Ohio Sprint Speedweek
June 29, 2003
All Photos By Stephen J. Hartzell


Ohio Speedweek would never be complete without Kears Speed Shop.


Scott Groves came to Attica, and then followed most of the Speedweek shows.


All Star Competition Director Jack Hewitt is having a serious discusion with his NRA counterpart Jeff Potts in the pits.


The Guy Webb car made it's first appearance since Florida with Jan Howard as driver.


Kenny & Lee Jacobs relax with Jan Howard between events.


Brett Mann found the going tough against the All Stars & Attica regulars, as he failed to transfer to the feature.


Shane Stewart was another gun who failed to transfer.


Brock Mayes and his crew prepare his injured engine to be pulled as Gary Griff looks on. Griff loaded it up the same night, and Mayes was ready to go for Fremont 2 nights later.


Mike Wagner made his first trip to northern Ohio of the 2003 season, opting to run speedweek in Ohio rather than his home state of Pennsylvania.


Todd Kane won the B-Main, and then roared through the field in the feature to take the lead. Following his awsome run, he jumped the cushion in 3, and had to go to the tail.


Mark Keegan waves to the crowd after winning the Haulmark Dash.


Jeff Shepard returned to the cockpit of the Ashworth car on this night.


"The Jet" is interviewed by Todd Tappell following his 3rd place run, as Scott Hall listens in.


Byron Reed is interviewed following his impressive 2nd place finish.


Defending All Star champion Chad Kemenah won for the second straight night.


Crew chief Brian Kemenah removes the ignition box for the All Stars stringent "traction control device" inspection as officials witness his every move with flashlight in hand. All Star officials never let Kemenah's car out of their site from the time he left the scales to the time the car was declared legal.


Following the ignition box's removal, All Star officials and Kemenah crew members went into the Kemenah trailer for the inspection. In this picture Jack Hewitt performs the inspection as crew members and officials look on. Following this inspection, the car's magnito was also inspected before Kemenah was officially cleared to recieve the winners purse. Finally Hewitt declared, "Legal! Pay the man."

Following the whole ordeal Chad Kemenah was asked for his thoughts on the whole process. "This doesn't bother me at all. If it prevents someone from using traction control, I think it's a good thing. "

The All Stars' penalty for being caught using an illegal traction control device is a one year suspension from the date of the violation. If they will knowingly put their prize driver on the line, which these pictures confirm that they have done, one can only assume that they are truly serious about this issue. Since the onset of these inspections, the All Stars have been consulting with the people at MSD so that they can be better aware of what to look for, how to find it and how to best discourage it's use.

If there have been teams using these devices, I believe that it is at least possible that this policy may have been a strong enough deterant to cause them to discontinue it's use. Hats off to Jack Hewitt & the All Stars for taking the lead with this tough issue.