From Linda Mansfield
GAS CITY, Ind. (June 8, 2018) – he widely debated question, “Which is better, wing or non-wing sprint car racing?” was not definitively answered Friday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway, as both the Great Lakes Super Sprints (GLSS) 360 winged sprint cars and the track’s regular 410 non-wing sprint cars put on memorable features that were won by Max Stambaugh and Clinton Boyles, respectively.
A 28-minute downpour that included a little hail caused the first race to be delayed for about two hours, but the track management and crew put in a Herculean effort to get the quarter-mile dirt track back in shape. The teams, push truck drivers, rescue workers and the great Gas City fans were patient through it all, and their reward was a doozy of a show featuring over 100 races cars in four divisions.
NASCAR’s Kenny Wallace made his first visit to Gas City a winning one, as the St. Louis-based driver won the UMP modified feature. Super street point leader Randy Lines of Marion, Ind. led every lap of that division’s main event to put a final exclamation point on the evening.
Dustin Daggett of Portland, Mich., led every lap of the first GLSS feature ever held at Gas City except for the lap that counted. He got held up by lapped traffic in the fourth turn on the last lap, which allowed Stambaugh, of Lima, Ohio, to slide ahead for the victory. The margin of victory for Stambaugh, who hounded Daggett the entire race, was a mere 0.108 of a second.
Jared Horstman of Cloverdale, Ohio placed third; Randy Hannagan, a native of San Jose, Calif., was fourth, and Andrew Scheid of Sparta, Mich. rounded out the top five.
That race was unusual, as four drivers flipped in individual accidents. Luckily all climbed out of their mangled cars under their own power.
Those getting on their head included Nick Hull of South Whitley, Ind. (Turn 1 on the initial start); Joe Geibe of Sturgis, Mich. (Turn 2 on the second attempt to start); Phil Gressman of Helena, Ohio (between Turns 3 and 4 with two laps down), and Jared Horstman of Cloverdale, Ohio (who was fourth when he flipped between Turns 3 and 4 with seven laps down).
Daggett survived all those restarts plus another one after Chase Ridenour of Perry, Mich. brought out a yellow when he stopped high in Turn 3 before Horstman’s flip. But lapped traffic in the final turn on the final lap allowed Stambaugh, the polesitter, to take the top honors from the field of 32 GLSS entries.
A total of 28 non-wing sprint cars signed in for that portion of the program, and Boyles, of Greenwood, Mo., posted his second Gas City victory of the year in Paul Hazen’s No. 57 DRC chassis with a Kercher-prepared engine that is sponsored by Physical Medicine Consultants and KECO Coatings. Boyles started second but got the lead by passing polesitter Tyler Hewitt with an outside move at the start/finish line on the initial start, and led all 25 laps.
There was only one yellow and one red in that race, and they both occurred on lap 16. Shane Cottle of Kansas, Ill. had just taken second from Hewitt with 16 laps down when Adam Byrkett spun in Turn 4. After the restart there was a little contact between Cottle and Boyles on the backstretch while they were dicing for the lead, which sent Cottle, the point leader, flipping through the air. Luckily he wasn’t hurt. That gave second back to Hewitt, who finished in that spot followed by Kyle Robbins; Tony DiMattia, who started way back in 14th place, and Tony Main.
NASCAR’s Kenny Wallace sized things up by finishing second to Scott Orr in the second UMP modified heat with a new Lethal chassis carrying the logos of Toyota and UNOH. Wallace blasted from sixth to second on the first lap of the feature, and then took the lead on lap four from Orr, the polesitter, with a move to the inside in Turn 1. Dylan Woodling got second from Dillon Nusbaum on the white-flag lap to earn the runner-up honors. Point leader Randy Lines was fourth and Orr hung on for fifth.
“I have a lot of respect for all these guys,” the always effervescent Wallace said in victory lane. “There are some of the best modified drivers in the United States here, and the fans were great for sticking with us after the rain. I’ll be 55 in August, but right now I feel like I’m 20 again!”
After the modified feature, Lines jumped into his No. 14 Thompson Trucking super street for the final feature of the evening. He started second with the Rocket chassis, took the lead from polesitter Jami Cale with a pass on the outside in Turn 2 on the first lap, and led all 15 laps despite some restarts that tightened up the field. Terry Sroufe, Cale, Tony Homan and Ron Flaugh rounded out the top five.
This coming Friday night, June 15, is the Jack & Jiggs Classic featuring non-wing sprint cars, D2 midgets, UMP modifieds, thunder cars and FWD compacts. For more information, please see GasCityI69Speedway.com.
Great Lakes Super Sprints
Gas City I-69 Speedway
Gas City, IN
Friday June 8, 2018
GLSS Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Jared Horstman, 2. Devon Dobie, 3. Ty Williams, 4. Tony Bures, 5. Danny Sams, 6. Brandon Long, 7. Jared Lamberson, 8. Michael Summers.
GLSS Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Brett Mann, 2. Hud Horton, 3. Randy Hannagan, 4. Gregg Dalman, 5. Danny Smith, 6. Phil Gressman, 7. Andy Chehowski, 8. Brad Lamberson.
GLSS Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. Joe Geibe, 2. Chase Ridenour, 3. Andrew Scheid, 4. Joe Swanson, 5. Noah Dunlap, 6. Kyle Pootenga, 7. Brandon Ferguson, 8. Aaron Robnolte.
GLSS Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. Dustin Daggett, 2. Max Stambaugh, 3. Linden Jones, 4. Nick Hull, 5. Alexis Adgate, 6. Conner Morrell, 7. Dusty Shriver, 8. Kyle Stepke.
