Timmy Jedrzejek and Soule Racing Team Each Claim First Hy-miller National Career Wins Saturday Night at Sandusky - Johnny has mechanical issues
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Sandusky, OH- Independence, Ohio’s Tim Jedrzejek has not been a stranger in victory lane at Sandusky Speedway over his career. Dan Soule and the Soule race team had not been strangers in victory lanes either during their storied racing career. But neither Jedrzejek nor Soule had ever brought home a Hy-Miler Nationals title, the first of the traditional “Triple Crown” of supermodified racing. Saturday night they both accomplished an elusive goal. Getting together in 2011, the new owner-driver team survived what was one of the wildest Nationals 100 ever that took over two and a half hours, and 200-plus laps, counting cautions, to complete. survived five red flag incidents and two refuelings to come out on top at the end of the race which finished well after midnight. Timmy J inherited the lead on lap 47 when then leader Jeff Locke flew off the track. Jedrzejek then lost the point to Mike Lichty on lap 64, reclaiming it again on lap 74 when Lichty’s 84 broke.

The first-time Hy-Miler winners admitted in victory lane that there was luck involved in the win. “This was a wild and whacky one. It seems like whoever got in the lead had some bad luck. I was wondering if I was going to be next. Danny Soule and the whole 32 car team puts together a car that never lets us down. The team has a long history and finally we were able to produce a great win for them. Yes, we benefited from a lot of bad luck tonight, but we’ve been on that end too.

“We’ll take this win and we’ll celebrate it tonight. Thanks everyone out there and to Hy-Miler for sponsoring the race so long. Winning the 34^th Hy-Miler is pretty impressive for us. This is a nice welcome home to Sandusky after being away for a year. It feels pretty good now. I don’t know what else to say except, thanks to Danny Soule, his entire team and family. We’ve been working on it and working on it. Maybe we finally hit on something. Maybe we weren’t the fastest car at times. We probably were defending our position more than we were racing hard but that’s what it’s all about. You have to be there at the end and today was our day.”    Complete PR

Mike Lichty Take Convincing Fast Friday Win At Sandusky - Johnny Finishes 9th
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Sandusky, OH – Mike Lichty had driven the Reed’s Salvage number 8 several times this year prior to Friday night at Sandusky’s Hy-Miler weekend. The car gave Mike a big King of Wings win at Oswego and he was really taking a liking to it. When the opportunity availed itself, Mike and his dad Brad decided to buy the car and it brought him into victory lane once again quite nicely. In a hot and highly contested Fast Friday 40, Lichty got by 4-time Hy-Miler 100 champion Russ Wood just past the halfway mark of the race to go on to victory. 

Mike Lichty wins 40 lap event at Sandusky Photo by:  Jim Feeney

“It definitely helps if you don’t have to wear your stuff out in a race, so starting third was an advantage. I just wanted to follow Russ for a couple laps and see what his car was doing. He seemed tight and then loose. We were really neutral in the beginning. I knew it was probably going to come down to lap traffic. I closed in on him a little bit, and then stayed three or four cars behind him not gaining or losing. Then I knew lap traffic was going to be a factor and that I’d have one shot on it. I got on the outside and almost lost it on the outside too, up in the third lane there, but I made it.

“We’ve been struggling with my car. I had a chance to drive this car earlier here and liked it.  We talked with Craig about the car. He asked if he wanted us to build a car. I said no, I would like this one. After the King of Wings show, one thing led to another and we got the opportunity to buy it. Craig is letting us run this motor until the end of the season. I can’t thank the whole PATCO and Reed’s Salvage crew and everybody for tonight. We’re quick. We showed that tonight and at Oswego. We have a little more to do for the 100-lapper, but for a 1-2 finish tonight, hats off to everyone. I’m psyched. This is awesome.”
Complete PR

Toledo Speedway
By:  RG Design
Here are some photos from Toledo Speedway.  Enjoy! 

Waterford Speedway Photos
By:  RG Design

The super modified photographer is letting us share his photos of Johnny with you over the 2011 season.  We will start with Waterford Speedway from the race on May 27th.  Enjoy!

