Chisholm outduels Phillips in a dandy as USMTS Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout opens at Lucas Oil Speedway
Photo by GS Stanek Racing Photography
WHEATLAND, Mo. — Jim Chisholm outdueled Terry Phillips in a United States Modified Touring Series classic Friday night on Night One of the 15th annual Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout Presented by Foley Equipment at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Chisholm led six of the final eight laps, but swapped the lead with Phillips three times over the final stretch of the 40-lapper. The Osage, Iowa, driver regained the lead from Phillips on lap 38 and held on from there to win by a narrow .445 seconds over the veteran from Springfield.
Chisholm earned $5,000 to win on Night One of the USMTS 40-lap feature. A total of 41 Modifieds were in attendance and there were 89 total entries in the four divisions.
Other winners on the program were Justin Wells (Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models), William Garner (O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars) and Mitchell Franklin (Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods).
Alex Williamson led the first 18 laps and Dan Ebert the next 10 in the night's headliner, but neither were able to build anything close to a comfortable margin. Then it got downright wild after Phillips went to the front on lap 29, following the event's third caution.
On the restart, Phillips found grip on the inside of turns one and two to take the lead away from Ebert and then went back to the high side to keep it. Chisholm, who entered the action just behind series points leader Jake Timm, suddenly found speed on the bottom and roared to the front on lap 34 - only to see Phillips go back to the front a lap later.
But the two swapped again the next time around. Over the final several laps, Phillips went to the top and the 21-year-rold Chisholm the bottom. Phillips, 58, found the front again on lap 35 in what turned into an epic battle.
It was Chisholm’s turn to lead again on lap 38 in what would be the final lead change. He held off the veteran from there to capture the win by .445 seconds.
"I've got to give hats off to Lucas Oil (Speedway)," Chisholm said. "This place is the best facility in the world, but I always hated coming here because we weren't very good. Nothing against the race track. But I have to give it to them. This is probably the best race track I've been on all year long.
"We could run top to bottom. We ran through the middle a lot. I have to thank Terry. I don't know if he led some of those laps, but we were running side by side through there. I was a little bit better through one and two and he would get me back in three and four."
Chisholm said he was able to use the video board overlooking turn three to see he was clear of Phillips on lap 38 and moved up the track to take away Phillips' preferred line over the closing two circuits.
Phillips said his tires were pretty well shot by that point and part of his spoiler had been knocked askew a little early when he nicked the wall in turn four while battling with Ebert.
"i didn't help myself there," Phillips said. "The car was fair. We just need to be a little better."
Zack Vanderbeek finished third with Timm, who had to go to a backup car and take a series provisional to start 23rd, rallying for fourth. Ebert settled for fifth.
Alex Williamson beat fellow front-row starter Trevor Hughes to the lead at the start and had a one-second lead when action slowed due to a lap-four caution. Ebert advanced to second on the restart with Vanderbeek into third.
Ebert began to pressure the leader on lap 10 with Phillips, who started eighth, closing in on the lead duo. Chisholm joined the fray by lap 15, making it four cars bunched within 1.1 seconds up front.
Ebert dove inside of Williamson to take the lead coming off turn four on lap 19 with Phillips getting around Williamson one lap later. The leaders weaving in and out of lapped traffic, Phillips pressed Ebert on lap 24 and the two traded the lead on lap 26 with Ebert officially leading the lap after Phillips nearly hit the wall in turn four - but made a nifty save.
The race had four leaders and eight lead changes, including five in the final eight laps.
Wells dominates Late Model feature: Justin Wells shook off a slow start, which saw him fall to third in the early going, to roll to his 10th Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Model feature victory in 12 starts this season.
Wells, of Aurora, beat Matt Becker by 5.3 seconds with Tucker Cox finishing third, JC Morton fourth and Johnny Fennewald fifth.
“I'm surprised if we win, I'm surprised if we lose," Wells said with a chuckle in victory lane. "We've got a good car and we've got a good crew. The track was really good. It was a little bit slimy there at the start, but it turned out to be a great race track."
Front-row starters Becker and Wells dueled the first lap before Becker pulled away out of turn four to lead lap one.
