January 20, Boyertown, PA--- While the snow flurries fell outside, the action inside Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ heated up.  The Sling Shots and Champ Karts A-Main starting line ups were set and they were ready to go. However, the M & R Midgets racers had a few last chances to try to make the A-Main Saturday night.  The fans filled the area and the M & R Midgets lined up for their 2 C-Main events in the staging area.  Only the top two finishers would move on to the B-Main and the pressure was on.  Once they qualified for the B-Main, they would have to be one of the top ten finishers to be in the Main event of the evening. 

Several top names found themselves being a spectator Saturday night, including  Billy Pauch JR., when he was unable to start in the second C-Main after officials found him to be leaking fluid.  Ted Christopher's hopes of winning the $5000 prize for winning was also eliminated in the B-Main when he broke down on lap 3.  Kenny Schrader attempted to qualify a car Friday evening, but he ended up on his roof, but he was ok and off to Daytona for testing.  I had time to talk to him and that interview will be up in the next 2 weeks.  I had so much fun talking with him and I really appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to me. 

The M & R Midget started around 10:30 PM Saturday night, and leading the field to the green was James Friesen and Tim Adams.  It didn’t take long for the yellow to fly, as soon as the field took the green flag, Chris Deritis spun into the front stretch wall just past the start finish line.  The racing quickly resumed but only lasted until lap 4 when Stewart Friesson spun on the back stretch.  Lou Cicconi JR. also spun after the yellow and went to the tail end of the field for the restart. As soon as the green flag flew, the red came out as Tim Proctor flipped in turn 1.  They quickly rolled his car off of the track and went back to racing, until lap 9 when Don Zurenski spun coming across the start finish line. 

This time when racing resumed, the action went for quite awhile and the battle was between Mike Tidaback and Tim Adams.  Mike let Tim know he was there on lap 20 and as a result he took over the lead as the yellow flag flew again.  The yellow came out again on lap 27 as a result from a spin in turn 3, and as the saying goes, "cautions breed cautions" and on lap 28 it came out again for Chris Deritis as he spun between turns 1 and 2.  The racing resumed but only until lap 31 when James Friesen blew a motor.  After the clean-up Tidaback and Adams continued to battle for the top spot.  There may have only been 11 cars remaining at this time, but none of them wanted to give up on winning the Gamblers Classic.  With three laps to go, Tim Proctor spun in turn 4. No sooner had the racing resumed, then fan favorite and local star, Billy Pauch Sr., found himself facing the wrong direction between turns 1 and 2.  He was running up in the top 5 before his mishap.  On the restart Tidaback, Adams, Joey Payne and Stevie Smith were all battling for the lead.  The drivers were letting it all hang out on the line in the last three laps, and on the last lap, Tim Adams found himself spinning across the start finish line.  Mike Tidabeck was the winner and he took home the $5000 top prize along with several other bonus awards such as lap money and a custom jacket by Bob Hilbert Sportswear.  

The Sling Shot A-Main turned out to be a great race as well, with top local starts such as female racer Tiffany Wambold, Toby Tobias Jr., Ryan Smith and Gary Hieber.  The Sling Shots are much bigger then the other cars but they put on a great show and ran the final 13 laps caution free.  The race was won by Toby Tobias Jr., who started in 22^nd spot and patiently worked his way up through the field and avoided the being involved in any of the 7 cautions.  Early leader Bobby Butler ran into another car when he was coming around the track during the 6^th caution on lap 11, but he was given back his spot in the lead and worked hard to try and maintain it, but Tobias was just too fast, and nothing was going to stop him from winning the $1500 top prize.  Toby is one of the founders of the Sling Shot Division and is also a popular Modified star.  Ryan Smith finished second followed by Billy Van Iwegen JR.

The Champ Karts had a field of 30 start the 25 lap race.  Bob Baker and Andy Burkholder led the field to the green, but the red flag flew right away for a multi car pile up on the back stretch.  Now these cars had one really neat advantage, when they break down, 2 guys pick up the car and carry it off, making for a faster clean up of accidents.  On the restart there was a pile up in turn one and under the yellow, a car flipped coming down the front stretch.  All drivers were ok and the racing resumed until lap 2 when Shawn Solomito spun on the front stretch.  Baker continued to lead the field, but the red flag flew on lap 4 when Larry Stolzenberg flipped on the front stretch.  On the restart Baker led the field to the green followed by Timmy Solomito and Chris Daley, who had started the race in the 21^st spot.  During the first 4 laps, 12 cars were eliminated.  Chris Daley mad a pass for the lead on lap 7 and brought Timmy Solomito with him, while Baker fell to 3^rd place.  The racing went caution free until lap 16 when the red flag flew for Jon Stewart who crashed hard on the back stretch and needed some care from the EMT’s.  Stewart did get himself out of car but he was checked out at the track as a normal precaution.  Chris Daley led the field back to the green and the race went caution free to the end.  Daley took home the $1500 top prize, followed by Bob Baker and Nick Herriven. 

If you have never attended the Gambler’s Classic, I highly recommend it.  The racing is great and the competition is awesome.  All of the drivers put on a great show and there is no bad seat in the house.  I have to say I am quite impressed by what I have seen the past 2 years and definitely can’t wait until next year’s event.  Every year just keeps getting better and this year they had a record number of entries. 

In the next few weeks look for the Kenny Schrader interview as well as the interview I did with Kenny Wallace.  Wallace was so much fun to talk to, and is so laid back and relaxed in person, that he made me feel very comfortable while talking to him, like talking to an old friend.  Both Wallace and Schrader stayed well past their scheduled time for autographs to satisfy the fans, and I have so much respect for both of these great racers.  I can’t wait for you to read their answers in my interviews with them.  There will be some highlights from the Motorsports 2008 show as well, but that will be handled later. 

I would like to thank Area Auto Racing News’ Earl Krause for his hospitality at the shows, as well as Kenny Wallace and Kenny Schrader for their time.