Stanford, IN, July 1, 2008 –- The 2008 King of Indiana Sprint Series is in the books. While the spring of ’08 will be remembered for heavy rains and devastating flooding around the Hoosier state, there were five races, and they weren’t always easy to get in. Following a week that was wracked by vicious storms, many competitors had difficulty driving to both Haubstadt and Kokomo. Some, including Jon Stanbrough, spent more than 8 hours on the road, as many state roads and national highways were closed, cutting the northern half of the state off from the southern. Yet, they showed up to race, averaging more than 23 cars a night, as did the fans. Just days after flooding wrecked homes, cut off electric service, and caused the evacuation of much of Paragon and nearby towns, Paragon Speedway hosted the KISS finale.
With this havoc, six drivers, Jon Stanbrough, Hunter Schuerenberg, Kyle Cummins, Jeff Bland Jr., A. J. Anderson, and Scott Hampton, competed in all of the events. They made all of the feature races, with the exception of Schuerenberg, who wrecked in his heat race the first night, at Gas City, but rebounded to win at Kokomo Speedway and finish second in the points.
Stanbrough claimed his fourth KISS championship, the third in a row, and his three wins gave him a series total of 14. Once he captured the first two races, at Gas City and Bloomington, then finished second to Daron Clayton at Tri-State Speedway, everyone knew that it would be difficult for anyone else to challenge for the title unless some catastrophe struck. But the race for second remained close until the final checkered flag, with Cummins, Schuerenberg, Bland, Anderson, Brady Short and Jesse Hockett all involved.
Each event on this year’s schedule demonstrated the excitement of Hoosier sprint car racing. At Gas City, the Demon, Damion Gardner, started 22nd, raced to the front where he battled Stanbrough wheel-to-wheel until making contact with a car he was lapping and flipping spectacularly. With 60 cars in Bloomington’s pits, it was Short, dueling with Levi Jones for second, who had fans on their feet. Schuerenberg scrapped his way from the sixth row to win at Kokomo, and in what may have been the most memorable performance of the series, after getting caught in a first lap tangle during the finale at Paragon, Hockett charged through the C- and B-Mains to earn fifth in the feature, starting at the back of each race.
“This kind of goes back to our old Indiana Sprint Week the way it used to be, without any sanctioning bodies,” Stanbrough said after securing the title. He pointed out that the local race tracks run the series and the atmosphere is more laid back and enjoyable than bigger shows. “You know I’ve won the Sprint Week championship, but this is something that I’ll be able to look back at and be proud of having won it four times,” he added.
While he had won USAC events at Paragon Speedway in the past, the fact that he and the Fox’s had yet to visit Paragon’s Victory Lane together wasn’t forgotten. “It was important to me to try to come down here and win tonight, or at least run as good as I can, because I didn’t want to win the championship finishing in the back of the race. It makes the championship that much sweeter to be able to win the final race down here tonight,” he said.
Looking at the historical aspect of the King of Indiana Sprint Series, the first five years saw as many different champions: Dickie Gaines, Tony Elliott, Stanbrough, Michael Burthay and Justin Marvel. Stanbrough scored four wins in those five years, but Elliott had three, Kevin Briscoe, Kent Christian and Burthay had two each. Then, in 2006, Stanbrough teamed with Steve and Brad Fox and the status was no longer quo.
Over the last three KISS tours, Stanbrough and the Fox brothers have won ten of 17 main events, an amazing 58.8% This performance has brought a variety of reactions from fans and competitors. While most appreciate the fact that the team will be remembered as one of the best sprint car teams of this or any era, a few thought something funny was going on.
Two complaints heard were that Stanbrough always got to start the heat races on the front row, and another was that they are using traction control. Obviously, he doesn’t get preferential treatment at any of the tracks, and the numbers don’t support starting every heat race at the front. This year, his starting spots were 6 – 6 – 2 – 1 – 3, and of course his finishing positions were 2 – 3 – 1 – 1 – 1. In 2007, his KISS heat race starting spots were 7 – 7 – 1 – 6 – 4 – 2, and his finishes were 2 – 1 – 1 – 9 – 2 – 1. The year before, he started 2 – 5 – 6 – 3 – 6 and finished 1 – 1 – 4 – 1 – 2. One of the keys to short track racing is to transfer to the feature through the heat race, which Jon did nearly 100% of the time over the last three years, one of the two exceptions was when he was caught up in a first lap wreck at Putnamville last year. And in those same 16 races, he’s started on the front row just five times, while starting in the third row or further back eight times, which is fairly average for anyone running all of the races.
As for traction control, or any other technical advantages, it certainly can’t be said that the Fox’s have a significantly larger budget than anyone else. Each of the tracks is responsible for ensuring the rules of their facility, and there has never been a hint of illegality in their equipment. While traction control is not expensive and there are various schemes to hide it, it provides more of an advantage on pavement and may be easier to detect on the dirt. Clearly, USAC’s technical inspectors have more ability to identify traction control devices at their events, and IF the Fox team was using it in local and KISS races, their performance could be expected to fall off when they remove it for a USAC program. Yet, they have won more USAC sprint car features than anyone else over the last two years. ‘Nuff said.
Last summer, Stanbrough earned the first KISS Champion’s Helmet. Sponsored by Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, Simpson Performance Products and painted by Noah Ennis of Eagle Graphix, the helmet featured a theme of the Hoosier state flag and the KISS logo. Stanbrough said that he only wanted to wear it one time in competition, and then save it on his trophy shelf. He wore it while winning the KISS finale at Paragon Speedway. The photo below shows him prior to the start of that 30-lap feature. (Photo by Dave Heithaus)
Unfortunately for everyone, the weather delayed completion of construction at the Lawrenceburg Speedway and that event was canceled. Looking forward to the 2009 KISS series, the track promoters will have another private dinner this fall to fashion the schedule, review the rules and determine the details. If at all possible, it will be bigger and better than the previous eight editions. And next May, everyone will start with 0 points and chase one of the most valued crowns in sprint car racing.
Final 2008 KISS Points: 1. Jon Stanbrough 717, 2. Hunter Schuerenberg 563, 3. Kyle Cummins 562, 4. Jeff Bland Jr. 547, 5. AJ Anderson 529, 6. Daron Clayton 405, 7. Scott Hampton 379, 8. Shain Matthews 359, 9. Jesse Hockett 345, 10. Thomas Meseraull 326, 11. Scotty Weir 314, 12. Brady Short 295, 13. Chase Stockon 273, 14. Hud Cone 270, 15. Robert Ballou 267, 16. Casey Shuman 256, 17. Jesse Cramer and Matt Goodnight 251 (tie), 19. Brett Burdette 240, 20. Kevin Thomas Jr. 239
2008 King Of Indiana Sprint Series
Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 16 Stanbrough
Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 24 canceled
Bloomington Speedway Friday, May 30 Stanbrough
Tri-State Speedway Saturday, June 7 Clayton
Kokomo Speedway Sunday, June 8 Schuerenberg
Paragon Speedway Saturday, June 21 Stanbrough
SPONSORS. Bedford’s Indiana Stone Works, Elliottbrand Web Designs, in Westport, IN, and Kiva Networking in Bloomington are returning sponsors for the KISS series. The 2008 KISS Championship Helmet is sponsored by Simpson Performance Products, Sprint Car & Midget Magazine and Eagle Graphix.
The King of Indiana Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual Indiana sprint car race track promoters to provide the best sprint car racing.