Hunter's Blog- 3/11/09

Hey everybody, I would like to thank you for checking out the new site this year. Just to get you updated on myself, I am currently looking for a place in Indy to move into for the 2009 season. As most of you already know, I will be driving for Darryl Guiducci in the dirt sprint car and possibly some silver crown races. I am also very excited to be working with former NFL player and owner of EDEN Sports and Nutrition Design, Matt Mitrione on my training regimen this year. I hope to have shirts done with the new team sponsors and logo by the first part of April. Our first race will be April 4th at Twin Cities. Feel free to email me on my website if you want to know more about what's going on. I plan on posting at least once a week to inform everyone on the latest news.

August 24, 2008

For many years under the reign of the Lipkey family, Kokomo Speedway hosted an annual race called the "Kokomo Klassic." Paying more to win than the average weekly card, the event always attracted a few more big names to the pit area and, more often than not, lived up to its namesake by providing a classic main event.These days at the Kokomo Speedway they may as well promote every race as another Kokomo Klassic, because week in and week out the action will leave you shaking your head and wanting more. This week was no different: The sprint car A-main featured three different leaders in two separate two-car battles, the street stock feature had a last-to-first winner and the thunder car main event saw a driver win his eighth consecutive race. It was just your typical Kokomo Sunday night. Accustomed to blowout wins so far in 2008, Hunter Schuerenberg was pushed harder than ever before in netting the sprint car victory. Starting fifth in the 21-car A feature field, Schuerenberg met his first obstacle of the evening in lap one's second turn. The Missouri transplant, fourth-place starter Scotty Weir and a handful of other cars were caught up in a bottleneck that didn't bring out a caution, but negated precious momentum for those involved for a few brief moments.With that scrum sorted out by the third turn, the field settled in behind front row mates Sammy Imel and Corey Smith. By lap three the evening's true players were on the move, as Shane Cottle and Casey Shuman slipped into second and third, respectively, ahead of Smith. As the top three strung out the next time by, Schuerenberg was up to his usual tricks: Running dangerously close to the wall at the Speedway's north end and carrying tremendous speed into the south end. The momentum gained in his high line carried him past Smith and to the rear bumper of Shuman by the sixth lap.Prepared to circle Shuman high in turn one on lap seven, Schuerenberg ran into his second bump in the road: The first turn concrete. Pounding the wall with the right side of his machine after misjudging his entry, Schuerenberg again lost ground to the leaders, and also his right nerf bar, in the process. The caution flew on the ensuing lap for the wayward bumper, allowing Schuerenberg to make up the ground lost and remain in fourth.A lap after the restart, business picked up. Cottle shot low off the second turn to snag the lead from Imel, and by the time the leaders reached the flagstand Shuman had taken second while Imel fell into the clutches of Schuerenberg. Before Schuerenberg could complete the pass for third, the race was again halted for Coleman Gulick's turn two tumble. Under red flag conditions, one could observe that 2006 track champion Jon Stanbrough had advanced to 14th after starting dead last.Imel did lose third to Schuerenberg after Gulick's spill was cleaned up, just as Shuman began applying heavy pressure to Cottle up front. Working the low side to perfection, Shuman nearly claimed the lead on laps 10 and 11 by rocketing off the bottom of the fourth corner. Behind them Imel was fading fast, losing fourth and fifth on successive laps to Thomas Meseraull and Weir. Just when it looked as though Shuman was posied to corral Cottle back at the front, the second-generation driver slowed with a flat left rear tire and pulled pitside.When the green flew again, Schuerenberg made good use of his newly-found second position and began hounding Cottle up high. Using a diamond move off turn four on lap 13 Schuerenberg was second by just inches at the line, a feat that would be duplicated on the next circuit. Diving low into turn three on lap 15, Schuerenberg exited high and took a narrow lead at the stripe with Cottle on the low side. Reversing roles on the subsequent lap, Cottle dove deep into the third corner under Schuerenberg and looked to reclaim the lead, but bobbled on the cushion and saw Schuerenberg shoot underneath and hold the point. Regaining his momentum and again leading into turn three on lap 17, Cottle still wasn't able to stifle Schuerenberg as the 19-year old pilot again diamoned the fourth corner and led at the line.While Cottle and Schuerenberg were playing slide-and-dive up front, Weir was on the wheel behind them. After moving by Meseraull and into third on the 17th circuit, Weir used the still-moist low groove to pass Cottle for second on lap 19.As Schuerenberg encountered lapped traffic at the front, Weir made huge gains on the leader and may have taken the lead at the conclusion of lap 22 had he not run into lapped traffic himself. Undaunted and very fast down low, Weir launched into turn three side by side with Schuerenberg on the 23rd circuit, but was unable to overtake Schuerenberg, who was still on the high side. After losing some momentum with the turn three effort, Weir watched Schuerenberg extend his lead to five car lengths as the white flag flew. On last low lunge by Weir out of the final corner made the deficit two car lengths, but was too little too late."That was really fun," Schuerenberg said after his sixth Kokomo win of 2008. "I've got to thank Weir and Cottle for running me clean out there. I didn't run Shane too clean on Friday night, and that just shows what kind of racer he is. I think I may have broken something in the rear end when I hit the wall, we'll have to get it back to the shop and look at it. That was the most fun I've had in awhile."

