Fan Notes from $10,000 Attica Ambush

Staging at the Attica Ambush (Tom Myers ) Attica, Ohio 9/5/2020 – Fans were back in the stands at Attica for the All Star Attica Ambush weekend here at Attica Raceway park. Beautiful weather greeted us Saturday for the final night paying $10,000 to the winner. Pops and I arrived at 4:00pm to be early and get a good seat. However, the crowd ended up being a late arriving crowd and we have no problem getting a place on the top row between turn 4 and the flag stand. The temps were in the mid 70’s and it was sunny but very windy. The track dried out quickly after hot laps and this would make for a really racy evening.

The wind was blowing from behind us from the southwest. In spite of the dusty track and because of the wind, we didn’t get a speck of dust on us. The moderate temperature and dust free conditions made for a really enjoyable evening. As we entered the main gate, I saw a friend that I had made back in the pits a few years ago. He was talking with a few people and when I waved while walking by he said Happy Birthday Tom. For a split second I wondered and then realized the magic of Facebook. Ha Ha. I had 2 other folks say the same thing to me latter in the evening. Thank you guys, it’s always nice to know that people think about you and wish you well.

McKenna Haase Because of the bigger payout for Saturday, I thought we would have at least 40 cars like they had Friday but the number was smaller with 32 cars in the pits. The quality of the drivers was still outstanding. In addition to the All Star travelers, we had Rico Abreu, Jac Haudenschild, Cap Henry, Ian Madsen, Hunter Schuerenburg, Chad Kemenah, Shane Stewart, D.J. Netto, Cale Conley, Trey Jacobs, TJ Michael, D.J. Foos, Byron Reed, and Friday winner Tim Shaffer in the pits. Also joining the field was McKenna Haase from Iowa. McKenna races 360’s at Knoxville and has a feature win there. This year she is racing some 410 races for the first time. Tonight she is sharing the Indy Race Parts pit crew with Shane Stewart.

Jac Haudenschild grabbed the quick time overall and Tim Shaffer timed 2nd quick overall. Both were in the first group out to time trial. Both had almost identical times of 13.44 and Blake Anderson said they had to go 4 digits back to separate the two. There would be 4 heats with the top 5 heading to the A main. After time trials they watered and re-worked the track. The track was smooth and had a cushion at the very top but only half way around turns 1 and 2. Racers were sliding off the exit of turn 2 all evening as the track was slick and dusty. The wind wasn’t helping either. I asked Shane Stewart and Byron Reed about the effects of the wind on their cars. They said at one end of the track the wind can push you off the turn and at the other end of the track the wind could spin you around.

Tim and Skylar Gee The heats were wild and very entertaining because of the track. No one could get a lot of grip so it ended up being a driver’s track and a momentum track. Some racers would diamond off the turns, some would hug the bottom and some would rip the top all the way. After qualifying, Cale Conley failed to go across the scales and that put him at the tail of his heat. Otherwise he was a front row starter. In the first heat Henry and Reutzel threw slide job after slide job at each other and by lap 7 Ruetzel had edged out front enough to secure the win. Shaffer was third followed by Haud and Stambaugh. In heat 2 Abreu and Madsen dueled it out with Abreu making some nifty moves to secure the win. They were followed by Wilson, Brubaker and Philo. In heat 3 Cale Thomas stayed out front followed by Stewart, Eliason, Conley, who was up from 8th, and 2nd starting Kemenah. Wise and Netto struggled as their aggressive driving proved to be their downfall on the very slick surface. In the last heat Jacobs slugged it out with Gee. Jacobs had the lead for most of this race but Gee came up with 3 laps left and took the lead. Jacobs slipped back by on the last lap to take the win. Ivy, Michael and McMahon rounded out the top 5.

The dashes were entertaining simply because of the lads who were sitting next to us. They were all in their early 20’s and were having a few beers and raising a ruckus. But it was alright with me because they made this seem like a bigger race. I think their loudness and enthusiasm rubbed off on the crowd because everyone else around picked up their energy. As Blake introduced the dash draw drivers, these 4 or 5 lads would yell out the name of the driver…all in unison. RICOOOOOOOO!!!! PAULS TO THE WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LARSON!!!!!!!!! ( and of course, Larson wasn’t here!) AARONNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!WILD CHILDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it and was having fun along with them.

Rico Abreu One of the young men asked me if I was doing a podcast, because I was talking into me little recorder. No, just taking verbal notes for an article on a website. He said, “Oh yeah? Cool, tell your readers that I said and predict that if Larson was here, He would win!” I agreed and we all high fived. Then we discussed who would win tonight and the consensus was RICOOOOOOOO! And we again all high fived!

After the dashes and B main, The feature lineup got us Trey Jacobs on the pole with Abreu alongside. Row 2 was Thomas and Madsen. Cale Thomas is driving the Grove 70 car and Madsen is driving the Baughman 17 car. In row 3 we had Shaffer and Ruetzel.
The track was not re-worked before the feature and it looked like it was going to take rubber.
At the start Jacobs grabbed the lead down low with Abreu following. After a yellow on lap 1, the race resumed and Rico managed to edge around Jacobs on lap 5 or 6. Shaffer had come up to third but then started to fade as Reutzel started to inch forward. On about lap 12 Jacobs regained the lead from Abreu and then another caution. On the restart Rico used momentum to get around Jacobs and then Reutzel came up to pressure Jacobs. Aaron got around Jacobs on lap 15 and then set sail to chase Abreu. Reutzel would get close on many occasions the rest of the way….but not close enough to slide or pass Rico. They were close enough to each other to keep the crowd on it’s feet, racing nose to tail and providing a tense contest and a tense last lap. Rico held on for the win and in victory lane, our young and ruckus friends made their way down to the front and loudly cheered RICOOOOOO! Rico commented on the crowd which by now was very loud and exuberant on Rico’s behalf! Rico commented on how intense the racing was and that he was just hanging on there at the end.

Thank you Attica and Thank you All Stars for a wildly entertaining evening. Hopefully we can do this again next year here at Attica Raceway Park! RICOOOOOOOO!!!!