Muffley Endures In 3rd Annual ThunderCar Enduro 250

Plymouth's Carl Muffley fended off 54 other competitors to capture the 250 -lap Enduro and a $3,000 payday Saturday evening at the Anderson Speedway. Muncie's Bret Miles padded his point lead by taking the Phillippe Eco Water Super Truck 40-lap headliner. Anderson's Elliott McKinney came away an unexpected winner in the Chappy's Rent To Own Front Wheel Drive Main.

Fifty-five cars took the green flag for 250 laps of grinding, fender banging action in the 3rd annual Enduro. Drivers from all over the tri-state area came in hopes of a $3,000 pay check. With so many cars on the tight quarter-mile of the Anderson Speedway, several mishaps happened early on.

In this Enduro, it is either green or red. If the red flys, the driver must stop where they are. Muffley set a new Enduro qualifying record at 15.258 seconds which earned him the pole.

Nine of the 14 slow down happened in the first 50 circuits for bumpers and wheels off and minor tangles. The most serious was Brian Slavey slamming head on into the rubber safety retainers in turn three on lap 26. Slavey was ok but his car was destroyed.

Muffley took the lead at the get-go but was passed by Ronnie Rose, second fastest qualifier, on lap five. Muffley caught Rose in traffic and passed him on lap 26 only to be passed two laps later by last year's winner Chris Helfrich.

Rose took a ride on lap 56 after being hit by Nik Carothers, leaving only Helfrich and Muffley on the lead lap. The red flew on lap 67 for an ambulance run for Rose after he was slammed by Curtis Chapman. Rose was ok. The race ran green all the way to the break at lap 125 with Helfrich building a three lap lead on the field and looking like he was going to easily repeat last year's win.

Nineteen cars were still running at the break. After the return to racing it became obvious that Muffley had made some adjustments and was now the fastest car on the track. On lap 185, Muffley caught Helfrich lapping a car, went inside making it three wide and snagged one of his laps back.

Helfrich appeared to dislike Muffley's slick move and slammed Muffley going into Turn 3. Helfrich, a two lap leader,  flattened his left front in the process and had to do a green flag tire change and came out of the pit a two lap trailer. Lap 222 saw the final red for Herb Carson who also slammed Turn 3. He was ok.

On go-around 233, Muffley was attempting to lap Helfrich on the backstretch. Helfrich tangled with Muffley spinning himself in the incident. Muffley went on to the victory over Joe Walters, Duane Lowery, Helfrich and Teresa Gossar.

In Super Truck action, Bret Miles took advantage of the four truck inversion draw to jump to the lead at the green and never give it up.

 Josh Burton never left the tailgate of Miles to claim runner-up honors followed by Joe Beaver, defending champion Brent Busby and Fred Hopkins.

Brian Lemmer took the lead from Todd Neal on lap two of the fast heat to cop the coins over Burton and Jack Dossey, Jr. Mark Jennings led the first two go-arounds of heat No. 2 before Mike Mendenhall made the pass and went on to the win over Rob Hazelbaker and Derrick Layne. Joe Beaver was fast qualifier at 13.806 seconds.

Twenty-five cars started the wild Front Wheel Drive feature. The race was absolutely incredible with seven lead changes in 15 laps. Kenny Boykin led the first go-around before Dustin Tomlinson took over. Corey Elliott led lap six with Darryl Rogers on the point for laps seven and eighth.

Tomlinson was back to the point in this see-saw battle on lap nine with Rogers to the lead for laps 10-13. Five cars stacked in the corner halting the race and making a mad dash for the checker even wilder.

On the restart, Rodney McKinsey jumped to the point and went on to take the checker. McKinsey later failed technical inspection with illegal tires and Elliott McKinney went home a surprised winner. He was followed by David Baker, Andy Jennings, Kevin Rhodus, Tomlinson and Paul Butler.

For additional information contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.