Short Track Roundup (September 10, 1997)
10 September 1997
Mobile, AL - The busy Labor Day Weekend is past and from now on Series will begin to wind down and champions will be crowned almost every week. Here is the look back at the action on the short tracks for the past week.United Speed Alliance Racing announced this week that the Hooters Cup Late Model Series will not be around next year. The writing has been on the wall all season and this merely confirms what many had already speculated. USAR will sanction only the ProCup Series in 1998, and expect to run 20 races. That means that four will be at Lakeland, FL and four at Peach State in Jefferson, GA and the remaining 12 are still to be announced. The Late Models and the ProCup cars went to the fabled Milwaukee Mile this past weekend, and Mario Gosselin took the Late Model race with Bobby Gill second and points leader Freddie Query third. *** The ProCup race ended with Chad Chaffin taking the win, Gene Morgan second and Mike Laughlin third. Laughlin was making a return to racing following last year's horrendous fire at Homestead, FL that nearly cost him his life. *** Dave Kuhlman won the ACDelco/Murray's Iceman Series race at Toledo, OH, following him home were Stan Boyd and Glenn Gault. Gault's third place finish was just enough to capture the title for 1997 as the series wrapped up its action for the year. *** The Indiana Super late model Series visited Winchester Speedway, IN where the win went to Brian Rievley who led from flag to flag. Kenny Tweety was second and maintained the lead in the points while Rick Turner was third. *** Andy Bozell made it two in a row on the Michigan Independent Super Late model Series with a win at Spartan Speedway, MI as he led Jack Landis and Charlie Ryan across the stripe. *** The Southern All Stars race at Huntsville, AL went to Buddy Broome followed by Gary Wade Finley and Casey Bishop. *** Bobby Gill went to Salem, IN after his second in the Hooters Cup race and picked up an additional $10,000 as he won the Jasper Engines 250. *** The Chicago area said goodbye to retiring driver Frank Gawinski at Illiana Speedway, IL as he went out in style by taking his ninth win in the Bettenhausen Memorial Race. *** Rounding out our look at the asphalt scene, Robert Huffman won the Goodies Dash race at St Augustine, FL with David Hutto and Brian Sockwell the next two in line.
The Open Wheelers had a busy week, led by the World of Outlaws continuing their western swing. Sammy Swindell had won seven in a row as the tour headed to San Jose, CA, but he caught the berm and flipped the car and the streak was over. Dave Blaney took the win in the Preliminary race with Steve Kinser second and Jac Haudenschild third. In the finale the next night Mark Kinser won his first feature in a month as he beat Sammy Swindell and Steve to the line. *** The Frigidaire All Stars started the weekend out in Lake Odessa, WI at I-96 Speedway where Frankie Kerr, the current points leader, took the win ahead of Kenny Jacobs and Joey Saldana. From there it was on to Findlay, OH and it was Joey's turn to grab the win. Finishing second was Terry McCarl with Frankie in third. *** ASCS Sprints went to Tazewell, TN where Terry Gray was the winner. Gary Lee Maier came home second and Joey Nash was third. Most of the cars then moved on to Knoxville, TN and Atomic Speedway for the Outlaw Sprint Southern Nationals and Maier rim rode his way to the win in that race. Daryn Pittman made a last second challenge but ended up second a half car-length behind. Terry Gary was third. *** The USAC Skoal Midgets went to Putnamville, IN for the Put 40, a takeoff on the Hut 100, and Tracy Hines beat Andy Michner to the line for the win. *** The Western States Midgets were at Ventura, CA where Robert Dolaki took advantage of a Sleepy Tripp wreck to win the race. *** In SCRA action Rip Williams took yet another win at Perris, CA as he beat Troy Cline and Ron Shuman. Shuman is still the points leader despite the recent hot streak of Williams. *** The Empire Super Sprints began the weekend in Dundee, NY where hometown racer Tim Kelly beat Mike Woodring and Mike Stelter to the checkers. Moving on to Little Valley Speedway, south of Buffalo, NY, Craig Lane was the victor with Scott Holcomb and Craig Keel the next two to the line.
On the dirt Late Model scene Donnie Moran won his fourth World 100 at Eldora Speedway, OH as he finished ahead of Scott Bloomquist and Jack Boggs. The win was worth $30,000 to the Ohio driver. *** The Deery Brothers Summer Series made two stops this weekend, the first at Boone, IA where Dean Wagner Jr went to the winner's circle by beating Kyle Berck and Boone McLaughlin, Moving on to Knoxville, IA the winner was Gary Webb followed across the line by Kevin Pittman and Chris Smyser. *** SUPR had only one race, at Jackson, MS where Ronnie Poche took the checkers in front of Ronnie Warman and Rusty Cummings. *** In WISSOTA Series action at Superior, WI, Mitch Johnson got the win over Steve Laursen and Mike Chamernick. *** The MACS race at Tri-City in Franklin, PA turned into a battle of the scales as apparent winner Todd Andrews failed to make the weight after the race and was disqualified. This handed the win, and $5,000 to Chub Frank with second going to Robbie Blair. Third place finisher Andy Johnson also failed to make the weight and that handed third to brother Mike. *** The River 94 was run at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia and Ted Lackey picked up the $10,000 check for the win *** Congratulations to Jim Fordham who took the track championship at Cochran Speedway, GA with still a few weeks left on the schedule.
Next week is the last week that NASCAR Winston Racing Series competitors can score wins, but at Five Flags Speedway, Pensacola, FL Tim Bryant clinched the title this weekend. *** Jeff Agnew won his 13th race of the season at New River Speedway, VA and yet he still should finish second to points leader Phillip Morris in the NWRS points. *** Jeff Dunmyer won the NWRS Championship at Northeast Motordrome, PA as they finished their racing this week. *** At Tri-County Speedway, NC Dexter Canipe continued his blitzkrieg on the title as he rolled to yet another win. *** At JAX Raceways in Jacksonville, FL D.J. Braddock scraped a win and a second place out of two features and edged to within two points of leader David Browning in the points. *** Finally at Carraway, NC Billy Hogan won his third feature of the season in NWRS action.
That's all the roundup we have for this week, but there is still plenty of racing going on at your local track for a few weeks yet. Get out and join in the fun this weekend and we will be back next week to look back at what you may have missed. Have a Ball, Ya'll!
John Kaiser -- The Autochannel
