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.

Report 25

December 15, 2011

No races for a couple of weeks just granddaughter’s basketball and shopping.

Merry Christmas. The winter weather is holding off (no snow on the ground – only 1.5 inches so far this season and it melted the day after it fell) but it is time to send some updates for the year and wish you all happy holidays. I had my surgery last December and started to recover after 10 days of exceptional care from Nurse Haley and Nurse Sydney. I stayed at the Grossman’s and was fed very well before and after school. My quarterly follow-up blood tests have shown no PSA count so I have no more treatment scheduled. So as my year improved Aunt Mary’s (91) did not. She suffered a couple falls and spent a June week in the hospital before being sent to a nursing home. I made nearly daily visits but her health declined and after another fall she was back in the hospital for a week before hospice care started in October. Aunt Mary died October 29^th and I have been busy with clearing out and cleaning at her apartment. Although the heirs are allowed to keep some personal property I have been gathering all her monetary assets to turn over to the State as she was under State care the last 3 months.

The Grossman’s generously provided me with some better Christmas lights so in November I took down the mostly burned out dusty ones and vacuumed the cob webs out of the windows then installed the new ones that all lighted! I have been busy attending Sidney and Haley’s volleyball and basketball games this fall but back in August I made a trip to Kansas to visit Lee and his family. A J is eating all the time so he can try and keep up to big sister Emma who is two and talking non-stop. Emma went upstairs to take her nap talking to her dolls most of the time about how they must lay down and be quiet. Soon a very loud crash came from her room and Lee went up to see what fell. He opened her door as she exclaimed “Its OK, everything is fine, it’s all right.” Lee discovered that she had stacked her chairs two high on the bed before they fell over. Who knows what kind of circus act she was rehearsing! Emma also got out to a race track with dad as they went to the races in Grain Valley Missouri and it was very therapeutic as she could talk all night and no one seemed to mind.

Siesta is my favorite hour or two of the day and I must have rested more than usual this year – if you can believe that is possible - but I may have rested too much on my glasses as the bow broke off and I had to find my tube of super glue to make the needed repair. The glue has held for six months now!

I am still busy in Stoughton as sec.–treas. for the Optimist Club and running the food stand during the Syttende Mai celebration and I am V-P of the Friends of the Stoughton Area Youth Center that operates the new center in Stoughton. The youth center found a new person to run the annual golf outing who didn’t even know what a golf ball was – ME! The rest of my routine remains constant and I managed to travel on a few big trips. I still made a February Florida trip and I made a July 4^th trip to Utah to see races in a state that I had not seen a race in and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. I also made a late season trip to Pensacola Florida. On the local scene the racing was some what back to normal with Angell Park in Sun Prairie Wisconsin scheduling 10 races for the summer but that left some free weeks to make some bigger trips such as the one to Utah. This year I only spent 113 nights in the spacious Dodge Caravan and 10 nights with friends in addition to the 8 nights in motels. With the poor economy and my advanced math that’s 123 nights that I saved – let’s say - $42 for a total $5166 saved and I only spent $1755.50 in race admissions so I should be over $3400 ahead – at least that is what I tell myself! I made it my priority to see a new state and some tracks that I had not been to before and got to another 78 tracks bringing my lifetime total to 1423 tracks and keeping me in second place on the list as kept at the new website www.roamingtheraceways.com . I made it to only 130 races in 26 states this year and traveled 68,316 miles all by car.

