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Tanner Foust, Global Rally Cross Racer, Happy with NASCAR Embrace

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Mary Jo Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”127″][/media-credit]While New Hampshire Motor Speedway is traditionally a NASCAR track, Tanner Foust, Global Rally Cross points leader, has made himself at home, qualifying his No. 34 ROCKSTAR Ford Fiesta for the pole.

Foust could not feel more at home than amongst the NASCAR Whelen Modified, Nationwide and Cup Series and has been most pleased about how the NASCAR fans have embraced the sport.

“I’ll be honest, it’s amazing how positive the feedback is from the NASCAR fans,” Foust said. “I’ve got strange connections with a lot of NASCAR fans through Top Gear and hosting with Rutledge (Wood), who is embedded in the NASCAR culture.”

“But a lot of people I’ve talked to come up and say, ‘Oh, you’re the guy from Top Gear’ and they had never seen a small car like this race before and they absolutely love it,” Foust continued. “It’s really been very, very positive, much more so than I would have thought, to be honest.”

“Hopefully we can continue to put on good shows and take advantage of this very amazing opportunity to put this sport in the homeland of NASCAR, right in the SMI tracks, and show it to them for the first time.”

Of course, Foust had to have a little bit of fun with his NASCAR compatriots, especially fellow Top Gear host Rutledge Wood. Foust, however, would definitely not recommend Rutledge to drive one of the Rally cars.

“No, no way,” Foust said of putting Wood in a car. “He screams a lot, which as a passenger is sort of understandable, but when you’re screaming and driving, it’s a little weird.”

Foust also sees some of his fellow competitors as actually finding a place in NASCAR eventually. And he cites Travis Pastrana as the prime example of that.

“I think there are a lot of different avenues to go and these are guys that are not brand new to their sponsors or their fans,” Foust said. “The doors have been opened for a lot of these guys to do what they want to do for a long time and I think Rallycross is a home they’ve landed at right now because it’s in the X Games.”

“You get guys like Pastrana, who was a motocross racer in the day, and these guys on two wheels pick it up so quickly.”

Although the Rallycross track may be a bit shoehorned into the NASCAR venue, Foust strong believes that this is their best track to date.

“I think this is the best course so far in New Hampshire,” Foust said. “I think this is the best course because of the added asphalt inside of NASCAR Turn 1.”

Foust described the track as more of an interesting layout, with a water splash and the over-under, where the cars go underneath the jump.

“It’s a pretty dynamic track with 100-115 mile per hour top speed on the little straghtaways,” Foust said. “It is a track that creates a lot of chaos.”

“There is a lot of interesting elements and we’ll see how those come together once you get multiple cars on the track together.”

Fellow racer Travis Pastrana agreed with Foust regarding the challenges of the track.

“The course is absolutely awesome,” said Pastrana, who is pulling double-duty at New Hampshire by competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race before running the SilverStar zXe GRC event. “It’s the most challenging course we’ve had out here at GRC.”

Foust also likened the Rally car racing to their NASCAR compatriots in terms of safety, especially given the incredible wrecks and crashes that have occurred in that form of racing.

“Among the NASCAR fans and around the rest of the country, not a lot of people have heard of the term rally racing,” Foust said. “Rallycross cars translate a lot of that safety over.”

“The rollcages are all FIA-approved and are very sophisticated,” Foust continued. “They have automated fire safety systems inside.”

“We had two huge crashes at X Games, very big crashes, almost 100-g crashes,” Foust said. “But the fact that those drivers are OK, I think is really attributed to the safety systems in the cars.”

“Both of them were in the Fiestas, but the cars are wickedly fast and they do have to have a lot of safety features thankfully.”

Since the Rallycross course has to be manufactured on the NASCAR track, Foust was asked if he thought that the program was being a bit shoehorned into the NASCAR model.

“We are certainly adjusting the cars and the driving to fit the venue because this is a great opportunity to come into the number one motorsport in the U.S. and show them this sport for the first time,” Foust said. “In order to take advantage of that opportunity, we need to fit into the actual venue itself with big, long straightaways, instead of natural jumps coming out of rolling hills.”

