Labor Day weekend racing recap

Well, one of the absolute busiest weekends of racing has come and passed for me.  That weekend I am referring to is Labor Day weekend.  It is a weekend meant to celebrate the American laborer and how hard they work.  It is also one of the last warm weekends of summer as well.  It is a time for friends and family to get together.  It also marks the start of college football, which is exciting to me as well.  I spent my weekend racing 3 out of 4 days.

I spent Friday at Fairbury American Legion Speedway for the Inaugural Prairie Dirt Shootout, a $5,000 to win UMP Late Model event that served as a prelude to the 21st Annual Prairie Dirt Classic. The pre-race festivities were booming like usual, and I enjoyed spending some time enjoying them including having food with fellow friends and fans including members of the UMD. The evening was also accompanied by a $1,750 to win UMP Modified feature. 99JR Frank Heckenast Jr. set fast time for the UMP Late Models out of a field of 43 cars.  3L Jeff Leka set fast time for the UMP Modifieds out of a field of 43 cars in attendance.   Heat races in the Late Models were fast and furious with plenty of side by side racing.  Heats were won by Rodney Melvin, Jason Feger, Brady Smith, and Bret Sievert.  UMP Modified Heats were won by Jeff Leka, Mike Harrison, Jeff Curl, and Gabe Menser.  Late Model Semis were won by Greg Johnson and Junior Shickel.  Modified Semis were won by Chevy Miller and Josh Furgeson.  After the semis, the crew at the 2 time UMP Track of the Year went to work on the racing surface to give the racers the best possible surface and give fans the best possible show. 

They ran a vintage feature before the 1st Prairie Dirt Shootout.  When the PDS took to the track, the action was hot.  The Dairyland Destroyer Brady Smith rocketed out front on the start.  The track was very top oriented at the start but there were several cars running the bottom, no better than Jack Sullivan who was picking his way through the field.  Sullivan, who started 10th in the feature, had made his way up to 5th before lap 10.  The race would change when lapped traffic got involved.  With around 25 to go, Brady Smith got hung up in traffic and a hard charging Brian Shirley was able to get around, as was Jason Feger.  In one corner Brady went from the lead to 3rd.  Shannon Babb had made his way up to 5th where he started after getting shuffled on the start a ways back.  With 23 to go Sullivan was showing muscle as well, as he ended up taking 3rd from Brady Smith.  Feger would crank up the pressure on leader Shirley just past the halfway point.  He gave Shirley all he could handle, and with 13 to go he overtook the 3s for the lead.  Feger would lead until disaster struck on the back straightaway with 3 laps to go when Greg Johnson and Richie Hedrick wrecked in the middle of the backstretch.  Feger and Shirley made inadvertent contact trying to miss the wreck.  Feger had right rear sheetmetal damage that, while not visible to the naked eye from the stands, damaged the tire.  On the restart, it was evident Jason had his hands full with the car.   With 1 to go Shirley, Sullivan and Feger were 3 wide.  It was absolute insanity, and the people were on the edge of their seats, some out of them.  Feger would keep trying, but would get pinched up and Shirley and Sullivan would go by with Shirley winning by about a car length over Sullivan. The top 5 ended up being Brian Shirley, Jack Sullivan, Jason Feger, Shannon Babb, and Billy Moyer  It was a fantastic race, and the modified feature hadn't been run yet.

After the 1st Prairie Dirt Shootout was in the books, the UMP Modifieds ran their 30 Lap, $1,750 to win feature.  Mike Harrison, a driver from Highland, Illinois who usually doesn't travel that far north, took the lead early and showed he was the car to beat.  Jeff Leka tried to keep pace, but just didn't have anything for him.  Several cars including Denny Schwartz, put on a show slicing through the field, but Harrison was smooth and made it look incredibly easy, and he would take the win with no real challenge from anyone else.  The top 5 was Mike Harrison, Jeff Leka, Gabe Menser, Kevin Weaver, and Clint DeMoss.

