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Tag: Jac Haudenschild

  • Madsen takes The Brad Doty Classic

    Madsen takes The Brad Doty Classic

    [media-credit name=”Ken Simon Photos” align=”alignright” width=”179″][/media-credit]The Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park would hold many surprises as the night unfolded not the least of which would be who didn’t make the show.

    The Brad Doty Classic ran tonight on the 1/4 mile semi banked oval in Lima Ohio. The night was full of anticipation. The field was full of top names who made for a very very deep talent talent pool in the pits. Top names like Kinser, Stewart, Kahne, Swindell, Schatz, Gravel, Haudenschild, and Sweet had all arrived to contest for the $10,000 to win purse. The excitement in the near sell out crowd was obvious. The anticipation in the pits was just as obvious.

    The first hint that this might not be a typical night with the World of Outlaws came in qualifying when top name visitors Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne finished outside the inversion by a significant distance. Stewart would post a time of 11.246 seconds and was only 23rd quick. Kahne would post a time 11.278 which was only good enough for 26th in the 43 car field. Quick time was set by Craig Dollansky with a time of 10.998 seconds. It was Dollansky’s 3rd quick time of the year thus far. The track record of 10.763 set by Joey Saldana in July of 2009 remains intact.

    The heat races would make it clear that this was not going to be a night of visiting stars. The first heat would be dominated by Stevie Smith with Kraig Kinser coming home second to make the transfer to the Dash. Dollansky would solidify his Dash position by transferring to the A Main in the 4th position. The second heat race would see Sam Hafertepe Jr take his first victory of the season with Donny Schatz in hot pursuit in second. Kerry Madsen would solidify the final open dash spot by transferring in 5th. The first big surprise of the evening came in this heat race, when Kasey Kahne finished a weak 9th out of 11 cars to be relegated to the B Main. The third and without a doubt the most challenging of the 4 heat races was heat number 3. The heat would be won by the 20 time champion Steve Kinser with Byron Reed taking the second spot. But relegated to B Main were two huge names, Sammy Swindell who finished 7th and Tony Stewart who pulled off the track at lap 2 and finished 11th out of 11 cars. The final heat of the night was won by Daryn Pittman with second going to Brian Brown. With the dash line up set, the inversion of 4 was drawn putting Steve Kinser on the outside of the front row and Stevie Smith on the pole. The dash was a hard core no holds barred 8 lap affair that saw Stevie Smith take the victory in very dominating fashion over Kerry Madsen, Sam Hafertepe Jr, Daryn Pittman, and Steve Kinser.

    The C Main would transfer only the top 2 to the Last Chance Showdown which would only transfer 4 to the A Main. Outlaws regular Lucas Wolfe would dominate the race. Dean Jacobs would come home second. The rest of 9 car field would go home. But they wouldn’t be alone. The B Main would show the hand of the night and send many others home with them.

    The B Main was full of big names Swindell, Sides, Haudenschild, Kahne, Stewart, and Larson. When the dust cleared only Sammy Swindell, Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, and Bryan Sebbetto would transfer to the big show. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Chad Kemenah, Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides all would be done for the evening.

    The promoter of the event, Brad Doty choose not to carry forward any of those drivers on a promoters option, leaving only full time Outlaws drivers with provisionals to get into the A Main. Chad Kemenah and Bill Rose both opted for provisionals to run the 40 lap A Main. With the now 26 car field set, the battle was about to begin. The race itself was full of power slides for position back and forth and 3 wide racing throughout the pack, but when the checkers waved 9 cars were sitting at the trailers. 3 of which had been upside down and damaged badly. The others had front and rear end damage severe enough to prevent them from continuing or engine problems that ended their night prematurely. But when the dust settled, it was “The Mad Man” Kerry Madsen who stood on the top of the podium. Stevie Smith would come home second and David Gravel would come home third. The KSE Hard Charger Award went to Greg Wilson who started 17th and finished 4th.

    Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz officially tied atop the standings going into the Kings Royal weekend at Eldora. The first tie breaker is wins, and both have three. Second tie breaker of top fives gives Kinser the edge, 17-14, but there’s a lot of racing left this season to worry about tie breakers going into a $50,000-to-win event.

