Finally a pretty good weekend of racing all the way around. It appears as if Ryan Broughton is going to be a tough act to follow or maybe better put, 'catch' this season as he scored his fourth victory of the 2011 season at Waynesfield Raceway Park on Saturday evening. Broughton was followed to the line by Nick Daughtery and Kevin Roberts Jr. The hard charger of the race was Lee Underwood who passed thirteen cars during the feature. Best of all with the M.M.S.A. also in action on the same evening there were 22 cars in attendance. In looking through the results it was also very nice to see several new names -- showing that the ranks of mini sprint racers in our area continues to grow.
The Midwast Mini Sprint Association (MMSA)was in action at Brownstown Speedway on Saturday evening and Kokomo on Sunday. We were lucky enough to make it to Brownstown Speedway after a week of trials and tribulations (more on that later). I believe 26 cars is the number that I heard in attendance for Brownstown on Saturday evening. Again it was good to see several new names and faces at the track...along with some of the old ones that we haven't seen in a while. When the dust settled for the night it was Colin Ambrose bringing home the victory, Kevin Rice second and Rod Henning thrid. As I noted last year, Brownstown has to be on my list of favorite places to run. The facility is really neat--sitting just outside of town and the well maintained county fairgrounds. The racing surface is smooth and relatively flate making for some really good racing action. I hope to return there a few more times this year.
It appears that the Midwest Mini Sprint Associations version of Sprint Week could be one of the biggest ever with (hopefully I've got this right) 7 nights of racing in 8 days. Beginning on Friday July 8th a special Shootout race has been scheduled by T&E Promotions at the Madison County Fairgrounds that will pit non winged mini sprints against TQs. On Sunday July 10th the group will run the Allen Rupenthal Memorial at Windy Hollow Raceway in Owensboro Kentucky. The Ambroses have worked hard to ensure a big purse for the event in honor of their friend and former car owner. Next up on Monday the 11th is a non winged race at Bartholomew County Fairgrounds and then a race that was just announced Saturday evening at Brownstown on Tuesday the 12th. The next stop on the MMSA Sprint Week will be Brownstown again on the 14th and then on to Bloomington Speedway on the 15th. Things wrap up on the 16th at Paragon Speedway. That's a bunch of racing in just a few days. I hope that everyone will support their efforts to tackle such an undertaking.
The sport of mini sprint racing is growing not just in the United States, but also across the pond in Australia and New Zealand. The shop (www.speedpartz.com) has been doing an ever growing business with competitors in both countries giving us the opportunity to make the acqaintance of several drivers and fans. Two of these folks are Adam Raw (NSW Australian club president & D.J. Raws, club champion) The pair have planned a trip to the states during the Midwest Mini Sprints Speedweek and are hoping to put D.J. in a car for a few races if they can locate a ride for him. Adam has worked hard to bring an international flavor to our sport and recently setup the first challenge series between Australia and New Zealand. They are hoping if they can get DJ a ride here that they can respond in kind by giving one of our drivers a shot at competing in Australia. If you've got a car that you can put DJ in, please contact Adam Raws at adam.raws@hotmail.com.
As I mentioned we had a few trials and tribulations with our car over the past week and a half. I bring them up just as a learning exercise in case anyone else runs into similar problems. It all started a few weeks ago at Lawrenceburg when we through a chain cracking our block and breaking the shaft that runs between the water and oil pumps. After getting the case on our motor welded back up, we also replaced the oil pump with a used (but what we believed to be, good oil pump). Once reassembled we were unable to get any oil pressure in the engine. We talked to several fellow competitors who explained various methods for getting the oil pump primed - which can be a difficult tasks. Despite all the good advice, we were still unable to get any oil pressure. As a last resort we finally replaced the new (used) oil pump with our old oil pump...instant oil pressure - after a bunch of frustration.
I need to give a shout out to Kevin Rice. We've raced with Kevin for the last several years, but haven't seen him around for the last couple of seasons as he toyed with TQ midgets and even retirement. He was back at the track at Brownstown last Saturday evening in his new FOZ Car and picked up where he left off with a second place finish. Nice job Kevin and its good to see you back at the track.
Another intersting tidbit that we learned on Saturday night is that the Ambroses have a 410 sprint car for this season. Didn't get any of the particulars on where and when they plan to run, but wish them the best of luck.
I also enjoyed speaking with Andy Bradley on Saturday evening. Andy has a pretty cool occupation as a commercial pilot. After spending the last few years flying an Indiana medical examiner around the state, he has a new job flying an 80 passenger commercial jet. Andy also told me that since his schedule will be difficult for a while, he has made arrangements to give another young driver a chance at competing when he is unable. Andy has told me before that Allen Ruppenthal gave him an opportunity when he needed it and he plans on returning the favor.
Looks as if Waynesfield is the place for racing over the 4th of July holiday. If you've never been there, the Shobes are a great bunch with a really nice track and facility...well worth the trip.
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