Hoffman wins McDonald’s 200

Doug Hoffman of Allentown, Pa., didn’t come right out and say it in victory lane, but he had to be thinking, "That’ll show you."

After being told earlier in the week that he would no longer be driving the J&J Shop-sponsored Troyer that he had piloted on the Super DIRT Series for the 2001 season, Hoffman dropped a borrowed engine into his Saturday night car and won Sunday’s McDonald’s 200 at Fonda Speedway.

While Hoffman was coming up with an incredibly satisfying victory, Brett Hearn of Sussex, N.J., wrapped up the 2001 Mr. DIRT point championship with a ninth-place finish. Hearn goes into the final Advance Auto Parts Series race, the Eastern States 200 at his home track of Orange County Speedway, leading Steve Paine by over 100 points, meaning he can skip the final event, and still win the title.

Hoffman, who posted back-to-back wins in the McDonald’s 200 in 1990 and 1991, when he was driving for Billy Taylor, dominated Sunday’s race. He took the lead away from Paine on lap 84, and controlled the second half of the race, which was broken into a pair of 100-lap segments, with a 10-minute break in between.

Hoffman had borrowed a motor from Chuck Hebing, got a couple of new tires from longtime sponsor Leon Conklin, got his buddies from his Saturday night crew together, and kicked ass at the Track of Champions

"When something like this happens, you know there’s a God," said Hoffman with a smile.

One of the cars that finished behind Hoffman was the J&J car, which finished fourth, with new driver Danny Johnson behind the wheel.

The McCreadies provided the excitement early in the day. During time trials, Tim McCreadie, who went into the race second in points to Hearn, slammed into the first turn wall, doing heavy damage to the Finch’s Logging big block. That set the tone for a miserable day, as McCreadie finished 28th in the feature.

His father, Barefoot Bob, had a much more enjoyable afternoon. Bob McCreadie set a new track record during time trials, turning a lap of 20.007 seconds to set fast time for the day. Paine also had a strong race car. Paine set the third-fastest time of the day, and then won the Exiss dash. His good fortune continued in the draw for the feature race, as his wife, Stacy, picked the pole.

Paine led the first 83 laps of the feature, but was towing Hoffman around on a short rope most of the time. Then, on lap 84, Hoffman shot past Paine into the lead.

Things began to happen late in the first segment. At almost the same time, Paine and Ronnie Johnson blew right rear tires. Paine lost a lap on the track, as Hoffman passed him going down the backstretch, while Johnson was able to keep the Sweeteners Plus car on the lead lap.

Hoffman and Bob McCreadie, who took over second when Paine blew his tire, did nothing but change tires during the red-flag segment, but Alan Johnson’s crew on the Spirit of America Pillsbury car was kept busy, as they found that the spindle bolts on the right rear had been sheared off.

The second segment began with Paine sitting between Hoffman and McCreadie, giving Hoffman a cushion. Hoffman worked hard to try to keep Paine behind him, but the Hurricane finally got his lap back on lap 132, when the lead pack got into heavy traffic.

But the race continued to be run under green flag conditions, and Paine simply led Hoffman and McCreadie around the track single file, as the racing groove had shrunk to a single lane.

When sportsman driver Stewart Friesen blew a right tire on lap 177, bringing out the only caution of the second segment, Paine was finally able to go around and rejoin the rear of the field, but he was already too far behind and finished 15th, the final car on the lead lap.

Following Hoffman and McCreadie across the finish line were 2001 Eckerd 200 winner Billy Decker in his PMC chassis, Danny Johnson in the J&J car and Bobby Varin, who was driving the Bobar Motorsports big block.

Rounding out the top 10 were Jerry Higbie, Alan Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Hearn and Ken Tremont Jr., who had won the McDonald’s 2000 last year.

Hearn admitted that he was being conservative.

"I didn’t want to stick my nose somewhere it didn’t belong, like I did a couple of years ago with Danny," he said, referring to a flip he took down the backstretch at Fonda a couple of years ago after tangling with Danny Johnson. "I didn’t want to go to Orange County with less than a 60-point lead, because that would mean I’d have to race hard."

