Ed Races In Eldora

Two nights in a row, Ed is second quick in time trials with the All Stars. Friday it was at Lernerville, this time it was at Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway Saturday.

It was a night of bonus competition because the World of Outlaws had their Knoxville race for tonight cancelled early due to flooding and rain, so nine of them showed up to compete - they included Steve Kinser, Schatz, Daryn Pittman, Joey Saldana, Kraig Kinser, Lucas Wolfe, Chad Hillier, Tony Bruce and Chad Kemenah. In addition, NASCAR star Kasey Kahne who ran with the All Stars in his high school years and now is a car owner on the WoO tour, got behind the wheel of one of his Joey Saldana team cars and raced, also.

In time trials, Ed had pulled a 56 pill which sent him out 28th of the 37 drivers on hand and his first lap of 13.485 was good enough to hold up for second overall. Saldana who went out 16th and set a lap of 13.419 was fastest. Those two were the only drivers under the 13.500 mark.

The times were then staggered and the top six in four heats were inverted slotting Ed sixth in the second heat. Only the top five advanced to the 30-lap A-Main. On the start Ed went to the high side and jumped the cushion in turn two, but escaped contact with the wall. Ironically, as he lost positions, Bill Rose did his the back stretch wall and rolled his car back down onto the track just as Ed was coming by. Missing all the debris, Ed was lucky and the restart lineup had Ed in sixth once again. Ed ovrercame a steering problem and a lap-after-lap battle with Pittman for fourth spot finishing behind Dean Jacobs, Randy Hannagan and Butch Schroeder. The other heats were won by Saldana, Paul May and Greg Wilson.

The crew constantly made adjustments through the night. One important one was between fast laps and time trials, which picked up .04 of a second. Now, after his heat, they changed the power steering.

Ed and the rest of the top six to transfer to the A-Main reported to the front stretch after the B-Main to have young fans draw for their starting spots. The results were a front row of Paul McMahan and Pittman, Schatz and Ed in row two, Joey and Kenny Jacobs in the third row.

The race went non-stop and even the electronic scoreboard outside turn two couldn't keep up with the fast pace of the leaders catching the back of the field and placing lapped cars in the mix.

Pittman jumped to the early lead, but by lap two, fifth starting Saldana was up to second dropping Ed to fifth. With five laps in the books, Pittman still led Saldana, Schatz, McMahan and now Jacobs were in front of Ed. Saldana made his winning pass on lap six as the action spread around the half-mile.

Sometime around lap 10 or 12 while Ed was running seventh, he had either a push rod, rocker arm or valve spring malfunction resulting in a hole in the valve pan cover, sending a small amount of oil back into the cockpit. By lap 15, Joey had lapped his car owner Kahne and with diminished horsepower, Ed was next on the list to be lapped. That happened on lap 17. Ed kept racing, but Saldana's pace had him lapping up to seventh place at the finish.

Following Saldana and Pittman at the checkered flag it was Schatz, Steve Kinser (who won the B-Main after his front wing collapsed while in a heat transfer spot), McMahan, Kemenah and Jacobs completed the distance next. Down one lap but still in the top 10, it was Rob Chaney, Wolfe and Brian Paulus. Next came Kahne, Wilson and Ed in 13th.

On the long ride home, the crew had the rig washed and finally unloaded in the garage at 6:15AM Sunday morning.

The O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions made an early visit to Lernerville Speedway Friday night and drew a field of 34 Sprint cars. After drawing an 18 pill, Ed timed well at 13.025 which was good enough for second overall behind Paul McMahan's 13.023, both of which were far off the track record of 12.334 held by Joey Saldana.

With the top six inverted in each of four heats, Ed lined up sixth in the second heat. Pole sitter Tim Shaffer won it over Greg Wilson, Dale Blaney and Ed. Other heat winners included Brandon Martin, Bob Felmlee and Lance Dewease.

