From John Lemon
Meeker, OK — (March 30, 2013) — They said she would win soon and when she does, more would follow quickly. They speak of “The Lindsay Flash”, Miss Harli White of Lindsay Oklahoma who has garnered a lot of interest since her strong finishes in the latter part of last years racing season. Tonight, at the Brill Motor Speedway, the Oil Capital Racing Series opened their 2013 sprint car season and did so as wingless sprint cars, something White is all to familiar with in her days of micro sprint racing. The past experiences transcended into a hard fought and convincing victory over a stout field of 37 other competitors. White becomes the second female driver to win an OCRS event. Shayla Waddell took checkers last May at the Salina Highbanks Speedway to break the gender barrier. In was only the second ever non-wing sprint car race White had competed in but first in a 360 cu in car as the maiden non-wing run came in a smaller 305 cu in car.
Intense Battle For Positions Leaves Fans In Awe
The main event was one for the ages as the term “wheel to wheel” lived up it its trademark and then some. White earned the right to start on the pole by winning the “Pole Dash” earlier in the program and was accompanied on the front row by Joe Wood Jr. It took a couple of attempts to get the feature going as Perry Pickard spun to a stop in turn one on the initial start. On the restart, Fred Mattox spun and Cody Brewer was collected trying to avoid him. Mattox would restart while Brewer was taken to the pits with front-end damage. In the next attempt to start the feature, Mattox again stopped in turn one to bring out another yellow.
The next attempt held as White took to the point in turn one with Wood Jr, Andrew Deal and the ‘Gasman’ Whit Gastineau in pursuit. As White lead the charge down the back straight, the next four cars were in rows of two as if they were forming up for the start except they were at full speed. Wood Jr made a run at White coming out of turn four and took the lead by a half a car length at the flagstand only to have White get her lead back moments later. The Gasman was carrying his left front wheel high into the air exiting the corners with the bite he was getting on a perfectly prepared racing surface while chasing the duo in front of him. As the excitement was building, Mattox stopped again in turn two bringing out another stoppage of action. His night ended at that point.
The lap three restart saw Deal slide in under Gastineau in turn three to take that position away. Deal then went to take a spot from Wood Jr but to no avail as Wood Jr would fight Deal off but Deal came right back and made the pass. As the field was on lap six, a terrible crash ensued at the end of the front-straight and into turn one. Johnny ‘Hotrod’ Kent and Gastineau made contact in turn four which caused Kent to slow going down the front-straight. While Kent kept his machine tight against the wall, it was still the preferred racing groove and Danny Smith plowed into the back of Kent at full speed and all hell broke loose. Kyle Clark was collected and turned over and that resulted in a red flag being displayed. Matt Sherrell and Perry Pickard were also involved. The aftermath resulted in several badly damaged racecars with Sherrell’s car seemingly suffering the worst. While there were some bumps and bruises, all drivers were otherwise OK.
The restart order was White, Deal, Wood Jr, Robert Sellers, Gastineau and defending OCRS champion Jamie Passmore who was methodically working his way into the picture from his eighth starting spot. With lightning in the skies, the OCRS officials called for a 20-lap feature over the regularly scheduled 25-lap distance in an effort to get the show in before any rain could possibly present its self. On the restart, Wood Jr would reclaim the runner-up spot from Deal as these two hard chargers fought ferociously with each other. Running on lap nine, White, Wood Jr and Deal were all bunched together as they crossed the start-finish line and Wood Jr went into turn one dead center and took the lead as White got over the cushion a little trying to defend her top spot.
Wood Jr’s lead would be erased as a yellow fell before the lap could be completed when Perry Pickard spun to a stop thus putting White back on the point based on the last scored completed lap. The crowd in attendance were getting their money’s worth and then some from these open wheel pilots. While under yellow, Gastineau came to a stop in turn three with suspension damage while running in the fourth position and had to exit pitside ending his fine run. White would lead the field to green on the next restart as Wood Jr, Deal and Sellers continued to chase.
Within a couple of laps, Passmore began to attack Sellers looking for a way by. Passmore would find the low line to his liking coming out of turn two and sped past Sellers as the two veterans dragged raced down the back-stretch. Sellers refused to be denied and he retook the spot shortly after thus leaving Passmore to try again. The next lap by, Passmore made another pass at the line and this time, the move proved successful. In the meantime, the battle up front continued to stay ferocious as wheels just inches apart was the norm rather than the exception. The yellow would fall again on lap 17 when Jeremy Allen spun to a stop at the flagstand. This would set up one last shot for the boys to overtake White for the win. On the restart, Kevin Pickard would spin to a stop in turn two bringing out the last caution of the night.
