by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
Now that the 2021 Season is done and dusted, it would be a good time to review all the Buckeye State happenings from another tantalizing season. The season preview can be found here: https://ohiodirt.com/2021ohiosprintpreview/.
DJ’s Year: After a 2020 season full of bad luck, DJ Foos and the Burmeister Racing team took it to Northwest Ohio this year. They found victory lane at Attica the second week of the season, and won all the way through late September, including an AFCS weekend sweep at Attica and Fremont in July on their way to eight wins and the Fremont and AFCS Championships. The team also completed Ohio Sprint Speedweek, making four out of seven shows with a best finish of fourth at Muskingum County. Considering DJ had 11 wins from 2017-2020, eight wins in 2021 was a career year for Foos. If he can get rid of the bad luck during the All Star and World of Outlaw shows for 2022, he could find himself up front at the end of those events.
A Matter of Time: One of my predictions for 2021 was that Trey Jacobs would win the Attica championship, if he ran it for points. Trey made me look smart this year, and he picked up his first title in his family-owned 3J machine. Trey also got the giant monkey off of his back and won his first career race at Attica on July 30th. He also won again on August 27th, and picked off two Wayne County wins as well. He also made a dash appearance against the Outlaws, and then proposed to his now fiance, Makayla. Jacobs has been one of the most consistent drivers, and now that he knows he can win, the Wooster native could be wreaking havoc in Ohio, and maybe even the All Stars for years to come, adding his own chapter to the Jacobs family legacy.
A Matter of Time Part 2: The potential was there in 2020 for Cole Macedo, and there were flashes of his potential here and there, but said flashes were overshadowed by crashes and mechanical gremlins. Macedo partnered with Ray Brooks and the Linder family to create a potent combo for 2021: Ray Brooks Racing. After a second place run April 9th, Macedo came back the next week and won in convincing fashion for his first Ohio win. Macedo would go on to win five more times in Ohio, and once at Lernerville with Rich Farmer. A fourth place run at Kokomo with the All Stars showed what the team was capable of, and after a dismal Speedweek, the team rebounded and capped off their season with a Jim and Joanne Ford Classic win against the All-Stars at Fremont. Macedo is slated to return to Ray Brooks Racing in 2022, and with a little more consistency, could be a contender for the Attica-Fremont-AFCS Triple Crown if they decide to stay local.
Quiet Success: It shouldn’t be a surprise that Cole Duncan had another season most drivers would love to have. His seven wins were second in Ohio to DJ Foos, with these wins coming at Atomic, Fremont, Portsmouth, and Waynesfield. The Fremont win came in exciting fashion, as he stole it on the last corner from Danny Dietrich during Speedweek, and his Waynesfield win also came against the All-Stars in August. Duncan, to nobody’s surprise, won the Atomic track championship, claiming four wins there this year. His seven wins in 2021 put him up to 35 wins in Ohio since 2017, at seven different tracks. I’ll go out and say that Duncan has been the best Ohio driver the last five years.
Consistency is key: 2021 was Dean Jacobs final season of racing, and he wanted nothing more than to go out with another Wayne County track championship. Broc Martin had other plans, though. Martin and Jacobs fought all season long at the Orrville, Ohio track. Martin clicked off six wins at Wayne County this year, which was good enough for third in the state. Martin didn’t finish outside of the top three in six of the first seven events, excluding Speedweek. After his sixth win on August 6th, the wheels fell off for Martin. His best finish in the last five events of the year was ninth. For Jacobs, he was consistent all year long. Excluding Speedweek, he finished outside of the top five at Wayne County only three times in 16 events. So when Martin had issues late in the season, it was easy for Jacobs to capitalize. That’s three straight track championships at Wayne County for Jacobs, and four straight for McClure Racing. If it truly was Jacobs last season, his replacement has some big shoes to fill.
Big Money Bayston: After teaming up with Sam McGhee halfway through Speedweek, it didn’t take Spencer Bayston and McGhee long to jell. On July 10th, they nabbed the Lou Blaney Memorial win at Sharon against the All Stars, and three days later, Bayston and McGhee got their first Outlaw win at Attica, winning the prestigious Brad Doty Classic. Those two wins got them $18k, but they weren’t done. On Labor Day weekend, Bayston struck again, taking another $10k win at Attica during the Attica Ambush against the All Stars. The former USAC Midget champion certainly made an impression on a lot of people, enough to land him a World of Outlaw ride at CJB Motorsports for 2022.
Kings are Crowned: Since the Kings Royal couldn’t be contested in 2020 due to Covid, Eldora, naturally, decided to run two Kings Royals in 2021. That wasn’t it, though. Mother Nature threw a wrench into the plans, and rained out the 35th Kings Royal on Thursday. Eldora being Eldora, decided to run both the 35th, and 34th Kings Royals in one day. Oh, and they both paid $175k to the winner. All you had to do was look at Derrick Bean’s tweet for a prediction of the winners. Talk about calling your shot. Sunshine Tyler Courtney won the day portion, which surprised some. Looking at his Eldora success though, it shouldn’t have been. During the night portion, Kyle Larson claimed his first ever Kings Royal triumph. Two deserving drivers getting crowned King (or Co-Kings) was a pleasant sight to see. Carson Macedo won the two preliminary events of the weekend.
