Toledo Speedway Glass City 500

TOLEDO SPEEDWAY, GLASS CITY 200 Sept. 25 and 26, 1999

By DEBI DOMBY, Southgate, Mich. (Sept. 28) The $5,000 to win Glass City 200 last weekend at Toledo Speedway drew 55 SLM drivers with Roger Wing, the 1999 champion from Owosso Speedway, setting the fast time at 15.65. The top 20 cars were locked into the feature with Dave Simko the final qualifier to make it into the feature by qualifying. Andy Bozell (19th) and Doug Finley (21st) also posted the same speed as Simko

The top three drivers from each of the two last chance races transferred to the feature. Glenn Gault won the first last chance race over Finley (Spartan Speedway champion) and Paul Namey. Dennis Strickland (Toledo Speedway champion) won the second last chance race over Rick Sheppard and Ron Allen. Provisionals were given to Bill Steinhilber (Flat Rock) and Paul Young (Toledo) as the highest drivers from these tracks not making the feature.

Fourteen cars were inverted for the Glass City 200 with Scott Baker (AC Delco/Murray's Iceman Series champion) on the pole and Jimmy Thiel to his outside. Baker left Thiel in his dust and pulled out to a quarter straightaway lead but the first caution flew on lap three negating Baker's lead. Several cars pitted during the caution to "de-leaf" the cars of the leaves in cars' grilles. The leaders, not wanting to relinquish track position, stayed out even though some had their grilles nearly blocked with the fallen foliage.

Baker was the class of the field, pulling away on the restart and building his lead to over a straightaway. On lap 52 (caution three) Baker pulled into the pits, a victim of overheating from the accumulation of leaves on the grille. Baker's Bullet Racing crew de-leafed the car and sent the Akron, Ohio driver back into the fray.

Tim Ice took over the lead and the Seville, Ohio driver kept up the torrid pace with Dennis Berry, Tim Felver and Freddie Campbell riding in formation behind him. The quartet came up lapped traffic on lap 79 and Berry saw his chance to take the lead. Ice was high, a lapped car to his outside and another lapped car who was slowing to enter the pits when Berry dove low coming out of turn four. Berry slammed into the large truck tires protecting the 1/5 mile track and his red and yellow #7 Chevrolet's front end was destroyed ending the Clio, Mich. driver's day.

Baker, meanwhile, was working his way back to the front and was up to 12th place. He was one of the fastest cars on the track.

Ten laps to the halfway point, Campbell's car falter, another victim of overheating. He ran under reduced speed for several laps before stalling on the track in turn four on lap 96, ending his day.

The field went to the pits for a 20 minute break at the halfway point to change tires and work on their cars. At lap 100, 13 of the 16 remaining cars were still on the lead lap. Ice, Felver, John Grega, Tim Steele, Scott Baker, Jerry Cook, Rick Sheppard, Joe Bush, Doug Finley, Paul Namey, Thiel, Strickland, Simko all on the lead lap with Bill Steinhilber, Ron Allen and Paul Young also on the track.

The second half came down to a battle of Tims as Tim Ice and Tim Felver ran nose to tail the for 90 laps, with Felver trying everything to get around Ice. Grega dropped out with engine/overheating problems on lap 139 and three laps later Baker's engine's temperature reached the critical point, sidelining two potential winner.

On lap 164 the last of 15 cautions flew, tightening up the remaining top five cars on the lead lap (Ice, Felver, Bush, Finley and Sheppard). On the restart, Ice and Felver still running nose to tail, outdistanced themselves from the remainder of the field.

Felver finally got around Ice when the Fast Race Engine #65 slipped a little coming out of turn four, allowing Felver to complete the pass. Felver lengthened his lead and the driver of the ProStrip/Big Rigs Chevrolet finished a half straightaway ahead of Ice. There were 11 cars running at the end of the all green flag 200-lap event.

The drivers who didn't make the Glass City 200 were eligible to run the 35-lap AC Delco/Rapid Fire Spark Plugs/Murray's B Main. Donnie Hill overcame a carburetor problem in qualifying to dominate the event. Only Tim Hebert was able to stay with him, but mechanical problems sidelined him. The victory was worth $1,000 for Hill, the 1999 Columbus Speedway champion. Len Fritz Jr finished second, a career best finish.

The ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series held their championship race on Saturday night. There were 21 trucks in the pits with Robbin Slaughter setting the new track record, 17.52. There were six lead changes among four drivers. Slaughter battled with John Witham before taking the lead for good on lap 26. Slaughter had built up a substantial lead when the final caution flew on lap 45 allowing Chad Guinn to pull up on his bumper for a five lap shootout. Guinn, who crashed hard in hot laps and moved the rear end over in his truck by several inches. The Erie, Mich. driver should receive the "hard charger" award for his spectacular run from the rear. A terrifying accident happened on lap 10 when Stan Maitlen's white #9 lost control on the frontstretch. The Greenville, Ohio driver's truck hit the tire protecting the end of the 1/5 mile track, tipped over and barrel rolled three times on it's nose before coming to rest on all four wheels in turn four. Maitlen exited the truck under his own power. Bill Wither's finished third and took home the championship in the initial year of the Truck Series (former Pro-Four division). Slaughter's win gave the series 10 different winners in 18 races.

The Sportsman division made their debut at Toledo Speedway on Saturday. The division will be a new division on the 1/2 mile with rules are forthcoming for the 2000 season. Twenty cars were on hand encompassing several different divisions Limited Late Models from other tracks (and the old Toledo LLM division), Flat Rock A Main Street Stocks, a couple Flat Rock Figure 8's and one of the X cars that previously ran special event at Flat Rock. It was an interesting variety of cars with Mark Mayville jumping into the lead. The Canadian driver led for several laps before Robbie Loving, overtook him on lap three. Loving led until Ron Allen and Eric Lee caught him and passed him on lap 12. In the end it was Allen's Street Stock fending back all the challenges of Lee's LLM.

BUDWEISER GLASS CITY 200 (SLM) Kayo Lumber $500 fast time: Roger Wing, 15.65 Wynn's Last-chance race: Glenn Gault BFI Last-chance race: Dennis Strickland BUDWEiSER GLASS CITY 200 Tim Felver, Tim Ice, Joe Bush, Doug Finley, Rick Sheppard, Dennis Strickland, Bill Steinhilber, Paul Namey, Dave Simko, Ron Allen, Paul Young, Jimmy Thiel, Jerry Cook, Scott Baker, John Grega, Tim Steele, Don St Denis, Fred Campbell, Joey Shuryan, Torn Fedewa, Tim Curry, Dennis Berry, Glenn Gault, Roger Wing, Tom Hernley Jr, Andy Bozell, Dave Kuhiman, Steve Cronenwett

35 lap AC Delco/Rapid Fire Spark Plug/Murray's B Main: Donnie Hill, Len Fritz Jr, Tony Barcus, Craig Pace, Rob Randa, Cliff Bailey, Steve Tabor, Jay Rohrback, Stan Yee Jr, Paul Pelletier, Kevin McCarthy, Len Jaynes, Bob Mikolajczyk, Dan Trosen Jr, Len Roberts, Eric Kanfield, Parker Wade, Howard Kelley Jr, Tom O'Leary, Tim Hebert, Bob Craig, Sean Monahan, Ray Clay, Scott Smith, Troy Briggs

~~ Only one of the 55 cars was unable to compete. Scott Stoval suffered engine problems and subsequently hit the wall. The accident happened during Saturday afternoon hot laps, with the car receiving substantial damage to the rear end and the Fort Wayne, Ind. driver was unable to compete. ~~~ There were drivers from three states and Canada represented in the SLM pits.

SPORTSMAN DIVISION Fast time: Eric Lee, 18:20 Dash: Mark Sherrard Heats: Robbie Loving, Ray Wrobel Feature: Ron Allen, Lee, Loving, Dennis Whisman, Brian Norton, MI) 6. Mark Mayville, Rich Frantz, Terry Humphrey, Tom Selmi, Jeff Carnacchi, Parker Wade, Wrobel, Joe Sollar, Ed Wettlaufer, Mike Schuchardt, Sherrard, Randy Casey, Bob Nuen

ARCA LINCOLN WELDERS TRUCK SERIES Fast time: Robbin Slaughter, 17:52 NTR

TARGET EXPEDITING FEATURE: Robbin Slaughter, Chad Guinn, David Reeb, Bill Withers, John Toth, Jack Weethee, David Clay, Cliff Hodgkinson, Scott Belknap, Tully Esterline, Bob Stone, Tony Carillo, Gregg Vasko, Johnny Witham, Bobby Marvin, Bob Strait, Troy Marciniak, Stan Maitlen, Jeff Wichmann