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The 2008 King of Indiana Sprint Series
A Summary and Some Thoughts
Stanford, IN, July 1, 2008 –- The 2008 King of Indiana Sprint Series is in
the books. While the spring of ’08 will be remembered for heavy rains and
devastating flooding around the Hoosier state, there were five races, and they
weren’t always easy to get in. Following a week that was wracked by vicious
storms, many competitors had difficulty driving to both Haubstadt and Kokomo.
Some, including Jon Stanbrough, spent more than 8 hours on the road, as many
state roads and national highways were closed, cutting the northern half of
the state off from the southern. Yet, they showed up to race, averaging more
than 23 cars a night, as did the fans. Just days after flooding wrecked
homes, cut off electric service, and caused the evacuation of much of Paragon
and nearby towns, Paragon Speedway hosted the KISS finale.
With this havoc, six drivers, Jon Stanbrough, Hunter Schuerenberg, Kyle
Cummins, Jeff Bland Jr., A. J. Anderson, and Scott Hampton, competed in all of
the events. They made all of the feature races, with the exception of
Schuerenberg, who wrecked in his heat race the first night, at Gas City, but
rebounded to win at Kokomo Speedway and finish second in the points.
Stanbrough claimed his fourth KISS championship, the third in a row, and his
three wins gave him a series total of 14. Once he captured the first two
races, at Gas City and Bloomington, then finished second to Daron Clayton at
Tri-State Speedway, everyone knew that it would be difficult for anyone else
to challenge for the title unless some catastrophe struck. But the race for
second remained close until the final checkered flag, with Cummins,
Schuerenberg, Bland, Anderson, Brady Short and Jesse Hockett all involved.
Each event on this year’s schedule demonstrated the excitement of Hoosier
sprint car racing. At Gas City, the Demon, Damion Gardner, started 22nd,
raced to the front where he battled Stanbrough wheel-to-wheel until making
contact with a car he was lapping and flipping spectacularly. With 60 cars in
Bloomington’s pits, it was Short, dueling with Levi Jones for second, who had
fans on their feet. Schuerenberg scrapped his way from the sixth row to win
at Kokomo, and in what may have been the most memorable performance of the
series, after getting caught in a first lap tangle during the finale at
Paragon, Hockett charged through the C- and B-Mains to earn fifth in the
feature, starting at the back of each race.
“This kind of goes back to our old Indiana Sprint Week the way it used to be,
without any sanctioning bodies,” Stanbrough said after securing the title. He
pointed out that the local race tracks run the series and the atmosphere is
more laid back and enjoyable than bigger shows. “You know I’ve won the Sprint
Week championship, but this is something that I’ll be able to look back at and
be proud of having won it four times,” he added.
While he had won USAC events at Paragon Speedway in the past, the fact that he
and the Fox’s had yet to visit Paragon’s Victory Lane together wasn’t
forgotten. “It was important to me to try to come down here and win tonight,
or at least run as good as I can, because I didn’t want to win the
championship finishing in the back of the race. It makes the championship
that much sweeter to be able to win the final race down here tonight,” he
said.
Looking at the historical aspect of the King of Indiana Sprint Series, the
first five years saw as many different champions: Dickie Gaines, Tony Elliott,
Stanbrough, Michael Burthay and Justin Marvel. Stanbrough scored four wins in
those five years, but Elliott had three, Kevin Briscoe, Kent Christian and
Burthay had two each. Then, in 2006, Stanbrough teamed with Steve and Brad
Fox and the status was no longer quo.
Over the last three KISS tours, Stanbrough and the Fox brothers have won ten
of 17 main events, an amazing 58.8% This performance has brought a variety of
reactions from fans and competitors. While most appreciate the fact that the
team will be remembered as one of the best sprint car teams of this or any
era, a few thought something funny was going on.
Two complaints heard were that Stanbrough always got to start the heat races
on the front row, and another was that they are using traction control.
