Fan Notes from Wayne County Ohio Speedweek Stop

Jac Haudenschild (Tom Myers)- 6/15/2021- The All Star Circuit of Champions sprint series held the 3rd event of their 39th annual Ohio Sprint Speed Week at Wayne County Speedway on Monday June 14th.

This would be the 29th Speed Week event held at Wayne County. The All Stars, over the years, have run 69 events at Orrville’s Historic Oval.

The weather on Monday was warm and partly sunny and breezy. As race time approached, the skies cleared and the breeze became cooler. I left work early to get a good seat and a free parking spot. I know these crazy race fans around here. They love sprint cars and especially Jac and Sheldon Haudenschild. Since Jac was racing here tonight, I just knew the place would be packed. When I got to the track at 3:30, it was already filling up. People had their blankets down on the bleachers, campers were everywhere, and the $10.00 parking signs were displayed across the street and down the road from the track.

Walking up to the entrance, I could see merchandise trailers lining the walkway behind the stands. And there was the Kyle Larson merchandise trailer next to Rico’s. I don’t carry a smart phone by choice, (too much money for me and my wife has one anyway) so I am not hooked into twitter or other social media to receive minute by minute updates. I didn’t get the memo that Larson would be racing here tonight. Wow, what a treat. There were 49 cars on hand and the quality of the field was amazing!

Consider the level of the competition. The regular All Star lineup is really stout this year. Paul McMahon, who is a multi time WoO winner, Ian Madsen, a Knoxville Track champion, Cap Henry, who has a top 10 finish at the Nationals on his resume, Bill Balog, a many time IRA champion, young race winners Cory Eliason, Justin Peck, Tyler Courtney, who is a multi-time USAC champion, and Zeb Wise, who won his first All Star race this year. Now add to that group Kyle Larson, who is arguably the greatest race car driver to come along in a good many years, fan favorite Rico Abreu, who has won WoO and All Star and numerous USAC races, Buddy Kofoid, who is winning in USAC midgets and winged sprint cars, always tough Sam Hefertepe, Posse driver Danny Dietrich, who has beaten the best, Tim Shaffer, the 2010 Nationals winner and recent Hall of Fame inductee, and then add in the two retiring veterans, Dean Jacobs, who has won WoO and All Star races and of course, Jac Haudenschild, who is still the Wild Child behind the wheel of a sprint car. And there were other good racers in the pits, many who are regional race winners and local track champions.

Tanner Holmes As I walked around the pit area, I joked with a few drivers, asking them if they were here to take Kyle Larson’s money. That got a few laughs but at the same time, no one seemed real confident about it.

The stands were packed and the crowd was eager for the racing to begin. The cars took hot laps and then parked in the infield, where they would stay for time trials. Max Stambaugh was in the Prosser 19 car tonight and Brandon Spithaler was back in his own car. During time trials, Jac ripped around the top on his first lap and was 4th quick and then on the second lap he got over the famous turn 2 dirt rim and spun it around on the back stretch…..much to the crowd’s delight! Always the showman that Jac! With only 4 cars remaining to qualify, Tyler Courtney went out and ripped the quick time. When qualifying ended, Courtney was the fastest, his first ever quick time with the All Stars. He was followed in order by Abreu, Spithaler, Larson, McMahon, Eliason, Wise, Foos, Haud, and Thomas.

There were 5 heats, with the top 4 going to the A main, and the first place finisher, along with the quickest timing transfer car, and the 2 fastest qualifiers overall, going to the dash draws.

In the first heat, the lineup was Reinhardt and Trey Jacobs at the front, Ryan and Foos in row 2, Andrews and Hefertepe in row 3, R.J. Jacobs and Brubaker in row 4 and then Zimmerman and Ames. On lap 6 Trey Jacobs spun in turn 2 and Foos hit the guardrail in turn 4, flattening his RR tire. The heat finish was Reinhardt, Hefertepe, who was up from the 3rd row, Andrews and Ryan.

The Heat 2 lineup was Henry and Schurenburg on the front row, Larson and Spithaler in row 2, Madsen and Holmes in row 3, McHugh and Paulker in row 4 and Mumaw and Dolick in the last row. McHugh spun out and kept going, but that brought out the yellow. Henry wins it, followed by Larson, who battled with Schurenburg. Schurenburg finished in 3rd and Madsen, who waged a war with Spithaler, finished 4th.

Wayne County Speedway The heat 3 lineup was Jac and Eliason in row 1, McMahon and Abreu, Peck and Gee, Conley and Michael, and Malcuit and Stambaugh in the last row. Jac grabbed the lead initially but Eliason came up and passed him and raced to the win. Jac finished 2nd followed by Abreu and McMahon. Peck pressured McMahon for many laps but just could not get by for the transfer.

In heat 4 the lineup was Shaffer and Dean Jacobs, Balog and Wise, Dietrich and Myers, Martin and Peterson, and Dussel and Wilson in the last row. Shaffer won it racing away. He’s followed by Balog, Wise and Dietrich. Dean Jacobs had a transfer spot but a bobble in turn 2 allowed Dietrich to slip past and transfer to the A main.

