7/26/09
CHRIS PERLEY ETCHES HIS NAME INTO SANDUSKY HY-MILER
RECORD BOOKS WITH FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN
By Carol D Haynes, ISMA PR
Sandusky Oh – No supermodified driver had ever won four-straight Sandusky Hy-Miler 100s
going into the 32nd running of the prestigious event Saturday night. Chris Perley now had the
chance but also had his doubts. A sixth place finish in Friday night’s Fast 40, made him more
uncertain that he could be the first 4-time consecutive winner. He wasn’t the fastest in time trials
Saturday. He finished second in his heat. The Vic Miller crew set to work to make the car right. It
was about halfway into the race that Perley knew he had a chance. Later that night he stood in
victory lane with his fourth Hy-Miler trophy, the doubts erased. The Rowley, Mass. driver had
received a call on Friday that his maternal grandmother had passed away in Florida after a bout
with cancer. He chose to dedicate his record-breaking win to his “Nana.”
Said Perley in victory lane, “This is amazing. We were a little off yesterday. We worked on it today
and made some changes. The crew is pretty sharp. I didn’t think we had the car tonight. I didn’t
want to get down and disappoint the crew. By halfway I knew we had a pretty good car to win. It’s
just unbelievable. It shows how good this crew is. I was happy to put on a show for the fans. It
was kind of drawn out with the reds but it was a blast. It was fun partying. This place is great. This
place is my favorite track. I would never have believed yesterday that I would have been here
today.”
The race became a battle to the end between Perley and fast time trialer Dave Shullick Jr. Shoe II
had taken the race lead on lap 49 from Tim Ice, and built up a strong lead but Perley gradually
caught up and took the lead on lap 61 when he had the right opportunity to catch the high-flying
Ohio driver. Perley described the winning pass. “I was running behind him on a restart and I think
he got tight and couldn’t quite gas it. I popped to the outside and I think I got him then. I figured I
wouldn’t be able to get him on an open track when he was running hard.”
Shullick, who has suffered heartbreak in this race in the past, was determined to finish this one,
hopefully in first. Not only was he trying to fight for the lead, he had heavy pressure from the third
place man, Mike Lichty “We were really tight off the corner and I was playing the throttle game off.
I’d catch Chris getting in, reeling him in in the center and then coming off on the restart when he
got by me, I just couldn’t get on the gas. But it was a good race overall. I saw Lichty a couple
times on the outside and inside. I just had to fight him off. I wasn’t going to let him by me. I knew
he was coming and I knew he’d be there. It was just a good race. Two second-place finishes in
two nights is great. “
Lichty, who had broken a torque in his heat and did not make the consi, started the race in via
ISMA option in 25th. He made a spectacular effort to get to the front, moving by Russ Wood for
third on a lap 63 restart. He was able to show a wheel to Shullick several times before time ran
out. Once again he came up just short of that first ISMA win.
“After the red flag the tires just wouldn’t come in,” said the Canadian driver. “Prior to the red I
thought we had a really good race car. And, I thought we would have had something for DJ and
Perley. I don’t know the deal is with the tires. This is our third set. I don’t know what Hoosier is
doing, but I’m disappointed in the quality of the tire. We’ve had issues at Cayuga, Oswego and
last night and tonight here. That’s four batches. All in all it was a good run. I want to thank
everyone on the crew. We’ve got a lot of important people here – especially the crowd – thanks
for sticking around through this long race. If it weren’t for you guys we wouldn’t be here.”
The 32nd Hy-Miler 100 was filled with action and drama. The severe thunderstorms forecasted for
the day stayed away and allowed the race to go on as planned. Ohio’s Tim Ice, trailed by New
Hampshire rookie Jeff Locke, led the 26-car field from the start. The race was just sorting out
when the first of several reds stopped the race. On lap 12, Mark Sammut blew the rear end on the
78, leaving a trail of fluid catching up a slew of cars in the first turn, including leaders Ice and
Locke. Several cars were hooked including Jon Henes and Sammut.
After the massive cleanup, Ice and Locke restarted in their original spots as it was deemed they
were not involved directly in the caution; stopping only because the track was blocked. Ice shot
out to the lead trailed by Locke, Russ Wood, Bobby Magner, Trent Stephens and Lou Cicconi.
