Jeremy Weaver and Van Gurley Jr out of retirement. Heat two went to Mooresville, IN, Zach Hampton, coming from fourth to beat Ricky Peterson, Kasey Jedrzejek, Kraig Kinser and Brandon Spithaler. The third and final heat went to Danny Sams III, the North Port, FL resident, turning back Leduc, Alberta’s Skylar Gee, Sean Rayhall from Boston, MA, Geoff Dodge from Colorado Springs, CO and Mitch Harble from Newark, Ohio.

Once underway the next heat was trackside once the previous heat pulled off the backstretch which was a good thing. The UMP modifieds were next up and they spun off three very competitive heats with Dillon Nusbaum, Tyler Nicely and Dylan Woodling winning. The super stocks ran two entertaining heats and the legend cars contested one heat with all heat qualifying wrapping up by 9:34. The sprint cars would be the only division that needed a B main with the top five joining the back of the field making for a 20 car feature lineup. Justin Clark, the former 305 sprint star, took down the B main winning over Jordan Ryan, Shane O’Banion, Jesse Vermillion making his first winged start and Bryan Nuckles with brother, Blake Vermillion missing by one spot. They left us only the four feature events to run. Some track maintenance was performed before the 30 lap FAST sprint car feature was called to the post.

Jeremy Weaver and Skylar Gee would bring 18 others to the green flag at 10:18 with Gee snatching the lead on the outside of turn two on the opening lap. Kraig Kinser was quick to grab second from Weaver on the next lap and take up the chase of Gee. Lap five saw Sean Rayhall roll his #19 over in turn two to bring out the red. Rayhall was able to climb from his car unscathed from the incident. Zach Hampton was coming forward from his sixth starting spot and took second from Kinser at the line to start lap six. Hampton closed the gap on leader Gee and found his way around the Canadian in turn two on lap nine to take the lead. The battle waged on behind the front three with some good jockeying of positions for spots four through eight. Up front Hampton was looking invincible as he pulled away from Gee and Kinser. Lap traffic began to come into play around lap twenty as the density increased. Gee was able to close the gap to Hampton’s rear nerf bar and zipped by him at the line to start lap twenty one. It would be short lived as Hampton stormed back by Gee in turn two on lap twenty two. The underdog Hampton was not going to let this one slip away as he pulled ahead to a several car length lead and crossed under the checkered flag at 10:36 scoring his first FAST sprint car win. Gee would end up second with Kinser third, Danny Smith showing he still has some life left in him marched from ninth using the inside to finish fourth with eighth starting Ricky Peterson rounding out the top five. It was a really good feature go with many passes and battles throughout the field.

The 25 lap UMP modified feature was next on the agenda and took the initial green flag at 10:48. Dillon Nusbaum got a jump on Tyler Nicely to take the early lead. Nicely tried several times to pass Nusbaum on the outside but Nusbaum shut the door each time. Lap five saw Nicely move to the outside to turns three and four and not positive if the two touched but quite possible as Nusbaum began to spin sideways and brought out the caution. As good as the modifieds ran in their heats the feature was the opposite as seven cautions slowed this race. Nicely would lead the remainder of the twenty laps and cross the line first at 11:11 besting Bradley Jameson, eighth starting Brent Lee who went to the rear earlier, tenth starting Jake Leitzman and Garrett Jameson rounding out the top five. Won’t have minded watching the super stocks but it was after 11 with a busy day ahead of us we exited stage right.

The racing was good when they were racing but the late start put a damper on the entire evening as this show should have ended much earlier and with housing developments encroaching on the fairgrounds late nights are not going to win you too many friends in the area. Racetracks should try to be good neighbors and run a tightly run program ending before 11. Hopefully the track surface will be better prepared for Monday night as the USAC National midget series invades Circle City. We were not happy to hear that the other division scheduled for that evening were the Crown Vics with $650 to win and the announcers exclaiming that they expected 30 to 40 of them!! Oh, boy, Oh boy!! Can’t wait for that.

That’s it for this one and check back every day moving forward as our busy time is just starting. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take it on the road and join us at Indiana Midget Week starting Sunday evening at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt. Comments, opinions, news, stories and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and your emails to let us know how we are doing. Be safe out there and stay hydrated as the warm weather is finally upon us. Take note, Circle City the temperature is suppose to be in the 90’s on Monday so prepare the track better.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rogers Wins Slide Fest in Barnburner at Lincoln Park

Saturday, May 13 – For the second Saturday in a row we chose the Lincoln Park Speedway as again the weather was a factor in our choice. There were several other viable options but two were delayed by rain delays and the other was too far with an early Sunday wakeup call. So, it was off to Putnamville for a five division (too many especially with added kid’s bike races). Non-wing sprints (33) would be joined by winged 305 sprint cars (22), UMP modifieds (20), super stocks (13) and bombers (11) along with many youngsters competing in age level bike races in varying distances around the 5/16 mile dirt oval.

Reading this column, you know we are a stickler for starting on time and we feel for good reason as if you are running five divisions plus an added feature to attract the younger crowd to LPS (which is a great idea or great promotion) as management looks to attract the future crowd for their racing by enticing them to come out to win free bikes and cash prizes. It is then imperative to present a tightly run program in a timely manner to have people want to return to watch racing at LPS or any racetrack in this country. LPS improved on their 55 minute late start from last week to 30 minutes tonight but that is still not good enough. When you cannot even start your hot laps/qualifying sessions on time how do you expect to start your racing on time?? When was the last time you went to a professional baseball game, basketball game or football game and they didn’t start on time unless there was a rain delay?? The key word here is “professional” and if auto racing was to be considered professional and attract new people out to their brand of entertainment they have to strive to start on time and present an entertaining form of entertainment. Thirty minutes may not seem a big deal to some but when you don’t start your first feature event until 10:30 PM after many people have been there since 5 PM it is a big deal!! Enough said!!

The first non-wing sprint car heat would take the green flag at 7:40 to start the racing for the evening with Jadon Rogers in the family #14 outdistancing the field to score the heat win over Blake Vermilliion, Brandon Mattox and Geoff Ensign moving directly into the 25 lap main event as the top four across the line. Tye Mihocko wheeled the Jamie Paul #24P to victory in heat two over Jordan Kinser, Nate McMillin and Frank Guerrini. Mario Clouser came over from Illinois to capture heat three besting Jack Hoyer, Brayden Fox and Jesse Vermillion. Last week’s winner, Harley Burns, was relegated to the B main after failing to qualify. Seth Parker turned in a strong run in heat four to win it over Brian Hayden, John Sluss and Evan Moseley. Alec Sipes, who finished third last week was also forced to run the B main.

The bombers who usually run last on the card were given an opportunity to run second tonight which was nice for them as they always seem to run good in their heats but not many people get to see them when they run last on the evening. Corey Anstead wheeled his car to victory in heat one and Josh Foxworthy was victorious in heat two. The winged 305’s were next on the slate with Max Guilford back in the USA from New Zealand for the summer at the keyboard of a 305 sprint tonight after running for Goodnight Motorsports last summer. Max captured the first heat race by a good distance over Carson Dillion and Kayla Martin. Rod Henning drove to victory in heat two beating Chase Baker of Ohio and Terry Arthur in an orange #5 reminisced of Randy Wolfe’s old Pennsylvania ride. Ethan Barrow nailed down heat three over John Paynter Jr and Dillan Baldwin riding out of Kentucky.

Two heats were run for the 13 super stocks on hand and three heats were contested for the 20 UMP modifieds in attendance. The 12 lap wingless sprint car B main went to Harley Bruns over Alex Sipes, Ivan Glotzbach (during double duty tonight – 305’s) and Hunter Maddox the last man in.

The kids took to the track to run their bike races from various locations on the track with the oldest ones running a full 5/16 mile circuit. Had to laugh when one of the youngsters said when interviewed that he thought it was the roughest track he had ever run upon!! After the bike races an almost complete rework of the track surface was performed which worried us only for the reason that showers were in the area and it was already 10 PM.

The 25 lap wingless sprint car feature would be led to the green flag by the front row of Tye Mihocko and Jadon Rogers. These two promptly ran side by side for the first two laps before Seth Parker surprised both of them by powering by on lap four for the lead when Rogers just slightly made contact with Mihocko sending him sideways. It was short lived as Rogers regained the top spot exiting turn four on lap five. Parker would remain second with Mihocko and Brandon Mattox pestering him. After slipping back to fourth Mihocko regrouped and picked off Mattox and then Parker for second on lap thirteen and took up the chase of the high flying Rogers. Mihocko was closing the gap on Rogers when the first caution appeared for Braydon Fox who spun in turn two on lap 17. On the ensuing restart Mihocko threw a big slider on Rogers entering turn one sliding in front of Rogers for the brief lead but
Rogers countered off turn two and went back out front. Mihocko repeated the move in turn three with Rogers counting off turn four. This slide job city show continued for the next five laps with the top two exchanging the lead in each corner and Brandon Mattox sticking his nose ahead on the inside in turns two and three but the leaders momentum on the high side allowed them to move ahead. Lap twenty two saw fourth running Jordan Kinser possibly clip the inside tractor tire and spin out of contention at that point.

On the restart it was Rogers out front but the slide jobs continued until the pair raced into turn two on lap twenty three where Rogers wrestled with the cushion causing him to bobble with Mihocko on his tail. The two made contact with both spinning wildly but both kept their sprinters going. The LPS rule unlike the USAC rule on spins allows the spinning car or cars to retain their position if they do not stop. Parker was an innocent victim of the tangle and stopped in turn two bringing out the caution and he ended up at the rear of the field.

