9/19-20/03
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Mopar Million
Friday 138 cars
Great anticipation for the richest race in sprint car history was the norm on Friday. After what seemed an eternity of ironing a track that was dry before the push trucks got on it, hot laps started in clouds of dust that camouflaged the participants. The lack of moisture did not take away from the racing until rubber was laid down around heat number six. The dust cleared after a couple sets of hot laps, but some competitors did not make it as far as time trials. During the second set, Boston Reid entered turn one low, lost control, and punted Jerry Coons Jr. hard into Kenny Carmichael Jr., who smacked the wall hard and suffered major damage. His weekend was over. Mike Hunnicutt took a wicked ride in hot laps and was also done. Brett Pool spun his car and collected Scott Hatton and Cary Faas. All would get times in, but Faas would come out dead last. Despite worries about the magnification of the race and what might happen with eager drivers on a fast track, most of the racing was clean and no one was injured.
Drivers drew two pills for time trials, taking one lap the first round and one the second round. Don Droud Jr. came out 35th and proceeded to flip in his first encounter with the turn three wall. Droud, driving for Gary Stanton, suffered engine woes and didn’t make it out for any practice laps. He had raced at Eldora in 1998 in the 1BK machine, and more recently in a midget. They were able to rebuild the front end and get a lap in the second round. Kurt Winker was not as fortunate, as he too flipped hard in time trials. He was done for the weekend. Bryan Ruble flipped in qualifications, didn’t get a time in, but did make it out to run his heat race. Levi Jones, Dave Steele and Kevin Huntley cracked the wall in their first try, and had to come out late to get a time in. Tracy Hines was quickest around the high banks with a clocking of 15.918 seconds. Time trial results:
Driver, number, (position driver came out when setting his quickest lap): 1. Tracy Hines 69 (33rd) 2. Tyler Walker 35 (65th) 3. JJ Yeley 20 (62nd) 4. Jay Drake 67 (77th) 5. Jac Haudenschild 4 (30th) 6. Shane Cottle 5G (27th) 7. Dean Jacobs 29 (117th) 8. Boston Reid 2B (24th) 9. Russ Gamester 2 (83rd) 10. Troy Cline 11 (75th) 11. Dave Darland 71 (111th) 12. Danny Smith 4 (55th) 13. Brian Tyler 6 (68th) 14. Brent Kaeding 29x (61st) 15. Jon Stanbrough 57 (6th) 16. Todd Kane 1w (13th) 17. Eric Gordon 62 (23rd) 18. Bud Kaeding 29 (48th) 19. Travis Rilat 29 (4th) 20. Matt Westfall 23s (113th) 21. Johnny Heydenreich 57B (38th) 22. Derek Scheffel 21s (15th) 23. Stevie Smith 19 (123rd) 24. Marc Jessup 14J (42nd) 25. Dickie Gaines 69OT (143rd) 26. Jonathan Vennard 54 (21st) 27. Levi Jones 38 (154th) 28. Jimmy Stinson 84 (109th) 29. Jerry Coons Jr. 10c (22nd) 30. Hud Cone 20 (37th) 31. Kevin Huntley 5 (228th) 32. Kevin Doty 25 (46th) 33. Greg Wilson 63 (26th) 34. Bill Rose 6R (54th) 35. Mike Hess 8F (76th) 36. Damion Gardner 45 (97th) 37. Mike Brecht 20 (84th) 38. Mitch Wissmiller 7 (20th) 39. Brian Gerster 42G (41st) 40. Ricky Gaunt 6G (88th) 41. Nick Naber 22 (93rd) 42. Critter Malone 97 (99th) 43. Roger Rager 51 (79th) 44. Tim Cox 320 (116th) 45. Don Droud Jr. 75 (155th) 46. John Scott 83 (104th) 47. Sean Walden 97 (74th) 