Jerry
Coons Jr. and Hoffman Auto Racing have been named non winged:
Driver of the Year and Owner of the Year for 2008,
respectively. This Honor was granted by the National Sprint
Car Hall of Fame ! (more)
A NIGHT OF CELEBRATION WRAPPING UP THE 9TH USAC
NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
The
USAC banquet was held at the
Indiana Rooftop
Ballroom on 1/9/09. It was a night of pride for the Team
after achieving another National Championship. USAC did a
great job picking the location and with the video portion of
the ceremonies. The video of the year for HAR and Jerry was
great, thanks to the work of Dean Mills. The Team stayed up
way past our bed time. We were honored to have Linda and
Laura Hoffman, and Diane Waechter present. What a fantastic
night , one we will never forget. The attached photos
highlight the night.
CAVALCADE
OF CUSTOMS FEATURES 2 HISTORIC HOFFMAN CARS
The
Cavalcade of Customs was held in
Cincinnati from
1/9-1/11/09. Two of the cars featured in the vintage car
display were the famous 7 midget 1946 Kurtis
restored and the Buick V6 driven by Rich Vogler and built by
Rob. Some of the Team visited the show Saturday night. The
pictures show the cars on display and the lovely Linda
Hoffman and Diane Waechter guarding the Buick.
Tim
Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
4TH GENERATION HOFFMAN BACK IN THE SADDLE AFTER A
LONG LAY OFF
After a lay off of 18 months, 4th generation
Hoffman, A.J. (Rob and lovely Laura’s youngest son, the Great
One’s grandson) got back in a ¼ midget at
Columbus. It was a
typical ¼ midget day, long and cold. A.J. started 9th
in his heat race and worked his way to the front using a
classic passing technique. A.J. finished a stellar 2nd
and qualified for the A Main. A.J. started 3rd in
the A
Main, he and the car next to
him got together at the start and they both had to go to the
rear. Again A.J. was stellar, the tires came in after a few
green flag laps and he was moving to the front. Unfortunately
there were few green flag consecutive flaps. A.J. was passing
a car per lap and finished 5th. Great job A.J. !!!
Many thanks to Hoosier tire for their help.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
WHAT A
WESTCOAST
SWING-CHAMPIONSHIP #9
The last 2 weekends seem like a blur.
Three nights of racing at Perris and two at Manzy were wild
and crazy. The Team got to bed typically at 2-3 a.m. and up at
8-9 a.m. to turn the car around completing an . We are all
tired and extremely proud and happy. Rob and I traveled back
and forth joined by Tommy at Manzy.. Our friend Stan Apryasz (Stush)
was able to make the entire trip and was a great help to Dan
in the week in between events. Cowboy (Tim Woolfrum) was able
to join us for Manzy. We clicked as a Team. Everyone had a job
to do and did it well. Rob, Dan and Richard(The Great One)
made great calls on set ups and adjustments. Jerry drove like
he stole it. We are so proud of National Championship #9. I
was able to talk about this great accomplishment on WLW radio
last night with the Seg Man. Dan have a safe trip home. #10 in
2009!!!!!!!!!
(New Photos Click Here)
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
NOV 8TH
AT THE WESTERN WORLD AT MANZINITA WESTERN WORLD CHAMPION-JERRY
COONS JR. BRINGS THE P&G/KROGER MOPAR HOME IN 2ND PLACE
The
Feature was fast and furious and Jerry gave it all he had.
Starting on the second row Jerry wasted no time going for the
lead. Jerry and Tracy Hines battled early on and raced each
other hard and clean. Later in the Feature Jessie Hockett took
the lead
and it looked like a solid win for him until he dropped a
engine. When the race was restarted it was a battle between
Jerry and Kevin Swindel. Jerry made a couple of attempts to
get around him for the lead but
Kevin was using most of the track and got the win. We can't
complain about the CRA/USAC Western swing, we went out there
with a 4 point advantage and left with the Championship. Jerry
and the crew did a great job, especially Dan who packed and
drove the rig out there, and will soon be on his way back.
Have a safe trip Dan !
Reported by the
Webmaster
NOV 7TH
AT THE WESTERN WORLD AT MANZINITA - JERRY COONS JR. AND HOFFMAN
RACING ARE THE 2008 USAC OWNER AND DRIVER NATIONAL CHAMPIONS !
A
fifth place finish in tonight's Feature wrapped up our 9th
USAC National Owner's Championship in the 19 years we have
competed for it. Jerry brought the Kroger/P&G Mopar in 2nd in
his heat and 5th in the Feature. Kudos go out to the whole crew, sponsors and driver.
Its been a challenging season with some tough nights early on but everyone stuck in there.
USACLive.com
is
running the Final USAC Race of the season and the Western
World Championship race
Live on the internet Sat. the
8th the time difference is 2 hours.
Congratulations to Jerry Coons Jr. for wrapping up
the USAC Silver Crown 2008 Driver's Championship yesterday &
Sprint Championship today!
Reported by the
Webmaster
PERRIS CALIFORNIA AUTO
SPEEDWAY 11-1-08 "FINALE BRINGS US A 2ND.
We started the race from
inside row 3 and had a real good car. It was a night of Flags
some yellow and a some red. On a lap 17 red we adjusted the
stagger and was running down both Stewarts car's, Tracy and
Levi. Levi made a dive on Tracy and took them both out and
Jerry got the lead. That was until lap 27 after a yellow,
Hockett got the jump on Jerry so we settled for 2nd. A great
night actually. We did not get caught up in anything and we
did not run out of fuel ! Again the crews performance was
fantastic, even Tim. The sponsor's logos stayed clean all
night. I kid him but, turns out to be extra important as the
race was taped for TV broadcast and we had a in car camera. We
will keep you posted on the broadcast time. According to Jerry
we should have some good shots as one time he seen a car go
over his head. Next week is Jerry's home track Manzanita in
Arizona. We doubled our lead last night but we can't let up !
