The Hoosier Race Report: Some Things You Don’t Forget

Though it would be more of a challenge, I’ve not forgotten how to deliver mail. It was and is a job that’s not as easy as many like to think. I’ve no desire to go back and carry mail for many reasons. But the analogy with Brady Short ends there. On a humid Friday night at the Bloomington Speedway, Mr. Short showed the field that he hasn’t forgotten how to win as he won the 25-lap feature, holding off a charging A.J. Hopkins in the meantime. He is the latest of the racers to beat at Bloomington, like Jon Stanbrough, Kevin Briscoe and Derek Scheffel, among others, before him.

This was my first trip in 2020 to what comes closest to being my home track. It’s been that kind of year. The distinguished lady had a few cosmetic changes for the better, most notably the new bleachers that resemble those at Lincoln Park, ideal for lawn chairs.

The track is the same red clay oval. Narrow, lightning fast early and still pretty quick by the time sprints line up for the feature. It can be unforgiving as a few guys found out the hard way. After seeing its ups and downs, it seems to me that cautious optimism is justified as the facility’s star seems to be ascending.

Among the 108 cars in the pits, 27 were sprints. There were no surprises. Of the 27, two were ladies; both made the feature. The format would be the three heat/top five to the feature, plus a B.

The good news was that Ethan Barrow won the first heat. The bad news was his engine erupting in smoke as he crossed the finish line, just ahead of Jadon Rogers. Braydon Fox, Travis Berryhill and Shelby VanGilder also transferred to the feature. Billy Winseman flipped in turn two, bringing out the red flag. He climbed from the car on his own. Later in the evening, Barrow and company left, a good night gone bad.

The second heat was one that saw its share of cushion building as Josh Cunningham won by a half lap. Sterling Cling, Robert Brown, Brandon Spencer and Jake Bland trailed.

Jordan Kinser won a loaded third heat, holding off Brady Short, who started seventh. A. J. Hopkins was third after starting ninth, guaranteeing him a mid-pack start in the feature. Chayse Hayhurst came back from a flip in hot laps to race his way into the show. Lee Underwood was fifth.

Mason Day, usually a one man band (with zero helpers), won the semi, leading Joey Parker, Cindy Chambers, Andy Bradley, Matt Thompson and Travis Thompson to the main event.

After some fireworks and the mini-sprint feature won by Keith Langley, it was time for the 410 sprints. Short and Cling were the front row. Brian Hodde waved the green and Short had a good start. But it was for naught as Parker flipped while trying to avoid a sideways car in turn three. Joey walked away from his bent machine.

With a complete re-start, Short again commanded the lead until lap three when Day stopped on the backstretch. Behind the leader were Rogers, Kinser, Cling and Berryhill, who brought out another yellow when he slid over the bank in turn two after nearly doing the same in turn three. Hopkins, who had started ninth, was now in the top five. Six laps were complete.

On this re-start, Kinser got around Rogers for second and held his own for several laps before lapped traffic entered the thickening plot with ten laps to go. By lap 17 Kinser was closing on Short with more lapped traffic looming in the distance. But Jordan bounced off the cushion a lap later and gave up second to…Hopkins, who had worked his way forward.

Kinser got a break, though, when Rogers slid off turn four, bringing out another yellow with 19 complete. It was now Short, two lapped cars, Kinser, Hopkins, Cling and Underwood up front. The green lights came on and Hopkins immediately got around Kinser for second. He dispatched the lapped cars and was reeling in the leader as the race neared its end.

Hopkins had been flirting with disaster on the cushion and, sure enough, he slipped high in turn four with three laps to go, losing precious ground to Short. But wait. Braydon Fox had brought out a caution with 22 laps in. A.J., like Kinser earlier, would get his position back. He would have another chance to try and beat the guy who has dominated Bloomington over the past few years.

