Anderson continues to dominate with STARS
By Zach Tasker
The 2013 racing season saw another successful campaign from veteran midget racer Jimmy Anderson and the Guess/Anderson Motorsports team. The Joliet, Illinois native picked up two Short Track Auto Racing Series (STARS) feature wins at the Grundy County Speedway this year. The running of the Freedom 50 and the Tattersall Challenge were important victories on the way to Andersons third straight National Midget championship.
Crew chief for the #36 Beast/Mopar is Bill Guess. Guess oversaw along with the rest of the team the acquisition of a new car for the 2013 season “The new car was fun to put together. With some of the offseason deals we made at the PRI show we were able to put it together and get some really good trick parts for it. We did struggle to get the car locked down at first because the new car is a “tighter” car so I had to try some different things setup wise to try and make it turn.”
Anderson was locked in a tough duel with Pat Wilda and Billy Hulbert for the stretch run of the championship. For Guess it was just business as usual at the track “I don’t put any pressure on myself to give Jimmy the best car each night but I know that jimmy puts pressure on himself to run up front every night. I guess when you are on top it is easier to stay up there than knock the guy down from there. The biggest misconception everyone has about us is they think we just totally outspend everyone to win and what they don’t realize is that it is me, Jimmy, my dad and whatever sponsors that we get help pay for what we do. What they also don’t realize is that we didn’t just get what we have overnight, it has taken many years to build up the quality of equipment we have and I’m not trying to toot my own horn but I honestly don’t think anyone else has as detailed of a weekly maintenance program as we do. I have always felt that races are won in the garage during the week versus at the racetrack. Roger Penske has this quote in all of his race shops and trailers “effort equals results.”
Guess has worked with a number of talented open wheel drivers including an all star roster of talent including Dave Darland, AJ and Aaron Fike, JJ Yeley, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Bobby Santos, Chris Windom, Jerry Coons, the late Jason Leffler, and Kyle Larson. “Through the years working with the diversity of drivers I have you learn things that each driver likes that helps me with working with jimmy and trying different things. Working with Dave Steele was also fun and I learned a lot from him. I owe most of my success to Jimmy and Bill Hoffman and Evan Avart and what they taught me to watch for on what a car is doing and why it is doing it and what you have to do to make it better.”
For “Joliet Jim” Anderson, the second generation midget racer felt satisfaction winning another STARS championship overcoming obstacles along the way “We had some learning to do regarding what this new car wanted in terms of setup. The first night we ran it was the Freedom 50 at Grundy. We started last because of a bad qualifying run, and managed to make a last lap pass to take the win. Bob East of Beast chassis builds great racecars, this one is no exception and responded to the changes we made. We’re still looking for its sweet spot.”
Anderson always seems to do his best coming from behind though as none of his three STARS championships have been straightforward affairs “In 2011 we blew up 2 engines in one night while leading the points. In 2012 we were involved in 2 major wrecks that really put us off our game. The team responded in both of those years to get back on track and finish on top. This past year we really struggled with motor issues in the primary car. We were 3rd quickest in practice at Illiana with USAC and broke a spark plug. The next night at the USAC National race at Grundy we were running a very strong second with 17 laps to go and lost a valve spring in the same engine. The competition is always tough at Grundy, we’ve just been fortunate enough to have enough good finishes to outweigh the bad ones.”
The 2013 season wasn’t all jubilation however, as Anderson was close to picking up the upset at Grundy County Speedway during the USAC Honda National Pavement Midget Championship series race on August 10 as part of the Border Battle. The blue #36 machine had won the nights heat race and was reeling in race leader Kyle Hamilton in the feature until his engine lost a valve spring. “We knew coming in that if we were going to get a USAC National win that it would be at Grundy. We have thousands of laps around there, I’d say it gives us a distinct advantage. Those guys in USAC are just another group of racers, I’d never brag about running well against them one night because I’ve run not so well against them many times. I also have come to the realization that their program as a whole is at a higher level than we are so when we do run well it makes you feel pretty good.”
With the outdoor season done, attention now shifts to the indoor season. The biggest pavement indoor race is the annual Rumble in Fort Wayne. The 1/6 mile track at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Indiana features tough competition every year. Anderson is the 2010 champion of the Friday night portion of the Rumble, an accomplishment that ranks high on the list for any midget racer “That race was probably my biggest win by far. We took an outdoor car and made a few changes to go have some fun. We started around 10th that night and just kept being on the right side of everyone else’s misfortunes. We had a restart with about 20 laps to go while running second. The car took maybe 2-3 laps to come in after the restart and we passed Dave Darland with 17 to go and led the rest of the way. Still to this day I’m speechless on that win because nobody in that building that night saw that coming. Fort Wayne brings together so many different types of racing. It also gives us a chance to catch up with friends that we only get to see once a year.”
This years Rumble takes place on December 27-28 with two complete shows of racing each night. The Guess/Anderson Racing team would like to thank all of their supporters, John Manner Insurance, Wermer Rodgers Duran and Ruzon, Shorewood Animal Hospital, Turks Collision Repair, Mr. B’s Bar and Grill, Edward Jones Investing, Packard Transport, CPR Cell Phone Repair – Algonquin, Illinois, Darcy GMC Joliet, Party Bomb Energy Shots, Zemog Computer Repair, RHO Chemical, Porky and Marty Boban, Jim Staniszewski, Gene Kazmark, Tim Trish Delrose.
Product support from:Steele Steele Performance Parts ,MPD Racing, Wilwood Brake Systems, R1 Graphix, David Ward racing Oil, Weld Wheels.
Special Thanks to: Evan Avart of RW Motorsports, Bob and Janice East of Beast Chassis, Tim Sosbe from Speed Engines, Irish Saunders at Hoosier Hoosier Racing Tire, Kyle Keitzman of Bell Racing Company
Crew Members: Bill Guess, Joe Trass, Michael Guglielmucci, George Meiferdt, Alex Guglielmucci, Travis Mahoney.