 

A Look Back - 1966

John Benson Sr in victory lane at Oswego Photo By:  Speedway Press Archives	The famous 21 Photo By:  Speedway Press Archives

Chris Perley Wins at Oswego

It was a disappointing night for Johnny and the Patco Transportation team.  An oil leak during the practice sessions, gave Johnny limited time for practice.  The heat race did not go as well either.  Johnny started 6th and finished 8th.  This placed in the 23rd starting position for the 50 lap event.  Johnny got caught in a wreck, which damaged the front end of the supermodified - ending his night super early.  Team mate, Mike Lichty did not fare well either as he suffered overheating problems.  

Johnny helps Mike with  the placement of the wing Photo By:  wingsideup.com

Johnny Wins at AutodromeChaudiere! 

Johnny in Victory Lane!	Mike Lithcy, Johnny and R. Sommers on the podium

JOHNNY BENSON JR. WOWS CHAUDIERE
CROWD WITH NEW TRACK RECORD AND
SECOND ISMA WIN
ismasupers.com

Johnny lead team mate Mike Lichty Photo By:  Jim Feeney

Vallee-Jonction, Quebec – Johnny Benson Jr. put on a show Saturday night for the Canadian fans who came out to watch the ultra fast ISMA cars for the very first time at their track. Benson set a new track record earlier in the day and painted his name on the Chaudiere wall much to the delight of the fans. The former NASCAR truck champion then went on to a convincing feature win on the banked third mile oval, taking the lead early from outside polesitter Jamie Timmons. It was the second career win for the Cornelius, NC driver and he had a bit of a battle with his PATCO teammate to make it even more exciting!

“Thanks to Brad and Mike Lichty and everybody on the PATCO Transportation for giving me this little hot rod here. Those guys do a great job. I love coming to race with ISMA and I love racing with these guys. And I love coming to a place like this and I hope the fans enjoyed the race. It’s pretty cool to set the track record here and then to win with Mike second.”

Lichty fought back from a lap 3 pit stop caused by a brush with another car, to finish second, closing on Benson after a late race caution bunched the field. “First I have to say hats off to Benson. Obviously it’s cool with my teammate and I being one-two. We had a good racecar at the beginning but got on the outside of a car and once again got ran into, which sent me to the pits. I started at the rear and worked back up to second. It was a fun race but it definitely took us a while to find speed in the car at this racetrack. Once we found it, it was definitely a fun track to race on. It’s difficult with the rumble strips on the bottom though. If you get in trouble, you don’t really have any place to go. For the first time here, I’m very impressed. I can’t thanks the fans enough for coming out today and to ISMA for putting on the show. Yep, one-two, that’s good.”

Rob Summers brought the Jeff Holbrook-owned 35 home in third after starting eighth in the field. He said in victory circle, “I thank all the fans out there for coming and to the track owner and officials for having us here. We loved coming to Quebec and this is a great little racetrack. We had a great time. I’d like to thank JWJ Industries, Port City Logistics, Jeff Holbrook, Brian Allegresso, Jerry, Russ Wood and the whole crew for giving me a good car tonight. Hopefully we can get the car a little better and win at Oswego on Friday.”

The ISMA field that made the long haul into Quebec was shorter than usual, but nonetheless competitive. Ben Seitz and Johnny Benson Jr. each won heats and both clocked under 11 second laps with Benson just a tad faster to claim the Chaudiere track record. He was invited to spray paint his name on the second turn wall to commemorate the feat.

Johnny spray paints his signature on the wall Photo By:  Jim Feeney

Congratulations! 

Tim Ice, Mike Lichty and Timmy J Photo:  by Rg-design2011

To Mike Lichty who is the 2011 King of Wings Champion  after winning at Oswego Speedway

Devos Wins Premier Boyne Race
Johnny Finishes 4th

The first feature up for the night was the 100-lap Premier Boyne Machine Super Late Models with #77 Andrew Nylaan on the pole and #23 Chris Koslek on his outside. Koslek took the lead on the first lap and the rest of the field were trying to decide what their next move would be.  #12 Tim DeVos was already challenging Nylaan for second; DeVos got by and soon Koslek would be under attack. On lap 6, DeVos took the lead and ran away with it.  The next battle on-track was for third between #5 Alec Carll and #21 Terry VanHaitsma, VanHaitsma was racing hard for it and took the position on lap 15. VanHaitsma then took second from Koslek on lap 20. 

