Rockford Speedway - National Short Track Championship - October 1, 2011
Photo Credit: Jim AmbruosoOur exciting day at the legendary speedway started bright and early. We arrived at 8am for the NSTC. To my surprise and delight, three Vintage Cars were already unloaded and ready for action. The air was sparked with enthusiasm and it was shaping up to be a long but fun day.
Practice was uneventful which was very good (No blown motors and no wrecks). A total of 14 cars were pitted and as I looked around at the cars, I realized that half of them were tribute cars. This is a huge part of the theme of our Club. Here is a list of the tribute cars present:
#7 Bob Marden Trailer Train USAC Car ’72 Plymouth
#55 Gene Pennington Sr. Waukegan Car ’55 Chevy
#36 Joe Shear Rockford Champion ’72 Camaro
#8 Dale Earnhardt 1st Asphalt win Car ’64 Chevelle
#3 Bob Pronger Raceway Park Champion ’68 Chevelle
#56 Frank Slabenak Sr. Raceway Park ’67 Chevelle
#3 Art Fehrman Sr. Mance Park Champion ’39 Coupe
After practice we had 4 hours to kill so the awards for Best appearing and Traveled the furthest were presented.
Best Appearing Vintage Car award was presented to our new member Dick “Buckshot” Kath out of Janesville Wisconsin. He drives a beautiful ’57 Chevy. Dick revealed that this winter his car will get a makeover and become a tribute in memory of his Dad Albert who was a prisoner of war. The theme will be a “Prisoner of War” paint scheme to honor soldiers involved in the Battle of the Bulge which took place 12/16/44 thru 1/25/45. It was fought through the densely forested mountains of Belgium, throughout France and Luxembourg Germany. It was to be the largest and bloodiest battle of WWII. We suffered 89,500 casualties including 19,000 killed, 62,489 wounded and 26,612 captured and missing.
Traveled the Furthest was awarded to Fast Freddy Pitner who made the long trip from Knoxville, TN. (Actually he is from Dolly Parton’s home town of Severville) He could be heard re-telling the story about how he went to High School with her. For the record it is a true story. A few years ago I was in the one horse town of Severville and Freddy showed me the High School year book. Her picture is just above Freddy on the same page. Freddy you should have married her!!!!! Then you wouldn’t be asking me for traveling expenses.
Vintage Race Director Matt Galbraith brought his daughter Jessica who helped us out with the trophy presentations. She was attending her 1st ever Vintage Event. The afternoon was fun. Crews were cooking on their grills and of course bench racing. Pat Heaney’s Crew entertained all of us ramp jumping radio controlled cars. The barrel rolls were the best until the ramp was set higher then the cars were launched end over end causing serious suspension failure. I brought the Cooler Scooter out and gave Tom Knippenberg a memorable ride along. I then rode it to the other side of the track and parked it for the day. In June I crashed it hard at Rockford and it took me a full month to recuperate from my injuries. I figured I should quit while I was ahead. Thinking of looking for a used Golf Cart for 2012.
Heat Race:
In the 1st heat Hales Corners Veteran Pat Heaney steadily moved through traffic and took the win over Tim Hamburg and Ron Wilson.
In the 2nd heat Billy Knippenberg driving the Dale E Tribute Car started in the rear and easily moved through the field and won over Mike Marden and Nick Clubb.
Gardner Storage Feature Event:
The Art Fehrman Sr. tribute Coupe paced the field. It looked like we were at Rockford in the 60’s. Nick Clubb and Mike Marden were in the front row and brought the field down for the green flag. The first 3 laps they ran side by side until finally Marden pulled ahead and put some distance between him and the field. Meanwhile, in the middle of the pack, passing was intense. There were a few loose race cars which brought some anxious moments. The Veteran drivers were swapping positions and at the ½ way mark Marden was leading followed by Nick Clubb, Tom Knippenberg, Billy Knippenberg and Pat Heaney rounding out the top 5. The laps were winding down and Billy Knippenberg had settled into 2nd place. He slowly started cutting into Mardens lead catching him with 3 to go. Marden drove the last laps flawlessly hitting his marks perfect. The white flag lap Billy moved to the outside then crossed over to the inside going into Turn 3. Coming out of the last corner Marden dropped down a half a car to block Knippenbergs charge, taking the checkered flag for his 1st ever Vintage Feature win. Mike dedicated the win in memory of his Dad Bob. His car is painted as a tribute to Bob Marden.
I am very proud of our Feature Event. There were no wrecks or cautions. We were the only feature event which finished without any caution flags which is contributed to the experience and talent of our veterans and champions.