Reported by: Tim Waechter , posted and embellished by the
Webmaster.
PERRIS CALIFORNIA AUTO
SPEEDWAY 10-31-08 "ANOTHER NIGHT IN THE POSITIVE COLUMN"
Jerry got us off to a good
start by qualifying second and making the "A" from the heat.
The feature was a little scary, even for Halloween, Jerry had the fastest car and
took a shot for the lead that led to some bicycling, but
recovered with no damage and went on to finish 3rd. Tonight
will be run by points earned, we are leading the points so
according to calculations we should start "5". Kudos to the
fine job the team is doing. Forgot to mention yesterday that
Richard is out there, with his wife Linda to keep him in line
"Stusch" has been here for the weekend helping as well. Tim is
doing a good job of keeping the mud off the sponsors 'Logos"
no job is unimportant!
Reported by: Tim Waechter , posted and embellished by the
Webmaster.
"A TOUGH START COMES AROUND FOR US
IN THE PRELIM FEATURE."
A late pill put us 64th to
qualify in a 67 car field. Rob and Dan put a good car on the
track, Fast in hot laps and 4th quick in qualifying. Starting
last in the heat was a challenge and we missed the feature by
one spot after a spin. A 4th in the heat was a challenge and
we missed the feature by one spot a after a spin. A 4th in the
"B" main started us 7th in the feature Jerry moved the
car up to 4th in the feature and after many delays by spins
and crashes he finished there. The good news is we picked up
close to 40 points on the championship with only 4 nights to
go ! We have been chasing the lead all year and we won't quit
until the last lap is run at Manzi !
Reported by: Tim Waechter and posted by the Webmaster
DAN HEADS OUT FOR THE
WESTCOAST
The Team got “the old girl” loaded up last night and Dan
headed West. The pictures depict what an engineering feat it
is to load up 2 complete cars, 1 partial car(hanging up side
down) , tires, fuel and all the spare parts needed to win a
National Championship. Determination would be a mild word to
describe the Team’s sole focus on this trip out West. Be safe
Dan . See you in Perris.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
OUR PERFORMANCE WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE POINTS LEAD-
WINCHESTER 9/28/08
It
was a beautiful day for the last
MidWest race of the 2008
season. We ran about the same times in hot laps that we had
run in testing, 14.5’s. Our quick time was good enough for 5th
quick in hot laps, a good place to be in qualifying.
That did not translate to qualifying time however. We
developed a fuel pick up problem during qualifying, causing
Jerry to run a
fast time of 14.637 only good for 11th quick. We
had about an hour before heat races to find the issue. Rob
and Dan
went to work checking out the system. All the filters looked
good . Rob then put his arm down the fuel tank and found that
the strap that holds the tube to the bottom of the tank had
broken. This caused the
fueling tube in the tank
to float and cause intermittent fuel
starvation
problems.
The car was ready for the 2nd heat race. Jerry
started inside 2nd row , had the lead by lap 3 and
raced off to the win, fuel system
fixed. We started 10th in the 30 lap A
Main. Jerry made an
immediate pass for P9 on lap 1. Jerry was catching P 7 & 8 by
the yellow on lap 12. He got past the 27 car and
finished
P8. The combination of qualifying, heat race and A
Main finishes were good
enough to take the points lead heading into the West swing
starting 10/30. The Team
is totally focused on this Championship!!!!!!!!
Sunday was a great day for catching up with old friends.
Steve Butler hung out all day and it was great to see him
again and relive glories from the past. It was also great to
see our beloved web master( well sometimes) Paul Gretzinger,
and his friends Larry and Larry.
Another
beautiful day in the
Midwest greeted us at Eldora.
One week ago the wind storm hit the greater
Cincinnati area
causing serious damage and wide spread power outages. The
race shop is still without power a week later. Dan has been
working under difficult conditions, but as always the car and
all equipment was ready to go. The format for the night
included hot laps and group qualifying by Division. The
Sprint car groups were made up of 9-10 cars. We ran a quick
time of 16.6 in hot laps. The track was obviously
detererorating and our fast time in group qualifying was
16.8, good for 6th quick. A number of changes were
made before the heat race including rear tire changes, stagger
change and shock changes. Starting inside the 4th
row next to Levi , Jerry showed patience in waiting for the
cars starting in the front to sort out , did some slide jobs
and moved to a transferring 3rd place finish. We
lost contact with Levi when we got stuck behind an old friend
of ours who seems to be all over the track. Since one car did
not make it to the A
Main we
started
outside front row instead of the pole position. Brad Sweet
beat Jerry into turn 2 , did a slide job and we were in 2nd.
Brad was gone and so were we opening a big lead over 3rd, 4th
and 5th place cars. Jerry adjusted his line a bit
after the lap 10 red flag. Mike Brecht running the #9 car
that has done so well at the Big E came on strong in the
latter stages of the race and passed Jerry on lap 18. We
finshed a strong 3rd . It was a good points night
as we pulled within 9 points of the leading Stewart # 20. The
Team has worked hard to win this Championship having tested
last Wednesday at
Winchester in
preparation of this weeks race. See you there!!!!!
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman
Racing
Ron
Laymon Photos
Car show at Kroger Tylersville
Rd in Cincinnati- a great success!
RESULTS FROM OSKALOOSA
IOWA – GREAT
POINTS NIGHT
It
was a quick turn around from
Salem for Dan, Rob and Tommy to
head to
Iowa(Dan’s home
state where he is famous or is it infamous). The car was
ready to load and to leave at 6:00pm Monday. We drew pill #61,
which put us in heat race 3 starting in 7th
position. There was no qualifying and starting positions for
the qualifying races and A
Main were determined by
passing points in the heat races. There wasn’t much passing
in heat race 3 , we finished 5th . Jerry started
outside front row in qualifying race number 1 and ran away
with a win. He dominated the race , leading the 2nd
place car by ¾ of a straightaway. Rob and Dan made a few
adjustments to the car for the A Main. Our accumulated
passing points had us starting 10th. The car was a
rocket ship from the drop of the
green. Jerry advanced to P7 in 3 laps. After the first red
flag the car wasn’t nearly as good. Jerry relayed to Rob that
the car quit working. It was determined that the right rear
had “sealed over”. Rob sipped the tire on the track. It
helped as Jerry had worked his way to P3 by the red on lap 25.
