Wendy's night of Destruction Lives up to it's Billing at Toledo
Wendy's night of Destruction Lives up to it's Billing at Toledo
TOLEDO, OH: (9-18-09): The beautiful weather conditions of the past 2 weeks held up at Toledo Speedway Friday evening for the Wendy's Hamburgers Night of Destruction. And the huge crowd that made the trip to the Glass City track was treated to a great night of fun and excitement, capped off by the hard-hitting, slam-bang School Bus Figure 8 race. Troy Herrmann captured the main event. Wendy greeted the fans and was busy with giveaways and entertaining the crowd with track announcer Gary Lindahl the entire night.
With 8 buses raring to go, track chief inspector Jack Franzil was a marked man! With no more than 2 laps in the books, newly-crowned Flat Rock Figure 8 Co-Champ Dennis Whisman targeted Jack and slammed into him, sending the Glass City 200-sponsored bus over on its side as the fans cheered. The roar got louder when Franzil climbed back into his ride after it was righted and continued on! First-time bus driver Landon Schuster and then veteran Joe Koester took turns leading as the hits began, ripping the front ends off most of the buses and destroying the radiators and more. Franzil got tagged again and went over for the second time, the front end loader righted his bus back on all four tires and Jack jumped back into action once again! With the hammering hits taking their toll, Troy Herrmann found himself in the lead and in the end, it was Troy and Whisman the only ones left, with Whisman making the final 3 laps going in reverse! At the finish, it was Herrmann over Schuster, Jeremy Vanderhoof, Koester, Whisman, Franzil, Denny Stilwell and Norm Lewallen.
Bus Sponsors were Wendy's, Burge Wrecking, PB Fabrication, Jeff's Collision of Toledo, the Glass City 200, Sealmaster/Mayfly Tavern, Valvoline Instant Oil Change and Crossroads Community Church.
A total of 8 teams took the green flag for the 15 lap Figure 8 Train race, which features 2 cars chained together; the front car has the engine, the back has the brakes! On the very first lap, Al Denis/John Reece spun in front of the field, scattering the pack and resulting in spins and crashes! Tom O'Leary Jr./Troy Brehmer took the lead on the restart and got tangled up a couple of times, which gave Dan Apperson/Andy Holly the chance to take charge. That duo led the rest of the event as they avoided more spins and crashes on the way to the $750 top prize! Tom O'Leary III/Howard Kelley Jr., O'Leary Jr./Brehmer, Randy Roberts/Ron Duvall, Denis/Reece, Craig Osenbaugh/Rich Abel, Scott Apperson/Jeremy Fragassi and Tom O'Leary IV/Adam Plonksi were next in line at the checkered flag.
Jimmy Little pocketed $500 for the win in the Rollover contest, topping Dave Arnold Jr., Richard Laraway and Fragassi.
Fan favorite Amanda Bland was the winner in the wild Figure 8 boat race. Kent Jones was the early leader until he lost his boat. Mike Tupman, piloting a beautiful 1963 Mercury, had his boat painted the same color with the Tasmanian Devil belted into the boat! Mike took the lead from Jones, only to have his boat and eventually his trailer come unhooked. Amanda "sailed" to the win over Ron Lashuay, Tupman, Cory McCaughey and Jones.
Eric Huston stormed to the win in the Backup race, topping Ken Davis, Don Cox, Jesse Carrillo and Amanda Bland. AJ Padgett, Rich Abel, TJ Miller, Andy Holly, John Rabideau and Tupman followed the top 5.
Ken Davis had 2 spares to win the Race Car Bowling event. Cox, Padgett, Holly and Mark Davis completed the top five.
TJ Miller captured the Plywood race, passing leader John Rabideau in turn 4 on the final lap to take top honors. Amanda Bland and Ken Davis were third and fourth.
AJ Padgett dodged the 17 car field the entire way to win the 15 lap Factory Stock Figure 8 feature event. Padgett took the lead early and held on as Eric Huston zipped through the field but ran out of laps at the checkered flag. Third was Matt Ringger, fourth went to Art LaFreniere and fifth was Don Cox, with Alan Bland Sr., Kent Jones, Amanda Bland, John Rabideau and Ron Lashuay completing the top ten.
Toledo Speedway jumps back into action Saturday, October 3 with its signature event, the 21st running of the Glass City 200 presented by AP Motorsports. The 200 lap Late Model invitational features the top outlaw-bodied Late Model drivers in the Midwest. The ARCA Sportsman cars and the Michigan Legends Cars will also be in competition. Practice begins at noon Saturday, time trials are at 3 and the racing begins at a special time of 5 p.m. for this event.
An optional practice session takes place Friday night, October 2 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Reserved seat tickets are now on sale by calling the track at 419-727-1100.