By James Essex
Bobby Johnson of Columbus and the late Butch Tucker of Martinsville will be among the new inductees into the Brownstown Speedway Hall of Fame tonight during induction ceremonies.
Johnson began his racing career at Brownstown in 1978 in the hobby stock division. He won his first feature at Brownstown on May 2, 1981, in the modified street stock division. He was the first bomber division track champion in 1987.
Johnson raced for 37 years, and his last car was owned by Danny Ogle of Columbus. Johnson is the son of the late Charlie Johnson who was a former driver, car owner and parts supplier.
Bobby’s son Zach won his first career feature this year at Brownstown in the hornet division. Zach’s win came a little over 40 years after his father’s first career victory. His other son Robbie has also raced in the past.
Tucker, a car owner, chassis builder and racing transmission innovator passed away in 2000 at the age of 59. He owned the familiar #T3 late model, which was driven by Ray Godsey, Ira Bastin, Pat Patrick, Don Hobbs, Junior Pace and Mike Gibbs. He built several cars that raced regularly at Brownstown and surrounding tracks in Indiana for several years.
Bailey wins Crockett
Jared Bailey of Bedford has always wanted to win a Jackson County Fair race and that dream was realized Saturday Night, July 31 at the Brownstown Speedway. Bailey would score a “Slicker Graphics” Super Late Model feature win at Jackson County Fair’s Grand Champion “Paul Crockett Memorial” race. This would be the first trip to victory lane for Bailey this season.
Bailey would get the win ahead of Shelby Miles, Britan Godsey, Tyler Cain and Steve Godsey.
Sixth thru tenth would be Joe Godsey, Colton Sullivan, Caleb Schryer, Brian Shewmaker and Jeremy Owens.
Jordan Wever of Bloomington would make a return to the Speedway in “Backwoods Express” Modifieds and pick up his third 2021 victory. Wever would lead Ryan Thomas, Derek Groomer, Brent Lee and Brayden Watson at the finish.
Tucker Chastain of Bedford would pull off the “Pewter Hall” Super Stocks double by winning Saturday’s “Grand Champion” fair race after also winning the “Thursday Night Thunder” fair race. Super Stock sponsor Curtis and Darla Kaiser with “Pewter Hall” offered $125 Bonus for each nights feature winner plus an additional $250 to any driver who could win both fair races. Chastain cashed in on the bonus money getting an extra $500 for his efforts. Chastain was followed by Zach Sasser, Jt Huffman, Brad Cummings and Dennis Boknecht in Saturday’s feature.
Dusten Carr of Underwood is no stranger to victory lane in “All in 1 Pools” Pure Stocks and found himself there again Saturday night. Carr has six wins for 2021. Bailey Jones, Paul Ortman, Brent McMillan and Dalton Fleenor would complete the top five.
Jacob Owens of North Vernon would get his fourth win of the year in Hornet division feature action. Owens would cross the checkers ahead of Shawn Durbin, Davey Waggoner, Greg Garrison and Josh Hallett.
Tonight, Brownstown will host the 178th Annual Hall of Fame Classic featuring a $10,000 to win super late model feature event. Also racing will be open wheel modifieds, super stocks and crown vics. For ticket information, visit brownstownspeedway.com
Jennings County go-kart results
The Jennings County Outlaw Karting which conducts events at the Jennings County 4-H Fairgrounds in North Vernon held a racing program on July 30. The division winners were Zack Roell (junior 1), Connor Perry (youth champ), Ryker Williams (junior champ), Macy Staton (rookie), Matthew Baylor (junior 2), Jeff Farmer (flatheads), Lane Miller (340 clone), Ricky Bernard (junior 3), Nathan Sipes (pred), Bryce Foley (420 clone), Colton Aldridge (rwyb), Robert Doyle (senior champ) and Jared John (380 clone).
Thomas takes sprint week title
The 2021 USAC Indiana Sprint Week wrapped up last weekend. Tanner Thorson won on July 29 at Putnamville, Brady Bacon won on July 30 at Bloomington, and Justin Grant was victorious at Haubstadt on July 31. Kevin Thomas Jr. was crowned the 2021 champion.
Twin Cities racing tonight
After being rained out on July 31, the Twin Cities Raceway park in Vernon will holding the Carey Ruwe Memorial Race tonight for crate late models. Also racing will be open wheel modifieds, pure stocks, hornets and the MMSA mini sprints. For more info, visit twincitiestrack.com.
Lawrenceburg back tonight
The Lawrenceburg Speedway will be back in action tonight with a regularly scheduled program of sprints, modifieds, pure stocks and hornets. For the latest information, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
Florence biggie next week
The Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky will have its biggest racing week of the season starting Aug. 12 with the North-South Shootout for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt series paying $10,000 to win.
On Aug. 13 will be double heat races and on Aug. 14 will be the Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100 paying $50,000 to win. For ticket info, visit florencespeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 70 years ago in 1951 at the 25th Street Fairgrounds Raceway in Columbus, Jim Quillen won the feature race over Bob Bennett, Johnny Fredericks and Kenny Woods.
From the same weekend in 1951 at the Columbus Speedway, it was Johnny Fredericks winning the feature race over Jim Quillen and Wayne Ford.
Also, from 1961 at Terre Haute, Jim Hurtubise won his third straight USAC sprint car feature at the Vigo County Fairgrounds track. Parnelli Jones was second followed by Roger McCluskey.
From 60 years ago in 1961 at Lawrenceburg, it was Bob Kinser winning the feature over Wayne Wolf and Hugh Randall.
50 years ago, this weekend the season championships scheduled for the 25th Street Raceway were not run to conclusion when the 11 p.m. curfew was met before the features were scheduled to run. A letter of apology was issued to the fans and drivers. Promoter Ed Adair refunded all admission monies, and the race was not made-up as the 1971 season came to a close.
From 50 years ago tonight in 1971 at Brownstown, Kenny Simpson won the later model feature over Jim Curry, Jack Owens, Russ Petro and Luther Burton.
Also, from 1971 at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds, the Columbus Go-Kart Club held six divisions of racing. The winners were Teresa James, Dick Phillips, Don Prince, Stanley Mays, Bill Ault and Ron Comstock.
From 40 years ago in 1981 at Brownstown, Ray Godsey won the late model feature race over Pete Willoughby, Noel Witcher, Ira Bastin and Jim Curry. John Mull won the modified street stock feature over Roger Sullivan, David Thomas, Willie Sallee and Jack Turner.
Also from 1981, Kerry Norris and Allen Barr ran 1-2 in both sprint car features at Lawrenceburg and Kokomo.
From 30 years ago in 1991 at Paragon, it was Todd Shields winning the sprint car feature over Randy Kinser, Rick Ungar, Bob Kinser and Troy Shields.