When the green waved again Rogers jumped out front and opened a small lead with Mattox nipping away on the inside of Mihocko. The final two laps spun off quickly with Mihocko making a final challenge but came up short as did Mattox’s bid at the line for second. With the ding dong battle up front most people probably missed the good runs turned in by Geoff Ensign from 13th to 4th in the Gass #17G and Jesse Vermillion finishing 5th after starting 15th. It was one hell of a good feature!!
The bombers were next up for their 15 lap feature with Josh Foxworthy able to fend off the race long advances from Joseph Raber to win his second race in a row at LPS with Corey Anstead crossing the line right behind.

The 20 lap winged 305 sprint car feature was next on the docket with Rod Henning and Max Guilford bringing the 22 car field to the green flag. Guilford went out front at the start with Ethan Barrow quickly moving into second on the first lap. Guilford would pace the field for the first 11 laps and on the backstretch as Barrow made his move to pass Guilford the leader dropped off the backstretch and headed to the pit area with some sort of mechanical woes and Barrow was the new leader. At this point the top two had opened about a quarter track lead over the rest of the field and Barrow was out for an early Sunday drive. Dillan Baldwin made a late race charge from 9th to nip Carson Dillion at the line for second with Henning crossing the line in fourth and Ivan Glotzbach coming forward from 10th to 5th at the finish in a non-stop time of six minutes at 11:32. It was the second straight night that the 305’s ran their feature non-stop so guys take a bow for two well run features.

That was enough for us for the evening as we packed up our belongings and made the short walk to our car. On the way out we heard Pat Sullivan say they would forgo victory lane ceremonies as weather was imminent. We drove about a half mile up Route 40 and a heavy shower dropped on us but believe it or not it never hit the speedway!!! It was 12:09 when Pat checked My Race Pass and saw that the last two features with the UMP modifieds and super stocks were over also. Strange weather as we noticed on the way home that it rained in spots but just a mile or so up the road it was dry.

That’s it for now as we are going to make the trip over to Farmer City Raceway tonight (Monday) as they complete their Lucas Oil LM show rained out on Friday with two UMP modified consies and two features to run. Looking at one show on the weekend on Friday before heading out on a 10 day vacation. Comments, news, feature stories, tidbits or anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gamail.com. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Burns Gets First Career Win As Rain Shortens LPS Sprint Feature

Saturday, May 6 – Today was a nice day with temperatures in the mid 70’s so after a nice lunch at Second City Café in downtown Crawfordsville it was south on Route 231 through Greencastle on our way to beautiful downtown Putnamville. What’s in beautiful downtown Putnamville you say, well how about the Lincoln Park Speedway who was racing tonight with the winged 305 sprint cars joining the normal four divisions on the card tonight.

We don’t what it is lately with tracks not starting on or near their scheduled starting time for racing. Last night at Kankakee they started an hour late for no apparent reason and tonight at Lincoln Park it was the same. When you have an added class as was the case tonight with the winged 305 sprints especially if they have to be pushed off it takes time to do so. With the weather we have had lately with all the rain and a late forecast for scattered showers tonight, it is imperative to start on time.

Twenty six non-wing sprint cars were joined in the pit area tonight by twenty three winged 305 sprints, twenty two UMP modifieds, thirteen super stocks and ten bombers. Racing would begin at 7:53 with the first of three wingless sprint car heats with the top five moving directly to the 25 lap main event later in the evening. Brent Beauchamp would charge out front from first and paced the field for eight laps winning over Tye Mihocko, Brayden Fox, Kyle Shipley and Jordan Kinser in a loaded heat race. Harley Burns nailed down heat two besting Brandon Spencer, Donny Brackett venturing in from Southern Indiana, Nate McMillen and John Sluss. The third heat was captured by Illinois invader, Mario Clouser, beating Alec Sipes who is looking better every outing, Dickie Gaines, Matt Thompson and Matt McDonald.

The 22 UMP modifieds would contest three heats with Derek Losh, Derek Groomer and Richie Lex bagging wins. The 305 sprint cars would spin off three heats with Ethan Barrow beating Bryce Norris, the winner on Friday at Bloomington and Chris Miller. Heat two fell to Ohio’s Rod Henning winning over Jeff Wimmenauer and Carson Dillion. Jordan Welch was flying in heat three winning over Alfred Galedrige Jr. and John Paynter Jr.

The super stock would run two heats for their 13 car field with the wingless sprints contesting their B main before the bombers ran their one heat for their 10 car field. The final five qualifiers for the sprint car A main would come out of this event with Rylan Gray winning over Mitch Wissmiller, Bryar Schroeter, Dave Gross and Kyle Johnson the last man in. Gross is a good supporter of all the Indiana area tracks and tows his older chassis, steel block sprinter to each event rarely making the starting field but tonight was his night solidly putting his sprinter in the field. Another thing about Gross is he is very respectful of his competitors and stays low and out of the way and if he gets lapped pulls his sprinter to the infield and parks it. Good job tonight, Dave and way to go!!

By 9:33 it was feature time with Brent Beauchamp and Harley Burns bringing the 20 car starting field to Brian Hodde’s green flag. Beauchamp would bound into the early lead with Burns in chase mode. The first eleven laps clicked off with Beauchamp leading Burns and Tye Mihocko trailing. Mihocko made his move on Burns in turn one to secure second as Beauchamp was cruising out front. Alec Sipes was running a fine race moving from sixth to fourth at this point and closing the gap on the top three. Burns rallied back to take second away from Mihocko on lap sixteen before Rylan Gray spun on the homestretch to bring out the caution. On the restart Beauchamp went to the point with Burns and Mihocko in pursuit. Burns made his move for the top spot exiting turn four diving low and taking the lead from long time leader, Beauchamp. In turn two Beauchamp threw it away as he jumped the cushion in turn two and dropped back to fourth. One of the tailenders slipped off turn two moments later bringing out the second caution of the night. While running under caution a pop up shower rolled over the speedway dropping a heavy burst of rain on the track. The crowd scurried for cover and the call was made to checker the race at that point as the rain ended moments later. Harley Burns was declared the winner at that point on lap 19 with Tye Mihocko finishing second, Alec Sipes capturing third, Beauchamp ended up fourth with Mario Clouser rounding out the top five. Matt McDonald came from 15th to finish 6th with 13th starter, Jordan Kinser, finishing 7th, Nate McMillen 8th, Brayden Fox 9th and Dickie Gaines finishing 10th.

We have to admit that we have never seen a feature race shortened by rain and then the remainder of the features being run!! It was nice to see Burns get his first ever sprint car win but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the last six laps had been completed. We are sure Tye Mihocko and car owner Jamie Paul would have like to have seen that also. That’s why you start on time!!!

After some track drying the UMP modifieds were called to the track to run their 20 lap feature taking the green flag at 10:20. Richie Lex would lead the first nine laps until third starting Derek Groomer slipped under him in turn two on lap nine. Groomer would lead the rest of the distance but Jake Leitzman from sixth applied some late pressure but just didn’t have enough to pull it off. Lex came home third with female driver, Sydney Landes, fourth and Jerry Bland Jr. coming from 13th to fifth.

The 20 lap 305 sprint car feature was next to the post and went green at 10:47. Ethan Barrow immediately went to the point and told the field to catch him if they could. Bryce Norris and Jeff Wimmenauer kept pace with Barrow but never drew close enough to seriously challenge. Jordan Welch made a late race charge to cross the line second behind Barrow with Wimmenauer third, Norris fourth and Rod Henning taking fifth. The checkered waved at 11:13 and with two more features to heavy thunderstorms about 10 miles south of town and two subsequent thunderstorms after we were in bed had us thinking that Sunday did not look good for Terre Haute.

Sunday, May 7 – At 9 AM the call was made by Terre Haute and USAC officials that too much overnight rain had caused both parties to postpone for the second time the Sumar Classic for the USAC Silver Crown series to a future date not yet determined. Not a good start for the new Terre Haute Action Track promoter, Bill Rose, who will have to wait possibly until Indiana Sprint Week to have the opener at Terre Haute.

That’s it for this weekend as we plan for the following weekend for another typical weekend. Until then get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe out there. Comments can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and sending along your comments to us. It is appreciated.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Taylor Wins 88th Badger Season Opener at Kankakee

Friday, May 5 – The decision was made to take the 2 hour drive into Illinois to watch the 88th season opener for the Badger Midget Series at the Kankakee County Speedway just outside the city of Kankakee. It was also the first time for Badger/MARA to race at Kankakee in 33 years. It was an overflowing card of racing action with seven divisions on tap with the following car counts: Badger/MARA midgets – 36; Midwest Throwback sprints – 10; UMP modifieds – 16; Stock Cars – 17; Pro Modifieds – 14; Factory Stocks – 15 and Sport Compacts – 16 for a grand total of 124 cars in pit area. With this in mind we were skeptical of making the drive but if they started on time, it would be manageable. The problem was the starting time for racing was 7 PM and they did not start the first race until 7:54 already putting themselves in a time deficit and with the many cars and divisions on hand that was cause for concern. Once underway the racing went smoothly for the most part with one heat race ending and the next one rolling onto the track and some good racing in all the divisions.