Saturday it was back to the Fairbury American Legion Speedway for the 21st Annual Prairie Dirt Classic.  After the fantastic racing last night, I was definitely excited to see what the evening had in store.  The pre-race atmosphere was absolutely fantastic like always, and like yesterday I enjoyed food and company with friends including the UMD.  The evening got rolling with Late Model qualifying, with 21 Billy Moyer setting fast time over a field of 47 cars.  3L Jeff Leka set fast time for the 2nd night in a row in the UMP Modifieds over a field of 46 cars.  UMP Late Model heats were frantic.  The Late Model Heats were won by Billy Moyer, Richie Hedrick, Jason Feger, Kevin Weaver, and Dennis Erb Jr.  The UMP Modified Heats were won by Jeff Leka, Mike Harrison, Clint DeMoss, Nick Neville, and Jeff Curl.  Late Model Semis were won by Mike Provinzano, Shannon Babb, and Eric Smith.  Provisionals were Darren Friedman and Ryan Dauber.  The Modified Semis were won by Jeb Friedman, Don Kiger, and Kevin Hastings.  Just like last night, at intermission the crew of Fairbury American Legion Speedway went to work on grooming the track surface to hold up to 3 features.

The street stocks spent about 20 minutes or so helping to pack in and work in the freshly groomed track and put on a show, with Jeff Semmens winning the feature.  Next up was the 21st Annual Prairie Dirt Classic 60 lap $10,000 to win UMP Late Model feature.  The feature started with Feger jumping the start and the race was restarted again.  On the restart, Billy Moyer jumped out front, and the track was lightning fast early.  Cars were running hot lap and qualifying speeds early in the feature.  With 6 in the top 5 of Billy Moyer, Jason Feger, Kevin Weaver, Brian Shirley, and Dennis Erb Jr. had broken away from the rest of the field.  In 7 laps Moyer had caught the tail end of the field.  Moyer had company in Feger, but he used patience and showed why he has won everything he has in his career.  He was methodical in how he picked off lap traffic.  Feger had problems on lap 14 when he lost a right rear tire.  We went back to racing and Dennis Erb Jr. was challenging Weaver for 2nd.  He would pass Kevin, but the yellow flew at the same time for Ryan Dauber who spun.  This would put Erb Jr. back to 3rd.  The green flag flew with 17 laps in the books and 43 remaining.  Lap 21 saw Richie Hedrick and Brian Shirley swap 4th place back and forth, with Shirley coming out on top of the exchange in the end.  Moyer was running the topside and holding a 1-3 carlength lead over Erb Jr. and Weaver.  Erb, running his traditional low line, began to really challenge Moyer, and he eventually took the lead on lap 26.  Moyer would try to rally back right after that, but just didn't make a lot of progress at that point.  Feger, who had a flat early, never made up ground and eventually fell a lap down, as was Sullivan who pitted earlier in the race as well.  With 40 in and 20 to go Shirley was challenging Moyer for 2nd.  It looked like Moyer's car was tight, meaning it didn't want to turn easily.  With 15 laps to go Dennis Erb Jr. was in heavy lapped traffic.  He looked at this point to have the race well in hand.  The yellow flew on lap 46 when Frank Heckenast Jr. ended up in the frontstretch wall.  With 14 laps to go, 19th place starter Shannon Babb had picked his way up to 8th.  Erb Jr. led the field back to green, and Billy Moyer found new life.  Moyer would end up taking the lead with 12 laps to go.  Debris would bring out the caution on lap 50, thus bunching the field up yet again.  On the restart Babb made some huge gains.  He was up to 5th and was flying at the right time.  He got to 4th and was challenging for 3rd.  Erb Jr. cranked up the pressure on 4 time winner Billy Moyer, but Moyer fended him off.  Billy Moyer ended up winning his 5th Prairie Dirt Classic title, matching Bob Pierce as the only other 5 time winner of the Prairie Dirt Classic.The top 10 of the 21st Prairie Dirt Classic was Billy Moyer, Dennis Erb Jr., Brian Shirley, Shannon Babb, Kevin Weaver, Wendall Wallace, Rodney Melvin, Brady Smith, Mike Provinzano, and Eric Smith.

