Celebration Chases Rain Away

The determination to celebrate the 233rd Birthday of the United States was too much for Mother Nature Saturday evening at Anderson Speedway as a persistent rain that had fell most of the day finally gave way to clearing skies, cheering race fans, Figure 8 Madness racing and an awesome fireworks show! A determined ownership team of Anderson Speedway sent the first race onto the track at 8:30 pm, much to the approval of the large cheering crowd. And it started off the program with a bang or two!

The first crash came on lap 5 of the Front Wheel drive Figure 8 when Art Frawley and Donnie Ellis, Jr collided heavily in the intersection. Ellis was checked by EMAS and released. Rickie Tharp and Nick Warner were locked into battle the entire distance with several near misses in the "x". On the final lap Randy Owen and Peter Corsaro came together in the crossover, heavily damaging both cars. Owen had a long discussion with Corsaro and the suddenly collapsed onto the track. He was released by EMAS. Rickie Tharp held on for the exciting win defeating Warner, Bill Leisure, Elliott McKinney and Andy Keller with the largest field of the season on hand.

The Immediadent Figure 8 cars were up next. Doug Riddle returned to crossover action with a new car and made a statement in a hurry, leading the 25 lap headliner from flag to flag. Mid way through the event Johnny Magee "coasted" into the crossover, right in front of teammate Jeff Swinford. This forced them both to stop as they were temporarily stuck together. After getting the cars into their proper restarting positions, Swinford was like an animal as he worked he was back into the top five by the checker with a great driving exhibition! Shawn Cullen never left Riddle's bumper and finished runner-up followed by Mike Riddle, Jr, Josh Tharp and Jeff Swinford, rounding out the top five.

Mini van racing was up next and with the mad cow racers suffering from mad cow disease (an almost rainout), the field was a little thin. Elliott McKinney looked like a shoe in but Micheal Symoens had other ideas. Symoens got under McKinney coming into turn #4 and spun him. He went on to the checker over McKinney and Doug Riddle.

The School Bus Figure 8 had some near misses in the intersection and some of those big old busses almost tipping over as they hit the banks. The fans "oohed and aahed" as they performed with Basil Stanley picking up the winning hardware over Roxanne Grissom, Teresa Downey, Danny Stanley, Jr and William Cornwell.

The Culver's Trailer Races capped of the racing program with Nick Warner surviving the melee defeating Bill Keihn, Robert Davis and Josh Jones.

An awesome fireworks show then capped off the evening provided by The Anderson Madison County Visitor's & Convention Bureau, Culver's Restaurants, Great Deals Coupon Magazine and Action Entertainment.

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