2012 Race Report 4

Indoor Kart Racing January 28, 2012

Saturday was the second annual Indoor Thunder Race at the Circle M Ranch in Pelzer South Carolina. After driving all day Friday I pulled into the Circle M Ranch at 11:30AM on Saturday and practice was already under way. The track is constructed in the large indoor rodeo arena as they brought in good red clay and slightly banked then well watered the track. The track is only about 1/10-mile and is a paper clip shape and not too wide. They put boards in front of the rodeo metal fencing and then hay and tires to form the outside walls then placed the steel discs and some cones to mark the inside. The straightaway stands are 11 rows of comfortable cloth padded folding chairs with some additional seating in wooden folding seats above the third and fourth turn. The view from the straightaway seats was hampered some by the support beams for the ceiling and the wooden flag stand. Qualifying started at 1PM for 187 karts in 19 classes with 15-lap features starting at 4PM. The two big money races were extended to 25-laps and all races started straight up by time in single file formation. At the driver’s meeting it was explained that lapped karts would get the black flag and should exit the track as traffic could get heavy on the short track. Clone medium (23 karts) and pro clone (23 karts) were the biggest classes and 12 champ heavy and 13 pro champs were the two countable classes for track chasing. The first 5 races were won by the fast qualifier and the clone medium race was the only one to have a yellow (5). The final yellow was on the last lap and Jason Scruggs lost the lead to Disco Donnie Nall but the scoring reverted to the white flag giving Scruggs the win. The blue lite had only 4 karts but they exchanged the lead 4 times with Colby Horner winning over Cruise Caudell. The yellows became more frequent with some bump and run passing and a 3 wide finish in the gold heavy with Nick Long taking his second win of the day. Colby Horner won the junior sportsmen champs then the 12 senior champ heavy karts took to the track for 15 laps. After a spin on the first lap they ran all green with second fastest timer Disco Donnie first to the checkers followed by Donnie Bryant and Shay Chavous. Nall also won the stock heavy feature from the pole in a non-stop race. The competitive edge class started 12 karts and failed to complete a lap in 5 attempts so a red was thrown and all drivers went to a special meeting with the flagman.  They then restated and went all green with third starter Wes Suddeth the winner. The pro champ race was the 17^th feature of the day with $1000 going to the winner and Bryant again on the pole with fast time. There were two spins in the first three laps then they settled down to some fast racing. Nall started second and got by Bryant with seventh starter Jason Moates coming home third at the finish. However an illegal carburetor screw had Nall disqualified for the two champ kart races so Donnie Bryant was a double winner. The last race of the day was the $2000 to win pro clone race and Nall started in front and led until Justin McDonald took over on the 4^th lap. Nall got back under McDonald about the 18^th lap and held the lead to take the big money with Scruggs coming home third. Racing was done at 7:50PM and I got a good start on the drive home before getting some sleep.

2012 Race Report 3

Ice Racing January 22, 2012

Sunday turned out to be a good day for some ice racing in southern Wisconsin. I was going to head over to Lake Sinissippi but saw a post that due to the construction being done in the river in town the dam is being opened and closed thus affecting the lake level.  Water is pushing up through the cracks causing slush that is not freezing even in the recent temperatures. I had seen some posts about Buffalo Lake racing today and I had not been there for several years so today would be a good time to revisit The Call of The Wild Campground where you can view the races from your car along the shore or even from the restaurant & bar at the campground. The track is about a quarter mile oval on the ice of Buffalo Lake that is marked with some tires placed around the inside of the turns. Only a flagman and an assistant were on the ice the pits and spectating were done from the shore along the front straightaway. We have not had much snow so only about three inches are on the ground but they plowed the grass along the shore so you could park and watch from the comfort of your car. The races started at 12:30 with heats for the 10 rear wheel drive cars, 16 front wheel drive cars and the 5 lady racers that use the front wheel drive cars. After the heats they took an intermission and set the lineups for the semi in the FWD class and the features in all 3 classes. The semi transferred the top 4 to the back of the FWD feature. Jeni Paul started third and won the 10-lap run for the women over Amy Richards. Kenny Richards started 4^th and won the FWD feature over Nick Rahn. The RWD cars rounded out the day with Marky Mark coming from 7^th to capture the feature race over Jim Rhode who tried the last few laps using the snow “cushion” on the outside where he was faster but fell a few car lengths short at the finish line. All the features went non-stop and the races were done about 3PM.