    The next stop on the World of Outlaws tour is the legendary Eldora Speedway on Friday for the Night before the Royal and then again on Saturday for the $50,000 to win Kings Royal.

    Feature Results: 1, Kerry Madsen. 2, Stevie Smith. 3, David Gravel. 4, Greg Wilson. 5, Donny Schatz. 6, Craig Dollansky. 7, Daryn Pittman. 8, Sammy Swindell. 9, Steve Kinser. 10, Tim Shaffer. 11, Dale Blaney. 12, Kraig Kinser. 13, Brad Sweet. 14, Bryan Sebetto. 15, Joey Saldana. 16, Cody Darrah. 17, Tim Kaeding. 18, Byron Reed. 19, Chad Kemenah. 20, Shane Stewart. 21, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 22, Jac Haudenschild. 23, Bill Rose. 24, Sheldon Haudenschild. 25, Brian Brown. 26, Paul McMahan.

  • McMahan takes Opening Night in Empire State!

    McMahan takes Opening Night in Empire State!

    [media-credit id=30 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]The Greatest Show on Dirt brought their magic to Rolling Hills Raceway aka “The Fast Track” was one of three founding-member speedways when DIRT Motorsports was established in 1976, Rolling Wheels has matured into one of the most respected ovals on the entire circuit. The big 5/8-mile banked layout was first mapped out by the late Bob Petrocci, once a competitor himself at neighboring Weedsport Speedway. This is the largest track the WoO drivers will compete on this year.

    The only glitch in the evenings action seemed to be when The New York State Liquor Authority didn’t come through on the liquor license in time for tonight’s race. Fans were allowed to bring beer in stadium size coolers, but no glass bottles were allowed.

    Although a late afternoon rain shower cooled the temperature off considerably with the temperature at race time being 58 degrees. But the racing was red hot from qualifying all the way through to the final lap of the A Main.

    Quick Time would be set by last years WoO ROTY and Kasey Kahne Racing driver Cody Darrah, who turned a lap of 16.257 or138.402 mph. The top 15 qualifiers were separated by just .547 of a second.

    The first heat race saw a strong front row with last weeks winner at Williams Grove, Freddie Rahmer starting on the pole with Volusia Park winner and former Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski on the outside. The heat race was a fast hard charging race that Lasoski would win in dominate style over Cody Darrah and Freddie Rahmer. Lasoski and Darrah would advance to the Dash and Rahmer Kerry Madsen, Lance Dewease, and David Gravel would all advance to the A Main.

    The second heat race would find the 20 time WoO champion Steve Kinser on the pole with Jac Haudenschild starting outside. The race would be a high speed ballet of position switches and tip toeing around a very narrow and slick track. Joey Saldana would come from 4th to take the victory while Steve Kinser would finish a solid second to advance to the dash. Haudenschild would lead Daryn Pittman, Paul McMahan, and Michael Parent to the A Main.

    The 3rd Heat race was more of the same with 4 time champion and current points leader Sammy Swindell starting on the pole and to his outside a familiar sight in the STP/Tony Stewart Racing number 15 of Donny Schatz. Schatz and Swindell traded the points lead back and forth until last week when Steve Kinser took over the 2nd spot leaving Schatz just 12 points back. Swindell would dominate until the final lap when his car began smoking heavily on the back stretch. But Swindell would hold on to win the heat with Schatz closing fast. Both Swindell and Schatz would advance to dash. But Swindell would make the first of 2 engines changes on the night. Also advancing to the A Main were Chad Kemenah, Craig Dollansky, Logan Schuchart and Kraig Kinser.

    The Dash inversion was a 6 putting Cody Darrah in the 3rd row to start. In the end, it would be Paul McMahan on the pole of the A Main followed by Chad Kemenah, Craig Dollansky, David Gravel and Donny Schatz. The Dash would find Sammy Swindell with another engine letting go and relegating him to the tenth spot on the start of the A.