The fastest six drivers that qualified in the top five of their heats reported to the front stretch following the B-Main to witness young fans drawing for their starting spots in the 35-lap feature. The results were Kenny Jacobs to start on pole with Rod George outside, Ed and Greg Wilson made up the second row, while McMahan and Rob Chaney were in row three.

Following the traditional four-wide parade lap, the field formed the two-wide, 12 rows deep starting field and settled in for the long haul of 35 laps. However, that didn't go as planned because of a spin by two cars in turn two after just one completed lap. It was George who led the way on the single file restart over , Jacobs, Wilson, Ed, McMahan, Chaney, Phil Gressman and Bob Felmlee.

A long stretch of green flag laps followed with Jacobs taking the lead on lap 10 and McMahan running side-by-side with Ed and finally moving into third spot behind George and leader Jacobs. A single car spin by Charlie Holben brought out the yellow on lap 20. With every other car being a lapped car on the restart, Jacobs continued leading McMahan (now in second), George and Ed.

The final caution came just one lap later for a power steering problem on Randy Hannagan's mount. The field set sail for the final 14 laps and the checkered flag. The only change came with two laps to go when Dale Blaney who continued his charge from 14th starting spot, to take fourth, dropping Ed to fifth. Rounding out the top 10 it was Lance Dewease, Phil Gressman, Brandon Martin, Tim Shaffer and Greg Wilson.

McMahan won the Dash while Brian Paulus, Kevin Schaeffer, Rob Eyler and Scott Bonnell transferred to the A-Main from the B-Main.

Ed plans to travel to Eldora for their All Star show Saturday. Fans should be able to listen on the internet at DIRTVision.com..

Ed had luck go his way in the 25-lap Sprint feature and when he arrived in victory lane, the on-track announcer congratulated him on his 89th Sprint car win at Lernerville and added his one Modified win for a grand total of 90 career wins here, which moved Ed into sole possession of 4th Place for All-Time Feature Wins by Lernerville drivers over the history of the track's existence. He now follows jjust Bob Wearing, Sr., Lou Blaney and Lynn Geisler.

Finally, after three weeks of trying to start their 40th season, Lernerville Speedway had sunshine and 75 degree weather for their official track "Opener" on Friday night. Ed and 30 other Sprint car drivers were part of a packed pit area (115 total cars) that came to put on a show that had to be delayed 1/2 hour to allow the record crowd time to get through ticket lines and to seating.

The Sprints were first with three heats sending the top four drivers in each to a pill draw for the top 12 starting spots in the feature. Ed was slated to start eighth in the third heat and finished third behind Rob Eyler and John Shayler. In the first heat it was Bob Felmlee over Paul McMahan and in the second heat it was Kevin Schaeffer ahead of Charlie Holben.

The pill draw worked out for Ed as it came out number one! The last time that happened was June 30, 2006. Thus, tonight's front row showed Ed and Kevin Schaeffer followed by Holben and Felmlee in row two and Brian Ellenberger and Ralphie Spithale in row three. However, it was Schaeffer who hooked up on the outside groove and was gone. But, with just one lap in the books, Scott Priester slipped off turn three bringing out the caution flag. The single file restart showed Schaeffer, Lynch, Felmlee, Holben and Ellenberger.

Once again, it was Schaeffer in command and pulling away from Ed. When the second yellow came out for Dan Shetler on lap nine, there were three lapped cars between the leader and Ed. Racing resumed, but on lap 15, a strange thing happened involving the leader Schaeffer who came upon Shetler who was at the rear and just about ready to go pitside because he had mud packed under his gas feed prohibiting him from having throttle response. The speed differential at the time those two met was too much to overcome and Schaeffer hit the back of Shetler's mount. By the time Schaeffer got away from Shetler, Ed had erased the distance and was fortunate to take the lead in turns one and two.

