Did Ya Know?
Did Ya Know?
2.} How many Cronenwett's have won feature's at Flat Rock? 3.} This driver became the video guy for the "Dealer's Choice"? 4.}What did Dave Stehower do in racing before he became a driver? Answers to Quiz 4 are as follows. 1.} Tom, Harry, and Jack were the racing Drolema Brothers. 2.} Larry Lemay's #23 ARCA car became the Mt Clemons pace car. 3.} Bobby Tinkham's favorite number was 02. 4.} Banjo Grimm worked with Mark Martin in his early days of racing. The weather has been the big story for area tracks in the early season. Last year Flat Rock had two rainouts for the season, and this year has already been weathered out twice, and the same for Toledo. Many other tracks have faired no better. Its time for a little divine intervention to get us on the right path for nice race weather. The racing programs that have survived, have been good, with excellent competition. Here's some early season observations. With outlaw late model wins at Toledo and Angola, Scott Hantz has once again stamped himself as the man to beat. It was encouraging to see 25 at Toledo, and 19 opening night at Flat Rock. The first feature at Flat Rock was caution free with Eric Lee the victor. Paul Pelettier had a nice run for 2nd after a tough start at Toledo. Dennis Strickland also with a top five, overcame his difficulties at Toledo. Brad Burr did a nice job in Bob Ward's 6 car leading the Flat Rock main for several laps. The good news is, more cars are on the way. Its early, but the Stan Yee memorial race at Flat Rock set for Saturday June 26th has been getting a lot of interest, even from the west side of the state. Last years winner, Mike Luberda Jr. has indicated the race is on his schedule and if all goes well will be there. Tim Felver,who is working in Louisiana for the time being has said they are looking at the race real hard. Scott Hantz and Brent Jack have already said they are coming. Last years race saw 42 cars enter what turned out to be one of the best races in the Midwest. With all the "internet talk" about problems with tech because of late model alliance rules has not happened. Other divisions have proved interesting. The DST street stocks at Flat Rock have had good numbers and when they can get a race started they have been caution free for two 25 lap feature events this season. Rob Moore and Chad Guinn who haven't seen victory lane in awhile were winners. Good to see drivers Paul Duffin, Terry Lilly, and Chris Hebert back with us. Hopefully the street stock numbers will continue to grow. The figure 8's continue to just wow the crowd with fantastic action at both Toledo and Flat Rock. The "Rebel" Dennis Whisman has two wins and one crash already. Congrats to Gary Cronenwett on his first Flat Rock figure 8 feature victory. Jeremy Miller has been running outlaw figure 8's at the Indy Speedrome this season instead of Flat Rock. Jeremy Vandehoof and Robbie Loving have also made trips to the Dome on Friday nights. Got to give a shout out to the one "crazy lady" in the figure 8's, Stephanie Bradley who has won a couple of heats and has been doing a nice job in the features. The Sportsmen division at Toledo has proved to be very interesting. Newcomer Kyle Delisle won his first ever feature at Toledo riding in 3rd when Ron Allen and Jim Froling tangled in the race with just two laps to go. His dad, Dan, was a long time competitor at Toledo in the Sporstmen division and was going a little crazy in disbelief that the kid won a feature his second night out. It was fun to see and Kyle has the talent to be a force in the division. Howard Kelley Jr. is concentrating on racing with the CRA sportsmen this season and will make limited appearances at Toledo. Lot of activity going on at Toledo, especially this weekend with racing Friday , Saturday and Sunday. The Buckeye 305 sprints plus Sportsmen and Factory Stocks on Friday, with ARCA practice and Qualifying for the Menards 200 presented by Federated plus a 50 lap ARCA truck race on Saturday with the 200 on Sunday afternoon at 2pm. Man the Buckeye 305 sprints were fast at Flat Rock with Mike Sheppard breaking the track record with a time of 10.44. The old 305 record was 10.62 and the 410 sprint record was 10.52. He was close to the alltime record set way back in the 80's of 10.23 by Randy Sweet in his "Rocket Car" We remember Randy trying to post the top time at many area tracks and the car was amazing to watch. Kevin Shirey, of the famous racing Shirey family, won the 305 sprint feature at Flat Rock. They had five cars in the ten second bracket. They are exciting to watch at Toledo. The ARCA race at Toledo is always exciting, like watching the way Bristol used to be. Ken Schrader has entered along with Matt Crafton, Frank Kimel and many more. There will be a fan fest in front of the track all three days, with lots of activity in the bar and grill after the races. On the buisiness side of things both tracks have wall space available for sponsorship, as well as busses to sponsor for the upcoming nights of destruction. One of the easy ways to sponsor is through the lucky number program with your race teams sponsors hats,t-shirts mugs,etc. It's a good way to get involved in the program. Spartan Speedway has been running wingless sprints every other week, and 14 year old Taylor Ferns, yes, a girl has a win, defeating Jimmie McCune and Tom Fedewa, and a 2nd place finish to Fedewa this past Friday. Going to keep an eye on that young lady. Speaking of Spartan we travel there fathers day for the Stan Perry memorial late model race. Check our schedule, lots of great racing coming up and fun events like autograph night at Flat Rock Saturday. Stay off the Wall, See Ya!