Midgets: The Fourteenth 1998 Sportsman Midget Event Results
8 September 1998
The Fourteenth 1998 Sportsman Midget Event was held at the home track of Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois. The Sportsman brought twenty four cars and co-sanctioned with the Stock boys for a total car count of more than 75 cars. The grand stands left little room for more spectators, and the stands in the pits were near capacity too. When the Sportsman co-sanction for this Night of Features annual event, the midgets pit in the infield, with the trailers open to the stands.Spectators have a bird's eye view of what goes on before, during and after the races. With 24 cars, the Sportsman would normally run three heat races and a feature, minimally. However, with the number of cars at the track, between the midgets and four classes of stocks, the Sportsman ran two twelve car heats and a 24 car feature. Ironically, each of the Sportsman heats started with a yellow flag before the field could lap the track once. The Heats were increased to ten lappers and the feature race was thirty.
Results for the First Heat were: 1.#14 Fifield; 2.#91 McCabe; 3.#24 Spencer; 4.#18 Knippel; 5.#37 JonAnderson; 6.#4d Daily; 7.#58 R.Bettenhausen; 8.#87 Rawlings; 9.#10 Billhorn; 10.#2 M.Ohlendorf; 11.#75 S.Shilkuski; 12.#5 Murphy. Results for the Second Heat were: 1.#77 Kenning; 2.#44 Guimond; 3.#6 Schuck; 4.#88 Smith; 5.#3 Hoffmeyer; 6.#8 D.Bettenhausen; 7.#99 Peceniak; 8.#38 Guess; 9.#43 Orseske; 10.#54 T.Shilkuski; DNS-#1 D.Ohlendorf; DNS-#20 Smrekar.
The feature race was scheduled for 30 laps, which is five more than what most of the Sportsman are used to running. The line up was given to the Sportsman and there was a great deal of anticipation in the faces of the drivers. The green flag dropped and the action was on.
From his inside-row-three position, Matt Daily in his #4d car took the lead with Billhorn #10, Bettenhausen #58, JonAnderson #37 and Spencer #24 closing in tight behind. With 24 cars all hot for the win, there were battles for positions throughout the field. Daily #4d held off the field for the first ten laps, when M.Ohlendorf #2 took the lead. Spencer #24 had worked her way through the field from her outside-row-four position to close in behind Ohlendorf.
They battled for first place for several laps before Spencer took the lead in lap thirteen and never looked back. Ohlendorf #2 and Billhorn #10 were hot on Spencer's lead, but unable to overcome her. By lap sixteen, Spencer was leaving the rest of the field behind.
By lap 26 when the first yellow flag fell, Spencer had nearly a half lap lead on the remaining field, having lapped all but seven cars in the process. Anyone paying attention to what was going on would have seen that McCabe in his #91 machine had been working his way through the field from about halfway back. When the field was bunched back together for the restart in lap 26, it was Spencer #24 and McCabe #91.
The restart green flag fell and it was a real battle for first and second. Spencer and McCabe traded positions several times during the last four laps. The checkered flag fell for Spencer and McCabe for what turned out to be a PhotoFinish.
Results for the feature race were: 1.#24 Spencer; 2.#91 McCabe; 3.#10 Billhorn; 4.#14 Fifield; 5.#75 S.Shilkuski; 6.#4d Daily; 7.#37 JonAnderson; 8.#5 Murphy; 9.#20 Smrekar; 10.#6 Schuck; 11.#3 Hoffmeyer; 12.#99 Peceniak; 13.#44 Guimond; 14.#8 D.Bettenhausen; 15.#58 R.Bettenhausen; 16.#87 Rawlings; 17.#2 M.Ohlendorf; 18.#43 Orseske; 19.#88 Smith; 20.#18 Knippel; 21.#38 Guess; 22.#54 T.Shilkuski; 23.#77 Kenning; DNS-#1 D.Ohlendorf.