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2009 Nightly Journal
September
18th - River Cities Speedway - The third time was a
charm. After 2 scheduled races at Grand Forks were rained out, we finally
got to put on a show that many fans were asking for since making an appearance
last year. We had great weather and 18 cars on hand so it should be a good
show. I drew #79 when checking in at the pit gate which I wasn't
particularly happy with, but it put me on the pole for the 3rd heat. At
the start, the #77 of Dave Aberle and I battled side by side for a little over a
lap, but then I slipped up and let Dave and #10 Tom Wagner by and shortly after
#317 Ivan Sailer got my me too. After 10 green flag laps I crossed the
checkered flag in 4th place. For the feature I lined up deep in the field,
outside the 6th row for the 30 lap feature. We had a few caution flags for
spun cars and the red flag flew when the #4 car of Jordan Huettl rolled after
making contact with a spun car. The race was scheduled for 30 laps, but I
think they cut the race a little short, but I think everyone got their fill of
racing tonight. I know I had worked up quite a sweat by the end of the
race. Even though I had another poor finish, I had fun and was happy to
get through the race in one piece, especially the way the cars drift up to the
concrete wall coming out of turn 4. I came close to getting pinched up
into the wall a couple of times. No matter if I came out of the corner low
or high, I would slide right up close to the wall. Thanks to the promoter
at Grand Forks for inviting us again. Congratulations to Tom Wagner on
taking the checkered flag in first place. Also I want to congratulate John
Huettl on having a great night - winning his first heat race and finishing the
feature in 4th place.
We turned a lot of heads as we headed down
the highway to Grand Forks with this open trailer with 5 Legend cars on
board.
September
13th - Tri-County Speedway - The final race of the season in
Wishek brought 12 cars to the track so not a great car count, and I think it is
a good thing we didn't have more cars as the track was quite dry and VERY
slick. I started the second heat in 4th place and by the time the first
lap was over, I was running 6th (last). I have never had such an ill
handling car. One corner I would be so loose and the next time around I
would push like crazy. I almost spun myself out at least a couple of times
and then almost went off the top of turn two. Nobody could get any grip on
the slippery surface. The feature race was a little better, but not
much. I thought the feature would be nothing but a wreck-fest and was glad
I was starting at the very back of the pack. Fortunately my prediction was
wrong and I believe we ran the race with only one caution flag, although we had
a couple cars spin out and keep going. The only good place to run was
along the very bottom of the racetrack. If I slipped up off the bottom at
all, my car would just push like it was on ice. One lap, coming off
turn 4, the #30 of Lance Jangula spun out and I went to go low. I saw
Lance's car start to back toward the infield and thought I was done for, but I
jerked the wheel to the left and Lance hit his brakes and I narrowly missed
him. (Lance was one of the cars to spin and keep on going.). I was
very happy to finish the race with the car in one piece, even if I had another
crappy finish of 10th place. Congratulations to Donavin Weist on
keeping the car going straight and taking home the feature trophy tonight.
After the races, we were treated to another great trailer race by the guys from
the Wishek area. Best part was the van that rolled over 3 times, landing
on his wheels and driving back onto the track, past the ambulance that was
coming to check on him. The crowd sure roared it's approval on that
move. Too bad he lost his trailer taking him out of the race though.
I think tonight may have been my last race of the season, and maybe my last
race, period, as I heard a rumor that the Winter Nationals in Aberdeen are going
to be cancelled and I'm thinking about selling my car this winter and taking a
break. I might have to re-think my plans on not going to Grand Forks next
weekend. We will see.
September
12th - Buffalo River Race Park - At the last minute Saturday
morning, I decided to make the trip over to Glyndon to make an appearance for
the year and to visit with a couple of friends. I'm glad I went because I
actually had a good night. This week we put my old motor back in the
car. We thought we had hurt something in the engine, but it turned out to
be a problem with the carbs and it seems to run fine - even though it probably
is a bit tired. When I took a look at the track it definitely looked slimy
as they had a lot of rain the last couple of days. The Legends class was
up first and I figured the track would be a total disaster for us, but other
than the front stretch, the track was pretty decent, but coming out of turn
four, you would just slide up toward the wall. I started the first heat
outside the second row and most of the race I battled with the #98 car trying to
get around him but couldn't quite make the pass and I finished the race in 4th
place. I lined up in 4th place for the 18 car feature. The track was
in very nice shape for the feature and my car handled great. I passed the
3rd place car and then shortly lost a spot to Nathan Speten. About midway
through the race, Nathan spun to the infield giving me back the spot but he kept
going and the race stayed green. On the 13th lap, third place Troy Speten
also spun and nosed his car into the tire barrier in the infield bringing out
the only caution of the race. I was worried about losing spots on the
restart, but kept it in front of the others running behind me and got my first
decent run of the season with a 3rd place finish so I was very happy.
Congratulations to Patrick Brejcha on his feature win.
September
5th & 6th - Motor Magic at Nodak Speedway - Both nights
were finishes of 4th in the heat races and 10th in the features. Not
exactly pretty, but I had a lot of fun both nights and was busy racing someone
all the time. Congratulations to Troy Speten on winning opening night and
to Paul Huettl on winning the final night and taking home the Motor Magic
Championship. I should be writing a little more but with 3 nights of
racing to recap, it's just too hard to remember it all. I hope to write
more in the next couple of days but I think season end laziness is showing it's
ugly head. I know it has been as far as maintenance of the car goes.
I hope the wheels don't fall off or anything like that these last few nights.
