Chris Wibbell has yet to win his first stock car track title at the Bullring, but the Dallas City, Ill., driver has racked up the most points over the first two years of the series at 8000 Broadway.

Wibbell lost the 2008 championship on a tiebreaker and finished seventh this season. In the process, he has accumulated 1,189 points, 72 more both Abe Huls and Steve Steinkuhler, who are tied for second with 1,117 each.

STOCK CAR CAREER POINTS LEADERS
Since 2008

(Drivers in bold face active in stock car class in 2009)
1. Chris Wibbell, 1,119 points
2-tie. Abe Huls, 1,117
2-tie. Steve Steinkuhler, 1,117
4. Doug Huls, 1,113
5. Andrew Griffin, 1,099
6. Sarah Woodhurst, 927
7. Levi Long, 848
8. Jeff Mueller, 769
9. Jerry Jansen, 714
x-10. John Oliver Jr., 611
x-raced in five points races in 2009

Other notables (minimum 550 points)
Kevin Tomlinson, 605 points
Terry Houston, 593
Michael Larsen, 564
Aaron Brocksieck, 563

ONLINE VOTING RESULTS FOR HOBBY STOCK “DIRTY” AWARD

More than 230 votes were cast in the first-ever Stevie Dirt ”DIRTY” award balloting for the hobby stock online driver of the year, and a pair of rookies paced the voting.

Adam Scott, who collected an impressive 48.5 percent of the 235 votes, won the election. Fellow rookie Tanner Klingele, only 14 years old, was second with 11.5 percent. Klingele made a late rush in the voting during the last three or four days, picking up at least three positions.

A third rookie, Jake Powers, was fourth with 8.9 percent behind Jim Powell’s 10.2 percent. Track champion Steve Carlin was fifth at 8.5 percent, despite winning his third title.

Here is the final breakdown for the Hobby Stock “DIRTY”:

1. Adam Scott, 48.5 percent
2. Tanner Klingele, 11.5 percent
3. Jim Powell, 10.2 percent
4. Jake Powers, 8.9 percent
5. Steve Carlin, 8.5 percent
6. Andrew Griffin, 6.4 percent
7. Nathan Hayes, 2.1 percent
8. Mike Wiley, 1.7 percent
9. Travis Booher, 1.3 percent
10. Wes Mayfield, 0.9 percent

Well done, dirt fans! Well done!

The first week of online voting for your choice for Hobby Stock Driver of the Year at the Bullring drew a greater response than I was expecting. I’m anxious to see where the second round of balloting in the “DIRTYs” — starting today — leads for Stock Car Driver of the Year.

Stock car voting will be available through midnight Oct. 7.

HOBBY STOCK RESULTS

We’ll break down the final hobby stock numbers in the next blog. It’s no secret Adam Scott was far and away the top vote-getter, but after him the breakdown was extremely interesting.

When the online balloting for each division is done, the second annual Stevie Dirt All-Dirt teams will be revealed, featuring a Driver of the Year and two members apiece on the first and second teams, or as we call it in raceland, the first and second “rows.”

My decisions have already been made. I’m anxious to see how the online voting matches up. Is the Internet a great thing or what?

Probably around the first of June next season Steve Carlin will take the career lead in track points for the hobby stock/bomber class. That might not be the most glamorous of statistics, but points prove two things — durability and consistency, and it’s impossible to argue that Carlin has not exhibited both.

Carlin, who won his third track title this year, trails the retired Dieker by 177 points, or the equivalent of five or six features and a few heat races thrown in. Week in, week out, Carlin runs at or near the front, so it’s not a matter of if, only when he becomes the all-time leader.

Carlin’s assault on the series’ career victory totals will be documented in the near future. He’s closing in on Dieker in most categories, which further makes 2010 a potential historical season in the hobby stock class.

The series changed from “bombers” to “hobby stocks” in 2007, and since that time Carlin is the points leader, more than 200 ahead of runner-up Mike Wiley.

