The Hoosier Race Report: Luck of the Draw?

By Danny Burton

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

Sometimes the luck of the draw matters in life and racing, and sometimes it doesn’t. No matter what draw you receive you get to play the hand that is dealt you as it were. Often you make your own luck to a certain extent, and sometimes good fortune falls into your lap as it were. At any rate, no matter what their draw and luck, both Jeff Bland Jr. and Shane Golobic earned their wins over older and more experienced racers this weekend. Jeff used his pole position to leave the others behind, though they had opportunities to catch and/or pass him. Shane made the most of his last weekend in Indiana as the 16 year old kid celebrated his birthday by winning his first sprint car feature at Lawrenceburg on Saturday night.

No Luck Needed

Luck or not, the weather here on a Friday afternoon could not have been better. But my luck with traffic making my way to Bloomington was, as usual, not so great. I’ve come to the conclusion that the drive from my house to the Bloomington Speedway is God’s way of teaching me patience, seeing that being the father of two children didn’t help much.

Chuckling to myself about this, I checked in to find that many of the boys had headed west to Illinois, trying to bring home some Illini cash. But 23 sprint cars is normally a healthy count; besides, there were a few bad boys who had stayed close to home.

Danny Holtsclaw used a bit of luck to win the first heat over Jeff Bland Jr., Kent Christian, Arin McIntosh, and Shane Golobic. Chris Babcock won the second, leading Jon Sciscoe, Andrew Prather, Bret Burdette, and Kenny Niflis across the line. In the third heat, Jimmy Light had time to call me on his cell phone and discuss politics and religion. But he chose not to do that and instead cruised to a win with Bub Cummings, Kenny Carmichael Jr., Miranda Throckmorton, and Lance Grimes trailing.

In the B Main, midway through the race leader Bobby Stines appeared to have enough time to reach out and swipe a hot dog from Chuck Welsh, but Bobby kept running. Good thing he did, because Michael Pickens had figured out this sprint car deal at Bloomington. The guest from New Zealand had struggled in his heat, but after starting from the back of the pack, he soon began passing cars. And with a couple of laps to go, he passed Bobby Stines with ease and won. Tom Busch was third, followed by Shawn Krockenberger and Jared Fox.

Bland and Light led the gang to the green and the controlled chaos that is short track sprint car racing began. Bland took the lead, one he would keep with Light, holtsclaw, and Babcock in tow. Behind those guys was your basic mob scene with Christian, Burdette, Cummings, Sciscoe, Carmichael, Niflis, Pickens, Prather, McIntosh, and Stines all combining to resemble ants at a picnic.

Bland maintained his lead over Light as the halfway mark came and went, with Holtsclaw staying close as well. But a lap 19 caution saw Holtsclaw leave as he tangled with a lapped car. Bland had put several lapped cars between him and Light and they served as a fine buffer for the last six laps as Bland raced to his second feature win in a row. Light was followed by Chris Babcock. Michael Pickens was the other success story as he came on strong at the end to take fourth from Kent Christian after starting 16th. Kenny Niflis came from 14th to finish sixth. Burdette, Carmichael, Prather, and McIntosh rounded out the top 10.

Ray Humphrey won the modified feature while the visiting bombers saw Bubba Woods lead the way in their A main.

Winged sprints come to town next Friday at Bloomington with the O’Reilly Midwest All-Stars invading the red clay high banks.

First Time Winner

Another beautiful day and life’s little slings and arrows would not deter a trip to another of my homes away from home, namely the Lawrenceburg Speedway.

Tonight’s plan was to have sprints, late models, and modifieds with the first of four sprint heats getting underway not long after my arrival. Kyle Robbins got things off to a good start for him as he won the first heat race. Chris Nabors was second with Marc Arnold (latest of Paul Hazen’s drivers) and Matt Brun trailing. Casey Riggs won his heat, leading Shane Golobic, Matt Westfall, and Joss Moffatt to the line. Bill Rose was a surprise entrant but ran off with the third heat win with Jimmy Light, Larry Beck, and Derek Franks all moving to the A main. A.J. Anderson, in his family car, won the fourth heat with Tim Spindler, Brent Beauchamp, and Will Nedderman transferring and putting a temporary end to the wheel banging and bicycling action.

