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9/19-20/03

Eldora Speedway

Mopar Million


138 cars


Friday


Great anticipation for the richest race in sprint car history was the norm on Friday. After what seemed an eternity of ironing a track that was dry before the push trucks got on it, hot laps started in clouds of dust that camouflaged the participants. The lack of moisture did not take away from the racing until rubber was laid down around heat number six. The dust cleared after a couple sets of hot laps, but some competitors did not make it as far as time trials. During the second set, Boston Reid entered turn one low, lost control, and punted Jerry Coons Jr. hard into Kenny Carmichael Jr., who smacked the wall hard and suffered major damage. His weekend was over. Mike Hunnicutt took a wicked ride in hot laps and was also done. Brett Pool spun his car and collected Scott Hatton and Cary Faas. All would get times in, but Faas would come out dead last. Despite worries about the magnification of the race and what might happen with eager drivers on a fast track, most of the racing was clean and no one was injured.


Drivers drew two pills for time trials, taking one lap the first round and one the second round. Don Droud Jr. came out 35th and proceeded to flip in his first encounter with the turn three wall. Droud, driving for Gary Stanton, suffered engine woes and didn’t make it out for any practice laps. He had raced at Eldora in 1998 in the 1BK machine, and more recently in a midget. They were able to rebuild the front end and get a lap in the second round. Kurt Winker was not as fortunate, as he too flipped hard in time trials. He was done for the weekend. Bryan Ruble flipped in qualifications, didn’t get a time in, but did make it out to run his heat race. Levi Jones, Dave Steele and Kevin Huntley cracked the wall in their first try, and had to come out late to get a time in. Tracy Hines was quickest around the high banks with a clocking of 15.918 seconds. Time trial results:


Driver, number, (position driver came out when setting his quickest lap): 1. Tracy Hines 69 (33rd) 2. Tyler Walker 35 (65th) 3. JJ Yeley 20 (62nd) 4. Jay Drake 67 (77th) 5. Jac Haudenschild 4 (30th) 6. Shane Cottle 5G (27th) 7. Dean Jacobs 29 (117th) 8. Boston Reid 2B (24th) 9. Russ Gamester 2 (83rd) 10. Troy Cline 11 (75th) 11. Dave Darland 71 (111th) 12. Danny Smith 4 (55th) 13. Brian Tyler 6 (68th) 14. Brent Kaeding 29x (61st) 15. Jon Stanbrough 57 (6th) 16. Todd Kane 1w (13th) 17. Eric Gordon 62 (23rd) 18. Bud Kaeding 29 (48th) 19. Travis Rilat 29 (4th) 20. Matt Westfall 23s (113th) 21. Johnny Heydenreich 57B (38th) 22. Derek Scheffel 21s (15th) 23. Stevie Smith 19 (123rd) 24. Marc Jessup 14J (42nd) 25. Dickie Gaines 69OT (143rd) 26. Jonathan Vennard 54 (21st) 27. Levi Jones 38 (154th) 28. Jimmy Stinson 84 (109th) 29. Jerry Coons Jr. 10c (22nd) 30. Hud Cone 20 (37th) 31. Kevin Huntley 5 (228th) 32. Kevin Doty 25 (46th) 33. Greg Wilson 63 (26th) 34. Bill Rose 6R (54th) 35. Mike Hess 8F (76th) 36. Damion Gardner 45 (97th) 37. Mike Brecht 20 (84th) 38. Mitch Wissmiller 7 (20th) 39. Brian Gerster 42G (41st) 40. Ricky Gaunt 6G (88th) 41. Nick Naber 22 (93rd) 42. Critter Malone 97 (99th) 43. Roger Rager 51 (79th) 44. Tim Cox 320 (116th) 45. Don Droud Jr. 75 (155th) 46. John Scott 83 (104th) 47. Sean Walden 97 (74th) 48. Rob Chaney 9x (132nd) 49. Richard Griffin 50 (120th) 50. Brad Noffsinger 11A (56th) 51. Brian Hayden 2H (28th) 52. Jeff Bloom 1s (96th) 53. Mat Neely 17N (43rd) 54. Bryan Stanfill 21x (53rd) 55. Dustin Smith 77s (91st) 56. Johnny Parsons 5 (34th) 57. John Ivy 8s (206th) 58. Rick Ziehl 20z (5th) 59. Jerrod Wilson 7J (66th) 60. Brandon Petty 3AC (142nd) 61. Cory Kruseman 21 (47th) 62. Jesse Hockett 26 (7th) 63. Josh Slone 4x (125th) 64. Tony Elliott 11 (118th) 65. Kent Christian 1c (218th) 66. Corey Smith 66s (71st) 67. Ryan Howard 9 (122nd) 68. Sean Robinson 1R (108th) 69. Kevin Briscoe 21R (51st) 70. Steve Surniak 17H (25th) 71. Kyle Wissmiller 2K (45th) 72. Casey Shuman 3 (204th) 73. Dean Franklin 42 (78th) 74. Derek Davidson 10T (121st) 75. Travis Whitney 15 (103rd) 76. Troy Rutherford 7 (110th) 77. Tim Clark 9 (129th) 78. Jimmy Laser 8L (225th) 79. Alex Shanks 1c (92nd) 80. Chris Coers 71 (85th) 81. Ted Hines 12 (18th) 82. Terry Pletch 29P (112th) 83. Sport Allen 1 (135th) 84. Chris Gentry 3H (16th) 85. Scott Orr 88 (73rd) 86. Tony Beaber 3T (145th) 87. Joe Roush 11 (241st) 88. Justin Marvel 47 (87th) 89. Travis Welpott 54w (205th) 90. Rick Hayden 5H (114th) 91. Mike Miller 77 (174th) 92. Marvin Pifer 32 (52nd) 93. JD Turner 53 (31st) 94. AJ Anderson 10E (64th) 95. Leonard Lee 2K (217th) 96. Jerry Nemire 66 (10th) 97. JT Stapp 3m (251st) 98. Dave Steele 26 (246th) 99. Mark Hery 82 (137th) 100. Kent Wolters 1 (69th) 101. Brandon Ferguson 98 (59th) 102. Brett Pool 9 (231st) 103. Michael Burthay 26P (36th) 104. Ken Carmichael Sr. 92 (223rd) 105. Mitch Cunningham 39 (186th) 106. Scott Hatton 15 (130th) 107. Josh Cunningham 47T (165th) 108. Andy Pierce 21H (8th) 109. Eric Shively 3R (67th) 110. Brad Vogler 4v (153rd) 111. Terry Starks 13 (201st) 112. Al Thomas 72 (138th) 113. Todd Allen 1a (95th) 114. Marc Longworth 4m (115th) 115. Dwayne Spille 71 (17th) 116. Randy Fink 41 (229th) 117. Danny Sheridan 21A (12th) 118. Aaron Mosley 27 (94th) 119. Cary Faas 44 (264th) 120. Duffy Smith 38K (124th) 121. Ricky Vaughn 22 (214th) 122. Steve Buckwalter 25 (172nd) 123. Steve Wilmot 73 (32nd) 124. Jimmy Davies 99 (119th) 125. Mark Boyer 11B (150th) 126. Kevin Besecker 15 (14th) 127. Dave Peperak 77 (19th) 128. Kurt Gross 70 (128th) 129. Craig Dori 38 (163rd) 130. Rodney Stone 16 (89th) 131. Ray Kenens K9 (176th) 132. Aaron Fry 14 (233rd) 133. Tom Paterson 11 (216th) 134. Brent Matus 5G (182nd) 135. Kenny Carmichael Jr. 92c NT 136. Mike Hunnicutt 34 NT 137. Kurt Winker 48H NT 138. Bryan Ruble 38 NT

