‘Wild Child’ shows mettle in WCS thriller
- Tom Rife: Livin' the Team
- June 17, 2021
- 745
Monday Night Baseball? Who needs it when a troupe of the best winged sprint car drivers in the country are stirring up dust at your local dirt track?
Those who packed the grandstands at Orrville’s Wayne County Speedway — the majority wearing colorful Jac “Wild Child” Haudenschild T-shirts and hats in support of their soon-to-retire hero — seemed to agree nothing hits the spot quite like an evening of slip and slide at any oval within driving distance.
The big show earlier this week was the Duffy Smith Memorial Race, which served as round three of the FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions/Ohio Sprint Speedweek series for 2021.
Yes, an appearance by NASCAR’s red-hot Kyle Larson helped pull in the fans too. After all, it was just the previous night that he won the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race in Texas — and a sizzling winner’s check of $1 million.
Larson wasn’t about to take Monday off, though. After competing in the 26th Dirt Late Model Dream at the storied Eldora Speedway in Western Ohio — and then bagging all the loot Sunday in Texas — Larson demonstrated his passion for racing by making the quick trip to Orrville.
Clearly, though, the good wishes were for Wooster’s Haudenschild, the 63-year-old currently in the midst of his Farewell Tour at the wheel of the familiar yellow, Pennzoil-sponsored No. 22 machine. The car is owned by fellow racer Rico Abreu of St. Helena, California, who has made the “Wild Child’s” final season possible by adding an entire second team in honor of his No. 1 driver.
Haudenschild, in his 48th season overall, started the night by tagging the backstretch guard rail during the hot-laps session. Some said the racing kingpin was merely testing out the “Haud line” as he spun into the infield near the entrance to turn three. Haudenschild is known for his love of racing as close to the wall as possible.
The night’s 35-lap A main was something special, for sure, as elder stateman Haudenschild qualified fourth on the starting grid, with Abreu and Larson farther back.
Ultimately, it was Larson, the 28-year-old Californian, who was able to drive up through the field from his 10th spot to claim the $6,000 winner’s check (obviously a mere pittance when compared to his payday in Texas). Haudenschild and Larson put on quite a show for a number of laps, with the local star holding “Yung Money” at bay.
Larson finally, with just five laps remaining, was able to take the lead away from recent high school graduate Zeb Wise from Angola, Indiana. It was Larson’s 25th career win in the All Star Circuit of Champions, which is owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart.
That Haudenschild was third across the finish line was a testament to the fearless wheel man’s unyielding desire to run up front against challengers decades younger. As he said in his recent interview for a Wooster Weekly cover story, he’s not on the track just to make laps.
So he drove his rear end off all night, demonstrating to all that he’s focused on rewarding his loyal, longtime followers — and Abreu, who finished sixth — with checkered flags.
Ironically, Jac himself wasn’t rewarded for his all-out effort.
Most of Haud’s exuberant fans headed for the exits Monday night believing their hero had, indeed, bagged that inspiring third-place finish.
Later, they would find out Haudenschild was sidetracked by an unpopular ruling handed down by ASCofC officials. In a nutshell Jac was disqualified and relegated to 24th among the 24 A main starters.
“Wild Child” reportedly was penalized by the ASCofC for not going directly to the scales following the race. As he had done for years and years at WCS, he instinctively took the exit lane toward the pit area, where normally, the scales would be located. For this race, however, the scales had been relocated to the infield. Witnesses said Haudenschild never actually left the track or got out of his car. After being made aware of his mistake, they said he backed the Pennzoil No. 22 into the infield for the mandatory weigh-in, which the car passed.
Series officials stuck to their guns, however, and when the final results appeared on websites such as SprintCarUSA, Haudenschild was shown 24th. On Tuesday the ASCofC decision was met with harsh criticism on social media. Fans voiced their opinion that Haudenschild deserved better in what may well have been his last race on his home track in that history-making car. He could appear again later in the No. 6 machine owned by Jamie Miller.
To his credit, Haudenschild put Monday’s heartbreak behind him, choosing to travel eastward Tuesday to the slick Sharon Speedway for Speedweek event No. 4. He qualified 14th-fastest and ultimately finished seventh among the 17 starters in the B main. The A main was won by Danny Dietrich of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Larson, incidentally, wound up fourth.
Haudenschild and Abreu plan to run the legendary No. 22 Pennzoil car in about 20 more Farewell Tour events this season.