48. Rob Chaney 9x (132nd) 49. Richard Griffin 50 (120th) 50. Brad Noffsinger 11A (56th) 51. Brian Hayden 2H (28th) 52. Jeff Bloom 1s (96th) 53. Mat Neely 17N (43rd) 54. Bryan Stanfill 21x (53rd) 55. Dustin Smith 77s (91st) 56. Johnny Parsons 5 (34th) 57. John Ivy 8s (206th) 58. Rick Ziehl 20z (5th) 59. Jerrod Wilson 7J (66th) 60. Brandon Petty 3AC (142nd) 61. Cory Kruseman 21 (47th) 62. Jesse Hockett 26 (7th) 63. Josh Slone 4x (125th) 64. Tony Elliott 11 (118th) 65. Kent Christian 1c (218th) 66. Corey Smith 66s (71st) 67. Ryan Howard 9 (122nd) 68. Sean Robinson 1R (108th) 69. Kevin Briscoe 21R (51st) 70. Steve Surniak 17H (25th) 71. Kyle Wissmiller 2K (45th) 72. Casey Shuman 3 (204th) 73. Dean Franklin 42 (78th) 74. Derek Davidson 10T (121st) 75. Travis Whitney 15 (103rd) 76. Troy Rutherford 7 (110th) 77. Tim Clark 9 (129th) 78. Jimmy Laser 8L (225th) 79. Alex Shanks 1c (92nd) 80. Chris Coers 71 (85th) 81. Ted Hines 12 (18th) 82. Terry Pletch 29P (112th) 83. Sport Allen 1 (135th) 84. Chris Gentry 3H (16th) 85. Scott Orr 88 (73rd) 86. Tony Beaber 3T (145th) 87. Joe Roush 11 (241st) 88. Justin Marvel 47 (87th) 89. Travis Welpott 54w (205th) 90. Rick Hayden 5H (114th) 91. Mike Miller 77 (174th) 92. Marvin Pifer 32 (52nd) 93. JD Turner 53 (31st) 94. AJ Anderson 10E (64th) 95. Leonard Lee 2K (217th) 96. Jerry Nemire 66 (10th) 97. JT Stapp 3m (251st) 98. Dave Steele 26 (246th) 99. Mark Hery 82 (137th) 100. Kent Wolters 1 (69th) 101. Brandon Ferguson 98 (59th) 102. Brett Pool 9 (231st) 103. Michael Burthay 26P (36th) 104. Ken Carmichael Sr. 92 (223rd) 105. Mitch Cunningham 39 (186th) 106. Scott Hatton 15 (130th) 107. Josh Cunningham 47T (165th) 108. Andy Pierce 21H (8th) 109. Eric Shively 3R (67th) 110. Brad Vogler 4v (153rd) 111. Terry Starks 13 (201st) 112. Al Thomas 72 (138th) 113. Todd Allen 1a (95th) 114. Marc Longworth 4m (115th) 115. Dwayne Spille 71 (17th) 116. Randy Fink 41 (229th) 117. Danny Sheridan 21A (12th) 118. Aaron Mosley 27 (94th) 119. Cary Faas 44 (264th) 120. Duffy Smith 38K (124th) 121. Ricky Vaughn 22 (214th) 122. Steve Buckwalter 25 (172nd) 123. Steve Wilmot 73 (32nd) 124. Jimmy Davies 99 (119th) 125. Mark Boyer 11B (150th) 126. Kevin Besecker 15 (14th) 127. Dave Peperak 77 (19th) 128. Kurt Gross 70 (128th) 129. Craig Dori 38 (163rd) 130. Rodney Stone 16 (89th) 131. Ray Kenens K9 (176th) 132. Aaron Fry 14 (233rd) 133. Tom Paterson 11 (216th) 134. Brent Matus 5G (182nd) 135. Kenny Carmichael Jr. 92c NT 136. Mike Hunnicutt 34 NT 137. Kurt Winker 48H NT 138. Bryan Ruble 38 NT
The top 60 qualifiers were inverted into the first three rows of ten twelve-lap heats. The top two finishers went to Saturday’s A, third and fourth to the B, fifth and sixth to the C, seventh and eighth to the D, ninth and tenth to the E, eleventh and twelfth to the F, and thirteenth and fourteenth went home. The exceptions were the first two heat races, when Tracy Hines and Tyler Walker did not finish in the top two. Because they were the top two qualifiers not making the A through their heats, they would start 21st and 22nd in Saturday’s main event. All competitors finishing behind them in the heat races were bumped up a spot. The winner of heat one would start tenth in the A, second would start eleventh and so on. The tenth heat winner would start on the pole, with second starting 20th.
