71-Year-Old Hank Lower Gets First Anderson Win in Winged Sprint Car Event; Armstrong Scores Kenyon Win

Angola’s Hank Lower recorded his first ever feature win at Anderson Speedway capturing the Must See Racing.com 60 on Wednesday.

Lower, 71, led all 60 laps and had to survive a late race restart by holding off the two drivers that set new world records at Anderson Speedway.

Daleville’s Aaron Pierce brought out the final caution with two laps remaining when he lost a left rear tire and spun in turn three while running third. Jim Swain flipped behind Pierce. That set up a two-lap shoot-out between Lower, Ryan Litt and Dave Steele. Litt and Steele climbed from the fourth row to claim the second and third spots.

Pierce chased Lower in the early stages of the race but went high in turn four on lap 40 which allowed Litt to make the inside pass. Steele got around Pierce on the outside on lap 47 on the front straight.

Jeff Bloom had an impressive run to finish fourth after starting 12Th.

“This was awesome,” Lower said of the victory at Anderson.

Steele based on his win Sunday at Winchester and his third place run at Anderson won the “Battle of the Banks”

Daleville’s Aaron Pierce caught Troy Underwood at the checkers to win the first heat race using an outside pass coming off the fourth corner.

Crawfordsville’s Sondi Eden captured the second heat win chased by Bill Tyler. Matt Rademaker made hard contact with the outside wall in turn three after making contact with
Patrick Stewart.

The third heat race was captured by Michigan’s Jeff Bloom followed by Geoff Kaiser. The race was red flagged on the third lap when Hank Lower and Jim Swain tangled in turn three.

Hank Lower captured the semi-feature to advance to the Must See Racing.com 60 lap feature with Jimmy McCune, Jason Blonde, Ron Kohler and Jason Bradford advancing.

Chad Goff and Patrick Stewart tangled on the first lap in turn two and Jim Swain suffered a mechanical problem after two laps while running in the top three.

Florida driver Dave Steele set a new track record and world record for quarter-mile paved ovals during qualifying for the Winged Sprints with a lap at 10.344 seconds. Steele’s lap broke the old mark set by Geoff Kaiser on June 24, 2006 at 10.414 seconds. Canadian driver Ryan Litt also eclipsed the old record by turning a lap at 10.397 seconds.

Fast qualifier Dillon Welch got the jump at the start and opened a comfortable lead only to see it disappear when the caution flag waved with six laps remaining. On the restart Welch was pressed by Dalton Armstrong and Adam Wilsdon.

With two laps remaining Welch got loose in turn one which allowed Armstrong to sneak underneath. At the checkers it was Armstrong, Welch with Wilsdon grabbing third.
There was good racing for the second spot between Armstrong and Taylor Ferns in the first third of the race with Ferns looking to make a move on the inside for several laps. She eventually got inside of Armstrong exiting the fourth corner to take the spot on lap 11.

Ferns was running second on lap 24 when she tangled with the lapped car of Jake Blackhurst in turn four and had to restart at the back of the field. It was the second consecutive time that Ferns saw a good run at Anderson disappear when she tangled with a lapped car. She was credited with an eighth place finish.

Heat races for the Kenyon midgets were captured by Dillon Welch and Dalton Armstrong.

Pole day qualifying for the 61st annual Pay Less Little 500 will take place on Thursday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Anderson Speedway. The fastest 15 cars are locked into the starting field for the richest pavement sprint car race in the country.

Second round qualifying is from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday to fill the remainder of the field. At 7 p.m. Families Forever will sponsor Thunder Car and Front Wheel Drive division racing along with fireworks.

The 61st Pay Less Little 500 with a purse of more than $123,000 will start at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

For additional information on Anderson Speedway call (765) 642-0206.