September
3rd - Tri-County Speedway - Finally a decent finish in a
feature race. We had 15 cars on hand tonight. On the start of the
feature, the #93 of Joe Gartner got spun around at the front of the pack and was
hit hard in the driver side door by the #38 of Courtney Woehloff. I
narrowly missed him as I flew by. After a lengthy red flag while the
ambulance crew got Joe out of the car the race continued. I started 9th
and when the checkered flag flew I crossed the line with a 4th place finish. I
passed a few cars, but also had some cars drop out at the front so a lot of this
finish was kind of handed to me, but my car handled well and I definitely moved
up. Congratulations to Ivan Sailer on another feature win tonight.
Joe was taken to the hospital for some tests, but he was released a short time
later without any serious injury. Glad to hear that. I hope to write
more soon.
August
29th - Jamestown Speedway - We are finally getting to make a
trip to the Jamestown Speedway. I've heard for a while that Jamestown has
a very nice track and after getting the chance to race on it, I would
agree. We had 18 cars on hand for our first showing, which I thought was
great, especially considering the short notice we had because some drivers had
other plans and couldn't fit tonight into their schedules. I started the
first heat of 9 cars in 6th place. I had trouble getting my car to handle
through the turns and the track had a few slick spots. Near the end of the
race, I got sideways in the middle of turns 3 and 4 and thought I was going to
spin it into the inside concrete wall, but at the last second the car grabbed
and I got it turned in the right direction dropping me to the rear of the
field. In the few remaining laps I caught up to the field but finished the
race dead last in 9th place. I started the feature inside the 9th row so
didn't expect a great finish. A few laps into the feature the #48 of Brent
Dutenhoffer spun in front of me. I cleared him pretty easily but a couple
of other cars in front of me almost got caught up with him bringing out the
caution. Then a couple of laps later another yellow flag flew for another
spin involving #13 Troy Speten. I never actually saw Troy's car but saw
the cars avoiding him and went to the high side. After that, the race went
caution free for the rest of the 20 laps. I finished the race in 14th
place. Even though my finish wasn't nothing to write about, I sure had a
fun time. The whole race I was battling for position with someone and my
car handled much better and I left the track smiling. Congratulations to Ivan Sailer on
his first feature victory of the season with a very exciting 3 wide photo
finish. I think we put on an excellent show tonight with caution free heat
races and only 2 cautions for minor spins in the feature and some of the closest
finishes of the night and lots of close racing all the way to the back of the
pack. I watched the second heat and Paul Morman came away with the win
with a very exciting finish with Ivan Sailer and from what I understand the
feature finish was even more exciting with Ivan edging out the Speten brothers
at the line. Everyone seemed to have a great time and we are all hoping
that with the show we put on tonight we will be invited back in the near
future.
August
28th - Dacotah Speedway - Our final race of the season at
Dacotah Speedway brought only 19 cars to the track which was less than I had
expected. I drew a crappy number at check in which put me last in the 6
car second heat. When the checkered flag fell I crossed the line in 5th
place. I started the feature in 14th place and that is where I
finished the race. I don't remember much about the race now so it must
have been pretty un-eventful for me. (I need to write up these stories
before I move on to the next race.) Congratulations to Nathan Speten on
winning the final night of the season. Also congratulations to Donavin
Weist on winning the season points championship. Troy Speten was the
points leader going into tonight's race, but he was involved in an accident on
the 7th lap and finished the race a lap down in 17th place ending the season
points in a tie with Paul Huettl for 2nd place, 9 points behind the
leader. Congratulations to you guys on your excellent seasons. I'm
hoping to have my new engine in the car next week in time for Motor Magic in
Minot. Maybe I will get some better finishes, or will only have myself to
blame for my poor performances this season.
August
14th - Dacotah Speedway - When I got to the track there was a
very light rain and the skies were threatening and the weather radar wasn't too
promising, but the rain stopped and held off for the night. We had an
excellent car count tonight with 20 cars on hand. I started 4th in the 3rd
heat. The track was very nice to race on and my car handled great. I
got shuffled back to 5th place and then passed a couple of cars and by the
checkered flag I was in 3rd place. I had a great time holding of the hard
charging #10 car of Tom Wagner. My poor point average put me on the pole
for the 15 lap feature. On the first lap we had a caution flag. On
the restart, a couple of cars got the jump on me and the caution flew
again. (I'm not sure exactly what the caution was for as I don't believe
anyone was sent to the back of the pack.) On the re-start I got a good
start and beat the #42 of Kirk Strand to the first corner. I led the first
5 laps and then slowly started getting shuffled back. The #14 of Robert
Schatz blew his engine and left a wide trail of oil in the high groove all the
way around the track - pretty much in the same groove I had been running.
Then about midway through the race, the #371 of Ivan Sailer dropped a line of
oil in the lower part of turns 1 and 2. I got into his oil and my car
pushed up in the middle of the turn and I gave away 4 more positions and
finished the race in 9th place. I was a little disappointed with the end
result but still very happy to finish in the top 10. It felt real good to
run up front again and my car handled great
till the very end of the feature and we had a pretty clean race.
Congratulations to Donavin Weist on his last lap pass for his second feature
victory of the season at Dacotah Speedway. Also congratulations to a few
former Legends drivers. Steven Kuntz, Tracy Domagala and Spencer Wilson
(not exactly a "former" driver yet) each won their respective heat
races. You looked good guys.
August
9th - Nodak Speedway - Started front row in the 2nd
heat. The track was so rough I took one lap and decided I didn't want to
wreck my stuff so decided to load up and go home. Found out that of the 14
cars starting the feature, only 7 cars finished the race. I hear that
Steve Pankowski got rolled over onto his roof but it sounds like it wasn't a
serious deal. Congratulations to Paul Huettl on winning the rodeo.