Locke was to fly the next yellow with a spin on lap 19. He left his second place spot for the rear.
A long green spell saw Ice out front, but not shaking his nearest competitor Russ Wood by any
means. Wood, a four-time Hy-Miler winner, had lost the motor on his 29 on Friday, jumping behind
the Eric Lewis 28 Saturday. Wood had a battle behind him ensuing between Dave Shullick Jr. and
Chris Perley. Shullick was a man on the move and he was into third by lap 31 with Perley tucked
behind. Perley said, “I followed him up through there, kind of playing cat and mouse. I said to an
interviewer earlier that it was going to be a flat out 100-lapper and it certainly turned out that way.”
Ice was able to move around some slower cars while Wood, Shullick and Perley provided an
action-packed fight for second. Magner, Trent Stephens, Lou Cicconi and now Mike Lichty were a
slight distance behind just past the lap 40 mark. Shullick didn’t waste any time moving into
second by Wood on lap 44. Several laps later, he put the Booth 61 into the lead. Perley moved
into third, still keeping Shoe II in sight. Perley moved into second on lap 52. The battle of the two
fastest time trialers was on.
Shullick knew the Rocket was there and he was able to put some lap cars in between for some
cushion, but Perley would catch up.
On lap 61, the yellow flew for Friday night’s winner Randy Burch and Perley now would have a
clean shot at the 61. Wood, Lichty, Ice, Trent Stephens, Cicconi, Schultz and Rob Summers were
all within range.
It was on this restart that Perley was ready to make his move when Shullick “got tight and couldn’
t quite gas it.” Perley was the leader on lap 62. What might have been a 40 lap lead battle to the
end had trouble materializing. Things went downhill for many from here on in. On lap 63 Danny
Lane flew the yellow for a spin. The field bunched. On lap 70, Bobby Magner brought out the
yellow for a spin. The field bunched. The driver taking the advantage now was Lichty who was
able to move into third after the first spin.
Total mayhem broke out on the restart of lap 70 when Wood and Cicconi tried to maneuver
around Jeff Holbrook’s lapped 35 just ahead of them off turn four. Holbrook got up on the fence
in the front straight with several cars including Cicconi, Tim Ice, Stephens and Jeff Abold all
ending up against the inner rail. The red flew and the ambulance crew checked out Holbrook after
the hard hit. He was okay. Ice was done, as was Cicconi. Stephens was able to rejoin the field
after repairs during the lengthy cleanup.
Perley pulled away from Shullick slightly on the restart, but Shullick was still able to keep up.
Lichty, Wood, Schulz and Timmy Jedrzejek were now the fourth through sixth players.
Lap 79 saw Friday night’s winner Randy Burch pulling the flag and joining others in the pits to
decrease the car count on the track to 17.
With 20 to go, it looked again like a clear shot for Perley to claim his fourth straight as green flag
laps allowed him to get some lap car cushion. With 10 to go, the end appeared to be in sight. But
one lap later, Trent Stephens, in an attempt to move by Ben Seitz, may have brushed slightly with
the 88, sending the 19 off the first turn so far that he cleared the tire barrier and hit the soybean
fields. Stephens was not injured but red was dropped in order for the track crew to extricate the
Stout 19 from the field.
Finally, after two hours of waiting, Chris Perley was closing in on Hy-Miler history on this final
restart. With two to go, Shoe II made one last valiant attempt at taking his first Hy-Miler win, but
was denied and actually found himself fighting off the Lichty 84 in those last laps. Russ Wood
and Charlie Schultz were still running a competitive top five at the checkered.
Wood in his borrowed ride, commented, “Another Hy-Miler. I was happy with our night. I had
gotten into a car I hadn’t driven before and to come in fourth against those guys – I think is pretty
good. We were a little tight. I’d like to thank Eric for letting me run the car. We were there. The heat
was good. It’s an excellent car. I think we did good for the time we had today. We definitely could
have made it better with some more time.”
Schultz, after starting 11th, was happy just to finish. “It was a hard earned fifth. We definitely didn’
t have the car for a fifth place tonight. We would have been lucky to be in the top eight. We just
missed on the setup for the long race. The car was decent on the long run there, but we kept
getting cautions and red flags. It turned into more of an endurance race. Unfortunately coming
down for the checkered flag I either dropped a valve or broke a rocker arm or something. So we
have a lot of work to do between the two cars before next week.”