HOBBY STOCK CAREER POINTS LEADERS
Since 1999

(Drivers in bold face active in hobby stock class in 2009)
1. Eddie Dieker, 5,731 points
2. Steve Carlin, 5,554
3. Jim Powell, 4,794
4. Travis Booher, 3,899
5. Brent Chapman, 3,881
6. Bruce Hatfield, 3,744
7. Bill Genenbacher, 3,551
8. Adam Birck, 3,361
9. Larry W. Powell, 3,623
10. Jerry Jansen, 3,211

Other notables (minimum 2,000 points)
Steve Watkins Jr., 2,720
Mike Wiley, 2,277
Jeff Kindhart, 2.220

HOBBY STOCK CAREER POINTS LEADERS SINCE 2007 (when series changed name from Bombers)

(Drivers in bold face active in hobby stock class in 2009)
1. Steve Carlin, 1,965 points
2. Mike Wiley. 1,725
3. Travis Booher, 1.623
4. James Leffew, 1,395
5. Jim Powell, 1,262
6. Aaron Brocksieck, 1,244
7. Wes Mayfield, 1,157
8. Bobby Anders, 1,150
9. Andrew Griffin, 1,096
x-10. Jeremy Buss, 807
x-Buss raced in two points races in 2009

On the bubble
Justin Bartz, 802
Nathan Anders, 787

Time is running out to vote in the first round of the inaugural “DIRTYs” — the fans’ picks for drivers of the year in the Bullring’s four weekly series. Voting will close at midnight Tuesday for the hobby stock division.

Up next will be the stock car series. Voting will begin Wednesday for that class and also last a week.

At the conclusion of fans’ balloting for the four series (modifieds and late models will be the other classes up for vote), we’ll see how the fans’ picks match up with the second annual Stevie Dirt All-Dirt teams. The All-Dirt teams will again feature a Driver of the Year in each class, along with four other drivers who are designated “first row” or “second row.”

Coming up this week will be the start of our annual offseason update of career leaders in each of the classes, what single-season marks may have been established and all sorts of other offseason dirt-track stuff that will help keep the conversation alive as we begin the countdown to 2010.

Justin Reed’s runner-up finish in this year’s late model points race at the Bullring vaulted him to No. 7  in the The Herald-Whig’s IMCA era (since 1998) track rankings.

The 22-year-old Reed still has a ways to go to crack the track’s all-time top 10 rankings, a place that is still largely reserved for the  hallowed names of 8000 Broadway.

Track champion Lonnie Bailey, the No. 4-ranked all-time driver, continued his assault on the big three of Mark Burgtorf, Terry Gallaher and Steve Fraise. Bailey has moved within 40 points of No. 3 Fraise, who with No. 2 Gallaher and No. 1 Burgtorf show a combined 27 track championships.

The all-time rankings for each class are determined by awarding points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale to the drivers who finish among the top 10 in the final point standings each season.

ALL-TIME LATE MODEL RANKINGS

(drivers in bold face were active in 2009)
1. Mark Burgtorf, 275 points (14 titles)
2. Terry Gallaher, 232 (4 titles)
3. Steve Fraise, 178 (9 titles)
4. Lonnie Bailey, 138 (2 titles)
5. Dick Crane, 104.5 (1 title)
6. Jim Swank, 73.5 (1 title)
7. Sonny Findling, 70.5
8. Brent Slocum, 64 (1 title)
9. Denny Woodworth, 61
10. Tom Long, 49

Other active notables
Jason Frankel, 43
Ron Elbe, 38
Justin Reed, 32
Jerry Weisenberger, 32
Joey Gower, 26
Jason Perry, 15
Keith Pratt, 13
Bill Genenabcher, 13
Dustin Neese, 11
Matt Bailey, 9
Robby Warner, 5
Nick Ingalls, 1
Clint Kirkham, 1

IMCA ERA LATE MODEL RANKINGS (since 1998)

(drivers in bold face were active in 2009)
1. Mark Burgtorf, 147 (8 titles)
2. Lonnie Bailey, 88 (2 titles)
3. Brent Slocum, 64 (1 title)
4. Denny Woodworth, 52
5. Terry Gallaher, 40
6. Jamie Wilson, 36
7. Justin Reed, 32
8. Jerry Weisenberger, 32
9. Ron Elbe, 24
10. Joey Gower, 23

Other active notables
Jason Frankel, 15
Jason Perry, 15
Keith Pratt, 13
Bill Genenabcher, 13
Dustin Neese, 11
Matt Bailey, 9
Robby Warner, 5
Nick Ingalls, 1
Clint Kirkham, 1

It’s time to get down and dirty. Or rather, DIRTY.

As promised, readers get to pick the first-ever Stevie Dirt DIRTYs, the fans’ picks for Driver of the Year in each of the Bullring’s four weekly series. You can use whatever criteria you wish — track champion, most victories, best-looking car, most improved … whatever you think makes a “Driver of the Year.”

Later this fall, the second annual Stevie Dirt All-Dirt teams, including Stevie Dirt Drivers of the Year, will be revealed. We’ll see how the fans’ choices and those of Stevie Dirt compare. We’ll also see how much longer Stevie Dirt continues to talk in third person.

