Fan Notes from Wayne County OVSCA

Parker Price-Miller (Tom Myers) Orrville, Ohio- The Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association held a $3,000 to win race at Orrville, Ohio’s Wayne County Speedway on Saturday, August 18th. Other than the FAST race at Sharon, also paying $3,000 to win, there were not any other local races going on so I thought I would take a run down to Orrville and see how many winged sprint cars would show up. Earlier in the week Parker Price-Miller had announced that he would be at Wayne County driving the Coomer 21 car so that fact alone was enough for me to go check this out.

I drove by the track slowly 3 or 4 times to try and count the number of sprint cars in the pits. After being honked at a few times, I counted at least 28 and that was plenty enough for me to take the plunge and head for the main entrance. There ended up being 30 cars in the pits, including Cole Duncan and Travis Philo, who were parked next to Parker Price Miller. Combine these guys with the Wayne County regulars and the OVSCA guys and you have a good race in the making.

Earlier in the day, Brad Haudenschild announced his retirement from sprint car racing. Brad said he didn’t race to make a living and that racing was a hobby and a passion of his. Because of this, he felt that continuing would be selfish and he wanted to make more time for his family and young children. Two years ago, Brad got really sick and that combined with what happened to Jason Johnson influenced his decision. I wish him the best and admire him for his decision. Brad was a fearless racer and he will be missed on the track, but I am sure we will see him at the track.

Trey Jacobs Instead of qualifying the cars, the OVSCA has everyone draw for a heat race starting position. I really like this because sometimes the fastest drivers have to really race from the back to gain an A-main position. Tonight there were 4 heats with the top 4 transferring to the A. The top 2 in each heat would then redraw for their starting position in the main event. In this case, the redraw was for the top 8 starting spots. The remaining A-main qualifiers would start based on their heat race finishing position. 

Not long before the heat races were to start, we learned that Trey Jacobs moved out of his own car to drive the yellow #38k car that Brad Haudenschild would normally drive. Dean Jacobs was piloting a second #9 car fielded by McClure Motorsports. Jordan Ryan, who has won some features this year, would pilot the team’s primary car. Andrew Paulker, who finished second to Kyle Larson here earlier this year, was not in the pits. He broke a motor last week at Mansfield and is hoping to regroup and return for the Labor Day races both here and at Attica. Mitch Harble also broke a motor at Mansfield but he was on hand with another motor in the Prosser 19 car. I thought we would also see Trevor Baker, who for awhile, lead the $20,000 race at Mansfield the week before, but he elected to race at Sharon.

In heat 1, Travis Philo streaked away for the win followed by Nick Patterson, Chase Baker and Lance Webb. In the 2nd heat, Jordan Ryan finished first, followed by Danny Mumaw, Steve Butler and Henry Malcuit. Malcuit was driving a car that was obviously raced by Tim Shaffer. The 49x was crossed out on the tail tank and the orange wing had #70 on it. Other than that, it looked like Tim Shaffer’s ride. Malcuit is getting better and seems more comfortable in the car. Each time out he is much faster. Price-Miller and Dean Jacobs both started at the back of heat 2 and because the track was drying out and slicking off quickly, they couldn’t gain any ground. They both would go to the B main. Mitch Harble was scheduled to come out in heat 2 but his mechanical troubles continued as he broke a rear end in hot laps and could not return. Heat 3 was interesting. Young Jake Hesson, who is obviously improving, was racing up around the top and flying to the front. On the white flag lap he had a run on the leaders coming off turn 2. The opening in front of Jake quickly closed and he made contact, breaking a front axle and sending him out of the A main and into the infield. The heat 3 finish was Jamie Myers, Jordan Harble, Keith Baxter and Dave Dickson. In heat 4 it was Cole Duncan taking the win, followed by Trey Jacobs, Jason Dolick and Kris Davis.

Jordan Ryan In the B main, Price-Miller was leading and safely on his way to the A main. With 1 lap to go the yellow came out for two spinners in turn 3. Evidently, Price-Miller didn’t see the yellow and tried to swerve around the stopped cars but ended up sliding into one of them. That sent Price-Miller to the tail and he was not able to get up to a transfer spot. Dean Jacobs won it followed by Tyler Dunn, Bryan Nuckles and Shawn Hubler.

The A-main lineup was Jordan Harble drawing the pole, with Danny Mumaw alongside. In row two Jordan Ryan would start alongside Trey Jacobs. In the third row Nick Patterson would start next to Travis Philo. The fourth row consisted of Jamie Myers and Cole Duncan. Row five was to be Chase Baker and Steve Butler but baker had to change a RR tire in the pits and that relegated him to starting at the tail.

The feature was 25 laps in length. Before the start, the track crew watered the top and bottom but left the middle alone. The track didn’t change much as the dry and dusty conditions continued throughout the feature. At the start, Mumaw used the high side up along the guardrail to grab the lead from Harble as Jacobs followed close behind the two. On lap 2, Jordan Ryan broke something and rolled to a stop in turn 1.The running order was Mumaw, Harble, Jacobs, Philo, Patterson and Duncan. On the restart, Mumaw raced out to a good lead over Harble as Jacobs would fall back and Cole Duncan would charge furiously up to 3rd position, he too, using the high side of the track. On lap 6, Tyler Dunn would spin bringing out a yellow. The running order was now Mumaw, Harble, Duncan, Jacobs and Philo. The race would then go green until lap 13 when Kris Davis would flip it in turn two. He was okay. By lap 13, Duncan had raced around Harble and was gaining ground dramatically on the leader Mumaw. Duncan was about to catch Mumaw when the yellow flew. The running order at lap 13 was Mumaw, Duncan, Harble, Philo and Jacobs.

Danny Mumaw On the lap 13 restart, Duncan got close to Mumaw but couldn’t get past him. Duncan raced high and then tried it low. Cole would get within 2 car lengths of Mumaw but no closer. Every time Duncan would get a run, Mumaw was able to hold him off and then create some space. The middle of the track was as dry as toast and very slick. Dean Jacobs was using the bottom and found some traction to move up to 7th from the back. As the laps counted down, it looked as Duncan would catch Mumaw but he couldn’t get close enough. Lapped traffic played a part the last 5 laps or so and it was a nail biter, However, at the checkers it was crowd favorite Mumaw holding on for the win. Duncan finished 2nd followed by Philo, Keith Baxter, Harble, Trey Jacobs and Dean Jacobs.

This was a really entertaining feature race and a nice evening. Thank you Wayne County Speedway. Thank you OVSCA for putting on an event here. See you next time!