By T.J. Buffenbarger
The 2013 edition of Indiana Sprint Week kicked off Friday at Gas City I-69 Speedway with Jon Stanbrough picking up another Indiana Sprint Week victory, but the win was first for Stanbrough’s latest car owner Shane Wade. Teaming up with Wade also hooked Stanbrough up with Darrell Tate as his crew chief again. Stanbrough and Tate worked together last season and Tate was instrumental in the duo getting back together during the off season.
“I got along great with (Tate), and we stayed in communication all winter long not knowing where I was going to be and (Tate) didn’t know where he was going to be. Tried to get something together, but it didn’t work out. I started out the season with a different team and actually ran for one other person and then got together with Shane Wade and these guys. I’m super happy for (Wade) because he gave us the opportunity; I don’t think he’s won a USAC race let along a non-wing race. So I’m really happy for him.”
The win was Stanbrough’s first since joining Wade’s team and appears to have hit on something right before the beginning of the year. The win on Friday was on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum for Stanbrough as he struggled to find a ride at all over the winter and then did not find the right chemistry in some of the other teams he drove for earlier in the season.
“Mid-winter getting close to when normally I would have a ride I didn’t have one and was searching. I finally got one and it didn’t work out the way I was hoping, so a moth or two into the season I was down in the dumps and started to lose confidence in myself and I’m really glad that (Tate) didn’t give up on me to make the commitment and convince Shane that I was the right guy to put in the seat”
With all of the pieces together and getting the first win under their belt Stanbrough is looking towards bigger things with the Wade team.
“I don’t know if I’ve been looking forward to Sprint Week, I’ve just been looking forward to putting the car in the winner’s circle. Now that we’ve done it during Sprint Week maybe we can capitalize on it and win some more races and maybe get another Sprint Week championship. “
Notes and Quotes….
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Mark Smith. – T.J. Buffenbarger Photo Central Pennsylvania sprint car driver and chassis builder Mark Smith appeared at Gas City for the first time to attempt his first full Indiana Sprint Week. Smith has made several non-wing starts this season and is enjoying non-wing racing.”I’ve wanted to do this stuff since I was a little kid. Wingless is not in Pennsylvania, its just something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Smith. “Hunter (Schuerenberg) has been running my cars, and we have come out and played around a little bit. They have been bugging me to do this and I figured I should at least try this one time.
Smith plans on running the entire week as long as he does not tear up a lot of equipment. Smith was pleastantly surprised by how many familiar faces he ran into during the opening night of Indiana Sprint Week.
“There are quite a few people here from Pa. I’d say a quarter of the people are from Pa it seems like, but it’s good to see that.”
Of all of the tracks on Sprint Week Smith has raced at all of them previously except for Gas City and Lincoln Park.
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Nathan Moore pulled all the way from Texas with this car to run Indiana Sprint Week. – T.J. Buffenbarger Photo Nathan Moore from Tyler, Texas pulled to Indiana Sprint Week with only his open trailer and a pickup truck. Moore left on Thursday night and pulled into Gas City with the intention of running the entire series with his sprint car. Moore is a regular with the Sprint Series of Texas but brought a 410 sprint car out for Sprint Week.“This has been six months in the making and we are going to be here the entire week as long as we don’t tear anything up,” said Moore. “Non-wing looks a little wild, and wild is what I want.”
Moore qualified well enough to earn a front row starting spot in one of the two non-qualifier events, but was unable to transfer.
- Pulling a good number for qualifications when over 50 car show up during Indiana Sprint Week is vital, and several veterans suffered from the their draw. Jerry Coons, Jr. was one of the last drivers to qualify and was relegated to the non-qualifiers race. Coons transferred from that, but his night came to an end after contact with Dakota Jackson while racing for a transfer spot in the B-Main.
- Fan favorite Robert Ballou struggled on Friday with the Pollock #21 car and announced after Friday’s race that he would roll out his own car and finish Sprint Week in it. Ballou is looking for sponsorship to help the effort.
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Richard Vander Weerd. – T.J. Buffenbarger Photo Two of the three west coast visitors made Friday night’s feature with Richard Vander Weerd and Ryan Bernal making the feature. Richard’s brother Jace looked impressive at times but missed making Friday night’s feature.
- While the track quickly went away during qualifications Jiggs Thomason and Gas City’s track crew brought it back to live for some great preliminary events. There was some doubt on how good the feature might be after a lively b-main when the track crew decided to tear up the entire surface. Even with the revamp that sometimes causes some one lane racing early in the feature the stars of the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series put on another great Indiana Sprint Week feature at Gas City.
- Look for two Hoffman Auto Racing cars at the Ultimate Challenge next month at Southern Iowa Speedway. Rob Hoffman revealed that you will see a special guest driver in one of their cars along with a little different configuration for that car for the big non-wing event during Southern Iowa Speedweek. Brady Bacon, the team’s primary driver, will also be on hand driving for the Hoffman’s at Oskaloosa. Bacon’s “Wine me, dine me, 69 me” limited edition Indiana Sprint Week t-shirt was a huge hit among fans.
- The opening night of Indiana Sprint Week was a relatively safe one with no sprint cars upside down. The USAC Honda Ignite Midget Car Series made up for it following the sprint car feature with a couple of big flips including multiple time feature winner Toby Alfrey.
- Sprint Week continues to be popular with teams and race fans as 51 cars took qualification times on opening night in front of a capacity crowd at Gas City.
