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Speedway: Journeyman earns first sprint win in eight years
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FarkRAPID CITY — Mike Pennel followed in some famous footsteps celebrating his first 360 Sprint car feature victory in eight years Friday night at Black Hills Speedway.
After withstanding a charge by Clint Anderson of Belle Fourche, Pennel pumped his fists, turned a reverse ‘Polish’ victory lap (coined by the late NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki); scaled the retaining wall catch-fencing (ala NASCAR’s Tony Stewart and Indycar’s Helio Castroneves), and then stood atop the wing of his No. 3 to exult with fans cheering every move.
He declined the Carl Edwards back flip and also thought the better of pulling his No. 3 into a series of tire-smoking doughnuts (originated by Indy and Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi).
“I figured if I got in the infield and threw rocks all over the place, they’d be mad at me,” he said.
Still it was a fitting fete for a long-time journeyman who races on the thinnest of shoestrings, his cars often second-hand and patchwork, often with spare engines that are more metal repair epoxy than original casting.
Pennel himself has been battling illness this year, including a partial and permanent loss of sight in his left eye as a result of violent crash here several years ago that ripped his car in two.
Pennel survived a restart to open up a straightaway lead on Anderson. Rookie D.J. Brink was a solid third, followed by Danielle Ossenfort, driving a completely rebuilt car after last Sunday’s hard tumble at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon.
“He (Anderson) got on the outside of me and ran me hard into (turns) one and two. I thought he might have a good shot off of two,” Pennel said.
“I knew if I didn’t make a mistake getting into turn three, even with him on the outside, I knew there wasn’t much coming out of turn four. “If I held my line, he was going to have to get around me on the outside,” he said.
Pennel’s current ride is a hand-me-down, but with a pedigree, an ex-Tony Stewart Motorsports sprinter once chauffeured by World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski, with a fresh 360 powerplant built by Austin Gillette of Belle Fourche.
“I’ve needed horsepower for a long time and now we’ve got a good motor. It was me not overdriving it. I made that mistake last week and went backwards,” Pennel said.
Darrell Brink looked to be a strong contender, but retired the Wurl-Hopkins’ No. 90 with a broken oil filter.
“If Darrell hadn’t broke, I don’t know that we could have caught him,” Pennel said.
James Hughes of Rapid City also said he had to work for his third Wissota Super Stock feature win of the year. Hughes worked his way to the front, then kept his No. 93 in front of Ken Rose, Tim Starkey, Kevin Aga and Doug Pudwill.
“Ken Rose made me earn that baby,” Hughes said. “I thought he had me there for sure a couple of times.”
“Any time you can hold Ken off on a dry-slick track, it’s a good night,” Hughes said
“Spiderman’ Dan Henrikson passed Brent Nielsen en route to his first feature of the year in the sparsely populated Wissota Late Model division.
With other local competitors racing at the Dacotah Rumble in Aberdeen, Henrikson debuted a rebuilt engine in his No. 97 and outran Scott Anderson, Nielsen, Les Stadel (driving a backup car with son Mike racing in Aberdeen) and Jamie Stanton.
Henrikson said the new engine lost oil pressure, forcing him to shut it down right at the finish.
“I know we were losing oil. When you spend two months on a new motor, you don’t want to ruin it on the first night back,” he said. “We’ll have to check it out and then hopefully finish out the year strong.”
Mark Brave made it two in a row in the Wissota Street Stock division, hustling his Marty Brave prepared No. 66 Buick past Vince Comer with four laps left.
“It’s coming together,” Mark Brave said. “This is the first time ever for me winning two in a row in four or five years of racing.”
Comer was second, followed by Philip’s Andy Fitzgerald, who recovered from an early flat tire, followed by point leader Louis “Lucky Lou” Vocu of Kyle, and Marlin Davey.
Tyler Mills of Rapid City was flagged the winner of the Mini-Sprint feature, with “Super Dave” Muller, Jeff Mount, John Garrigan, Jr. and Travis McDonnell of Wall in the top five.
But Mills’ official celebration of his first-ever feature win was delayed pending resolution of a post-race teardown for the second straight week.
His No. 14 was later declared legal, as was Garrigan’s No. 95J after a post-race protest last week.
Mike Pennel (3) and Clint Anderson of Belle Fourche battle for the lead during Friday night's 360 Sprint feature at Black Hills Speedway. (Jim Holland/Journal staff)
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