Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Lookin like Windom might have the point lead back for SW and Grant a strong run at a track he's not run a ton.


Glad they had a great show, From pics and vid that I seen looked like a stellar crowd and stellar car count! Bravo!

Sprint car A main finish

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Terre Haute, Indiana…….Bryan Clauson picked a fine time for his first-ever win at the Terre Haute Action Track, as he charged to the win in the “Don Smith Classic” presented by First Financial Bank on Wednesday night during “Indiana Sprintweek.” For the two-time and defending AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion, it was the third win of the year and 28th of his career, tying J.J. Yeley and Levi Jones for 12th all-time.

After multiple cars were late to staging for the feature, including scheduled front-row starter Dave Darland, Brady Bacon inherited the front row and got the jump for the lead, still looking for his first Terre Haute win, as well. The point-leader looked strong early, leading 2013 “Hulman Classic” winner Jerry Coons, Jr. and ProSource “Fast Qualifier” of the night Robert Ballou in the early going.

Ballou took second from Coons just before the race’s only caution, on lap ten. After that, the Rocklin, California driver stepped up the pressure on Bacon. Bacon finally slipped up in turn-four on lap 14, as Ballou drove to the top spot.

He brought Clauson with him, however, as the lead trio hit the halfway mark. Clauson wasted no time, securing the top spot on lap 17 and lengthening his advantage as they moved through traffic. Ballou closed back in a bit over the final laps, but Clauson was too strong, making a statement as “Sprintweek” goes past the halfway mark. He took the win in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing – Chevy Performance #20 Beast/Kistler.

“I really did not expect this – I’ve always been hit and miss here. I knew in qualifying that we had a really good car. It was able to go all over, all night long. I just tried to get Robert moving around some – we knew we were in trouble with him after he qualified so well. To go head-to-head with guys like him and Brady, guys who are really good at places like this, it’s a big personal accomplishment. Bob East and Brad Mariscotti and this group have worked really hard to get us back to winning, and it’s a good time to be on an upswing. We knew we had to get through this night without losing too much, and we definitely did that,” Clauson said.

Ballou tallied his strongest finish of the year, coming home a strong second in the Ballou Motorsports – Deaton’s Waterfront Services #12x Maxim/Ott.

“I was rolling the middle pretty good and caught Brady through there. I saw Bryan working underneath me, and I knew I probably wasn’t good enough. I probably went a little too hard on my tires early. I moved around a little and he got by me. By the time I was catching him a little with traffic, he was gonna have to make a major mistake for me to have a chance. Usually, you get a few cautions here to let you get another chance at it, and wouldn’t you know tonight dang near goes green to checkered,” Ballou said.

Bacon held on for third, keeping the leaders in sight as he added to his point lead in the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.

“We’ve been on the podium here every time I’ve raced for the Hoffmans, but unfortunately we haven’t gotten a win yet. I felt a bit like a sitting duck, running the high side like that and not knowing for sure if I needed to leave it. Usually, even when it feels slow, it’s still the place to be. I still felt better than them on the top through one and two, but once you lose it, there’s no way to get them back,” Bacon said.

Sprintweek point leader Chris Windom kept up his consistent week by finishing fourth in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton, and Brady Short rounded out the top-five in the Pottorff Logging – Indiana Stone Works #11P Maxim/SPEC. B&W “Hard Charger Award” winner Justin Grant ran the high side from 17th all the way to sixth, giving him a strong night in the race for the Jonathan Byrd’s/Bryan Clauson, Inc. “Passing Master Award.”

ProSource also awarded the “Hard Work Award,” which went to Brian Hayden. Hayden also took home the American Racing Ministries “Perseverance Award” as the last transfer from the Semi-Feature.

AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 16, 2014 – Terre Haute, Indiana – Terre Haute Action Track – 27th Annual “Indiana Sprint Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-20.170; 2. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-20.174; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.186; 4. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-20.389; 5. Daron Clayton, 3R, Byram-20.395; 6. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-20.403; 7. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-20.440; 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-20.472; 9. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-20.701; 10. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-20.760; 11. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.812; 12. Shane Cockrum, 66, Amati-20.868; 13. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.951; 14. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-21.012; 15. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Time-21.013; 16. Tyler Courtney, 21x, Pollock-21.027; 17. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-21.029; 18. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-21.056; 19. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-21.141; 20. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-21.248; 21. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-21.277; 22. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, KT-21.281; 23. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-21.347; 24. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-21.449; 25. Thomas Meseraull, 41, SST-21.451; 26. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-21.526; 27. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-21.674; 28. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-21.697; 29. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-21.979; 30. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-22.162; 31. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-22.292; 32. Brian Hayden, 2H, Hayden-22.597; 33. Jay Waugh, 99a, Waugh-22.630; 34. Ethan Barrow, 15, Barrow-23.028; 35. Eric Burns, 99, Gasway-23.548; 36. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-23.651; 37. Mark Smith, 1M, Smith-NT; 38. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20N, Schuerenberg/Nolen-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Jarrett, 3. Stockon, 4. Ballou, 5. Clayton, 6. Meseraull, 7. Farney, 8. Waugh, 9. Dakus. 2:47.71

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Thomas, 3. Short, 4. Grant, 5. Windom, 6. Andretti, 7. Barrow, 8. McGhee, 9. Hines. 2:53.80

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Darland, 3. Leary, 4. Briscoe, 5. Light, 6. Moore, 7. Swanson, 8. Burns, 9. Simon. 2:58.44

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Shuman, 3. Clauson, 4. Coons, 5. Mattox, 6. Hayden, 7. Ketcham, 8. Roa, 9. Cockrum. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Meseraull, 3. Hines, 4. Farney, 5. Swanson, 6. Hayden, 7. Mattox, 8. Waugh, 9. Barrow, 10. Andretti, 11. Light, 12. McGhee, 13. Dakus, 14. Roa, 15. Ketcham, 16. Burns, 17. Clayton, 18. Moore. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Short, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Shane Cottle, 10. Chase Stockon, 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 12. Chase Briscoe, 13. Aaron Farney, 14. C.J. Leary, 15. Tyler Courtney, 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17. Logan Jarrett, 18. Thomas Meseraull, 19. Brody Roa, 20. Casey Shuman, 21. Kody Swanson, 22. Brian Hayden, 23. Jarett Andretti, 24. Jon Stanbrough. NT
----------------------------
**Simon flipped during the third heat. Cockrum flipped during the fourth heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Bacon, Laps 14-16 Ballou, Laps 17-30 Clauson.

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,226, 2-Darland-1,206, 3-Clauson-1,135, 4-Stanbrough-1,096, 5-Stockon-1,080, 6-Hines-1,040, 7-Grant-1,020, 8-Windom-983, 9-Schuerenberg-910, 10-Leary-833.

NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Windom-242, 2-Darland-237, 3-Grant-234, 4-Clauson-233, 5-Bacon-228, 6-Ballou-209, 7-Stockon-191, 8-Hines-190, 9-Stanbrough-189, 10-Short-186.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 17 – Putnamvile, Indiana – Lincoln Park Speedway – 27th "Indiana Sprint Week"

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by Dick Monahan:
That was a great night! Best show I've seen at THAT for many years. Reminded me of the good old days (70s-80s for me).

I noted that they inverted four. I thought it was always six? It wouldn't have changed the result, but I'm curious.

After multiple cars were late to staging for the feature, including scheduled front-row starter Dave Darland, Brady Bacon inherited the front row

Great night of racing and got to spend the evening talking with Ron Miller.

Track was dusty sitting in the stands BUT I will take that everytime if the racing is 3 grooves all night like it was tonight!!! :) best racing I've seen there in a very long time without any track prep all night besides throwing very little water on it. Job well done!! Great show all the way around.

Absolutely love this place after seeing it for the first time. But Darland got screwed tonight. He was one of the first 15 pushed onto the track. And the cars sat on the front stretch for at LEAST 5 min before pushing the first one off. Yet they penalize a 100% participating driver for "not making it on time". Did he delay the the show? Nope. Did he take his sweet time getting to the push off area? Nope. This is the kind of stuff that makes people not want to run with USAC... first trip to Putnamville tomorrow. I absolutely cannot wait!!!

Originally Posted by Stealth87:
Absolutely love this place after seeing it for the first time. But Darland got screwed tonight. He was one of the first 15 pushed onto the track. And the cars sat on the front stretch for at LEAST 5 min before pushing the first one off. Yet they penalize a 100% participating driver for "not making it on time". Did he delay the the show? Nope. Did he take his sweet time getting to the push off area? Nope. This is the kind of stuff that makes people not want to run with USAC... first trip to Putnamville tomorrow. I absolutely cannot wait!!!

