It's hard to imagine how Steve could top this year's event; but I wouldn't bet against it. Last night's race paid $4000 to win plus lap prize money. That made it probably the richest sprint car race in the state. When you put that kind of money on the line, top competitors will come. Fifty four cars unloaded; and there wasn't a slug among them. Keith Kunz Motorsports showed up in force with Josh Wise and Darren Hagen. There were quality cars from one end of the pits to the other. However, the Bloomington Speedway regulars were on hand too; and they were intent on keeping the Elliottbrand cash at home. Although they were only partially successful, they certainly gave a good account of themselves.

We had planned to run last weekend; and the schedule was arranged as it was because Mike Miles wanted the racers to have a few in the books before they came to run the Elliottbrand Clash. However, all of the sprint car races in the area had been rained out, or frozen out, oar something. The drivers were stretched as tight as piano wire. They were ready to race, really ready to race. Following the race, Miles said, "As I drove through the pits before hot laps, I noticed how beautiful the cars were. They were all new. I just knew that they weren't going to look that way very long."

As usual, the track was manicured to perfection. The track record was broken four times. Dave Darland broke the track record the first time as the ninth car out. Three cars later, Tracy Hines whittled a little bit more off of the record. Fourteen cars on further through the order, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. set the record again. Kevin Swindell set the record a final time with only 12 cans left to qualify. Jesse Hockett's first lap was fifth quick; but he tried a little harder on the second lap - just a little too hard. He flipped wildly all the way down the front stretch. To have a track that well prepared is tough to do; but Mike Miles generally has it pretty close.

When you have that many cars trying for one of the twenty spots in the feature is tough, even for the best drivers. Josh Wise is running stock cars now; but he had a night off. And, he picked up a ride in one of the strong Keith Kunz Motorsports cars. He managed to do the almost impossible. He got upside down twice in less than a lap. He tangled with the lapped car of Miranda Throckmorton and flipped in the "C" feature. At the start of the "B" he flipped again and his night was done.

When the green flag dropped to start the feature, Chris Windom charged ahead.of polesitter Chad Boat to take the lead. Dave Darland also got past Boat on the first lap too. As the race wore on Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. moved up to mix it up with Darland and the other front runners. On the 22nd lap Stenhouse tangled with a lapped car; and his night was done too. Dave Darland inherited the lead; and he managed to hold onto it until the checkered flag waved. However, Jon Stanbrough, Tracy Hines, and Chris Windom put on a whale of a show during the closing laps. 

Matt Boknecht drove to a strong flag to flag win in the O'Neal Wood Products modified division followed by Jesse Cramer, Kent Robinson, John DeMoss, and Richie Lex. It is interesting to note that all five of them are past O'Neal Wood Products modified champions.

The Tire & Wheel Center super stock feature was called after nine laps due the lateness of the hour and a long delay for a red flag. Joe Lucas won followed by Jeremy Hines, Chris Hillman, Winston Howe, and Steve Hollars.

RESULTS:

SAFETY-KLEEN SPRINT CARS 

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kevin Swindell 10.880, 2. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 10.881, 3. Tracy Hines 10.895, 4. Dave Darland 10.953, 5. Jesse Hockett 11.066, 6. Chris Windom 11.085, 7. Chad Boat 11.086, 8. Mat Neely 11.110, 9. Brady Short 11.147, 10. Levi Jones 11.156, 11. Brady Bacon 11.175, 12. Jon Stanbrough 11.194, 13. Hunter Schuerenberg 11.215, 14. Shane Hollingsworth 11.228, 15. Dustin Morgan 11.235, 16. Ted Hines 11.240, 17. Robert Ballou 11.247, 18. Shane Cottle 11.289, 19. Dickie Gaines 11.332, 20. Josh Wise 11.370, 21. Kevin Briscoe 11.417, 22. Jon Sciscoe 11.418, 23. Ty Deckard 11.447, 24. Brent Beauchamp 11.468, 25. Jared Fox 11.518, 26. Dakoda Armstrong 11.540, 27. Danny Holtsclaw. 11.561, 28. Blake Fitzpatrick 11.567, 29. Scott Hampton 11.569, 30. Kenny Carmichael 11.571, 31. Kenny Biro 22B 11.583, 32. Daren Hagen 11.620, 33. Bobby Stines 11.644, 34. Cole Whitt 11.663, 35. Kent Christian 11.676. 36. Chad Boespflug 11.720, 37. Josh Cunningham 11.746, 38. Joss Moffatt 11.750, 39. Bobby Smith 11.768, 40. Brett Burdette 11.774, 41. Tim Creech II 11.820, 42. Geoff Dodge 11.833, 43. Matt Westfall 11.856, 44. Jeff Bland, Jr. 11.892, 45. Kenny Carmichael, Jr. 11.979, 46. Kerry Kinser 11.991, 47. Kenny Niflis 11.993, 48. Arin McIntosh 12.152, 49. A.J. Clark 12.185, 50. Kevin Studley 12.204, 51. Andrew Prather 12.519, 52. Miranda Throckmorton 13.238, 53. A.J. Martin 13.413, 54. Chris Fopczynski No Time, 55. Chris Babcock No Time