August
1st and 2nd - Dacotah Speedway - The ND Governor’s Stock Car
Classic weekend finally arrived,the weather was almost perfect and we had an
excellent field of 25 Legends cars on opening night. (157 cars competed in all
classes.) The below average
temperatures were a welcome relief from the extreme heat we experienced the last
couple of years. I was hoping that
I could repeat my performance of last year’s Classic where I had my best
feature finishes to date but the way my finishes have been this season I
didn’t hold out much hope – especially after the draw for the heat lineups
on opening day. My draw put me in
the 6th position in the 9 car field of the 3rd heat.
After 8 laps of caution free racing, I finished the race in 6th
place, missing the re-draw for the feature by 2 positions and relegating me to
an 18th place starting position.
In the feature I was very busy as there were cars all around me and the
racing was very tight. Midway
through the race, I was right on the back bumper of #32 Matt Miller when he hit
the brakes to avoid the spinning car of #42 Kirk Strand a couple of cars ahead
of him. I kind of got sandwiched as Matt crashed into Kirk and I
rear-ended Matt a couple of times and then the #77 of Dave Aberle just clipped
my right rear bumper and wheel. I
was very surprised that my car didn’t suffer any severe damage and I was the
only one of the four cars involved to be able to continue the race.
When the race was over I finished a disappointing 15th – but
was very happy to be finishing the race at all after surviving the wreck.
Congratulations to #60 Patrick Brejcha of Wahpeton, ND on making the trip
to Mandan and winning the feature.
The second night we had a little smaller
field of cars as only 20 cars showed up, but still a great car count. My draw for the heat race was even worse than the night
before and I lined up 8th in a field of 10 cars. On the start of the race I missed a shift letting the #41 of
Paul Huettl get past me with ease, but before the race was over, I had gained a
couple of spots and finished the 10 lap heat in 7th place, again
missing the feature re-draw by 2 positions, so I knew I would be starting the
feature outside the 7th row.
The race was real clean with an early caution for debris on the
track. Midway through the race I
had moved up a few positions when I got too high and slipped off the front
stretch losing the spots I had gained.
Then I moved a bit lower on the track and got passed by a couple more
cars. With 2 laps to go, the #19 of
Donavin Weist got spun out in corner #2 while running in 3rd place
bringing out the caution flag. There
were cars going every direction as everyone scattered to avoid hitting him.
On the restart I managed to lose one more spot (I hate yellow flags!) and
finished the race with another crappy 15th place – only 2 cars from
being dead last. Congratulations to
Troy Speten on winning tonight’s feature.
Even though I didn’t finish well in any of
my races this weekend, I sure had a fun time.
My car handled great and it seemed like I was racing for position most
every lap of every race I was in. The
track was real nice both nights and we made it through the weekend with only one
crash and that didn’t cause any serious damage.
I hope my finishes improve when I get my engine back from the shop.
I’m hoping most of my problem has been engine related and not that
I’m getting worse as a driver or not showing any improvement.
I’m happy if I can run in the middle of the pack, but running at the
back of the pack is real discouraging. Congratulations
to Paul Huettl on winning the weekend championship trophy and Donavin Weist as
the runner-up.
July
24th - Brown County Speedway - We had 14 cars making our first trip
to Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen and there were a lot of fans that came out
to see the Legends cars which were promoted quite heavily in the days preceding
the race. I started in 3rd place in my heat race and after a clean
race I finished in 5th place - one spot out of making the draw for the
feature. I started the 15 lap feature outside the 5th row. The track
for the feature was in great shape and was very fast. There was one
caution on the 12th lap for a spun car, but otherwise it was a very clean
race. I didn't really want to see the caution flag. I lost a couple
more positions after the restart. Most of the race I was involved in a
battle with a few cars and got both of my bumpers banged up a little bit but
otherwise no damage and I finished the race in 10th place. Not the finish
I was hoping for but I sure had a lot of fun. Congratulations to Spencer
Wilson on the feature win.
This track is supposed to be a 3/8 mile, but
it definitely is smaller than Mandan's. The track has nice wide corners
but not much for straightaways. As the end of the race neared, I realized
the muscles in my neck were tired as it seemed like you were always in the
corner trying to keep your head from flopping over. I think we put on a
pretty good show and lots of fans came down after the races to visit. And
best of all, the promoter came over and said he really appreciated the show we
put on and I believe he is going to include us in their season ending Winter
Nationals, October 2nd and 3rd. That would be a great way to end the
season.
July
17th - Tri-County Speedway - Another disappointing night as I
started having some kind of engine problem and dropped out of my heat race and
then started at the back of the feature and dropped out after I completed a
lap. I kind of felt like the "start and park" guys in NASCAR
(like Dave Blaney who I used to be a fan of). After dropping out I got to
watch the rest of the show from the pits. I was kind of glad I was not out
there as there was quite a bit of trouble getting laps in. There was a lot
of cars (18 started the race) and the track is rather small so there is little
room when stuff happens and some nights it is just tough to run a good
race. Tonight definitely wasn't one of our better shows. There was
several cautions and one red flag when #10 Tom Wagner tangled wheels with #23
Glen Hellebust and Tom got the short end of the stick and rolled his car right
in front of the grandstand. Tom was OK after the wreck but his car needs a
lot of work. I believe they cut the race to 20 laps and the feature was
won by Troy Speten. Congratulations to Troy and also to Joe Gartner for
his very nice 2nd place run.
After the race we enjoyed another excellent
trailer race. They guys in Wishek sure know the intent of a trailer race
and definitely put on a great show.
