Dempsey clinches Super Late Model title

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 10, 2001

In addition to the skull and crossbones he had painted on the side of his No. 15 Super Late Model earlier in the season, Dwayne Dempsey's car was sporting a new look after racing at Sunshine Speedway on Saturday night -- a ponytail taped to the rear spoiler.

Yeah, a ponytail, and a real one, too.

Before the final race in the special Sunshine series, the St. Petersburg driver led No. 5 Brian Leverock of Seminole by a mere 14 points in the standings. The last event was the 100-lap Dayton Andrews Dodge/Leo Musgrave Memorial, and double points were on the line.

As an added incentive to the $5,000 Dempsey would win for claiming the championship, his pit crew chief, Rich Gogolen, offered to donate his pony tail if Dempsey won the series.

Big mistake.

Although they are top-notch drivers, neither Dempsey nor Leverock have much luck drawing numbers for starting positions. Leverock started eighth, Dempsey ninth.

To their chagrin, Wayne Jefferson of Pinellas Park and his Rocketship Motorsports No. 1 were on the pole. Directly behind him in the third position was the fast qualifier, No. 07 Jeff Scofield.

Before the race, only two other drivers had a shot at claiming the title: No. 22 Sammy Coghill of Largo and No. 82 Den Neighbor Jr. of Clearwater.

Oddly, Neighbor was not in the field. His father and track tech inspector, Den Neighbor Sr., said his son was "home in bed."

"He can't move," Neighbor Sr. said. "He has swollen vertebrate in his neck, and he can't get up. It couldn't happen at a worse time."

Although a few yellow flags appeared, the first 75 laps were uneventful.

As expected, Jefferson jumped out to an early lead and easily extended it between cautions. Scofield was quicker than the others, but he generally trailed Jefferson by 10 car lengths or more.

A ways back, No. 73 Billy "The Kid" Mowery of Clearwater was running a distant third, with No. 00 Dave Pletcher of Clearwater in fourth.

Starting about Lap 73, No. 2 Wayne Bowman of Clearwater was working hard to get around Pletcher on the outside. Leverock was holding on to the inside groove in fifth place, trying to pass Pletcher.

Dempsey had been scuffled to near the rear at the start of the race, but he moved up to seventh.

Coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 75, Bowman was on the outside rear of Pletcher when Leverock tapped the rear of the No. 00. Pletcher got loose, and Leverock tapped him again just before Turn 3. Pletcher headed for the wall, and he took Bowman with him.

"The Old Man (Pletcher) said he slowed so I could get by him, but I didn't have any front brakes," Leverock explained. "There was nothing I could do."

Dempsey narrowly avoided being collected and made a part of the wall. He fell in behind Leverock, where Dempsey remained for the rest of the race.

Fifteen or 20 minutes later, when the mess had been cleared and the event was ready to restart, Jefferson pulled into the pits with a flat tire.

Essentially, he was out of the race.

"My brakes got so hot, they burned a hole in my tire," a dejected Jefferson said. "Last year, the same thing happened. I led for 65 laps, and I broke. The bad luck just won't quit."

Scofield inherited the lead, stretched and kept it all the way to the checkered flag.

Mowery placed second, Leverock third, Dempsey fourth, and Citrus County Speedway points leader Herb Neumann Jr., No. 38, was fifth. Coghill took sixth.

Fourth was good enough for Dempsey and his St. Pete Jeep/Chrysler No. 15 to claim the championship.

"We won it," Dempsey said.

Then, with a crafty expression, he said, "Want to see a ponytail cut off?"

NOTES: The Super Late Model Championship may have been the biggest and most important event of the night, but the Mini Stock feature was the best race.

Tom Zimmerman, No. 55, of Largo started on the outside pole and led most of the way.

But in the final few laps, No. 10 Mike Birk Jr. of Pinellas Park, who started fifth, began moving up and pulled alongside Zimmerman.

The two battled door-to-door and were close to even at the finish line, but officials determined Birk won by a matter of a few inches. Dennis Valdez, No. 40, of Tampa was third.

Apparently, Chris Robbins of Indian Rocks Beach has fully recovered from his recent open-heart surgery.

Piloting No. 88, Robbins took the victory in the Open Wheel Modified feature, besting No. 7D Darren Jackson of Lakeland and No. 00 Pat Grimes of Largo.

In the Figure 8 class, No. 17 Bobby Moctezuma of Largo pulled off a victory over No. 94 Charlie Meyer of St. Petersburg and season points leader Ron "Hollywood" Davis, No. 89, of Pinellas Park.

Clearwater's Steve O-Lone, No. 20, claimed the victory in the Outlaw Late Model division over No. 112 Corky Craver of Pinellas Park and points leader Robby McAuliffe, No. 56, of Pinellas Park.

Dave Cleary, No. 24, picked up the Street Stock win over fellow St. Petersburg driver Dave Ochsenwald, No. 61, and Clearwater's Jeff Hill, No. 7.

In the Hornet class, a special division for drivers 16-19, No. 5 Kevin Feigenhauer was tops.

He was followed by No. 84 Ronnie Sorenson, No. 13 D.J. Clark, No. 10 Abbie Haugh and No. 68 Richard Schibler.

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