The Hoosier Race Report: (Another) One To Remember

By Danny Burton

Danny Burton’s Hoosier Race Report appears courtesy of OpenWheelRacers.com

This Labor Day holiday is my favorite, because of my obvious bias in favor of working people. The moneyed rich could not live their outrageous lifestyle without the toil of the rest of us; forgive me if I sound like a wild-eyed radical for a moment. But my admiration for those who work at what they do and excel at it as well is considerable. And when a worker overcomes great obstacles and still excels, then my admiration increases even more so. That particular worker on this holiday weekend would have been young Daron Clayton, who came from deep in the field to take home the gold and the glory at Tri-State Speedway on Saturday night, September 2. One could say that the event, the first co-sanctioned by USAC and MSCS, was a resounding success and one can hope that more of the same is in the future. And if these events take place at Tri-State, the crown jewel of Indiana race tracks, nestled in the southwest corner of our great state, so much the better.

Arriving very early (for me) at the world famous quarter mile bull ring, I found 36 sprint cars and about two dozen modifieds in the pits. The car count may have seemed a bit low, but the lateness of the season, along with the long drive for many Hoosier racers, may have helped that. But all in all, 36 cars wasn’t so bad; those assembled included lots of quality.

The format for determining the feature lineup was something different for both USAC and MSCS. There would be a draw for heat race starting positions, with only the four heat race winners re-drawing for the top four feature starting spots. From there, the pattern would have the second place car in the first heat starting fifth in the feature, the second place car in the second heat starting sixth, and so on. What this meant was that every single position would be fought for just a little bit harder on every lap of every heat race. Great for fans maybe, but the potential for disaster caused by racers racing extra hard would be there as well. And, sure enough, later on that would happen, with hard feelings being expressed.

But first off, Dave Darland won the first heat over Jerry Coons Jr., Mat Neely, and Shane Hollingsworth. This one had very little passing. Alex Shanks took the second heat, with Josh Wise coming from eighth to take second. Local racer Todd Chandler was third, followed by Daron Clayton. The third heat would give us the most drama, at least until the feature. Kyle Thomas began by flipping in the first turn of the opening lap. He was okay, and would even return to race in the B Main later. Levi Jones ran off with the third heat, followed by Kevin Briscoe in the MPHG team #81 (formerly #47) tonight. Bryan Clauson came from ninth to take third with Darren Hagen fourth. Hud Cone, in the Gentry family’s #51, held off Clauson for quite awhile before the certain choice for USAC’s top rookie got around him. So then Hud held off Hagen for fourth until the white flag lap when Hagen got into the personable Oakland City, IN veteran and sent him flipping in turn two, bringing out the second red flag of the heat. During the down time, Cone escaped unhurt from his car and moseyed across the infield, confronting Clauson, who Hud mistakenly thought had put the wheel into him. Owner Donnie Gentry also had a couple of words with the innocent Clauson. (Later both would apologize for their error.) Afterwards, a USAC official was seen taking Mr. Hagen to the “woodshed” for a lecture of sorts, perhaps requesting this talented young racer to use a bit more discretion in the future. Gary Altig, an Illinois kid who has been running midgets, took the fourth heat with Shane Cottle, in the J. Goacher car for the night, coming home second. Dickie Gaines was third, followed by Jon Stanbrough, who started last.

The power packed B Main saw Scotty Weir run off with the win, which gave him the 17th starting spot in the feature. Hunter Schuerenberg was second, followed by Chase Stockon and Brady Short. Such runners as Jay Drake (out of provisionals), Patrick Bruns, Jeff Davis, Jerry Ruble, and Kyle Wissmiller loaded up early. Kyle Cummins, Brandon Petty, Rex Norris, and Hud Cone, who jumped into the Chris Gentry 26x, all took provisionals.

For the 40 lap feature, big John and I, who had moved about all night, trying different seats, ended up sitting behind an all-time great, who had showed up for a night of racing. On a Labor Day weekend, when we honor those who have worked for their rewards, overcoming obstacles that would stop the lesser of us at times, it was a pleasure to see, say hello, and shake hands with Joie Ray, a Hall of Famer in many ways.