The top 60 qualifiers were inverted into the first three rows of ten twelve-lap heats. The top two finishers went to Saturday’s A, third and fourth to the B, fifth and sixth to the C, seventh and eighth to the D, ninth and tenth to the E, eleventh and twelfth to the F, and thirteenth and fourteenth went home. The exceptions were the first two heat races, when Tracy Hines and Tyler Walker did not finish in the top two. Because they were the top two qualifiers not making the A through their heats, they would start 21st and 22nd in Saturday’s main event. All competitors finishing behind them in the heat races were bumped up a spot. The winner of heat one would start tenth in the A, second would start eleventh and so on. The tenth heat winner would start on the pole, with second starting 20th.


Heat one (started): 1. Huntley (3) 2. Darland (5) / 3. B. Hayden (1) 4. Naber (2) / 5. Kruseman (7) 6. Miller (10) / 7. Ted Hines (9) 8. Ferguson (11) / 9. Vaughn (13) 10. Heydenreich (4) / 11. Kenens (14) 12. Tr. Hines (6) 13. K. Wissmiller (8) / 14. Starks (12)


Huntley didn’t take off on the initial green and Darland jumped his nerf bar, but emerged intact. Ted Hines spun and restarted at the tail. The restart saw Darland and Tr. Hines get together. Tr. Hines flipped wildly down the frontstretch. K. Wissmiller and Starks had nowhere to go and suffered serious enough damage to retire. All were done. The third try was a charm as B. Hayden took the early advantage. Huntley was right on his tail on lap five when Heydenreich smacked the wall and suffered a flat right rear. He retired pitside. B. Hayden led Huntley, Darland, Naber and Kruseman to green. Huntley hunted down B. Hayden until sliding him on lap nine for the lead. Darland followed suit with a slide job from the gutter to the wall. The top three finished nip and tuck.


Heat two (started): 1. Malone (2) 2. Doty (3) / 3. Danny Smith (5) 4. Scheffel (4) / 5. Walker (6) 6. Shuman (8) 7. Pletch (9) / 8. Pifer (10) 9. Pool (11) / 10. Thomas (12) 11. Fry (14) / 12. Buckwalter (13) 13. Hockett (7) / 14. Bloom (1)


Malone shot out to the early lead with Bloom in tow. Lap four would see disaster for the runner-up as he flipped the Stroud 1s in turn four. Fourth running Walker repaired a flat and rejoined the field at the tail. The restart saw Malone leading Doty, Da. Smith, an on the move Hockett and Pool. Lap eight saw Hockett flip hard in four and end his weekend. Walker was penalized two spots under caution for jumping the previous start. Malone and Doty would hold off a determined Smith and Scheffel in some great action.


Heat three (started): 1. S. Smith (4) 2. Yeley (6) / 3. Tyler (5) 4. Franklin (8) / 5. Rager (2) 6. Slone (7) / 7. S. Allen (9) 8. T. Allen (12) / 9. Turner (10) 10. Wilmot (13) / 11. Burthay (11) 12. Neely (1) / 13. Wilson (3) DNS – Paterson


Rager gained the early advantage but did a donut and kept it rolling, losing several spots. S. Smith took over on his first night racing without a wing in his life. Neely hit the wall hard on lap six while running third. He was done. The restart saw S. Smith leading Yeley, Tyler, Rager and Franklin. Rager would spin two laps later while in fourth. He would charge back to gain fifth on the final circuit. S. Smith scored one for the “wangers” as he pulled away from Yeley’s advances by riding the wall all the way around. A fast Tyler could only watch the two front runners in desperation.