The pro modifieds started off the racing action with an eight lap new winners race before the midgets hit the track for their non-qualifiers race for the nine slowest in hot laps/qualifying. Miles Doherty from Iowa captured this one. The first heat would go to fourth starting Wes Pinkerton over Kevin Douglas, David Budres, Mike Stroik and Harrison Kleven with the top five moving directly to the 25 lap A main. The second heat fell to Cody Weisensel besting Todd Kluever, Ronnie Gardner, Patrick Bruns and RJ Corson. The third heat was captured by Andy Baugh from third over Kyle Koch, Jeremy Douglas, Kyle Stark and Adam Taylor. Greg Ross put on a fantastic late race charge in this one going three wide on the cushion to grab second at the line but his failure to report to the scale found him disqualified and relegated to the B main where his high flying driving style saw him advance from tenth to secure the win in the B main in impressive fashion.

The 10 car Midwest throwback sprinters ran one heat for their group with veteran Steve Thomas driving a Bubby Jones #2 to victory over Dan Ingram and Gary Cummings in a Roy Caruthers #5. The UMP modifieds ran two heats for their 16 car field with Mike McKinney and Frank Marshall notching wins. Two heat each were spun off for the stock cars, pro mods, factory stocks and sport compacts before the midgets returned for their B main. All qualifying was completed before 10.

Giving time for the midgets to regroup after their B main the 15 lap Midwest sprint car feature was called to the grid and went green at 10:02. In an entertaining event the old sprinters ran fast and hard with a good race long battle between Steve Thomas and Gary Cummings. Thomas prevailed at the finish at 10:09 besting Cummings and Mike Fisher in his #11 nipping Dan Ingram at the line for third. If you closed your eyes for a minute you could see Ol’ Bub climbing up through the roll cage to claim another win!!!

The 20 lap UMP modified feature was next to the post and this one turned out to be a really good one. Jamie Lomax would lead early with Jason Hastings and Derek Losh in chase. Mike McKinney quickly came from his sixth starting position to pass Losh for third and pressured Hastings for second. Lomax continued to pace the field up front with the others chasing and battling each other. Losh worked his way past McKinney for third and went to work on Hastings dueling with him for several laps before moving low in turns one and two to claim second. Lomax had a comfortable lead headed into the second half of the feature but Losh began to close the gap and with five to go was right on Lomax’s bumper as they entered lap traffic. Losh looked high and low and was making his challenge in turns three and four with two to go when he made a rare mistake and got sideways almost saving his steed but spinning out of second and a shot at the victory. With no traffic in front of him on the restart it was clear sailing for Lomax the last two laps cruising to his third win at Kankakee in 2023 taking the checkers at 10:32 over Mike McKinney with Steven Brooks who started seventh edging out Hastings for third on the last lap for third with Hastings slipping to fourth and tenth starting Austin Friedman rounding out the top five.

Next up was the 25 lap Badger/MARA feature event with Andy Baugh and Wes Pinkerton bringing the 22 car field to the green flag at 10:40. Baugh squirted out to the early lead with Pinkerton in tow. The battle was for third among Todd Kluever, Kyle Stark and Adam Taylor who finished third last week at Lincoln. Lap five saw the advancing Greg Ross roll to a stop in turn two to bring out the yellow but under the yellow in turns three and four Stark launched over a wheel as the cars slowed and rolled over several times before stopping. Stark was able to climb from his midget but was then taken to the local hospital causing a 20 minute delay as we had to wait for the ambulance to return before restarting. That is why with a full card of racing these things can happen so it is vital to start on time so as not make it an all night event.

When things resumed Baugh went back out front with Taylor slipping by Pinkerton for second in turns one and two. Patrick Bruns would make his way by Pinkerton shortly thereafter to take third as Baugh continued to lead. As they passed the halfway mark the leaders began to approached lap traffic allowing Taylor to close to Baugh’s rear nerf bar but Baugh was able to fend off his challenger at that point. With four to go Taylor made his move entering turn three and pulled alongside Baugh in turn four but the pair banged wheels and Baugh was able to open up a several car lengths lead once again. With three to go the second and last caution would appear as David Budres stopped on the backstretch. On the restart Baugh led but not for long as Taylor went to the cushion in turns one and two and snatched the lead. Bruns worked his way by Baugh in quick order for second as it seemed Baugh was having some fuel issues or another mechanical issue as he free fell through the field. Taylor was not to be denied in this one leading the final three circuits to score his sixth career Badger triumph with Bruns second (who later was DQ’d for an unspecified infraction) so second went to Pinkerton with Ronnie Gardner moving up to third from 12th, Todd Kluever fourth and Mike Stroik rounding out the top five with the checkers waving at 11:21. It was a good, competitive race with lots of passing but the wreck break took some steam out of the event. With this feature ending at 11:21 and with four features to go and the lady in front of us falling asleep waiting for the factory stock feature to run it was time for us to hit the road.

Losing an hour coming home with the time zone difference found us pulling into the driveway at 2:21 AM ready to hit the sack. The traffic coming home was almost non-existent trimming our return trip to 1 hour 45 minutes.

That’s it for now but check back later in the weekend to see if we get the other two planned races in as rain has crept into the forecast so stay tuned. In the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe. Comments, news, stories or anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts. Be good and have fun.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Beating The Rain with An Illinois/Missouri Tripleheader

Friday, April 28 – All our Texas USAC plans were washed out so after scrambling to cancel the flights, hotel rooms and rental car we decided to develop another game plan and changed direction toward Illinois and Missouri where the sun was shining. Tonight, would find us heading west into the Land of Lincoln to take in the six division program at the Lincoln Speedway. Luckily two of the divisions were open wheeled ones so our first appearance in over a year had us arriving around 6:15 for the 7 PM start.

Racing would get underway just three minutes after the scheduled starting time, which was impressive and continued non-stop with the exception of a 15 minute intermission where some track prep was performed. Up first on the docket was the only scheduled appearance of the winged 305 sprint cars with only nine sprinters towing in. The 305’s would contest two heats with Kyle Barker taking down heat one over Evan Turner and Patrick Ryan. Heat two would fall to former winged 600 driver, Aaron Andruskevitch, motoring away from Carson Dillion and John Barnard. Next up were two heats for the MARA midgets, an Illinois based shoot off of the Badger midgets based in Wisconsin and they brought 19 cars to the big dance. Mitchell Davis established himself as the man to beat as he blasted by Chris Baue and Kevin Battefeld for the win in heat one. Kyle Stark nailed down the second heat besting Adam Taylor and Daltyn England.

The street stocks ran two heats for their 13 car field while the UMP modifieds spun off two heats for their 10 car field. The top division at Lincoln the Pro Late Models brought 14 entrants to the track with Colby Sheppard and Jose Parga winning their respective heat races. The hornet class was last up and ran two very entertaining heat races for their 12 car field with all heat racing completed by 8:07.

The short intermission followed and the 18 lap winged 305 sprint car main would take the initial green flag at 8:25. Aaron Andruskevitch started second and took off like a rocket into a wide lead until the only caution of the event brought the field back to him. Aaron was gone again on the restart but there was good racing for positions two through four between Carson Dillion, Patrick Ryan and John Barnard. When the checkered waved at 8:37 it was Andruskevitch in for the popular win over fourth starting Dillion with fifth starting Ryan third, sixth starting Barnard fourth with Evan Turner rounding out the top five.

The 20 lap MARA midget feature was next on the card taking the green flag at 8:43. Mitchell Davis slashed to the front from his sixth starting spot to take the lead racing down the backstretch after completing lap one. Meanwhile Adam Taylor who started way back in 17th was cutting through the field like the proverbial hot knife through butter rising to fifth by the sixth lap. A couple laps later Kyle Starks and Taylor locked up in a crowd pleasing battle for third throwing sliders at each other on opposite ends of the speedway. Davis was not going to be headed in this one flashing across the finish line at 8:59 with Daltyn England surprising Taylor on the last lap at the line to steal second at the finish with Taylor pocketing third at the end.

The 15 lap street stock feature was a good race with Zane Reitz winning. The 20 lap UMP modified race went to Logan Veloz in a good run also. The 20 lap pro late model feature was trackside by 9:34 with multi-time winner, Jose Parga, handling the field easily beating Colby Sheppard and Brandon Johnson with the checker waving at 9:44. Even though the hornets presented some competitive heat racing we decided to call it a night and head toward the exits and then our hour ride over to Jacksonville to the Hampton Inn to spend the remainder of the evening before waking up early in the morning to continue our racing trip.

Saturday, April 29 – Today found us venturing into the Show Me state of Missouri and our destination was one of the tracks on our bucket list which we had never visited before. The Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO was our target track and we made a full day of it. The MidAmerica Outdoor Truck and SxS (UTV’s) were running on the 1.2 mile, 14 turn, 10 jumps off-road dirt course in the afternoon and a combo ticket ($22 for seniors) got you entrance to both the off-road course and the 3/8 mile dirt track that evening. A shuttle took you over to the off-road course from the front gate of the oval track which was about a half mile in distance. They have a separate large, covered aluminum grandstand for spectators which ran the length of the homestretch. You were able to view 95% of the course from your seat which made it quite enjoyable only losing the trucks and UTV’s for a slight time as the track dipped lower on a backstretch area which the vehicles disappeared for a short time and then when they went into a tunnel and emerged on the other side to race into the final two corners before charging to the finish line.