July 19, 2008

Article by Eldon ButcherHaubstadt, IN - July 19, 2008. Hunter Schuerenberg of Sikeston, MO, drove to victory in the 30 lap United States Auto Club Sprint Car feature held Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway. Schuerenberg’s win was his first ever in USAC competition. He took the lead from Damion Gardner on the 5th lap. The two exchanged the lead down the front stretch, again in the first turn, and once more coming off turn two. Schuerenberg would remain in front the rest of the race. Within a few laps after restarts he would pull away from the competition. Hunter was able to ride the track cushion to perfection as it moved up in the turns. It was one of his 100% sure performances!Schuerenberg was driving the Walker/Guiducci entry. After a half dozen victory donuts in turn four he reported for the victory lane ceremony. Even though his margin of victory was 2.8 seconds he had kept his foot hard on the throttle. “I had no clue as to where everybody else was.” He then thanked everybody including his crew for giving him a great race car and saluted the appreciative Tri-State fans. “Everybody knows that it means a lot to win a USAC race. It is just awesome! It’s the same for me.”

June 29, 2008

Schuerenberg snags second score of 2008Hurst, Bowman and Waggner find victory lane By Derek Fisher They finally got one in. Mother Nature spared the Kokomo Speedway from any precipitation for the first time in three weeks on Sunday night, and Missouri native Hunter Schuerenberg benefitted by bagging his second Kokomo sprint car feature win of 2008. Schuerenberg, the third fastest qualifier of the evening, started from outside the second row in the main event and rode the high line around early pacesetter Scotty Weir on lap three to snare a lead he would not relinquish. "I just can't say enough about the cars that [team owner] Jeff Walker puts under me," Schuerenberg said after the dominant victory. "It makes my job so much easier and it feels really good to know you have a shot to win every time you roll the thing off the trailer." For a few moments, it looked as if the winner of the A feature would be decided not by competition, but by attrition. Twice before a lap could be completed the action was halted by incidents. First, fifth-row starter Brett Burdette spun in turn two, calling for a complete restart. On that restart Adam Byrkett bicycled in the first corner, causing a bottleneck that collected Burdette, Ryan Pace and Dylan Burge. Pace's was the only machine to turn over, but only Byrkett was able to restart. After four green laps that saw Schuerenberg rocket around polesitter Cole Whitt and Weir, what momentum the field had gained was negated again by a red flag, this time for Shain Matthews. While Matthews' turn two tumble was nowhere near as nasty as his June 8 turn three spill, his night was nevertheless over. After another red, this one for a lap five flip by Sammy Imel, the remainder of the sprint car cast was able to go green the rest of the way. As Schuerenberg stretched out his lead in the one-groove affair by riding the rim in turns one and two, others began to test the top as well. Top 10 runners Brad Sweet, Jon Stanbrough and Dave Darland ventured to the high side in search of speed and further back in the pack, 2007 track champion Shane Cottle and B feature transferee Anthony Peterman went high as well. Darland, however, was the only one to really make noise upstairs. With Schuerenberg leading Weir, Whitt and Stanbrough up front, the ninth-starting Darland was seventh by the fifth circuit and was able to move around Blake Fitzpatrick and Brady Bacon to crack the top five with fewer than 10 laps remaining. With Schuerenberg checked out on the field, the only late-race drama was provided by Whitt. After stalking Weir's second spot for the bulk of the race, Whitt made his move on lap 21. Finding moisture in the middle groove of the track's north end, Whitt pulled alongside Weir down the backstretch and found just enough middle moisture in turns three and four to pull off the pass at the flagstand. Second was a spot he would not surrender, and he was followed to the checkers by Weir, Stanbrough and Darland. Bacon, Casey Shuman, Fitzpatrick, Sweet and Bart Grider rounded out the top 10. In the 20-lap Thunder Car Spectacular, Tony Bowman was a wire-to-wire winner. Dogged early by Loren Sharp, Allen Davis, Rick Ice and Tim Huffman, Bowman saw his road to the win get a little easier when Huffman and Ice collided on lap four, temporarily knocking both from contention. As Bowman began to pull away at the five-lap mark, Gerald Armfield joined Sharp and Davis in pursuit of the leader. Davis made a run at Sharp for second close to the midway point, but Sharp was too strong and held the runner-up spot. After a lap 11 yellow, Ice rejoined the fray, having made a run from mid-pack to fifth. In the closing laps no driver could make much of a move, and Bowman was followed to the line by Sharp, Davis, Armfield and Ice. Huffman was credited with 14th. A barn burner of a street stock main event was won by David Hurst, who held off Kokomo legend Glen Gamblin by no more than a foot. The race was paced early by Andre Missig, a multiple-time winner at Kokomo in the last three years. Hurst was glued to the former champion's rear bumper for the early stages until making a pass for the lead on lap seven. It was around that lap seven mark that Gamblin began his charge. Surging into the fifth position on lap six, Gamblin gained fourth when Arnie Prater suffered a mechanical issue and pulled pitside on lap eight. For the next five laps, a shootout for the second, third, fourth and fifth spots took place behind Hurst. Battling three wide at times, Gamblin, Missig, Ryan Hines and Thurman Wines wowed the crowd with excellent racing. Gamblin went from fourth to second with one pass on lap 12, relegating Missig to third and Hines to fourth. That pass helped set up the finish, which saw Gamblin get a great run off the second corner and pull even with Hurst on the last lap. Both drivers held their lines, and Hurst had just enough momentum on the high side to take the win. Following Hurst and Gamblin were Missig, Tristan Ramseyer and Hines. Dustin Waggner won the modified lites event.

