Toledo Speedway

A couple weeks of articles here because I didn’t get last week’s in early enough to get online. I also want to apologize for anyone I missed for the weekend of Aug. 17-18. The computer crashed when I was doing the Flat Rock half and I was only able to remember so much. If I forgot you, please send me your quote from that night and I’ll add it into the article for Aug. 24. Email me at icechips@hotmail.com or send me a message on FaceBook.

Tim Moore won his second consecutive Street Stock A division feature. “All this bad luck this year to win two in the row is awesome. A huge round of applause to Craig (Lange) he ran his butt off tonight.”

Lonnie York who has only been out a few times this year, won the Street Stock B division feature. “That’s a lot of fun. That’s why we come back every week. I could hear them back there. Finally came out on top. I want to thank my sponsor All Good Contracting. I also want to thank my fiance Tiffany and my mother Sharon for their support.

Jeff Wells won the 4 cylinder feature. I would like to thank my sponsors. I struggled all night long and finally got a handle on it. Knew unless something happened to Ray there would be no championship for me so I hoped to get the win instead.

Jerry Lee Jr. won the Figure 8 feature. “When you get the lead you control the race. I was just pacing myself. Getting close at the X is the excitement. I want to thank my brother Richie, and Chris Cox and my son Jakob. I also want to thank my sponsors Affordable Transmissions and Robert A. Mucha Attorney at Law.”

Congrats to Don Roberts who won his first Street Stock B division championship. “I would like to thank the officials in the tech barn for helping me set the car up and all the other racers and mechanics in the pit for helping out when things go wrong.  Mostly, I would like to thank my sole sponsor: my wife, Colleen, and my 10 year old daughter/crew chief, Donna Rose, for all their help and support. Also, thanks to everyone who comes to watch the races. I have been racing for three years and this year I was a fortunate victim of circumstance in winning the championship. I plan to continue racing for as long as I can.”

Congrats to Kyle Huston on his Street Stock championship at Toledo. He is the youngest champion in the division and as far as I can figure, it’s the first time for a Father/Son to win back to back championships (and the Huston family has won four of the last six Factory Stock/Street Stock championships). “I had a great season with three feature wins and five fast qualifiers. It feels good to be the youngest ARCA champ ever and only in my second season and to do it back to back with my dad. I would like to really thank him for all his support and givin’ me a rocketship of a race car, I also would like to thank all my family, fans and pit crew for their support and my sponsors Maran Racing, Ramons Collision, A&D Auto Parts, Fall Automotive, Huston Trucking. I would really like to move up and make racing my career, so if there is anyone out there that would like to put an up and coming 16-year old driver in their car, I’ll do the very best job I could to make their racing team better.”

Ron Allen won his seventh Sportsman Championship (2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011). “I want to thank my crew Michelle, Gary. Charlie and Jimmy. Also Dillon Race Cars and Fastime Racing Engines and Parts.” Ron has also won a Late Model championship at Toledo (2002)

The 17th season of the Alegiant Air Gold Cup has been a seasons of firsts. Earlier this year the series had their first away race at a non-ARCA sanctioned track. Tonight they ‘shared’ the billing with the Main Event Series, with the cars receiving points in both series. And it’s the first Gold Cup championship for Dakota Carlson.

Dakota finished fourth and finished 40 points ahead of 2009-2010 champion Mike Root. “I am definitely excited about going to Daytona. I've never been there and it will be cool to just see the place. As for the race Friday night we had a good car it was just too lose into the corners to really go get after the leaders and we were exactly were we needed to be to win the championship so I was fine with just riding the race out. I definitely wish we would have won a race during the series but I’m glad we are done points racing because now we can go ahead and get after trying to win races. I want to thank my sponsor Performance Engineering and then of course Tony LeClair Racing.”

Dakota Carlson, driving car #8, is the eighth different Gold Cup champion. The other champions (with number of championships) are: Dennis Strickland (4); Harold Fair Jr. and Rick Knows (3 each); Dave Kuhlman and Mike Root (2 each); Ed Hage and Dakota (1 each) and the first year no points were awarded.

It is the eighth time in the series 17 seasons that the champion did not win a race. (2012, 2009, 2005, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1997)

Dakota is the second driver to win the championship not from Southeast Michigan. (Mike Root in 2009 and 2010 was the other driver. Both are from the Grand Rapids area)

Dakota’s car owner, Tony LeClair, this was his first championship in 10 years of owning a racecar. Another first in the Gold Cup championships.... Tony is from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, making him the first Canadian champion (albeit car owner champion) in the series history.

Did you know in hot laps Dakota's team had to change the carburetor before the race.

This was Dakota first stand-alone championship. He also was the co-champion a couple years ago for the Dixie Cup Late Models at  Dixie Speedway with Mike Root. He also won a Go-kart championship.

Johnny Van Doorn’s car was on rails for today’s race. It was his second Gold Cup win, his other was July 2007 when he was driving for Tim Steele. The only time anyone got close to him was the cars he lapped or during the restarts. “The car was very easy to drive tonight ... nice and comfortable, it made my job driving it a lot easier. The harder I drove the car the better it stuck. That was a fun race when you have a car that is that good,” said the driver of the Port City Race Cars, Magic Transmission, ProFormance Racing Engines #61. “I’m hoping I’ll be back for the Glass City 200 next month. It depends on the lead I have in the

Johnny Belott finished second in his first race of the season. His last race was the Glass City last year.

Finishing a close third behind Belott was another former Gold Cup champion (multiple) Harold Fair Jr. “We lost a cylinder about lap 25. Too bad because the car was fast before that and handled really well. I think if I would’ve been on eight cylinders I would’ve had a race much like the last one here.

