Fan Notes from Fremont Ohio Speedweek Stop

Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com) (Tom Myers) 6/11/23 - It was a perfect day for a drive through the Ohio countryside. A breezy and sunny 80 degree day made for a fun trip as we took in the scenery, like we have so many times before. The farmland and small towns along the way to Fremont never disappoint. Grain silos on the horizon, town squares surrounded by old brick storefronts and Victorian era mansions lining the main streets remind us of bygone days. Many of the small towns haven’t changed much the last 100 years. You can imagine horses and buggies where you now see Hondas and Toyotas and Fords. On the trip, we pass numerous one room schoolhouses that now serve as residences or storage buildings. Many of the old buildings still have the name of the building and the date they were built on the front of them, proudly displayed in concrete.

Fremont Speedway is also a historical place. Lots of history here at this old fairgrounds dirt track, including it’s own museum. Fremont was hosting the 2nd race on the 2023 All Star Sprint Speedweek schedule and was billed the Rick Ferkel Classic. This was Fremont’s 38th Speedweek event and when this race was done, it turned out to be a classic as well.

Arrived at 3:45 and got in line for when the spectator gate opened at 4. While walking past the All Star souvenir trailer, I noticed a Donny Schatz wing panel for sale for $650. I imagined it hanging in my garage or on my man cave wall. And frankly, $650 bucks didn’t seem too much to pay for such a relic. Maybe someday! I was looking for Rick Ferkel Classic t-shirts but I didn’t see any for sale. I would have purchased one. I also noticed that many of the t-shirts for sale were black or blue or orange or gray, but not too many white ones. I like the white, old school t-shirts with a simple, bad a_ _ sprint car on the front.

There were 41 All Star cars in the pits at Fremont. The roster of cars and drivers was almost identical to the Attica field the previous evening. Zeb Wise slipped around Tyler Courtney at the flagstand to steal the win on the first night. So the week was on!

Cody Maroske The breeze was blowing right into the main grandstands. Dang. Because this is Ohio, and Ohio has dusty tracks, and Ohio has had 3 weeks without rain, I knew we were in for a dirty evening. And yes, early on we had lots of dust in our faces, but they watered the track right before the feature, and that did the trick! It also helped that the breeze subsided.

In the pits I ran into my friend Jack Schilb again and was happy to shoot the breeze with him. Jack talks to a lot of folks at the races. He’s so friendly. Then Jack told me about a guy he just met in the parking lot….a guy from England that had flown over to watch Sprint Speedweek. His na me is James Potter and James had an ambitious schedule as he was then planning on driving to Husets for the big $250,000 race, visit the Sprint car hall of Fame in Knoxville, and possibly go to Eldora for a race….before leaving to go back home. I later got to meet James and he was very knowledgable about the sprint car racing here. Nice to meet you James! Be safe and Enjoy!

As I strolled around the pits I stopped to talk with the friendly Australian driver Cody Maroske, who was racing the 101 car. Cody admitted that the Ohio slick tracks were challenging and not tacky like back in Australia, but that they were working on getting used to it. I also got to talk with Jake Swanson, who is driving the 55 car that Alex Bowman was driving. Jake is a super nice guy as well and is happy to have a chance to race in his first Speedweek.

I then noticed the Adam Kekich car and stopped to chat with their “Coach”, Kevin. Adam says the crew calls him Coach, his last name escapes me at the moment, but Coach Kevin smokes cigars and when I see him, I give him a cigar when I have one. On this evening, he had one to give to me as well. Thank you Coach! Always nice to chat with you.

Brad Bateson in the Rick Ferkel tribute car When time trails started, there were patches of tacky surface and also a few dry, dusty spots. When cars got too close to the front stretch wall coming off turn 4, they would hit the dust and throw up a cloud that would then blow right in our faces. Thankfully, not all the racers got so close to the wall so we in the stands had a reprieve from time to time.

Local racer Stuart Brubaker was your fast timer, followed by Tyler Courtney, Zeb Wise, Byron Reed, Danny Dietrich, Caden Englehart, Craig Mintz, Cody Maroske, Scotty Thiel, and Cole Macedo.

It was neat to see a Rick Ferkel tribute car. One of the 305 cars was painted white with the familiar Orange Zero and it looked sweet. The Fremont announcer, Brian Liskai, said that Rick’s first feature win, #1 of more than 300, came here at Fremont.

The heats were 8 laps and would take the top 4 to the feature. The heat 1 finish was Macedo, Mintz, Windom and Dussel. The heat 2 finish was Courtney, Maroske, Brubaker and Hickle. Heat 3 got us Forler, Henry, Gee and Lynch. The heat 4 finish was Thiel, Wise, luscious and Peterson. The last heat was a wild one. 4th starting Dietrich spun on lap one and had to restart on the tail. Then, on the restart of the heat, Tim Shaffer hit a rut and then ended up running into an infield tire. On the restart, first starting Jake Swanson got out to a good lead only to hit the front stretch wall and ruin a rr tire. The restarts and position shuffles benefited 6th starting Kofoid who kept getting a better restarting position. Both he and Dietrich were the happy recipients of the shuffling and this saved Danny’s night. The finish was Kofoid, Dietrich, Thomas and track record holder Lee Jacobs.

Danny Dietrich won an exciting feature at Fremont Saturday The B main finish was Brandon Spithaler, Byron Reed, Travis Philo, Darin Naida. Tim Shaffer ended up taking a provisional to start 25th in the feature. The Dash finish got us Wise, Henry, Macedo, Courtney, Forler and Dietrich making up the first 3 rows of the feature. After the 305 B main, the track crew watered the track and the wind died down right before the feature. That was just what we in the stands needed!

The featured started with Henry forging his way into the lead and he led the first 39 laps of the 40 lap $10,000 to win race. In the first part of the race, as Henry was extending his lead and getting into traffic, Brubaker flipped in turn 2 collecting Cale Thomas on lap 5. Both were finished for the night. When racing resumed, Henry extended his lead as Macedo, Wise, Courtney, and Dietrich waged a spirited battle for the 2nd through 4th spots. Macedo faded as did Wise and Courtney came up to 2nd and closed on Henry in traffic. There was a yellow with 8 laps to go and on the restart, Henry again pulled away as Dietrich got by Courtney for 2nd and set sail after Henry. Cap had a few bad laps and hung himself up on the turn 4 cushion allowing Dietrich to close. On the last lap, Dietrich did a diamond off turn 4 and went under Henry at the flagstand barely edging Henry for the win. Wow! Great race and what a night for Dietrich.

On the way home, content that we saw a really good race, Pops and I, as is our custom, tuned into WTAM 1100 AM to get the Indians game result and then after the ballgame coverage was over, Art Bell Coast to Coast always comes on the late night radio. We always listen to that crazy, amusing stuff on the late night trip home.

Thank you Fremont Speedway and Thank you All Star Circuit if Champions for another great Speedweek race. See you at the next one!