The Hoosier Race Report: Leap of Faith

By Danny Burton

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

I am continually amazed at how much faith that people will have in other people, events, ideas, you name it, yet deny that they have any faith in most anything, be it religion, the weather, again, you name it. Fact is, we do have plenty of faith and we all too often take it for granted. But sometimes we have to step out and do something that requires more faith than flipping a switch and assuming that the light will come on. When we do that and are rewarded, we are much better off. Leaps of faith were taken by, among others this weekend, Jon Stanbrough, those of us who braved the weather and went to Salem, or any other race track in Indiana this weekend, and also my good buddy John Hoover who heard the ring of wedding bells along with the lovely sounds of V-8 engines via his cell phone. Congratulations to both John and Nancy.

Mr. Stanbrough and Three Wide Passes

The heat and humidity was in full force on a Friday night in August and what better way to deal with it than go to a short track race? The crowd was one of the largest of the year, thanks in part to it being South Central Building and Trade Council night. As it turned out, my choice of attire for the evening included a baseball cap and t-shirt with my own union advertised. Honest, I’d forgotten it was the night to celebrate union workers, but there it was.

Also there tonight was Kevin Briscoe, making a rare 2007 appearance, Shane Hollingsworth, out of the Truckers’ 10 and in the Tony Epperson 8, and Joss Moffatt in a rare B-ton visit. 38 sprint cars were on hand; later on two B Mains would have to be run.

Dickie Gaines won the first heat as Shane Golobic, John Paynter, and Ricky Williams trailed. Jeff Bland was headed for the B and an engine change. Cole Whitt won the second heat as Blake Fitzpatrick ended up spinning twice, which has not been the kid’s usual habit this year. Kevin Briscoe and Kent Christian followed with Russ Gamester coming from 10th to finish fourth. The third heat was stopped by a Keeny Carmichael flip. This happened when Jimmy Light had a left front tire go awry, which caused him to drift into the path of the Carmichael machine. Kenny was okay, but quite unhappy. Lee Stark must have been listening extra hard to coach Jack Hewitt as he won the heat over Jon Sciscoe, Kenny Niflis, and Kody Kinser. It took Jon Stanbrough maybe five laps, but he ran away with the fourth heat as Bobby Stines, Danny Holtsclaw, and Todd Kimmel trailed. Kimmel edged Bub Cummings at the line to take the final transfer spot.

Jeff Bland ran off with the first B Main with Joss Moffatt also moving to the feature. Blake Fitzpatrick made a charge from 10th to just miss out. Dakoda Armstrong won the other B, with Jimmy Light, repairs made, came from ninth to take second and go race again. At some point John Hoover broke away from his wedding rehearsal to call for results from Bloomington.

The feature draw had Dickie Gaines and Cole Whitt on the front row with Stanbrough, Stark, Golobic, Sciscoe, Briscoe, Stines, Paynter, and Christian all ready to rumble. Gaines took the early lead over Whitt until the kid from California clipped an infield tire marker and dropped out. This set the stage for Stanbrough, who had made a three wide pass earlier, to work on Dickie. After the re-start for Whitt’s misfortune they were trailed by Golobic, Stines, Kenny Niflis, Sciscoe, Ricky Williams, John Paynter, Russ Gamester, and Danny Holtsclaw. Kevin Briscoe had started out strong, but pulled into the infield early with mechanical trouble. Right around lap eight it was when Stanbrough took the lead he’d not relinquish. Two more cautions would be the only thing that would slow him down. Behind Stanbrough, as has often been the case, the action was hot as Gaines tried and succeeded in holding off a charging Kenny Niflis for second. Sciscoe was fourth as Gamester came from 14th to take fifth. Shane Golobic, still improving with each outing, was sixth. Bobby Stines, Williams, Todd Kimmel, and Jeff Bland (from 17th) rounded out the top 10. John Hoover called me again to hear the news.

Kent Robinson won the modified feature. Jeremy Hines was the super stock victor. It’s more of the same for Bloomington this coming Friday.

A Deserving Winner

The 48th edition of the Joe James-Pat O’Conner Memorial may have been rained out, at least the sprint portion, but it was still a special night for Brad Kuhn, maybe the best “unknown” open wheel racer of like abilities around. Kuhn led all 30 laps to take the midget part of the program. The sprint car feature was halted by a red flag after a Kevin Swindell flip at 15 laps. While the red waved, the rains came and that was that.

