Figure 8 & FWD Racing

2009 Archive

2010 Sneek Peeks 

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#38 Artie B Ware

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#58 Jeff Whobrey

#46 "The working man"

Chris Workman

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#56 Donnie Blanchard

#4 Gary Lohden

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#74 "The Pink Panther" Charlie Hargraves

 

#39 Troy Phillips

Oval Car

But hay it looks good :)

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#18 Nigal Peters

#31 Johnny Hargraves

This car won

the World of Wheels

Race Car Division!

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Jeremy Vanderhoof Outlaw  2010 return to the 3hour???

  Will run with IOFS when time permits.

 

#12 Mark Eads

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0 John Embry

Dromer 8

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#11 David Noble

#12 Jeff Bissinger

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#21 Jeremy Mitchell

#29 Bobby Corbin III

Dromer 8

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#45 Daniel Glover

#35 Mark Harmon

look for him to be

strong early this season!

The Pink Panther Gets First Win of 2009!   I.O.F.S.: by Dave Sink Charlie Hargraves captured the first-ever Figure 8 event at Plymouth, IN Speedway Saturday night. The historic 3/8 mile asphalt oval has played host to several touring series over the years. Saturday night marked the first time a Figure 8 event of any kind has been held at the speedway. The second event of the year for the newly formed International Outlaw Figure 8 Series (IOFS) was witnessed by a huge crowd once again. The IOFS series has been drawing near capacity crowds at virtually every stop thus far. Saturday was no different as fans poured in to see the first-ever appearance of Figure 8 racing in Northern Indiana. 2009 IOFS season opening winner Gary Bedell got things rolling when he set a new track record with a lap of 18.95 seconds. Heats were won by Charlie Hargraves and Rich Fenwick. Plymouth promoters Tom Smith and Bobby Blount got the enthusiastic crowd energized with a pre-race skit. Eddie Vanmeter spun local favorite Rich Boal as the cars were heading onto the track to be staged. Jeff Shackleford then added to the skit as he joined the antics as the drivers exited their cars to the cheers of the fans. Then to add to the excitement, a total inversion was drawn for the feature ensuring that the faster cars would be starting off the rear of the 50 lap event. When the green flag flew, Jeff Hizer jumped ino the lead and would reamin so through the first thrid of the race. Charlie Hargraves, Doug Greig, and Eddie Vanmeter began picking cars off quickly working their way to the front. While Hizer maintained the point, the battle being followed was with the three cars. Vanmeter quickly moved around Hargraves and was attempting to pass Grieg. Heading into turn one Vanmeter pulled alongside Grig heading into turn one but his car slid off the track slightly turning into Grieg. The two hooked together unable to seperate until they exited the second turn. Vanmeter headed for the infield and Greig continued on incredibly with very little damage. Hargraves took the lead within a few laps and held the point but was being reeled in by Greig and a fast approaching Jeff Shckleford. Hargraves held on to claim his second career IOFS feature event and was named the AMSOIL ' HARD CHARGER' award presented by dealer Elmer Schaeffer as he advanced the most positions in the race. Richard Dickens claimed the highest finishing stock award. Next up for the IOFS will be a visit to the unofficial home of the series, Anderson Speedway July 3rd.   Sportsdrome Speedway (Jeffersonville, IN):  The Working Man Brings Home a Win!!! On Saturday June 13, it was the Dromer 8 division gaining the spotlight in the Coca-Cola 50. The Xtreme 8's were off this week and the Dromer 8's took over the show with a 50 lap contest that started 26 cars. Fast qualifier and points leader Jon Embry in the #0 car jumped out to the early lead and you kinda got the feeling he would win easily if he could stay out of trouble. But in the figure 8, that is something that is always lurking with every trip thru the intersection. On lap 5, Embry had nowhere to go, and had to slow to a crawl to get thru the X and it resulted in him falling back to 5th place. The #3 of Art Groulx took over the lead ,but only momentarily as the #46 of Chris Workman gained the top spot from him. Embry then began to work his way back up the ladder and had put himself in 2nd place by lap 19. About that time though, the 35 of Zach Hall, who was sitting at the intersection, got rearended by the #58 of Jeff Whobrey. Embry, who was coming to the X from the other direction, could not stop in time and hit the side of Whobrey just enough to damage the bumper and radiator in the 0 car. All 3 cars were done for the night with Whobrey's car suffering the worst damage. Workman then took over the race by pulling out to a few car lengths lead the rest of the way while navigating the intersection with perfection in taking the victory. The battle behind him however was very entertaining as the #47 of John Cozart was putting the heat on the 2nd place car of Groulx. He finally got around him on lap 33. Then the #18 of Tommy Deeley was looking to pass Groulx and while they were going thru some traffic, Deeley was able to sneak in for the pass on lap 48. After Workman then, it was Cozart 2nd, Deeley with a personal best 3rd place, Groulx settling for 4th with Nick Cook in the #59 having a good run and finishing 5th. In other action, it was Tommy Brown Jr. finally getting the victory in the Oval Xtreme feature event while Jeff Laws Jr. took the honors in the FWD feature. They also added a Butterfly race for the FWD and Kevin Morgan came across as the winner in that one.

