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New Traditions
The Infield by Paul Pittman
Stevens Point, WI (Sept 12, 2004): Another great weekend of racing and a big
thank you to Mother Nature for allowing us to actually get both shows in this
weekend. For any fan that loves sprint racing at it’s best, they certainly
got their fill of it as the action was as intense as it gets, from the
heats to the end of the features, it just seemed to keep building.
Brooke Tatnell had to be one of the favorites entering the Jerry Richert
Memorial after winning the Northern Nationals at Superior the night before,
but, in all honesty, with 43 cars in the pits and a VERY racy track, 42 of the
43 cars all had a good shot at things, (Jason Johnson scratched before time
trials because of a cracked head on his Gaerte). Of course, when McCarl turned
his first lap at under 11 seconds, my first thought was, there’s no way. The clock has to be
broken. But then when his 2nd lap was even faster, it was hard to arguer.
Imagine, 125 miles per hour on a dirt 3/8 mile track! Watching the IRL
show at Chicago, they were averaging 207 mph on a mile and a half paved track
in the multi-million dollar machines. That is not even 100 miles and hour
faster. The only word that comes to mind: Unreal! Just when you think they
can’t go any faster at Cedar Lake, they do. Ron does an excellent job of
preparing that track and spends an awful lot of effort on his track, and it
shows time and time again. Once again, you’ve outdone yourself. Of course,
the crew up at Superior always does an excellent job as well. Anytime you can
walk across a track at the end of the night and try to keep it from pulling
your shoes off you know you have a great surface. I have to say we are really
blessed to be able to run both these tracks back to back and not have to worry
about conditions and burning tires off. Great job to both track crews.
Now, I could do up a quick story about all of the equipment that was torn up
over the weekend, but that really doesn’t help anything. I could also talk
about how much the Jerry Richert Memorial meant to Brooke Tatnell, but anyone
who was there at all this weekend at either show saw that. I could try and
explain why the broadcast didn’t happen at Cedar Lake after 2 and ½ hours
of trying, but it doesn’t matter now. It is just the more reason to go out
and be at the show and besides, even with Justin Zoch’s help, I still
don’t think we could have done the quality of racing justice. Yeah, it was
that intense! By the way, thanks for the help to Chris Stepan, Justin and Joe.
Instead, I have a story that ties a lot of the efforts being made together
nicely.
It started last Sunday night at Cresco when Jimmy Kuba’s #4 dropped a
cylinder early, forcing them to pack up and head home before the night even
got started. After getting home Sunday night, car owner Brian Coleman decided
to pull the motor and contact Earl Gaerte to see if repairs could be made for
the upcoming weekend. A Monday phone call resulted in an early Monday trip by
Brian’s parents to Earl’s shop in MO. Once the engine was received and
torn down, the problem was found. A hole the size of a pencil on top of the
cylinder. A result of running to lean. Too much damage to repair so the option
was another bullet so a freshened powerplant was loaded up and transported
back to the Wisconsin shop. The trip was completed just in time to install the
motor in Jimmy’s Stevenson chassis for the trip north to Superior on Friday.
Tired, frustrated and full of concern’s, the team fired off the motor for
warm ups and then for hot laps. Their efforts rewarded with a very potent
heart. After making the feature on Friday and a good run, the team feels more
confident of their direction since partnering up their equipment.
I spoke to Jimmy about the team and he related that Brian approached him about
helping the team find a baseline so they could start working in a positive
direction. After a few show, it was decided to pool their resources and also
it would allow Jimmy to help out his long time sponsors, Justice Brothers Car
Care Products, Gilland Enterprises and Simpson Safety Products as well since
his own WISSOTA program had also never materialized.
While at the shop on Saturday, Brent Laurson also showed up to help out some
and visit with the team. Still recovering from recent surgery to correct a
problem resulting from his injury sustained in Coleman’s car at Dubuque in
May, Laurson related that he is now looking at about a six to eight month
recovery period but is more optimistic about his prognosis than ever.
Brent wanted to say thanks to the Mid-West Safety team for taking such good
and profession care of not only him, but his brother Steve who was the
recipient of some special care provided by the Safety team at Cedar Lake a
couple years ago. “Steve rolled his Late Model on the front stretch and the
Safety team took excellent care getting him out of his car. He had back injuries and the
hospital team applauded the care taken in extracting him from the car. I
firmly believe if it wasn’t for their professionalism, Stevie wouldn’t
even be here now, let alone back in the driver’s seat. I just can’t say
enough about them.”