Heat one (started): 1. Huntley (3) 2. Darland (5) / 3. B. Hayden (1) 4. Naber (2) / 5. Kruseman (7) 6. Miller (10) / 7. Ted Hines (9) 8. Ferguson (11) / 9. Vaughn (13) 10. Heydenreich (4) / 11. Kenens (14) 12. Tr. Hines (6) 13. K. Wissmiller (8) / 14. Starks (12)
Huntley didn’t take off on the initial green and Darland jumped his nerf bar, but emerged intact. Ted Hines spun and restarted at the tail. The restart saw Darland and Tr. Hines get together. Tr. Hines flipped wildly down the frontstretch. K. Wissmiller and Starks had nowhere to go and suffered serious enough damage to retire. All were done. The third try was a charm as B. Hayden took the early advantage. Huntley was right on his tail on lap five when Heydenreich smacked the wall and suffered a flat right rear. He retired pitside. B. Hayden led Huntley, Darland, Naber and Kruseman to green. Huntley hunted down B. Hayden until sliding him on lap nine for the lead. Darland followed suit with a slide job from the gutter to the wall. The top three finished nip and tuck.
Heat two (started): 1. Malone (2) 2. Doty (3) / 3. Danny Smith (5) 4. Scheffel (4) / 5. Walker (6) 6. Shuman (8) 7. Pletch (9) / 8. Pifer (10) 9. Pool (11) / 10. Thomas (12) 11. Fry (14) / 12. Buckwalter (13) 13. Hockett (7) / 14. Bloom (1)
Malone shot out to the early lead with Bloom in tow. Lap four would see disaster for the runner-up as he flipped the Stroud 1s in turn four. Fourth running Walker repaired a flat and rejoined the field at the tail. The restart saw Malone leading Doty, Da. Smith, an on the move Hockett and Pool. Lap eight saw Hockett flip hard in four and end his weekend. Walker was penalized two spots under caution for jumping the previous start. Malone and Doty would hold off a determined Smith and Scheffel in some great action.
Heat three (started): 1. S. Smith (4) 2. Yeley (6) / 3. Tyler (5) 4. Franklin (8) / 5. Rager (2) 6. Slone (7) / 7. S. Allen (9) 8. T. Allen (12) / 9. Turner (10) 10. Wilmot (13) / 11. Burthay (11) 12. Neely (1) / 13. Wilson (3) DNS – Paterson
Rager gained the early advantage but did a donut and kept it rolling, losing several spots. S. Smith took over on his first night racing without a wing in his life. Neely hit the wall hard on lap six while running third. He was done. The restart saw S. Smith leading Yeley, Tyler, Rager and Franklin. Rager would spin two laps later while in fourth. He would charge back to gain fifth on the final circuit. S. Smith scored one for the “wangers” as he pulled away from Yeley’s advances by riding the wall all the way around. A fast Tyler could only watch the two front runners in desperation.