“Rallycross has been going on for 45 years in Europe and I’ve been lucky enough to compete there for the last three years and there are tracks specifically built that have been around since the late sixties and early seventies,” Foust continued. “They’re little battlegrounds.”

“So, there are a lot of components that in the US the sport will move towards as it gets a bigger following I hope.”

“Right now, there is real racing going on,” Foust said. “There are hard battles, but it is limited a little bit by the venue because of we are fitting within the confines of an unorthodox rallycross format.”

“But I still think the show is awesome.”

 

Mike Stefanik Wins by Narrowest of Margins in NASCAR Whelen Modified Race

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]While it was almost too close to call, veteran NASCAR Whelen Modified racer Mike Stefanik took the checkered flag in the Town Fair Tire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Stefanik, in the No. 66 Canto & Sons Paving/Robert B. Our Co. Ford, scored his 72nd career win over competitor Ron Silk by just 0.003 seconds. He is the sole leader with Modified victories at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with eight, including two of the last three.

“Believe it or not, I came out of Turn 4 and I thought this was going to be tight,” Stefanik said. “I actually physically sat up in the seat as much as I could and peered over the front of the car and rolled my eyes to see which bumper was ahead.”

“I just wanted to win after such a hard fought battle,” Stefanik continued. “You hate to give them away because they don’t come often enough.”

For Stefanik, this was indeed the closest finish of his long and storied career. And he made clear that he never tires of that winning feeling.

“I’ve lost them, but not by that little bit,” Stefanik said. “Literally, I was looking across the cars to see which one was ahead. I’ve never done before that in my 36 years of racing.”

“This feeling I have today never gets old,” Stefanik said. “I’m 54 years old and I still feel like I’m 21.”

Stefanik has also been very good at the ‘Magic Mile’, a track that he has raced since the days of the Busch North Series. And his magic recipe for winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is fairly simple.

“Put yourself in real good equipment, surround yourself with smart people, that’s A-1 because you can’t do it with a slug,” Stefanik said. “I like to overdrive the entry in this type of format and have a ballet-type perfect balance.”

“It’s just a style of racing that I picked up on in the 90s and I don’t care if you win practice or where you start, just give me that nice set the tires down in the corner and some steam under the hood and we’ll be all set.”

Stefanik’s prime competitor was Ron Silk, who finished that very close second in his No. 6 Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Schnitzer race car.

“It was a lot of fun,” Silk said. “Whenever you get in the lead draft at New Hampshire, crazy stuff is happening the whole time.”

“I don’t know what it looked like but it was a lot of fun in the car,” Silk continued. “Mike did an awesome job.”

“I ran him up and he was able to hang onto it and beat me back to the line,” Silk said. “Congratulations to him.”

This was also the closest finish that Silk has seen in his racing career. In fact, he was not sure even at the end of the race who won.

“If it was 0.003 of a second, I’d say it was the closest finish I’ve been involved in,” Silk said. “But it sucks being on the wrong end of it I can tell you that.”

The driver of the No. 52 Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Furnace & Duct race car, Doug Coby finished third. And he had to overcome quite a bit of adversity to achieve his best career finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“My race was a little different than Ron’s because I pitted four times before the break, “ Coby said. “We were just struggling on that Nationwide rubber and Cup rubber really bad.”

“We made the right adjustments at the break,” Coby continued. “We tried to make some smart moves at the end and ended up third.”

“It feels awesome.”

Eric Beers, piloting the No. 45 Horwith Freightliner/John Blewett, inc., and Todd Szegedy, driving the No. 2 Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Construction Ford, rounded out the top five finishers in the Modified Tour.

Cup driver Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 7 Menards/Aggressive Hydraulics, finished 30th after a tire problem ended his promising run.

