By James Essex
Tyler Collins of North Vernon continued his recent hot streak as he won the Carey Ruwe Memorial on Aug. 7 at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon.
He now has now won three out of his last four starts. He won his grandfather’s race, the Ted Collins Memorial Race, and a crate special at Gas City I-69 Speedway in July.
Other feature winners were Jerry Adams of Elizabethtown (pure stocks), Ross Smith of Columbus (super stocks), Davey Waggoner of North Vernon (hornets) and Shawn Negangard of Osgood (modifieds).
Tonight, Twin Cities will host the Mark Clark Memorial for super stocks. Also in competition tonight will be crate late models, pure stocks, hornets, open wheel modifieds and crown vics.
For information, visit twincitiestrack.com.
O’Neal takes Hall of Fame race at Brownstown
The Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model series rolled into Brownstown Speedway on Aug. 7 for the $10,000-to-win 17th Hall of Fame Classic.
Hudson O’Neal held off early race challenges from Tyler Erb and a charging Devin Gilpin to maintain the race lead. As the race progressed, Scott James made his way to second and set his sights on O’Neal. James would make it a last-lap drag race to the checkers off of Turn 4 with O’Neal just edging him for the win. This was O’Neal’s first Hall of Fame Classic victory.
After O’Neal and James, Gilpin, Darrell Lanigan and Joe Godsey completed the top five. Sixth through 10th were Steve Casebolt, Kent Robinson, David Webb, Dustin Nobbe and Mike Marlar.
Adam Stricker of Batavia, Ohio, became the seventh different winner in Backwoods Express Modified features for 2021. He finished ahead of Ryan Thomas, Cole Falloway, Bryan Barber and Matt Boknecht.
J.T. Huffman of Salem and Mike Fields of Scottsburg battled door to door in the closing laps of the Pewter Hall Super Stock feature. Huffman would edge Fields at the finish to get his third win of the year. Following Huffman and Fields at the finish were Steve Hollars, Tim Eddelman and Greg Amick.
In Crown Vic feature action, Michael Cranmer of Jeffersonville got his fifth win of the year, taking the checkers ahead of Billy Heil, Jason Cranmer, Phillip Boudreaux and Anthony Finley.
During Hall of Fame ceremonies, Butch Tucker, Bobby Johnson and Michael Despain were inducted into the Brownstown Speedway Hall of Fame.
Brownstown will be idle the next two weekends.
Columbus go-kart results
The Columbus Speedway Go-Kart racing, which conducts events at Tony Stewart Speedway at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds, held races Aug. 7.
The division winners were Dave Luckey (mod lites), Roman Gephart (clone 420), Maverick Brison (rookies), Terry Turner (pred), Owen Barr (clone 340), Jacob Chadd (junior 2), Conner Smith (junior 1), Colton Lucas (flatheads), Grant Hiler (junior 3) and Jordan Hiner (clone 380).
The next events at Tony Stewart Speedway will be Aug. 27 and 28.
Rogers wins Kinser Memorial
Jadon Rogers won the Bob Kinser Memorial on Aug. 6 at Bloomington Speedway. Jake Swanson was second, followed by Jordan Kinser, Brayden Fox and Braxton Cummings.
Derek Groomer won the open wheel modified feature over Jacoby Hines, John DeMoss, Lucas Pace and Jason Clark.
Austin Phelps won the super stock main event over Cale Kern, Troy Knorr, Zach Sasser and Jeff Allen.
Bilbee takes Lawrenceburg cash
Nick Bilbee won the sprint car feature Aug. 7 at Lawrenceburg Speedway. Tyler Kendall finished second, followed by Sterling Cling, Saban Bibent and Joss Moffatt.
Danny Eichler took the pure stock feature, Matt Hamilton won the modified feature and Gary Hume grabbed the hornet race.
There will be no racing tonight at Lawrenceburg. The next scheduled event will be Aug. 21 with the Dick Gaines Memorial with racing in all classes. For information, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 70 years ago in 1951 at Columbus Speedway, Charles Beatty won the feature race over Wayne Ford and Dale Miller.
From 60 years ago in 1961 at Brownstown Speedway, Charlie Duncan won the jalopy stock car feature over Jim Adams and Larry Miller.
From 50 years ago in 1971 at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds, the Columbus Go-Kart Club winners were Teresa James, Pete Willoughby, Don Prince, Bob Folger, Bob McClure and Mike Tobias.
Also, from this weekend in 1971 at Whitewater Valley Speedway in Liberty, Baldy McLaren won the V-8 late model feature, and Bob Smith took the V-6 feature.
From 50 years ago at Haubstadt, Wes Stafford won the sprint car feature over Cliff Cockrum and Gene Henson. Jim Scales won the late model feature over Jack Owens.
From 40 years ago in 1981 at Brownstown, Russ Petro won the late model feature over Paul Crockett, Pete Willoughby, Paul Shafer and Steve Trabue. John Mull won the modified street stock feature over Gregg Lyle, Willie Sallee, Roger Sullivan and Ernie Niemoeller.
Also, from 1981 at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Kerry Norris won his sixth straight sprint car feature over Greg Staab and Danny Milburn.
From 30 years ago in 1991 at Brownstown, Scott Bloomquist won the Jackson 100 over Billy Moyer, Kevin Weaver, Bob Pohlman Jr. and Doug Ault. Scott McKeand won the street stock feature over Scott Patman, Mark Barber, Tim Clark and Tony Godsey.
Also, from 1991 at Haubstadt, Kevin Claycomb won the late model feature over Steve Karnes and Doug McCammon. Jack Hewitt won the sprint car feature over Terry Shepherd and Joey Nash.
From 1991 at Paragon, Dave Darland won the sprint car feature race over Troy Shields, Kevin Thomas, Bob Kinser and Jeff Deckard.
From 20 years ago in 2001 at Brownstown, Brian Birkhofer won the Jackson 100 late model race over Jim Curry, Kevin Weaver, Doug Ault and Billy Drake. John DeMoss won the open wheel modified feature over Adam Sasser, Clint DeMoss, Matt Boknecht and Brad Cummings.