At this point the tire had blistered badly. Rob and Dan put
good old American ingenuity to work and ran a cord to the car
from the pits and put the grinder to the tire. We had nothing
for Dave or Swindell but no one was pushing us for 3rd
either. We are now a mere 13 points out of first palace in
the National Championship hunt. Good luck to Jerry in IMW. A
long lay off now before the 4 Crowns at the Big E.
Tim
Waechter
Retail Operations Account Executive
Kroger Corporate Team
Office 513-677-8952
Cell
513-284-1519
SURVIVING THE 9 HOURS OF SALEM- 8/3/08
We left the
race shop at 10:30 a.m., arrived at
Salem around
1:00pm and left for home at 10:00 p.m. In the interim a race
broke out. We are not complaining, our fellow competitors
with midgets got little to no sleep. When we tested at
Salem our quick
time was 15.995. We improved on that time in the first hot
lap session, running a 15.8. Changing tires, putting on
another set of stickers, the car went to heck. We were
running times in the 16 second bracket, 16.4 was the best.
Following a preplan for the race, the Team changed rear shocks
putting on another set of Advanced shocks for qualifying.
Jerry ran a 16.013 only good for 12th quick, 0.4
off quick time. Starting 3rd in heat race 3, we
lost a spot to 4th and gained it back finishing 3rd.
The car still wasn’t good. A third set of rear shocks were put
on the car for our starting position of 12th in
the A Main. It became a survival game as 2 red flags flew
during the 50 lap feature.
Jerry worked
his way to P 10 by the yellow on lap 7 and 4 more spots via
the red flag on lap 9. Jerry did a great job of missing the
wreck in turn 4. A stagger change was made on the red flag
along with a little fuel added. The 2nd red flag
flew on lap 39 , the stagger was reduced during this stop. At
this point the right rear was giving up and Jerry held on for
a 6th place finish. We picked up a few points on
TSR # 20 and rolled the car on the trailer, those were
positives. Dan and Rob leave tonight to begin the trip to
Oskaloosa
Iowa for the
Tuesday night race. Good luck guys, be safe.
Tim
Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
THE FINAL NIGHT ENDS A SUCCESSFUL ISW – HAUBSTADT 7/19/08
The final
night of ISW gave us a chance of winning ISW 2008 and close in
on the National points lead. The night ended up a
disappointment but the 8th place finish could not
take away from the 2 wins during ISW 2008. Jerry went out
late in qualifying and turned a quick time of 13.418 , good
for 8th quick. Jerry started 7th in the
4th heat race. He got up to 4th by lap
6 and got into a heated battle with Cole Whitt for the
transfer spot. The two made contact and Jerry got some
serious air , the car did not get over for a 2nd
night in a row. The crew headed back to repair the car,
feeling that there had to be at least serious damage to the
rear end. Jerry got restarted and pulled a heck of a move
high on the track, passed 3 cars and finished 4th
to transfer to the A Main. What a move!!!! We started 8th
in the A Main and got to 5th by lap 18 but could
not advance further and lost some positions late in the race
to finish 8th. Some shock damage was discovered
after the race which could have contributed to the 8th
place finish. We finished 3rd in ISW standings 20
from the winner Levi Jones. We also lost a few points toward
the National Championship but remain within striking distance
57 points out. There are 10 races to go . The 2 week break
before
Salem is welcomed
to the crew. Good luck to Sam Pierce racing as he will carry
our sponsors at ORP this week in the Silver Crown race.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
TWO IN A ROW USAC NATIONAL WIN #72
BLOOMINGTON ISW
7/18/08
A great
couple of nights was capped off with a close finish and the 72nd
National win for the winningest Team in USAC Sprint Car
history. Jerry went out 37th but still was able to
run a fast lap of 11.194 good for 3rd quick only
.06 off fast time. Heat 3 presented the Team with a big
challenge. On the 2nd try to start the race Jerry
was forced high by another car and ran off the top of the
track and tipped the car over. The result was a bent front
pan hard bar, Jacobs ladder, body and hood damage. The Team
thrashed to get the car ready for the B
Main. Starting 3rd
in the B Main Jerry worked his way up to 2nd by lap
4 running the low way around and finished a strong 2nd.
Rob and Dan
made some major changes to the car for the A Main trying to
keep up with the track. Jerry started 3rd, dropped
to 4th by lap 3. On lap 6 he got by Levi and held
that position until lap 21 when he moved to 2nd.
Jerry took the lead with some great driving on lap 24 and held
off a hard charging Levi to win in a thriller. Jerry was
running high and Levi low. Jerry got a great charge off turn
4 and rocketed to the win.
The win
puts us only 24 points out of the lead for the owner’s
championship and only 6 points for Jerry and the Team out of 1st
for the ISW Championship. Tomorrow it all comes down to
Haubstadt.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
USAC NATIONAL WIN #71 COMES AT KAMP
SPEEDWAY- NIGHT 6
OF ISW
Can
we run here every week ? For the second year in a row the
famous #69 won the ISW race at Kamp Motorspeedway in Boswell
Indiana. The
decision was made to build the car that won here last year.
It was sitting in the paint shop ready to go with a whole body
painted. Thanks to Dan for doing a great job in the few off
days to build the car. The car was among the fastest in hot
laps. Qualifying late in the session, Jerry ran a time of
13.126 good for 6th quick and 0.3 off fast time.
