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With 17 dates on the 2008 schedule featuring the Badger Midgets, USAC Midgets, Illini Racing Series and the MSA Sprints 2008 looks like an action packed year.

 

Latest News from Angell Park Speedway

Saturday August 30th, 2008

The Firemen's Nationals 50

Presented by Pepsi

$15,000 to win and over $35,000 paid out!!

Brady Bacon Wins the Firemen's Nationals

Thirty-four of the best midgets in the country took shots at qulifying for the Fireman’s Nationals presented by Pepsi on Saturday. At $15,000 to win and a total purse of over $35,000, this was one of the riches midget races in the world.

The day started with a big trophy dash payout, as the six fastest Badger regulars drove for a purse of over $3,000 in the Dave Schulenberg Memorial Dash. Jerry Coons Jr. added his name to the unique trophy of trowels as he lead every lap of the event. Schulenberg was a Sun Prairie High School grad, who owned Dave’s Masonry. He was a regular fan at Angell Park Speedway and a sponsor of Brandon Waelti’s car. He was tragically killed while driving home after a midget race in Illinois and since then his family and friends have supported this race in his memory.

Jim Fuerst lead the first heat race of the night from the outside pole. He was able to hold off Tony Stewart Racing’s driver Levi Jones for two laps, before the much stronger Chevy overtook him. Fuerst, who has only made a handful of races this year, was having an excellent run and early-on it looked like he might race his way into the feature. But just before the mid-point of the race he hit the berm hard in turn four, bolting himself to the left and killing his momentum. Much of the field sped by him and his hope of entering the feature cleanly was dashed. Jones took the win.

Tim Noble, a candidate for Badger’s Most Improved Driver award lead early in the second heat after starting on the pole. He was tailed by his teammate, Aaron Fiscus and Brady Bacon. Noble held off the factory-backed Mopar of Bacon until the middle of the race where Bacon got the advantage and went on to the win.

Visiting for the first time this season, from his Ohio home, Matt Westfall lead the third heat at the drop of the green. In a preview of things to come, most cars were opting for the cushion as their preferred line, including the leader and second place car of Brad Kuhn. The Buckeye had been leading the Indiana driver, when on the sixth circuit, coming through turn two, Kuhn swung low, under Westfall, but didn’t quite have him cleared as he came back high. Westfall didn’t back down and the two made contact. Both continued on, with Kuhn in the lead, but Westfall faded. In the end Kuhn got pressure from Dave Darland in the Hans Lein car, but Kuhn’s Fontana was up to the task and he eked out the victory. Westfall missed the transfer spot due to a last lap pass by Darren Hagen.

The last heat saw Chad DeSelle lead early, but at about lap five he gave way to Tracy Hines in the other TSR Chevy. Hines held on for the win.

The semi-feature started with a scary flip as Sun Prairie’s Joe Wipperfurth caught a rut and vaulted his Imhoff/Davis mount over the turn four wall. Emergency vehicles were quick to the scene and it didn’t take long for track announcer Dave Shannon to project the most eagerly anticipated words in midget racing, "He’s out of the car." Soon thereafter Wipperfurth could be seen waiving from the top of the same billboard he conquered. When racing resumed, Chad Boat ,who rode the turn three wall and flipped in his heat, bested the field from start to finish. A teenager, Boat’s car owner is his father, former Indy 500 pole sitter Billy Boat, who has also competed at Angell Park Speedway.

Part of the allure of dirt track racing is how track conditions can change from day to day and sometimes hour to hour. It offers a much less generic surface for a racing contest. Last week’s racing offered two grooves and three wide racing, over the back to back nights with a cushion nearing the wall. Today, the cushion was only about mid-track wide. It didn’t lend itself to three wide racing by virtue of usable space. As they took off at the drop of the green Brady Bacon tried to change that, it seemed. The Oklahoma driver immediately started cutting a groove above the well marked line of previous races, kicking clay as he went. This worked well for the first ten laps as the rest of the field gave chase. A yellow bunched the field with a restart order of Bacon, Coons, Hagen, Ray, Cole Whitt and Mike Hess.

When they took off again, Coons made easy work of Bacon and within five laps the Arizona driver had the field by half a straightaway. In five more circuits Coons started to encounter lapped traffic and Bacon gained a length or two. Most of the lappers kept to the bottom, but an occasional one would stay on the berm. This made for some textbook practice in the art of the slide job. Both Coons and Bacon received high marks as they forged on.

