|
August News
Sad News
Visitation for
celebrated short-track stock-car
crew chief Howie Lettow, who died
Thursday, is scheduled for 5:30-9
p.m. Monday at Hafemeister Funeral
Home, 611 E. Main St. in Watertown.
The funeral will be held at 11 a.m.
Tuesday at St. John's Lutheran
Church, 304 N. 6th St. in Watertown.
In
addition to his wife, Cheryl,
survivors include son John and
daughter Carin Eckes, son-in-law
Jeremy Eckes and grandchildren
Morgan and Jered Eckes.
According to Cheryl, ESPN plans to
do a piece on Howie at about 4:30
p.m. Friday with interviews with
Tony Raines, who won the 1996
American Speed Association title
with Lettow, and four-time defending
NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson,
Lettow's most famous pupil.
Trevor Bayne Eager
for Another Bristol Memory
By: Allen
Gregory
Trevor Bayne was
introduced to NASCAR racing as a
toddler. That field trip to Bristol
Motor Speedway provided an equal
dose of education and motivation for
the Knoxville, Tenn., native.
"I was around five years old when I
first came to Bristol with my
parents," said Bayne, in a phone
interview. "Since my father did
business with Food City, I was
allowed to go in the pits and do a
little tour during race week."
The ever-curious
Bayne was eager to see more than
cars, transporters and pit stalls.
In an effort to meet the stars,
Bayne improvised his own side tour.
"Yeah, I was able to sneak off and
meet drivers like Jeff Gordon,"
Bayne said. "Ever since that day, I
wanted to race at Bristol."
Bayne, 19, returns to
BMS tonight as one of the marquee
talents in the NASCAR Nationwide
Series. Entering the Food City 250,
Bayne ranks eighth in points with
six top-10 finishes in 23 races.
While Bayne paid his
dues in Karting, the Allison Legacy
Race Series and late models, he
admitted that his rapid climb up the
NASCAR charts has been a tad
overwhelming at times. During the
2008 season, Bayne drove in the
NASCAR Camping World East Series for
the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. team.
"I’ve had my share of ups and
downs," Bayne said. "It’s been a
wild ride, but I’ve definitely been
blessed."
In a storyline which
has become all too familiar for some
fans, full-time Sprint Cup drivers
such as Brad Keselowski, Carl
Edwards and Kyle Busch have
dominated the Nationwide Series this
season with 15 wins between them.
Keselowski, who has four victories,
holds a commanding 347 point edge in
the Nationwide standings.
That disparity is one reason why
NASCAR officials held a meeting with
Nationwide owners earlier this week.
Cost-cutting measures such as a
reduced schedule and smaller crews
were discussed, along with a
possible major alteration which
would involve making Sprint Cup
drivers ineligible to win the series
championship.
Bayne, who drives for
a team co-owned by longtime Sprint
Cup driver Michael Waltrip, said he
doesn’t mind battling the long odds
against the Sprint Cup gang.
"I love racing against those guys,"
Bayne said. "I wouldn’t want
[NASCAR] to necessarily limit the
number of Sprint Cup drivers in our
series, but it might be nice to see
someone besides Keselowski or Busch
win all the races."
At age 15, Bayne
realized one of his goals by
competing in a Hooter’s Pro Cup
Series event at BMS. He has drawn
off that experience the past two
years. In three Bristol Nationwide
races, Bayne has an average finish
of 25 and a top qualifying effort of
fifth.
"We led at Bristol
once with 15 laps to go, and we got
wrecked last year by a lapped car
who was not happy with us," Bayne
said. "I don’t think the Bristol
track likes us, but I really feel
like we can get our first win here.
This is as confident as I’ve ever
been coming to Bristol."
For Bayne, the
learning never stops. Not only does
Bayne glean information from the
stable of drivers at Michael Waltrip
Racing, but he has taken on
respected NASCAR veteran Johnny
Benson as a personal tutor.