Heat race 2 saw Jerry start 7th and quickly work
his way to the front but had nothing for Clausson, finished 2nd
and transferred. Jerry took the lead from the pole and
dominated the race, leading every lap. He consistently ran
laps faster than Tracy Hines by 0.3 seconds. Jerry got to
lapped traffic quickly and was able to clear them , lapped up
to P 14, for a comfortable victory over our friend Tracy.
Tonight to
Bloomington where
we have had good runs in the past. Ready for another
victory. Way to go Team!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tim
Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing -
Mudclodbob
Photo
NIGHT 5 OF ISW KOKOMO
INDIANA 7/13/08
After turning the car around
following the first round at Gas City, we learned that the 4th
night of ISW was cancelled due to bad weather. The Team put
the schedule together for the remainder of the day. Pick up
the spare car from Sam’s, drop the trailer, have lunch, go to
church and return to the hotel room to watch the IRL and
Nascar races. Details will not be revealed to protect the “not
so innocent” , but the Team version of “picture next to
picture’ was quite interesting and will be a good story for a
long time.
Jake drew another fantastic pill and we were in the first hot
lap session. The track was too slimy to get a good handle on
the car. The car was good in qualifying as we went out third
and ran a 13.109 good for 5th quick. There were a number of
changes pre-planned to make before the heat race including new
rear shocks and a change of right front spring. Starting in
the back with 8 inverted in the heat we basically could make
no progress and did not transfer. We started outside front row
to our old friend Tracy Hines in the B Main and finished 3rd
behind Tracy and Bryan Clauson.
The A Main saw us again outside front row starting position.
Jerry charged to the lead only to see a red flag fly. Jerry
got the lead in turn 2 on the restart but Stanbrough came
flying by us. Jerry had a great duel with Tracy for a number
of laps but we fell to 6th by the lap 13 yellow. Jerry was
running low in 1&2 and high in 3&4. By lap 20 Jerry was
running low in all 4 corners and running 7th by the lap 28 red
flag. The finish was a mess and controversial with Ballou and
Jones flipping on the main straight . Our official comments
will only be that we were scored 6th. A few days of needed
down time will not be a time of rest for Dan as we are
considering a car change for Boswell.
NIGHT 3 OF
ISW GAS CITYINDIANA 7/11/08
It always
seems to rain at
GasCity and
this was no exception. Two hot lap sessions were run and rain
hit causing both hot lap sessions to be rerun. We were in
group 2. Some big changes were made for qualifying including
stagger, bar and radius rod heights. Jerry was 12 th quick
0.2 off quick time running a 12.649. The heat race saw us
starting 6th in a very loaded heat. Jerry did a
masterful job of driving and had the lead by lap 3 and ran
away for the win.
Jerry
started 11th in the A
Main after a start and
restart we were up to 9th. We got up to as high as
P7 before getting in a 5 way god fight and dropping to a 9th
place finish.
Tim
Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
2ND
NIGHT
INDIANA SPRINT
WEEK “THE BURG” 7/10/08
A better
pill draw (thanks Jake) put us in the 16th spot
to qualify. The track was still very slimy for hot laps so
it was difficult to tell how the car was performing. Rob
made a gutsy call for qualifying and made a big stagger
change. It worked as Jerry ran a 13.527 which was fast time
when we ran it and we ended up 4th quick. We
drew a very tough heat. The top 8 were inverted and it was
tough getting through traffic and catching the lead cars.
We finished 6th and did not transfer to the A
Main. A gear change was made before the B Main. Jerry
started inside of row 2 and was in the lead by lap 4,
running laps of 13.7, and won the race. We started 3rd
in the A Main. The original start was ugly and we got
trapped on the restart dropping to 4th by lap 2.
Jerry tried several lines , high in all 4 turns, high in 1
&2, low in 3&4. By lap 21 we were catching the cars running
2nd and 3rd. Jerry was pressing those
cars when the checkered flew for a 4th place
finish. A good points night for us as TSR had an unusual
tough night. On to Gas City for 2 nights starting tonight.
Tim
Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
NIGHT 1 OF
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK LAWRENCEBURG 7/9/08
The draw of the pill is so important in most
dirt racing. The first night of Indiana Sprint Week was no
exception. Our draw of #55 put us in the second to last group
to qualify. The track started to slow after about 12 cars had
qualified. Our time of 13.485 was good for the 13th quick time
and very competitive for the track we were facing. Grip on the
straightaways was about gone by the time we qualified.
Jerry started 5th in heat one after the crew made tire
pressure , bar and shock changes. The car was a rocket ship in
the heat. Jerry did a great job working through traffic and
had the lead by lap 4. Jerry won the race by a very
comfortable margin beating among others Jones , Ballou,
Messeraul and Kuhn.
After such a great heat race we were confident in the A Main
even though we were starting 11th. The car was tight at the
drop of the green flag and Jerry dropped to 14th by the lap 6
yellow. Jerry worked his way to 11th by the red flag on lap 7.
The red was caused by a traffic jam on the main straight and
contact between several cars including the #69. An inspection
of the car from outside the track revealed no apparent damage
. At the restart Jerry tried the high line for about 8 laps
and then ran high in 1 &2 and low in 3 & 4. The car was “not
right” after the red flag. A post race inspection revealed a
bent right front shock from contact . The 11th place finish
was not the kind of start we wanted for Sprint Week. We will
be back at it tonight after a short night and maintenance on
the car.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT WIN #70 “OFFICIALLY” COMES AT
RICHMOND 6/27/08
Some
weeks ago we were told that our National win total was 69
rather than the 71 we had counted. Enough said about that as
long as all the National wins are counted the same for
everyone. We “officially” reached that milestone Friday night
with a domineering win at RIR.
One big key
to the win was that the car was close to perfect when it left
the shop.