The #55 of Chris Anthony was on the move, after he started tenth, he made his way up to fourth on lap 23 just as DeVos was coming up on the tail of the field.  Anthony was all over VanHaitsma for second on lap 34 and once he got by on the next lap, he had to cut down 1.5 second lead that DeVos had. The #48 of Seth Moody was also looking racy as he was trying to take third from VanHaitsma.  By half-way, the field was spread out and DeVos was putting more distance on the field.  DeVos encountered heavy traffic on lap 55, but he was not letting that slow him down; he took it three-wide with #32 Gabe Ensing and #44 Tim Steele, Steele was up in the dirt and they all made it through. Anthony was slowly gaining on DeVos as the leader was still contending with happed traffic. The first caution of the night came on lap 67, Carll spun in turn 2.  On the restart, DeVos maintained the lead, but Anthony was able to stay on his bumper, however, it only took a few laps for DeVos to start pulling away again.

The #21 of Johnny Benson was steadily moving up, he took the fourth position from #22 Caleb Bisacky on lap 76, the rest of the field was single file.  Just a few laps later, the caution was out again on lap 80, #101 Lauren Bush went off of the backstretch.  On the restart, Benson took third place from VanHaitsma and VanHaitsma started falling back.  Just four laps later, caution was out again for the #10 of Josh Hobson.  Once the field was restarted, Benson was all over Anthony for second, he took it on lap 86 and Dahlke also got by Anthony.  With ten laps to go, DeVos' lead was 2.6 seconds and Benson was busy trying to hold off #37 Jordan Dahlke.  Dahlke took second on lap 97; he had a very strong car rallying from starting 16^th, but there was just no time left.  DeVos got his first win the Premier Boyne Machine Super Late series but 3.470 seconds.  The rest of the top ten were Dahlke, #6 Brandon Hermiller, Benson, VanHaitsma, #32 Gabe Ensing, Anthony, Bush, #48 Seth Moody, and Bisacky.

Matt Merrell and Win Tron Racing Wins at Berlin

Chris Knight, Mark Sorenson, Mike Chaffee, Mike Resop, Matt Merrell, Nathan Theise in victory lane!

The Hantz Group 200 was the final race of the night; #36 Grant Enfinger and #24 Brian Campbell were on the front row. As the cars were just coming up to speed and going in to turn three, the cars in the front started to check up that caused a chain-reaction spin involving the #41 of Ty Dillon.  The field was restarted on lap 3 and Enfinger continued to lead. On lap 6, the #52 of Tom Hessert was working on chasing down #32 Matt Merrell for second and a few laps later, the leader, Enfinger, starting putting cars a lap down.  The battle was then on for the third position between Hessert and #31 Tim George, Jr.  Merrell was slowing catching Enfinger and on lap 40, the top five was spread out and the racing was mostly single-file.

Leader, Enfinger, found himself in heavy traffic on lap 47, Merrell was closing in fast and Enfinger made some pretty exciting moves to get around the lapped traffic.  On lap 66, Merrell and George were both catching up to Enfinger. The top three ran nose to tail on lap 71 and Merrell was looking to the inside.  Just four laps later, Merrell took the lead in heavy traffic, using a lapped car to make his move.  George also made quick work of Enfinger and the two started to pull away from the field. At half way, George, who was making good progress chasing down the leader, was held up by a lapped car and had to work on getting back to the leader. 

The second caution of the night came on lap 117, the #6 of Jeb Burton was in distress.  George beat Merrell out of the pits when gave him the lead of the race.  With 50 laps to go, the top five were George, Merrell, #44 Frank Kimmel, Enfinger and #12 Patrick Sheltra. On lap 174, Merrell and Kimmel were in heavy traffic whilst battling for the second position, while Kimmel would catch him in the corners, Merrell would drive away on the straighaways. On the frontstretch, Merrell went high and took it three wide with lapped cars and he was able to shake off Kimmel.  This let Enfinger catch up to Kimmel and take the third position o lap 182. 

