CHICAGO WHISPERS
by Stan Kalwasinski

August 3, 2008

            Chicago , Ill. —Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville leads the UMP DIRTcarSuper late model points standings by 149 points over Wes Steidinger of Fairbury , Ill. , following a strong performance on last week’s five-race “Monster Midwest Tour.”  Erb registered one win, three top-five and five top-10 finishes in Monster Midwest Tour action. His victory came in the opener on July 22 at Peoria ( Ill. ) Speedway .  Jeff Leka of Buffalo , Ill. , has moved to the top of the UMP DIRTcar Modified national points standings, unseating Randle Sweeney of Clifty , Ky. Sweeney leads Leka in the feature-win department, 26-19, but Leka has accumulated more points than Sweeney (2,832-2,741) through July 28 in search of his first-ever UMP DIRTcar national crown.

            Congratulations to first time winners over the weekend, Tom Knippenberg and Jason Kolbe (at the Grundy County Speedway in Morris on Friday) and Wisconsin ’s Noel Ramge (at the Rockford Speedway on Saturday). 

            Knippenberg captured his first super late model win at the paved Grundy oval, holding off defending track champion Tom Smith and last week’s feature winner and former track titlist Pat Kelly for the win.  Knippenberg, Grundy’s 2005 late model rookie of the year, is currently third in the point standings, a few markers ahead of his older brother, Billy.  The Knippenberg brothers are of course the sons of long-time area dirt track ace, Bill Knippenberg, who operates Bill’s Speed Shop in Rockdale.

            Kolbe, who hails from Oak Lawn , won his first career Mid American Sportsman main event on Friday.  After helping the likes of Josh Nelms and John Nutley, Kolbe started his own driving career, running four cylinders and later, street stocks.  Kolbe’s dad, Butch, and brother, Carl, crewed the winning Monte Carlo .

            Ramge added his name to the late model feature winners list at the NASCAR-sanctioned Rockford oval.  Ramge bested Jon Reynolds, Jr. and Jerry Gille in Saturday’s 30 lapper on the high-banked, quarter-mile raceway.  The veteran Gille leads the current late model standings, looking to win his first Rockford late model crown.

            Sunshine almost ruined sprint car driver Geoff Kaiser’s evening of racing at Illiana Motor Speedway Saturday.  Coming back from a sunshine-caused bout with the wall in an earlier heat race, Kaiser captured the 30-lap feature race for the visiting Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series (HOSS) at the Schererville, Ind. half-mile paved oval during the track’s annual Race Fest. 

            With the sun still beaming down on the track’s second turn and backstretch, Kaiser was temporarily blinded during the early evening heat event and clipped the wall, which caused damage to his winged sprint car’s front axle.  The 29-year-old Kaiser, the current points leader of the HOSS tour, and his crew worked right up to feature race time to replace the axle.

            “We barely got it done before the feature started,” said Kaiser, who hails from Fort Wayne , Ind.  “We got into the wall on the backstretch on the first lap (of the heat race) and bent the axle.  We were looking right into it (the sun) and it kind of blinded us.  We got it put back together.  That’s the main thing.”

            Kaiser’s fast time lap of 16.430 seconds was more than a second off the all time Illiana/HOSS qualifying mark of 15.315 seconds, which was set by Brian Gerster during HOSS’s visit to Illiana last year.  16-plus seconds around the big Illiana half-mile is still getting around pretty darn fast.  We were a little disappointed that only 14 HOSS cars were on hand.  Eddie Hoffman, wheeling the Tony D’Ambrose-owned, Tech One Race Cars-built Impala SS, took home top honors in the Schepel Performance late model 25-lap headliner.  Hopefully, track owner Mike Mikuly will restructure his Race Fest program next year to include the track’s super late model division.

            Former Illiana track officials Elmer Steinbeck and Norm Noble were taking in the racing action Saturday night.  Retiring last year after serving as the track’s timer and scorer since 1972, Steinbeck recently spent more than three weeks out of the country, visiting far away places likes Singapore , Thailand , China and Bali .  Noble was the speedway’s pit steward for many years when the track was owned by track founder, the late Harry Molenaar.  Previously, Noble supported the racing careers of a bunch of drivers either as a car owner or mechanic.  Noble’s drivers’ list includes Mike Martin, Bobby Dotter and Duane Pierson. 

            A United States Auto Club (USAC) Open Wheel Extravaganza, promoted by longtime midget builder and mechanic Don Kenyon, will take place at Illiana this Wednesday evening.  USAC Regional midgets (on the half-mile) and USAC Ford Focus and Kenyon midgets (on the quarter-mile) will make up the racing program, which will be the second and final USAC program at the speedway this year.  Gates open at 4:30 p.m., with “hot laps” beginning at 5:30 p.m. and racing at 7:00 p.m.

            Back When…51 years ago, one of the most popular area drivers ever, Tony Bettenhausen of Tinley Park won the first USAC midget feature ever held at Illiana on September 4, 1957.  Bettenhausen guided his Harry Turner-owned midget to victory in a 50-lap contest held on the then-dirt Illiana half-mile raceway.

            The high-banked dirt LaSalle Speedway has only a few more regular Saturday night programs on its schedule.  Midwestern Late Model division points leader Keith Piano won the division’s feature race this past Saturday.  A big one at the speedway—the Fall Nationals will take place on Sunday, September 14.

            Sycamore Speedway on Route 64 in Maple Park is hosting racing every Friday and Saturday nights during the month of August.  Spectator racing is featured on Friday with a full program of dirt track stock car racing on Saturdays.  Gary Koehring of Kaneville is the current super late model division points leader.  Koehring claimed the Sycamore super late model title last year after winning his first Sycamore driving crown back in 1992.

            Mario Clouser of Auburn , Ill. won his first career United Midget Auto Racing Association (UMARA) “national” midget feature victory this past Saturday at Grundy.  Moving up into the “national” ranks this year, Clouser was the USAC/UMARA Ford Focus midget champion last year.  Clouser drove a Mopar-powered, Beast chassis to the win.  Nick Grommes of Sandwich won Saturday’s USAC/UMARA Ford Focus feature.  UMARA’s 17th annual Illinois State Midget Championship event will take place at Grundy on August 16.

            The address for news and comments is 9618 Cypress Ave. , Munster , Ind. 46321-3418 or e-mail to skalwasinski@yahoo.com.

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