By T.J. Buffenbarger
Wyoming, MI — (July 4, 2016) — Sometimes the best is difficult to explain. I can breeze through a typical race night and recap various high and low points for our readers with ease. Events that impress me overall, or have exceptional racing are the most difficult to write about. I put the onus on myself to convey to you how great something was, and sometimes our sport is so good the words I use may not do justice for them.
In the case of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Michigan swing this season at Hartford Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway I wanted to make sure I conveyed to you how enjoyable each night of racing was and how well run both programs were.
Being that both tracks were literally in my backyard, with an hour drive to Hartford and about a 30-minute drive to I-96, I hoped both races would be well run, highly entertaining events. Both venues delivered.
Both events were high end in their own ways. After analyzing attendance figures Hartford went double down on sprint car events this year bringing in more and larger shows. One of the biggest was Saturday’s All Star/Great Lakes Super Sprints/Michigan Traditional Sprints triple header. Michigan sprint car fans have not been treated to an open wheel event with multiple classes of this quality since the early 2000’s.
Seeing everyone’s face as 70 sprint cars started to put heat in the engines at Hartford was worth the price of admission. Smiles were everywhere as car count exceeded virtually everyone’s expectations in all classes. The track crew at Hartford also came up huge after struggling early in the season with a new racing surface to provide to decent racing surface this weekend, working until 4:00 a.m. on Saturday to turn the track around for the sprint car program. The car turnout combined with the track and the great crowd makes me think that Hartford hit on something that we hope becomes an annual event. Icing on the cake is it couldn’t happen to a better family as the Dibbles are among the nicest people I work with all year.
Sunday’s event at I-96 Speedway featured an entirely different value to the fans for the All Star’s first time as event promoter. Tony Stewart signing autographs combined with the All Stars paired with UMP Late Models was a big hit as it was the biggest crowd I have eyeballed at I-96 this season. Even with track owner Mike Mouch’s attention on his young son who had to be hospitalized earlier in the week they provided a racey surface that allowed Kraig Kinser to move up from 10th starting spot to third using the bottom of the track and Dean Jacobs finishing fifth from 17th.
In addition to the great racing the sprint car feature ended at 10:15 p.m. After a good late model feature the pit area had fans wondering around getting autographs and such due to the early ending. In a state that all too often stacks the back gate even for its biggest events Stewart and his All Star crew proved you can promote a high quality event with two good classes of cars.
When I first read the schedule release with these dates I was skeptical. Other than tracks near a lot of lake homes like Crystal Motor Speedway and Merritt Speedway holiday weekends can be difficult in Michigan. Hartford and I-96 overcame that stigma providing racing fans with two great programs that we hope will become an annual event.
Notes….
• The box score shows Sheldon Haudenschild leading all 55 laps of feature racing for the All Stars over the weekend. Often that might be a sign of lackluster racing, but the way Haudenschild went about leading all of those laps was anything but mundane. The two things that stood out to me the most in Haudneschild’s romp through the Great Lakes State was how good he was on every restart all weekend holding off challenges from Dale Blaney on Saturday at Hartford and just driving away from Danny Holtgraver Sunday at I-96. The other was how Haudenschild disposed of slower traffic both nights. Haudenschild never hesitated in traffic disposing of slower cars with the precision that you would see from a World of Outlaws top flight driver. Some of the traffic splitting moves Haudenschild employed were eye opening.
• Saturday was the first time Sheldon and father Jac Haudenschild won features on the same night at different race tracks. Just before the All Star feature commenced we found out that Jac had won the Ohio Sprint Car Series event at Wayne County Speedway. After Sheldon won at Hartford he revealed to us that he was discussing this situation with his dad earlier in the week going through trophies to figure out if they had ever won on the same night before, which they had not.
• Kinser’s big run through the pack on Sunday at I-96 was particularly impressive as one of the few drivers to make progress on the low side of the race track throughout the event. The decision to run the bottom was a product of Kinser’s starting spot. Kinser indicated his team is starting to get dialed in with their DRC Chassis, which is the highest profile winged team that has used one of Joe Devin’s race cars in quite some time, indicated that having DRC located a little over an hour from his shop is a nice part of the situation.