Heat four (started): 1. Rose (3) 2. Jessup (4) / 3. Cox (2) 4. Br. Kaeding (5) / 5. Stanfill (1) 6. Davidson (8) / 7. Elliott (7) 8. Gentry (9) / 9. Carmichael Sr. (11) 10. Anderson (10) / 11. Longworth (12) 12. Davies (13) / 13. Matus (14) 14. Drake (6)


Stanfill ran out from the pole with Rose in tow. The two waged a war side-by-side, until Rose took command on the third go-around. Jessup followed him by and Drake was running third when he cracked the wall in turn four. The format shows no favorites as Drake was done for the weekend. The restart saw Rose and Jessup leading Cox, Stanfill and Br. Kaeding. Br. Kaeding surprised many by outqualifying his son Bud and looked strong all weekend. He would get by Stanfill late for a spot in the B.


Heat five (started): 1. Haudenschild (6) 2. Gaines (4) / 3. Stanbrough (5) 4. Droud (2) / 5. Dus. Smith (1) 6. Christian (7) / 7. Hess (3) 8. Whitney (8) / 9. Lee (10) 10. Orr (9) / 11. M. Cunningham (11) 12. Boyer (13) / 13. Spille (12) DNS – Winker


Droud, who recovered from a qualifying flip, led early. Gaines pursued him and took the point on lap four. Haudenschild was riding the wall like only he can, and busted around Gaines in what would be a preview of Saturday’s championship. Dus. Smith came within feet of grabbing a spot in the B from Droud at the checkers.


Heat six (started): 1. Vennard (4) 2. Kane (5) / 3. Gardner (3) 4. Scott (2) / 5. Parsons (1) 6. Cottle (6) / 7. Co. Smith (7) 8. Hatton (11) / 9. Nemire (10) 10. Beaber (9) / 11. Ruble (14) 12. Rutherford (8) / 13. Fink (12) 14. Besecker (13)


After Parsons (using a V-6 powerplant) and Scott were penalized after two false starts, Gardner and Vennard moved to the front row. Vennard would lead the distance, and leave Kane and Gardner in a battle for the last transfer to the Million. Kane would prevail in the non-stop event.


Heat seven (started): 1. Jacobs (6) 2. Brecht (3) / 3. Gordon (5) 4. L. Jones (4) / 5. Ivy (1) 6. Clark (8) / 7. Walden (2) 8. Howard (7) / 9. Roush (9) 10. J. Cunningham (11) / 11. Stapp (10) 12. Peperak (12) / DNS – Sheridan, Carmichael Jr.


Another non-stop event saw Walden lead the outset. Jacobs, upset at USAC carving his car up, was eating people alive and took the lead for good lap four. Brecht closed in toward the end, but it was not enough. Gordon captured third on the last lap, but was still only good enough for the B.


Heat eight (started): 1. Chaney (2) 2. Stinson (4) / 3. Bu. Kaeding (5) 4. Ziehl (1) / 5. M. Wissmiller (3) 6. Reid (6) / 7. Robinson (7) 8. Steele (10) / 9. Mosley (12) 10. Laser (8) / 11. Marvel (9) 12. Gross (13) / 13. Pierce (11) DNS – M. Honeycutt


Chaney and Stinson led at the outset, and pulled away from the field. By now rubber was prevalent in three and four and the two used it to their advantage. Bu. Kaeding couldn’t pull close enough after taking third on a lap four restart for a flipped Pierce.


Heat nine (started): 1. Gamester (6) 2. Griffin (2) / 3. Rilat (5) 4. Shanks (8) / 5. Wilson (1) 6. Briscoe (7) / 7. Coons (4) 8. Gerster (3) / 9. Hery (10) 10. Welpott (9) / 11. Shively (11) 12. Dori (13) / 13. Faas (12)


Griffin led from the outset and was cruising. Gamester was moving forward in the Reid 2, however. He waited until the last corner to take the outside pole of the A main from Griffin, who would now start 19th. Ouch!

Heat ten (started): 1. Noffsinger (2) 2. Gaunt (3) / 3. Westfall (5) 4. Surniak (7) / 5. Petty (1) 6. Cone (4) / 7. Coers (8) 8. Cline (6) / 9. Wolters (10) 10. R. Hayden (9) / 11. Duffy Smith (12) 12. Stone (13) / 13. Vogler (11)


Noffsinger took the early lead with Petty in tow. Vogler met the wall and busted a front end on lap five. The restart saw Noffsinger leading Petty, Gaunt, Westfall and Cone back to green. The leader would keep his line while Gaunt found a way to second and put the second Rose car in the big show.

Saturday

F feature (started): 1. Marvel (5) 2. Shively (9) 3. Neely (1) 4. Rutherford (2) / 5. Stapp (4) 6. Gross (14) 7. Buckwalter (10) 8. Duffy Smith (11) 9. M. Cunningham (6) 10. Davies (13) 11. Longworth (8) 12. Boyer (12) 13. Peperak (15) 14. Stone (16) 15. Ruble (18) 16. Burthay (7) 17. Dori (17) 18. Kenens (19) 19. K. Wissmiller (3) DNS - Hockett

K. Wissmiller elected to start at the tail and exited shortly after green fell. Rutherford took the lead and appeared to have the race well in hand. The car was shifting out of gear and Marvel took the point on lap eight of 15. Rutherford managed to battle it out with Marvel before his mount kicked out of gear again in turn three of the final circuit. He coasted very slowly to beat Stapp by inches for the final E main transfer. Shively passed seven cars in route to second.

E feature (started): 1. Laser (2) 2. Beaber (4) 3. Rutherford (24) 4. Shively (22) / 5. Welpott (6) 6. Wolters (13) 7. Turner (8) 8. Marvel (21) 9. Hery (12) 10. Anderson (9) 11. Carmichael Sr. (14) 12. Neely (23) 13. R. Hayden (7) 14. J. Cunningham (15) 15. Mosley (17) 16. Orr (3) 17. Lee (10) 18. Thomas (16) 19. Wilmot (19) 20. Fry (20) 21. Vaughn (18) 22. Roush (5) 23. Nemire (11) 24. Heydenreich (1)

Laser took the point at the outset, but all eyes were on Rutherford and Shively in the Rock Steady 3R. They were riding the rim around the field and both were in the top six by lap ten when Lee spun and collected Orr. Laser led Beaber, Shively, Welpott, Turner and Rutherford back to the cone. Rutherford worked the high side to gain third in the final five laps. Heydenreich exited on lap two, while Roush did the same on lap six. Thomas bowed out with a flat tire on lap ten.