Caution was out for the third time on lap 189, #41 Ty Dillon and #23 Levi Youster got together in turns 1 and 2.  The restart came on lap 194 and just as the field was coming around to complete the lap, Kimmel spun in turn 4.  The restart came with two laps to go, Merrell took the lead and as the field came around to complete lap 199, the leaders were all checking up and the #58 Chad Hackenbracht and Hessert slid across the frontstretch and Hackenbracht made heavy contact with the infield wall.  The race was checkered under caution and the win went to Matt Merrell.  George came in second and the rest of the top ten were Enfinger, Hackenbracht, Sheltra,  Hessert, #17 Chris Buescher,  Kimmel, #27 Michael Simko and #55 Kenzie Ruston.

Busch Wins in Kentucky
#18-Kyle Busch, driving the Dollar General Toyota for KBM, was best on the final two restarts with just five laps remaining; the last being green-white-checkered, to win for the UNOH 225 at Kentucky Speedway. Busch started the race from the rear after missing the drivers meeting and managed to survive the night to pick up his 29th career series win. Busch is now second behind only Ron Hornaday in all-time series wins.

#29-Parker Kligerman finished second. #13-Johnny Sauter seemed to be the truck to beat, but on a late race pit stop, the rear axle broke, and he wound up finishing in 24th positon. Also, #3-Austin Dillon was about to challenge Busch for the lead when the hood flew up on his truck forcing him to pit and putting him out of contention for the win. He finished 14th on the night. Rounding out the top ten were; #62-Brendan Gaughan, #30-Todd Bodine, #23-Jason White, #2-Elliott Sadler, #22-Joey Coulter, #81-David Starr, #31-James Buescher, #5-Travis Kvapil. There were 12 lead changes among 9 drivers, with 7 cautions for 31 laps.  Johanna finished 36th after suffering a crash. 

Kentucky Truck Race
Thursday, July 7th

7:30 p.m. on SPEED

Johnny spent time with Johanna Long this week to watch Kentucky tapes and talk about what she can expect during this weeks race.  Although Johnny is not traveling to Kentucky, we will be cheering for Johanna from the couch!  Good Luck, Johanna - we hope you have a good and safe race! 

Johnny Talks About Working with Danica
By:  Bruce Martin - SI.com

Johnny Benson Jr. has had several titles throughout his racing career: Nationwide Series champion, Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year and Camping World Truck Series champion.

But his latest role is a little different.

Benson got a call from Danica Patrick's crew chief at JR Motorsports, Tony Eury Jr., before the Daytona race in February. While Patrick had displayed potential behind the wheel of the Nationwide Chevrolet, she needed some coaching to help her move to the next level.

That is where Benson comes in. He jumped at the opportunity to work with the IZOD IndyCar Series driver as she learns the difficult sport of stock car racing. Benson has also been helping fellow female driver Joanna Long for five races this season.

"I don't look at it as Danica's driving coach; I look at it as helping somebody excel in the sport," Benson told SI.com. "It's pretty cool working with her. It's a little different job for me to do but I've enjoyed doing it. It's the only way at this point in time I can get back to the sport and help some people [accelerate] their learning curve with this style of cars and tracks."

Benson brings much experience to his role. After winning the Late Model championship at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich., the Grand Rapids native moved up to the American Speed Association in 1990 and became Rookie of the Year. Three years later he was the ASA series champion. He moved up to what was then the NASCAR Busch Series and won Rookie of the Year in 1994 and the series championship the next year.

The next step was NASCAR's highest level -- what is now the Sprint Cup Series -- where he won Rookie of the Year in 1996 and drove to his only Cup victory at Rockingham, N.C. in 2002. Three years later, Benson joined the Trucks Series where he accumulated 14 wins, 87 top-10s and five poles. He was the Trucks champion in 2008.

On June 13, 2009 Benson was burned in a crash in an ISMA Supermodified at Berlin Raceway -- his home track in Michigan. He also suffered a broken collarbone, separated shoulder, three broken ribs, bruised lungs, a fractured wrist and third-degree burns on one elbow. Although Benson fully recovered, his opportunities to compete in NASCAR diminished. With his wealth of experience however, he has plenty of knowledge to share with new drivers such as Patrick and Long.

Benson worked with Patrick on race day at Daytona in February but it was the Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where the duo got a chance to work together for the entire weekend. Patrick went on to score her best-ever NASCAR finish with a fourth-place in Vegas. It was also the highest finish by a female driver in NASCAR since Sara Christensen finished fifth in Pittsburgh in 1949.

