Father Fair Shows Son the Way at Toledo
Father Fair Shows Son the Way at Toledo
TOLEDO, OH (8-8-2008)-- He’s 62? Years old, but he doesn’t drive like it, at least on the race track.. The ageless wonder Harold Fair Sr. held back the charge of his son, Harold Jr. to win the 50 lap ARCA Allegiant Air Gold Cup Late Model feature Friday night at Toledo Speedway. And Harold took the win on Racer’s Reunion Night! He was presented the Gold Cup by former track champs Danny Byrd and Harold Cook, who were on hand for the festivities.
The Late Model event ran the first 32 laps straight and it was a dandy. Great competition throughout the field kept things interesting as youngster Justin Schroeder led the way with plenty of company in Fair Sr. and Ron Allen, at the wheel of Butch Giles’ machine. Fair Jr., the fast qualifier at 15:239, started 8th and bided his time early in the race. At the lap 32 mark, Guy Pritchard oiled down the track when the rear end broke in his car, creating a mess and lengthy clean-up. When the race went back to green, Fair Sr. dove under Justin to take control on lap 35, setting the stage for the father-son duel to the finish. Fair Jr. eased past Dennis Strickland, Allen and Schroeder with 10 to go, setting his sights on his dad. Fair Sr. made the younger Fair work, as Harold Jr. went high, went low and slid to the bottom in the final turn, coming up a fender short as Fair Sr. took the very popular win. Third went to Allen, fourth was Schroeder in a great run and fifth went to Strickland, with Paul Pelletier, Brett Jursik, Steve Cronenwett Jr., Jake Francis and Joe Hawes next in line to complete the top ten finishers. Heat race winners were Keith Nelson and Schroeder. 18 cars were on hand.
Toledo resident Howard Kelley Jr. took control on lap 8 from Chad Guinn and held back the bids of Ron Allen and Jim Froling to win the 35 lap ARCA National City Bank Sportsman main event. The top 3 ran nose to tail for the final 25 circuits, with Allen and Froling trying everything in the book to get by Kelley Jr. The duo exchanged the 2nd spot several times as Kelley stayed in control to take the victory. Allen was second, Froling was third and Chad Guinn fourth at the stripe, with Tom O’Leary IV coming home fifth in one of his best runs of his career. Jarod MacZink, Jeff King, Scott Lockenour, Tom O’Leary III and Art Rozane completed the top ten finishers. Allen set quick time at 17:412 for the 19 car field, with Guinn and King taking the heat race wins.
The 20 lap ARCA A-1 Auto Parts Factory Stock feature saw Josh Bunting lead the event for 19 laps, until heavy lapped traffic saw the leader and challenger Dave Arnold Jr. get together with the lapped car of Matt Ringger, bringing out the yellow. That trio went to the tail, giving rookie Gary Cronenwett the lead and eventually the win over Dennis Randall, Eric Huston, Cory McCaughey, AJ Padgett, Mike Hassen, Scot Bunge, Brian Ringger, Tim Shine and Dave Grodi. Craig Osenbaugh grabbed the 10 lap B Main, topping Dennis Futrel, Amanda Bland, Kevin Little, Mike Hacker, John Rabideau and Randy Padgett. Arnold Jr. posted the fast time for the 25 car field at 11:902. Landon Schuster, Matt Ringger and Osenbaugh captured the heat race wins. Jesse Carillo took the last-chance race honors.
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski will sign autographs next Friday, August 15 at Toledo Speedway. It’s also the track’s weekly racer Autograph Night, sponsored by Allen Chevrolet/Cadillac and Qualite Sports Lighting. The ARCA Sportsman, Figure 8’s and Factory Stocks will be in action, and the Kid’s Nickel/Penny grab will also take place. The on-track autograph session is set for 6:45, the coin grab is at 7:20 and racing begins at 7:30 p.m. The front gates will open at 5 p.m.