Flat Rock Speedway

Trackside Tidbit, Mid-Season Edition

July brings us to mid-season, and it’s been an interesting one so far. Drivers winning after long dry spells, competitive divisions with no repeat winners, and a new lighting system for our beloved track.

First, are the Outlaw Late Model division, which hasn’t had a repeat winner yet. Justin Claucherty, Chris Benson, Brian Bergakker, Stan Yee Jr and Paul Pelletier all have been to victory lane, which unlike 2022 which only had four winners: Eric Lee (won five of the ten Late Model races), Conner Zbozien (one win); Brian Bergakker (won both long distance races) and Harold Fair Jr (two win). This year, we’ve already had five different winners.

· Conner Zbozien leads Paul Pelletier by 5 points; Justin Schroeder by 15 points; Chris Benson by 20. Fifth in points is Rob Randa behind by 115 points. RJ Cornett is the top rookie right now, sixth in points 130 back

· The OSLMs have had five races in 2023, only Conner Zbozien (hope I don’t jinx him now) has finished in the top 5 all races. He’s had three seconds, a fourth and a fifth

· Chris Benson, Eric Lee, Justin Schroeder. Paul Pelletier all have three Top 5s

· There has been 12 drivers that had a Top 5 finish of the 31 drivers that have raced in the OSLM division this season, or 38% have had a Top 5

· Zbozien, Benson, Schroeder and Derrick Sheppard have finished in the Top 10 every week

· The streak of different drivers start the last race of 2022 when Eric Lee won (his sixth of the year)

· Most different

· winners in a year (NOTES: statistics start in 2006) is nine in 2007. There were many years with eight different winners but in 2016 in nine races run, there was eight different winners

· Prior to winning this year Chris Benson’s previous win was in 2008 and Stan Yee Jr’s was in 2016

Next comes the Street Stock A Division. This one, defending division Champion, Jeremy Vanderhoof is off to a terrific start, winning three of the six races so far. Other winners have been Lance Lipasek, Jeff Metdepenningen, Brian Norton.

· The last time a driver won three of the first six races was Landon Schuster in 2015 (he went on to win five races that year)

· Eight drivers have competed in all six Street Stock A features, and another three have competed in five races

· Brian Norton won his first race in 16 years

· Of the 41 drivers that have competed in at least one of the six A Division (A Main) feature, not one of them has finished in the Top 5 in all six. The best is four drivers who have four Top 5, Jeremy Vanderhoof, Johnny Rangel, Rob Moore Jr, Jeff Metdepenningen

· There has been 13 drivers that had a Top 5 finish of the 41 drivers that have raced in the A Division this season, or 31% have had a Top 5

· These four drivers are not the top four in points, showing the importance of the heat and qualifying points. Vanderhoof leads the points, Rangel is fourth in points, Moore Jr fifth and Metdepenningen sixth. Kenyon Knight second in points and Landon Schuster third have three Top 5 each

· Vanderhoof, Knight, Schuster, Moore Jr have finished in the Top 10 in all their features this year

The Street Stock B Division, like the OSLMs, have not had a repeat winner with Bobby Stewart, Chuck Pankow, Ian Jezylo, Justin Peterman, Troy Brehmer all with a victory.

· This is the first time since 2011 that the B division didn’t have a repeat winner in first five races

· Only three drivers Jezylo, Peterman and Rich Abel have competed in all the B features this season. This is normal, only to have a few drivers running the entire year in the B features because the faster B Division drivers flip between the A or B features depending on the car count

· Jezylo has a 100-point lead over Peterman; 220 over Chuck Pankow (who has raced in four B features), and 350 over Abel (who has struggled with car problems all season)

· Jezylo and Pankow have finished in the Top 5 in all the B features they competed in this year. Of the 14 drivers that raced in the B Division 13 have a Top 5 or 93%. Ryan Smith is the only one without a Top 5 but he only started one feature and finished sixth

· The race on June 20 was the first time since June 19, 2021, that a B feature wasn’t run

The Figure 8s, Jeremy Vanderhoof is leading there too. There have been three different winners so far in the division; Dennis Whisman Jr, 3 wins; Greg Studt, 2 wins; Jeremy Vanderhoof, 1 win

· Seven drivers have competed in all six Figure 8 features: Brice Thomsen, Dennis Whisman Jr, Eugene Worden, Jakob Lee, Jeremy Vanderhoof, Stephanie Bradley and Travis Earley (Dennis Whisman had trouble in the heat but he’s been there for all the races this season too)

· Only Vanderhoof has a Top 5 in all the Figure 8 races this season. Racing in five features were Whisman Jr and Studt (which is all the Figure 8 races he’s competed in this season). Ten of the 15 drivers that have raced a Figure 8 feature have had at least one Top 5.

· Of the 15 drivers that have raced in the Figure 8 features this year, 10 have at least one Top 5 finish, or 67%.

· Four drivers have finished in the Top 10 for all six races, Jeremy Vanderhoof, Jakob Lee, Travis Earley, Eugene Worden

Now some leftover notes from June…

*** June 10 **

Stan Yee Jr won his first race since July 19, 2016. “You know, we're always running up front, mixing it up. The crew is always working their ass off. So glad for them, they're there day and night and they’ve been there to guide for years, and I just love it for them. Man, I'm freaking pumped up. You know I've been around these races all my life and I love it. It's nice to see all you people out here today day. And you guys are great, awesome. My goodness, it’s so much fun, I can't explain it. Thank you.”

