Toledo Speedway

This has been a season of people returning to victory lane after a long absence. Dennis Strickland and Randy Cornett in the Street Stocks ... and Saturday night, Stan Yee Jr., won his first Super Late Model feature since April 2004.

It was Yee Jr.'s seventh career ARCA win. " This win is dedicated to Pops. Its incredible that he's been gone for over a year and still has such an influence on how we conduct every aspect of our race program. A day doesn't pass where we dont at least repeat one of his classic jokes or refer to some information or setup numbers. And I believe I have one of my best crews to date. It wouldn't be anything to see Joe Genese and or Ray Clark working in the race shop 30 hours in a week. And the addition of my cousin Chris Yee this year who by trade is a Engineer/cad design/fabricator. He has been a tremendous addition. Also as of late Jay Sommers has also been a regular at the race shop and track. He has also made a difference, especially on race day," he said in an email to me. "I've been very lucky to have some great sponsors/friends over the years. Bob Anders from Arrow Uniform has been a Sponsor and good friend over 30 years. Diamond Racing (Bob Fox) has also been an incredible help over the years and has been a good friend for as long as I can remember. EELS (Energy Effiecient Lighting Solutions) has also been a great Help over the last 6 years. Mike Repass from EELS has been a friend of mine since we were kids.

  As of late I've also been working with Troy Dillion and he has helped us with some new stuff we have been working with. He is definitely one of the reasons we were in victory circle Saturday. It's been a while but it sure nice to get a win for everybody that has been working so hard. They never lose the faith and every day we pull in the race track they believe that we are going to win. That's why were back in victory lane.

Making his first career Late Model start today was Derrick Sheppard, son of Rick Sheppard. Derrick has driven in the 4 cylinder class and enduro class over the last few years. He led a few laps in his heat but wasn't able to transfer through the consi, finishing fifth (he was passed right at the end of the race, holding a transfer position for most of the race).

Sometimes having a tough old car is a good thing. Tom O'Leary IV made an visit to the track and during his qualifying run spun and backed hard into the wall. He completed his two qualifying laps, even though the back end had extensive damage. The crew worked hard and porta-powered the rear end, which was out about eight inches, back into place. The fuel cell looked like you crumbled it up and the rear bar was smashed in, but he made it out for the consi. He was the driver that passed Derrick Sheppard in the closing laps of the consi to get into the feature. He started last and was the last car running, but he made it to the end of the feature, finishing 17th.

Brian Norton returned after having apparent engine problems on autograph night a few weeks ago. He was one of two teams running a V-6 (Kevin Butzin is the other car), but tonight arrived at the track with a V-8 engine in his #86. He pulled off before the start of the feature.

Another driver returning to the track was Jimmy Ward. It's been about three years since he raced. His night was short lived. He finished second in the consi but slid into Larry Smouthers, who spun on lap 4 and suffered a flat tire on his #6. Smouthers also was unable to continue.

Justin Schroeder finished third in his first race back at the track in about a month. Also returning were Don and Jason Burkhardt ... Chris injured his hand at work and is out for the rest of the season (otherwise he would've been back too). Don finished 12th, Jason dropped out of the event and finished 20th.

Going into the final race the battle for the championship is a tight one between defending division champion, Eric Lee and 2007 champion Dennis Strickland. The last two races have not been kind to Lee, a flat tire a couple weeks ago and he got involved in an accident this week. Strickland on the other hand has finished second both nights. The result, Lee leads Strickland by a measly 20 points going into the final race. Ron Allen is third, 150 points out of the lead and 230 ahead of fourth place Paul Pelletier.

Here's an odd stat for those out there that like that sort of thing. There is a #33 in each division, LM, Street Stocks and Figure 8's. That numbered car started on the pole for the SLM and Street Stock features and outside the front row for the Figure 8s... and two of them won their feature. Yee won the LM race ... Greg Studt was the other #33 to win his feature, taking home his second win of the season. It was his 21st career Figure 8 win at Flat Rock. "I saw someone's nose a couple times... Everyone's getting more and more competitive each week. Everyone has their cars hooked up and they're a handful," said Studt.

Going into the final race the Figure 8's championship battle is tighter than the SLMs. Billy Earley leads defending division champion Dennis Whisman by a scant 15 points ... Jeremy Miller is all of 45 points out of the lead , Studt is 100 points back and Robbie Loving is 110 points back. If Earley can hold on, it will be his first championship.

Regan Ford has been without a ride since the end of May, but tonight was driving the #57, formerly owned by Dennis Randall. Regan started fourth and won his first SS A division feature of 2009. It's his 26th SS win overall and he had to beat his brother, Dan Jr. for the win. "That's as good as it gets. That's was our (Dan's and I) first 1-2 finish. It is my 26th career win in four different cars.  My crew is Don Lane, Daryl Cousino, and Tom Latondress. Don worked really hard on the car, because it wasn't very good when we unloaded. Our sponsors at Dan Ford Racing, Our Remerica Country Homes, World Class Landscaping and Target Steel," said Regan.

