Anyway, Friday night action was hot and heavy all night in all divisions. Mike Lonas returned "home" to Lakeville and once again found himself in the winner's circle at the end of the night. Damn, how many is that now? I do know that it's more than any other driver in the history of this place! The Pure Stocks put on a damn good show of their own including the return of "The Mopar" to the mix. When it was all over Bob Daugherty was celebrating his 4th win of the season at Lakeville. That night he chose not to use his backup car now seems to haunt him in the points chase. He seems content with that though and had even more to celebrate of Saturday night.

Saturday night Hilltop featured the Street Stock Invitational which put my favorite division in the spotlight. Hilltop has had the strongest field of Pures all season and this event would draw in some tough contenders from other tracks as well. Lakeville regular, Bob Daugherty showed up at Hilltop last week to test things out and ended up with a damn strong second place finish for his efforts. This week the competition would be even stronger though. Hell, we even saw the return (literally from the weeds) of that 55 Chevy of Tim Meyers (driven by Al Farris). It's been a while since that battleship has seen action but it always fun to watch. Since I don't get to the hill much it's also great to see Denny Shear any chance I can get. For a guy with one of the most "pure" Pure Stocks out there, he sure seems to get it done each week. Saturday night he marched that Camaro of his from 11th to a very strong 4th place finish in the feature against many of the areas finest. DAMN NICE JOB DENNY!! That was a perfect example that you don't have to spend tons of money to battle with the best of them. While Shear was digging his way to the front there was one hell of a battle going on for the lead. It's no secret that Brandon Gardner and his Buick will stand in the way of anybody that wants to win at Hilltop. This young fella just seems to dominate the place. Daugherty seemed determined not to finish second to him again this week though. He hounded Gardner using the bottom of the track and it paid off. Once he got the lead he never looked back and took home the $600 prize along with some braggin' rights. How about it Gardner, maybe you can head to Lakeville and take one away from Bob at his home track? ;-) Hats off to all those Pure Stocks that showed up and put on one hell of a show. That race alone was worth the hour long trip to "The Hill".

Mother Nature wiped out area racing on Friday night but she brought some HOT action on Saturday night at more than one track. The heat and other factors provided a less than optimal track at Midvale and everybody's lap times showed it. It would be a guessing game trying to make changes on the car as the sun went away and a decent starting spot in the feature would be key in any chance at a win. Starting out the night by running away with the Heat race win would also provide some momentum for later in the evening. That's exactly what Miller did and then went with just one small change to the car before the feature. Starting on the outside of the second row it was clear that he wouldn't be laying back and waiting long to make his move. He needed to get out of that ugly outside groove as soon as possible and I was simply hoping he could slip into 3rd early and take some time going forward from there. Silly me! At the drop of the green he launched the thing diving deep into turn one and wrapped up second place before half a lap was in the books. A caution shot down his first bid for the lead but he wouldn't be denied for long. The next restart was all he needed to take the lead and start his chase for those checkers. Unfortunately there would be plenty more cautions and those double file restarts are enough to give a guy gray hair, but Mike has been there enough times he handled it like a true veteran. Holding off very strong challenges on each restart and then running away after a couple green flag laps it was clear that this was his race and nobody was going to take it away this time. Well, at least nobody on the track could. We were told after the feature that they wanted to pump the engines of the top 2 finishers. Knowing we're perfectly legal I'm more than happy to go along with that but why stop at the top 2? Normally you see the top 5 get pumped and I'd love to see the whole damn class get pumped. The real fun began after we got pumped and loaded the car to go home. We were then told that their math shows that the engine is too big. You can probably guess my first response but I won't go into that here. Anyway, in order to avoid any doubts or rumors we decided it was best to unload the car and do it again instead of waiting until next week to prove our innocence. Of course the second time it showed just how legal the engine is and now we can move on and celebrate a damn good night. Hopefully this pumping idea will spread through the entire pits before long to clear things up.

