2013 was another good year for racing with a lot of quality races for all of us to witness. Here are the top five that we saw this year.
1)65th running of the Little 500 @ Anderson Speedway. Jacob Wilson in the family owned ride tops pole sitter Jo Jo Helberg, 9 time winner Eric Gordon (in his last Little 500 ride) and Tony Elliott with all four of them on the lead lap. A real classic race with a lot of quality cars and drivers throughout the field. Wilson drove like a veteran with the 3 big guns breathing down his neck and trying to run him down at the end. A big pay week for Jacob as he won the 60 lap prelude on Wednesday night as well.
2)Illinois Midget Week-Started off at Jacksonville were Kyle Larson topped the 49 car field to gain the victory. The following night Lincoln Speedway had 47 midgets with Michael Pickens showing the way to the stripe. Not to be outdone, 55 midgets filled the pits at Macon Speeday and Andrew Felker came out on top with so many slide jobs I lost count. A PowrI gem that I am already looking forward to again this year.
3)AMA @ Indy Mile-The two wheelers put on their normal quality show during the Indiana State Fair. Howerton Motorsports from Indianapolis provided the Kawasaki that propelled "Flyin" Bryan Smith to the lead and the checkers. A lot of racing throughout the pack with 4,5 & even 6 wide at times for the feature. Crazy to say the least. It was announced later in the year that Howerton Motorsports was closing up shop unfortunately.
4)ISMA Hy-Miler @ Sandusky Speedway-The ground pounding, fire breathing supers of the ISMA came to Sandusky for the annual Hy-Miler. Dave Shullick Jr set fast time and was in the lead on lap 85 when Mother Nature intervined and brought the nights activities to a close 15 laps from the end. The victory was especially sweet for the young Mr. Shullick who drove legendary car builder Jim Bodnar's ride to victory lane decades after his dad Dave Shullick Sr also drove a Bodnar creation to victory in the Hy-Miler. The Friday night show had Mike Lichty & Shullick Jr running side by side, lap after lap as they tried to find the lead. Lichty prevailed in a classic battle.
5)Jack Hewitt Classic @ Waynesfield Speedway-A happy Dallas Hewitt brought his 2m sprinter home in first after a spirited battle with Chad Boespflug and Matt Westfall who brought their rides home in 2nd & 3rd respectively. Jack was all smiles as he presented the trophy in victory lane to the younger Hewitt for a great drive at the racy Waynesfield speed plant.
Looking forward to more of the same in 2014. Happy New Year.
