RIDING THE RIM
Bloomington Speedway
December 19, 2017
Bloomington, Indiana -- This week, I received an email from Ron Scheffel relating how the Scheffel Brothers and Derek won the first of their four sprint car titles. Yesterday, December 18, would have been Marty’s 63rd birthday, and I am sharing Ron’s story with him in mind.
“In 1998, Derek started driving sprint cars. When Derek and I, and with the help and partnership of my brother Marty, began that season, we never talked about our goals. I mainly wanted Derek to have the chance that I never had. When we started racing TQ midgets in 1994 with UMRA, I had a goal of Derek being Rookie of the Year in UMRA. But in 1994 Wayne Harpering was also a Rookie. Wayne was the son and nephew of two brothers that had been very successful in UMRA racing for decades. Even if I could have found Derek a good TQ to start with, there wouldn't have been much chance of Derek learning to race on four wheels and me learning enough about chassis setup to be as good as the Harperings.
“Being the sprint car Rookie of the Year at Bloomington in 1998 would depend on who the competition would be. But to myself, that was my goal for Derek to accomplish. Sometime during the ‘98 season, I'm guessing after about a third of the races, Mike O’Leary came to me and introduced himself. Being heavily involved in motorcycle racing since 1970, I had not been to my favorite circle track except once or twice a year in the ‘90s. So I didn't know any of the people involved in the management of the track. Mike told me that he worked for Bloomington Speedway as what I would call the publicist. Mike explained to me that in watching Derek's improvement each race and knowing the top drivers at Bloomington would miss a couple of races to run occasional Friday night USAC events at other tracks, Derek might have a chance to win the Bloomington sprint car championship if Derek kept improving the way he had been. I knew how quickly Derek became a real good off road motorcycle racer, but our weakness on the team was how to set up the chassis. When we first started we got good advice from the veterans. But after becoming more of a threat, the advice quit flowing. So I thought it would be very difficult. But I also knew if we changed our thinking of running against the best competition to learn faster and skip those few Friday night USAC races, we might have a chance of out pointing the other drivers and crews that were running for the championship. Anyway as the season wore on, I was very appreciative and thankful of Mike making us aware of the possibility, which Derek was able to accomplish. He became the first rookie to ever win their sprint car championship.”
I am very pleased to have been able to play a small part in the Scheffel team’s early success. Soon, they weren’t out-pointing other teams, they were out racing them. With their subsequent titles, it’s clear the hard working team from Columbus became well versed at setting up a sprint car, and ultimately an example that other teams have followed. Derek grew into one of Bloomington Speedway’s top wheel men before he retired.
- Mike O'Leary on Dec 23, 2017
- Article Date: 12/23/2017