unstoppable

By Rod Haxton, editor

Rollover doesn’t keep Weinmann
from repeating as figure-8 champ

You can’t stop Jeremy Weinmann. You can only hope to slow him down.
Or hope that he takes himself out of the race.
Even after his 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier flipped onto its roof during a preliminary heat that still wasn’t enough to keep the Scott City driver from winning another championship in the Scott County Fair figure-8 race.
“I got very, very aggressive. I was too aggressive,” says Weinmann about the costly mistake in the second heat.
Weinmann held a comfortable lead in the race until he lost control heading into the first curve at the north end of the track, which proved to be a problem for drivers throughout the evening. Race organizers had done a great job of getting the track ready following a heavy rain on Thursday, however the north end of the track managed to dry out more quickly.
Drivers were battling ruts and rough conditions which sent more than one vehicle into the berm.
In Weinmann’s case, his Cavalier flipped onto its top, bringing out the caution flag. Moments later, the driver crawled out and pumped both fists into the air to an appreciative crowd to show he was okay.
Even though the track crew was quickly able to get the car back on its wheels Weinmann as unable to restart the vehicle and it had to be towed back into the pit area.
“I’ve been doing this for four years and flipping over was the most fun yet,” said Weinmann.
Repairs were simple enough to make. The vehicle had become “oil locked” after coming to rest on its top. After draining and refilling the oil, Weinmann as ready for the feature race.
TJ Penka, Dighton, and Jay Conine, Scott City, shared the pole positions as winners of the first two heats. Rounding out the field were Josh John, Pete Bilson, Mitchell O’Dea and Weinmann, all of Scott City.
Penka came into the night’s action as a winner of figure-8 races in Dighton and Cimarron earlier this summer. The Dighton driver brought an aggressive racing style to the track which paid off in a win during the first heat and allowed him to maintain the lead for nearly half of the feature race.
“I like being aggressive,” says Penka. “I figure that’s what people want to see.”
Penka had built a fairly comfortable lead when he got tangled up with John as he attempted to lap the vehicle coming out of the south curve. Penka was turned sideways, blocking the track as O’Dea collided with him and the two front-runners came to a halt.
Weinmann, who had moved into third place, was able to slide around both vehicles and take the lead with 11 laps remaining.
By the time Penka was able to get turned into the right direction again, he had slipped into third place, behind Weinmann and O’Dea.
“I felt real good about my car. This one has more power than the one I ran here last year,” says O’Dea. “We had to be pretty aggressive out there, but I don’t mind that. It’s more fun that way.”
Weinmann is becoming an expert at waiting for opportunities to open up in the feature race. This is the second consecutive year he’s won the title after emerging from the slop heat. Starting from the back of the field, Weinmann said he had to hope that Penka and O’Dea would take each other out of the race and create an opening.
“I was just hanging back to see what happens. It paid off,” Weinmann says. “Mitchell had a great car and Penka is a very good driver. They definitely made it tough for me.”
Once he fell out of the lead, Penka says a fuse relay under the throttle prevented him from running at full speed, which made it nearly impossible to get back into contention. He had to settle for third place and hope for a rematch in the Fall Brawl to be held on Sept. 18 in Scott City.