June 8, 2008

Schuerenberg surges to wild Kokomo victory Headley, Davis also winners By Derek Fisher When Hunter Schuerenberg first found Kokomo Speedway's victory lane in July of 2007, he did so in somewhat mundane fashion. The Missouri driver started at the front of the field on that evening and had only to hold off a late challenge from the runner-up to best the field. This week's second career Schuerenberg triumph at Kokomo was much different. The young driver came from 13th on the starting grid to battle his way to victory through 30 fast and dramatic laps that had the large Kokomo crowd on its feet. 35 sprint cars signed in for the second-to-last leg of the King of Indiana Sprint Series on Sunday, and that field possessed no shortage of heavy hitters. Returning from USAC's recent East Coast trip in time to compete were Robert Ballou, Jerry Coons Jr., Dustin Morgan, Cole Whitt and Josh Spencer, among others. Ballou and Morgan got the evening started on the right foot by winning their respective heat races, as did Bart Grider and Jon Stanbrough. After Scotty Weir wired the B main field, Ballou and Stanbrough commenced a memorable A feature event from the front row. Stanbrough, the obvious pre-race choice to run away with the win, bicycled his machine on the cushion on lap one's second corner, allowing Ballou and second row starter Daron Clayton to dive underneath. Ballou led the first three laps in front of Clayton and Stanbrough until Cole Whitt's spin in turn four brought out the night's first caution period. A second yellow flag period before another lap could be completed saw Spencer, Coons, Brent Beauchamp and A.J. Anderson report to the tail of the field. On the successful restart, Ballou made a bobble of his own in the same spot as Stanbrough and watched the Avon driver and Clayton streak past going down the backstretch. Going three wide into the third turn on the fifth tour of the oval, the trio avoided disaster when Stanbrough lifted enough to give Ballou room to snare second behind Clayton. As the top three began to pull away ever so slightly, Schuerenberg was beginning his march to the front. He began stalking the stout fourth-place mount of Grider on the sixth lap, and gained enough momentum to take that position on lap eight. By the 10 circuit, the eventual winner was closing on third-place Stanbrough, as was second-place Ballou on the leader. The next time around, Ballou saw Clayton complete the cycle of mistakes by the leader on the tough second-turn ledge, and seized the top spot. Just as Ballou began to lengthen his newly-regained advantage, the race was halted on lap 13 by a massive crash involving Shain Matthews. Matthews, who started the event from the last row, had rocketed to the eighth position before tagging the backstretch wall and flipping violently into the third turn. At one point, Matthews' car appeared to sail higher than the catch fence, but luckily came down on the racing surface between the third and fourth turns. Matthews was miraculously unhurt. As the action resumed, Schuerenberg made quick work of Stanbrough and stole third behind Ballou and Clayton. Stanbrough continued to fade, as he lost fourth and then fifth to Grider and a surging Ron Dennis on lap 15. Dennis, much like Matthews, was a man on the move. As Schuerenberg took second from Clayton on the 18th circuit, Dennis darted around Grider and into fourth. One lap later, Dennis was around Clayton for third and suddenly hot on the heels of Schuerenberg for second. Perhaps hearing Dennis coming, Schuerenberg turned up the wick and began to reel in Ballou. As the field completed the 21st and 22nd circuits, the lapped car of Caleb Armstrong came into play in a big way. Running in the middle of turn four on lap 21, Armstrong bottled up Ballou enough to let Schuerenburg around and into the lead. The next time by, Ballou dove underneath Armstrong in the first corner, sending the lapped machine high and into the path of Dennis. Dennis, still charging on the high side, was forced a bit too high in the cushion and found the wall before turning over twice in turn two. Dennis was unhurt, but his run to the front was over. On the restart with just eight laps remaining, the resurgent Ballou began to gain on Schuerenberg. Behind them Clayton and Grider waged a big battle for the third spot while Cole Whitt, recovering from his early spin, and Casey Shuman, who started last, were lurking in fifth and sixth, respectively. Creeping closer and closer as the laps wound down, Ballou executed a huge slide job in the fourth turn of lap 28, briefly taking the lead before Schuerenberg crossed over and darted to the inside of Ballou at high speed. There was one problem with that, however: The lapped car of Kyle Wissmiller was nearly stopped along the top of the race track at the flagstand, necessitating a yellow flag that waved just as Ballou and Schuerenberg passed the stalled machine with just inches to spare. Ultimately, it was that close call that ended Ballou's shot at victory. Aside from a failed slide job in turn one of the last lap, he had nothing for Schuerenberg during the ensuing two-lap shootout, and settled for second. Grider held his ground and took the show position, relegating Clayton to fourth. Whitt was credited with fifth and Shuman, Stanbrough, Anderson, Thomas Meseraull and Jeff Bland rounded out the top 10.