Heat four (started): 1. Rose (3) 2. Jessup (4) / 3. Cox (2) 4. Br. Kaeding (5) / 5. Stanfill (1) 6. Davidson (8) / 7. Elliott (7) 8. Gentry (9) / 9. Carmichael Sr. (11) 10. Anderson (10) / 11. Longworth (12) 12. Davies (13) / 13. Matus (14) 14. Drake (6)
Stanfill ran out from the pole with Rose in tow. The two waged a war side-by-side, until Rose took command on the third go-around. Jessup followed him by and Drake was running third when he cracked the wall in turn four. The format shows no favorites as Drake was done for the weekend. The restart saw Rose and Jessup leading Cox, Stanfill and Br. Kaeding. Br. Kaeding surprised many by outqualifying his son Bud and looked strong all weekend. He would get by Stanfill late for a spot in the B.
Heat five (started): 1. Haudenschild (6) 2. Gaines (4) / 3. Stanbrough (5) 4. Droud (2) / 5. Dus. Smith (1) 6. Christian (7) / 7. Hess (3) 8. Whitney (8) / 9. Lee (10) 10. Orr (9) / 11. M. Cunningham (11) 12. Boyer (13) / 13. Spille (12) DNS – Winker
Droud, who recovered from a qualifying flip, led early. Gaines pursued him and took the point on lap four. Haudenschild was riding the wall like only he can, and busted around Gaines in what would be a preview of Saturday’s championship. Dus. Smith came within feet of grabbing a spot in the B from Droud at the checkers.
Heat six (started): 1. Vennard (4) 2. Kane (5) / 3. Gardner (3) 4. Scott (2) / 5. Parsons (1) 6. Cottle (6) / 7. Co. Smith (7) 8. Hatton (11) / 9. Nemire (10) 10. Beaber (9) / 11. Ruble (14) 12. Rutherford (8) / 13. Fink (12) 14. Besecker (13)
After Parsons (using a V-6 powerplant) and Scott were penalized after two false starts, Gardner and Vennard moved to the front row. Vennard would lead the distance, and leave Kane and Gardner in a battle for the last transfer to the Million. Kane would prevail in the non-stop event.
Heat seven (started): 1. Jacobs (6) 2. Brecht (3) / 3. Gordon (5) 4. L. Jones (4) / 5. Ivy (1) 6. Clark (8) / 7. Walden (2) 8. Howard (7) / 9. Roush (9) 10. J. Cunningham (11) / 11. Stapp (10) 12. Peperak (12) / DNS – Sheridan, Carmichael Jr.
Another non-stop event saw Walden lead the outset. Jacobs, upset at USAC carving his car up, was eating people alive and took the lead for good lap four. Brecht closed in toward the end, but it was not enough. Gordon captured third on the last lap, but was still only good enough for the B.
Heat eight (started): 1. Chaney (2) 2. Stinson (4) / 3. Bu. Kaeding (5) 4. Ziehl (1) / 5. M. Wissmiller (3) 6. Reid (6) / 7. Robinson (7) 8. Steele (10) / 9. Mosley (12) 10. Laser (8) / 11. Marvel (9) 12. Gross (13) / 13. Pierce (11) DNS – M. Honeycutt
Chaney and Stinson led at the outset, and pulled away from the field. By now rubber was prevalent in three and four and the two used it to their advantage. Bu. Kaeding couldn’t pull close enough after taking third on a lap four restart for a flipped Pierce.
Heat nine (started): 1. Gamester (6) 2. Griffin (2) / 3. Rilat (5) 4. Shanks (8) / 5. Wilson (1) 6. Briscoe (7) / 7. Coons (4) 8. Gerster (3) / 9. Hery (10) 10. Welpott (9) / 11. Shively (11) 12. Dori (13) / 13. Faas (12)
Griffin led from the outset and was cruising. Gamester was moving forward in the Reid 2, however. He waited until the last corner to take the outside pole of the A main from Griffin, who would now start 19th. Ouch!
