9/20/03
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Mopar Million
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.