Winding down our 2011 season, I would like to sincerely thank all of our members for their support and participation making this year another fun filled season. The driving has been top notch most of our features have been close wins. Looking forward to 2012. Our season opener will be at Rockford Sunday afternoon April 15th at the 35th annual spring classic. Our event will be known as the Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame Classic Feature. It will be a weekend affair starting with Saturday Afternoon’s unveiling of the Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame display at Wayne Lensing’s Historic Auto Attractions museum in Roscoe, Illinois. Saturday Night will be the inaugural Induction Ceremony and Dinner for the Illinois Hall of Fame at the Forest View Lodge located next to the Rockford Speedway. Watch for announcements and details on our website.
Art “Fireball” Fehrman
Race Results
1st Heat
Pat Heaney
Tim Hamburg
Ron Wilson
2nd Heat
Billy Knippenberg
Mike Marden
Nick Clubb
Gardner Storage Feature
Mike Marden ’72 Plymouth Volare
Billy Knippenberg ’64 Chevelle
Nick Clubb ’72 Olds Cutlass
Tom Knippenberg ’72 Camaro
Pat Heaney ’67 Chevelle
Best Appearing Vintage Car Dick “Buckshot” Kath ’57 Chevy
Traveled the Furthest Fast Freddy Pitner ’68 Chevelle Knoxville, TN
Sycamore Speedway September 10, 2011
Photos by Roger SpurginIt was a night of firsts at the speedway. It was our first appearance of 2011 under the new speedway management. In the 6 years of vintage racing it was clearly the largest crowd we have ever raced in front of. They were standing, cheering and having fun .
Bill Lessing took home his first vintage trophy for “Best Appearing” vintage car. It was a special moment for him, his Susan G Colman tribute car is in memory of his wife Debby.
Ron Wilson won the award for traveling the furthest. He traveled 3 hours plus to race with us.
Art Fehrman Sr.’s 39 Ford Coupe took a ceremonial lap around the track during the national anthem.
The First Heat was exciting and fast. Pat Heaney won over Tony Daughtry and Ron Wilson. Heaney was all smiles as the car handled and performed perfect. Just last Sunday the car was severely damaged at Grundy. His crew Bob, Dennis and Travis worked all week rebuilding the front end. They did a marvelous job it looked mighty fine taking that checkered flag.
The Second Heat started off a little rough. In the first corner there were cars out of shape and when the smoke cleared, Lil John Provenzano was out for the night with bent left front suspension. The race was restarted and Gary Koehring of Kaneville took the checkered flag over Tom Markham and Tim Hamburg. It was the first time that Tom Markham has driven a vintage race. Usually his sons T.J. or Reno take turns driving the car.
The Fullers Fast Stop Feature Event:
President Art Fehrman introduced the veteran drivers. The Drivers saluted the standing and cheering fans as they drove past the packed grandstands. The Green Flag was waving and Tim Hamburg took the early lead, meanwhile Tom Markham & Adam Laurie started moving thru the field . As they reached the half way point of the race Markham & Laurie passed Ron Wilson for 2nd place . It was a fast pace, as there were no caution flags during the entire race. They received the Checkered flag and Tim Hamburg scored his 1st Vintage Feature . This was very special to Tim and his Family . He grew up around the speedway but had never driven at the track until tonight.
Tom Markham was 2nd, Adam Laurie was 3rd, Ron Wilson 4th, Pat Heaney 5th. It was a neat night of racing , The Grandstands were full of Fans . We have always considered Sycamore our Home track and we look forward to Scheduling more events in 2012.
See you at our next event Sat Oct 1st Rockford Speedway
Heat 1
Pat Heaney 66 Chevelle
Tony Daughtry 72 Camaro
Ron Wilson 57 Chevy
Heat 2
Gary Koehring 68 Chevelle
Tom Markham 70 Nova
Tim Hamburg 70 Chevelle
Fullers Fast Stop Feature
Tim Hamburg
Tom Markham
Adam Laurie
Ron Wilson
Pat Heaney
Best Appearing Bill Lessing
Traveled the Furthest Ron Wilson Pekin, Il.
Grundy County Speedway Night of Features 9/04/2011
Photos by Stan KalwasinskiIt was a beautiful night for the 6th Annual Ron Jessup Memorial Vintage Feature. We started out with the Fred Lorenzen ’64 Ford and Art Fehrman Sr’s Championship Coupe on display. We had gave out our traditional awards after practice.
Gene Pennington won “Best Appearing” with his ’55 Chevy tribute car for his Dad Gene Sr., who used to compete at the Old Waukegan Speedway.
Pat Heaney won he “Traveled the Furthest” award with his South Eastern Wisconsin HOF #5 Special. He towed all the way from Milwaukee Wisconsin to compete.