Toyota NSCS & NNS New Hampshire Notes & Quotes – Truex Brothers

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SM Archive
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SRT Motorsports – Sprint Cup Keys For Success – New Hampshire

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SM Archive
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Toyota NNS New Hampshire Notes & Quotes – Benton & Carpentier

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SM Archive
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Saldana survives Friday the 13th to win at Eldora

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit id=30 align=”alignright” width=”265″][/media-credit]Forty eight 410 sprint cars showed up to compete in the Knight before the Royal with the World of Outlaws at Eldora. From the very beginning it was obvious this wasn’t going to be a typical night of racing. The first oddity occurred when the internet connection for the sanctioning body went down about an hour before the event was to begin. It left them for the most part without communication and the ability to update fans not in attendance. The strangeness would continue on into the evening with Sammy Swindell losing his steering wheel in his hands while lining up for a restart. Cody Darrah’s belts coming loose during a caution. Jac Haudenschild losing his steering and turning hard left into Tony Stewart and eliminating both cars from the event. Friday the 13th effected the night in many ways and none of them superstitions.

The quick time of the evening was set by David Gravel with a lap of 13.343 seconds around the high banked oval. Three competitors, Brad Sweet, Dale Blaney, Justin Henderson, would turn the exact same lap time of 13.512 and their order would be determined by the speed of their first lap. The top ten qualifiers were only separated by .169 seconds and the entire field was only separated by 2.252 seconds and the slowest times posted came from competitors making their first trip to Eldora Speedway.

The heat races were literally stacked with talent on top of talent. Just to advance from the heat race was a feat of extreme skill and patience. The first heat race was won by Dale Blaney with Tim Kaeding literally sitting on his back bumper to advance to the dash. David Gravel, Greg Wilson and Paul McMahan would advance to the A Main as well.

Heat number 2 would see Sammy Swindell dominate over Justin Henderson, Cody Darrah, Stevie Smith and Kerry Madsen. It would also offer the first foreshadowing of the evening with co owner of first in the points, Tony Stewart Racing’s Donny Schatz finishing outside the transfer spot in 6th. The 4 time series champion was relegated to the B Main but he wouldn’t be alone.

Danny Lasoski would literally walk the dog on the field in his new Zemco racing 1Z ride beating Brian Brown, Kraig Kinser, Steve Kinser, Bill Rose. But it would send 2 more big names to the B Main in Tony Stewart and Daryn Pittman.

The final heat race was a hard charging and heavily contested race between Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky with Saldana finishing on top, also transferring would be Jim Nier, Jason Sides, and Brad Sweet. But 3 more big names were sent to the B Main, Lucas Wolfe, Jac Haudenschild, and Chad Kemenah.

The C Main was clearly a race of desperation transferring only 2 to the Last Chance Showdown of the B Main. The original lineup called for the C to be a 12 car show but when Cap Henry and Rick Fraley were forced to scratch for the evening, the 10 car field that took the green was clearly geared up and ready to do whatever they needed to do to make the big show. Brian Paulus and Dustin Daggett would easily transfer to the Last Chance Showdown.

The B Main was as tough a field as you will ever see on a dirt track in any series anywhere in the country. When Randy Hannagan and Tony Stewart lead them to the green they didn’t even make a lap before there was a three car tangle between Logan Schuchart, Chad Blonde, and Sam Hafertepe Jr. The heavy damage to Hafertepe’s car would relegate him to a back up for the Kings Royal if he has one to pull. Blonde was questionable as to whether he had frame damage as well and he stated, “We don’t have a back up so if we can’t fix it we are headed home.” 5 laps in Randy Hannagan dropped a rod through the bottom of the motor and went up in a cloud of blue smoke his evening officially over. The engine damage he reported after winning the 360 feature later in the evening would run him right about $15,000. From that point on it was Seek and Slide around the high banks of Eldora and when the dust settled it would be the Steel City Outlaw, Tim Shaffer leading the Rushville Rocket, Tony Stewart to the line. Also transferring to the A Main was The Wild Child, Jac Haudenschild and The Rough Rider, Tyler Walker. Needing a provisional to get into the A Main if they were to run it were, Donny Schatz, Lucas Wolfe, Daryn Pittman, and Chad Kemenah.