The UMP Modified feature was not only the last feature of the night, but for the season at Fairbury American Legion Speedway.  Mike Harrison picked right back up where he left off the night before, and won the UMP Modified in absolutely dominant fashion.  The top 5 of the $2,000 to win UMP Modified Feature was Brian Harrison, Clint DeMoss, Kevin Weaver, Jeff Leka, and Jim Farris.

After a trip through the pits, and some hot chocolate thanks to Karen DeLong, Justin DeLong's mother, we were on the road home.

Sunday was a day off, but I did watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from Atlanta.  The racing there was pretty wild as the cars looked like they were on the verge of wrecking lap after lap.  They were sliding sideways at 160-180 mph in the corners.  Tony Stewart, who was smooth all night, was smoothest when it counted the most, and picked up his 1st win of the 2010 season.

Labor Day Monday it was off to the DuQuoin State Fair and the Magic Mile as it's known, for the ARCA Re/Max Series Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care, as well as the UMP Modified Oldani Memorial championship event.  A.J. Fike would win the pole in his RFMS/Liberty Village #10 Ford Fusion with a lap of 33.130 at a speed of 108.663 MPH.  Below is a view of the pit/garage area as it was seen from my seat at the historic DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

Racing began with the Oldani Memorial UMP Modified Championship event.  Shelby Miles would take the lead from Tim Burdell on the start.  Jeff Parks brought out one of only a few yellows in the event when he was running 4th.  He was able to rejoin the field at the end.  On the ensuing restart, Curt Rhodes would take 2nd from Tim Burdell.  X Jesse Snyder was working his way up towards the front as the race went on.  At halfway it was Shelby Miles, Curt Rhodes, and Jesse Snyder running in the top 3.  500 Steve Adams spun a couple of laps later and made minimal contact with the turn 1 wall and was able to continue.  A few laps later a huge wreck destroyed quite a few cars, and one even rolled over, which is absolutely scary at a mile track.  Everyone was ok.  In the end, Miles would go pretty much unchallenged over the last few laps, and win. Curt Rhodes and Jesse Snyder rounded out the top 3.

The ARCA race was next.  After all of the pre-race, and parade laps, the race went green.  Polesitter A.J. Fike jumped out to the early lead.  Kelly Kovski, a Springfield, Illinois native and full time car chief for Allgaier Motorsports who fields the 36 of Robb Brent, would challenge 2nd starting Ken Schrader for the runner up spot and take it a couple laps in, with Steve Arpin right behind him.  The first yellow flew on lap 7 when Justin Koch spun.  The pits opened up, but out of the top 5 cars, only Ken Schrader would pit to get his mandatory stop before lap 90 done then.  Fike, Kovski, Arpin, Hessert, Coulter, F Kimmel, Sheltra, W Kimmel, Kile, George Jr were the top 10 when the race went back to green on lap 12.  Kelly Kovski cranked up the pressure on leader Fike, and eventually would over take him on lap 17.  Yellow would fly soon after as Tim George Jr. spun on the front straightaway.  A.J. Fike would give up his runner up spot to make his mandatory pit stop.  The top 5 at this point are Kovski, Arpin, Sheltra, Coulter, Kile. 22 laps were in when  they took the green again.  Schrader picked his way up to 8th pretty quicky.  Frank Kimmel, 9 time ARCA Champion, ended up getting heavy right rear damage, eventually losing a right rear tire and spinning in turn 1 and hitting the wall, bringing out another yellow flag.  This caution waved at lap 29, and the entire field who hadn't pitted made their mandatory pit stop. Schrader would end up being the leader after everything cycled through on lap 31.  He would lead the next 5 laps, and then surrender the lead to Tom Hessert.  A.J. Fike would soon after slip by Schrader to 2nd.  Yellow would fly for Robb Brent on lap 46 when he spun.  The green flag flew on lap 49.  At halfway, Arpin had sliced his way up to 3rd with Patrick Sheltra in tow.  Kovski was with those 2 as well.  Skipping a 2 car spin with no damage, Arpin was reeling Hessert in  and there was a battle for the lead on lap 61.  He took the lead on lap 62 and would not surrender it.  There was some great racing behind him.  The ARCA Re/Max Series Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care Top 10 was Steve Arpin, Tom Hessert, Mikey Kile, Patrick Sheltra, Ken Schrader, Will Kimmel, Craig Goess, Chad McCumbee, Kelly Kovski, and Brian Silas.  Below are photos from the celebration by Arpin and crew.

