The 'Doctor' Back In Operation After Mid-Week Series Success At Drummond Drummondville, QUE - July 20, 2010 - Brett Hearn was looking for the sweep while Dale Planck was trying to lead the distance. Matt Sheppard and Jimmy Phelps had plans to retain their stronghold on the Big-Block Modified win chart while Billy Decker was hoping to regain his winning form.
When the checkered finally flew Tuesday night at Autodrome Drummond, it was open-wheel veteran Danny Johnson fulfilling his own destiny as the Rochester, N.Y. native laid claim to the Super DIRTcar Series 'Solution Ticket 100' to close out the annual Canadian Tour in the province of Quebec.
"It's been awhile but this team has been awesome for me, its great to be back," remarked Johnson, now 50, who has been racking up DIRTcar Modified wins since 1979 and his latest elevated his series count to 67, which keeps him second all-time behind only Hearn. "I'm just a lucky individual to be here. I know I'm fortunate to be here so I'm just going to enjoy it while I'm here."
"It's great getting back to victory lane, definitely a confidence builder. The team has been working really hard getting the car better each time out. As long as we stick together we'll continue to grow and get better I believe," said Johnson, whose last Series triumph came at Orange County Fair Speedway teamed with Mike Petruska and his no. 66 Atlas Paving/TEO Pro Car in the 2008 Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Eastern States 200 in Middletown.
Johnson was back aboard a familiar orange no. 27J ride in his latest victory march, this year owned by Mike Payne and carrying sponsorship from Honeoye Auto Parts, Currier Plastics and Waste Management on the potent Bicknell machine. Following in his tire tracks at the end of the century grind were hard-charging Phelps, Planck, Hearn, Sheppard, Decker and top French finisher Marin Roy, who claimed guaranteed starting status during Super DIRT Week in Syracuse for both Big-Block and 358-Modified main events held Oct. 9-10.
Pole-sitter Planck and Johnson shared front row starting assignments to lead off the 100-lap finale which was caution-stricken on the opening lap. Racing track promoter Yan Bussiere, who earlier in the night set Bilstein Shocks Fast Time, got caught up high and wound up parked on the turn three wall, a precarious position that required 10 minutes to alleviate.
Planck retained his edge on the ensuing lap nine restart, with Johnson, French favourite David Hebert, Hearn and Billy Dunn locked in pursuit. It took the 'Natural' just eight more circuits to catch the tail end of the pack as he sped around the fast 4/10-miler steering Carey Terrance's back-up RezX Racing no. 66xx Twin Leaf Express(Ft. Covington)/Bicknell entry.
Only two more yellow flags slowed the action by the midway point with Planck holding a commanding lead in what had been a rather uneventful race up to that point. When Francois Bernier idled down the front chute on lap 49, Planck and Johnson still ran two with Hearn improving to third ahead of Hebert, Sheppard, Decker and Phelps.
Hearn was quickly drop-kicked to fifth when the green flag once again unfurled on the lap 55 restart as Sheppard bolted into third. Ryan Phelps suffered a flat right-rear Hoosier eight circuits later, with his cousin Jimmy holding down fourth-place in what has become a customary move to the front in the latter stages.
The biggest incident of the night forced a red flag situation with 75 laps complete when turn three contact tangled up the cars of tour regulars Billy Dunn and Tom Sears Jr. as well as Gino Clair, Bernier and Bussiere, who was scored some 30 laps down to the leaders at the time.Green lights flashed on once more as 13 racers remained on the lead lap all looking to take their best shot at reaching the winner's circle.
In tracking down Planck prior to the field coming to a stop, Johnson continued to shadow the race-long leader until finally ducking underneath for good as the lead pair swung out of turn four. After Decker's Gypsum Express team-mate Larry Wight spun rounding turn one to force out the seventh and final caution flag on lap 83, Johnson faced a clear path ahead as did his closest rivals in search of the $6,000 top prize.
With just 10 laps to go, Planck and Phelps zeroed in on Johnson as they mirrored every move made by DIRTcar Northeast's only five-time Driver-of-the-Year. Just as 97 clicked on the lap counter Phelps grabbed second from Planck and set his sights on Johnson with time running out.Phelps was able to snuggle up to Johnson's rear bumper on the white flag lap, and when the checkers came out he nearly pushed him across the stripe as the 50-minute main event brought the final curtain down.
"We had a really good car all day, just that the other guys had pretty good cars, too," figured Johnson, following his second Big-Block win of 2010 which pushes his career count to 299 on the DIRTcar NE circuit. "With so many good cars and drivers in one place, anything can happen so you have to feel fortunate any time you can pick up a win."
"Dale took off and was gone from the start, but we were able to reel him in later on and I thought things were going good. Then the caution came out, double-file restarts aren't for me. But like I said, that's why I'm lucky, those restarts happened the way they did and I was able to do what I did and be here in victory lane," added Johnson, whose only other SDS race led (7 laps) this year was the Hagerstown Speedway opener in March.
Already finding his way to the front in seven of the first 12 Series shows in 2010, Phelps fell a fraction shy of tacking on his fourth win of the season and was forced to settle for his third runner-up tally in the previous five shows
"We really had a good car, if we could've broke free early we could've probably dome something," assessed Phelps, 35, who moved into a tie for second-place with Billy Decker on the Super DIRTcar Series points chart now 59 behind Sheppard. The Baldwinsville, N.Y. pilot remains in search of his first overall Mr. DIRTcar crown after placing among the front-four each of the past three years. "Still feel fortunate to get what we got out here today."
"Once the track rubbered up early on you just had to wait for somebody to screw up in front to get by them, so starting 15th we're real happy with second. We were really good late, yet in the beginning we just tried to hang on. Even if we started closer to the front who's to say we wouldn't have backed up, so it’s hard to say if we would've won with a better starting spot."
"The bottom line is that we got up in the mix again and we're close. Don't know if I could've got Danny without some traffic or maybe him making a mistake, who knows. Regardless, we had the car that we needed and we're happy with that," stated Phelps, already an 11-time race winner in '10, just one checkered flag shy of Sheppard.
Fresh off leading 36 laps in the headline Series special Monday night at Autodrome Granby, Planck more than doubled his progress at Drummond as the second-generation standout from Cortland, N.Y. paced the pack for the initial 78 circuits on Tuesday.
"We went with a soft tire on the left-rear and it just didn't hold up for us towards the end," lamented a disappointed Planck in the post-race interview. "The track just went away, the bottom (lane) took rubber within a lap after that restart and Dan was down there. I was coming down out of turn four trying to catch the rubber but it just locked right down and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"This car seems a little better though, definitely a lot better than last night at Granby. We're going back to the shop and get the #77x fixed back up and try it all over again this weekend," Planck added.
Super DIRTcar Series travelers get two weeks off before hauling back across the border for round 10 on Monday, August 2 when Merrittville Speedway hosts the Bob St. Amand Sr. Memorial 100 presented by L. St. Amand Enterprises.
NEXT EVENT: Merrittville Speedway - August 2, 2010.
Photo: Danny Johnson posts 1st tour win since end of 2008 race season inprovince of Quebec
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