When the A Main took the track the only provisional in the field belonged to Donny Schatz who would be slated in the 25th spot but would actually start the race in the 24th spot when Tony Stewart choose to start at the rear of the field. Joey Saldana jumped out to an early lead at the green and was pulling away from the field when Tim Kaeding spun on lap 9 to bring out the caution. After a quickie yellow the race resumed but only briefly because on Lap 11 a 5 car pile up with Tyler Walker, Kerry Madsen, Jim Nier, Brad Sweet and Bill Rose would bring out the red flag. The only car able to return to the race was Bill Rose. The other 4 were damaged beyond repair in the 2 minute allotted work time. Madsen will need to go to a back up car as will Brad Sweet for the Kings Royal on Saturday night. As the red was lifted and the yellow came out. Sammy Swindell spun on the front stretch. Upon investigation by the series officials his steering wheel had come off in his hands as he attempted to line up. The strange incident relegated Sammy to the back of the pack. At the same time Kraig Kinser entered the work area with a flat Right Rear tire and Cody Darrah stopped in front of a track official to get assistance because his safety belts had come loose in the car. When the green finally flew again it wouldn’t fly for long. Jac Haudenschild would break something in the steering of his car and turn left right into the path of an at speed Tony Stewart causing a very hard impact and ending both of their nights at lap 13. The race would go green again and remain green this time until the final lap. Joey Saldana would lead all the way with serious challenges from Greg Wilson who started the night in 20th and ended up 2nd. On lap 30 the yellow would come out after the first 4 cars had taken the checkered flag when Jason Sides blew a Left rear tire and Kraig Kinser would blow a Left Rear tire and turn the car sideways at the line. The rest of the top 5 would be Dale Blaney, Craig Dollansky, and Brian Brown in his first time at Eldora in a 410 Sprint car. The KSE Hard Charger would go to Greg Wilson. And Steve Kinser would take over the point lead going into the Kings Royal.

Through all it’s bizarre twists and turns and it’s even stranger occurrences. Eldora lived up to her reputation of being hard core and unforgiving. She has her favorite sons. And winning there once doesn’t make you one of them as Chad Kemenah found out. But she is loyal to a fault. Loyal to her fans. She treated the near sell out crowd to one of the best nights of Outlaw racing in the season thus far. She was fast. She was challenging and she was demanding. But when Joey Saldana’s small sons stepped up to the podium to share in their dad’s excitement you could feel her smile. For all of his struggles this year and all of the struggles he has had at Eldora in the past tonight she gifted him with a memory that won’t soon fade. Joey Saldana went home the champion of the Knight before the Royal. And he went home a hero in the only eyes that truly matter, the eyes that never see him as anything else, his sons.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Heat Race 1 Results: ‎1) Dale Blaney 2) Tim Kaeding 3) David Gravel 4) Greg Wilson 5) Paul McMahan 6) Tyler Walker 7) Randy Hannagan 8) Trey Starks 9) Dustin Daggett 10) Chad Blonde 11) Cap Henry 12) Kory Crabtree

 

Heat Race 2 Results: ‎1) Sammy Swindell 2) Justin Henderson 3) Cody Darrah 4) Stevie Smith 5) Kerry Madsen 6) Donny Schatz 7) Tim Shaffer 8) Sam Hafertepe Jr 9) Bryan Sebbetto 10) Wes Glumphy 12) Dallas Hewitt

 

Heat Race 3 Results: ‎1) Danny Lasoski 2) Brian Brown 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Steve Kinser 5) Bill Rose 6) Daryn Pittman 7) Tony Stewart 8) Sheldon Haudenschild 9) Logan Schuchart 10) Scott Hall 11) Adam Wilt 12) Chuck Waddell

 

Heat Race 4 Results: ‎1) Joey Saldana 2) Craig Dollansky 3) Jim Nier 4) Jason Sides 5) Brad Sweet 6) Jac Haudenschild 7) Chad Kemenah 8) Lucas Wolfe 9) Todd Kane 10) Joey McGarah 11) Randy Meyers 12) Rick Fraley (DNS)

 

C Main Results: ‎1) Brian Paulus 2) Dustin Daggett 3) Adam Wilt 4) Kory Crabtree 5) Joey McGaruh 6) Wes McGlumphy 7) Chuck Waddell 8) Dallas Hewitt 9) Scott Hall 10) Randy Meyers Cap Henry and Rick Fraley scratched from the event but were scheduled to start 11th and 12th respectatively.

