8/18/2018
Mike Mueller Masters Ogilvie for Tabor Memorial Victory
The "Oak Grove Outlaw" Mike Mueller added his name to the win list this season when the defending UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional Sprint Car Series champion drove to victory at the Ogilvie Raceway on Saturday August 18 during the running of the 7th Annual Davey Tabor Memorial on Mastell Brothers Trailer Service 30th Anniversary Night at the popular central Minnesota track. Mueller recorded his 11th career TSCS feature win and added the Big O to his track win list in TSCS competition. Mueller has now won TSCS point races at eight different tracks dating back to his first season behind the wheel of a non-winged sprint car in 2013. The win paid Mueller $410, as GRP Motorsports added some money to first place for what was termed the Tom Harris 410 Award by GRP. Mueller and his team celebrated in Rock Auto Victory Lane in front of a packed grandstands and then again in the pit area following the races. Mueller currently sits in second in the season point standings behind his good friend and fellow competitor Cam Schafer.
A decent field of (18) Traditional sprint cars signed into the pits on a pleasant summer evening for the second of two appearances at the Big O. Racing with a heavy heart following the recent passing of a long-time friend and crew member, Steve Steinkraus, Johnny Parsons III won the Pirtek Fluid Transfer Solutions first heat. Mike Mueller won the Rock Auto second heat while Harry Hanson picked up the win in the GRP Motorsports third heat. All three heats ran caution-free and each heat winner received $34 from Margaret Tabor. When all eighteen teams came up to draw for their heat race starting spots, envelopes containing $34 were given to each of them in honor and memory of Davey Tabor and his 34TW car number.
Brad Peterson drew the pole position for the 25 lap feature with Parsons outside of him in row one. Peterson led the opening lap, but it was Mike Mueller from his inside row two starting spot quickly moving past Peterson on lap two for the lead. A few laps later, Parsons retired to the infield with apparent mechanical woes. Mueller opened up a bit of a lead until he encountered lapped traffic. The battle for the lead then got very interesting, as Joseph Kouba and Harry Hanson closed in on Mueller and began to challenge him for the top spot. At one point, the race for the lead was three wide coming off turn two with Mueller just barely able to fend off the challengers. Mueller finally was able to regain a bit of a margin when he cleared the group of lapped cars. The race ran 25 laps green to checkers with Mueller picking up his first win of the season. Harry Hanson, Joseph Kouba, ninth starter Scott Brandt and current point leader Cam Schafer completed the top five. Rounding out the top ten finishers were 13th starter Jon Lewerer, Brad Peterson, Rob Caho, Sr. Bryan Roach and Cody Emmans. Fifteen cars were still running at the finish.
It was great to see Jon Lewerer back out racing again following a hard crash at the Spring Lake Speedway back on July 13. Bryan Roach got a car for Jon and with a team effort type of attitude it all came together for Jon's return at Ogilvie. Lewerer earned the $100 GRP Motorsports "Dean Reller" Hard Charger Award for his effort. A shout out also goes to Rocket Rob Caho, Sr. who made his TSCS debut in his son's #78 sprint car with his motor under the hood. Rob certainly has not lost his touch behind the wheel of a sprint car, racing forward from 11th to finish 8th. The elder Caho has been, in recent years, running in a vintage sprint car class on several occasions.
The POWRi Lucas Oil Traditional sprints will be in action on Friday and Saturday August 24-25 at the Cedar Lake Speedway for the 1st Annual Traditional Challenge highlighted by twin features each night with the hope that all cars that participate from five different sanctioning bodies will be able to run a feature race. Following the heats, which have passing and finishing points, the field will be put in order of points and all odd cars in the points will race in the first feature while all even cars in the points will race in the second feature. Each feature pays $500 to win on Friday and then they will do it all over again on Saturday and race for $600 to win each feature. If a driver wins a feature on both Friday and Saturday, a $250 bonus will be added to their winnings. The UMSS winged sprints will join the program on Saturday night. Keep tabs on all of the POWRi UMSS Lucas Oil Traditional sprint car action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com or by following the series on Facebook and My Race Pass.
TSCS Race Results - Ogilvie Raceway August 18, 2018 (Race #14)
7th Annual Davey Tabor Memorial
POWRi Lucas Oil A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller, [3]; 2. 7-Harry Hanson, [6]; 3. 55-Joseph Kouba, [5]; 4. 7B-Scott Brandt, [9]; 5. 14-Cam Schafer, [7]; 6. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [13]; 7. 93-Brad Peterson, [1]; 8. 78-Rob Caho, [11]; 9. 99-Bryan Roach, [4]; 10. 33C-Cody Emmans, [17]; 11. K1-Kevin Lear, [12]; 12. 48-Neal Matuska, [8]; 13. 19-Gary Mueller, [10]; 14. 2J-John Lowe, [15]; 15. 5-Troy Gessner, [14]; 16. (DNF) 12-Johnny Parsons III, [2]; 17. (DNF) 19B-Jack Berger, [16]; (DNS) 77E-Bob Englund,
Lap Leaders: Peterson 1, Mike Mueller 2-25. No cautions! Mueller earned the "Tom Harris 410 Award" from GRP Motorsports for his victory.
PIRTEK Fluid Transfer Solutions Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12-Johnny Parsons III, [2]; 2. 99-Bryan Roach, [3]; 3. 14-Cam Schafer, [5]; 4. 78-Rob Caho, [4]; 5. 2J-John Lowe, [1]; 6. 19B-Jack Berger, [6]
Lap Leader: Parsons 1-10. No cautions. Heat win in memory of Steiny!
Rock Auto Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 87-Mike Mueller, [2]; 2. 55-Joseph Kouba, [4]; 3. 19-Gary Mueller, [1]; 4. 7B-Scott Brandt, [6]; 5. 69S-Jon Lewerer, [5]; 6. 33C-Cody Emmans, [3]
Lap Leader: Mike Mueller 1-10. No cautions.
GRP Motorsports Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 7-Harry Hanson, [1]; 2. 93-Brad Peterson, [3]; 3. 48-Neal Matuska, [5]; 4. K1-Kevin Lear, [4]; 5. 5-Troy Gessner, [2]; 6. 77E-Bob Englund, [6]
Lap Leader: Hanson 1-10. No cautions.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