Congratulations to Rob and Dan for a great setup. We
literally made only minor air pressure adjustments all day
and night. We were 3rd quick in the first practice
session with a 20.08. We changes tires and ran a 19.7 on the
2nd lap and parked the car. We had only run 8 laps
of practice. That has to be some kind of record for us.
Since qualifying was cancelled due to rain the practice times
were used for qualifying times. We were informed of this by
USAC before we went out to practice. Our time of 19.727 was
second quick behind Brady Bacon at a 19.667.
The feature
was 2 -30 lap segments, with a break to refuel and check tire
pressures. The start of the first segment saw Jerry get a
good jump but Brady ran him up the track in 1&2. Coming out
of turn 4 Jerry tried a pass low, got cut off and went high
making contact with the 99 car and sending him spinning. This
was a racing incident, an
accident for which Jerry, as always, showed tremendous class
apologizing in victory circle. The restart saw the 9 car on
the pole. The same kind of start with Sweet in the lead.
The 67k car driven by Shane Hmiel this weekend was by Jerry
and in the lead. We were running 3rd. Jerry
showed great patience by letting the leaders burn up their
tires while he was cruising with them in sight. By lap 13 we
were catching the 9 car with the 07 on our bumper. The car
was coming on strong by lap 18 and running 2nd to
Hmiel. Jerry took the lead on lap 29 , just before the
break.
The car was
refueled and right side tires adjusted and we were off with a
great start on lap 31. The 07 car eventually dropped out and
Tracy Hines was running 2nd. We pulled away with
every restart and dominated the last 10 laps. A great Team
victory.
We drove
home all night with a great win to celebrate.
I want to
recognize our Team for coming to the aid of Brady Sweet when
his car pulled in the pits with the car and Brady on fire.
Dan Launderville grabbed Brady from the roll cage and helped
put out the fire getting a minor burn in the process. Fierce
competitors are also a member of a tight community, there to
help each other.
The
song “Oh what a night” has been in my head since Saturday
night at Eldora. Maybe “oh what a year” would be more
appropriate. We were competitive in hot laps running laps
in the 15.6 range. This was as good as anyone we
clocked. A person, who will go unnamed, drew a bad pill
again, third from last. Jerry took the green flag and
looked good through 1 & 2, an issue developed under the
hood on the backstretch and Jerry was unable to complete a
qualifying lap.
The
crew got to work and decided an engine change was in
order. The entire change took 23 minutes, not bad for a
Team not used to changing motors at the track. Great work
by Rob, Dan, Richard, Jerry and thanks to Tracy Hines for
the help as well. We got a push off to check the spare
motor for leaks. Because we had no qualifying time we
started on the tail of heat
1.
Jerry was in P5 by lap 2 and pushing Levi when a yellow
flew on lap 5. Jerry got by Levi and finished a strong 3rd.
This placed us in the A
Main without taking a
provisional, but again we had to start last. By the lap 3
yellow we had passed 3 cars. Another yellow on lap 3 saw
us in 17th. Lap 4 saw “the big one” in turn 1
& 2. Four cars flipped and Jerry got the car slowed but
got pushed into the pile by cars behind us. The left nerf
bar was pushing on the left rear and the front end had
some damage to a flag on the front axle. The crew went to
work again replacing the nerf bar and repairing the front
end as best as could be done. Jerry drove hard making
numerous passes working his way to as high as 7th
place by lap 19. Numerous yellows slowed his progress.
During the restart on lap 24 we had a failure in the front
end probably due to the wreck and we were done. The 16th
place finish was not indicative of how good a car we had
and how hard everyone worked , the result being another
miserable finish. The next race is in
RichmondVirginia. We
will be back as determined as ever.
Thanks
to Ryan Newman for stopping by and visiting with us. It
is always great to see him.
The hot lap sessions got faster due to a clean track from all
the rain in the MidWest recently. We were 7th quick in hot
laps with a time of 14.495. Fast time was a 14.1. Jerry ran a
fast time in qualifying of 14.495 good
for
7th fast. The difference in time between us and 2nd quick was
.26 of a second. Three heats were run. Jerry started outside
front row due a car not able to make the call. Jerry was in
the lead by lap 2 , his was hotly pursued by Chris Windom but
the rest of the filed was at a distance. Jerry was able to
hold off Windom for the win. We started 7th in the A Main. The
car
was loose in turn 2 and bottoming out in the turns. The first
yellow allowed Rob and Jerry to talk and adjust the car
raising the rear end. We were running laps of 14.7 and 14.8.
We moved to 5th place with the yellow in lap 16 for a wreck
involving 2 cars ahead of us. Another yellow on lap 18 saw us
in 5th , but we lost a spot when the green flew again to the
07 car. A red flag flew on lap 21 involving our old friend
Tracy
Hines.
Thankfully Tracy was okay after a series of nasty flips. That
incident also involving the 07 car moved us up to 3rd place
which is where we finished with a large gap back to 4th place.
We clearly had a good car and Jerry did a great job missing
the wrecks . Jerry is getting more comfortable with Winchester
and we look forward to our last visit there later this year. A
great crowd enjoyed an entertaining race. Tonight is our first
trip to Shady Bowl.
Tim Waechter
Vp Marketing Hoffman Racin
Hagerstown Speedway
Hagerstown, PA June 7, 2008
Last
year the track at
Hagerstown was
dry/ slick. Rob and Dan had talked and decided to be ready
for the same track conditions this year using some data from
when JJ Yeley drove for us and tracks
were dry/slick. This turned out to not be the ideal set up
because the
track prep this year was very good and there was a cushion
all night. This
hurt our qualifying time as we were about 0.5 off the fast
time, only good for 12 th fast. Changes were made before
the heat race and the car was obviously very good. Jerry
started 4th in the heat and had the lead by lap 2
and ran away
for a victory. Lap times in the heat were better than
qualifying times. The
question
before the A
Main was how free to make
the car. Jerry used the low groove
to his advantage early and was 6th by lap 1. The
track did
deteriorate during the A
Main and
Jerry did a great job finishing a strong 3rd
after starting 12th. It was a good
points night for us, moving to 3rd in owner’s
points and within striking distance of 1st.
