Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
At Knoxville on Saturday night, it was all about the surprising first time winners but not necessarily because they won, but because they were the first career wins at Knoxville. For Tim St. Arnold, he’d scored a 360 win but had never visited the frontstretch in the premier division, despite a quality ride with Gil Sonner’s 47 in the mid 1990s. St. Arnold has revitalized Bruce Williams’ entry this season and the team had been quietly approaching the front. Chris Maurer will race one of the team’s 360s in next Friday’s Masters Classic. In the 360s, Brett Mather finally got one for Boyd and Lisa Burnham, who first entered the ring at Knoxville in 2000 with Boyd behind the wheel. Mather fought an oil leak all evening and blew wispy smoke throughout the feature. Last year, Mather lost out to John Kearney in the waning laps of Twin Features night. Deserving, good-hearted wins all around.
Peter Crall returned after a week off to repair a broken engine with a new sponsor, Peoples State Bank of Albia, and hoped to kick his season into gear. His night ended in turn one of the first heat with a flip…Knoxville Raceway utilized one-way radio communication from the scoring tower to all drivers on Saturday night for the first time ever at a weekly event. It was quite an investment for the raceway but should prove to be a noticeable improvement to the show. For the second straight week, Knoxville wrapped before 10 o’clock…It was nice to see Billy Alley return to the speedway after one week to regroup. Alley scored a fifth at McCool Junction before heading to Knoxville to drop in a new 410 engine for Saturday night at Knoxville. Alley challenged Tim St. Arnold throughout the A-main before coming up a little short and settling for second. On Sunday, he scored third at Huset’s behind Chad Meyer and Dusty Zomer.
Plenty of front end fixin’ for the Long Distance Racing 53 team. Joe Beaver spun in turn four at McCool Junction and had the front end knocked out by Stu Snyder. On the ride home, the Beaver hauler plowed into a deer in the middle of the night…Bronson Maeschen was going to sit out a week after blowing an engine the previous week at Knoxville. Maeschen placed a call late on Friday night to Tony VerMeer and leased the team’s 360. Maeschen scored the B-main and charged from 17th to tenth…Dusty Zomer hopes to make his 410 debut at Knoxville this Saturday night in his Bargain Barn Tire Center 1Z as the 360s have the evening off…Jimmy Sills looks like the clear favorite in the Masters Classic. He tuned up George Lasoski’s 20 on Saturday night and came from tenth to fifth on the slick track. Sills is looking to make it three in a row at the Masters.
Seth Brahmer continues his recovery from injuries suffered during the IRA show at Knoxville. The team has the cars ready to return to racing but Brahmer needs a few more weeks to recover from a severe concussion…That same night, Ian Madsen broke his arm in a similar accident on the frontstretch and was at Knoxville on Saturday fashioning stitches up each side of his left arm and watching his brother Kerry. Ian hopes to be back in the car within three to four weeks…The two complete show format for Knoxville’s Midget show works well for several teams, including Tim Siner, who will only be able to run on Saturday night. In the past, Siner would have had to skip the whole weekend...Frankie Heimbaugh has been traveling around, looking for a little luck but couldn’t find any at McCool Junction. He had a transfer spot from the B-main until Jay Russell spun in front of him. Heimbaugh finished the race with a broken suspension…Nick Knepper, Steve’s 18-year-old son, made his Midget debut a few weeks back in Gateway action at Belle Claire. He’ll make sporadic Midget starts this year while concentrating on his micro sprint. Knepper just recently graduated from high school…Ryan Anderson made his first 360 start of the season at McCool after matriculating to the 410 ranks full time…Mannix Winninghaim started his Sprint Car career on Friday night in his ex-Jeff Lowery equipment. Winninghaim is a former late model and modified driver and he’ll make starts around his Lincoln, Nebraska, home this season…Gary Taylor returned to McCool Junction where he went out of the park on the first lap of his heat in ESTS action in early April. This time, he only brought the Midget so that the Sprint Car was ready to roll for ASCS Rocky Mountain action the next night in Olathe, Colorado, a scant 11 hours from McCool Junction. At least the drive paid off with a third place finish at McCool. In the Sprint Car, he was sixth and 12th.
CJ Raceway is a throwback place if ever there was one and comes complete with noticeable remnants of the ‘old half’, a covered grandstand with concession stand tucked underneath and a parking lot intertwined between fair buildings. It’s small town Sprint Car racing in all its glory and worth a trip…Temporary lighting was placed throughout the infield and drew rave reviews from drivers…Jesse Gianetto has commanded the Sprint Invaders this season and has four top-three finishes in five events, including his win at CJ. He led the points coming into CJ Raceway’s show but he’ll presumably skip next Saturday’s stop in Memphis, Missouri, to race his 410 at Knoxville. He was quick time at Knoxville on Saturday night, turning a lap of 15.920 on a dry-slick track nearly one second off the track record. His younger brother Justin has been logging laps in a 305 recently. Last year, Kerry Madsen drove the Gianetto D1 to victory at CJ while Jesse recovered from mid-season back surgery…The Sprint Invaders will be heading to Bloomfield Speedway in southeast Iowa for their first show during the fair on Wednesday, July 13. On Friday night, an unretired Steve Breazeale got his first 305 win over Jerry Crabb. John Kearney raced Brian Ridge’s 305 but hit a tire and came pitside…Manny Rockhold has been running a full season with the Sprint Invaders for Scott Boles as he continues to build motors out of his Automotive Machine shop. Rockhold would be a welcome face at Knoxville again…It’s a good thing Korey Weyant tossed the wing in before leaving for Lincoln, Illinois’ non-wing Sunday nighter. That show rained out at two o’clock and Weyant headed for CJ, where he’s fifth in points with the Invaders. Next weekend, he’ll forego the Midgets at Knoxville to run both nights with the Invaders. His regular Friday night gig in Jacksonville is off.
Bobby Mincer and Steve Wares parted ways in the middle of the program on Saturday at Knoxville. Mincer returned to his own red 15 for Sunday night while Wares hired Wayne Johnson for a one-nighter. Mincer led the first 11 laps before heading pitside with ignition woes. Jeff Mitrisin has medical permission as of June 1 to return to the cockpit and he’ll do so in Wares’ 10. Johnson will hit two ASCS Speedweek shows, at Devils Bowl and Texarkana, in Lanny Row’s 41 car. Another Johnson, Jason, will return to the seat of Row’s 41 for two shows during the week…Mike Reinke, fresh off a season-best fifth at Knoxville returned to the seat of Rich Dereu’s 50 for CJ. Last year, Reinke drove the Scott Bonar-wrenched racer to victory at 34 Raceway against the Invaders…Both Mike Housemans were at CJ Raceway, even though Junior got upside down hard on the first lap of the B-main at Knoxville on Saturday night. Houseman is quite pleased with his son’s improvement this year, including making his first Knoxville A-main, considering the team’s financial limitations. Houseman reported that they have far less than 10 grand invested in their Knoxville engine.
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