The kids are really hard to chase down, the grandkids even harder. Jody J and Jody L are still in Cottage Grove with daughters Sydney (14) and Haley (11). Jody J is still with McDonalds and Jody L is part-time as a scientist with Semba Biosciences and part time at McDonalds too. Both Jody’s were coaching softball and Jody L is the assistant coach for freshmen girl’s basketball at Monona Grove High School where Sydney is playing as a freshmen. The granddaughters were both on softball teams this summer and Haley is now playing tri-county basketball. Sydney shot another deer in her third hunting season and has completed her freshmen volleyball season. Lori is settled in downtown Chicago and teaching at Freedom Junior High in Berwyn where she coaches the 7-8 grade girl’s basketball team. Freedom won a million dollar grant and Lori and two others are in charge of designing and outfitting a brand new fitness center for the school. She is also coaching the Windy City AAU basketball team in the summer. Lee and Carrie are living in Leavenworth Kansas for the year (before Lee’s next assignment) with daughter Emma (2) and son AJ (1). Lee is going to school full-time at Intermediate Level Education (ILE) with graduation in June while still taking masters courses at UW-Stout where he expects to finish his masters in Mech Engr. this June as well. Carrie is expecting their third child in December and is still in the reserves working for ROTC at Missouri Western State University in St Joseph Missouri and their 11 affiliates in Kansas and Missouri.

        Have a Healthy, Safe and Prosperous New Year!