Congratulations to Dan for doing a great job during the Pa
swing. Rob, Richard and Tim could not make the trip.
Thanks to Tommy , Jake and
Stush for their hard work. Another
big week this week with 2 pavement races and Eldora Saturday
night. The Team may also go to the open test at
Lawrenceburg on Tuesday.
BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY
Forestville, PA RESULTS – THURSDAY JUNE 5, 2008
The
fans at Big Diamond Raceway were treated to some real open
wheel action in a feature that was decided on the last lap.
Jerry qualified 2nd quick and transferred from the 2nd heat.
This was no easy feat after being caught in someone else's
mishap that sent him to the back with some slight damage, he
still managed 3rd. Jerry started 4th in the feature and
got all he could out of the Kroger/P&G "69" lost 1
position after the last yellow and finished a respectable 5th.
Grandview
features will not be made up tonight, points were awarded for
the night up to the "B" main. The eastern swing will end
tomorrow at Hagerstown. Md.
Williams Grove Speedway
PA) Afternoon rain and the prospect of severe weather during
the evening forced officials to cancel the USAC sprint car and
ARDC midget races scheduled for Wednesday night, June 4, at
Williams Grove Speedway There is no makeup date for the
program.
GRANDVIEW,PA 6-3
Tonight we had
fast time. Did not transfer through heat 1, a car stopped
right if front of Jerry, no damage but not enough time to get
to the front. With quick time we started on the pole of
the B Main and stayed there wire to wire. Would have started 6th
in the A Main but rain came and it rained out the feature. As
of now word is It will be run Friday night. Next stop
Williams Grove tonight.
LADY LUCK LOOKS THE OTHER WAY AGAIN AS A FLAT LEFT REAR RUINS
A CHANCE AT A WIN
One got away at the Action Track Thursday night. We were good
in hot laps being within 0.2 of the fast time we clocked.
Qualifying in mid- pack, Jerry ran a quick time of 20.128
,good for 5th quick, fast time by
Tracy was 19.979.
Jerry started in the rear of the 1st heat race , a
heat including the likes of Tracy Hines. Jerry took the lead
by lap 2 , running the car hard into 1 &2, blowing them away.
Tracy got by
traffic but had nothing for Jerry as he won going away. With
the invert we started outside front row for the A Main. Jerry
took the lead and led lap 1. He got a not so friendly nudge
from Mr Jones in turn 2 and fell to 3rd as he
gathered in the car. Jerry took the lead from 3rd
spot on a restart on lap 10 and was on his way. A great
battle ensued with Levi Jones. Jerry pulled away in turns
1&2, while Levi made up some ground in 3, but Jerry rocketed
down the front stretch. A red flag flew on lap 18, we heard
the left rear tire bleeding off. On the restart Jerry had to
come in with a flat left rear tire. Dan quickly changed the
tire and Jerry drove hard the remaining laps , spinning once
and passing the same cars a number of times. A 9th
place finish is not indicative of how good the car was or how
hard and smart Jerry drove . We are not sure what happened to
the tire, there did not appear to be a hole. Looking for a
change of luck in the
Pa. swing.
Tim Waechter
VP MARKETING HOFFMAN RACING
78th LAP MELEE ENDS
JERRY'S NIGHT AT ANDERSON 5/21/08
The day at Anderson started with a long practice session for
the Little 500. We were running about 2 tenths off the top
speeds posted and trying hard to get the car dialed in. During
the USAC practice for the race tonight we got the car a little
better but still a bit behind fast time. Jerry posted a 11.44
which was good for 10th quick. The program was run so that the
top 6th were locked in to the 100 lap Feature and the rest
were divided into 2-heat races. Jerry started on the outside
pole in his race and held a solid 2nd place through a couple
of restarts. He ran a very good preliminary race. We were
scheduled to start 10th in the Feature but a couple of cars
did not make the start, and that moved us up to 8th. Jerry was
running a good race and the car was handling well. He was
running 6th and had fast race car at that point and tried to
pass at every opportunity. But a short track like Anderson can
be tough to pass on. It all came apart anyway when a multi-car
melee unfolded just ahead of Jerry on lap 78. The accident
could not be avoided and the car could not be repaired in time
to get more laps. It was just a racing thing and we don't
quit. We are already focusing on the big track at Terra Haute
with the dirt car tomorrow and expect to have a great report
from there. We have the driver we have the horsepower !
Go Jerry and Crew !
Reported by cell phone by
Tim Waechter to the webmaster.
FLAT TIRE RUINS A GOOD NIGHT, ELDORA 5/10/08
Lady
luck frowned on us again Saturday night at the Big E. We were
good in hot laps, as fast as anyone we clocked. Changes were
made to stagger for qualifications and Jerry cut 2 great laps.
The fastest was a 15.404, good for 2nd quick, behind Brady
Short. Starting in the back of heat race
2,
Jerry ran a low line initially and picked up 3 spots in lap 1.
Jerry used slide jobs to move to the front and was in the lead
in a tough heat race by lap 4. He ran away for an impressive
win. A stagger change was made for the A Main with a tire
change on both rear tires. We started 5th in the feature and
Jerry got off to a good start running 4th on lap 1. Lap 5
brought out a red flag, we were running 3rd.
A
penalty to Levi Jones put us 2nd on the restart. Jerry
immediately began to lose spots. A yellow brought Jerry to the
pits with a flat left rear tire. The bracket that attaches the
bleeder to the left rear was completely torn off the car
causing the flat. No one could recall seeing that happen
before. Jerry starting last on the restart and moved forward
working his way to 16th by lap 9. He eventually got to 11th by
the checkered flag. Dan did a great job changing the left rear
, but the tire that was the spare did not give the car the
same stagger . The car was beaten up, with a kick panel
destroyed, sail plate bent and the hood cracked. We are ready
to turn things around at Anderson and Terre Haute on the 21st
and 22nd.