Speaking of damn good nights, it sure sounds like the Hoschtetler Sprint team has been having some fun of their own over at WCS. On Saturday night rookie driver Brent Coffman qualified 4th and made the Dash race! As if that wasn't enough excitement for this fella that has never driven any type of race car before this season, he went on to pick up a 4th place finish in the Feature. Hell, I remember the thrill of watching him make his very first on track pass just weeks ago at Hilltop and now he's pulling off a top 5 in a pretty damn strong field of veterans! Hats off to ya Brent and congrats to the entire team. You just might see me out there soon to witness the action first hand. Imagine that race fans! ;-)

A balst from the past rolled into Lakeville Speedway on Friday night. Actually several of them showed up. The Vintage American Race Cars returned to put on a show with some beautiful restored classics from days gone by. We're talking about some cars that raced even before this old fart can remember! While it may have looked like many of them would be more comfortable sitting at an area rootbeer stand, they took to the track and gave the crowd a show to remember. Sure the action wasn't as great as the other classes in action Friday night, but these were real pieces of history turning laps at a pretty historic track. Some cruised around slowly trying to protect their investments while others looked like they were still chasing the checkers from decades ago. Either way it was pretty damn cool to witness.

Even more history was witnessed at Lakeville this week as Flyin' Ryan Markham picked up his 100th Feature win at the very same track he got his first one. Markham has come a long way since 1994 for sure and I have no doubt he'll be picking up plenty more wins for years to come. This guy is a threat to win at any track on any night. It may be no secret that I don't exactly like his attitude sometimes, but this guy can sure as hell wheel a race car with best of them anywhere. It was great to see him return to Lakeville to pick up such a milestone in his career. Congrats Ryan!

Congrats also go out to Bob Daugherty for picking up his second win in a row. He may have had a slow start to the season and even some major setbacks, but Daugherty is starting to look like he's got things dialed in again. This can't be good news for the other folks out there. Maybe it will take a Mopar to put him back in his place. Gee,,, wasn't there a pretty damn fast Mopar out there not long ago? Sure would be nice to see it back out there showing the Bowtie crowd what a real motor sounds like. ;-) While we're on the Pure Stock subject, it seems that the second place finisher was busted in post race inspection and DQ'd. What the hell were ya thinking dude?! One hell of a run got thrown away for something that just shouldn't have happened. Lakeville checks every car at the start of the night and the top finishers in the feature EVERY week! Illegal stuff will eventually bite ya in the ass at some point as you've now discovered. I just happen to know where you can get a good deal on a carb that WILL pass tech inspection if you're interested. ;-)

Not being a huge Sprint car fan I'm not one to follow the entire Speed Week Series, but I sure as hell wasn't going to miss their show at Hilltop. A couple big Sprint shows a year are plenty for me and for some reason this place seems to put on some of the best shows each year for these winged missiles. This time would bring an added bonus with non other than Dave Blaney in the field! Yep, it was time to see if all these years of driving on pavement in Nascar would ruin the guy or if he would return to his roots as strongly as he started out on dirt in the first place. Qualifying showed that Dave hasn't lost a thing when it comes to slinging a Sprint car around, and it looked like all that Nascar experience had made him almost chuckle at the thought of brushing the wall at these speeds. That would bite him in the ass before the night was over but he put on a hell of a show until then. The 40 lapper would see battles for the lead nearly every lap along with plenty of action throughout the entire field. Watching guys like Dean Jacobs slice their way towards the front is what keeps the fans on their feet for 40 laps too. At the halfway signal Blaney was running second but lapped traffic would drop him back to third but still looking like he might be the guy to beat at the end. A restart around lap 26 would bring the end of his strong run though as he was rudely reminded of the dangers of guardrails even if he's not going 200mph. Facing a strong challenged from behind by Jacobs, and looking at a shot to take at least second place in the tight formation, he drove a bit too deep into turn 1 and caught the rail at turn 2 sending him over onto his wing. I'll bet he didn't miss that sensation all these years. ;-) Still a pretty damn good night out for Dave's first return to a Sprint in years and the packed house got a great treat seeing his return at Hilltop. The action was far from over for the rest of the field and the winner wouldn't be decided until they came off turn 4 on the final lap. Millersburg's own Rob Chaney would slide by David Gravel in the final few feet to pull off the $5000 win. The place went absolutely nuts! Another half gallon of fuel for Gavel may have brought a different result but we'll never know I guess. Hats off to the entire field for putting on a great show all night long. A well deserved "attaboy" also goes out to the gang at Hilltop for providing a well prepared racing surface that held up pretty damn well and provided plenty of side by action. I guess that "special sauce" Jesse is using down there really does work. ;-)

