2012 State Late Model Points for Michigan, New York and Oklahoma

		Michigan
		Late Model
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Brandon Thirlby	Traverse City	98
2	.	Rich Neiser	Fruitport	82
3	.	Roger Wing	Middleton	80
4	.	Eric Spangler	Lake City	68
5	.	Zack Olger	St. Johns	57
6	.	Kyle Borgman	Muskegon	52
7	.	J.R. Hotovy	Covert	51
8	.	Dona Marcoullier	Houghton Lake	50
9	.	Tom Sprague Jr.	Muskegon	42
10	.	Curtis Roberts	Coleman	39
11	.	Matt Pickard	Grant	38
12	.	Carl Ries		37
13	.	Scott Baker	Ionia	36
14	.	Greg Gokey		33
15	.	Rob Taylor		32
16	.	Justin McNeil	Gladwin	30
17	.	Kris Patterson Jr.	St. Johns	30
18	.	Dave Hartman	Howard City	26
19	.	Tom Dusen	Muskegon	25
20	.	Mark Anderson	Blanchard	24
21	.	Ryan Vanderveen	Six Lakes	23
22	.	Phil Ausra	Dowagiac	22
23	.	Adam Thrush	Farwell	21
24	.	Chad White	Coloma	21
25	.	Bill Bray	Spring Lake	20
26	.	Josh Knoll	Barryton	19
27	.	Tim Stott		19
28	.	Doug Ausra	Dowagiac	18
29	.	Justin Robinson	Shepherd	17
30	.	David Hilliker		16
31	.	Dean Huizenga		15
32	.	Kevin Nelson Jr.	Muskegon	15
33	.	Wade Witherspoon		15
34	.	Alan Vochaska	South Haven	14
35	.	Steve Ausra	Dowagiac	14
36	.	Brian Ruhlman	Clark Lake	13
37	.	Guy Volk		13
38	.	Jay Van Dyke		13
39	.	Rusty Schlenk	Jackson	13
40	.	Scott Phillips		13
41	.	Dan DeLong		12
42	.	Donnie Marcoulier	Houghton Lake	12
43	.	Kim Watts		12
44	.	Cory Hoonhout		11
45	.	Alex Beeman		10
46	.	Dean Wilkerson		10
47	.	Steve Kester		10
48	.	Dale Sheehy		9
49	.	Josh Richards	Shinnston WV	9
50	.	Rick Eckert	York PA	9
51	.	Nate Hurley		9
52	.	Ron Goretski		8
53	.	Andy Chester	Kingsley	7
54	.	Andy Galgoci		7
55	.	Brook Brasington		7
56	.	Bruce Vance		7
57	.	Curt Spalding	Muskegon	7
58	.	Joe Hanson		7
59	.	Mike Spatola	Manhattan IL	7
60	.	Rod Laney		7
61	.	Darrell Lanigan	Union KY	6
62	.	Shawn Reed		6
63	.	Steve Nieuwenhuis		6
64	.	Ben Hidy		5
65	.	Dan Hubble		5
66	.	Don O'Neal	Martinsville IN	5
67	.	Frank Heckenast Jr.		5
68	.	Kurt Mesman		5
69	.	Shannon Babb	Mowequa IL	5
70	.	Terry Schoonover		5
71	.	Pat Ehlert		5
72	.	Billy Moyer	Batesville AR	4
73	.	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin IL	4
74	.	Brian Shirley	Chatham IL	4
75	.	Devin Shiels	Britton	4
76	.	Eric Wells	Hazard KY	4
77	.	John McDonald	Muskegon	4
78	.	Kenny Wilson		4
79	.	Ryan Gokey		4
80	.	Scott Schmitt	Tonica IL	4
81	.	Austin Hubbard	Seaford DE	3
82	.	Charlie Liggett		3
83	.	Brett Chalker		3
84	.	Dusty Moore	Swanton OH	3
85	.	Jason Feger	Bloomington IL	3
86	.	Keith Gentz		3
87	.	Kent Robinson	Bloomington IN	3
88	.	Mark Wagner		3
89	.	Vic Coffey	Caledonia NY	3
90	.	Steve Zakrajsek		3
91	.	Bill Murawski		3
92	.	Torrey Aherns		3
93	.	J. T. Anderson		3
94	.	Joseph Pomeroy		3
95	.	Bry Sloan		2
96	.	Dennis Erb Jr.	Carpentersville IL	2
97	.	Earl Pearson Jr.	Jacksonville FL	2
98	.	Scott Wenell		2
99	.	Shane Clanton	Locust Grove GA	2
100	.	Terry Casey	New London WI	2
101	.	Keith Finkbeiner		2
102	.	Adam Erickson		1
103	.	Alex Hupert		1
104	.	Alex Kazmarski		1
105	.	Bill Beardslee		1
106	.	Brad Harden	Ovid	1
107	.	Clint Smith	Senoia GA	1
108	.	Chris Brindley		1
109	.	James Neff		1
110	.	Jared Landers	Batesville AR	1
111	.	Jason McBride	Carbondale IL	1
112	.	Jeep Van Wormer	Piconning	1
113	.	Mark Pifer		1
114	.	Pat Harding		1
115	.	Sam Epling	Perry	1
116	.	Scott Clifford		1
117	.	Steve Hilliker		1
118	.	Scott Nieman		1
119	.	Chris Peyerk		1
120	.	Dan Truemner		1
121	.	Brad Metzer		1
122	.	C. J. Heskett		1

