CHICAGO WHISPERS
by Stan Kalwasinski

 September 1, 2008

            Chicago , Ill. —Grundy County Speedway’s 32nd annual “Nite of Features” last night might have brought down the curtain on Frank Welch’s long tenure as the “headman” of racing at the Grundy County Fairgrounds facility in Morris. 

            Stories and rumors were flying before the day’s racing began, that this would be the last night of action at Grundy under the guidance of Welch.  A former track champion and front runner at the old Mazon ( Ill. ) Speed Bowl, Welch became a racing official almost immediately after his racing days were over after being injured in an automobile accident in the 1950’s.  Welch handled a lot of assignments at Mazon, which back then was run under the “watchful eye” of Wayne Carter.  Welch, along with Carter, was instrumental in building the new Grundy speedway, which replaced the high-banked quarter-mile paved Mazon oval prior to the 1971 season.

            During Grundy’s final stock car program of the season, Welch was seen on his golf cart, checking on things here and there as the day progressed.  After a long night of racing, Welch was at his usual seat at the front gate ticket office, paying off prize money to his stock car racers.

            “I’m probably done,” said a weary-looking Welch at the end of the night.  “It’s no fun anymore.”

            Sources report that several names have been tossed around as Welch’s successor with one possible candidate already turning down the offer.  It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the coming months.

            A lot of racing Sunday night saw the double-points event determine Grundy’s track champions for the 2008 season.  Brett Sontag of Joliet captured the 61-lap Lee Schuler Memorial late model headliner and, in the process, won his third career Grundy late model crown.  Winning his seventh feature race of the season, Sontag came back from an early-race pit stop to make some minor repairs to his rapid-running Ford Fusion.  Now with three career Schuler race victories, Sontag won the Grundy season title by only 38 markers over defending track champion, Tom Smith.  Running second at the time, Smith looked to be in control at grabbing his second Grundy title only to see an engine oil filter fail, causing Smith to drop out of the race.

            Jeremy Bloomberg of Hampshire captured the 30-lap Mid American Sportsman main event.  Finishing second behind the winner, Jeff Olson of Seneca ended up besting Eric Pierce, who finished fifth in the feature, by only 14 points for his first Grundy Mid American title.  Known as the “Caveman” during his early racing career, Chad Bayuk of Joliet cinched the driving crown in the Street Stock division.  Kyle Lindemuth of Morris ended up claiming top season honors in the track’s 4-Cylinder ranks.

            Congratulations go to Dave Gentile, Jr. and Andy Marchiniak for their racing efforts this past season in USPRO Racing competition.  Gentile captured the division’s first ever season title, while Marchiniak was the association’s rookie of the year.  Gentile and Marchiniak were both in action at Grundy Sunday with Gentile finishing 10th in the Schuler event.  Marchiniak, who turned in a solid second place performance in the late model feature the night before at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville , Ind. , got tangled up with a slower car Sunday and tagged the Grundy wall pretty hard, badly damaging his car. 

            Art “Fireball” Fehrman’s Illinois Vintage Racing group was on hand Sunday with Bill Knippenberg wheeling his ’64 Chevelle to victory in the vintage feature race.  After the race, “old timers” Pat Echlin and Johnny McPartlin were seen telling stories about the “old days.”  Echlin and his Tom Pistone-look-alike ‘59 Thunderbird are regulars on the Illinois Vintage circuit.  An old Santa Fe Speedway racer, Fehrman, along with his dad, Art Sr., were also among the “story tellers.”

            Other feature winners on Sunday included Dave Budres of Beloit , Wis. winning the Illini Racing Series midget feature and Mickey Kudlicki capturing the Legend Cars division headliner.  LaSalle Speedway United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) open-wheel modified champion Vince Cooper took his first “ride” in competition in a late model stock car Sunday at Grundy.  Winning three UMP modified features on dirt so far this year, Cooper was wheeling an old Knippenberg Racing late model during his first paved track adventure.

            Saturday saw the Mazon Speed Bowl/Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame host its annual induction and awards ceremony.  Committee chairman Ron Kessler reported that well over 200 people attended this year’s gathering with a lot of “bench racing” going on all day.  Over 24 vintage race cars were on display as a complement to the day’s proceedings. 

            This year’s inductees included midget racers Dennis DeVea, Dick Pole and George Sellery, along with stock car drivers Norm Fritz, Tom Jones, Jerry Peterson, Al Weinreich and Duane Pierson, who competed at Grundy in both stocks and midgets.  “Special Friend of Racing” honors went to John McKarns, Bob Randolph, Sr. and chairman Kessler, who has done a “ton of work” behind the scenes to make the Hall of Fame successful.  Kessler reports that the committee has now acquired more than 2,000 photos for its annual display, which definitely gives a pictorial history of both the Mazon and Grundy tracks. 

            Closing out Saturday’s activities at Grundy, “red hot” Mario Clouser of Auburn , Ill. won the 28th annual Bob Lockard Memorial midget race.  Clouser won the United Midget Auto Racing Association-sanctioned 30-lap feature ahead of Jimmy Anderson and last year’s Lockard race winner, Zach Schiff.

            Hard to believe, but this might be the first year in the history of the Grundy oval that a late model stock car racing program will not be held during the month of September.  Grundy closes out its racing season this coming Saturday with an enduro race program.

            Illiana hosts its Season Championship program for all of its stock car divisions this coming Saturday evening.  Four time track champion Mike White is gunning for another super late model crown with last year’s division champion Jeff Cannon being his “main obstacle.”  Pretty much destroying his Tom Rose-owned Chevy Impala SS in a qualifying accident on August 16, White has raced the Ray Wroblewski-owned Chevy the last couple of weekends, finishing fourth in last Saturday’s feature race.  White usually drives the black No. 14 at Grundy on Friday nights.  White regained the points lead after Cannon dropped out early from Saturday’s feature event.

            50 Years Ago (1958)—Indiana’s Don Oldenberg was the late model stock car champion at Chicago’s Soldier Field as the city’s mammoth lakefront arena was the scene of weekly stock car racing.  Among Oldenberg’s victories that year was the annual Chicago Park District Police Benevolent race that attracted well over 50,000 spectators.  Oldenberg and his Buick defeated some real strong competition from that era—Bill Lutz, Whitey Gerken, Fred Lorenzen and Gene Marmor. 

            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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