Race Report 24

Florida Trip December 1 – 3, 2011

Wednesday I was right back on the road again as I headed south where the weather was predicted to be very good and the 44^th annual Snowball Derby was under way in Pensacola Florida. I had nothing but clear roads the entire way down as I took my time. Thursday afternoon at 4:30PM I arrived at the Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola Florida to find the “Lot Full” sign already on the road as the spectator parking area was already filled up mostly with campers and reserved parking. There are a few spots along the boulevard shoulders that were going fast so I backed down the ditch carefully and parked. They also have parking at the fairgrounds just 2 miles down the road with a free shuttle bus back to the track. The race tonight was for the bombers (40 cars) and sportsmen (32 cars) with the top 20 qualifiers starting straight up in the feature and the other qualifiers racing 10 laps in a last chance race transferring the top 4 to the feature race. Practice was under way on the banked asphalt half-mile track when I arrived and found a seat in the top row of one of the new sections of aluminum seats. The track has concrete outside and inside walls and the pits were packed with haulers that partially blocked the view of the lower parts of the track in several areas. They have very good lights and fine speakers for the spectators and the crowd was very good for the first night at the 8PM race time. Kenny Williams started fourth and picked up the week’s first win in the bomber consi that was slowed by three yellows. Chris Nielson won the sportsmen consi. The bombers ran 10 laps into the 30-lap feature before a debris yellow slowed the race. Then it took 4 tries to complete another lap. One of the wrecks took out the front row cars of Jay Jay Day and Gary Goodwin who were leading. Curtis Faircloth started 16^th and worked through the field to take the win over Jonathan Day from 9^th and Kenny Bullard who started 14^th as the race went green for 20 laps. The 50-lap sportsmen feature was the last race of the night and took a long time to complete. The evening was getting quite cold and the frequent multi car wrecks (7) plus a couple of yellows for debris and a red for a medical situation in the tower saw most of the crowd gone before the checkers flew at 12:10AM. Pole sitter Steve Buttrick won the race over Bubba Winslow from 3^rd and Shanna Ard from 7^th. Friday was another bright sunny day in Pensacola and after spending some time at the National Naval Aviation Museum and along the waterfront downtown I headed out to the track early. I got back to the track at 3PM but the lot was full already and I had to park several blocks away along the boulevard. Qualifying for the two classes that would race tonight (34 modifieds and 24 super stocks) started at 4PM and many people were in the stands early. The big hype for tonight was the qualifying for Sunday’s super late model race that started at 6PM for 53 cars. The announcing was not up to last night’s standards as duplicate numbers threw off the announcer and he was so busy reading off the driver’s many accomplishments the name didn’t come out until the car was going by at speed and you couldn’t hear the name. The top 30 in qualifying were locked into the Snowball feature on Sunday and the 47^th car to qualify was Bubba Pollard who took fast time with a new track record of 16.290 seconds. The racing tonight again started at 8PM with just the two 50-lap features. The super stocks were first and went green for 10 laps until the yellow flew for an unknown reason. The visibility was poor because of the haulers in the infield (they would be removed for the big race on Sunday) and the announcer often just said he did not see why the yellow was out. There were only 4 yellows in the race although one turned into an extended red after a car caught fire under the yellow and then the ambulance was called to assist someone in the infield. There were several different leaders during the 50 laps but pole sitter Regan Baker (new track record at 18.733 seconds) charged back to the front during the last 10 laps and took the checkers holding off a charging Bubba Winslow and Paul Jean. The modifieds had 4 yellows but two big multi car wrecks that blocked the track with the red appearing on the 14^th lap for a 6-car wreck and then the 15^th lap when 12 cars were caught up together on the straightaway. Brian Nester started in front and led through all the restarts to score the win over Mark Chrudimsky from 16^th and Augie Grill from 10^th. The races were done at 10:30PM and I drove into Alabama before resting for the night. Saturday I continued west to Mississippi for a look at a new track in Poplarville. The Sandy Ridge Speedway opened this spring and was racing this afternoon with a special money race to wrap up the day. I arrived at the track at noon and practice was underway and I saw a couple of champ karts so I decided to stay and see what was going on. The track is a 1/5-mile red clay oval with long straight-aways and high banked turns surrounded by heavy chain link fencing on what looked like railroad ties. There is a dirt berm along the outside fence and a dirt berm also marks the inside of the track. There is one small 3-row wooden bleacher and some good viewing from the first turn on the banking and they have some good lights. The concessions are in an old race car trailer and the homemade chili was very good. There were also 5 old mini sprint chassis beside the concession trailer that are looking for a new owner! The track is a friendly family run facility and the racers seem to be an extended family. The fields were small with 6 steel body karts, 10 box stock and 3 senior champs. (There was a 4^th champ but he ran in the steel body class as he told me he prefers the grooved tires that are allowed in that class.) The driver’s meeting was at 1:30PM with some late practice after that and racing in the 3 10-lap heats starting about 2:30PM. After a short intermission the 3 features were run with the big money race after the entire regular show. The metal body karts were bending some metal with one roll over in the heat and 3 yellows in the feature. James Barton was the name on the feature winning number 33 in this class that included the one champ kart. The box stock class got wild with several karts sliding into the outside berm hard (maybe with some assistance) and spinning back across the track. Brandon Heinrich won this feature from the second row. Jim Sterry won the 2-kart champ kart heat after one broke a chain coming on the track and earned the pole for the feature. The feature went non-stop (although there was one spin) with Sterry getting the win. They were getting ready to qualify for the money race and there were at least 2 karts that had not run in the regular races that may have run in the money race but it was after sunset by this time and I decided to start my long drive home satisfied in seeing another new track. The Causeyville Raceway about 100 miles north near Meridian was running today too so I headed that way to see what was going on. I arrived after the races were done but saw no senior champ karts so I was glad I had chosen the Sandy Ridge track for my stop today. (I later saw there were two junior champs at Causeyville no senior champ results were listed.) Happy with the outcome I drove north of Jackson before stopping. Sunday I got into rain before exiting Mississippi and it rained steady from Memphis to Saint Louis. The roads were wet but not slippery and I ran into dry pavement for the rest of the trip home quite a relief this time of the year.

Race Report 23

Basketball November 18 – 20, 2011

Friday I stayed at home after a long week of cleaning at Aunt Mary’s apartment and went to granddaughter Haley’s basketball game. I am done at the apartment and will plan an outing for the Thanksgiving weekend. Saturday Haley had two basketball games so I was busy watching Monona Grove sixth graders learning basketball. Sunday Haley had another game so I finished out a basketball weekend and started planning an east coast trip for the holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving trip November 25 -27, 2011

