Whip City Whippersnappers Winter Well,
Most Seek Mini Sprint Speed This Spring,
Many Say They Must Bust in Early May.
By Mark McKeon- Whip City Speedway Director of Media Relations
WESTFIELD, MA. April 2, 2008 As the crocuses bloom and the spring peepers croak at us, the fans, drivers, crews and staff from Whip City Speedway are getting ready for the 2008 season.
Many regular competitors were able to do some serious racing over the winter.
No event is more serious than the Chili Bowl in Tulsa, OK, which was held this year from Tuesday January 8 through Saturday January 12. The annual event for full sized Midgets draws nearly 300 entries from around the world and has been won by such luminaries as Tony Stewart and Sammy Swindell. 
Whip City Speedway Quad 4 Midget star Kelly Ferrell of Chaplin made an impressive Chili Bowl debut, with a strong third place finish in her heat on Tuesday. Wheeling an Esslinger powered Stealth sponsored by Bay Muffler and J.F. Welding and Repair, her finish allowed her to by-pass the Tuesday C Main and advance to the B Main where she finished 12th.
Ferrell’s combined passing and finishing points allowed her to by-pass the K Main on Saturday and start in one of the two J Mains. Disaster struck there on the first lap, when a car ahead of her checked up, she slowed in response, and was punted from behind by a following car. The damage ended her week but didn’t dampen her enthusiasm.
“I’m so lucky to be here, this is something I dreamed about since I was a little girl.” Ferrell said. “My father raced here in 2000 and now he’s helping me race here, against Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and J.J. Yeley, I can’t believe how lucky I am,” she continued. In addition to her boyfriend and her father, Ferrell was also assisted by Dan Douville and Bob Montesi, familiar figures in New England Quad 4 Midget racing.
Last year, occasional Whip City Speedway Competitor Coleman Gulick of Binghamton, NY scored a surprising victory during his first time on the track at the Chili Bowl when he won his heat on Tuesday. This year, he turned even more heads when he won a G Main on Saturday.
Gulick scored his victory with an impressive display of maturity and patience. At the time of the race, the track had developed two distinct grooves, a high flying, broadsliding, rim riding, outside groove and a tight, berm-hugging inside groove which required judicious use of both the throttle and the brake. 
Although the fearless 14 year old prefers to fly high, he made a conscious decision to go low to work his way through traffic. Proving the paradox that sometimes slower is faster, he used the inside groove to pick cars off on every lap, until he was in second place. National Midget champ Kevin Olson had also found the inside groove and had ridden it to the lead, so it appeared that Gulick would have to settle for second. Then, with two laps to go, Gulick abandoned the bottom and went high to slide by Olson at the end of the backstretch. As soon as Gulick executed the pass, he dove to the bottom to defend his hard won real estate, like a Sooner in the Oklahoma Land Run. Olson held on for second, while third was taken by 1990 Chili Bowl winner Johnny Heydenreich.
In the F Main, Gulick started 12th and worked his way up to 7th in 10 laps, but since only 4 cars transferred to the E Main, he could go no further. It was a great performance and a great day for the young driver.
Regular Whip City Speedway competitor Jimmy Broderick didn’t participate in the Chili Bowl, but he did participate in the TQ Midget races both at Ft. Wayne, IN and at Atlantic City, NJ.
At Ft. Wayne, Broderick had an outstanding weekend. “All I want is for him to make the show,” said Jimmy’s father, multi time, multi track Modified Champion Jim Broderick, before the first green flag fell. Jimmy did much more than that, timing 12th fastest on Friday, before winning his heat and finishing third in the feature.
Father and son worked into the wee hours, replacing shocks and changing bars in search of a little more speed. It worked and, despite a problem with the brakes, Jimmy claimed the third fastest time on Saturday night, a runner up finish in the heat locked him in to the feature. A chassis adjustment before the feature backfired and the car was loose as a goose; Broderick spun in the feature, but raced back to a 9th place finish. It was Broderick’s first time in the Liquid Lou Cicconi built, TQ inspired lay down chassis racer, the same car he drove a few weeks later at Atlantic City. Success proved elusive at Atlantic City where Broderick was unable to make the A- Main, as were Ted Christopher, Frank Ruocco (who raced Dave Haskell’s TQ on Friday, but then withdrew, opening up the ride for Curtis Friesen,) Matt Seavey and Jeremy Frankowski. Whip City Speedway alumna John Zych of Mendon, MA took a hard flip at the completion of his time trial and did not return. 
Lex Burritt of Redding, CT is always as threat in the 600cc Mini Sprint ranks at Whip City Speedway, but during the winter season in Florida, if it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all.
After four years of trying and after having more bad luck than Pamela Anderson has had surgeries, Burritt picked up a feature win at the Florida Mini Sprint Association Winternationals at New Hendry County Speedway in Clewiston, FL. Capitalizing on a front row starting spot, Burritt dominated the race, having only one serious challenger in the person of Brent Marks of Myerstown, PA.
During the Florida Shootout series which took place a week before the Winternationals, Burritt demolished the car which he had used to the first few features at Mototown USA. He used a quickly built second car to win the feature and continue with the series. His bad luck returned and although he led at least one lap in every subsequent race and often appeared to have the fastest car, he never cracked the top five and finished sixth in overall points.
Many of these speed demons, along with scores more, will be racing at Whip City Speedway once the season starts with warm-ups on April 26 and the first races of the year on May 3.