While taking a break, I talked to Ken Coleman about his trip to Missouri. We
also discussed his involvement in Brian’s operation which brought back some
fond memories. Hailing from PA, I took the opportunity to learn a lot from
Russ Laurson’s partner and their heyday. The subject then turned to Jerry
Richert where Ken affectionately told the story of Jerry’s telling of his
first trip to Knoxville. “Back then, there wasn’t a lot of guys from this
area going to Knoxville,” Ken related. “Jerry got back from his first trip
down there and told us that he had never gone so fast. He said he was going
down the back stretch faster than he had ever gone before and then, all of the
sudden, someone came by him like he was standing still, but was tumbling in
the process.” Stories like that make everything worthwhile.
Notes and News from the Infield: What do drivers do in their free time?
Dave Enders and company took advantage of the close proximity of the local
airport at Superior to get an aerial view of the track and area. “What a rush!” stated Enders. When asked about the
comparison of driving a sprint car, Dave shot back without question, there was
no comparison. Relaxing in the air must have done something for the team as
the #51E made the feature events both nights.
The IRA’s participation in Superior’s Northern Nationals has gained so
much significance over the years and the 2004 version definitely added to the
importance of their presence. Honestly, I don’t think I have ever seen so
many sprint racing themed T-Shirts at Superior during the Northern Nationals.
The capacity crowd was treated to excellent racing all night long. Butch
Erickson’s improvements to the facility have really taken the track to the
next level and brought the venue up to the level of the event, and according
to Erickson, there’s more to come. Looking forward to next year
already!
Speaking of important events on the calendar, the Jerry Richert Memorial is
rapidly becoming a date to be circled on calendars as soon as schedules are
released. Brining the clubs running in the upper mid-west together under one
common banner, replaces any type of inter-club rivalry and leads to simply to
some great racing. Being able to make up for a poor time lap lead to some
close and highly contested heat race action and the B-Mains were, as expected,
provided a definite sense of urgency.
I had a chance to talk to Jerry Richert Jr about his crash while leading in
the B-Main. “I really wanted this one for my dad. We had a good car and it
was running great. I came out of turn four like I have here many times,
figuring on just bouncing off the wall slightly and grabbing that cushion, but
it didn’t work this time.” Jerry was understandably hurt by his results,
but nothing more than a bruised sense of pride could be detected.
Travis Whitney retired from the A-Main at Superior before the A-Main even got
started. Problems with the magneto made him a spectator. Determined to make up
for Friday, Whitney mixed it up with the leaders for the entire 30 laps of the
A-Main. Whitney’s 3rd place podium finish seemed in the bag until Jason
Solwold made a banzai move coming out of turn #4 for the checkered flag,
nipping Whitney for third at the line. Still, Whitney’s performance was a
demonstration of his prowess and capabilities and nothing to be discouraged
about.
Terry McCarl’s 2nd win in a row of the Richert Memorial wasn’t without
concern. Nearly as soon as the checkered flag fell, McCarl shut his #24 down
and came to a stop n turn #2. In victory lane, McCarl stated that he ran the
final set of green laps without oil pressure. “It’s my motor and it was my
decision to stay out” McCarl stated. The six-time Knoxville champion is
attempting to finalize a deal which could see him on the road with the World
of Outlaws in 2005. As the team anxiously tries to finalize those plans, fast
time awards, new track records and victories such as these definitely help the
plans along. The question remaining now is, if T-Mac does move on, who will
step up at Knoxville in 2005, particularly with the recent announcement by
Brent Anthill that he will not be back in 2005. Time will tell and things will
settle themselves out in due time.
Meanwhile, next week sees the return and final date for the IRA at the Dodge
County Fairgrounds. As Scott Neitzel celebrates his birthday at the track, he
also related that he is hoping to also celebrate for another reason.
“We’ve had fun all year. I know a lot of people have looked at what
we’ve had to do and thought that we should be glad for all of the rainouts,
but honestly, we would have rather raced them. It doesn’t matter anyway.
There is nothing anyone could do about them anyway.” Stated Neitzel before
the weekend kicked off at Superior. The R&H Enterprises team is trying to
put themselves in a position so they do not have to worry about points racing
going into the final two shows as they have not been able to visit victory
lane sine the 2nd race of the season. “We’re celebrating my birthday
anyway so everyone is invited down to the hauler after the race
irregardless.”
After the Dodge County date, The World of Outlaws return to the Raceway at
Powercom Park on Sept 25th. Advance tickets are on sale by calling the track
or going to the SLS Promotions website at www.slspromotions.com.
October 2nd marks the IRA’s season finale at the Sheboygan County Fair Park
and the annual Frank Filskov Fall Classic. The Late Models will also be on the
card and watch for a very special announcement concerning the date coming
soon.
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