    The Last Chance Showdown was scheduled to start 8 cars and transfer 6 to the A Main with 4 getting their time back and the last two taking the tail of the field. But Lucas Wolfe would scratch for the night after losing an engine in the heats as would Blake Breen. That pared the field to 6. Jessica Zemken would lead for the majority of the race before losing an engine and catching on fire between turns 1 and 2. She climbed from the car quickly and was unhurt. The race would be won by Justin Barger, followed by Glen Styres, George Suprick, Chuck Hebing, April Wilson and Zemken would be credited with 6th.

    When the mighty wings of the greatest show on dirt took the track for the A Main, the top 5 rows were a who’s who of racing. Tough competition all the way through. It was hard to pick a winner even for the staunchest of dirt racing fans. With 30 championships starting in the top 10 there was little doubt that this was going to be a hard fought race and the winner would have earned his $10,000 winner’s purse tonight.

    Paul McMahan would take the early lead and never look back. Leading all 25 laps despite hard charges and challenges from David Gravel early and Craig Dollansky late. But through the top 10 it was a show worth twice the price of admission amongst some of the greatest drivers of our time. Danny Lasoski was in championship form cutting his way up to 4th. Steve Kinser would come home 5th. And even after changing 2 engines Sammy Swindell would come home in the seventh position. Interestingly enough all 30 of those championships would finish in the top 10. The Hard Charger award would go to Jessica Zemken who climbed 11 positions in the A main after blowing an engine in the B Main.

    The points closed up almost as tight as the racing with Steve Kinser closing to within 4 points of Sammy Swindell and Kinser well he can’t breathe too much because team mate Donny Schatz is right there just 10 points back.

    At the end of the night, fans and media alike had to sit back and take a breath. They had just witnessed racing at it’s finest. They had witnessed the unique and beautiful joining of man and machine in a display of skill that simply can not be matched else where. The graceful ballet of the masters of dirt had once again played out in front of an eager and excited crowd and they had not disappointed.

    As the crowd gathered at the entrance of the pits, the masters prepared to meet their supporters, sign their names, pose for pictures, and answer questions both easy and hard. To the casual observer it was hard to tell which group was more excited the legions of fans or the master’s that thrilled them.

    The World of Outlaws will run again on Saturday the 19th at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York. Good tickets are still available. If you are in the area treat yourself to the Greatest Show on Dirt. You will never be sorry.

  • Swindell Walks The Dog for Victory Number 4

    Swindell Walks The Dog for Victory Number 4

    [media-credit name=”World of Outlaws” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]

    The Goodyear Outlaw Thunder returned to Eldora last night for it’s final night. It’s final night would prove much calmer than it’s first. And would see Sammy Swindell take the checkered flag for the 4th time this season.

    After qualifying seventh quickest, Swindell drove from third to second in both his heat race and the dash. He then rocketed to the lead at the start of the feature, which went caution free for 24 laps before Jason Sides’ flat left rear tire brought out a yellow flag.

    “The way the car was rolling through there I knew that if somebody was faster, they’d have to be just really awesome because this thing was almost on rails,” Swindell said. “It was just stuck down so hard I could just drive around there like I’m driving down the freeway.”

    The caution eliminated nearly a straightaway lead for Swindell, who took little time in reestablishing a sizeable advantage. However, Kraig Kinser sustained a flat left rear tire with two laps remaining to bring out the final caution of the race.

    Joey Saldana, who ran second for most of the race, began to slow a couple of laps before the caution because of an engine issue. Swindell chose the outside lane on the double-file restart and Saldana’s car was slow to take off, bogging the inside lane on the start and dropping him to sixth by turn one.

    Swindell sailed to the win as Dale Blaney used the late cautions to pick up a pair of positions.

    “We were probably going to run fourth until those last couple of yellows,” he said after finishing second. “They kind of helped us out. Sometimes yellows can help or hurt, and tonight they helped a little bit.

    “(Swindell) was awful good all night long. He drove away from us early. He was definitely a better car than us and it would have took a little bit of problem from him for us to get up to him. I just wasn’t good enough from the center off to get a run on guys to slide them.”

    Craig Dollansky also capitalized on the two cautions to drive from sixth to third in the final five laps.