Timmy Jedrzejek, Rob Summers, Ben Seitz, Dave McKnight and Bobby Magner finished up the
top ten.
Summary Saturday Hy-Miler
Time Trials: Fast time Dave Shullick Jr. – 14.303
Heat 1: Russ Wood, Tim Ice, Bobby Magner, Timmy Jedrzejek, Justin Belfiore, Jeff Holbrook,
Mark Sammut, Jim Paller, Gene Gibson, Kyle Edwards, Matt Palmer.
Heat 2: Charlie Schultz, Chris Perley, Rob Summers, Jeff Locke, Jeff Abold, Danny Lane, Jack
Smith, Brandon Bellinger, Dave Duggan, Mike Lichty
Heat 3: Lou Cicconi, Dave Shullick Jr., Trent Stephens, Randy Burch, Dave McKnight, Ben Seitz,
Bob Dawson, Jon Henes, Bobby Haynes, Rich Reid
Consi: Mark Sammut, Jack Smith, Bobby Dawson, Jon Henes, Brandon Bellinger, Bobby
Haynes, Matt Palmer, Jim Paller, Gene Gibson, Kyle Edwards, Dave Duggan, Mike Lichty (dns)
32nd Hy-Miler 100: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 3. Mike Lichty (84), 4. Russ Wood
(28), 5. Charlie Schultz (7), 6. Timmy Jedrzejek (8), 7. Robbie Summers (97), 8. Ben Seitz (88), 9.
Dave McKnight (94), 10. Bobby Magner (41), 11. Jack Smith (09), 12. Bobby Dawson (28x), 13. Jeff
Abold (05), 14. Jeff Locke (37), 15. Danny Lane (9), 16. Trent Stephens (19), 17. Randy Burch (49),
18. Lou Cicconi (10), 19. Tim Ice (77), 20. Jeff Holbrook (35), 21. Jon Henes (36), 22. Brandon
Bellinger (02), 23. Justin Belfiore (98), 24. Gene Lee Gibson (0), 25. Mark Sammut (78), 26. Bobby
Haynes (44).
CHRIS PERLEY ETCHES HIS NAME INTO SANDUSKY HY-MILER
RECORD BOOKS WITH FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN
By Carol D Haynes, ISMA PR
Sandusky Oh – No supermodified driver had ever won four-straight Sandusky Hy-Miler 100s
going into the 32nd running of the prestigious event Saturday night. Chris Perley now had the
chance but also had his doubts. A sixth place finish in Friday night’s Fast 40, made him more
uncertain that he could be the first 4-time consecutive winner. He wasn’t the fastest in time trials
Saturday. He finished second in his heat. The Vic Miller crew set to work to make the car right. It
was about halfway into the race that Perley knew he had a chance. Later that night he stood in
victory lane with his fourth Hy-Miler trophy, the doubts erased. The Rowley, Mass. driver had
received a call on Friday that his maternal grandmother had passed away in Florida after a bout
with cancer. He chose to dedicate his record-breaking win to his “Nana.”
Said Perley in victory lane, “This is amazing. We were a little off yesterday. We worked on it today
and made some changes. The crew is pretty sharp. I didn’t think we had the car tonight. I didn’t
want to get down and disappoint the crew. By halfway I knew we had a pretty good car to win. It’s
just unbelievable. It shows how good this crew is. I was happy to put on a show for the fans. It
was kind of drawn out with the reds but it was a blast. It was fun partying. This place is great. This
place is my favorite track. I would never have believed yesterday that I would have been here
today.”
The race became a battle to the end between Perley and fast time trialer Dave Shullick Jr. Shoe II
had taken the race lead on lap 49 from Tim Ice, and built up a strong lead but Perley gradually
caught up and took the lead on lap 61 when he had the right opportunity to catch the high-flying
Ohio driver. Perley described the winning pass. “I was running behind him on a restart and I think
he got tight and couldn’t quite gas it. I popped to the outside and I think I got him then. I figured I
wouldn’t be able to get him on an open track when he was running hard.”
Shullick, who has suffered heartbreak in this race in the past, was determined to finish this one,
hopefully in first. Not only was he trying to fight for the lead, he had heavy pressure from the third
place man, Mike Lichty “We were really tight off the corner and I was playing the throttle game off.