Wednesday night I took off for the Thanksgiving weekend to see racing at some new tracks for me. Thursday was a day of driving as after some turkey and the trimmings (yes, pumpkin pie too) at Shoney’s I got into Georgia and stopped for some sleep – maybe not enough! As I awoke and hurried into the Flying J for a bathroom stop I locked my keys in the car. The night clerk directed me to the store isle that included tools to unlock a car and I paid $20 and started to read the directions. A young man working here saw me and said he had done this before and would do it for me (I don’t think he stole cars for a living). He tried the straight bar but it did not work so he pried on the door and used the coat hanger look alike and hooked the knob and unlocked the door. So after a short delay of half an hour I was back on the road. Friday I arrived at Carnesville Georgia for a return visit to the Georgia Karting Komplex (I was rained out here just before the champ kart feature in 2008). Today was the middle day of the 3-day 18^th Annual Thanksgiving Thunder and would include features in 18 classes of karts including senior champs. The event draws well and today over 480 karts were entered including 26 senior champ lights racing for $1000 to win and 74 pro animals racing for $5000 to win. I arrived at 12:30 PM during the second round of practice. The qualifying started at 2PM and racing finally started at 5PM. Three classes were well over the 30-kart field for the features so those classes had a consi race to fill the last 5 spots. All races were started single file and the features were 15 laps except for the big money animal race contested at 30 laps. The track is a ¼-mile red clay oval that is not too wide and outlined with white chalk lines on the inside as well as the outside. The inside is further marked with orange traffic cones and then a 6 foot wide lane is watered heavily that remains muddy to prevent any short cutting of the turns. The outside is a very wide smooth run off area before some tires are placed before the chain link fencing. For spectators they have a big 9-row wooden bleacher and 3 smaller 5-row aluminum bleachers and several spots in the first turn where you are above the track and can see from your car. The lights were OK and supplemented by a set of temporary lights for the first turn. The speakers were fine if you are close to one and they had an excellent announcer who kept you well informed all day and described the action too. The races started straight up by time but only one of the features was a run away won by the pole sitter. Most features had several lead changes even though the pole sitter won 8 of the 18 features. The junior purple light was the only race with serious accidents twice needing the red as the drivers were checked out in the ambulance but all drivers eventually walked back to the pits. Josh Darnell won the non-stop stock medium from 6th and Daniel Armstrong won the animal medium from sixth also in a race with one yellow. Yellows were not thrown for spins off the course and 12 of the features went all green. Fast timer Mitchell Dowdy led the senior champs before second starter Darren Brown took over. Dowdy and Brown exchanged the lead again before third starter Brad Bracken took command. Dowdy got back in front and took the white flag leading but a slip in the fourth turn allowed Brown to get inside and inch ahead at the finish line to win over Dowdy and Greg Fields who started 10^th in the non-stop race. Austin Yarbrough won the junior pro blue from a 15^th place start and Tony Gaylord took the non-stop 30-lap finale from 4^th to wrap up the night at 10PM. Saturday I headed north for a repeat stop at the Richmond Coliseum where I saw racing in January this year. Tonight was the second race of the winter Arena Racing USA series for the ½ scale stock cars. The Richmond Coliseum is downtown and there is a parking ramp right next door with event parking for $6. There was a very small crowd here tonight to watch 21 cars in the pro class and 4 in the youth division. The track is a high banked 1/10 mile aluminum oval that is set up in sections on the coliseum floor. The aluminum walls were tested several times as the drivers drove hard in the outside lane on the tacky rubber coated surface. I found the soft