Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings from PRI
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Naturally, you couldn’t speak open wheels for more than three minutes without discussing the sudden demise of the National Sprintcar League. The booth was empty, sans Steve Kinser’s Sprint Car, and the folks at DIRT Motorsports did an admirable job of concealing their outright glee and resisted from gloating over their victory. Brian Carter reported that they will honor their contracts with the drivers they had previously signed for 2006 and that the estranged drivers are welcome to run their series, will be paid points and point fund money but will not receive the membership bonuses, i.e. tow money. DIRT will fill out their 2006 Mean 15 roster shortly but none of the remaining names are expected to be from the NSL. Dion Hindi, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Mike Woodring’s team, which will see Becca Anderson and Kenny Jacobs split starts, are part of the list. Chad Kemenah was bandied about as a possible signee but he would not confirm his plans for next season… As for Stenhouse, he has signed Beast Energy Drink from Tennessee as a corporate sponsor and will be bringing along a show car and tricked-out motorcycle to each tour stop. Stenhouse will run J&J Chassis and Kriner Engines with support from Pete Grove Motorsports. They will be announcing a crew chief shortly to captain the 18-year-old… Hindi is returning to the road for the first time in five years but he is still undecided which engines he’ll saddle into the frame rails of his J&J Chassis. Hindi nearly retired after suffering a severe eye injury at Red River Valley Speedway several seasons ago… Does the demise of the Sprintcar League mean we can all go back to writing it as two words again?
Paul May will return to the All Star tour again and will start his season in Florida, running all of the 410 shows… USAC is reportedly not going to return for their doubleheader at Powercom Park in early spring… Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series president Tony Swanson was on hand at the show working the Swanson Precision Machine booth with Scott Stine, who handles PR duties and announcing chores for HOSS. Swanson promised further progression for his regional series of winged pavement stars in 2006 and they’ll make Badger State appearances at Madison and Marshfield and return to Hawkeye Downs for a Friday night special… California Midget racer Darrin Bolton strolled the aisles with his father as they worked on their team for next year. Bolton will return to the BCRA and AMRA Midget ranks and run dirt and pavement until he can race with USAC in June, following his 16th birthday. Bolton will make his USAC debut at the Knoxville Midget Nationals. He’ll also return to the Chili Bowl, where he was the youngest competitor in 2005. As if that weren’t enough, the team is putting together a dirt Sprint Car… Jesse Gianetto will return to the 410 ranks at Knoxville next season, where he finished 11th in points in 2005. He’ll be joined at the track by his brother, Justin, who will run for 360 Rookie of the Year after spending a year in the 305s… Dusty Zomer will reportedly move to the 410 division at Knoxville in 2006… Troy Renfro represented Rush Racing and Brooke Tatnell at the show and reported that everything is intact for next year, except the color of the car. They will start with a primarily red car but will also have a white one ready to go later in the season. The team has completed their new shop near Renfro’s central Iowa home.
From all reports, Eagle Raceway is in good hands. After chatting up several Nebraskans, including racers, fans and crewmembers, Roger Hadan was highly spoken of, even if he does not have a Sprint Car background. Hadan has leased the track from Craig Cormack and we’ll know more after a rules meeting with 360 drivers on December 13… Shane Spurlock has completed his move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is planning to open a Sprint supply shop, Spurlock Motorsports Supply, there shortly. On track, Spurlock will compete for rookie honors in the 410 division at Knoxville and compete throughout the Upper Midwest, including the newly formed ASCS Northern Plains tour… Dave Ely was busy working the DMI booth, debuting new products such as the StratoShifter. Ely announced that he will soon be a Midget racer, at least in his spare time, and will make his Chili Bowl debut. He purchased an F5 Chassis, with the help of Shuttlesworth Paving, from Iowa’s Troy Parsons. Ely also has a brand new F5 that he’ll run at various ARDC shows throughout 2006… It is rumored that Curt Michael will not chase the entire URC circuit in 2006 and will forego a chance at a third consecutive title… The revamped ASCS National Tour will make a stop at the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, South Dakota. No additional dates in the Upper Midwest were confirmed but there is a show scheduled in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Another date that was whispered through the grapevine is a Virginia Motor Speedway near Richmond… Most series, including the IRA, the ASCS, the All Stars and the World of Outlaws will be releasing schedules shortly but with all the silly season uncertainty, none were available… The World of Outlaws will reportedly have a date at the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway next season but will not return to Texas Motor Speedway.