It was another hot and humid day, but as I left home in a downpour I had faith. It helped that I’d looked at the radar and saw that the green that covered this county did not extend to the world famous, much loved, Salem Speedway. So off I went. By the time I reached the county line U.S. 31 was dry. And by the time I reached Washington County, the sunglasses came out.

Vintage cars were on display and they had taken to the track at 4 p.m., just as I was clocking out. I had hopes that I’d see them later that night, but it wasn’t meant to be.

A few interesting car/driver combinations were in the pits. Chuck Gurney Jr., rather than Stephanie Mockler, was in the Klatt #4. Kody Swanson, a kid from out west with a heavy right foot, was a teammate to Dave Darland in the other Steve Lewis car. Darren Hagen was in the Fike #32 while Mark Jessup and Cameron Dodson were both driving for Keith Kunz. Jerry Coons Jr. was in the Contos #4 sprint car. Aaron Pierce was in the Hoffman’s #69 car while Darland was in the Goacher #5. Jessup and Dodson were also in Kunz sprint cars.

I did arrive in time for the end of sprint car practice and heartily recommend that any fan, old or new, stand near the turn four gate to catch the sight of a sprint car coming through turns three and four. Twitching mightily, they come right at you, the driver often sawing on the wheel. The noise as they pass by is tremendous and I can feel it all the way to my inner ears. So I’d recommend ear plugs for some. But… what a sight.

Darren Hagen was quick qualifier for the midgets at 16.448. Levi Jones was the quickest of the sprinters at 15.717. Dodson, Brady Bacon, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were the midget heat winners. The first heat was not a good one for Dave Darland. His right rear tire flew off in turn three and Dave spun into the wall and hit on the left side. Dave was okay, but done for the night. In the second heat Kevin Swindell moved from sixth to second on a re-start, where he would remain behind teammate Bacon.

The night wasn’t a total loss for Darland as he won the first sprint heat race. Jesse Hockett and Stenhouse also won their heats. Chuck Gurney Jr. was impressive all night and also won the midget B Main. Levi Jones won the sprint’s consolation. At some point here John Hoover called from his wedding reception to hear results.

Jones and Kuhn started in the front row for the midget feature. Yellow flags were the only things that slowed down Mr. Kuhn, the most serious being on lap 15 as Gurney and Hagen crashed in turn two. The occasional stray drops of precipitation fell; there would be more later. Kuhn would pull away at each re-start and won easily over Jones, Jessup, Jerry Coons Jr., and Kody Swanson.

Cole Whitt and Brian Gerster, who had a very good time trial effort, started in the front row for the sprints. Whitt jumped to an early, but brief, lead before Cameron Dodson took over. Right away, Dave Darland dropped out, and no doubt began a rain dance. Lap eight came and we noticed more rain drops. Dodson began to break away and would have done an anti-rain dance had be been able. On lap 15 all sorts of madness came forth. Kevin Swindell apparently tried to complete a pass too early and was turned into the wall entering turn three. He tipped it over and slid for a bit before turning right side up. During the ensuing red flag the rain became more persistent. The mist became a drizzle, and finally, about 30 minutes later, became a full fledged rain shower. The track and USAC both made the effort to get the show done, but it was not to be. But my faith in leaving the house in the midst of a summer shower had been rewarded all the same. Stuff like that makes me want to go back. And I have faith that the new Mrs. Hoover will understand.

Salem will host late models, super stocks, Salem’s Dash cars (actually mini-stocks), and street stocks on August 18. USAC sprints head to Sharon, OH Speedway on August 25 while USAC midgets begin USAC Midget Week on Thursday at Kamp’s Speedway on Thursday night.

Elsewhere in our state…

Kyle Cooper was the UMP modified winner at Shadyhill on Saturday. Lynn Johns won in IMOD action. Chris Windom won at Gas City. Jimmy Light was a happy first time winner at Lawrenceburg. Hunter Scheurenberg was the recipient of $10,000 at Haubstadt in MSCS racing at its best. Lincoln Park was rained out while Paragon took the night off. Brownstown was also rained out, as was Twin Cities. Shane Cottle won tonight (Sunday) at Kokomo. Duane Chamberlain was the dirt late model winner at Union County. And the last few laps at the Michigan International Speedway looked like the world’s most expensive heat race as about eight cars finished after the carnage. Tony Kanaan, who could probably turn some hot laps at Salem in a sprint car if only the Captain would let him, won the Indy Car race up there.

Politely turning down Michael Vick’s invitation to go to a “dog show”, I’m…

Danny Burton

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