The runaway track points leader and reigning division champion slipped back to third behind Becker JC Morton on lap two before regaining second on the sixth lap. By then, Becker led by 1.1 seconds. Wells moved to the high side of the track and quickly closed ground the next time around and took the lead with a pass out of turn four to complete lap 10.
It was a runaway from there as Wells sprinted clear by three seconds by lap 15 en route to his comfortable final margin in the caution-free 20-lapper.
Garner picks up fourth USRA Stock Cars win: William Garner grabbed the lead on lap six and went on to earn his fourth O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature win of the season. Garner beat Johnny Fennewald by 1.4 seconds at the checkers.
"Me and my whole family, we've been working our butts off on this thing," Garner said. "I can't thank Josh and Mitchell Franklin enough. They help me all the time. I have to thank Johnny Fennewald and just everybody that supports me on this thing."
James McMillin started on the pole and set the early pace with a host of cars right behind in the early going. Fourth-starting Beck edged to the front with a turn-four pass on lap four.
Two laps later, sixth-starting Garner roared to the front and had a .324-second lead when a yellow on lap seven slowed the action.
Garner, the division points leader, had a half-second lead at the midway point over Fennewald with Bryan White in third. Taking advantage of a dozen green-flag laps to finish the event, Garner rolled away to prevail over Fennewald.
Jaylen Wettengel rallied from ninth to third with White fourth and Waylon Dimmitt fifth.
Franklin earns USRA B-Mods triumph: Mitchell Franklin took over on lap seven and drove away to beat Bobby Williams by 1.4 seconds in the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature.
"That's a brand new car; I tore the front end off of it last week," Franklin said. "My dad (Josh) busted his butt on it today. I didn't know I was racing tonight until about 2 o'clock and I work in Branson. So, thanks to my dad and thanks to everybody who makes it happen.
"This is a new race car. It's a little different than my old one, but I think we found something that might work."
Tanner Kade and Franklin, starting on the front row, ran 1-2 through the first six laps before Franklin took the lead on lap seven with an inside pass off turn three.
Morton gave chase in third but Franklin was able to gradually build a one-second lead by lap 10 as Kade and Morton battled for second. Franklin was 2.5 second in front when the gap was wiped out due to a lap-14 caution.
Morton and Bobby Williams got around Kade after the restart as Franklin opened a five car-length lead. Franklin held on over the final laps to capture his first feature win of the season, beating Williams and Morton at the finish.
J.T. Carroll earned fourth with Reece Solander in fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Aug. 2, 2024)
15th annual Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout Presented by Foley Equipment
USMTS Modifieds
A Feature - 1. 24C-Jim Chisholm[7]; 2. 75-Terry Phillips[8]; 3. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[4]; 4. 49-Jake Timm[23]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 6. 20-Rodney Sanders[11]; 7. 712-Trevor Hughes[1]; 8. 15W-Alex Williamson[2]; 9. 8-Kyle Strickler[14]; 10. 10C-Cayden Carter[9]; 11. 65-Tyler Davis[12]; 12. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[19]; 13. 58X-Gary Christian[18]; 14. 21K-Kyle Brown[13]; 15. 19K-Kyle Slader[20]; 16. 19SB-Lance Mari[17]; 17. 12-Jason Hughes[16]; 18. 02-Tanner Mullens[24]; 19. 55H-AJ Hoff[6]; 20. 7G-Gabe Hodges[25]; 21. 15WX-Wyatt Gaggero[5]; 22. 38C-Jason Pursley[26]; 23. 4W-Tyler Wolff[10]; 24. 10-Dayton Pursley[15]; 25. 0-Jake O'Neil[22]; 26. 08-Dakota Sproul[21]