The Badger Midget show that was scheduled at Dodge County Speedway in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, will now be reportedly be sanctioned by MARA… Greg Stephens will again be taping the Chili Bowl with Outlaws mouthpiece Johnny Gibson, who was courted by the NSL but luckily chose to remain with the WoO, and Bobby Gerould handling vocal chores… Gordy Vogelaar has left the Summer Racing Group to join Daryl Arends for a shot at the 410 division at Knoxville… The BR Motorsports crew drew a lot of attention to their booth with their cutaway Sprint Car that had every component, from gauges to rear end to fuel tank to shocks cut open to reveal the innards. Blake Robertson reported that he’s heading back to Australia for more racing soon (he debuted there in October) but that he may be cutting back, or finished, in his home state of California.
Bob Bennett reported that his plans for 2006 are completely up in the air at this point. Bennett had looked to benefit from the split between the two nationally touring factions and again hit the road. Last year, he raced for All Star Rookie of the Year honors… Tim Montgomery and Donnie Cooper, who dominated the last month of 360 racing, are again teaming up in 2006 and the pair will also take over the reins of Guy Webb’s 51 team and run selected 410 events…As for the All Stars, there was much talk about their partnership with the XPlex group, who have a park located in Portland, Indiana. The facility there will be hosting short track events in 2006 and they have the racetrack ready and are waiting to construct the grandstands. The group is a highly motivated, well-diversified conglomerate that has interests in manufacturing, promotions, track ownership and even the music industry. The general manager is Ryan McCombs, who is the lead singer of Drowning Pool, a hardcore metal act most famous for their song “Bodies.” More information will be forthcoming and you can read for yourself at https://www.x-plexpark.com... Levi Jones has signed with Tony Stewart Motorsports for next year, leaving the Benic 2B empty for next year. Jones scored the USAC title, nearly swept the Sprint Bandits season and won the Ultimate Challenge in his breakout campaign… The World of Outlaws made a few rule changes for 2006 but the most significant may be the fact that fuel stops have been eliminated. Teams are being encouraged to run 33 gallon tanks. Finally… Tim Kaeding has moved to Indianapolis and readily admitted that he has no plans for next season. He was working the aisles hard but as of Friday, he had no ride lined up. Surely one as talented and charismatic as Kaeding will not be unemployed long… Jac Haudenschild is reportedly the new driver of the Rick Wright 35 car, usurping a ride thought to belong to Ricky Logan. Haud will bring Dean “Bonsai” Bruns to the role of crew chief… Carl Edwards and Roger Johnson will co-own a Silver Crown team this year and expect to announce a driver shortly. Chris Santucci will be team manager. However, the deal is contingent on finding sponsorship… Kurt Davis will be back in the 360 ranks for 2006 and he’s looking forward to running his aluminum head racer all over the Midwest, including several trips to Knoxville and Eldora. Davis has been racing for 20 years and realizes he could be on the cusp of retirement and wants to make a splash next year… Davis also passed along that Plymouth will continue to host the MSA Sprints, which Davis dominated for several years, and will raise the purse… Scott Neitzel will be back to challenge for his third consecutive IRA title with a team primarily unchanged…
Finally, an apology to everyone at Eagle Chassis for any confusion that may have occurred over a lack of clarification in the last edition of Upper Midwest Ramblings… Oh, yes, the race. The Sprint-Midget classic at Orlando Speedworld was a success by all accounts as fans packed the frontstretch, the backstretch and every corner of the racetrack. Yes, it was annoying to have to watch the race from three deep lines in the turns but, you know, that is an annoyance I’ll put up with at a short track. Promoter Steve Lewis admitted that severe safety measures need to be taken before next year and there is talk that the Sprint feature (impossible to win from the rear) may proceed the Midget feature (nearly impossible to win from the rear) next year. Dave Steele showed why he deserves credit as open wheel’s greatest pavement racer by completely dominating the Sprint feature in the Nicolas racer. Steele announced after the feature that his first career win came at Orlando Speedworld in a T/Q.
That’s all the stuff I remembered or managed to write down from three days of scrambling up and down aisles as fast as I could to allow for a little time in the sun. It’s now a comfortable three degrees in Minneapolis and I’m currently retracting every snide comment about Orlando’s corporate nature and penchant to be extremely expensive. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. Keep me posted of your plans for 2006 at Justin@mompub.com.
|