		New York
		Late Model	Final
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Dutch Davies	Warren PA	46
2	.	David Scott	Garland PA	40
3	.	Dick Barton	Ashville	33
4	.	Mike Knight	Ripley	23
5	.	Greg Oakes	Franklinville	17
6	.	Ron Davies	Warren PA	17
7	.	Dave Hess Jr.	Waterford PA	16
8	.	Jason Dupont	Cyclone PA	16
9	.	Andy Boozel	Clymer	15
10	.	Boom Briggs	Bear Lake PA	14
11	.	Bump Hedman	Sugar Grove PA	14
12	.	Doug Eck	Corry PA	14
13	.	Darrell Lanigan	Union KY	13
14	.	Rich Gardner		9
15	.	Tim McCreadie	Watertown	9
16	.	Chad Valone	Warren PA	7
17	.	Darrell Bossard	Centerville PA	7
18	.	Randy Lobb	Jamestown	7
19	.	Robbie Blair	Titusville PA	7
20	.	Chub Frank	Sugar Grove PA	6
21	.	Scott Gurdak	Spring Creek PA	6
22	.	Chris Hackett	Corry PA	5
23	.	Clint Smith	Senoia GA	5
24	.	John Blankenship	Williamson WV	5
25	.	Rick Eckert	York PA	5
26	.	Dan Stone	Thompson PA	4
27	.	Jimmy Owens	Newport TN	4
28	.	Josh Richards	Shinnston WV	4
29	.	Shane Clanton	Locust Grive GA	4
30	.	Gregg Satterlee	Rochester Mills PA	3
31	.	Tim Fuller	Watertown	3
32	.	Vic Coffey	Watertown	3
33	.	Bub McCool	Vicksburg MS	2
34	.	Earl Pearson Jr.	Jacksonville FL	2
35	.	John Volpe	Lakewood	2
36	.	Don O'Neal	Martinsville IN	1
37	.	Greg Johnson		1
38	.	Scott Bloomquist	Mooreburg TN	1

		Oklahoma
		Late Model
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Jesse Stovall	Galena MO	18
2	.	Justin Wells	Aurora MO	8
3	.	Terry Phillips	Springfield MO	7
4	.	Tony Jackson Jr.	Lebanon MO	6
5	.	Billy Moyer	Batesville AR	5
6	.	Tommy Weder Jr.	Woodward	5
7	.	Brandon Cheek	Hackett AR	4
8	.	Justin Asplin	Birch Tree MO	4
9	.	Ricky Thornton Jr.	Chandler AZ	4
10	.	Will Vaught	Crane MO	4
11	.	Curtis Cook	Conway AR	3
12	.	Dylan Davlin	Shady Point	3
13	.	Jon Kirby	Russelville AR	3
14	.	Matt Johnson	Archie MO	3
15	.	Wendell Wallace	Batesville AR	3
16	.	Clay Julian		2
17	.	Justin Zeitner	Omaha NE	2
18	.	Robert Baker	Bryant AR	2
19	.	Coleman Younger		1
20	.	Dave Turner	Creighton MO	1
21	.	Gary Christian	Broken Bow	1
22	.	Jon Mitchell	Nash TX	1

BCS Whiners

Yes, I know that this a racing blog, but.....

