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Auto Racing: At Illiana
Cooldown helps Dawson ice main event
As reported Sunday, May 28, 2006 In the Daily Southtown
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dssports/pro/282sd8.htm
By Tony Baranek
Staff writer
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. — With the sun still out and the track temperature in the 90s, heat races lived up to their name Saturday night at Illiana Speedway. One victim was limited late-model driver Richard Dawson, who had to be attended to by paramedics after finishing third in his eight-lap preliminary event.
"The heat exhaustion really got to me," said Dawson, who was treated with ice packs on his neck for several minutes. "The paramedics were fantastic. They got me fixed up right and told me what to do."
By feature time the temperature had dropped a bit, but Dawson, a Steger native, heated up even more — this time the good way. He wound up winning the 25-lap main going away. It was his second victory of 2006.
Dawson came from a few rows back to work his way into second place by lap 12. He tracked down and passed Bill Neering on lap 14, then went on to beat Jack Kalwasinski to the finish line by 2.592 seconds.
"I actually wore an ice pack the whole race," Dawson said. "It was a lot better, a lot better. The car was hooked up very well. We made a couple of changes during the week. They're always trying to get faster around here."
Kalwasinski had a long way to go from the start and was able to swipe second away from Neering just two laps from the finish. Neering held on for third, ahead of Andy Marchiniak, Dave Gentile and Mike Marden.
Dave Weltmeyer made it three victories in five nights in the late-model feature, holding off a late charge from Mike White.
"We didn't win last season when it got this hot," Weltmeyer said. "That was our downfall. When we went through our notes we noticed that, so we went with a different setup today. It wasn't perfect, but that Joe Rhyne motor again ... down the straightaways we went."
The "Dyer Flyer" needed nine laps to find his way to leader Brian Muick's bumper. Muick, who had been drifting up for a couple of laps, gave Weltmeyer an opening he could zip through.
White became a factor shortly thereafter, and was looking as if he was going to reel in Weltmeyer. Two laps from the finish, the duo encountered a lapped car, setting up a chess game.
"I wanted to pass him (the slower car) down the straightaway, but once I saw I was going to pass him in the corner I had to slow down," Weltmeyer said. "He almost rolled off the bottom, and if I had gone around him (on the outside) I'd have lost the race. Mike raced me clean. I appreciate that."
It was White's second consecutive second-place finish.
"Yeah, well, we're running good enough to win," White said. "You've got to remember, these guys are good. Weltmeyer, he's awful good.
"There's two ways to go around the race track. He was tight and I was loose, and we were running about the same speed. I think if we could have gotten side by side, it would have been interesting. But I couldn't gas it like he could. Hey, we'll keep trying."
John Nutley was a contender early, and settled in for a third-place finish. Fourth went to Muick, ahead of Jeff Cannon and Pat Kelly.
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Last updated:
08/18/06.