Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

The 16th Annual Dick Gaines Memorial, featuring the Kelsey Chevrolet Sprint cars, will be held on August 17th at the Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Saturday night’s race honors the memory of one of Indiana’s greatest sprint car heroes, Dick Gaines, who was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1992.

One of the larger nonsanctioned purses of the season will be up for grabs with the 25-lap feature paying $3,000 to win and $300 to start. There will also be a $63 Hard Charger Award to the driver that improves the most positions in the main event, and $100 tow money to all cars that do not start the feature.

Saturday is also “47025 Night at the Races” and any resident with a 47025 zip code who presents a valid driver’s license to prove residency at the main front gate entrance will receive free general admission for themselves and their children.

The Lawrenceburg Speedway is also hosting a Pet Food & Toy Drive in conjunction with their friends at Kroger. For each item you bring to donate you will receive a chance to win a $100 Kroger gift card.

August 17, 2019 – Lawrenceburg Speedway
16th Annual Dick Gaines Memorial

• Kelsey Chevrolet Sprints
• KOI Auto Parts UMP Modifieds
• Impact Sports Pure Stocks
• Bessler’s U Pull & Save Hornets

4:00 pm Pit gate Opens
5:00 pm Front Gate Opens
6:00 pm Practice
7:00 pm Opening Ceremonies

General Admission:
Adult $18
Children (7-12) $7
Under 6 FREE

Pit Pass: $30 (all ages)

Special promotions, tickets, and Family Four Packs are only redeemable at the main front gate entrance.

Pit passes cannot be purchased as an upgrade from a promo ticket, Family Four Pack, or a theme night.

For More Information – www.lawrenceburgspeedway.com

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Woohoo!

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

16th Annual Dick Gaines Memorial Saturday, August 17th at Lawrenceburg Speedway


Since its inception fifteen years ago, the Dick Gaines Memorial has included some of the best sprint car drivers in Indiana dirt track racing. In its inaugural running in 2004, 15-year-old Bryan Clauson captured his first win at “The Burg” after battling wheel-to-wheel for 30-laps with Dick’s son Dickie.

Last season Robert Ballou became the first repeat winner of the Dick Gaines Memorial when he passed Jarett Andretti coming out of turn four on the final lap, crossing the finish line a mere 0.121 seconds ahead of the 2016 track champion.

DICK GAINES MEMORIAL WINNERS
2004 Bryan Clauson
2005 Kevin Briscoe
2006 AJ Anderson
2007 Jimmy Light
2008 Hunter Schuerenberg
2009 Jerry Coons, Jr.
2010 John Memmer
2011 Coleman Gulick
2012 Jonathan Hendrick
2013 Justin Grant
2014 Chase Stockon
2015 Jon Stanbrough
2016 Josh Hodges
2017 Robert Ballou
2018 Robert Ballou

As in past seasons, the Dick Gaines Memorial will feature a slight change to the standard Lawrenceburg Speedway race format.

A blind pill draw will still be used to set the heat race groups, but lap times gathered during practice will set the heat race lineups. Cars will be lined straight up by time with the fastest four cars in each heat race inverted.

Heat race finish will still determine the lineups for the B Main(s) and feature with the top two finishers in each heat race (if five or more heats only the winners) redrawing for their starting position at the front of the feature field.

Dick Gaines Memorial Feature Payout:
1- $3,000, 2- $1,500, 3- $700, 4- $600, 5- $500, 6- $450, 7- $400, 8- $375, 9- $350, 10- $325, 11- $300, 12- $300, 13- $300, 14- $300, 15- $300, 16- $300, 17- $300, 18- $300, 19- $300, 20- $300.

There will also be $100 tow money to all cars that do not start the feature, and a $63 feature hard charger award.

General admission gates are set to open at 5:00 pm Saturday with hot laps at 6:00 pm and opening ceremonies scheduled for 7:00 pm. Adult general admission is $18, children (7-12) are $7, and those 6 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 for all ages.

Saturday is also “47025 Night at the Races” and any resident with a 47025 zip code who presents a valid driver’s license to prove residency at the main front gate entrance will receive free general admission for themselves and their children.

The Lawrenceburg Speedway is also hosting a Pet Food & Toy Drive in conjunction with their friends at Kroger. For each item you bring to donate you will receive a chance to win a $100 Kroger gift card.

For more information please visit www.lawrenceburgspeedway.com or the “Lawrenceburg Speedway” Facebook page.

