DROGEMULLER SCORES FIRST WIN OF SEASON AT HARRY TURNER CLASSIC
By Zach Tasker
Saturday night August 9 saw the Illini Racing Series midgets visit the ½ mile dirt oval known as Sycamore Speedway in Northern Illinois for the final time in 2014. The prestigious running of the Harry Turner Classic presented by Beyta Gear Service was up for grabs with a stellar field of 18 midgets on hand. A packed crowd was enthusiastic after watching a 4 wide parade lap salute and ready for the 20 lap feature. Rookie Mike Stroik and Freddie Teer Jr, who was the last IRS feature winner at Sycamore back in June, led the field to the green.
Veteran driver Danny Drogemuller quickly worked his way from the outside of row 2 and was charging towards the lead. Drogemuller is usually a crowd favorite as he spectacularly puts his car towards the outside wall in the turns on the extreme high groove at Sycamore. However on this night there wasn’t as much grip as usual up there which meant the Frankfort, Illinois native had to work his way around the bottom and middle grooves. Drogemuller had already lost a tight 2nd heat race battle with Charlie Holt earlier in the night and it was those two same drivers that would decide the feature.
Holt, who returned to racing this year after a few seasons off was fast all night and didn’t look like he had any more rust to knock off. He was the only threat Drogemuller faced the entire feature and he never got beside him, ever after a couple of late race yellow flags which ironically were caused by the two championship contenders. Jason Allen, the current points leader who also won the nights first heat race in convincing fashion, spun out in turn 4 on his own, then with one lap remaining Patrick Bruns had a problem and slowed to a halt at the exit of turn 2.
This set up a one lap dash to the finish. Holt tried his best at the restart but Drogemuller wasn’t about to let this one slip away, as the field entered turn 4 rookie Jimmy Clark Jr. spun bringing out the yellow and the checkered flag. This is Drogemullers first win in a couple of years and it was a special feeling for the driver of the #76 National Animal Welfare Society/Revolution Racing Beast/Ecotec “We were long overdue, we have had several chances. I flipped here last year. I like running the high side, but in the heat race the car was bottoming out and on the second to last lap I tried chasing the car down low, after that we came in and made a couple of adjustments and we made the car better actually. It worked really well on the bottom. I hate running down there, I’d rather run on the high side but you had to run down there to win tonight and we stayed down there low enough. Before the race (car owner) Neil said he really wanted to win this race so you have to listen to the boss.”
Drogemuller is the seasons 7th different winner on the IRS tour “It feels good to win, we have had some bad luck and we started on the front row here last year and the front tie rod was loose and it fell off the first lap so we have had a lot of bad luck here actually but we have won a lot of heat races. The confidence is there we just needed the little luck that we finally got tonight. I don’t know a lot of history on Harry (Turner), I wish I did. I’m sure he would appreciate the win and I appreciate the trophy it’s very cool.”
For runner up finisher Charlie Holt, the driver of the #16 Holt and Sons Trucks Stealth/Ecotec surprised many spectators and competitors alike; this was only his 3rd race back after a few year long sabbatical from racing. “I really didn’t know how I would fare, honestly I think there are a lot more fast cars here than there used to be and you never know. I know that SET Racing was going to put a good car under me and help me put together this car and set it up good but you never know how fast you are going to be and what the competition has learned over the last 3 or 4 years, so I’m glad just to be up there racing with them up front. We have been working on it, SET Racing does all the setup on it and they have got it a lot better. I give them a little feedback and everything I tell them that’s wrong with it they make it better. “
The Lamont, Illinois native was right behind the race leader in the feature a few times but didn’t want to force the issue “I didn’t get up next to him, I wish I could have been able to get up next to him and race him but in the heat race it was a little bit more fun. There were more grooves out there, the feature it got a little slick up top so you only had a one groove track, you have to wait for him to make a mistake and he didn’t make any mistakes so he did a good job and he deserved to win.”
Rounding out the podium was another veteran racer as it seemed the youth brigade was sent home packing by the old guard. Freddie Teer Jr in the Hoffie Nursery/Kendal County Concrete Stealth/Honda picked up another podium finish at Sycamore in what is starting to become his best track. “If they raced here more often I might think about staying racing just a little bit longer. It wasn’t bad at all, this was a fun race. It was cool to see Danny Drogemuller win. It was nice to see Charlie out there again. I had a lot of fun and that’s the best part, Its all old faces up front tonight but we are still fast faces so I think some of us still have some things to teach these younger guys and my Honda ran good, my wife Missy, my Dad Fred, Dale, Wayne, Shawn, Jason, everybody works hard on this car and it just feels really good.”
The Illini Racing Series now visits the legendary Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin this Sunday August 17 as part of Cornfest. This will be the last dirt race of the 2014 season. Racing is at 7pm. With only 5 races remaining in the season only 21 points separate 1st place Jason Allen and 2nd Patrick Bruns. Will Allen finally score his long awaited first midget feature victory this Sunday or will the two time and defending series champion Bruns win there again like he did in May? Or will another driver make the trip to the holy grail of midget racing victory lane and make it 8 different winners this year? Only one way to find out, join us this Sunday night!
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
Feature (20 Laps) 1)#76 Danny Drogemuller 2)#16 Charlie Holt 3)#54 Freddie Teer Jr. 4)#21 Kurt Mayhew 5)#3 Ray Seach 6)#9s Mike Stroik 7)#15 Mike Anderson 8)#2a Andrew Hennig 9)#6 Dan Smith 10)#10b Patrick Bruns 11)#54a Jason Allen 12)#21a Bob Shreffler 13)#17 Justin Behrens 14)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 15)#0 Doug Orseske 16)#9 Brian Dobis 17)#12 Bryce Dunn (DNS) 18)#6 Lamont Critchett (DNS)
Heat race #1(8 Laps) 1)#16 Charlie Holt 2)#76 Danny Drogemuller 3)#54 Freddie Teer Jr. 4)#10b Patrick Bruns 5)#21a Bob Shreffler 6)#12 Bryce Dunn 7)#21 Kurt Mayhew 8)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr 9)#6 Lamont Critchett (DNS)
Heat race #2 (8 Laps) 1)#54a Jason Allen 2)#9d Brian Dobis 3)#9s Mike Stroik 4)#6 Dan Smith 5)#0 Doug Orseske 6)#15 Mike Anderson 7)#2a Andrew Hennig 8)#17 Justin Behrens 9)#3 Ray Seach