Feature:
After trackside introductions, the green flag was waving. Outside front row starter Ben Hamburg took the lead. He was running consistent laps and started to pull away from the field. It was exciting to watch. The former dirt champion had never drove asphalt before and he had not driven a race car in over 6 years. He proved what A.J. Foyt once was quoted as saying. “If you can drive dirt you can drive anything”. On the 3rd lap there was a grinding crash on the front straightaway involving Gene Pennington and Pat Heaney. Ironically the two cars that won awards earlier in the evening ended their race early. Luckily no one was hurt, but the cars were done for the night. Both cars were heavily damaged.
Once the track was cleared the racing was exciting with Hamburg leading. It looked like Talledega, the top 6 cars ran lap after lap 2x2x2. Tom Knippenberg, Nick Club, Pat Echlin and Frank Slabenak Jr were all swapping positions for 2nd place. As the race progressed the yellow flag flew for a Nick Club spin. At that point, it was Hamburg, Echlin and Slabenak for the top 3.
The green flag was waiving and Echlin moved to the outside and took the lead with Slabenak on his bumper. As the laps were winding down, Echlin took the white flag. Slabenak dove to the inside in turn 1. They came off of turn 2 side by side and thundered down the backstretch inches apart. They both buried the cars deep into the #3 corner. They held their grooves and came off of turn 4 with the fans waving and cheering. Echlin showed everybody in the house why he is a 4 time champion. He edged Slabenak from the outside taking the checkered flag in the Joe Bruti McDonald sponsored Chevy Monza.
Mike Jessup of Jessup Automotive presented the trophy to Pat in memory of his Dad.
It was a special win for the Echlin family. Daughter Morgan and Son P.J. were there to help celebrate. P.J. had never seen his Dad win a Feature. Back in the day not only is Pat a 4 Time Raceway Park Champion, he is 3rd on the all time Feature win list for the historic Raceway Park of Blue Island.
On a personal note: This was a huge night for me as founder and President of the club. As Pat took the checkered flag, seeing his Son & Daughter cheering and sharing the victory it demonstrates so clearly the vision I have always had of what our club is all about. It doesn’t get any better than that. For the last 6 years I have always ended the drivers meeting with, “Remember we have Sons & Daughters and Grandchildren cheering you on, Make them Proud”.
Raceway Park Trivia: It was a Raceway Park Night, Champion Pat Echlin won and the car that Slabenak was driving and finished 2nd in(The Bob Pronger Car). Is actually the car that Jerry Kemperman drove winning one of his last races. It was found in a back yard with his name on it and was converted to a Bob Pronger tribute Vintage Car. It is owned by “Fast Freddie” Pitner of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Results: Best Appearing Award – Gene Pennington
Traveled the Furthest Award – Pat Heaney
Feature Race:
Pat Echlin 66 Chevy Monza
Frank Slabenak Jr 68 Chevelle
Tom Knippenberg 72 Camaro
Ben Hamburg 70 Chevelle
Nick Club 72 Olds Cutlass
See you at Sycamore 9/10/11 and Rockford Speedway 10/01/11
Thanks Art “Fireball” Fehrman
Peoria Speedway Aug 20th “Legends Under The Lights”
Photo Credits to Jamie HuberWe made our 1st appearance at the Peoria Speedway a memorable one! The Vintage race teams drove thru violent storms to get to the legendary speedway. It was worth it because the weather there was perfect. The fans enjoyed all the vintage cars on display at the front gate.
Best appearing
John Oliver was awarded the best appearing Vintage car. His 1949 Ford was the only car that had old school painted flames on the front that swept to the middle of the car. We welcome John and his family to our Vintage series.
Traveled the Furthest
Charlie Petrasek (crew chief & transport driver) for the #25 Larry Robb Oldsmobile was presented the Trophy for Traveling the Furthest. Charlie drove the extra mile to and from the speedway. 10 minutes out of Peoria heading home he drove thru another storm. With cars on the shoulder of the road he drove the rig & crew non stop to LaGrange in 2hrs & 15 min.
(Charlie, you are the Man).
During the Vintage Drivers meeting Paul Morsch of Peoria donated 2- 50.00 bills to be presented to the winners of the Trophy Dash & Heat race. Paul is a former member of the Bob Ward 1956 Ford Pit Crew which raced at Peoria Speedway in 2006 at the Old timers race. He also drove in the Mechanics race that day too.