Scott Hampton won the B main over Miranda Throckmorton, Kenny Niflis, and Rick Vaughn. Zac Osborn was, for a time, the star of this show as he used the high groove to move from last (12th) to fifth before sailing over the turn three banking.

Robbins and Riggs were the front row for the 25 lap feature. Right away there was trouble as Tim Spindler had a flat tire in turn one and Kyle Robbins spun in turn three. The re-start after the yellow put Bill Rose on the pole. Another try and Marc Arnold, starting ninth, tangled with Jimmy Light, who had started just ahead. Arnold, now in the Hazen 57, parked in the infield and Light re-started at the rear. He’d be back.

The third time was the charm as Rose and Golobic, from his sixth starting spot, began a lengthy battle for the lead. Riggs and Chris Nabors ran up front for a bit, but faded. By the halfway mark Light was on the move. His getting around A.J. Anderson seemed to wake up the veteran, who stayed close to the flying kid from the Keystone State. Golobic got around Rose on lap 19 after many laps of trying. Big Bill was fading slowly as Light was coming on, passing Bill and seeing the California kid up ahead. With lapped traffic to negotiate, he almost made it, but Golobic took the checkered first. Light was followed by Rose, who barely held off Anderson. Joss Moffatt came from 14th to finish a respectable fifth. Matt Westfall had moved as high as sixth after starting tenth, and then slid off turn four. But he recovered to come home sixth after losing several spots. The rest of the top 10 was Brent Beauchamp, Chris Nabor, Kenny Niflis, and Scott Hampton.

This was a fine 16th birthday/going away present for young Mr. Golobic as he is headed back home to California this week.

As the late models were lining up I noticed a few of the local law enforcement officials in a hurry to reach the pits. Curious sort that I am, I moseyed down to the pits, perhaps nursing vague hopes of giving my sermon on peace and love. Alas, the law officials beat me to it. There was much standing around by several folks and much discussion, but whatever hurt and anger had either disappeared or receded. The message board of choice by most Midwestern open wheel sprint fans, www.indianaopenwheel.com, announced that there had been a disagreement between Niflis and Hampton which was apparently addressed by the coppers.

Brad Wieck won the modified feature. Shawn Negangard won the late model feature. This coming week at the ‘burg will be sprints, modifieds, super stocks, and mini-sprints. The Dick Gaines Memorial is coming up on September 1.

Elsewhere:

Though the tracks are not in our state, Hoosiers raced and won at tracks near Indiana. Corey Smith won up at Waynesfield, Ohio. Brad Kuhn won the USAC Midget main at Macon, Illinois. Shane Cottle won at Danville, Illinois, the Larry Cannon Memroial. Kevin Briscoe won at Mt. Vernon, Illinois, with the MSCS sanctioning. Tate Martz won the UMRA feature at the same track. Matt Miller won the Jackson 100 at Brownstown in dirt late model racing. More message board mania as experts complained that the track was a one grove mess. (It happens, folks. People who prepare dirt tracks do their best; what more can we ask?) Billy Puterbaugh Jr. won at Gas City. Bobby Stines won at Lincoln Park. Tim Clark was the super stock winner at Twin Cities. Shawn Negangard not only won at Lawrenceburg, he also won at Union County on Friday night. Brent Jack was the late model winner at Angola. Tonight (the 19th) Kokomo was rained out. HARF had a special promotion for Gas City, Lawrenceburg, and Kokomo for any racer who was at all three tracks. We’re not sure who won that money. Yet.

Serving as Kevin Harvick/J.P. Montoya/et al’s punching bag, I’m…

Danny Burton

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