Johnson, Babb celebrate Hockett/McMillin Memorial feature wins at Lucas Oil Speedway

Wheatland, Missouri (September 25, 2016) – In an absolute classic, Wayne Johnson outdueled Sammy Swindell in Saturday night’s main event at the 6th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Johnson passed Swindell with one lap remaining to capture the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series major and pocket $10,000.

In the co-headliner, Terry Babb prevailed in the Boss Chassis Wingless Auto Racing Series feature for a $1,200 pay day as the three-night open-wheel bonanza came to a dramatic conclusion.

Johnson followed up his Friday-night victory with a thrilling duel in which he came out in front of 60-year-old veteran Swindell. The two traded the lead three times over the final four laps with Johnson’s pass coming to the white flag proving decisive.

Johnson, of Knoxville, Iowa, scored his fourth series victory of the season. None has been more important considering that Johnson was a good friend of Hockett, the Missouri sprint-car ace who died in a work accident six years ago at the height of his racing career and McMillin, Hockett’s cousin and crew chief.

“They’re all really dear to my heart,” Johnson said of the Hockett family. “I’ve wanted to win this damn race for a long time. We’ve always sucked here. Somebody up (above) let us win this one. Thank you!”

Johnson, starting on the front row alongside Swindell, led the first three laps before Swindell, the three-time World of Outlaws Sprint champ, grabbed command and held it for the majority of the 30-lapper.

The race was delayed for about 10 minutes under a red flag for repairs to the front straightaway fence after Brian Bell’s wild flip on lap 10. Bell, running mid-pack at the time, was not injured.

The red flag also came out after one lap when Thomas Kennedy flipped in turn two, one of at least a dozen flips throughout the program. All drivers walked away without injury.
After the restart, Swindell and series points leader Sam Haftertepe Jr. broke away with Swindell about five car lengths in front when the race’s third red flag brought the race to a half on lap 20. Jason McDougal rolled his car in turn two, but was not injured.

On the restart, Haftertepe got out of shape in the cushion in turn two and slipped back to sixth. Meanwhile, Johnson began his charge on the high side and closed in on Swindwell, setting up a classic final few laps.

“I run right through the middle on that (last) restart,” said Johnson, who went from fourth to second on the first lap when the race resumed. “I got by (Logan) Forler and Sam messed up. Then I just set sail.

“I could see Sam really getting tight on the curve. Everybody was and I was, too. I thought I’d try something different. I just drove up above (the groove) and turned down the hill and that thing just launched through there.”

Said Swindell: “If I hadn’t messed up we could have had it. We had a really good car. That one, we just gave it away really.”

Forler finished third, Haftertepe rallied from his slip-up to take fourth and Derek Hagar, who started 18th, was fifth.
Johnny Herrera, winner of Thursday’s feature, flipped his car in turn two of Qualifier No. 3. He was not injured, but the car suffered substantial damage. The crew was able to repair it and Herrera finished second in his B-Main and started 21st in the feature. He finished 10th.

Babb takes WAR feature: Terry Babb of Decatur, Ill., earned his fourth Wingless Auto Racing Series victory of the year, leading all 30 laps to earn his first Hockett/McMillin win.

“I was just trying to make some smooth laps. I knew nobody could pass me if I was smooth,” Babb said of holding off all comers through five restarts resulting from caution flags. “I tried to be patient and it worked out.

“It’s really cool,” Babb added of what it meant to win a race named in honor of Hockett, whose love for non-winged sprints was renowned. “I started racing in 1986 running wings and started running non-wings a few years ago. It’s a lot more fun, like (it was) for Jesse.”

Babb jumped to the lead from his outside front row starting position, getting the jump of polesitter Layne Himebaugh. Meanwhile, Himbaught, Korey Weyant, Wyatt Burks and Clinton Boyles took turns in second place.

Series points leader Boyles of Greenwood, Mo., wound second. Weyant of Springfield, Ill., winner of Friday’s feature and runner-up on Thursday, finished off a strong weekend with a third-place run and Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill., rallied from 16th to fourth.

Funds for Kulhanek: Helmets were passed through the stands during intermission to accept donations for ASCS driver Ray Allen Kulhanek’s medical expenses. According to the ASCS, a total of $4,284 was raised the last two nights for Kulhanek.

The Danbury, Texas, driver suffered burns to his arms, legs and ankles when his car caught fire during a Thursday qualifying race. A Go Fund Me account has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/2qpn75b4.

Next up: Lucas Oil Speedway takes next weekend off before action resumes Oct. 7-8 with the final dirt-track event of the season. That will be the 3rd annual Lucas Oil MLRA Fall Nationals and Street Stock Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt.

The MLRA will conclude it season and crown a Late Model champion with full programs both nights. The Street Stocks run for big bucks with a qualifying session and qualifying heat races on Friday for Saturday night’s $5,000-to-win, 50-lap feature.

