Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The 53rd season of racing at Knoxville’s famous half-mile of mud saw a familiar face return to the frontstretch for celebration for the 42nd time. Terry McCarl is now solidly in fifth place, breaking a tie with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Sammy Swindell. McCarl is just one win away from tying Earl Wagner for fourth. McCarl won the race to the rubber over Skip Jackson and, despite a few close calls, went basically unchallenged over the last 15 laps. With McCarl, Jackson, Danny Lasoski and defending champ Kerry Madsen in attendance, the last 13 champions at Knoxville were present for the opener. The win was McCarl’s seventh of the year, three more than he had in 2005.
Danny Lasoski came to Knoxville for laps but found only headaches. Lasoski burnt a motor down in hot laps, replaced it for the heat race and promptly torched the second one when the rear end let loose. Lasoski called it a night and scratched from the B-main…As troubling as Lasoski’s woes were, Ryan Anderson’s grenaded engine was worse. Anderson blew a hole in the side of the block of his new Mopar. Anderson looked great for much of the night, setting second quick time and running away with the B-main win…In the 360s, Watertown, South Dakota, veteran Chuck Swenson got his first career Knoxville win in convincing fashion following a duel with John Kearney. Swenson even lost a few cylinders in the waning laps. Swenson was overjoyed in victory lane and he often took the microphone from interviewer Mike Roberts’ hand and conducted his own interview after performing the perfunctory wing dance.
Two-time 360 titlist Jake Peters had quite a run as he marched from 15th to second with a last corner pass of John Kearney for second, despite a fallen nose wing. Peters earned a $400 bonus from sponsor Folkens Brothers Trucking for second. It would have $500 for first…Johnny Anderson has a unique sponsor program running right now. The team is selling Godfather’s Pizza coupon books after the races. The $5 book has $75 worth of coupons and all proceeds benefit Anderson’s team, which has also added Deery Brothers as a major sponsor...John Anderson, no relation to Johnny, made his debut at Knoxville on Saturday night. The 32-year-old Des Moines resident had never previously raced anything, sans a few go-kart starts, but felt the urge to go Sprint Car racing. He kept his red and black 4G surprisingly fast and straight...The same could be said for Tony Shilling, who made his competitive debut in the 410 class one night after turning 17 at practice night.
The Heskin brothers attended practice night but were absent from the opener, presumably for prom. Seventeen-year-old Davey Heskin will return for his sophomore effort in the Maxwell Racing 56 while Danny Heskin will have to wait until May to race the number 65 when he turns 16…Lynton Jeffrey returned this year with a new look and a new number and reports that wing business has been booming at Vortex…There were two Tyler Thompsons making their 360 debuts on Saturday. It was Bobby Thompson’s 16-year-old son in the red 2T, a graduate of one year of modified racing. In the white 11T, it was Cape Girardeau, Missouri’s version of Tyler Thompson. The 21-year-old is just starting his second year of racing with a brand new Wesmar/Maxim combination…Jon Agan is currently looking for an opportunity for the 2006 racing. Agan has sold most of his equipment and plans on sitting out the season but still has a few engines. He can be reached at jonagan@deezee.com
Jaymie Moyle has also retired, if temporarily, and is helping Robby Ross make his return to Knoxville. Ross raced at US36 last season but will be a Knoxville regular in 2006. He returns after a long sabbatical from racing…Turns three and four nabbed all the flip victims and was particularly cruel to Eric Jobe and 410 rookie Rager Phillips while Joe Beaver escaped with a tamer flip. On Friday night, the same fence in the same turn claimed Mitchell Alexander…Dave Saffell made his Sprint Car debut in the 410 class on Saturday night after graduating from the Dirt Trucks. Saffell will run his black 03 American Challenge at Knoxville all season…Brent Antill and the Jordan Brothers number 1 were absent from the opener but will return in a few weeks…For Stacey Alexander, it was just another heat race win. For Chase Shaw, it was the realization of a dream. The Rocheport, Missouri, resident won the first race he ever competed in as a Sprint Car owner….Jeff Mitrisin has made a habit of charging from deep in the field to a top-five finish this year. He’s done it at I-80 against the ASCS, Lee County against the Sprint Invaders and now at Knoxville. Mitrisin came from 17th to fourth in the Wares/Harrison Motorsports 10…Greg Jones scratched from the night’s events in his purple entry, which now carries 3J as a number. Jones has veteran wrench Billy Kain working for him this season…The charity bowling event featuring several Knoxville 410 teams rolling against 360 teams has been postponed to Sunday, May 7 because of practice night. It will start around noon at the Fairlane Bowl in Knoxville. There is also a silent auction the same day. We’ll see who can do their best Roy Munson, man-child, impression…Ian Madsen was pitside helping out on his brother Kerry’s racer but has no ride as of now. He hopes to put something together later in the season…One of the sponsors on Matt Moro’s race car is Jeff Lamberti for Congress. Jeff is the son of Don Lamberti, founder of Casey’s and long time supporter of Gil Sonner’s 47 racer, which Moro drives.
The weekend turned bizarre on Sunday night when the POWRi/Badger Midgets and Sprint Invaders show was canceled because of, as someone put it, ‘a lack of interest.’ With a sparse crowd gathered to watch a pit area full of 45 Midgets and around 30 Sprint Cars, the plug was pulled by promoter Brian Thompson, who simply put, didn’t have the money to pay the purse. Club owners from Badger, POWRi and the SIA could not lower their purses and race anyway because of the precedent it would set. Thompson, for his part, was at least honorable in admitting the money was not there before running the show but an event never should have been attempted without a guarantee that the payout could be paid, even if no one showed up. Race promoting a dicey business that offers no guarantees but there must be some plan in place. It was an unfortunate end to a beautiful day that had such promise. To be fair, however, Thompson was very standup and apologetic at the track; he didn’t flee immediately or hide as some promoters have in past instances. Additionally, he offered a heartfelt apology the next day. He handled a disastrous situation, albeit of his own making, as best he could and he deserves credit for that.
Brad Loyet is running the full USAC Midget schedule this year and recently competed on a mile for the first time at Phoenix. Loyet ran second to Danny Stratton at Lincoln Speedway in Illinois on Saturday night. He hopes to have a pavement Sprinter by the end of the season…Davey Ray and Dave Darland will be teammates in the Steve Lewis stable at Knoxville. It should be exciting to watch the Toyota hammer around the half-mile…Seth Wilke is a rookie with the Sprint Invaders for 2006 after spending a few seasons in go-karts. Wilke spun his white number 38 in hot laps on a very slippery surface. The only other incident was a quick tangle between Nick Guernsey and Nick Eastin that sent Eastin pit side.
That should suffice for this week’s edition. The season is seemingly off and running and I’ll have notes, and a little commentary, from Knoxville’s double header, Huset’s World of Outlaws opener and the NST at Davenport. Remember, Sprint heads, there are 305s as a partner to the WDRL late models on Friday at K-ville. In the meantime, give me something to read at those free wireless internet rest stops in Iowa at Justin@mompub.com.
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