ATLANTIC CITY, NJ TQ-Midget car owner Michael Sweet
loves racing, particularly indoors at Boardwalk Hall.
Residing in the Long Island town of Merrick, he is again
teaming up with top-rated dirt Modified driver Jeff Heotzler
of Walkill, N.Y., to race at Atlantic City in the Gambler's
Classic - the weekend of January 21 & 22.
Last year, Sweet and Heotzler came close to a victory
with impressive runs on both Friday and Saturday night. It
was their debut together, and Heotzlerıs very-first time in
a TQ-Midget. Ultimately, while Heotzler was charging to the
front, they were sidelined when the mountıs overflow hose
began leaking.
"We learned a lot, and we're ready!" said
Sweet. "We have a car and driver that can win. And,
we've taken the Gambler's Bonus!"
Drivers/teams going for that bonus, such as Sweet and
Heotzler, are racing for extra cash. By posting a $100
Gambler's Entry Fee they earned the right to run for a
$5,000 first prize instead of the $2,000 that would
otherwise go to the winner.
"Most importantly, we're again racing for the
Victory Junction Gang Camp (for seriously ill
children)," Sweet emphasized. "Racing at Atlantic
City will help to bring the message to even more people, of
the work that (camp founders) Kyle and Petty Petty are
doing."
As such, the Sweet team will be running a raffle during
Saturday night's popular pre-race on-track
"Fan-Fest," with all proceeds going directly to
Victory Junction.
After having sold his mount from last year, Sweet will
have a newly-obtained car for this event. Owned by Michael
and his wife, Marta, it's a Dempster Chassis, with a GSXR
Suzuki 750 motor. Doing the "fine-tuning" for
Sweet on the mount is Bob Reis of BR Machine Works of Elma,
N.Y. Sponsorship is from Metal Craft Labs of Hempstead,
N.Y., a dental prosthesis maker for over 30 years.
Away from the track, the Sweets operate the DSS Freeport
Packaging & Shipping store. It's also an eBay drop-off
site. Sweet has long been involved in Northeast short-track
racing. He drove in the stock cars at famed Long Island
tracks such as Freeport in the early-1970s, and has been
very active in vintage motorsports. His current project is
the detailed restoration of a 1936 Chevrolet coupe stock
car. When complete, it will have the appearance of a
(1960s-early-70s) Modified that raced at Islip
(Long Island) Speedway!
Two years ago, in the first Boardwalk Hall event under
Len Sammons Productions, Sweet drove the Legends Car
"Four America." Last year, he became a car owner
of the TQ and asked Jeff Heotzler to be his driver. The
spelled-out "Four" remains their signature number.
The two became friendly through Sweetıs dealing with
Behrent's Speed Shop in Florida, N.Y., where Heotzler is
employed as a technical representative. Sweet often
purchased parts for his vintage race cars through Behrent,
and got to know Heotzler through phone calls. It led to
Sweet asking Heotzler to drive his newly-obtained TQ at
Atlantic City in 2004. The crew included Jeff's son, Jeff
Jr. He will also return to work with his dad at A.C. this
month.
"The first time we all really met and worked
together was at the ('04 Atlantic City) race!" said
Sweet. "But it was a perfect match."
The crew chief for Sweet at the '04 event was Anthony
Knighten. Although he'd like to be back, he has since been
hired by Tony Stewart, to work in that capacity with his
Midget and Sprint Car teams.
*****
John Ivy, a top-rated 410 sprint car driver in Ohio, will
make his first
appearance at Boardwalk Hall this month. He will be at the
wheel of a 600cc
Micro-Sprint, the No. 02 fielded by Kit Henry Motorsports of
Bellvue, Ohio.
After studying a tape of last yearıs race, the veteran
campaigner already
has a good idea of what to expect from the oval around the
outside of the
hallıs hockey arena. ³It looks like a real challenge,² he
said, adding that
it will also be his first visit to New Jersey. ³But I
canıt wait to get out
there!²
He will be part of a three-car team of 600cc Micros, which
are known as
³Winged Outlaw Micro-Sprints² in his region. For Boardwalk
Hall, the cars
all run non-winged. His Henry Motorsports driving partners
at Atlantic City
will include Supermodified campaigner Jackson ³Moe² Lilje,
from Vickery,
Ohio, in the No. 04; and Craig Mintz, a 410 sprint car
regular from
Gibsonburg, Ohio, entered in the No. 09.
Although itıs his initial time at Atlantic City, Ivy is no
stranger to
indoor racing or the smaller cars. Heıs been a successful
Go-kart racer
since the 1980s, on both indoor and outdoor tracks. In fact,
he still
competes in the karts. Most-recently, Ivy drove a Midget for
the Henry team
in the ³Rumble in Fort Wayne² event inside the Memorial
Coliseum Expo Center
in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Ivy was the 2004 champion in the 410s at Ohioıs Fremont
Speedway, located
just minutes from his home, with three main event wins. He
also captured two
All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car features at Fremont
last season. He
runs regularly at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio as well. In
2003, he had a win
each in the sprints at Fremont, Attica and K-C Raceway.
During 2002, Ivy
took six Fremont victories (including one All Star show) and
one at Attica.
*****
Tickets for the Atlantic City Indoor Race are on sale
through Ticketmaster.
Tickets are available with no extra fee applied at the
Boardwalk Hall box
office and the Area Auto Racing News office in Trenton, N.J.
Weekend activity will begin on Friday, January 21, at 6:45
p.m. with
TQ/Micro time trials. The 60 fastest drivers go directly
into that eveningıs
headline ³Roaring Twenties.² They are Triple 20-lap
events, in which the
top-four finishers in each earn their way directly into
Saturday nightıs
main event.
Fridayıs card is rounded out by three 12-lap Slingshot
races, which will
start the racing action at 7:45 p.m.
The Saturday, January 22, program kicks off at 12:30 p.m.
with the ³Small
Car Nationals²featuring Slingshot Young Lions (ages 14-16),
Mini-Cup,
Micro-Stock and Senior Stock Champ Kart races. The afternoon
activity will
also include the TQ/Micro Last Chance Race.
The Saturday night portion of the show is slated to begin at
7:15 p.m. Heat
races and semis will lead up to the 40-lap ³Gamblers
Classic,² with the
Slingshots also on the schedule.
As of this week, 172 cars are entered between the various
divisions with
even more expected.
Fans who already have tickets for the Saturday night program
will be
permitted to view the ³Small Car Nationals² from the
balcony at no extra
charge.
All Friday tickets are general admission, while reserved
seats are available
in the Hallıs lower level for Saturday nightıs program.
Tickets purchased prior to Saturday, January 22, will allow
early entrance
to the balcony on Saturday evening and exclusive admittance
to the special,
pre-race Fan Fest held on the racetrack from 6 p.m. to 7
p.m.
The Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel is
serving as the host
hotel of the Indoor Race weekend. Call 1-888-627-7212 or
visit www.aarn.com
for details.
More information on the Indoor Race is available at
www.aarn.com or by
calling 609-888-3618.