For complete Lucas Oil Speedway event information, archived stories, ticket info and schedule information for the season, visit lucasoilspeedway.com.

6th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial
Saturday, Sept. 24 results
LUCAS OIL ASCS WINGED SPRINTS
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11M-Jason McDougal[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 3. 77X-Alex Hill[3]; 4. 81A-Chris Morgan[6]; 5. 101-Chuck McGillivray[4]; 6. 42-Andy McElhannon[2]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[8]; 8. (DNF) 5J-Jamie Ball[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 23B-Brian Bell[5]; 2. 17W-Harli White[1]; 3. 93-Taylor Walton[4]; 4. 92J-J.R. Topper[7]; 5. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[2]; 6. 7H-Brian Gramm[6]; 7. 75E-Broc Elliott[8]; 8. (DNF) 85-Forrest Sutherland[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 3. 53-Jack Dover[6]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]; 5. 87F-Sean McClelland[4]; 6. 49B-Ben Brown[2]; 7. 47-Matt Simpson[3]; 8. 15S-Scott Comstock[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Brandon Hanks[2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 3. 81W-Danny Wood[5]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[3]; 6. 20K-Kevin Ulmer[8]; 7. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox[1]; (DNS) 44K-Kaitlyn Boland

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 50Z-Zach Chappell[2]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[1]; 3. 82-Thomas Kennedy[5]; 4. 38-Cody Baker[7]; 5. 75-Tyler Blank[6]; 6. 3Z-Zach Davis[4]; 7. 72-Ray Seeman[8]; 8. (DNF) 34-Corey Nelson[3]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 2. 3-Nate VanHaaften[2]; 3. 71C-Stacey Alexander[4]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton[8]; 5. 48-Miles Paulus[3]; 6. 27-Danny Thoman[7]; 7. 24C-Lanny Carpenter[5]; 8. (DNF) 44X-Jared Sewell[6]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[1]; 2. 76-Jay Russell[2]; 3. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[4]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[3]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm[5]; 6. 8Z-Zach Pringle[7]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton[6]

Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 82-Thomas Kennedy[2]; 2. 23B-Brian Bell[6]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[3]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[9]; 5. 17W-Harli White[7]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks[5]; 7. 38-Cody Baker[1]; 8. 71C-Stacey Alexander[8]; 9. 53-Jack Dover[4]; 10. (DNF) 44-Chris Martin[10]

Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[3]; 2. 3-Nate VanHaaften[1]; 3. 11M-Jason McDougal[4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[10]; 7. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[8]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill[9]; 9. (DNF) 50Z-Zach Chappell[5]; 10. (DNF) 92J-J.R. Topper[2]

Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Jay Russell[1]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar[2]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 5. 81W-Danny Wood[3]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[10]; 7. 81A-Chris Morgan[8]; 8. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera[6]; 9. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton[9]; 10. (DNF) 93-Taylor Walton[7]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps, Top 2 advanced): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks[3]; 3. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[10]; 4. 81A-Chris Morgan[5]; 5. 7M-Chance Morton[8]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[4]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill[6]; 8. 3-Nate VanHaaften[2]; 9. 85-Forrest Sutherland[16]; 10. 7H-Brian Gramm[11]; 11. 20K-Kevin Ulmer[9]; 12. 49B-Ben Brown[13]; 13. 72-Ray Seeman[12]; 14. (DNF) 47-Matt Simpson[14]; 15. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox[15]; (DNS) 93-Taylor Walton

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[4]; 3. 53-Jack Dover[6]; 4. 81W-Danny Wood[3]; 5. 8M-Kade Morton[13]; 6. 38-Cody Baker[5]; 7. 34-Corey Nelson[16]; 8. 48-Miles Paulus[10]; 9. 17W-Harli White[2]; 10. 20G-Jake Greider[11]; 11. 101-Chuck McGillivray[8]; 12. 3Z-Zach Davis[12]; 13. 27-Danny Thoman[9]; 14. (DNF) 15S-Scott Comstock[14]; 15. (DNF) 92J-J.R. Topper[7]; (DNS) 44X-Jared Sewell

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[2]; 3. 75-Tyler Blank[3]; 4. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[4]; 5. 8Z-Zach Pringle[8]; 6. 42-Andy McElhannon[11]; 7. 44-Chris Martin[6]; 8. 71C-Stacey Alexander[5]; 9. 5J-Jamie Ball[14]; 10. 87F-Sean McClelland[7]; 11. 75E-Broc Elliott[10]; 12. 24C-Lanny Carpenter[12]; 13. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[9]; 14. 50Z-Zach Chappell[13]; 15. 44K-Kaitlyn Boland[15]

