Little Sandy Raceway in Grayson, KY played host
to the Show Me The Money race for the first time in 2010. Rich Simon, of the
Pro Truck Nationals series, and Steele/Wilson Racing’s Ryan Wilson joined
forces with Little Sandy Raceway’s Jim Johnson to put on a great season ending
event for the Midwest racers, and they did just that with SMTM 2010. With big
payouts on the line as well as great track conditions, this was one of the best
races of the season. Let’s take a look at the action.
Quick
8
The Quick 8 class was the feature class at SMTM 2010. This class saw the
Quickest 8 entries from Pro class time trials that elected to compete in this
class vie for a $700 to win payout. Missouri’s
David Risher led the qualifying field with a great 3.336 followed closely by
Mike Bolyard with a 3.362. The field continued on down through the bump spot of
Kyle Harney with a 3.937.
Round one saw #1 qualifier Risher advance over Matt Wilson in the Steele/Wilson
Family Altered, however Risher would experience problems with his motor that
would keep him from making the round two call. The benefactor of Risher’s
problems would be the winner of the Rich Simon-Dale Flaugher match up. These
two Michigan Pro Truck regulars were pretty close on the tree, but at the other
end Simon would take the win as Flaugher’s car would not shift. Next up would
see a Missouri-Michigan match up as MI’s Mike Bolyard in his Bronco would face
off with Andrew Burcham’s Missouri-based Altered. Burcham would leave first and
hang on for a 3.659 (3.50) victory. The final pass would see Michigan’s
Ron “Mr. Whiskers” Curtis in the Richard’s Auto Parts Dragster pair up against Kentucky’s Kyle Harney
in the Hayshaker Jeep. Ron would leave first and hang on for a 3.537 (3.50)
win.
Kicking off the semi-final round would be Burcham versus Curtis. Both drivers
were in at a 3.50 Index, so they would leave together on the tree. Burcham
would take a slight starting line advantage, but at the other end it would be
Mr. Whiskers taking the win with a nearly dead-on 3.505 (3.50) to advance to
the final round. Curtis would face off with Rich Simon, who would run a 3.912
(3.80) on his semi-final round single pass.
The pair of Michigan-based Richard’s Auto Parts sponsored vehicles would face
off for the Quick 8 victory. Curtis would take a slight starting line edge and
once again run just a whisker off his dial with a 3.504 (3.50) for the victory.
Not only was this Ron’s first major victory, but his final round 3.504 was his
personal best ET with his dragster.
Quick 8 Final Round
Ron Curtis
Rich Simon
Andrew Burcham
David Risher
Winner Ron "Mr. Whiskers" Curtis (Left) & Runner-Up Rich Simon (Right)
Pro Bracket
19 entries made the first round call for the Pro Bracket class at SMTM 2010.
There were two ultra close battles in round one of eliminations. The first of
these pairs was between eventual Q8 winner Ron Curtis & Missouri’s Ed
Bunch, with his Funny Jeep. Bunch would leave first with a great .437 (.400
perfect) RT and run a 3.946 (3.85) to edge out Curtis by just .003 at the
stripe. The next of the close pairs would be between Kentucky’s Ryan Wilson in his Chevy Pro
Truck and David Risher’s potent Missouri-based Altered. Wilson would take a slight starting line
advantage and take the victory by just .013. Those were just two examples of
the great racing at SMTM 2010.
The quarter-final round kicked off with a battle between Bunch and eventual Q8
runner-up Rich Simon. Bunch would continue to have the hot hand on the tree
with a .479 and ran a 3.910 (3.85) to force Rich into a 3.882 (3.89) break out.
Next up would be a match up of brothers as the Wilson brothers, Matt and Ryan would face
off. Matt would take a .436 to .488 lead and hang on to take a 3.572 (3.52) win
with the Altered. Rounding out the round would be Casey Kellough running a
4.500 (4.49) on a bye run in his new Jeep to advance on.
Kellough would kick off the semi-final round against Bunch. Casey would leave
first .481 to .499 and hang on for a 4.512 (4.49) win. This would put him up
against Matt Wilson, who ran a 3.578 (3.52) on his bye run. Both of these guys
were deadly consistent all day, so there was no doubt this would be a great
final round. Matt would take the lead off the line .509 to .546 and hang on for
a margin of victory of .039 with a 3.563 (3.52). This was a big win for the
Steele/Wilson team as they fought gremlins with the Altered all season, and got
everything lined out in a big way at SMTM 2010.
Pro Bracket Final Round
Matt Wilson
Casey Kellough
Ed Bunch
Pro ATV
The Pro ATV class is always a hotly contested category at Little Sandy Raceway,
and this evening was certainly no different. 24 entries from across the Midwest made the first round call looking for the first
place money and prestigious SMTM trophy. Eliminations came down to four tough
customers in the semi-final round. The first pair would see Tex Andy English
face off with Brad Ellington. Tex Andy had already won the Low ET of the
weekend trophy with a 3.29 on his other bike, while Brad has had a hot hand all
season long taking money at several PTN events in the ATV classes. Tex Andy
would leave first .531 to .550 and run a great 3.700 (3.69) for a victory by
.003 at the stripe. Next up would see Tex Andy’s dad, the legendary Tex English
face off with Melinda Smith. Tex has won all over the country in ATV bracket
racing and would dodge a big bullet this round as Melinda cut a great .463
light to Tex’s .521, however Melinda would have problems down track handing Tex
the win with a 4.664 (4.48). This set up a father-son final round. They would
leave nearly even RT-wise, but at the other end it would be Tex putting his son away with a 4.523 (4.48)
taking the win by just .029.
Tex English
Tex Andy English
Tex Andy (Left) & Tex (Right) English.
Sportsman Car
Another of the SMTM big money classes was the Sportsman Car class. This is
traditionally one of the most competitive classes in this event’s history. The
semi-final round saw a pair of Pro Trucks face off as Tom Hartman’s
Michigan-based Chevy Blazer faced off with Kentucky’s Ryan Wilson in his Chevy Truck. Wilson would take the RT
advantage .459 to .524, but could not run his number allowing Hartman to drive
around for a 4.331 (4.33) win. Hartman would face off with Kentucky local Larry Burton in his front
engine dragster, who ran a 4.206 (4.15) on his semi-final bye run. In the
final, Hartman would leave first .505 to .560, but would take too much stripe
at the other end turning up a break out with a 4.297 (4.33) handing Burton the
SMTM 2010 Sportsman Car class title.
Larry Burton
Tom Hartman
Sportsman ATV Classes
The Sportsman ATV 1 class came down to a final between Tex Andy English and
Gary Fowler. Tex Andy would emerge victorious in this class after his runner-up
in the Pro ATV class. Wally Downey and Jason George would face off for the
Sportsman ATV 2 class title. When the dust settled, it would be Downey turning on the win
light and taking the big victory.
Photo Extra
Dale Flaugher
John W. Kilgour
Joey Burton
Tex Andy English on the bike he set Low ET of the Weekend with a 3.29.
Mike Bolyard ran a personal best of 3.32 with his Bronco.
Brian McWethy went three rounds in both Pro ATV & Sportsman ATV 1.
Ryan Wilson ran great all weekend with his Chevy Truck eventually ending up with a semi-final finish in the Sportsman Car class.
Tim Farwick
Another great shot of Andrew Burcham with the wheels up. He put on a great show for the crowd all weekend with the Ground Assault Altered.
SMTM 2010 Trophies.
NSDN Photos. A special thanks goes out to Rich Simon & Brian McWethy for
helping NSDN with photos & video at this event.