In heat 5 the lineup was Macedo and Kofoid, Thomas and Courtney, Lee Jacobs and Street, Williamson and Klingon, with Burghart at the tail. Kofoid won it and was followed by Macedo, Thomas and Lee Jacobs. On the last lap, Courtney had the last transfer spot locked up, but he slowed down exiting turns 1 and 2 and Jacobs swept around him to take it. Later on we learned that Courtney’s motor stumbled and sputtered…and that was enough to give Jacobs the spot.

By the time the heats were over, a rather large line had formed at the concession stand. It looked like no one in all of Wayne County, Ohio, had eaten anything all day. The race fans were voracious. The line extended all the way to the turn 4 fence alongside the track and north end of the grandstands! It stayed this way all evening until the B main! So, there was a food shortage, but not really. More of a logistics issue. They had food. You just couldn’t get to any of it. And it was because many, including myself, didn’t have the time nor the patience to wait in that long of a line. I had to get something to take with my medicine…but there were certainly no burgers in my immediate future. I determined with resolve that the next time, I will bring some cheese crackers or something. So, now what to do? Well, I went to the beer stand and bought a bag of Cracker Jacks. Great. That worked..kinda…. but not very well. Downed them with the water I brought to the track. I was still not feeling so good… and then I saw that the line to the ice cream window was very short all of a sudden. I hurried over there and one guy in line was getting an ice cream sandwich and some root beer to dunk it in. An ice cream rootbeer sandwich float? As we both looked at the never ending food line next to us, I told this fellow that I was hungry enough to eat his root beer. I quickly purchased and then downed one of the last ice cream sandwiches, and then felt better. Not the sandwich I was hoping for, but a sandwich nonetheless. It was a sandwich, it said so on the wrapper.

Conley and Wilson finished 1st and 2nd in the C main. A flip on the back stretch involved Zimmerman and Burkhart, with Paulker also getting caught up in it. All were okay.

Kyle Larson followed up his $1,000,000 victory in Texas with a win at Ohio Speedweek at Wayne County Monday Zeb Wise won Dash #1 from the 4th spot as Jac came up from the back and thrilled his way to 2nd place. Jac was followed by Ryan, Rinehardt, Thomas and Eliason.

Dash #2 ended exactly as it started. McMahon won from the pole, and he was followed by Kofoid, Henry, Abreu, Larson and Shaffer.

Courtney won the 12 lap B main and was followed by transfers Peck, Spithaler and Dean Jacobs.

As feature time rolled around, a thunderstorm was forming in the west, complete with cooler winds and lightening. Really? Well, let’s get this thing rolling! The track crew ran the track in a little, but didn’t put any water on it. It was still tacky and racy.

The 35 lap feature would pay $6,000 to the winner. It’s not a million dollars, but hey, it’s something right? Wise was on the pole with McMahon outside. Haud and Kofoid were in row 2, followed by Ryan and Henry in row 3, Reinhardt and Abreu in row 4, Thomas and Larson in row 5, Eliason and Shaffer in row 6, Macedo and Balog in row 7, and Hefertepe and Schurenburg in row 8.

At the start, McMahon powered into the lead followed by Wise, Kofoid and Jac. By lap 5 Larson had already come up to 5th from his 10th starting spot. On lap 13 Chris Andrews went over the turn 2 guardrail, bringing out a red flag, but he was okay. On the restart, Jac and Kofoid exchanged haymaker sliders and really went at it. On lap 15, Lee Jacobs spun and brought out the yellow. After the restart, Wise took the lead from McMahon on lap 17 and Larson got by Jac on lap 18 for 4th place. Then another yellow flag came out as Macedo came to a stop at the 3rd turn. When the race resumed, Wise extended his lead over McMahon to a straightaway as Larson passed Kofoid for 3rd. Then a red flag came out again on lap 22 for Peck and Madsen, who tangled in turn 4. When racing resumed, Larson got past McMahon and set sail after Wise. Larson inched closer and closer lap after lap and in lapped traffic and on lap 30, Larson passed Wise for the lead and went on to win.

In victory lane Larson said he really likes Wayne County because its’ technical and has long straights and tight turns, you just can’t keep the pedal on the gas all the way around. He said the track was probably in the best condition he’s seen it.

That was a fun race just because you knew Kyle would be there at the end and if you are like me, you were rooting for young Wise to hang on, simply because our parents taught us to share. But it was not to be as Kyle hogged the money. Kyle is the man right now and folks, enjoy it as long as it lasts. The finish was Larson, Wise, McMahon, Kofoid, Thomas, Abreu, Cortney, Eliason, Henry and Ryan. A great run for Jordan Ryan and also for Courtney, who came from 21st. Jac finished 3rd on the track but was disqualified for missing the scales that were moved to the infield just for this event.

Thank you Wayne County Speedway and thank you All Star Circuit of Champions. This will conclude my Speed Week this year, because I have to work and the remaining races are a long drive. But I am grateful for Flo Racing and I will be watching at home. Speaking of watching at home, some of the drivers, if you didn’t know, have a Youtube channel where they post videos chronicling each of their races. You may have seen David Gravel’s Youtube updates and those are really cool. In addition to David, the young man from Oregon, Tanner Holmes, has a Youtube channel and has been documenting each of his races as he learns to drive a sprint car. Check them out!