White took the green and powered her way into turn one on the restart and on the 18th lap, Wood Jr got high in turn one and that allowed Deal, Passmore and Sellers all to skirt by. White would hold on to earn her first OCRS feature victory. It would be a complete Sweep for White as she also won the night’s Bob Hurley Auto Family heat race in addition to the Pole Dash race. Deal held on to the runner-up spot followed by Passmore, Sellers and Wood Jr to make up the top five. Rounding out the top ten were: ‘Lightning’ Layne Himebaugh, who earned the night’s AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories “Hard Charger” award from his 19th starting position, Alex Sewell, Brain McClelland, Kip Hughes (from 20th) and Jeremy Allen.
With backing from Jerry Tucker Roustabout, Terraco Soil Farming, Crash Enterprises, All Star Café and Charlie’s Trucking, White shared these thoughts; “My car was just perfect as my dad (Charlie) had it set up just right,” said a happy winner. “The car was just super fast and I just had to hang on for the ride.” When asked about the fierce battles with Wood Jr and Deal, White replied: I knew they had to be close because I could hear them behind me and all I was thinking was to not screw up and hold my line. The first corner was the key. I knew if I hit the right all the time, they probably weren’t going to get around me.”
Deal won the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories heat; Wood Jr took the Drive Shafts Inc heat while McClelland and Gastineau took heats sponsored by Car and Fleet Parts. Sherrell and Clark were each victorious in Wesmar Racing Engines B-Feature events. The Dyno Service of Oklahoma “Hard Luck” award went to Matt Sherrell.
With her win tonight, White takes an early season lead in not only the 2013 championship points chase, but also the Non-Wing points lead as the driver with the most points in Non-Wing racing events in 2013 will earn an extra $1,000 while position 2-5 will earn extra cash as well. A special group of sponsors are to be thanked for the added financial awards for the Non-Wing fund and these sponsors include:
Eagle Motorsports / Lincoln NE
Grand Prix Auto Center / Tulsa OK
Allen Competition Engines / Mustang OK
Maxwell Oil / Tulsa OK
Morton Excavating / Coweta OK
Racing Optics / Las Vegas NV
R&M Race Trailers / Cushing OK
Shock Doc / Tulsa OK
Smiley’s Racing Products / Mesquite TX
Superior Auto Salvage / Tulsa OK
The OCRS sprinters will next head to Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore Oklahoma for the second round of 2013 action. Can Harli White make it two in a row? Will Jamie Passmore or Danny Smith earn victories at SOS as they did last season? Come out to SOS this Saturday and find out! For more information on the OCRS sprint car series, visit the website at: www.ocrsracing.com
Brill Motor Speedway Results
Race date: May 30, 2013 / Race #1
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat:
1) Andrew Deal 2) Fred Mattox 3) Perry Pickard 4) Shane Pace 5) Michael Tyre 6) Jeff Garnett 7) Kerry McAlister (dns) 8) Justin Mowry (dns)
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat:
1) Harli White 2) Andy Shouse 3) Alex Sewell 4) Jeremy Allen 5) Chance Morton 6) Kevin Barksdale 7) Joshua Tyre 8) Kade Morton
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat:
1) Joe Wood Jr 2) Danny Smith 3) Johnny Kent 4) Alex Decamp 5) Waylon Weaver 6) Billy Frazier 7) Mike Huard 8) Cord Dodson
Car & Fleet Parts Heat:
1)Brian McClelland 2) Robert Sellers 3) Kevin Pickard 4) Kyle Clark 5) Michael Bookout 6) Brent Swift 7) Jamie McDonald
Car & Fleet Parts Heat:
1) Whit Gastineau 2) Jamie Passmore 3) Cody Brewer 4) Matt Sherrell 5) Layne Himebaugh 6) Dan Schnackenberg 7) Kip Hughes
Pole Dash:
1) Harli White 2) Joe Wood Jr 3) Andrew Deal 4) Whit Gastineau 5) Fred Mattox 6) Brain McClelland
Wesmar Racing Engines B-Feature #1 (Top two transfer):
1) Matt Sherrell 2) Layne Himebaugh 3) Kade Morton 4) Kerry McAlister 5) Alex Decamp 6) Chance Morton 7) Kevin Barksdale 8) Michael Bookout 9) Jamie McDonald 10) Joshua Tyre 11) Brent Swift
Wesmar Racing Engines B-Feature #2 (Top two transfer):
1) Kyle Clark 2) Kip Hughes 3) Shane Pace 4) Billy Frazier 5) Michael Tyre 6) Justin Mowry 7) Waylon Weaver 8) Cord Dodson 9) Mike Huard 10) Dan Schnackenberg 11) Jeff Garnett
OCRS A-Feature (Starting positions in parenthesis):
1) Harli White 2) Andrew Deal 3) Jamie Passmore 4) Robert Sellers 5) Joe Wood Jr 6) Layne Himebaugh 7) Alex Sewell 8) Brain McClelland 9) Kip Hughes 10) Jeremy Allen 11) Kevin Pickard 12) Whit Gastineau 13) Perry Pickard 14) Johnny Kent 15) Danny Smith 16) Matt Sherrell 17) Kyle Clark 18) Fred Mattox 19) Andy Shouse 20) Cody Brewer