I’d catch Chris getting in, reeling him in in the center and then coming off on the restart when he
got by me, I just couldn’t get on the gas. But it was a good race overall. I saw Lichty a couple
times on the outside and inside. I just had to fight him off. I wasn’t going to let him by me. I knew
he was coming and I knew he’d be there. It was just a good race. Two second-place finishes in
two nights is great. “
Lichty, who had broken a torque in his heat and did not make the consi, started the race in via
ISMA option in 25th. He made a spectacular effort to get to the front, moving by Russ Wood for
third on a lap 63 restart. He was able to show a wheel to Shullick several times before time ran
out. Once again he came up just short of that first ISMA win.
“After the red flag the tires just wouldn’t come in,” said the Canadian driver. “Prior to the red I
thought we had a really good race car. And, I thought we would have had something for DJ and
Perley. I don’t know the deal is with the tires. This is our third set. I don’t know what Hoosier is
doing, but I’m disappointed in the quality of the tire. We’ve had issues at Cayuga, Oswego and
last night and tonight here. That’s four batches. All in all it was a good run. I want to thank
everyone on the crew. We’ve got a lot of important people here – especially the crowd – thanks
for sticking around through this long race. If it weren’t for you guys we wouldn’t be here.”
The 32nd Hy-Miler 100 was filled with action and drama. The severe thunderstorms forecasted for
the day stayed away and allowed the race to go on as planned. Ohio’s Tim Ice, trailed by New
Hampshire rookie Jeff Locke, led the 26-car field from the start. The race was just sorting out
when the first of several reds stopped the race. On lap 12, Mark Sammut blew the rear end on the
78, leaving a trail of fluid catching up a slew of cars in the first turn, including leaders Ice and
Locke. Several cars were hooked including Jon Henes and Sammut.
After the massive cleanup, Ice and Locke restarted in their original spots as it was deemed they
were not involved directly in the caution; stopping only because the track was blocked. Ice shot
out to the lead trailed by Locke, Russ Wood, Bobby Magner, Trent Stephens and Lou Cicconi.
Locke was to fly the next yellow with a spin on lap 19. He left his second place spot for the rear.
A long green spell saw Ice out front, but not shaking his nearest competitor Russ Wood by any
means. Wood, a four-time Hy-Miler winner, had lost the motor on his 29 on Friday, jumping behind
the Eric Lewis 28 Saturday. Wood had a battle behind him ensuing between Dave Shullick Jr. and
Chris Perley. Shullick was a man on the move and he was into third by lap 31 with Perley tucked
behind. Perley said, “I followed him up through there, kind of playing cat and mouse. I said to an
interviewer earlier that it was going to be a flat out 100-lapper and it certainly turned out that way.”
Ice was able to move around some slower cars while Wood, Shullick and Perley provided an
action-packed fight for second. Magner, Trent Stephens, Lou Cicconi and now Mike Lichty were a
slight distance behind just past the lap 40 mark. Shullick didn’t waste any time moving into
second by Wood on lap 44. Several laps later, he put the Booth 61 into the lead. Perley moved
into third, still keeping Shoe II in sight. Perley moved into second on lap 52. The battle of the two
fastest time trialers was on.
Shullick knew the Rocket was there and he was able to put some lap cars in between for some
cushion, but Perley would catch up.
On lap 61, the yellow flew for Friday night’s winner Randy Burch and Perley now would have a
clean shot at the 61. Wood, Lichty, Ice, Trent Stephens, Cicconi, Schultz and Rob Summers were
all within range.
It was on this restart that Perley was ready to make his move when Shullick “got tight and couldn’
t quite gas it.” Perley was the leader on lap 62. What might have been a 40 lap lead battle to the
end had trouble materializing. Things went downhill for many from here on in. On lap 63 Danny
Lane flew the yellow for a spin. The field bunched. On lap 70, Bobby Magner brought out the
yellow for a spin. The field bunched. The driver taking the advantage now was Lichty who was
able to move into third after the first spin.