seats very comfortable and the lights were good but although the speakers were loud they were not clear. Racing got under way at 7PM with the 50-lap A-Main that started 11 cars and transferred the top 8 to the top dog race. Scott Prillaman and Travis Wall were fighting for the lead on the 30^th lap when they tangled and collected two more cars for the first yellow. Jordan Wood started 6^th and held on through two more yellows to win over Mike Weddell and Cody Carlton. The 50-lap B-Main started 10 cars (all rookies) and the first of 3 yellows was brought out on lap 5 as Michael Solaimni hit the wall and slid on his side ending his night early. The other yellows were for cars that hit the wall hard enough to stop but 3^rd starter Austin Jefferson got by pole sitter Dan Thomas and ran clean to the checkers to take the win as this race transferred the first 6 to the top dog race. The youth division ran a 30-lap feature with a yellow on the first lap when Jordan Valdes bicycled into the wall and was eliminated. Pole sitter Savannah Cook led the entire race but was challenged by Tripp Thurston who spun on the last lap trying an inside pass for the lead. Cook held off Macy Causey on the green, white and checkered finish to take the trophy. The 50-lap top dog race started with a red flag as a second lap tangle sent Nathan Thomas on his roof in the second turn. Tommy Jackson JR spun on the 26^th lap and on that restart the leaders all tangled with pole sitter Matt Midgett ending up spun out. Weddell pushed through the pack of cars and crossed the line first from his 8^th place start but the celebration was short as he did not pass tech inspection and was disqualified. Travis Wall had started 6^th and crossed the line second to be declared the winner over Carlton and Midgett. Sunday afternoon was my chance to visit a well known old speedway on the Jersey shore. I was unable to get here for the two day Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall New Jersey but this afternoon was the Gobbler hosted by NEETS (North East Enduro Tour Series). A small crowd was spread out in the big 22-row grandstand all along the straightaway of the 1/3-mile asphalt oval. You walk in above the track and walk down the concrete steps to your seats that are nicely painted wood planks. The track is a paper clip shape with long straights and high banked turns with two high Armco outer walls. The inside is marked with a yellow line and the asphalt flattens out and a slight reverse bank asphalt berm keeps the cars from cutting the corners. The infield is mostly paved and kept clear and there were good speakers off the sides of the announcing tower and a nice scoreboard outside the second turn. The lights look OK but were not used today. Four races were on the schedule with small cars (16), big cars (28), trux (none) and ladies (7) listed as the classes. Pete Verwys started 6^th in the 150-lap small car enduro that went non-stop and took an early lead then maintained about a half-lap margin over Dan Birdsall to take the win. The big cars also raced 150 laps with 27 of the 28 answering the starting call and again racing non-stop. Vern McLaughlin started 12^th and drove hard to the lead but blew a radiator hose exiting the fourth turn around the 110^th lap. The Armco took a beating as all the cars slid through the water and bounced off the outside wall not just for that lap but for three laps afterward until the drivers slowed down or drove real low until the water dried. Rob Longo started with a lap penalty after a gas leak while lining up but charged back to the front however he spun twice in this water and gave the lead back to front row starter and early leader Scott Sipe. Sipe maintained a steady pace and never gave the lead up as he won over Longo and Richard Petey from 14^th in the Petty blue #43. There was no trux race and only 6 ladies had cars that could run for their 25-lap finale of the afternoon. Shawna Ingraham started 3^rd and got to the front but Brittany Tomaino was fastest and quickly caught the leader but tangled and then spun loosing a lap. Tomaino got by Ingraham but never could pull away to make up the lap and Ingraham came away with the final checkers of the day. The racing was done by 3:30PM and I got an early start on my long drive back home.

