Midgets/Legends: Grundy County Speedway Race Results
14 September 1998
Race Results after the 12 September 98 Eventsat the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, IL.
The fifteenth 1998 Sportsman Event was held at the Grundy County Speedway. It was to be the last race at the hometrack for the 98 season. The National Boys and also the Legend Cars co-sanctioned with the Sportsman for a total car count of nearly 70 cars. The evening was cool and breezy leaving a buzz in the air about changes in chasis setups and stagger. When the first cars fired off for hot laps, the sun was shining and the evening was beautiful. The Sportsman boasted a car count of 23 with 21 of them qualifying. The qualifying times were tight. The first fifteen cars all qualified inside of a second of one another. The competition was so close that there was even a TIE to the thousandths of a second. Spencer hit the track like a tornado this evening.
She came out to take the fast qualifying time with a flying (16.172). Following closely were: McCabe #91 (16.221); Murphy #5 (16.255); Knippel #18 (16.433); JonAnderson #37 (16.500) and; Daily #4d (16.567). The smiles were a mile wide, as Quinn McCabe came over to congratulate Susan for having taken the record and to get into some "pre-race ribbing." With the large car count, and the prospects of having a great number of heat, semi and feature races, the Sportsman divided the field and ran two heats.
Results for the First Heat were: 1.#91 McCabe; 2.#5 Murphy; 3.#37 JonAnderson; 4.#24 Spencer; 5.#4d Daily; 6.#18 Knippel; 7.#14 Fifield; 8.#2 M.Ohlendorf; 9.#75 S.Shilkuski; 10.#8 Roger Bettenhausen (car change); 11.#10 Billhorn. Results for the Second Heat were: 1.#99 Peceniak; 2.#20 Smrekar; 3.#77 Kenning; 4.#38 Guess; 5.#94 Deheve; 6.#6 Schuck; 7.#44 Guimond; 8.#98 Kommpa; 9.#88 Smith; 10.#21 Schreffler; 11.#54 T.Shilkuski.
The Sportsman were first up for the feature races. Roger Bettenhausen, in his brother's #8 car found himself on the pole, after McCabe rolled the dice to have 10 inverted for the feature. There were 20 cars pushed off for the feature, but before cars could be lined up, there was a noticeable problem with Bob Kenning's #77 car. He was pulled over and teched and found to be leaking oil. Unfortunately his race was over before it began, along with Terry Guimond #44 and Vern Kommpa #98.
The Green Flag fell and the field soared into action. Scotty Shilkuski #75 took the lead at the green with Jimmy Fifield #14 closing in tight behind him. Susan Spencer #24 was working her way thru the field, and overcame Scotty in the sixth lap, and never to look back. Again, from the middle of the pack, the fans could see Quinn McCabe working his way, position by position. By the eighth lap, Quinn was all over Susan again. Trying to take her high then slamming down into the rumble strips in hopes of taking her underneath. His efforts were fantastic, but not nearly good enough to overcome Susan in her Ford 2300cc #24 machine.
Susan, Quinn and Sean Murphy in his inline Pontiac 153 cu.in. #5 car were taking to the corners three wide, battling side by side thru the straights and bringing the fans to their feet. Susan, Quinn and Sean started to pull away from the field. There were battles throughout and the positions were changing. The yellow flag fell in lap nineteen when Murphy's car burned a piston, and was forced to leave the track. With the field bunched back together for the restart, Susan maintained her lead, with Quinn giving it every shot he could come up with. Spencer held him off to take the last 1998 Feature win at the home track of Grundy County.
Susan Spencer WON her feature race. She raced with the best of 'em and she beat 'em all. She pulled up to the Start Finish line, threw off her safety belts, climbed from the top of the car and STOOD ON THE ROLL CAGE, both fists in the air! The fans went bizerk cheering her and waving flags.