2012 Race Report 2

Chili Bowl Nationals January 10 – 15, 2012

Monday was time to start the trip to Tulsa Oklahoma to see the 26^th annual Chili Bowl Nationals. This year there was not a spec of snow the entire trip down to Oklahoma as evidence of our unusual mild start to winter in the Midwest. Monday night we arrived at Lee’s house in Leavenworth Kansas to meet grandson number two as Wesley was born the last week of December. Tuesday finished the trip to Tulsa and was the first day of the 5-day Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Center where the midgets are the attraction – the only attraction. No club sanctions or co-sanctions as the event is an open race on a date when most areas of our country are not even racing especially not racing midgets. The cars and drivers come from all over – this year 32 different states, Australia, Canada, Finland and New Zealand were represented. The drivers come with different kinds of experience both currently and in the past – there were NASCAR champions, late model and modified champions, winged and non winged sprint car champs, micro champs and of course many midget champions. Mix these with drivers starting out and those who just want to race at The Chili Bowl and you have a formula for a week of fun and excitement. The indoor track is a quarter mile dirt oval with seating for 10,000 plus and pits for over 250 cars all under one roof. The event is sold out months in advance (but you can always get a pit pass). Tuesday night 66 cars raced in 8 heats where points are accumulated and then the top 40 race in four 10-lap qualifiers to earn more points. The balance, (26 cars) were divided into 2 “C” mains where the top 4 finishers earn the last 4 spots in the “B” main. After the qualifiers the points are again tallied and the top 16 earn feature positions with the remainder (24) divided into two “B” mains where they will race for the top 4 spots that will transfer them to the feature. This format will be repeated each of the preliminary nights (Tuesday through Friday) for a different field of cars and drivers. The Tuesday night racing started with a nice wet track (I got mud on my shoes walking up to my seat after warm ups) that was fast and tacky for the heats but that meant wins from the front. Jody Rosenboom winning the 7^th heat from the second row was the only non-front row heat winner. Racing got more intense in the “C” mains with Jonathan Beason who did not start for the 6^th heat starting last and winning the second “C”. The racing in the qualifiers was hard with Kevin Ramey winning the 4^th qualifier from 5^th to earn the pole of the feature. Tuesday night is special in that there is also a race of champions and 14 cars were entered to race 20 laps. Sammy Swindell won from the pole over son Kevin Swindell from 5^th after a side by side last lap. Jerry Coons JR from 3^rd and Beason from 13^th won the “B” mains. Kyle Larson started 4^th in the 25-lap feature and worked around early leader Ramey then held off Ricky Stenhouse JR from 3^rd and Michael Pickens from 7^th as these three would move on to the Saturday night “A” main from tonight’s races. Coons worked for a 9^th place finish and Beason got up to 12^th after transferring from the “B” mains. Wednesday night at 6PM sharp it was time to start all over with the same format as Tuesday which means each position in all the races is important in determining how far forward you will start later this night as well as where you will start Saturday. The track was in great shape again and 67 different cars took to the track tonight. Sammy Swindell showed he has this place figured out as he won the first heat from 6^th to be the only heat winner not from the front row. We had the first issue with the air quality inside the building after the last heat. Tyler Reddick was smoking badly when he restarted after flipping (he finished third) and then Ned Fry had a big engine fire at the checkers that required several fire extinguishers and sent more smoke in the air. The ventilating worked well and the air cleared after a few minutes and well before