TRACKS: Friday's Racing Critical to Point Battles
9 June 1999
BLOOMINGTON, IN - It isn't unusual for Bloomington Speedway's racing division points to be all stacked up at the top. The tight competition keeps the standings fairly close throughout the season, and each race turns more critical as the season progresses. Friday night's competition could help or hurt several top area drivers.Just five weeks after Opening Night, rookie Jerry Hepworth has caught Lee Hobbs, of Mitchell, at the top of the Indiana Street Stock division. When the veteran Hobbs was absent from last Friday's racing, even though the points earned were only for participation and heat races, Hepworth's 31 tallies moved him into the tie with Hobbs. Although Plainfield's Hepworth is new to the high speed banks at Bloomington, he has been a regular at other area tracks, including running Lincoln Park Speedway's Thunder Truck division. With his best finish a second place on May 14th, obviously, Hepworth is finding this quarter-mile oval to his liking.
While Steve Hunt (Martinsville) and Don Bush Jr. (Bloomington) still lurk just behind the Street Stock leaders, last year's series champ, Perry Bruce, continues to gain ground after missing the opening night event. Bruce, from Bloomington, is the only driver other than Hobbs to win a Street Stock feature this season, and he has already claimed two, boosting him into fifth in points, only 27 behind the leaders.
The last time Bloomingtontonian Ray Humphrey won a Bloomington Speedway title, Jeff Gordon was a regular in the sprint car pits. In 1986, Humphrey claimed the street stock title. Thirteen seasons later, he is again knocking on the door of a track championship, holding a 17 point margin over defending champion of the Modified division, Matt Tiller. But things begin to get harder for Humphrey, beginning Friday night. Having won two consecutive Bloomington UMP Modified features, Humphrey can't start any better than tenth in Friday's A-Main.
This might give Tiller (Bloomington), Kerry Norris (Columbus) and a bunch of other drivers a chance to catch him. But the way Humphrey has been running, they will need every advantage they can get. Tiller is the only driver beside Humphrey to win a UMP Modified feature at Bloomington this summer. Jack Taylor (Monrovia), Brian Campbell (Solsberry) and Richie Lex (Morgantown) have also been strong, although Campbell has wasted a chassis and an engine just since the season opened.
Last season's Pennzoil Cup sprint car champion, Derek Scheffel has begun to pull away in the series points. Of the non-winged regulars, Scheffel has shown the best at running with a wing, and qualified fifth quick in the All Stars program. Most grandstand veterans agree it is just a matter of time before he earns his first Bloomington feature.
But before we again present the Cup to the Columbus Kid, some hard-nosed sprint car racers plan to make him earn it. At one time or another, Terre Haute's Kenny Carmichael has competed in almost every class appearing at Bloomington. Now, he's the only driver beside Scheffel to tow in for every show this season. He's only 17 points out of the lead, and certainly has the capability of winning the Cup, too. But with a best feature finish of eighth, Carmichael needs to improve his feature results to gain credibility as a challenger. Eric Burns (Brazil) and Chris LaFollette (Pittsboro) have fallen more than seventy points behind, and have virtually no chance of catching Scheffel, unless something totally unanticipated happens. But the upcoming schedule gets tougher with USAC in town twice (including the season-ending Sheldon Kinser Memorial). Plus, the heavy hitters will all be chasing the Five Crown money, and the All Stars return for winged racing in July.
In a note related to last Friday's rained-out program, the $500-to-win UMP Modified and Indiana Street Stock events have also been rescheduled in conjunction with the July 30th return of the All Stars winged sprint cars.
Bloomington Speedway Points
Through June 4, 1999
Pennzoil Cup Sprint Cars
1. Derek Scheffel 276. 2 Kenny Carmichael 258, 3. Eric Burns 203, 4. Chris LaFollette 197, 5. Lennie Waltz 178, 6. Justin Marvel 164, 7. Pete Abel 162, 8. Jason Knoke 159, 9. Tyler Waltz 156, 10. Joey Saldana 155
UMP Modifieds (Please note that these are Bloomington Speedway's track points and not UMP series points.) 1. Ray Humphrey 207, 2. Matt Tiller 190, 3 Kerry Norris 186, 4. Jack Taylor and Brian Campbell 180 (tie), 6. Richie Lex 179, 7. Charlie Phillips 157, 8. Levi Ray Godsey 148, 9. Zack Scott 145, 10. Lee Hobbs 131
Indiana Street Stocks
1. Lee Hobbs and Jerry Hepworth 219 (tie), 3. Steve Hunt 205, 4. Don Bush Jr. 200, 5. Perry Bruce 192, 6. Tom Plotz 185, 7. Bret Ezzo 184, 8. Cory Brown 183, 9. Steve Hollars 179, 10. Roy Bruce Jr. 178
Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.