Mike O’Leary

July 26, 2009

Another Memorable Night

Stanford, IN - Bloomington Speedway is already on the downhill side of another racing season.  The Sheldon Kinser Memorial, Indiana Sprint Week and the KISS series are in the rear view mirror, and it’s easy to see that the racing has been as exciting as it ever was. 

Brady Short captured his fifth main event win of the year at Bloomington Friday night.  It has been a long time since anyone dominated Bloomington’s 86-year-old quarter mile the way that the Short’s Indiana Stone Works team has this year.  But no one can claim that it’s been a cakewalk. 

Friday’s sprint car feature was typical of the close, exciting racing seen this year.  Nic Faas led early before giving way to Casey Shuman in the Roberts 21x.  With a multitude of cautions, Shuman appeared to be leading easily, but behind him, Short was methodically working the Indiana Stone Works 36 to the front.  Once he got there, he wasted little time blasting around Shuman in turn four on a restart. 

The popular Bedford-based driver appeared to have another victory all sewn up, but that is when it started to unravel.  With just a couple laps to go, he found himself stuck behind two slower machines in their own battle, running side-by-side.  Looking low and high and trying everything he could, Brady couldn’t get past. 

Shuman caught the trio as they began lap 24 and filled the spot next to Short, right behind the car on the inside.  As they exited turn two, the car on the bottom made a good corner and pulled ahead, and just that quickly, Shuman was back into the lead.  Short finally got past and quickly made up the ground he lost as they began the final lap.

“I’m going to have to do something crazy,” Brady thought to himself, knowing it was all on the line as he went under the white flag.  Casey was slicing through traffic, racing for the win, but somehow Short caught him on the backstretch.  Going into three, Short tried the only move that gave him a chance, driving hard across the bottom, turning the car and sliding up to the top, just in front of Shuman’s nose. 

Shuman cut to the inside and both drivers stood hard on the gas, racing wheel-to-wheel off turn four.  As they flashed under the flagstand, Short was still in front, but by no more than a couple feet.

“You don’t see many slide jobs at Bloomington Speedway,” Brady said with a laugh as he began to relax back in the pit area.  “Tonight it was hammer down.”

Across the pit lane, Daryl Tate was loading the team’s hauler.  Casey was packing his gear, still wearing a big grin. 

“I wanted to win that pretty bad – it didn’t matter what it paid,” he admitted.  He talked about struggling for 10 years since moving to Indiana from Phoenix.  Now he’s in one of the best cars he’s ever had and allows that he’s running harder and having more fun.

“When (Brady) went past, I saw how fast you could run on the cushion,” Shuman said.  “I didn’t think I’d get past him unless we caught lapped traffic.” 

The lapped cars were probably twice as frustrating for Short, Casey explained.  It’s tougher when you’re leading, because you’re not sure where to go and don’t know what’s going on behind you.  At that point, it can be a big advantage to be running second.  But he wasn’t surprised when Brady caught and passed him again.  “At least we’re competitive with the guy who’s the bad ass around here – and that’s great,” he said.

Further down pit lane, Ray Humphrey was going over his race.  A modified champion, and one of the drivers who could win on any given night, he is in his first year at the wheel of a sprint car.  The adventure had not started well, the first night out his car caught fire and it took four weeks to get over that, he explained with a chuckle. 

Humphrey ran the 1h well throughout the race, and was easily holding his own on the track, battling for seventh and eighth.  But then he ran out of tear offs and began to fall back.  He noted, “Jerry Shields gave me a real good setup – the car was fast.”

A goal this year was to make a feature – legitimately, through a heat race.  “We’ve done that and we’re tickled,” he says.  The biggest difference was learning to drive the car sideways, everything you learn in a modified is to keep it straight.  He called it a different animal.  “We just wanted to get faster every week and to earn the respect of the guys.”  Even though a sprint car rookie, he is accomplishing both of those goals.

The night closed with a big finale, the $1,000-to-win modified feature.  Even though two-time champion Shelby Miles led flag-to-flag, Ryan Thomas and Kent Robinson were on his heels.  In a dramatic conclusion, Miles prevailed in five-lap shootout, as Thomas seemed to claw closer on each lap. 

“I hated to see it end,” Ryan told the crowd.  “I think I was a little better than Shelby, really.”

Miles, who began the season in a sprint car, said, “It feels good to be back here.”  Then he thanked his pit crew, explaining that while he gets worked up easily and is emotional, they work hard to keep him calm.

With Steve Peeden winning the super stock main event, it was a memorable night for the fans as they headed home.  While a lot of good racing remains, it will be disappointing when the season comes to an end.