TRACKSIDE TIDBITS
TRACKSIDE TIDBITS
Trackside Tidbits by Debi Domby
Week 7
Rob Moore Jr won his first Street Stock 100 on his fourth try. His previous best was 13th. “Wow what a day/night!! First off, I can’t thank my dad and Dan Dow enough for helping my wrench on this thing all morning and afternoon. We had the entire top end of the car apart at 2:00 when we were supposed to be at the track. We got it all fixed and back together. Thank you to Aaron Greathouse for the carb to use and Eric Calhoun for lending us a carb as well. The car was on a rail tonight. I could put it anywhere and I stayed patient knowing I had 100 laps. I started ninth and slowly worked my way up into the top 3. I took my time and made my moves at the right time to come home in first for our biggest race of the year! Two wins in a row! I’m pumped and hopefully we can keep this rolling. I want to thank my sponsors Southgate Transmission, Purple for Casen John, Moore Racing, and Dow Engines.”
When Rob’s uncle Tim Moore was victorious in the Street Stock B division portion of the 100-lap night. With Uncle and nephew winning both portions of the evening, the pair did something that’s never been done in the 16 years the 100-lap feature has been contended ... two family members won both features.
Paul Pelletier almost won his first career Street Stock A division feature in the 100. He led most of the race only to fall back to third in the final five laps. He wrote me that his car was loose from lap 10 on and he was a sitting duck in his ABC Plumbing L & H Hardwood, Duane's Roadrunner's Jeff's Powder coating, Sully' Speed Shop #44. I also forgot his sponsors a few weeks ago when he won the OSLM race.
Trevor Farmer finished sixth, tying a career best, “Well to be completely honest it took a lot of patience that was key to our sixth-place finish I knew starting 19th out of 21 was gonna be an uphill battle from the start an I just kept telling myself be patient and let the race come to me. I knew this was a long race an if I could be around at the end, I could probably get a good finish, I saved my tires the best that I could all race because I knew that would be key. I wish we could of broke the top 5 but I’m very happy with sixth especially in my first ever 100-lapper, I am just happy to be battling veterans up in the top 10 like Greg Studt, Nick Shanks and Jeff Metdepennigen at the end means I’ve got my car headed in the right direction and hopefully we can keep improving every week an maybe notch my first A-main victory!” The following week wasn’t his first A division victory, but a fifth place, a new career high.
Clarity Patton “In the 100 Lap feature race I started at the tail after an unsuccessful qualifying session and then successfully passed 10 cars to finish 12th. We are now in fifth place in season championship points. The car was running great working the outside line, so hopefully it is ready to have a great night this Saturday. Special thanks to Varsity Autoi Group, Steve Bunge, Ed Schmidt and Mark McDowell for their outstanding work on the racecar. See you there!”
Caleb Barron: “We had been looking forward to this 100-lap race since the beginning of the season. With Caleb working a shortened day, we were able to make it in plenty of time to practice and qualify. With a couple of practice sessions on old tires, we made just a few small chassis tweaks and were ready to qualify. 13.507 was everything the car had, good for 12th. Starting on the outside, Caleb quickly fell to the back of the field, and remained there for many laps. After being spun out, Caleb had the opportunity to pull in, and it was discovered that the left rear wheel was loose, and was tearing up the rim, causing a terrible vibration which he nursed on the track as long as he could. A somewhat lengthy change due to the wheel stud damage, he was back on the track, but never really rebounded enough to be competitive. We were credited with 15th. Not the chassis setup we needed for this hot night. We’ll file this one away and learn from it for next year. We had a few repairs to make to get ready for the next race.”
Gary Cronenwett did not have a good race day of the 100-lap race, crashing heavily in hot laps. “Yes throttle got hung up on the air cleaner going into turn three , no time to react to it. We have front and rear clip and some suspension, almost did flip it but thankfully kept it on all fours! We will be back out stronger than ever. Hopefully, I will be back out soon in Scully's Speed Shop and B&B Chassis #8.”
We had several drivers make their first starts of the season these last few races:
Jeremy Vanderhoof returned on the 100-lap SS race, running as a teammate to Collin Barron in a car owned by Clyde McKee. He finished ninth in his Arrow Trucks and Parts Co (Detroit), Blossom Florist (Allen Park), Mac's Towing (Taylor), Siegel Chiropractic (Woodhaven) #46. The next week he finished eighth.