The full lineup of bowl matchups was announced on Sunday night and the whining of the pundits exploded upon the announcement that Northern Illinois had crashed the party and, by rule, had qualified as a BCS at-large selection and will play Florida State in the FedEx Orange Bowl. I won't go into the explanation of THE RULES, and how it happened as you can surely find that elsewhere if you do not already know how the Huskies slipped in, but suffice it to say that the talking heads on ESPN are not happy about it.

The focus of their dismay is on Northern Illinois, however there is little or no discussion of the spot in a BCS game being taken up by an 8-5 Wisconsin team that if not for the Sandusky mess and the coddling of Terrelle Pryor would have never even had the opportunity to club the bejeebers out of Nebraska Saturday night. Nor do they seem to care to discuss the fact that the Big East champion Louisville could not rank ahead of the Huskies because of the fact that their own schedule, including the mediocre schools that are in this conference that still somehow maintains an "automatic qualifier" status, was not strong enough to rank them ahead of the MAC champions.

So when some ESPN blogger is "puzzled" as to how coaches like Mark Richt, Bob Stoops and Les Miles were "left out of BCS bowl games" my first thought is dude, you write for ESPN and you don't even know the rules? (Of course he knows the rules, but he might as well pile on while he can!) Sorry Coach Richt, Coach Stoops and Coach Miles, but the rules are the rules and that is why Wisconsin, Louisville and yes, Northern Illinois, are playing in the big money games instead of you. Coach Miles, you had your chance but lost a couple of close games to Florida and Alabama. Coach Stoops, you lost to Kansas State and allowed Notre Dame to come into your place and win in convincing fashion and Coach Richt, had you or your quarterback had the game situation sense to spike the ball with fourteen seconds left Saturday night, you would have been able to huddle and call not one, but two plays that would have given you a chance to be in the National Championship game instead of having pundits give a bunch of excuses as to why you are not even in the BCS mix. Should you be in instead of Florida who you did beat earlier this season in one of the ugliest college football games ever witnessed? Perhaps, but that big loss to South Carolina and that little clock management issue this past weekend proved otherwise.

Even my favorite college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit went off the deep end Sunday night when he said that Northern Illinois lost to Iowa "who is the worst team in the Big Ten!" Really Kirk? The worst? Yea, the Hawkeyes stunk it up this year but the last I check their two conference wins over Michigan State and Minnesota were technically better than the two wins that Minnesota posted, and was definitely two more than that team to the east of us. Sorry, Illinois, but you were the worst team in the Big Ten this year and if Mr. Herbstreit had taken some of his emotion out of it, he probably would have known that fact.

As you can tell all of this started to irritate me just a bit, but then as they always do, the "experts" said that this fiasco that is the BCS will soon come to an end when the new system of a four-team playoff begins in 2014 and that there would then be no more controversy. Then they started arguing about which four teams would have been in that playoff if it had been in effect for this year and I couldn't help but laugh.

Saturday Morning Notebook December 1, 2012

Deer season has arrived and it sounds like a war zone here on the edge of town. Several have gathered in my back yard obviously believing they are safe here. The deer that is....

The UMP Summer Nationals will return to Iowa in 2013 for at least one night when "The Hell Tour" makes a stop at 34 Raceway near Burlington for a $10,000-to-win event. The Tour will take on a new look this go round expanding to six weeks of racing but will apparently have "off nights" every Monday and Tuesday along the way. It will be interesting to see if that strategy keeps more drivers on the Tour, or if the weekly time off is too tempting for some to head home and stay there. Either way it will be great to have the Summer Nationals back at 34.

It's official, Ryan Duhme and Timmy Current more commonly known as "The Darkside" will take on the promotional reigns at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton next season and they will also have the assistance of previous promoters Al and Kathy Dlouhy. Sounds like a very promising combination! Current was the 2011 All Iowa Points Stock Car champion and then raced just a few times last year during his rookie season of race promoting. We wish them all the best and I look forward to a few trips north next season that, as always, will include a stop at the Tipton Happy Joe's before heading out to the track.

The big money is definitely coming out for the IMCA "type" Modifieds next season as Simmons Promotions announced that they will run the "After Market" Nationals at Farley on July 3rd and 4th. The Modifieds will be racing for $10,000-to-win and the Sport Mods will be gunning for a hefty $5,000 top prize at the event that, given the title I would guess will be just like Marshalltown's $10,000-to-win WORLD Nationals where no crate motors will be allowed. These two huge events will generate plenty of discussion right up to race weekends where you can bet that both will draw some hefty car counts.

