Sprintfreak's Travesl 7.5.99
Well sprintfans, the sprintfreak has been gone for several weeks due to other committments, but I am back with info on Ohio Sprint Speedweek, Pa. Sprint Speedweek, Outlaw action, and some good general info, so let's get to it!
Ohio Sprint Speedweek
I still feel this is the best speedweek anywhere in the country! The quality of drivers and the orgnization behind it make it the best. Last year I talked to Kevin Gobretch at Sharon Speedway and asked him why he ran most of the Ohio speedweek shows instead of the Pa. shows and Kevin told me the Ohio shows are run much better and the payoff's throughout the field are much, much stronger than the Pa. payoff's. ThePa. speedweek payoff's are all top heavy with most of the money going only to the top three with not much left after that. Without paying back through the field it makes it hard for a lot of teams to compete at every show. Well anyway, on with this years results:
Eldora(unofficial speedweek event)- Joey
Saldana
Millstream- Rain
Wayne Co.- Joey Saldana
Muskingum- Kelly Kinser
K-C- Butch Schroeder
Sharon- Rain
Lima- Joey Saldana
Attica- Kenny Jacobs $10,000
1999 champion- Joey Saldana
Some notes from Ohio speedweek:
Monday's
victory at Wanye Co. was not a very popular
one for Joey Saldana as Joey made contact
with Dean Jacobs as it appeared Dean had the
faster car. Dean was never able to recover
and Joey went on for the victory.
Saturday's victory for Kenny Jacobs was a shocker! Byron Reed was dominating the event until a late caution on lap 37. The running order at that time was Reed, Kelly Kinser, a lapped car, then Jacobs. When the green flag flew, Jacobs' mount took off like a rocket and had the $10,000 winner's check in hand three laps later! It is nice to see such a good guy like Kenny pick up the big win!
Dale Blaney had a speedweek he would like to forget. Dale drove the underpowered Sabo 8s for much of the speedweek with not much success, including a couple of DNF's due to mechanical problems. Dale's plans over the next couple of weeks have him jumpping around until after the King's Royal. Next weekend's plans are still up in the air, but Dale is scheduled to drive the Eric Hysong #72 for the King's Royal weekend and then Dale will get his shot at the Holbrook 8h on the Outlaw trail starting with the first race after the King's Royal. Dale is not sure how long he will have in the 8h, but he hopes it will be the rest of the season, Dale is tired of ride hoping and would just like to finish out the season in a quality car and start fresh next season!
An interesting note from the Attica show on Saturday, Brad Doty announced that Fred Rahmer and a couple of other Central Pa. drivers are supposed to run the Brad Doty Classic on Wed. July 14 at Attica. Brad said he spoke with Fast Freddie and Fred told him that Jeff Shepard was the man to beat at Attica, and as many people know Jeff and Fred are in the middle of a heated war of words over the last couple of weeks. Fast Freddie vowed that he would come to Attica just to beat Jeff and show him who the better racer really is, Freddie said that if Attica is where Jeff is tough to beat, then Attica is where I will beat him! Should be interesting!
Pa. Speedweek:
Lance Dewease continues his hot streak with his new team, the Harz #88, as he took the title of the 1999 Pa. Speedweek and picked up three wins in the process!
Lincoln- Lance Dewease
Grandview- Lance Dewease $10,000
Big D- Greg Hodnett
Silver Spring- Greg Hodnett
Susky- Cris Eash
Williams Grove- Fred Rahmer $10,000
Port Royal- Lance Dewease
Selinsgrove- Fred Rahmer
1999 Pa. Speedweek champion- Lance Dewease
The World of Outlaws:
At the Knoxville Classic it was Danny "the dude" Lasoski picking up a pair of wins on both Friday and Saturday, with the Saturday win being worth a cool $12,000. Johnny "Hollywood" Herrera also notched a Saturday win in the second half of the twin Outlaw races Saturday night. "Hollywood's" win also credited his bank account with $12,000!
The sidenote to this weekend was Stevie Smith's one man wrecking crew. Stevie took out Andy Hilenburg, Steve Kinser, and three other cars in seperate accidents, causing all the cars he came in contact with to flip violently. Andy was knocked out for a short period of time and his streak of not missing an Outlaw A-main was stopped somewhere near 500 in a row! That is a tough way to have the streak end, but I am sure Andy will regroup and finish the season strong!
Some local notes:
Racin' Ralphie Spithaler picked up the win at Lernerville on Friday night. I have always liked Ralphie, he races clean, is easy on equipment, but still manages to win a handful of races every year!
Jimmy Hawley continues to be the man to beat in Western Pa., Jimmy picked up the win at Tri-city Sunday. I believe Jimmy has about 10 wins on the season, he had 16 wins last year and I think he will easily beat that this season. If you readers remember, I predicted at the begining of the season that Jimmy would win about 20-25 races this year, and he is right on pace!
Some general info:
A tip of the cap has to go to Paul McMahan. After suffering a severe shoulder injury a month or two ago, Paul has returned earlier than expected and has the U2 car headed in the right direction. Paul had a couple of second place finishes during Ohio speedweek one of which he hadwon until a fuel line came off with a couple laps to go and he had to coast home with a second place finish to Joey Saldana at Lima.
Poll questions:
Who will win the Brad Doty Classic on Wed. July 14?
1) Jeff Shepard
2) Fred Rahmer
3) Kenny Jacobs
4) Dean Jacobs
5) Joey Saldana
6) Mark Keegan
7) Byron Reed
8) Kelly Kinser
9) Frankie Kerr
10) Dale Blaney
Vote for any of these drivers or any driver you think might win!
Who is the better driver this year, Fast Freddie Rahmer or Jeff "the jet" Shepard? Who has the better chance of winning a big race like the King's Royal, Historical Big One, Knoxville Nationals, or the Williams Grove National Open?
This is a two part question, so you need to leave two answers!
Well thats it for now, thanks for reading! It feels good to have the time to write again! I'll see you at the races! Happy sprintcar racing!
