The Hoosier Race Report: The Best of Times

By Danny Burton

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

Just as the 2006 version of Indiana Sprint Week left a bad memory, the 2007 edition, the 20th, should be a good memory for the overwhelming majority of all involved in varying degrees. New track records, both in time trials and crowd counts, have been set. New faces along with the familiar ones have appeared or reappeared. And the beat goes on as potential issues such as rain, higher prices for most everything, especially gas, failed to deter fans and teams.

One of those familiar faces has been Bob Clauson, you-know-who’s grandfather, who, with his wife Monica, has been to most every stop along the ISW trail with his trusty motorhome, cold adult beverages, and a sharp wit about him. Bob, with some inspiration, came up with the idea of thanking one Dave Allison for the success of this year’s ISW. Why, one might ask? Well, after the debacle of both last year and this year in Mr. Allison’s dealings with USAC, among others, it seemed as if people learned from their (and others’) errors and reacted accordingly. Kamp’s Speedway was a prime example as rain threatened to cancel this race all day on Thursday. But, to their everlasting credit, those who promoted this race, rolled the dice and came up a winner. I was told that the crowd was quite impressive, but even if it had not been, the good will and good faith put forth will be remembered by those who reach into their wallets to pay cash to either race or at least attend these races.

Indiana Sprint Week - Bloomington: Jon Chills as Dave Thrills

Events on Friday night at the Bloomington Speedway showed us why it’s more than likely that a computer will never replace the real thing. Jon Stanbrough had won three of the first six ISW features coming into Bloomington’s show. He runs Bloomington as well as anyone in the old track’s lifetime. He should have been a lock to win here again. But… things happen. Dave Darland, for one thing, was the man of the hour, with a solid performance, the type we’ve come to both expect and enjoy over the years. As for Mr. Stanbrough, his night was either astounding, disastrous, or both. He slipped on both his qualifying laps and won a spot in the first of two non-qualifiers’ race. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he slipped again over the banking in that race, dropping from second to the tail. From there Jon ran out of laps and finished fifth. He had a very long shot at getting one of the dreaded provisionals, but it was not to be. And the question with no sure answer could be asked: Had Stanbrough made it to the feature, could he have caught Dave Darland, as he did at Kokomo this past Sunday night? Surely we will never know, but just as surely we’ll have an opinion. (wink)

Jon Stanbrough may have struggled with his time trials, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. surely didn’t as he ripped off an 11.149. Mr. Stanbrough joined others for two non-qualifiers’ races, but he slipped over the cushion while running second in the first race. Scotty Weir and Bret Burdette ran one-two as Stanbrough was joined by Matt Westfall, among others, in sitting down early. Hunter Scheurenberg and Bobby Stine, in his own car, both tagged heat races while Kevin Briscoe, Jonathan Vennard (the latest candidate to sit in the Jack Yeley hot seat), and Casey Shuman loaded up.

Dickie Gaines, Jeff Bland Jr., Brady Bacon, and Shane Cottle won their heat races. In the first heat, Stenhouse came from last to take fourth in the last two laps. Jerry Coons Jr. was knocked out of the second heat, but would be fixed in time for the B Main, which he would win. Damion Gardner had flipped on his second qualifying lap, but came back to transfer into the main. Kyle Robbins spun while leading the fourth heat. Darren Hagen took a mean ride over the steep turn two banking. He would be forced to burn another provisional.

Following Coons in the consolation would be Neil Shepherd, Cole Whitt, Brady Short, Robert Ballou, and Chris Windom. Jesse Hockett would take the last provisional available; this was the final straw that sat the Fox Brothers’ 53 down for the night.

Coons and Whitt led Dave Darland, Bacon, Shepherd, Stenhouse, Short, Windom, Daron Clayton, and Kevin Swindell to the green with Clayton dropping out early after a spin. He had wanted to re-start, but the green waved without the unhappy young man from Missouri. Bacon took the early lead with Coons, Stenhouse, Darland, and Whitt trailing. Darland needed to be watched. By the time the race’s last yellow flag flew at lap 12, Dave was up to second and had Bacon in his sights. The professor was about to give a racing lecture in a matter of seconds. Darland watched Bacon, waiting for a mistake and it happened on lap 24 as the Oklahoma Kid slightly jumped the cushion in turn four, after a good bit of pressure. It was enough as Darland pounced, taking the lead to the end. Coons hung in to take second, a nice follow up to his win at Kamp’s the night before. Other than Darland, the story of the race was Ballou, who started 14th and steadily worked his way up to third at the end. Bacon held on for fourth with Stenhouse fifth. The second five was Swindell, Hockett (another one who passed lots of cars, coming from his provisional 24th), Shepherd, Windom, and Cottle, who came from 17th himself.

Jesse Cramer won the modified feature.

Bloomington takes this coming Friday off for both the Brickyard 400 and the Monroe County Fair. The track’s regular schedule of sprints, modifieds, and super stocks returns on August 3.

Meanwhile, off to Haubstadt, Indiana…..

A Win for the Throwback

The other night I stood in the pit area, kind of watching Daron Clayton out of the corner of my eye. I was waiting to buy three of his shirts for a friend, the incomparable Jerry Shaw. And it occurred to me that this young man (age 23) is maybe the closest thing we have among today’s younger racers to the open wheel racers of the so-called Glory Days of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. He had endured a tough night at Bloomington, watching the feature roll on without him after he had spun. He’d wanted to re-start the race on the tail spot, but was pushed to the work area instead. Alas, that was where he remained, finishing last.