 

Dash Results: Inversion was an 8. ‎1) Joey Saldana 2) Dale Blaney 3) Sammy Swindell 4) Craig Dollansky 5) Justin Henderson 6) Brian Brown 7) Tim Kaeding 8) Danny Lasoski 9) Stevie Smith 10) David Gravel

 

B Main Results: ‎1) Tim Shaffer 2) Tony Stewart 3) Jac Haudenschild 4) Tyler Walker 5) Trey Starks 6) Bryan Sebbetto 7) Donny Schatz 8) Lucas Wolfe 9) Brian Paulus 10) Daryn Pittman 11) Chad Kemenah 12) Sheldon Haudenschild 13) Dustin Daggett 14) Todd Kane 15) Randy Hannagan 16) Sam Hafertepe Jr 17) Chad Blonde 18) Logan Schuchart

 

A Main Results: ‎1) Joey Saldana 2) Greg Wilson 3) Dale Blaney 4) Craig Dollansky 5) Brian Brown 6) Tim Shaffer 7) Justin Henderson 8) Stevie Smith 9) Tim Kaeding 10) Steve Kinser 11) Sammy Swindell 12) Donny Schatz 13) David Gravel 14) Kraig Kinser 15) Jason Sides 16) Cody Darrah 17) Bill Rose 18) Paul McMahan 19) Jac Haudenschild 20) Tony Stewart 21) Brad Sweet 22) Kerry Madsen 23) Tyler Walker 24) Jim Nier 25) Danny Lasoski.

Alex Bowman wins Prairie Meadows 200 for third win of 2012

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”ARCARacing.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Alex Bowman would hold off Grant Enfinger on a late race restart to win the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway. It marks Bowman’s third win of the season as he became the seventh different driver to pull into victory lane on the short track.

“I definitely got to thank everybody – Paul Andrews, Mannats for coming on board,” the driver of the No. 22 St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital/Mannats Dodge says. “They called at the last minute and wanted their name on the hood.”

The 21-year-old gave credit to his veteran crew chief Paul Andrews for the adjustments he made following practice.

“We’ve ran this chassis three times this year and won those three times,” Bowman adds. “I think it’s just ‘cause of the crew chief, Paul Andrews.”

Bowman would pass Frank Kimmel for the lead with 49 to go after a caution and go on to lead the rest of the way, despite a pair of restarts.

“We’re looking forward to Chicago,” Andrews says looking forward. “We felt like we got short-changed at Michigan, so we’re excited to go there. He says it’s all about me, but it’s all about him. He makes me look good.”

Grant Enfinger would finish second for the fourth time in his career, tying his career best finish.

“Really it was a bunch of hard work by everybody,” Enfinger says. “Appreciate everybody for pushing to make this race happen. We came up a little short again, but that was everything we had. We had a strong car on the long run; they all had a little bit of a better car on short run. They would get away from us, but we would reel them in on the long run.”

Chad Boat would finish third in his ARCA debut, followed by Clay Rogers and Frank Kimmel.

“A lot of those guys were having the problem where they were spinning the tires on the restart and I was able to get off the line better,” Rogers says. “We were also able to cut the center better than our competitors before the tires got hot.”

Chad Hackenbracht would finish sixth, followed by Matt Lofton, Spencer Gallagher, Ryan Reed and Mason Mitchell.

Short track tempers would flare near the end of the race as there were two separate incidents involving drivers.

With four laps to go, Gallagher and Erik Jones would make contact multiple times while battling for sixth, ending with Jones going around after contact from Gallagher.

“I think at the end of the day, we pulled everything out and finished strong,” Gallagher says. “Do I wish that would’ve gone differently? Yes, but welcome to short track racing. Those things happen and it’s part of the short track mentality.”

Also, Lofton would give Reed a bump to get by him late in the race and as a result, Reed spun Lofton after the race.

The first 75 laps of the race would run green with pole sitter Brennan Poole leading every one of them, though he would bring out the first caution when he’d hit the wall with a flat tire. That pretty much ended his chances as he struggled for the rest of the night and got into the wall again on lap 115.