Race Report 22

Indoor Racing November 5, 2011

Tuesday (11-1-11) was All Saints Day and very mild for this time of the year with a slight breeze and sunshine. Aunt Mary took her last ride from the Ryan Funeral Home on North Sherman Avenue to Resurrection Cemetery on Madison’s west side by coming in Sherman Avenue right by the family homestead and then following the route she walked to work for 25 years. The graveside service was conducted by Monsignor Hughes as the sun glistened off the copper casket during a small intimate ceremony. Tuesday night the weather cooled off quickly as a thunderstorm moved through overnight bringing us back to normal November weather for the rest of the week. Saturday I took a break from the cleaning at Aunt Mary’s apartment to check out the grand opening of a new track in Versailles Ohio called BMI Indoor Speedway. The speedway is on

Main Street

in town and is in a big metal frame building with no support poles to worry about. The track is a high banked 1/10-mile dirt oval with chain link fencing on the outside with a hard rubber or fiberglass type of material bolted to the fencing with steel cables running through the fencing too. This leaves a smooth surface for the karts to hit if they do get into the wall and several did just that. The inside of the track is marked with the inverted metal plates or discs stuck into the track. They have good lights and adequate speakers and ventilation fans along the north wall. The spectator area has three aluminum 5-row bleachers along the straightaway and a 3-row bleacher in the 4^th turn. The show today was divided into two sessions with 7 classes racing in each. The 10AM show had no countable class for trackchasing so I chose to arrive at 4:30PM a half-hour before the second session started. The bleachers were already mostly full to watch the evening session of 7 blue plates, 9 clone lights, 10 clone heavies, 11 senior mediums, 4 senior champs and 6 quarter midgets. One junior champ was in the pits but did not run so 6 classes raced in two sets of heats and the features. Practice started at 5PM with racing at 5:30PM and the show was completed by 8:10PM. The Burris #99 won both heats for the senior champs to earn the pole of the feature. He led the entire non-stop 15-lap feature but was disqualified in tech giving the win to Jared Bennett who started from outside the first row. Jeremy Franz came from 4^th to finish second with A J Maxson capturing third. Most of the features had several yellows as multi-kart tangles were common as the drivers made aggressive moves all over the track. Jacob Miner made a last lap pass to take the quarter midget feature win. A beautiful new building and some good racing should help the winter go by fast for these Ohio racers. 