July
16th - Tri-County Speedway - We had a great car count tonight with
17 cars. Car counts for the other classes were definitely poor
though. I started 3rd in the 2nd heat and finished the race in 4th
place. For the feature, I started outside the front row with #93 Joe
Gartner on the inside. Joe and I raced side by side for a few laps till I
got past him and took the lead for a short while till I got passed by the #13
car of Troy Speten and #50 of Paul Morman and shortly after that the #371 of
Ivan Sailer got by. I ran several laps in 4th place till I got way up in
the loose dirt in corner 4 letting three other cars by and I finished the race
in 7th place. I sure had a good time tonight but was kind of disappointed
that I messed up and let those last cars by. We had a pretty good night
and only had one car that had any real damage to repair before the next night's
races. Congratulations to Troy Speten on winning the feature and also to
Paul Morman on his excellent run finishing in 2nd place.
July
10th - Dacotah Speedway - A real disappointing night for me as I
continue to have some kind of ignition problems with the car and I did not
finish either the heat or the feature. We had a little bit of a light car
turnout tonight with only 17 cars showing up at the track, but it was a good
night as we didn't have anybody involved in any crashes. Congratulations
to Nathan Speten for tonight's feature win.
July
4th - Nodak Speedway - This weekend is the big 4th of July
double header at Nodak Speedway and we had 15 Legends show up so it was a pretty
nice car count. I started 3rd in the 1st heat. After running a
caution free race, I finished in 6th place - 1 spot out of getting a decent
starting spot for the feature. The last several laps of the heat, I had a
lot of fun racing the #77 of Dave Aberle. I could get up beside him but
never could make the pass. I started the feature inside the 6th row.
We sat in our cars for over a half hour while the Street Stocks crashed and
banged their way through their feature race (if you can call what they have been
doing "racing"). I was told they had 10 caution flags - it
seemed like 100. God, it was hot in the car with all my gear on and the
sweat was running down my back and probably everywhere else. Then when I
thought we would be going out on the track, I saw the water truck come out and
start dumping water around the bottom of the track. That wouldn't be too
bad, but then the truck heads off the track leaking water across the entrance
to turn 1, not exactly a great place to slick it up. That is 2 weeks in a
row that the officials did that crap to us and all the drivers were upset about
it. On the first lap, heading down the backstretch, I saw the #41 of Paul
Huettl get turned sideways and fly off the track. Then I saw the #67 of Eric
Fetzer take another nasty rollover bouncing off the inside guardrail. It
was just a couple of weeks ago that Eric destroyed another car in a nasty wreck
in Mandan. Eric walked away un-injured, but the car suffered lots of
damage, but I think it can be repaired - I sure hope so anyway. I was hard
on the brakes to avoid slowing/stopping cars in front of me. I thought I
was going to rear-end the #23 of Glen Hellebust, but got the car stopped without
hitting anyone or being hit from behind. Once the race resumed, I just
tried to keep out of any trouble and just kind of drove around the track at the
back of the pack. About halfway through, we had another wreck up front
involving the #77 of Dave Aberle and #3 of Nathan Speten. Both cars were
done for the night. The last few laps, my car started having engine
problems again, cutting out while driving through the corners and I finished the
race in 10th place I believe. The last lap I thought the car was going to
stop completely, but I made it to the pits and then it seemed to run
fine. Congratulations to Troy Speten on winning the feature
tonight. It is nice to be congratulating a different Speten this week (no
offense Nathan).
After seeing another nasty wreck tonight and
then with my car not running right, I just decided I needed to take a break and
took Sunday night off. It sounds like I missed out on a awesome racetrack
though - tacky, smooth, fast, and best of all, caution free.
Congratulations to Troy Speten on taking home the trophy from both nights of the
double header.
July
2nd - Tri-County Speedway - When
I got to the track, the skies were threatening some rain, but we got the races
in with only a few drops falling and the weather was perfect as it was nice and
cool. We had a great car count with 15 Legends showing up on a Thursday
night. I started the second heat outside the second row. On the
first lap I moved up into second place and ran there for a few laps losing the
position to #50 Paul Morman. The last few laps my car started sounding
like it had some kind of a miss at the end of the straights and through the
corners. With a little over a lap to go I was passed by #371 Ivan Sailer
and crossed the finish line in 4th place. After a quick fuel pump change,
it was time to get ready for the feature where I lined up on the pole. My
time at the front didn't last very long as on the first turn, my car pushed up
and I caught the rear wheel of Paul Morman sending Paul into a spin right in
front of the field. Paul survived the ordeal without damage, but #38
Courtney Woehlhoff ended up with some damage from the cars avoiding the spun car
and couldn't continue. I think this is the first time I have caused
someone to spin or wreck since my seventh night of racing over 3 years
ago. I felt terrible about it, but I guess stuff
happens. (My apologies to Paul and to Courtney.) I then
started the race from the back of the field and the way my car handled, I'm
actually glad I was back there. My car just wanted to push through the
turns. One lap I got up into the loose dirt at the high side of turn 4 and
I thought I was going to push all the way up to the wall. I'm sure I came
within a foot of smacking it, but stayed off of the concrete and kept on going,
but lost the few positions I had gained. After a few more caution flags I
ended up finishing the race in 9th place. Congratulations to Nathan Speten
on another win.
June
28th - Nodak Speedway - The
weather today made for a great day to go racing and everyone must have thought
so too, because the car count tonight was our best of the year – 18 cars in
the Legends class and the other classes had great car counts too.
I started inside the second row in the second heat.
After running a caution free 8 laps, I crossed the finish line in 5th
place making the cutoff for the top 10 in the feature.
Dave Aberle and I lead the 18 car feature field to the green flag.
Dave and I had a good battle for the lead for the first couple of laps
till the caution flag flew.
