As reported Sunday, Saturday, July 19, 2003 In the Daily Southtown
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dssports/pro/192sd5.htm
By Tony Baranek
Staff writer
MORRIS — Preparing his car for Friday night's midseason late-model championship race at Grundy County Speedway was nothing short of a nightmare for Dave Weltmeyer.
Thursday, an early-evening thunderstorm not only knocked the power out for 18 hours in his Dyer, Ind., racing garage, it flooded the basement in his home and produced hail damage to the side of his hauler.
To top things off, he had a flat tire while driving to the track Friday.
"Fifty things told me not to come here tonight," Weltmeyer said.
Fifty laps showed it was a pretty good idea.
The "Dyer Flyer'' had a magnificent night when all was said and done, driving his No. 16 to victories in the trophy dash, fast heat and the 50-lap main.
It was Weltmeyer's first feature win at Grundy in 2003.
"We need to come out here and run," said Weltmeyer, who has made only rare appearances this season. "I'm off work a little bit the rest of the year. This is a good start."
Weltmeyer came from as far back as ninth place to take the lead from Billy Knippenberg on lap 30. From there, he paced the field, surviving a stern challenge over the final four laps from Duane Pierson.
"Pierson was coming the whole time," Weltmeyer said. "The boys kept on telling me, 'Better get going, better get going.' He was trying to work his way through traffic, and once he got there, it wasn't over 'til it was over.
"Duane always races me clean. And he was there."
Pierson, indeed, was rocket-fast Friday. His only real problem en route to a second-place finish occurred on lap 46, when, while battling Knippenberg, contact was made between Turns 3 and 4.
Knippenberg spun out, bringing out a caution. Pierson, on the inside, continued on.
The original decision was to send both Knippenberg and Pierson to the back for the restart, but after a consultation between promoter Frank Welch and infield officials, Pierson was installed in second place and Knippenberg went to the rear.
"You know what? For the last couple of years, he (Knippenberg) did the same thing to me, and I was a nice guy and backed off the throttle and let him dive down on the spot,'' Pierson said. "Tonight, I said I wasn't doing that.
"I was all the way clear of him, but he still came down on me. Tonight I felt I had too good of a car to give him the spot back. I'm real happy about the decision (by the officials). It was fair. I firmly believe that."
Knippenberg, meanwhile, felt it was Pierson who drove up into him.
"Oh, no doubt,'' Knippenberg said. "I gave him plenty of room to get by me and I don't know ... he screwed up. He hit me in the left rear tire and spun me around.
"I've always run him clean. It's a real shame that he had to do that. I guess it will be time for me to return the favor someday.''
With four laps left to try to pass Weltmeyer, Pierson made it interesting, although he never got the nose of his No. 76 underneath the leader.
Third place went to Pat McCabe. Scott Koerner, Joe Einhaus Jr. and Tom Smith completed the top six.