Obviously, he doesn’t get preferential treatment at any of the tracks, and the
numbers don’t support starting every heat race at the front. This year, his
starting spots were 6 – 6 – 2 – 1 – 3, and of course his finishing positions
were 2 – 3 – 1 – 1 – 1. In 2007, his KISS heat race starting spots were 7 – 7
– 1 – 6 – 4 – 2, and his finishes were 2 – 1 – 1 – 9 – 2 – 1. The year
before, he started 2 – 5 – 6 – 3 – 6 and finished 1 – 1 – 4 – 1 – 2. One of
the keys to short track racing is to transfer to the feature through the heat
race, which Jon did nearly 100% of the time over the last three years, one of
the two exceptions was when he was caught up in a first lap wreck at
Putnamville last year. And in those same 16 races, he’s started on the front
row just five times, while starting in the third row or further back eight
times, which is fairly average for anyone running all of the races.
As for traction control, or any other technical advantages, it certainly can’t
be said that the Fox’s have a significantly larger budget than anyone else.
Each of the tracks is responsible for ensuring the rules of their facility,
and there has never been a hint of illegality in their equipment. While
traction control is not expensive and there are various schemes to hide it, it
provides more of an advantage on pavement and may be easier to detect on the
dirt. Clearly, USAC’s technical inspectors have more ability to identify
traction control devices at their events, and IF the Fox team was using it in
local and KISS races, their performance could be expected to fall off when
they remove it for a USAC program. Yet, they have won more USAC sprint car
features than anyone else over the last two years. ‘Nuff said.
Last summer, Stanbrough earned the first KISS Champion’s Helmet. Sponsored by
Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, Simpson Performance Products and painted by Noah
Ennis of Eagle Graphix, the helmet featured a theme of the Hoosier state flag
and the KISS logo. Stanbrough said that he only wanted to wear it one time in
competition, and then save it on his trophy shelf. He wore it while winning
the KISS finale at Paragon Speedway. The photo attached to this release
(photo credit: David Heithaus) shows him prior to the start of that 30-lap
feature.
Unfortunately for everyone, the weather delayed completion of construction at
the Lawrenceburg Speedway and that event was canceled. Looking forward to the
2009 KISS series, the track promoters will have another private dinner this
fall to fashion the schedule, review the rules and determine the details. If
at all possible, it will be bigger and better than the previous eight
editions. And next May, everyone will start with 0 points and chase one of
the most valued crowns in sprint car racing.
Final 2008 KISS Points: 1. Jon Stanbrough 717, 2. Hunter Schuerenberg 563, 3.
Kyle Cummins 562, 4. Jeff Bland Jr. 547, 5. AJ Anderson 529, 6. Daron Clayton
405, 7. Scott Hampton 379, 8. Shain Matthews 359, 9. Jesse Hockett 345, 10.
Thomas Meseraull 326, 11. Scotty Weir 314, 12. Brady Short 295, 13. Chase
Stockon 273, 14. Hud Cone 270, 15. Robert Ballou 267, 16. Casey Shuman 256,
17. Jesse Cramer and Matt Goodnight 251 (tie), 19. Brett Burdette 240, 20.
Kevin Thomas Jr. 239
2008 King Of Indiana Sprint Series
Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 16
Stanbrough
Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 24 canceled
Bloomington Speedway Friday, May 30 Stanbrough
Tri-State Speedway Saturday, June 7 Clayton
Kokomo Speedway Sunday, June 8 Schuerenberg
Paragon Speedway Saturday, June 21 Stanbrough
SPONSORS. Bedford’s Indiana Stone Works, Elliottbrand Web
Designs, in Westport, IN, and Kiva Networking in
Bloomington are returning sponsors for the KISS series. The 2008 KISS
Championship Helmet is sponsored by Simpson Performance Products,
Sprint Car & Midget Magazine and Eagle Graphix.
The King of Indiana Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual
Indiana sprint car race track promoters to provide the best sprint car
racing. More information is available on our website,
www.kissracing.com.
