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| LIVE UPDATES from the 2008 "BELLEVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS" |
| Friday, August 1 UPDATES |
Another hot, humid, windy and somewhat quiet afternoon here in the paradise that is
Belleville.
Last night's All Star sprint car show was a big hit with the almost sold-out crowd, many of
which included the teams and drivers here to compete in the Belleville Midget Nationals
tonight and tomorrow. It was a day for them to relax and be fans by sitting in the stands
and watching the winged guys fight it out. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a boring show -
very little passing, except for getting around lapped cars in the feature. I'm not sure I saw
a pass all night long in the heat races. Only 19 cars, so they ran three heats, and a dash
(which meant nothing as they still drew for starting positions after the short race). I'm
fascinated with the speed of the winged cars, but the lack of real racing or passing had
me feeling a bit disappointed in the show. No accidents except for the push truck that ran
over the wheel of one of the competitors trying to push him off. It was more entertaining
to watch the midget drivers get a bit silly in the stands!
I took the opportunity to walk through the pit area (outside of the track) before the show
last night and the first person that tracked me down was the legendary Jack Hewitt, here
in Belleville to help Lee Stark out. He looked GREAT, fit, and quite young! Jack has
recently decided to try to get back into a sprint car, and tried this past week, but the track
was not too good so he decided not to chance it. He related that he just could not stay
away from racing - he said it's the closest thing to being a drug addict in that once you try
it and it gets into your blood, you can't stay away. Boy, can I relate to that! He's all
pumped up about a new promotion he wants to take to different tracks. Because of all of
the accidents he's had, along with the drama surrounding his son Cody's motorcycle
accident where he lost his arm, Jack is especially sensitive to the need for a constant
supply of blood to be available for accident victims. So he's come up with a promotion
where he'll take his two-seater sprint car to various tracks or businesses and set up a
blood drive. For every pint a person gives, they'll be entered into a drawing to receive a
two-seater ride. Jack said he was hoping to give six pints by now, but has only reached
three. He's very passionate about this, and is hoping to talk to USAC and a few other
sanctions to see if they'll work with him on this project. I asked about Cody, and Jack said
he's now a grandpa to a three-month-old Cayden William! Congratulations to the entire
Hewitt family (one of the greatest anywhere). Jack said although Cody has done some
wrong things in his life, Jack's never been more proud of him than in how Cody's handled
the loss of his arm. Jack says that there's nothing Cody can't do, and is doing some
things better now than before he lost his arm. And the accident didn't damage Cody's
spirit either, as he's the same happy kid he always was! It was great to see Jack in the pit
area, but I'm more excited to see him back competing again soon!
Although there wasn't a whole lot of cars in the All Star pit area, the quality of the drivers
was huge, with a lot of big names that made the trip to Belleville - Blaney, Dewease,
Lasoski (in his own car), Droud Jr., Shaffer, Wilson, Hannagan - a great group of drivers
to kick off Nationals week!
No one really knows who will show up for tonight's USAC event here at the Highbanks.
Normally there's an entry list that gets circulated a week or so before the event. However,
apparently the person who was supposed to send out the entry forms didn't do it until
very late, so USAC is not penalizing anyone for a late entry - meaning, anyone can decide
at the last minute to show up here today. Just taking a look around the grounds, it does
not appear to me that there will be too big of a car count. If we get 30, I'll be surprised.
I remember a time not too long ago when there were so many cars here that they had to
split the show over three days, with half of the cars running Thursday, half running Friday,
and then the big show with everyone on Saturday. Teams would go to Lincoln for a
Tuesday USAC show at Eagle Raceway (one of my most favorite tracks anywhere), then
head to Belleville on Tuesday night. Wednesday was a relaxing off-day, capped with a
silly softball game between the drivers and officials, followed by a autograph party with
free Miller beer for everyone! That was when USAC also ran their televised Silver Crown
race at IRP/ORP, and after the autograph party, we'd all head to Marty Boyer's house to
watch the race (with the announcers annually giving a "shout out" over the air to
everyone watching from Belleville). Thursday, everyone would head to the lawn of the
Courthouse in the middle of the town square for the draw to figure out who was running
Thursday and who was running Friday - it was a cool way for fans who were in town to get
to see their racing heroes up close while also enjoying a nice picnic lunch there. I'm a bit
blue reminiscing about this because NONE of that happens anymore. No big car counts
or split show (everyone runs Friday and Saturday), no autograph party or free Miller beer,
no softball game - nothing. Marty Boyer tried to revive the autograph party and he held it
for a few years at the Highbanks museum, but it was a forgotten event for many of the
people here as he never really got the support from USAC that he needed to make it a
big deal. Now, with Marty not able to do much for the track because of his stroke, that
has even fallen by the wayside. This is still the greatest event, but I really wish we could
get back to some of the things that made it extra special.
