Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Donny Goeden kicked off the Memorial Day weekend with his first IRA win since 2001 at Superior Speedway. The track was perfect for Goeden, who drove away with an easy win, but not your typical Superior surface. Instead of a tacky masterpiece, Superior served up a dry slick helping which provided great racing but had several guys guessing all night…Jason Johnson got a hand in the pit area from good friend and Hepfner Race Products employee Kurt Davis, who is awaiting an engine delivery before he can rejoin the IRA tour. Johnson and Davis had a rough start to the night when they discovered the rear end was broken after they rolled it out of the trailer…Mike Reinke was the IRA point leader heading into action on Friday night over Bill Warren. One week prior, it was Bill Warren leading Reinke to the stripe at Wilmot. It was Reinke’s first time racing Wilmot since 1997 and the first time he had ever started an A-main there. Reinke also claims that it was the first time he’s ever led the points in any series or at any racetrack.
The Layton Performance K9 team made their first 410 start ever on Friday night with driver Jason Linnell, who has several years of 410 experience with NOSA The engine is an Ostrich but the team struggled to get it running in hot laps. They debuted a brand new Avenger Chassis this weekend. In other news, the team welcomed another member on Saturday as Ehren Layton, former Wissota Sprint racer, welcomed his second child. Owen James Layton was born on May 19…Jerry Richert Jr. got to enjoy a new engine in Joe Kouba’s stable. The engine was purchased from Cameron Dodson, who has sold out of Sprint Car parts and is on to the Hooters Pro Cup. Next week, Joe will return to the seat for his first start in the Master’s Classic at Knoxville. Look for Joseph Kouba, who returned last Saturday night at Jackson after a year missed due to a broken arm, to make his 410 debut later this season...Billy Balog is running his own team this year, a white 17, and he’s got a 410 and a 360. Balog’s former car owner, Brian Coleman, is devoting his time to racing of the remote controlled variety for this season. Thus far, Balog has a top ten at Cedar Lake in their season opener for 360s. Balog was the 2005 Rookie of the Year for the IRA Sprints.
Howie Gleason is doing more racing now that he has sold his business, Midwest Underground, and is officially retired. Gleason is loving life and it shows. It’s nice to see him on the road and traveling again…Ryan Wilson ran with the IRA at Superior, his hometown. It was his second start of the year. He debuted last Friday at River Cities Speedway. He made the feature with an ex-Jake Peters engine under the hood…Donny Goeden has to hold one of the oldest track records in the country at Superior. He turned a 12.958 on September 10, 1999. Remember, in that time, the IRA has made annual visits and the Gumout Series raced the speedway. Mike Reinke’s best lap on Friday was a 14.122…Travis Whitney finally retired his black Sprinter, which was twisted at Dodge County. The car was repaired for the Powercom, Knoxville and Wilmot shows but Whitney was never comfortable. He must have preferred his old ride as he charged to victory at Deer Creek on Saturday night over Scott Neitzel and Mike Stefka…Charlie Osborn should return to the IRA tour shortly but the team could not ready the car in time for this weekend’s northern swing…Randy Lewis, the leading Track Chaser was in Superior on Friday night. Lewis is from San Clemente, California, and Superior was his 1,042nd raceway that he’s visited. He has a narrow three track lead over Rick Schneider from Bay Shore, New York. Allan Brown of National Speedway Directory fame, is third with 1,021. Not too shabby, eh? You can get more information or log your suddenly paltry total at www.trackchaser.com...Last September, Bill Wirth had his best career IRA run at Superior. He was really looking forward to coming back with the hot setup. One problem, he lost the setup sheets! Wirth missed the A-main this time on a very different racing surface.