the “C” mains were ready to take to the track. The second “C” main included several good drivers who had bad luck in the heats as Gavin Galbraith won over Gary Taylor, Brad Kuhn and Donnie Ray Crawford as the 4 that would go to the back of the second “B” main later. The four qualifiers saw Swindell and Danny Stratton both take second place in their races from 6^th starting spot (they have a 6-car invert in each qualifier) to be the top point earners of the night and therefore start the feature in the front row. Tony Stewart got by Jason Leffler to win the third qualifier and Zach Daum won the 4^th qualifier to set the second row of the feature lineup. Jon Stanbrough won the first “B” from 5^th and Caleb Armstrong won from the pole in the second “B” that had Kuhn finish second from the back with Taylor also transferring to the “A” after running in the “C”. The feature starting 24 cars on the quarter mile dirt track went green for 21 of the 25 laps before Chris Ennis flipped bringing out the yellow flag. Swindell and Stratton had exchanged the lead for about 5 laps before Swindell pulled away and had 5 lapped cars between himself and Stratton on the restart. Swindell took another win at the Expo Center and Stratton held on to second with Stewart third and Tyler Edwards taking fourth in the “A” feature. Armstrong came through the field to finish 6^th and Kuhn worked up to a 9^th place finish from the “B” main transfer cars in the back. The races went fast tonight and were done at 9:30PM and that is when we got a big surprise as we found a half inch of snow on our cars and the grass (pavement was still warm enough that it all melted) after the races. Thursday was the third night of preliminary action and a new batch of 66 cars raced in the same format to earn their way to the feature. The track was not as wet to start tonight and the heat races saw a lot more spins and crashes but also that meant not all winners were from the front row as 3 heats were won from a second row starting spot. After the heats J J Yeley had earned the most points (finished second from 9^th) but Kevin Swindell (second from 8^th), Steve Buckwalter (second from 7^th) and Brad Sweet (second from 7^th) were right behind.  Tim Crawley won the first “C” then Chris Windom got by Tracy Hines at the end to take the second “C”. Shane Cottle came from 8^th to win the fourth qualifier but Sweet finished second from 6^th to be high point earner from all preliminary races and earn the pole of the feature. Shane Cockrum won the first “B” from the pole and Matt Sherrell came from the back as a “C” transfer car to take fourth and make the “A” feature. Mario Clauser won the second “B” also from the pole with Hines the big mover to finish third from the “C” transfer spots and move on to the feature too. Yeley started the feature from the front with Sweet but after 6 laps it was Kevin Swindell from 4^th who went around Sweet to take command and pull away. Swindell held on through some late race cautions to score another win with Cottle from 6^th taking second from Sweet at the end as these 3 moved on to Saturday’s “A” main. Hines was the hard charger with a sixth place finish from the 22^nd starting spot. The track was a little dusty and the evening lasted an hour longer than last night as we headed to the pits about 10:30PM. Friday finished out the preliminary nights with another 60 cars taking to the track for 8 heats. Jac Haudenschild won the 6^th heat from 4^th to be the top point earner in the heats. Kevin Bayer and Levi Roberts also won their heats from third starting spot. Tonight had a few hard flips with Brandon Hahn bringing out a red flag when he flipped the entire length of the backstretch in the 8^th heat. They repaired the car and he started the first “C” main only to flip again ending his night. Brad Loyet had started the “C” from the back and won. Rick Eckert won the second “C” over Billy Balog. Ryan Smith, Bud Kaeding, Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson won the qualifier races. Clauson’s win from 6^th earned the highest point total and the pole of the feature with Haudenschild outside after finishing third from his 6^th place start. The fourth qualifier was red flagged on the 8^th lap when Joey Moughan flipped into fencing and was caught in the cables and landed upside down on wall. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation of head injuries. Joey Saldana won the first “B” from the front over Brad Mosen from 7^th and Loyet from 13^th. Pole sitter Brent Beauchamp won the second “B” over Bayer from 4^th, Shane Hollingsworth from 9^th and Balog from 14^th. Clauson jumped to the lead of the feature with third starter Kruseman right behind when the only yellow appeared on the 6^th lap. Kruseman used the outside and went around Clauson on the 9^th lap but Clauson kept close to the race leader until he slipped and Levi Jones got around into second. They finished that way with these three cars transferring to the “A” main on Saturday night. Saturday is a day of 20 features with 241 cars racing starting at noon with a 10-lap “K” feature that advances 6 cars to the back of the “J” mains. There are then two “J” mains that advance the top 4 to the back of the two “I” mains and on and on through the alphabet until the two “B” mains send 6 each to join the 12 qualified cars from the preliminary nights in the “A” feature. Most of the features are 10 laps each with 15 laps in the “D” and “C” and 20 in “B” all with the top few positions advancing to the next letter so that in theory any one can make the “A” feature on Saturday night. Tonight’s “A” feature will be extended to 55 laps to honor Donnie Ray Crawford who tragically lost his life in a domestic dispute this morning. Most of the better driver/car combinations had already qualified for the later features so there were not very many drivers that moved through feature after feature like sometimes happens when a good driver has a very bad preliminary night. Matt Johnson from the pole and Mike Spencer from 5^th and won the “J” mains. Johnson advanced to the “H” with a 3^rd place finish in the “J” but Tanner Berryhill took second in the “J” then moved to 4^th in the “I” and 4^th in the “H” before ending his night in the “G”. Ryan Beechler took an “I” from the pole and 4^th in an “H” before ending the day in a “G”. Matt Westfall won in the “H” came up to third in the “G” but didn’t transfer in the “F”. Alex Schutte took third in an “H”, second in a “G”, fourth in an “F” and ended his day in the “E”. As the track dried out during the afternoon the passing and moving on in features became more difficult too. Dalton Armstrong ran second in an “E, 6^th in a “D” but only 16^th in a “C”. Some big names were winning preliminaries to show the strength of the field. Johnny Herrera and Chris Windom won the “E” mains and Brad Mosen and David Gravel took the “D” mains. The track was reworked for the evening races and after a break for the opening ceremonies and parade of states Jon Stanbrough and Hunter Schuerenberg captured the “C” mains. Pole sitter Richard VanderWeerd held off third row cars of Caleb Armstrong and Tracy Hines to win the first “B”. Rico Abreu came from 7^th to win the second “B” over Casey Shuman and Zach Daum. The “A” feature started with a roll over by Levi Jones then went 14 green laps before the only other yellow for a spin. The Swindell family of Sammy and son Kevin continued domination at the Chili Bowl with Kevin scoring a record setting three wins in a row over a stellar field of drivers. Pole sitter Kevin jumped out to the lead and never looked back. Sammy kept the pressure on Kevin but never got close enough to make a serious pass attempt and Kyle Larson settled in the third spot. Bryan Clauson started 11^th and was up to 4^th but Danny Stratton took back 4^th at the finish with Brad Sweet in 6^th. Corey Kruseman was 7^th with Jerry Coons JR the best passing performance in 8^th after starting 23^rd. NASCAR stars Ricky Stenhouse JR and Tony Stewart rounded out the top 10. The building got quite dusty at the end with about 20 cars still running in the very quick feature and it was time to make one last walk through the pits.