August 2007

Chili Bowl Rookie
The 06's National Non-Wing Sprint Car Rookie of the Year piled on 28 more top-ten feature finishes in 2007, including four Indiana wins. Hunter heated up in July with wins at Lawrenceburg, Gas City and Kokomo and then snared a $10,000 MSCS score at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt on August 4.
Ranking fourth in King of Indiana Sprint Series (KISS) points and ninth with the Midwest Sprint Car Series (MSCS), the 18-year-old made his initial five Midget starts as the 2007 season wound down, reeling off consecutive fourth-place finishes in his first three starts.

August 4, 2007

Haubstadt, IN - August 4, 2007. Hunter Schuerenberg of Sikeston, MO, won the third annual installment of the Hoosier Sprint Nationals at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, IN. The 50 lap event paying $10,000 to win and sanctioned by the Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series drew 42 non-wing sprint car teams. Schuerenberg drives for the Truckers 24 Hr. Race Team owned by Roger & Barb Tapy with Jim Whiteside serving as the crew chief. In post race comments he thanked them and the fans. “Thank you all for cheering me on!” He had already saluted the crowd with two victory doughnuts in turn four after a race designed to create fan appeal. Other sponsors include Minors Harley Davidson, Napa, Jockish Flowers, and Indy Race Parts.Schuerenberg started 17th in the Competition Welding Chassis powered by a FOXCO engine. That starting spot was earned with a second place finish in the 12 lap B Main. The added distance of the race worked to his advantage as he began working through the 21 car field which included some of the best drivers from 8 states. Schuerenberg was seventh at lap 25 having already advanced 10 spots. At the 30 lap mark he was fifth. And he was already up to second and the event’s Hard Charger at the 40 lap mark. Fans watched an overwhelming all out ground attack. A blitz was shaping up and 100 % Sure-n’ Berg had his sights trained ahead. Along the way and in those final laps circumstances created even more opportunities that would change the direction the race was taking.The field for the feature was hurried to the starting grid and pushed off with wet weather approaching. At the green flag of starter Mo Will, pole sitter Danny Holtsclaw shot into the lead. He stayed there for most of 9 laps and through the first red flag brought out as Kevin Thomas Jr. flipped end for end on the backstretch. Holtsclaw took on the role of the crowd favorite with a determined effort at the outset using an opportunity based on a lucky fan’s pill draw to invert the established line-up continuing the Hoosier Nationals tradition.

