Larry Fisher Just Comes Up Short for NELMA Late Model Challenge Victory

(October 23, 2010)- Three divisions of racing with full fields set the stage for the popular 6^th annual NELMA Late Model Challenge Saturday at Sundance Vacations Speedway. Rebounding from an earlier incident and following a slew of late race pit stops, somehow Zane Zeiner of Bath, PA took the lead with six laps remaining and drove off to victory. Jeremy McDermott of Long Island bested the field for the checkers in the Street Stock Fender Fury and Johnny Gloor IV notched the victory in the Legends Fall Classic event.  

The Late Model drivers ran time trials and Zane Zeiner blistered off a lap 13.967, which beat the track record. The top five time trailers were inverted for the start of the race, which gave the pole to Jimmy Wismer.

Wismer set the early pace with Justin Onderko in second, followed by Roger Oxee, Larry Fisher and Joe Burns. Onderko made a bid for the lead stick on lap 10 and then Wismer regained the advantage on the following circuit.

Fisher began to fall back a few positions and Mike Sweeney cracked the top five before a competition yellow on lap 50. Both Zeiner and Lorin Arthofer noticed that they had right front tires going down under the caution period and they hit the pits for rubber before green flag racing resumed.

With Wismer still in command, the caution flew on lap 52 when Zeiner and Mike Coll collected in turns three and four. Trouble struck Zeiner 20 circuits later when he and Burns tangled in turn two.

Green flag racing resumed and Wismer remained in front. Sweeney held second with Dave Macomber, Craig Lutz and Arthofer in tow.

 Coll and Arthofer battled for the fifth spot with 22 laps remaining. The two touched and went up the speedway in turn four and then Zeiner moved into the fifth spot. However, Coll drover to the back bumper of Zeiner and the following lap and took him around in turn four.

Following a quick caution on lap 81, Sweeney was on his game and took the lead following a terrific restart. Wismer began to fade over the closing laps and Zeiner began to mount a charge back toward the front. With nine laps remaining he overtook Lutz for second and then reeled in Sweeney.

 Despite efforts to keep him in the rearview, Zeiner took the lead on lap 94 and held on to take his first victory in the NELMA Late Model Challenge. Arthofer made some late race moves to finish in the second spot and Sweeney ended up third, followed by Lutz and Wismer.

Travis Fisher was registered to compete in the event, however, motor issues during practice prevented the Shangri-La II champions from starting the prestigious event.

 

Late Model (100-laps) 1. ZANE ZEINER 2. Lorin Arthofer 3. Mike Sweeney 4. Craig Lutz 5. Jim Wismer Jr 6. Larry Fisher 7. Dave Macomber 8. Justin Onderko 9. Paul Skodacek 10. Roger Oxee 11. Pat Hargan 12. Doug Renalds 13. Kevin Metzger 14. Bill Catania 15. Mike Coll 16. Joe Burns 17.Rick Smith 18. Geno Steigerwalt 19. Jarrod Hayes 20. Francis Gross III

 

Travis Fisher Wins Shangri-La II Late Model Title

By Dino Oberto ….. “Keeping Track”

 

Travis Fisher and the Fisher Racing Team have done it again. Traveling from their Fern Glen home to Shangri-La II Speedway in Tioga Center, NY, the 21-year old emerged as the 2010 Late Model division champion.

Winning races and titles have become somewhat of a trait for this family oriented team. This marks the second career title for Fisher, who was also the 2007 4-Cylinder Stock titlist at Sundance Vacations Speedway.

As for the team it is the fifth champion’s trophy that will go on an already cramped mantelpiece filled with racing accomplishments. Larry Fisher, Travis’ father, owns three Late Model crowns, two from Sundance and one from Mahoning Valley Speedway.

Winning this year’s point title came in part from a motivating crew chief and team as well as the help from an unlikely source, a driver whom he was battling against for the crown.

             “It was great to be able to win the title up there. We really didn’t plan it that way, we just looked to win races but being consistent all season helped propel us into the final week and thankfully we came out of it on top,” said Fisher.

For the start of the 2010 season Fisher took on Brad Smales as his crew chief after some very successful years of having Gary Slusser call the shots. Smales is a former driver who in recent years has worked crewing with several ARCA and NASCAR teams.

“When I started running at Sundance I got hooked up with Gary Slusser and he turned me from a 4-Cylinder driver into a winning Late Model driver real quick. He’s the guy who really made me the racer I am now,” said Fisher.

“I got hooked up with Brad Smales at the end of last season and he helped take me to the next level. He got us a good setup on the car and he really enhanced me as a driver.

“Things started out okay but then we got into a string of bad luck. Overheating, wrecks and you could say it wasn’t a good season soon after we got started. We were about to give up about halfway through the season and take a couple of weeks off to regroup,” he continued.

“It was him (Smales) and a couple of his guys that kept on me to stay with it and don’t give up. They wanted me to stick with Shangri-La. They kept saying it would all be worth it and it was.”

While Smales did his part to keep Fisher focused both on and off the track, it was fellow racer Scott Nurmi who may very well be the one person most worthy of credit in attaining the championship.

About three-quarters into the season the Fisher’s had arrived at the track for an early pre-race practice. However, it wasn’t long into the session when disaster struck as he wrecked. It appeared that the weekend would be a wash and at the time he was very much in the thick of the point hunt which included Nurmi and defending champ Jim Lamoreaux.  

When Nurmi got word of Fisher’s misfortunes he called and offered his back-up mount to use for the night.

“We had wrecked in practice and Scott Nurmi, who we actually beat for the championship, lent me his back-up car and that showed a lot of sportsmanship on his part,” recalled Fisher.

“I told him I’ll just get in and run one lap in the heat and feature and he said, ‘Just get in and race. I’ll be offended if you don’t go out there and race as hard as you do.”

Fisher wound up second that night. Remarkably coming into the finale he was tied in points with Nurmi and six ahead of Lamoreaux. Fisher had to beat Nurmi and be no less than one spot behind Lamoreaux in order to clinch.

At the end of the 30-lap main Lamoreaux won the race but Fisher was right on his bumper while Nurmi was eighth.

Shangri-La II is a brand new concrete half mile oval which opened last season.

“I love the place, it’s beautiful. It’s fast, there’s a lot of banking and I feel that’s the place to be. It was different at first running on the concrete as compared to asphalt. It doesn’t change near as much with the weather. The grip isn’t there like the asphalt and it’s a challenge in that regard,” said Fisher who scored three wins en route to the title.

“We’re underfunded at a lot of places we go but we do what we have to get the car to work and that’s the main thing. I have a lot of good guys behind me and I feel we are a threat every time we show up to race.

“Between my parents, grandparents and uncles and aunts, it’s a very family oriented team. Even my crew chief Brad said how nice it is to see family values like ours. I’m very lucky to have their support.”

Smales indeed was impressed with his short tenure spent with Fisher and the team.

“This is a true family deal here. I wish there was some way you can document all what they do so everyone can see this is grassroots racing at its finest. I feel so privileged to work with a family that is so tight and just loves this game so much, it’s awesome,” said Smales.

“We had to do some training to get some of the bad habits out of him that he learned at a young age and work on getting respect from the competitors. He just seemed to be a little over-aggressive. We got that aggression down and tamed it and that made him a heck of a racer. He’s shown a lot of maturity and that was something we worked on all year long.

“Travis has a bundle of talent. It’s raw talent and some of it needs to be honed in. Looking down the road if he gets the right breaks I can definitely see him landing a (NASCAR) Truck deal or a Nationwide or even Cup if he can just get the right opportunity. He has the desire, drive and talent.”