The heat race winners’s re-draw, conducted on the main stretch, saw Alex Shanks draw the number one, with Levi Jones, Dave Darland, and Gary Altig taking the other three pills. Behind them was Coons, Wise, Briscoe, Cottle, Neely, and Chandler. Levi Jones took the lead at the start and set sail right away. Two early yellows slowed the field with the second involving Stanbrough and Gaines, both of whom would continue. The second re-start, on lap four, saw Jones leading Darland, Shanks, Coons, and Altig. Daron Clayton, who had started 14th, had already moved to eighth.

Soon it became apparent that the fun would be watching Clayton mow ‘em down and also Jones trying to stretch his lead. Clayton was, by my hieroglyphics, fifth on lap eight, fourth on lap 10, and then swept into third on lap 16. From then it seemed to be a matter of time. On lap 22 Clayton was second and gaining. Coming down the front straight both Jones and Clayton split Rex Norris, with Levi on the outside. But he over cooked it going into turn one, smacking the wall and flipping over the barrier, landing like a fly on fly paper, against the billboard. Levi was okay, but no doubt disgusted, his chances at his first win of the year gone just like that.

From there it would be Clayton’s race to lose. But the Missouri kid hung on for the in, with Neely making a late charge to take second at the end. Darland, the birthday boy (Monday), was third, followed by Wise and Clauson. Positions six through ten were Coons, Stanbrough (recovering nicely from that early encounter), Schuerenberg, Briscoe, and Hollingsworth. After the race, Clayton did the donut theatrics in turn two. The crowd ate it up, of course. The win had to count in the Midwest Sprint Car Series’ column, seeing that Clayton was higher in MSCS points (14th) than his 16th position in United States Auto Club standings. But it didn’t matter all that much as both series were well-represented on this night.

This ended Tri-States’ racing for the year, except for the demolition derby and enduro racing on the 17th. The MSCS races again this coming Saturday at Mt. Vernon Speedway, in Illinois. USAC also heads west, visiting Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri on Friday the eighth.

Other racing went on in Indiana this past weekend. Gas City and Union County were rained out on Friday night, ending my own plans to visit Jiggs’ race palace up north. Tim Prince was the winner at Brownstown. Billy Puterbaugh Jr. won the makeup feature at Lincoln Park Speedway with young Cole Whitt winning his first sprint car feature at LPS. Jason Knoke won at Lawrenceburg after a fellow local racer, Jamie Williams, led much of the race. Jake is planning to retire after the year is done, so this was a good way to retire, with a victory near the end of the year. Chad Kinder won the Bear Wieck Memorial for modifieds at the ‘burg on Saturday. Jason Feger won the late model feature up at Kamp’s Speedway. Randy Moore was the super stock winner at Twin Cities. Way up at Shadyhill, Bub Patrick was the modified winner with Chris Arihood taking the IMOD main event. Tracy Hines, from New Castle, IN, won the USAC Silver Crown race at DuQuoin today (Sunday). And it had to happen, sooner or later. Chris Windom, too young still to run with USAC, won at Kokomo tonight.

The plan is for this week to head east to Lawrenceburg, the track that makes people from my home town feel at home. And bright and early on Sunday morning, we’re off to Kentucky to visit some friends in the mountains there. See a few of them at www.oneidaschool.org. Bright and early next Monday we plan to be off to the mountains of North Carolina to see some more friends (at www.carterlodge.com) and guard the mountains there for a few days.

For Lawrenceburg promoter Tom Wieck: I’d have been over to the ‘burg tonight for the Big Dawg 100, but a certain small person, who has been to the track a few times himself, arrived here too late for us to come over. Instead we washed Grandma’s car, went out to eat, visited his great-grandma, and came home. By then he was worn out, as was Grandpop.

Encouraging my kids to apply for jobs as Paul Tracy’s fabricators for his Busch Series team, I’m…

Danny Burton

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