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61 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, September 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 16, 2004 Estremado snaps win drought at Speedway By DON HUNT Mail Tribune Dan Estremado had gone nearly a year without a victory when he guided his 2004 Dirtworks chassis to the checkered flag last Saturday at the Southern Oregon Speedway. Estremado won the modified points title in 1999, the one and only year wings were allowed on the cars. Three years later his pit crew chief, Bert Beck, walked away from the track after getting into a spat with speedway officials. Estremado’s fortunes took a quick turn south. Now that he has a new car that he’s just now getting used to, Estremado is on the comeback trail. His victory last week elevated him to sixth place in the point standings. "Bert was a big asset to our team, and when he left it definitely had a negative impact," Estremado says. "And a lot of people just don’t realize how difficult it is to win in Medford." Advertisement Estremado says it’s been a learning process with his new car, which has bars instead of leaf springs in its setup mechanism. "We’ve tried a lot of different setups and I think we’ve finally come up with a couple that suit my style of driving," he says. Estremado owns his own logging company — he employs a crew of 40 — and finds himself working 55- and 60-hour weeks. That doesn’t leave much time to work on his car. As he did with Beck, Estremado leans heavily on his current crew chief, Jeff Johnson, who races his own modified car. "I barely have time to sneak out there and race on Saturday," Estremado says. "If it weren’t for Jeff, I wouldn’t be racing." The richest modified race of the summer to date gets underway tonight in Cottage Grove. The two-day show, which kids off at 6 p.m. each day, is expected to draw between 50 and 60 modified cars from the Pacific Northwest and California. More than $9,000 in purse money will be paid out, including $4,000 to the winner of Saturday’s 50-lap, non-stop, main event. Medford wholesale car dealer and race car owner Ron Martin is putting up a good portion of the purse. Tonight’s show will include a qualifying feature in which the top 10 finishers will make up the inside starting positions for Saturday’s main event. The outside 10 positions will be determined in another qualifying race Saturday prior to the main event. "You can skip Friday, show up Saturday and still start on the front row of the main event," Martin said. "This is a format used by tracks in the South and Midwest. We think it has appeal." Rogue River’s Jon DeBenedetti and Medford’s Rich McCoy and Dane Smith will operate cars owned by Martin. DeBenedetti won a tune-up race in Cottage Grove last Saturday. Other top drivers expected to compete include Medford’s Mark Wauge, Ron Possinger and Dennis Silva; two-time Northwest Modified Nationals champion Kellen Chadwick of Oakley, Calif.; Dustin Jenks of Chico, Calif.; Brian Cass of Livermore, Calif.; and Rich Murphy of Cottage Grove. Brent Kaeding has kept up a blistering pace during Northwest Speedweek, the Northern Sprint Tour’s five-race extravaganza that began in White City on Monday and concludes this weekend in Washington. Kaeding, who dominated Monday’s race, finished second to NST points leader Roger Crockett Tuesday in Cottage Grove and then won Wednesday’s feature in Lebanon. Central Point’s Bill Nutter finished ninth at Cottage Grove and fifth at Lebanon, while Gold Hill’s T.J. Winningham had a great performance at Lebanon, winning the trophy dash and taking third in the main event. Speedweek, which had an off day Thursday, wraps up tonight and Saturday at Grays Harbor Speedway in Elma, Wash. Nextel Cup star Kasey Kahne, who has the weekend off from the NASCAR circuit, is expected to compete at the races in Elma. Kahne, who resides in Enumclaw, Wash., got his start in sprint cars and was the NST’s rookie of the year in 1997. Marie’s Water Delivery is putting up $2,500 to the winner of the sprint car race at the Southern Oregon Speedway on July 31. Marie’s is owned by T.J. Winningham’s brothers, Joe and Jack Winningham. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities