Back Home Again in Belleville (part 3)

BELLEVILLE, Kan. -- Post race festivities were for the most part centered just outside the northwest corner of the pool in city park. The well publicized “Camp Fun” hosted virtual who’s who gathering of party goers had the stamina and staying power the one the night before lacked. I won’t name any names but if you go to www.highbanks.org and click on the link for “committee members” I will say that I counted between 98 and 99% of them as attendees. The gathering was still going strong when I crawled into the Neon at 4:00 AM.

The fury of Hatton’s out of the ballpark wreck brought back a ten year old Midget Nationals memory. It is hard to believe it has been 10 years since Jimmy Sills had his “big one” here on the Highbanks and – additionally - that 10 years have passed already since the inaugural Brickyard 400. The two memories are linked since Randy Frank and I spent the afternoon watching the race from Sill’s hospital room.

Hatton fared much better from his wreck than Sills did. As spectacular as it was and perhaps a little hard to believe Hatton’s excursion out of the ballpark in addition to not having his car catch on fire probably contributed significantly to his relatively quick release from the Republic County Hospital. Sills had built up such a lead when his right rear tire went down heading into turn one before his wreck started that by the time the drivers behind him got to the corner and realized he was sitting at a near dead stop smack dab in the middle of the fastest groove of the racetrack they were unable to do anything to avoid him. Sills was hit by both Robby Flock and Robert Dolacki with enough force to pin him inside the car with multiple broken ribs.

The story comes up every now and then that someone had snuck whiskey into Sills on Saturday afternoon while he lay in his hospital bed. Truth be told it wasn’t whiskey but peppermint schnapps. Frank asked Sills if they had given him good enough drugs and he quickly replied “man I could go for a shot of whiskey.” Frank quickly replied that he had a bottle of schnapps (Randy ALWAYS had peppermint schnapps somewhere on his possession back in those days) in the truck and Sills started asking the nurse if he could have some. The nurse didn’t find the exchange humorous at all and flatly denied Sill’s liquor request.

Innovative guy that Frank is he didn’t let something like a humorless nurse deter him from helping out a friend in need. So all he did was walk out of the hospital with a clear plastic tumbler filled with water that was then re-filled in the parking lot with schnapps and stealthily carried right back in much to the delight of Sills. We cheered on Jeff Gordon as Sills sipped the schnapps in between dozing off every now and then only to wake up long enough to manage a “go Jeff” until he was asleep for good.

The word around town this Saturday afternoon was that Hatton had actually fared better from the crash than Teddy Beach did. Beach apparently managed to have his shoulder injured enough to where he will be out of competition for a while. Rumor had it that Hatton actually had designs on hustling back to Sun Prairie, Wis., to race at Angell Park Sunday evening.

Saturday afternoon of the Belleville Midget Nationals is the most bittersweet day of the year for me. Not being able to put the breaks on the time that quickly slips away and leads to the reality that it will all be over way too quickly can be overwhelming at times. Some friends who share similar feelings for Belleville have confided in me that I am not alone in that respect.

The auction that benefits the HBHoF kicked the day’s events off at 11:00 AM. Very well run by real auctioneers the event had a final tally that exceeded the $10,000 mark and easily made it the most successful benefit auction to date. The late Jim Roper’s (first ever NASCAR stockcar series event winner) motorhome was donated and someone stole the well running RV for a paltry $5,000. While a bargain for the winning bidder the $5K was easily the single highest amount paid for any item in the auction.

If the town, the history, the race, the hospitality, the NCK Free Fair, the parties, or the HBHoF aren’t enough to win you over into Belleville’s corner then a trip to the Boyer Gallery should do the trick. In fact I will go as far as saying this: If you leave Belleville without stopping to see Paul Boyer’s animated motion displays you should be pulled over and cited by the police.

Until you have seen what is in that gallery just a block south of the racetrack on M street and understand the nature of the reality of how they come to exist you will be denying yourself the opportunity to witness one of the many wonders of the world. The Boyer Gallery has an effect over me similar to that of magnetic attraction. A trip to Belleville JUST to see the Boyer Gallery alone would be a worthwhile one.

The Belleville High School marching band plays throughout the evening each night of the Nationals. They are located between the historic covered limestone grandstands that dominate the scene in turn one and the newer metal grandstands that run the length of the front stretch. Add the carnival rides behind the stands and you have what has to be one of the best backdrops for a racing event. The atmosphere is probably as close as any of us under 40 will ever get to experiencing what racing was like during the late forty’s to mid to late fifty’s.

Even after hot lap sessions, 4 heat races, and the pole dash (which put Jay Drake on the pole of the finale) the racing surface was nearly pull-your-shoes-off tacky by the time they shoved off the b-main. Friday night quick qualifier Johnny Rodriguez was benefiting from the fast, passing-free, and single-groove nature of the B-Main with a solid second place spot secured until he coasted to a stop on the front stretch on lap six. All was not lost for Rodriguez, however, as whatever failed turned not to be terminal and he was able to utilize a provisional to start dead last in the finale. Matt Hummel led flag to flag to win the 15-lap event.

No efforts were made to pack the top part of the racetrack in before lining the cars up on the front straightaway for driver introductions. The racing surface was tacky up to a soft and deep cushion that was at least 4 car-widths away from the fence when the lights were turned off. The green flag was thrown at 10:25 on the 40-lap Midget Nationals finale under a full moon in a cloudless sky.

The track was wicked fast and Bobby East jumped out to a quick 10-car advantage over Davey Ray. The lapping process had begun and Ray was starting to make progress on the leader when his drive train locked up, taking the Mopar Powerplant with it on the backstretch and bringing out the second caution of the event on lap 27.

Hero or zero time started as soon as the green flag fell and it didn’t take long for things to get ugly. Ron Gregory was the beneficiary of contact on lap 20 that sent him gyrating up the racetrack between turns one and two that sent him out of the racetrack without so much as glancing the guardrail on the way out. The incident was eerily similar to the racing-career-ending turn one crash of Shane Scully two years ago. Like Scully Gregory’s car was narrowly contained by the ancient fence that separates the base of the banking of the racetrack from the 4H barns just a few hundred feet away on the other side.

With the exception of a brief yellow flag for a slowing Don Droud Jr. the final 10 laps went non-stop. Bob East’s kid was out front and Drake was going to need a miracle or lapped traffic in order to pass him because he was at least 10 car-lengths behind and neither gaining nor losing ground. Neither traffic nor miracles came to Drake’s aid and the younger East shook the prelim victory bug to pick up another Belleville Midget Nationals Championship for his father and Steve Lewis. East, like all the rest of us, gets to wait approximately 360 days to come back home to Belleville for a chance to do it all again.

Source: