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Auto Racing: At Illiana Speedway
Weltmeyer the winning, not retiring type, for now
As reported Sunday, April 17, 2005 In the Daily Southtown
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dssports/pro/173sd3.htm
By Tony Baranek
Staff writerSCHERERVILLE, Ind. — Dave Weltmeyer says that during the offseason he considered retiring from short track racing.
The reason? He thought going out with a 2004 season-ending "Bettenhausen Classic" victory at Illiana Speedway would have been a nice touch.
Obviously, he decided that it wasn't the right time.
The "Dyer Flyer" was victorious Saturday night in one of the closest opening-night finishes in Illiana Speedway history, holding off Mike White by less than a car-length.
So now what?
"Well, we wanted to go out a winner, so tonight's the night, right?" Weltmeyer said, laughing. "Nah, but you know, sooner or later. We'll see what happens. It's hard to quit when you're winning, when you're riding on top."
Weltmeyer and White put on a white-knuckle, side-by-side battle over the final two laps. For several laps before that, White spent a lot of time right on Weltmeyer's bumper.
"We missed on the setup a little bit, and it was getting tighter and tighter every lap," Weltmeyer said. "I couldn't keep it on the bottom, and boy, he (White) was just peeking, peeking, peeking. He raced me clean, and I appreciate that.''
The two were side by side on lap 29 with White on the bottom when they bumped slightly coming out of Turn 4. Weltmeyer bobbled slightly on the high side but was able to outpower White down the front straightaway.
The final lap was classic Weltmeyer-White. They were side by side out of Turn 4 once again, but this time didn't bump. The drag race to the finish went to Weltmeyer, with White giving his competitor a thumbs-up after the cool-down lap.
"I'll tell you what. That was one of the best races I've been involved with," White said. "I knew I'd have one shot at him (Weltmeyer). You know, he's awful good, and our car was awful good.
"I finally got under him, and then it was race to the finish. I wasn't just gonna drive by the guy. Hey, we gave it our best shot at the end. Congratulations to him. Great race."
Weltmeyer had taken the lead on lap 13 from Joe O'Connor.
The first nine laps were paced by Bobby Gash, but he was running fourth when he spun on lap 11 and fell from contention.
Third place went to another former track champion, Pat Kelly. O'Connor was a solid fourth, followed by late-model rookie Keith Sterkowitz and Mike Monroe, a season-long title contender last year.
The limited late-model feature was captured by Kurt McKinney, while Josh Nelms paced the field in the Mid-American main.
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Last updated:
05/08/06.