Eddie Hoffman wins Glassbreaker 125 for the 2nd time! Tim Shaffer wins at Fremont for the 2nd week in a row!

April 25th, 2009 - Speaking of doing things twice, I decided I should shoot 2 races in 1 day. Actually I shot 14 races, (3 features, 1 consi and 10 heat races). But I did shoot at 2 different tracks, with dirt and asphalt surfaces, late models, modifieds and sprints cars.

I started out my day by travelling to one of my favourite asphalt racetracks, the famed high banked half mile known as Toledo Speedway. I have been going to Toledo for probably 25+ years, although I just started to shoot there in 2006. There was 29 ASA Late Models on hand. 2008 Nationwide Rookie of the Year Landon Cassill was in a Port City Racing house car. Ross Kenseth, 15 year-old son of Matt Kenseth was also in the field, having moved up from Limited Late Models in 2008. The majority of the drivers in this division are from the Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin area which is well known for some serious asphalt late model racing. One of the more experienced racers in the field is the driver of the Lisa Thomas Salo, red #8 Monte Carlo Fast Eddie Hoffman of Wheaton, Illinois. I have seen this 2nd generation driver win numerous races. Whether it's at home at Illiana Speedway, down South in Nashville or at Toledo Speedway, Hoffman and the whole TK racing team are a threat to win in the CRA Super Series or the ASA Late Model Series. Griffin McGrath would lead the field to green and hold that spot until spinning into the turn three wall. Hoffman would pit on this caution for some changes to his car, this would prove to be a wise decision. Iowan Landon Cassill would make his way out front in the #61 Port City Racing hot rod with the #25 Bain's Farm and Fleet of Wisconsin driver Ross Kenseth not far behind. On lap 65, the #89 car of Matt Bryne would spin coming out of turn two taking out the 1st and 1nd place cars of Cassill and Kenseth. Cassill would be done for the day, finishing 18th with Kenseth making it back out, finishing 14th several laps down. This would hand the lead over to the #88 of Minnesota driver Trent Snyder who would be eventually tracked down by Hoffman and come home 3rd. The series will be back in action at Illiana Motor Speedway on May 9th.

Also on hand were the USA Modifieds series. This group of die hard modified racers, had 26 cars on hand. Veteran racer Steve Christman would win their 50 lap feature. I did have to leave before this race started, so I do not have much to report on this event.

After leaving Toledo, I took a short 30 minute drive East down the Ohio Turnpike to Fremont Speedway. Now if you have never been to Fremont, it has that PA Posse style of fan. The ones who could watch 4 divisions of sprint cars, 7 nights a week. The Fremont/Attica Sprint Title had started the previous night at Attica Raceway. This is a series that races all summer long on Fridays and Saturdays between the two tracks. 34 410's and 28 305's filled the fairgrounds pits.


The place has a lot of sprint car royalty in the pits. Hall of famer Tim Shaffer, WoO Manzanita winner and former All-Star Champion Chad Kemenah were both present.

Jeep Van Wormer wins at Eldora

Rossburg, OH - Saturday, April 18, 2009 saw my 1st trip of the season to the famed farmland in Western Ohio known as Eldora Speedway. This trip also opened my eyes to importance of having GPS as race fan. As I traveled south down I-75, just before Bowling Green traffic came to a grinding halt. After a consultation with my Iphone and a short detour on a Saturday afternoon through the college town of Bowling Green, I was back on the Interstate and on my way. R@%N and interstate backup's are the bain of the short track racing industry across the country. Whether it's orange cones or a Celica burnt to a crisp sitting on the shoulder, these are the things I can never remember when I am jonesing for a race in the middle of a Canadian winter.

As I pulled into the parking lot, that familiar exhilaration of a night of springtime racing without the forecast of rain hit my brain. This was my first trip to the Big E since this same race one year ago. Brian Ruhlman had scored that victory in the American Late Model Series event. The UMP modifieds and the Eldora stock cars shared the card this year as well. 123 cars in the pits, 46 late models and 48 mods. The first thing to greet me was the under construction hospitality suites. Although I have never been to Knoxville Speedway, they appear to have the same look as the Sprint Car Hall of Fame. Nothing that interferes with the track, no shadows cast onto the track, they have plenty of room for them. The traditionalists will argue its not the same, "it's like Nascar", but if thats what is going to make you stay home, then go right ahead. I spend almost all of my time at the track in the infield, so I won't miss the gravel they know occupy in turn three. Racing is grimy, dirty, sweaty, loud and sometimes disappointing, but many of us wouldn't have it any other way. As for how this will impact where people can sit in turn three I am unsure. My thoughts are that the people in the suites aren't there for the races anyway. It is meant to help the track with their sponsorship, help out local companies with advertising and thanking their customers. If they happen to create a few new fans, then thats great.