They started the racing at 1 PM and pretty much ran non-stop with different UTV divisions with brief breaks for track watering and the last race which was the MAO trucks concluded at 4:21. We have attended numerous UTV races with two clubs in Indiana which run on longer courses, three to four miles in length, and disappear into the woods for long periods of time and you usually don’t see them for up to four or five minutes. Here at Lucas Oil you almost always had them in view and the track was wide enough with some banked turns and so forth and 10 jumps of various degrees which kept the competition close and kept your interest in every race. One youth UTV finish had the top two finishers racing side by side to the checkered after four laps around the course with their banging wheels while racing side by side with the winner literally winning by inches!! The 10 lap main event featuring the seven truck field was very entertaining with a slew of position changes throughout the field including about five for the lead. Veteran off-road truck racer, CJ Greaves, beat his son, Kyle Greaves to the finish with Johnny Holtger finishing third after a grinding run with none of the trucks with their full body panels remaining. It surely was an enjoyable afternoon of off-road racing enjoyed by everyone in attendance.

Saturday, April 29 – We decided to walk back over to the dirt track as we had time to do so with the dirt track not starting until 7 PM. It gave us time to get the lay of the land of this state of the art facility which is one of the nicest short tracks that we have ever attended. The 3/8 mile dirt oval has large grandstands on both the homestretch and backstretch with the homestretch seating either consisting of aluminum seats with an aluminum backing or individual chair stadium seats with plenty of room in them. The only restriction was the stadium seats with markings on the back which indicated which ones of them were reserved seating or handicap seating. Your viewing is unobstructed with nothing in the infield and the speaker system is probably even more impressive than the excellent one at Perris Auto Speedway in California. Underneath the massive scoring tower and suites behind you are located the concession area with a great selection of food and also a bar for the patron who would like to indulge in something a little more potent. Off to one side is a concession slick track for people to drive small cars on and have some fun for a while until the racing starts.

The dirt track program on this evening would consist of four divisions with the headlining late models only having 8 cars on this evening as the Lake Ozark Speedway only about 60 miles away was having a big MLRA late model show. The USRA modifieds were on the card with 21 entrants along with the USRA stock cars with 18 cars and the USRA B modifeds with a high of 34 cars for the racing tonight.

The late models would run one heat while the modifieds and stock cars ran a pair of heats while the B mods contested four heats and were the only ones who needed a B main on the night. The heat racing was completed in 58 minutes with the B main following. A twenty five minute intermission was taken before the first of four features went green at 8:55. A cold front moved into the area at that time with stiff winds gusting to 30 miles an hour and the temperature must have dropped ten degrees as we reached for our heavy coats and other warm gear to combat the nasty winds.

Even though there were only eight cars the late models put on a competitive show with Justin Wells charging from seventh to take his third win of 2023 and 98 career win beating fifth starting Larry Ferris and Kyle Graves. The 25 lap USRA modified feature was next and it was good racing when they were running but five cautions drag the race down. Matt Johnson came from seventh to win over Jason Pursley and 13th starting Mike Hansen. The USRA stock cars always put on a good show in the Midwest and this one was no exception. Johnny Fennewald won this closely contested race up front turning back William Garner and Waylon Dimmitt making a late race challenge to attempt to steal the win.

Even though we wanted to stay for the USRA B mods the relentless winds combined with an hour and 45 minute drive to our hotel for the night we decided to cut short our visit to Lucas Oil Speedway tonight but will definitely return in the future. Even with the high winds the track never dusted up either which was another good point for this track.

It was a very enjoyable weekend as we caught racing at three tracks, two of which were new ones for us. The weather was generally nice except for the strong winds just before feature time at Lucas Oil. Other than that, we beat the bad weather and got to see some good racing to boot.

That’s it for this report and check back Thursday and during the weekend as we have a busy schedule of races on the agenda beginning on Wednesday and a three banger over the weekend. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area or take your act on the road and catch some racing at a bucket list track. Comments, words of wisdom, news, stories, videos and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy our reports as much as we enjoy bringing them to you. Take care, stay warm and be safe.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Perfect on The Night at Tri-State in Spring Showdown

Saturday, April 15 – After a good night’s sleep at the Hampton Inn in Princeton we arose to sunny skies and warm temperatures. We decided to drive over to Angel Mounds, an ancient Native Mississippian Indian community near Evansville along the banks of the Ohio River. The community was built by the Mississippian Indians between 1000 and 1450 AD and was occupied by over 1000 people during that time. The community was protected by a 17-foot wall around the 600 acre property and included earthen mounds which were built to elevate important buildings. There were various hiking paths around the grounds and we explored the various sites in our long walk. From there we ate at Waltons in Evansville before heading over toward the track as the weather went from sunny to cloudy in quick order. The forecast was not good at this point, but the Helfrich’s’ and track crew were not about to give into the weather. It lightly rained from about 4:30 to 5:45 but management never wavered and continued to groom the track until hot laps commenced at 6.

On tap for the evening’s program were the USAC/MSCS sprint cars (35) and the MMSA mini sprints (26). The Helfrich family was rewarded with a fine crowd turnout as they are known to not give up without a fight. Single car time trials began at 6:38 for the fine 35 car field and by 7:00 it was Justin Grant being interviewed by Christy Bennes after setting his career 31st fast time moving him into 12th place on the all-time list past Pancho Carter and tying him with Sheldon Kinser. Hot laps for the MMSA mini sprints followed and by 7:29 it was time to go heat racing.

Justin Grant came from sixth to first to claim the first heat win and put him in the position for the clean sweep of the evening. Aric Gentry came home second in a strong run with Kevin Thomas Jr. third and Jake Swanson taking the last transfer spot. Brady Short hung tough in the second heat and held sway over Kendall Ruble, Brady Bacon and 2nd fastest timer, Daison Pursley. Tri-State fan favorite, Kyle Cummins, scored the win in heat three besting Jadon Rogers in a Justin Owen tribute car numbered 4J, Logan Seavey and Mitchel Moles. The fourth heat was won by Robert Ballou in a torrid battle with CJ Leary with Emerson Axsom third and JJ Hughes fourth. The 26 car field of MMSA mini sprints would contest three heats with Kayla Roell, Mike Larrison and Eli Wilhelmus taking down the wins.

It was right into the sprint car B main as incoming bad weather was approaching and things went into hurry up mode. Colorado’s Carson Garrett breezed home first in the B main turning back Dustin Beck who is impressive in his brief sprint car career finishing second. Chase Stockon came home third with Donny Brackett fourth, Matt Westfall fifth and Kurt Gross the last man in on qualifying. Sam Scott would take an MSCS provisional while Brandon Mattox would take an USAC one.

A short track prep break (eight minutes) preceded the start of the 30 lap USAC/MSCS feature go with the 24 car field led to the green flag by Brady Bacon and Kevin Thomas Jr. Bacon went to the early lead with Jadon Rogers splitting between Thomas and Axsom to grab second at the start. Rogers continued his surge catching and passing Bacon for the lead down the backstretch. The last winner of an USAC sprint race at Tri-State looked like he was ready to score a repeat win. Rogers quickly opened up a big lead as Justin Grant was slicing his way forward from sixth moving by Axsom first and then dusting off Bacon and Thomas on lap five to take over second and take up the chase of Rogers.

The only caution of the event waved on lap seven when Aric Gentry spun to a halt in turn four to slow the torrid action. That wiped out Jadon’s large lead and placed Grant on his rear nerf bar for the restart. When the green waved Rogers maintained his lead but Grant was all over him like white on rice as he stalked the leader. Grant made his move on lap eleven diving low in turns one and two to wrestle the lead away. In the meantime, Thomas who had gotten off to a slow start dropping to fourth early but by the halfway mark he had the Dutcher steed moving forward passing Rogers for second on lap sixteen but Grant was gone at that point opening up a two corner lead.

Lap traffic was in Grant’s near future and that allowed Thomas to significantly close the huge gap to about a car length with five to go as the crowd moved to the edge of their seats expecting a drag out fight over the last five laps. Also Kyle Cummins had worked his way from seventh to third and was a distance back but you can never count out Cummins at Haubstadt. The lap traffic was heavy in the remaining laps and Thomas was right there looking for a way around Grant and the lap traffic at the same time. As the front two raced down the backstretch Grant led by a car length and entering turns three and four Thomas soared to the top for one last chance to sneak by Grant and steal the win. Grant heard the engine screaming right behind him and slide off the bottom to the top of the track at the start of the homestretch to break Thomas’ momentum and throttled down the homestretch to take the checkered flag at 8:59 and complete the sweep of the evening and collect his 35th career USAC National sprint car win tying him for 13th on the all time list with two of the greats, Rich Vogler and Jon Stanbrough. Thomas would have to settle for second with Cummins notching third and after his 20th place finish at Bloomington on Friday it sure is good to be back home again. Jadon Rogers placed fourth with Brady Bacon rounding out the top five. Emerson Axsom led the second five in sixth with Carson Garrett completing a very impressive run from 16th to seventh with Brady Short eighth, Robert Ballou ninth and Chase Stockon tenth.

It was a very impressive feature run off in just ten minutes with plenty of passing and lots of action. Thanks to everyone involved for presenting a finely run program in record time. We decided to stay for the MMSA mini sprint feature but shortly after victory lane interviews it was announced that the remainder of the show would be postponed due to a severe thunderstorm warning in the area so everyone was asked to leave as soon as possible. We made it back up to our hotel in Princeton before the storm hit our area and were glad that we didn’t have to drive the rest of the way home in the nasty weather.