    “My car got good as the race wore on,” he said. “Late in the race was when my car felt the best.

    “Any time you can come out with a top three with this group of teams here, it’s a pretty good night.”

    David Gravel, who set fast time for the second night in a row, finished fourth and Daryn Pittman drove from 11th to round out the top five.

    Schatz overcame an early issue of his own and rebounded in the feature. After advancing from eighth to third in the Last Chance Showdown to earn a transfer, Schatz started the main event in 24th. He restarted 14th on the caution with six laps remaining and then restarted ninth on the green-white-checker.

    Schatz finished sixth and he earned the KSE Hard Charger Award for a series-best third time this season.

    Saldana placed seventh, Steve Kinser was eighth, Greg Wilson ended ninth and Friday night winner Chad Kemenah rallied from 22nd to conclude the top 10.

    Paul McMahan won a heat race and the dash, and Trey Starks, Steve Kinser and Jac Haudenschild earned heat wins. Tony Stewart claimed the Last Chance Showdown.

    Swindell and Schatz have exchanged the points lead 8 times in 15 events making it the most hotly contested championship battle in World of Outlaws History.

  • Eldora Hosts Goodyear Outlaw Thunder

    [media-credit name=”Photo Courtesy of Tear Off Haven Fotos” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]The World of Outlaws returned for the first time this year to the historic and storied Eldora Speedway. Eldora’s legend and myth are so intertwined with her reality that they can never be truly separated. Her reputation has been gained over the years and has been formed by the perspective of the men who have raced on her surface. She has created champions. She has broken hopeful younsters. She has played host to royalty, millionaires, champions and legends, yet her heart will always belong to those that fill her seats every week.

    Eldora’s trophy is as sought after as the man who calls her his own and has since 2004. Tony Stewart added new catch fencing and a digital scoreboard. A weather alert system to benefit the community and visitors to the track. A smaller track for quarter midgets and an ecologically benficial track preservation system to grow the tracks dirt surface stronger. He brought the diamond of the past that helped form his beloved roots of dirt racing, into the present. Now he has began the journey that will solidify her influence long into the future of the sport.

    Tonight was nothing different for Eldora. She was tough and unforgiving. A total of 10 cautions would slow the normally lightening fast Outlaws with multiple car wrecks and wild rolls leaving drivers safe but shaken and cars piles of brutalized rubble. There were freak happenings that left the casual and die hard fan alike shaking their heads in wonder and a showing of skills that illustrated why they call it “The Greatest Show on Dirt”.

    The night began with a feeling of excitement in the air. Track owner Tony Stewart had announced on Thursday that he would be altering his schedule at Talladega in order to run both nights of the Goodyear Outlaw Thunder at Eldora. When the gates opened the red white and blue Office Depot number 14 was indeed in the pits and its driver was indeed at the track. Stewart who skipped the final practice at Talladega to be present and compete, showed that he was not only a force to be reckoned with behind the wheel of a race vehicle, but he also understood the importance of the role of track owner and promoter.

    Qualifying was an omen of things to come with David Gravel being the fastest in qualifying with a lap of 13.228 seconds, which was only three-thousandths quicker than Chad Kemenah. Steve Kinser (13.277 seconds), Daryn Pittman (13.288) and Jac Haudenschild (13.291) completed the top five. The top 20 drivers were separated by less than three-tenths of a second.

    The heat races were quick. The first heat was won by Dale Blaney (older brother of Dave Blaney) and transferred Jac Haudenschild, Trey Starks, David Gravel and Tony Stewart to the A Main. The second heat was won by Craig Dollansky and transferred Joey Saldana, Donny Schatz, Jason Sides and Chad Kemenah to the A. The third heat was won by Kerry Madsen and transferred Steve Kinser, ‎Stevie Smith, Cody Darrah and Cap Henry to the A. The final heat would be won by Sammy Swindell and transferred Tim Shaffer, Daryn Pittman, Greg Wilson and Danny Holtgraver to the A main.

    The Dash inversion was a 4. Putting Jac Haudenshild on the front row next to Steve Kinser. The fast qualifier would start on the outside 2nd row. Haudenschild would dominate the dash to take the pole with 20 time Outlaw Champion, Steve Kinser coming home second. With the top 5 rows set it was time for the B Main.

