Columbus native Tony Lucas won his first career feature on May 3 at Thunder Valley Raceway in Salem. The Columbus North graduate took the victory in the hornet division feature.
Tucker Chastain of Bedford won the super stock feature, and Blake Davis of Monrovia took the modified main event. Other winners were Bryson Clark of North Vernon in the pure stocks, Reece Novak of Bloomington in outlaw 4 cylinders and Joe Boyll of Kokomo in the mod lites.
Rainy weekend again for area tracks
Again, Mother Nature provided another rainy Friday and Saturday for most of the area race tracks. Bloomington, Paragon, Brownstown, Columbus, Florence, Lawrenceburg and Twin Cities all fell victim to wet damp conditions.
Bloomington postpones Kinser Memorial
Bloomington Speedway was scheduled to run the Bob Kinser Memorial on May 3, but due to wet grounds the event was postponed to Aug. 30. The next scheduled event at the track will the Josh Burton Memorial on May 24. For more info, visit blooomingtonspeedway.com.
Paragon Speedway
to try again
Paragon Speedway is still attempting to run its first race of the 2019 season. The May 3 race was cancelled due to the muddy conditions. Paragon is scheduled to be in action on Friday with a regular program on sprints, modifieds, super stocks, bombers and hornets. The track, under new management this year, has moved its event from Saturday to Friday nights. For more info, visit paragonspeedway.com.
Brownstown race
postponed tonight
Brownstown Speedway was forced to postpone the Scott Patman Tribute race scheduled for May 4 to May 25. Tonight, Brownstown will be idle, with its next racing program scheduled for May 18 with super late models, pro late models, modifieds, super stocks and pure stocks. For the latest info, visit brownstownspeedway.com.
Twin Cities
racing tonight
Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon will host a hornet special tonight, along with crate late models, modifieds, super stocks, pure stocks and 305 RaceSaver sprints. For more info, visit twincitiestrack.com.
Lawrenceburg Speedway running tonight
The Lawrenceburg Speedway will be running tonight with a regularly scheduled program of sprints, modifieds, pure stocks and hornets. For further info lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
Florence offering
free night tonight
Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky, will be offering free grandstand admission tonight for its regular show of super late models, crate late models, modifieds, sport mods and hornets. Last weekend’s Ralph Latham Memorial featuring the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series was rained out and rescheduled for June 29. For more info on tonight’s racing, go to florencespeedway.com.
Veteran USAC car
owner Hoffman dies
Richard Hoffman, one of the owners of the most prolific USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car team in the series’ history, passed away April 30. He was 76 years old.
“It’s hard to even put into words what Richard meant to the sport,” USAC Series Coordinator Levi Jones said. “It doesn’t seem possible he won’t be with us in the pits anymore. He was a fierce competitor and a staple of the series. Over the years, racing has made us all feel like family. He was always somebody you could lean on for advice and someone who was always there for the betterment of the sport.”
Hoffman Auto Racing and later, Dynamics, Inc., notched 11 career USAC National Sprint Car owner titles in 1989, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2016 with drivers Rich Vogler, Robbie Stanley, Dave Darland, Tracy Hines, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Brady Bacon.
Richard, of Milford, Ohio, began his racing career working for father Gus Hoffman’s team in the initial season of USAC racing in 1956. Throughout the past six decades, Gus, Richard and, eventually, his son Rob, and Dynamics, Inc. would accumulate 117 USAC victories, dating back to Eddie Sachs’ midget win at Ohio’s Dayton Speedway in 1956 to Brady Bacon’s Sprint Car score at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway in April of this year.
In addition to those listed above, a who’s who list of the top drivers of the era won USAC Sprint car features in top-flight Hoffman sprinters, including Jim Hemmings, Larry Cannon, Steve Butler, Cary Faas, Kenny Irwin Jr., Andy Michner, Brian Tyler, Jon Stanbrough, Daron Clayton, Kyle Larson, Darren Hagen, Chad Boespflug and Kevin Thomas Jr.
This week in
racing history
From 50 years ago in 1969, Orval Yeadon won the super modifieds feature at Twin Cities over Allen Barr, Bobby Black, Phil Fultz and Mike Mosley.
Also, from 1969 at Brownstown, it was Ira Bastin winning the late model feature over Don Hobbs, Gene Dalton, Jim Haley and Dennis Boknecht.
From 1989 at Twin Cities, Mike Gibbs won the late model feature over Dill Whittymore and Lee Fleetwood. Mark Clark won the street stock main event over Scott McKeand and Tim Clark.
From this weekend in 1989, Jim Curry won the late model feature at Brownstown over Kevin Claycomb, Daryl Herbert, Mike Gibbs and Paul Shafer. Joe Johnson won the street stock feature over Earl Plessinger, Mark Barber, Tom Seadler and Steve Trabue. The bomber feature winners were Shannon Stewart and Jay Deckard.
From 20 years ago in 1999 at Lawrenceburg Speedway, it was Aaron Mosley winning the sprint car feature over Billy Puterbaugh Jr., Corey Smith, Pete Abel and Richard Ott. Kerry Norris took the modified feature over Shane Mugavin, David Cook, Ron Jolliff Jr. and Tom Doerflein.
Also from 1999 at Twin Cities, the street stock feature winner was Earl Plessinger over Willie Sallee, Gary Green, Joe Johnson and Bret Ezzo. Kevin Applegate won the bomber main over Bobby Johnson, Mickey Hines, John Phelps and Paul Ortman. Phil Fultz won the mini-stock feature.
From this weekend in 1999 at Bloomington Speedway, Billy Puterbaugh Jr. won the sprint car feature over Brad Fox, Kevin Thomas, Eric Burns and Chris LaFollette. Ray Humphrey won the modified feature over Kerry Norris, Brian Campbell, Jack Taylor and John DeMoss. Lee Hobbs took the street stock main over Jerry Hepworth, Cory Brown, Gregg O’Neill and Barry Gerkin.
In 1999 at Brownstown, it was Ernie Barrow taking the late model feature over Mark Barber, Frankie Coomer, Doug Ault and Steve Barnett. Randy Petro won the modified main over Scott Patman, Adam Sasser, Brad Cummings and Rick Hines. Mike Fields won the street stock feature race over Tim Clark, Gregg O’Neill, Tom Allman and Jason Hehman. Jeff Helton grabbed the bomber feature victory over Rick Applegate, Darren Crawhorn, Matt Cummings and Matt Bex.
James Essex writes a motorsports notebook for The Republic. Send comments to sports@therepublic.com.
