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Fremont Speedway Pitnotes From 5-19
Story by:
By Brian Liskai
05/22/2001:
Fremont Speedway's pits were very crowded Saturday night with 50 super sprints, 30 305 sprints and 24 dirt trucks. It was so crowded, some of the race teams were forced to pit in the horse arena area.
The stands were also crowded with people Saturday night, as was evident by the Sandusky County Fair Board's 50/50 raffle. The lucky winner took home $1,415, surpassing opening night's pot. We're still trying to find out who won the jackpot, but word has it it was a husband and wife team.
D&N Enterprises sponsored the third bike giveaway of the year for children 10 and under.
Dain Naida of Lambertville, Mich., made his debut at Fremont Speedway Saturday. Naida is the son of 1978 sprint car track champion John Naida.
Kenny Jacobs leads the All Star Circuit of Champions in career feature wins. He has scored feature wins all over the United States, including some of the country's best known tracks - with the exception of Fremont Speedway. The Mouse broke a 29 year drought by capturing Saturday's feature event.
Kenny Jacobs was at Fremont last Saturday, May 12, to watch his son Lee race. Jacobs, ever the vigilant dad, said he "cracked the whip" on his son and the crew, making them perform many maintenance tasks on the #2 sprint car.
"Irish" Jim McCune, Fremont Speedway's 1958 and 1959 track champion, was on hand Saturday. His daughter is associated with Waste Management Services who sponsored the night's racing. McCune tried to give some of his daughter's money away, vowing if anyone could break his track record for the Australian Pursuit, he would give away $1,000 of Bob and Kathy Spitler's money. His record was passing the entire field of cars in 3/4th of a lap. The Spitler's got to keep their money, but Chad Kemenah and Alvin Roepke put on a great show in the race, racing side-by-side for the last half of the race. Kemenah passed Roepke coming out of turn four on the last lap for the win. Because the rules of the race call for any car being passed to drop out, Roepke ended up being scored sixth in the 10-car field.
Ashley Hoffman did a beautiful job of singing the National Anthem Saturday. Plans are to have a live singer perform the song at each race this yar.
Defending sprint car track champion Eric Rankine, came out of retirement Saturday to drive the #27 usually driven by fellow New London resident Trent Walter.
The Greyhound Rescue of Ohio, an organization looking for new homes for retired racing Greyhound dogs, was on hand Saturday with a couple of the canines. You can get more information on this organization at www.greyhoundrescueohio.com
Rich Farmer, driver of the #64 shamrock dirt truck is in a dilemma. You see, his girlfriend collects all his winnings at the track and puts it in a savings account. When the account has enough money in it from racing, the couple plans to get married. Some of the fellow dirt truck competitors have asked Farmer if he wants them to spin him out if he gets close to winning enough money!
Rusty McClure, who has two career feature wins at Fremont Speedway, is still recovering from serious injuries he sustained last year in a sprint car crash. McClure was in the pit area Saturday at the track. While he still has a lot of rehabilitation work ahead of him, McClure was in great spirits and said every day he gets stronger.
Bobby Foster, driver of the #91 305 sprinter, is having engine woes. He indicated Saturday he was going to tear the engine apart this week to find out what's causing the gremlins.
With his win Saturday, Kenny Jacobs became the 278th different driver to score a feature win in Fremont Speedway's history. There have been 1,649 A-mains run at The Track That Action Built (1951-present).
Several drivers have moved up on the "All-Time" victory list. Art Ball has the most feature wins at 65, followed by Gug Keegan with 62; Jim Linder with 58; Herbie Robinson with 54; Mark Keegan with 52; Jim McCune with 45; Wayne Maffett with 44; Harold McGilton with 40; Al Franks with 34; and Wally Heminger with 32. Current racers looking to move up are Mark Keegan (fifth with 52); Jack Hewitt (21st with 17); Bobby Clark (21st with 17); L.J. Connors (30th with 12); Bill Hahn (33rd with 11); Steve Sabo, (36th with 10); Bob Foster (39th with 9); John Ivy (47th with 8); Bryan Scott (47th with 8)Danny Keegan (54th with 7); Chad Kemenah (54th with 7); Phil Gressman (56th with 6); Dan Roepke (56th with 6); Larry Scott (74th with 5); Scott Miller (74th with 5); Paul Weaver (74th with 5); Lee Potter (74th with 5); Troy Vaccaro (89th with 4); Eric Rankine (89th with 4); Kevin Huntley (89th with 4); Jody Keegan (89th with 4); Mike Linder (106th with 3); Greg Wilson (106th with 3); Dick Liskai (106th with 3); Byron Reed (106th with 3); There are numerous drivers still racing at Fremont with two wins including Rich Farmer, Gregg Summitt, Greg Johnson, Jeremy Durst, Justin Stout, Doug Berryman, Bill Kraylek, Todd Kane, Rodney Duncan, Kelly Kinser, and Danny Smith.
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