Virginia & North Carolina November 11 & 12, 2011

Thursday night I was ready for a break from the cleaning at Aunt Mary’s apartment so I headed out for the weekend. Friday I drove out east with the first stop being at Providence Raceway in Henry Virginia. This is the second year for this kart track in rural Virginia near Martinsville. The track is a 1/5-mile clay oval that sits on the lowest elevation of the property so viewing is good from any side of the track. There is a lot of run off area (most all of it uphill) before any fences and hay bales are placed in front of any posts such as the flag stand and stop lights. Traffic cones and metal plates mark the inside and the infield is clear. The lights are good and the speakers are OK but used only for announcing the next class to grid. They have a tech building and an office as the only permanent buildings as the concessions were out of a trailer and the toilets were port-a-potties. Tonight was a preliminary show for the fall brawl on Saturday and had racing in 6 classes. I arrived just before 6PM for the 7PM start of practice and the track looked wet and smooth on a cool evening. There were two rounds of practice before the heats and then features. The heats started two abreast but the features started in single file. This made for very few cautions in the feature races. The kart counts were not too high with 4 senior champs, 5 junior sportsmen blue, 5 box stocks, 6 junior unrestricted clones, 12 animal medium and 15 animal heavy. Jared Fountain won the senior champ heat and led the entire 20 lap feature from the pole but was disqualified in tech. Brian Hutcherson started in 4^th and drove hard to finish second and thus claim the winners prize. Noah Doss took a non stop junior sportsmen race from the front as did Jessica Connell in box stocks. Amber Burchette took the junior unrestricted clones in a race with one yellow. Donnie Nall made some good passes from a third starting spot to win the animal medium race that had one yellow. The animal heavy feature closed out the night and after two yellows (one for the early leader blowing) it was Nall and Jeremy Mullis trading the lead each lap toward the end. Mullis started 5^th and held off Nall on the last lap to capture the win in a close hard fought feature that ended at 11:05PM. Saturday I took a short drive south to check out the North Iredell Emergency Training Grounds outside Harmony North Carolina where there was a demo derby scheduled with some figure eight races. I arrived about 1PM for the 2PM start of the event and after paying $8 as I drove onto the grounds I immediately saw Brian’s truck and Guy and Brian talking in the parking area. The figure eight cars were on the track for some solo practice laps. The track was set in a low part of the open field and surrounded with some temporary concrete slabs and some huge logs and then some temporary fencing to keep the crowd well back from the track. There was no seating but most brought lawn chairs and some backed up pick up trucks behind the chairs and watched from their vehicles. The track was slightly below the level of the spectators so visibility was good with the track being marked with two stacks of three tires that were dirt filled. They had good speakers and some generators if lights were needed and there were several tents and trailers of food vendors lined up behind the spectator area. I stood behind Guy and Pam as we waited over an hour for the start of racing. The racing finally started about 3:20PM for a small field of 5 4-cylinder cars and 6 V-8’s. The track had dried out during the wait so there was another delay to water before the second heat. They ran a single 10-lap heat for the small cars and then two heats for the V-8 cars.  Next up was the 25-lap feature for the small cars and that went non-stop with the #4 apparently the winner. I don’t think the announcer (they had a nice speaker system) ever gave any names for this class although he did state some names for the V-8 cars. The heat races were started from a standing start with the cars in one wide line but the feature was started single file. I don’t think the announcer had ever seen one of these events as he was unaware when the race was over and never did give any finishes or explanation of what was going on. After the first feature I thought it was getting late and I should catch up with Guy and Pam at another track so I took off with the V-8 feature lining up and the demos yet to come. Saturday evening my stop was at the Cleveland County Speedway in Lawndale North Carolina. The track is a 4/10-mile high banked red clay oval and tonight was the season finale with racing in 5 classes: pure stocks (9 cars), front wheel drive (11), renegades (14), stock 4 (17) and limited sportsmen (8) plus a figure eight race, long jump and demo to end out the afternoon/evening event. Viewing is from a long concrete step grandstand (very few people) or from cars and lawn chairs along the top of the banking above the straightaway and the first and second turns. I found an open spot in the first turn just two cars down from Guy and Pam as I entered during the renegade feature won by Chris Stowe. Next was the stock 4’s feature that had a couple of spins but Kevin Cooper moved from 8^th to claim the checkers over front row starter Tim Bristol. The limited sportsmen eliminated half the field in three yellows as pole sitter John Reynolds won this one. The attention then turned to the figure eight track which is in the unlighted infield of the big oval. It was a good sized graded out figure eight pattern with a small dirt pile inside and outside so you were racing in a rather narrow lane around the pattern with four big tires to mark the intersection and compact the “X” into a small area. Five of the 6 cars entered started the 20-lap figure eight feature and soon disappeared in the dust from the unwatered track. As a few cars dropped out and the powder blew off the track the final two cars running came back into view and Tracy Tapley took the victory over Mike Miller. Two motorcycles and a quad took two passes over a jump on the straightaway infield and Jason Kayler was the winner of the long jump. Four cars came out for the demo and Brandon Pruitt was listed as the winner as the show ended at 7:30PM and I headed west to Wisconsin.