D feature (started): 1. Cline (1) 2. Coons (2) 3. Elliott (6) 4. Gerster (4) / 5. Walden (5) 6. Hess (3) 7. Howard (8) 8. Co. Smith (7) 9. S. Allen (13) 10. Whitney (10) 11. Robinson (9) 12. Shively (24) 13. Rutherford (23) 14. Gentry (14) 15. Hatton (19) 16. Ted Hines (12) 17. Beaber (22) 18. Steele (16) 19. Ferguson (17) 20. T. Allen (20) 21. Pool (18) 22. Laser (21) 23. Pifer (15) DNS - Coers

Cline was clearly the class of the field and hunted down early leader Coons, and passed him on lap seven. Pifer flipped hard in turn three on lap four, bunching the field. The dream from the F died for Shively and Rutherford who passed 37 and 31 cars, respectively and put on a great show. Elliott came just short of getting by Coons at the line.

C feature (started): 1. Reid (2) 2. Cottle (1) 3. Kruseman (12) 4. Cline (21) / 5. Cone (3) 6. Elliott (23) 7. Parsons (8) 8. Wilson (10) 9. Christian (14) 10. Stanfill (6) 11. Miller (20) 12. Ivy (9) 13. Slone (13) 14. Du. Smith (7) 15. Davidson (17) 16. M. Wissmiller (4) 17. Gerster (24) 18. Coons (22) 19. Shuman (16) 20. Pletch (19) 21. Rager (5) 22. Clark (18) 23. Petty (11) 24. Briscoe (15)

M. Wissmiller had a flat and Petty spun before the race could get underway. Reid motored away at the outset from row one with Cottle behind. The race went non-stop as Kruseman began to pick his way through the field. Cline was working hard as well on the high side and breaking off slide jobs. His efforts were rewarded as he gained the final transfer on the last lap from Cone after a nice duel.

B feature (started): 1. Tyler (2) 2. Stanbrough (4) 3. Bu. Kaeding (6) 4. Da. Smith (1) / 5. Br. Kaeding (3) 6. L. Jones (10) 7. Gordon (5) 8. Westfall (8) 9. Rilat (7) 10. Naber (12) 11. Droud (14) 12. Cox (13) 13. Scheffel (9) 14. B. Hayden (16) 15. Kruseman (23) 16. Cline (24) 17. Gardner (11) 18. Reid (21) 19. Shanks (20) 20. Scott (15) 21. Ziehl (17) 22. Franklin (19) 23. Surniak (18) 24. Cottle (22)

Cottle got into the backstretch wall on the initial try at green. He was done. The next try saw Cline spin in turn two. Under caution, Surniak exited with a flat. Once underway the 20 lap B went green to checker. Tyler led flag to flag and was never challenged. Bud and Brent put on a father and son show before Bud put dad behind him for good and passed Da. Smith for third on the final circuit. Brent was not far behind, however. Cline's advance from the D ended after passing 25 cars in three features.

A feature (started): 1. Haudenschild (6) 2. S. Smith (8) 3. Gaines (15) 4. Yeley (13) 5. Chaney (3) 6. Rose (7) 7. Jacobs (4) 8. Tr. Hines (21) 9. Vennard (5) 10. Gamester (2) 11. Doty (12) 12. Darland (11) 13. Gaunt (20) 14. Jessup (14) 15. Da. Smith (26) 16. Brecht (17) 17. Kane (16) 18. Walker (22) 19. Griffin (19) 20. Malone (9) 21. Stanbrough (24) 22. Noffsinger (1) 23. Huntley (10) 24. Tyler (23) 25. Bu. Kaeding (25) 26. Stinson (18)

A great 40 lap feature for a great weekend. Gamester broke out early before Jacobs rocketed to lead coming for the flagstand after one circuit. A blanket could have been thrown over the top five at that point. Gaines worked his way into the top five quickly and set his sights on the leaders. After getting by S. Smith and Haudenschild, Gaines took the point from Jacobs on lap 20. Four laps later, Darland, Stanbrough and Tyler would make a tangled mess in turn four. All would restart. Gaines led Haud, S. Smith, Gamester and Chaney back to the green flag. He was still leading on lap 28 when Bu. Kaeding and Vennard made contact. Bud got the worst end of the deal in contact with the wall, and a trip off on the hook. Haud used the restart to slide between Gaines and the wall high in turn two. A lap was complete before Huntley and Kane hooked their nerf bars together. Both were solidly in the top ten, but had to retreat to the back for a restart that saw Haud leading Gaines, S. Smith, Chaney and a charging Yeley. Under caution, Noffsinger and Malone also made trips to the work area. The last eleven laps were a classic as S. Smith worked his way around Gaines on the high side and pulled up on Haud's bumper on several occasions. A last ditch effort came less than a car length short and Stevie had to settle for the second place prize of $125,000. Gaines third place effort netted him $100,000. The $200,000 paid to Haudenschild marks the most a sprint car driver has ever earned in one event.

Rager and the Miller team took home $500 from the Hosers for best appearing car....Darland won the Hoser halfway award, also taking home an extra $500....Drivers who spend most of their times with lids above their heads made up three out of the top five, and nine of the top twenty....Rager had the quote of the weekend when he said, "I remember when we needed more than one tear-off here!"....Of the 120 cars scheduled for feature races on Saturday, only two did not start their event, Hockett and Coers.....This was a great event for everyone involved and with any justice should be repeated in the future somewhere, sometime.

