Fan Notes from Attica Ohio Speedweek

Paul McMahan (Tom Myers)- 6/11/2021- The All Star Circuit of Champions sprint series held the first event for their 39th annual Ohio Sprint Speed Week here at Attica Raceway Park on Friday, June 11th. As usual, Attica did a great job with the track and the All Stars provided the excitement. If tonight’s action is any indicator, this year’s Speed Week is going to be a barn burner!

Partly cloudy skies gave way to clear blue skies, warm temperatures and a slight breeze blowing into the stands. The breeze was welcome because it cooled things off, but I was worried about the dirt later on. However, the Attica crew had the track tacky and racy all evening and that helped the dust stay to a minimum.

There were 45 cars on hand when we arrived around 5:45. We promptly found a seat and then Pops went to grab some food while I headed to the pits. In addition to the All Star regulars, there were some heavy hitters in the pits along with a few long distance travelers. It was great to see Tim Shaffer, Danny Dietrich and Rico Abreu in the pits. Other notables included Cale Conley, Cale Thomas, (who was driving the 49x Rudzick racing machine), C. J. Leary, with wrenching help from Joe Gaerte, Brandon Spithaler, Paige Polyak, and Chad Kemenah, who has not raced much this year. There were many Wayne County racers including last week’s feature winner Henry Malcuit, Dean Jacobs, Trey Jacobs, Jordan Ryan, Andrew Paulker and Tyler Street. The Attica regulars were out in force as well. On hand were Byron Reed, Chris Andrews, Craig Mintz, D.J. Foos, Cole Macedo, Nate Dussel, Stewart Brubaker, John Ivy, and Travis Philo.

Lachlan McHugh And then there were the long distance haulers. The winner is Lachlan McHugh, from Australia. Not only did he come from furthest away to race, but this lad really came to race.

Picture in your mind, if you will, Cap Henry or Sheldon Haudenschild on steroids and then you have a good idea of how Mr. McHugh drives. He’s not out of control at all, just very aggressive and fun to watch. McHugh willed himself into a 2nd row A main starting position by driving into turn 3 harder and deeper than everyone else wanted to during his dash. I am now a big fan of his. The other long distance traveler was Tanner Holmes, all the way from Oregon. Some of you will know Tanner from Youtube, where Tanner has a channel and he uploads a new video almost every week, chronicling his racing adventures. Tanner was making only his 7th start in a 410 tonight and is looking to get more seat time against the best competition. There is not a lot of 410 racing in Oregon so they headed east to find some. Good luck Tanner. Also on hand was a young man from Missouri, Garet Williamson in the 24w car. Garet has ventured out into 410 competition this year.

It was cool to have Justin Peck back racing and also Skylar Gee, now in the Coldren 07 car.

The Attica crew and the All Stars were really pushing the show tonight and that is a good thing. It seemed like every time I went to the pits to nose around, the air horn was blowing and another event was starting. Chris Andrews timed quickest on a tacky track with a huge ledge. The heavy cushion was at least a foot high in some spots. Some guys were right up against it, some were on it a little, and some didn’t get as close to it. If you ventured up on the cushion, you were fast or almost wrecking. Craig Mintz flipped and backed it into the 4th turn guardrail. He was done for the night. The top 10 timers were, Henry in 10th, Macedo 9th, Ian Madsen 8th, Byron Reed 7th, T.J. Michael 6th, Peck 5th quick, McHugh 4th quick, 3rd quick was Wise, 2nd quick was Eliason and Andrews was the fast timer.

