Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, July 13, 2008
Speedway: Carlson wins; barbs exchanged after race
 Steve Carlson |
WEST SALEM, Wis. — There were a few choice, and definitely unexpected, words said immediately after the Late Model feature race, several hot tempers that flared in the Sportsman pit area, and a closed-door post-race inspection.
Oh, and Steve Carlson won yet another Kwik Trip Late Model feature race before the largest crowd of the season — estimated at 3,500 — at the
La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway on Saturday night. While Carlson has made a habit of winning feature races — it was his 11th victory over the past two seasons — this was far from just another weekly racing night at the tradition-rich track.
This season, as Kevin Nuttleman pointedly said, is going to get interesting.
While Carlson once again showed his velvet-smooth touch by jumping to the high groove and piloting his No. 66 car through the curves as carefully as a guy might shave around his Adam’s apple, what happened after Carlson crossed the line probably caught a number of folks by surprise.
Nuttleman, a 10-time track champion who finished third behind Brent Kirchner, was none to happy with Kirchner’s driving, and the normally reserved and low-key Nuttleman said so during a post-race interview with the track announcer on the front stretch of the track.
“He was slamming the door there pretty hard,” Nuttleman said of Kirchner, who refused to budge when Nuttleman had the nose of his car underneath Kirchner’s car several times entering the turns. “I don’t like when people drive like that. I wouldn’t drive that way.”
Kirchner, who has won one feature this season and has earned consecutive runner-up finishes, didn’t back down on the track or off it.
“It was a good race. We should have won the thing, plain and simple,” said Kirchner, who led the first 17 laps of the 25-lap feature. “We just missed it (the setup) a little. We came back and ran Kevin hard. I wasn’t going to give it up. It must have been OK because they (flagman) never gave me the laning flag or anything.
“If he wants to race hard, all I say is bring it on.”
Nuttleman was back to his normal low-key self in his pit area, but he didn’t back down from his comments. He said he was trying to be “as politically correct” as possible while speaking to the crowd.
“I don’t run anyone that way, and I usually don’t say too much about it,” Nuttleman said later. “He was holding me down pretty good. I had two tires in the grass in (turns) three and four.”
While the Nuttleman-Kirchner battle will be interesting to watch during next week’s special 50-lap Late Model feature, the real question is this: Can anyone slow down, or catch, Steve Carlson?
“We’re always working on it (getting better),” Carlson said. “The last few weeks we’ve been working on corner speed. We’re getting better. We’ve been out here since 10 a.m. with all three cars, working on things. Testing and working on them, that’s the key.”
Driving talent doesn’t hurt, and Carlson is certainly in a groove. After a clean sweep two weeks ago — he qualified first, won his heat, then the feature — Carlson nearly recorded another improbable sweep. He qualified first and won the feature, but lost his heat by a few feet to Stoddard’s Paul Proksch.
SPORTSMAN: West Salem’s Jimmy Gilster won his second feature of the season in the North Country Contractors Sportsman Division, as he edged Jerimy Wagner. Brandon Berg took third, while points leader Nick Clements was fourth. Matt Inglett rounded out the top five.
THUNDERSTOX: Cole Scholze won the United Auto Supply Thunderstox Division feature race, but he didn’t get to take the first-place trophy home. Scholze was disqualified in a post-race inspection when tech officials ruled his car had illegal camber (angle of front tires). That left Jason Schaller, who was second on the track, as the official winner.
Tim Steinhoff finished third, but his car was disqualified for the same infraction as Scholze’s. That allowed Jason Stark to grab the official second-place finish, while Adam Moore took third.
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
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