by Tony Veneziano
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada — For many drivers, having to change an engine prior to an Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event would be means for concern, especially if they were scheduled to start on the pole position of the main event, but not for Jac Haudenschild. The veteran driver has one of the hardest working teams in the pit area led by crew chief Leonard Lee, and after winning the Crane Cams Dash to earn the top starting spot for the main event on Friday night in the second annual Oil City Cup Presented by Boston Pizza at Castrol Raceway, Haudenschild and his team were forced to change engines after losing a cylinder.
Armed with a new bullet under the hood, Haudenschild proceeded to lead all 35 laps to pick up the $10,000 win and the first win of his career in Canada . He held off a hard charging Chad Kemenah, along with 20-time Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Stave Kinser.
“We have been good all year long and a Top-Five car,” he said from Victory Lane . “It’s always good to win and there races are hard to win. We have the first one under our belt and hopefully we can get a couple more. The car felt really good tonight. We have been fast all year. Leonard Lee and Marie (Lapointe) have been working hard all season. We’re glad to win for our car owner Lon Carnahan and all of our sponsors.”
Haudenschild began the night by winning the third heat race which earned him a spot in the Came Cams Dash. After starting on the outside of the front row in the dash, he took the lead from Paul McMahan in that event to claim the pole for the A-Feature, though he lost a cylinder during the event, necessitating the engine change by his team.
“We ended up having plenty of time to change it,” noted the veteran driver. “We had a few little problems, but we got it all straightened out.”
The native of Wooster , Ohio led from the drop of the green flag and quickly opened a comfortable lead in the first four laps of the race. On the opening lap, Chad Kemenah got around Donny Schatz to move into third, while Jason Meyers gained two spots to take the fourth position.
By just the fifth lap on the high-banked 3/8-mile, Haudenschild found himself in traffic. He sliced his way through traffic, though was held up a couple of times, allowing second-place runner Paul McMahan to close in on him. At the same time, Jason Meyers and Donny Schatz were battling for the fourth spot.
While in heavy traffic, Chad Kemenah was able to gain ground on McMahan and battle him for the runner-up position. The first caution of the night flew on the 12th lap for a two-car incident.
“They did help some,” shared Haudenschild of the yellow and red flags. “It cleared the track up and we didn’t have to run in lapped traffic the whole race, just part of it.”
On the restart Haudenschild quickly opened a lead, while Kemenah worked on McMahan, getting around him in turns one and two, only to have McMahan battle back past him in turns three and four. The very next lap, Kemenah used nearly the same move in turns one and two to snag the second spot.
While in traffic, Kemenah was able to gain ground on Haudenschild, before the first of two red flags waved on the 21st lap. On the restart, Haudenschild again shot to the lead, while McMahan battled Kemenah tooth and nail for the second spot. The pair was going at it on the 22nd lap, when McMahan got sideways exiting the second turn, collecting Donny Schatz in the process. Schatz got upside down and had to go to the work area, while McMahan remained on the track.
Haudenschild again used a strong start in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim, to build a comfortable lead as the laps began to wind down. The final caution flag of the night flew on the 31st lap for a spin by a lapped car right in front of the leaders.
“It was definitely close,” said the winner with a sign of relief of the late race incident that could have ruined his night. “There were a lot of slow lapped cars out here tonight and it was a long race on a short track. We dodged the cars and started up front, and it always helps to start up front.”
Haudenschild used one final strong restart to pull away from Kemenah and Steve Kinser to pick up the 47th A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career and he now is in sole possession of the ninth position on the all-time series win list.
Kemenah closed in on Haudenschild a couple of times over the course of the 35-lap contest, but could never quite get a good enough run on him to attempt a pass and would up second. For the native of Findlay , Ohio it was his best finish of the season as he continues to close in on his first win of the campaign aboard the Kantor Oil Company Maxim.
“We are getting closer to getting a win in one of these things and that is what we have to do,” said Kemenah. “If we hang around the Top-Five cars night in and night out, we’ll win one. I can’t thank my car owner Jon Kantor enough for giving us the opportunity to do this. My crew guys work their tails off for me. We are a little undermanned sometimes, but they hold their end of the bargain up.”
Steve Kinser had a very steady night, finishing third in the Q Oil Maxim. The native of Bloomington , Indiana gained a couple of spots on the opening lap, getting around Terry McCarl and Jason Sides. The third-place place finish was his 21st Top-Five finish of the year.
“It wasn’t too bad of a night,” noted Kinser. “We started 10th in the dash and moved up to eighth and up one row. We had a good start (in the main event). I was hoping to get a Top-Five when we started and we ended up third, so we actually finished a little better than what we thought we would.”
Kemenah also had a couple of close calls during the course of the 35-lap event. The late race spin by the lapped car right in front of himself and Haudenschild was the most tense moment for him during the race, for the driver of the Kantor Oil Company Maxim.
“The one over in turn two was really really close,” stated Kemenah. “I though he was going to take both Jac (Haudenschild) and I out. All in all, it was a good night. We ended up second and we can’t ask for much more than one more place.”
Kemenah and his team utilized a different engine package in his debut at Castrol Raceway. He began the night by finishing second in the first heat race and followed that up with a fourth-place effort in the Crane Cams Dash.
“The race track was pretty fast and we were fortunate to qualify and start up front in the heat race,” he explained. “My father-in-law worked his butt off back home on my motors to figure out how to make them take off with these guys. The other night we had some motor stumbling problems.”
Steve Kinser had an extremely close call on the incident involving McMahan and Schatz, as he was running fifth at the time and just squeezed through as the former spun and the latter got upside down, to gain two positions and put himself in position to battle for the win.
“That second one in the feature was pretty close,” said Kinser. “I thought I was in it and at the last second I went low and just missed it.”
Jason Meyers turned in another solid run to finish fourth in the GLR Investments Maxim to earn his series leading 36th Top-Five finish of the season.
Craig Dollansky was fifth in the Snap-on Maxim after starting the night by being quickest in time trials, with Kerry Madsen in sixth in the TK Concrete Maxim. Terry McCarl was seventh in the Big Game Treestands Maxim, with Jason Sides in eighth aboard the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. After getting upside down and having to pay a visit to the work area to get a new top wing, Schatz rallied his way to a ninth-place finish after lining up 18th on the restart after the accident. He extended his streak of Top-10 finishes to 44, as he remains the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 every night this season.