POSTED November 12, 2001

November is proving to be a better month than October during this 2001 racing season at the Mottville Speedway! Cool but nice weather featured both days of racing this past week-end!

Saturday we had a season high 18 street stocks! Unfortunately two scratched before the racing started as Josh Salter had a broken transmission in the Terry Kline 27 car and Bill Neering, who came all the way from Cedar Lake Indiana, had rear end gear troubles! Neering, the last track champion at the former Raceway Park near Chicago , came to beat Randy Morley! Even after he broke he put up $50 as a bonus to Morley should he win the feature! George Roulette, the former announcer at Raceway Park chipped in $30 for a potential $80 bonus! Neering vowed to return next Saturday! Morley did not get the bonus although he did win the dash and a heat! About halfway through the feature his car overheated and he pulled to the pits!

Matt Buzzard took 2^nd in the dash and was leading the heat by a wide margin when he pulled into the infield and was done for the night! When the 15 cars left came on the track for the SS feature Tim Baldwin ran one pace lap and excited so 14 cars actually started the feature which went 35 laps! Exciting it was with several cautions but Paul Scott really pulled away on each restart and won his 2^nd feature of the season! Mike Long was 2^nd. Brian Smith crossed the line 3^rd but his tires durametered at 50 and 60 is the rule! This made Robert Sprague 3^rd! Kevin Carlson came to Mottville for the first time in his SS 96 and arrived late but had a good night finishing 4^th!  Bob Grice Jr. was 5^th although he spun on the final lap in turn 3. Cale Williams driving in his first feature ever came home 6^th! Nice start!

Scott set such a fast pace that only Long finished on the same lap with him! Donald Hunley was involved in a crash and ran several laps afterwards before heading to the pits.

Paul Thurston crossed the finish line first in the Thunder Car 15 lap feature but was disqualified in post race inspection for being 450 pounds light! That gave Fred Collins the win with Eric Root 2^nd and fast improving Cindy Grinnell 3^rd!  Grinnell won the dash and Collins the heat.

Jason Schaefer returned to Mottville after a long absence and easily won the 14 lap MS feature for his 9^th feature win of the season! Season points leader Merle Yoder had engine troubles and had to settle for 4^th. Terry Kline was 2^nd and won the heat.

Mike Aumack scored a huge upset in the Mini Thunder Car 12 lap feature for his 5^th feature win of the season! Fred Garrett spun early in the race coming out of turn 4 and raced hard to catch up but feel just a few feet short!

Ken Bennett was the only super kart and easily won the heat and feature but Andrew Behlke led the stock karts in the heat and Justin Stump in the feature!

We sold our first 3 tickets for the February 9 Awards Banquet with David T. Schaefer, our web master, buying 2 and Cynthia Grinnell, the mother, buying one. Paul Thurston registered the TC 29 for 2002 and David T. Schaefer registered the MS 45 for 2002!

Talk about low drops! The SS feature paid $100-$85-$75-$65-$55-$45-$35-$30 and $25!

We had a rare driver’s meeting before the races Saturday and started a new policy on photo taking to speed up the races! After heats and dashes the winner will stay in his car and have the picture taken. For features the driver can exit the car and have fans in the picture. This really helped speed the program up a great deal!

Sunday it was a little cool but still decent for this time of year and we had 25 stock cars and 3 karts! The 8 Street Stocks put on a good show with Terry Kline just edging Paul Scott for his 4^th feature win of the season! Donald Hunley was a consistent 3^rd!  Ryan Prough returned for 4^th and Matt Buzzard was 5^th.

We ran the 13 event night in just under 2 hours for the second Sunday in a row!

Fred Collins made it 8 TC feature wins as he survived a crash and edged Cindy Grinnell and Bill Crapo for the win! Crapo won the dash and heat.

7 MTC were on hand and they also put on a good show with Fred Garrett surviving a crash and winning his 16^th feature of the season! Tom Holle won the dash and was 2^nd in the feature! Ray Butler was 3^rd and 2^nd in the dash.

Rookie of the Year in the MS, Jason Schaefer, won his 10^th feature of the season with season points leader Merle Yoder 2^nd and John Yoder 3^rd. Merle Yoder won the heat.

Andrew Behlke our karts points leader and probably season points champion, took his 16^th kart feature of the season with his grandfather, Tom Koehler, 2^nd and father, Tod Behlke, 3^rd. Quite a racing family and they have more racers in the family next season! Stay tuned!

Jason Schaefer moved back into 3^rd in the MS point standings! Larry Birk was idle for the week-end as he nurses a very bad toe! We wish Larry a speedy recovery and he might be back next week-end!

Our final doubleheader week-end of racing action is this week-end! 72 nights down and 3 to go! Does not seem possible as this season has really gone fast! For me, personally, this season has been really exciting and most interesting both at the track and away and I have learned, finally, to live each day one day at a time and see what happens! I have a banner which says “When life gives you lemons make lemonade” and I think of that banner often!  Live one day at a time and  make the most of that day because you will never ever get that day back!

Sunday Yoder Oil Co., our racing fuel supplier, sponsors our Season Championship trophy night and Saturday, November 24 at 4 pm we bring this season to a close with our 75^th and final race! That day is always the saddest for me personally! But we will reopen March 2 and be ready for another big season!