Published: May 05, 2008 12:09 am            

Given to Fly: Sullivan’s Stockon has strong showing at Action Track’s opener

TERRE HAUTE — Five years ago, this columnist sat in the sprint car of 15-year-old Chase Stockon in Sullivan at the youngster’s persistence. He wanted me to know what it felt like to squeeze into the tight seat.

But, unlike Stockon, I could only imagine what it would be like to slide around in that car at over 100 miles an hour at a track like the Terre Haute Action Track.

Stockon, now 20, got his first victory at Terre Haute on Sunday in the B-main race. The top four from the B-main qualify for the feature.

“It means a lot to win here,” Stockon said after receiving his trophy.

The 2006 Sullivan High School graduate went to the Action Track to race six times before without winning any kind of race, although he had managed two top-10 finishes in MSCS feature races.

He added a third top-10 finish Sunday in the feature race.

“I could have been a little bit better, but I’ll take top 10 anyday,” Stockon said. “A top-10 finish here, especially this early in the season, will put a smile on a guy’s face at the end of the day.”

In addition to his 2003 Rookie of the Year award at age 15, Stockon also won the Support Division of the MSCS in 2004 at age 16.

He had visions of becoming the next Matt Kenseth. Stockon is not exactly on the fast track to NASCAR fame at this point due, but his optimism and passion for racing are still intact.

“This right here helps big time,” Stockon said, holding up his trophy. “I just love to race sprint cars.”

The MSCS was started in 2001 for young, talented drivers just like Chase; it was also founded by Chase’s grandfather Sam Stockon, who was in attendance Sunday.

• • •

• Hamilton off to Indy — One of the new promotions partners at the Terre Haute Action Track is hoping to have an opportunity to run his own race later this month.

Davey Hamilton hopes to make the field for another Indianapolis 500.

Hamilton was thrilled with the first event at the Terre Haute Action Track.

“I’m very, very happy,” Hamilton said. “We had a pretty good crowd. We had a good car count, and we had a great race. It was a day race, which is always difficult on a dirt track.

“Those last five laps are as good as it gets. All in all, it turned out great.”

Hamilton begins practice today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’ll be on track [today]. I’m looking forward to that. It was a nice little way to get [the season] it started,” he said. “ It was good for us to get this going here after not having a race here in a while.”

Hamilton is optimistic about his qualifying chances.

“I’m back with Vision racing,” he said. “They have a fabulous team. They’re program’s stepped up so now it’s up to me to get comfortable again and get back after it.”

n Great opening day — From the barbershop quartet that kicked off the event with the national anthem to the fantastic finish of the feature race, Brian Dorsett was thrilled with the events of the day.

“You couldn’t ask for a better finish, great race, so many people to thank for helping us get things going again here. I think it came out perfectly,” Dorsett said of the opener.

Dorsett estimated the crowd between 3,000 and 3,500.

“I was happy with that for the first race,” Dorsett said.

• Fourth partner added — Terre Haute’s Chris Novotney has officially joined the DHK Promotions, LLC group of Brian Dorsett, Davey Hamilton and Mike King.

Novotney, who has worked for 19 years for Macallister Machinery, began work about four weeks ago on the dirt surface at the Action Track.

“I had a lot of guys from my shop come over and help,” Novotney said. “Tim Wolf [of Wolfpack Challenge] was a big help.”

Novotney moved a lot of dirt from the back straightaway to raise the front stretch 18 inches.

“It’s just dirt,” Novotney said. “Mike [King] came to me and asked me to participate. I knew he had his hands full. I asked him to be patient, and we’d get it done.”

Novotney helped replace guard rail on the front and back straightaways with concrete. The front stretch features an Indiana State University blue painted concrete.

“A lot of the things we did have to do with safety in addition to making it look better,” Novotney said.

n Team Sycamore Racing — The ISU Motorsports program has 35 members who have volunteered time preparing the track, club president Arlo Daunhauer said. Many of those members were in attendance Sunday.

Team Sycamore Racing has a drag-racing car with four student drivers as part of its educational program, but “I’ve got sprint car fever now,” Daunhauer said.



Craig Pearson can be reached by e-mail at craig.pearson@tribstar.com or by phone after 4 p.m. at (812) 231-4356.

        

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