Sunday, April 16 – The third race of our weekend was to take place at the Terre Haute Action Track with the USAC Silver Crown cars opening up their 2023 season. On Friday it was announced that this would not take place because of the weather which was to be rainy and temperatures in the low 40’s but the big factor was the high winds which would have played havoc on everything and everyone. Walking out of the hotel this morning we realized that it was indeed the right call with the race rescheduled for Sunday, May 7th.

That’s it until next weekend so in the meantime get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area, have fun and be safe. Comments, news, racing stories and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Remember to tell your loved ones that you love them and give them extra hugs. Life is short. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you check back often to see where we end up next.

Our good friend, Allan Brown of Michigan, passed away this past Thursday after a long and courageous 12 year battle with the dreaded cancer and will be laid to rest this coming Tuesday. Brown was the long time publisher of the famed National Speedway Directory which was a great asset for many race teams and traveling fans over the years and prompted a legion of fans to hit the roads to see some new tracks. Brown also was a historian who published the History Of America’s Speedways and other books and publications. Allan and his wife, Nancy, are great friends of ours and his passing leaves a great void in our hearts. They were traveling buddies of ours and we enjoyed many vacations together. Hawaii, the Balken capitals and our driving trip to Alaska were some of our adventures together. Allan was a true warrior and lover of racing and life in general. He will sorely be missed by so many. RIP our friend.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Leary Opens 100th Season at Bloomington with Win In Larry Rice Classic

Friday, April 14 – We left Crawfordsville at 4 for the ride down Rt. 231 toward Bloomington. Friday is always a bear with traffic going to Bloomington and usually takes us two hours to make the journey. It was almost 6 when we pulled onto the parking lot at Bloomington Speedway, the ¼ mile high banked red clay oval which is always well manicured and maintained. Luckily Arizonian, Steve Kimmel, and his friend, Coach, had saved us space in the concrete grandstand to place our chairs to view the racing tonight. It was the 30th running of the Larry Rice Classic for the three time USAC National champion with titles in the midgets in ’73 and the Silver Crown cars in ’77 & ’81. Pat Sullivan paid tribute to Rice along with a fine testament on Justin Owen who was killed at Lawrenceburg Speedway last Saturday and long time National Speedway Directory front man, Allan Brown, who passed away on Thursday after a long and gallant battle with cancer. We will miss them all very much.

Bloomington is a strange town weather wise as the chance of rain was low today but shortly before hot laps were completed a shower rolled through causing a 45 minute delay and forcing USAC officials to issue another round of hot laps before proceeding into the time trials for the 34 car field. Brandon Mattox dumped his sprinter in hot laps in turn two and returned later to race again with a new tail tank and Jadon Rogers flipped the Baldwin #5 in time trials also in turn two which was rough until the track crew had a chance to massage it before the heat racing began. It was 7:33 before the first wheel turned for time trials with the last wheel turning at 7:57. When it was all said and done Kevin Thomas Jr. was being interviewed for the 36th time in his USAC career moving him past Rich Vogler and into a tie for eighth with Bryan Clauson on the all time list for fast times in USAC sprint car history.

Next up were hot laps for the other two divisions on the race card, the MMSA mini sprints (26) and the super stocks (12) on hand to do battle also.

The first of four USAC sprint car heats went green at 8:35 with the top four moving directly into the 30 laps, $5000 to win main event. Robert Ballou drew first blood taking down the first heat win besting Jake Swanson, Jordan Kinser in the Burton #04 and Logan Seavey. Heat two was topped by Justin Grant beating CJ Leary, Daison Pursley and Mitchel Moles with a miss in the engine in this one. The third heat fell to Geoff Ensign in the Gass #17G winning over Chase Stockon, Jadon Rogers and Brent Beauchamp. The fourth and final heat went to Brady Bacon in a strong run turning back Sterling Cling, Kyle Cummins and Brady Short. Heats for the mini sprints and super stocks followed and then it was back to the sprints for their B main.

Fast timer Kevin Thomas Jr. was relegated to the B main where he easily won over Matt Westfall, Texan Dalton Stevens, Emerson Axsom, Tim Creech and Harley Burns. Carson Garrett would use a provisional to make it a 23 car starting field for the 30 lap feature.

The 30 lap USAC sprint car feature was ready to go green at 9:53 with the front row of Logan Seavey and CJ Leary bringing the 23 car field to the green flag. Seavey led into turn two when he slid off the low side to the middle with Leary powering by on the high side to take a lead he would never relinquish. Lap three saw the first caution wave as defending Bloomington Speedway track champion, Geoff Ensign, rolled to a stop on the backstretch. On the restart Leary held sway while Jake Swanson made his move for second diving low in turn two to take second away from Seavey. Lap ten saw the leaders approach lap traffic which allowed Swanson to close the gap on the leader and he inched even closer as Leary moved off the bottom to clear some tail enders with Swanson moving to Leary’s tail tank. Leary weaved his way through the lap traffic with Swanson in his tire tracks never giving Leary any real comfort out front. With eight to go Swanson again applied pressure to Leary but Leary stepped up his pace and his lane went higher to maintain his lead. With four to go Brady Bacon running fourth at the time shredded a right rear tire and ended up on top of the turn four cushion to bring out the second and final caution of the evening. With the lap cars sent to the back it was a clear racetrack for the leaders and one last shot for Swanson to try to overhaul Leary for the lead. Leary was up to the task and ran four errorless laps to notch his first win in his new ride in the BGE Dougherty steed and his 20th career USAC National sprint car win in the progress. It would also move Leary into the early lead for the USAC National sprint car championship. Swanson would ride home second in his best performance of the early year with Seavey third, Justin Grant advancing from ninth to fourth and Emerson Axsom rebounding in the feature after a rough heat and B main to charge from eleventh to take down fifth. Kevin Thomas Jr. would lead the second five across the line at 10:05 for sixth with Chase Stockon seventh, Robert Ballou eighth, Mitchel Moles ninth and Matt Westfall coming home tenth. Jordan Kinser would receive the Irvin King hard charger after starting 20th and finishing 12th.

It was a good race but the track never quite seemed to come around to make for a lot of passing but after the past few weeks it was good to finally see any kind of feature race. Started out watching the 20 lap MMSA feature but after two reds, no laps completed and it being after 10:30 and an hour and a half drive to our hotel in Princeton and rain coming we bailed and began the trip over to Princeton. Both features for the other two divisions were able to get in which was good for those racers also.

That’s it for this column and check back Sunday for Saturday’s writeup on Tri-State Speedway’s racing. It was announced last night at Bloomington that Sunday’s USAC Silver Crown Sumar Classic at Terre Haute has been postponed until May 7th because of predictions of rain, cold temperatures and high winds. So, until next time get out there and see some good short track racing in your area and enjoy yourself. Comments, news, stories and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where our typical weekend ends up at. And don’t forget to hug a loved one and tell them that you love them as life is precious and short and you don’t know when it will all end.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Sad Weekend of Racing Here in Indiana

Friday, April 7 – Good Friday plans were to head to the season opener of the 100th year of racing at the Bloomington Speedway but saturated grounds changed that plan. Next option was to head west on I-74 into the Land of Lincoln and a night of racing at Farmer City Raceway for their season opener. We parked and walked over to the Old Tyme Ice Cream truck where they made homemade ice cream with a churner attached to the truck and the lemon ice cream was delicious. Fifteen dollars got you onto the fairgrounds for the evening.

Four divisions would make up the game card with small fields in each division. The super late models only had 10 cars, the UMP modifieds brought 17 while the pro late models only had 10 and the street stocks mustered up just 4. Though the field was slim the racing was still decent and management moved the program along at a quick pace on this chilly evening. Three of the four division features were completed by 9:08 and with only the street stocks left to run we decided to make the 1 ½ hour trip back into Eastern time.

Saturday, April 8 – Today was the Midwest opener for the USAC National Sprint Cars at the 3/8-mile clay oval at the Lawrenceburg Speedway which has been operating since 1950. We had been looking forward to it and a decent field of 29 sprinters pulled into the Burg with hot laps for the sprinters beginning around 6. Time trials commenced at 6:21 for the USAC sprint cars using a two at a time format. The fourth sprint on the track was Justin Owen, the 2022 Lawrenceburg Speedway track champion who was second fastest in hot laps. Entering turn three on his second timed lap Owen biked turning into the wall roll cage first and bouncing into the catch fence. Off of the fence his car flipped several times before landing hard on its wheels facing the turn four wall. The safety crew was on the scene in a flash and scrambled around Owen’s sprinter providing assistance. Equipment was used to cut the top of the roll cage open to extradite Owen. Justin was taken to the ambulance while the third and fourth turn were cleared to allow the Medivac helicopter to land. After what seemed like forever the ambulance left the speedway with a police escort as it seemed the helicopter was cancelled. A short time later Chet Christner announced that the rest of the program had been cancelled for the evening. We knew even though it was not confirmed until hours later that Owen had passed away from injuries suffered in the violent crash.

These are the times that being a race fan are very difficult to accept even though we know Justin Owen died doing something that he loved doing. Everyone knows that the danger is there but whenever someone that we watch race dies it is like a kick in the gut. It hurts and will stay with us forever even though the pain and sorrow will subside the memory will always be there. This is when racing sucks!!! Not since the untimely death of Greg Hodnett have we felt this anguish. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his fiancé, his family and all his friends who will suffer the most. RIP, Justin Owen and Godspeed.

