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BRADY SHORT SCORES ANOTHER SAFETY-KLEEN SPRINT CAR FEATURE WIN |
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BLOOMINGTON, IN (August 2, 2008) – Last night it appeared that Bloomington
Speedway was destined to lose yet another show to the weatherman. The forecast
indicated that there was little chance for rain; and as the competitors and fans
began arriving bright, sunny skies seemed to be the order of the day. However,
as the hot laps got underway, the skies began to darken. About the time we were
to start running heat races, the rains began – first in the form of sprinkles
and later in the form of heavier rain. However, the radar indicated a small
green dot depicting the rain. However, that small dot hovered above Bloomington
Speedway for what seemed like forever.
When the rain finally ended it looked as if we need not expect more rain. Mike Miles was then faced with estimating how long it would take to make the track, pushoff lanes, and lineup chutes usable. Mike finally announced that we would do our level best to get the show in. One of the first vehicles on the track was our beautiful J.D. Byrider pace car; and Bob Royer gave a demonstration of drifting. He kept it out of the fence; but weren’t convinced that he would. When Mike Miles announced that we would try to get the show, he frankly admitted that we were in no way certain how successful we would be. Mike Miles and his crew put the heavy duty equipment on the track and removed much of the excess moisture from the track in very short order. They then pushed off some race cars to assure themselves that that would work. Mike finally determined that we could get the show in; and we did. We certainly wouldn’t want our programs to run that late all of the time; but we needed to go ahead and win one from the weatherman for our fans and competitors. We had a moral victory over the weatherman; and the fans saw a great evening of racing. Last night’s event was our 8th Annual South Central Building & Construction Trades Council Night; and it was being run in honor of Steve Bowlen. He was a lifelong union member who passed away last October. It was particularly appropriate that Steve be honored in this way as he raced here for much of his life. I recall talking to Steve at our annual car show several years ago. He told me that he had raced at Bloomington Speedway for eighteen years; and he had taken eighteen years off to raise his family. He was hoping to race for another eighteen years. He didn’t quite make it; but he certainly enjoyed the racing that he was able to do. Steve enjoyed his racing; and he enjoyed the fellowship with the other competitors. He was a great guy and I shall always remember our conversations. Several members of Steve’s family were on hand to help us honor his memory. SAFETY—KLEEN SPRINT CARS – Forty – one Safety-Kleen sprint cars unloaded to compete for last night’s feature win. Many of our younger drivers turned in great performances in spite of the large field of great race cars. The heat races were won by Ryan Tusing, Danny Holtsclaw, Dickie Gaines, Brady Short, and young Chris Babcock. Alex Schutte and Ty Deckard won the two “B” features. The redraw lined up Chase Briscoe, Chris Babcock, Brady Short, Danny Holdsclaw, Ryan Tusing, and Chad Boespflug in the first three rows of the feature grid. Logan Hupp of Columbus ran into some trouble early; and he was sidelined after only a single lap. Logan’s grandfather and one of his biggest supporters was up from Tennessee; and he was treated to a good performance from Logan in racing from an eighth place starting position to finish fourth in his heat, missing a transfer to the feature by only one spot. And, later he drove to a third place finish in a tough “B” feature. On the second lap Danny Holtsclaw passed Chris Babcock to take the lead; and he was running a very strong race when, on lap nine, he lost his right front wheel and cartwheeled off of the track. Brady Short narrowly missed being collected as he drove under Danny’s flipping sprinter. Short inherited the lead followed by Jeff Bland, Jr, Chad Boespflug, and Jesse Cramer. Short and Bland battled for the balance of the race. Toward the end of the feature, Short was able to put a little space between his mount and Blands; however, it was certainly never enough to be considered comfortable. Hanford, Calif. native Chad Boespflug made his bones racing sprint cars in California in high school. He won