Danny Johnson Invades Devil's Bowl To Win 100 Lapper

W. HAVEN, VT -- 7/20/97...The 100-lap Mid-Season Championship at Devil's Bowl was

won Sunday by Danny Johnson, who was driving the #73 owned by Paul

Parker. The race was marred by a fiery collision after only five laps

when Bernie Kentile got crossways coming out of turn four and flipped

onto the retaining wall, rolling his car and bursting the fuel cell.

Track safety crews worked quickly to get the driver out of the car and

then put the huge fire out. Kentile was transported by ambulance to the

hospital, but was conscious and speaking to rescuers as he was loaded for

the trip.

The sportsman race saw Alan Larter with his first win of the year in a

close finish with Jimmy Davis at the flagstand. Larter won by less than a

bumper. Bill Bryden of Bristol, VT notched his third win in the pro

street stock division, and Chuck Knowlton took his fourth trip to victory

lane in the hobby stocks.

With $3,000 to win on the line, Devil's Bowl saw a few new faces in the

modified division, including Jeff Heotzler in his first-ever appearance

there, the invading Danny Johnson and veteran Jack Johnson. The race only

went two laps before the first caution, which saw Jack Cottrell, Don

Ackner and David Towns all head to the pits. After two laps under yellow,

the restart saw the #80 of Kentile come out of turn four crossed up in

front of the second half of the field. Jeff Trombley was right behind him

and the two came together as Kentile barrel-rolled along the concrete

retaining wall. The fuel cell struck the wall, splitting it open and

causing an explosion. A huge fireball lit up the turn as the fuel ignited

with 30-foot flames. Both Trombley and Kentile ended up on their roofs.

Trombley was out quickly, but the flames were so high the fans couldn't

tell if Kentile was out of his racer or not. Track fire officials were on

the scene in seconds, dousing the driver's side of the car and enabling

Kentile to climb to the track, where he lay prone as the rest of the fire

was knocked down. Fair Haven Rescue Squad transported Kentile to the

local hospital as the race was red flagged and the fans sat stunned in

their seats.

After the race resumed, Trombley returned and tried to keep his beat-up

car going, but after several trips to the pits, he left the race having

26 laps on the books. John Harrison was the early leader until lap 25

when he, too, turned sideways coming out of turn four. Vince Quenneville

was briefly caught up behind Harrison, which enabled third place runner

Ken Tremont and fifth place Don Scarborough to scoot around the pile up.

Scarborough was in first when the yellow came out, followed by Tremont,

Jeff Heotzler and Danny Johnson. After two laps under caution, the yellow

lights were off for the restart, the field was just powering up, and the

track lights in turn two suddenly went dark! Officials began to wonder

what else could possibly happen as they realized they had overloaded a

circuit and caused a power outage when they added a few new lights to

brighten up the race track last week. Power was cut to the offending

lights and the race was red flagged while the old lights came back up.

When racing resumed on lap 33, Scarborough and Heotzler were quickly

overpowered by Danny Johnson as he raced to the lead. Tremont got banged

around and shuffled to the back of the field and ended up going a lap

down for a quick pit stop. A caution at the halfway mark for Ron Proctor

as he looped it in turn one saw Johnson in the lead, Heotzler second,

Scarborough third, Jack Johnson in fourth and Mike Perrotte in fifth. Bob

Savoie was in sixth and gaining on Perrotte.

The race went caution free from the halfway point as the field began to

string out and Heotzler struggled to keep up with Danny Johnson, who was

weaving his way in and out of lapped traffic. Rich Ricci Jr. slowed and

pitted with mechanical problems, as did Jim Ryan. With 10 to go Heotzler

closed a little bit on Johnson, but couldn't get enough racing room with

all the lapped traffic. At the end, D.J. had lapped all but three cars in

the 28-car field and the invasion was over. It was Danny Johnson in

first, followed by Jeff Heotzler, Don Scarborough, Jack Johnson and Bob

Savoie.

Paul Parker, the owner of the #73, invited Danny Johnson to race his car

in the 100-lap event because he hadn't been doing well in it this year,

and wanted to see if D.J. could help him figure out "if it was me or the

car." After watching Danny run this race, Parker should have his answer.

Then again, Johnson could make anything look good on a race track. He

doesn't come to Devil's Bowl often, but every time he does, he wows the

fans with a dominating performance like this one.

In sportsmen action Alan Larter lost his lead to Jimmy Davis late in the

race, but fought back on the last lap to take back the lead and surge to

a win by less than 6 inches at the flag stand. Don Miller was in third

followed by Ron Johnson and Frank Hoard Jr.

Bill Bryden was victorious over a small field of street stocks, with Fred

Little and Pete Kimball in second and third. In hobby stock racing Chuck

Knowlton won over Richard Stone and Jack Swinton.

MODIFIEDS: DANNY JOHNSON, Jeff Heotzler, Don Scarborough, Jack Johnson,

Bob Savoie, Mike Ricci, Mike Perrotte, Todd Stone, Hector Stratton, Todd

Ryan, Lee Nutting, Mike Ronca, Chuck Elms, Ron Dwyer, Ken Tremont, Dan

Douville, Jack Cottrell, Don Ackner, Gardner Stone, John Harrison, Jim

Ryan, Rich Ricci Jr., Ron Proctor, David Towns, Vince Quenneville, Randy

Howe, Jeff Trombley, Bernie Kentile.

SPORTSMEN TOP 10: ALAN LARTER, Jim Davis, Don Miller, Ron Johnson, Frank

Hoard Jr., Jeff Betit, Dave Sargent, Todd Morey, Kim Duell, Mike

Ballestero.