"Johnny and I have just started
working together, but he’s really
helped me," Bayne said. "Johnny has
a wealth of knowledge about all
parts of racing, so he’s been a
great mentor."
Bayne said he always
feels an extra surge of energy when
returning to his home track.
"I remember watching a mini-cup race
at Bristol once and telling my
father how much I wanted to make it
to the next level someday," Bayne
said. "I just kept working, and now
I have a great opportunity."
Kyle Busch wins at Bristol
#18-Kyle Busch overcame
many obstacles at Bristol, among them starting
from the rear of the field, almost running out
of gas following a green-white-checkered
restart, but managed to hang in and cross the
start finish line first to win the O'Reilly 200
at Bristol Motor Speedway. The caution flew
right after he took the white flag and the race
was called complete at that point.
This is Busch's third win in a row at Bristol,
his third of the season. The #81-David Starr and
the #52-Ken Schrader took hard hits, after Starr
made contact with #7-Justin Lofton, got into the
inside wall, went hard up the track into
Schrader, ending their night with just three
laps remaining. Rounding out top ten were;
#51-Aric Almirola, #33-Ron Hornaday Jr., #5-Mike
Skinner, #30-Todd Bodine, #7-Justin Lofton,
#29-Brad Keselowski, #17-Timothy Peters,
#77-Miguel Paludo, #88-Matt Crafton. There were
4 lead changes among 4 drivers with a record
number of cautions on the night with 13 for 71
laps.
Bodine Wins Darlington
Back-to-back wins for
#30-Todd Bodine as he held off second place
finisher #17-Timothy Peters to win the "Too
Tough To Tame" 200 at Darlington Raceway. This
is Bodine's 3rd win in 2010; his 20th overall in
the Camping World Truck Series.
#33-Ron Hornaday Jr. finished third. It was a
night of attrition, with many retiring early as
a result of incidents on the track. Among them
were #5-Mike Skinner, #4-Ricky Carmichael,
#12-Mario Gosselin, #4-Ricky Carmichael,
#07-Donny Lia, #7-Justin Lofton. #23-Jason
White, spun early but recovered and was running
in the top ten when he had engine problems
resulting in a 27th place finish.
Rounding out the top ten were; #13-Johnny
Sauter, #3-Austin Dillon, #88-Matt Crafton,
#31-James Buescher, #60-Stacy Compton, #51-Aric
Almirola, #2-Ken Schrader. There were 4 lead
changes among 5 drivers, with 9 caution flags
for 37 laps.
Sad News
 |
Mrs. Barbara
Kurtz, age 71, of Silver Lake in Rockford,
passed into the presence of her Lord and
Savior on Thursday, August 12, 2010.
She was a 1956 graduate of Creston High
School and worked for 28 years as a
Financial Secretary for Rockford Public
Schools. Barb lived her life with a
servant’s heart and worshipped at West
Cannon Baptist Church where she was very
active. |
Barb is survived by her
loving husband, Jim; children, Debra (Anderson)
and Ed Arnold, Todd and Stacey (Haney) Anderson,
David and Mary Anderson, Deborah (Kurtz) and
Martin Trumbull, Steve and Kelly Kurtz;
grandchildren; Christine Arnold, Erica Arnold,
Travis Anderson, Taylor Anderson, Tucker
Anderson, Trevor (Adrionna) Kilpatrick, Ryan
Kilpatrick, Jillayne Kurtz, Samantha Kurtz,
Steven Kurtz, Nicholas Kurtz; great grandchild,
Malachi Skazinski; sisters, Betty and Don
Morgan, and Mrs. Joyce Houk; nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Skip
Wetzel.
Services:
The Service of Praise
and Thanksgiving for the gift of eternal life
through Jesus Christ for Barbara will be Monday
at 11:00 a.m. at West Cannon Baptist Church,
5760 Cannonsburg Rd., Belmont, with Pastor Doug
Crawford and Burland Margesson officiating.
Visitation:
Relatives and friends may meet
with the family at the Pederson Funeral Home on
Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. and on Sunday from 2
to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
Memorials:
Those planning an expression of
sympathy are asked to consider the American
Cancer Society for brain tumor research
Trevor Bayne
Preview - MIS
A past champion
and a potential
champion have
enjoyed a pretty good streak of racing
lately. Since No. 99 OUT! Pet Care Toyota
driver Trevor Bayne came under the tutelage
of his “driving coach” Johnny Benson in late
July, Bayne has captured two poles and two
top-five finishes as well as moved up three
spots to eighth in the NASCAR Nationwide
Series point standings.
Benson, the 1995 Nationwide Series and 2008
Craftsman Truck champion, will race his late
model at area short tracks this weekend so
he won’t attend Saturday’s race at Michigan
International Speedway. The pair plan
several phone conversations throughout the
weekend to help speed the 19-year-old’s
learning curve on the two-mile oval.
Saturday marks the first race for the
Nationwide Series’ new car on an
intermediate track. The Diamond-Waltrip
Racing team will test at MIS on Thursday,
practice Friday, qualify and race Saturday.
DRIVING COACH JOHNNY BENSON ON
WORKING WITH TREVOR BAYNE: “Trevor
has done a tremendous job for
Diamond-Waltrip Racing this season. They
brought me on board to help him with a few
things where my experience could help him
move on a little quicker. Trevor has been
great to work with so far and you can tell
he is a really good kid. What I am really
impressed with is his willingness to listen
to what you want him to do. He will go out
on the track and try anything that I want
him to do. I think that really says a lot
about him as a person. A lot of young kids
don’t like to take advice from people and he
has been real receptive. I think the way he
takes things and how quickly he learns from
his mistakes are going to be a huge positive
for him now and in the future.”
CREW CHIEF JERRY BAXTER ON THE
ADDTION OF JOHNNY BENSON: “Johnny
has been a great asset to the team since we
hired him a month or so ago. He is the first
person that has focused on Trevor from a
driver’s perspective. David Reutimann and
Martin Truex Jr. try to help Trevor as much
as they can but they just don’t have the
time to focus 100 percent on him. If we
would have had Johnny in February, Trevor
would be light years ahead of where he is
right now. Johnny helps Trevor stay focused
and helps him relay what needs to be fixed
about the car. I also think Trevor has done
a great job in trusting Johnny and taking
all his advice.”
TREVOR BAYNE ON RACING THE NEW CAR
AT MICHIGAN: “I’m actually pretty
excited about it more so than the current
style cars. That’s because I have the
opportunity to drive for a team at
Diamond-Waltrip Racing that has the
affiliation with a Cup team (Michael Waltrip
Racing) under the same roof. We can feed off
them. MWR’s COT program in the Cup series
has been really strong here lately. David
Reutimann won at Chicago and they’ve been
running top-five almost every weekend. I’m
actually pretty excited about it. We got to
go test our car at Milwaukee and we ran with
the current style cars. We were just as
quick so I know that the new cars are going
to be fast and have a little bit more drag.
They’re going to be a handful. It’s going to
separate the boys from the men a little bit.
I love how you have to hustle them. It’s
fun.
Benson Mentors Trevor Bayne
By: Mike
Brudenell - Free Press Sports Writer
Trevor
Bayne is considered a future NASCAR
Sprint Cup star. Bayne is just 19 and
already turning heads in his second
season in the Nationwide Series.
Bayne, who drives for Diamond-Waltrip
Racing, is eighth in series points. On
Thursday, he practiced in his No. 99
Out! Pet Care Toyota at Michigan
International Speedway and was 10th
fastest in the day's first session at
175.520 m.p.h. and ninth in the second
(175.059).
Bayne is doing it on natural talent, a
solid apprenticeship in the NASCAR K&N
Pro Series East championship and a
helping hand from veteran driver
Johnny Benson, a Grand Rapids native.
