Saturday, September 4 - I had to be up early on Sunday so we decided to stay close to home tonight. The choices were Mahoning, Bridgeport and Grandview and we chose Grandview. And we are glad we did!! Right up front I will let you know that this was one of the best Saturday night programs we have seen here in many a moon. I fully expected to see the heavy contact scenarios of some previous visits and I even warned my father in law, Junior, to be aware that there would be more hard hits than in a typical NFL game but boy was I wrong on this evening.

Racing got underway at 7:34 for the tripleheader program of 358 modifieds (44),358 late models (17) and sidewinders (17). Sidewinders are 1200 cc (I think) mini sprints and they started the evening off with two quick heats. The late models were next and they crashed a little but not too badly. Then it was time for the modifieds who ran off four heat races in record time with all heat qualifying completed at 8:30. A late model dash for cash running for 5 laps was next and Bill Henning took home the money there. Then it was right into the 20 lap sidewinder feature race with the green waving at 8:40. Only two cautions slowed this high speed affair spun off in 15 minutes with Ben Murphy notching his fifth win of the year in the division. Joe Robertson finished second and Cooperstown, NY driver, Mike Kiser, who we saw win a sidewinder race at Bloomington, Indiana came home third. Only the modifieds needed consies and they ran two of them with Troy Wink and Craig VonDohren winning. It was 9:16 and there were only two features left to run. A reasonable thirty minute intermission was taken and by 9:44 it was feature time for the 358 modifieds.

The racing was good right from the start with the top guns working their way to the front. On lap 13 Duane Howard, who started 16th and has been on a roll lately was running third entering turn one with the front two of Cliff Quinn and Glenn Owens running side by side. They left an opening in between and that is where Howard stuck his #4 and passed both of them exiting turn two without ever touching either one. This is a move that the fans will be buzzing about for weeks to come. Once out front Howard was in his own time zone and though the caution waved three times he was able to power back in front on every restart. Duane Howard flashed under the checker flag at 10:08 winning his fifth win in a row at Grandview and eighth of the year at Grandview. Finishing second after starting 17th was Ryan Godown with Jeff Strunk finishing in the show position after starting 15th. Rounding out the top five was consie winner and 22nd starter, Craig VonDohren with 13th starter, Kevin Hirthler taking the fifth position. It was a very competitive feature with lots of passing and good runs.

The late models would go 20 laps with four cautions but if you eliminated two cars from the starting field the cautions would have been cut to one. Ron Kline kept the five win thing going coming home the winner in this one for the fifth time. Wayne Pfeil finished a close second with Chuck Schutz third, Brian Shuey fourth and Doug Walton closing out the top five. All racing was completed by 10:38 to conclude an excellent night of racing. Hats off to the drivers and track prep men for preparing a good surface for the guys to race on.