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Tri State Outlook
by Duane Hancock
The last big holiday weekend greeted us with
excellent racing weather. It's hard to believe 1, that
the racing season is coming to a close already and 2,
we actually had 3 excellent days in a row on a major
racing weekend. Last weekend, it was off to Limaland
Motor Sports Park Friday, The All Stars at Attica
Saturday, and finished the weekend with the All Stars
at Hilltop on Sunday.
27 360 sprints found their way to Limaland Motor
Sports Park for their last race of the 07 season. I
really like the 1/4 mile bullring and kick myself for
not it there more often. Mean Gene has made the place
very racy the past 2 years with his endless track
prep. Once again on this night, the track was fairly
heavy and fast. Dennis Yoakam, Mike Dussel, and Phil
Gressman took the heat wins. The heats were pretty
good with some decent racing. I am not sure how they
figure the starters for the dash but, Darren Long took
the dash. All these events and not 1 incident. Jared
Horstman ran way with the B Main. Randy Fusi, Jon
Nelson, and Dave Miller collided in the B. Luke Hall
and Kent Wolters made-up the front row for the 25 lap
A Main. Hall hops to the lead and looks strong out of
the box. Lap 2, a charging Chris Andrews rides the
wall in 3, putting on a heck of a spark shower, and
all but flips. Ron Blair and Nate Dussel get
collected. Dussel does a small roll over. Hall is fast
on the restart as an excellent race is in the making.
Hall, Gressman, Mike Dussel, and Dennis Yoakam are all
upfront battling side by side. The battle is really a
good. Lap 8, Long spins. This puts Gressman on Hall's
tail. Lap 9, Gressman takes the lead. Hall don't fade
too far and keeps the heat on Phil. Lap 11, Long spins
again. Gressman, Hall, and Dussel battle on the
restart. As the laps wind down, Gressman gains a
little advantage. Lap 21, Tim Allison spins. This
gives Hall one more shot. This night belonged to
Gressman and the entire Call Racing Team. It was just
the day before they laid to rest the founder of Call
Motor Sports, Art Call. Hall, Yoakam, Dussel, and Mike
Brecht round out the top 5. It was a pretty special
victory lane. Every driver wanted to win but they all
pretty much didn't mind getting beat on this night to
the Call bunch. The end of the night featured a winner
takes all, King Of The Hill, race with all of the A
Main winners in 07. Luke Hall was not to be denied in
this one. Luker lead wire to wire for the 3 g
paycheck. It was a great night of racing with some
excellent outcomes in many ways to end the season. I
need to made a point to get there more in 08. The Brad
Doty Classic is already on the 08 schedule at LMP.
As the All Star season winds down, they made their
annual Labor Day weekend stop at Attica Raceway Park.
40 cars were pit side. The track was pretty fast for
this late in the season. It was actually real fast.
Rob Chaney set fast time, just a few ticks off of a
track record. Attica is always a great place for an
All Star show. You seem to attract a few drivers you
don't get much and you see some side by side racing
with quick a bit of passing. Chaney, Jamie Miller,
David Harrison, and Mark Keegan took the racy heats.
Just a handful of spins in the heat races. Kenny
Jacobs was leading heat 1 before he broke a drive-line
and was done for the night. Chad Blonde spun halfway
through heat 3, going back to 10th. Chad flew back
past the field to take 4th. Brock Mayes won the dash.
The B main was a great race. It seen the 8th and 9th
place starting car transfer to the A. After a spin in
the B, the restart was a mess. Bruce Robenalt was
charging on the inside into turn 1 and bumped with
Todd Hestor. Bruce flipped, collecting Scott Curren in
the ordeal as well. Travis Philio, who just spun, went
full tilt into the deal and fly off the top of 1,
flipping wildly. Once things settled, John Ivy took
the B. Stevie Smith and Dean Jacobs make-up the front
row of the 40 lap A Main. Dean takes the lead on the
start. Lap 1, Brian Paulus spins collecting Caleb
Griffith and Rod Greorge. Restart, Paulus spins again
collecting Ivy. Finally, a green and all things are
well. Dean looks strong but Smith and Blonde are
charging hard. Some great racing upfront. Lap 10,
Blonde takes the lead. the next 17 laps Blonde and
Stevie Smith have a battle upfront. Chad is strong but
Stevie looks to be faster. Lap 19, Mayes stops. He
wants to go pit side for his 2 laps but, he can't
because no tire is flat. The All Star rule gives a car
2 laps repair the car in the A Main but ONLY if you
have a flat tire. Mayes didn't, so no 2 laps. The
great race just gets better, Smith catches Blonde and
they battle slide job for slide job. Lap 24, Smith
takes the lead. That just seemed to make Blonde go
elbows up and drive in harder. Lap 27, Blonde takes
the lead again. Smith stars to fall back as they enter
traffic. Blonde keeps his excellent streak a going and
takes the win. His first ever ARP win in 4 years of
trying. Stevie, Greg Wilson, Mark Keegan, and Dale
Blaney round out the top 5. Once again a great night
of racing. Blonde and Smith had a balls out battle for
a decent part of the A.