Heat ten (started): 1. Noffsinger (2) 2. Gaunt (3) / 3. Westfall (5) 4. Surniak (7) / 5. Petty (1) 6. Cone (4) / 7. Coers (8) 8. Cline (6) / 9. Wolters (10) 10. R. Hayden (9) / 11. Duffy Smith (12) 12. Stone (13) / 13. Vogler (11)
Noffsinger took the early lead with Petty in tow. Vogler met the wall and busted a front end on lap five. The restart saw Noffsinger leading Petty, Gaunt, Westfall and Cone back to green. The leader would keep his line while Gaunt found a way to second and put the second Rose car in the big show.
Saturday F feature (started): 1. Marvel (5) 2. Shively (9) 3. Neely (1) 4. Rutherford (2) / 5. Stapp (4) 6. Gross (14) 7. Buckwalter (10) 8. Duffy Smith (11) 9. M. Cunningham (6) 10. Davies (13) 11. Longworth (8) 12. Boyer (12) 13. Peperak (15) 14. Stone (16) 15. Ruble (18) 16. Burthay (7) 17. Dori (17) 18. Kenens (19) 19. K. Wissmiller (3) DNS - Hockett
K. Wissmiller elected to start at the tail and exited shortly after green fell. Rutherford took the lead and appeared to have the race well in hand. The car was shifting out of gear and Marvel took the point on lap eight of 15. Rutherford managed to battle it out with Marvel before his mount kicked out of gear again in turn three of the final circuit. He coasted very slowly to beat Stapp by inches for the final E main transfer. Shively passed seven cars in route to second.
E feature (started): 1. Laser (2) 2. Beaber (4) 3. Rutherford (24) 4. Shively (22) / 5. Welpott (6) 6. Wolters (13) 7. Turner (8) 8. Marvel (21) 9. Hery (12) 10. Anderson (9) 11. Carmichael Sr. (14) 12. Neely (23) 13. R. Hayden (7) 14. J. Cunningham (15) 15. Mosley (17) 16. Orr (3) 17. Lee (10) 18. Thomas (16) 19. Wilmot (19) 20. Fry (20) 21. Vaughn (18) 22. Roush (5) 23. Nemire (11) 24. Heydenreich (1)
Laser took the point at the outset, but all eyes were on Rutherford and Shively in the Rock Steady 3R. They were riding the rim around the field and both were in the top six by lap ten when Lee spun and collected Orr. Laser led Beaber, Shively, Welpott, Turner and Rutherford back to the cone. Rutherford worked the high side to gain third in the final five laps. Heydenreich exited on lap two, while Roush did the same on lap six. Thomas bowed out with a flat tire on lap ten.
D feature (started): 1. Cline (1) 2. Coons (2) 3. Elliott (6) 4. Gerster (4) / 5. Walden (5) 6. Hess (3) 7. Howard (8) 8. Co. Smith (7) 9. S. Allen (13) 10. Whitney (10) 11. Robinson (9) 12. Shively (24) 13. Rutherford (23) 14. Gentry (14) 15. Hatton (19) 16. Ted Hines (12) 17. Beaber (22) 18. Steele (16) 19. Ferguson (17) 20. T. Allen (20) 21. Pool (18) 22. Laser (21) 23. Pifer (15) DNS - Coers
Cline was clearly the class of the field and hunted down early leader Coons, and passed him on lap seven. Pifer flipped hard in turn three on lap four, bunching the field. The dream from the F died for Shively and Rutherford who passed 37 and 31 cars, respectively and put on a great show. Elliott came just short of getting by Coons at the line.
C feature (started): 1. Reid (2) 2. Cottle (1) 3. Kruseman (12) 4. Cline (21) / 5. Cone (3) 6. Elliott (23) 7. Parsons (8) 8. Wilson (10) 9. Christian (14) 10. Stanfill (6) 11. Miller (20) 12. Ivy (9) 13. Slone (13) 14. Du. Smith (7) 15. Davidson (17) 16. M. Wissmiller (4) 17. Gerster (24) 18. Coons (22) 19. Shuman (16) 20. Pletch (19) 21. Rager (5) 22. Clark (18) 23. Petty (11) 24. Briscoe (15)
M. Wissmiller had a flat and Petty spun before the race could get underway. Reid motored away at the outset from row one with Cottle behind. The race went non-stop as Kruseman began to pick his way through the field. Cline was working hard as well on the high side and breaking off slide jobs. His efforts were rewarded as he gained the final transfer on the last lap from Cone after a nice duel.