KD (kd) September 23, 2003 at 10:53:32

Bill, thank you for the low down, couldn't make it out for the race and you made it seem in some small way like I was there.

big john stud (bigdicknasty) September 23, 2003 at 12:06:39

Nice report Bill.

Kirk Spridgeon (spridge31) September 23, 2003 at 15:47:52

Bill, not to be picky, but Stevie actually passed Gaines on the low side in turns three and four. Gaines slid way up the track and Smith simply drove right underneath him.......Spridge

Michael Stephen Nelligan (mspn) September 23, 2003 at 16:17:46

Well done Bill, if only every race was covered this well nobody would have to leave the porch. Fortunately, like sex the real thing is a whole lot better than the internet, heh heh. Can't wait to see if that's true. Take It Easy.....

THE MILLION. Words cannot describe what an awesome experience I had at Eldora and I am so glad to say I am able to ad it to my treasure chest of great memories of my life.
THE TRACK - Earl deserves big props for giving us such a spectacular track. Talk about high banking, I loved it. I observed the racing from many different locations and they were all great. It was a great pleasure to meet both Earl and Bernice who are real down to earth people.
THE DRIVERS - Enough cannot be said about the drivers putting on the show of a lifetime. Every driver had his own unique style, which tallied up to the total sum of a million dollars. Some drivers had more challenges than others and I wished they all could have started in the A Feature. My thanks goes out to each and every driver, they all made it the most exciting race I have ever seen in my 3 years of watching sprint car racing.
THE HOSER 1/2WAY & BEST APPEARING CAR AWARDS – This was a fantastic idea and allowed all Hosers to be able to be an intrical part of the $1,000.000. Thanks go out to all the people who organized this fine accomplishment and who put in so many hours to make it such a great success. I am so thankful I was able to be a part of these awards by being allowed to contribute my few dollars
SPRINT CAR RACING FAMILY – Last but not least I would like to say thank you to all my sprint car racing friends. You all definitely make a difference. I got such a warm feeling the whole weekend spending time with everyone. It would not have been possible without Vern driving me to and from the track. I am really thankful you let me ride along, big thanks. It was really nice having a home site at the track (Stubb & Gail you guys are really neat) as well as off the track. Brent & Darlene taking Rodney & me into your home was truly a blessing. We had a wonderful time; you are the best. Each and every one of you are truly special and I can say I am a better person by having met you and spending a little bit of time with you. I met so many people I am not even able to remember all the names. I really had fun getting my roll on at Eldora and skating around the grounds and checking it out. Even though I did do an end of end tripping over the twine marking off the campsites I got right back up and started at the tail. Life doesn’t get much better, sprint car racing and rollerskating. THANKS A MILLION

sprint_85 (brian85) September 22, 2003 at 19:31:18

Ever think of adding wings to those skates there Jo? sure cushions the landing on those endo's...LOL

rooster tail (posse77) September 22, 2003 at 19:32:51

Very well said Jolene! I'd like to thank Brent and Darlene also, 2 of the nicest and coolest people I've ever met, Stubb and Gail for their hospitality. Nice finally meeting coachbob, sprintkitty, petey, kk, the mass. guys and a few others. The weekend was tooooo short!

allthewayup (takinrubber) September 22, 2003 at 19:34:34

Brian, that might be a good idea because when you hit the pavement it sures tears the equipment up. hehehehehehehe All the neighboring pit crews were there to help get me back in the show. Thanks guys

david j bamber (dbamber) September 22, 2003 at 19:44:30

capt bob and i would have to ad that it was great to meet you, and vern,yzman, petey,and his dad,sprintkitty, and all the other hosers at The PALACE to see the beanbag outdoor internationals (mspn was there) anyway the mass contingent had a great time, and capt bob was truly impressed with all the hosers that he met. thank you all! lookong forward to meeting more of the best racing fans around ( mean all types of racing) Hoser's rule. and it felt really good to be able to make my small donation for the awards. (thanks stubb, jonathan duane (mr trophy)

allthewayup (takinrubber) September 22, 2003 at 19:49:40

Thanks Rodney. We had a great time didn't we? You know come to think of it I didn't meet Spridge and Big Right Rear. Maybe at the Chili Bowl. Dave and Bob from the East hope you make it to the Midwest more often, pick up that Andrew and come racin.

Big Right Rear (bigrightrear) September 22, 2003 at 21:12:59

allthewayup...thats because LIKE A DUMBASS i volunteered for $33.54 an hour rather than GO TO ELDORA...i am kicking myself.

look for me at the royal next year.

allthewayup (takinrubber) September 22, 2003 at 21:17:40

Sorry to hear that Big Right Rear. I will be attending the Royal for the first time next year so I will definitely look you up. allthewayuponwheels

Aaron Evans (sprint_kitty) September 22, 2003 at 21:29:31

Hey there... it was nice to meet you at the Stubb Palace too. We didn't get to talk much but look forward to get to know you better next time like Chili Bowl. (I'm going to TRY to come to C.B. as I've never been there!)
My AOL name is Aaron Stewart 20 for any of you to chat with me
Peace!

rooster tail (posse77) September 22, 2003 at 21:45:23

Sure did!

Michael Stephen Nelligan (mspn) September 23, 2003 at 01:46:30

Lots of Posse left the porch BRR, sheesh! Heck, I even chatted with a former porch dweller named Eckert, lol. See ya' in about a week, coming in early for the Open, notify the authorities, would ya'? Take It Easy.....

Big Right Rear (bigrightrear) September 23, 2003 at 08:14:36

mspn, the dogs are being starved for the hunt!

jjones776 (jjones776) September 23, 2003 at 08:20:05

careful mentioning eckerts name around here. i about got lynched by a couple of psychos on sat. night when i mentioned his name.

