BARBERTON SPEEDWAY: Fan Appreciation Night, season pressure, hot slick racing, fast cars and a new division. These were the ingredients for a night to remember at Barberton Speedway. With topside nearly at standing room only, packed fields of competitive cars, a field of Junior Sprints with drivers younger than most of our Bandolero drivers, and temperatures in the mid-90s, the racers were pumped to give the fans a show! The pressure of the season winding down, points problems (or lack thereof), and pressure to preform meant that excitement was guaranteed!
Jim Good brought two divisions of racecars to Barberton Speedway that were formerly divisions that ran down the road at Deerfield on dirt. The two divisions were the Junior Sprints and the Dwarf cars. The Junior Sprints were an entry level sprint car division for young children to start racing in. Most of the competitors in this division were younger than our weekly Bandolero faithful drivers. Ryan Allison took the win in this division. Starting on pole, Allison powered out front and never looked back. He began lapping the field and worked all the way up to the fifth-place driver when the checkered flag fell. He was joined by his father in victory lane.
Jim Good’s second division, the Dwarf cars were on hand with a nice field of 14 cars. Fourth generation driver Carson Miller took home the win. He started near the front and sped to the lead before the end of the first quarter mark of the race. The race ran green from the start until midway when a spin near the rear set up a restart. Miller brought them down to the line and worked on keeping his lead as none other than Good, himself, worked through the field of cars. Several late yellows kept the field bunched up and gave Good many attempts at getting Miller. The Detroit Iron veteran worked on Miller but ran out of handling and laps and settled for second behind Carson. Carson waved to the fans just an hour after being up top with his father Paul Miller Jr., his grandfather Paul Miller Sr., and great-grandfather Pappy Miller for a special event honoring the Miller family that the fans could bear witness to.
The Modified feature was won by Dave Dobbins. With a small field with highly talented drivers of various disciplines and tracks gracing the field, the action was intense from the drop of the green flag. Mick Macko took the lead early and held off several challenges from Ron Ridenour. The two former Detroit Iron/Street Stock drivers ran nose to tail for several laps with Ridenour working on setting up a pass. His ‘set up’ was delayed as a yellow for a spin near the end of the pack bunched the field up. The green waved and Macko and Ridenour ran hard. The duo got out of shape in turn three and ran high out of the groove. Dave Dobbins took advantage of the mishap and made a three-wide pass for the lead. Macko appeared to lose handling on his car afterwards and spun out resulting in a yellow. Dobbins led the field down to green and began stretching his lead out. With over a third of a racetrack lead, Dobbins impressed fans as he sped to the win.
The street stocks were on hand and ready to turn heads and Jeff Kuykendall did just that. With plenty of fast cars and former winners, the race was one for the ages. Former winner Matt Hicks sped out front to the lead and led several laps as he stretched his lead out. A yellow for a spin brought the fellow drivers back with Hicks. Tim Schmitt powered around Hick’s outside and began leading. Schmitt powered away from the craziness behind him and led many laps. Of that craziness included a metal crunching front stretch wreck between Aaron Prater and Mark Kramer near halfway. The duo was okay and continued on, but their caution erased Schmitt’s lead. Schmitt found himself starting with Jeff Kuykendall to his outside. Kuykendall powered around Schmitt and began leading. He took the white flag with a two second lead and took the win.
The Late Models were up with a large field of talented drivers and Tony Urdiales continued his season to remember winning by less than a car length over Gary Whipkey. When the green flag flew for the field, Dave Martin led the field and held off several early challenges from Dino Campolito. Campolito took advantage of an early restart to move around Martin and he began leading laps in his Sandquist throwback-looking car. He pushed high in turn three and lost his lead to points leader Tony Urdiales. Urdiales worked on expnding his lead as he watched the green and yellow ‘Days of Thunder’ #39 of Gary Whipkey getting larger and larger in the mirror. Whipkey had worked through the field using the high and low lines to get to second position and he had the RPM #88 in his sights. Erasing Urdiales’ lead, Whipkey amazed fans as he and Urdiales jockeyed for any sort of advantage. Trying different breaking zones to get off the corners different from one another, they did everything they could and dug deep into their bag of tricks to take the event for their respective teams. With five laps to go, Whipkey gave Urdiales a look to his inside but could not get the drive off and lost some ground. Whipkey reeled Urdiales back in but ran out of time. Tony Urdiales took the win by less than a car length in front of many cheering fans.
The Compacts were on hand with Natalie Collier getting her third win in a row after only four starts in 2018. The green fell for 25 cars and Sierra Stewart led the hornets nest of cars down to green. Immediately three and four wide racing ensued, and yellows followed as a result of cars pushing up into others. The early yellows kept the field bunched up and kept restarts exciting. Brandon Donley found himself in the lead and held off several early challenges from many drivers. His lead continued until former Deerfield regular Aaron Nitz sped around him. The change of racing surface did not slow him as he stretched his lead to a half a track. He led until a little before halfway when Clayton Oliver sped around him highside. Oliver worked on expanding his lead but found his rear bumper full of Natalie Collier’s #18 Neon. Collier kept Oliver in her sights but ran out of laps handing Oliver the win. During post-race tech, Oliver was found to have had a rule infraction and relinquished his win to Collier. It was her third in a row.
Article and photos courtesy of Billy McKinney and Christie Hrdlicka.