The final leg of the ARANY Pro-Stock Series was also run Sunday, with Fonda Speedway track champion Rob Noviczski outrunning a strong field that included many of the tour’s top drivers.

One of those contenders, Pete Stefanski, went out on the seventh lap after wrecking under caution. Lou Mellon and Dick Sweet came together in the front straightaway and bounced off the wall, leaving Sweet on the outside of the track, facing backwards, Mellon on the inside, and debris everywhere. Even though the field was attempting to slow down as it came to the scene of the accident, Stefanski appeared to hit some debris, glanced off Sweet’s car and hit the wall.

Noviczski, who had started third, elbowed his way past leader Dave Tiedman on a restart on the ninth lap and never looked back, cruising to an easy victory. Another Fonda Speedway regular, Kenny Gates, finished second, with Jipp Ortiz third, Jason Boyle fourth and Butchie Irwin fifth.

Boyle locked up the 2001 ARANY Pro-Stock Championship just be taking the green flag in the feature.

Notes: Two of Fonda’s top drivers ran into bad luck in their heat races. Mike Romano was leading his heat race when he blew a tire, which sent him into one of the consolation races. He later qualified, but finished 12th.

Jack Johnson started on the outside pole in the Team Goewey car, but got up in the loose stuff between the first and second turns on the first lap and slammed into the wall. Despite some rear end damage, he rejoined the field, but only got up to fourth, which also put him in one of the consolations. He finished 14th in the 200.

The six fastest time trialers were Bob McCreadie (20.007), Hoffman (20.212), Paine (20.223), Decker (20.269), Tony Pepicelli (20.296) and A.J. Romano (20.324).

The first three drivers involved in the draw for the feature drew positions 1,2 and 3, in order. Paine drew the pole, Bob McCreadie drew the outside pole, and Hoffman drew starting spot No. 3. Decker then broke the string when he drew No. 11.

Alan Johnson advanced the most positions, finished seventh after starting 20th.

A.J. Romano was the victim of circumstance in the 200. After starting fifth, Romano had been running with the lead pack all afternoon. But on lap 105, Pepicelli bounced off the inside berm on the backstretch and shot right into the left front of Romano’s car, breaking the suspension and ending his day.

Dave Camara didn’t even get to the green flag. Scheduled to start 16th, Camara pulled into the pits on the pace lap, radioing to his crew that he had a problem with his gas pedal. His crew corrected the problem, but he was already two laps down when he rejoined the race, and he ran just 99 laps, finishing 24th.

MCDONALD’S 200: DOUG HOFFMAN, Bob McCreadie, Billy Decker, Danny Johnson, Bobby Varin, Jerry Higbie, Alan Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Brett Hearn, Ken Tremont Jr., Jeff Trombley, Mike Romano, Tim Fuller, Jack Johnson, Steve Paine, Pat Ward, Jerry Pennock Jr., Frankie Caprara, Chuck Bower, Butch Tittle, Stewart Friesen, Tony Pepicelli, A.J. Romano, Dave Camara, Matt DeLorenzo, Vic Coffey, John McAuliffe, Tim McCreadie, Ron Proctor, Tom Sears, Jason Barney, Ken Hanson, Chris Shultz, Dave Lape.

PRO-STOCKS (30 laps): ROB NOVICZSKI, Kenny Gates, Jipp Ortiz, Jason Boyle, Butchie Irwin, Tom Dembek, Scott Govertsen, Tom Barron, Dave Tiedman, Steve Vrooman, Rick Breed, Roger Chrysler, Dave Sanchez, Steve DeVoss, Brian Keough, Frank Twing, John Santalin, Bret Belden, Henry Warner, Mark Shultz, Rick Fosby, John Dellea, Bubba Tanner, Pete Stefanski, Lou Mellon, Dick Sweet, Rick Spencer, John Underwood, Jim Normyle, Mark Sullivan.