It is always interesting to
visit a new venue. The rains that hit the area the night
before the race made the pit area challenging to say the
least. The track was worked and in pretty good shape. We were
competitive in hot laps with the Teams we clocked. We drew
pretty much middle of the pack for qualifying. The track was
definitely deteriorating as qualifying progressed. Jerry ran
the low side in qualifying both laps, running a quick time of
14.579 good for a tie for 6th quick. Since Robert
Ballou ran the time first, he was credited with 6th
quick time. We started 7th in heat race 3. Jerry
showed great patience during the entire heat race. He ran the
low groove again around the entire track. He was 4th
in 2 laps and in a 3 way battle for the win. Jerry came away
with the victory, the car was a rocket especially coming off
turn 4. One of the cars that out qualified us did not make
the race, which put us on the pole for the feature. Hopes for
the 1st victory of the season were high. Jerry ran
the low line leading the first 2 laps and regaining the lead
on lap 4. We had dropped to P4 by the yellow on lap 7. The
launch off the corners was not there for the feature and we
finished 7th. So far not the start of the year we
had anticipated. The good news is that there is a long year
to go and we are heading next weekend to two of our favorite
tracks,
Bloomington and
Eldora. See you at the races.
Tim Waechter
Retail Operations Account Executive
WINCHESTER
RESULTS 4/27- DISSAPOINTING 11TH PLACE FINISH
A
beautiful day in
Winchester was a
sharp contrast to the weather a week ago. Hot laps saw us
turning a fast lap of 14.5, which was 0.3 behind the fastest
times. A few changes were made before qualifying, 2 springs a
small air pressure adjustment, in an attempt to correct a push
condition. Going out early in qualifying, Jerry ran a fast
lap of 14.623. This was good for 9th quick time
almost 0.5 off the fast time of 14.1. Three heats were run ,
we were in the 3rd heat starting 4th.
The car continued to push in the heat
and Jerry held on to finish 3rd. No semi was run
since all the 25 cars were going to run the feature. USAC did
a great job moving the program along . Starting 9th
in the field we were 10th coming off turn 2 of lap
1. At the first yellow Jerry, Rob and Richard talked about on
board adjustments to make the car better. Shock and weight
jacker adjustments were made to try and loosen up the car. At
the drop of the green we lost 2 more positions before turn 2.
A yellow flew at lap 23
and it was obvious the prior adjustments on the car did not
work. The car was very tight in turns 3&4. Jerry was able to
gain a few spots before the checkered flew for an 11th
place finish. After 2 testing sessions the finish was a big
disappointment for the Team. We will be back at it this
Saturday at a new track for us, Brownstown Indiana. See you
at the races.
(more photos)
Tim
Waechter
VP
Marketing Hoffman Racing
RESULTS FROM
WINCHESTER 4/20/08
Mother
Nature caused havoc for two days in a row. The truck left at
6:00a.m. for Winchester. It was beautiful in Cincinnati but
the closer to Winchester we got the worse the weather got. We
did get on the
track for warm ups and to help keep the track dry. It began to
rain harder and the track was “lost” and the race called off
early in the afternoon. The race is rescheduled for next
Sunday 4/27. Winchester is a very tough track for the crews to
load and unload as the haulers are parked outside and there is
only one way to get in and out.
RESULTS FROM
GASCITY
4/19/08
The weather called for a chance of rain. We
stayed in Daleville Indiana, about 20 miles from the track.
This location is conveniently located to the track and Sam
Pierce’s race shop where we turn the car around in between
races. We can not thank Sam enough for use of his race shop ,
it is a tremendous help. During lunch we got a call from a
friend who was at the track and informed us that the race was
cancelled. Evidently it rained hard for a few minutes at Gas
City. It seemed very early to call the race.
The
first held race of the season started out by a pill draw (the
person who pulled the pill will go unnamed) of 71. This ended
up being second last in the qualifying lineup of 46 cars . The
track went to heck about 15 cars from when we qualified. You
could see the times deteriorate , as only one car in that
group was under the 14 second mark. Our best time in hot laps
was 13.03, very competitive. Our qualifying time was 14.014
good for 28th fast. Cars and drivers slower than us included
Hagen, Darland , Hines and Short. Starting outside front row
in heat race #4 Jerry took the lead on the restart and ran
away from a good filed of cars. Jerry was running in the 13.10
area during the heat. The poor qualifying time put us in 19th
starting position in the A Main. Jerry moved up to 17th by the
lap 3 yellow, on the restart another yellow in turn 4 with
Jerry doing a great job missing it. Jerry was running 15th
when a car cut him off coming out of turn 2 and we were hit in
the rear and spun into the infield on lap 11.
On
the restart there was a red flag with the flipping car just
missing landing on top of the Kroger/Tide car. During the red
flag Rob called the car into the work area and we changed rear
tires and started last again. On the restart the car was a
rocket ship with Jerry passing cars and eventually finishing
11th. Traffic eventually blocked the track and hampered Jerry
moving forward late in the race. Considering the fact that we
went to the back twice and just missed two other wrecks, not a
bad result.
Tim Waechter
ROSSBURG, OH (April 4) – Heavy
overnight Thursday rains inundated an already saturated
surface and in the interest of safety and concern for the race
teams, Eldora Speedway officials have reached a decision to
postpone Saturday’s (April 5) planned race meet.
On the agenda was the annual Jud Larson/Don
Branson Classic for non-winged USAC (United States Auto Club)
Sprint Cars, Moser UMP (United Midwestern Promoters) Modifieds
and Advance Auto Parts Stock Cars. That entire program has
been moved to Saturday, May 10.
