Dirt Racer Magazine "July - August 2016"

July - August 2016

Dirt Racer Magazine

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July - August 2016

3 ~ Rob Toland’s 400th Feature Win 4 ~ Driver Profile : Johnny Walker Jr. 8 ~ Passing the Torch Like Father....Like Son 14 ~ 2nd Annual Short Track Challenge

www.DirtRacerMagazine.com dirtracermagazine@gmail.com

Publisher Chris Damitz Contributing Writers Bret Sievertsen Emily Gade Contributing Photographers Chris Damitz Bret Sievertsen Katelyn Damitz Jeff Hall Brendon Bauman

20 ~ Safety Mission

Dirt Racer Magazine is published bi-monthly

24 ~ Spokes Model Spotlight - Kailey

Copyright Š 2016

by Dirt Racer Magazine All Right Reserved

26~ A Night at CJ Speedway

Reproduction in whole or in part without direct permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Rob on Racer his way Magazine to picking up his 400th feature win. - inset photo & cover photos by Chris Damitz 2 TolandDirt July - August 2016

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photo by Chris Damitz

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Name : Johnny Walker, Jr.

1. How did you get into racing?

With the help of the entire family, my dad started racing when I was a kid. By my 16th birthday he put me in a car and I’ve been ever since.

Birthday: July 19, 1985 Occupation: Diesel Technician Class & Car # : IMCA Modified 51JR

2. What’s the reason behind your car number?

My dad’s number was 50, so I chose 51 to continue the legacy and keep a distinction between the two of us when we raced together on the track. And being a junior I added it to the end of my number.

Chassis builder : Kazzbuilt Engine builder : Doug Nigh - Nigh RPMs Tracks / Race series you race: Maquoketa Speedway regularly, and occasionally travel to other tracks in the Eastern Iowa area (Dubuque, East Moline, Columbus Junction, and Vinton)

3. Who are your racing heroes?

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart

Crew : Grandpa (Richard Denklau), Arthur Carle, and my wife (Alyssa Walker)

4. What’s your favorite racing moment?

Winning my first IMCA Modified race on opening night at Maquoketa Speedway this year! It was a pretty exciting night.

Sponsors : Schroeder & Associates Insurance, Rowdy Crowd Entertainment, Nigh RPMs, Advocare, &Graphix Plus

5. What’s your least favorite racing moment?

Doing a cartwheel on the back stretch of Davenport’s track a few years ago.

Your Official Website : www.facebook.com/WalkerRacing51JR

Johnny

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Walker

Jr

celebrates

with

his

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crew

after

his

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Maquoketa

Speedway

on

May

7th.

photo by Chris Damitz

6. Do you have any superstitions on race day?

Yes, my ear buds have to go in the correct ears prior to getting into the car. I have a specific order of how I get into the car and get on all of my gear.

photo by Chris Damitz

7. What’s your favorite track food?

I don’t eat on race day until after the races. I guess this is another superstition of mine…

8. What’s in your CD player right now?

Black Keys: El Camino Album 9. What is your favorite TV show / movie?

Super Troopers!

10. What do you do when you’re not racing?

Work on the race car. Racing. Is. Life!

11. What’s your favorite sport / team besides racing?

College Football—Ohio State Buckeyes 12. If you could have dinner with anyone, who it would be?

Probably the president (doesn’t matter which one), because who else can say they’ve done this?

13. What has been the best advise you’ve received?

Have fun!

14. Describe yourself in three words.

Calm, Cool, and Collected 15. If you could change one thing about racing today, what would it be?

I would like to see the IMCA Modifieds go to a single engine program. All Crates or all Claims, it doesn’t matter which. DRM July - August 2016

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story by Bret Sievertsen ~ photos by Chris Damitz

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photos by Chris Damitz

Logan

crusing

down

the

front

stretch

at

Quad

Following in his father’s footsteps, Milo Veloz Jr. started his career in racing in 1999 in the street stock division at the Quad City Speedway, Throughout the years, Milo has traveled to numerous local tracks for weekly racing, as well as specials, but still calls the Quad City Speedway home, with an occasional visit to the Davenport Speedway and the Maquoketa Speedway as well. Milo has spent most of his seat time behind the wheel of the #43 Modified, racing under the sanctions of UMP and most recently IMCA. Milo has found a home in the modified division, but has spent some time in a Late Model as well. Modified racing seems to offer the best all-around experience, there is so much talent in modified class that any given night anyone of them can win.

During his 17 year career, Milo Veloz Jr has scored more than 150 feature wins and who know how many heat 10

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a

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early

April.

Milo & Logan celebrating in victory lane together.