With his win tonight, that #57 car has won three of the last five race A division features (Ronnie Allen won two earlier) ... And a "Ford" has won the last three races (Dan won the last two).

And speaking of Dan Ford Jr., he's on the verge of winning his fourth SS A division championship. Leading Randy DeMaggio by 195 points, I think he can lock up the championship with a really good qualifying run and starting the feature. DeMaggio has a 150 point lead over Dave Tanner. Tanner is leading Tim Moore by only 10 points and 65 points over Derek Wiley.

Anthony Camilli has locked up the B division championship, leading Billy Cronce by 275 points going into the final race. It's the third time in the last four year that "co-op team" of Lonnie York-Rich Abel-the Camilli's and a couple others have won the championship. Abel won it in 2008, York in 2006. As far as I can remember Camilli may be the first rookie to win the championship in the Street Stocks... at least for a while. I'll check on that and let everyone know next week.

The winner of the B Main was another driver that hasn't won in a couple years. Troy Brehmer won, what I think was his first B division feature. He won a C main three years ago. "I would've like to race for the win, but it's still good to win. It's been a couple years since I won a feature. Actually tonight was a repeat of last week with the Lonnie (York) and Darrell Krause ahead of me," said the driver of the #42.

Since I was a substitute scorer at Auto City I missed the a couple weeks ago (when the A division ran their 100 lapper). I had an email from Diovardi Racing thanking Steph & Nick Bradley for the use of her street stock for the rest of the season, as their car was wrecked during the August 15, race. They would also like the thank the teams of James Pankow, Carl Dickie, Billy Cronce and Jimmy Alvis for their help last week. It's great to know we have such helpful competitors at Flat Rock... this isn't the first time this season that teams have pulled together to help someone this season... to all that helped their fellow competitors this season, here's the "Good Sportsmanship Award".

Toledo Speedway's championship night was rained out last Friday and the championship night will not be rescheduled.

Robbie Loving won his second Figure 8 championship at Toledo (he also won in 2007). It is his fourth career track championship (winning two at Flat Rock).

Terry Jones won his first career ARCA championship. He is the first Canadian champion at Toledo since Dan Delisle won the Limited Late Model championship in 1998 when the track was owned by Sonny Adams (Russell Wood's is the other Sportsman/Limited Late Model champion, winning his in 1997).

Eric Huston won his second Factory Stock championship, his other, like Loving also came in 2007. This championship was interesting as he was battling teammate Cory McCaughey. Going in the final race there was a miniscule five points between them... "

"I won in 2007 by 20 points ... just like 2007 we built a brand new car this year and won the championship with it. Although I have to say this year was demanding with the economy and the level of drivers in this class. Everyone has stepped up a lot from 2007. I would like to give a big shout out to all the factory stock drivers, we all work just as hard on are cars as any class does. These guys drive the wheels off these cars to put on a good show for the fans every week and I'm glad to be a part of ARCA's factory stock division. This year we raced 12 times and had three feature wins, nine top 5's , three  top 10's and was the fast qualifier eight times," said Eric in an email to me. "I would like to thank Tommy Adams (A & D auto parts), Jeff Maran (Cygnet Automotive) for all the help and support this season. I would also want to thank teammate, Corey McCaughey, his dad Terry, and T.J. Miller for their sportsmanship this season."

The most nervous person going into the final night wasn't the drivers going for the championship, but Jeff Maran, affectionately known as Uncle Jeff. He sent me a real nice email a couple weeks ago, before the championship night. I learned a lot from it and found it interesting. "I don't know how many people know this but Cory McCaughey and Eric Huston decided to be teammates this year to try to help each other. I was all for it because I like to support my customers after building their chassis. If you work together you can learn twice as fast with two cars, it showed with Eric and Cory. Going into the final race championship night they are five points apart. I don't know how many teammates have been in this position championship night but it sure makes things interesting. I am going to be like a nervous father watching my boys next week. I have passed on some knowledge to both of them, to help them in case I was not there. Over this season I have watched both of them help other people with race car setups and even push start someone they were not friends with. Cory even loaned Eric his other car when Eric's motor broke. They have learned the best lesson of all "Spirit of Competition". They are the class of the Field on and off the track and I am very proud of both of them."

Brad Turner won his second consecutive 4 cylinder championship. Strange thing about this division, this is the division's sixth season. Kevin Stepinski won the first two, Bill Litogot won the next two and Brad the last two...Turner also won the championship feature, "I saw a spot and went for it. I want to thank the competitors, fans and my family."

Shawn Bershback finished second in the feature, "If I can't win, I'm glad Brad won. I had to bump a bit hard to get around the 29 (David Price)."

David Price finished third in the feature, "Been a rough season. This is my second car this season. I want to thank Shawn (Bershback) for his help with my tire pressures before the race."

I can be reached at icechips@hotmail.com.