B feature (started): 1. Tyler (2) 2. Stanbrough (4) 3. Bu. Kaeding (6) 4. Da. Smith (1) / 5. Br. Kaeding (3) 6. L. Jones (10) 7. Gordon (5) 8. Westfall (8) 9. Rilat (7) 10. Naber (12) 11. Droud (14) 12. Cox (13) 13. Scheffel (9) 14. B. Hayden (16) 15. Kruseman (23) 16. Cline (24) 17. Gardner (11) 18. Reid (21) 19. Shanks (20) 20. Scott (15) 21. Ziehl (17) 22. Franklin (19) 23. Surniak (18) 24. Cottle (22)
Cottle got into the backstretch wall on the initial try at green. He was done. The next try saw Cline spin in turn two. Under caution, Surniak exited with a flat. Once underway the 20 lap B went green to checker. Tyler led flag to flag and was never challenged. Bud and Brent put on a father and son show before Bud put dad behind him for good and passed Da. Smith for third on the final circuit. Brent was not far behind, however. Cline's advance from the D ended after passing 25 cars in three features.
A feature (started): 1. Haudenschild (6) 2. S. Smith (8) 3. Gaines (15) 4. Yeley (13) 5. Chaney (3) 6. Rose (7) 7. Jacobs (4) 8. Tr. Hines (21) 9. Vennard (5) 10. Gamester (2) 11. Doty (12) 12. Darland (11) 13. Gaunt (20) 14. Jessup (14) 15. Da. Smith (26) 16. Brecht (17) 17. Kane (16) 18. Walker (22) 19. Griffin (19) 20. Malone (9) 21. Stanbrough (24) 22. Noffsinger (1) 23. Huntley (10) 24. Tyler (23) 25. Bu. Kaeding (25) 26. Stinson (18)
A great 40 lap feature for a great weekend. Gamester broke out early before Jacobs rocketed to lead coming for the flagstand after one circuit. A blanket could have been thrown over the top five at that point. Gaines worked his way into the top five quickly and set his sights on the leaders. After getting by S. Smith and Haudenschild, Gaines took the point from Jacobs on lap 20. Four laps later, Darland, Stanbrough and Tyler would make a tangled mess in turn four. All would restart. Gaines led Haud, S. Smith, Gamester and Chaney back to the green flag. He was still leading on lap 28 when Bu. Kaeding and Vennard made contact. Bud got the worst end of the deal in contact with the wall, and a trip off on the hook. Haud used the restart to slide between Gaines and the wall high in turn two. A lap was complete before Huntley and Kane hooked their nerf bars together. Both were solidly in the top ten, but had to retreat to the back for a restart that saw Haud leading Gaines, S. Smith, Chaney and a charging Yeley. Under caution, Noffsinger and Malone also made trips to the work area. The last eleven laps were a classic as S. Smith worked his way around Gaines on the high side and pulled up on Haud's bumper on several occasions. A last ditch effort came less than a car length short and Stevie had to settle for the second place prize of $125,000. Gaines third place effort netted him $100,000. The $200,000 paid to Haudenschild marks the most a sprint car driver has ever earned in one event.
Rager and the Miller team took home $500 from the Hosers for best appearing car....Darland won the Hoser halfway award, also taking home an extra $500....Drivers who spend most of their times with lids above their heads made up three out of the top five, and nine of the top twenty....Rager had the quote of the weekend when he said, "I remember when we needed more than one tear-off here!"....Of the 120 cars scheduled for feature races on Saturday, only two did not start their event, Hockett and Coers.....This was a great event for everyone involved and with any justice should be repeated in the future somewhere, sometime.