Published: October 01, 2007 09:50 pm            

BOWMAN: Stanbrough team is best in a decade

Driver gets his 30th win of the season at Gas City

I’ve been fortunate enough to be allowed to cover the area race scene for the Kokomo Tribune now for nearly 10 years. During that time it’s been my privilege to witness countless exhibitions that are truly memorable.

There was the night of the first running of the Vince Osman Memorial during Kent Evans’ family-tenure at the Kokomo Speedway. At that time, the Osman Memorial was the single highest paying race for a one-day non-wing sprint show in the country. Though the actual payout has escaped me, I remember that there was money for each lap that would pay the winner in excess of $12,000 should he lead every lap and win the race.

That night Tony Elliott used a questionable slide job on Mike Mann to take home the huge winner’s share. Despite the contact, which broke his right front shock, Mann never relented and, had there been 10 more laps, more than likely would have won the race. He was by far the fastest car on the track that night.

I also witnessed Elliott win the Lucas Oil (then Pennzoil) National Sprint Car Series on a couple of occasions (1998 and 2000). As evidence of the amount of local talent we are blessed with on a weekly basis here in central-Indiana, I got the opportunity to cover Dave Darland’s national sprint championship in 1999 while driving the famed Hoffman Racing/Kroger/Pringle/Sunny Delight No. 69.

In 2000 I had the opportunity to see Nextel Cup standout Kasey Kahne set a midget track record at Kokomo en route to the USAC National Midget Series championship. Darland then became a member of an elite group to win a national title in all three of USAC’s primary divisions (Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget) when he won back to back national midget titles in 2001-2002 driving the Bob East/Steve Lewis/Ed Pink Ford No. 9 that helped propel the likes of Kahne, Tony Stewart, the late Kenny Irwin and Mike Bliss to the next level — NASCAR.

However, during the last decade, I’ve never seen a driver and a team as good as the pairing of the Fox Brothers/Jarvis Engines/DRC Chassis No. 53 and Jon Stanbrough.

In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Elliott had some astounding statistics. In 1998, if I remember correctly, the former Kokomo resident won 24 or 25 features including once when he won a non-wing, winged and midget event — all within a span of five days at the local oval, but Stanbrough’s recent success is overwhelming.

Earlier in the 2007 season Stanbrough had won the 100th feature event of his career and had already captured something like 18 features. I remember speaking with him on a story I was preparing that featured his 100 wins.

When I asked him what his goals were for the remainder of the season, he mentioned that prior to the 2007 campaign he set a goal of winning one more feature than he did in 2006. When I joked “why not go for 30,” he chuckled and said he had thought of that already and would like to do it.

Well, he did just that Friday night at the Gas City I-69 Speedway.

It wasn’t just that he did it, it was who all he beat to get the job done. To my surprise, when I strolled through the pit area, Chuck Pearce told me there were 49 sprint cars on hand. With Bloomington’s season now in the books and the nice weather we’ve been blessed with late in the season, it seems most of the drivers are like the rest of us — they hate the thought of seeing the season end and want to get in as much racing as possible.

Aside from a few notables, it was a star-studded field, but Stanbrough proved why he will without a doubt be crowned the National Non-Wing Sprint Car Driver of the Year.

Starting inside the second row for the feature event that included six track champions (Stanbrough, Shane Cottle, Darland, A.J. Anderson, Kent Christian, Jeff Bland and Billy Puterbaugh) three Rookie of the Years (Steve Ott, Josh Spencer and Chris Windom) it was obvious Stanbrough would have his work cut out for him.

Jason Holt led early with Anderson in tow behind the wheel of the Pearce Racing/Bud’s Auto Sales No. 26 and Stanbrough stalking the pair. Once he cleared both, he simply checked out, driving away from the rest of the talent-laden field. His only real scare came when Jamie Frederickson got spun out in turn three with Stanbrough narrowly missing the Kokomo driver’s stalled car.

The best battles naturally were waged back in the pack as Cottle and Darland scrapped for lap after lap, but Bland put on the charge of the night. The recently-crowned Bloomington track champion, in his first year in a sprint car after a successful modified career, started 18th but worked his way up to third, battling Cottle for the second position.

Darland drove Lynn Reid’s Kokomo Honda/Freelance Lettering No. 2D to fourth and Daron Clayton was fifth in the Trucker’s 24-Hour No. 10. Windom took sixth, followed by Anderson, Neil Shepherd, Holt and Kenny Biro.

Spencer was 11th after a hard flip a week ago and Frederickson 20th after running solidly again in the top-10 before being spun out. Cottle, Ott, Biro, Brett Burdette, Hunter Schuerenberg (in his final race with the Trucker’s team) and Anderson notched hard-fought heat wins. Windom and Travis Welpott each won their respective B-mains.

With another event remaining at the track as well as a $10,000 to win show at Lawrenceburg and the Kokomo Klash on Oct. 19-20 which will host sprints both nights, it’s likely Stanbrough will add to his victory total.

Ohio modified standout Todd Sherman worked his way from the third row to capture the modified feature as 31 cars checked in. Andy Bishop was second and last week’s winner Bub Patrick took third. Terry Hull and Zeke McKenzie (from 19th) rounded out the top five. Local drivers Jerry Taylor and Rick Johns were 10th and 15th, respectively.

Patrick, Taylor, Bishop and Tony Urbine won heat races and Jim Mallory took the B-main victory.

Shane Landis’ debut in his new No. 11L was a good one as he took the Street Stock feature win, holding off two of the best Street Stock drivers around in Dan Meyers and Randy Lines. David Hurst was fourth and Jimmy Nutter fifth. James Nutter turned in a solid 10th-place run. Hurst and Lines each won their heat races.

The USAC Midwest Ford Focus Midgets were on hand as well with Oklahoma driver Chett Gehrke using a late-race pass to capture the win. James Robertson (the series points leader) worked his way to a second-place showing and Alison Macleod took third. Mitch Harble, who led most of the race, wound up fourth and Tyler Irwin rounded out the top five.

The track will host its season-ending event, the Jack Himelick Fall Finals, Friday night. The first race is slated to push off at 7:30.

        

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