HEAVY METAL RACING SWEEPS EXACTA SPOTS AT PETALUMA SPEEDWAY
It’s no secret Geoff Ensign respects the all-time Petaluma Speedway main event winner Dave Lindt, Jr. more than most. After all, it was Lindt who let a 14 year old Ensign wrench on his Sprint Car and helped Ensign get started in racing by selling him his Dirt Modified 8 years ago. Since then, Ensign has learned his trade well, with Lindt in his ear the whole way, describing setups, why and how things work on a sprint car, and being a mentor to the Sebastopol 22 year old. Fellow Sebastopol resident Lindt, from day one, called his racing team Heavy Metal Racing, and there were precious few members including Lindt, his late crew chief Ray Lewis, Ensign and Ensign's father Rob, and most recently Lindt’s son David Lindt II aka Day Day. Day Day wheels the Heavy Metal Racing #52 Dirt Modified, and while just 15 years old and in his second year racing Dirt Mods, has taken to the sport like a fish to water, winning his first heat race this season. The first four of that list ran roughshod over Petaluma Speedway to the tune of over 50 sprint car main event victories setting a present mark that may never be duplicated at the 3/8ths mile bullring. Along the way, they've laid rest to countless pieces of racing equipment, household furniture, farm tractors and competitors along the way fueled by passion, talent and the occasional adult beverage or two after the races. Literally everything was tagged with Lindt’s blue and white #52 around his home, and Ensign ran the Trophy cup one year with Lindt's motor and wings on his wingless car he converted over. If you look close enough, you'll see tattoos on body parts saying HM Racing done by Lindt himself. Add to the fact the Lindt and Ensign households are literally withing walking distance, saying the Ensign/Lindt relationship is family is an understatement.
Last Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway, the student and teacher got together for Round 4 of the PitStopUSA 360 Sprint Car Series, this time Ensign in Brett Lay’s #24b and Lindt in his familiar #52. Ensign timed in 9th fastest while Lindt set second fast time.
The two were in different heat races, and Ensign won his. Not to be outdone, the Heavy Metal Racing founder and it’s chief member (Ground Zero of the HMR Stable, if you will) Lindt ran away with his heat race.
After inversions were drawn, Ensign sat on the outside of the front row, while Lindt started 7th.
As the green flew, Ensign, pole sitter Billy Butler and 5th starting Bradley Terrell put on a show rarely seen at any racetrack as all three of them took turns throwing slidejobs, running the top, bottom and everywhere in between for the first ten laps of the race, rarely separated by more than a car length. Unfortunately, it was Terrell who backed out first, spinning to a stop just as he took the lead in turns 1 and 2. This left the front to Butler and Ensign, and look who was also on the scene in fourth…Dave Lindt, Jr. The stage was set and Ensign shot under Butler and into the lead on lap 12 and burst away and into lapped traffic, while Lindt maneuvered his mount past Butler and into second, his eyes focused on the 24b in front of him. These two have always talked about a showdown and both relish the chance to go wheel to wheel with each other, but it wasn’t meant to be this night as Ensign had gotten the jump into traffic and Lindt never got the opportunity to go wheel to wheel with a driver of his own making. Ensign flashed under the checkers on lap 25 with his second straight PitStopUSA 360 Sprint Car Series main event win, followed by Lindt in second, an HMR exacta at Petaluma Speedway. “I saw the 52 coming on the scoreboard, and knew he was charging. He always does. I thought I might have had a pretty good lead though because I was driving so hard myself and getting through traffic pretty well.” Ensign said later.
With a handful of Sprint Car victories at Petaluma Speedway in his short career, Ensign still has about 50 more main event wins to catch his mentor, neighbor and brother in this wacky dance we call sprint car racing. In typical HMR fashion after the races, the families got together and ended the night in the wee hours of Sunday morning over laughs and stories…and maybe a couple adult beverages. Well, everyone except for 15 year old Day Day. After a 4th place finish and fighting power steering issues in the HMR Dirt Modified, he was asleep at home.
Just another weekend for Ensign and Lindt.
To contact Geoff Ensign, search Geoff Ensign Motorsports on Facebook, or email him at geoffensign@rocketmail.com. You can also visit Ensign’s website at www.ensignmotorsports.com.
- Ron Lingron on Jun 03, 2012
- Article Date: 6/3/2012