    The B Main started 13 cars and transferred 4 to the A. Kraig Kinser would start on the pole and would win the race handily followed by Paul McMahan, Randy Hannagan, Bryan Sebetto. Note of interest here – Sheldon Haudenschild the son of Jac Haudenschild was running in the top 10 of the B Main when an engine expired taking him out of competition. The younger Haudenschild was giving a strong accounting of the education he had received from his father.

    The A Main saw cautions for debris that launched from the track surface breaking out one of the front stretch lights and showering the track with glass, exploding tires, Sammy Swindell, a multi car wreck that took out the top 5. The leader, Jac Haudenschild, pit for fuel which is not allowed in the Outlaws except under open red conditions. The leader, Dale Blaney, pit for a flat tire that he changed outside the work area and thus was not allowed to return to the track.

    There was 3 wide racing and side by side racing throughout the field from the drop of the green. There was not a single position that was not hotly contested on the track by some of the best drivers in the world. Steve Kinser who would have a tire go down would return to finish 3rd. Sammy Swindell would return to the track to finish 6th. Power slides through every corner. Wheel to wheel down the front and back stretches as this field of magicians fought for Eldora’s crown and a $10,000 purse.

    When the checkered flag dropped it was Chad Kemenah who went home the winner. A very emotional Kemenah said in Victory Lane,

    “We got lucky there, you don’t want to win like that, but we’ve given some away so I’m not complaining. A win is a win and they pay the same.

    “When you’re this close to home it makes it that much better. It’s only an hour and a half to home, so this is kinda like home to me.”

    “The last time I won, my wife fired me. I see her down there and it looks alright. I don’t think I am getting fired this time” said Kemenah.

    The top ten finishers were Donny Schatz, Steve Kinser, Cody Darrah, Daryn Pittman, Sammy Swindell, Tony Stewart, Joey Saldana, Kraig Kinser, and Cap Henry. The top 9 cars were the only cars remaining on the lead lap.

    Donny Schatz would drive from 12th to 2nd and finish the night with a 1 point lead over Sammy Swindell in the Outlaw Points. “There were a lot of things going on and I’m glad we weren’t in it,” Schatz said. “We had a so-so car; it wasn’t the greatest. We were just kinda riding around and trying to be cautious and stay out of trouble.”

    The Outlaws will return to Eldora for night 2 of the Goodyear Outlaw Thunder tomorrow night with racing beginning at 730 EST.

    Eldora seemed to sigh as the dust cleared away as though she had revisited the echoes of her past and added the echoes of tonight to them. Tonight she smiled on a young man who took home only his second victory but what a victory it was. Chad Kemenah would never forget the beautiful lady in Ohio who bolstered his confidence for one night. And she would never forget him. Her records would forever show that on this hot humid night in May Chad Kemenah won at Eldora.

  • Schatz Wins Race With Mother Nature

    Schatz Wins Race With Mother Nature

    [media-credit name=”Paul Gould Photos” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]The Mini Gold Cup is a two night race for the World of Outlaws that has the reputation of being a top drawer event. But this year’s first night was anything but top drawer. The racing was fierce and every position was hotly contended for. But that was because the track was a narrow single groove dry slick surface that continued to take rubber quickly. By the end of the A Main what you saw was patience and skill from some of the best dirt drivers in the world, because they were racing on a track that was maybe ¾ of a groove wide.

    The evening started out with a threat of weather looming. The activities were hurried along in an attempt to beat the weather and get in the show because the forecast looks even worse for tomorrow nights activities.

    The track record was set in 2009 by Joey Saldana with a lap of 10.918 seconds. Quick Time was set by Kraig Kinser with a lap of 12.458 around the ¼ mile track. He was closely followed by the seasons only two time winner this year Tim Kaeding, with the rest of the top 5 in qualifying being Jac Haudenschild, Steve Kinser, and Sammy Swindell.