Brandon Davis would also have a bad night as he would get into the turn two wall after getting loose on lap 127. Davis would then get caught in another accident on lap 185 when Milka Duno would get loose, collecting both Davis and Jared Marks. Ralston would also get spun in the wreck by Robert Mitten.

It was also a weekend to forget for Nelson Canache as he would run into problems during practice, followed by a hard hit to the inside wall as he tried to miss hitting Zach Ralston when he spun.

“A couple cars in front of me were fighting and got side-by-side,” Canache says. “One of them spun in front of me and I was holding the car to see which way he was going to go. I went down and couldn’t avoid. We were working on the car in the race. I think we got the car good by that point to move up, but these things happen. I’m okay, but it is what it is.”

The next race for the ARCA Racing Series is the Ansell ActivArmr® 150 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 21st.

 

2012 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Event #11    
Iowa Speedway, Newton Iowa, 7-13-12      
Prairie Meadows 200      
             
July 13, 2012 / 11:04 PM      
             
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS  STATUS
1 2 22 Alex Bowman/Tucson AZ St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Dodge 202 Running
2 8 36 Grant Enfinger/Fairhope AL Breland Homes Dodge 202 Running
3 4 98 Chad Boat/Phoenix AZ Curb Records-Celebrity Fight Night Chevrolet 202 Running
4 5 45 Clay Rogers/Troutman NC Beard Oil Chevrolet 202 Running
5 10 44 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Ansell-Menards Toyota 202 Running
6 7 58 Chad Hackenbracht/New Philadephia OH CGH Motorsports Chevrolet 202 Running
7 11 16 Matt Lofton/Roxboro NC Strutmasters.com Chevrolet 202 Running
8 16 23 Spencer Gallagher/Las Vegas NV Allegiant Air Chevrolet 202 Running
9 3 15 Ryan Reed/Bakersfield CA RaceHard.com-Renton Coil Spring Toyota 202 Running
10 9 6 Mason Mitchell/W. Des Moines IA J&S Ag Services-Make A Wish Foundation Chevy 202 Running
11 6 55 Erik Jones/Byron MI Paragon Corvette Reproductions-CG Financial Chevy 202 Running
12 18 32 Mason Mingus/Brentwood TN Iowa One Call-811 Call Before You Dig Chevrolet 202 Running
13 14 17 Chris Buescher/Prosper TX BeavEx-Reliance Tool Ford 202 Running
14 27 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA Lucas Oil Chevrolet 199 Running
15 13 95 Michael Leavine/Bullard TX WRL General Contractors Ford 198 Running
16 22 94 Milka Duno/Caracas Venezuela Milka Way Toyota 198 Running
17 19 41 Michael Simko/White Lake MI Hendren Motorsports Chevrolet 197 Running
18 24 3 Drew Charlson/New Bremen OH Aluma Aluminum Trailers-Heitkamp Crop Ins Dodge 196 Running
19 26 88 Buster Graham/Lafayette LA Batter’s Dream-RoushYatesParts.com Ford 195 Running
20 23 90 Zach Ralston/Springville IA ORingSales.com Chevrolet 192 Running
21 30 10 Rick Clifton/Circleville OH BASF Chevrolet 192 Running
22 32 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 189 Running
23 28 04 Larry Barford Jr./Denton MD First Mariner Bank-Trauma Doc Dodge 188 Running
24 35 48 James Hylton/Inman SC Radon.com Ford 187 Running
25 12 12 Jared Marks/Napoleon OH Premium Energy VIP-SRT Motorsports-UNOH Dodge 184 Accident
26 34 35 Tom Berte/New Berlin WI CGS Premier-Staytuned Customs Chevrolet 180 Accident
27 20 99 Brandon Davis/Huntington Beach CA Roulo Brothers Racing Ford 178 Accident
28 1 25 Brennan Poole/The Woodlands TX The Ad Man-Midas Chevrolet 172 Running
29 15 52 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet 161 Accident
30 33 66 Nelson Canache/Caracas Venezuela Venezuela Tourism Chevrolet 133 Accident
31 38 79 Mike Koch/Mountain Home AR K&K Racing-Karl’s Plumbing Chevrolet 71 Oil Leak
32 17 02 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL SW Florida Cable Construction Ford 57 Handling
33 29 40 Roger Carter/Sunfield MI Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge 54 Handling
34 36 06 Tommy O’Leary/Cygnet OH GreatRailing.com Ford 18 Suspnsn
35 37 0 Scott Null/Lake Mills WI Wayne Peterson Racing Ford 10 Rear End
36 39 64 Joseph Hughs/Springfield IL Jack Hughes Racing Dodge 9 Engine
37 25 69 Korbin Forrister/Cedartown GA Tilted Kilt Ford 7 Brakes
38 21 68 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN Clarksville Schwinn & Cyclery Ford 5 Radiator
39 31 18 Mike Affarano/Shorewood IL North Grand Auto Parts Ford 4 Brakes
40 40 73 Dale Shearer/Chillicothe MO Shearer Racing Ford 0 Engine