AUTO HEAVEN AUTO PARTS HEAT 1: 1.(1) Danny Holtsclaw, 2.(2) Jon Sciscoe, 3.(4) Jon Stanbrough, 4.(7) Darren Hagen, 5.(6) Kevin Swindell, 6.(5) Chad Boat, 7.(9) Geoff Dodge, 8.(11) Miranda Throckmorton, 9.(3) Robert Ballou, 10.(8) Josh Cunningham, 11.(10) Kenny Niflis

MONROE COUNTY SERVPRO HEAT 2: 1.(3) Shane Cottle, 2.(2) Ty Deckard, 3.(4) Hunter Schuerenberg, 4.(1) Blake Fitzpatrick, 5.(7) Bobby Stines, 6.(8) Joss Moffatt, 7.(10) Arin McIntosh, 8.(9) Matt Westfall, 9.(6) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 10.(11) A.J. Martin, 11.(5) Mat Neely

WALNUT STREET AUTO SALES/CAMPUS RENTAL HEAT 3: 1.(4) Shane Hollingsworth, 2.(6) Tracy Hines, 3.(3) Dickie Gaines, 4.(5) Brady Short, 5.(7) Cole Whitt, 6.(1) Scott Hampton, 7.(8) Bobby Smith, 8.(9) Jeff Bland, Jr., 10.(11) Chris Kopczynski, 11.(2) Brent Beauchamp

CRYSTAL PURE WATER HEAT 4: 1.(6) Dave Darland, 2.(4) Dustin Morgan, 3.(5) Levi Jones, 4.(1) Kenny Carmichael, 5.(7) Kent Christian, 6.(9) Kenny Carmichael, Jr., 7.(11) Chris Babcock, 8.(6) Brett Burdette, 9.(10) Kevin Studley, 10.(3) Josh Wise, 11.(2) Jared Fox

HEAT 5: 1.(5) Brady Bacon, 2.(4) Ted Hines, 3.(1) Kenny Biro, 4.(3) Kevin Briscoe, 5.(6) Chris Windom, 6.(2) Dakoda Armstrong, 7.(9) Chad Boespflug, 8.(9) Kerry Kinser, 9.(8) Tim Creech II, 10.(10) Andrew Prather

"C" Feature: 1.(1) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 2.(3) Robert Ballou, 3.(4) Josh Wise, 4.(2) Mat Neely, 5.(7) Chad Boespfulg, 6.(5) Brent Beauchamp, 7.(6) Jared Fox, 8.(11) Tim Creech II, 9.(10) Brett Burdette, 10.(12) Geoff Dodge, 11.(16) Arin McIntosh, 12.(14) Geoff Dodge, 13.(23) Chris Babcock, 14.(20) Miranda Throckmorton, 15.(15) Kerry Kinser, 16.(19) Andrew Prather, 17.(18) Kevin Studley, 18.(21) A.J. Martin

JB SALVAGE/WESTSIDE AUTO PARTS "B" FEATURE: 1.(1) Kevin Swindell, 2.(7) Robert Ballou, 3.(3) Chris Windom, 4.(2) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 5.(4) Chad Boat, 6.(14) Darren Hagen, 7.(16) Cole Whitt, 8.(18) Chad Boespflug, 9.(5) Mat Neely, 10.(17) Kent Christian, 11.(10) Dakoda Armstrong, 12.(12) Scott Hampton, 13.(6) Brady Short, 14.(11) Blake Fitzpatrick, 15.(19) Joss Moffatt, 16.(9) Kevin Briscoe, 17.(8) Josh Wise, 18.(13) Kenny Carmichael, 19.(20) Kenny Carmichael, Jr.

ROOTS RV FEATURE: 1.(3) 44 Dave Darland, 2.(4) 21 Tracy Hines, 3.(9) 53 Jon Stanbrough, 4.(2) 17 Chris Windom, 5.(9) 20 Levi Jones, 6.(12) 11d Dustin Morgan, 7.(1) 30 Chad Boat, 8.(14) 81 Robert Ballou, 9.(8) 99 Brady Bacon, 10.(17) 7 Jon Sciscoe, 11.(19) 3 Danny Holtsclaw, 12.(20) 22B Kenny Biro, 13.(16) 36 Dickie Gaines, 14.(5) 11x Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 15.(11) 10 Shane Hollingsworth, 16.(10) 10T Hunter Schuerenberg, 17.(18) 48 Ty Deckard, 18.(13) 12 Ted Hines, 19.(6) 99 Kevin Swindell, 20.(15) 10E Shane Cottle 

Lap Leaders: Chris Windom (1-10), Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (11-21), Dave Darland (22-30)