A couple of other racing notes for this week. Don't forget that this Friday night is Kids Night at Lakeville Speedway. Kids can get autographs, compete in bike races, and even ride in race cars! All divisions will be in action at Lakeville this Friday and if you still haven't made the trip down there to check out the new and improved racing surface, get your ass down there this week!

Since my asshole boss has been working me like a dog lately my time at Lakeville this past week was pretty short. I was there long enough to see a great looking track for the second week in a row though. Damn, that was just plain purrrrty! I also watched JR Gentry run off with a heat race in fine fashion. I would have loved to hung around for the features to see the battles that new wide surface provides. What a difference that place has seen in recent weeks! This Friday night Dzugan Fire & Rescue will bring you the Late Model Sporty 40 and you won't want to miss that. 40 laps of door to door Late Model action fighting for $2000 to win. All other divisions except Mini Trucks will also be on hand. Maybe,, just maybe some lucky bastard can pick up the 2 grand and then pull the double over at Hilltop on Saturday to pick up the $500 bonus for one hell of a weekend. The bonus money hasn't been claimed yet this year but this week the total would be $3500 for the one that can pull it off. That should get some guys up on the wheel Friday night for sure!

After ol' Mother Nature wiped out all racing action last weekend, we were finally treated to a holiday weekend packed full of GREAT racing this week. The weekend kicked off on Friday night at Lakeville of course, and we got see the new improved track layout for the first time. Randy had been badgered pretty hard in recent weeks to make some changes and he sure as hell didn't ignore the suggestions. He also didn't take a half-assed approach to the improvements and that was clear as soon as I saw the fresh WIDE racing surface. DAMN, what a difference! There's now plenty of room for door to door battles and that's exactly what the drivers in all divisions provided all night. Hat's off to Randy and the entire Lakeville gang for stepping up to make these improvements in a short time. Rumor has it there may even be some more improvements to widen the surface even more too. That could be bring even more excitement to Lakeville. The Late Model feature showcased the wider surface and kept the crowd on their feet for sure. The race long battle for the win between Gentry and Markham was one of the best battles I've seen there in a very long time. Congrats to JR for pulling of the win. If you weren't there this week you really need get your ass to Lakeville this week to witness a great night of side by side racing brought to you by Eddies Sunoco.

Saturday night is usually dedicated to asphalt racing for me but since the Main Event Series was in town I had the night off. Mike Miller didn't take the night off though and spent a long hot day wheeling the 6 car once again. Fighting an evil driving car all night, he managed to bring home a 3rd place finish from the large field in the 75 lap feature. I think he'll be more than happy to get back to his own ride next week though. ;-)

This Saturday night May 15th, Hilltop will be the place to be to see some serious kickass Late Model action as the O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champion Late Models roll into Millersburg. They'll be battling side by side for that $4000 prize money and that means there's bound to be plenty of excitement. This should be one hell of a show so you'll want to get there early to get a seat. All other divisons except Mini Trucks will also be in action so you'll a full night of door to door action including the All Stars for just $20. BE THERE!