The All Stars finished up their Fall Brawl Sunday
with 29 cars at the Hilltop Speedway. It was a good
car count but one wonders why more Ohio locals didn't
travel the hour and a half down the road. Granted, I
was doing the pit reporting for the BAS Racing Network
and probably would have been there anyways but, it was
a 3 1/2 or more trip for me, so I don't get that some
closer didn't make it. Then again, maybe they knew it
was going to be so dusty the you couldn't see much
anyways. When I got to the track at 1:30 and seen many
dry spots, I thought it was going to get dusty. Did it
take away from the racing, NO!! There was still some
great racing. This place is built just right to
produce some excellent sprint car racing. Chad Blonde,
coming off his Ohio Speedweek win here, was quick time
of the night. Blonde, Wilson, Lee Jacobs, and Nick
Nabor took the heat wins. Some close racing and good
battles in the heats. Nick Mulheim spin in the heat
collecting Dean Jacobs. Danny Mumaw had a heat race
spin too. Other than that, it was all out racing. Dale
Blaney looked fast in the dash, taking the win. The
Ault brothers had a little bad luck in the B. Will
spun and Bill flipped. Dean Jacobs hit the easy button
in the B and took the win. Paul May and and Greg
Wilson make-up row 1 for the 40 lap A. The Maniac
takes the lead. By the way, the view from the top of
the fire truck in the infield is pretty good. Brandon
Martin is looking for a much needed win and takes the
lead on lap 5. Wait, yellow for a Mulheim spin that
collected Ryan Meyers, Brian Ellenberger, Mumaw, and
Nabor. So Paul regains the lead. Lap 6, Ellenberger,
Meyers, Nabor, Broc Martin, and Josh Davis crash in
turn 2. The race is on!! May and Martin battle. Lap
12, Martin takes the lead. Don't look now but Blonde
is on the move. Blonde catches Martin and the race
turns into a barn burner. Blonde tries high, then low,
Martin is running a great race and using all he has to
keep Blonde behind him. One time, Blonde actually tags
the front guardrail and a shower of sparks fly. Lap
29, Mayes, Blaney, and Gus Wasson collied in turn 2.
This puts Martin, Blonde, and Stevie Smith nose to
tail. Lap 30, Tim Hunter spins and Andrews has nowhere
to go except on top of him. The red is out to clean up
the tangle. The last 10 laps is awesome. Martin,
Blonde, Smith battle. Blonde tries all things to pass
Martin as Smith just lurks behind them. Lap 33, Blonde
pinches it too hard into 2, spinning himself trying to
get into the lead. Chad keeps going but, the yellow
was already flying, so Chad goes to the tail. Martin
seems to be losing his tires in the late go and it is
harder and harder to trail the bottom. Martin slips,
Smith takes the lead with 3 to go. Smith makes it 2
for 3. Martin takes a disappointing 2nd. May, Wilson,
and Chaney round out the top 5. YES, it was very dusty
but, YES it was very good, no excellent racing.
It is that time of year where rumors of drivers,
crews, personal, tracks, and all things get a flying.
It will be interesting to see what happens...Chris
Andrews was aboard the M20 all weekend. Chris was fast
but had some bad luck...Brad Doty hinted some BIG
things could happen in 08 with the 20th annual Brad
Doty Classic...Kenny and Lee Jacobs both had stints in
the Fisher Brothers 75 car over the weekend...Look for
Kenny to be in a Genzman car at Fremont the next 2
weeks...Look for some winged drivers to take part in
the 4 Crown at Eldora in a few weeks...Brian Paulus's
wife is a few weeks away from giving birth. Brian had
a bad weekend and says his mind just isn't into racing
much since the baby is so close...Chad Blonde had been
one of the hottest drivers since Knoxville but still
says the 5b car is in its last season of racing. His
family got a late start, due to lack of funding, and
just can't afford to keep the team afloat unless a
nice sponsor come aboard the 5b. What more does Chad
have to do or how long can he go without getting a
ride?
UPCOMING;
SATURDAY: SOD Hartford MI
If you are a late model fan, closet one or even close
to it, Eldora is the place to be this weekend.
Next week the All Stars return to Lawrenceburg for the
Hoosier Fall Classic
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