Making his first start of the season the week of the 100 was former multi time B main champion, Ian Jezylo. He finished 10th in the B division feature. During lockdown several drivers found homes elsewhere to race. The most successful was Ian, who won the C division at Onaway Speedway. Onaway is WAY up north, a four and half hour tow. It was Outlaw Racing’s fourth consecutive year with a championship, Adam Jezylo won the B at Flat Rock in 2017, Ian in 2018 and 2019. This week Ian got 17th in the A division feature … the last time he raced in the A division feature was August 17, 2017, and he got 17th that day too.
Kyle Worley also made his return with a 10th place finish. It was his third top 10 finish in the street stock 100-lap race in 13 starts.
Also making his first start of the season was Scott Selmi, he finished 14th in the A division feature. It was his worst finish since the season finale in 2018 when he also finished 14th.
Rayce Metdepenningen, “Congratulations to lil brother Kyle Metdepenningen on his victory last night!!! Getting up on the wheel and getting it done!!! Set fast time and rolled a 8 for the invert. Unfortunately, I experienced distributor problems around the 168 mark and lost power while running 3rd right behind Kyle just as we caught the leader. Car rolled to a stop in turn three and then pushed off to the pits. Keep an eye out for this week’s action behind the scenes on our racing channel.(WOW Racing, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYaPoXypFh_P4_R5oix9P-Q) on YouTube. Big thanks to ALL that attended to show their support!!”
Week 8
Greg Studt’s win tonight was special indeed. Not only was it the third win for the driver of the Apollo Broach, Budget Tire, Wine Town Party Store, Mark Sherrard, Carl’s Furniture #33 but it’s his 50th career feature win at Flat Rock! He’s now won 12 Street Stock A division races, 36 Figure 8 races and two in the Late Models. Only one other driver at Flat Rock has wins in all three divisions is Kenny Ahlgren (21 Figure 8; one each LM and SS) … what’s interesting is both of these drivers the majority of their wins came in the Figure 8 division.
One more note on Greg’s 50th win…Only eight drivers have had over 50 wins at Flat Rock, Joy Fair, 159; Bob Studt, 130, Dick Simmons, 68; Dennis Whisman, 59; Ron Allen, 57; Chuck Hall, 55; Brian Norton, 51; Greg Studt, 40. Ever wonder how many drivers have won a race at Flat Rock in the Oslm, Figure 8 or SS A division … 252.
Jeff Metdepenningen finished second this week and fifth in the 100-lapper. “Car wasn’t very good for the 100-lapper but was good Saturday night. Wish I would have had that car last weekend, might have had something for them, lol. Picked up some sponsorship from Dave Kensler Racing and would like to thank him along with my other sponsors Auto Farm Stan Yee‘s collision Inc. Clemens Trans Mission and B&H Race Car Parts.”
Trevor Farmer had a career best finish of fifth (surpassing multiple finishes of sixth.
Doug Litogot finished ninth, his second career top 10.
This is the first time since July 18, 2015, that the B division feature hasn’t been run. There were 23 cars in the A division feature. In 2015 there were only four B features run. It was the two in the B division points standings first A division race. Points leader, Bobby Stewart finished 21st and Mike Miller finished 18th.
Four of the regular Flat Rock Outlaw Late Models joined the ARCA/CRA Super Series Late Models. Ethan Stadniczuk finished the best at fifth, with Eric Lee, sixth; Jeff Vrsek, 10th; Justin Schroeder, 11th; Hayden Sprague, 13th and Harold Fair Jr, 15th. Kyle Crump who led 70 laps of the Joy Fair 100 a few weeks ago was third. The race was won by NASCAR Truck Series regular Carson Hocevar.
If you missed any of the racing you can find it here: www.youtube.com/c/MikeMiller28. If you’d like to see some in-car videos (and pictures) stop by PhotosByKuyoth’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/photosbykuyoth
I love hearing from the team and drivers, and I appreciate everyone that have sent me their Facebook page or website so I can get your race updates for the article. If I missed your sponsors this week, send me a note through Facebook Messenger www.facebook.com/icechips or icechips@hotmail.com. I will add them to my next column.