June 21, 2008 –- Just call him “King Jon”. Brownsburg’s Jon Stanbrough
retained the throne of the King of Indiana as he brought the curtain down on
the 2008 King of Indiana Sprint Series season with a dominating victory at
Paragon Speedway on Saturday. The win was Stanbrough’s 14th in
KISS series competition and secured his fourth championship, as he continues
to write the KISS record book. Taking the lead on the third lap, Stanbrough
took the checkers a half-straightaway ahead of Kyle Cummins, Hunter
Schuerenberg, Hud Cone and Jesse Hockett.
“I was really good right off the bat,” Stanbrough said of his Fox Brothers DRC.
“I got a little bit loose right at the end and at that last red they snugged
it up a little bit more. That helped us. We’ve been getting better and
better on slick race tracks, so that was a good night for Brad and Steve and
the whole team, because we hadn’t won down here since we’ve been together.”
Cone paced the first two circuits, until Stanbrough charged from fourth into
the lead. Once out front, he quickly stretched his advantage to three seconds
while Cummins raced from eighth into the top three. At ten laps, Stanbrough
had a straightaway advantage and was quickly beginning to lap slower cars.
Two red flags and a caution were the only things that could slow Stanbrough’s
torrid pace. On lap 14, Shain Matthews made contact with Schuerenberg on the
front stretch, veered into the outside wall and somersaulted to the first
turn. He was not injured.
While Stanbrough used a clear track to rebuild a comfortable lead, the racing
was tight from second back as Cummins, Cone, Jeff Bland Jr., Schuerenberg and
Danny Holtsclaw contended for the top five slots. While Stanbrough showed
that his line around the bottom was quick, Cummins, Bland and Schuerenberg
worked the whole track, from the inside to the rim. Schuerenberg, who
captured the previous KISS round at Kokomo Speedway, grabbed third just after
a caution on lap 21, but Bland claimed the spot a lap later, only to be
re-passed.
On the 27th circuit, Tony Reed and Scott Hampton got together just
under the flagstand and both cars flipped, bringing another red flag. Later,
as he worked to get his car into his trailer, Reed explained, “We were coming
down the front stretch and Scott Hampton had a run on the top and going down
into one he all of a sudden just turned from the wall and just turned to the
bottom. I locked it up and threw it sideways to try to keep from hitting him
but I had too much momentum. I told him that these don’t stop on a dime but
he started yelling at me over there. I hit him in the left rear of the tail
tank with the right side of my car. It spun me around and the car just
started flipping. It’s pretty much junk. I liked that car, too.”
Bland headed to the pits under caution, but Cummins and Schuerenberg continued
their duel over the final three laps as Stanbrough ran ahead. Schuerenberg
worked inside of Cummins, for second, through the second turn on lap 27, but
Cummins reclaimed the position with a strong run around the top of turn four.
At the finish, Stanbrough held a half-straightaway lead, over Cummins and
Schuerenberg, earning his third KISS victory of the season.
While the racing at the front was tight, it was Hockett’s run that had fans
talking at the end of the night. Wheeling the Indy Race Parts machine,
Hockett had gotten caught up in an incident at the start of the second heat,
and took the green for the C-Main from the tenth row. Capturing the final
transfer on the last lap, he lined up 20th for the B-Main. Again
he was mostly on the top, passing cars wherever he could, and when there was a
tangle in turn four on the last lap, he snagged the fifth finishing spot. For
the third consecutive race, he lined up on the tail and with the same all-out
effort, passed all except the top four finishers.
It was Stanbrough’s first victory on the Paragon oval in several years, which
added to the enjoyment of the ceremonies. “I’m sure that the flooding down
here had a little bit to do with the track conditions down here tonight,” he
noted. “The race track was good, it wasn’t rough and it had a little more
moisture in it than normal. I’m sure that probably helped. The guys have
been working real hard on the car to try to get it tighter and tighter on the
slick race tracks. I think we had a good setup. We got a little loose at the
end, but we were still good enough to hang on.”
