Toledo Speedway

The fans that were there last Saturday saw a bit of everything. Everything from a first time feature winner to a wild wreck that saw a late model tangled in the turn three fencing.

To start the night was the two make-up features from a couple weeks ago. The Figure 8 make-up race was first, with Robbie Loving winning the race. “Sponge Bob is lucky, guess he’ll stay, I won with him on the car last night at Toledo. Got into Anthony Terris a little bit and feel bad about that, I want to thank my sponsors R.J.S. Racing Equipment, Marlow’s Sports Bar and Grill, Blossom Florist, Flo Air and my crew and family,” said the driver of the #16.

Winning his first career feature in the make-up B division feature was Jimmy Little won his first career win in the make-up B division feature. “This is something we have been working hard for since I ran a part time 4-cylinder schedule in 2007. Because it was a rain delayed feature not a lot of people noticed I swept the night (fast qualifier, heat race win, and of course my first feature). I have to thank Lonnie York and Rich Abel for helping coach me and making sure I have all the tools I need to go out and run hard. I need to thank Tony's Tires and All Good Construction. In the race I just ran hard and watched for holes and the cautions fell perfect to help get me in a good position. For the last three or four laps I was just looking for Jimmy Rae to slip up but he’s a smart, veteran racer and he’s been around the track but on the last lap I pulled out an old trick I’ve seen Lonnie do for a win before I started racing and the car stuck. It’s an amazing feeling to finally get this monkey off my back. Special thanks to everyone in the tech barn for the shower (bottle of water they dumped all over me). And last but not least thanks to Mitch Crider that was my night,” said the driver of the #25. Thanks for the messaging me on Facebook.

Then came the wild accident of the night. At the start of the first Super Late Model heat, Derrick Sheppard, Jason and Don Burkhardt tangled going into turn three. Jason’s car  climbed the wall and ended up tangled in the catch fence nose first and sort of just hung there. It took a bit to get his car untangled and the car on a flatbed. His car suffered a bent rear clip, and surprisingly the front (clip) end survived with apparently only suspension and bolt on damage … and a sore thumb for driver. Sheppard’s car also hit the wall also had suspension damage and lost the entire front and passenger side sheet metal. Both drivers were done for the night. Don Burkhardt was able start the feature event.

The sportsmanship award of the night goes to Street Stock driver Kyle Worley who let Jason Burkhardt use his open trailer to get his car home. You think this would’ve given Kyle some good karma or something for his feature, but he was spun and clipped by another car, ending his night.

Several of the features this week saw a pass for the lead either on the last lap. I think the Figure 8 features were the only two the driver led more than the last few laps.

Eric Lee made a run on the outside the last few laps and pulled off the win, his 16th career win (he needs four more win to tie his dad Steve for ninth on the career feature list).

"That was awesome, it was the closest race I ever won.  The 18 and 44 were all over the track, I knew if I got a clear lane I could make a race out of it and finally got it on the last lap.  We had some issues last night at Dixie with our primary car so we had to bring out the back up car out here tonight.   We were pretty far off when we got here, we made a ton of changes throughout the day to to get it close by feature time.  I have to thank my Dad and Joe for all their help and my sponsors for sticking with me, I couldn't do it without them," said the driver of the Lee Motorsports Car Sales, Arrow Uniform Rental, Whitneys Collision. LaBelle Electric, D&E Landscaping, Posen Construction, Powertran Transformers, Nortown Autoglass.

Scott Selmi won his second career A division feature win. “The car was running good. They all slowed down and I took to the high side and passed everyone. It was a good night, we were the fast qualifier too,” said the driver of the #24.

The B main went to David Kind who battled Mike Phillips for the latter portion of the event to get his first points paying feature. “I would like to than my family for all the support over the years. This is my first B main win, I won an A main but it wasn’t a points race. Also a big thanks to Bill Meade, Wayne, Brian and Robbie,” said the driver of the #37.

Greg Studt won the regular Figure 8 feature. “Both cars, Jeremy Vanderhoof and mine are running good. My dad, Bob, is the reason why the car runs so well. I got the easy job, driving it,” said the driver of the #33.

Figure 8 Rookie, Steve Chartrand won his first career Figure 8 heat.

SLM driver Ron Allen drove Greg Studt’s back up car in the Figure 8 division today. Friday night at Toledo, Ron won the Sportsman feature as well as being the fast qualifier.

Dennis Whisman won the Street Stock feature at Toledo.

And leftover from the rainout a couple weeks ago… Dennis Strickland won his second SLM feature of the season and ninth of his career at FR (It’s his 31st win overall …12 in Street Stocks, six in Limited Late Models at Toledo and four in the LMS at Toledo). “We over adjusted the car from loose to tight before the feature so we were tight and everyone else was loose this helped us a lot. We really like the new car and we are still using the same set-up from Port City.  First time ever we won back to back features in a late model. Can't wait to take the car to Toledo Speedway and see how it performs there, said the driver of the Strategy One Computers, MichWiFi.net, Victory Christian Fellowship, Trenton Forging #90.

Tadek Stadniczuck won his first career A division feature. The feature was shortened by a few laps because of rain. “We qualified 3rd and got a lucky inversion so we started on the pole. The car has been great and it worked out for us to get our first win. First I would like to thank my Dad Ted Stadniczuk for supporting our racing and setting us up with the new car. We lost him January 12, so he didn't even get a chance to see the new car run. I am sure he is looking down smiling though. Thanks Dad! Thanks to my brother Dave, my Mom, Emily, Gary, Kolyn, the rest of the DTS team, and Dan and Don for their help. I would like to say a special thank you to all of our DTS Racing sponsors: Monroe County Breast Center - Dr Feller and her entire staff, Dr. David Clark and The Bedford Dental Group, Kathy Crabtree and Health Services Connection, Mike and Mike from Speedwaygolfcarts.com, Larry from Rubber-Seal Medallion Refinish Systems, Josh from Bee Connected,” said the driver of the #20.

Drivers and teams, I'm happy to get tidbits sent to me for the column. I rarely get to Toledo because of work but don't want to leave you out... send me your quotes. I'm happy to hear from the Flat Rock drivers too.... I can be reached at icechips@hotmail.com or send me a message on FaceBook (Debi Domby).