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Lake Geneva Raceway presents
Round and Around by Fay Hendricks
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See you for the 2006 Season opener in April
Round and Around:  By Fay Hendricks
The following is a column written by Fay Hendricks for The Checkered Flag Racing News. This race publication began in 1968 and ceased operations as of July 13, 2005. The wife of 7-time sportsman and mini stock champion Jim Hendricks, Fay has been writing since 1981. As a way to allow readers to continue following the travels of Fay Hendricks around several venues, Lake Geneva Raceway owner-promoter Kevin Dawson has decided to offer the columns here. We hope you enjoy the reading.
August 12, 2006  - It’s nice to know that one occurrence can spread over a long period of time, unless it’s the full moon. What else would cause cars to veer, hoses to pop, wires to disconnect, feelings to be crushed, and tempers to flare? You have to feel sorry for the drivers when their cars are naughty. The golden orb rose to full display mid-week, yet there was plenty of power left for both weekends at Lake Geneva Raceway. We missed the mishaps of a week ago, but heard of the consequences that followed. This week we rushed from a company picnic to join qualifying in progress at the busy speed plant. Beginning in shirtsleeves and donning a jacket in the cool night, it was worth the trip.

Saturday’s fourth division was the Super Mini Cup cars, which sounded like a herd of lawn mowers from the parking lot. These machines are one of the few downsized racers with full suspension, as explained by quick-qualifier Jeff Myers earlier. Myers told the audience that the mounts are exactly half the size of their NASCAR heroes, built to scale. The tiny troupe of racers saw 16-year old Alex Yerdizeski take the dash and a heat, then Myers double later by passing Yerdizeski for the feature lead just past the halfway mark. “I’ve been having problems with this car all year long”, stated Myers from victory lane. Myers thanked all those who helped, adding, “It all turned out for the good afterwards.”

The super stock field transferred Randy Schneider and Norm Paulson into the feature from the semi, Paulson driving the Dan Clemenz car as the owner took a vacation from the track. Normally the super stock feature runs without a hitch, but this week some force was batting the cars all over the place. It was an odd sight indeed, as the veterans spun and touched each other to bring out the caution flag seven times by the halfway point of the 30-lap feature. The rest of the contest went incident-free to the checkered flag, with a tire popping on Tom Jastrab’s mount just before the final stripe. Jastrab hung for eighth place, Paulson just behind him from the tenth row. It was Adam Regnier taking the win after starting from the sixth row, claiming, “Traffic was pretty rough tonight“, then stated, “The car was handling pretty good.” Just behind Regnier was Jack Rubach, starting way back in the field after taking fast time earlier. Also making great strides at the end were Joe DeCubellis from the fifth row to fourth place, and Craig Mertes came from even farther back for fifth place.

The small sportsman turnout didn’t mean a lack of action. Bobby Giers led off with quick time, Erik Pierce won the dash, and Danny Powell headed the pack in the heat. The heat was red-flagged after Jack Clark launched his mount up the concrete barrier, flipped onto his roof and slide all the way off the track in a shower of sparks. Scary as this looked, Clark climbed out without injury, but may want to give up the thrill show portion of his racing career. The feature went nonstop, headed by Ken Smart, Dave Edwards, and finally John Janssen. His second win in a row was not taken for granted, as Janssen told the crowd, “I finally figured it out. It’s really nice to win here.” Referring to an earlier challenge, Janssen added, “I gotta thank Erik (Pierce), and hopefully make an interesting last night”, as the point chase between the two gets even closer.

The late model finale began with a 14-car invert after Mike Meyerhofer rolled the die as fast qualifier. With only a pair of caution periods to allow lane choice for the field, this made things either easier or more difficult, depending on the driver and position. Denny Hiffman was aboard the mount shared with last week’s winner Randy Rodgers, began on the front row, then was shown the black flag for taking up too much room, however slight it may have appeared. Newcomer Michael Bachaus surprised many by taking off from the front row and leading the powerful field past the halfway mark of the 40-lap contest. It took a long time for those starting in positions twelve through fourteen to weave their way through the others, which makes things interesting to watch.

Eddie May was feeling very lucky to be in winner’s circle again after last week’s damage was barely repaired in time to return Saturday. “I think the car was faster last week”, claimed May, adding, “I’m surprised I hung on. I thought Mike (Meyerhofer) was going to catch me. He’s fast, and he deserves to win one.” But not Saturday. Meyerhofer had to settle for runner-up, with Landry Potter the remaining one from far back to finish in the top three. James Swan piloted the Terry Patnode car to a fourth-place finish with Jamie Wallace behind him, both beginning tenth and eleventh. Josh Wallace was not in the Fran Prestay car this week, piloting his limited late model in the field instead. The younger Wallace’s top run ended after contact from Rick Corso, sending both to restart at the back of the pack. The final flag of the evening ended the action before 10:30, the audience feeling the chill of the air. Not too many weeks away, we will all be feeling that it’s over way too soon. Weekly bidding continues for track memorabilia. For the rest of us, the memories will suffice.

 
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