B Feature 1 - 1. 21K-Kyle Brown[1]; 2. 10-Dayton Pursley[3]; 3. 19SB-Lance Mari[2]; 4. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[14]; 5. 08-Dakota Sproul[7]; 6. 11N-Gene Nicholas[6]; 7. 18L-Chad Lyle[5]; 8. 02-Tanner Mullens[13]; 9. 68-Dean Wille[15]; 10. 96-Logan Johnson[9]; 11. 7D-Davis Givens[4]; 12. 10B-Brandon Givens[8]; 13. 66-Tyler Worley[10]; 14. 747-Colton Eck[12]; 15. 18-Brad Johnson[11]
B Feature 2 - 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[1]; 2. 12-Jason Hughes[3]; 3. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 4. 19K-Kyle Slader[2]; 5. 0-Jake O'Neil[11]; 6. 7G-Gabe Hodges[7]; 7. 16-Austin Siebert[6]; 8. 98C-Jeff Cutshaw[13]; 9. 38C-Jason Pursley[9]; 10. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[10]; 11. 98-Kenton Allen[8]; 12. 21-Greg Scheffler[14]; 13. 26S-Steven Glenn[12]; 14. 49-Jake Timm[4]
Heat 1 - 1. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 2. 55H-AJ Hoff[4]; 3. 20-Rodney Sanders[6]; 4. 18L-Chad Lyle[3]; 5. 58X-Gary Christian[7]; 6. 08-Dakota Sproul[9]; 7. 18-Brad Johnson[5]; 8. 26S-Steven Glenn[8]; 9. 68-Dean Wille[1]
Heat 2 - 1. 24C-Jim Chisholm[4]; 2. 15W-Alex Williamson[6]; 3. 19K-Kyle Slader[1]; 4. 16-Austin Siebert[2]; 5. 7D-Davis Givens[8]; 6. 98-Kenton Allen[7]; 7. 0-Jake O'Neil[5]; 8. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[3]
Heat 3 - 1. 15WX-Wyatt Gaggero[3]; 2. 712-Trevor Hughes[4]; 3. 65-Tyler Davis[6]; 4. 10-Dayton Pursley[5]; 5. 11N-Gene Nicholas[7]; 6. 7G-Gabe Hodges[8]; 7. 747-Colton Eck[1]; 8. 21-Greg Scheffler[2]
Heat 4 - 1. 75-Terry Phillips[1]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 3. 21K-Kyle Brown[5]; 4. 8-Kyle Strickler[7]; 5. 10B-Brandon Givens[2]; 6. 96-Logan Johnson[4]; 7. 66-Tyler Worley[6]; 8. 02-Tanner Mullens[8]
Heat 5 - 1. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[1]; 2. 10C-Cayden Carter[4]; 3. 19SB-Lance Mari[2]; 4. 12-Jason Hughes[5]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[8]; 6. 38C-Jason Pursley[3]; 7. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[6]; 8. 98C-Jeff Cutshaw[7]
Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models
A Feature - 1. 98-Justin Wells[1]; 2. 00-Matt Becker[2]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[5]; 4. 72-JC Morton[3]; 5. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 6. 20-Alan Westling[6]; 7. 1A-Bryon Allison[9]; 8. 99-Larry Jones[8]; 9. 5-Tommy Cordray[10]; 10. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[12]; 11. 21P-Darren Phillips[7]; 12. (DNF) 28-Jim Greenway[11]; 13. (DNS) 18-Shawn Eggeman
Heat 1 - 1. 72-JC Morton[2]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[5]; 4. 20-Alan Westling[7]; 5. 1A-Bryon Allison[4]; 6. 5-Tommy Cordray[6]; 7. (DNF) 90-Joe Walkenhorst[3]
Heat 2 - 1. 98-Justin Wells[3]; 2. 00-Matt Becker[6]; 3. 21P-Darren Phillips[2]; 4. 99-Larry Jones[5]; 5. (DNF) 28-Jim Greenway[1]; 6. (DNS) 18-Shawn Eggeman
O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars
A Feature - 1. 7-William Garner[6]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald[3]; 3. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[9]; 4. 41-Bryan White[7]; 5. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[5]; 6. 0F-Mason Beck[4]; 7. 27-Jeff Tennant[2]; 8. 05G-Grayson McKiney[11]; 9. 74-Rodney Schweizer[10]; 10. 83-James Ellis[13]; 11. 111-Butch Bailey[12]; 12. 24-Blayne McMillin[8]; 13. 8M-James McMillin[1]