September 25, 2006

Hello, this is Hunter, sorry you haven't heard from me in a while, it has been kind of busy. This past weekend we went to Eldora Speedway in Ohio for the Four Crown USAC nationals. Besides all the rain delays and not getting done until five in the morning things went pretty well. I qualified twelth out of fifty four cars. So that put us at the end of the heat line up and I had to run the B main., but with USAC if you transfer you get your time back and we did so that put us starting thirteenth in the main event. I was thrilled to death just to make it. After about fourteen laps we had another rain delay and it was another two hour before we got back on the track to finish the race. The last half we were quicker and were able to get around a couple guys and finish seventh. I don't think that I could ask for much more given our circumstances. It was my first time there in a non wing car and Eldora is a big banked half mile track that is one of the fastest dirt tracks in the country. We also had a good weekend two weeks ago and ran 4th at Bloomington, In. and 2nd at Lawrenceburg, IN. Thanks to everyone for the help.

September 9, 2006

Hello, Its me Hunter. Sorry that I missed last week, I just forgot for some reason to be honest. Last weekend went well I ran 8th at the USAC show in Habstaut, and 5th at Kokomo. This weekend might be one of the best that we have had all year long. I posted my first top five with the USAC national sprint series on Friday at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Missouri. On Saturday we ran a MSCS race in Mount Vernon Illinois. Luck was on our side and we came out on top of that one. I would like to thank all you guys for your support of my career again. Thanks allot! I would also like to wish Bryan Clauson a speedy recovery from Friday nights racing accident. Get well soon.

August 30, 2006

Hello everybody I have another update for you. For this weekends racing we had a MSCS race at Bloomington,IN. and the Dick Gaines memorial at Lawrenceburg IN. Speedway. The first night did not go our way at all. I won my heat race and started third and steadily went backwards until I finally got too desperate and tried to run the cushion and I jumped over it and had to pull off because of some damage to the car. The second night was a little better, I ran second in my heat and started 8th and I think it was 5 laps into the race I was already up to third. As the track went away the right rear tire started to blister and I fell back to seventh spot. It is not what I wanted to finish because I thought we had a chance to win until the tire blistered but I will take it and go on to this weekend for the USAC race at Habstaut, IN. I have added some shots from our win at Bloomington a few weeks ago. If any of you would like a photo copy of these just let me know what size and I will get them to you.

August 21, 2006

Its Hunter again, just wanted to tell everyone about our weekend. This week I got the opportunity to drive for Roger Tappy in the Truckers 24 Hour Road Service car. I have to say that it was one of the best times that I have had this season. The first two nights we ran very well and posted a top ten. The third night our team showed dominance in both cars on the team, but our luck ran short. On the ninth lap of the race I backed my car into the wall and destroyed it running in the third position, this put me out for the rest of the race. With only eight laps to go my team mate Shane Hollingsworth had engine trouble and was forced to pull off while leading the race. But we will get another chance to better our efforts. I would like the thank the people at Butler Built seats and Simpson race products for their awesome safety equipment. The crash on Saturday was a hard one, but I was able to walk away thanks to their safety equipment. Thanks again guys!

August 11, 2006

Hello, Hunter again. Just wanted to tell everybody that we got our second win of the season at bloomington on friday night, and led every lap of the 25 lap feature, it was awesome. Saturday at Habstaut we followed up with a third place run from the seventh starting position. I would like the thank all of you for your sopport, without you guys this win would not have been possible. I hope that i can get you all a couple more before the year is done. THANKS AGAIN!!! Go to www.bloomingtonspeedway.com and click on the story to the left of my picture to see pictures and an article of the race.

August 3, 2006

Hello again, its me, Hunter. The racing this weekend went very well. The first night was just a regular night at Bloomington, we still managed to have 36 cars. We picked up another heat race win and started 5th for the feature. It was a really good race between all of the top five cars. at one time I was up to second, but got shuffled to 4th by the end of the race. I was still really pleased with our night. The Second night was at Habstaut for the MSCS 10,000 to win race. Once again we started fifth and won the heat. In the A main I started fourth. It was a 50 lap race and I made the mistake of setting up for the first half of the race and we were really fast for the first half and ran second for 23 laps of the race. As soon as the track started to dry I went backwards. It wasn't too bad though, we still managed to finish 9th. Ive got a picture from the shop and a picture of Bk and I standing in front of turn 3 at Eldora, it kind of gives you a perspective of how big that place really was.

July 25, 2006

Hello everybody, just wanted to give you an update on what's going on. Speedweeks is finally over, there were seven nights of racing scheduled but we were only able to run four due to rain. It went very well. I was happy that I made two of the shows during sprint week and managed to run eleventh both of the times that we ran them. Even though we were rained out at Terre Haute a bunch of my racing friends and I went to an arcade and got alot of go-kart racing in before we left to go to the next event. All in all it was a pretty fun weekend because even if we weren't racing we still managed to find a way to race something ha-ha.