Flat Rock Speedway

June 18

Joining the CRA cars were our Outlaw Late Models. Harold Fair Jr picked up where he left off last week winning for the second consecutive week. The records I have in my database go back to 2006 and Harold has never won consecutive races at Flat Rock, although he usually only run the long-distance races and the odd weekly show. “

   “It was really fun. This week, I kind of went a little harder than I did last week (for the win) and worked a little bit more for it, but that's alright. It's all good. With about 15 to go I started backing down because they (teammates, Connor Zbozien and Scott Hantz) looked like they were racing for position (fourth place) pretty hard. And I said ‘Now we don't want to do that (mess with their racing).’ But really like the thing Carl, Royal Truck and Trailer, national benefit plans, Francis Engineering, Senneker Racing they do great for me. It's really fun and I’m not gonna lie. It's a good time,” said the driver from Milan, Mich. “Like I’ve said it's been really fun running that car. And, you know, great job VanDoorn Racing Development for putting this weekend on for us. Good job for ARCA keeping us here.”

   Derrick Sheppard qualified fourth, his career high qualifying. Unfortunately, he spun on lap two and finished 11th.

   Joshua Spindelman was the top finishing rookie this week finishing 10th (Jimmy Pankow experience problems and dropped out finished 13th).

         Other Tidbits:

Oddly the top three finishers from last week are the same this week: Fair Jr, Eric Lee and Dennis Strickland. For Lee, he's finished either first or second in all five OSLM races this year.  Fair Jr lapped up to fifth place

• It was Fair Jr’s ninth feature win at Flat Rock. He’s tied with Steve Cronenwett Sr, Ed Hage and Jimmy Thiel
• There’s been three 75 lap features competed on since 2006, only three drivers have compete in them all, Paul Pelletier, Derrick Sheppard and Stan Yee Jr.
• The last 75 lap feature was in July 2018, won by Justin Schroeder (the other 75-lap feature was in August 2017 and won by Jimmy Thiel.

CRA

Congrats to Kyle Crump who was the overall winner and won ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS division.

Former Flat Rock regular (street stocks and enduro), Ethan Stadniczuk, led some laps early in the feature and went on to win JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance division in the co-sanctioned event. Ethan finished second overall. “Wow. That's crazy. Good job, Kyle (Crump), for winning the race. I mean, this is awesome. Just couldn't do any of these guys, Thanks to Hypercyl, M & N Controls, Precision Epoxy Flooring, One Stop Speed Shop,” said the driver from Lambertville, Mich., “Yeah, honestly don't think we had anything for Kyle … restarts were crazy good for him. I’m still trying to get experienced in that aspect. But yeah, dropped back to fifth and then it picked up a little bit and we figured out that outside line and got that working.”

Former Flat Rock Late Model Champion, Justin Schroeder, finished third (but second in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS division). “Yeah, we were better on the long run, for sure. That's when we got up to him. But I mean, it the first time I was this car, VanDoorn Racing Development, Oh man. Everybody's here has got their car (running well) and there's for a reason a great tech for outside launch. This is a good finish for us,” said the driver from New Boston, Mich., “I want to thank, Dr. Kabot, JMS Transport. I do want to give big shout out to my wife. Four weeks straight been in the garage. She was doing vinyl, I was doing work paperwork. So, I can't thank her enough. My kids they've been putting up with dad in the shop. And then Dr. Kabot he's been with me 17 years. Thanks to my parents, crew and give shout to my little boy. I know he's pretty stoked.”

 As mentioned, there were two different divisions of the CRA cars running today. The most interesting distinction between them were the type of engine they had under the hood. The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance division had crate engines and the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS division had regular engines, such as our Outlaw Late Models run. There might be other differences but from the stands they look like the same template bodied cars.

Other Flat Rock drivers (some still racing with us, others that used to race with us): Jimmy Tucker (he ran Enduro, last time in 2019) finished 11th; Eric Lee drove his dad’s number 111 and finished 13th; David Lieaff (Street Stocks, bet you wondered where he got off too) finished 14th; and Max Fair (Street Stocks) finished 17th, Jeff Vrsek finished 19th after being involved in an accident. Max and Jeff were in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS division and the others were in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance division.

This was one of the best LM type races I’ve seen in a while. It’s on Mike’s YouTube channel, listed on the bottom of my article. You can also watch it on racingamerica.tv, but that’s a pay per view site.

Cody Remick won his first career feature, leading the entire Factory Stock feature. ““I didn't know where he (Randy Padgett Jr) was. I was getting worried about it, looking for him, see if I can see him behind me. Couldn’t really see anything and then I got in the lapped traffic. Then it was like, ‘I gotta make the right move the right time’. We’re not running on racing tires, just tires you can buy at a tire shop. Missing the Hoosiers (tires), but it's fun. It's a little different, it’s my first year on actual street tires. My dad's run on the street tires before but I had no idea what to expect coming into this. I want to thank my parents for everything they do for me and my dad for all the late nights at the shop working on the car. I would like to thank my sponsor Top Tech auto repair! It was a great race, was a lot of fun leading the whole race and being able to hold the second-place guy off.” The Factory Stocks and Enduro division are mostly the same cars and between the Enduro a couple weeks ago and tonight the Remicks have won both ends (Robb won the Enduro).

June 11

Harold Fair Jr won his first feature at Flat Rock since the Joy Fair 100 in 2019. Eric Lee finished second, his 11th Top 10 finish in a row and so far this year he’s finished first or second in the four features this year.

Greg Studt won the Figure 8 portion of the bus races. It was his 38th feature win at Flat Rock. Billy Earley finished second for the second race in a row … he has 15 top 10s in a row. “It took a couple laps to knock the rust off, but it’s all racing. It’s all about car control and having fun and I had a blast tonight. I want to thank Apollo Broach, Budget Tire, Wine Town Party Store, Mark Sherrard, my son, dad and the rest of the crew.”

June 4

Jeremy Vanderhoof won his third career Street Stock A division feature win. “We drew for position today and I never pull a good starting spot and today I did. Want to thank my wife, crew. Also my sponsors Alliance Catholic Credit Union, Arrow Truck Blossom Florist, Gary Patrick Signs, SP Guns and Ammo, B&F 4x4, Seigel Chiropractic.” Jeremy’s other two wins were August 2021 and July 2016

Taylor Papineau won his third Street Stock B division race. It’s his first three-win season and he now hos five B feature wins. “We’re shooting for that B main championship, and we are doing everything we possibly can to the car to give us the best chance at clinching it. But being in third in the points race it’s gonna be tough. We got our work cut out for us. With the 100-lap racing being our next one usually slot of SS show up and we usually have a good field for the B main. So hopefully we can make it four in a row and get a good jump in points with a bigger field.”

For those of you wondering, yes, Austin McKee is related to former driver (and owner of Jeremy Vanderhoof’s car owner) Clyde McKee. He’s his great nephew.

Robb Remick won the Enduro in his Top Tech Auto Repair #3.

If you missed any of the racing you can find it here: www.youtube.com/c/MikeMiller28

   NOTE: I can’t get into the pits right now because of the restrictions. If I missed your sponsors in any of my articles, send me a note through Facebook Messenger https://www.facebook.com/icechips or email me at icechips@hotmail.com. I will add them to my next column. If you write something about your night on your Facebook page or a website, please let me know and I’ll go get it each week and make sure the sponsors are mentioned. Thank you to all the drivers/teams that have sent me quotes