It was an exciting night of racing Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway for the inaugural Bob Newton Hoosier Tire Classic. Four divisions of racing provided entertainment on the dirt surface including the Sprints on Dirt (SODs)
Series and those cars flew around the track.
Gregg Dalmer won that division with Garrett Saunders winning the Traxxas USAC 600 Restricted Winged Sprints . Randy Shilling won in the Traxxas USAC 600 Winged Sprints race and Frank Marshall picked up the win in the UMP Modified race.
NASCAR driver and analyst Kenny Wallace fell short in the Modified feature as he got caught up in a wreck during a restart on lap four. He was running seventh at the time.
Before the race started, Wallace talked a lot about what the Newton family has meant to the racing community and honored the Newton family before the green flag flew. Bob Newton, the founder of Hoosier Tire, passed away last year and Saturday’s racing was dedicated in his memory.
Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart, who supports the Newton family and Hoosier Tire, was to race in his event but couldn’t due to an injury sustained in a sprint car accident at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oksaloosa, Iowa on Aug. 5. Wallace said he was there to help out a friend.
“It looks like he’s going to be out a while,” said Wallace. “Tony was going to be here for Bob Newton and the Newton Classic. I needed to help a friend and I’m here for all of the fans.”
Right after Stewart’s accident, NASCAR reporters and analysts took to the issue of whether nor not NASCAR drivers should race in other events such as the World of Outlaws, the SODs, or any other type of Late Model or Modified racing. Wallace said drivers like Tony have earned the right to do so.
“In my opinion, Tony is a three-time Sprint Cup champion, he owns his team and earned the right to do what he wants to do. Tony is kind of like Frank Sinatra – he does it his way. Nobody tells Tony Stewart what to do. He always comes out on top and hey – I wish I could be like Tony Stewart.”
Wallace is no slouch either – he confessed that he’ll be 50 on Aug. 23 and he’s got 13 years of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing experience with almost 900 Sprint Cup starts and 540 starts in the Nationwide Series under his belt. He says he has just as much fun in a Modified car as Stewart has in his sprint car and he’s also earned that right.