"Johnny B has been great for us," said
Bayne, who grew up in Knoxville, Tenn.
"He started working with us at
O'Reilly Raceway Park (in
Indianapolis). Johnny has raced
everything you can think of. At Iowa,
he even told me which way the wind was
blowing before the race."
Benson, the 2008 Camping World Trucks
champion who is currently seeking
sponsorship and a full-time
truck ride, is a big Bayne fan. "What
a great kid," Benson said. "We've been
applying a few things, and he should
run well at Michigan on Saturday.
Trevor has a great future in this
sport. He has the talent. It's now a
matter of getting experience."
Benson, 47, who was the 1996 Winston
Cup rookie of the year, was badly
injured in a fiery super-modified
crash at Berlin Speedway near Marne
in June 2009. He suffered two broken
collarbones, three broken ribs,
bruised lungs, a fractured wrist and
third-degree burns on an elbow. He
says he's feeling great now and
enjoying racing his late-model car,
with an eye on a full-time truck
schedule in 2011. He has made five
starts in the Camping World Truck
Series this season. "I don't know
if I'll ever get back to 100%,"
Benson said from Grand Rapids this
week. "But I'm still ready to rock
'n' roll." Coaching young guns like
Bayne is rewarding for Benson, and
it keeps him busy. "It is fun
helping a kid out," said Benson,
whose father, John Sr., helped guide
Benson to a solid NASCAR career.
"He's done very well in adapting so
far."
What advice does Benson have for
Bayne at MIS? "It looks simple, and
you'd think it drives simple," said
Benson of the big, wide track in the
Irish Hills. "But the track changes,
the car changes, and you've got to
be able to feel those things and
provide your crew chief feedback.
It's a balancing act between crew
chief and driver, and I've talked to
Trevor about that."
Bayne is a sponge. He listens and
learns. "Johnny has so much
experience," said Bayne, who won
three Nationwide poles in a row this
year. "You just have to admire him."
Kalamazoo Photos
By: Tom Devette
 |
 |
Interviewed after
qualifying.
Had to roll the big dice ...
Rolled a "2" both times so
his starting position was 10th.
|
Johnny sets fast time and
wins the trophy sponsored
by Sweet Mfg and Lane Automotive
|
 |
 |
|
Making
Laps
|
Traffic!
|
 |
 |
|
Cars
built by Johnny -
Terry VanHaitsma and Tom Thomas
|
Cars built by Johnny -
Tom Thomas and Mike Luberda
|
Rick Sexton Wins Klash XVIII
Photo by: Tom Devette |
Many people would have considered Rick Sexton
a long shot to win the 18th Annual
Kalamazoo Klash but at the end of the 150
lapper he was the man with the hardware and
the big check in victory lane. Sexton
finished 3rd in the first segment
of Klash XVIII and then hit the inversion
perfectly to start on the pole for the second
segment. Sexton held off several challenges
from last weeks Summer Sizzler winner Phil
Bozell who held on to finish second ahead of
Trent Hellenga, four-time Klash winner Andy
Bozell and Tom Thomas. Eastsider Mike Luberda
finished 6th ahead of Randy Day,
Phil Massuch, Curt Spalding and Tyler Roahrig.
Johnny Benson set quick time earlier in
the day with a lap of 12.615 but ended his
night early with 17 laps to go due to
mechanical problems.
Phil Bozell started the night
out with a win in the Super Stock Shootout
holding off Rick VanHouten, Chris Shannon,
Mickey Cornwell and Steve Stacey. Jerry
Andrews was 6th in the D&S
Automotive car ahead of Tom Sevigny, Tom
Rutherford, Matt Frazier and Ron Hughson.
Hank Miller was quick time.
