Strange journey from Mars
BUFFALO TWP — From flat tire to cloud nine.
Such was the 100-lap journey for Jimmy Mars Saturday night at Lernerville Speedway.
The driver of the No. 28 car from Menomonie. Wisc., rode an improbable course to victory lane in the Firecracker 100 World of Outlaws Late Model race and took home the $30,000 winner's check for his troubles.
"I made a mistake on tires Friday and qualified terribly," Mars said. "I didn't know what kind of weekend I was gonna have."
Mars was only the 30th fastest car in qualifying Friday night. His weekend worsened on the 27th lap of the Firecracker 100 when another car rolled over his back, flattening one of his tires.
"That was it. I figured I was done right there," Mars said. "The way cars were running into each other early in this race, it was like this was a 20-lapper, not 100.
"That was more like demo cars than race cars."
There were six restarts in the first 25 laps of the feature, only two in the final 72 laps.
Once the race settled down, Mars settled in.
"The last few laps, Jimmy had the best car on the track," third-place finisher Earl Pearson Jr. said. "Nobody was going to catch him."
Mars started the feature from the 18th position. After his tire change, he returned to the track and went to work, picking off car after car.
By the 77th lap restart, he was fourth. Darrell Lanigan was the race leader from Lap 10 — when he overtook fellow front-row starter Steve Francis — to Lap 94.
But Mars was coming. And Lanigan knew it.
"My car was getting pretty loose out there and I saw Jimmy on the outside lane," Lanigan said. "I was too loose at the end to hold him off."
Lanigan settled for second. He was the fastest qualifier of the weekend, won his heat race and drew the pole position — but has still never won a race at Lernerville.
He has finished second five times on the Outlaws tour this season.
"It's really aggravating," Lanigan said. "You race to win, not for points."
Pearson won his B-Main, started 20th and wound up third.
"This was a boost for my team," he said. "We'd been struggling, finishing 15th to 20th. It was good to get back to the pits and see everybody smiling.
"Lately, it's been like ... Let's load the stuff up and leave."
Mars won his ninth feature overall this year, but his first on the Outlaws tour. He began the weekend 42nd in WoO series points.A 22-year racing veteran, Mars, 37, has also won 100-lap races in Arkansas, Minnesota and his home state of Wisconsin during his career."Coming from the back, I was just trying to pace myself," Mars said. "Follow the guys in front of me and if I saw a clear opening, go for it."It was definitely crazy out there. I got shook up with five laps go go. I thought I was gonna puke in my helmet, I got all nerved up. Fortunately, I was able to hold my emotions in check."The last five laps, all I wanted to do was hold my line and not screw up," he added.Only 13 of the 28 cars in the Firecracker 100 field finished the 100 laps. The lone local driver to do so was Franklin's Matt Lux, who finished 13th.Robbie Blair of Titusville, who was leading his heat race Friday when his car just quit, missed qualifying for the Firecracker by two spots in his B-Main. He wound up winning the Uncle Sam 30 and the $3,000 that came with it."I almost decided against even racing today," Blair said. "We were out of pretty much everything and I have to be ready for next week. Obviously, I'm glad we decided to go for it."Dave Murdick of Slippery Rock finished fourth in the C-Main, the last transfer spot to a B-Main. He started the Uncle Sam 30 from the 12th position, finished fifth and nearly got third."That's not bad considering we had a broken car," Murdick said. "I drove the last 10 laps with a broken bar and a really loose wheel. I wasn't sure if it was gonna be able to finish."Murdick is only in his sercond full season of driving a Late Model."I like where our program's at," he said. "With some luck, we may be able to win a couple of features this year."<B>Notes:</B> The Firecracker 100 feature lasted exactly one hour. ... Tim McCreadie, whose surgically repaired back from January held up to a violent flip Friday night, saw his night end with a broken drive shaft incurred during the C-Main Saturday. ... Three local drivers — Mike Blose, Lux and Dave Hess Jr. — earned the three transfer spots from the first B-Main. ... The second row of the second B-Main featured two teenagers, Austin Hubbard, 18, and Tyler Reddick, 14, but neither qualified for the Firecracker. ... Shane Clanton and Russell King were Outlaw provisionals, Gregg Satterlee and Alex Ferree Lernerville provisionals for the feature.