This would wrap up my racing weekend.  I was fortunate to be able to enjoy it with my Grandpa, who is the one who really introduced me to the sport.  It was a fantastic weekend with a lot of good racing, and pretty good weather.  I was blessed to be able to see it all.  Hope everyone had a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!!

Ansar Shrine 50 Recap

I am going to start this recap off by first recapping my radio experience.  I was fortunate, being a long time fan who went weekly to Macon as a kid, to be selected to go on Macon Speedway Live with Brett Zerfowski to kind of share where my love for the sport was born.  I literally didn't have enough time to name all of the drivers who I have seen race there in 15 years, locals and stars.  From what I have gotten in the way of feedback of those who listened, it went well.  I want to thank you all for your support.  As long as I have followers, I will give updates and keep doing the blog.  I do it for the love of the sport and I just want to share the passion I have for it with others who love it as well.  Now, on to the race recap.

The night began with qualifying for the UMP Late Models.  There were 24 UMP Late Models in attendance at Macon Speedway tonight.  Roger Brickler was the fastest of those 24 with a lap of 10.868.  The street stock heats were the first group of events.  Those heats would be won by Mike Pickering and Blake Shelly.  The racing in both gave a pretty good indication of the carnage and insanity that would ensue as the night went on, for all classes.  The UMP Modified heats were next up.  The heat winners were Dave Crawley Jr., Jeremy Nichols in a barn burner of a heat with a ton of side by side racing, and Aaron Burcham.  The Pro Hornet heats followed.  John Lewis and Eric Wilson scored heat wins.  Then it was on to the UMP Late Model Heats for the Ansar Shrine 50.  Heat 1 would see Roger Brickler win, with John Beck, Dick Taylor, Kerby Damery, and Zach Bunning rounding out the top 5.  Racing was all around the bottom in the 1st and the 2nd heat as well.  The 2nd heat was won by Richie Hedrick.  The rest of the top 5 for heat 2 was Brandon Sheppard, Rick Standridge, Rodney Standerfer, and Chris Dick.  Heat 3 saw some multi-groove racing.  Corey Daugherty was the first driver in the late model class to make the top side work, and boy did he ever in the heat.  He won the heat, and was followed by Steve Lance Jr., Brian Divley, Terry Reed, and Ryan Little.  The final heats were the amateur hornet heats.  Those were won by Adam Webb and Jared Matherly.  Semi features followed the final heat.

The first semi was the UMP Modified semi feature.  It was won by Roger Drake, with Danny Maguire, Jeff Wallace, Clark Robertson, and Dave Echols advancing to the Modified feature.  Before the Late Model semi was ran, there was an intermission and the Ansar Shriners came out to the track and we got to see a parade right there at the track. Here are some photos from the parade.

It was wonderful to see all of the Shriners out on the track.  I want to thank them all right now for coming out like they did.   Everyone in the stands appreciated it. The Late Model semi feature was the last semi feature of the night.  Kyle Logue's bad luck continued as he ended up hitting the wall after John Graham got into him, bumming his ankle in the process.  The top 5 that advanced to the Ansar 50 were Mike Hammerlee, Kevin Moffett, Jim Moon, Jospeh Hughes, and Ethan Schnapp.

