(Bill W) July 22, 2014 – “Dynamite” Mark Dobmeier claimed with number seven of the 2014 season at the Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota July 12. Except for some bad luck, he easily could have picked up two or three more wins in the past couple of weeks. This weekend the Grand Forks, North Dakota driver and the Lunstra/Dobmeier #13 team will tackle their normal triumvirate of races: River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on Friday, the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday, and the All Star race at Huset’s on Sunday.
Thursday, July 10 found Mark at the Norman County Fair Raceway in Ada, Minnesota. He would win his heat in NOSA competition after starting fourth. “I hadn’t been to Ada for six or seven years,” he says. “We had a really good car there. It was a really good racetrack with a top and a bottom to it.”
The feature went well, and most certainly would have been another win but for some bad luck. “We were lucky enough to have the coin flip go our way, and we started on the front row,” says Mark. “We were able to lead the whole thing until I ran over a piece of debris with about six laps to go. That gave us a flat left rear. I went back out and restarted about fifteenth. We were able to get back up to second in six laps, so we had a really good car.”
The following night at River Cities saw more grief when he was making a pass for the lead in the feature. “We were running second and passing for the lead when a lapped car spun out and we got collected,” says Mark. “It knocked the front wing off and damaged the right front torsion tube. We went to the pit area, fixed it up…bungee-corded the front wing. We were able to make it back up to fourth.”
Finally, on Sunday, July 13 things clicked at Huset’s. After posting quick time and running third in his heat, the invert of ten for the feature saw him start outside of row five. “We started in the same spot we started the Outlaw show,” says Mark. “That seems to be our lucky spot. We were really good. It didn’t take long for us to get by everyone and we pulled away from there. The car couldn’t have been any better.”
Last Friday night at River Cities was a cluster for many sprint car drivers, including Mark. “They decided to prep the racetrack before the features,” he says. “The World of Outlaw Late Models were there, so we went first. They dug the track up and watered it, and threw the green flag for our feature without running it in. There were two rookies starting up front on a greasy racetrack and there was a pileup. We got caught up in an eight car pileup, and we were done. It’s a shame they decided to start the race in those conditions, and we wrecked a racecar due to the officials’ decision.”
More bad luck came at Knoxville on Saturday, with Mark running in the top ten. “We had a decent run in qualifying (12th quick) and we had a good heat (2nd),” he says. “We drove it up to second (in the heat). I think we were hanging in eighth or ninth (in the feature) when we got taken out under caution. One of the drivers had a safety issue and took their hands off the wheel to correct it. They ran over our front end and we were done. It was a tough deal for everyone.”
The All Stars were at Huset’s Sunday. Mark timed in second quick and ran third in his heat. Starting seventh in the feature, he was running in the top five late in the main event before a mechanical gremlin. “The track stayed decent for the feature,” he says. “It was tough to make up any ground. We had a good car, and at one point I passed (Jac) Haud(enschild) and Rico (Abreu for third) and the red came out. They got their spots back, and we couldn’t go anywhere. That’s when the motor laid down. We lost power in it, and I’m smart enough to realize you can save a lot of money by pulling it off right there. That’s what we did.”
The Lunstra/Dobmeier team would like to thank Senske and Son Transfer, Big Trucks by Jimco, Sioux Falls Ford, Steffe’s Auctioneers, Dammer Trucking, ACME Tool, Strong Box and Tire Boss for all their help!
Attached: Mark races at Huset’s Speedway (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
- Ross VanEck on Jul 23, 2014
- Article Date: 7/23/2014 by Bill Wright