2012 Race Report 1

Indiana & Michigan January 7 & 8, 2012

Friday it was time to plan a short trip to get the racing year started with a couple of new tracks. There were some rescheduled enduros but at tracks that I have seen before so I decided to try a little further trip and left at dinner time Friday night to start the drive. I arrived at the Indiana welcome center about midnight and stopped for the night. Saturday morning I drove to southern Indiana and arrived in Princeton just before noon for a stop at the Gibson County Fair Pavilion where they were starting their winter series on an unusually warm sunny day. Although the races are indoors the Pavilion is not heated (the attached building did have warm restrooms and a concession stand) and they need to partially open the doors to ventilate the building so the warm weather was a great benefit. The 1/10-mile dirt track was flat and quite wide and was watered enough to keep the dust down. There are no poles of any kind in the nice open building so visibility from any of the four sets of six row bleachers was good. They had big concrete Jersey barriers for outside walls with wheel fencing and hay bales in front of the concrete in the turns. The inside of the track is marked with metal discs. The only obstruction in the infield was the flag stand and scoring platform at the starting line. The lights were good and the lady announcer kept us well informed over the speakers that were inside as well as outside. Warm ups for the 70 karts started at 11:30AM with racing getting under way at 1PM with two sets of heats before the features for the 9 classes. They drew 9 senior and 3 junior champs as the only caged kart classes. Mike Jesse won the first senior champ heat from third in a non-stop race then finished second to D J Ott in the second heat to earn the pole position for the feature. It took five starts to complete the first lap of the feature then the race went non-stop with Jesse the winner over Ott and Ira McGill. Jesse also picked up 2 more wins with a victory in both the medium and heavy divisions of the flat karts. The racing was completed at 5:30PM with Zach Wheeler taking the win in the RWYB class of 8 karts and I was on the road north. Sunday morning I finished driving north to stop in Hale Michigan where the weekend Winter Fest was already in full swing. Today the entertainment would include the Bump N Run races at noon put on by Unique Motorsports at the Iosco County Fairgrounds on the north side of town. I arrived just before noon and the high clouds were clearing for a sunny afternoon with a breeze blowing out of the south. Parking at the fairgrounds was no problem as there was no snow on the ground but the ground was frozen giving you a firm and nearly dry parking lot. A nice crowd had filled in the center 1/3 of the 15-row aluminum bleachers and I ran into Mike and Guy before I entered. They have some lights that would not be needed today and there were some excellent temporary speakers set up in front of the stands. They drew good car counts with 13 big rear wheel drive cars and 26 small front wheel drive cars. There was a concrete wall and fence in front of the stands and they placed concrete slabs around the outside of the south turns and down the backstretch but had a large open grass area before the fencing on the north side. The dirt track was set up as an oval with the light pole surrounded by a series of the concrete slabs and some big tires marking the inside of the north end and just one big implement tire marking the inside of the south turn. The track was flat with a few natural bumps and frozen but the sun was melting the top quarter inch of wet dirt and the track soon became very muddy and slick – no dust today! They started racing about 20 minutes late with 3 small car heats that transferred the top 3 to the feature then a consi that put the winner in the feature field too. The big cars ran two heats with the top 5 going to the feature. The consi had a couple of red flags as first a couple of cars pushed one car up and over the concrete to the outside light pole and later a car caught fire. Eric Short won the consi from 5^th and tagged the rear of the feature that was immediately following. They had a red flag early in the feature to put the tire back at the south end and they pushed it further inside and made a wider turn that helped the racing too. Shawn Fettes started 5^th and won over Joe Smith and Gary Collins as the three traded the lead during the entire feature. The big cars closed out the day (that had now become overcast and the 30 degrees felt much cooler) with a non-stop race that Eric Anderson won, but he didn’t, because be spun to a stop a foot before crossing the finish line and the trophy was awarded to Scott Rezler who drove across the line as Anderson was stopped. The racing was done at 2:40PM and I was on my way home.