Michael Stephen Nelligan (mspn) September 23, 2003 at 13:14:16

Send 'em my way, I like a challenge Jonesy!
BRR, the way Schatz and the rest of Ted's boys have dominated your guys this year they had better be something, not sure hungry is gonna cut it though. Other than the Red Rocket (that guy from Memphis) I don't see anybody having the proverbial snowball's chance. What is the top 4 about one for ten this year, thanks to Sir Donald? That's actually about average and your one for three at the Grove is ahead of the career 20%, this should be fun. Take It Easy....

Darin J. Schroeder (saphead) September 23, 2003 at 16:33:58

Can you imagine this. MSPN, Kevin Eckert, and Robin Miller were all at the same race last weekend. I can't believe the world didn't stop, and then start spinning backwards!

Corey August Martin (petey) September 23, 2003 at 17:04:24

Hey Jolene good to see you again and meet Rodney as well. That was my first time to see non-wang sprinters at The Big E. Enjoyed it all. They were getting around there faster than what I thought they would. It was fascinating watching them run almost out of control in turns 3 and 4 at times! Listen to me I'm turning more and more into a non-wanger as each day goes by. But it was outlaws Haud and Smith who beat the best of the non-wang world Sat. See you guys at the Bowl in January.

Topic: THE MILLION

Personalize

Travis Posse Gentzler (paposse) September 23, 2003 at 13:47:17

I've been going to races since I was 5 years old. I've seen some very good races at Williams Grove, Lincoln, and Port royal just to name a few. I've seen some of the scra shows that have come to the area several times. I've been to the King's Royal 3 times, BUT the rcae at the MILLION was by far the best race I've ever seen. It's going to be hard to go watch the winged cars from beer hill this week. Side by side racing for 40 LAPS. ******* Gains comes from 15th to 1st in about 20 laps!!! Yeley from 13th to finish forth, and Stevie following Jac's line and coming from 8th to 2nd. The race was incredible. If you didn't get a chance to see it in person be sure to watch it on SPEED in a couple weeks. Won't be the same as being there, but better than missing the best and biggest race inn sprint car history.

angel (littleangel) September 23, 2003 at 14:08:07

I guess the Outlaws are no longer on top of the pile!

Looks like that is what happens when you don't keep up with what the public wants.

Travis Posse Gentzler (paposse) September 23, 2003 at 14:46:04

The thing I forgot that impressed me was the fact that they didn't catch lap traffic till LAP 23, and the racing to that point was still side by side. Unlike waiting for lap traffic at winged races for the top guys to bunch up, which is about 5-10 laps at the most.

Michael Stephen Nelligan (mspn) September 23, 2003 at 14:49:17

Hey Duane, the Outlaws were on top of the pile, they finished first and second, lol.
Sanctioning groups are here to stay, without them all you have are weakly shows. In a fantasy world you would have the best drivers race each other every week. Wait, we have that already, it's called NASCAR. It ain't ever gonna happen in sprint car racing and we all know that, c'est la vie.
If the race is moved to the weekend of the Big One and it's dropped then we would have the ultimate. Ted could have his show on Wed. or choose to give the guys a week off before the Nationals. Then Earl could run this show in a three day format and everybody could be there. Heck, the SCRA guys are already headed this way for the start of their tour and maybe even USAC could work this into their schedule, they are usually the stumbling block. This is such a good idea that it likely won't ever happen, but just maybeeeeeeee. I mean, back to back biggest races of the year, non-winged then winged (Knoxville Nat's), makes too much sense doesn't it? Hey the Cubs might play the BoSox in the World Series this year, anythin' can happen. Take It Easy...

Darin J. Schroeder (saphead) September 23, 2003 at 14:52:20

Mike, we must be on the same wavelength because I just posted the exact d@mn idea above!

In fact, I posted it 18 seconds before you did so it's mine!

Topic: My first Eldora experience

Personalize

Rick Holder (missileman) September 22, 2003 at 01:01:08

I am just settling in from my first trip to the Big E and thought I would let everyone know where I stand on the track, the drivers and the biggest race I have ever been to.These are my thoughts and no one elses.

The track: It wasnt as banked as I had heard it to be, but I also heard its not as steep as it used to be.It is very comparable to Delta Bowl Speedway in my neck of the woods, but bigger.

The Fans:The fans were great at this place, even the ones who had a little or wayyyyy too much to drink, ex: anybody see the guy with the neon green necklace in turn 3 on Saturday night????..lol.

The drivers:I have a lot to say here, so I'll break it up by each driver.

J.J. Yeley: The engineering that went into that car is sooooo amazing.He is still my favorite USAC driver and I even gave him a large picture I drew and had framed Friday night.He certainly made a show out of it Saturday, even though he was quiet in the way he marched toward the front.

Tracy Hines:What can you say about him after such a great qualifying effort Friday night??? If it werent for bad luck in his heat race, he might have been the one getting the biggest check Saturday night.

Johnny Parsons, Jr.:He didnt make the A, but Friday night we were standing atop the concession stands when he came up behind us.I was putting some shirts up in my bag and he started talking to me and my dad.I wanted to thank him even though we were never introduced properly for spending a moment to talk with a couple of fans.The guy has driven in everything and been good at it.Thank you Mr. Parsons.

Jac Haudenschild:This guy, while not one of my favorites earned a lot of respect from me and a lot of the USAC crowd after a great performance in the A.Jac you and your crew deserve this win after the slow start you have had since joining with the Race to Hawaii team. Congratulations!!!

Stevie Smith: WOW!!!!! First time without a wing, but when you have as many laps around that place as he does, it really doesnt surprise you.

Dean Jacobs:I watched you put on one hell of a show in June at Delta Bowl in the Friday night prelim, and this was just as great as that race was.I really thought you were going to run off with it.Great run!!!

Dickie Gaines:The race of a lifetime!!!! What a showing you had, you earned two fans from Tennessee this weekend.I would have loved to see you win.