"She finished fourth at Vegas and theoretically if the fuel mileage hadn't come into play she was going to finish eighth or ninth which is still a good run," Benson recalled. "The fuel mileage deal boosted her to fourth which was great. She just needs to get accustomed to these cars and get through the point where this is what you need for practice and this is what you need for the race."

Benson also worked with Patrick at Bristol Motor Speedway before she parked her Nationwide car to begin the IndyCar Series season in March. She returned to Nationwide on June 4 at Chicagoland Speedway, where she finished 10th, and she made another breakthrough last Friday at Daytona when she led for 13 laps and was a contender for the win before a multi-car crash sabotaged her chances on the last lap. She would finish, once again, in 10th place.

Patrick credits her coach with helping her learn and improve behind the stock car wheel.

"The opportunity to work with Johnny Benson was great for me," Patrick said. "Not only does he have tremendous insight as a former NASCAR driver, but he's also raced at a number of tracks that I competed on during the first part of the season. He's definitely [given] me a lot of insight that I was able to apply behind the wheel."

Benson is impressed with Patrick's willingness to listen and her determination and skill when it comes to driving a stock car.

"She is determined and she wants to run well," Benson said. "At times she will get frustrated when she thinks the car is pretty good for practice and then they get in the race and are not as good as they want to be. That is the part where I came in to tell here 'You need to have it this way in practice so you are good on race day.' Part of that is a struggle. When we've seen open-wheel people come in they don't like the cars real loose. I understand that because in an IndyCar if you get those things loose on an oval track, you wreck, and in a stock car you don't. You have to be able to try to find that balance of what you can get away with on the free side in practice to make it good in the race."

Despite her lack of comfort with the stock car, Patrick has shown great consistency.

"The one thing that's impressive is she is very good at running the exact same line every lap," Benson said. "I've worked with other people; I've worked with rookies. One time they go into the corner they are right on the line, the next lap they are five feet from the line, the next time they are five lengths deeper than what they went in before. With Danica it's very consistent. She turns off the wall at the same spot every time. She gets off the gas at the same spot every time. I was impressed with that."

Patrick is adamant that she has not decided what she will do in 2012. Currently, she runs the entire IndyCar schedule for Andretti Autosport with a limited Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports. Patrick could leave IndyCar for a full-time Nationwide schedule in 2012, while maintaining the ability to run in the Indianapolis 500, and then move up to Sprint Cup in 2013, but the driver has denied that deal is in place.

Sources within the IndyCar paddock have told SI.com they believe Patrick will likely leave the series at the end of this season, but Patrick continues to say a final decision won't come until much later this season.

Her driving coach believes she needs to spend more than one full season in Nationwide before making the jump to Cup.

"The struggle, I think, is she wants to go right to Cup and that's a bad move," Benson said. "She needs to run the Nationwide Series for two years and then go to Cup. I know that is probably not going to happen. I think for her career and her age she needs to run Nationwide ... to really get a handle on what is going on because that next step going into Cup is such a huge step.

"I think the more knowledge and experience she has going into Cup will benefit her career more than getting there sooner. ... I think that is a crucial step for her."

Benson warns a move to Sprint Cup too soon could have a detrimental impact on Patrick's progress as a stock car driver and could prematurely halt her career if success doesn't come quickly.

"If you make that jump too early," Benson warned, "and have three or four years with no success, it is very difficult to maintain a ride. ... I've seen a lot of guys try to run one year of Nationwide and move up and really, really struggle and I've seen some people make it. It's going to be undetermined if that is the right thing to do."

Although Patrick came close to victory at last Friday's restrictor-plate race, where circumstances determine the winner more than the driver behind the wheel, Benson believes Las Vegas and Bristol are a better gauge of Patrick's talent as a NASCAR driver.

But, does she have the ability to win at this?

"I don't know," Benson admitted. "I think it is hard to say. She has the determination to do well at it. Right now she is with a team capable of winning races. The next step is to figure it out and make it happen. It's very tough even for somebody who has experience to win races in Nationwide. There are a couple of key elements there that are a plus. The negatives are she needs to be there week in and week out.

"To me she ran an outstanding race [at Bristol] until she got into [a wreck with] Ryan Truex. ... Walking out of there I felt good about it and pretty proud of how she did the first time there."

And that is high praise from the man Patrick calls coach.