In his pit, Cummins pointed out where he had cut the front end off his car and
welded a bar front end in it’s place during the previous week. He and
Schuerenberg had finished just a point apart in the final KISS standings, and
he talked about their duel. “We tapped there a little bit. I laughed when it
was over because he came by and just gave me a (wave) – we knew what was going
on. He’s a clean racer, so I knew that there was no problem there. I was for
sure that he was going to go to the top, and he left me just a tiny bit and I
had to try it. I had been running second the whole time, I wasn’t going to
get passed the last four laps.”
Heat races were won by Schuerenberg, Holtsclaw, Jon Sciscoe, Cummins and
Stanbrough; Jesse Cramer captured the C-Main, and Eric Smith took the B-Main
win.
Results KISS Paragon Speedway, June 21, 2008
Heat 1: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg 11 (6), 2. Hud Cone 14c (2), 3. Jeff Bland Jr.
21s (9), 4. Scott Hampton 42 (1), 5. Jared Harris 81h (5), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr.
9k (7), 7. Nick Johnson 15 (8), 8. Eric Edwards 44 (3), 9. Johnny Johnson 72j
(4), DNF: Brady Short 36 (10)
Heat 2: 1. Danny Holtsclaw 3 (1), 2. Josh Cunningham 6s (2), 3. Ty Deckard 48
(5), 4. Ray Kenens k9 (4), 5. A. J. Clark 3ac (8), 6. John Boyd 16b (7), DNF:
Jesse Cramer 12t (9), Taryn Laskey 3t (3), Shawn Krockenberger 21k (10), Jesse
Hockett 71 (6)
Heat 3: 1. Jon Sciscoe 7 (6), 2. Shain Matthews 67 (2), 3. Kevin Briscoe 5
(9), 4. Chase Stockon 32 (4), 5. Chase Briscoe 5b (1), 6. Doug Heck 55 (5), 7.
Donnie Gentry 51 (7), 8. Ethan Barrow 15 (3), 9. Brian Mattox (10), DNS: Arin
McIntosh 34m (8)
Heat 4: 1. Kyle Cummins 3c (4), 2. Steve Rone 22 (1), 3. Chris Babcock 35 (6),
4. A.J. Anderson 34 (8), 5. Jake Scott 1 (3), 6. Aric Gentry 10 (2), 7. Adam
Beliles (9), 8. Brian Crawford 13 (7), DNS: Dustin Beliles 71b (5)
Heat 5: 1. Jon Stanbrough 53 (3), 2. Lance Grimes 87 (2), 3. Tony Reed 8 (4),
4. Eric Smith 14s (1), 5. Jim Dugan 7d (5), 6. Dave Peperak 77p (6), 7. Nick
Bilbee 17 (8), 8. Nevil Algieo 11a (9)
C Main: 1. Cramer (2), 2. D. Gentry (3), 3. N. Johnson (1), 4. A. Beliles (4),
5. Hockett (17)
B Main: 1. Smith (5), 2. Hampton (1), 3. Stockon (3), 4. Anderson (4), 5.
Hockett (20), 6. Kenens (2), 7. Scott (9), 8. A. Beliles (19), 9. N. Johnson
(18), 10. C. Briscoe (8), 11. Thomas (11), 12. Heck (13), 13. Dugan (8), 14.
Boyd (12), 15. Harris (6), 16. Cramer (16), 17. Clark (7), 18. A. Gentry (14),
19. Peperak (15), 20. D. Gentry (17)
Feature (30 laps): 1. Stanbrough (5), 2. Cummins (8), 3. Schuerenberg (6), 4.
Cone (2), 5. Hockett (19), 6. Sciscoe (4), 7. Holtsclaw (7), 8. Grimes (9), 9.
Deckard (12), 10. Anderson (18), 11. Rone (1), 12. Stockon (17), 13.
Cunningham (10), 14. Scott (20), 15. Babcock (13), 16. Bland (11), 17. Smith
(15), 18. Hampton (16), 19. Reed (14), 20. Matthews (3), DNS: K. Briscoe
Final 2008 KISS Points: 1. Jon Stanbrough 717, 2. Hunter Schuerenberg 563, 3.