Protect the Harvest A-Feature: 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 3S-Sammy Swindell[2]; 3. 2L-Logan Forler[8]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 5. 9JR-Derek Hagar[18]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman[10]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn[13]; 8. 28-Jonathan Cornell[4]; 9. 21-Brian Brown[7]; 10. 45X-Johnny Herrera[21]; 11. 84-Brandon Hanks[20]; 12. 05-Brad Loyet[19]; 13. 86-Tony Bruce Jr[3]; 14. 5D-Zach Daum[22]; 15. 95-Matt Covington[11]; 16. 14K-Kyle Bellm[23]; 17. 76-Jay Russell[14]; 18. 27-Danny Thoman[24]; 19. (DNF) 11M-Jason McDougal[15]; 20. (DNF) 11X-John Carney II[5]; 21. (DNF) 23B-Brian Bell[9]; 22. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel[17]; 23. (DNF) 23-Seth Bergman[16]; 24. (DNF) 82-Thomas Kennedy[12]

Lap Leader(s): Wayne Johnson 1-4, 27, 29-30; Sammy Swindell 5-26, 28
FSR High Point Driver: Brian Bell
Hard Charger: Derek Hagar +13

BOSS CHASSIS WAR SPRINTS
Hinchman Racewear Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton[6]; 2. 90-Riley Kreisel[8]; 3. 7JR-JD Black[7]; 4. 21-Ryan Kitchen[3]; 5. 7-Michelle Decker[2]; 6. 8-Jeff Wingate[9]; 7. 27-Danny Thoman[4]; 8. 4M-Morgan Frewaldt[5]; 9. 16-Anthony Nicholson[1]

Wilwood Disc Brakes Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Steve Thomas[1]; 2. 22-David Stephenson[2]; 3. 9$-Kyle Clark[6]; 4. 14-Zach Daum[7]; 5. 77X-Rob Hockett[3]; 6. 8K-Katlynn Leer[8]; 7. 21M-Michael Moore[9]; 8. 55-Kenny Potter[4]; 9. 11-Michael Tyre II[5]

Bell Helmets Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 75K-Derek Hagar[1]; 2. 65M-Trevor (T.J.) Muths[2]; 3. 75X-Zach Chappell[7]; 4. 9X-Casey Baker[3]; 5. 70-Peter Palazzolo[5]; 6. 65K-Kevin Risley[8]; 7. 2E-Joshua Tyre[4]; 8. 53-Brett Wilson[6]

Schure Built Suspensions Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 65-Chris Parkinson[1]; 2. 93-Kameron Key[5]; 3. 75-Glen Saville[4]; 4. 78-Rob Caho Jr[7]; 5. 51-Mitchell Moore[8]; 6. 97X-Kyle Cummings[3]; 7. 99E-Bailey Elliott[6]; 8. 5$-Danny Smith[2]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[1]; 2. 21-Ryan Kitchen[4]; 3. 53-Brett Wilson[10]; 4. 55-Kenny Potter[11]; 5. 70-Peter Palazzolo[6]; 6. 7-Michelle Decker; 7. 21M-Michael Moore[7]; 8. 11-Michael Tyre II[12]; 9. 51-Mitchell Moore[3]; 10. 8K-Katlynn Leer[5]; 11. 65M-Trevor (T.J.) Muths[2]; 12. 27-Danny Thoman[9]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 75-Glen Saville[2]; 2. 8-Jeff Wingate[3]; 3. 9X-Casey Baker[4]; 4. 2E-Joshua Tyre[9]; 5. 77X-Rob Hockett[6]; 6. 99E-Bailey Elliott[8]; 7. 4M-Morgan Frewaldt[10]; 8. 5$-Danny Smith[11]; 9. 65K-Kevin Risley[5]; 10. 22-David Stephenson[1]; 11. 97X-Kyle Cummings; 12. 16-Anthony Nicholson[12]

BOSS Chassis A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 8D-Terry Babb[2]; 2. 77-Clinton Boyles[4]; 3. 99-Korey Weyant[3]; 4. 14-Zach Daum[16]; 5. 75K-Derek Hagar[14]; 6. 11R-Wyatt Burks[6]; 7. 7JR-JD Black[10]; 8. 9$-Kyle Clark[12]; 9. 90-Riley Kreisel[8]; 10. 24C-Craig Carroll[5]; 11. 93-Kameron Key[9]; 12. 78-Rob Caho Jr[17]; 13. 53-Brett Wilson[21]; 14. 65-Chris Parkinson[15]; 15. 9X-Casey Baker[22]; 16. 24L-Layne Himebaugh[1]; 17. 20-Steve Thomas[13]; 18. 21-Ryan Kitchen[19]; 19. 75-Glen Saville[18]; 20. 8-Jeff Wingate[20]; 21. 75X-Zach Chappell[11]; 22. 7M-Chance Morton[7]

Category: Missouri