Lap by Lap: Prairie Meadows 200 won by Alex Bowman

By
SM Staff
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Alex Bowman would hold off Grant Enfinger on a late race restart to pick up his third win of 2012.

 

Lap 1 Brennan Poole leads lap 1

Lap 12 Joseph Hughs blew up

Lap 23 Poole leads Bowman, Boat, Rogers and Reed

Lap 43 Poole leads Rogers, Bowman, Boat and Enfinger. Only the top 14 remain on the lead lap.

Lap 61 Josh Williams heads down pit road with a mechanical problem

Lap 64 Poole leads Rogers, Enfinger, Bowman and Boat

Caution lap 75 Brennan Poole hits the outside wall with flat tire while leading // Rogers now leads……leaders hit pit road for pit stop. Tom Hessert gets the lucky dog. Enfinger leads Rogers, Bowman, Boat and Jones. Poole making multiple pit stops, trying to fix the damage.

Restart Lap 83 as Rogers and Enfinger run side-by-side for the lead.

Lap 84 Rogers lead the lap ahead of Enfinger and Bowman. Rogers clears Enfinger for first, Enfinger battles with Bowman for second.

Lap 85 Rogers leads Bowman and Enfinger as Jones and Boat run side-by-side

Lap 86 12 cars on the lead lap; Rogers and Bowman battle for the lead

Lap 87 Rogers and Bowman battle side-by-side for the lead, ahead of Enfinger, Jones and Boat. Bowman takes the lead

Lap 90 Bowman leads Rogers, Enfinger, Jones and Boat

Lap 107 Boat passes Jones for fourth; Rogers and Enfinger battle for the second position.

Lap 109 Rogers keeps Enfinger behind him for second.

Lap 115 Caution as Brennan Poole has another right front tire issue. Most of the lead lap cars stayed out, with only some cars running near the end of the lead lap pitting. Those drivers include Frank Kimmel and Ryan Reed.

Restart lap 121

Lap 125 Bowman leads as Enfinger and Rogers battle for second, ahead of Boat and Jones.

Caution Lap 127 as Brandon Davis gets into the wall in turn two after getting loose……The leaders make their way down pit road for stops…..Kimmel stays out to take the lead

Restart Lap 135

Lap 136 Kimmel leads while Lofton and Bowman battle side-by-side for second

Lap 137 Bowman clears Lofton for third as big wreck on the backstretch after Zach Ralston and Nelson Canache wreck. Ralston gets loose and spins as Canache hits the inside wall, trying to avoid Ralston.

Restart lap 144

Lap 145 Kimmel leads ahead of Bowman while Lofton and Enfinger battle for third

Lap 146 Kimmel leads Bowman, Lofton, Enfinger and Jones as the caution comes out for Michael Simko spinning in turn two and hitting the wall. Simko got loose and then possibly got a little bit of contact from Chad Hackenbracht. Milka Duno got the lucky dog.

Restart lap 150

49 to go Rogers and Hessert make contact, but everybody saves it; Bowman passes Kimmel for the lead

47 to go Bowman leads Kimmel, Enfinger, Lofton, Jones

30 to go Bowman leads Enfinger, Kimmel, Boat and Jones

Caution Lap 185 Jared Marks, Brandon Davis and Milka Duno wreck. Duno gets loose on the inside of Ryan Reed and collects Marks and Davis. Zach Ralston gets spun trying to avoid by Robert Mitten.