Again, Short nailed the re-start and Hopkins responded. He executed a perfect slide job and took the lead briefly in turn two after the start, but Short answered with a gutsy move in three that put him back in front. From there, Brady was in control, crossing the line with the Jerry Burton car a couple of car lengths behind.

Earlier I had asked A.J. to give me something to write about as he had done at Paragon last Friday. That he did. In addition, Hopkins was the Brad Dickison hard charger, coming from ninth to take the runner-up spot.

Behind the two heavyweights up front, Sterling Cling drove the best race I’ve seen him drive in his time here. Kinser survived his bout with the cushion to finish fourth. That wily veteran Cunningham started and finished fifth. Berryhill was sixth after coming back from his early slide-off. Underwood was seventh and Hayhurst finished eighth after starting the evening so badly. Bland was ninth after starting 14^th. Rogers came back from his misfortune to salvage tenth.

All that was left for me was to go home. The hour was late enough to ensure that minimal traffic occupied State Road 46 east. With my new best friend Malcolm Gladwell and old friend Lyle Lovett providing inspiration, I thought about what to say here. I must have been doing that when I hit a skunk near the Brown County line. Thankfully the aroma was gone by the time I arrived home, but not the rather lame comparison between carrying mail and sprint car racing.

Looking forward to receiving a new history book about the 1917 flu, I’m…

Danny Burton

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The Hoosier Race Report: A Whuppin’

The Lawrenceburg Speedway hosted its annual Dick Gaines Memorial on a warm Saturday night and Joss Moffatt showed how a racer deals with adversity as he avoided near disaster in his heat race, then led all 25 laps to outrun young Max Adams. The main event ran non-stop with no yellow flags waved.

With a little time on my hands, I tried what I call the Keith Wendel route to the ‘burg. That would include I-74 and I-275. I ventured into Ohio briefly. One missed turn and I’d have been in Kentucky. But Kentucky would have to wait about three more weeks to greet me; instead I ended up at the track.

This was a memorial race that’s lasted a long time at Lawrenceburg, beginning in 2004 when the late Bryan Clauson was the winner at age 15. Robert Ballou is the only multi-time winner, 2017-18.

One of the reasons that I find racing interesting and appealing is its unpredictability. Though there were only 16 sprinters on the grounds, the two heats gave me more drama and mayhem than I prefer.

In the first heat, Max Adams was racing his heart out to keep Nick Bilbee behind him. But on lap six (of eight), California visitor Austin Williams slid into fellow second generation racer Drew Abel, sending the North Vernon resident flipping. Drew crawled out from his car on his own. A lap later, the red flag was waved again, this time after Bilbee made enough contact with Adams’ left rear to send him over, but not nearly as violent as the previous mishap. Finally the checkered flag was displayed and Adams led Shawn Westerfeld (the only Hoosier native left), Sterling Cling, Williams and Ricky Lewis at the end.

One would think that the guys in the second heat would have been determined to avoid the hijinks of the first. Uh-uh. Saban Bibent spun, with or without help, in turn two of the first lap and collected three cars. Two of the four cars dropped out and one of those involved, Joss Moffatt, came back to win over pole sitter Garrett Abrams, Korbyn Hazlett, Ryan Barr and Dickie Gaines, who was also caught up in the early race drama.

Everyone except Abel started the feature with Adams and Moffat on the front row. But Adams jumped the start and Lawrenceburg’s policy is one strike and you move back a row. This put two Lawrenceburg champs, Westerfeld and Moffatt, on the front row. Tim Montgomery waved his green flag and Moffat grabbed the lead with Westerfeld holding down second and Adams third.

Early on, the top three put some space among them, but as lapped traffic came into play not long before halfway, things tightened up with Westerfeld closing. Moffat wasn’t really in danger of losing his lead, because Westerfeld had Adams to deal with. The youngster from California passed the local kid on the 21^st lap. That was the race among Moffat, Adams and Westerfeld in a nutshell. It was a matter of the two running behind the leader racing each other and not able to challenge for the lead.