After the restart I lost a few positions once the fast guys starting
behind me started making their way around but I kept up with them pretty well.
About midway through the race, #65 Justin Batzer, who was running right
in front of me, started to make a slow spin to the inside of the fourth corner.
I steered to the outside and just cleared his rear bumper, but behind me
a few other cars trying to avoid Justin got together causing the #42 of Kirk
Strand to roll his car over bringing out the red flag.
Kirk was un-injured but his car looked like a mess, but it looks
repairable from the quick look I got of it.
The red flag received a workout tonight as there was a red flag in the
Hobby Stock, Street Stock and Legends features.
After the race resumed and after a couple more caution flags, I ended up
finishing the race in 10th place.
Not exactly a great finish, but I’m happy with a top 10 and no damage
to the car. I was involved with a lot of close racing action which made for a
lot of fun.
The track tonight was rather rough on the high side of the turns which is
where I was trying to run but otherwise was real nice and definitely was fast.
Congratulations to Spencer Wilson on bringing home another feature win
tonight.
June
19th - Dacotah Speedway - After the deluge of rain we had on
Monday and Tuesday (8+ inches at my home) I didn't think we would get to race
tonight, but the weather was beautiful and the pits were actually quite dry and
the track was extremely dusty for the heat races. Never thought that would
be the case. We had a
great car count tonight with 23 Legends taking to the track. I finished
4th in my heat so I would get a good starting position in the top 12 in the feature. I was just happy to
get out of that race without any problems as the visibility going into turn 3
was pretty much zero. I wasn't sure when to slow for the corner and hoped
I wouldn't get run over or nobody ahead of me would spin in the turn. The
track was very nice for the feature except for a big oil slick on the high side
through turns 3 and 4 and the front stretch. I started the feature in 5th
place and after a few cautions ended the race in 13th place. Even though I
went way too far backwards, I sure had a lot of fun tonight and the track was
very fast. And best of all, nobody crashed their cars up for a
change. Congratulations to Spencer Wilson on his feature victory. We
also had a special visitor - Tommy Jordan, who drove up from South Carolina
heading to a race in Kallispell, Montana and stopped in to race here.
Tonight was the 3rd time he has raced on the dirt in over 20 years of racing and he did quite well,
starting in 12th place and worked his way up to 3rd, before spinning out in the
last turn. I hope you had a good time Tommy.
Picture of the track taken
Tuesday night by Ken Hoff
June
14th - Nodak Speedway - A rough night for the 58 car. I
finished 5th in my heat and figured I should have done better but still made the
cut to get a decent start in the feature. I started the 14 car feature in
the 4th position. On the 4th lap, I tangled with
#77 Dave Aberle after he lost control on the front stretch after breaking the
rear panhard bar and he caught my left rear tire sending me into a nice long
slide. I thought I was going to back it into the concrete wall but kept
away from it and continued on hoping the car would be OK. ( I found out
after the race that I bent the panhard bar but nothing was broken.) Around
the 10th lap or so my night ended when #65 Justin Batzer
and #64 Chris Evenson tangled in corner two. I saw Chris' car spinning to
the inside and saw Justin going high so was going to follow him, and then
realized he was stopping (his right front spindle was broken) and rear ended him
pretty hard. Bad move. Sorry Justin - I didn't realize you
were a part of that. I limped my car to the pits and was done for the
night, being credited with a 13th place finish.
After surveying the damage, I was pretty pleased with the relatively minor
damage I believe I ended up with, especially after the wrecked race cars we
witnessed the past couple of weekends. I will need to look the car over
better to see what else might be damaged, but I got off pretty lucky.
(After closer inspection I found out I had a bent rear end housing so had to
have some hopefully not too expensive repairs made.) And I caught both incidents on my video camera. Congratulations to Spencer
Wilson on his 4th straight feature victory. Even though I had a bit of a
rough night, I left the track with a smile on my face because I had a lot of
fun.
June
12th - Dacotah Speedway - I
started the first heat in 4th place. Shortly after the start I ended up in
6th place. I chased the #77 of Dave Aberle and the #8 of Bill Hultberg and
got by Bill on the last lap giving me a start up near the front of the
feature. I started the 18 car feature outside the 2nd row. At the
green flag I got a good start, but the red flag flew when #13 Troy Speten got
tangled up with the #75 of Spencer Wilson and rolled his car several times in
the first turn. Spencer had some damage to his car but was able to re-join
the action. The restart wasn't as good for me and I slowly dropped
back. After a couple more caution flags, I ended up finishing the race in
8th place so I was pretty happy with that. I might have said it before,
but I think the old motor is getting tired after 123 nights of racing.
This winter I will have to look into a re-build or a new power plant. I
really had a lot of fun tonight and my car seemed to handle decent. I had
a lot of fun racing with the #77 of Dave Aberle as we spent several laps racing
wheel to wheel and never got into each other. With Troy Speten's rollover
at the
start of the feature, it made for another "bad night" as far as car
damage goes but otherwise it was a pretty clean race. I sure hope this
wrecking doesn't keep up. Congratulations to Donavin
Weist on winning tonight's feature. Way to go Donavin!!!
