Bob Pierce cools off the pack at Vermilion County!

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BY MARVIN HOLMAN

OAKWOOD — Bob Pierce was only coming out of retirement for one night on Sunday to showcase his new UMP modified car.

What happened instead was that Pierce put on a show for the fans in winning the Wolfpack Challenge race at Vermilion County Speedway, his first race at the track in six years.

Pierce, a National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer, had his last full season in 2002 and has spend the last few years more involved in building modified and late model cars in his shop in Oakwood and also enjoying the accomplishments of his children Ciara and Bobby.

“Ciara has won three of her four mile races and on Saturday, she set a county record in the mile,” Pierce said. “Bobby races quarter midgets and he has won all four of his races so far this season, including yesterday. So the pressure was on me today.”

Pierce built this special car just for shows where he can reach out about his work, which has garnered him three straight UMP Manufacturers of the Year awards.

The veteran said the way the track was when the cars came out to the feature and his top position was more of the reason fro the victory.

“I got out there and I was real rusty,” Pierce said. “If I didn’t start first in the race, I don’t know where I would finish and the track was getting very rubbery.”

After he finished the race, some were wondering if the man known as “The Tall, Cool One” would spring back to action, but Pierce put a quick end to that rumor.

“No I will not race again,” Pierce said. “I have too much with the store and I want to sit back and watch my kids do what they want to do.”

Matt Goulden was second in the race, Tommy Burnside was third, Travis Mitchell was fourth and Tim Rivers took fifth. Another Oakwood racer, Don Kiger, was sixth.

While Pierce added another great win to a Hall-Of-Fame career, Kevin Cole got the first big win of his career.

The racer from Buckner won the final leg of the Northern All-Stars Late Models vs. American Late Models challenge, which started in Kankakee on Friday and was in Boswell, Ind. on Saturday before ending on Sunday.

It also ended a great weekend for Cole, who won at Paducah, Ky. on Friday and was second at Boswell on Saturday.

“It turned out great today,” Cole, who was racing for the first time at VCS, said. “We would like to get some big wins so we can stay out on the road and race and this win does help.”

The race was almost marred halfway when Cole and second-place finisher Don O’Neal crashed into each other.

“I don’t think Don saw the yellow,” Cole said. “It just happened, but it was just racing and we were able to get back out there.”

After Cole and O’Neal, Scott James was third, Mike Marlar was fourth and defending UMP National Champion Randy Korte was fifth.

In the street stocks, Attica, Ind.’s Jim Ransom won his first race at VCS, ousting four-time champion Lee J. Hall in the feature. Daniel Foxworthy was third, Josh Foxworthy finished fourth and Neil Rollins ended up fifth.

Because of the huge number of cars for the modifieds and late models, the pure stock and hornet classes took a step back.

The hornets did not race while the pure stock race ended without a winner after a series of cautions took out a bunch of racers.

“I was hoping for a better way to start,” James Buyno, who was in his first pure stock race said. “I was hoping that I could make a move and try to win tonight.

“But I know that it will be a good class as long as everyone calms down. It is an inexpensive class and I owe a lot to my family for helping me get through the winter and on the track.”
 
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