July - August 2016

race wins. He also is a four time track champion at the Quad City Speedway, and has won the track championships at the late Hawkeye Raceway and LaSalle Speedway as well. If his feature wins were not enough, Milo has added some pretty impressive wins to his resume, he is a 4 time winner of the Ronnie Weedon Memorial, winner of the Gary Reinhardt Memorial and has a feature win on the IMCA Hawkeye Dirt Tour Series, all against the best modified drivers in the Midwest, in 2012 alone Milo picked up 24 feature wins.

There are a couple races that are still out there for the taking, “I would love to win a USMTS feature”, says Veloz, he would also like to add his name to the list of great modified drivers that have won the IMCA Super Nationals at the Boone Speedway.

Milo would like to thank his crew Eric, DJ, Jimmy C, Patrick, Justin, Lo-

gan, Tyler, & Rick, he would also like to thank his sponsors, Choppers Bar & Grill, Weber Auto Group, Hammertime Graphics, Marias Pizza, Crew Roofing, JC Dubil Race Cars, GMA Sherry & The Girls, R&B Seemless Gutters, and AMSOIL by Jayson Hall. “I have been blessed with all the family, friends, and sponsors that have helped me along the way” says Veloz. As for the future of Milo Veloz Racing he would like to do some more traveling, chase some of the bigger shows and do some racing with my son Logan.

2016 marks a new chapter in the Veloz Racing Legacy, Milos’s young son Logan Veloz will be competing in the Sport Mod Division, he is still too young to compete in the IMCA sanction but, will be allowed to race at certain races and area tracks that are not IMCA until he is old enough. Logan started racing Kid Karts when he was photo by Chris Damitz

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5 years old, he eventually moved to Junior 1 class before making the move to full size sport mod racing. As his dad does, someday soon Logan will call the Quad City Speedway home as well, but plans to do some racing at other area tracks as well. During his karting career Logan competed at the Quad City Kart Speedway, Deleware Speedway, Mt. Joy Raceway, and the West Union Speedway.

During his short career Logan has already picked up an impressive 40 wins, with one of the bigger wins coming at the Randy Carmichael Memorial Race. Though he has only raced a handful of times on the big tracks, Logan is already making a name for himself. Like his dad, Logan would like to thanks his crew members, Patrick, Sherry, Tyler , Jimmy C, Eric, DJ, Uncle Justin, Papa Ronnie, and especially Mom and Dad.

I asked where the #43 came from, they both had the same answer, it was our dads number, Milo followed his dads footsteps, and Logan is following his dad, Richard Petty being the favorite driver probably had a little to do with it as well. I asked Milo what kind of dvice he would give to someone just starting out “Be patient and smooth”, said Milo, “Take the time to learn your car, races are won in the shop”. “Remember sometimes slow is fast!”

As for the future of Veloz Racing, they plan to have fun and most importantly be together at the track. You can bet that “The Smooth Criminal” (Milo) and “The Master” (Logan) will be at a track near you stealing the feature win. I wish the best of luck to both Milo and Logan on their racing career’s, I am sure we will be hearing the Veloz name for many years to come. DRM photo by Chris Damitz

Milo

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spokes

models

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City

Speedway

on

April

24th.

photo by Chris Damitz

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story by Mike McGuire ~ photos by Chris Damitz 14

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For Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, it was déjà vu all over again. And he couldn’t be happier about it.

The Lucas Oil MLRA series was in town for the 2nd Annual Short Track Challenge and a chance to take on the Davenport Speedway quarter-mile oval. Simpson captured the $3,000 top prize, just like he did two years ago.

Chris won his heat race and started on the pole, just like 2014, however this year he would not give up the top spot, leading all forty laps of the A-main.

Behind him was a fierce battle for second between Jesse Stovall, Ryan Gustin, and Terry Phillips. The three would swap positions several times before Gustin secured the spot in the final ten laps. Gustin got close to Simpson’s rear bumper on the final lap, but would have to settle for second. Phillips took third, with Stovall fourth.

Chad Simpson worked his way to a fifth place finish late in the race.

MLRA heat race wins went to Chad and Chris Simpson, Dave Eckrich, and Terry Phillips. JC Wyman beat out Brian Birkhofer to win the B-Main.

Thirty-five late models were on hand, with drivers representing six states. DRM 16

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photo by Chris Damitz

Jessie

Stovall

and

Ryan

Gustin

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1/4

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Davenport

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Brian Birkhofer made a return to Davenport Speedway for the first time in a few years. photo by Chris Damitz

Heat #1: 1. Chris Simpson; 2. Jesse Stovall; 3. Chris Spieker; 4. Jason Rauen; 5. Stephan Kammerer

Consi: 1. JC Wyman; 2. Brian Birkhofer; 3. Brantlee Gotschall; 4. Jay Johnson; 5.