Heat 1 - 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 0F-Mason Beck[4]; 3. 41-Bryan White[3]; 4. 7-William Garner[7]; 5. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[6]; 6. 05G-Grayson McKiney[2]; 7. 83-James Ellis[5]
Heat 2 - 1. 8M-James McMillin[3]; 2. 27-Jeff Tennant[6]; 3. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[5]; 4. 24-Blayne McMillin[1]; 5. 74-Rodney Schweizer[4]; 6. 111-Butch Bailey[2]
Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods
A Feature - 1. F1-Mitchell Franklin[2]; 2. 1B-Bobby Williams[4]; 3. 18-JC Morton[3]; 4. 94C-JT Carroll[6]; 5. 5S-Reece Solander[7]; 6. C3-Chad Staus[9]; 7. 19-Tanner Kade[1]; 8. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[8]; 9. 90-Terry Schultz[5]; 10. 32-Robbe Ewing[11]; 11. 7L-Trevor Drake[14]; 12. 56-Hoyt Miller[10]; 13. 11L-Logan Smith[13]; 14. 15-Cayden Stacye[12]; 15. 24D-Donnie Fellers[15]; 16. 22H-Tim Hoselton[17]; 17. (DNF) 66-Ryan Gillmore[20]; 18. (DNF) 5-Robert White[19]; 19. (DNF) 03-TC Hambrick[18]; 20. (DNF) 61-Sturgis Streeter[16]
Heat 1 - 1. F1-Mitchell Franklin[2]; 2. 19-Tanner Kade[6]; 3. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[1]; 4. 32-Robbe Ewing[3]; 5. 11L-Logan Smith[7]; 6. 61-Sturgis Streeter[5]; 7. 22H-Tim Hoselton[4]
Heat 2 - 1. 18-JC Morton[2]; 2. 94C-JT Carroll[3]; 3. C3-Chad Staus[1]; 4. 56-Hoyt Miller[6]; 5. 7L-Trevor Drake[7]; 6. (DNF) 03-TC Hambrick[4]; 7. (DNS) 66-Ryan Gillmore
Heat 3 - 1. 90-Terry Schultz[1]; 2. 1B-Bobby Williams[5]; 3. 5S-Reece Solander[4]; 4. 15-Cayden Stacye[3]; 5. 24D-Donnie Fellers[2]; 6. (DNF) 5-Robert White[6]
Dirt-track action continues Saturday: Night Two of the Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout Presented by Foley Equipment is set for Saturday night with the USMTS Modifieds again running for $5,000 to win. The Clear Creek Golf Car USRA B-Mods, O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars and Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models also will again be in action.
The B-Mods and Stock Cars will race for $750 to win and the Late Model winner will collect $1,000.
Pit gates for the dirt track open at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday with grandstands at 4:30 p.m., hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05 both nights.
KDBA Summer Shootout wraps up Saturday: The Kentucky Drag Boat Association's KDBA Show-Me Shootout concludes on Saturday with eliminations, starting at 10 a.m. Gates open at 9 a.m. on Lake Lucas. More than $33,000 in purse money will be up for grabs as KDBA drivers in nine divisions compete.
Visit kydragboat.com for more info on the series.
Saturday Drag Boat admission:
(All drag boat tickets include drag boat pit access)
Adults (ages 13 and up) - $20
Kids (5 nd under) - FREE
Drag boat only pit pass - $20
Combo Ticket (Drag Boats and Dirt Track) includes entry to dirt-track event on Saturday night:
Adults GA Combo (13 and up) - $45
Seniors (62 and up) / Military GA Combo - $42
Youth GA Combo (6-12) - $30
Kids GA Combo (age 5 and under) - FREE
Family Pass GA Combo - $120 Includes Admission for 2 Adults and Up to 2 Kids Ages (6-12)
Saturday Dirt Track admission:
Advance discount tickets online only (ages 13 and up) - $22
Adults (13 and up) - $25
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $22
Youth (ages 6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and under) - FREE
Family pass - $60
Pit pass - $40
For ticket or camping information on any Lucas Oil Speedway event, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.
For information about Lucas Oil Speedway, including schedules, point standings and other news, please visit LucasOilSpeedway.com.