By John Naida
ERIE, MI (August 13, 2017) – Thomas Schinderle was dialed in as Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP invaded Butler Motor Speedway for the Driven Racing Oil Battlegrounds Bash finale/4th Annual Butler Bash Saturday night. The spectacular show, the last 2017 SOD race at Butler, put an exclamation point on the three-race series. The Driven Racing Oil, Butler Motor Speedway, Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP partnership was a huge success.
Schinderle (Berkley, MI) not only picked up his first sprint car feature win, but also the $1,000 check as the 2017 Driven Racing Oil Battlegrounds Bash points champion. He started the night in fourth place in the points, but a combination of several factors, including his stellar performance, propelled him to the championship. Joe Swanson, Chad Blonde, Jay Steinebach, and Steve Irwin will also share in the point fund payout.
It was the “younger generation” in the front row to start the feature, thirteen-year-old leading SOD sprint car rookie of the year candidate Andrew Scheid (Sparta, MI) started from the pole. Butler competitor nineteen-year-old Quentin Blonde (Litchfield, MI) started outside front row. After a first lap caution for a Tony Bures spin, Scheid took the lead on the start and looked like anything but a sprint car rookie.
On lap five Joe Swanson (Etna Green, IN) used his experience to grab the lead from Scheid. Swanson looked fast, but sixth place starter Thomas Schinderle drove by Swanson, winner of the second Driven Racing Oil Battlegrounds Bash race, on lap 9 after a crowd-pleasing back and forth battle.
Once out front, Schinderle skillfully worked his way through traffic and maintained a small lead over Swanson. For a lap twenty-one restart, Chad Blonde had moved into third and all eyes were on him as the race went green. Schinderle and Swanson were up to the challenge though. Blonde’s charge ended as he ran over the top of turn three, losing six places.
Josh Shantz , a regular at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, entered his first Engine Pro Sprints On presented by ARP. Former Michigander Chad Goff, now an Olathe, Kansas, resident and longtime winged and non-winged, pavement and dirt sprint car competitor also competed in the program.
Qualifying – Lane Automotive/MSD Ignition Fast Masters (fast qualifiers) $50 each
Group Time # Driver
Engler Machine & Tool Heat 13.565 19Z Doug Zimmerman
COMP Cams Heat 14.517 5QB Quentin Blonde
RockAuto.com Heat 15.348 10s Jay Steinebach
Heat Races – Winners $100 each
Engler Machine & Tool Heat #1
# Driver Contingency
1 19Z Doug Zimmerman
2 5b Chad Blonde Kistler Racing Products
3 7J Joe Swanson Racing Optics
4 4T Josh Turner
5 20A Andy Chehowski
6 49T Gregg Dalman
7 21T Troy Chehowski
8 18x Josh Shantz
9 6 Tyler Bearden
COMP Cams Heat #2
# Driver Contingency
1 27b Boston Mead
2 41 Thomas Schinderle Allstar Performance
3 5QB Quentin Blonde Racing Optics
4 1a Mark Aldrich
5 9 Chad Goff
6 9E Tim Evilsizer
7 10J Chris Jones
8 27K Ryan Kirkendall
9 8 Justin Ward
RockAuto.com Heat #3
# Driver Contingency
1 0 Steve Irwin
2 77 Andrew Scheid Kistler Racing Products
3 47 Robert Bulloch Racing Optics
4 58 Tony Bures
5 18 DJ Lamance
6 17 Dustin Carl
7 52 Zac Broughman
8 10s Jay Steinebach
DNS 12 Mike Baker
B-Main
# Driver
1 9E Tim Evilsizer
2 10J Chris Jones
3 49T Gregg Dalman
4 18x Josh Shantz
5 10s Jay Steinebach
6 21T Troy Chehowski
7 8 Justin Ward
8 27K Ryan Kirkendall
9 52 Zac Broughman
10 17 Dustin Carl
11 6 Tyler Bearden
Feature
# Driver Awards Contingencies
1 41 Thomas Schinderle Rod End Supply
2 7J Joe Swanson Rod End Supply
3 27b Boston Mead Rod End Supply
4 19Z Doug Zimmerman Schoenfeld Headers
5 0 Steve Irwin ATL Racing Fuel Cells
6 4T Josh Turner
7 5b Chad Blonde Allstar Performance
8 77 Andrew Scheid
9 9 Chad Goff King Racing Products
10 47 Robert Bulloch
11 9E Tim Evilsizer Keizer Aluminum Wheels
12 49T Gregg Dalman
13 18x Josh Shantz
14 20A Andy Chehowski
15 10s Jay Steinebach
16 18 DJ Lamance
17 58 Tony Bures
18 5QB Quentin Blonde
19 10J Chris Jones
20 1a Mark Aldrich
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger – Gregg Dalman (+6)
BR Motorsports Contingency (feature top 10 draw) – Steve Irwin
DMI (Diversified Machine) Contingency (feature 12-16 draw) – Gregg Dalman
Perfit Corporation Lucky Dog – Tim Evilsizer
For more information about Engine Pro go to www.enginepro.com. For more information about ARP, go to www.arp-bolts.com. The full 2017 Sprints on Dirt schedule, rules, current news, and other information are available at www.sprintsondirt.com.