Anderson Speedway: www.andersonspeedway.com Johnny Magee’s nickname should be “Mr. Enduro” as the Carthage resident captured his fourth consecutive Thunder Car endurance race at Anderson Speedway on Saturday. Magee set a new track record during qualifying turning a lap at 14.819 seconds to eclipse the old mark set by Herb Rose in 2008 at 14.897 seconds. Starting from the pole position Magee led all 200 laps to take home the $3,000 in first place money. During the early stages of the race he was chased by Ronnie Rose, who posted the second quick time, but Rose’s night came to an end on lap 79 with an apparent overheating problem. That turned the second spot over to Josh Poore, who changed a transmission 30 minutes prior to the race. Poore charged up from the 24th starting spot and moved into the top five after 40 circuits. After the halfway break, Magee opened up a quarter of a lap lead that stabilized and he was never seriously challenged by Poore for the lead. Nick Warner came home in third, falling one lap off the pace with six laps remaining. Ron Phipps was credited with a fourth place finish followed by Travis Burge. Rounding out the top ten were Jeff Swinford, Herb Rose, Tom Gossar, Hannah Lundy and Larry Swinford. “Want to thank everybody that helps on the car,” Magee said. “It takes a lot of work to keep the cars prepared.” Poore said he used his tires up in the first half of the race and didn’t have anything for Magee in the second half. Shawn Cullen, who qualified fifth fastest dropped out after only seven circuits and Rob Allman was knocked out of contention early in the race with a mechanical problem. There were 13 of the 25 cars that started the 200-lap event running at the finish. The race was slowed six times. The final 100 laps were run without any stoppages in the action. After spinning twice in the early stages of the Front Wheel Drive oval feature Kokomo’s Gary Bragg Jr. made a late charge to claim his second victory of the season. Mike Alley led the first 17 laps with points leader Jeff Saxon, Bragg and Jack Leisure battling side by side for the front spot. Bragg drove inside of Saxon and was able to get inside of Alley entering turn three and completed the pass on the front straight. Leisure challenged Bragg for the win but was unable to make an inside move coming to the checkers and settled for the runner-up position. Saxon and Alley made contact on lap 19 coming off the fourth corner while battling for third. Alley spun and crossed the finish line in fourth but was awarded the third spot with Saxon finishing fourth and Harry Leisure claiming fifth. Nick Warner set a new track record for the Front Wheel Drive Figure-8 competition turning a lap in 20.817 seconds besting the mark set by Andy Keller of 20.874 seconds on April 18. Bill Leisure held off Warner for 13 laps during the feature event on the Figure-8 with Andy Keller also in the mix for the potential victory. Warner attempted for several laps to get inside of Leisure entering turn one but was unable to complete the pass. The two raced side by side and finally Warner got inside of Leisure entering turn three with two laps remaining. Keller recorded the third place finish followed by Elliott McKinney and Jerry Dane. NASCAR star Kyle Busch will be making his first appearance at Anderson Speedway on Tuesday for the Red Bud 300 presented by Great Deals Magazine with racing starting at 7:30 p.m. The Red Bud 300 is a tribute to the original American Speed Association founded by Rex and Becky Robbins. Former two-time ASA AC-Delco Challenge Series champion Gary St. Amant and Harold Fair, the 1990 winner of the Anderson 400 are among the top drivers expected to compete in the Champion Racing Association sanctioned super late model event.   