2011

Graceful wheel raisers are the Tobias Slingshot cars at the
Rumble in Ft. Wayne on New Year's Day of 2011.

Dave Darland literally won the first race of the year at the
Rumble on New Year's Day!

Racestar Concept IMOD drivers Mike Kingma (77) and Chris Balazs (black car) took advantage of the practice session at Illiana Motor Speedway in April. The IMOD's were to race at Illiana for the first time ever on June 4th. But...........

.........on June 4th, the only thing racing were the rain clouds coming in to wash out their only appearance for the year!

Sparky the Clown just helping out with "potty training" before some big CRA racing at Plymouth Speedway in April.

"This track ain't big enough for the two of us!" at Plymouth Speedway in April.

Little did Jamie Lomax know that when he was racing at Hartford Speedway in Michigan in April that he would become the
"2011 Indiana Open Wheel Modified Driver of the Year!"

Frank Marshall in his beautiful red Buzzard Modified at Hartford Speedway.
Frank won the Modified Championship there for 2011.

Rick Eckert racing with the World of Outlaw Late Models at Hartford Speedway in April would win the Outlaws Championship in 2011.

After watching this situation at Illiana Speedway I walked over to one of the safety workers and declared this method of recovery the "Jaws of Lift". I don't think it's caught on nationwide yet, but I'm working on it!

Don Stone won the Best Appearing IMOD in 2011 and you can see why!

On this particular evening in May at Kokomo Speedway Chris Windom was determined to win, even if it took only 2 wheels!

Justin Grant wasn't injured in this flip at Kokomo Speedway.

One of the sharpest Outlaw Late Models I've seen at
Plymouth Speedway last May.

Don't let that pleasant face fool ya! Ken Schrader is still
out to win whenever he straps into his modified.

There's nothing like shooting 4 abreast and wondering if they're
going to make it clean into the next turn!

Beatin' and bangin', whumpin' and thumpin' at Shadyhill Speedway in June.

I took my shot of Bryan Clauson and started walking back to the infield. Noticed nobody else was so I turned around and snapped this interesting shot. Photographers fumbling around and the great fans in the grandstand patiently waiting for them to get finished!

You don't practice a "happiness face" in the mirror. It just pours out of you after winning a feature as Shane Cottle demonstrated!

This is Matt Smith driving his midget at Kokomo Speedway in June. Is there any clue that you can see that tells youthat Matt is from Australia?
By the way, on this night he won the feature!

Ryan Unzicker battled all year long to win the 2011 UMP Late Model Championship.

Popular driver Shannon Babb won the 2011 UMP Summernational "Hell Tour" Championship.

Just watching Jay Morris qualify is worth the price of admission!

Fan favorite Nick Allen won two UMP Modified track championships and finished 3rd in national UMP points in 2011.
I'm guessing he's still going to kick it up a notch in 2012!

NASCAR's David Stremme (red car) came to play with the boys at Shadyhill one night in June. Here, he's dogging Kurt Allison during heat action.

Rich Gynn had a spectacular year with the Racestar Concepts IMOD's. And just about everyone who watched him was happy for him!

Eddie Shamhart inside Brad Deyoung traveled 5 hours to race at Shadyhill in the Firecracker 50 on the 4th of July.It paid off as he won the $3,000 modified feature and had enough gas money for the long tow home!

This car was entered in the "Shed your skin like a snake" race......

Young Blake Brown, smiling, posing, preparing for a CRA/JEGS race at Illiana in July. He became the youngest driver to win
the Late Model Championship at Illiana Speedway at age 19.

This became a familiar sight at Shadyhill Speedway as their first 5 Saturdays were rained out. Rainouts for the year there totaled 8 and there's a lot of drivers and fans that hope it never happens again!

SSPEED's Bob Dilner talked with Ross Kenseth prior to the CRA 125 at Plymouth Speedway in July. Kenseth was declared the winner
after Eddie Hoffman failed inspection after the feature.

Eddie Hoffman raced with Boris Jurkovic (53) early in the CRA 125 at Plymouth and they made contact after this shot.
Eddie went on to take the checkers but was DQ'd during post race inspection.

They all wanted to be in the picture so I figured, what the heck......

This was the best victory lane celebration in 2011. Tom Bell hugging dad Jim after his first UMP Modified feature win on July 30th!

Boy, there were a lot of people screaming at each other after this "mishap" at Shadyhill! Hope things don't flare up after seeing this shot again!

16 year old Taylor Ferns from Michigan won the USAC D1 Midget Series championship in 2011. This is Taylor at Plymouth last August on her way to the record books. Don't look for her to slow down anytime soon!

INDY 500 veteran Davey Hamilton was on hand at Plymouth Speedway helping out his 14 year old son Davey Jr. who races in the USAC Ford Focus division.

This is probably my favorite shot of 2011 from Illiana Speedway prior to the 50th Bettenhausen Classic.

Paul Goldsmith (left), a veteran of USAC and NASCAR racing, along with many Indy 500 races, motorcycle racing and beach racing at Daytona and the 1963 Bettenhausen 100 winner came to Illiana to be recognized along with other past
winners before the 50th race on Sept. 10th. Along side Paul is Buck Hinkle from Kentucky who won in 1968 and appears to be pointing at a UFO behind him!!

Joey Saldana came to Hartford Speedway in Michigan to race with the World of Outlaw Sprint Series in September. It was Joey's first time back racing after suffering serious injuries at Eldora in July. Oh, by the way, he won the feature
on this magical night!

Jason Meyers was the World of Outlaws sprint car champion for 2011. It was his second consecutive Outlaw championship!

ATTENTION!! EYES LEFT!!
OUTSTANDING JOEY SALDANA!! DISMISSED!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, Ken Schrader drove a pink modified during his racing inthat month.
He won on his very first time out with the car!

Jacob Poel won the modified feature during the Dealer's Choice weekend at Hartford Speedway where over 60 mods showed up to race. In doing so he also captured the $5,000 Michigan Dirt Cup Modified Series overall check and lots
of trophies!!

15 year old Bobby Pierce (32) won the Late Model feature during the Kokomo Klash in October. He just keeps getting better and better.

Well, why do you think they call it the Kokomo Klash????

It was late, it was chilly, Adam Williams just won the IMOD feature to finish up the Klash for 2011, and the little guy in the middle just couldn't stay awake!!!

On another gorgeous fall day for the Salem Halloween 200, Frank Kimmel ll took his doors off on his way to victory!

Taking photos at a racetrack should be this beautiful all the time!

3 generations of Kimmel in victory lane
after the Halloween 200 at Salem Speedway.

If you turn your head upside down you can see a special message
on the bottom of this car at the Ft. Wayne Rumble!

It was Tony Stewart's Rumble Series as he won both nights to end his championship season in style!