June
5th - Dacotah Speedway - Today
was a very cool, overcast day with the forecast of lots of cold and rain for the
weekend. Fortunately we were able to get tonight's races in without any
rain. I started in 5th place in the 2nd heat. At the start I passed
the polesetter but was beat to the corner by the brothers Speten. Before
the first lap was completed, I was back running in 5th place where I finished
the race, right on the tail of Tom Wagner and Glen Hellebust. With
my crappy feature results so far this year, my point average is crappy too so my
finish in the top 5 put me on the pole for the feature. At the green flag
I was beat by the outside polesitter, #8 Bill Hultberg and #23 Glen Hellebust
and followed them for 3 laps. On the 4th lap, I got very sideways coming
through the 2nd turn and let several cars by. At the end of the
backstretch, I saw the cars of #67 Eric Fetzer and #19 Donavin Weist get
together causing Eric's car to get sideways and begin to roll over losing a
wheel in the process. In the blink of any eye, the #55 of Ivan Sailer came
into my view and hit the errant tire and was launched at least 15 feet into the
air and then I had gone by and didn't see any more of it. Ivan's car did a
some nasty end over end rolls and came to rest at the bottom of turn 3. I
believe both cars are pretty much destroyed, but both drivers walked away
uninjured. The red flag was a lucky break for me as I got my lost
positions back on the restart. As the race went on I had a lot of back and
forth battles eventually dropping back to 7th place. On the last lap, the
#65 of Justin Batzer spun in turn 2 right in front of me and I narrowly missed
him. I was distracted by his spin and was expecting the caution to come
out I totally spaced out that we were crossing the finish line. As I came
through the first turn, I came up fast on Bill Hultberg as he was slowing to
pull into the pits. I hit the brakes but was a bit late for that and
hit him square in the rear bumper quite hard. Total brain fade on my part,
but both of us got by with just some bumper damage. Sorry Bill. I
was very happy to get my first top 10 at Mandan with a 6th place finish. Congratulations to Nathan Speten again on winning 4 for 4
features so far this season. I was involved in a lot of close, wheel to
wheel racing and had a great time tonight, other than seeing a couple of friends
involved in a nasty wreck. Just sitting there alone with my thoughts
during the red flag, you begin to wonder if this racing thing is what I should
be doing, but 10 minutes later I'm back at it racing side by side and hoping for
the best. I'm not afraid of taking a spill, but definitely don't want a
destroyed car in the process, because if that would happen, I would be
done. Anyway, till next time.
June
4th - Tri County Speedway - A real disappointing car count as we
had only 9 cars on hand tonight but I guess that is to be expected with racing
on a Thursday night. I hope we can
do a little better with the rest of the races here this season.
With only 9 cars, they ran us all in one heat where I lined up in the
tail-end spot. Fighting a bad push,
I still moved up a couple of positions before we had a caution flag for a spin
near the end of the race. As we
completed the first lap after the restart, the #55 car of Ivan Sailer got loose
on the front stretch getting tangled up with the #18 car of Carson Gramm and
then collecting the #68 of Wes Doepke, sending Wes’ car hard into the concrete
barrier, up and over the roof of Carson’s car and spinning into the catch
fence and bringing out the red flag. I
had a bird’s eye view of the wreck as It happened right in front of me but I
didn’t have much trouble avoiding it. I
had hoped my in-car camera would get a good view of it, but with facing the
setting sun, it is rather hard to see. I’m
not sure if we were on the last lap or what, but they declared our race finished
and I was credited with a 6th place finish. When
the feature was ready to run, repairs had been made to the #18 and #55 and they
were lined up and ready to go, minus a few fenders.
Wes’s car will be needing some extensive repairs.
I lined up in the 6th spot.
From the start of the race, my car handled terribly on the dry, slick
track. It pushed terribly going
into the corners and then got extremely loose.
One lap I just laughed out loud as I watched the #50 of Paul Morman and
#55 of Ivan Sailer pushing up through turns 3 and 4 right in front of me.
I figured the 3 of us must have looked like some kind of automotive
synchronized swimming event. I
believe we had 1 caution flag in the feature for a spin by #30 Lance Jangula,
but otherwise a safe race and I ended up in 6th place. Definitely not a finish to write home about, but 6th
place sounds good and I stayed out of trouble.
I put on a set of clean carbs and the car seemed to run much better.
We will see how things go in Mandan tomorrow.
Congratulations to Troy Speten on tonight’s feature win.
May
31st - Nodak Speedway - Tonight we had a very light Legends
turnout as only 10 cars showed up to race so we only ran one heat and the
feature. For our heat race, I
started outside the 2nd row. At
the drop of the green flag, I jumped to the outside and beat the front row cars
to the first turn but I didn’t stay up there long.
After running 8 laps on a very dry, slick racetrack I had shuffled back
to 6th place. Waiting in
the lineup for the Street Stock feature to run seemed to take forever. The fans were treated to another caution plagued “race”
that just seemed to go on and on while we sat sweating in our cars.
(Don’t they have any time limits on these races???)
I think the Legends class gets looked on as some kind of second class
citizens, but at least we learn how to drive a racecar without banging the crap
out of each other’s cars and usually have very clean races and a minimum
amount of cautions. More often than
not, these taxi cab races seem to be nothing but a crash fest as they beat and
bang on each other through every turn. Have
fun fixing your cars each week? Anyway,
enough of my ranting. I started the
feature in the 6th position. After
watering the track during intermission the track was in much better shape and
was very fun to race on. We
had a caution about midway through when one of the new drivers spun and hit the
guardrail inside turn 4. A few laps
later I was running right behind the #2 of Steve Pankowski and the #11 of Les
Schroeder when they made contact between
turns 3 and 4, taking both cars for a good bounce which I luckily avoided. Both cars were done for the night. When the race ended I was in 6th place.
It sounds good, but I believe there was only 1 car running behind me,
right on my tail. Hopefully the car
will be running better next week after I get the carbs cleaned.
Congratulations to Spencer Wilson for adding another feature trophy to
his collection.
