Toledo Speedway

TOLEDO OH (4-26-10) - Quik Quiz.  Vol 1,  No. 4.    1.}  Who were the racing Drolema brothers at Berlin Raceway?

2.}  Who's former racecar became the pace car  at  Mt Clemons race track?  3.} What was late model driver Bobby Tinkham's favorite number?  4.} Who was Mark Martin's main crew chief in his early days of late model racing?   Answers to Quiz 3 are as follows.  1.}The racing mailman who became flagman at Owosso was Butch Klotz.  2.} Mark "Doc" Andrews was the radio personality who got his start announcing at Mt Clemons. 3.} Norm Tucker in the number 500 raced with a spark plug on top of his car.  4.} Dave Dobner won the last "Double O" feature at Mt Clemons. Again, thanks to Terry Bogusz for the quiz. If you have a quiz you would like to see in the column, send it to Toledo Speedway, and please, provide the answers as well.   Sorry about the time between columns but we took a trip to Florida for some R&R before the racing season started.  To bad the weather had to be so cold for the ASA and Gold Cup race at Toledo. The racing was excellent with a lot of story lines for the upcoming season. The ASA and Outlaw Late model track records were broken. Did not get a chance to meet new ASA track record holder Eric Jones and found out later he was all of 13 years old! He was doing a nice job in the 125 running in 3^rd when the two leaders tangled and he was caught up in the melee. It was good to see a first time winner in Jesse Saunders who drove a smart race and chased down veteran Eddie Hoffman for the victory. The Allegiant Air ARCA outlaw late model gold cup for early in the season had a strong 25 car field with 24 taking the green in the 75 lapper. Scott Hantz continued his domination at Toledo with a win over a fast closing Mike Root. Root, 2009 Gold Cup champion charged to the outside of Hantz on the final lap to make an exciting finish for the fans. The story was 3^rd place finisher Derrick Griffin who earlier in the day shocked everyone by breaking the long standing outlaw late model record of Jr. Hanley with a time of 14.809. Griffin, from South Bend, is driving for Bobby Blount, and was fast all day even though he had never been to Toledo before. Neither, Griffin or Blount realized he had broken the record, just being satisfied with setting quick time. Blount, who is promoter of Plymouth Speedway plans to bring Griffin back when his schedule allows, but the Glass City for sure. Hantz in his winner circle interview surprised us by indicating he is running for the Gold Cup championship and will race at Flat Rock in The Stan Yee memorial 150 and The Butch Giles memorial 100. 4^th place finisher, Brent Jack will also come to Flat Rock for those races. Already the field in shaping up to be pretty stout for Flat Rock's signiture events for the late models. In talking with Henry and Jeff Giles they indicated that their driver, Ron Allen, who finished 5^th at Toledo would be in their 88 car for the two gold cup races at Flat Rock On another note, they indicated that Dave Kulhman, winner of last years Glass City 200 had received a promotion at work and would not have to travel as much as he has in recent years and we could see him more than twice in 2010. It was a tough start to the season for veterans Steve Cronenwett and Dennis Stricland at Toledo. Cronenwett was caught up in a crash early in the 75 lapper and Strickland had problems with the new chassis. Talked with Randy Cronenwett who said they have put the figure 8 car back together for another season. In fact, it sounds like the figure 8 division is going to be strong in 2010 with several new teams. Joe Whisman is putting long time figure 8 competitor, Chuck Pankow in his car for this season. For Pankow, it will be one of the fastest cars he's been in, and a feel good story for 2010. Toledo seemed to be the place for promoters as in addition to Blount, Angola Speedway promoter Craig Everage was in competion with his late model and did a nice job on the fast half-mile. Harold Fair Jr. continued his string of bad luck getting into the wall late in the 75 lapper. Fair Jr. had a dominating 2008 season at the track but now looks to turn things around. Heard that Jared Allison who raced a few seasons with the Fair's may come back up north after saying racing down south had not been much fun. Talked with two time Spartan late model champion, Dave Stehower who said he is coming back to Flat Rock for the 150. He said opening night at Spartan was a bit rough, with some sheet metal damage but still managed a top five and set fast time. He enjoyed the fact that Steve Lee spent time in his pit observing. Jimmy Gallegher won the late model opener at Spartan. Travis Eddy won the modified portion of the event. Here is a few bits from here and there. Want to give a shout out to two promoters that were honored a while back. Tom Sprauge of Winston Speedway was UMP promoter of the year and Joe Dewitte of Auto City was MSPA promoter of the year. Auto City got lucky and completed there racing program Saturday night, one of the few to race this weekend. The racing paper industry continues to shrink with the final issue of Mid-American auto racing news put out in March. That was a blow to many of us who still enjoy reading a paper instead of surfing the web. Long Time editor and owner Nancy Cole passed away in December and her children decided it would be to tough to continue. The remaining subscription time will be picked up by National Speedsport News.  Another paper that covered Pennsylvania and Ohio also went out of buisiness and is being covered by AREA Auto racing news which we recently became a subscriber too. Also get the late model digest and am hoping these papers will continue to operate. Also like to mention our long time friend Allen Brown recently retired and sold the National Speedway directory. Brown may be the one person in North America who has visited just about every track that is racing. How much fun has it been to watch the progress of Brad Keselowski? Was not that long ago he was in victory lane in a late model at Toledo. Now he is leading the Nationwide Series point standings and next year will wheel the famous Penske Duece. Now if Kasey Kayne, who goes to Hendrick trades his Budweiser sponsorship with Junior for AMP life will be back in order. For the first time in quite awhile, the opener at Flat Rock rained out. This weather pattern needs to change in a hurry. Nice during the week and rain on weekends will not get it. The Flat Rock practices were well attended which is an encouraging sign for car counts in 2010. Got to give some props to Factory Stock Driver Brian Ringger who shot his very first 300 in our bowling league Thursday night. You would be surprised at the drivers who have done that, as Dennis Whisman and Ricky Kargel come to mind. We will try to keep you informed on many of the racing happenings around the Midwest as the weeks move on and if you are traveling the state visit one of the many fine tracks in operation and join the Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club which has many nights for free at member tracks. Check there website for details. The column will be much more frequent now that the season is beginning. Stay off the wall, See Ya!