Lap 16 saw the final yellow wave as Ed led Schaeffer, Felmlee, Ellenberger and McMahan. When the green replaced the yellow, Ed was able to hold on to the lead as Schaeffer struggled with slight frontend damage as a result of his tangle with Shetler. At the checkered flag, Ed's margin of victory was 2.393 seconds over not Schaeffer - but Flemlee who nipped Schaeffer at the end. Ellenberger finished fourth ahead of McMahan, and rounding out the top ten it was Holben, Spithale, Jr., Brent Matus, Dan Kuriger and Danny Holtgraver.

After starting 13th in the O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions 30-lap A-Main feature, Ed took advantage of every restart on the rough but tacky semi-banked Attica Raceway Park track surface while trying not to abuse his equipment on his way to a fifth place finish, in his first race of the 2008 season.

After days of rain which had eliminated the track's originally scheduled opener the week before, the track crew and officials did an incredible job to prepare the facility for their first big special - "Coors Light Spring Clash." Originally set for Friday, the opener was moved to Saturday because of rain on Thursday and Friday. The grounds were very wet and areas normally used for parking had to be roped off and some of the rigs had to be pulled out of the mud. Because of the heavy track conditions, the races were action-packed.

There were 42 cars on hand and Ed drew No. 32 in time trial order and ended up 14th overall with a time of 12.946 while Brian Ellenberger set fast time at 12.692. Four heats were run with the top six inverted and Ed started fourth in the second heat and finished third behind Rod George and Greg Wilson. The other heats were won by Rob Eyler, Caleb Griffith and Brian Paulus.

The crew made minor changes (gear, shocks, tires) after the heat in preparation for the 40-lap feature that was cut to 30 laps. The line-up showed Ellenberger and Lee Jacobs in the front row followed by Randy Hannagan and Lance Dewease, while defending track champion Byron Reed and Bob Felmlee made up the third row with Ed starting 13th. Just two laps into the race Dewease went by Ellenberger for the lead, but Ellenberger got into the rough stuff in turn three and flipped three times, bringing out the only red flag of the race.

Ed was 12th when the green replaced the red, but just three laps later the yellow came out for Rob Eyler stopped on the track. At this point, Dewease led over Hannagan and Felmlee with Ed now in tenth. Just one lap later on lap six George brought out the second caution. The rough track and lapped traffic dictated where Ed could run and when the final yellow came out on lap 22 for Hannagan, Reed the new leader pulled into the pits with and "o" ring problem on his fuel valve and Ed was up to eighth at this time.

With Dewease leading Dale Blaney and Wilson with three laps to go, Ed was closing in on the next cars of Dean Jacobs and Felmlee. At the checkered flag, Dewease was followed by Blaney, D. Jacobs, Wilson and Ed in fifth. Rounding out the top ten it was Felmlee, Lee Jacobs, Butch Schroeder, Hannagan and Paul McMahan. The crew made it back to the garage at 5:50AM Sunday morning with everyone tired and everything covered with mud. But the mission was accomplished - the first race of the year was in the record books!

Ed and his crew were hoping to get some laps on a real race track after "garage racing" all winter.

Two weeks ago Lernerville Speedway had their test and tune date rained out and last Friday opening night was not going to happen, again because of weather. But, track officials were determined to get this first Friday in April in the record books and despite the National Weather Service forcasting a 90% chance of rain, the crew loaded up and made the short tow to Lernerville.

The parking lot and race track surface showed evidence of earlier rains as the #2L rig and crew members pulled in and parked in the pits. The back door was lowered and necessary paper work completed and Ed pulled a No. 20 pill, but they held off unloading the car. By 7:00PM as a light rain fell, Pit Steward Smokey Schemp was forced to make the announcement that the show had been cancelled.

What a disappointment to not even get hot laps in, when so many changes have been made to the car. So, the crew continues wondering if the new set up will be a good one. They will look as possibilities of racing somewhere on Saturday - depending on the weather, of course.