Please cast your vote today with the ballot at the right. First up are the hobby stock drivers.

We’ll keep the hobby stock voting open through midnight Sept. 29.

Tony Dunker has strengthened his hold on the No. 2 all-time Herald-Whig modified ranking at the Bullring and moved into the No. 1 position since the mods were combined into class prior to the 2006 season.

Dunked finished third in this year’s points race behind Justin Reed and Steven DeLonjay. That’s his ninth consecutive top-five points finish, only two behind Hank DeLonjay’s track record of 11. Dunker also has 10 straight top-10 points finishes, one shy of DeLonjay’s 11 in a row.

The only new driver in the all-time top 10 is Vance Wilson, whose fifth-place points finish moved him into the No. 7 career position.

Ther driver who can make a huge jump next year with a big season is Dave Wietholder, who sits 12th all-time, but could be knocking on the door of the career top five with a successful 2010 campaign.

Dunker was able to get past Michael Long into the No. 1 ranking since 2006 when Long did not run enough at Quincy to earn a top-10 points position. Long held his No. 4 all-time spot behind DeLonjay, Dunker and Sam Burgtorf.

The all-time rankings for each class are determined by awarding points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale to the drivers who finish among the top 10 in the final point standings each season.

ALL-TIME MODIFIED RANKINGS

(drivers in bold face were active in 2009)
1. Hank DeLonjay, 219.5 (10 titles)
2. Tony Dunker, 94 (2 titles)
3. Sam Burgtorf, 81 (3 titles)
4. Michael Long, 78 (2 titles)
5. Lonnie Carter, 57 (2 titles)
6. Mike Karhoff, 55
7. Vance Wilson, 52 (1 title)
8. Bob Dale, 51
x-9. Kelly Bartz, 48 (1 title)
10. Greg Uppinghouse, 46 (2 titles)
x-Bartz appeared in one points race in 2009

Other active notables
12. Dave Wietholder, 44
13. Wyatt Lantz, 40
18. Robbie Reed, 34

MODIFIED RANKINGS SINCE 2006 (when “A” and “B” were combined to one class)

(drivers in bold face were active in 2009)
1. Tony Dunker, 33 points
2. Michael Long, 30 (2 titles)
3. Robbie Reed, 26 (1 title).
4. Dave Wietholder, 26
5. Hank DeLonjay, 20
6. Steven DeLonjay, 18
7. Shawn Deering, 17
8. Justin Reed, 15 (1 title)
9. Donovan Lodge, 7
10. Vance Wilson, 6

Bullring fans should be proud today.

Track regulars Jason Frankel and Mark Burgtorf took the top two spots Saturday night in the IMCA-season ending $10,000-to-win Pepsi USA Nationals late model showcase.

In addition, Lonnie Bailey, Matt Bailey and Keith Pratt all had strong runs, giving Quincy regulars five of the top 18 finishes.

Frankel collected the big payday, passing series champ Jeff Aikey and then Burgtorf during the final two laps.

The 100-lap series finale saw three lead changes, constant shuffling in and out of the top five, and just two cautions as the race stayed green the last 47 laps. Burgtorf led most of the distance, but settled for second ahead of “B” qualifier Rob Toland, Aikey and Terry Neal. Defending race winner Matt Strassheim was sixth.

Burgtorf started outside the front row and was chased by Lonnie Bailey and Frankel into lapped traffic on the 13th circuit. Fred Remley brought out the first caution when he got too high on the track and caught the turn four wall on lap 16.

Burgtorf, Bailey and Aikey ran three-wide for the lead before Bailey and Aikey swapped the second spot on lap 23 and again on lap 24. Bailey found the low groove to his liking on lap 29, passing both Aikey and Burgtorf for the lead.

He’d stay there until lap 47, when Burgtorf motored by. Aikey made a pass of his own for the front, which was negated when the third running Neal and fourth running Bailey got together to bring out the second and final caution on lap 53.

After slipping back as far as sixth, Frankel started working his way back up, catching Fraise and then Neal to get back into contention for the big payday. Aikey fell on lap 97 and Burgtorf, who’d held Bailey at bay when the pair finished 1-2 at the 2007 Pepsi, gave way on lap 98.

The victory was the series career third for Frankel, who moved past Ray Guss Jr. into second in series point standings with the win. Aikey clinched his career sixth Deery title at the Sept. 7 show during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals.

