Toledo Speedway

It was probably one of the warmest opening nights we've had in several years. I like many fans probably wondered if we'd have some sparse numbers of cars this year with all the economic problems. There were 38 in the Street Stock division; 19 in the Super Late Models and 18 Figure 8's. For the Figure 8's that was one of the largest fields on opening night for several years. Dennis Strickland started on the outside of the front row and was the first feature winner of the night. Following his win, the Carleton, Mich., driver ran to the fence, climbing it ala Tony Stewart, and grabbed the checkered flag from the flagstand. "The car was great. The crew worked hard between the heat race and feature. We made the right changes. I want to thank my sponsors. Strategy One Computers, MichWiFi.net, Pete's Garage, Stoney Creek Auto Parts and The Super Health Store.com, Complete Batteries," said Strickland.

Of all the divisions, on opening night, the most numbers of rookies were in the Super Late Model Division, with five new drivers to the division taking part.

Former Street Stock A division champion, Brian Norton, took over the controls of the car driven the last couple years by Greg Studt. With the most experience as a driver and the team, Brian had the best night of the quintet. He finished second in his heat and 10th in the feature. Brian has one other Late Model feature on his resume.

Moving up en masse was the Burkhartt brothers, Don, Jason and Chris. I'm not sure I've ever seen a track with three family members going for the rookie title in a single year. Don is driving a former Chris Benson machine and kept his street stock number of 47 ... his car got too loose in the feature and he pulled it into the pits a few laps past halfway., finishing 14th in the feature and 6th in his heat.

Chris Burkhart is the only one of the trio that had to change his number from his familiar #6 to #60. Chris' car is a former Rick Knowles car. Chris led the majority of his heat race before Dick Barker passed him for the lead and Chris settled for second, the best heat finish of the brothers. In the feature he finished 13th, two laps off the pace, pretty good for his first SLM feature.

Jason also got to keep his street stock number, #61. He's the only brother that doesn't have a car formerly driven at Flat Rock, instead his comes from Indiana (think it's fro Fort Wayne). He started on the pole and finished fourth in his heat. Jason got the best feature finish of the brothers, finishing one position better than Chris, in 12th place, only one lap down.

Our other rookie is Cory Whitely who moves up from the Factory Stock division. He dropped out on lap 12 and finished 18th.

Jerry Genise returned to racing after about a seven year absence. He started the feature, but only ran about five laps before pulling into the infield.

For long time fans at Flat Rock and the surrounding tracks, you may have remembered Dick Barker's retro-paint scheme that was on his car for the 2009 season. I asked Dick about when he raced this scheme and he told me around the late 1980's.

One accident marred the SLM feature. Steve Peters, Barker and Joe Hawes all tangled on the backstretch with Peters getting the worse of the damage. His car was taken off on a flatbed ... Hawes and Barker both drove to the pits but were unable to continue. Earlier in the evening, Peters had won his first career heat at Flat Rock according to the track announcer.

The Street Stock A division saw Clyde McKee start on the pole and lead the entire event. "I'm really glad to be up here. I won last year but it was a B main race. I want to thank my crew and sponsors. I appreciate all their help and the fans for coming out tonight," said the driver of the #4 car. It is Clyde's first A main win since August 2005.

Eric Fitzpatrick and Jimmy Rae put on a terrific show for the fans as the duet raced side by side for a number of laps before they tangled on the front stretch. Fitzpatrick spun to the inside but Rae hit the wall with the driver's side of his car. When he tried to restart it, a small fire started which ended his night. Rae took the blame for causing the accident, which put Eric back in front for the remaining laps. He had to hold off a hard charging Lonnie York for his first B main win since June 2003.

Billy Cronce finished fourth, his career best finish in the B main.

Anthony Camilli, Tony's son, won his first street stock heat in his first try. He finished seventh in the B division feature.

Alan Beno drove in his first points feature tonight (he raced one time in a non-points race at the end of 2008). It's been a long time coming as he it took him seven years to build his car. But it was worth the wait, he finished fifth in his feature, a terrific finish for his second career feature ... he also finished fifth in his heat.

Billy Early won the Figure 8 feature, it was his XX feature win of his career.

Yes the Figure 8 with the name "Jimmy Ray" is the same driver that races the #1 Street Stock. Not sure why his name's spelled wrong... my guess was he was racing incognito. He has raced Figure 8's before a couple time back in 1997.

Also moving up from the Street Stocks to Figure 8's is Tim Murphy. He finished 14th in the feature.

I bunch of different ways to get me your tidbits this year. Anything I get before 7:30 on Tuesday nights will go in that week's column. So send me the tidbits for the column, by email, icechips@hotmail.com; post it on my wall at Facebook (under Debi Domby); Twitter me at 1ceCh1ps; post something on Speedwaytire.com's forum, or at icechips.multiply.com (have no idea how this works, but there's a place to post). My phone doesn't get texts, but I read you can send voice messages and texts through some cell phones.