Fan Notes from Attica Ohio Speedweek

Kyle Larson and Travis Philo ready to go at Attica (Tom Myers) Attica, Ohio 6/15/18 – I was doing my best to leave work at four o’clock today. Usually, if we get a truck shipment, it shows up between 12 and 1…lunchtime…like this happens all the time. Why? Because we are a small company and don’t have signs plastered everywhere saying, “NO DELIVERIES ACCEPTED 12-1 WEEKDAYS. So, we always get shipments at lunchtime and yours truly always unloads the truck….because everyone else is gone for lunch. Today it’s 3:45 and I am leaving in a few minutes to head to Attica. The phone rings….”What are your hours for receiving there? How late are you there today?” I ask who it is and of course, it’s R&L with a shipment to drop off. Luckily, he was only 10 minutes away and I got it unloaded fairly quickly. After that I left, a little later than planned but at least I wasn’t leaving at 5.

It was a beautiful day, 80 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze, and the temps were climbing. We have experienced a week or so of cool, rainy days and just like that, the heat turns on here in Ohio. Temps are expected to be in the 90’s this week so get ready for some dry, dusty dirt action!

Danny Dietrich We arrived right as hot laps were starting. The crowd was larger than normal but we were still able to find a good seat. Later on the stands filled up almost to capacity. The TV camera lifts were in place too as MAVB TV was on hand. Everyone was happy it was Friday and that Speed Week was under way.

There were sprint cars everywhere, I counted 56 of them. Joining the regular All Stars were Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Kasey Kahne, Rico Abreu, Spencer Bayston, and Gio Scelzi. There were some other travelers too, Justin Peck, Paul Nienhiser, Brandon Wimmer, Gerard McIntyre, Danny Dietrich, Ryan Smith, Josh Baughman and also a few guys from Australia, the most notable being Mitchell Wormall. I was expecting to see James McFadden, Daniel Harding and Sean Zemunic but they were not in the pits. Add in Tim Shaffer, Lee Jacobs, Cole Duncan, Cale Thomas, (who won the most recent All Star show here) and other tough local and regional drivers and you have a great field. I didn’t see Ayrton Olsen or Joey Saldana. Max McGee has been absent for awhile too so Ryan Smith was driving his 11 car. Both Smith and Dominic Scelzi have been piloting this car in recent weeks.

Tony Stewart When I went back to the pits, I noticed that the grind had started for some already. There were guys wrenching for different teams. After hot laps, some teams were thrashing to fix and replace parts on the cars. Brandon Spithaler had to get out his backup car because he blew a motor in hot laps. In his heat, Brandon was moving forward in his backup car and having captured 5th, was stalking the 4th place car and a transfer spot to the feature when his rear end broke. Needless to say Brandon and his crew were working all evening long. They looked like they were on the last night of Speed Week…not the first!

The track was tacky for hot laps and still had grip in it time trials. Aaron Reutzel was your fast timer followed by Spence Bayston and Tony Stewart. After time trials, the track crew re-worked the surface. I didn’t think it needed re-working so I assumed this was a pro-active measure to make sure the surface didn’t go dry-slick. They added moisture and cut the cushion off of it all around. The result was a tacky, smooth surface for the heats. There were 5 heats and they were almost follow the leader until the last two. By the 4th heat the track had a ledge in both turns again. Rico Abreau pulled off at the start of heat 4 and he never was a factor all evening. I think he was having motor problems too. The 5th heat was a dandy. Dan Dietrich spun on the first lap, and had to go to the tail for the restart. He obviously was mad but there was no way he would get a transfer spot with the track still being tacky….or so I thought. As the green fell, Dietrich just stuck his foot in it and held it there. He got his momentum up and busted the cushion in each turn, going bat out of hell crazy. He hustled himself to within 2 spots of that 4th transfer but he had to pass Gary Taylor and Broc Martin. No small task because Broc is fast here and Taylor is fast everywhere. Danny makes the pass on both guys and grabs the transfer spot! Nice driving Mr. Dietrich!

Paul McMahan won the Ohio Speedweek opener Friday at Attica When the B main rolled around, the track was still tacky, but very dusty too. The B mani looked like an A main because of all the good cars in it. The finish was Dave Blaney, Broc Martin, Cale Conley and Tim Shaffer, the top 4 going to the A.

Kyle Larson starts at the front of the A and promptly grabs the lead. Before a lap is finished Macedo and Martin tangle in turn 4 and restart at the tail. On the restart, Bl;aney pulls off. Larson gets the lead followed by Reutzel and Kahne. Chad Kemenah spins it on lap 5 and goes to the tail. McMahon sits in fourth with Jac Haudenschild 5th. The race goes green until lap 12 when Dietrich spins out. The track has a tall cushion now and Larson bumps it in each turn as he races away from the field. Byron Reed is moving up. On lap 14, Price-Miller stops and a fan was hit by flying debris in the pits so there is a red flag. At the restart after the red, Larson stretches his lead but then hits the front straight wall after getting over the turn 4 cushion. He rolls to a stop bringing out a yellow. McMahon inherits the lead followed by Reutzel. When racing resumes, Ruetzel gets around McMahon and then hits the front stretch wall allowing McMahon to get by for the lead. A few laps later it looked like Ruetzel lost a motor with a flash and puff of smoke. Kahne was now in the runner up spot with Byron Reed up to 3rd followed by Jac. The restart was on lap 29 and McMahon took control running low and high. Kahne would also run over the turn 4 cushion and bang the front stretch guardrail…he rode the rail with two wheels and kept going until all fours got back on the dirt. This allowed Reed and Jac to pass him. The finish was McMahon, Reed, Haudenschild, Cale Thomas and Kasey Kahne. Great race, it was a wild one!

Thank you Attica and thank you All Stars, now onto the next one!