With the Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Cars (co-sanctioned by MOWA), Open Late Models and Badger Midgets on the card for the annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial Sunday night I made plans to be at the LaSalle Speedway and so too did many other race fans. The pits were full with 31 Winged Sprints, 28 Late Models and 26 Midgets signed in on a bright, sunny and very warm evening for late September in north central Illinois and our first stop when we arrived was at Jack Donlan's tailgater for some amazing food and lively conversation.
I first got to know Jack when he would load up his Hobby Stock and travel with us from his home base in Burlington to many of the NKF Tour races nearly twenty years ago and more recently I had the pleasure of seeing him on a regular basis when he was the official starter for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. Now living in Princeton, Illinois, though that commute got to be too much so he stepped away from that post after the 2015 season and now I always look forward to running into him at assorted Sprint Car races around the region. You won't find a nicer guy anywhere, just another reason why I love this sport so much and Jack, I look forward to seeing you again soon!
On to the racing!
The Midgets would be the first of three main events on the track and this one would be dominated by Scott Hatton. The driver from Roscoe sailed around early leader Kurt Mayhew following a lap three restart and would not be challenged the rest of the way in picking up the win over Adam Taylor and Robbie Ray.
The excitement level would ramp up considerably as the 24-car feature field for the IRA Sprints pushed off with $5,000 going to the winner of the 30-lap main event honoring the former driver Bill Waite Jr. who was from this area. Ben Schmidt and Brooke Tatnell would start from the front row with Tatnell ignoring Schmidt's slide job on the opening lap to take the lead. Track conditions made this a "slider" type of race with the fast line around the top on both ends of the quarter-mile that also has enough banking to support a well executed slide job. Even working traffic, that had mostly settled to the bottom, Tatnell had pulled away from the field, but the action behind him was scintillating to say the least as drivers were countering slide jobs with crossovers and positions changed within each and every lap.
Coming to score lap fifteen I was lucky to be watching turn three where Bill Balog attempted a two-for-one slide job diving under both Scott Thiel and Bret Tripplett, but it took too much speed to get past two cars and he could not stick it to the cushion as he slid up to the exit of turn four allowing both drivers to get back by him down the front stretch. Balog had another big run in him going down the front stretch though so again he tried to put a slider on Tripplett entering turn one, but contact in turn two would put Tripplett into the wall and upside down at the exit of turn two. Let's just say that Bret was not impressed with the situation and he was warded off by a track official when he went to make his feelings known to Balog. It should be noted that Balog also punted Kris Spitz in the heat race in the same spot bending his wing as well, not something that I am used to seeing from the seven time IRA champion.
The restart would now put Brad Loyet right behind Tatnell as Loyet had just taken away the second spot from Joe B. Miller before the red flag waved. Tatnell would again open a lead until traffic came into play and soon the top five of Tatnell, Loyet, Miller, Spencer Bayston and Carson Macedo were essentially nose to tail with each other as they raced around the top side with nearly all of the slower cars now working the bottom. This made it difficult to attempt a slide job and while Bayston was able to put one on Miller to take third, Loyet was showing patience waiting for the right time to make a run at the native Australian Tatnell. Coming out of turn four to the white flag Loyet seemed to have a big run on the leader and there was an open space on the bottom entering turn one, but he chose to stay on the top and it was a bit of a surprise when again Loyet stayed on the cushion through three and four one last time just before Tatnell took the checkers. Loyet would settle for the runner-up position followed by Bayston, Miller and the winner the previous night in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Carson Macedo.
A twenty car field of Late Models would close out the evening for forty laps of action with pole-sitter Jeremiah Hurst holding the lead on lap one by a nose over fellow front row starter Chris Simpson. Using the cushion Simpson would take the lead on lap two and would build his advantage as soon to be contenders made their way to the front. Dennis Erb Jr. had started fifth and on lap five he would takeover the second spot, but before he could gain any ground on the leader Erb was soon passed by Jason Feger for second on lap eight. As Simpson worked traffic most of the slower cars were on the bottom, but when he encountered a few that were in his groove it would allow Feger to close the gap and by mid-race Jason was in a position to mount a challenge for the lead.
On lap thirty, with Jose Parga riding the cushion in front of him Simpson went to the middle line to try to put a lap on the former Crate star and that allowed Feger to pull even with Simpson coming off of turn four. The lead duo crossed the stripe nearly even with ten laps remaining, but that scorer's call would become very important as Jay Brendle spun in turn three to bring out the caution.
Simpson would be placed out front for the restart with Feger and Erb side-by-side behind him and it would be Feger again taking up the chase in second when the green flag waved. Just two laps later though the caution was needed again as Reno Markham slowed down the back stretch and the lead trio was lined up the same way once again for the restart.
This time it would be Erb who would get to second and we would then be treated to a classic battle of two drivers each using a different line with Simpson riding around the top and Erb feathering the throttle on the bottom. Dennis would be able to pull even through the corners only to have Simpson use the momentum off the top to maintain the lead down the straightaways and that looked like how it was going to end until it happened. After running thirty-eight nearly flawless laps around the precarious top side Simpson made a mistake slipping too high coming off of turn four as the white flag waved and that allowed Dennis Erb Jr. to take the lead and, one lap later the $4,000 win by just a car-length over a dejected Simpson. Feger would be not too far behind in third as Paul Parker and Jeremiah Hurst filled out the top five.
It was a thrilling close to a fun night of racing that was well worth the nearly three hour trip and it was great to spend the evening with several of my racing friends. Yes, it got plenty dusty when the Winged Sprints were in full song, but that can usually be expected and with the final eight laps of the Late Model feature it was obvious that the track conditions were very, very good!
With favorable weather still in the forecast for the weekend ahead I am hoping to take full advantage and I will detail those plans for you when I get back to the Notebook on Wednesday. Are you making your racing plans for the final weekend of September?
See you on the Back Stretch!
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