Berlin Photos
By: The Grand Rapids Press
 |
 |
|
John Sr.
and Johnny
after practice
|
Getting
lined up
for the feature race
|
 |
 |
|
The trophy |
Making laps |
Kalamazoo Klash
Johnny is scheduled to
race at the Kalamazoo Klash on Wednesday, August
11th. Races start at 7:00 p.m. For
details - check out
www.kalamazoospeedway.com
Bodine wins at Nashville
#30-Todd Bodine, took
the over the lead and just checked out, to
easily win the Nashville 200 at Nashville
Superspeedway. It's Bodine second win in 2010,
and his 19th series win. Rookie, #3-Austin
Dillon finished second, giving him 7 top-ten
finishes in a row.
Rounding out the top ten were; #51-Aric Almirola,
#17-Timothy Peters, #13-Johnny Sauter, #33-Ron
Hornaday Jr., #88-Matt Crafton, #18-Brian Ickler,
#7-Justin Lofton, #2-Ken Schrader.There were 3
lead changes among 3 drivers with 4 caution
flags for 19 laps.
DeVos Holds Off Benson to Win the Chet
By: Steve
Kaminski
Tim
DeVos had Johnny Benson Jr. digging
underneath him and Ross Meeuwsen
trying to power around him during the
waning laps of The Chet on Friday
night at Berlin Raceway.
The veteran Late Model stock car
driver from Rockford found relief in
front of him, though. DeVos
slipped in and out of lapped traffic
during the final laps and escaped with
the victory in the 125-lap race. DeVos
beat Benson by 0.544 seconds, followed
by Meeuwsen and Chris Anthony, and won
The Chet for the second time and first
since 2005.
DeVos, Benson and Meeuwsen saved their
tires during the first half of the
race before making their moves. Benson
took the lead from Anthony on lap 73
before DeVos motored around Benson on
lap 84. DeVos led the rest of the way
but couldn't pull away from Benson.
Meeuwsen came up to challenge both of
them.
"Holy crap, Johnny didn't make it easy
on me," DeVos said. "At the end, I was
glad to see that pack. As long as I
could see that pack, there was no way
anyone was going three-deep high or
low, not as slippery and bad as those
cars are at that point. I was happy to
see all the lapped traffic. I just
about slammed into a couple of them.
It got pretty dicey at the end."
Berlin's doubleheader weekend
concludes with Saturday's ARCA Berlin
200, with action beginning at 7 p.m.
The program will include the track's
Pro Stock division. The ARCA race will
be broadcast on WJRW (1340 AM), with
coverage beginning at 8 p.m.
The Chet is held each August in honor
of Berlin founder Chester Mysliwiec,
who operated the track from 1951 until
his death in 1999.
Benson, the 2008 NASCAR Camping World
Truck champion, set fast time Friday.
The Grand Rapids native said he just
didn't have enough at the end to
overtake DeVos. "It was fun, but
I just couldn't do anything with him,"
Benson said. "I would have rather had
stayed ahead of him, but he came by
pretty quick. Tim's car was just a
little bit better. He was loose, we
looked tight, and then we were both
burning the tires down at the end.
"It made for a great race. Hopefully,
the fans enjoyed it. I was trying to
watch the laps up on the board, and
then we started getting in lapped
traffic. I knew I was in trouble. I
was being a little conservative and
then try to give him a shot the last
couple of laps, but right at that
point and time, we came up on some
lapped traffic. That put a damper on
it, but it was a great race. Tim ran a
great race, and I thought we did. It's
cool to run with Tim."
DeVos Victorious at the 10th Annual Chet
Johnny Finishes 2nd
The 10th annual Chet honoring the once great
owner of Berlin Raceway, Chester Mysliwiec,
had a night full of racing action for the
fans. A 125 lap Coors Light Late Model
feature kicked things off for the ARCA
Weekend at Berlin Raceway. The Burnips
4-Cylinders were also in action; as the ARCA
Series practiced under the lights. Winners
for the evening included (#77 Jared Lyzenga,
4-Cylinder B), (#17 Kyle Hamm, 4-Cylinder
A), (#12 Tim DeVos, Late Model ).