A pleasant suprise during this trip was seeing 5 of the 123 cars present were Canadians. 3 of whom are regulars at South Buxton Raceway, where I have been the track photographer for the last 2 seasons. Justin Coulter would win his B-main in his bright red 5c Bob Pearce modified to make the A-main. Tim Richardson would finish 5th in his B-main and miss the transfer. After running 2nd most of his heat and knocking down the frontstretch wall he would end up 5th in that race as well. Wallaceburg's Chris Ross, who races in the US the majority of the season would struggle in his heat race after contact with another car in turn 2, after some repairs he would start on the tail of his B-main and finish 3rd. Through a provisional he made it in to the feature, and would pull off early and coming home 20th. Brothers Mark and Dale Glassford would race at Attica the night before and stay over for a full weekend of racing. Both drivers had never even been to Eldora before and were excited to race on the historic half mile. Mark finished 10th, and Dale would finish 6th in the 4th heat of the night. When it came time for there B-main, Mark wound up in 7th, and Dale in 4th. Since the B-mains only took the top 2 cars, that meant the #60 and #90 were parked for the night. This allowed them to not only do some racing but also take in the A-main as fans.

When it came to the A-main, Jeep Van Wormer would work his way from 16th place to 1st and take home his 3rd consecutive win.

Darren Hagen wins JEG'S Crown Midget Super Nationals

PHOTO BY JAMES MACDONALD
COLUMBUS, OH - Darren Hagen would lead all 40 laps to win in USAC's return to the Nuckles Family speedway. Jeg's was the title sponsor of the Jeg's Crown Midget Supernationals. 29 cars would qualify for the event with 23 taking the green flag for the A-main.

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QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-13.322; 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-13.362; 3. Cole Whitt, 1, Kunz-13.366; 4. Caleb Armstrong, 7C, C & A-13.462; 5. Dakoda Armstrong, 7A, C & A-13.470; 6. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-13.477; 7. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-13.478; 8. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-13.499; 9. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-13.501; 10. Kevin Swindell, 67, Kunz-13.504; 11. Tracy Hines, 21, Stewart-13.515; 12. Chris Windom, 17, Windom-13.521; 13. Bobby Santos III, 98, Santos-13.533; 14. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne-13.544; 15. Kyle Jones, 15, Beach-13.555; 16. Mario Clouser, 06, Clouser-13.564; 17. Brian Olson, 77, Olson-13.567; 18. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.579; 19. Kyle Hamilton, 83, Hamilton-13.608; 20. Mario Marietta, 85, Marietta-13.619; 21. Adam Kramer, 2, Kramer-13.678; 22. A.J. Fike, 69, RFMS-13.716; 23. Cale Conley, 97, Kunz-13.725; 24. Ricky Ehrgott, 8, Rev 1-13.878; 25. Kevin Studley, 57, Studley-13.950; 26. Joe Liguori, 28, Owen-14.058; 27. Brad Noffsinger, 96, Noffsinger-14.242; 28.
Chad Atkinson, 39, Atkinson-14.284; 29. Buddy Lowther, 31, Lowther-14.469.
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FIRST HEAT:

(8 laps) 1. Kramer, 2. Santos, 3. East, 4. Boat, 5. Olson, 6. D.Armstrong, 7. Studley, 8. Lowther. NT
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SECOND HEAT:

(8 laps) 1. Fike, 2. Daum, 3. Swindell, 4. Sweet, 5. Coons, 6. L.Jones, 7. Liguori. NT
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THIRD HEAT

(8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Hagen, 3. Conley, 4. K.Jones, 5. Whitt, 6. Noffsinger, 7. Hamilton. NT
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FOURTH HEAT

(8 laps) 1. Ehrgott, 2. Marietta, 3. Clouser, 4. Windom, 5. C.Armstrong, 6. Kuhn, 7. Atkinson. NT
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SEMI

(12 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Whitt, 3. D.Armstrong, 4. C.Armstrong, 5. Kuhn, 6. Olson, 7. L.Jones, 8. Hamilton, 9. Studley, 10. Noffsinger, 11. Liguori, 12. Atkinson, 13. Lowther. NT
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FEATURE:

(40 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Caleb Armstrong, 3. Cole Whitt, 4. Dakoda Armstrong, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Bobby East, 7. Brad Kuhn, 8. Kevin Swindell, 9. Chad Boat, 10. Bobby Santos III, 11. Cale Conley, 12. Brad Sweet, 13. Brian Olson, 14. Kyle Jones, 15. Mario Clouser, 16. Levi Jones, 17. Mario Marietta, 18. Zach Daum, 19. A.J. Fike, 20. Ricky Ehrgott, 21. Chris Windom, 22. Tracy Hines, 23. Adam Kramer. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS:

Laps 1-40 Hagen.