On the asphalt side of things, Midvale finally managed to get their opening day in on May 1st. Mother Nature hasn't been kind to Midvale so far and forced another rain out last Saturday. Opening day means double points and we've had less than stellar results the past couple of years. That would finally change this year as we walked out the gate with a slim points lead at the end of the night. The car has been pretty strong so far this season, and the consistency of Miller behind the wheel is nothing short of amazing. Clicking off nearly identical laps all night is a pretty tough feat, but this guy has to be the best I've seen at it. Smooth and fast will usually get the job done and on opening night it sure as hell paid off. After an ugly incident early in the feature, Mike would have to claw his way through the pack a second time before setting his sights of the leaders. Laps would run out before he could take the lead but second ain't so bad I guess. ;-) We can only speculate how things would have turned out without the ugly incident, but it was clear that the car was dialed in and Miller was on his game for sure. We had plenty of damage to repair and all but we loaded up a pretty damn good car at the end of the night, and that's all anybody can ask for. Hopefully ol' Mother Nature lets us get back to racing action this Saturday.

Another bonus to getting to Hilltop this week was a chance to spend some time with the newest team to carry the Wengerd Enterprises Unlimited logo around the track. Car owner Jeff Hochstetler is no newcomer to dirt track racing. This guy was driving Late Models back in the days when they still looked like cars. I'm still not exactly sure what made him get into Sprints, but then I've always wondered why anybody gets into Sprints. ;-) The rookie pilot of the #36 Sprint is Brent Coffman. Brent turned his first laps just last Sunday at a practice at Hilltop. Eager to get his feet wet in real racing action the team made the trip to the first Sprint show at Hilltop this week. While nobody expected a win, it was pretty damn encouraging just seeing him pull off his first pass early in the feature. His fun would end early though due to some spins but it looks like this new driver has a good racing head on his shoulders. Even though they suffered from some mechanical demons they took the car home in one piece with a little on track experience under their belts. It's really been a pleasure getting to know these folks, and I look forward to spending some more time with them this summer. Good luck to the #36 Hochstetler Racing team!

Now that we've put that long ugly winter behind us, it's time to get back to racing action. We finally got to put the #53 ride of Mike Miller on the track for a much needed test and tune day this weekend. Even without making any major changes to the car it was clear in the early laps just how bad we needed a test day. Not only did the lap times suck, but the car was looking just plain evil getting into turn 3. We got to see both sides of the car more than once when it jumped out from under him before getting to turn 4. Maybe he was just showing off that fancy new lettering job, but I doubt it. When Mike can't hang onto a car there's gotta be a problem, and we got busy chasing it down. Each session got a little better and before long things were looking good. The grin on Pappy Miller's face told the story though on the last set of laps when Miller not only turned the fastest laps of any car all day, but he did it consistently. It was time to load it up and fine tune it for opening day. Next Saturday will be opening day at the much improved Midvale Speedway. You can bet we'll be there to put on a great show.

Racing action has already started at Hilltop and Lakeville of course, and folks have been treated to some kick-ass racing. I know I'm not the only one that chuckled a little when Hilltop posted their schedule with such an early starting date. Well, they got the last chuckle though and have already logged 3 great nights of door to door action. Opening night was a bitter cold one but it didn't stop the fans from packing the stands. It didn't even keep me from filling in on the flagstand beside Ed Fredricks. I never thought I'd be hit by snowballs on the flagstand but Hilltop is just full of surprises I guess. ;-) Car counts have increased since that first night and the crowd is very impressive so these new owners must be doing something right. I finally got to spend some time talking with these folks today and I'm confident that their main goal is to make Hilltop the talk of the racing community once again in a big way. Their focus is clearly on making racers and fans feel right at home each and every night, and also reward them for their support every chance they get. When the $100 registration deal was announced I said it would be up to the racers to do their part to make Hilltop a success and it looks like that's exactly what's happening. Of course it's too early to predict how the entire season will turn out, but I have no doubt The Wardell family will do their part to make Hilltop the track it deserves to be. My Saturday nights are pretty much dedicated to that "other kind of racing" but I will sure as hell make the trip to the Hill any chance I get. You might have noticed that advertising for Hilltop has returned to this website once again. Damn, it's nice to feel good about Hilltop again! Now that Hilltop and Lakeville are working together let's hope racers and fans work together to make both of these tracks stronger than ever in 2010.