Race Report 26

Year End Trip 2011

Monday I left for the south. The trip I thought would be neat would have me going to Daytona Beach for kart races then staying in Florida for 3 days and going across the Gulf Coast to New Orleans for New Years. That would allow me a nearly straight trip north with a stop at Lee’s house on the way home. Well those plans were spoiled when the new track set to open at the year end in New Orleans was not done and the races were postponed. I looked all over on the internet for a new track for New Years Day and found 7 tracks racing that I have been to but only one in New York that would be new. I will see how the weather holds and how the Florida races go before picking a return route. The drive on Monday evening went fine with a few intermittent showers and some snow flurries in Illinois. Tuesday was a driving day that started with snow flurries in Paducah Kentucky and continued with rain in Tennessee. By the time I was in Atlanta it was clearing off and the moon was out when I retired for the night in the Florida welcome center. Wednesday was the first afternoon of racing for the two-day WKA Daytona Dirt World Championships at the Daytona Flat Track. The track is just a few feet outside the first turn of the Daytona International Speedway and is a quarter mile flat track of hard packed limestone. I arrived at noon for the start of qualifying and the groove was already black with rubber. The track has big concrete walls around it but hay bales placed along and in front of the concrete. The inside was marked with orange cones and more hay bales. There were 4 nice 10-row bleachers for sitting but everyone needed a pit pass to enter the grounds. The pass you purchased was good for entry to the big track too where they were having karts on the road course. I stayed at the flat track where they had 166 karts in the 17 classes that were racing today. The races started at 2:45PM with 20-lap features for each class. There were two countable classes for track chasing purposes with 6 entries in senior champ mixed and 15 senior champ lite karts. The races were started two abreast and most went through with few if any yellows but passing was hard and had to be done on the inside. The highest kart count was 22 in stock heavy where Jerry Mullis started 2^nd and won the race that saw 5 yellows for his second of 3 victories today. He also won stock lite from the pole and Raptor heavy from the pole. Jessica Bohatka started on the pole and pulled away from the field to take the senior champ mixed feature over Brittney Yates in a non-stop run. The senior champ lite feature had three early yellows before Mullis took the lead from the second starting position and looked like he would take another feature. On the last lap 5^th starter Norman Hynes got underneath Mullis on the backstretch and took the lead to capture the trophy. Ty DeCaire took the junior champ mixed feature from the pole in a non-stop race. The races were done by 7PM and I headed out for some rest. Thursday I visited the New Smyrna Speedway in Samsula Florida but not to see racing on the half-mile that I have seen so many times instead to see the 9^th Annual Little New Smyrna 500 for quarter midgets on the banked 1/10-mile asphalt oval in the infield. The track is very nice with plywood soft walls (a sheet of plywood bolted on both sides of old tires) around the outside and some plastic speed bumps anchored in the pavement to mark the inside of the corners. They had a good speaker system and good lights although the lights were not needed for today’s program.  There were eight 5-row bleachers that were nearly filled for the races that started at 10:30AM. The qualifying and heats were done yesterday to set the lineups for today’s features. The car count was not as high as I would expect for the event with 58 cars in the 10 classes. Three of the classes had only one car but 3 classes had double digits with 11 in the senior Honda and light 160 classes. None of the races went non stop although most had only one yellow. The quarter midgets started all races two abreast and the preferred line was to make a big circle out of the oval using the bottom of the tight turns and then out to the outside wall on the straights. Brady Johnson took the Junior Novice 30-lap feature that had three yellows and a red flag to slow the action for the 6 cars that included the one senior novice too. Most of the features went 40 laps. Jamie Evans won the junior Honda feature from the pole over 7 other quarter midgets in a race with only one yellow. Michael Torres started 5^th and worked to the lead at the end to capture the senior Honda division in a tight race with only one yellow. Brennan Spencer started second and took the light 160 feature that saw a single caution. Carter Stokes captured the heavy 160 feature then came back and won the world formula feature too. Johnny Kraft won the junior animal feature and was the only entry in the light modified so he got two trophies too. The races were completed by 1PM and as they started the tech process I headed back to Daytona Beach. Thursday afternoon was final day of racing at the Daytona Flat Track and qualifying was under way when I arrived. The track looked the same as yesterday with the inside lane very black with rubber and a few bumps where some sand and gravel was being dug out by the karts. They blew the track off frequently during the day to keep the outside from getting too slippery. Today I took a break from the Flat Track and went through the tunnel into the infield of the super speedway where you could watch the karts take to the infield road course which includes the high banks of the 2½-mile super speedway. I watched from several of the big infield bleachers and wandered through the pit area to look at some of the more exotic long sleek specialty karts.  There were hundreds of entries for the races today here on the paved road course from all over the country as I even saw several Wisconsin karts in the pits. The races were all a half-hour in duration and most races were made up of several classes. I watched two of the races and then headed back to the dirt track for the completion of their show. Today at the Daytona Flat Track there were 178 entries in 15 classes. There were 26 entries in the Animal Heavy money class that I believe paid $1000 to win and Jerry Mullis took this one from third starting spot. Most of the races today went non-stop however there was a red flag in the Unlimited All Stars when a kart hit the hay and rolled several times down the backstretch without injury. Shay Chavous won that feature from the pole. Third starter Branson Dils captured the junior champ feature that had only three entries. There were 18 Senior Champ Mixed Heavy karts and after a first lap spin they restarted single file and third starter Jerry Mullis won the non-stop feature over Troy DeCaire from 2^nd and Bradley Hauser from 9^th.  Today the races were done at 6:40PM and I started to drive north. Friday was a sight seeing day as I stopped in Savannah Georgia and then Charleston South Carolina. Saturday was another driving day as I headed north. I called Ransomville Speedway in New York and got the recording that their New Years Day race was postponed so that made me change directions and head to Indiana for a visit to Anderson Speedway for the New Years program there. Sunday morning I got a call from Roger that Anderson had postponed too and at that point I just headed home. Sunday was a very windy day and with temperatures dropping into the twenties it would not have been enjoyable outdoors anywhere. I ran through some light snow and rain showers throughout Kentucky and Indiana before I ran into clear windy and cold weather in central Illinois.