Moffat was in his own little world and deservedly loved it. Tim had to reach for his checkered flag a lot quicker than expected. Behind Moffat, Adams and Westerfeld was Bilbee, who had started 11^th and finished fourth, winning the Chad Cunningham hard charger award (knowing Chad, that might have been a half-eaten bag of chips). Cling was fifth, which meant two top five results for the Arizona native in two nights. Hazlett started and finished sixth. Abrams was seventh with Lewis ending up eighth. Williams was ninth and Barr took tenth.

In Victory Lane, Moffat was joined by Dickie Gaines, whose race wasn’t a good one for himself. Joss told P.A. man Chad the same thing that lots of other competitors may have thought: if he couldn’t win, he hoped that Dickie could win the race in memory of his dad.

After the carnage in the heats, the all-green feature was another of those occurrences that no one can predict. Racers—there’s no telling what they will do.

Another tough prediction has to do with car counts. I’d guess that several people would have expected more than 16 cars for a race paying $3K to win. Folks could offer ideas and opinions why the low count; that would be the extent of it and that’s all it would be—opinions.

It’s the eve of the greatest race in the known world. Absent a first time winner, I’ll hope that Mr. Kanaan can grab another 500 win. Maybe he could give the 32 others a Joss Moffat-like whuppin’.

Turning down Vladimir Putin’s offer of a glass of tea, I’m…..

Danny Burton

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The Hoosier Race Report: There He Goes Again

It isn’t very often that one gets to witness a resurrection and top of the line excellence on the same night. But that was the case on Sunday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds as the Hoosier 100 emerged from the ashes it had been reduced to last year. In addition, fans got to see a young man at the top of his game as he beat a talented group of racers, the best that the USAC Silver Crown division can offer. No matter what your age is folks, you will be able to say, I saw Kyle Larson beat the best. That’s what he did on a typically humid August evening in our fair state.

If we could take a trip back to the 1950s and visit the Indiana State Fairgrounds, we might be surprised at how little has changed in terms of the buildings and, of course, the mile oval that has hosted the Hoosier 100 since I was a few years from enrolling at State Street Elementary School. This is always hard for me to ignore each time I turn into the parking lot off 38^th Street in midtown Indianapolis. The buildings may be aged, but seem to be well-kept.

This is the track where racing royalty has competed. For those of a certain age, the names resonate and beckon us to what seems now like a simpler time (it wasn’t really). The winners of this race read like a Hall of Fame somewhere. Bryan, Foyt, Ward, Andretti, Unser were all-time greats who won the Hoosier 100 on multiple occasions. Later names such as Gurney, Hewitt, J. Swindell, Darland, Elliott, Coons, Swanson would join the club.

This year, on short notice, 36 cars were entered, a positive development. Time trials began and Larson went out and nearly beat Johnny Parsons Jr.’s 25 year old track record. His lap of 31.426 seconds was only .047 seconds off JP’s difficult-to-top standard. Logan Seavey’s second quick time was 31.850, not quite a half second behind.

The 24 fastest qualifiers were locked in and everyone else ran a 12-lap last chance race. Aaron Pierce and Justin Grant, both of whom had qualifying troubles, ran one/two.

The starting lineup was scrambled when Larson, Shane Cockrum, Chris Windom, Matt Westfall, Kyle Cummins, Aaron Pierce and Austin Mundie all opted to change right rear tires before the race. This dropped them back in the pack. It also ensured that they would make the race even more interesting as they made their way through the crowd.

The green flag waved and all was “normal” for the first few laps. The revamped lineup had Seavey and Leary on the front row. Leary took the early lead and did his best imitation of the hare, breaking away from the pack. Behind him, Tyler Courtney and Kyle Larson quickly moved forward and were in the top five by the time Kyle Robbins slowed on the ninth lap, bringing out the yellow.

