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2013 BOSS Season Recap and Banquet Information
The 2013 season for the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series featured a points battle that will go down as one of the best and most competitive in the 117 year history of auto racing in the state. Twelve of the originally scheduled fourteen events were completed with eleven different drivers scoring main event wins. An incredible one-hundred and forty-two different drivers competed in the series which averaged 31 sprint cars per event.
Gibsonburg, Ohio's Tony Beaber was able to secure the second ever BOSS season championship over Evans City, PA driver Brandon Spithaler and Wapakoneta, Ohio's Mike Miller. The top 3 drivers ended the season just 23 points apart. No less than 5 different drivers entered the final event at Eldora Speedway in October with a realistic chance of winning the season championship.
Beaber scored one victory in the 12 events when he won the Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway event in June and used consistency down the stretch to hold off Spithaler by 18 points. Spithaler also scored one victory on the tour, picking up the May event at Mercer Raceway Park for the second year in a row. Spithaler, piloting the Tom Burkey – Superior Tank and Trailer #57B actually led the standings for the majority of the season until being caught up in another driver's crash in the fall race at Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway.
Mike Miller was perhaps the most consistent driver of 2013 managing to finish just 23 points from the lead despite not winning a main event on the tour. He used a strong pair of third place finishes at Pittsburgh and Lernerville to stay right in the championship hunt the entire season. Rounding out the top five were Kirk Jeffries from Westerville, Ohio and Aaron Middaugh from Polk, Ohio. Jeffries piloted the #59J Make-It-Fit Foundation – Autism Awareness sprinter to his first career tour victory in the September Pittsburgh event and Middaugh scored the first feature event win of his sprint car career in storybook fashion at the historic Sharon Speedway. Just two weeks prior, Middaugh had made newspaper headlines with a spectacular flip sequence at Lawrenceburg Speedway. With wrenching by his brother Andy, the team put together a back-up car with miscellaneous parts, then roared to his first checkered flag.
The sixth place finisher in 2013 points had a rough ending to the season. Chad Wilson of Toledo, Ohio competed in 11 of the 12 events, missing only the Eldora finale. Wilson was severely injured in a crash at Waynesfield Raceway Park the night before the race. Despite missing an event, Wilson used several top 10 finishes, with a best finish of 5th at Pittsburgh, to earn the 6th spot.
Seventh in the final standings went to Sayler Park, Ohio young gun, Michael Fischesser driving the Amsoil #4 wrenched by his father Mark. Their season began ominously by missing the main event at the season opener at Fremont and suffering mechanical failure in the feature at Wayne County in race #2. Then at the halfway point of the season, Fischesser picked up his first heat race win in convincing fashion at Lernerville Speedway and went on a tear picking up a tour best fifth at Wayne County along with a pair of 6th place finishes and also scoring his first ever sprint car main event win in an unsanctioned race at Eriez Speedway in August.
Rounding out the top 10 in the final standings were wingless sprint rookie Adam Miller of McDonald, Pennsylvania, legendary Johnny Beaber of Gibsonburg, Ohio and Perrysburg, Ohio veteran racer Chuck Wilson. Miller showed the most improvement of any driver on the tour and was able to put his family wrenched #24M in the main event in his first trip to Eldora despite a tough 54 car field. Johnny Beaber, father to series champ Tony, came out of retirement and proved to be a crowd favorite and quickly got back into the fast groove scoring a season best 5th place at Sharon. Chuck Wilson, like Miller, was able to put his car in the main event at the incredible field of 54 at Eldora, but missing a show along the tour relegated Wilson to the 10th spot in the final points.
Other winners on the tour in 2013 included Robert Ballou of Rocklin, California, Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Joss Moffatt of Columbus, Indiana, Jack Sodeman Jr of North Jackson, Ohio, Luke Hall of Ludlow Falls, Ohio, and the series' only 2 time winner was Sheldon Haudenschild of Wooster, Ohio.
The Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series would like to thank the series sponsors who made the 2013 season a huge success. Buckeye Machine and Fabrication/Marshall Motorsports of Forest, Ohio owned by Ray Marshall provided the “Hard Luck” $50 cash award at every event. Rick Horne of Horne Performance Products of Dayton, Ohio supplied the $50 “Hard Charger” award at each event and Ernie's Radiator Repair of Ashland, Ohio sponsored the $50 “steel block” award to each race's highest finisher with a steel engine.
The BOSS series is proud to bring racing heritage back to the forefront. In a throwback to a bygone era, the series was able to bring back “heat race money” for the top finishers in each heat to help alleviate the costs of racing for the teams. A special thanks goes out to former driver and Ohio sprint car legend Rusty McClure for his help in securing heat race sponsorships that included: Underground Performance Incorporated of Ashland, Ohio, K-D's Allegro Pizzeria of Wooster, Ohio, Countryside Grocery and Drive-Thru of Ashland, Ohio, Indy Race Parts of Indianapolis, Indiana, Kistler Engines of Fremont, Ohio, Ron's Lawn Care of Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, S&H Nerfs of Piqua, Ohio, Ham Signs of Dayton, Ohio, Southeast Harley Davidson of Cleveland, Ohio, Griff's Engines of Sandusky, Ohio, and DieBroke Motorsports. Trophies and various other bonus awards were provided by Superior Tank and Trailer owner and series sponsor Tom Burkey. Finally, a big thank you to Precise Racing Products for providing free transponders at several BOSS events.
The 2013 awards banquet will be held at the Christopher Conference Center in Chillicothe, Ohio on Saturday, January 25th. Doors will open at 6 pm with the banquet beginning at 7 pm. A catered meal will be provided and tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for kids 12 and under. The top 10 in 2013 points will be awarded cash payouts and trophies. To order tickets, phone 740-703-3768 or mail a check to: BOSS ; 2177 Lunbeck Rd ; Chillicothe, OH 45601. Hotel discounts will be announced in the next few days. Watch the series website at www.buckeyesprints.com for more details.
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