May
29th - Dacotah Speedway - A
great showing of cars tonight as we had 22 cars on hand and some great weather
to go along with it. I lined up in 3rd place in the 3rd heat. After
the green flag flew, I dropped into 4th place and ran there for 5 laps. On
the 5th lap something happened to leader #67 Eric Fetzer's car causing him to
slow on the backstretch. I came close to tangling with him as I came up
behind him. I had to brake for him and that let the #41 of Paul Huettle
get by me and I chased Paul to the checkered flag finishing in 4th place.
The track was unusually wet tonight and I used up 4 tear-offs in the race.
I have never used more than a couple of tear-offs in a race in Mandan
before. The track was real nice though. For the feature, I started
outside the 2nd row and started dropping toward the back once we took the
green. I'm having some issues with the way my car is running and hope to
get the carbs cleaned this week and hope that gets it back in better running
order. I'm very disappointed with the finishes I've been having lately and
hope the carbs are the problem, at least most of it. Midway through the
race we had a caution for a car getting into the inside guardrail that took a
few laps. Once the green flag flew the race went green to the
finish. A huge contrast to the LONG street stock feature
race right before ours. I came close to napping in my car waiting in the
lineup to go out onto the track. Congratulations to Nathan Speten on
winning his 3rd consecutive feature at Dacotah Speedway. Also I want to
give Matt Miller a pat on the back for his good run tonight. Matt took
over the lead on the 2nd lap and opened up a big lead over the pack until the
caution flag came out. The cautions can really suck sometimes.
Another "attaboy" goes to Spencer Wilson for his crowd thrilling spin
near the end of the race. He tangled with another car, did a complete 360
degree spin and kept it going, losing only 3 positions in the process.
Wow! I hope to see some video of that one! Great job!! And
good job to everyone racing tonight as the track was fast and crowded and we
only had one single car incident.
May
24th - Nodak Speedway - We had 16 cars show up
so we had our best turnout of the season so far at Minot. I lined up
outside the front row of heat #2. I beat the polesitter to the first turn
and stayed out front for 5 1/2 laps till I was passed in the backstretch by #3
Nathan Speten. After that it was just a matter of following Nathan to the
checkered flag. It felt good to run out front for a change. For the
feature, I lined up in the pole position. From the drop of the green flag
I just started going backward. I had dropped back to about 10th, when I
saw the #31 car of rookie John Huettl down inside of me in turn 4 with a serious
push heading up my way. Between the distraction of seeing him heading
toward my door and trying to move out of the way a bit I ended up going over the
edge of turn 4 and lost a few more positions and finished the race in 14th place
- definitely a very disappointing finish. I think my carbs are in serious
need of cleaning as the car seemed to be missing a bit down the straightaways.
As the final laps of the modified feature were being run, the sprinkles began to
fall and eventually rained out Monday night's races. We were lucky to get
tonight's race in as it was very cloudy all day long. Congratulations to
Spencer Wilson on winning tonight's feature. I didn't get any video of the
feature race as the batteries went dead in the camera.
May
22nd - Dacotah Speedway - We
had a great turnout of cars tonight as 19 cars took to the track in 3 heat
races. I lined up last (6th) in the 2nd heat. After 8 laps of
caution free racing I had worked my way up to 3rd place, very narrowly missing a
2nd place spot as I crossed the line beside the #55 of Ivan Sailer. I was
on the outside of the front row for the start of the feature. As we came
off turn 4 on the first lap, the polesitter #42 Kirk Strand slipped and had to
back off to regain control and I nearly rear-ended him at the line, losing
several spots in the process. A couple of laps later Kirk spun in turn 2
and as I took to the outside his car started backing up the track. I
luckily cleared him by inches. After 3 caution flags the checkered flag
flew and I finished all the way back in 11th place. Another finish out of
the top 10, but I had a lot of fun and loaded it up without any damage. I took some video with my in-car camera.
Check out my Video tab for links to the video. (I'm new at this so I hope
it works) Congratulations to Nathan
Speten on winning tonight's feature.
May
17th - Tri County Speedway - After finding out
Nodak was racing sprint cars and no Legends at pretty much the last moment, we
went racing in Wishek, a place I love to go racing. We had 13 cars show up
and had a nice day for racing for a change. I lined up in 3rd place for
the first heat. At the start, I stayed in my 3rd position and for most of
the race I had a great battle going on trying to get past the #50 of Paul Morman
and trying to stay ahead of #55 Ivan Sailer. I saw Ivan inside of me a few
times but he couldn't get around and in the meantime I'm trying to get by Paul
on the outside. I got outside him a few times coming out of turn 4 but
ended up getting pinched up to the front stretch wall and had to back off.
With a couple of laps to go, I got a little too high in turn 2 and Ivan finally
got by me going down the back stretch and I ended the race in 4th place.
Whew! That was a lot of fun. All four of us were pretty much bumper
to bumper. I had a lap full of mud when that race was over.
For the feature, I lined up 4th
row inside. On the first lap a couple of the front cars got together
bringing out a caution flag and a complete restart. Then on the restart, a
couple of the lead cars got together again when they thought the green was to
come out and jumped wheels but no serious damage. On the next lap the
green flag flew. There was a lot of action going on up in front of me so I
was being fairly cautious. Several laps into the race, the #10 of Tom
Wagner got spun in the middle of turns 3 and 4. I got on the brakes a
little too hard and spun to the inside barrier and nobody behind me collected
me. I drove up to follow the car I was behind but when they stopped us to
line us up, I ended up being put into last place. It really ticked me off
since I wasn't the one who caused the caution, but spun trying to avoid the
wreck as Tom also got collected by a couple of other cars. What I think
happened is they lined us up in the order in which we crossed the line AFTER the
caution flag came out. Anyway, I was pissed and decided that I wasn't
going to go to the back of the pack for somebody else's wreck so I pulled off
the track and loaded up. I probably shouldn't have done it since I'm here
to have fun and not particularly concerned with my finishes but I wasn't too
pleased with their officiating so kind of had my own personal temper
tantrum. I watched the rest of the race which was very exciting.