Russ Gamester: I think he was the suprise of the weekend, I didnt even realize what car that was until the A started Saturday.

I cant think of anything else to say right now, other than I had a good time, and it was my first non wing dirt race.

I hope everyone had a good a time as we did, and I hope something like this can be planned again and run as smoothly.

Here's to Eldora Speedway and the Mopar Million.

Rick Holder

lutherkats (lutherkats) September 22, 2003 at 05:00:08

Eldora is an awsome place that everyone should make an effort to see,just for the speed alone.Usually the wingless races are better than winged,but go see a winged raceone sometime.Did you walk the track after the races?Eldora's front stretch has more banking than many tracks turns that I've been to and its turns seemed pretty step to me.

James Gregory Vargus (paintboss) September 22, 2003 at 10:24:10

I expected more banking myself, I guess it was all the talk over the years about it beeing so incredibaly banked that I just guess I expected more. I will have to see a winged race there to experience the speed that I keep hearing about. The non wingers although they were quick were at best about 1 to 2 seconds slower than Knoxville which is the speed I am used to seeing.. Definately no bashing from here though, it was fast furious, repectively clean and exciting racing.

Stan M (stanm) September 22, 2003 at 11:37:50

I agree with your description Rick, this race was simply awesome. I too was a first time visitor finally getting the chance to leave my back yard up here in Minnesota. The final issue of a local racing paper that I write for had gone to press which makes this the fun time of the season for me. Here were my first impressions I posted on my board this morning:

Eldora fulfilled all of my expectations and more. The track is awesome but many of you have probably already been there so I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know. It's going to be hard to go back to local racing after seeing the Million but we have some pretty good racing up here though nothing like that.

Wings vs. non-wing...I'd have to go with non-wing. After seeing the Fireman Nationals and now the Million it brought back memories of what open wheel racing is really all about. Not since 1979 at the old North Star have I seen non-wing Sprints and it's...well...it's Sprint Car racing the way God intended it to be is all I can say. When I was a kid my first memories of Sprints were the non-winged cars on the dirt at the State Fair. This dates me but I even saw offys actually racing so my first impression was feeling like I was taken back in time.

We left home around 3:30 pm on Thursday and arrived at the track around 4am CST. When we arrived we talked to some guys from PA who figured they might as well stay up all night and party. They suggested that we should do the same but the only one that took them up on their offer was Vince's dad Les. Though we all caught a couple of hours on the way down the first order of business was to catch 5-6 hours of shuteye.

When we woke up there it was in all it's splendor, a monument to dirt track racing, the fastest dirt track in the world. After having breakfast and cleaning up I took a quick tour around the grounds and checked out the track, I knew this was going to be a good one. Later in the day we walked over to the track and I upgraded to a pit pass so I could take photos on Friday night. I was getting anxious but it wasn't time to race yet so we headed back to the RV for some relaxation and some of chef Vinster's home cookin'.

The afternoon seemed to take forever but it was finally time to head to the track. As I made my way to the gate I met up with Alan Holland of the Hosehead's website and Mike N of Knoxville. Hosehead and I would cross paths on and off during the evening, it was great meeting the man I consider the Guru of racing webmasters. Alan and I had never met but we had emailed each other and posted on the old "Open Wheel Wizard" board since before either of us started our websites. I ran into Travis Whitney's mom as I walked around the track on my way to the pits. I asked if Travis had ever run without a wing and she said no. She was a little tentative about him chosing Eldora as a training grounds but things went well for our local Sprint Car driver.

I introduced myself to Johnny Parsons Jr. who's son Johnny Parsons III drives the #85 Wissota Sprint Car and had a nice chat. The drivers were focused with so much money on the line but in spite of the big bucks they were willing to take time to talk. After that I found Scott Hatton's car and passed one of my photos of Midget driver Rob Keelan from Sun Prairie onto a crewman so he could give it to Rob who had intended to be at the Million but couldn't make it.

There were a lot of photographers at Eldora and I finally met Mike Nelligan aka MSPN along with the Eldora track photographer as well as many I had only heard about up til then. For me that was a lot of fun because taking photos is one of my passions. Some of you know Scott Swenson who is from here in Minnesota and makes frequent visits to Eldora. Scott was in the infield as well as Keith Mix.

Roger Rager was driving a #51 car with a graphic of a pig on the side. The car was sharp and it caught my eye right away. I asked Roger about the graphics and he gave me a little background on the car owner and how he got hooked up. The car would end up winning best appearing car award which was worth $500. There were a lot of sharp looking cars but this one stood out from the rest. Roger (ever the cool customer) talked about how much oil he'd have to dump into his RV on the way home. There we were, big money on the line, and we're talking about a blown seal on his RV.

Travis Whitney was driving Leonard McCarl's 7x with the #15 replacing the car's usual number. Evidently this car was filling the spot intended for Donnie Schatz who chose not to run the Million. Travis said he had never run non-winged but "it's just a racecar". He talked about a couple of good WoO runs he had at Eldora and how much he liked the track. Both Travis and Roger were happy to see some of their Minnesota fans in attendance.

Finally, the time that I had been anticipating had arrived. I chose a spot down in turn one and setup my folding chair and mini stepladder, it was time for hotlaps. I didn't know what to expect, I had heard so much talk about how I was going to be in awe of the speeds. I wasn't dissapointed, this is a fast track, but not the fastest corner speeds I had ever seen. It probably would have been another story if this was a winged show but judging from panning the cars with my camera as they went by Knoxville has faster corner speeds when the cars are running wings and even Jackson is pretty quick. The exciting thing wasn't so much the speeds as the Eldora "slide jobs" that were happening right in front of me. Two cars got together with a third taking a tumble because the driver had nowhere to go. The driver got into the back of two other cars, hit the wall and did a series of flips. I ducked below the infield fence as parts went flying everywhere. When a car goes over at Eldora the first series of flips are a result of making contact with an additional series of flips tacked on to roll down the banking. I walked up the bank during an intermission and it's the steepest I have ever seen.