Speedrome: Results from www.speedrome.com It was an outstanding night of short track action at the Home of the World Figure 8®. The Saturday spectacular featured not one, but two Figure 8 main events to headline the show. After completing a full program on the oval, teams in the Jiffy Lube Late Models and Trackside Race Car Parts Stocks tested the famous Speedrome crossover looking for victory. Also on the card, the Peters Auto Service Hornets and Roadrunners, who then brought their own brand of excitement. The Jiffy Lube Late Model drivers tackled the track in this last “warm-up” event before the Jake’s 150. This evening began with time trials. 1994 track champion Rodney “the Rocket” Sizemore was best with a lap of 12.704 seconds. Point leader Mark Tunny won the trophy dash while current top rookie Nick Moore and veteran Bobby Whitaker won heat races. The 25-lap oval feature saw 1988 World Figure 8® Champion Leonard Basham leading the way. He saw pressure from Bobby Douthitt, but the leader got tangled with a lapper ending the race for both. Sizemore took over and powered to his first oval win of the year. Tunny was second with reigning series king Jack Dossey Jr third. The speedsters returned to cap-off a wild night with a traditional 50-lap Figure 8. Basham leapt to the advantage at the green flag with once again Douthitt on his bumper. The duo was soon joined by Dossey making it an all World Figure 8® Champion top three. The experienced trio danced through traffic as the laps wound on. Dossey and Douthitt went side-by-side for several laps before Jack got by. He then made an assault on Basham eventually gliding past. Douthitt followed him through. And that’s the way it would end as Dossey won his first feature of 2009. It was also a pair of season best results for runner-up Douthitt and third place Basham. The Trackside Race Car Parts Stocks began what would be a dramatic evening with qualifications on the oval. 1986 division champion Joe Sheedy tripped the clock with a division best lap of 13.904 seconds to set the heat races. Joshua Carroll, Billy George, Jeff Armour, and Nigel Peters posted wins in those preliminary testers. The 25-lap oval feature saw lots of great action during the first half of the contest. The race seemed to be settled after Sheedy took the lead on a restart. He was on his way until sudden mechanical difficulties sent him to the infield with just 2 to go. Veteran Bob Johnson was there to move ahead and score his second victory of the year. EJ Neat was second with Jimmy Kirby going third. The Stockers returned later in the night for their second Figure 8 race of the 2009 season. The green flag flew with Late Model ace Jesse Tunny taking the lead. He and fellow front row starter Oza Hoosier made lap one contact bringing out the red flag. The next start saw Donnie Sloan set to challenge Tunny. He got the job done a few circuits later. As Jesse’s ride faded, a pair of two-time class champs began closing on the leader. Jimmy Kirby and Speedy Teepe caught Sloan for a five lap shootout for the win. It was tooth and nail all the way to the finish with Donnie Sloan taking a very popular victory. Kirby was second and Teepe third leaving them atop the point standings. The Peters Auto Service Hornets had another thriller in the division for four-cylinder machines. The show started with heat action. “Ironman” Cassidy Worden, rookie Aaron Smay, and reigning champ Jon Elkins Jr won those events. Noted from those races was the big crash for former champ Larry Hatfield as the throttle hung on his machine. The feature saw Jeremy Miller and Ken Burchfield at the front in the early stages. Rising to power was veteran Jeff A Smith with teammates Don Klein and Elkins in hot pursuit. Smith had Elkins on his outside for several laps, but he was able to hang on for his first feature win in a few seasons. Jon was second