SCOUTING REPORT: Garrett Krummert

OVERVIEW:  He's only been racing Late Models a few seasons, but Garrett Krummert is quickly making a name for himself in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  A sweep of Attica's Spring Nationals helped put the 24-year-old Butler, PA driver on the Ohio map in 2012.

WHAT WE KNOW:  Krummert will start the season racing at Attica Raceway Park every Friday night.  After the April 14th show, the team will take a look at the Attica points, the team's sponsorship, and the family business. From there, they will make a decision as to whether or not they will continue to make the 3+ hour drive west for the remaining shows.

WHERE HE'S GOOD:  This is a guy who has Attica figured out.  He's proven that in his limited visits to the 1/3-mile fairgrounds oval.  No doubt his previous experience wheeling a Big Block Modified and a Sprint Car has carried him over to the Late Model side.

WHERE TO IMPROVE:  A little more experience at new tracks and on varying track surfaces will help polish the likable driver in 2013.  If he has an opportunity to travel a little more, he should take advantage of it and get that all-important seat time.  On Saturdays, Krummert will be bouncing around a little as he plans to hit Oakshade for a few select races as well as running ULMS events at Mercer and Sharon among other places.  The Saturday night race-chasing should help him up his game.

DRIVER'S THOUGHTS:  "It's sometimes hard to drive three hours (to Attica) on Fridays when Lerverville is only 45 minutes away ... I'm really looking forward to the Hell Tour race and the Lucas Oil show at Attica.  Last year we showed up late to the SummerNationals race and that put us behind all night, so I want to make up for that poor showing."

SCOUTING REPORT: Rusty Schlenk

OVERVIEW:  In the OH/IN/MI region, perhaps no local driver is talked about more than Rusty Schlenk.  A former UMP National Champion, Schlenk is also a multiple-time Oakshade Raceway track champion.  Last season, he notched his 100th career feature win.

WHAT WE KNOW:  Things look to be status quo for the Weston, Ohio driver.  He'll be back with the same cars (both his own and the Ron Zeller-owned entry), same motors, and same crew.  And he'll be gunning for as many UMP points as possible, in search for his second national title.

WHERE HE'S GOOD:  Schlenk is one of the smartest when it comes to UMP points chasing.  He maximizes his UMP points opportunities every chance he gets by dodging the inclement weather, and hitting tracks that allow him to look at the big picture of the UMP national title.  Depending on how the UMP points (and the team's finances) look, Schlenk may even venture to Eldora's Dream and World 100 in 2013.

WHERE TO IMPROVE:  Schlenk got off to a somewhat sluggish start in 2012...at least by his standards.  From an outsider's perspective, it seemed like he didn't really kick into high gear until nearly mid-season and was often plagued by bad luck.  If he wants to make another run at the overall UMP championship, he'll need to hit the ground running in 2013.  And he plans to do just that by starting his season off at the Tuckassee Toilet Bowl Classic in Clarksville, TN.

DRIVER'S THOUGHTS:  "Same cars, same motors, same crew, same kick-ass attitude...but it's a new year so we are hoping for some new luck!"

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Mark Banal

Does anybody remember when Mark Banal (then Dillonvale, OH) drove this car?  It was the Fall of 1989.  The M&R racing #30 only made a few appearances when Banal wasn't wheeling his familiar #T8.

New Year, New Updates...

News, updates, and more are right around the corner.  The first "official" post of the new year will be Monday, January 7th.  Spread the word...

DJ

'Tis the Season...

As the racing season slowly draws to a close, I'd like to hear about some of your memorable moments from 2012.  Best race?  Worst race?  Road trip?  Wild finish?  Whatever you've got, send it my way:  dustinjarrett@yahoo.com

Best stories will get posted here a little later on.  Until then...

Celebrity Charity Race at Oakshade

Just a real quick reminder...

Don't forget tomorrow (Saturday) is the Celebrity Charity Race at Oakshade Raceway just north of Wauseon, Ohio.  I'll be participating in the event along with several others.  All the money donated goes towards charity with the largest share of the money going to the winner's organization.  Here's a list of those racing and the groups being represented:

• Clay Kirchenbauer (The Undeserving) - Grace Community Church Thailand Orphanages
• Norm Van Ness (NBC24 Chief Meteorologist) - The Village House of Fremont
• Dustin Jarrett (Eldora Speedway Announcer) - Alzheimer's Association Research Center
• Roy Miller (Fulton County Sheriff candidate)
• Dan “Links” Rice (Host of Links Zone at Oakshade Raceway) - F.I.S.H. (Friends In Service to Humanity) of Wauseon
• Scott Hammer (Oakshade Announcer) - American Diabetes Association

If you get a chance, please check out the link below and, if you can, open up your heart and donate some money towards this wonderful cause.  Again, 100% of the money raised goes to the organizations listed above.