They were told in the drivers meeting that they will sound the horn with 5 mins left to be in staging. DONT BE LATE.. They blew the horn. And I think. 9 made the call within the 5 min

Hell of a points battle for ISW, top 5 separated by just 14 points!

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Kudos to the track crew as track held up well all night. Some excellent battles though out the field. Congrats to Chevy Clausen and team! Come on BaBaLouu , u can do it tonight. See ya in a bit with IOW shirt on.

Not all drivers go to the drivers meeting for one! This rule should have been started at the first race in Ocala, Fl. Usac should of called for a owners meeting to discuss this new rule. I agree, no wonder people get sick of Usac!

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by Stealth87:
Absolutely love this place after seeing it for the first time. But Darland got screwed tonight. He was one of the first 15 pushed onto the track. And the cars sat on the front stretch for at LEAST 5 min before pushing the first one off. Yet they penalize a 100% participating driver for "not making it on time". Did he delay the the show? Nope. Did he take his sweet time getting to the push off area? Nope. This is the kind of stuff that makes people not want to run with USAC... first trip to Putnamville tomorrow. I absolutely cannot wait!!!

It was nice to see USAC finally say enough is enough. Watching drivers and teams mill around while the series officials, promoters beg them to get to staging for events from packing in the track to the "A" main seemed be a bit disrespectful to the drivers who are up there, the promoters who are trying to put on a "show" and especially the fans who pay good money to be entertained. (We have all done it myself included) I watched a show almost get cancelled this year because of the lack of effort to "get to staging". It wasn't USAC threatening to cancel it was the promoter, it seemed like a simple fix to me if you need to be in staging at a certain time, and when that time comes a orange cone goes behind the last car and all others are penalized. Do it once and I think the problem is solved. If not ... up the penalty. One of the things you hear when talking to fans who attend all different forms of short track racing is this "Your style of racing is the absolute best there is. There are no braver drivers and the competition and passing from start to finish is fantastic. but ...... Your shows are pathetic there is no flow to the show there is to much waiting around not really sure what is going on ECt. At some point the great racing for the 30 minutes that we are actually competing on the track is going to be outweighed by the downtime and boredom sitting around waiting for the show to go on. If you don't believe me take a look at the grandstands at most events that are not Sprint Week Shows. I personally think this is a great step to adding some flow to the show from a fans perspective. I also want to add that having Dillon Welch as the Series announcer has been a big boost to the entertainment value to our shows as his knowledge of the drivers, the teams, his background work before the races and his knowledge from being behind the wheel all add to the entertainment value of the program. The on track product is as good as it has ever been and could be argued that the competition level is as high as it has been in several years and it is nice to see the steps are being taken to make "The Greatest Racing On Dirt" closer in entertainment value to the "Greatest Show On Dirt". Just my two cents for what it is worth which is probably not much more then well... two cents.

Tim Clauson

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Think some might want to read the USAC rule book available on usacracing.com before assessing wrong doing or screwing someone. Not saying things are always fair. JUST THAT ITS THERE for all to see.

2014
Rule Book
PART IX
Races
9.1
Meeting of Drivers and Officials
-

Prior to each race the Chief Steward shall conduct a meeting of drivers for the discussion
and interpretation of the rules and any
specific regulations applying to that race. All drivers are required to attend, and it is the
driver’s responsibility to do so.
Any driver failing to attend shall be charged with knowledge of the matters discussed at such
meeting as if he/she had been present

It also covers very clearly cars not being where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there can be penalized up to rear of the field.

Originally Posted by Shawn Harper:
Not all drivers go to the drivers meeting for one! This rule should have been started at the first race in Ocala, Fl. Usac should of called for a owners meeting to discuss this new rule. I agree, no wonder people get sick of Usac!

If you don't go to the drivers meeting and don't know the rules whos fault is that?

Sorry guys I should have posted last night. Someone clarified for me lol. Last night was only my 3rd USAC sprint race of the year. Loving Indiana. You guys down here are so nice. Its nice for a change. Seems like everyone is willing to help out. First ever trip to Putnamville tonight and cannot wait. I LOVE tracks that build big nasty cushions. See everyone there! I will have my IOW shirt on as well!