Time trials were done in two one-lap sessions. A driver could either stand on their first lap or elect to make a second attempt. Travis went out twice because he felt his first time wasn't good enough. The second attempt was in the 18.55x second range, better than his first. Roger rode the rim all the way around like all the fast guys. They had some trouble with the car binding up and found a problem with the birdcage. Roger did a couple 360's during the evening as a result and GRP will most likely comment on the details. There were several red flags during time trials with all the flips taking place up in 3&4.

Time trials took a long time due to the two sessions and sheer number of cars. The Heat races were a lot of fun to watch from the infield even though I couldn't see much of the track. It's impossible to describe what it's like to see slidejobs and rim-riding taking place right in front of you...you had to be there.

I'm going to defer to GRP and Vinster as far as a more detailed description of the action. I've never been to the local Indiana tracks or USAC events and wasn't familiar with most of the cars. My attention was focused mostly on Roger Rager, Travis Whitney, Johnny Parsons Jr., the two Hoffman cars, Tony Stewart's Mopar cars (yes, Tony was in attendance both nights), Haud, Danny Smith and Stevie Smith. All drivers that I have either seen on TV or seen race many times here locally. Smith had just won up at Superior a couple of weeks ago so it was fun seeing this veteran without the wing.

A few observations about the Features. The A Main was the best Sprint Car race I have seen all year, nothing compares to non-wing racing at Eldora. I never quite understood why they called Jac Haudenschield the "Wild Child" until I saw him run non-wing at Eldora. Stevie Smith had never run non-wing and he was awesome, he might have passed Haud for the lead if the race had been a little longer. I have been watching Roger Rager messing around with the 360's for a long time but seeing him brushing the wall at Eldora gave me a new appreciation for how good he really is. Probably some of our local 360 competitors that read this will take exception but if you saw Roger inches from the wall at Eldora without a wing you'd know where I'm coming from. Travis impressed me for two reasons, one that he would have the courage to jump into the frying pan so to speak and run his first ever non-wing race in the biggest show in Sprint Car history at the fastest track in the world. Second that after a somewhat tentative start due to unfamiliarity with this type of racing he'd be out there riding the rim and put in a better performance than many guys with years of non-wing racing under their belts. Though he didn't make it any further than the D Main he was getting faster every time he took to the track. Travis was smooth, rode the cusion and held on for a respectable 10th place finish in his Feature.

Roger started in the third row and shot out to 4th place on the initial start of the C. There was a complete restart (can't recall the reason but think the first attempt was called back) and the second start wasn't as good for him. Roger faded back and ended up finishing 21st. I didn't go talk to Roger on Saturday night but it appeared that they might have missed the setup or there could have been another problem with the car. When Roger runs Eldora without a wing he's brushing the wall and and doing slidejobs like all the fast guys do so all things being equal he would have been right up there with the leaders. Something wasn't right with the car so maybe someone who talked to Roger will fill us in.

I could write a book about this one race, it had it all. Atmosphere, excitement, huge payoff, great racing, you had to be there.

A few of my photos will be posted later today after I get them processed. I took over 100 digital pit photos and four rolls of 35mm action shots so you'll get a good idea what it was like to be there.

Topic: Mopar Million

Personalize

toymaker (dek) September 23, 2003 at 05:44:00

You had to be there to believe what a great show the was put on.It was the best organized and run show you could ask for, from qualifing to the main events outstanding.The non-wing sprint cars put the wing cars to shame,Ive been to Eldora for the wing show and there is no comparison.I was impressed by Stevie Smith running without a wing for the first time in his career and finishing second to Haud More impressive was Haud and Steve cars, they were straight up Maxims, no adjustable shocks,swaybars on the front or dial a ride controls in the cockpits.Haud on Hooisers and Stevie on Good Years finishing ten feet apart.My congratulations to all the teams that took part in this history making event, lets hope this was just the first and not the last.Out of the
$844,250.00 dollars paid out in the A-Main four
wing drivers Haudenchild,Smith,Chaney and Hutley
took $383,000.00 dollars home.

Moe Man (azsprintman) September 23, 2003 at 08:18:54

Elodra was awsome..........That was the first track where I saw the fans respect A promoter and ask for an autographs. Earl is A turely A hands on promoter He gets out there waters the track. He gets in A pickup Wheel packs the track. then he goes to the staging area and stand in the middle of the track tells where the 15 other push trucks on where to pack. When A car gets into the staging he will stop one of the truck to stop to push the car.

When he is walking around the pits or in the grandstands he will wave at you and says "Thank You for coming to Eldora."
I just wish that All of the promoters on the west coast can be like Earl and not like SNOBS!!

AWSOME RACING out there.

Jeff Gardner (damionrules) September 23, 2003 at 10:16:18

It was An Awesome show. From start to finish, was like a well oiled machine.The facilities were amazing, The grand stands are amazing for what is normally an one night a week track.
Then there were the concession stands, no food over 2.75. The line kept moving. They kept the main concession stand was open overnight Friday.

Jeff

Grady Watkins (watkinsgrady) September 23, 2003 at 10:21:17

Moe Man

I agree that the race was truly awesome and every driver and team that participated needs to be congradulated, I have to say the seating and facilities leave a lot to be desired. The tracks and facilities at both Manzanita and Perris are better.

toymaker (dek) September 23, 2003 at 12:36:36

I stand corrected on the four driver that took the $383,000.00 dollars it was Haud,Simth,Jacobs and Chaney, as for Manzy and Perris they are both nice facilities ,but lets see you put on Million $$ race at either of them with 138 cars and 25,000 plus people, can,t be done not enough space or seating.