while Don took his third straight podium finish. The Roadrunner Chase for the Cup’s second segment had another round of competition ahead on this Saturday evening. Heat race one saw returning veteran Kevin Ciesiolka best Mike “Captain” Kirk. The second preliminary had former Bomber champ Herbie Conrad winning over rising star Henry McDougalle Jr. The main event saw 1997 Stock champion Chris Eads leading the early laps. The night would end prematurely for Eads sending Ciesiolka to the lead. Kevin held off a hungry Kirk and point leader Kevin Smith for the win. It was the first feature win for the good sportsman. His victory also marked the 200th different winner in Roadrunner regular season competition. The class began in 1998. Join us next weekend! Friday June 19th Legends, Bandoleros, Faskarts, Junior Faskarts, Hornet Figure 8, and Hornets Pit Gates Open at 4:30pm Practice Starts at 5pm Spectator Gates Open at 5pm Racing Gets Underway at 7pm Saturday June 20th 9th Annual Jake’s 150-lap Figure 8! Late Models, Stocks, Roadrunners, and Hornets Pit Gates Open at 4pm Practice Starts at 5pm Spectator Gates Open at 5pm Racing Gets Underway at 7pm Follow the Indianapolis Speedrome at www.twitter.com/speedrome The Indianapolis Speedrome® is located near the intersection of Brookville Road and Kitley Avenue on Indianapolis' Southeast side. We are the home of the $20,000 to win 33rd Annual World Figure 8® Championship September 10-12, 2009. For more information: WEB www.speedrome.com PHONE (317) 353-8206 EMAIL indyspeedrome@comcast.net   Indianapolis Speedrome June 13, 2009 Late Models Fast Qualifier Rodney Sizemore 12.704 Trophy Dash Mark Tunny Heat Winners Nick Moore, Bobby Whitaker 25 Lap Oval Feature 1. Rodney Sizemore 2. Mark Tunny 3. Jack Dossey Jr. 4. Ben Tunny 5. Nick Moore 6. Jesse Tunny 7. Steve Frost 8. Austin Tunny 9. Nick Moore 10. John Lord 11. Leonard Basham 12. Bobby Douthitt 13. Chris Brinkman 14. Charlie Reed 15. Casey White   50 Lap Figure 8 1. Jack Dossey Jr. 2. Bob Douthitt 3. Leonard Basham 4. Ben Tunny 5. Rodney Sizemore 6. Mark Tunny 7. Jesse Tunny 8. Steve Frost 9. Nick Moore 10. Bobby Whitaker 11. Austin Tunny 12. Chris Brinkman 13. Charlie Reed 14. John Lord 15. Casey White   Roadrunners Heat Winners Kevin Ciesiolka, Herb Conrad 20 Lap Feature 1. Kevin Ciesiolka 2. Mike Kirk 3. Kevin Smith 4. Herb Conrad 5. Junior Crabtree 6. Mark Eads Jr. 7. David Lee Byrd 8. Scott Camhi 9. Brandon Johnson 10. Chris Eads 11. Henry McDougalle Jr. 12. Eddie Brown Sr.     Stocks Fast Qualifier Joe Sheedy 13.904 Heat Winners Joshua Carroll, Billy George, Jeff Armour, Nigel Peters 25 Lap Oval Feature 1. Bob Johnson 2. EJ Neat 3. Jimmy Kirby 4. Speedy Teepe 5. Jeff Armour 6. Buddy Tabor 7. Joshua Carroll 8. Kenny McDonough 9. Nigel Peters 10. Jeff Johnson 11. Joe Sheedy 12. Larry Hahn 13. Oza Hoosier 14. Rob Mink Jr. 15. Eddie Brown Jr. 16. Jesse Tunny 17. Scott Keen 18. Jeremy Jordan 19. Billy George 20. Chris Shrum 21. Mike Burgess 22. Jack Smith 23. Donnie Sloan Figure 8 Feature 1. Donnie Sloan 2. Jimmy Kirby 3. Speedy Teepe 4. Bob Johnson 5. Kenny McDonough 6. Nigel Peters 7. Jeff Johnson 8. EJ Neat 9. Kevin Williams 10.Chris Shrum 11. Jesse Tunny 12. Scott Keen 13. Joshua Carroll 14. Rob Mink Jr. 15. Jack Smith 16. Jeremy Jordan 17. Jeff Armour 18. Oza Hoosier 19. Joe Sheedy 20. Billy George 21. Eddie Brown Jr. 22. Dennis Sloan 23. Mike Burgess 24. Kevin Smith 25. Buddy Tabor 26. Larry Hahn (DNS)   Hornets Heat Winners Cassidy Worden, Aaron Smay, Jon Elkins Jr. 20 Lap Feature 1. Jeff A. Smith 2. Jon Elkins Jr. 3. Don Klein 4. David Coil 5. Rob Mink Sr. 6. Cassidy Worden 7. Jonathan Morgan 8. Eddie Small 9. Judd Hazelbaker 10. Bo Tillberry 11. Larry Hatfield 12. Jeremy Miller 13. Ken Burchfield 14. Jessica Caudill 15. Bill Knowles 16. Aaron Smay 17. Billy Wood