Justin Schroeder finished second. “It was fun. We've been working, we've been struggling with the car but starting to make progress in between and now we’re getting the longevity. He (Stan Yee Jr) deserves it and it was a good race,” said the driver of the Fairway Disposal, JMS Transport #4.

Chris Benson finished third, ““It's been a long time and a lot of hard work and stuff but didn't have a car tonight. Congratulations to Stan. I mean, it's been how long since he won? It's been a long time. But it was fun. It's a fun night. We had a lot of action car is in one piece,” said the driver of the Churchill Transport, The Detroit Tubing Mill, Royal Truck and Trailer, Jim's Butcher Shop, Motor City Antique and Glen's Auto Parts #51.

Greg Studt won the Figure 8 feature. “Yeah, no doubt it makes a lot easier to start up front. On the restart the brakes faded, and I didn't have brakes as usual. I apologize for using Dennis to turn. Glad to see all the people out here tonight thank you for coming, said the driver of the Apollo Broach, Budget Tire, Mark Sherrard #33.

Dennis Whisman Jr finished second. “I swear that was awesome, that was how a race is supposed to be done. Congrats Greg, Jeremy. The top three tonight,” said the driver of the #2 Counting Consultants, Affordable Transmission, Marks Toy Box, Royal Truck and Utility Trailer, Martins Tire, Rebel Racing, Custom Graphix and Tees.

Jeremy Vanderhoof finished third, “It was great battling Billy Early and then Dennis (Whisman) Jr. there and they don't do any quarter. A real good time. Just want to thank all the fans for coming out.

*** June 17 ***

Paul Pelletier won his first feature in almost two years. “We’ve made it a little better, but we've been working hard on this thing. I didn’t think we had anything on the outside but it kind of stuck and then he just didn't. It's hard every single week to win because most of us guys, we all have the same stuff. And I'm trying to do outside the box things and get away from what everybody's doing. And hopefully it's going to work and it's tough. Like I said everybody's got the same stuff. We're doing the same speed and it's just, you know, got to try to outsmart them do some different,” said the driver of the Fraza, Vitan Equipment, Duane's Roadrunners, ABC Plumbing, Bluewater Air Compressor, CC Engineering #44.

Brian Norton last won a A division feature in July 2007 and things got a little emotional in victory lane. It was one happy driver afterwards. “Since I retired 15 years ago, I figured 51 (wins) was it. I got a call from Bob Studt and the first thing he says before hello, he says, ‘How old are you?’, I say, I’ll be 60’, and he says, ‘Can you still drive a race car?’. I said, ‘I'll try’. So here we are. Yeah, we've worked in this car. It

was loose the first time I drove it, we kept working to make it tighter. I knew I'd stay on the bottom so that’s what we shot for you and it actually worked out pretty good. That was fun, the guys race clean. I've never raced with double file restarts and didn’t know who to do. So that was fun. But man I going to cry. This is so cool. Greg and Bob (Studt) trusted me to drive their cars, so have to thank them, oh my kids first time get to see me win,” said the driver sponsored by Apollo Broach, Budget Tire, Mark Sherrard.

Justin Peterman won his first career B Division feature in only his sixth race (five in the B division, one in the A division. I don't know, I just went high, and it stuck. Of course, my family's not here this week and they're out of town. So, it feels great Glad you showed up today and I wasn't sure if I was gonna make it today, get the car ready today. They say the first one’s the hardest … let's hope so. I mean right now I got the jitters … I’m shaking a little bit here. I definitely wasn't expecting it, run in the back of the pack usually every night, but I don't know something happened and it took off. My girlfriend helps me, my kids help me in the pits and Ian Jezylo helped me out today. I don’t have a normal pit crew so I take help wherever I can get it.

Dennis Whisman Jr won the Figure 8 feature. “Yeah, it was tough. I knew they were behind me. I knew right there. We had a good car tonight. I want to thank all my sponsors Counting Consultants, Affordable Transmission, Marks Toy Box, Royal Truck and Utility Trailer, Martins Tire, Rebel Racing, Custom Graphix and Tees. Everyone that down there helping me are greatly appreciated. I want to dedicate to my dad for all his hard work he puts into our cars.”

*** June 24 ***

Congrats to our race winners on June 24. Jeremy Vanderhoof won the SS A Division feature, his third of the year and Derrick Sheppard won the Enduro, I only have the records for all Enduro races back to mid 2014, so think it’s third feature.

*** July1 ***

Congratulations to former Flat Rock Street Stock driver Ethan Stadniczuk, who won his first CRA Jegs All Start Tour feature. The race was held at Birch Run Raceway. Other former Flat Rock drivers in the race was: Guy Fire, 10th place; Jeff Vrsek, 11th place. Good Job to our three former drivers!

If you missed any of the racing you can find it here: www.youtube.com/@MikeMiller28. If anyone else tapes all the races let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

Did I forget your sponsorship when I wrote about you. Send me a note through Facebook Messenger www.facebook.com/icechips or an email at ddomby@juno.com. If you have a website or Facebook page you want me to just go grab something off of, let me know and I can do that too. All I ask if you send me something is it be a couple sentences long and I’ll be happy to put it into my article.