• After a second place finish at Hartford on Saturday Blaney had mechanical issues early in the going at I-96. Rather than going to the work area, knowing the issue likely could not be repaired, Blaney pulled into the infield and allowed the feature to remain under green flag conditions. Blaney’s early exit allowed fourth place finishing Chad Kemenah to extend his point lead over Blaney to 46.
• Seven drivers ran the 410 and 360 division on Saturday night. Dustin Daggett, Brad Lamberson, Chase Ridenour, Randy Hannagan, Joe Swanson, Brett Mann, and D.J. Foos were busy all night going back and forth between cars with Hannagan being the top performer of the double dippers with a second and fourth place finish in the GLSS and All Star features respectively.
• Daggett was the top finishing Michigan resident in the All Star programs both nights driving the Mott Motorsports entry. Daggett was in prime position for another strong run at I-96 Speedway on Sunday drawing a front row starting position for the dash, but a broken rear end was not repaired in time to start the dash and relegated Daggett to the eighth starting position.
• Lamberson’s double dip along with Sunday’s run at I-96 with the All Stars was done while racing for three different teams. Saturday at Hartford Lamberson drove Steve Smith’s car in the All Star portion of the program and putting the car in the dash while racing his own car in the GLSS portion of the program. Due to mechanical issues with the Smith car on Saturday the team opted to skip Sunday’s program at I-96. Lamberson started working the phones and ended up in Shelby Bilton’s car at I-96.
• After breaking the 410 car in hot laps Brett Mann showed flashes of brilliance in the 360 feature at Hartford racing up to the front with a tremendous run around the top of turns one and two. Unfortunately, that was short lived as Mann soon was retired into the infield early on in the feature and unable to make repairs to the 410 for Sunday’s event.
• Taylor Ferns returned to the driver’s seat for a second weekend after nearly a year off going to school at Grand Valley State University, filling in for former teammate and friend Caleb Armstrong in the Armstrong family car this weekend finishing 15th and 19th at Hartford and I-96 respectively. Armstrong was on hand all weekend and is aiming for a late August/early September return to the driver’s seat if all goes well with his broken ankle.
• Landon Simon and Drew Radar were surprise entries for the MTS program at Hartford. Simon used the Hartford event to work on some setup ideas the team had come up with during the USAC swing through Pennsylvania while Radar wanted some more experience on large race tracks. Simon backed up his win at Hartford with a big win on Sunday at Waynesfield Raceway Park.
• The MTS portion of the program was an Irwin family affair with Mark, Rick, Joe, and Steve all in action. Steve took top honors in the family with a third place finish.
• Pennsylvania was well represented with both of the Mackison brothers, Hunter and Jordan, and Carl Bowser making the tow to Michigan for the weekend. Bowser indicated Hartford and I-96 were two of about a dozen All Star shows the team would travel to this season including the upcoming Dirt Classic at Kokomo Speedway on July 22 and 23rd. Bowser ran solidly in the top five for the first half of the race at I-96 before finishing in the eighth spot.
• One interesting MTS entry was Travis Lacombe’s move from modifieds to non-wing sprint cars this season. Travis is the son of former Michigan 360 sprint car champion Spike LaCombe.
• Bill Balog made the tow to Hartford after Knoxville Raceway cancelled early in the day. Balog made the dash, but had a mechanical issue that relegated him to the eighth starting spot in the feature and an eventual ninth place finish in the feature.
• Lee Jacobs’ visit to the Great Lakes State turned abysmal following engine problems and getting caught up in a crash at Hartford and then having more mechanical issues at I-96.
• After being caught up in a crash at Daytona on Saturday Tony Stewart was extremely jovial and seemed very happy to be at I-96 Speedway, extending what was originally an autograph session for about 150 people to all ticket holders on hand. Sitting next to several All Star officials on Sunday it was interesting to witness how involved Stewart is in the operation. Seeing how hands on Stewart is by being willing and able to assist his staff with whatever task necessary. Sunday was just further evidence that Stewart is really going to enjoy his retirement from the NASCAR driver’s seat.
In closing I would like to thank both tracks for providing a great weekend of racing for us close to home. In addition, the officials from GLSS, MTS, and the All Stars were great to work with. After being with the All Stars all weekend it was great to see how organized and calm the operation is. Working All Star programs now for 20 years and attending them my entire life gives the impression that the series appears to be in very good hands.