Restart 8 to go Bowman gets a good jump on Enfinger.

7 to go Rogers and Jones side-by-side for fifth

6 to go Bowman leads Enfinger, Boat, Kimmel

5 to go Rogers clears Jones for fifth. Spencer Gallagher and Eric Jones make contact battling for sixth.

Caution 4 to go Gallagher spins Jones off of turn two. Gallagher apologizes on his radio, saying it wasn’t on purpose.

Green-White-Checkered finish.

2 to go Bowman leads Enfinger and Boat while Kimmel and Rogers battle for fourth.

White flag Rogers clears Kimmel for fourth, off to try to pass Boat for third.

Alex Bowman wins, ahead of Enfinger, Boat, Rogers, Kimmel, Hackenbracht, Lofton, Gallagher, Reed and Mitchell.

Mansfield Motorsports Park, a Lost Gem

By
SM Staff
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The parking areas were filled with cars on July 17th, 2010. A line stretched around the brick hut that sold tickets and passes. Hot dogs were sizzling, sending an aroma that radiated from the Fast Lane Grill. Fans climbed up the metal stairway to find their seats, and kids were mesmerized by their first glimpse of a real racetrack. Mansfield Motorsports Park drew a crowd for this thrilling stop on the ARCA schedule.

Sadly, that race, the Tim Richmond Memorial 200, was the last race at the track. The gates have been closed ever since.

Yet, I could still hear it. As I looped my fingers through the chainlinks, the faint roaring of engines bounced off my ear drums. The wind whipped my hair back. Cars speeding off turn four, inches from smacking the wall. I felt the earth shake beneath me. Squealing sheet metal made me cringe, and sparks lit up my brain. There was a black-and-white freight train reeling through my head. It was like I was there, even if I had never witnessed one of the events.

I blinked, and it was all gone.

[media-credit name=”Ronda Greer/NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”298″][/media-credit]Dust rode the breeze to hit me in the face. In just two years, the speedway has become desolated. The gravel parking lot is the home of browning weeds and brand-new lighting. The ticket building’s security cameras have bird nests sitting on them, which goes nicely with the bright new ‘Tickets’ sign. New metal railing lines the stairway up to the bleachers, but they’ll never be grasped by eager hands.

Taking a step back, my head mindlessly shook. The owner had put so much money into the facility, only to shut it down due to a lack of a title sponsor. The track closed back in 2008 after it lost its NASCAR Truck date, but it reopened when it gained a spot on the ARCA line up in 2009. The two races were won by Parker Kligerman and Max Gresham, the track becoming a blur in late 2010.

I think everyone knows that feeling, the one you get when you know you’ve lost something special. It twists your stomach into a tight double knot. That’s what I felt as I took pictures through the gates. The half-mile seemed perfect, especially with the Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport right across the road. With some research, I found out that the track set aside one hour for autograph signings and opened the pits before the race. It was willing to do anything for the fans, to make them happy. I guess that wasn’t enough.

The race was important to the community. The Tim Richmond Memorial 200 was an obvious tribute to NASCAR’s James Dean-esque driver, who grew up half an hour away in the city of Ashland. It was our way of celebrating his life, which ended way too quickly. Also, there isn’t a Cup or NNS race anywhere near here. You have many dirt tracks, and ARCA still runs up in Toledo Speedway. With Michigan, Indianapolis, Kentucky, and Pocono surrounding us, there isn’t a big track around here.

Mansfield was our gateway into the NASCAR world, only to be shut abruptly.

When I climbed back in the car after capturing the photos, it felt like I was walking away from an opportunity. It had the potential to become a great track. Trust me, if someone fixed it up, I would promote the heck out of that place. Make T-shirts, posters, have a bake sale, whatever I could do to get Mansfield Motorsports Park back in the positive spotlight.

One day, it might get to shine again, and I hope that day comes soon.

BIG WEEKEND FOR JASON WHITE

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