Race Report 21

Ohio and Indiana October 22 & 23, 2011

Friday after another week of helping Aunt Mary I got to see granddaughter Haley play in her 6^th grade basketball game where she scored 2 points and Monona Grove beat Sun Prairie. Saturday I was on the road to visit a new location in Ohio at the Hocking County Fairgrounds. They have constructed a 1/5-mile dirt track in the infield of the old horse track at the fairgrounds and have some Jersey barriers for outer walls in the turns and plowed up some dirt walls for the remainder of the rectangular track. The track has two long straights and two short chutes with four 90 degree turns and each of the four straights have a small jump built across to make the autocross track. They did announce that this was the third race of the year. It is unusual that they race clockwise around the track. There is a nice 16-row concrete grandstand with aluminum bench seats and some good temporary speakers and they have added some lights to make adequate lighting on the oval. The grounds are nice with paved drives and a big new restroom building complete with several showers. I arrived at 4PM and was told there would be a lawnmower demo derby at 5PM before the races at 6PM.  The 13 mowers were divided into two heats with the last 4 running transferring to the feature. I saw a bob-tail semi enter the grounds and spotted Brian Hickey and we joined the small crowd in the grandstands. At about 6:15 they had a drivers meeting for the 8 big cars and 4 small cars that came out for the autocross races. Then at 6:30PM they qualified the 12 cars to set the lineups for the races. The big cars ran 20 laps with Dustin Hatfield winning from the pole but it was not easy as midway through the race a lapped car spun him dropping him to third. Hatfield worked back to the lead and won the race. Tom McDaniel won the small car 15-lap race from a 3^rd starting spot. Then after a short intermission 7 of the 12 cars entered the mad dash for cash for 10 laps. McDaniel took off from 4^th and stayed ahead of the big cars and won this race to close out the night at the Hocking County Fairgrounds. Sunday I took a drive across Indiana in some light rain as I headed toward Vincennes. The rain had ended as I arrived just north of Vincennes on Highway 41 at the Fast Track Raceway in rural Bruceville Indiana. The track is a banked 1/5-mile asphalt oval with long straight-aways and grass runoff areas before the hay and plastic barrels and some chain link fencing. The inside of the oval is not marked just a small drop from the asphalt to the grass. The bright lights are off several poles in the infield and there are several stop lights around the track as well as good speakers. They have a wooden 8-row bleacher in the first turn and viewing along the front straight-away fence. The facility was well maintained with the grass cut and paved driveways and paved pit roads. There is a big permanent building for a café and restrooms. I arrived there just after noon but the qualifying did not start until 4:30PM and racing at 6:45PM in spite of some postings that said they would race earlier. They drew 61 karts over the 9 classes including 13 senior champs. The big race today was the 200 lap feature for the 360 clones. The racing started with the 100-lap feature for the ten 330 clones and Cody Johnson took off from the pole and built up a huge lead until a light sprinkle stopped the event past the half-way point. After about 15 minutes to let the track dry they completed the race with just one yellow for a spin and Johnson the winner over Kevin Phelps and Lisa Raines. The other classes all ran 25-lap features over the fast track with the (3) junior 2 flatheads, the (4) junior 2 sportsmen champs and the (4) junior 2 clone blue plate champs all completing non-stop features. The senior champs took to the track for the feature with a spin on the 4^th lap and then a red on the 8^th lap when Mike McGill tipped over in the 4^th turn. There was one more spin on the 14^th lap then they raced to the checkers. Jason Petelle started third but led most of the race and on the last lap pole sitter Brian Martin was in second and touched the leader enough to cause Petelle to spin but the checkers flew with Martin first over Cody Johnson and Chris Harder. However the results show Johnson the winner and Martin in last presumably being disqualified for rough driving. There were 4 more features including the 13 karts in the 200-lap feature but it was 9PM already and I was showing my age and ready to call it a night. I left for the trip home during the senior flathead feature very happy to have finally seen my 100^th different track in Indiana.

Saturday October 29, 2011 – No Race – Aunt Mary Passes

Saturday I was all set to head out to meet Roger Ferrell in Indiana for another fair race but I got the call about 3AM that Aunt Mary had passed away. Mary Elizabeth Esser, age 91, a lifelong Madison resident died peacefully in her sleep early Saturday morning. Mary had not even attended her first race yet so she will not be on the list of track chasers but she had completed hundreds of crossword puzzles in her retirement years. She does have a record that is quite unusual in that she had never driven a car and walked to work all 50 years of her employment. She held each of her two jobs for 25 years apiece as a secretary for Gisholt Machine Corp. and then a secretary for Doctors Tormey and Benish. The family thanks Karmenta Center for the loving care over the last five months. While her passing was not a shock it came a little faster than expected and left the family with some loose ends to tie up in the next few weeks. She leaves us with lots of good memories and a wealth of funny stories to tell over and over in her memory. Rest in peace, Aunt Mary.