Billy Alley and Ed Gifford were planning on heading to Superior on Friday night and they almost made it there before the hauler broke down in the Twin Cities. The team was graciously hauled back to Knoxville by 360 racer Terry Alexander and began prepping the car for Knoxville, where Billy Alley drove to his second career 410 win. More importantly, it was the first Knoxville win for Ed and Theresa Gifford. It was nice to see a team that has given so much finally get a well deserved win…It was a different story in the 360 main at Knoxville. Rex Brunner and Jon Corbin had been together for just over a week when they met each other in victory lane. Corbin did a masterful job of racing Josh Higday and got his first career Knoxville win. The team also grabbed a top five on Friday night at McCool Junction in ASCS Midwest Region action. Corbin then jumped in Rick Smith’s entry to run third against the WOW Sprints at Double X on Sunday…Chris Maurer tuned up in the Bruce Williams 410 on Saturday night in preparation for next Friday’s Hoosier Tire Midwest Master’s Classic, which features the drivers over 50 and the Young Guns, better known as the top 25 in Knoxville points.
Rager Phillips looked to be on his way to a nice 410 finish before getting sideways in turns one and two. After contact with Dusty Zomer, Phillips flipped hard in turn two, without injury…Ricky Logan will return to the Knoxville Raceway next Saturday night in a substitution role for Larry Ball Jr., who will be on an Alaskan cruise for two weeks. Logan has been racing the Beck Sprinter at St. Francois this season. As for Ball, he won his first career 410 feature on Friday night at US 36 Raceway…Wasn’t it great to see Robert Bell back at Knoxville for the first time this year?...Danny Heskin drove his grandfather’s 84 last week while he awaits delivery of a new chassis. Heskin requires two extra inches on the cage and is waiting for his car to arrive. Fortunately, grandpa Dave Heskin had the same specs…Dustin Lindquist was in Indianapolis on Friday night for the Hoosier 100 but had problems with the rear end and never even qualified. The first dirt race of the year for the Silver Crowners drew 37 entries and Josh Wise beat teammate Levi Jones on the last lap for the win…Wonder when the last time Knoxville went 10 winners in 10 races? It could hold this weekend with the Midgets in town. 14 for 14?
Monday night saw the Steele County Speedway open up for business for the 2006 season. The first promotion for Johnny Parsons III, Brian Madsen and Steve Whalen fended off rain showers just before hot laps and still finished around 9:30. The Limited Sprints were on the bill and Jake Leighty won his second of the season. Leighty also has a win at Canby, Minnesota. Ben Crees, Bruce Anderson, Todd Pankow, who purchased AJ Childs equipment, and Jeff Metli also competed. Metli has been running his 305 at Fort Dodge and Jackson this year…The next race at Owatonna will be a Wednesday night ASCS Northern Plains event on June 21. They follow that one with a Sunday, July 9 event for the series. Meanwhile, Johnny and Brian hope to return to the track next Friday and Saturday when Jackson hosts the Northern Plains region.
Tidbits
A few weeks back, it was mentioned that Jon Agan was looking for ride or an opportunity to partner with an existing racing team. However, I provided an incorrect e-mail address to contact Agan. The correct address is jagan@deezee.com...It’s been so long since this column has appeared on an even relatively weekly basis that I forgot a former feature. The “Whatever Happpened To…” section. How about this one? Kevin Jopp, the 1996 NOSA champion. Send any information to Justin@mompub.com…Randy Martin dominated the WOW Sprints weekend, sweeping to wins at Moberly and the aforementioned Double X. It was his fifth win of the season…With his win at Kokomo on Sunday night, Jon Stanbrough has taken over the lead in race wins for 2006. It was his eighth of the year…Yeah, it’s big news that Brian Tyler won the Little 500. But, the really big news is that Eric Gordon DIDN’T win the Little 5. He finished second.
Next week will be reserved for the Hall of Fame weekend at Knoxville with practice on Thursday, the Midgets and Masters on Friday and the 410s and Midget finale on Saturday. Sunday, the littlest Zoch, Allison, graduates. Therefore, there is no Huset’s or Sun Prairie in my future. In the meantime, keep me posted on all the happenings and announcements at Justin@mompub.com.
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