But there he stood talking to people, signing an autograph or two, smoking a cigarette and sipping from a can of a cold beverage. It wasn’t a huge stretch to imagine one of his predecessors standing in the same spot, assuming the same posture. It was a time warp that I enjoyed.

I only exchanged a few words with him, leaving him with the request to “give ‘em hell” tomorrow night. Little did we both know that he would proceed to do exactly that, taking the Jeff Walker/JamItIn machine to put the wraps on 2007’s edition of Indiana Sprint Week at the Tri-State Speedway. This followed his win at Gas City in the Hoffman family’s car. And this win came after Clayton flipped in his heat. Mark Jessup had done the same thing earlier this year at Winchester, winning the feature after getting on his lid in his heat race.

For this last ISW affair at the jewel of a race track in southwestern Indiana, 45 sprint cars were ready, winning, and able. Jerry Coons Jr., in the Hoffman 69, was quickest at 12.912. The one non-qualifiers’ race was taken by Danny Holtsclaw with Kevin Swindell (from eighth), Bill Rose, and Scotty Weir also moving on to heat race action.

Local/area boys would take the first three heat races. John Memmer, Levi Jones, and Hud Cone would win their heats. Memmer had to hold off not only Jesse Hockett, but also Jon Stanbrough to win. And Cone came from fifth to take his win at the line over Neil Shepherd. This was after Hud had taken a nasty ride the night before at Macon, Illinois. Kyle Cummins no doubt wanted to make it four in a row, but Californian Cole Whitt had other ideas, winning the fourth heat. Clayton was caught in the middle of a four wide Outlaws style lineup; trouble was, this was under green flag conditions in his heat. DC went for a ride, but would, as we know, continue.

The B Main was a troubled affair, stopped by two red flags. All would be okay. Chris Windom took a tumble in turn one. A lap later it was Shane Hollingsworth’s turn, as both Kyle Robbins and Brent Beauchamp were also involved. Hollingsworth strolled over to Robbins’ car to exchange pleasantries, no doubt. At the end, Daron Clayton won, leading Shane Cottle, Jerry Coons, Dustin Morgan, Mat Neely, and Kyle Wissmiller to the main event. Darren Hagen and Dave Darland, along with West Coaster Michael Trimble, took provisionals.

This was mighty important to Darland, who was leading in ISW points, which pays a tidy amount of dollars. Levi Jones and Jon Stanbrough needed to win and have Darland finish 15th, or close to it. So with Dave starting way back there, this wasn’t a done deal, far from it.

Chad Boespflug and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the pack to Tom Hansing’s green flag. Stenhouse took the early lead, but right away things got ugly. A red flag waved on lap four as Wissmiller, Brady Bacon, and Robert Ballou got together, with Bacon and Wissmiller getting upside down. Ballou’s front end was mangled and just like that, there were three less cars that Darland would have to pass.

If that wasn’t enough, another red flag waved as Swindell and Shepherd flipped, though Swindell would return. Darland moved up two more spots without having to pass anyone, but the savvy veteran had managed to avoid the carnage in front of him. After the Swindell/Shepherd tumble, Stenhouse led Boespflug, Clayton, Dustin Morgan, Shane Cottle, Stanbrough, Neely, Hunter Scheurenberg, Cole Whitt, and Jones.

On a track that was lightning fast and tough to pass on, Clayton showed his will to win. Just past the halfway mark He got around Boespflug and caught Stenhouse as they found lapped traffic. Despite the Mississippi runner’s best efforts, Clayton would not be denied, taking over and leading from lap 23 to the end. Stenhouse held on for second as Boespflug held off a furious charge from Jon Stanbrough to take third. Dustin Morgan, in the other Jeff Walkermobile, took fifth. The second five was Cottle, Jones (from 16th), Neely, Scheurenberg, and Whitt. Dave Darland was 11th, plenty enough to take a well-deserved 2007 ISW title. Darland had shown plenty of consistency besides winning twice.

But Clayton didn’t seem to mind. He had parked the family car and hopped into two different cars with two different teams and had won. He was only ninth in ISW points, but somehow I had the feeling that this kid was not one to run for points, preferring wins instead.

John DeMoss won the modified feature.

If you’ve nothing better to do, you might just want to head back to Haubstadt for their next race. This one will be on August 4th, a $10,000 to win deal sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series. And USAC tackles the high banks of Salem on August 4 with the Joe James-Pat O’Conner Memorial.

I hung around for awhile, hoping to catch a word with the sprint car winner, but I glanced at my watch and concluded that it was time to face the music. Time to lose that hour I’d gained on the trip southwest and head back home. So…..off I went south to pick up my wife and her girlfriend (not mine) at the casino on the river. We left Evansville around 1 a.m., stopping once, and arrived at my little house on the cul-de-sac at 4:40. By the time I laid my weary head down to sleep the early birds were already singing to me. Their song was about as sweet as the song put forth by the rumbling of a sprint car.

Elsewhere

Up at Shadyhill, my buddy Jesse Bitterling won the modified feature while Toby Howard took the IMOD main. Scott Orr won the Gas City modified feature as the Wolfpack Challenge special event. Dickie Gaines won at Putnamville. Chase Stockon won the Mike Johnson Memorial at Paragon. Shawn Negangard won in dirt late models at Union County. Geoff Kaiser was the winner up at Baer Field, taking the HOSS feature.

Consoling a pouting Felipe Massa, I’m…

Danny Burton

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