Ron Shuman’s SCRA championship and turned in some good performances in USAC/CRA competition. When he graduated from high school he moved to Indiana with his grandfather and car owner, Bob Gatten. Gatten, a native of Columbus, Ind., knew that if Chad were, be a successful open wheel racer, he needed to come to Indiana. Bob opened his insurance business in North Vernon and opened his race shop there as well. This season Chad has really started to run well; and he won a feature at Lawrenceburg. Last night was his best finish to date in Safety-Kleen sprint car competition finishing third in a very tough feature. Jesse Cramer is the latest in a line of Bloomington Speedway modified drivers who have switched to sprint cars. He turned in a good performance last night finishing fourth. Chris Babcock continues to improve; and last night’s fifth place finish was, indeed, noteworthy. Ty Deckard, Kent Christian, Dickie Gaines, Coleman Gulick, and Arin McIntosh rounded out the top ten. Dylan Burge turned in his best performance to date at Bloomington Speedway. He started third in a very tough heat race and salvaged sixth place finish. He started sixth in the “B” feature and drove to a strong second place finish. He started 19th in the feature and fought his way to a 14th place finish. This young man and his family are committed to his becoming the best race driver he can be. They fully understand that the odds are against his becoming the next Tony Stewart. Consequently, he is required to perform well in school. He might well become a talented engineer who races USAC sprint cars on the weekend. I have watched him develop poise as he developed his skills in the cockpit. He will now approach me to talk about how his season is going or what took him out of a race. COMING EVENTS – August 8 Presented by Sprint Car & Midget magazine – USAC Indiana Midget Week – Plus Safety-Kleen sprint cars – General Admission $20 – Pit Admission $30 August 15 Bonus Night – Safety-Kleen sprint cars running for $1700 to win – O’Neal Wood Products modifieds ($800 to win with proper decals) – Tire & Wheel Center super stocks ($700 to win with proper decals) Plus Kid Modz – General Admission $12 – Pit Admission $25 August 22 O’Reilly Midwest All Star 410 Winged Sprint Cars ($2,000 to win and $200 to start) – Tire & Wheel Center super stocks ($600 to win with proper decals) – O’Neal Wood Products modifieds ($700 to win with proper decals) – General Admission $15 – Pit Admission $30 RESULTS: Safety-Kleen Sprint Car Results HEAT 1: 1.(2) Ryan Tusing, 2.(1) Chase Briscoe, 3.(5) Jimmy Light, 4.(3) Eric Edwards, 5.(6) Bobby Stines, 6.(8) Ethan Barrow, 7.(4) Tyler Reddick, 8.(9) Drew Ikerd, 9.(7) Jon Sciscoe HEAT 2: 1.(2) Danny Holtsclaw, 2.(7) Jeff Bland, Jr., ,3.(1) Arin McIniosh, 4.(8) Nick Bilbee, 5.(6) Lance Grimes, 6.(3) Dylan Burge, 7.(5) Steve Rone, 8.(DNS) Jon Stanbrough HEAT 3: 1.(6) Dickie Gaines, 2.(2) Chad Boespflug, 3.(3) Mark Perry II, 4.(7) Alex Schuette, 5.(1) Henry Clark, 6.(5) Jeff Wimmenauer, 7.(4) Todd Kimmel, 8.(8) John Dick HEAT 4: 1.(1) Brady Short, 2.(4) Coleman Gulick, 3.(7) Kent Christian, 4.(5) Ty Deckard, 5.(2) Ryan Lake, 6.(8) Gary Rooke, 7.(3) Austin Mero, 8.(6) Shayne McElhinney HEAT 5: 1.(1) Chris Babcock, 2.(3) Jesse Cramer, 3.(6) Bub Cummings, 4.(5) Logan Hupp, 5.(7) Jared Harris, 6.(2) Nick Johnson, 7.(8) Eric Smith, 8.(4) A.J. Clark “B” FEATURE 1: 1.(2) Alex Schuette, 2.(6) Ethan Barrow, 3.(3) Logan Hupp, 4.(1) Eric Edwards, 5.(7) Jeff Wimmenauer, 6.(5) Brian Lake 7.(10) Austin Mero, 8.(11) Drew Ikerd, 9.(8) Nick Johynson, 10.(12) John Dick, 11.(4) Lance Grimes, 12.(9) Steve Rone, 13.(13) A.J. Clark "B” FEATURE 2: 1.(2) Ty Deckard, 2.(6) Dylan Burge, 3.(4) Henry Clarke, 4.(3) Bobby Stines, 5.(7) Gary Rooke, 6.(1) Nick Bilbee, 7.(10) Shayne McElhinney, 8.(8) Tyler Reddick, 9.(5) Jared Harris, 10.(10) Eric Smith, 11.(9) Todd Kimmel, 12.(12) Jon Sciscoe FEATURE: 1.(3) 36 Brady Short, 2.(7) 21s Jeff Bland, Jr., 3.(6) 98 Chad Boespflug, 4.(10) 12T Jesse Cramer, 5.(2) 35 Chris Babcock, 6.(17) 48 Ty Deckard, 7.(14) 1c Kent Christian, 8.(9) 11p Dickie Gaines, 9.(8) 14H Coleman Gulick, 10.(12) 34M Arin McIntoslh, 11.(15) 71x Bub Cummings, 12.(13) 3M Mark Perry II, 13.(1) 5B Chase Briscoe, 14.(19) 4x Dylan Burge, 15.(5) 16 Ryan Tusing, 16.(16) 5K Alex Schutte, 17.(18) 15x Ethan Barrow, 18.(11) 23 Jimmy Light, 19.(21) 41k Henry Clarke, 20.(19) 3 Danny Holtsclaw, 21.(20) 9H Logan Hupp Lap Leaders: Chris Babcock (1), Danny Holtsclaw (2-8), Brady Short (9-25) |