Here is the sad thing and Late Models are even worse at lining up. The guys that started in first 3/4 of field had the time after the heats, mod heats, sprint b, mod feature to be ready. So in all honesty there is no excuse. Officials blew horn all way round the pit area for 5 min warning. Once they made the round it was told to start the clock. Also FYI heat 1 the was horn was blown nobody moved. It was 11 min till they all rolled out.
Example I went worked a summer nationals race last fri and come feature time I had 9 cars in line. UMP called them 9 cars to track and you should've seen the other 13 come in a hurry. Then I hear on raceciever we will run a 9 car feature men so my suggestion is get in line when your called we will not wait on you.
Only way I personally give a driver his starting spot when I run the line up is if the driver of crew member says hey we having car issues we might be late . Top of my sheet I put the car number. Other then that if your not online by white flag I move the row forward.

Last night is the reason I keep coming back to Terre Haute. Great show all around! The weather was perfect, the crowd was really good, and the racing was spectacular. Sometime the heats can be one lane, but not last night. That second heat was a thing of beauty. The track held up for the feature too. There was a low groove, a high groove, and a Justin Grant groove. It was just a classic Terre Haute night, so glad I went. I wish there were more half miles around.

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

To all race fans. No not sprint car, midget, late model, modified, mini-sprint or any other kind of fan. Just plain ol' race fans.

If you weren't at the Terre Haute Action Track last night you should have been. If you love racing that was really, really good stuff. It was like watching the history and future of dirt car racing at the same time. What a great time!

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by illinisprintfan:
Great night of racing and got to spend the evening talking with Ron Miller.

Enjoyed talking with you, Joe! Always nice to meet another IOW'er.

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

If other cars were late lining up along with Darland then why weren't they penalized as well?

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by SpfldMile:
Last night is the reason I keep coming back to Terre Haute. Great show all around! The weather was perfect, the crowd was really good, and the racing was spectacular. Sometime the heats can be one lane, but not last night. That second heat was a thing of beauty. The track held up for the feature too. There was a low groove, a high groove, and a Justin Grant groove. It was just a classic Terre Haute night, so glad I went. I wish there were more half miles around.

Love that, A Justin Grant Groove, It's like that everywhere I've seen him. Most of the time it works and one of the reasons I consider him the most underrated driver in NW sprint Cars even though he has won some big races. If its not working, He'll find what will.

I wasn't there but I can say I seen vid of some of it and it only proves why its my favorite Indiana Track, Can't thank Shaw and others who hyped the place enough to get me there the first time, I've been at least a dozen times since and will be again! I seen some complaining about mods being added but the couple shows I seen where they had mods, The track widened out and was more than one groove.

Glad everyone had a good time, good weather and good racing. :)

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by Shawn Harper:
Not all drivers go to the drivers meeting for one!

That's no one's fault except the driver.

Personal responsibility too much for you?

Or maybe personal responsibility from your favorite driver is.

Lmao. People like you haven't a clue,as to what goes on with a racing team.

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Most of the meeting rules refer to the driver, or a representative for the team, as long as someone from the team is at the meeting, things get kinda hectic at times, and the driver may physically not be able to attend, it's the people with nothing to do, that can't understand what goes on in a teams pit, before a race. Bob

Originally Posted by Flatrightrear:
If other cars were late lining up along with Darland then why weren't they penalized as well?

They were

How much was the 50/50 drawing for?

Watch em now Mo Will on the flag stand again tonite

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by Shawn Harper:
Lmao. People like you haven't a clue,as to what goes on with a racing team.

Yep, you seem to know so much you don't even bother knowing the rules.

Originally Posted by Shawn Harper:
Lmao. People like you haven't a clue,as to what goes on with a racing team.

Confused as to what the world that has to do with anything in this conversation? Drivers go yo drivers meetings...

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by thebus79h:
Confused as to what the world that has to do with anything in this conversation? Drivers go yo drivers meetings...

He just wants to insult anyone who doesnt think his favorite driver should get breaks.

Hell of a race!

Re: Terre Haute 7-16-14
 

Originally Posted by Shawn Harper:
Lmao. People like you haven't a clue,as to what goes on with a racing team.

Yeah, but after 20+ years of being around it, I damn sure do and I will tell you that 100% of the time the driver and I both went. That was not optional. He could stand around and BS and smoke cigarettes but he by God better be there and know what was going on as well as I did. He also did not crap around so we could get him bolted in and out there.