From Jeremy Sachse
Beaver Dam, WI; July 12, 2013 – They call it the “Horsepower Half-Mile”. The Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway’s big half-mile clay oval is known for its impressive speeds and flat out racing. When the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints come to town, the grandstands fill to capacity and the limits of speed at the raceway are tested.
Bill Balog tested and found those limits making a sweep of the show on a picture perfect Friday evening as the series honored the late Rick Schmidt, a former racer and board member of the Interstate Racing Association. Schmidt had been instrumental in taking the IRA Sprints on the road as a traveling series allowing fans throughout the Midwest to enjoy winged 410 Outlaw sprint car racing.
The 14th annual event named in his honor will be remembered for Balog’s dominating performance which began with the five-time and defending series champion establishing a new track record with a lap of 16.211 seconds erasing the old mark of 16.239 seconds which was set by Travis Whitney in September of 2004. Balog would end the evening in victory lane after the 23 lap A-main having outrun Phillip Mock who finished with runner-up honors just over 8 seconds behind Balog. Toss in Balog’s win in his heat race and heat completed a sweep of the night’s program.
The 23 lap main event would see 21 drivers push off to start the contest with the raceway having claimed engines in the rides of series heavy hitters Mike Reinke and Steve Meyer. Mike Kertscher, who had won the most recent IRA sprint event at the track last fall fell victim to a flip in his heat race and also was unable to start the featured contest.
Series Rookie of the Year contender Lance Fassbender started on the pole for the main event with Phillip Mock to his outside. At the drop of the green flag Mock blasted into the lead with Fassbender dropping into the second position. Balog had started in the sixth position but managed to slice between cars at the drop of the green flag reaching third by the backstretch on the opening lap and then marching past Fassbender for second before lap one was in the record books.
The second lap had not been completed before Bill Wirth came to a halt forcing the first of just two slowdowns in the contest. After some quick work by his crew Wirth was able to rejoin the event.
On the restart Mock showed Balog the speed in his #1m machine fending off Balog’s challenges and keeping Balog his tire tracks. Fassbender was also having a solid night holding down the third slot repelling the passing efforts of Scott Neitzel.
It took very little time for Mock to begin to reach lapped traffic as he was setting a blistering pace. Balog used the opportunity to close the gap and with a quick dive to the inside in turns one and two on the fifth lap Balog would squeeze past Mock to take over the lead position.
The pair would then begin to break away from the field continuing to joust for the top spot while working back markers. Attention began to focus on the battle for third as Fassbender had his hands full with Neitzel searching both the high and lows lines for a means to take the position.
Lap ten would play a major role in the outcome of the contest as a grinding multi-car incident would eliminate a handful of cars from possible podium finishes. Exiting turn two Tommy Sexton would blow a left rear tire on his ride. He attempted to gain control and slow his car heading down the backstretch. As the same time Scott Uttech attempted to avoid Sexton’s slowing ride sliding sideways and coming to a halt in turn three and as the field scattered a water barrel was knocked onto the racing surface. Nick Alden, fresh off a career best third place finish at Wilmot Raceway last week shot up the track in turn three into the soft cushion where his car began to tumble end over end after digging into the soft clay.
Alden was unhurt in the red-flag producing accident but the evening was over as his battered ride was hauled back to the pits by a wrecker. Uttech was also done for the night while Sexton’s team managed to change a wing damaged in the incident allowing him to return to action at the tail of the field which had been reduced to 15 cars.
After the red-flag current Rookie of the Year point leader Jeremy Schultz was unable to re-fire his ride dropping him from the fifth spot as he retired to the pit area giving him his first DNF of the 2013 season.
The final 13 laps of the contest would prove incident free and showcased the speed of Balog’s #17b ride. Balog would stretch out his lead on Mock with each passing lap having reached a full-straightaway lead with five laps to go. Mock also managed to secure his second position powering away from a torrid battle between Fassbender who was seeking his first podium finish of 2013 and Neitzel who was flaunting the speed in his newly built ride this evening.
With just over two laps to go Neitzel would work to the inside of Fassbender down the backstretch winning the drag race into turn three to take over the third spot. The lead positions would remain steady the final laps with Balog earning the win comfortably over Mock. Mock’s second place run was his best showing since a third place performance at Wilmot Raceway during the 2012 season and showed potential of the talented young racer. Neitzel completed the debut of his new car with a third place run.