Justin Owen was a 26 year old driver from Harrison, Ohio who had raced for a decade. He was coming off the 2022 season being crowned the track champion at Lawrenceburg Speedway garnering two victories along the way. In 2019 Justin won three times with the BOSS sprint car series at Lernerville, Paragon and Lawrenceburg along with winning at Lernerville back in 2016 with BOSS. He will sadly be missed by many fans and friends and hope you all will take a moment to pray for the family and also for the EMT’s, safety crew, track officials and fans who witnessed this terrible accident.

That’s it for this segment and check back next week as we plan on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday tripleheader if the weather cooperates. Until next time get out there and catch a good short track race in your area and have fun. Also hold a family member close tonight and thank God for the time you have with that person. Life is short and you need to let people know that you love them and cherish them before they are gone. Comments, news, stories and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And last but not least thanks for reading our thoughts and continue to check back in the future.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Long Lincoln Park Opener Goes To CJ Leary

Friday, March 31 – Our original plan for Friday was to venture west into Illinois and attend the opening night of the Illini 100 weekend at Farmer City but the weather forecast was dismal and the WOO late models and Xtreme Outlaw Midgets pulled the plug already on Tuesday as the weather was predicted to be nasty with high winds and heavy rain. The forecast rang true as our weather on Friday was severe thunderstorms with high winds and tornado warnings. We got the thunderstorms and high winds but were spared the tornados. Other areas in the state were not so lucky with a reported 7 tornadoes touching down in the Hoosier state with the most severe damage northeast and south of us. The towns of Whiteland, southeast of Indianapolis and Sullivan, south of Terre Haute took the biggest hits with over 300 homes destroyed between the two and three deaths happening in Sullivan. Colfax and Frankfort northeast of us had a lot of damage but fortunately no loss of life was suffered. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the Indiana residents who suffered property damage and extra prayers to the ones who lost something more important, their loved ones. God Bless.

Saturday, April 1 – Lincoln Park Speedway was the first to change their plans for the weekend moving their scheduled Saturday night season opener to Sunday afternoon as the weather again did not look promising. Lawrenceburg, who was hosting the USAC National Sprint Car Indiana season opener held out longer but also postponed their race because of rain and cold until this coming Saturday, April 8th.

Sunday, April 2 – Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the high 50’s as we prepared to take in our first Indiana sprint car race of 2023. The nasty weather had now passed through and today was a glorious day filled with sunshine and we looked forward to seeing some good sprint car racing at Lincoln Park Speedway. It was Pat’s birthday today and after church we ventured down Rt. 231 South which is closed for road repair on the south side of Greencastle so if you are traveling any further south you must detour to avoid the closed area. We dined in Greencastle before making our way over to LPS, secured our parking spot and went inside to stake down our area with our lawn chairs and chatted with friends, Al and Loretta Pierce. We basked in the sun as did the track and enjoyed the warmth that it provided. Hot laps were to begin at 2 with racing scheduled to start at 3.

LPS management missed their mark badly as a combination of a longer than anticipated driver’s meeting coupled with a malfunction of the My Race Pass timing system to time hot laps/qualifying for the four divisions of competitors make for extended down time. Add to the mixture the failure to prepare the racing surface properly for daytime racing led to many delays while the track crew watered and ran in the surface between every one or two hot lap sessions. The 3 PM racing start ended up being a 5:30 race start. Not the way to make a good first impression and two gentlemen behind us attending for the first time were nowhere to be found when the second of four features, the sprint car feature pushed off at 8:44. A lost opportunity to gain some new fans for your race track. We understand that there will be some glitches or gremlins on opening day but not to be properly prepared should not be one of them. The decision to scrap the hot lap timing and draw for starting positions in the heats took too long to make and was rescinded shortly after the first sprint group just hot lapped without any timing. A plan B and even C should be in place in case things go wrong and should be implemented in a more timely manner. More than enough said on this subject so let’s move onto the actual racing.

The first of five heats for the fine field of 44 sprint cars on hand took the initial green flag at 5:30 with the top three competitors to move directly to the 25 lap main event. The first heat became the fifth heat and the second heat was actually the first heat to start the racing as they gave the first heat guys time to work on their cars after timing last. We hope you got all that as it is confusing if you won’t there and even was to many who were there!

Jake Swanson would nail down the first (second) heat win in the Joe Daming #5T besting Harley Burns and defending LPS track champion, Tye Mihocko. Heat two was won by Logan Seavey in the Scott Benic #2B followed by Brandon Spencer and Jesse Vermillion. The third heat fell to Brayden Fox in the Fox #53 trailed by Tim Creech II and Hunter Maddox in a strong run. Heat four was claimed by Thomas Meseraull in the Tony Epperson #2E in typical T-Mez fashion after tangling early in the race in turn two with another competitor and starting at the tail of the nine car field drove with elbows up and passed Nate McMillen late in the heat to win with Clayton Rossman taking third. The fifth (first) heat win went to CJ Leary in the Gray #81 beating Kevin Thomas Jr. and Koby Barksdale to the line.

Two heats were run for the 16 UMP modifieds on hand with Derek Losh and Jordan Wever the winners. The 22 super stocks on hand ran three heats while the 11 bombers chimed in with two heats. Only the sprint cars would need B mains and two were run with the top three joining the back of the field for the feature. Brandon Mattox was strong winning the first B main over Ryan Thomas and Gabriel Gilbert. The second B main was captured by young Ivan Glotzbach outqualifying his boss, Brian Hayden, who failed to qualify in the first B main. Blake Vermillion and Jadon Rogers trailed.

The 20 lap UMP modified feature would be brought to the green flag by Derek Losh and Jordan Wever. Losh would bound out front in the early stages chased by the rest of the field. Wever would stay close but sixth starting Will Bennett was working the inside well and slipped by Wever just past the halfway mark. Bennett would close the gap on Losh and reached his rear bumper with seven to go. Bennett looked high and low and several times was able to pull alongside as Losh bobbled on the rough inside. A couple of times it looked like Bennett was going to pass Losh but Derek was able to hold sway over the last five laps and flashed under the checkered flag at 8:24 with the victory chased by Bennett, Wever, Tyler Loughmiller, the defending track champ and Michael Fish up from eighth.

It was finally time for the 25 lap sprint car feature as the temperature continued to drop and it became windy. CJ Leary and Jake Swanson brought 19 of their friends to the green flag dropping at 8:44 with Leary assuming the early lead. Swanson was right with Leary with Logan Seavey looking for race room. The track at this point was much better under the night time skies but was still slick and dusty. There were two distinct grooves, one up high and the other on the bottom and close racing ensued. Brandon Mattox brought out the red flag when he caught the wall on the homestretch rolling over onto his roll cage. He was OK after the roll over but unable to continue. On the restart it was Leary back at the point with Seavey squeezing by Swanson for second as the top three ran the low side bumper to bumper while Thomas Meseraull and Kevin Thomas Jr. took it to the top shelf to try to track down the front three. Meseraull was able to move by Swanson for third on lap 12 as Tye Mihocko was making up ground charging from 12th to 6th by lap 14. KTJ went pitside when the caution appeared on lap 15 for a flat tire and returned to race again but this time from the rear. On the restart T-Mez was working on passing Seavey for second and succeeded with an inside pass in turn two on lap 16. Mihocko took over fourth from Swanson on lap 17 as Meseraull locked up in a good battle for second. Seavey was able to reclaim second on lap 20 as Leary continued to pace the field. As the field took the white flag mechanical woes struck second running Seavey as he rolled to a stop in turn one prematurely done for the evening. On the green/white flag restart Leary stormed back out front with Mihocko inheriting second on Seavey’s misfortune. Leary was not to be denied as he flashed under the double checkers at 9:10 beating Mihocko in a good run with Swanson slipping by Messeraull down low off turn four to steal third with T-Mez settling for fourth and Harley Burns rounding out the top five with a strong run. Kevin Thomas Jr. blasted through the field from the back to salvage sixth with Brayden Fox seventh, Nate McMillen eighth, Clayton Rossmann ninth and Hunter Maddox rounding out the second five. It was a good, competitive race but was much too long in the coming.

That’s it for this segment as next weekend plans have us doing a Friday/Saturday doubleheader. Until next time get out there and see some good short track racing in your area and be safe and stay warm. Comments, news, stories and other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and thanks for the comments that come our way. Take care and be good.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Arizona Spring Training Baseball Vacation Includes Day Of Racing

March 18 to 27 – We flew into the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix on Saturday morning, hooked up with Jim & Khris Reeder of Iowa, formally from Belvidere, NJ and we were off on our vacation. Lunch at Village Inn was followed by checking into our condo at Scottsdale Links Resort for the next nine days before leaving for our first of six baseball games west of Phoenix in Goodyear at the Goodyear Ballpark where the Seattle Mariners were visiting the Cleveland Guardians with the Guardians hanging on for a 5-4 win. Sunday was another game at American Family Fields Of Phoenix with the Cincinnati Reds versus the Milwaukee Brewers. The four of us were joined by Max and Suzie Niemann of Brownsburg who were on their own cross country trip into the West and the date coinsided with their itinerary. We all enjoyed the close game with the Brewers with a walkoff 4-3 victory. The six of us joined Steve and Maggi Kimmel at the unique Steak and Stone restrauant for a great night of eating and fellowship. The unique feature of this dinner was cooking your own steak on top of a 500 degree heated lava stone which made for a delightful and well and evenly cooked steak.

