Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings, Part One
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Once again, the IRA Sprint Cars came north for their annual early September swing for Superior’s Northern Nationals and Cedar Lake’s Jerry Richert Memorial. All racers were greeted by surprisingly heavy racetracks at each venue. With two extra laps of the water truck, Soup-erior, as it has been called, lived up to its name, requiring twin sets of hot laps. Eventually, the track came in and proved to be fast and exciting all night, much like the next night at Cedar Lake. With temps in the 90s and a strong wind, Cedar Lake dumped extra water, which made for a racy track, but unfortunately also birthed a few bumps in the turns. But, after a summer of dicey track conditions nation wide, a few extra sets of hot laps are not a bad thing.
News and Notes
Once again, the Richert family went all out to honor their father, Jerry Richert, gathering the usual cast of sponsors and friends to put extra money into the purse. The Richerts spread it around uniquely, giving bonuses such as a) $100 to lead laps 7-14-21, b) $100 for the first car out of the A-main, and c) $75-$50-$25 for the first three non-transfers spots in the heat races. These were just a few examples of extra money being doled out by the family. Additionally, the opening ceremonies, complete with Jerry Jr.’s Sprint Car being driven by Knoxville fire crew member Trevor Boyd, nicely honored one of the all-time greats…Justin Henderson had the best weekend of his career, scoring fourth at Superior before reeling off two straight wins, starting with the Richert Memorial. Henderson battled hard with Wayne Johnson through the mid-part of the race and eventually took the lead. Johnson blew an engine with a handful to go but Henderson seemed to have things well at hand. Henderson followed that up with his second straight win at Huset’s. After going winless all season, Henderson has reeled off three wins in eight days for Dan Oswalt. The week before, Henderson made his stock car debut at Rock Rapids and finished eighth in a borrowed racer…As for Johnson, he’ll take the FattFro 14AJ over the Eagle for two days of World of Outlaws racing this weekend.
Chad Blonde nearly made the 14-hour tow to Superior pay off big with a win before a late yellow gave an opportunity to Scott Neitzel. Neitzel strolled off with his fourth IRA win of the year, at four different racetracks, and kept him safely in the points lead...After nearly two full seasons together, Matt Folstad left the Ronnie Wuiff/Butch Bethke 1H team. Despite a quick start to the season, the team struggled through mid-season and after three straight DNFs, Folstad walked away. Bethke also parted company with Wuiff, leaving the team to completely reshuffle before the IRA’s weekend swing. Wiuff hired Gregg Bakker to fill the seat for the weekend’s events. Bakker has done surprisingly little racing in other’s racers, considering he is one of the most successful drivers in the area and is historically easy on equipment. After a rough start that saw Bakker on his side in the heat race at Superior, he recovered nicely win a second place finish at Cedar Lake. To top off his weekend, he secured his second straight track title at Huset’s on Sunday night over Jake Peters and Chad Meyer, who tied for second…Randy Anderson was also pulling substitution duty at Superior. The Clarion, Iowa, driver drove Ed Gifford’s 17G as Don Droud Jr. has split with the team. Droud and Gifford split after last Sunday’s IRA show at Cresco, where Anderson drove Marty Johnson’s 81. This weekend, Johnson assisted the team in the pit area. He was busy as Anderson came home on the hook both nights. At Cedar Lake, Anderson was involved in a scary backstretch flip that saw KJ Skelton completely destroy his racer. Skelton has two second place finishes and probably deserves at least a nomination for 410 Rookie of the Year in the National Sprint Car poll. As for Droud, he raced a non-wing Sprint Car all weekend in Indiana.
Mark Toews pulled out an older 410 and made his debut with the big horse in 2005. The engine is a Trondson engine and the last time Toews sat behind it, prior to Friday, was his trip over the fence at Knoxville during the Nationals. Toews sold his Wesmar 410 to acquire his Wesmar 360 that he raced to fifth in the Jackson point standings…John and Tim Sernett were surprise additions to the Superior line-up. The latter was sporting a cast on his broken right wrist after an incident with his daughter’s mini-sprint. John hired Brett Geldner for Saturday’s show after struggling with control on Friday night. Geldner’s 2005 410 debut was impressive as he was third quick, won a B-main and finished eighth. Each car was also sporting new sponsorship from MCI Paint and Drywall…Mike Rich and John Franzen, two very good Sprint Car racers from Northern Minnesota, spent their evening together watching from the backstretch at Superior. Meanwhile, the northland was represented by Proctor’s Leigh Thomas and Superior residents Duane Olson and Ryan Wilson. Thomas’ weekend was finished when he flipped hard in turn four at Superior. As for Olson, he continued on to Cedar Lake and then made his Huset’s Speedway debut on Sunday night.
Kurt Davis left Jack Dubin’s Sprinter at home and wrenched on his good friend Jason Johnson’s 44 car all weekend…Tim St. Arnold made the long drive from Des Moines to Superior and qualified eighth before blowing the driveline in the heat race. Matt Stephenson, 305 racer extraordinaire, was providing pit assistance. On Tuesday night, Stephenson raced to 17th in the Boone Supernationals. Scott Winters avenged his mistake from the 2004 Supernats and scored the victory over the 21-car field. Winters raced his 360 against the 410s on Saturday night and finished one spot short of a B-main transfer after a first-turn melee in the heat…Mike Stefka is back in his own 35S car after starting the season in the 83D. The team parted ways in late July, causing Stefka to miss the Summer Classic at Knoxville. The parting was amicable but Stefka is a committed IRA traveler and did not want to miss shows, while his former ride was content to pick and choose. Stefka is rounding out the year with his antiquated 35S but aspires to have a new racer ready for 2006. The frame is still damaged from an incident at Oshkosh where the steering broke, parking Stefka in front of the oncoming field…Scott Young has had a great 2005 season and he’s chasing Scott Neitzel for the championship. Young snared his third straight IRA quick time at Cedar Lake and finished one spot behind Neitzel. Young’s resurgence this year has to make him the Comeback Driver of the Year, not that such an award exists.
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