Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
News and Notes from the IRA at Knoxville
Kerry Madsen showed off powerful his new Wesmar engine, installed during the afternoon, when he drove by race-long leader Ricky Logan down the backstretch on a late race restart. It was Madsen’s second victory of the season and 8th of his career at Knoxville…It wasn’t all roses for the Madsen family as his brother Ian spent the night in the hospital nursing a broken arm following a flip down the frontstretch in the B-main. It was Ian’s first night at Knoxville and first night anywhere other than Parramatta City Raceway. He had teamed with Wayne Simmons in the F5 House Car. No word on the status of the team for the rest of 2005 although Madsen will probably miss several weeks.
In the 360s, Eric Mason looked to make it four winners in four nights as he led from the pole for 13 laps. One momentarily bobble in lapped traffic behind Brett Mather gave Larry Ball Jr. the preferred high groove and Ball swept to this second win in three weeks. Before the race, Mason had to put stop leak in the engine and pull the radiator cap from his pickup truck to even start the A-main…With Mason’s runner-up finish and Dave Hall’s tenth place finish, that’s two drivers in the top ten, out of 48 that came on open trailers…Seth Brahmer also took a hard ride down the frontstretch on the first lap of the C-main after contact with Ian Madsen and took a trip to the hospital. He was released by the end of the night with soreness and a spell of dizziness. The car was seemingly a complete loss…Mike Stefka is driving his first brand new race car in over ten seasons. He’s been quick this season and this could be the year he finds victory lane. I hope I’m there for that one…Jake Martens made his Knoxville debut with an off weekend from the ASCS National tour. Martens is currently fourth in ASCS points and is leading the Rookie of the Year honors. Starting scratch in his heat, he made it to 8th in the B-main. Martens hauls in with the spare frame and wing on top of the trailer, just like the old days.
Jake Peters seems to finally be getting on track in 2005 as he charged from 19th to fifth in the 360 A-main at Knoxville and ran third in the 410s at Huset’s. Peters is still looking for his first 2005 victory. Peters has had double digit wins each of the last three seasons…KJ Skelton has finally made the jump to the IRA after dominating the steel-head scene in Wisconsin for several seasons. Skelton made his Knoxville debut one week after winning the weekly 360 show in Plymouth, Wisconsin…A year of road-seasoning has done Jon Agan well and he’s a threat for a Knoxville victory. Two weeks ago, he was second quick and this week, Agan hovered around the top-five until the charges by Outlaws Brooke Tatnell and Terry McCarl put him back to seventh. Those two gentlemen created quite a buzz with their arrivals…Congratulations are in order to MaryAnn and Scott Huffaker. The couple was married in section L of the grandstands at Knoxville on Saturday afternoon…Michael Jones’ evening ended early when the rear axle snapped on sent him flipping in turn four. You can read about it in his blog at www.sprintcarxr.com. Jones passed along that his good friend and former Knoxville 360 racer Ryan York is racing a modified in Minnesota and most likely won’t be back in a Sprint Car in 2005. York’s thrilling win at Knoxville remains one of the highlights of 2003.
You couldn’t get the smile off the bearded lips of Ty Bartz after he qualified for the A-main and finished 17th. The Bartz team invested in J&Js from Gifford Motorsports over the winter and brought Wesmar power to Knoxville. Nice to see the low buck team duel on more equal footing…Speaking of Gifford Motorsports, Ed Gifford passed along that Don Droud Jr. has been hired to finish out the season. No word on when, or if, Jeff Mitrisin will return from his back injuries… Dustin Lindquist’s Knoxville debut came after Wissota’s Brainerd show was rained out. He looked good with Chuck Priefer helping to spin wrenches for the 2004 Wissota champion. He also made his Huset’s debut on Sunday night against the 410s…Danny Wood was impressive in his first 410 start in the Grandstaff 66. Wood ran fourth and nearly had the lead from Ricky Logan at one point. The team only had one 360 heat race under their belts at 81 Speedway prior to this weekend…Congratulations to the IRA as they locked six, seven if Mike Reinke is counted, cars into the A-main at Knoxville. The traveling troupe gave their strongest showing in several seasons…Steve Sinclair totals points for the IRA only based on their competition against each other. Scott Young was the highest finisher in 12th, thus giving him points for winning. Young is now, very technically, two for two after his win at Dodge County. He hurt a motor at Knoxville but leaves with the point lead.
Tidbits
The rescheduled 81 Speedway NCRA 360 show, which drew 40 plus cars on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, is going off this Sunday night, May 21. It’s Sprints only on the card...The Sprint Invaders are at Lee County Speedway on Friday night and it will be their first race under the new Musco lighting…Remember when NASCAR used to race on Sunday afternoons? The green-eyed barons and their Saturday night shows have a tangible effect on short track crowds. I can understand not wanting to compete with the NFL on Sundays in October but what else is on television on Sunday afternoons now?...30 plus 410s at a Huset’s weekly show? That might be the largest car count, including the Outlaws show, in several seasons…I need to apologize to Mark Dobmeier. He’s made the A-main in both of his visits to Knoxville this season…Mike Hess scored the Quinn McCabe benefit race at Belle-Claire over Dave Darland. Brett Anderson, who I figured was out for the season with a neck injury, finished third…Last week’s pull from the long-lost driver file was Mike Heronamus and I received several e-mails detailing his whereabouts. Apparently, the former Jackson Speedway regular is still living near Sibley, Iowa, and is helping his son Sean get started in go-karts. For this week, we’ll shift to Knoxville. Does anyone know what happened to Walt Esch and his famous George the Chili King limited?
That’ll tie the ribbons tight on this edition and we’ll return next week, after a week spent looking for sunshine in Baltimore, Maryland, with reports from the Susquehanna weekly show, the All Stars in Harford, Michigan and the weekly tilts in Knoxville and Huset’s. In the meantime, keep me posted with updates, corrections and comments at Justin@mompub.com.
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