By James Essex
Evan Shatto of Columbus won two go-kart events on Oct. 1 at Tony Stewart Speedway located at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds. Shatto won the clone 340 and clone 380 divisions.
Other winners were Conner Smith (junior 1), Hunter Bryant (junior 2), Elijah Knoke (junior 3), Connor Perry (rookies), Calli Lucas (pred), Kyle Thayer (clone 420), Colton Aldridge (rwyb), and Freddie Prosser Jr. (mod lites).
The class winners from the track on Sept. 18 were Maverick Brison (rookies), Conner Smith (junior 1), Jacob Chadd (junior 2), Blake Robertson (junior 3), Addie Stitsworth (junior champ), Scott Ramey (rwyb), Kyle Thayer (clone 420), Devin Smith (clone 380), Calli Lucas (pred), Colton Lucas (flatheads), Scott Roccio (clone 340), R.T. Lowe and Brayden Taylor (team race 380), and Joe Boyll (mod lites).
The next go-kart race at the track is slated for Oct. 23.
Rock Crest Raceway results
The Rock Crest Raceway (formerly known as Twin Cities Raceway) reopened on Oct. 1 under new management. The next scheduled event is set for Oct. 16 with 410 non-wing sprints, super stocks, pure stocks, hornets, and crown vics.
Results from Oct. 1 saw Kenna Day win the crown vics powder puff. Landon Simon won the 410-sprint car feature over Jake Scott and Braxton Cummings. Keaton Streeval took the pure stock feature over Ross Smith and Randy Charles. Jacob Owens grabbed the hornet feature over Shane Wheeler and Jayden Mayhan and Matt Cranmer was victorious in the crown vic feature over Jason Cranmer and Zach Decker.
O’Neal wins Pittsburgher 100
Martinsville native Hudson O’Neal, who now resides in Hope, joined his father Don as a winner of the Pittsburgher 100 when he claimed the $20,000 victory in the 33rd annual event on Oct. 2 at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, Pennsylvania. The win marked O’Neal’s sixth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2021.
O’Neal tracked down race-long leader Earl Pearson Jr. passing him for the lead on Lap 93. O’Neal then pulled away for the win. His father Don is a two-time winner of the race in 2017 and 2019. Pearson had led from the outset of the race. The four-time series champion was looking for his first series win since last July. Pearson led the first ninety-two laps the 100-lap event.
Pearson came home in second, followed by Tim McCreadie, Spencer Hughes and Shane Clanton.
Pearson was in control for most of the race, racing unchallenged for the lead even through a Lap 59 caution for a fuel stop. Even after the stoppage, Pearson held the lead, but O’Neal who had brought out a caution during the race and made a shock adjustment charging from the back using the inside of the half-mile track.
O’Neal caught Pearson coming off of Turn 2. The duo came off of Turn 4, and O’Neal made the pass, which turned out to be the winning move when he went on the win his third 100-lap race of the year.
O’Neal solidified his second spot in the championship point standings behind McCreadie heading into a three-race weekend in Tennessee and Georgia next weekend.
“I’d rather be lucky than good. I wasn’t really good enough to win the race. Spencer (Hughes) he had gotten around me on the bottom there one time. He got a monster run down the frontstretch. I thought well all right, so I went down there and make the same kind of ground. I just happened to hit it good one time. It took a while to finally hit it. It was really, really easy to miss. I just kept trying and it finally paid off,” said the 21-year-old Indiana native. I was just in a better part of the racetrack than Earl was. He got away from me a little bit on that restart.”
“I knew he (Pearson) was going to get his tires hot before mine, because I was in the brown. After about 10 laps, I started driving back to him. I can’t believe it. We will take one any way we can get it. We have to get a little bit better for the next time. Overall, we are just happy to be here, and we took advantage of the situation. We talked about it under the fuels-stop. I had to stay out for that restart because I was the lucky dog. I had to stay out on the racetrack to get it. I ran a couple of laps, and I just wasn’t really good. So, I brought the caution out and I pitted, and my crew made the right adjustments.”
Mihocko wins finale
Tye Mihocko won the season finale at the Bloomington Speedway on Sept. 17. Shane Cockrum finished second, followed by Andy Bradley, Brandon Morin and Harley Burns. Zach Sasser won the superstock main event over Josh Litton, Wes McClara, Justin Massie and Andrew Davis. Brian Pollitt won the hornet division feature over Michael Brewer, Andrew Deavers, A.J. Hobbs and Chad Taylor.
Racing this weekend
Brownstown Speedway will conclude its 2021 racing season this weekend with Fun Fest featuring a variety of racing classes. The season championship races scheduled for Oct. 2 were rained out and will not be rescheduled. For more information on this weekend’s schedule go to brownstownspeedway.com.
Racer career update
Bobby Johnson of Columbus, who was inducted into the Brownstown Speedway Hall of Fame in August, raced for 39 years. His sons Chris, Robbie and Zach have also raced.
This week in racing history
From 70 years ago in 1951 at Columbus Speedway, Dale Miller won the feature race over Bobby Baker, Charlie Heitz and Wayne Ford.
From 50 years ago in 1971 at Eldora Speedway Bruce Gould won the inaugural World 100 stock car race. Joe Ruttman was second, followed by George Branscum, Butterball Wooldridge and Joe Greenslate
Also from 50 years ago, Dick Gaines won the season finale at Bloomington Speedway over Bob Kinser, Cliff Cockrum, Sheldon Kinser and Larry Miller.
From 30 years ago in 199 at Brownstown Speedway, the season concluded with two late model feature races. Bob Pierce won the first one followed by Pete Parker, Bob Pohlman Jr., Lee Fleetwood and John Provenzano. Parker took the second feature, followed by Ronnie Johnson, Tony Izzo Jr., Jim Partipilo and Steve Landrum. Mark Barber won the street stock main event over Scott Patman, Jeff Terry, Darren Davis and Earl Plessinger. George Berry took the bomber feature over Bruce Turner, Don Alp, Delmar Coomer and Randy Knapp.
