MILLER
AND BUCKWALTER VICTORIOUS AS ARDC ROCKS BIG DIAMOND
By Barry Angstadt
Minersville, PA - For the first time in more than thirty years, the ARDC
Midgets traveled to the Big Diamond Raceway last Friday night. Competing
in wingless Twin 20’s, the midgets wowed the large crowd with plenty
of broadsliding, mud-slinging, two and three-wide competition.
Mike Miller, last year’s runner-up in ARDC points, recorded his second
triumph of 2005 in the opener. It was Miller’s first wingless victory,
and also the first time this season that he parked his “retro-style”
no. 1 in the winner’s circle.
For a while, it appeared that the second feature might turn into Andy
Martin’s first career ARDC Midget victory. But Steve Buckwalter,
the tour’s leading winner and current point leader, had other thoughts.
After a tremendous, albeit short, duel for the top spot, Buckwalter grabbed
the lead and ran off with his seventh checkered flag of the season.
Miller throttled past Carey Becker to snare the lead on the second tour
of the evening’s first 20-lapper. The racing veteran from Birdsboro,
PA, would lead the remainder of the event, but Billy Pauch, Jr. made the
final laps pretty interesting.
As Miller paced the field throughout the first half of the race, the action
behind him was hot and heavy. Michele Miller chased her dad for several
circuits, then had to fight off Hank Rogers, Jr. for the runner-up position.
With six laps in the record book, Buckwalter joined the party. Just as
Steve wrestled second spot from Michele, his fuel pump quit, forcing the
Victory Motorcycle no. 5 to the sidelines. Michele’s power steering
began to act up a few tours later, though she was able to strong-arm her
Stealth-chassied no. 4 to an eighth-place finish.
Pauch, Jr. was on the move after starting 19th. Billy the Kid’s kid
slipped into third at the halfway mark, then took over the second position
as Michele’s steering problems took effect. Although he was able
to put some pressure on the leader in the waning laps, Mike Miller kept
his car up on the cushion and had more than enough to hold off the youngster
in Doug Starrett’s no. 49.
Ray Bull finished third, with Ed Stimely,
passing several cars on the high side late in the event, taking the checkered
in fourth. Rogers wound up fifth at the end.
“It’s my first wingless win, and to do it at Big Diamond, which
is close to home for us, means a lot to me,” explained the victorious
Miller afterward. “We really enjoy racing on this track, and we hope
that Big Diamond invites us to come back.”
The ARDC finale saw rookie Andy Martin jump from his pole starting spot
to the early lead. Martin, driving a borrowed car that he flipped in the
first feature of the night, simply took off as a three-car battle ensued
for second.
Carey Becker, Tracy Miller, and Donnie Trent were fighting tooth-and-nail
when Trent made a big move on the outside, sweeping by Tracy and Becker
in turns three and four as the field was scored on lap three. At the other
end of the racetrack, however, Trent went sailing up the banking, handing
the spots back to his challengers. One revolution later, Trent fell victim
to mechanical problems, ending his night’s work.
Tracy Miller now claimed the runner-up slot, but found herself under attack
from Buckwalter and Stimely. Buckwalter, the Royersford Rocket, zoomed
into second on the eighth trip around the clay and began his pursuit of
the leader.
Quickly reeling in Martin, Steve ducked to the inside in one and two,
attempting to pull a slider on the rookie. Martin gassed his car to the
bottom as Buckwalter slid up in front of him, and Andy returned the favor
in three and four.
Now it was Buckwalter’s turn to switch lanes, and the pair of wheel-twisters
took the crossed flags in a virtual dead heat at the start/finish line.
Charging into turns one and two again, Buckwalter nosed ahead, clearing
Martin’s Miller Racing no. 7 as they headed onto the backstretch.
Buckwalter pulled away in the event’s final stages, with Martin hanging
on to second and Stimely inheriting third when Tracy Miller had to retire
with four to go.
All eyes were now on Pauch, Jr. Coming from the back (18th) once again,
Billy was weaving a path to the front, with Mike Miller on his rear bumper.
Pauch danced to the inside of Ray Bull on
lap 16, slipping by the defending champion to take over the fourth position.
At the finish, it was Buckwalter, Martin, Stimely, Pauch, and Bull
in the top five, with Miller cashing in for sixth.
“I got into Andy a little bit, and I hate that it happened,”
stated an apologetic Buckwalter in victory lane. “I’m glad it
didn’t mess him up too bad. We were really hooked up in the first
one, too, but the fuel pump took us out. Thank goodness I got this one…I
needed it for the points.”
BIG DIAMOND NOTES:
A clarification from last week…Steve Craig’s flip at Lincoln
was the result of two cars getting together in front of him, collecting
his no. 55 and causing it to turn over. The amazing part of this ordeal
is that Steve is usually a one-man team at the track. He was able to get
the car repaired, bolt the wing on and change the set-up (the first race
was wingless, while the second feature was run with wings at Lincoln)
in time to start that second 20-lapper!
Craig was a bit frustrated after the first event at Big Diamond on Friday.
“I just can’t get it hooked up to the track,” he noted,
staring at the front suspension.
