ARCA Midgets: Sarah McCune Sails in Flat Rock ARCA Midgets
18 July 1999
by Don RadebaughFlat Rock, Michigan, - Sarah McCune sailed into victory lane Saturday night at Flat Rock Speedway in the Perry Younce Memorial leading flag to flag in the 30 lap ARCA Auto Value Midget Series main event.
McCune, in her fathers A-1 Auto Parts-CTC Phone Center of Indy Ford Beast, fought off continual pressure from AJ Davis for 25 laps before dealing with a late-race charge from current ARCA Midget point leader Gene Lee Gibson to earn her third ARCA Midget Victory at Flat Rock Speedway. "We had some help from Perry tonight," said McCune in victory lane. "We really wanted to win this race for his honor, and for his family who are all here tonight." Younce, a former Flat Rock Late Model Rookie of the Year and ARCA Midget winner, lost his life in a Midget racing accident in 1996. "The car really worked well but it started tightening up there about halfway in. We were hanging on hard when AJ got to me. He got his front wheels under me a couple of times but we were fortunate enough to hold him off. I want to thank him for racing me so clean." Gary Harrell, in his R&M Towing-TJ Roofing Autocraft Hawk finished third ahead of Phil Rutledges Vette Shop Pontiac and Dave Baumgartner, after a lap one crash that saw the Ottawa Lake, Michigan driver tip over on his side, recovered to finish fifth.
The race got off to a shaky start when McCune, who started inside row two, and the polesitter Jim Hines made contact going into turn one causing Hines to spin sideways up the track directly in front of the field. From there, cars scurried in all directions in an effort to miss the melee that saw seven cars pile up next to the wall between turns one and two. There were no injuries however the incident eliminated Jim Hettinger, Jason Fuller, Jim Sawyer and Hines from competition. On the complete restart, trouble awaited Kevin Myers in the same corner when the Wapakoneta, Ohio driver skipped over a right-rear tire and soared into the turn one wall hard turning over onto his side in the aftermath. Myers was ok and when racing resumed, McCune showed the way with Davis, Rutledge, Baumgartner and Harrell in tow. Soon Davis was inches away from McCunes back bumper and on several occasions peaked inside of the leader at both ends of the speedway but was unable to muster enough steam to make the pass. With laps winding down, Davis began fading with tire trouble while Harrell and Gibson charged into second and third respectively. Gibson then muscled his way inside of Harrell for second and quickly tracked down McCune but ran out of time when the checkers fell after 30 laps.
Earlier rain showers washed away qualifying but cleared up in time for Hines, Rutledge, McCune and Harrell to win heat events. Matt Westfall won the B-main and finished sixth in the main event ahead of Sarah Fisher, Rick Harrell, JD Turner and Larry Gibson to complete the top ten.
Next action for the ARCA Auto Value Midget Series will be Saturday night, July 24th at Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Michigan.
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