Justin Kay; 6. Stephan Kammerer

Heat #2: 1. Dave Eckrich; 2. Justin Reed; 3. Denny Eckrich; 4. Ray Guss Jr,.; 5. Jay Johnson

Heat #4: 1. Chad Simpson; 2. Jacob Magee; 3. Brent Larson; 4. Jordan Yaggy; 5.

Mike Fryer

Feature: 1. Chris Simpson; 2. Ryan Gustin; 3. Terry Phillips; 4. Jesse Stovall; 5.

Chad Simpson; 6. Dave Eckrich; 7. Jacob Magee; 8. Jason Papich; 9. Justin Reed; 10. Chris Spieker; 11. Brian Birkhofer; 12.

JC Wyman; 13. Brent Larson; 14. Justin Kay; 15. Denny Eckrich; 16. Ray Guss Jr.; 17. Jordan Yaggy; 18. Tad Pospisil; 19.

Austin Siebert; 20. Jay Johnson; 21. Jason Rauen; 22. Stephan Kammerer; 23. Bryon Allison; 24. Brantlee Gotschall

Justin

early

Heat #3: 1. Terry Phillips; 2. Ryan Gustin; 3. Jason Papich; 4. Austin Siebert; 5. JC Wyman

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Reed

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Jason

Rauen

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Matt Furman

Spencer Dierks

Jay Johnson

photos by Chris Damitz

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Racing of any form is a dangerous sport.

There’s no denying that, but the quality and availability of safety equipment designed for the racing world is at an all-time high.

There are improvements and new products being designed every day it seems.

Constant research is being done to make our cars and drivers safer when they strap into their seats and flip their visors down.

So why are we still hearing of injuries and sometimes even death on what seems to be a weekly basis?

There is no way in the world to prevent accidents from happening. You can could’ve, would’ve, should’ve for years after a tragedy. What it boils down to is having the responsibility to be educated on what products you need to keep yourself safe, and the track having the responsibility to hire a professional safety crew specially trained to handle motorsports accidents.

These things will make a huge difference if such an accident is to ever occur.

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Many times I overhear racers making comments like “$1,500 for a triple layer firesuit? I could buy a lot of new tires with that!” and my personal favorite “I don’t like full containment seats because they won’t let me turn my head.” It somewhat blows my mind that certain drivers think a new set of tires is more important than their personal safety and well-being. The truth is that single layer fire suits provide approximately three seconds of protection from 2nd degree burns and it’s extremely hard to turn your head while lying in a hospital bed after receiving a spinal injury in your race car. How many people can get a fire out in that amount of time let alone while trying to get unhooked from their belts and climb out the window?

It’s a pretty unrealistic expectation but some feel it’s justified because it’s cheaper.

Most sanctioning bodies require a fire suit rating of at least SFI 3.2A/5 which provides approximately ten seconds of protection from 2nd degree burns. Not exactly

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ideal but it more than doubles the time you have before severe burns will occur as opposed to a single layer. You can get even more time if you choose to wear Nomex underwear which is highly recommended and even mandatory by several sanctioning bodies. Something many racers don’t realize is the huge difference between one and two-piece suits. There are many companies who simply refuse to manufacture two-piece suits because of the safety factor. When you wear a two -piece suit it gives the fire the opportunity to sneak underneath of the jacket and start whatever you’re wearing underneath on fire. Another important factor to consider when you’re fire suit shopping is the epaulets on the shoulders. There’s shoulder “straps” on virtually all fire suits on the market today.

They consist of a strap of fabric sewn on the shoulders to use as handles for safety personnel to pull you out of a car during a fire or other incident. They’re not all about

looks and sponsors, contrary to popular belief!

Full containment seats are starting to gain more popularity with the short track crowd because many people are starting to realize the benefits. There are several seat manufacturers in the industry today who go above and beyond when it comes to building a safe, custom seat. The Joie of Seating and ButlerBuiltcome to mind, but Kirkey and Ultrashield also build great full containment seats. I have a Joie of Seating custom seat that I’ve been using for six years. It took about one night to get used to the immobility, and since using one I could never race with anything but my LaJoie. The initial investment is a little pricey, but the longevity, customer service, and increased safety are second to none. These seats are made to fit you correctly, because you shouldn’t be sliding around while you’re racing. A snugfitting seat is essential. These seats are

In the heat of battle, a great night can turn into a bad night in the blink of an eye. photo by Chris Damitz

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photo by Chris Damitz - Ray Guss Jr talks about safety gear at a Speedway Fire & Rescue training seminar.

not just stamped out of thin aluminum, either. They’re TIG welded with support bars along with shoulder and head rests to keep you confined. Would you believe buying a full containment seat can also makes you a better driver? The most popular dirt track seat in the world is the ol’ $150 Kirkey made out of a stamped aluminum and molded to look like a seat. There is no tubing to support this stamped out piece of aluminum, and when G-forces get high they like to bend and move with the driver. Being stationary makes you one with the car, and allows you to “feel” how it’s reacting and what the car is doing way more efficiently.