FRANKEL WON IRONMAN COMPETITION, TOO

Frankel also won Friday’s 20-lap Ironman feature for the 10 drivers with perfect attendance through the first 19 events of the series. That win was good for $840, after each driver received an extra $90 from J & J Steel.

HUGE CAR COUNT

Sixty-four late models were in the pits for the Friday-Saturday show, the seventh highest single event total in the series’ 23-year, 352-race history. The all-time record is 71, set at the 2006 Pepsi.

Total car count for this season’s 20 races was 759, second only to the 849 in 1998. An average of nearly 38 cars was on hand for each series date.

PEPSI USA NATIONALS RESULTS
1. Jason Frankel, Quincy, Ill.
2. Mark Burgtorf, Quincy, Ill.
3. Rob Toland, Davenport, Iowa
4. Jeff Aikey, Waterloo, Iowa
5. Terry Neal, Ely, Iowa
6. Matt Strassheim, West Burlington, Iowa
7. Tony Fraise, Montrose, Iowa
8. Jason Hahne, Webster City, Iowa
9. Ray Guss Jr., Milan, Ill.
10. Boone McLaughlin, Mediapolis, Iowa
11. Tommy Elston, Keokuk, Iowa
12. Tom Darbyshire, Morning Sun, Iowa
13. Tom Goble, Burlington, Iowa
14. Lonnie Bailey, Quincy, Ill.
15. Jason Bahrs, Colona, Ill.
16. Matt Bailey, Quincy, Ill.
17. T.J. Criss, Oskaloosa, Iowa
18. Keith Pratt, Mendon, Ill.
19. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown, Iowa
20. Stephan Kammerer, Blue Grass, Iowa
21. Colby Springsteen, Morning Sun, Iowa
22. Jay Johnson, West Burlington, Iowa
23. Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake, Iowa
24. Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn, Iowa
25. Tyler Bruening, Decorah, Iowa
26. Fred Remley, Blue Grass, Iowa

IRONMAN RESULTS
1. Frankel; 2. Aikey; 3. Neal; 4. Toland; 5. Guss; 6. McKenna; 7. Justin Kay, Wheatland, Iowa; 8. DeFrance; 9. Bobby Hansen, Center Point, Iowa; 10. Greg Kastli, Waterloo, Iowa.

Abe Huls’ track title has moved him into the No. 1 all-time stock car ranking position at the Bullring. OK, OK … “all-time” only means two years in this case, since the stock cars have only been a weekly series at 8000 Broadway since 2008 — but No. 1 is No. 1, no matter how you cut it.

Inititally, it looked as if Huls had finished second in the title chase to Kevin Tomlinson. But Tomlinson was disqualified on season championship night, a ruling that affected the following rankings tremendously. Consider:

– If Tomlinson had won the title, he would have been tied with Jeff Mueller for No. 1 atop the rankings. Instead, he is No. 5.

– If Huls had finished second, he would have been tied with Andrfew Griffin for No. 4. Instead, he is No. 1.

Interesting, eh?

The all-time rankings for each class are determined by awarding points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale to the drivers who finish among the top 10 in the final point standings each season.

(drivers in bold face were active in 2009)
1. Abe Huls, 16 points (1 title)
x-2. Jeff Mueller, 15 (1 title)
3. Chris Wibbell, 14
4. Andrew Griffin, 11
5. Kevin Tomlinson, 10
6-tie. Steve Steinkuhler, 9
6-tie. Doug Huls, 9
8-tie. Terry Houston, 8
8-tie. Dave Wietholder, 8
10. Michael Larsen, 6
x-Mueller appeared in four points races this season

MORE ON THE HOBBY STOCKS

A few days ago we updated The Herald-Whig all-time hobby stock/bomber rankings. The following are the all-time rankings since the class became known as hobby stocks in 2007.

(drivers in bold face were active in 2009)
1. Steve Carlin, 33 points (1 title)
2. Aaron Brocksieck, 23 (1 title)
3. Jim Powell, 17
4. Mike Wiley, 16
5. Todd Reichert, 15 (1 title)
6. Wes Mayfield, 13
7. Travis Booher, 10
8. Bobby Anders, 8
9-tie. Jake Powers, 7
9-tie. Chris Rees, 7

Now that we’re officially in the “off season” as far as the Bullring is concerned, let’s hear some ideas about a possible 2010 fantasy racing league usuing local drivers. The second comment came in about that subject and I think it’s a great idea, but I’d like to hear what some of you think.

What kind of format? All classes? Scoring method?

Send me some of your thoughts!