The first feature of the evening was the street stock feature.  Just like the heats, there was some insane racing throughout the field.  Plenty of side by side racing, contact too.  When it was all said and done, Mike "Jimbo" Pickering won the feature.  Next up was the UMP Modified feature.  This one was absolutely filled with side by side racing   Jeremy Nichols led it wire to wire, although he was lucky to even take the green as he looped it on the initial start.  It was a hornet's nest behind him.  Dave Crawley Jr., Aaron Burcham, Randy Huffman (who started close to 10th), and Mark Tullis rounded out the top 5.  That group of 2-5 ran side by side quite a bit with Tullis and Huffman making the top side work for them.  Next up was the Pro Hornet Feature.  Michael Webb ended up winning that feature.

Next up was the show everyone had came to see, the UMP Late Model Ansar Shrine 50.  Roger Brickler and Ritchie Hedrick led the field to the green flag.  Ritchie would jump up top and take the lead.  Behind him, an all out war was being waged.  The first yellow would fly on lap 4 when Kevin Moffett pinched Ryan Little into the wall.  To put it as it was, Little was pissed.  He actually punched Moffett's car twice when it came by  on one pass.  Every time Moffett went by, Ryan showed him his displeasure with him.  The top 10 at this point of the race was Ritchie Hedrick, John Beck, Roger Brickler, Cory Daugherty, Steve Lance Jr., Rick Standridge, Kerby Damery, Brandon Sheppard, Dick Taylor, and Brian Divley   The green flag waved over the field again, with the battles behind the leader picking right back up where they had ended when the yellow waved.  Greg Kimmons spun out on lap 7 to bring out the 2nd caution of the event.  The top 10 was the same except that Chris Dick had gotten around Brian Divley for 10th.  The green flag flew again and, just like before, the insanity resumed.  John Beck was cranking up the pressure on Hedrick, and the 2 actually made contact coming off of turn 4 when Ritchie came up to block and Beck had a pretty good run going.  The yellow flew for the 3rd time on lap 10 for Jim Moon.  The top 10 with 1/5 of the race in was Hedrick, Beck, Brickler, Daugherty, Lance Jr., Standridge, Damery, Sheppard, Dick, and Taylor.  The green flag and racing resumed again.  The yellow would fly on lap 15 for the 4th time when Chris Dick looped it.  Brandon Sheppard was put to the back for making contact, which I didn't see.  They were close, but didn't see any contact.  Sheppard wasn't happy and plead his case to no avail.  He would rejoin at the tail of the field.  The green flag waved again and would stay out for a while.  Hedrick built at one point a half a track lead over the field.  The top 5 at halfway was Ritchie Hedrick, John Beck, Roger Brickler, Steve Lance Jr., and Rick Standridge, who was on the move on the low side.  The yellow would fly for the 5th time on lap 31 when Roger Brickler finally drove over his head in turn 3, bounced off of the wall, and eventually spun in turn 4, lighting the tires up.  The top 10 with 19 laps to go was Hedrick, Beck, Lance Jr., Daugherty, Standridge, Damery, Dick, Divley, Taylor, and Terry Reed.  The green flag flew, but yellow would fly 4 laps later for the 6th time on lap 35 when Terry Reed spun.  Roger Brickler, trying to avoid, cut too hard right and ended up on the turn 4 wall.  The yellow was for the 11k of Terry Reed.

The top 10 with 35 laps in and 15 laps remaining was Hedrick, Beck, Lance Jr., Daugherty, Standridge, Damery, Dick, Divley, Sheppard, Taylor.  Damery was showing that he had tires left, and Sheppard had charged from the tail up to 9th.  The green flag waved again, but didn't even last a lap as Cory Daugherty lost the center out of his right rear wheel, bringing out the caution for the 7th time and final time.  The top 10 on the final restart was Hedrick, Beck, Lance Jr., Standridge, Damery (showing muscle as he had saved his tires), Dick, Divley, Sheppard, Taylor, Hughes.  The green flag flew again, and John Beck had found a 2nd wind.  He was all over Hedrick for the lead for a few laps, but when the tires got hot Hedrick cruised away to the win.