    The heat races showed some incredible moves by the Outlaw stars. Among them, a full power slide by Jason Sides out of the second turn to take over two places and the lead in one corner. Cody Darrah made a strong showing by moving from 8th to first to win the second heat but showed little after that. Stand out Kyle Larson was having an unusually off night and was sent to the pits in the second heat after having two unassisted spins. Donny Schatz dominated heat 3 leading from flag to flag. And Joey Saldana would make a power move to the outside of Bill Rose down the back stretch to win the fourth and final heat of the night.

    The Dash inversion would determine the fate of many of the drivers in the A Main as the track would begin to take rubber, lose grip and narrow its groove significantly. The inversion drawn by quick time holder Kraig Kinser was a 6. Sending Kinser to the 6th spot out of 10, it was a position he would not advance beyond during the dash. As a matter of fact only two drivers would better their starting position in the dash, Tim Kaeding and Lucas Wolfe. And they would only increase their positions by one spot when the checker flag waved. Donny Schatz would take the checkers after starting on the dash pole.

    With the first 5 rows for the A main set, the B main went off without issue. But again the track narrowed and the starting order was nearly a mirrored image of the finishing order. Jac Haudenschild, Kyle Larson, Chad Kemenah and Trey Starks would start and finish 1 thru 4 transferring to the A Main.

    For Donny Schatz winning the A Main came down to three things, 1) Patience 2) Tire Management 3) Reading the groove on the track as the race progressed. “You just had to be cautious not to spin your tires and slip up out of that bottom groove,” Schatz said. “There wasn’t a lot of moving around. There were guys trying things, but just couldn’t make anything work. You had to be on the bottom of the race track, right on the gutter. As long as I stayed there and tried to keep from making a mistake, I was going to be ok.”

    The A Main was only interrupted by 2 cautions the first when Kyle Larson spun out of 2 on lap 23. By that time the track conditions had deteriorated to the point that the restarts were made single file rather than the normal double file per Outlaws procedure. The second came on lap 34 and set up the Green White Checker finish when Robby Whitchurch blew a right rear tire and came to a stop in turn 4. When the green flag flew for the last time Schatz was amazing as he held his line and never smoked a tire until the final lap coming to the checkered flag. He had lead the entire race from beginning to end. He smoked a tire one time off of four on the checkered flag lap.

    “You had to be patient. It’s not fun when you have to be patient, but you have to do what you have to do to finish.” Said Schatz from the podium.

    “I just fell in behind Donny and tried to learn something,” said second place finisher and last years King of California winner, Jonathan Allard said. “I’ve been known for not managing my tires as well as we could have, but the Goodyears lasted, we came home with second and we’re very proud of that. I was hoping maybe Donny would get into traffic, but he was too smart to do that.”

    Joey Saldana had a stronger comment about the surface and the racing it produced. ” I want to apologize to the fans. The World of Outlaws puts on a much better show than this and I am really sorry you all didn’t get to see a better show. Maybe the track will be in better condition tomorrow night,” stated Saldana from the podium.

    The bottom line comes down to every series no matter who they are or what they drive has a bad night once in while. There is only so much that the sanctioning body can control. Weather and a poor track surface are high on the list of things that they can’t control.

    But if you really watched the racing tonight you got an amazing show of the skills that it takes to make the best of the bad situation and maximize the finish. Schatz lead from flag to flag, picked up his second win and extended his points lead. But he did it by managing the situation he was given. He raced smart and he raced patient. He didn’t drive over his head and tear up the tires.

    The old time warriors of the outlaws were evident tonight. They made passes. Maybe only one. But they finished with tires on the car and the car in one piece. They maximized their situation the best that circumstances allowed. It was an amazing thing to watch. No there weren’t many daring slide jobs or sliding above the buffer to beat a guy to the straightaway. But to watch the skills of driving dirt in a 12 second lap and never smoking the tires and driving straight off and still maintaining the speed and balance of the car, now that was an E ticket ride for the experienced race fan.

    Hopefully tomorrow night will be better. But if not I am sure Donny Schatz is ready to race Mother Nature for the Mini Gold Cup once again.

