6/17/2019
Eric Blumer
WEEKEND REPORT, MORE IMPROVEMENT. DOUBLEHEADER AGIAN NEXT WEEKEND.
We had another doubleheader weekend. Both races were at Beaver Dam Raceway. Honestly, as I write this on Sunday night, Friday is a blur, Saturday’s more vivid. Beaver Dam hosted the Lucas Oil Midwest Late Models and the Legends were on the card on the first night, it was the classic six division night on Saturday.
Justin and Cody were in southern Illinois where Cody was running a Midget. Thanks to Phil Espenes for filling their shoes on the first night. Eric had a lot of contact in his heat and pretty much needed the whole front suspension replaced on both sides. This was not a huge deal for Eric or Phil, they’d both done it before. With Brady “The Jackman” Kruchten’s help and Eric’s shop prep, they got the job done very well.
Honestly, I can’t tell you more than Eric started around seventh and finished third in the feature. This was his best BDR finish ever. Brady, Phil and Eric worked their butts off and did a great job on the car, as did Eric behind the wheel.
Saturday night Justin and Cody were back, as Cody got rained out with the POWRi Midgets at Jacksonville, Il. We pitted near Brian and Austin Peterson, as we wanted to be by Austin for his first Legends start and Brian is a great asset to our team. Brian’s been coaching Eric for a year now, even when he’s not been at the races.
Eric was not fabulous in the heat and ran fourth after starting third. He came in ready to change all sorts of stuff, but Brian talked him off the ledge. As Brian was preaching, Cody was shaking his head in the affirmative and I almost thought he was going to raise his hand and ask, “Can I get an ‘amen’!?” as Brian was telling Eric many of the same things Cody has.
Brian was fired up, knowing Eric’s on the cusp. “The kid gloves are off, I’m giving it to you straight,” Brian told Eric. Justin listened too and the team followed Brian’s suggestions.
When the green flew on the feature, Eric dropped a bit from his seventh starting spot. He might have gotten as low as ninth, but then he got to the cushion and started picking off cars.
Meanwhile Dave Eberle was busying checking out on the field. Eric was working his way into second, where he ran for a good seven laps or so. As lapped traffic started to come into play, Eric reeled in Dave a bit, but then Mike Mueller caught Eric and the two battled for probably five laps, side by side. Mike, in the Lightning McQueen car, got around Eric, but Eric kept him in sight. Lapped traffic, who did just fine running their lines, came into play some more. At one point Eric gave us all a heart attack when he diamonded off turn-two and cut low making it three wide. He held, but couldn’t get past Mike. With about four to go, Ryan Mech, who had started way in the back, caught Eric and got by him.
At the checkers, there were probably ten cars within three car-lengths of each other, at least three if not four wide. Six were lappers, four were the front runners. It seemed an absolute miracle that nobody crashed. Eberle, nipped Mueller by .03 of a second, Mech was .1 back and Eric was .6 behind. The next car was a good 2 seconds behind the leaders.
I think Justin was the happiest out of all of us with the run. Brian was probably a close second. Brian was watching his son run an awesome first race out of one eye (Austin finished 16th out of 22) and Eric out of the other.
As for me, Dad on Father’s Day weekend, I was just happy Eric didn’t wreck any more parts, because, as I always say, “Daddy don’t buy broken race car parts.” But it hurts to see him have to shell the money out of his pockets when it happens. Thanks to all of you sponsors!
NOTES:
Thanks to the crew! Justin, Cody, Brady, Phil, Stephanie and Mary Jo. And Brian Peterson too!
Thanks to BDR for the Late Model show. Those cars are a sight to see on that track! And thanks to the staff for braving the cold and getting the show in on Saturday, despite fridge temperatures and rain in the area!
To the BDR faithful in the stands, THANK YOU! We can’t do this without you.
Congratulations to Austin Peterson on his first Legend race. Great job and thanks for the help!
Thanks to my old friend, Brian Wisneski who came into town to tour the Maynard Drive Facility. Maybe we’ll get Beartooth Plumbing of Lingingston, MT on the car some day!
DON’T MISS THIS WEEK!
Next up is one of our biggest races of the year as the Legends will be on the card with the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. This is no normal Beaver Dam Raceway show, please check their site out for full details, it’s a show you won’t want to miss!
We are planning on flowing the Outlaws the next night in Dubuque!
AS ALWAYS:
A big thanks goes to all of our sponsors: Dog Guard Out of Sight Fencing, Storage & Handling Systems, Quest Civil Engineers LLC, Club LaMark (Madison’s Race Car Bar), Bullseye Games, BRS Radiator Machine & Fabrication, Ground Up Lifts, Wilcenski Farms, Grandpa Blumer, Blumer Antiques and Sun Prairie Pack 243 of the Cub Scouts.
And thanks to the crew and those who have had a hand in the car this year: Justin Hoium, Cody Weisensel, Mike Hughes, Greg Leatherberry, Joe Wipperfurth, Brian Benisch, Bill Tefft, Brady Kruchten, Phil Espenes and Stephanie Blumer.
Submitted By: William Blumer