Total mayhem broke out on the restart of lap 70 when Wood and Cicconi tried to maneuver
around Jeff Holbrook’s lapped 35 just ahead of them off turn four. Holbrook got up on the fence
in the front straight with several cars including Cicconi, Tim Ice, Stephens and Jeff Abold all
ending up against the inner rail. The red flew and the ambulance crew checked out Holbrook after
the hard hit. He was okay. Ice was done, as was Cicconi. Stephens was able to rejoin the field
after repairs during the lengthy cleanup.
Perley pulled away from Shullick slightly on the restart, but Shullick was still able to keep up.
Lichty, Wood, Schulz and Timmy Jedrzejek were now the fourth through sixth players.
Lap 79 saw Friday night’s winner Randy Burch pulling the flag and joining others in the pits to
decrease the car count on the track to 17.
With 20 to go, it looked again like a clear shot for Perley to claim his fourth straight as green flag
laps allowed him to get some lap car cushion. With 10 to go, the end appeared to be in sight. But
one lap later, Trent Stephens, in an attempt to move by Ben Seitz, may have brushed slightly with
the 88, sending the 19 off the first turn so far that he cleared the tire barrier and hit the soybean
fields. Stephens was not injured but red was dropped in order for the track crew to extricate the
Stout 19 from the field.
Finally, after two hours of waiting, Chris Perley was closing in on Hy-Miler history on this final
restart. With two to go, Shoe II made one last valiant attempt at taking his first Hy-Miler win, but
was denied and actually found himself fighting off the Lichty 84 in those last laps. Russ Wood
and Charlie Schultz were still running a competitive top five at the checkered.
Wood in his borrowed ride, commented, “Another Hy-Miler. I was happy with our night. I had
gotten into a car I hadn’t driven before and to come in fourth against those guys – I think is pretty
good. We were a little tight. I’d like to thank Eric for letting me run the car. We were there. The heat
was good. It’s an excellent car. I think we did good for the time we had today. We definitely could
have made it better with some more time.”
Schultz, after starting 11th, was happy just to finish. “It was a hard earned fifth. We definitely didn’
t have the car for a fifth place tonight. We would have been lucky to be in the top eight. We just
missed on the setup for the long race. The car was decent on the long run there, but we kept
getting cautions and red flags. It turned into more of an endurance race. Unfortunately coming
down for the checkered flag I either dropped a valve or broke a rocker arm or something. So we
have a lot of work to do between the two cars before next week.”
Timmy Jedrzejek, Rob Summers, Ben Seitz, Dave McKnight and Bobby Magner finished up the
top ten.
Summary Saturday Hy-Miler
Time Trials: Fast time Dave Shullick Jr. – 14.303
Heat 1: Russ Wood, Tim Ice, Bobby Magner, Timmy Jedrzejek, Justin Belfiore, Jeff Holbrook,
Mark Sammut, Jim Paller, Gene Gibson, Kyle Edwards, Matt Palmer.
Heat 2: Charlie Schultz, Chris Perley, Rob Summers, Jeff Locke, Jeff Abold, Danny Lane, Jack
Smith, Brandon Bellinger, Dave Duggan, Mike Lichty
Heat 3: Lou Cicconi, Dave Shullick Jr., Trent Stephens, Randy Burch, Dave McKnight, Ben Seitz,
Bob Dawson, Jon Henes, Bobby Haynes, Rich Reid
Consi: Mark Sammut, Jack Smith, Bobby Dawson, Jon Henes, Brandon Bellinger, Bobby
Haynes, Matt Palmer, Jim Paller, Gene Gibson, Kyle Edwards, Dave Duggan, Mike Lichty (dns)
32nd Hy-Miler 100: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 3. Mike Lichty (84), 4. Russ Wood
(28), 5. Charlie Schultz (7), 6. Timmy Jedrzejek (8), 7. Robbie Summers (97), 8. Ben Seitz (88), 9.
Dave McKnight (94), 10. Bobby Magner (41), 11. Jack Smith (09), 12. Bobby Dawson (28x), 13. Jeff
Abold (05), 14. Jeff Locke (37), 15. Danny Lane (9), 16. Trent Stephens (19), 17. Randy Burch (49),
18. Lou Cicconi (10), 19. Tim Ice (77), 20. Jeff Holbrook (35), 21. Jon Henes (36), 22. Brandon
Bellinger (02), 23. Justin Belfiore (98), 24. Gene Lee Gibson (0), 25. Mark Sammut (78), 26. Bobby
Haynes (44).