As Coons was cruising, everyone in the park had to be wondering the same thing. No one expected another malfunction by the Wilke car he was piloting. But still, there had to be a nagging worry that the car would not be up to the task, as it has lead and lost so often of late at the speedway. Lap 24 answered the question as Coons appeared to lose power as he rolled to a stop on the track. His team tried to repair the car and while it fired, he pulled out once the green flag flew.

Bacon was again on the point and enjoyed the buffer of two lapped cars between himself and teammate Brad Sweet along with Hagen, Davey Ray in the Fike car, Hines, Hess and Kuhn. Bacon immediately distanced himself as everyone was running on the berm. By lap 30 the running order was basically the same. Bacon had a straightaway on Sweet who had the same distance on Hagen.

Bacon worked lapped traffic well and he met them on lap 36. On lap 41 the Sweet midget started to smoke. Four laps later Sweet banged the cushion hard coming out of four jolting him to the left and then to the right, toward the wall. He appeared to brush the barrier a bit, but he kept charging.

Bacon continued to keep a comfortable lead as they approached the white flag, when Sweet had a review of his lap 41 run. This time he couldn’t hold it and after hitting the front stretch wall he took a nasty tumble past the flag stand. The car landed upright, facing the crowd. He paused for a moment. He then unstrapped, climbed out and promptly spiked his helmet in disgust.

The restart saw Bacon with four lapped vehicles behind him. Hines was in second place behind them. With Bacon dictating the pace and the rule that there is to be no passing until a driver passes the cone located near the push off area, it seemed unlikely Bacon could lose. It took Hines a lap to clear the lapped traffic and he set his sights on Bacon. Had there been another five laps, it looked as if Hines might have had a shot. But that wasn’t the case and Bacon took home the big prize for Mopar and his Kasey Kahne team. After Hines the top five rounded out with Hagen, Kuhn and Scott Hatton.

News and Notes:

Mike Hess sealed the 2008 Badger Driver’s Championship the night before at a race at the Dodge County Fair Grounds. His owner, Jerry Hardy had to wait until tonight to seal the deal for the owner’s crown, which he did.

To date there appears to be no other dirt track that the top teams have contested at least three times this season. This would seem to make Angell Park Speedway a proving ground of sorts. But it only allowed for questions, as the last three features that highlighted the top teams in USAC saw wins by Fontana, Chevy and Mopar. Toyota, with a new driver, was in the top five on two of those nights and Esslinger made the top five, twice.


Brady Bacon is only 18 years old and appears to be the youngest winner of the Nationals. He joins a list of winners which includes National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame members, Billy Englehart, Rich Vogler, Kevin Olson and Kevin Doty.

Aaron Fike hoped to make a run for the $15,000, but a crash the night before left him still suffering and while he was in the pits, he opted to stay out of the cockpit.

 

Pepsi Fireman's Nationals race#5 in midget racing's crown jewel for '08
 

By Bryan Gapinski

Sun Prairie, Wis., Aug. 27---The 27th annual Firemans' Nationals presented by Pepsi, is slated for Saturday Night Aug. 30 at Angell Park Speedway. The event which was started in 1982 as a two-day event, traces its history back to the early 70's when Pepsi of Madison sponsored the season finale at the 1/3-mile clay oval.

        Switched back to a one-day show in 1983, the event's purse and prestige has grown over the years and is now considered one of the "Elite Eight" midget auto events of the season (other are: Chili Bowl, Night Before the 500, Knoxville, Belleville, Hut Hundred, Copper World and Turkey Night).

        The event has created countless memories and for the 14 different winning drivers, is the victory stand amongst their career highlights. Interesting event facts include: 

----Drivers Kevin Doty and Kevin Olson each have five victories, with Dan Boorse, Tracy Hines, and Scott Hatton the only other multiple-winners. Rich Vogler and Stevie Reeves are the only drivers to win the event in their first attempt. 

----Car Owner Wilke Racing has won the event nine times with six different drivers. Olson ('83, '86, '87), Vogler ('85),  Reeves ('91), Hines ('01, '02), Davey Ray ('03) and last year with Jerry Coons Jr. 

----The event has determined the Badger Champion, eleven times, the last time being 2002. 