Barry Hartwell finished fifth, a career best Gold Cup race and also his best finish at Toledo. “The car wasn’t perfect. We made a big adjustment between the first practice and the feature and it was better through the corners. We just need a little more power. I want to thank my sponsors NAPA, Jeff Carpenter DDS, Sign-a-rama and my mom and dad,” said Harwell.

Dennis Strickland took over the #86 formerly driven by Ron Allen. While

Another driver change... Kenny Phillips was in the #40 formerly driven by Nick Grodi. Kenny’s been driving modifieds at Sandusky lately and it was the first time in a late model in over 10 years. His last LM race was ASA back in 2001. “I was just starting to get comfortable out there when I dropped out ... we were getting oil coming out of the filler tank. It’s been 10 years since I’ve been in a late model

Jimmy Carter, a Main Event regular, led the first 20 laps of the feature. Between the two Gold Cup races, Toledo has removed the blocks lining the inside of the track from the middle of the backstretch to the frontstretch. Carter may have been the happiest driver that the blocks were gone when he spun into the grass in turn three. In the past that would’ve been a hard crash and ended his night at the point... Instead he was able to continue racing.

Did you know that the 27 cars there got Gold Cup points and Main Event points?

Scott Hantz blew an engine. Chris Benson had a rear end break in his car.

Bud Perry has raced three times at Toledo in a modified, but today’s race was his first in a Late Model. The current Main Event points leader regular, was the highest finisher for that series with a seventh. He led a group of Main Event regulars, Justin Schroeder (who had a timing issue in qualifying), Charlie Schultz and John Flynn.

ARCA driver Frank Kimmel’s son, Frank II ran his first Toledo show and finished 11th, the last car running.

Josh Bunting ran his first race of the season and won the Street Stock Feature at Toledo. “It was a very good first night out all season and no other way to come out and win the 20 street stock feature. I had to dedicate my first win back to my son Josh Jr. The car handled great all night and it was really awesome going to the lead on the high side of the track. I like to thank my wonderful girl, Aubri for all the support, my brother-in-law Chris and my brother Mat for their help in the pits and all my family and friends in the stands ... thank you.”

FLAT ROCK ... this is a hodge-podge of the last two weeks, in no particular order.

Tim Moore won the Street Stock A division feature on Aug. 18. “The car was fast all day. Thanks to the crew for keeping up on the car even after all the problems we been having. Got to thank all my fans out there also. After my race in victory alley I had a kid probably 14-years old come up to me and wanted my autograph and he had a little tiny piece of paper. So I went and grabbed my trophy and signed it and gave it to him. He was really excited ... so that made me feel good to give back to the fans that support us every weekend. If it wasn’t for the fans we wouldn’t be racing. Also got to thank my sponsors, Dow engines for building me a strong engine. A-lot Sealcoat & Striping, Jay-T Motorsports, Northend Scrap Metal, Yost Collision, Bizzy B's restaurant, and DTS Drivetrain Specialists. Can’t thank you guys enough for the help. Have to thank my family for supporting me through a rough season this year. Also have to congratulate my brother for winning the week before then winning the heat Saturday then finishing second. It’s a blast finishing 1-2. Also have to thank all the officials on the track and off and on the radio and the safety crew. Couldn’t get no better. Keep up the great work guys and (gals).”

For Craig Lange, he had a night of firsts. He ran his fastest lap ever in hot laps, 13.968. Then he finished a career high second in the A main. He led most of the A main before Tim Moore finally prevailed. He is sponsored by... Suburban Oil, Loyal Trucking, Keery’s Hi Tech Transmission, Real Estate One, Father & Son HVAC and Mac’s Towing.

On Aug. 18 Billy Cronce had engine problems in his heat and Jim Selmi loaned him his car for the feature. “My whole team and I owe Jim a huge thanks. We would be completely out of a chance at a top 10 finish this year if it wasn't for him. I had always looked up to the Selmi brothers, Studts and Cronenwetts when I started racing years ago. To be behind the wheel of Jim's 137 was an honor, I'd hope we can all learn from his generosity. As for my car, I don’t know what happened to the motor. It never gave me any indication it was going south other than it being four seasons old. Actually thought I had a flat tire but we got an old motor we’re gonna freshen up and see if we can at least finish out the year.” He came out with his “little” engine which his son said is basically a street engine with a different carburetor on it. He did finish in the top 10 on the 24th and is now in 11th in points, not too far behind Scott Selmi who has missed the last few weeks because of a crash.

The B main was a match race between Anthony Camilli and 2012 B main champion Don Roberts. Anthony finally was able to pull ahead but the duo ran most of the race side by side. “My only sponsor is Tony’s Tires and I’d like to thank Craig Lange and Jimmy Little for helpin’ with everything ... I’d like to thank my mom and my baby Angela for their support and giving me confidence and it was a great battle with Don if he didn’t get lose on lap six I don’t think I could of got him.”

Paul Pelletier won his fifth feature of the season on Aug. 18. He is sponsored by : Fraza Forklifts, Dusty's Collision, Exotic Automation, First Impressions Cement, ABC Plumbing, Berringer Law, Duane's Roadrunner's.

Welcome to Flat Rock Mike Isler. Mike is a dirt sportsman driver and the race on Aug. 18 was his first pavement race, driving Jeff Luttermoser’s car. In the heat he got caught up in an accident and slowly flipped his car over. Welcome to pavement racing Mike! The car wasn’t too bad, partial front clip from the suspension forward.

I’m sorry if I missed something you sent me for the weekend of the Aug. 17-18. Send it to me before Sept. 4 to be included in the season championship edition. I’d like to hear from you if it was your best points finish. Again my email is: icechips@hotmail.com or send me a message on FaceBook.