Sunshine’s Speedweek: Although he may not have found victory lane during Ohio Speedweek, the eventual All-Star champion used five top five finishes in seven races to claim the Speedweek title. Kyle Larson was the only driver to win more than once, with wins at Wayne County and Waynesfield. Ian Madsen, Cole Duncan, Danny Dietrich, Justin Peck, and Paul McMahan also scored during the grueling week. McMahan’s win came at the Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth, worth $17,554, one of the biggest paydays in Ohio.
Under the Radar: Not to forget about Southern Ohio, the Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association crowned a new champion in 2021: 410 sophomore Tyler Street. Street nabbed wins down at Ohio Valley Speedway in Kentucky and I-77 Speedway on his way to the championship. In addition to his family-owned 4* car, he also piloted Ken Bodkins #00 and Chad Wilson’s #14 in 2021.
Keeping with the under-the-radar theme, Kory Crabtree had himself an impressive year with the OVSCA as well, picking up five wins with the series in Ohio at Muskingum, Atomic, 35 Raceway and Skyline. Not bad considering he retired a couple seasons ago.
305 Roundup: Paul Weaver continued to do Paul Weaver things at Attica this year, winning eight times, and an additional five times at Fremont. This was enough for Weaver to win the AFCS Championship.
Jamie Miller had another very solid season, especially at Attica where he picked up his third 305 championship. In the first 15 races, he had 15 top fives at Attica including four wins. A win at Waynesfield and one at Fremont brought his total to six on the year.
Not to be outdone by his brother, DJ, Matt Foos won the Fremont Speedway championship this year over Alvin Roepke. After running part time last season, Foos ran the full season at Attica and Fremont picking up two wins at both Attica and Fremont. He could be a headache for Weaver and Miller more next year.
Dustin Stroup exploded onto the scene this year, picking up six wins, one at Attica, and five at Fremont in a partial schedule. If Stroup runs a full schedule next season, he’ll be a contender for many wins and some championships.
The next generation of racers showed up during the 2021 season. Zeth Sabo, Mike Keegan, Bryce Lucius and Larry Kingseed Jr. all picked up their first 305 wins in the 2021 season. Look for these young men to continue to rack up the wins in years to come.
Notables: Who had Brandon Spithaler winning at Attica in April? The Western PA ace came to Attica and brought NW Ohio money back with him on April 9th.
We haven’t forgotten about one of the most exciting races of 2021: Dave Blaney taking his home-built car to victory lane against the Outlaws at Sharon Speedway… What year was it again??
Kyle Larson won the $20k KC Classic at Atomic Speedway in May.
David Gravel won the inaugural Kistler Engines Classic at Attica in May.
Lets Race Two Outlaws Winners: Brent Marks and Sheldon Haudenschild
Lets Race Two USAC Winners: Tyler Courtney and Robert Ballou
Byron Reed hadn’t been to victory lane in nearly two years. That changed on June 4th. He took advantage of a malfunctioning Cole Macedo car and nabbed the popular, and emotional win.
A legendary career came to an end with the retirement of Jac Haudenschild, but he didn’t go out without a bang. He led the field to green of the Kings Royal, and claimed his final win at his home track, Wayne County on August 28th. He put on a whale of a show during the Pete Jacobs Memorial as well, enroute to a third place finish.
We all know about the Aaron Reutzel debacle earlier in the season. But he and the RSR team were able to get redemption on their first weekend out. Reutzel ran away to the Pete Jacobs Memorial win at Wayne County September 5th.
JUST GONNA SEND IT: Is what the gameplan was for Chris Andrews going into the final night at Attica, and it got him the win for him and Jay Kiser Racing. They had been fast all year, but couldn’t put a whole night together until September 10th.
September 17-18 was pretty good for Greg Wilson. Wilson, crew chief Andy Potter, and the Seeling 97 completed the rare Moler-Fremont sweep that weekend. It was Wilson’s first 410 wins in four years.
Four Crown Winners:
ASCoC- Rico Abreu
USAC Midget: Chris Windom
USAC Sprint Car: Tyler Courtney
USAC Silver Crown: Logan Seavy
Stats:
Wins:
- DJ Foos- 8
- Cole Duncan- 7
- Cole Macedo, Broc Martin- 6
Top Fives:
- DJ Foos, Cole Macedo- 22
- Cole Duncan, Trey Jacobs, Dean Jacobs- 13
Top Tens:
- DJ Foos- 30
- Cole Macedo- 26
- Travis Philo, Cap Henry- 19
2020 Champions:
AFCS 410: DJ Foos
AFCS 305: Paul Weaver
Atomic 410: Cole Duncan
Attica 410: Trey Jacobs
Attica 305: Jamie Miller
BOSS Series: Matt Westfall
FAST Series: Cale Conley
Fremont 410: DJ Foos
Fremont 305: Matt Foos
OVSCA Series: Tyler Street
Wayne County 410: Dean Jacobs