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Lake Geneva Raceway presents
Round and Around by Fay Hendricks
Upcoming Events at Lake Geneva Raceway:

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.
July 29, 2006  - It’s been weeks since Kevin Dawson didn’t have to worry about Mother Nature raining on Lake Geneva Raceway. With no rush to get Saturday’s races in while rain clouds hovered nearby, there was time for a regular program. Just because there was ample time, all but one of the four features went incident-free to complete the entire program before 10:00. That’s just the way things happen. Beginning with sunny skies and temperatures in the 90’s, Saturday night ended only a few degrees cooler. Just because it was so hot the tower’s air conditioning quit and one of the microphones refused to function. At the same time the video camera operator found a broken internal wire that rendered his new unit useless. Shortly before racing began the videographer bought a soldering kit from the night’s tool sponsor display and worked frantically to fix the wires. Finishing with no time to spare, the camera and operator went up on the roof, the tower’s circuit breaker was restored, and the microphones were operating without a delay in the race program. Several drivers had things go awry during the program, and the cone that is used on restarts had to come out during the night’s dashes.

The fourth division at Lake Geneva was the tiny Rascal Outlaw Sprints, powered by snowmobile engines. The small field shared top honors between three different drivers before the feature ended with Chris Bedore topping the list twice, having earlier notched quick time. Usual standout Kip Novotny retired his mount during heat action, and the feature ran without him. The 15-lap main event began with Bill Gundlach taking off from the pole, then Jeff LeSage roared into the lead from the third row. Sometimes it takes a few laps for these engines to get up to full speed, and Bedore made the winning pass with five circuits remaining. “Once I got daylight, I just never looked back”, claimed Bedore from victory lane.

The super stock field had a lot of action, not all good. While leading his heat race, Derrick Perrier’s mount was black-flagged for leaking fluids. The leak persisted when Perrier returned for the semi, and he was out for the night. The next heat began with a car getting flagged off the track before one lap was scored. The least favorite task at any race track is cleaning up someone’s mess, after all. The semi ended with Shane Scarpace edging out Cyndi Krause at the finish line, with both progressing into the feature field later. On the parade lap of the 30-lap contest suddenly Mike Olson’s car erupted in a cloud that was the end of his engine. Randy Schneider led from the pole, but only until Scott Norton could make his way to the front from the fourth row. From that point on, it was all Norton. “I got a pretty good starting position”, declared Norton afterwards, telling the audience of earlier problems that had him qualify on only seven cylinders.

The sportsman fielded a dozen cars Saturday, having several moments as well. James Swan only races occasionally at Lake Geneva, but took quick time right away. Bobby Giers topped the dash, John Janssen took the heat, and the feature saw four different leaders. Before the green flag began the contest, Cliff Adee had to suddenly pit with a flat tire, returning just as the race began. It would be tempting to give him a nickname of Zip Adee after such a quick return, as well as racing to a top finish from the back of the pack. Led off by Andrew Kulka, Gary Norton supplanted him before Janssen took the lead. Erik Pierce took charge for his sixth win of the season with ten circuits left, stating, “It’s pretty hot. Once you’re in the car you don’t feel it.” Regarding the winning pass, Pierce admitted that he normally passes on the inside lane, but Saturday was different. “I could see he (Janssen) was pretty tight. I had to pass him on the outside.”

The late model finale saw the only feature cautions of the night. After a handful of laps were completed the visiting Len Nowosel was spun to bring out the initial yellow. Another caution came a couple circuits later when fast-timer Mike Meyerhofer suddenly was without power. During the green-flag action it was a classic duel between Rob Summers and Eddie May. Running two abreast, neither yielded as they ran their lanes without touching for more than two dozen times around the oval. Finally Summers relented, then faded back a bit before getting spun with five laps remaining. A few laps later it was another spin that retired Summers with Nowosel, and the field finished with the green, white, and checkered flags in quick order.

May captured his third feature in a row, making six for this season. “There was some fun out there”, said May with praise to Summers. “He really gave me a run for it.” May also had good things to say about the challenging Randy Rodgers, “Randy ran me clean.” Coming from the fourth and fifth rows, Rodgers, Landry Potter, and Sonny Schoffen all finished in the top five along with Jamie Wallace. Fran Prestay drove his own entry usually piloted by young Josh Wallace, but his evening ended shortly past the feature’s halfway point, and Rick Corso made numerous pit stops before his final exit. Earlier Meyerhofer rolled the die to the lowest number, which set the inversion of the feature to only eleven cars. At the end of the year this die and other track memorabilia will also be up for sale. Bidding has already begun to purchase Lake Geneva’s orange cone used for restarts. When this season ends, the track closes forever, making everything more meaningful.

Racing resumes at Lake Geneva on Thursday with a one-time visit by the HOSS winged sprint cars along with the Big 8 late model series. Announcer Mike Babicz is promoting this event, telling me that advance ticket sales have gone very well. The historic occasion has a commemorative T-shirt on sale alongside the track‘s final season shirts. We wish them well, as we head to Wisconsin’s northwest for three days of dirt-track racing during the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway, then return with little time to spare before the racer‘s reunion at Slinger Speedway on Sunday. August begins, and it’s one busy time of year.

 
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