Blaney Wins Hartford Feature With Last-Lap Pass
                            By Richard Day
    HARTFORD, MI (May 19) - Dave Blaney had a long list of people to
thank after his miraculous victory in the Skoal Outlaw Series'
inaugural event at Hartford Speedway Sunday.
    Ironically, Stevie Smith was at the top of the list. It was Smith
who showed "The Buckeye Bullet" the move he used to pass Mark Kinser
in the fourth corner on the final lap for the $6,000 victory.
    "I guess I should thank Stevie for showing me that," Blaney told
the World of Outlaws points leader after the race. "I'd have never
moved up there if he hadn't passed me there."
    Smith, the first driver in the 24-car field to notice that the
middle of Hartford's high-banked, 1/2-mile oval was taking rubber,
used an outside move in turn four to pass the defending Skoal Outlaw
Series champion for fourth place late in the 12th lap.
    Blaney used a similar move in the same spot to return the favor
the next time around. He also passed Joey Saldana and Joe Roe with the
move before the only caution of the day tightened the field with eight
laps remaining.
    Joe Gaerte was in 10th place when his #3G Maxim suffered a flat
right rear tire, forcing him to stop in the third corner late in the
18th lap.
    "During the caution, I kept expecting Karl (Kinser, Mark's father,
car owner and crew chief) to signal to Mark to move up on the track,"
Blaney said. "But I guess they didn't really need to change anything;
nobody had challenged him the whole race."
    Kinser used the two backmarkers restarting between him and Blaney
as a cushion and opened a seemingly insurmountable 15-car-length
advantage within four laps. "The Buckeye Bullet" caught Kinser late in
the 24th lap, and almost passed him high in the fourth corner as they
headed for the white flag.
    Blaney chased Kinser through turns one and two, and raced wheel-
to-wheel with him down the back straightaway before bringing the
capacity crowd to its feet as he steered the #10 Vivarin J&J around
Mark in the fourth corner. Blaney, Kinser and Smith were bumper-to-
bumper as they took the checkered flag.
    "I thought I could get by Mark there, but I couldn't get close
enough to him until the end," Blaney said. "Lapped traffic made it
tough for me to catch him, but then it helped me late in the race."
    Blaney was fortunate to even start the "A" Feature in the first
five rows. His 19.998-second qualifying lap was only the 11th-fastest
in the 41-car field and was .616 seconds off Mark's record-setting
pace. Jac Haudenschild, Joe Gaerte and Brett Mann finished out of the
top five in the Quaker State Heat Races, however, giving Blaney a spot
in the Vivarin Dash. "The Buckeye Bullet" earned the right to start
the 25-lap main event outside the third row by finishing sixth in the
five-lap race.
    Kinser received his eighth EcoWater Quick-Time Award of the year
after turning a 19.382-second qualifying run.
    Mark was turning laps faster than his record-setting pace during
the first seven laps of the main event. He started on the pole and
opened a 10-car-length lead within three laps and was a half-
straightaway ahead of his closest pursuers three laps later. He drove
the #5M Wirtgen Maxim into lapped traffic during the eighth lap.
Having made easy work of the backmarkers, Kinser was a full
straightaway ahead of the field with 12 laps remaining.
    Andy Hillenburg finished the "A" Feature in fourth place, ahead of
Roe, Jeff Swindell, Saldana, 18th-starting Steve Kinser, second-quick
Jim Carr and Haudenschild.
    Smith, Kim Mock, Lance Blevins and Sammy Swindell won the Quaker
State Heat Races, while Gaerte edged "The Wild Child" in the "B"
Feature. WoO
              1996 World of Outlaws/Skoal Outlaw Series
                   Hartford Speedway, Hartford, MI
                 Sunday, May 19, Feature Program #15
    Qualifications:  1. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 19.382 (new one-lap
record); 2. Jim Carr, McCarr 7M, 19.582; 3. Joe Roe, Roe 61, 19.690;
4. Joey Saldana, Roth 83, 19.696; 5. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2,
19.700; 6. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 19.756; 7. Brett Mann, Mann 19,
19.778; 8. Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 19.869; 9. Stevie Smith, Motter 71M,
19.883; 10. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11H, 19.922; 11. Dave Blaney, Luna 10,
19.998; 12. Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 20.020; 13. Jimmy Sills,
Stanton 75, 20.043; 14. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 20.055; 15.
Randy Kinser, Kinser 14, 20.070; 16. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1,
20.085; 17. Danny Lasoski, Forbrook 5, 20.102; 18. Steve Kinser,
Kinser 11, 20.323; 19. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 20.390; 20. Mike
Frost, Frost 88, 20.424; 21. Raymond Hensley, Hensley 70H, 20.447; 22.
Kim Mock, Mock 1M, 20.454; 23. Bob Adamson, Adamson 2A, 20.496; 24.
