Thrills Thrilled Fans at Anderson Speedway

The semi-annual Night of Thrills, presented by Bush Trophy Case and Embroidery, thrilled the vast throng who braved the cold temperatures Saturday evening at the Anderson Speedway. It was crazy night with a little racing thrown in on the side.

ThunderCar Figure 8 racing was first up with any driver eligible tonight. Curtis Chapman grabbed the lead on lap two and led to the checker defeating Jeff Swinford, Mike Swinford, Mike Phipps and Joe Stanley.

Some 35 Chappy's Rent To Own Front Wheel Drives locked into battle in a 15-lap affair with three restarts ordered for various crashes, spins and tangles. The fans were thrilled with five lead changes.

Janet Baker led at the green with Chris Teepe jumping out front on laps two and three. Sam Folsom went to the point on lap four only to see Teepe go back on top on the sixth circuit..

Teepe and Folsom battled the entire distance with Folsom pulling along side of Teepe on several occasions. With the white flag waving, Folsom pulled along side of Teepe one more time. At the same time, a big tangle was going on in Turn 1 and in Turn 3. It was almost more action than you could watch at one time. Folsom was able to sneak through for the win followed by Teepe, Bill Greene, Elliott McKinney and Janet Baker.

Twenty-seven ThunderCar Oval cars were eligible for their 20-lap headliner. Eric Evans led the first two circuits before being headed by Joe Stanley. Stanley gave up the point to Joe Walters on lap seven. The current point leader sailed on to victory chased closely to the checker by Curtis Chapman, Jack Taylor, Bill Lawson and Ranny Hinton.

Gaston's Brian Harmon rolled his car two and half times on the first attempt and halfway over again on the second attempt to accumulate 14 points and be crowned the Roll Over Champion. Kevin Bass of Muncie was second with 12 points and New Castle's John Bowsman was third also with 12 points.

In the Mattress Race, drivers had a mattress on top of their car and had to hold on to it with one hand and race. If it flew off or touched the track they were disqualified. When the mattresses had quit flying, Steve Butler of Greenfield was declared the winner with Janet Baker of Anderson second and Nik Carothers of New Castle third.

In the spectator one-n-one elimination drags, their own car or truck is brought in from the parking lot and the participant takes on one other in one-lap shoot outs. Prevailing was Randy Owen of Anderson first, Jeff Wright of Anderson second and Brad Kendall of Kokomo third. One car did get slightly damaged when it grazed the wall.

Eleven school busses filled the Figure 8 course for a wild 12-lap Figure 8. Several near misses and a few light hits thrilled the fans. Tim Stanley took top honors followed by Larry Kinnaman and Ranny Hinton all of Anderson.

The final event was the 26-car demolition Derby. A wild affair. After the smoke had cleared, Matt Combs picked up the $1,000 payday followed by Rick Hollingshead, Brian Cross, Ed Woodward and Cecil Lancaster.

For additional information contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.