Trophy Dash
The Dash was fast and exciting. Bill Knippenberg and Gary Koehring battled the entire race. As the two took the white flag Gary edged past Bill for the victory and received the 1st $50.00 bonus
Heat
Tim Hamburg took the lead on the green flag and never looked back. His car was handling & running very smooth. He scored his very 1st Vintage Checkered Flag. The Crew was happy. At our last event they had some engine issues, but they worked hard and were rewarded. Mike Marden was 2nd and Ron Wilson of near by Pekin was 3rd
Feature
Art Fehrman president of IVR introduced the starting field on the front stretch then introduced 3-time Peoria State Champion Herb Shannon Sr.
Herb gave the command to start engines and he thanked his longtime fans and his family for all their support thru the years. It was an honor for me to not only introduce Herb, but to also finally bring our Vintage series to Peoria. For the past 5 years the Shannon family has supported our club by always fielding 2-3 cars at every event. Herb was supposed to be in the starting line up but had engines problems and couldn’t start. The Green Flag was waving and at the end of the 1st lap Bill Knippenberg was leading. The racing for all positions was great. Lil John Provenzano & Gary Koehring were moving thru the field, with Gary running the low side and Lil John riding the high side. Adam Laurie moved in on Knippenbergs back bumper to take over 2nd . Then Gary &Lil John made it a 4 way battle and the fans loved it. As the laps wound down, Koehring took the lead from his team mate Laurie & Knippenberg. Li John followed him and the dog fight began. They took the white flag and Lil john dove to the inside. The fans were standing and waving, as they came out of the last corner they were side by side and crossing the line Koehring edged Lil John by a half Fender to win the Feature. It was a great finish to an historical night. We would like to thank Peoria Speedway owner Curt Mottaz for inviting us to race at the speedway. We would also like to send out a special thanks to all the cheering fans and their support. It was a thrilling night for all. We look forward to returning in 2012.
See you at our next event Sunday Sept 4th Grundy co Speedway
The Night Of Features, Full Fireworks Display included
Thanks Art Fehrman
Trophy Dash
Gary Koehring
2. Bill Knippenberg
Adam Laurie
Heat
Tim Hamburg
Mike Marden
Ron Wilson
Feature
Gary Koehring 68 Chevelle
Lil John Provenzano 59 Olds
Adam Laurie 68 Camaro
Bill Knippenberg 62 Impala
Tim Hamburg 70 Chevelle
Best appearing John Oliver 49 Ford
Traveled the Furthest Charlie Petrasek 59 Olds
Fairbury Speedway Aug 6th 2011
Photo Credits to Lu ThompsonIt was a special night to return to the speedway where we ran our 1st race 6yrs. ago. The fans were enjoying all the cars on display. “Gentleman” Brian Stevenson won the award for best appearing vintage car. Pat Heaney won the Towed the farthest award , traveling all the way from Milwaukee, Wis.
The National Athem was sang by Don Chandlers 2 daughters Maggie & Carrie. To his surprise he was then presented the Eli “Spud” Schlipf Memorial award for his continued support of the speedway for over 35 yrs. It was a very special night for him, it was his 60th birthday. His son Derrick was also competing in the families Late Model. Later in the evening he finished in the top 3 in each of his races.
Heat race 1
The race was fast and competitive once it completed a full lap. It took 2 restarts until they completed the 1st lap. Lil John Provenzano moved thru the field to take the win over Gary Koering and Reno Markham.
Heat Race 2
The second heat race started and ran smooth. New Vintage member Ron Wilson of Pekin, Il. Won his very 1st Vintage race over Bill Stevenson and Pat Heaney.
Feature
The feature event saw 12 cars take the green. Just a few laps into the race Lil John slowed his 59 Olds with a right rear flat tire , retiring to the pits. There were plenty of position battles thru the field. Half way thru the feature Tony Daughtry slowed with a left rear flat tire. Cars scattered to avoid him as hetried to move off the track.. Teammates Gary Koering and Adam Laurie had a spirited battle for the lead, taking turns leading to the closing laps. Meanwhile Reno Markham & Brian Stevenson were closing in on the leaders with Stevenson storming into the top 4. He had made up a full straightaway closing in on Markhams back bumper on the white flag. Koering & Laurie were racing side by side for the lead. Koering then took the lead and never looked back , winning his very 1st vintage feature. The top 5 were Koering, Laurie, Markham, Stevenson , Wilson.
See you Sat Aug 6th Peoria Speedway We are making our 1st appearance at the speedway with a “Legends Under The Lights” Night.
Thanks Art
Heat 1
Lil John Provenzano
Gary Koering
Reno Markham
Heat 2
Ron Wilson
Bill Stevenson
Pat Heaney
Feature
Gary Koering 68 Chevelle
Adam Laurie 68 Camaro
Reno Markham 70 Nova
Brian Stevenson 72 Camaro
5. Ron Wilson 57 Chevy
Best appearing Brian Stevenson
Towed the Farthest Pat Heaney