GLSS B Main (12 laps): 1. Danny Sams, 2. Phil Gressman, 3. Noah Dunlap, 4. Danny Smith, 5. Brandon Long, 6. Kyle Poortenga, 7. Conner Morrell, 8. Andy Chehowski, 9. Michael Summers, 10. Dusty Shriver, 11. Kyle Stepke, 12. Brad Lamberson, 13. Alexis Adgate, 14. Jared Lamberson, 15. Brandon Ferguson (DNS), 16. Aaron Robnolte (DNS).
GLSS Feature (20 laps): 1. Max Stambaugh, 2. Dustin Daggett, 3. Jared Horstman, 4. Randy Hannagan, 5. Andrew Scheid, 6. Gregg Dalman, 7. Danny Sams, 8. Joe Geibe, 9. Linden Jones, 10. Noah Dunlap, 11. Tony Bures, 12. Ty Williams, 13. Joe Swanson, 14. Brett Mann, 15. Chase Ridenour, 16. Hud Horton, 17. Phil Gressman, 18. Danny Smith, 19. Devon Dobie, 20. Nick Hull.
Non-Wing Sprint Heat 1 (8 laps; top four transfer): 1. Tyler Hewitt, 2. Gage Etgen, 3. Garrett Abrams, 4. Cody Gardner, 5. Dallas Hewitt, 6. Curtis Mulhenkamp, 7. Kory Crabtree (DNS).
Non-Wing Sprint Heat 2 (8 laps; top four transfer): 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Matt Goodnight, 4. Tony DiMattia, 5. Paul Dues, 6. Matt Cooley, 7. Jay Waugh.
Non-Wing Sprint Heat 3 (8 laps; top four transfer): 1. Kyle Robbins, 2. Aaron Davis, 3. Adam Byrkett, 4. Dakota Jackson, 5. Adam Wilfong, 6. Joe Liguori, 7. Travis Hery.
Non-Wing Sprint Heat 4 (8 laps; top four transfer): 1. Tony Main, 2. Ty Tilton, 3. Chad Wilson, 4. Bob McMillan, 5. Jack James, 6. Luke Harbison, 7. David Gross.
Non-Wing Sprint B Main (12 laps; top four transfer): 1. Dallas Hewitt, 2. Paul Dues, 3. Matt Cooley, 4. Joe Liguori, 5. Adam Wilfong, 6. Travis Hery, 7. Curtis Mulhenkamp, 8. Jay Waugh, 9. Luke Harbison, 10. Jack James, 11. David Gross, 12. Kory Crabtree (DNS).
Non-Wing Sprint Feature (25 laps): 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Tyler Hewitt, 3. Kyle Robbins, 4. Tony DiMattia, 5. Tony Main, 6. Garrett Abrams, 7. Aaron Davis, 8. Cody Gardner, 9. Paul Dues, 10. Dallas Hewitt, 11. Matt Goodnight, 12. Adam Byrkett; 13. Chad Wilson, 14. Bob McMillan, 15. Ty Tilton, 16. Shane Cottle, 17. Gage Etgen, 18. Joe Liguori, 19. Matt Cooley, 20. Dakota Jackson.
UMP Modified Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Daniel Russell, 2. Dillon Nusbaum, 3. Dylan Woodling, 4. Todd Sherman, 5. Bub Roberts, 6. Bill Lewis, 7. Zach Brubaker, 8. Garrett Jameson.
UMP Modified Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Scott Orr, 2. Kenny Wallace, 3. Michael Tarlton, 4. Bradley Jameson, 5. Andy Bishop, 6. Aaron Orr, 7. Matt Chambers, 8. John Halsey.
UMP Modified Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. Randy Lines, 2. Todd Gnat, 3. Darek Snyder, 4. Jessica Sroufe, 5. Lance Krider, 6. Garrett Rons, 7. Phil Hamand, 8. Jerry Bland Jr.
UMP Modified Feature (20 laps): 1. Kenny Wallace, 2. Dylan Woodling, 3. Dillon Nusbaum, 4. Randy Lines, 5. Scott Orr, 6. Darek Snyder, 7. Bill Lewis, 8. Todd Sherman, 9. Bub Roberts, 10. Michael Tarlton, 11. Todd Gnat, 12. Bradley Jameson, 13. Jessica Sroufe, 14. Aaron Orr, 15. Daniel Russell, 16. Phil Hamand, 17. Garrett Jameson, 18. Garrett Rons, 19. Andy Bishop, 20. Jerry Bland Jr., 21. Lance Krider, 22. Matt Chambers, 23. Zach Brubaker, 24. John Halsey (DNS).
Super Street Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Jami Cale, 2. Craig Walker, 3. Ron Flaugh, 4. Terry Sroufe, 5. Jeff Matheny, 6. Ervin Turner, 7. Dan Snyder, 8. Stevie Clark, 9. Josh McCord, 10. Mike Fincher.
Super Street Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Randy Lines, 2. Jeffery Jessup, 3. Tony Homan, 4. Jason Trimmer, 5. Jarrett Rennaker, 6. Matt Cale, 7. Joe Wiggins, 8. Josh Robertson, 9. Jeff Robertson.
Super Street Feature (15 Laps): 1. Randy Lines, 2. Terry Sroufe, 3. Jami Cale, 4. Tony Homan, 5. Ron Flaugh, 6. Ervin Turner, 7. Jason Trimmer, 8. Josh Robertson, 9. Jeff Robertson, 10. Josh McCord, 11. Mike Fincher, 12. Jarrett Rennaker, 13. Jeffery Jessup, 14.Dan Snyder, 15. Stevie Clark, 16. Craig Walker, 17. Jeff Matheny, 18. Speed Racer, 19. Joe Wiggins, 20. Matt Cale.