The Hoosier Race Report: Stanbrough Dusts Them Off at Gas City

By Danny Burton

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

Making it three wins in a row, Jon Stanbrough came from the 13th starting position at Gas City/I-69 Speedway to remind USAC’s finest that he and the Fox Brothers team are for real. Of course this was as if they needed convincing. On a track that became very dusty fairly early in the 30 lap feature Stanbrough “patiently” made his way to the front, winning by a few car lengths over pole sitter Levi Jones with A.J. Anderson third after a very trying night of ups, downs, and more ups. The feature winner came back after a tip-over in his heat race while Anderson came back after a tumble in his heat race, overcoming great odds and obstacles.

Wednesday was another hot and humid Indiana day as 52 cars took time trials at Jiggs’ speed palace, the venerable quarter mile bullring. Brad Sweet set quick time with an impressive 12.510 seconds. Later qualifiers struggled as the track changed; this ignited the usual debates about time trials versus drawing for heat race positions. As a result, several hot dogs would end up starting back in the pack for the feature.

Notable changes for the night would see John Wolfe, who had been involved in a nasty flip at Twin Cities, in a team car to Mat Neely. Jesse Hockett had made the long trek east to team up with Casey Shuman. Bill Rose was a Bill Biddle car as a teammate to Jay Drake. Terry Pletch made a fairly rare appearance. And Chris “Critter” Malone was also on hand.

Two non-qualifiers’ heats would be run with the top two in each moving to heat races. Wolfe and Darren Hagen ran one/two in the first NQ race, sending Mat Neely immediately to provisional land. Dickie Gaines and Cory Kruseman were first and second in the second NQ event, giving folks a good idea of how tough and tight the competition has been for all of Sprint Week. The Kruser had a tough time disposing of Dustin Smith to even make a heat race. Cory only won this race last year.

Drake was the winner of the first heat race, leading Josh Spencer, Bryan Clauson, and Brad Sweet to the line. Sweet had started eighth and moved to fourth in just two laps. Stanbrough had his tipover in the second heat, and was able to continue. Ron Dennis won as Stanbrough came back to finish second, a harbinger of things to come. Dave Darland was third and Levi Jones was fourth. Ed Hassler led much of the third heat, until Jesse Hockett came along to take the win. Gaines came from last to take a strong third with Shuman fourth. Anderson had his woes in the fourth heat as Josh Wise went high and Ted Hines had to slow to miss him, sending both Hines and Anderson tumbling. Ted was done for the night but Anderson and friends commenced a serious bit of thrashing about to get the family #34 ready for the B. Meanwhile, Shane Cottle was the winner of the heat over Brandon Petty, Wise, and Jerry Coons Jr.

The Anderson clan’s hustling paid off big time as A.J. won the B Main with a late pass over Daron Clayton. Scotty Weir came from 12th to take third. Kyle Wissmiller was fourth with Bloomington winner Brady Short and Shane Hollingsworth also moving on to the feature. Darren Hagen grabbed the second and last provisional and Cory Kruseman was on the outside looking in. But then so was people like Damion Gardner.

The track was watered and the feature was lining up. Jones and Clayton led Anderson, Little Shu, Hollingsworth, Clauson, Dennis, and Short. Sprinkled through the second half of the lineup were such as Coons (11th), Stanbrough (13th), Cottle (18th), Gaines (22nd), and Hagen, 24th and last.

The east breeze was either from Mother Nature or from the cars, but it felt good, no matter about the dust. It is a dirt track, after all. Hard core short track fans know this going in, but newer fans might not be as receptive. What is the solution? Beats me. Dust, no dust, no matter what, I love both short track racing and Gas City/I-69 Speedway.

Clayton led the first lap, but the race’s only yellow flag waved after that lap was completed when Gaines spun, with Hagen also coming to a stop. At the same time, Josh Spencer stopped on the backstretch and Mat Neely went to the pits with a flat tire. All were able to re-start. The race went green from here to the end. From there it was just a matter of time as Stanbrough worked his way through the field, running sixth at the halfway mark. . Anderson took the lead on lap three and began, briefly, to stretch that lead to maybe a half a straightaway over Jones and Stanbrough. The fighting Illini (fighting not in the literal sense, of course) took the lead on lap 18 with Stanbrough using the bottom groove to get around A.J. for second on lap 21. Big Jon wasn’t done. One didn’t need to be a racing genius to see that Jones was in for a fight for his short lived lead. And Stanbrough took it on lap 25, and led to the lap 30 checkered with a few car lengths to spare.

For what it was worth (a decent amount of money and the prestige) Stanbrough’s Sprint Week point lead increased to 50 points over Jones, who continues to lead USAC’s season long points. Jones held on for second with Anderson a close third. Dave Darland held off Casey Shuman for fourth. Sixth was Brad Sweet, followed by Daron Clayton, Bryan Clauson, Brandon Petty (from 14th), and Jerry Coons Jr.

I hung around long enough to watch the crowd leave, talk with a few folks, and see James Headley come from mid-pack to win the 20 lap Street Stock feature. 11:00 and it was finally time to reluctantly leave for the two hour drive home. Reluctantly because quite often I dislike having to leave a race track, especially one such as this where the both the racing and people are so good.

One advantage of such long drives is that traffic is seldom much of a factor, no matter which route you take. Did you know that Bedford, Indiana, for example, is a decent sized Hoosier town that is nearly deserted at 1 a.m.? I was reminded of that this past early Sunday morning coming back from Haubstadt. The moonlight may have been shining upon the Wabash River, which I crossed twice on Wednesday, but it also shone on the many cornfields from here to Gas City.

Nervously watching the sky as I prepare for yet another trip to a favorite haunt, the Lawrenceburg Speedway, I’m…

Danny Burton

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