We seemed to always be a step ahead of the weather on this trip and that was a good thing as we headed north to Flagstaff and then northwest to the Grand Canyon. Monday was cold with temperatures in the high 30's and a blustery wind to boot but that didn't deter us as we gazed in wonder at God's beauty that unfolded before us. The sight of this creation never gets old for us as we made our sixth visit and some of the best memories is of our friends who see it with us for the first time. Priceless!!! After the Grand Canyon we drove down senic Route 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona where we would spend the night. The next day north of us in Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon 3 to 6 inches of snow fell while we had our Pink Jeep tour canceled because of heavy overnight rains leading into the next day. We drove through heavy rain much of the way back down to the Valley of the Sun making a stop at the famous Rock Springs Cafe for a fine lunch before venturing back down into the Phoenix area. We saw a flipped car in the median on the way back and a raging stream along the way. Three small towns below Sedona were evaculated for flooding reasons as the water surged south. We had a baseball game scheduled in Surprise for the evening between the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals. The Cubs prevailed in a rain shortened game 6-2.

Wednesday was the last of the cloudy days in Arizona with our group spending a very interesting day visiting the Western home of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright called Taliesin West. It was a very nice visit and very informative tour of his home and the ideas behind his works. Next it was off to Peoria for the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the Seattle Mariners in another night contest. The Dodgers only mustered up two weak hits falling to the home team 6-1. Thursday was a drive into the Apache Junction area where we tried to view the grounds of the Arizona Speedway but it has been all plowed and everything race wise is gone. Next was a boat ride on the Dolly steamboat on Canyon Lake where we admired the scenery and saw some mountain rams along the way. Then it was further west to the town of Tortilla Flats, a big tourist attraction, and then up the road for another 5 miles before the road is now blocked off. In past years we had driven down the side of the mountain and that times the road had been sketchy at best with it being very narrow with no guardrails.

Friday was another baseball game at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers squared off with the Milwaukee Brewers and the two teams battled back and forth the entire game with the score tied at 6 at the end of nine innings. The game include an Indiana back to back homer display by Brewer teammates, Josh VanMeter from the Fort Wayne area (Ossian) and Mike Brosseau from Munster. From there we met the Kimmels, Steve and Maggi, at Blue 32 Sports Bar and Grill for another wonderful dinner.

Saturday was race day as the plans were to take in two tracks (which turned into three), one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The first of the facilities on the agenda was the Podium Club @Attesa, a 2.32 mile, 15 turn road course in the desert near Casa Grande. Upon arrival we encountered a large sign advertising the Manzanita Speedway which had us buzzing about the rumors we had heard of this property adding a dirt oval in the future to replace the long gone Manzy half mile. We will have to keep an eye on any future developments on this matter. Today the NASA AZ road racing group was running at Podium Club and thanks to Adina Evanson we were able to have a full day's schedule of the events happening here. We must admit that one thing we truly like about the road course racing is that they publish schedules and almost to the minute stick to their time frame unlike the majority of the short oval tracks that operate in this country. We watched two 30 minute races, the first of which featured 17 spec Miatas taking the green flag. There was some good racing in this one with Ryan Busk besting the field. Eddie Yakin Vasquez and Bradley Widhalm chased him across the finish line. After some track maintenance to sweep the course of stones and sand the second thirty minute race featured four different classes of ST cars. Fourteen cars took the initial green in this one with Greg Vannucci taking the early lead. Dale Chandler in the only Super Unlimited class car, a Corvette, took the lead but NASA regional director, Tage Evanson, in his Super Touring 2 Honda Civic blasted by into the lead. Evanson would lead until lap five when he pulled into the pit area handing the lead back to Chandler who would lead the remainder of the event besting Vannucci in a Lotus Exige and Bill Lawrence in a Ford Mustang.

We still had plenty of time to make the half hour drive over to the Central Arizona Speedway, a 1/3 mile dirt oval in Casa Grande, that was hosting the ASCS sanctioned wingless sprint cars on the evening. They would be joined on the 1/3 mile by dwarf cars (12), bombers (16) and pure stocks (21). A bonus on the the evening was three classes of NOW 600 micro sprints were also on the card running the 1/5 mile inner oval completely separate from the bigger oval. The three classes of 600's were A class (11), 600 restricted (7) and 600 outlaws (10). The ASCS wingless sprints brought an additional 21 entrants to the show.

The starting time was listed as 6 PM and by 6:07 the first heat for the 600 A class hit the inner oval. They contested two heats with Drake Edwards and Joshua Spatola winning. The 600 restricted only had one heat for the youngsters with James Ferrin winning. The 600 outlaws would stage two races with Drake Edwards and Tyler Johnson scoring wins. Next up were three heats for the ASCS wingless sprints with RJ Johnson, Charles Davis Jr. and Cameron LaRose in the Mihocko #5 winning. The dwarf cars ran two heats along with the bombers while the pure stocks who probably ran the best and closest heats ran three including one won by Ricky Thornton Sr., father of Ricky Thornton Jr, who runs various classes of cars but mainly the Lucas Oil Late Model series. All qualifying was in the books by 7:15 with the feature events next on the docket.

The first of three NOW 600 micro sprint features took the green at 7:46 with veteran Chris Rahe jumping from his first starting position and leading the entire distance withstanding the late race charge of 10th starting Logan Heath to score the popular win with Drake Edwards joining them on the podium. Rahe is an old timer racing midgets back in the day with Sleepy Tripp and others. Ethan Stevens triumphed in the 600 restricted event besting Connor Jacobs and Isabell Wilson. Young Stevens received a big hand while being interviewed that he wanted to win this one tonight as it was his mom's birthday. The 600 outlaw feature was captured by Chris Rahe beating Drake Edwards and Logan Heath to the finish.

Next up was the 25 lap ASCS wingless sprint feature taking the green flag at 8:37. With RJ Johnson, probably the best driver in Arizona starting second it was who was going to finish second in this one. Johnson would lead flag to flag to this one but it was not easy as sixth starting Charles Davis Jr. applied the pressure until a late race venture off the turn three banking ended his chance to score the win. Johnson crossed the line at 9:02 capturing his 17th career ASCS wingless win over Logan Calderwood from seventh and Camerson LaRose who made a two for one pass entering turn one on the last lap to move from fifth to third at the finish. Pete Yerkovich and Daylin Perreira from 12th rounded out the top five. We stayed to watch the dwarf car feature and then decided to call it a night pleased with the racing we saw at Central Arizona.

That's it for this segment and check back as we had two races planned for this weekend but the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets along with the WOO Late Models have already been canceled at Farmer City Speedway with only the midwest USAC sprint car opener at Lawrenceburg and the season opener at Lincoln Park still with possibilities to run but high winds and cold temperatures could do them both in. Until next time get out there and enjoy some good short track racing in your area and be safe and keep warm. News, comments and other things of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and hope you enjoy our stories.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Rain Stops Friday Show & Cummins Takes Finale at Bubba’s Raceway Park

Friday, February 17 – Earlier in the week Friday was the day that the weather forecasters were predicting some rain for Florida but as the week moved on the forecast dropped. Come Friday morning the forecast was back up to 50% + prediction of rain rolling in off the Gulf of Mexico from 5 PM to 7 PM. The build ups off the west coast of Florida are hard to predict and can be hit or miss. We chowed down at Ford’s Garage in Kissimmee on some good burgers and onion rings before heading north toward Ocala. Found a parking spot in the handicap area for Ken Wagner and Pat and I went into the grandstands to swap out our blankets for a blue tarp before returning to the car.

The weather started to get cloudy around 5 and a light rain started to fall about a half hour later. It was not enough to cancel the show at this time but would surely delay the start. The rain let up and around 6:15 the announcement was made that the driver’s meeting would be at 6:30 with cars on the track at 7. Around 6:30 it began to mist again, and the volume picked up once again to a light rain. Surprisingly the call was made before 7 that this evening was not going to happen. Looking around the parking lot we feel it was more of an economic call as the locals stayed home on this unpredictable night and after having a good crowd the night before any profits made on that evening would disappear if they ran tonight. Really can’t blame them for the decision. The only of five shows running this evening that managed to get a complete program in was East Bay and they did so with two rain delays.

Saturday, February 18 – The game plan was to pack up and leave the condo a day early and sleep in Lake City Saturday night and make the long tow back to Indiana on Sunday. Before venturing over to the track though the clan coordinated to meet just east of the track at Sam’s St. John’s Seafood House for a wonderful meal of various kinds of seafood delights. Irvin and Mary Jane’s shared dish looked to be enough to feed the entire crew!!! Times like this are what racing is all about. Good friends and good food to go along with the racing. It doesn’t get better than that!!

Back to the track where 27 USAC sprint cars would be joined by 13 250 micro sprint competitors on this evening with the sprint cars pushing off at 6:38 to lap the 3/8 mile D-shaped clay oval to see who would come out on top of the heap for fast time. It would turn out to be Chase Stockon for the 32nd time in his USAC sprint car career moving him past Sheldon Kinser into sole possession of 11th place on the all time qualifying list with a time of 13.979 seconds.

The USAC sprints would return first to the grid to do battle in their qualifying heat races before the micro sprints would contest two heats for their group. CJ Leary looked strong in heat one motoring his BGE Dougherty #15X out front to capture this one over Kevin Thomas Jr., Brady Bacon, Chase Stockon and Matt Westfall in one loaded heat race. Emerson Axsom continues to show his prowess in Florida by claiming the second heat in the Clauson/Marshall #47BC over Brady Short, Mitchel Moles, Kyle Cummins and Justin Grant. Thomas Meseraull had the Dyson #20 humming in heat three besting Jason McDougal, Carson Garrett, Robert Ballou and Daison Pursley. These drivers were all locked into the 35 lap main event for the evening. Two micro sprint heats followed with Michael Mason and Chris Kennedy scoring the wins.