The top 10 in the Ansar Shrine 50 was Richie Hedrick, John Beck, Kerby Damery, Rick Standridge, Chris Dick, Brian Divley, Brandon Sheppard, Dick Taylor, Steve Lance Jr., and Mike Hammerlee.  The final feature of the evening was the amateur hornet feature.  Jared Matherly won the Amateur Hornet feature.  The evening was done at 10:03 PM.  It was a wild and crazy night at the races.  The Shriners raised a lot of money.  Raised $1,100 in the 50/50 drawing, and the racing was entertaining.  All in all, a pretty good night from the fan's perspective.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this night a success!!

Chris Wall: Appliance Zone $70,000 2011 sponsorship candidate

Appliance Zone is offering a $70,000 sponsorship to a group of 5 drivers.  Today I am highlighting the driver of the C&M Gator Farm, Xtreme Graphics, Stuckey Enterprises, Gator Trax Boats, Wall2Wall Racing Engines Mastersbuilt #71 of "The Intimigator" Chris Wall of Springfield, Louisiana.

 Chris has made a name for himself in the world of Dirt Late Model Racing driving in the deep south.  He has numerous wins at tracks such as Columbus (MS) Speedway, Magnolia (MS) Speedway, among others.  This year Chris decided to go out on the road and pursue the 2010 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year title.  He currently leads those point standings.  He has had multiple fast time awards on the tour this year, and has had some great runs, but no feature wins to his credit this year.  Chris does have 1 career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature win to his credit at Columbus (MS) Motor Speedway

 

Chris, when not racing, makes his living running C&M Gator Farm along with his wife Missy.

They work hard doing a job most wouldn't even dare think about doing.  He is also a family man.  He and wife Missy have 2 children, Ranger and Christian.  Sponsorship from Appliance Zone could really help Chris out by giving him some financial support.  You can go vote by going to http://appliancezoneracing.com/Home/DriverDevelopmentContest.aspx then registering and voting.

Jimmy Owens: Appliance Zone $70,000 2011 sponsorship candidate

Appliance Zone is offering a $70,000 sponsorship to a group of 5 drivers.  Today I am highlighting the driver of the Reece Monument Company, Gantte Apprasial, Alwee Trucking Company, Byrd's Radiator Vic Hill power Bloomquist Race Cars #20 of "The Newport Nightmare", "The O Show", Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tennessee.

Jimmy has been well known in the racing world for about the last 15 years.  He made his name first driving UMP Modifieds, wowing people wherever he went.  He won the UMP Modified national points championship 4 times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002).  Jimmy has multiple crown jewel event wins in his career.  He is a 2 time North/South 100 Champion (2007, 2010), as well as having victories in the 37th Annual World 100 (2007), Hillbilly 100 (2008), Comp Cams Topless 100 (2009), and the 15th Annual Dirt Late Model Dream (2009).  The biggest of these wins was the Dirt Late Model Dream, which payed $100,000 to win.

Owens has proven that he is absolutely one of the best in the business.  He is a threat to win wherever he goes.  He is one of the more soft spoken drivers out there as well.  He is a single father as well to a little boy, Nathan.  When not racing, Jimmy is building his Loose Gruff modified chassis.  Jimmy would be a good candidate for the Appliance Zone sponsorship.  To vote for Jimmy, go to http://appliancezoneracing.com/Home/DriverDevelopmentContest.aspx register, then vote.

Don O'Neal: Appliance Zone $70,000 2011 sponsorship candidate

Appliance Zone is offering a $70,000 sponsorship to a group of 5 drivers.  Today I am highlighting the driver of the Independence Lumber, Jones Core, Superior Cleaning Services, O'Neal Mulch, Jay Dickens powered Mastersbuilt house car  #71 of "The Real Deal" Don O'Neal from Martinsville, Indiana.