August 17, 2019 – Lawrenceburg Speedway
16th Annual Dick Gaines Memorial

• Kelsey Chevrolet Sprints
• KOI Auto Parts UMP Modifieds
• Impact Sports Pure Stocks
• Bessler’s U Pull & Save Hornets

4:00 pm Pit gate Opens
5:00 pm Front Gate Opens
6:00 pm Practice
7:00 pm Opening Ceremonies

General Admission:
Adult $18
Children (7-12) $7
Under 6 FREE

Pit Pass: $30 (all ages)

Special promotions, tickets, and Family Four Packs are only redeemable at the main front gate entrance.

Pit passes cannot be purchased as an upgrade from a promo ticket, Family Four Pack, or a theme night.

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

The following is an article posted to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum’s website upon the induction of Dick Gaines to their Hall of Fame in 1992.

DICK GAINES

Dick Gaines, the country boy from Floyd’s Knob, started racing in April of 1949 in Carlisle, Ind. He was 16 years old and drove a 1939 Ford sedan two-seater that didn’t have any shocks. Dick was knocked off of the south central Indiana tracks a time or two by the old-timers as they didn’t want a youngster beating them. During the early years Dick turned over and crashed a lot in the stock cars. As Dick says, “I would say I had about ten years of ‘rough and tumble’ racing before I became a good racer.”

The thick-chested, dark eyebrowed Gaines came into his own in the 1960’s, by racing super modifieds and winning at Indiana bullrings like Bloomington, Paragon, Lawrenceburg and Haubstadt. He drove to a lot of wins in 1961-62 before hooking up with EM “Dizz” Wilson and his car #70. 1963-65 were banner years for the team as they were just about unbeatable. In fact, it has been calculated that the Wilson/Gaines combo won an incredible 164 races in the five years they were paired together. Not only could the team win on dirt, but Gaines and Wilson won major races on pavement at Atlanta and Nashville that made everyone take notice. According to Wilson, “I think Dick’s one of the best seat-of-the-pants drivers that ever lived.”

According to journalist Robin Miller, “Those were the days of open-faced helmets, knobby tires and handmade cars. There weren’t any roll cages, arm restraints or power steering units. It usually boiled down to man-against-man, and few sized up to Gaines.”

In 1970, Dick started driving for Karl Kinser in the Kinser Brothers Racing Team #22 machine. Kinser, who had Larry Miller drive for him from 1965 to 1969, built a new car for Gaines about every year or so during their eight year association. They raced all over the midwest and south with the #22 and #11 sprinters and they won their share of races. As a team, Gaines, Kinser, and mechanic Paul Elrod won races and titles at places like Eldora, Salem, Lima, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Kokomo and others. They also won the “Little 500” at Anderson (Ind.) twice, in 1973 and 1976, and the “Granddaddy of them all,” the 1974 Knoxville Nationals, by beating Jan Opperman in the last turn on the last lap to take the coveted victory in front of 11,000 screaming fans. Beaten by inches at the line, Opperman later said, “He suckered me all night. Teased me into usin’ too much tire and then outsmarted me on the last corner. He’s a racer, a real one.”

In 1977, Karl Kinser built a new super-light car. Gaines piloted it to wins in about 75 percent of the features that he drove. Unfortunately, it was also the car in which Dick had the bad wreck in Champaign, Illinois. To this day, though, Dick claims, “It was the best car that I have ever driven in my 35 years of racing.”

Dick returned in 1978 to race for friend “Dizz” Wilson, but it wasn’t long before he retired from driving altogether. Says Dick of his racing career in which he won over 600 feature races in fifteen different states, “I met a lot of fine people, had a lot of good times, and I just decided to call it a good deal. I’ve enjoyed every minute of racing as that was my life dream.”

According to Karl Kinser, Mitchell, Indiana’s, Dick Gaines “will always be one of the world’s greatest sprint drivers.”

https://www.sprintcarhof.com/pages/hall-of-fame.aspx

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Woohoo!

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Check out John Mahoney's website with more than 70 pictures of Hall of Famer Dick Gaines:

https://www.johnmahoneyphoto.com/p746230789

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Yay for Raceday!

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

16th Annual Dick Gaines Memorial Tonight at Lawrenceburg Speedway

Dickie Gaines leads the Kelsey Chevrolet Sprints into tonight’s Dick Gaines Memorial at the Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, Ind. The 16th running of the race honoring his late father, Hall of Famer Dick Gaines, may be Dickie’s best chance yet of taking home this coveted win and the $3,000 winner’s check that goes along with it.

Although the younger Gaines has come close, a second-place finish to Bryan Clauson in the inaugural race, victory has eluded him. He is the sentimental favorite, if not THE favorite, after winning two features this year and leading the point standings at “The Burg.”