Due to fuel prices in excess of
$4.00 a gallon and stagnant purses we are scaling down the
transportation end of our program.
In actuality these pictures are of our
spare car at Ham Signs in Dayton, OH. The car is awaiting
stripes and decals to accompany the beautiful paint work
by our in house artisan Richard, a.k.a. the Great one. See
you at Eldora!
THE ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE WAS A BIG SUCCESS
The annual
open house and fish fry was held on March 21st in
conjunction with BARC. As always it was a great time with
lots of bench racing and story telling. It is amazing how
stories grow over time. As the pictures show this years cars
and , the famous “7” midget and the Buick V6 were on
display for all to enjoy. Be sure to mark next year’s event
on your calendar.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing
Hoffman Racing
CONGRATS TO PAST HAR
DRIVER RYAN NEWMAN ON HIS DAYTONA 500 VICTORY !
(PHOTO, RICHARD AND RYAN)
MORE PHOTOS OF THE DIRT
CAR FROM THE SHOP FEB. 20TH
BUSY OFF SEASON CONTINUES FOR HAR
We hope all the race fans are having a
great off season. The shop has been a busy place, with Dan
running the everyday business of a race team. In the off
season Dan is busy ordering new cars, new parts, selling
used motors, cars and parts, building cars etc. .
Dan
is extremely organized and keeps the Team going. Richard has
been busy in the body shop with late nights and the usual
frustrations of trying to make every paint job perfect. As
the pictures indicate, the cars are beautiful as always. Two
of the dirt cars have been powder coated , bodies are
painted and ready
for design and decals. A new F5 should be delivered any day
now and then a decision has to be made to start the year
with last year’s new car or the 2008 new car. The pavement
cars are in good shape. The primary Beast is being built and
should be ready to start any day now. We plan to test with
the pavement car in March if weather allows. Rob and
engineering have been busy looking for the competitive edge.
Big Al has the front ends ready to go and I am pitching in
where needed with my limited skill set. Dan and I have had
some interesting sessions putting bladders in tail tanks. It
reminds us of the monkey and the football. Ed has been busy
rebuilding the old 4 wheeler. All in all we seem to be in
good shape in preparing for a championship season in 2008.
April at Eldora will be here before we all know it. We wish
the best to all the race fans.
Tim Waechter
VP Marketing Hoffman Racing
COONS JR.
TO DRIVE THE KROGER/TIDE CAR ON DIRT AND PAVEMENT AND RUN FOR
A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Loveland, OH (Dec
11, 2007) -- Hoffman Auto Racing(HAR), the winningest Team in
the history of USAC National Sprint Car Racing with 8 USAC
National Sprint Car Championships, and 72 National feature
wins, announced today that USAC veteran and defending 2 time
USAC National Midget
Champion Jerry Coons Jr. will return to drive the famous #69
on dirt and also pavement in 2008.
Jerry Coons Jr. is a native of Tuscon Arizona. Jerry is one of
USAC’s most talented and popular drivers. He won 3 USAC
National races for HAR in 2007 including 2 dominating
performances at Manzanita to end the season. Jerry won the
2006 and 2007 USAC National Midget Championship in the Wilke
Pak car after finishing in the runner up spot in 2005. Jerry
finished 9th in the USAC National Sprint car Championship even
though he primarily only ran the dirt races.
“I am looking forward to returning in 2008 and I am very
excited to run for a Sprint Car championship both for myself
and for the Hoffman Team” said Jerry Coons Jr.
“ We have had much success with Jerry since 2005. He , Rob
(Hoffman) and Dan (Launderville) are communicating well and
winning races. We believe Jerry is on top of his game and
gives us a great shot to win our 9th National Championship as
well as Jerry’s first. Jerry is a pleasure to work with , he
drives the car hard each and every race. We believe that the
Team’s performance at Manzanita was a sign of things to come
in 2008.” said Richard Hoffman, President of Hoffman Auto
Racing.
“2007 was a learning year for us. We ran new shocks, a new
mandated right rear tire, and tried some other changes. We
believe we have a good handle on things for 2008 and are ready
to win with Jerry right out of the gate” said Rob Hoffman,
V.P. of Engineering HAR.
Hoffman Auto Racing (HAR) competes in the Sprint Car and
Silver Crown Divisions of the United States Auto Club (USAC).
HAR was founded in 1929 by August (Gus) Hoffman. Three
generations of Hoffman’s are involved with the Team HAR is the
all time leader in USAC National Sprint Car Team victories
with 72, and National Championships with 8. HAR also has 7
Silver Crown victories, for a total of 79 National wins. HAR
celebrates 79 years of competition in 2008.
Highlights of the Team’s history include:
- 1929-1960 Gus campaigned Sprint Cars and Midgets, his
drivers included Eddie Sachs, and Don Branson
- 1964 Gus’s son Richard became co-owner of the Team
- 1973-1984 HAR fielded Indy Cars, including 7 Indy 500 starts
- 1989 HAR won the first of 8 USAC National Sprint Car
Championships with Rob Hoffman as the crew
chief(’92,’93,’96,’97,’99,’02,’04)
- HAR is the winingest Team in USAC Sprint Car history
- 2003 recognized for excellence by the Ohio State Senate and
House of Representatives
- HAR has finished in the top 3 in USAC National Sprint Car
owners points 15 times since 1989
Drivers of note:
Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Tracy Hines, JJ Yeley, Kasey Kahne,
Kenny Irwin Jr, Rich Vogler, Dave Darland, Johnny Parsons Jr.,
Tim Richmond, Jay Drake, Brian Tyler, Robbie Stanley, Eric
Gordon, Steve Butler , Jerry Coons Jr. Ryan Newman and Dave
Steele.
Primary sponsorship will continue from Kroger and Tide, with
associate sponsorship from MOPAR, Bounty and Pringles.