The sprint car semi was next up on the race card and England’s Tom Harris had a rough one in this event spinning twice and eventually rolling over in turn four. The scariest moment of the evening happened in the semi when Kevin Newton climbed the homestretch wall and careened into the catch fence to the left of the starter’s stand mangling several sections of fencing and posts and coming close to breaking through the fence into the crowd area. Newton was sore but OK after his wild ride but the same could not be said for the second Benic Honest Abe Roofing #16. An hour plus delay ensued before a makeshift repair was made to the fencing and the section behind the fence was cleared of spectators who were relocated to other seating areas of the track. Jadon Rogers in the Baldwin/Fox #5 would eventually win this wild race over Logan Seavey, Jake Swanson, Joey Amantea, Eddie Tafoya Jr., Cameron Smith in an ill sounding sprinter and Brandon Mattox. Tom Harris would return to the semi but was a lap down and was awarded a provisional for his never ending efforts.

The 15 lap micro sprint feature would be next on the agenda with Chris Kennedy winning for the second straight night besting Zach Larose and Dakota Yeingst in the seven minute event. This was a fine filler division with not an overflow of entrants and perfect to give the sprint car teams some time to work on their steeds between heats and semi and feature.

The front row of Brady Bacon and Kyle Cummins would lead the 23 car field to the green flag for the 35 lap feature at 10:43 with Bacon jumping out front looking for his second straight points paying win of 2023. Lap four would see the caution wave as Robert Ballou pulled up lame on the homestretch with a broken camshaft while running eleventh and ending his race prematurely. On the restart Justin Grant made his move from fifth catching and passing Cummins for second. These two went back and forth over the next five laps exchanging position until Cummins secured second again on lap nine. Cummins began to reel in Bacon for the lead and ran side by side as the pair reached lap traffic on lap eleven. Bacon used this as a wake-up call and sprinted away from Cummins by over a second or two. Bacon maintained his advantage as Cummins and CJ Leary hooked up in a tussle for the runner up position with ten to go. The leaders continued to pick their way through traffic as the race dwindled down to six to go and things started to get really hectic. Bacon approached a group of cars running his preferred inside line. It was decision time for Bacon to stay down low or go upstairs and he went to the top in turn one with four to go picking off Daison Pursley and giving him some breathing room for the moment. Turn three would be Bacon’s Waterloo as he searched for a way by the lappers. Cummins seized the opportunity and closed on Bacon rapidly. Exiting turn four with just three to go, Cummins got the advantage and swept by Bacon to grab the lead. Cummins would not surrender the lead over the last few laps even though the lap traffic was heavy and he swept under the checkered flag at 10:56 to garner his first win of 2023 and his 15th USAC National sprint car win moving him into a tie for 39th on the all time list. Bacon would have to settle for second as it looked like he might make it two straight but fell short with seventh starting CJ Leary third, Justin Grant fourth and Jason McDougal rounding out the top five. Emerson Axsom would come home sixth with fast timer Chase Stockon seventh, Matt Westfall eighth, Kevin Thomas Jr. ninth from sixteenth and the Irvin King Hard Charger award to boot and Logan Seavey ending up tenth. The two nights of racing at Bubba’s Raceway Park were good contests and the track surface held up well getting a little black on the final night. Overall we were pleased with the racing here.

It was a big win for Cummins and crew in more than one way and we would be remiss if we didn’t give you the whole story of the week. After Cummins set fast time at Volusia Speedway Park on Monday, he blew an engine in the heat and was done for the night. The Rock Steady crew decided to sit out the second night of the non-points paying program at Volusia and regroup for the final three nights of points racing at Bubba Raceway Park as they look to contest the USAC National sprint car championship. On Wednesday’s practice night at Bubba’s after installing their second engine of the week it blew up after only two laps of practice and this is where the “fun” began. With no more spares available a call was placed to fellow Haubstadt competitor, Chet Williams, who was in Texas at the time and the situation was explained to him. Without hesitation Williams made the trek back from Texas to Indiana and then loaded a trusty engine of Cummins which was used in 2022 to win several big races into the back of his pickup truck and began an additional 12 drive from Indiana to their hotel in the Ocala area. It was installed in the hotel parking lot and Cummins drove the car to fifth on Thursday. The nightmare scenario would have a happy ending when Cummins stormed by Bacon late in the race on Saturday to score the $10,000 to win race. A big cowboy hats off to Chet Williams and Jay Harrington for their yeoman effort to help their fellow racers and to the entire Cummins crew for their dedication and hard work to turn around a bleak situation into a winning one!!!

That’s it from Florida and our next outings probably will not be until March so a slight hiatus for the next two weeks or so until we return with our next report. In the meantime if you are in the northeast it is time for the sprint car openings with Lincoln Speedway going on Thursday evening with temperatures in the 70’s during the day but dropping into the 40’s at night. Dress warm and enjoy. In the meantime comments, news, stories and anything else can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.comAnd as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next.

A Typical Weekend

By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Bacon Has Memorable Night At Opening Night At Bubba’s Raceway Park

Thursday, February 16 – Wags, Steve, Pat and I loaded up the car and headed north on the Florida Turnpike toward Bubba’s Raceway Park for night one of three of the Winter Dirt Games XIV for the USAC National sprint car series. Twenty seven USAC sprints would be joined by 12 250 micro sprints for a two division program with the little guys being a fine filler division and time for their big brothers. We arrived early to tie down our blankets and then headed down I-75 a few exits to dine at the Hacienda Mexican Restaurant which we had another delicious meal of authentic Mexican cuisine.

Back to the track and time to settle in for the night of racing action which commenced with time trials for the 28 sprint cars on hand pushing off at 6:39. Newcomer Eddie Vancil caught an infield tire between turns three and four and launched himself into a series of two to three rollovers before landing back on his wheels but his night was over early. Jason McDougal in one of the three KO Motorsports entries set fast time around the unique D-shaped 3/8-mile dirt oval with a lap of 13.791 seconds in his run.

The USAC sprints would be first up to run their heat races with the top five moving directly to the main event. Mitchel Moles would punch his ticket to the big dance with a victory in the Reinbold/Underwood #19AZ in heat one Logan Seavey, Brady Bacon, Tom Harris and Robert Ballou who suffered ignition issues and went to a backup car and came from the rear. Jadon Rogers motored the Baldwin Brothers orange crate #5 to an impressive win in heat two beating Chase Stockon, Emerson Axsom, Jake Swanson and Thomas Meseraull. Matt Westfall in the Marshall #33M captured heat three over newcomer Brady Short, CJ Leary, Justin Grant and Carson Garrett. Two heat races were run for the 12 micro sprints on hand with Zach Larose and Chris Kennedy winning their respective heats.

Kevin Thomas Jr. struggled in his heat race but came back to win the semi over another driver who has struggled in Florida, Kyle Cummins who has suffered two blown engines. Daison Pursley came back from a semi tangle and work area visit to claim third with Joey Amantea fourth, Brandon Mattox fifth, Hunter Maddox sixth and Steve Irwin nailing down seventh.

Next up was the 15 lap 250 micro sprint feature which would go non-stop in five minutes with a good battle for the lead between Zach Larose and Chris Kennedy for the race lead with Kennedy prevailing in the Bubba Army sponsored #2. Michael Mason came home third for the last podium position.

It was now time for the 30 lap USAC National sprint car points opener, with CJ Leary and Emerson Axsom bringing the 22 car field to the green flag of one of the few black starters in racing. CJ Leary took the early lead over Emerson Axsom. Lap two saw Brady Bacon get a big break when he slid across Thomas Meseraull’s front bumper battling for fourth and sat sideways dead in the water until Jake Swanson plowed into his left side nerf bar cracking a header on the Dynamics #69 but also push starting his engine so Bacon never stopped and would regain his starting spot on the restart. Leary would lead the first nine laps of the feature before Axsom surged by to lead the next 13 laps as Bacon lurked in third behind the two front runners. Bacon went past Leary for second on lap 21 and proceeded to pick off Axsom two laps later just before the caution appeared for the second time on lap 25 when sixth running Meseraull and ninth running Daison Pursley tangled off turn four causing eighth running Thomas Jr. to come to a halt exiting the corner. On the restart Axsom made a strong run on the top side at Bacon but Brady was able to fend off the advance leading the final five circuits of the event to score his 47th career USAC National sprint win breaking a tie for fourth with the legendary Jack Hewitt who joined Bacon in victory lane and tying him for third on the all-time win list with Tracy Hines. It was also his fifth Ocala win to boot. Axsom came home second with Leary third, Justin Grant fourth and Kyle Cummins finishing fifth after starting tenth. Thomas Meseraull led the second five across the line with Matt Westfall completing a fine night in seventh with Logan Seavey coming home eighth, Chase Stockon ninth and Robert Ballou coming from dead last (22nd) to garner the Irvin King hard charger award taking down tenth.

It was a good competitive feature running in a timely manner ending at 9:32. Nice job by all parties involved.

Check back tomorrow for night two of the Winter Games XIV to see who nails down the win at Bubba’s Raceway Park. Comments, news, stories and anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy any racing in your area if possible and plot the racing season on paper for 2023. And as always thanks for reading our efforts and check back often to see where we end up next. Be safe and have fun.