CHICAGO WHISPERS
by Stan Kalwasinski 

September 29, 2008
 

 Chicago , Ill. —“Evening up the score a little” is how one could describe the 2008 season for Nick Allen at Shadyhill Speedway in Medaryville , Ind.

            A year ago, the Wheatfield, Ind. open-wheel modified racer was badly injured in a crash at Shadyhill, ending Allen’s season and possibly his racing career. 

            “Last year I got t-boned in the (driver’s) door,” said Allen.  “I broke my leg in eight spots.  I broke my pelvis in five, my tailbone.  I had a bruised lung.”

            Not giving up, the 25-year-old Allen has picked up a number of impressive victories this season, including Shadyhill’s $3,000-to-win Firecracker 50 on July 4.  Allen was 16th in  United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) national modified point standings before the final Shadyhill race program this past Saturday.

            “We’re having a real good year for our ‘comeback’ year,” Allen said.  “We’ve won a few $1,000-to-win shows and the $3,000 one here.”

            A regular at Shadyhill for a number of years, Allen was the track’s mini-stock champion in 2001 and won back-to-back UMP modified titles in 2003 and 2004.  Allen and his crew, headed by his uncle and car owner, Keith Allen, have been doing some traveling this season.

            “We been doing some traveling, jumping around this year,” said Allen about his 2008 schedule.  “We’ve been running Kamp Motor Speedway (in Boswell , Ind. ), in addition to ( Indiana tracks) Bloomington , Gas City , Brownstown and Twin Cities .”

            Saturday night at Shadyhill saw Allen capture the $1,000-to-win, winner-take-all, Race of Champions.  The 15-lap race was made up of drivers, who had won UMP modified main events at Shadyhill during the 2008 campaign with eight drivers taking the green flag for the battle.  Running the bottom groove, Allen dueled with Jesse Bitterling all race long, finally grabbing the lead for keeps with about five laps to go.  Allen held off Bitterling, a former three-time Shadyhill modified champion, for the win with this year’s UMP modified track champion, Charles “Bub” Patrick, a distant third. 

            Allen started on the outside of the front row with Bitterling having the pole spot.  Allen led the opening couple of laps with Bitterling grabbing the lead at the start/finish line as the leading duo completed lap three. 

            “I thought I was in trouble.  He came around me pretty fast around the top,” Allen said.  “I thought maybe that was where the fast lane was going to be.  I kept working the bottom and he wasn’t getting away from me.  I kept trying to run a smooth line around the bottom and I finally got him.”

            Allen, who began racing go-karts when he was 14 and the modifieds in 2001, also won the night’s regularly schedule 20-lap UMP modified main event.  Again, it was Bitterling who “pestered” Allen most of the way until the checkered flag fell.  Allen posted his eighth UMP feature win of the season in his Hoffman Construction/Valley Collision Center/Bob Pierce Race Cars-sponsored mount.  Mullins Racing Engines provide the power.

            “Racer Rich” Boteler and his driver Brad DeYoung won the I-Mod division track championship at Shadyhill this season.  DeYoung, who hails from DeMotte, Ind., drove Boteler’s “economy” modified to 10 feature wins during the year with the majority of them coming at Shadyhill.  The 10th win came on September 21 on the pavement at the Plymouth ( Ind. ) Speedway .  A resident of Shelby , Ind. Boteler, a true racing enthusiast, is also a writer for the RaceStar Publications website.  DeYoung, a cement truck driver during the week, also competed in Shadyhill’s UMP modified ranks, finishing third in the final point standings with one feature win to his credit.  A full field of I-Mods was on hand for Saturday’s 20-lap division headliner with John Rhodes claiming the victory.

Shadyhill Pit Bits

            Other track champions at Shadyhill for the 2008 season include 11-time feature winner Butch Toosley in the Super Street class; Adam Williams in the Pure Street division and Steven Hobbs in the “Barefoot Mini” mini stock ranks. 

            Nine drivers were eligible for the Race of Champions.  In addition to Allen, Bitterling and Patrick, Bill Davis, Brad DeYoung, Toby Howard, Kevin DeYoung and Tony Roland were in the starting field.  The ninth feature winner this season, Frank Marshall was unable to compete as he was attending a wedding.  Roland’s company, Actins/Tri put up the $1,000 first prize money.  A premonition or what?  Roland had a Nick Allen racing t-shirt under his driver’s uniform all night long.

            Davis, the ageless veteran from Chesterton , Ind. , still continues to compete in the UMP modified ranks.  Davis claimed one feature win this season at the quarter-mile dirt oval.  Davis ’ racing career dates back to the days of the “old coupes” at the Broadway Speedway in Crown Point , Ind.  For at time, Davis even tried his hand on the pavement at Illiana Motor Speedway ( Schererville , Ind. ) in the early 1970’s.

            Speaking of veterans, Al Johnson, a longtime competitor and late model champion at Chicagoland’s old Santa Fe Speedway is still racing, competing in Shadyhill’s Super Street division with his son, Joe, also racing.  Johnson and his familiar No. 3J late model won the Santa Fe crowns in 1981 and again in 1983.  Going way back, Johnson was Santa Fe ’s sportsman division titlist in 1962.

            Another veteran, Mike Kingma completed his 27th year of racing this season.  Kingma was a regular in the I-Mod division. 

            Watching the Shadyhill action was Doug Judy of JBD Race Promotions, who will handle the promotional chores at the Kankakee Motor Speedway in 2009.  Located on the property of the Kankakee County Fairgrounds, the dirt track sat idle this season.  A “test and tune” session is scheduled for early April with Friday night again being the weekly date for the Kankakee oval. 

70 Years Ago

            This past week was the 70th anniversary of Chicagoland’s Raceway Park opening its gates for the very first time for midget racing competition.  On September 24, 1938, Harry McQuinn, one of the era’s top midget racing drivers, captured the 40-lap “Calumet Sweepstakes.”  Legendary racing announcer Ed “Twenty Grand” Steinbock handled the microphone duties, while Bill Vandewater, destined to be the official starter at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in years to come, was in charge of  the flags.  The scheduled grand opening of the new motordrome was weathered out the week before. 

            The track, located on the southeast corner of 130th Street and Ashland Ave. in Calumet Park , was a “hotbed” for midget racing for many years until the introduction of weekly short track stock car racing occurred in 1949.  From then on, it was stock car racing being the “drawing card” with the speed plant, for most of the years under the watchful eye of owner/promoter Pete Jenin, enjoying big crowds and great success.  Raceway Park closed after the 2000 racing season. 

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