The main event of the
night, were the Coors Light Late Models who
had a 125 lap feature race. The two drivers
on front row were, #222 Caleb Bisacky and #1
Barry Hartwell, Hartwell shot to the front
of the field at the drop of the green flag.
The #28 of Scott Thomas moved into second
past #21 Terry VanHaitsma on lap 7, that's
when Hartwell started to see a threat.
By lap 17 Thomas was on his tail; the
leaders were 6.5 seconds ahead of the field.
The only thing that slowed the two down was
the yellow flag on lap 29. Andy Ponstein in
the #00 and #19 Nick Szotko spun out on the
back stretch; Thomas took the lead out of
the restart. Lap 58 would see Thomas,
Hartwell, and #55 Chris Anthony all on top
of each other as lap traffic slowed them
down. A new leader would emerge as the
Hartwell and Thomas brought out the caution.
Anthony and #10 Johnny Benson were the lead
cars, by lap 73 Benson had moved into first.
The battle for third place was also heating
up. Tim DeVos in the #12, #21 Terry
VanHaitsma and #32 Ross Meeuwsen were all
fighting for position. VanHaitsma couldn't
hold on and spun out on lap 68 bringing out
the caution once again. Benson would
continue to lead until lap 84 when DeVos
passed him on the outside lane going into
turn 3. With 10 laps to go, DeVos, Benson,
Meeuwsen were over 8 seconds ahead of the
nearest competitor, Anthony. DeVos would
hold off Benson and take the checker flag. Meeuwsen,
Anthony, and #33 Monte Tolan rounded out the
top 5.
Up next for Berlin
Raceway is the ARCA 200 on Saturday Night.
The racing action will also include the
Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks. Tickets for
adults are $30, seniors 60+ are $28,
children ages 6-12 are $5. Children under
the age of 5 are FREE, for more information
please visit Berlinraceway.com
Bayne Maturing into
Contender
By: Jim Utter
A little advice has gone a long
way for Trevor Bayne.
The 19-year-old from
Knoxville, Tenn., is in his first full
season in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series with
Diamond-Waltrip Racing and is already making
a lasting impression.
He has won the pole for past
three series races – a feat last
accomplished 18 years ago – and has three
consecutive top-five finishes to go with it.
Bayne is now eighth in the
series standings and has led 95 laps in his
last three races after leading a total of
zero in the first 18.
To help Bayne make his adjustment easier, he
and his team sought out some help from two
of the Nationwide Series most respected
former champions – Harvick and Johnny
Benson.
“He has so much knowledge of the sport.
I have been calling him ‘Bill Nye the
Science Guy’ because he thinks about things
you wouldn’t normally think about as a
driver,” Bayne said of Benson.
To check out the complete story -
click here.
The Chet - Friday Night
Johnny is scheduled
to race
Up next for Berlin Raceway is a two day ARCA
weekend. Kicking things off is The Chet on
Friday Night with a 125 lap Late Model Feature,
both 4-Cylinder divisions, and ARCA practice
under the lights. Tickets for the night are $12
for adults, $10 for seniors 60+, children ages
6-12 are $5, and 5 and under are FREE. The main
event on Saturday night will be a 200 lap ARCA
feature, with the Kerkstra Services Pro Stocks
also in action. Tickets for the night are $30 for
adults, $28 for seniors 60+, $5 for children ages 6-12,
and children under 5 are FREE. There is also a two day
pass available for adults for $35
|
Home
- News/Pr's - Fan Page -
History - Charities -
Sponsors
Copyright © 2011,
Johnny Benson Fan Club. All rights reserved.
Photos and information found on this site are the property of the
Johnny Benson Fan Club website and may not be copied, used
or reproduced in any manner without permission from the JBFC.
|
Johnny's
Official Facebook
Follow
Us
on Twitter
|
|
_small.jpg)