No one was more frustrated than Andy Martin, but his concern only lasted
for a few minutes. Martin’s no. 21 was parked due to the mechanical
gremlins that haunted him at Lincoln the previous week. Not wanting to
miss a race because of his third-place standing in the points, Martin
borrowed the Miller Racing Team no. 7 for the double-features at Big Diamond.
This was the same car in which Andy made his first career start in ARDC
competition in 2004.
On lap five of the first race, however, Martin went sailing into turn
three on the high side. The only problem was that Dave Shirk had gotten
loose due to another slowing in front of him, and Dave was backing up
the track. Martin caught the back end of Shirk’s Mega Motorsports
no. 2, launching Andy into a quick series of flips. He landed upside down,
resting on the tail tank of Shirk’s car.
Both cars were towed off, the drivers thinking that their race had ended.
As the crew looked over the no. 7 in the pit area, though, they realized
that the midget had not suffered any real damage. Another yellow on the
restart gave Martin the opportunity he needed to return to the race. Showing
no ill effects from the flip, he sliced through the pack to finish an
unbelievable sixth. And then, proving that it was no fluke, Andy led half
of the nightcap and finished second to Buckwalter.
Shirk was not as lucky, bending the front axle and ruining the front shocks
on his Schannauer Plumbing and Heating/Denny’s Electric no. 2. “I
had a bad week at work, too. I was really hoping that my luck would change
here tonight,” said Shirk, who was also involved in that Carey Becker/Ed
Stimely/Steve Craig melee at Lincoln. After replacing the front suspension
between races, Shirk did manage a tenth place run in the finale at Big
Diamond.
Lou Zrinski was smiling over the efforts of his driver, ARDC veteran Hank
Rogers, Jr., following finishes of fifth and seventh in the Twin 20’s.
“He keeps telling me that he’s mad at me for talking him into
coming back and driving,” laughed Zrinski. “But he loves it,
and he’s going a great job. We need to make the car better for him…it’s
great for ten or eleven laps, but then it goes away. We’ll get it
figured out, though.”
Rogers, who also finished fourth and sixth in the two features at Lincoln,
is impressed with the young talent infiltrating ARDC. As he thought about
the proper tire stagger for the second feature on Friday night, the resident
of Scot Run, PA stated “Man, these kids are fast! I think the key
to our problem is in the stagger, so that’s what we’re working
on. We’ve got to find the answer so we can keep up with these youngsters!”
Pauch, Jr. had some Big Diamond Sportsman Modified and NASCAR Modified
experience under his belt when he buckled into the Starrett Racing no.
49 last Friday. He also had a good-sized portion of the fans behind him,
as they cheered his drives to the front in both features. Pauch also had
the car’s regular chauffeur and team manager Bryan Kobylarz grinning
from ear to ear when it was over. “I wish we could put him in the
car for every race,” smiled the two-time ARDC champion. “How
many cars did he pass tonight, 33 or 34? Yeah, he knows this track, but
this was only his fourth or fifth start in a midget.”
Two drivers made their midget debuts at Big Diamond. Mike Dicely, noted
micro sprint pilot and car builder, steered the Miller Racing no. 00.
Dicely enjoyed the chance to run a midget and is considering building
a few them. He fell out of the first race, but finished 13th in the second
one.
NASCAR Modified jockey Ryan Watt, from Boyertown, PA, gassed Fred Schell’s
no. 75 to a couple of top-ten finishes at Big Diamond. Starting near the
back of the 22-car field in both features, Watt, who is currently tenth
in the NASCAR Modified point standings at Grandview, patiently worked
his way through traffic as he grew more comfortable with the open-cockpit
racer. He wound up tenth in the opener, then followed it up with a ninth-place
effort in the nightcap.
RESULTS:
FIRST 20-LAP WINGLESS FEATURE: 1.Mike Miller 2.Billy Pauch, Jr. 3.Ray
Bull 4.Ed Stimely, Jr. 5.Hank Rogers, Jr. 6.Andy Martin 7.Steve
Lenig 8.Michele Miller 9.Eric Heydenreich 10.Ryan Watt 11.Carey Becker
12.Scott Zipp 13.Steve Craig 14.Lew Blair 15.Kathy Kurtz 16.Mike Dicely
17.Steve Buckwalter 18.Tracy Miller 19.Dave Shirk 20.Donnie Trent 21.Bobby
Goerner 22.Bill Case, Jr.
SECOND 20-LAP WINGLESS FEATURE: 1.Steve Buckwalter 2.Andy Martin 3.Ed
Stimely, Jr. 4.Billy Pauch, Jr. 5.Ray Bull
6.Mike Miller 7.Hank Rogers, Jr. 8.Steve Lenig 9.Ryan Watt 10.Dave Shirk
11.Carey Becker 12.Eric Heydenreich 13.Mike Dicely 14.Scott Zipp 15.Lew
Blair 16.Kathy Kurtz 17.Bobby Goerner 18.Tracy Miller 19.Michele Miller
20.Bill Case, Jr. 21.Donnie Trent DNS: Steve Craig.