5. Gerry Issgrigg

Sportsdrome Speedway (Jeffersonville, IN):    Ware Puts Pucker's Machine in Victory Lane for the 2ND Time in 2009! Week 4 at the Sportsdrome on Saturday April 25 was the first regular program of the year complete with heats and features for all 4 of the main divisions. The weather was hot and the racing was even hotter. All 4 divisions put on a fantastic show in front of a nice crowd for a regular show. They were not dissappointed as the Xtreme Winged Figure 8 seen a total of 22 cars hit the track. Heat winners for the Xtreme 8 were #9 Art Groulx, #11 David Noble, and #0 Matt Johnson. This was Matt's first race and it ended in victory. The feature started out with Art Groulx taking the lead and holding it until lap 4 when #55 Bud Russell took over. The #27 of Rick Heine went to the pits and was out of the mix while the #6 of Chris Harmon got tangled up and spunout on lap 9 which put him to the back. The racing heated up as Artie Ware and Cory Harmon bumped and shoved a little as they battled for 4th as the yellow flag came out for some debris on the track on lap 12. On the restart, the top 2 cars, Bud Russell and #11 David Noble, got hooked together and took each other out as they came to a stop in the middle of the turn which brought out the yellow again. They were both able to continue but had to go to the tail. So on the restart it was now Artie Ware inheriting the lead with the #85 of Allan Williams in 2nd. Allan stayed right with Artie the rest of the way but could not make anything happen. Artie went on to win with Williams settling for 2nd. A few car lengths back a good battle for 3rd between Cory Harmon and Chris Harmon ended with Cory holding on for 3rd with Chris 4th. Art Groulx had a great run and finished 5th. The really exciting news was the appearance of 5 new cars in the Xtreme 8 for this season. They were #72 Sam Padilla, #20 BJ Lord, #01 Brian Wolfe, #81 Wayne Hines, and the #15 of Jason Stevenson.   Johnson Finishes Top 10 in First Race! Matt Johnson's debut had to be considered a success this weekend at the Sportsdrome. In his first event, he took the checkered flag in his heat race. He then started his first feature in the middle of a 21 car field for the Xtreme Winged Figure 8 division. Matt was steady, stayed out of trouble, and even threaded the intersection a few times. He ended up with a very impressive 9th place finish. It will be a pleasure to watch him mature as the season progresses.   Speedrome (Indianapolis, IN): R.J. Norton III and Jessey Tunny win!!!!

pictures from www.speedrome.com The Jiffy Lube Late Model Chase for the EDCO Cup round four began, as always, with qualifications. Eddie VanMeter stayed perfect in 2009 time trials with a lap of 12.526 seconds. 2006 Jakes 150 champion Gary Bedell won the trophy dash while rookie leader Nick Moore and veteran Steve Frost captured heat races. The 25-lap oval feature saw former Modified ace RJ Norton III romp to his career first feature in the division. Casey “the Big Cat” White was the race runner-up with 1994 track champion Rodney Sizemore landing in third. The Jiffy Lube Late Models returned for the grand finale, the Figure 8, to cap off the program. Jesse “the Outlaw” Tunny slipped past early leader and younger brother Austin to take command. The reigning World Figure 8® Championship runner-up put down the power increasing the gap to second place RJ Norton III. RJ had his hands full with Gary Bedell and a bevy of tough customers on his bumper. Jesse escaped several near misses to win the event nearly one year from his first crossover triumph. Norton held onto a career best second with Bedell finishing third. 25 Lap Oval Feature 1. RJ Norton III 2. Casey White 3. Rodney Sizemore 4. Eddie VanMeter 5. Ben Tunny 6. Gary Bedell 7. Nick Moore 8. Jesse Tunny 9. Bobby Whitaker 10. Austin Tunny 35 Lap Figure 8 1. Jesse Tunny 2. R.J. Norton III 3. Gary Bedell 4. Mark Tunny 5. Eddie VanMeter 6. Casey White 7. Rodney Sizemore 8. Ben Tunny 9. Nick Moore 10. Steve Frost 11. Austin Tunny 12. Bobby Whitaker 13. Donny Scurry 14. Bobby Douthitt (DNS)

 

Sportsdrome Speedway (Jeffersonville, IN): 

 

New Chapter begins this Saturday!

This Saturday, we anticipate the debut of Matt Johnson in the old Raymond Johnson #0 machine. Jeff Roberts drove the car in the 1-hour enduro a couple weeks ago. Matt is planning on running the weekly 25 lap feature events while Jeff handles the big races. I should mention that it is a possibility that "Dad" might run the car a couple times before the year is over.  Check out the Hawks Nest for more great new from the Sportsdrome.

 

IOFS News:

The Hitman Enters!!!

 

#42 Tony "The Hitman" Anderson, is fresh off the Flordia Tour and is set a ready to go. Tony is a former winner at the Louisville and Sportsdrome Speedway and has won the Iron Man 2-Hour Endurance Race and the World 300. He has a new car, in fact, it is the 2008 World Championship Car and is out to make history.

2008 Track Champs! Dennis Whisman  Toledo & Flat Rock

Speedrome Jack Dossey

3 Hour Champ: Speedrome Fred Bear Jr.

Sportsdrome: Midwestern Xtreme Series Danny Smith

Beech Bend Richard Dickens picture by Odell

World 300 Gerry Isgrigg

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