Everything came together this weekend. As most know, Eric got his first feature win. It came at Beaver Dam Raceway. He started the weekend with a third place finish at Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington.
DARLINGTON REPORT:
The race Friday at Darlington was during their county fair and a Wisconsin Legends Racing Dirt Series event. It’s always a great atmosphere. It’s a fun and interesting track, billed as a 3/8 of a mile, a hair longer than BDR or Angell Park Speedway. The straightaways take forever to get down, Eric and I joked that he should take a photo with his phone as he goes down the straight, just like Tom Hessert showed us he did on a lone run at Talladega once. There are two different corners too, a little like NASCAR’s Darlington.
The heat saw Eric start in third and finish fifth. That was a disappointment, as we thought he’d be better as this was his second visit to the track. He only had Brady and me for a crew and we didn’t change much for the feature. Crew Chief, Justin was available by phone. He started fifth in the main and ran in that vicinity for much of the race. He had a great battle with Dave Eberle and Warren Ropp as the trio saw Mike Mueller and Ryan Sullivan (grandpa and grandson) pull away from the pack. Late in the race Eric got a good run off of turn-four and separated himself from Dave for a solid third-place finish. He could have just as easily finished sixth.
THE WIN
And then there was Beaver Dam. We had a huge crew. Mary Jo, Stephanie, Justin, Cody (aka “Tall Skinny, per Ryan Sullivan), Brady, Ryan L, Bill Tefft, Grandpa and I were all there and managed to stay out of each other’s way.
I think Eric started third in the heat. He dropped back to fifth on the start and it looked like he’d be stuck there. He battled back with just a couple of laps to go to salvage a third place run. Heat races matter in that the top finisher gets five points and the fifth place car gets one, so every position may matter come September. “That wasn’t bad considering the start,” I told Justin. “I had him too tight,” was the Crew Chief’s reply.
The boys made some changes for the main event. They were nothing feverish, just some subtle stuff. The track was a bit dusty. The cushion, which you can race on at BDR in a Legend, was about half way up in turns three and four and about two-thirds high on one and two. The Legends had room to go four wide if they chose. They were at or very close to that dynamic a few times. As I always say, they’ll never be a headliner, but the Legends put on some of the best racing you’ll see. And so it was with this race.
At the drop of the green for the feature, Eric was in a three way battle to maintain his starting spot of fifth with Ryan Sullivan and Warren Ropp. By the next circuit he was battling Ryan, or as the team calls him, “Cheeseburger,” for second. On lap-eight Eric took the lead from Nick Johnson. Two quick cautions later, one involving a Johnson spin, put Eric back in a battle with Ryan. Ryan took the lead in short order and Eric dropped back to a fight with Jim Bucher for the runner up spot.
Coming to the line with one to go, Eric and Ryan split a lapped car with Cheeseburger on the inside Eric on the out. Ryan still had the lead at the line. Eric went very high in two, creating a “What the (heck) are you doing!?!?!?,” moment for Mom. But Eric knew exactly what he was doing as he drove past Bucher who had gotten under him and was charging toward Ryan. He cut under Ryan going into three and came up a bit, hitting Cheeseburger’s left front with Eric’s right rear coming out of the last corner. Eric won by about half a car length. Bucher and Sullivan finished in what looked like a dead heat. I’m not sure who finished second between the two.
If Ryan was mad about the contact, he didn’t let on, as he was the first driver to congratulate Eric at tech.
NEWS AND NOTES:
A lot of Eric’s supporters are more of the Open Wheel variety and don’t make it to BDR. It was great to have Bill Tefft and Grandpa Blumer, there to see the first win.
We missed having Brady with us, but Eric and Stephanie got to visit him after the race and help celebrate a graduation in Brady’s family.
Ryan Legel is coming along nicely as our newest crew member. He does a lot of the heavy lifting, pit set up and gopher work. We have him turning wrenches some, under close supervision and he even got to use the Impact to take off tires. They don’t even let me do that, per Special Advisor Brian Benisch.
There were probably more moments like this that I missed, but Dave Eberle came up and gave Eric a big congratulatory hug after the race. Warren Ropp sent his congratulations the next day. There are many ambassadors for Dirt Legends racing in this region, and taking nothing away from anyone else, these two are some of the best!
Mom and Stephanie up in the pit stands, the rest of the crew on the fence nearest to Jerry (the Race Director) were quite a spectacle during the race and when the checkers dropped. Someone near Mary Jo commented that they should just come to watch her and Stephanie. In our corner Justin was pacing nervously, I was busy thinking of everything that could go wrong. “Was there enough gas? Did we put the hood pins in..?” We exploded when Eric crossed the line. Most of us didn’t even realize he was handed the checkers for a victory lap, we were too busy high-fiving and hugging. The first non-team member to congratulate us was Cody Apfelbeck, who we mention from time to time in appreciation of his support for Eric. Cody went on to win his first Modified feature this night.
Getting the first win at BDR is special. The Feature Winner award is a heavy metal plaque (see photos). Unfortunately a traditional trophy can get broken, become cumbersome and in the way for some over time. This piece is something that can easily be hung on a wall and out of the way. It appears to be of the highest quality and can easily be enjoyed for many years to come. Thanks to those involved in making this truly special item.
I never really understood dirt racing as well as I should have until last year when Justin Pearson started explaining some of the nuances of racing on dirt, when you are on the track. Sunday, after the win, it was fun to hear Eric talk about how he was finding spots the car would stick to around the track and how those spots dissipated as the race went on.
I won’t go into how or why, but there was a moment to remember our old friend Jon LeJeune shortly after the checkers flew.
A special thanks goes to Todd Otis. He presented Eric with a shot at our victory celebration on Sunday at Club LaMark. As you might have guessed, it was lemonade.
Next week we’ll be back in action at BDR on Saturday. There are races at Angell Park Speedway on Sunday, but the Legends ARE NOT part of the event.
Here’s a YouTube link to the race. Thanks to the Mech crew for taking the time to post it!:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3d5pW6Y0vLcVS55e6hotffHUhQcAalBK&fbclid=IwAR1pvhNTVTxPagMzehHhQfRuq4ZqPUeVy6NpPF-OL-FvusqI2ptnWqaQg6Y
As always, a big thanks goes to all of our sponsors: Dog Guard Out of Sight Fencing, Storage & Handling Systems, Quest Civil Engineers LLC, Club LaMark (Madison’s Race Car Bar), Bullseye Games, BRS Radiator Machine & Fabrication, Ground Up Lifts, Wilcenski Farms, Grandpa Blumer, Blumer Antiques and Sun Prairie Pack 243 of the Cub Scouts.
And thanks to the crew and those who have had a hand in the car this year: Justin Hoium, Cody Weisensel, Mike Hughes, Greg Leatherberry, Joe Wipperfurth, Brian Benisch, Bill Tefft, Brady Kruchten, Phil Espenes, Stephanie Blumer and Ryan Legel.
(About the author. This is written as a tribute to Eric, our friends and sponsors of Eric Blumer Racing, by me, Eric’s dad, Bill. I do write for one or more “ink” publications, normally about racing, some gigs pay me. That said, an article like the one you just read would take me probably a minimum of eight hours to write, re-write, check and finally send to the editor on an ink publication. This story was pounded out in about two hours, with no outside editing. And Eric doesn’t pay me either. So, please take the quality of this writing with all of that in mind.)