While the professional promoters put on the big money events, I'm still considering throwing my hat back in the ring with the autumn Sunday afternoon series that I talked about a few entries ago. Now I just need to find a track to do it at and a couple sponsors who would want four or five weeks worth of exposure.....

One of the new tracks that I visited in 2012 was the beautiful Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California and over the Thanksgiving weekend the track hosted a big money Street Stock event. Surprisingly it only drew a car count in the forties with all but three of the pre-entries being from California. Those other three drivers pulled all the way in from Iowa as Andy Boeckman, Stac Schroeder and three-time defending All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion Devin Smith all made the trip and while all three were competitive they all faced several challenges that kept them from finishing at the front. Schroeder made the following post on the WhoWon.com Stock Car forum to summarize the trip:

"This race was at the Perris Auto Speedway, in Perris California. One hour east of Los Angeles. The class rules were almost identical to the IMCA hobby stock except we had to weigh 3300lbs, no compression limit on a 360ci engine, and any dot tire not wider than an 8 inch tread pattern.

Each night they run a two lap qualifying session and on Friday Andy qualified second, he missed the track record by .049!!!! Devin was 3rd and I was 6th out of the 41 cars present. All three motors broke on Friday night. Devin won his heat with a broken connecting rod in the motor!!!! I was leading my B-main and broke a timing chain. Andy was in the A doing very well and broke the pin in the front of the cam and the bolts worked themselves out.

We spent the entire day Saturday working on engines in a parking lot. Andy had bent valves, and needed a cam pin. He replaced valves and the cam pin. I got lucky and had no bent valves and replaced the timing chain. Andy bought a motor from a local racer for Devin and we swapped heads for it and fixed multiple bent valves. All three cars were running by 5pm. and ready to qualify that night.

Saturday night brought another qualifying session where Devin qualified 5th, Andy 2nd, and I set fast time out of the 43 cars present. Devin and I won our B-mains, and Andy transferred in from his heat to the A-main. In the A-main Saturday, Andy started 10th or 12th I think, I started 16th, while Devin was right behind me starting 18th. Devin was very fast with the bought engine, but got hot and headed for the pits around lap 6 or 7. He then worked his way back up in the top ten very quickly to get a flat. He again went back out, was back up in the top ten, but got collected in a pile up which put a hole in his radiator. I broke a rocker arm on around lap 4 and continued on 7 cylinders. I was up to 8th and broke another timing chain??!! Andy made it into the top 3, but his car got extremely tight and he fought it through the corners. He blew a RF tire with 7 laps to go, and went back out and made his way back up to 6th in 6 laps!!!

All 3 cars were very fast thanks to Andy and at one point we were all in the top 8. The track promoter, and all of his crew couldn't have been any nicer to us. I can't tell you how many times someone came up to me and shook my hand and thanked us for coming. This probably was the best experience I have ever had at a race track as far as that is concerned. They really cared we were there to race for them!!!!

Not sure if any California racers will read this, but on behalf of myself, Andy and Devin, we have to really thank Luke Dodd, (car #3, and a native IOWAN), he opened his beautiful transmission shop to us to work on our cars. He gave me a new timing chain, provided us with valves and a cam pin for Andy, and sold us an engine that Devin made fly!!! Without Luke, there is no way all three cars would have been competing again on Saturday night!! THANKS LUKE!!!!

Congrats to the winner Linney White, he helped us weeks in advance with suggestions for gears, lead placement, and suspension help. He won both nights and pocketed $7500.00 dollars!!!!!! Awesome payout for a hobby stock race!!!

Lastly, another big thanks to 1-800-LOANMART for putting the race on, and also the gift cards which we were not expecting for gas money home!!

Overall, all 3 of us, and all that came with us had a great time and we are already making plans to return next year!!

STAC SCHROEDER #51"

It was a frustrating college football season for me in 2012 as my three favorite teams, Iowa, Tulsa and whoever is playing Notre Dame are a combined 13 wins and 23 losses as we head into the final weekend of the regular season. Hopefully Tulsa can bump that win total up by one more today in the Conference USA championship game and my dilemma come January will be to pull for another National Champion from the Southeast Conference, or to actually cheer, cheer for ol' Notre Dame......uggh.

Is it just me or are the schedules for next season coming out earlier than they have in the past? The World of Outlaw Late Models released its 2013 slate yesterday and it is good to see Independence booked for a Monday, August 5th event.