By TJ Buffenbarger
A full house at Attica Raceway Park Friday night was treated to some of the best racing action with the USAC Stoops/Freightliner Sprint Car Series were not disappointed. From hot laps to the feature, three and four wide racing was the norm as the drivers covered every inch of the Attica 1/3 mile oval. The best example of this great action was in the third heat race where Roger Chaudion, Rusty McClure, Tracey Hines, and Hud Cone went four wide for most of the last lap of the race, and came across the line in that manner. Chaudion was declared the winner of the thrilling event.
Former All Star racer Brian Smith made his first 1999 appearance at Attica. Smith is using this season to catch up with family, as him and his wife have a brand new baby girl, and will be back on the tour next season. Smith’s Dad joked with us they wanted everyone to know the Smith’s hadn’t vanished, and decided to call in sick one more time.
Young Washington star Kasey Kahne made his second wingless start on dirt, and first wingless dirt sprint car start at Attica. Kahne ran away with his heat race, and had a solid top ten finish in the feature when he made contact with Billy Puterbaugh and flipped hard in turn one.
The full moon race track jinx struck again as eight cars got upside down during the eventing. Local driver Bobby Teeple flipped during qualifying, Matt Jewell flipped during the second heat, Todd Kane flipped at the start of the fourth heat, and Levi Jones and Steve Surniak flipped at the start of the semi along with the Kahne/Puterbaugh crash. All drivers were uninjured.
With the Attica race on Friday and border wars at Eldora and Winchester Saturday and Sunday, many of the USAC Stoops/Freightliner Sprint Car teams are stretched thin during the weekend. Robbie Rice was one of the drivers that had no sleep. Rice and his team spent all night getting their pavement car ready and went to pick up a trailer in Illinois. The team had multiple problems getting the trailer back to Indiana as the trailer brakes locked up north of Champagne. Rice ended up getting back to the shop around 6:00 a.m., ate breakfast at 8:00 a.m., and 10:00 a.m. the team left for Attica. Rice’s luck improved slightly after drawing a late time trial pill by securing the 32nd and last spot in the heat races.
With 44 cars on hand, several of the top drivers at Attica did not make the feature event. Second in USAC points Derek Davidson headed up the list after drawing the last qualifying pill put the BWB Racing Team behind the eight ball all night. Jason Dukes, Brian Gerster, Bryan Hayden, and young Brandon Petty also missed the feature at Attica.