Fassbender matched a career best performance with a fourth place effort holding off a Todd King for the spot. King would settle for fifth.
Russel Borland earned sixth just ahead of Sexton who charged back through the field to reach seventh after his earlier difficulties. Kris Spitz, Dave Uttech and Brandon Thone comprised the top ten finishers.
Earlier in the night heat race victories were taken by Balog, Sexton and Ken Jay Fiedler who was making a rare IRA appearance this evening.
Qualifying was topped by Balog’s record setting 16.211 second trip around the raceway which equated to an average speed of 111.036 mph. Sexton was second quick with a 16.780 second effort and Kertscher turned in the third best effort at 16.805 seconds.
The series now packs up and heads north to the banked third-mile Rice Lake Speedway for a show on Saturday Night July 13th. Making their lone appearance at that facility each year, the 2012 show saw race run green to checker in just over eight minutes.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints then make their next appearance at Wilmot Raceway on July 20th with the IRA vs. All-Star Circuit of Champion Sprint Challenge.
For more information on the IRA Outlaw Sprints check out the tour website at www.irasprints.com or logging onto the series Facebook page at www.facebook.com/irasprints
The IRA Outlaw Sprint Series is proudly supported by Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts & Service Centers, Hoosier Tire, Osborn & Son Trucking, TW Metals, Onan, Carriage Auto Body, Polaris DEFENSE, and Mother’s Polishes and Waxes. The office of the IRA Sprints can be reached at 815-759-9269 or by e-mail at steve@irasprints.com
BOX SCORE:
Event: #11 – Dodge County Fairground – Beaver Dam, WI – July 12, 2013
Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Cars
A Feature (23 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog[6]; 2. 1M-Phillip Mock[2]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 4. 7F-Lance Fassbender[1]; 5. 97-Todd King[3]; 6. 23-Russell Borland[13]; 7. 83-Tommy Sexton[5]; 8. 4K-Kris Spitz[11]; 9. 68-Dave Uttech[8]; 10. 94-Brandon Thone[9]; 11. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[7]; 12. 53W-Bill Wirth[12]; 13. 12-Michael Decker[15]; 14. 11-Darrell Dodd[20]; 15. 71-Chad Tessman[21]; 16. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[16] – dnf; 17. 7-Scott Uttech[10]- dnf; 18. 8A-Nick Alden[14] – dnf; 19. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[17] – dnf; 20. 38-Allen Hafford[18] – dnf; 21. 41-Dennis Spitz[19] – dnf; 22. 80K-Mike Kertscher – dns.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog[6]; 2. 7F-Lance Fassbender[4]; 3. 53W-Bill Wirth[2]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[5]; 5. 23-Russell Borland[1]; 6. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[3]; 7. 38-Allen Hafford[7]; 8. 71-Chad Tessman[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Tommy Sexton[6]; 2. 7-Scott Uttech[4]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech[3]; 4. 97-Todd King[5]; 5. 8A-Nick Alden[1]; 6. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[2]; DNF 41-Dennis Spitz[7]; DNS 85M-Steve Meyer
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[2]; 2. 94-Brandon Thone[4]; 3. 1M-Phillip Mock[5]; 4. 4K-Kris Spitz[3]; 5. 12-Michael Decker[1]; DNF 80K-Mike Kertscher[6]; DNF 11-Darrell Dodd[7]; DNS 02-Mike Reinke
Qualifying: 1. 17B-Bill Balog[1]; 2. 83-Tommy Sexton[3]; 3. 80K-Mike Kertscher[23]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[8]; 5. 97-Todd King[7]; 6. 1M-Phillip Mock[15]; 7. 7F-Lance Fassbender[20]; 8. 7-Scott Uttech[6]; 9. 94-Brandon Thone[10]; 10. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[4]; 11. 68-Dave Uttech[12]; 12. 4K-Kris Spitz[14]; 13. 53W-Bill Wirth[18]; 14. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[11]; 15. 95A-Ken Jay Fiedler[17]; 16. 23-Russell Borland[19]; 17. 8A-Nick Alden[22]; 18. 12-Michael Decker[9]; 19. 38-Allen Hafford[16]; 20. 41-Dennis Spitz[2]; 21. 11-Darrell Dodd[21]; 22. 71-Chad Tessman[13]; DNS 02-Mike Reinke; DNS 85M-Steve Meyer