ROSSBURG, Ohio — It’s been nearly a clean sweep for Tracy Hines at Eldora Speedway this season as the New Castle, Ind., driver won the 30-lap USAC Border Wars National Sprint Car Series feature Saturday night, leading the entire distance for his second victory at the half-mile dirt oval this season.
“Jack Hewitt helped me tonight,” Hines said.
When Hines began his racing career, Hewitt advised him not to drive his car through dips in the racing surface by going around them.
“That’s what I did,” said Hines.
Though holes worked out in the racing surface, Hines said it was still his type of track since he could run next to the outside wall. Still, he had challengers throughout the race.
“I thought, ‘Man, they just keep coming and keep coming,’” said Hines. “I saw Jesse (Hockett) slide me once. I had to kinda get elbows up to try to get away from him.”
Hines won with the owner of Eldora Speedway and his race team — Tony Stewart — watching. He credited the hard work of his crew, noting they worked overtime since Hines was caught up in a crash at Winchester Speedway on Thursday night that destroyed a car.
Hines started on the pole, something that worked to his benefit in multiple ways. It allowed him to control the start and the many restarts and, more importantly, to be in front of a multi-car accident on lap four that sent four cars flipping through turn one. The cars of Dave Darland, Brady Short, Darren Hagen and Mike Brecht were eliminated for the evening.
No one was seriously injured, but Short was transported to the hospital in Coldwater, Ohio, for observation.
Hines varied his technique for each restart, keeping his opponents guessing on when he would start the race. On one, he jumped on the throttle midway through the third and fourth turns and on another he brought the field almost to the front straight before standing on the gas.
Hockett closed up on Hines late in the feature, but the leader found the horsepower necessary to pull away in the final laps. Hockett finished second. Chad Boat, Damion Gardner and Daron Clayton rounded out the top five.
With an eighth-place finish at Eldora and a second at Winchester Thursday, Cole Whitt won the USAC Border Wars championship. The 16 year old also leads the USAC standings.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 15.552; 2. Chris Windom, Triple Crown 1h, 15.583; 3. Hunter Schuerenberg, Walker/Guiducci 11, 15.624; 4. Brady Short, Short 36, 15.640; 5. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 15.654; 6. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 15.688; 7. Dave Darland, Pace 44, 15.698; 8. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 15.748; 9. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 15.788; 10. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 15.794; 11. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 15.796; 12. Sammy Imel, Imel 35, 15.821; 13. Neil Shepherd, Shepherd 4n, 15.864; 14. Daron Clayton, R & B 10, 15.921; 15. Thomas Meseraull, R & B 10t, 15.999; 16. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 16.010; 17. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 16.025; 18. Mike Brecht, SC 9x, 16.026; 19. Brad Kuhn, 2B Racing 2b, 16.073; 20. Steve Ott, Ott 0t, 16.093; 21. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 16.122; 22. Shane Cottle, Contos 4, 16.191; 23. Matt Goodnight, Goodnight 39, 16.595; 24. Dustin Morgan, M & M 93, 16.646; 25. Josh Spencer, Batcheldor 66, 16.670; 26. Blake Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick 10f, 16.798; 27. Kevin Studley, Studley 57, 17.501; 28. Kevin Thomas, Jr., Thomas 9k, 18.973; 29. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, no time; 30. Aaron Mosley, Mosley 27, no time.
First Heat (8 laps): Whitt, Hagen, Coons, Sweet, Jones, Bacon, Spencer, Shepherd.
Second Heat (8 laps): Cottle, Brecht, Gardner, Hines, Windom, Fitzpatrick, Clayton.
Third Heat (8 laps): Kuhn, Schuerenberg, Darland, Meseraull, Hockett, Goodnight, Studley.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Ballou, Boat, Imel, Short, Ott, Morgan, Thomas.
Semi (10 laps): Windom, Jones, Clayton, Bacon, Ott, Hockett, Shepherd, Fitzpatrick, Spencer, Goodnight, Studley, Thomas.
Feature (30 laps): Hines, Hockett, Boat, Gardner, Clayton, Cottle, Jones, Whitt, Bacon, Windom, Kuhn, Ott, Meseraull, Imel, Ballou, Coons, Sweet, Short, Darland, Hagen, Brecht, Schuerenberg.