Last night I sat in the grandstands and called in the results as I saw them to my friend
Chris Lovett, who then posted t hem on the Hoseheads.com message board. For tonight,
I won't be posting results anywhere because USACRacing.com is going to be doing live
video streaming. Here's a note I'm passing along from USAC President Kevin Miller:
"USAC Media will be offering Live Timing & Scoring this weekend from the Belleville
Midget Nationals. Tune into "Pit Pass" found at USACRacing.com. Live video streaming?
Yes, our beta testing of live video feeds from the track will continue at Belleville. we expect
a decent connection to offer at home fans a glimpse of the action they are missing."
So check it out if you want the results as they happen!
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 1, 2008 –
Belleville, Kansas – Belleville High Banks – 31st Speedway Motors Belleville Midget
Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne-17.571; 2. Bryan Clauson, 97, Kunz-17.601;
3. Brady Bacon, 99, Kahne-17.617; 4. Kevin Swindell, 75, Pedregon-17.654; 5. Jerry
Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-17.672; 6. Brad Loyet, 05s, Loyet-17.703; 7. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-
17.739; 8. Darren Hagen, 19, Nine Racing-17.763; 9. Dave Darland, 9, Nine Racing-
17.792; 10. A.J. Fike, 69, RFMS-17.814; 11. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-17.819; 12. Tracy
Hines, 21, Stewart-17.849; 13. Dustin Morgan, 67, Kunz-17.962; 14. Chris Windom, 17,
Windom-17.975; 15. Adam Clarke, 13, Smith-18.021; 16. Cole Whitt, 71, Kunz-18.061;
17. Davey Ray, 32, RFMS-18.067; 18. Nic Faas, 40, Western Speed-18.077; 19. Gary
Altig, 67m, Mecum-18.085; 20. Cody Brewer, 96, Brewer-18.094; 21. Levi Jones, 20,
Stewart-18.097; 22. Garrett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-18.143; 23. Terry Goodwin, 2G,
Goodwin-18.156; 24. Brad Kuhn, 07, B & T-18.211; 25. Matt Johnson, 85, Central
Motorsports-18.251; 26. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-18.303; 27. Russ Harper, 09, Harper-
18.409; 28. Chad McDaniel, 1c, McDaniel-18.421; 29. Ryan Cole, 11R, Cole-18.817; 30.
Jonathan Beason, 36, Beason-NT; 31. Dakoda Armstrong, 7a, C & A-NT; 32. Scott
Hatton, 15, Hatton-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ray, 2. Darland, 3. Jones, 4. Coons, 5. Morgan, 6. Sweet, 7.
Johnson, 8. Cole. 2:24.10
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Faas, 2. Fike, 3. Clauson, 4. Loyet, 5. Windom, 6. Ford, 7.
Hood, 8. Beason. 2:24.86
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. East, 2. Clarke, 3. Bacon, 4. Boat, 5. Altig, 6. Harper, 7.
Goodwin. 2:22.21
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Kuhn, 3. Swindell, 4. Hines, 5. Brewer, 6. Whitt, 7.
McDaniel. 2:23.48
TROPHY DASH: (6 laps) 1. Ray, 2. East, 3. Hagen, 4. Clauson, 5. Sweet, 6. Faas, 7.
Armstrong. 1:47.66
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Morgan, 3. Brewer, 4. Johnson, 5. Ford, 6. Harper, 7.
Goodwin, 8. Beason, 9. Armstrong, 10. Hood, 11. Altig, 12. McDaniel. 3:37.19
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Bobby East, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Brad Sweet, 4. Davey Ray, 5.
Darren Hagen, 6. Brad Loyet, 7. Kevin Swindell, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Brady Bacon, 10.
Levi Jones, 11. Chad Boat, 12. Adam Clarke, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Chris Windom, 15.
Tracy Hines, 16. Nic Faas, 17. Brad Kuhn, 18. Jonathan Beason, 19. Josh Ford, 20. Matt
Johnson, 21. Dustin Morgan, 22. Cody Brewer, 23. A.J. Fike. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 East.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR POINTS: 1-East-560; 2-Hines-517; 3-Sweet-461;
4-Whitt-454; 5-Kody Swanson-446; 6-Hagen-430; 7-Jones-420; 8-Bacon-412; 9-Coons-
393; 10-Darland-383.
NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR RACE: Augsut 2 – Belleville (KS) High Banks –
31st Speedway Motors “Belleville Midget Nationals”
Belleville.
Last night's All Star sprint car show was a big hit with the almost sold-out crowd, many of
which included the teams and drivers here to compete in the Belleville Midget Nationals
tonight and tomorrow. It was a day for them to relax and be fans by sitting in the stands
and watching the winged guys fight it out. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a boring show -
very little passing, except for getting around lapped cars in the feature. I'm not sure I saw
a pass all night long in the heat races. Only 19 cars, so they ran three heats, and a dash
(which meant nothing as they still drew for starting positions after the short race). I'm
fascinated with the speed of the winged cars, but the lack of real racing or passing had
me feeling a bit disappointed in the show. No accidents except for the push truck that ran
over the wheel of one of the competitors trying to push him off. It was more entertaining
to watch the midget drivers get a bit silly in the stands!
I took the opportunity to walk through the pit area (outside of the track) before the show
last night and the first person that tracked me down was the legendary Jack Hewitt, here
in Belleville to help Lee Stark out. He looked GREAT, fit, and quite young! Jack has
recently decided to try to get back into a sprint car, and tried this past week, but the track
was not too good so he decided not to chance it. He related that he just could not stay
away from racing - he said it's the closest thing to being a drug addict in that once you try
it and it gets into your blood, you can't stay away. Boy, can I relate to that! He's all
pumped up about a new promotion he wants to take to different tracks. Because of all of
the accidents he's had, along with the drama surrounding his son Cody's motorcycle
accident where he lost his arm, Jack is especially sensitive to the need for a constant
supply of blood to be available for accident victims. So he's come up with a promotion
where he'll take his two-seater sprint car to various tracks or businesses and set up a
blood drive. For every pint a person gives, they'll be entered into a drawing to receive a
two-seater ride. Jack said he was hoping to give six pints by now, but has only reached
three. He's very passionate about this, and is hoping to talk to USAC and a few other
sanctions to see if they'll work with him on this project. I asked about Cody, and Jack said
he's now a grandpa to a three-month-old Cayden William! Congratulations to the entire
Hewitt family (one of the greatest anywhere). Jack said although Cody has done some
wrong things in his life, Jack's never been more proud of him than in how Cody's handled
the loss of his arm. Jack says that there's nothing Cody can't do, and is doing some
things better now than before he lost his arm. And the accident didn't damage Cody's
spirit either, as he's the same happy kid he always was! It was great to see Jack in the pit
area, but I'm more excited to see him back competing again soon!
Although there wasn't a whole lot of cars in the All Star pit area, the quality of the drivers
was huge, with a lot of big names that made the trip to Belleville - Blaney, Dewease,
Lasoski (in his own car), Droud Jr., Shaffer, Wilson, Hannagan - a great group of drivers
to kick off Nationals week!
No one really knows who will show up for tonight's USAC event here at the Highbanks.
Normally there's an entry list that gets circulated a week or so before the event. However,
apparently the person who was supposed to send out the entry forms didn't do it until
very late, so USAC is not penalizing anyone for a late entry - meaning, anyone can decide
at the last minute to show up here today. Just taking a look around the grounds, it does
not appear to me that there will be too big of a car count. If we get 30, I'll be surprised.
I remember a time not too long ago when there were so many cars here that they had to
split the show over three days, with half of the cars running Thursday, half running Friday,
and then the big show with everyone on Saturday. Teams would go to Lincoln for a
Tuesday USAC show at Eagle Raceway (one of my most favorite tracks anywhere), then
head to Belleville on Tuesday night. Wednesday was a relaxing off-day, capped with a
silly softball game between the drivers and officials, followed by a autograph party with
free Miller beer for everyone! That was when USAC also ran their televised Silver Crown
race at IRP/ORP, and after the autograph party, we'd all head to Marty Boyer's house to
watch the race (with the announcers annually giving a "shout out" over the air to
everyone watching from Belleville). Thursday, everyone would head to the lawn of the
Courthouse in the middle of the town square for the draw to figure out who was running
Thursday and who was running Friday - it was a cool way for fans who were in town to get
to see their racing heroes up close while also enjoying a nice picnic lunch there. I'm a bit
blue reminiscing about this because NONE of that happens anymore. No big car counts
or split show (everyone runs Friday and Saturday), no autograph party or free Miller beer,
no softball game - nothing. Marty Boyer tried to revive the autograph party and he held it
for a few years at the Highbanks museum, but it was a forgotten event for many of the
people here as he never really got the support from USAC that he needed to make it a
big deal. Now, with Marty not able to do much for the track because of his stroke, that
has even fallen by the wayside. This is still the greatest event, but I really wish we could
get back to some of the things that made it extra special.
