Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
The Kentucky Derby was won by a long shot winner of the 50 to 1 variety earlier in the day. Perhaps that inspired John Schulz to believe that he really could do it in the 360s at Knoxville. After starting on the front row, Schulz led the entire race, beating back charges by John Kearney and Larry Ball Jr., the only two drivers to win this season at Knoxville, and had the race won on the last lap when the yellow came out in turn three. During the reset, no one with a tight budget was putting money on Schulz to pull the upset. But, Schulz stayed high and drove hard and Ball and Kearney couldn’t catch him, giving Bart Schneiderman his first victory as a Knoxville car owner and moving Schulz into title contention in his second season at Knoxville.
The 410 feature was the rare bit that was made more compelling by rubber being laid down. Kerry Madsen started outside the first row and dominated until Ricky Logan found the fast black stuff first with a few to go and nearly passed the leader in turn one. As it was, Madsen scored the win, his seventh at Knoxville, on his wife Tina’s birthday.
Randy Anderson will be returning near the end of the month in Marty Johnson’s revitalized 81. The car will be the powder blue that Johnson is famous for and the team will make about 10 starts this season at Knoxville. Anderson was planning to sit out a season but couldn’t pass up an offer from an old friend, who previously worked with Anderson in the Cowman 02… Speaking of Cowman, he is starting a wing company called Velocity Wings and he should have them ready for sale in the next few weeks.
Matt Folstad made his first start at Knoxville since he ran third behind Brian Brown and Doug Wilson photo finish on Memorial Day weekend 2002. He’s driving the Butch Bethke/Ron Wiuff 1H on the IRA trail this season and they’ll return next weekend. Folstad won’t make every IRA show but the fact that he’s willing to hit 75% of them from Harwood, North Dakota shows how dedicated he is to the deal. He set quick time at the IRA opener…Tim Sernett also returned following a nearly 15 year absence from Knoxville. But, for all intents and purposes, this was his debut as he only ran a handful laps in the limited division that night. After taking four seasons off to get Pro Kart Indoors, a series of indoor go-kart tracks in the Twin Cities metro, up and running and subsequently sold, Sernett is back into Sprint Cars. He and his brother John, who made his 2005 debut on Saturday too, will return to Knoxville this Saturday for IRA competition.
A pair of Rods return. Rodney Turner made his first start of the year, coincidentally bringing a Carquest car for Carquest night at Knoxville. Turner will skip next week with work duties and then return on a weekly basis. He’s been a regular for so long that one often forgets he originally came here from the southwest. Meanwhile, Rod Richards has his engine back and plans on being at Knoxville weekly…Proper honor has to be given to Brett Mather for his 19th to sixth drive in the 360s without many yellow flags and low attrition…How about Jon Corbin? A top-five in just his third start at Knoxville. He could be a lock for rookie of the year if he keeps making the tow from Carrollton, Missouri. Perhaps he can keep Knoxville’s streak of rookie champions -- Brian Brown, Billy Alley and Jake Peters -- in the 360s alive…There was plenty of speculation in the F5 pits on Saturday night after the team parked the car last week for the second night of the Outlaws and Travis Cram practiced the car on Friday night at Knoxville. There seems to be plenty of frustration in the pit area but no changes have been announced. Neighbors was a heat winner and tenth place finisher at Oklahoma City on Friday…Greg Jones lost an engine in hot laps on Saturday night and scratched for the evening…Has David Hesmer ever been 15th in points after three race nights? He started slow last year and still finished second in points so don’t give up on him yet.
Last week, I asked if anyone knew of three generations racing each other, as the Heskins do at Knoxville, and heard speculation that the Daggetts (Don, Mike and Dustin) did it in Michigan and perhaps Howard, Brent and Bud Kaeding at San Jose…In the 360 C-feature at Knoxville, there was a scary bit of inter-generational contact as David and Frank Brown, a father/son team from Marshall, Missouri, crash together. Frank was racing Davey Heskin when contact collapsed his front end in turn three, sending him flipping. Father David was coming from behind and made contact with Frank’s cage. Fortunately, after some very tense moments, Frank Brown emerged unharmed.
Terry Reilly had to win the opener at Huset’s. He was on the pole and he isn’t going to see that starting position much this season due to the Huset’s 360 point average invert. Reilly won the race fairly easily although Dusty Wasmund could have pounced in lapped-car trouble ensued. It was the second straight year that Reilly won the season opener at Huset’s…Chad Meyer was similarly impressive in the 410 division, allowing Mark Dobmeier a few looks but nothing concrete. Meyer’s confidence seems to be at an all-time high since his Knoxville Nationals run last season and he should have a great season, perhaps even get his first at Knoxville.
Dobmeier did the Grand Forks-Knoxville-Huset’s trifecta this weekend and had success at each. He scored the season opener with a last ditch effort over Wade Nygaard on Friday, made his first Knoxville A-main on Saturday and ran second to Chad Meyer on Sunday. Dobmeier’s recipe for success seems to be the shorter and dustier the track, the better he is. He’d be perfectly suited for running weekly in Ohio, where dry slick is so prominent...Clint Garner still hopes to get a chance in Ray Pullins car for some All Star shows. However, as of late, he’s been competing with talent like Dean Jacobs, who originally got Garner’s name on the list, and Jac Haudenschild, who was rideless after splitting up with Jack Elden. Nothing is finalized for next week when the All Stars take on the Outlaws at KC but the phones will be lit for certain…You won’t hear the negative nilles in this sport talk about it but it seems that car counts are up, or at least not down, all across the Upper Midwest this season…Joe Riedel is back racing, hitting Jackson’s opener and Huset’s lid-lifter, after taking a tour of duty in Iraq over the winter months.
A new weekly feature for this forum that requires a little audience participation. I’ll toss out a name from the past and see if we can figure out what that person is doing now, whether they are involved in racing or not. First off, an easy one, Mike Heronamus. If you know of his whereabouts or if he is still involved in racing, drop me a line at Justin@mompub.com
Tidbits
Someone, anyone, stop Fred Rahmer. With his three wins this weekend at Susquehanna, Williams Grove and Lincoln, he’s got nine already this season. Last year, when he won 34, he had three on May 8. Could Rahmer win 50? Dave Steele and Cory Kruseman, who each won 11 last year, have 8 already this year…Loren Langerud remained a perfect two for two in Wissota competition with his at Red River Valley on Friday…Randy Droescher got the win at Rapid Speedway on Friday but Casey Heser was the story. The 16-year-old won his heat and led much of the feature, in just his third start, before yielding to the veterans…Terry McCarl has a special Big Game Tree Stands themed engine readied for the Pennsylvania swing…The first show at Plymouth for the 360s that travel with the MSA and have been displaced from Wilmot went to KJ Skelton.
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