  • Kruseman cruises to 7th Friday Victory at the Chili Bowl

    Kruseman cruises to 7th Friday Victory at the Chili Bowl

    [media-credit name=”Mike Holloway” align=”alignright” width=”196″][/media-credit]The final day of qualifying for the Chili Bowl went off with very few hitches but one very scary crash. Half way through the 4th qualifying race Joey Moughan’s Black 77 clipped the berm and slid on its side into bale of hay. He was then was launched up into the catch fence where it became tangled in the fence. The right rear wheel was over the top the fence and the car was held in the fence by the right front tire and wheel upside down. After working for several minutes, track safety workers were able to extricate Moughan from the car. He was awake and alert and able to follow commands. He was transported along with family to an area hospital where at last word he was undergoing a precautionary CAT scan.

    The racing tonight was fierce. Perhaps more so than any other night of the event so far. With big name drivers like Joey Saldana, Bryan Clauson, Jac Haudenschild, Levi Jones, Cory Kruseman and Brad Loyete all competing for a locked in position in the Chili Bowl A-main.

    Winning his 7th Friday night A main and securing a spot was Cory Kruseman. He ran strong, clean fast races. He was smart and strong with his passes using caution when in traffic and doing what he had to do to win.

    The “Wild Child” Jac Haudenschild was the surprise of the night. Wheeling his way into the A main with the flair and flamboyance we have come to expect from Jac. Always the showman his skills were sharp and his car control precise. Starting from the back of the A main he worked his way almost into transfer position finishing just one position shy in 4th.

    The two stand outs of the night were without a doubt, Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson. Clauson who announced he will be participating in the rookie orientation for the Indy 500 and attempting to qualify for that race this year came home a strong 3rd after falling back after nearly stalling the car  in traffic.

    Levi Jones, who is driving for Shane Hmiel in the Chili Bowl, showed strength and skill sets that were stronger than his 27 years should have allowed him. He flat out gutted Clauson going 3 wide to take over 2nd in the A main and nearly over took Kruseman at the checkered flag coming out of 4 when Kruseman struggled to get through lapped traffic. Finishing a very strong and charging 2nd Levi will no doubt make his presence known on Saturday night.

    Joey Saldana  finished third in his qualifying race to make the A main. He was never a factor after starting deep in the field and becoming mired in traffic and slower cars. But it was his skills behind the wheel that made an otherwise unsuccessful race a site to see. Saldana used his ability to control the car in tight traffic and control a car that was bicycling or teetering on two wheels as it goes around the corner to maintain a respectable finish of 15th, considering he himself said, “I don’t know anything about a midget. I really don’t know a whole lot about what I am doing out there so I am not sure that I am giving my crew enough information to help me. But we are having a good time anyway.”

    The draw for the 12 lock ins was held immediately following the A main tonight. The 12 locked in drivers will start the main event tomorrow in the following line up.

    1. Kevin Swindell
    2. Kyle Larson
    3. Sammy Swindell
    4. Cory Kruseman
    5. Danny Stratton
    6. Shane Cottle
    7. Levi Jones
    8. Ricky Stenhouse
    9. Brad Sweet
    10. Tony Stewart
    11. Bryan Clauson
    12. Michael Pickens

    The remainder of the field will be filled with the eliminating races starting with the K main tomorrow at 1230 CST. The main event will be a 50 lap event with a field made up of the very best of the best. It is an event that people have traveled from all over the country to see and have followed over radio broadcasts from all over the world. CBS announced that it will televise the event on April 14th.

    Other news Winged Sprint Car driver of the year was announced tonight and Jason Meyers took the honors. As well as the USAC series announced it will be returning to West Memphis on their national tour. It is the first time back to Memphis area for the sprint cars since 2004. The date for the event is Sept. 8th.

    The alphabet soup day for the Chili Bowl begins at 12:30 PM CST tomorrow with the running of the first K main. There will be 2 all the way up to the B main and the event will finish up with the main event for the Golden Driller at approximately 10 PM CST. It is possible to climb into the A main from the K main. It’s not an easy run and you would have to finish in the top 3 of every race to get there. But it is possible so if your favorite did not make the top 12, don’t give up. The Chili Bowl is far from over.