Last night I sat in the grandstands and called in the results as I saw them to my friend
Chris Lovett, who then posted t hem on the Hoseheads.com message board. For tonight,
I won't be posting results anywhere because USACRacing.com is going to be doing live
video streaming. Here's a note I'm passing along from USAC President Kevin Miller:
"USAC Media will be offering Live Timing & Scoring this weekend from the Belleville
Midget Nationals. Tune into "Pit Pass" found at USACRacing.com. Live video streaming?
Yes, our beta testing of live video feeds from the track will continue at Belleville. we expect
a decent connection to offer at home fans a glimpse of the action they are missing."
So check it out if you want the results as they happen!
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 1, 2008 –
Belleville, Kansas – Belleville High Banks – 31st Speedway Motors Belleville Midget
Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne-17.571; 2. Bryan Clauson, 97, Kunz-17.601;
3. Brady Bacon, 99, Kahne-17.617; 4. Kevin Swindell, 75, Pedregon-17.654; 5. Jerry
Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-17.672; 6. Brad Loyet, 05s, Loyet-17.703; 7. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-
17.739; 8. Darren Hagen, 19, Nine Racing-17.763; 9. Dave Darland, 9, Nine Racing-
17.792; 10. A.J. Fike, 69, RFMS-17.814; 11. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-17.819; 12. Tracy
Hines, 21, Stewart-17.849; 13. Dustin Morgan, 67, Kunz-17.962; 14. Chris Windom, 17,
Windom-17.975; 15. Adam Clarke, 13, Smith-18.021; 16. Cole Whitt, 71, Kunz-18.061;
17. Davey Ray, 32, RFMS-18.067; 18. Nic Faas, 40, Western Speed-18.077; 19. Gary
Altig, 67m, Mecum-18.085; 20. Cody Brewer, 96, Brewer-18.094; 21. Levi Jones, 20,
Stewart-18.097; 22. Garrett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-18.143; 23. Terry Goodwin, 2G,
Goodwin-18.156; 24. Brad Kuhn, 07, B & T-18.211; 25. Matt Johnson, 85, Central
Motorsports-18.251; 26. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-18.303; 27. Russ Harper, 09, Harper-
18.409; 28. Chad McDaniel, 1c, McDaniel-18.421; 29. Ryan Cole, 11R, Cole-18.817; 30.
Jonathan Beason, 36, Beason-NT; 31. Dakoda Armstrong, 7a, C & A-NT; 32. Scott
Hatton, 15, Hatton-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ray, 2. Darland, 3. Jones, 4. Coons, 5. Morgan, 6. Sweet, 7.
Johnson, 8. Cole. 2:24.10
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Faas, 2. Fike, 3. Clauson, 4. Loyet, 5. Windom, 6. Ford, 7.
Hood, 8. Beason. 2:24.86
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. East, 2. Clarke, 3. Bacon, 4. Boat, 5. Altig, 6. Harper, 7.
Goodwin. 2:22.21
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Kuhn, 3. Swindell, 4. Hines, 5. Brewer, 6. Whitt, 7.
McDaniel. 2:23.48
TROPHY DASH: (6 laps) 1. Ray, 2. East, 3. Hagen, 4. Clauson, 5. Sweet, 6. Faas, 7.
Armstrong. 1:47.66
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Morgan, 3. Brewer, 4. Johnson, 5. Ford, 6. Harper, 7.
Goodwin, 8. Beason, 9. Armstrong, 10. Hood, 11. Altig, 12. McDaniel. 3:37.19
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Bobby East, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Brad Sweet, 4. Davey Ray, 5.
Darren Hagen, 6. Brad Loyet, 7. Kevin Swindell, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Brady Bacon, 10.
Levi Jones, 11. Chad Boat, 12. Adam Clarke, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Chris Windom, 15.
Tracy Hines, 16. Nic Faas, 17. Brad Kuhn, 18. Jonathan Beason, 19. Josh Ford, 20. Matt
Johnson, 21. Dustin Morgan, 22. Cody Brewer, 23. A.J. Fike. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 East.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR POINTS: 1-East-560; 2-Hines-517; 3-Sweet-461;
4-Whitt-454; 5-Kody Swanson-446; 6-Hagen-430; 7-Jones-420; 8-Bacon-412; 9-Coons-
393; 10-Darland-383.
NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR RACE: Augsut 2 – Belleville (KS) High Banks –
31st Speedway Motors “Belleville Midget Nationals”