ELDON, MISSOURI (May 29, 2020) – The traveling show of sprint car speed stars stayed in the “Show Me State” for the second weekend in a row, this time at Lake Ozark Speedway’s 1/3-mile oval nestled just off I-54 near the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks. For Bobbi Johnson and her Jason Johnson Racing (JJR) #41 team this race is essentially a home race as the track resides only 15 minutes from their race shop. The driver of the JJR #41, David Gravel, has also had great success here with an average finish of 1.6 in his three races with the last one being a victory in the inaugural Jason Johnson Classic last season! There were 35 cars in the pit area located off the backstretch and outside of turns three and four on Friday night ready to do battle at the lake.
The Watertown, Connecticut native climbed into his Kistler Engines/Engler Machine & Tools powered hot rod for his two laps against the clock. He would be the 10th competitor out on the track for his time trial laps aboard the Tiger Towing/Pro Powder Coating (PPC) #41 Maxim. A real tiger can run at a top speed of around 40 mph, which may not seem fast until one is chasing their prey. Gravel was lightning quick too with the Tiger Towing stripes on the hood of his race car during his two qualifying laps with a first lap of 11.766 seconds and a second lap of 11.894 seconds. The quickest of his two lap times was 4th quick overall.
When the heat race line ups were posted, the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/FK Rod Ends #41 would roll off from the pole position in Heat #4. Gravel buckled into his Sharp Advantage custom fitted seat and buckled his Simpson Race Product safety belts. He drove into his starting position on the inside of the front row beside fellow competitor Shane Stewart in the Indy Race Parts #71. When the green flag waved over the field it was Gravel to the lead with Stewart close behind. The top two were separating themselves from the field. As the laps began to wind down Stewart closed the gap on the leader but never was able to get close enough to make a bid for the top spot. Gravel would race across the finish line first ahead of Stewart, Daryn Pittman and Ayrton Gennetten with Josh Schneiderman locking down the final transfer spot.
David earned on of the coveted 8 positions in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash. He headed to the stage and waited his turn to put his hand in the over sized NOS Energy Drink can. When he pulled his pill out, his selection of high numbers in the dash draw continued when he pulled the ‘7’ pill. The Shark Racing cars, Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen, started on the front row for the 8-lap race with Tyler Courtney, Ian Madsen, Kasey Kahne, Sheldon Haudenschild, Gravel and Shane Stewart rounding out the starting field. Allen would blast into the lead over Schuchart as the racing got up to speed. The yellow flag was displayed when a spinning Courtney collected Haudenschild in turn one. Gravel restarted from the fifth spot. Allen again controlled the top spot and maintained it through the checkers taking the win over Schuchart, Madsen and Kahne with Gravel bringing the Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution/High Performance Lubricants, LLC #41 home fifth as Stewart, Haudenschild and Courtney completed the finished rundown.
For the 30-lap feature event, Gravel would start from the inside of row three aboard the Durst, Inc./Team Jack Foundation #41 Maxim. The track was challenging for these speed professionals, but they were ready to put on an entertaining show for the limited crowd due to COVID-19 precautions. After their traditional four-wide salute to the fans Logan Schuchart jumped into the lead in green flag action. Gravel got shuffled back as far as ninth in the early going, but kept his composure and stayed the course. On lap 8 he started his methodical march forward. Schuchart was in control at the front as the field was giving chase. Gravel and Shane Stewart were putting on quite a show during the middle laps of the race. Schuchart would speed to his second win of the year ahead of a charging Sheldon Haudenschild as Donny Schatz moved forward to finish third. Shane Stewart raced forward to gather in a fourth place finish followed by Kerry Madsen and David Gravel who came home sixth as Ian Madsen, Brad Sweet, Carson Macedo and Kyle Larson rounded out the top ten. David Gravel and the JJR #41 team will be back in action again on Saturday night at Lake Ozark Speedway. If you cannot get to the track, be sure to watch on DIRTVision.
Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT); Saich Family; Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution; Weikert’s Livestock; J.R.C. Transportation, Inc.; Durst Inc.; Maxim Racing; The Boyd Family; Pro Powder Coating (PPC); Waco Metal; High Performance Lubricants, LLC; Team Jack Foundation; Mark Burch Motorsports; Tiger Towing; All Pro Auto Reconditioning; AutoMeter; Bell Racing USA; Brown & Miller Racing Solutions (BMRS); Buckwalter Trucking, LLC; C&R Racing; Chalk Stix Torsion Bars; Crow Enterprizes, Engler Machine & Tool, Inc.; Factory Kahne FK Shocks; Fibreworks Composites; FK Rod Ends; Fuel Safe Racing Cells; Greber Racing Components; Hoosier Racing Tire; ISC Racers Tape; Jansen Transportation; K&N Filters; Kistler Racing Engines; KSE Racing Products; LogoDaddy Graphics; Max Papis Innovations (MPI); MSD Performance; RaceDiecast.com; Schoenfeld Headers; Shell Shock Paint; Simpson Race Products; T-FAB Custom Metal Fabrication; Vortex Racing Products; Walker Performance Filtration; Weld Wheels; Wilwood Racing; and Winters Performance Products.
To stay up-to-date with David Gravel and his success and journey on and off the track, as well as to purchase his gear and merchandise, go to www.DavidGravel89.com.
To stay connected with Jason Johnson Racing (JJR), go to www.jasonjohnsonracing.com.