----Largest field of cars was 61 for the 1990 event.

 ----Only six drivers have led a feature lap in their first event. Vogler ('85), Reeves ('91),  Rick Treadway ('98), Ricky Shelton ('98), Kevin Swindell ('07), and Brad Sweet ('07).

 ----The 1998 event saw a record five different drivers lead the race including Nick Lundgreen, Treadway, Kevin Koch, Shelton and Olson.

 ----Twenty drivers have posted fast time for the event. Only Stan Fox (3), and Hines (2) are multi-time fast qualifiers. Steve Paden (2002) is the only to set fast time and not transfer to the feature.

 ----Davey Ray (2003) is the only driver to lead the opening lap and win the event. Ray is also the only driver to lead all 50-laps.

 ----The following drivers won the Nationals and scored a major midget victory the same season:

    1983: Kevin Olson (Turkey Night)

    1985: Rich Vogler (Hut Hundred)

    1991: Stevie Reeves (Copper World, Hut Hundred) 

    1993: Page Jones (Belleville)

    1994: Kevin Doty (Belleville, Hut Hundred)

    1999: Dan Boorse (Chili Bowl)

    2000: Jay Drake (Hut Hundred)

    2001: Tracy Hines (Hut Hundred)

    2007: Jerry Coons Jr. (Belleville)

 

----Kevin Doty holds the record for leading 170 total feature laps and most preliminary race wins with eleven. While Doty and Kevin Olson each led eight Nationals events. Dan Boorse leads all drivers with 14 top-five finishes.

----Stealth leads all chassis manufacturers, with ten event wins. Mopar, has been the engine of choice for the last three winners, and combined with the Sesco-Mopar victories in '02, and '03, they have five straight victories. 

----In 1983 Don "Ditto" Tyler won the C Feature, then the B-Feature and then finished second, a half-car length behind winner Kevin Olson in the events closest finish.

 ----The $15,000 first place winners check, will top the event's record winners share won by Coons last year of $10,600. 

Pit Gates open at 3:30 pm  on Saturday Aug.30, with practice starting at 6:00 pm, followed by qualifying and the first race at 7:00 pm. Rain dates for the event are Sunday Aug. 31 and Monday Sep. 1.

______________

The track prep crew and Angell Park Speedway would like to thank         John Reinen from Brooks Tractor of Sun Prairie for bringing in the big equipment to help us out during the last two weeks or our season.      Thanks a lot John we really appreciate it!!

 

 

Race Track Ronnie and Master grader operator Ron Klock really appreciate your help John!

______________

 

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Upcoming Events
xHall of Fame Classic
Sunday August 24th 2008 Miller Genuine Draft presents the Hall of Fame Classic 30. Gates open at 4:30pm Hot Laps at 6:00pm Time Trials at 6:30pm with Racing to start at 7pm

 

xFiremen's Nationals
Saturday August 30th 2008. Pepsi presents the Firemen's Nationals 50.  Gates open at 4:30pm Hot Laps at 6:00pm Time Trials at 6:30pm with Racing to start at 7pm.

 

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2008 Badger Points Standing

as of 8/31/2008

POSITION DRIVER POINTS
1 MIKE HESS 1675
2 SCOTT HATTON 1515
3 BRANDON WAELTI 1382
4 JERRY COONS JR 1188
5 BUBBA ALTIG 1155
6 AARON FISCUS 1104
7 DAVEY RAY 1098
8 JOE WIPPERFURTH 993
9 CHAD DESELLE 925
10 DAVID GOUGH 904
11 TIM NOBLE 866
12 ROBBIE RAY 682
13 MICHAEL PICKENS 663
14 BUDDY LUEBKE 583
15 MATT SMITH 580
16 NICK LUNDGREEN 560
17 A.J.FIKE 498
18 DAVID BUDRES 380
19 BRYON WALTERS 353
20 JAKE SLOTTEN 350
21 ROB KEELAN 327
22 DAN MECUM  323
23 KURT MAYHEW 308
24 JASON DULL 264
25 ADAM CLARKE 239
26 JON LEJEUNE 237
27 KRIS HOEGSTED 159
28 JIM FUERST 149
29 BOB SHREFFLER 95
30 PAT JONES 28
31 RIK FORBES 23
32 PAUL PERKINS 10