Kyle Cummins 562, 4. Jeff Bland Jr. 547, 5. AJ Anderson 529, 6. Daron Clayton
405, 7. Scott Hampton 379, 8. Shain Matthews 359, 9. Jesse Hockett 345, 10.
Thomas Meseraull 326, 11. Scotty Weir 314, 12. Brady Short 295, 13. Chase
Stockon 273, 14. Hud Cone 270, 15. Robert Ballou 267, 16. Casey Shuman 256,
17. Jesse Cramer and Matt Goodnight 251 (tie), 19. Brett Burdette 240, 20.
Kevin Thomas Jr. 239
2008 King Of Indiana Sprint Series
Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 16
Stanbrough
Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 24 canceled
Bloomington Speedway Friday, May 30 Stanbrough
Tri-State Speedway Saturday, June 7 Clayton
Kokomo Speedway Sunday, June 8 Schuerenberg
Paragon Speedway Saturday, June 21 Stanbrough
SPONSORS. Bedford’s Indiana Stone Works, Elliottbrand Web
Designs, in Westport, IN, and Kiva Networking in
Bloomington are returning sponsors for the KISS series. The 2008 KISS
Championship Helmet is sponsored by Simpson Performance Products,
Sprint Car & Midget Magazine and Eagle Graphix.
The King of Indiana Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual
Indiana sprint car race track promoters to provide the best sprint car
racing. More information is available on our website,
www.kissracing.com.
June 15, 2008 –- “High Water” and “Road Closed” read folding signs at the
entrance to Paragon Road. As I turned around to head toward an alternate
route, a friendly voice from across the street shouted, “Hey, the road’s open
now, if you want to go through.” I slowly continued through a 360-degree turn
and conveyed my thanks as I drove away. The town of Paragon was one of the
hardest hit by the torrential rain and flooding that swept throughout the
Midwest in the last couple weeks. The water has receded, and townspeople are
busy surveying the damage, repairing what is repairable, and removing wet,
ruined possessions from their homes.
Paragon Speedway received a lot of rain, but after two consecutive
cancellations, the Ford family is anxious to host a big night of racing this
weekend. The KISS series will wrap its memorable 2008 tour with a 30-lap main
event on Saturday night, and at its conclusion, the sprint car King will be
crowned.
For the third consecutive year, Jon Stanbrough appears to have a lock on the
title. The three-time champion (2003, 2006, 2007) built a 33-point lead with
wins in the first two KISS races, at Gas City and Bloomington. He extended it
to a 115-point advantage with a runner-up finish to Daron Clayton at
Haubstadt’s Tri-State oval, and a 7th place run behind Hunter
Schuerenberg’s thrilling victory at Kokomo, last weekend. With a third place
at Tri-State, Jeff Bland Jr. climbed to second in the points, while young
Schuerenberg jumped to third with his triumph. A.J. Anderson maintained
fourth spot, and Kyle Cummins slipped to fifth.
Paragon Road was open from Indiana’s Route 37 to Paragon, although some of the
road is damaged and requires repairs. Route 67 is open as well. Saturday’s
racing will start at 7:30, with the pit gate and grandstand gates opening at
4:00 and 5:00 pm. The program includes street stocks, bombers and pure stock
divisions. General admission is only $15, and pit passes are $30. Directions
and other information are available at
www.paragonspeedway.com . All KISS events follow the rules of the host
track. Teams need to check with the specific track to answer questions
regarding track rules.
KISS Points: 1. Stanbrough 567, 2. Bland Jr. 452, 3. Schuerenberg 423, 4.
Anderson 419, 5. Cummins 417, 6. Clayton 405, 7. Meseraull 326, 8. Weir 314,
9. Hampton 287, 10. Matthews 273
SCHEDULE. The KISS series celebrates the first day of summer with the final
event of the KISS season, crowning the 2008 King Of Indiana on Saturday, June
21 at Paragon Speedway.
2008 King Of Indiana Sprint Series Schedule
Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 16
Stanbrough
Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 24 canceled
Bloomington Speedway Friday, May 30