Garet Williamson The track crew cut down the cushion before the heats started, and this made for a racy surface and some of the racers were feeling it. The heats were to be 8 laps and the top 4 transfer to the A main. The Heat Winner, then the Quickest Transfer from each Heat AND then the top Two (2) from overall time trials, that also advance to the A-main through their heat race will random draw for dash starting position. The first heat winner was Dietrich, who just pulled away from the field. D.J. Foos stopped on lap 7 and was done for the night. The finish was Dietrich, Dussel, Madsen and Michaels. In heat 2, Zeb Wise had his troubles, spinning on the first lap, and then ended up loosing a torsion arm stop on lap 6. But Bill Balog benefited because with 2 laps left, Wise’s missing parts turned into a yellow…..and Balog was light years from a transfer spot back in 5th. But on the restart, Bill got a great run and swept past the 4th and 3rd place cars down the back straight and into the feature! Henry won the heat with McGugh in 2nd, then Balog and then Brubaker. Kyle Reinhardt just missed the transfer. In heat 3, Spithaler got together with Landon Lalonde on lap 2. This moved Spithaler to the work area. After an aborted restart attempt, Spithaler was able to rejoin the heat race, pushing off from the work area and making it to the tail of the line. Lalonde did not continue. Amazingly, and with both elbows up, and with the help of a Tanner Holmes yellow on lap 6, Brandon secured the 3rd spot at the finish and a feature spot with great and aggressive driving! The finish was Andrews, Eliason, Spithaler and Greg Wilson. In the 4th heat, Macedo got by Gee for the win, followed by Courtney and Peck. Rico spins off turns 1 and 2 on lap one and went to the tail, which effectively ruined Rico’s evening. Courtney and Peck were racing hard back and forth. The 5th heat got us Trey Jacobs in the first spot, followed by Jordan Ryan, Schurenburg and Polyak in 4th. At the start, McMahon got together with Schurenburg and Polyak spun to miss it. McMahon flipped and headed to the pits for major repairs on his broken racer. Schurenburg retarted after a stint in the work area for steering repairs. On the restart, Jacobs fed Malcuit a wheel and sped away. Later, Malcuit’s engine expired and he was done for the night.

The dashes were good and the racy theme continued. In the first dash, Gee won it, and McHugh came up from 6th to 2nd, using bonsai moves and strong driving to forge to the front. McHugh just drove his car deeper into the turns and raced past the others. The 2nd dash finish was Peck and Madsen in the top 2 spots. Peck looked strong.

Wise, Reed, Thomas and Leary advanced from the B main into the A main. Shaffer, Abreu and McMahon, who made it into the B main after thrashing on his car in the pits, did not transfer. McMahon took a provisional and started 25th in the feature.

Ian Madsen in Victory Lane at Attica The 40 lap feature was great!. Peck forged out to a big lead followed by Gee and Madsen and McHugh, Henry, Eliason and Macedo….or some mixture of those guys, can’t remember exactly. Henry was working forward but spun it in turn 4, sending him to the tail. Madsen got by Gee on lap 8 and then caught and passed Peck in traffic on lap 13. Then Peck tried to get back around Madsen in turn 4 with a slider on lap 15 and it didn’t work. They both made contact and Peck spun into the turn 4 outside tire, but Madsen kept going. Peck restarted at the tail. Madsen then had a clear track. Eliason worked up to 2nd and a battle for 3rd between Gee and Macedo raged on. McHugh was aggressive but the track kept getting slicker and he couldn’t stay with the leaders and dropped back. Meanwhile, T.J. Michael was having a good run in the top 5. On lap 21 Spithaler spun. The restart is Madsen, Eliason and Macedo with Gee behind in 4th. Gee eventually got by Macedo but Eliason, who was in striking distance of Madsen on a few occasions, could never get to him to pass him. Cale Thomas stopped on the backstretch to bring out another yellow on lap 23. Then on lap 30, McHugh spun out. The race then went the last 10 laps without a caution.

Madsen won it, followed by Eliason and Gee. Skylar Gee drove the wheels off the 07 car tonight. He was aggressive and in control and put it where he wanted. He looked like a totally different driver. Gee and Macedo had a great battle in the middle stages of this race, neither giving an inch. Macedo ended up finishing 4th followed by Courtney, Dietrich, Schurenburg, Michael, Henry and McMahon, Henry and McMahon up from the tail. Courtney was up from 15th, Dietrich from 12th and Schurenburg up from 17th. Peck raced back up from the tail to finish 12th.

Wow, what a great race and a fun evening. The racers were really going at it and more is to come! On to Fremont and then Wayne County! Thank you Attica Raceway Park for a great track and getting us out of there just after 10:00 pm. And thank you All Star Circuit of Champions for putting on the Ohio Sprint Speed Week! See you at the next race!