Here's the donation link:  http://oakshaderaceway.com/news/?page_id=342

Five Weekend Afterthoughts: 9/13/12

Better late than never, here's my Five Weekend Afterthoughts...World 100 edition.     -DJ-


(Stacy Holland photo)

1.  Plain and simle, the best car won the race.  Much like Shane Clanton at the Dream, Brian Birkhofer was simply on a rail and wasn't going to be beat Saturday night.  Congrats to him.

2.  After a small hiccup Friday night, the live internet PPV seemed to go off pretty well Saturday.  As a roaming reporter, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and, honestly, was surprised (and much appreciative) of all the positive feedback.  From the top of the suites in turns three and four to the back of the pace truck before the start of the race, I was everywhere and it was a lot of fun.

3.  Brad Neat's run - his entire day - was pretty darn spectacular.  After slapping the wall during his one and only qualifying lap and having to run one of the Qualifying Features, I doubt anybody gave him a chance to leave the Big E with a top three finish.  Kudos to him and his team on a job well done.

4.  I honestly felt like the right man won the DirtonDirt.com Best Appearing Car Award.  Justin Chance's "Godfather of Dirt" car was pretty amazing, and was a well-kept secret.  Practically nobody knew about the car until he unloaded on Tech Day.  Even Yours Truly, trying to obtain a pic earlier in the week, was unsuccessful in getting the likeable Mansfield, Ohio driver to get a pic texted my way.

5.  Other things I was impressed with:  the run by Michael Chilton is a REVELution Race Car; Wayne Chinn's debut in a new MasterSbilt; first timers Simpson, Reaume, & Hotovy; the line at the bar (ALL the time); the $5000 added to the winner's share by Mark Larson of Rock River Arms in Colona, IL; Brandon Sheppard; Jason Feger; the number of regional drivers that were present; the friendliness of all the fans, drivers, and fellow staff members.

Five Weekend Afterthoughts 9/4/12

UMP Modifieds prepare to take the green flag at Limaland Motorsports Park.

1.  Mike Marlar's historic last-to-first run at I-77 Speedway's Hillbilly Hundred will certainly go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in recent Dirt Late Model history.  I try hard not to play favorites, but two things need to be said.  One, great for Mikey.  He's one of the good guys in this sport and it's always encouraging to see him get a big win.  Two, good for the guys at I-77.  I know Kenney Newhouse, Shon Parsons, and crew have worked unbelievably hard to get their 3/8-mile oval prepared for the Hillbilly.  Glad to see them reap the benefits of a huge crowd and an outstanding race.  

2.  It may have flown under the radar during a weekend full of rain outs, but crew chief Austin Hargrove has parted ways with driver Frank Heckenast Jr.  Hargrove, who helped crew Bart Hartman to a World 100 win in 2009, was turning wrenches for the returning Jon Henry Saturday night at Attica.  There's a chance Hargrove could be heading to Pennsylvania to begin crewing for a young up-and-coming.  Stay tuned for more info.

3.  For the third week in a row, I went to nearby Limaland Motorsports Park for what was yet another OUTSTANDING show.  Two of the three A-Mains featured last lap passes for the win and all three main events were completed by 9:45pm.  After the features, Limaland held the annual, season-ending King of the Quarter Miles.  The 10-lap "winner-take-all" races are for the feature winners this season with the Stock winner getting $1000, the UMP Modified winner taking home $2000, and the Sprint winner pocketing a cool $3000.  The Mod King of the Quarter Mile came down to a photo finish in which Jerry Bowersock inched out a win over track champion Todd Sherman. Week in and week out, Limaland continues to offer fans one of the absolute best weekly racing programs in the entire country.

4.  The announcement has been made that Eldora's 42nd Annual World 100 will be televised live on internet PPV.  With this past weekend's Baltes Classic getting rained out, the World will be the maiden voyage for Eldora's PPV broadcasts, which will go into "full swing" next season.  It's a big step for the Big E, but they have the equipment and personnel to pull it off with an astounding eight cameras as well as two announcers (Rick Eshelman & James Essex), a pit reporter (Ozzie Altman), and a broadcast host (Yours Truly).  I have a pretty good hunch this live broadcast is a historic event for Eldora that will only get better with time.

5.  Hard to believe but, it was ten years ago this week that Brian Birkhofer made the "pass heard 'round the world" at Eldora Speedway.  To help us all relive that magical moment, check out the awesome video (link in previous sentence) and report that Michael Rigby of Dirtondirt.com put together.