Mackey, Sroufe & Heath take season championship features
Report & Photo by Jim Fisher

Season championships were held at Butler (Mi.) Motor Speedway on Saturday night, with Ken Mackey in winged sprints, Terry Sroufe in late models and Glenn Heath in street stocks earning feature victories. Mackey and Sroufe were also crowned points champions in their divisions, while Eric Wilson took the street stock points title.

Mackey's sprint car title is his fifth, with previous championships in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1996. Denny Donaldson, now a member of the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame, is the only other open wheel driver in the track's history to claim five championships. Donaldson's titles came in the 70s. The sprint car division title came down to the final feature of the season, as Mackey and Bob Thoms each entered the race with a shot at the championship. Thoms needed a feature win and some tough luck on Mackey's part, while Mackey needed to finish third or better to be assured of the
title.

The feature was lined up by points order, with Mackey on the pole and Thoms starting on the outside of the front row. Thoms looked like a driver on a mission early, and quickly shot into the lead, and by lap four had reached lapped traffic. Mackey challenged low on several restarts through the midway point of the 30-lap feature, but each time Thoms drove away to a sizeable lead.

Chuck Wilson, who started 14th on the grid, spent much of the first half of the race working his way to the front. By lap 15 the three-time track champ had moved to fifth and then passed Bevard and Chuck Mohr over the next three
laps to move into the top three.  The front three began a spirited battle, with Wilson first able to get past
Mackey, and then pulling alongside Thoms in lapped traffic with just five laps remaining. Thoms was able to hold off Wilson's charge, but two laps later he spun and made contact with the turn four wall after being slowed by another lapped car. The tail end of the incident also claimed Wilson, with Mackey inheriting the lead. He easily led the final three laps to claim the win - and his fifth title. Besides his points title, it was the fourth consecutive year that Mackey has claimed the season championship feature race.  Bob Dooley came from a 15th-place starting position to second at the finish.  Mark Boyer was third, with Chuck Mohr fourth and Ronnie Beale fifth. Mike Koss was sixth, with Gerry Hart seventh, Corey Bevard eighth, Roger Spieth ninth and Raymond Shank tenth. Greg Wheeler won the 'B' Main.

The late model feature was a classic in every sense, with three different drivers leading various stages of the event and Sroufe using a late-race pass for the win.  Sroufe started on the inside of the front row, but the two outside rows of
second-starting Tim Wilber and fourth-starting Terry Wilber blew by on the start. Tim Wilber opened up an early lead, but lapped traffic slowed his pace on lap seven, with Terry able to sneak past.  Terry Wilber led until lap 13, when lapped traffic again came into play, with Tim passing for the lead. Terry got sideways attempting to get past the
lapped car, and spun in turn three, with the incident also claiming the fourth-place car of Brian Ruhlman.  The top five in the restart order were Tim Wilber, Sroufe, Jeff Petsch, George Lindsey and Mark Dowdy. Tim Wilber and Sroufe pulled away under green and began a heated battle that would last the remaining 17 laps.  With 11 laps to go, Sroufe ducked under in turn three, only to see Wilber hold off his charge on the high side. Sroufe challenged numerous times on the low side during the final stages, and then as the lead duo were just about to enter the final lap, Sroufe shot high in turns three and four and drove past to secure the win.

Sroufe entered the race with the title already wrapped up. It is his first points title at Butler, and ends the reign of Logan Beckwith, which had taken late model titles is 1998 and 1999.  Tim Wilber was second in the feature finish, and was also second in the final late model standings. Lindsey finished third, with Petsch fourth, Lynn Beckwith fifth, Dowdy sixth, Linc Stevens seventh, Randy Archer eighth, Rick Swartout ninth and Jim O'Neil tenth. George Baker took the 'B' Main.

Eric Wilson entered the 30-lap season championship street stock division with his first title already in the bag. Wilson spun while attempting a pass for the lead on lap two and had to work his way back through the field for a third place finish.

Glenn Heath, a former two-time champion in the division, was awarded the victory after Fred Speck failed a post race inspection. Randy Nichols was second, followed by Wilson, Joel Sherman and Don Kittle. Rounding out the top
ten were Jack Redding, Shawn Perkins, Jeff Wadsworth, Frank Weller and Shawn McFeters. 'B' Mains went to Mark Budd and John Kulikowski.

Butler has two events remaining on the schedule. The 'Dealer Choice' takes place from September 26-30 and the season ends with the Fall Classic on October 20-21.