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| Since we're not very good at taking pictures, I like it when I run close to T.J. Heil. His mom is great with both the still camera and the video camera. |
I was actually probably as ready to race as I have been all year. My dad was making a trip to Pennsylvania to pick up wings on Saturday morning (we now have a good inventory of top and front wings back in stock) and wouldn't be getting back until time to leave for Waynesfield. This meant that I needed to have everything ready to go when he returned. It was nice to spend a little more time than usual getting the car ready--it seems to help me get my head in the game a little better. Not too many big changes to make just the usual clean-up, re-blocking the car and changing sprockets.
We got on the road a little after three o'clock. On the way up we passed another Cincinnatian making his way towards Waynesfield, first year driver Adam Jackman. We rolled into the track a few minutes before 5:00 p.m. and found our way to a parking spot next to our friends the Heils. Hiking up to sign in I ran into a few friends that I used to race with before their move to full-size sprints- Lewie Christian, Kirk and Dennis Jeffries. It was great to see them and catch up a little bit.
There are several really nicely turned out mini sprints at Waynesfield, but I was partial to one of the cars that was making its first outing this year, the FOZ of Becca Stiefl. My dad told me that he has been working with the Stiefl's for several weeks as they have been putting their car together. I've included a picture of Becca and her new car below. They have really put together a pretty professional operation complete with matching shirts. Becca's dad Steve reported that after her first night of practice she felt very comfortable in the car and was able to manage a 8th place finish the first night out. Nice job.
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| Becca Stiefl in her new number 328 FOZ Race Car |
I still have a phobia of drawing my own pill, or tab in the case of Waynesfield. Phil Heil was in line behind me so I made him pull the tab for me, he drew a 41. The 41 placed me outside the second row right next to Phil's son T.J. Newcomer Trey Gustin was starting on the pole in my heat in his 600cc upright mini sprint. Trey has made a few starts with the 1000cc cars. So far I've been pretty impressed with him both on track and off track. He appears to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. If the name sounds familiar it's because his dad Spud ran mini sprints before moving up to full-size sprints. I got a pretty good start and came out of the second corner in second position behind Nick Daughtery where I would run until the finish. The car was good, but would have been much better if I had listened to my dad's advice to raise the car a round.
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| Trey Guston in his number 80 mini sprint |
Sometimes there is a certain amount of luck involved in racing and on this night it was falling my way as the invert placed me outside the front row for the feature. Garry Loney was on the pole for the feature. Loney has been fast everytime I have run with him and I definately was hoping I could outrace him to the first corner. I stayed high through turns 1 and 2 and ended up in the lead going down the backstretch. This time I decided to listen to my dad and make his suggested changes. The car was really good. Its kind of spooky running out front because you don't know who or how close anyone is running to you. There was a red flag and a couple of yellow flags which were definate causes for concern. I knew that there were some motors and drivers that had the potential of driving around us on the start. My fears came true on the last restart as Beau Stewart pulled around me on the topside. I was able to hold on to cross the line in second place. Disappointing when I had hopes of a victory, but a good run all in all.
It was great to see the grandstands full for the evenings racing. The big draw was the second annual Jack Hewitt Classic. Although there were not all the big names there that we have grown used to seeing at Lawrenceburg, the racing was tremendous just the same. Matt Westfall put on a charge from the middle of the pack to finish in second place. Matt is always fun to watch and appears to have it pretty well dialed in at Waynesfield were he has already captured four features this season. Another noteworthy performance in the sprints was Todd Keen. Todd was in contention throughout the feature and did a very nice job of working the bottom of the track. Todd is only a year removed from the mini sprints. Congratulation to Todd on a fantastic job done and for proving the value of the mini sprints as a training ground for drivers looking to make the move to sprints and beyond.
Congratulations also go out to Lynn Ambrose on capturing two victories in one night at Paragon Speedway. The M.M.S.A. ran the feature scheduled for the night, but also made up a feature from a few weeks ago that was previously scheduled during USAC Sprint Week. I was also pleased to hear that Allen Rupenthal made it out to the track. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Allen as he continues to recuperate.
It's been a great couple of weekends for the FOZ Race Cars overall. Beau Stewart's win at Lawrenceburg Speedway the weekend before was followed up with his win at Waynesfield Motorsports Park. T.J. Heil at a strong run at Lawrenceburg to finish fourth. I finished fifth at Lawrenceburg followed to the line by another FOZ of Nick Roberts. I was able to hold on for a second place finish at Lawrenceburg while T.J. Heil and Becca Steifl finished seventh and eigth respectively. Last weekend Brett Burrows showed that the cars work well with the wing off to as he beat a strong field of 21 cars in Peoria, Illinois with the Illinois Outlaw Lightning Sprints. Congratulations to all of our FOZ Race Cars customers.
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| Brett Burrows and his number 51 FOZ mini sprint. |
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