Nipping at Gaines’ heels is three-time Lawrenceburg Speedway champion Joss Moffatt. Moffatt hasn’t made it to Sign-A-Rama Victory Lane yet this season, but his consistency of four top five’s, including a pair of runner-up finishes, has him a mere 25 points behind Gaines in the season standings. Moffatt has also come oh, so close to a Dick Gaines Memorial win, finishing second to Chase Stockon (2014) and Josh Hodges (2016).

2009 Rookie of the Year JJ Hughes sits third in the standings after scoring a popular feature win back on June 29th. Showing lots of speed this season Hughes is only 75 points in arrears with four races remaining. Although he hasn’t competed in many Dick Gaines Memorial races, Hughes does have a top-five, finishing fourth in 2010.

Nick Bilbee, winner of the 2015 Sheldon Kinser Memorial at the Bloomington Speedway, would love to add a Dick Gaines Memorial trophy to his mantel. Bilbee has won four times at Lawrenceburg, including the BOSS race back on May 18th. Bilbee’s best showing in the Gaines Memorial was last season’s fourth-place finish.

Rounding out the top five in the Kelsey Chevrolet Sprint points is defending track champion Garrett Abrams. Abrams has three third-place finishes in five starts this season. He was one of the fastest cars on the track at the end of our last race, passing ten cars to earn the Hard Charger Award. Abrams finished third in the Dick Gaines Memorial last year, one of four top-ten finishes in the last six years.

With defending and two-time Dick Gaines Memorial winner Robert Ballou sidelined with an arm injury suffered at the Kokomo Speedway back in June, we should have a first-time winner tonight. Although Gaines, Moffatt, Hughes, Bilbee, and Abrams may be the favorites, you can’t rule out former track champions Shawn Westerfeld (2014) and Jarett Andretti (2016).

Westerfeld’s best finish in a Dick Gaines Memorial came two years ago with a fourth-place finish, but he knows his way around the high banks of the Lawrenceburg Speedway with seven feature wins under his belt.

Andretti is the hottest driver in the last three seasons to not win the Dick Gaines Memorial. After third-place finishes in 2016 and 2017, Andretti looked poised for the win last year until a last-lap charge by Robert Ballou on the high side in turns three and four relegated him to second place, falling just 0.121 seconds short.

On the card tonight with the Kelsey Chevrolet Sprints will be the KOI Auto Parts UMP Modifieds, Impact Sports Pure Stocks, and the Bessler’s U Pull & Save Hornets. This will be the last opportunity for hornet drivers to qualify for next weekend’s Hornet Nationals.

Gates will open at 5:00 pm with practice set to begin at 6:00 pm and racing at 7:00 pm. General admission is $18, children 7-12 are $7, and those 6 and under are free. Pit passes are $30 for all ages.

Tonight is also “47025 Night at the Races” and any resident with a 47025 zip code who presents a valid driver’s license to prove residency at the main front gate entrance will receive free general admission for themselves and their children.

The Lawrenceburg Speedway is also hosting a Pet Food & Toy Drive in conjunction with their friends at Kroger. For each item you bring to donate you will receive a chance to win a $100 Kroger gift card.

August 17, 2019 – Lawrenceburg Speedway
16th Annual Dick Gaines Memorial

• Kelsey Chevrolet Sprints
• KOI Auto Parts UMP Modifieds
• Impact Sports Pure Stocks
• Bessler’s U Pull & Save Hornets

4:00 pm Pit gate Opens
5:00 pm Front Gate Opens
6:00 pm Practice
7:00 pm Opening Ceremonies

General Admission:
Adult $18
Children (7-12) $7
Under 6 FREE

Pit Pass: $30 (all ages)

Special promotions, tickets, and Family Four Packs are only redeemable at the main front gate entrance.

Pit passes cannot be purchased as an upgrade from a promo ticket, Family Four Pack, or a theme night.

.121 due to a TOTALLY UNNECESSARY CAUTION FLAG THROWN

Weather update please Thank You

Cloudy, no rain, weather map looks totally clear.

23 Sprint Cars with maybe a car or two at the back gate. Hopefully the phone has enough go juice this evening.

Thank you in advance for updates.

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Are time trials over?

Quick time: Joss Moffatt edges Jarrett Andretti.

24 sprinters the final count.

1st Heat Lineup

34c Sterling Cling
4j Justin Owen
33 Matt Westfall
44 Dickie Gaines
20 Tyler Kendell
21 Ryan Barr
12 Aaron Lafell
25 Rookie. Didn't catch the name

Finish

Westfall
Cling
Owen
Kendel
Gaines
Lafell
Barr
#25

Heat 2 lineup

32 Garrett Abrams
29 Mitch Wissmiller
4p Scotty Weir
18 Jarrett Andretti
11 David Applegate
9m Luke Hall
4 Tate Williamson
71 Braxton Cummings

Finish

Weir
Andretti
Wissmiller
Hall
Abrams
Cummings
Applegate
Williamson

Last lap Weir came into turn 3 3rd. He went between the 18 and 29 for the lead and won it.