  Don has ran with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series full time the last couple of years, but he is well known to many in the Dirt Late Model world before.  He has made a name for himself in the Midwest.  Don was the 2004 UMP Summernationals champion.  He has a total of 38 career UMP Summernationals feature wins, including 3 this season.  Don has won numerous big races including events at the DART Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Florida , the Jackson 100, Hoosier Dirt Classic, Kenny Simpson Memorial, and Indiana Icebreaker, all ran at Brownstown Speedway in Brownstown, Indiana.  His biggest payday came when he won the 2003 Dixie Shootout.  The win was worth $55,000 to O'Neal.

Don is a single father of 2 boys, Huston (15) and Husdon (9).  That is a hard thing for any parent to do.  How Don does it and remains a competitive Dirt Late Model driver is something is amazing.  To vote for Don, first go to http://appliancezoneracing.com/Home/DriverDevelopmentContest.aspx then register to vote.  Then be sure to vote.

Ray Cook: Appliance Zone $70,000 2011 sponsorship candidate

Appliance Zone is offering a $70,000 sponsorship to a group of 5 drivers.  Today I am highlighting the driver of the #53 D&R Motorsports, Hicks & Engel General Contractors, A+ Moving & Storage, Mastersbuilt powered by a Race Engine Design powerplant, "The Tarheel Tiger" Ray Cook of Brasstown, North Carolina.

Ray has been a force to be reckoned with in the Dirt Late Model world, and one of the drivers to beat whenever the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series takes to the track.  His 2010 season already has some big accomplishments.  Cook already has 9 Dirt Late Model feature wins, including 3 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature wins.  The biggest win this year for Ray was the $30,000 to win 18th Annual DART Show-Me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri.
After a few seasons of not being as competitive as Ray was used to, 2009 was a career season for him.  He had 12 Late Model feature wins, 5 of which came in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition.  His largest career win came in 2009 as he won the 41st Annual Hillbilly 100 at Tyler County (WV) Speedway.  The win was worth $41,000, and the race was Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned.

Ray is a family man and a spiritual man.  Ray and his wife Peggy have 3 daughters: Alana, Olivia, and Jenna.  When Ray isn't racing, he is a promoter as well.  He has set up the Southern Nationals, a smaller version of the UMP Summernationals, which is a staple of midwest Dirt Late Model racing in the summer months.  This sponsorship would help Ray and his car owners, and he would serve as a fine steward for the Appliance Zone company.  To vote, first go to http://appliancezoneracing.com/Home/DriverDevelopmentContest.aspx and then register, then finally vote.

Steve Casebolt: Appliance Zone $70,000 2011 sponsorship candidate

Appliance Zone is offering a $70,000 sponsorship to a group of 5 drivers.  Today I am highlighting the driver of the Dixie Choppers Rocket Chassis Late Model powered by a Cornett Racing Engine car #c9 of Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Indiana.

Steve had pooled his resources with car owner Bob Harris earlier this year, having a fantastic run at the Show Me 100.  However, they parted ways and now Steve is the driver and the owner, and I know this sponsorship could really help his program out.  He is a talented driver with some big accomplishments to his credit.  He was the 2000 Renegade STARS Rookie of the Year.  He won the Spring 50 feature at Florence, Kentucky in 2003.  In 2005, he scored his first Lucas Oil Late Model feature win at Elkins, West Virginia.  In 2006 Steve went out on the Lucas Oil series full time and was the Rookie of the Year, and finished 6th in the final point standings.  In 2007, Steve made himself well known to those who really didn't know him.  He had 2 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series wins, one at Muskigum County (OH) Speedway, and one at Florence Speedway.  His biggest career accomplishment came on the hallowed grounds of Eldora Speedway as he held off one of Dirt Late Model biggest stars, Scott Bloomquist.

Steve would go on to finish 3rd in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Points that season as well, a career best.  He would finish 3rd in points in 2008 as well.  Last year, Steve finished 8th in points.  You can go vote for Steve by going to http://appliancezoneracing.com/Home/DriverDevelopmentContest.aspx and registering, then vote.