Dale Peterson, Peterson 5P, 20.518; 25. Darrell Dodd, Dodd 11D,
20.525; 26. Larry Hillerud, Hillerud 51, 20.590; 27. Al Schmidt,
Schmidt 25S, 20.775; 28. Mark Stamen, Stamen 17S, 20.789; 29. Ricky
Hood, Herrera 45x, 20.820; 30. Howie Gleason, Gleason 21G, 21.164; 31.
Paul Anderson, Anderson 24, 21.372; 32. Fred Ebler, Ebler 64, 21.373;
33. Frank Filsko, Filsko 27F, 21.502; 34. Ken Ratchford, Ratchford 5K,
21.593; 35. Bud Briggs, Briggs 3G, 21.639; 36. Brain Paulus, P&P
Motorsports 28, 21.696; 37. Robert Huisken, Huisken 46, 21.735; 38.
Terry Chesak, Chesak 28, 22.358; 39. Jim Walkanoff, Walkanoff 13,
22.817; 40. Ken Nickels, Wiser Racing 8, 23.670; 41. Tom Davies,
Davies 44, 23.948.
    First Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Stevie Smith, 2.
Danny Lasoski, 3. Mark Kinser, 4. Jimmy Sills, 5. Andy Hillenburg, 6.
Raymond Hensley, 7. Ricky Hood, 8. Robert Huisken, 9. Tom Davies, 10.
Darrell Dodd, 11. Frank Filsko. (first five qualified for the "A"
Feature)
    Second Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Kim Mock, 2. Greg
Hodnett, 3. Steve Kinser, 4. Jim Carr, 5. Jeff Swindell, 6. Jac
Haudenschild, 7. Larry Hillerud, 8. Terry Chesak, 9. Howie Gleason,
10. Ken Ratchford. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)
    Third Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Lance Blevins, 2.
Bob Adamson, 3. Joe Roe, 4. Randy Kinser, 5. Dave Blaney, 6. Paul
Anderson, 7. Al Schmidt, 8. Bud Briggs, 9. Brett Mann, 10. Jim
Walkanoff. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature)
    Fourth Quaker State Heat Race (eight laps):  1. Sammy Swindell, 2.
Dale Peterson, 3. Mike Frost, 4. Johnny Herrera, 5. Joey Saldana, 6.
Joe Gaerte, 7. Brian Paulus, 8. Mark Stamen, 9. Fred Ebler, 10. Ken
Nickels. (first five qualified for the "A" Feature) Vivarin Dash (five
    laps):  1. Mark Kinser, 2. Joe Roe, 3. Jim Carr, 4. Joey Saldana,
5. Andy Hillenburg, 6. Dave Blaney, 7. Greg Hodnett, 8. Stevie Smith.
(finish determined the first eight starting positions in the "A"
Feature)
    B Feature (12 laps):  1. Joe Gaerte, 2. Jac Haudenschild, 3. Brett
Mann, 4. Raymond Hensley, 5. Mark Stamen ($210); 6. Larry Hillerud
($185); 7. Al Schmidt ($160); 8. Ricky Hood ($110); 9. Brian Paulus
($100); 10. Terry Chesak ($90); 11. Howie Gleason ($70); 12. Robert
Huisken ($60); 13. Bud Briggs ($60); 14. Tom Davies ($60); 15. Paul
Anderson ($60); 16. Darrell Dodd ($60); 17. Fred Ebler ($60); 18.
Frank Filsko ($60); 19. Ken Ratchford ($60); 20. Jim Walkanoff ($60);
21. Ken Nickels ($60). (first four qualified for the "A" Feature)
    A Feature (25 laps):  1. Dave Blaney ($6,010); 2. Mark Kinser
($3,510); 3. Stevie Smith ($2,510); 4. Andy Hillenburg ($2,210); 5.
Joe Roe ($2,110); 6. Jeff Swindell ($2,010); 7. Joey Saldana ($1,610);
8. Steve Kinser ($1,510); 9. Jim Carr ($1,410); 10. Jac Haudenschild
($1,330); 11. Brett Mann ($1,180); 12. Sammy Swindell ($1,110); 13.
Greg Hodnett ($1,060); 14. Joe Gaerte ($1,030); 15. Danny Lasoski
($710); 16. Johnny Herrera ($510); 17. Jimmy Sills ($410); 18. Lance
Blevins ($410); 19. Randy Kinser ($410); 20. Bob Adamson ($410); 21.
Raymond Hensley ($430); 22. Mike Frost ($410); 23. Dale Peterson
($410); 24. Kim Mock ($410).
            Lap leaders:  Mark Kinser 1-24, Dave Blaney 25
            EcoWater Quick-Time Award winner:  Mark Kinser
                                 WoO