POSTED May 19, 2025

       TOM MYERS took the lead on lap 17 of the 25 lap Pro Stock feature and then held off Jeff Brunt for his first win of the season on a wild Sunday night at the Mottville Speedway! The win was worth $168 to Myers! $150 for winning plus $18 for leading 9 laps! George Roulette, the last announcer of the former Race Way Park near Chicago, donated a $2 bill for each lap led in the feature! Vern Hammond led the first 2 laps before season points leader Paul Scott took command and led until Myers got past him! Scott settled  for 3rd with Scott Newsom 4th. Scott won the dash and Myers took the heat.

 

Robert Sutton won his first Thunder Car feature of the season as he took the 15 lapper over Randy Burns, John Wegner, Eric Root, Richard Allbee and Ron Kern, Jr. Allbee won the dash and heat.

 

Season points leader Fred Garrett ended a long dry spell in the Mini Thunder Division by winning his 11th feature of the season, a 15 lap win over Jennifer Jenkins, Brian Jenkins, Leroy Dick and Danny Zimmerman, Jr. Garrett won the dash and Jennifer Jenkins just nipped Garrett for the heat win.  

 

WESLEY SCHAEFER LOOKED AWESOME FOR THE 2ND NIGHT IN 
A ROW AS HE WON THE 15 LAP MS FEATURE WHICH PAID $75 FOR 4 CARS!
JASON SCHAEFER WAS 2ND AND MERLE YODER, DEFENDING MS SEASON 
POINTS CHAMPION, WAS BACK AND FINISHED 3RD. BARRY HARRISON HAD 
HIS NEW CAR OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME BUT HAD TROUBLES AND DID NOT 
FINISH! CAR SURE LOOKS NICE, HOWEVER! WES TOLD ME HE IS PUTTING 
SOME NEW GOOD YEAR TIRES ON JASON'S CAR FOR THE TRIPLE HEADER 
WEEK-END AND IT SHOULD BE A GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN FATHER AND SON!

 

After the races, Newsom, who moved into 6th in the PS point standings, told me he had already made more money at Mottville this season than he made last season at another track! I was glad to hear this because how in the world we ever got the reputation of not paying well is beyond me! Drivers who drive regularly at Mottville will find by the end of the season they have usually made more money than they did at any other track!

 

Our scorer had her work cut out for her in the combined Pro Stock-Bomber feature as we had only 2 Bombers and both had numbers of Pro Stock cars! Thus she had two number 5’s to score and two number 59’s to score!

During the PS feature we had our first real security problem of the season and I want to compliment our staff for handling it very well! Shelly Lauderdale, Judith Holden and Rita Courtney all handled it very well and I was very proud of them. After the races I took the opportunity to review out security plan with all of our track officials because we know as the weather warms up (some day!) and car counts increase there will be nights you have security problems! Our first goal if trouble breaks out is to contain it, then deal with the problem later.

 

When you manage a speedway you will soon learn that you make perhaps 25-50 decisions per night and most of them are not necessarily right or wrong, but gray areas! If they were simple we would not read the bulletin board messages we get! But rarely are they cut and dried and you learn after a few years to make your best fast decision and live with it! I know I handled things Sunday much differently than I would have 11 years ago but that comes with experience! Plus I really believe no 2 track owners would make the exact same decision about what happened Sunday.

 

Vern Hammond kept his points lead in Bombers but after the races one TC driver talked to me about moving up to Bombers and if he does Vern will have some real competition soon! Actually that is what we really like to see, drivers moving up in classes and TC and MTC being the starting point for future drivers in Bombers, Mottville Stocks and Pro Stocks!

 

Several people helped pump water off the track Sunday morning and afternoon and by race time it was just barely still on the track in turn 3. Dennis Zimmerman ended up right in the middle of  it during the PS feature!

 

It was good to see Robert Sutton finally win a TC feature! He has had weight problems but has stuck at it and his efforts are now paying off and paying off big time! He moved up to 9th in the point standings! Meanwhile defending points champion Eric Root has moved quietly back into 2nd place! Bryan Whitaker, who led the TC points for several weeks, is now racing dirt in Kentucky with a cousin’s car and recently won $1000! Way to go Bryan!

 

We were told Robert Teadt, Jr. did not come to the track because it was raining in Sturgis and he was tired of running on a wet track! Actually it rained in Mottville also in the afternoon but the sun came out and the track was dry! I know we are all just plain sick of all this rain but we have managed to get 18 nights of racing in so far and this is more nights than most tracks in our area will race the entire season!

 

Greg Schaefer totaled his MTC 3 Saturday night but Brian Jenkins told me he would have a new car for Greg this week-end! We missed Joe and Diane Fitzpatrick both nights and hope to have them both back for the triple header week-end coming up!

Larry Birk was at Mottville both nights but did not have a race car as his truck burned up and he has no way to get his race cars to Mottville! Major bummer!

 

I was extremely shocked to learn of the violent and senseless death of Chris Arnett! As I understand it he was shot in a robbery and the killer netted $36! Life is far too precious for this! Chris raced only about half of one season at Mottville but was a very, very good driver and a great sponsor for Randy Morley and David T. Schaefer and he will be missed!

 

Also found out Sunday that Chip Jones, a former driver at Mottville, died in a auto accident in December! I think Chip drove with us about 5-6 years ago.

 

Seems impossible to believe that Memorial Day is coming up already! For one thing the weather has been absolutely horrible and it seems like early April, not the end of May! But we have our first of at least 3 triple header week-ends coming up! Sunday will be autograph night and Monday will be trophy night, trophies to all heat and dash winners and top 3 in features!

 

My offer to start a Mini Stock class  on radial tires and 6” wheels still stands!

 

Warmer and dry weather should be here soon and with it car counts will be increasing and so will the crowds and if you are looking for a great place to race to watch exciting races you need to really try the Mottville Speedway! I know one thing we all love racing at Mottville and we all do our very best to give you the best possible racing every Saturday and Sunday night with a few Mondays thrown in on holidays and maybe a Friday or two down the road!

 

Have a great week and take some time to stop and smell the roses while you still can! Life is great and enjoy it while you can! Hope to see you at Mottville this coming Saturday-Sunday-Monday!

A note from the Webmaster.
I was totally shocked Saturday night to find out about Chris Arnett 2001 Thunder Car driver #26. I really enjoyed every time I got to be around Chris. I know Randy Morley will miss him as much if not more than I. With Chris, Ray Beers having passed and myself with Guillian-Barre Syndrome, I can tell you folks that what Merle had said about Life Is Short, believe it. Any time you get upset, or see someone who is not as well off as most people,  just set back and count your blessings.  In times of anger nothing gets settled properly and hind site is always better than foresight.

DAVID T.