At this point, the race entered the Twilight Zone. The caution period immediately went red as a major accident took place coming out of turn two. Kody Swanson and David Byrne flipped with Byrne ending up on top of the guardrail. Also involved were Jimmy Light, Terry Babb and Austin Nemire. All involved walked away from their cars.

Everyone tried again. Tom Hansing shook the green at the field and away they went. Incredibly, it happened again. First Courtney passed Leary for the lead and Larson passed Seavey for third. Seconds later, Carmen Perigo flipped in turn two, then Brady Bacon, who had changed a tire after the first accident, couldn’t check up in time and flipped. John Heydenreich was also associated with the proceedings and took a trip to the hospital for some observation. Hot Rod was said to be awake and alert.

On this re-start, Courtney and Larson repeated their earlier moves forward. A few seconds later, Larson also passed Leary and took up the chase for the lead. Courtney’s lead vanished on lap 16 when Chris Urish brought out the yellow after smacking the wall. Sunshine led Larson, Leary, Seavey and Shane Cottle.

The green flag prevailed again and Larson began making his presence known, harassing Courtney every chance he had. On the 25^th lap, the NASCAR star-in-exile made a nifty outside pass on Courtney and took the lead. Leary had a burr in the saddle and also passed the Indianapolis native for second. CJ wasn’t done; he went ahead and took the lead on lap 29. I doubt if very many thought that this demotion of Larson’s would last. But it would take awhile.

First, there was yet another flip; this time it was rookie Bryan Gossel who hit the turn four wall after contact with Matt Westfall on the 34^th lap. Gossel exited his car on his own. The top five was unchanged—Larson, Leary, Courtney, Seavey and Cottle.

A couple of laps after this re-start saw rookie Jake Swanson enter the top five, passing Cottle. Swanson took fourth from Seavey on lap 48. Caution lights flashed on the 55^th lap when veteran Chad Kemenah had an encounter with the wall. Mike Haggenbottom had his own moment with the wall nine laps later. It was getting close to show and tell time.

Each race has its own version of show and tell; it depends on the circumstances. Silver Crown races that last 100 laps usually find show and tell sessions beginning around laps 70-75. Larson couldn’t quite wait that long. On the re-start after the yellow, he made yet another outside pass of Leary for the lead going into turn one on the 69^th lap. As Leary slid up the track, Courtney was quick to pounce and take second.

Larson had made his move, but so had Courtney. He was inching closer to the leader when his racing good luck disappeared on lap 79 when he pulled off the track with an engine problem.

Leary was back in second place. Larson was pulling away when, for the first time in the race, lapped traffic became a factor on lap 92—or not. Larson wasn’t fazed by the lappers, nor was he bothered by the turn one lights going out. The race went on anyway.

By race’s end, Larson finished 2.052 seconds ahead of Leary. It was the Californian’s first Silver Crown win since 2011 at Eldora’s Four Crown. (He was a teenager and I was newly retired.) Larson also earned the KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger Award, coming from 22^nd to first.

Seavey ran near the front for 100 laps, settling for third in his second SC race. Like several others, Cockrum did some serious passing, 23^rd to fourth. Windom drove to fifth after starting 24^th. J. Swanson ran in the top five for much of the race before fading slightly to sixth. Cottle was a steady seventh. Grant took eighth place with an ill-behaving car, coming from 20^th. Cummins rambled from 26^th to ninth. And Matt Goodnight came from 21^st and finish tenth.

The dueling themes of the Hoosier 100 were the sheer excellence and domination of Kyle Larson along with the resurrection of the race itself. In May 2020, I was resigned to the then-fact that the Hoosier 100 would be no more. But like the phoenix of Greek mythology, the bird that arises from its own ashes, or if you prefer, we Christians’ Savior Jesus Christ who also arose from the tomb, the Hoosier 100 did the same. It rose from the Hoosier soil from whence it came.

Given the way things turned out, we have all been the better for it.

Suggesting to Steve Bannon that he apply for a job with the USPS, I’m…

Danny Burton