Heat 3 lineup

44f Michael Fischesser
17 Nick Bilbee
76 JJ Hughes
5j Joss Moffatt
21 Travis Hery
69j Logan Hupp
43 Callie Wulsifer
21d Mason Day

Finish

Bilbee
Moffatt
Hughes
Hery
Fischesser
Hupp
Wulsifer
Day

All cars will start the feature.

Feature lineup

4p Weir
5j Moffatt
17 Bilbee
18 Andretti
34c Cling
33 Westfall
4j Owen
29 Wismiller
76 Hughes
20 Kendell
9m Hall
21 Hery
44 Gaines
32 Abrams
44f Fischesser
71 Cummings
69j Hupp
21b Barr
11 Applegate
43w Wulsifer
25 Weed
4 Williamson
21Day
12 Lafell

Yellow l9 Tate Williamson clipped a tire and spun turn 3.

Top 10

Weir
Bilbee
Moffatt
Andretti
Westfall
Hughes
Wismiller
Cling
Gaines

Yellow l15 Wismiller stopped on the backstretch. Being pushed off again.

Top10

Weir
Bilbee
Andretti
Moffatt
Hughes
Westfall
Gaines
Cling
Abrams
Hall

L19 Bilbee p1

Bilbee wins it. He had 'em covered from lap 19 on.

Top 10
Bilbee
Weir
Andretti
Westfall
Moffatt
Gaines
Abrams
Hughes
Hall
Hery

Bilbee wins the Dick Gaines Memorial to go along with the Sheldon Kinser Memorial he won earlier in the yea.

Thank you for the updates 🏁

Bilbee has been really fast all year. He's got it rolling!

Way to go Nick!

Thanks for the updates Gregg,they're much appreciated.KTJ won the Sheldon Kinser Memorial @ Blmgtn Speedway on July 26th.

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Today we had our BARC RAY Chalkie Garbage can Luau
Getting there at 1130 on a 90* humid day took it out of me early but after setup it was B.Sin and ood food and drink

Went into the track at seven just prior to heats.
That second heat was worth the price of admission in and of itself with Weir going from third to first in the final half a lap.

Feature, Weir as always was fast, That car is awesome as they bring it in on a single axle trailer with virtually no spares Anyway Wier grabbed the lead and was doing great, Bilbee ran him down went into three and threw the old school ELDORA slide for life. Not the new eldora slow motion skate for life. The dive and slide with only a cushion to catch ya or a wall to stop ya. He made it sick, drove off.

Early to the last yellow, JJ Hughes may have been the fastest on the track Was up to fifth a couple times and after that last yellow the bottom came in a bit, he bobbled a couple times and a couple cars got him, Make no doubt though they've found Burg Speed.

Dickie ot the BC hard charger award. Garett Abrams came on strong late.

Fun night, Thanks to the track, crew, everyone in our club that helped.
Was a good night, even if I didn't feel well after all day in the heat.

Also got my RacinBabe hug, Made my day!

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Big THANK YOU to Gregg for the great updates. This old fart stuck at home in Bloomington, Illinois really appreciated them. :9:

Someone needs to give Nick Bilbee a shot in a USAC drive. I really believe he could hold his own against those guys and run up front in the right car. He's talented.

he has the right car.

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Nick Bilbee is a bad ass, and his dad gets him rolling. Pretty cool to watch them race together.

Big time family effort with a legit chance to win whenever they show up with any group, doesn’t matter...

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

They talked about winning the SKM during post race interviews. Maybe it was the previous year(s).

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Nick won the SKM @ Bloomington on August 21, 2015.

Re: Aug. 17th – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dick Gaines Memorial
 

Was there for that!

Got a decent video of the race if interested.
https://youtu.be/mK_swZyegwY

Nick has really good equipment. I believe he drove for Epperson last year? In the season opener at Ocala. Don’t think he ran it much after that but I would love to see him run the USAC trail as well.

Good video, Chuck. How did you like sitting there in the pit stands as opposed to the front stretch? I personally like turn 2 if you can handle the sun until it sets

Nick Bilbee did a heck of a job at Knoxville in the CornBelt Nationals. Saturday night he committed to the top side. He bicycled the car more times than I cared to count getting in to turn 1, twice showing the complete bottom of the car. Somehow he saved it every time and just kept pounding it in there. Great job, and congratulations on the Gaines win.