Donavin Weist led the race from the green flag till his engine blew (2 nights on
a brand new engine - OUCH!!) with about 3 laps or so to go and then Paul Morman
clipped his rear wheel as Donavin slowed and Paul tried to get around him and
Paul flew off turn 3. When the racing resumed, Glen Hellebust led with
Ivan Sailer right on his tail. As they were heading through turn 2, Glen
slipped high and Ivan dived below and took the lead heading for the white flag
and took his first feature win of the season. Congratulations to you
Ivan. Of the 13 cars taking the green flag tonight, only 7 cars finished
with 6 of them having damaged race cars. Even though tonight wasn't a
really good night, I'm definitely looking forward to our next race here.
May
10th - Nodak Speedway - A light rain began when
we got to the track threatening to cancel the show but the skies finally cleared
and we had a nice evening and the track was in excellent shape for racing.
We had a very light field of only 11 cars tonight which is very
disappointing. I lined up in 4th
place for the first heat. In
the first lap I moved up one position and after a caution free 8 laps had been
run I ended up with a distant 3rd place finish. For the feature, I lined up inside the second row.
At the drop of the green flag, I screwed up and missed a shift causing me
to lose a few positions. I gained
one spot back by passing rookie John Huettl in the #31 at the end of the first
lap and ran in 5th place till the first caution about midway through
the race. On the restart I got by
the #93 of Joe Gartner and was right on the tail of 3rd place runner
#2 Steve Pankowski when the caution flag flew again.
This time on the restart, I lost 4th place to #67 Eric Fetzer
and chased him to the checkered flag, holding off a hard charging Glen Hellebust
in the #23 to take my first top 5 feature finish of the season.
Despite a few caution flags tonight, nobody got their cars torn up and we
put on a decent show. Congratulations to Spencer Wilson on winning tonight’s
feature race and also congratulations to rookie Justin Batzer on winning his
heat race in only his fourth night of racing and finishing the feature in 2nd
place.
May
8th - Dacotah Speedway - The
weather today was very cloudy and COLD! At noon it was only 41 degrees and
I was hoping for rain so they would just cancel the show, but by race time the
temperature had climbed a good 10 degrees and the sun was shining so the evening
was rather enjoyable. I drew #31 at check-in so I knew I would have a
crappy starting position for the heat race. I lined up 7th in heat #2 and
really never made much progress. At the start, I moved up a couple of
positions and then lost one to #55 Ivan Sailer and then for the rest of the race
had a great back and forth battle with #23 Glen Hellebust. I passed Glen
on the last lap and took the checkered flag in 6th place. Because of my
6th place finish, I started the feature in the 6th row outside position with 17
cars taking the green flag. I passed 3 cars in the opening lap and ran in
9th place till we had a caution midway through the race. On the restart I
moved up another position and then was passed by #8 Bill Hultberg on the low
side. I had been running on the high side and thought I would try a lower
line. Big mistake! I lost 3 positions after making the change and
ended up crossing the finish line right where I started - in 12th place.
At the checkered flag a few of the lead cars made contact and #75 Spencer Wilson
got turned around entering turn 1 and there was a big scramble of everyone
trying to avoid the mess. I dived down low to miss his car and also had to
avoid his wheel that was bouncing across the track and managed to get through it
all without hitting anything so even though I wasn't pleased with my finish, I
was glad that I kept out of trouble. I definitely had a lot of fun as the
cars were in a pretty tight pack most all of the race. Congratulations to
#3 Nathan Speten on taking the checkered flag in first place
tonight.
This
year Dacotah Speedway has gone to the AMB Scoring and Timing system so you can
go to www.mylaps.com and check out lap times
and more for your favorite drivers. I think this will be a nice addition
to the speedway.
May
3rd - Nodak Speedway - I
have been looking forward to my first race of the season for quite a
while. We had a beautiful Spring day to go racing and we had 13 cars show
up. I drew the
outside front row for the second heat right alongside Spencer Wilson. At
the green flag Spencer got the jump on me and I followed right behind him.
I chased him all the way to the checkered flag. I was happy that I kept
right up with him, but never really got a chance to even think about attempting
a pass. For the feature, I drew the 8th position which was kind of
disappointing. At the start of the race, I gained one position, but then
lost a spot when I hit the ruts on the high side of turn one and went for a
little bounce. I chased Chris Evenson and Steve Pankowski the whole race
but couldn't make a pass. On the last turn, Spencer Wilson and Paul Huettl
made contact battling for the lead with Spencer spinning out. I went low
and Chris went high and I beat Chris to the line to get a 6th place
finish. Not what I had hoped for, but everyone kept their cars in one
piece so it was a good night as we ran the race without any caution flag
delays. The same can't be said for any of the other classes racing tonight
as the caution flag waved time after time. What a joke some of these Hobby
and Super Stock races seem to be. Nothing but crashing into each
other. You would think these guys would get sick of fixing their stuff
week after week but usually it doesn't seem to change. And we always seem
to be looked down on by the officials at a lot of our tracks. I would say
the majority of our races are run without a single caution, and many of the
cautions we have are related to cars breaking, not crashing. And tonight
we even had 5 rookie drivers and they completed the race without any cautions so
"Good job guys"!! Enough of my soap box. I'm hoping
the weather holds out for next Friday's season opener at Dacotah Speedway.
Congratulations to Paul Huettl on winning the Nodak opening night feature.
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