National Sand Drag News - Little Sandy SMTM 2010 Race Recap

Little Sandy Raceway in Grayson, KY played host to the Show Me The Money race for the first time in 2010. Rich Simon, of the Pro Truck Nationals series, and Steele/Wilson Racing’s Ryan Wilson joined forces with Little Sandy Raceway’s Jim Johnson to put on a great season ending event for the Midwest racers, and they did just that with SMTM 2010. With big payouts on the line as well as great track conditions, this was one of the best races of the season. Let’s take a look at the action.

Quick 8

The Quick 8 class was the feature class at SMTM 2010. This class saw the Quickest 8 entries from Pro class time trials that elected to compete in this class vie for a $700 to win payout. Missouri’s David Risher led the qualifying field with a great 3.336 followed closely by Mike Bolyard with a 3.362. The field continued on down through the bump spot of Kyle Harney with a 3.937.

Round one saw #1 qualifier Risher advance over Matt Wilson in the Steele/Wilson Family Altered, however Risher would experience problems with his motor that would keep him from making the round two call. The benefactor of Risher’s problems would be the winner of the Rich Simon-Dale Flaugher match up. These two Michigan Pro Truck regulars were pretty close on the tree, but at the other end Simon would take the win as Flaugher’s car would not shift. Next up would see a Missouri-Michigan match up as MI’s Mike Bolyard in his Bronco would face off with Andrew Burcham’s Missouri-based Altered. Burcham would leave first and hang on for a 3.659 (3.50) victory. The final pass would see Michigan’s Ron “Mr. Whiskers” Curtis in the Richard’s Auto Parts Dragster pair up against Kentucky’s Kyle Harney in the Hayshaker Jeep. Ron would leave first and hang on for a 3.537 (3.50) win.

Kicking off the semi-final round would be Burcham versus Curtis. Both drivers were in at a 3.50 Index, so they would leave together on the tree. Burcham would take a slight starting line advantage, but at the other end it would be Mr. Whiskers taking the win with a nearly dead-on 3.505 (3.50) to advance to the final round. Curtis would face off with Rich Simon, who would run a 3.912 (3.80) on his semi-final round single pass.

The pair of Michigan-based Richard’s Auto Parts sponsored vehicles would face off for the Quick 8 victory. Curtis would take a slight starting line edge and once again run just a whisker off his dial with a 3.504 (3.50) for the victory. Not only was this Ron’s first major victory, but his final round 3.504 was his personal best ET with his dragster.

Quick 8 Final Round

Ron Curtis

Rich Simon

Andrew Burcham

David Risher

Winner Ron "Mr. Whiskers" Curtis (Left) & Runner-Up Rich Simon (Right)

Pro Bracket

19 entries made the first round call for the Pro Bracket class at SMTM 2010. There were two ultra close battles in round one of eliminations. The first of these pairs was between eventual Q8 winner Ron Curtis & Missouri’s Ed Bunch, with his Funny Jeep. Bunch would leave first with a great .437 (.400 perfect) RT and run a 3.946 (3.85) to edge out Curtis by just .003 at the stripe. The next of the close pairs would be between Kentucky’s Ryan Wilson in his Chevy Pro Truck and David Risher’s potent Missouri-based Altered. Wilson would take a slight starting line advantage and take the victory by just .013. Those were just two examples of the great racing at SMTM 2010.

The quarter-final round kicked off with a battle between Bunch and eventual Q8 runner-up Rich Simon. Bunch would continue to have the hot hand on the tree with a .479 and ran a 3.910 (3.85) to force Rich into a 3.882 (3.89) break out. Next up would be a match up of brothers as the Wilson brothers, Matt and Ryan would face off. Matt would take a .436 to .488 lead and hang on to take a 3.572 (3.52) win with the Altered. Rounding out the round would be Casey Kellough running a 4.500 (4.49) on a bye run in his new Jeep to advance on.

Kellough would kick off the semi-final round against Bunch. Casey would leave first .481 to .499 and hang on for a 4.512 (4.49) win. This would put him up against Matt Wilson, who ran a 3.578 (3.52) on his bye run. Both of these guys were deadly consistent all day, so there was no doubt this would be a great final round. Matt would take the lead off the line .509 to .546 and hang on for a margin of victory of .039 with a 3.563 (3.52). This was a big win for the Steele/Wilson team as they fought gremlins with the Altered all season, and got everything lined out in a big way at SMTM 2010.

Pro Bracket Final Round

Matt Wilson

Casey Kellough

Ed Bunch

Pro ATV

The Pro ATV class is always a hotly contested category at Little Sandy Raceway, and this evening was certainly no different. 24 entries from across the Midwest made the first round call looking for the first place money and prestigious SMTM trophy. Eliminations came down to four tough customers in the semi-final round. The first pair would see Tex Andy English face off with Brad Ellington. Tex Andy had already won the Low ET of the weekend trophy with a 3.29 on his other bike, while Brad has had a hot hand all season long taking money at several PTN events in the ATV classes. Tex Andy would leave first .531 to .550 and run a great 3.700 (3.69) for a victory by .003 at the stripe. Next up would see Tex Andy’s dad, the legendary Tex English face off with Melinda Smith. Tex has won all over the country in ATV bracket racing and would dodge a big bullet this round as Melinda cut a great .463 light to Tex’s .521, however Melinda would have problems down track handing Tex the win with a 4.664 (4.48). This set up a father-son final round. They would leave nearly even RT-wise, but at the other end it would be Tex putting his son away with a 4.523 (4.48) taking the win by just .029.

Tex English

Tex Andy English

Tex Andy (Left) & Tex (Right) English.

Sportsman Car

Another of the SMTM big money classes was the Sportsman Car class. This is traditionally one of the most competitive classes in this event’s history. The semi-final round saw a pair of Pro Trucks face off as Tom Hartman’s Michigan-based Chevy Blazer faced off with Kentucky’s Ryan Wilson in his Chevy Truck. Wilson would take the RT advantage .459 to .524, but could not run his number allowing Hartman to drive around for a 4.331 (4.33) win. Hartman would face off with Kentucky local Larry Burton in his front engine dragster, who ran a 4.206 (4.15) on his semi-final bye run. In the final, Hartman would leave first .505 to .560, but would take too much stripe at the other end turning up a break out with a 4.297 (4.33) handing Burton the SMTM 2010 Sportsman Car class title.

Larry Burton

Tom Hartman

Sportsman ATV Classes

The Sportsman ATV 1 class came down to a final between Tex Andy English and Gary Fowler. Tex Andy would emerge victorious in this class after his runner-up in the Pro ATV class. Wally Downey and Jason George would face off for the Sportsman ATV 2 class title. When the dust settled, it would be Downey turning on the win light and taking the big victory.

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