Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Is this the only time we’ll ever see Kraig Kinser in victory lane at Knoxville Raceway? Let’s hope not but with his new stock car deal signed, Kinser may not be making many more laps in a Sprint Car at the speedway that helped make his father Steve famous. Kinser was reportedly flying back and forth between Knoxville and Charlotte while testing this weekend…The rain on Saturday night made for interesting viewing as the teams scrambled to leave the pit area. Without the pavement, many haulers would still be in the muck. Driver Randy Anderson once told me that Knoxville is the only place in the world where you can watch millionaires stand in the rain. Anderson is once again scheduled to run Marty Johnson’s 81 next Saturday at Knoxville…Nice to see Josh Higday back in victory lane after his early season woes. He started the season with Mike Trent’s 4T, split from that team and woke one day to find his house robbed and his trailer, and race car, missing. Most of it was recovered but the Higdays are still putting their lives back together. A photo on the frontstretch at Knoxville will help.
Clint Garner missed the weekend while interviewing with an ARCA team for a possible ride in 2006. Garner did not race competitively but met with team officials. He’ll return to Huset’s on Tuesday for the World of Outlaws event…Jake Peters needed a good finish for two reasons on Friday: 1) to keep closing the gap on Larry Ball Jr., who finished sixth to Peters’ third; 2) to pay for his tow rig, and subsequent wrecker invoice, that was wrecked in an accident en route to Knoxville. Peters used a tow truck to haul his trailer the rest of the way. He finished fourth…Chris Parkinson made his Knoxville Raceway debut on Saturday in Dan Lawson’s 74. Parkinson follows his famous forbearer’s, Grandpa Ralph and father Junior, footsteps at Knoxville. The 2004 MSCS champion did not make it out of the C-main but he has won the last seven MSCS events he’s participated in…Brett Mather’s streak of luck came to an end after contact with the fence in turn four. Mather coasted to stop with broken steering and Scott Winters ran his left rear over his right rear but did not flip…Head wrench Glenn Freeland will be hustling on Wednesday night at Lee County as the Giannetto team will run both cars at Lee County ~ Jesse in the Sprint Invader 360 and Justin in the winged 305. Jesse is still the SIA point leader.
Paul Sides is now driving the pace truck for the World of Outlaws and wheeling The Outdoor Channel two-seat Sprint Car. A slightly frightening thought to anyone who has spent time with the truly charismatic Sides…Kevin Rudeen flew in from Seattle to check in on his World of Outlaws team and driver Shane Stewart. Renowned culinary artist Scott Chilcutt manages the team for Rudeen, who also brought his left coast pilot Matt Steinhauer. Rudeen put PJ Chesson in a racer for the Dirt Cup, which he won with Shane Stewart in 2004…Ricky Logan is going to be busy this week as he and Tyler Swank left immediately following Knoxville’s run to head to Ohio for Raceweek. He’ll be running five nights in Pete Grove’s 70 before heading home on Saturday for Knoxville’s weekly show. After Raceweek, Grove is rumored to be reuniting with Jac Haudenschild, who will spend his week in Dennis Roth’s 83jr…Brian Paulus has been on a roll lately as he switches between Kistler and Kriner power. In April, he broke the track record first and was quick all night on Friday…Speaking of Knoxville track record holders, Joey Saldana was absent from weekend action but hopes to recover fully from his concussion and return to the tour next week in West Fargo, North Dakota…Plenty of controversy arose when Sammy Swindell exited his car on Friday night and allegedly removed some mud. Many felt that constituted ‘working’ on the car but officials chose not to penalize Swindell at the time or the proceeding morning. It capped a week of controversy after Craig Dollansky and he scuffled at Sedalia. Rumors persist that lawyers could be involved in the aftermath. Dirt Motorsports has not yet determined whether, or what, the penalty will be for Dollansky’s actions. Swindell finished third on Friday. It was his second straight runner up finish at Knoxville…Knoxville Fair Board Members met with the World of Outlaws officials and team owners on Saturday morning to discuss the details of the 2006 Knoxville Nationals. Nothing was officially resolved, to my understanding, but the meetings were deemed productive by people on each side…It could be trouble if Dusty Zomer ever moves to the 410 division. So far, he’s run four official laps in two shows at Knoxville with the big horses installed. Each night was rained out after qualifying… David Hesmer’s stretch of bad luck was well-documented in 2004 and it seems to be carrying over to Joe Beaver, who is running one of Hesmer’s engines. Last Saturday, Beaver led 15 laps before getting into the fence and this Friday, Beaver crashed with Rager Phillips, ending his evening.
On Sunday night, while traveling to Zanesville, Ohio for first night of Raceweek with the All Stars, I dropped by Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Illinois, for my first visit. It is a quaint little oval that packed in 30 open non-wing Sprints on Sunday for their weekly twilight show. The 5PM start time is helpful for early exits but hellish on the racetrack, which laid rubber before the Sprint heats…Doug Heck won the green-to-checkers A-main from the front row in an ex-Jeff Walker Twister. It was his second victory of the season at Lincoln…A hodgepodge of Jacksonville regulars, UMARA Sprint stars, Sprint Invaders and central Illinois non-wingers showed up to race at the $750-to-win show…Strange to see small pockets of families rooting for their favorite Wild Thing driver after two days of Outlaws mania at Knoxville…Bill Waite Jr. got upside down hard on Sunday night in the first heat race and was finished for the evening but otherwise unharmed…No word yet on the whereabouts of Dave Westercamp and I’m still hoping to hear from someone who knows if he is still involved in racing. For this week, let’s track down former Huset’s regular Ron Fick. If you have any information, send it to Justin@mompub.com.
This forum will return next weekend with a complete wrap-up of the midweek Ohio Sprint Raceweek shows from Muskingum County, Raceway 7, Sharon, Fremont and Limaland Motorsports Park before heading back to catch the Knoxville weekly show and spend Sunday at Huset’s, for twin features, or that irresistible first-time trip to Slayton for the Double Barrel Sprint Series. In the meantime, keep me entertained as I bounce from library to library in Ohio, seeking access to the interweb at Justin@mompub.com.
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