Being stationary also helps tremendously when you crash. The hurt backs and necks don’t come from the speed, but from the sudden stop. A well-built seat will absorb energy during the crash, instead of having your back do all the absorbing while you’re bouncing around in a seat that wasn’t built stiff enough.

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Another fairly new item on the market that has been gaining popularity fast is head and neck restraining systems. Many companies are starting to build different versions of these; NecksGen, Hans, Zamp, Simpson, Impact just to name a few. These devices became popular on the market after the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. was involved in a wreck on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001 and died after suffering head and neck injuries. These types of injuries are nothing to mess with. As Earnhardt Sr. tragically proved, it doesn’t take a huge impact to cause these types of injuries. All it takes is for your neck to be at the wrong angle and lack the correct support. Neck rolls are decent, but they won’t stop your head and neck from snapping forward during a hard impact. Head and neck restraints on the market today are designed to sit on your shoulders under your shoulder belts and attach to your helmet with clips within reach of the driver and safety crew. This essentially

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puts your helmet on a “leash” and will keep your head from snapping forward during a hard impact, potentially preventing a basilar skull fracture which also killed up-and-coming star Adam Petty in 2000.These types of devices are becoming more affordable every day. You can get into a head and neck retraining system for around $400 which is what a lot of drivers spend on four new tires at the beginning of the season!

While there is a whole multitude of safety products to talk about, the last thing I want to discuss is the importance of a great safety crew at the track. During any accident or emergency, we are all constantly fighting the same thing; time. Having a crew that is trained specifically for motorsports can greatly cut down the time it takes to get them out of the car and into the care of an EMT that can save their life. We are so lucky around eastern Iowa to have the Speedway Fire Rescue (SFR) crew at about every track on this side of Iowa. They volunteer their time and efforts

SFR

members

going

through

some

training

at

for the increased safety of the racers. And they’re not just racers; they’re our fathers, grandpas, sons, nephews, cousins and brothers. Heck, they’re even moms, sisters, nieces, and daughters. SFR is constantly training and finding new ways to work more efficiently and quickly just to keep our drivers safe while they do what they are so passionate about. They know how to get drivers out of cars during the worst accidents, whether it’s pulling them out by their epaulets or using the Jaws of Life to get them out safely and into an ambulance. They also understand all the different types of fires that can be started by the varying fluids we use in our racecars and they know exactly what type of extinguisher to use to safely and promptly put them out. Every track in America needs to have an SFR, and they do not get enough credit so I’d like to take this time to extend my thanks to them and let them know we appreciate all of the time and effort they put into making our tracks a safer place. DRM

their

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July - August 2016

traning

event.

photo

by

Chris

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1. How did you get into racing? I have been around racing my whole life. My grandparents went to nascar then my stepdad raced for years and fell in love with it ever since.

2. What's your favorite racing moment?

That's kind of a hard one because every time I'm at the track a new amazing memory happens. But, I would have to say when I went to Knoxville for the Super Nationals and getting to meet a bunch of famous drivers.

3. Do you have any superstitions on race day? Never say the word 'Rain' or else it will rain in the middle of the races 4. What's your favorite track food? Darksides Brownies, and Nacho supreme 5. What do you do when you're not at the races? I work a lot and hang out with my friends and family. I love to be outdoors as much as I can, and love going target shooting, and fishing during my time off.

6. What's your favorite sport / team besides racing? Pittsburgh Steelers 7. If you could have dinner with anyone, it would be? Most likely I would have to choose my dad. I lost him when I was 10 years old and it would be nice just to catch up.

8. What is your favorite TV show / movie?

My favorite Tv show would have to be One Tree Hill and I have a lot of Favorite movies but I would have to say “Never Back Down� is my favorite. It shows you know matter how much you struggle you are NEVER suppose to Back down.

9. What has been the best advise you've received? "If you want to be the best you got to go against the best!"

10. Describe yourself in three words.

Kind-Hearted, ambitious, Self-motivated July - August 2016

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