For Bobby Kendall, the phrase “leaving well enough alone” is working well for him during Thursday Night Thunder at Wisconsin International Raceway.
The 25-year-old, second-generation super late model racer from Montello has held the hot hand, winning three of the last four feature races. The two-time Red, White and Blue state champion (2017, 2018) has earned success without having the luxury of any extra Tuesday night practices at the D-shaped, half-mile paved oval.
“With our automotive business we’ve got to keep the shop open and can’t really afford to drive from Montello just to practice,” Kendall said of the 1-hour, 20-minute drive. “We do try to get there a little earlier for the Red, White and Blue series races and get some seat time in. But that’s about it. Sometimes with practice, it’s not only extra wear and tear on the car but without using any Tuesday practice sessions you can start making too many changes chasing set-ups on your car. Sometimes you’re just better off climbing into the cockpit and going racing. It’s worked well for us so far.”
Kendall is in his eighth season racing weekly at WIR. He wheels the same Racetech chassis he piloted a season ago.
“We went through the car fairly thoroughly in the off-season,” Kendall said. “Our chassis has some modern updates on it. It’s one of JVO’s (Jeff Van Oudenhoven’s) old cars. This year we had a couple of DNFs early on. But we’re still leading the Thursday night and Red, White and Blue points. We just plan to keep doing our thing.”
Kendall’s performances come without a lot of sizzle. The team doesn’t have big corporate sponsors and just this season finally upgraded from a 20-year-old trailer they had been using.
“We’ve got a few smaller sponsors for which we’re appreciative, but nothing really sizable like some of our competitors,” Kendall said. “I think it’s fair to say we’re maybe a bit of a lower dollar team than some others we race against. That’s a fair statement.”
Like many other teams in April and May, Kendall’s early-season schedule was cut short due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve only run one other race so far this year other than WIR and that was at Dells (Raceway Park),” Kendall said. “We had planned to run at Madison and Dells for those early “Alive For Five” series events, but COVID-19 took care of that.”
One extra event Kendall is looking forward to is the Dixieland 250 that will take place at WIR on Aug. 4. It will be the second race of the year for the ARCA Midwest Tour. In 2017, Kendall experienced motor problems during practice for that Tuesday special. He and his dad, former racer and crew chief Jeff Kendall, and the rest of the pit crew decided to hustle back to Montello to swap race cars.
“We had our regular Thursday night car sitting on jack stands in the shop,” Kendall said. “We hustled back home, unloaded the one car, threw some shocks and tires on the one in the shop, shoved it into the trailer and raced back to WIR that night.”
Kendall missed qualifying and barely made it back in time to start in the back of the last-chance qualifying race.
“The pressure was on because we weren’t guaranteed a weekly point provisional because we weren’t high enough in the weekly points deal, so we had to race our way into the big show from dead last,” he said.
Kendall did just that, winning the last-chance race on a car with zero hot laps.
“We literally unloaded the car, rolled through tech and made it out there in a nick of time,” Kendall said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to do that again.”
Being from Montello, the Dells racetrack would be considered closer or even a “home track” for Kendall, but he has made WIR his home track for several seasons.
“We decided to come to WIR weekly after talking to Joe Nechedom from Racetech chassis,” Kendall said. “We were running one of his cars and he suggested we come over and run WIR. He started helping us out. We even won two features my rookie season. And the people there have always treated us well. We run well there and it’s a good track to race on.”
WIR’s track layout is unique compared to most.
“It’s a different track from any other we race and it’s more of a five-eighths mile than a half-mile, I think,” Kendall said. “You really carry more speed around that place. All the corners are very different, which is challenging. We struggled the last couple of years there but, for now, we seem to have found something there.”
Kendall admits the road to the Thursday night title will not be easy in the coming weeks.
“I mean, the top six or seven are all within something like 40 points and anything can happen on any given night,” Kendall said. “Sawyer Effertz and Brent Strelka are tough and so are guys like Jesse Oudenhoven and Andy Monday. Those guys are all fast.”
The pit crew members who assist include Jeff Kendall, Tom Metcalf, Mark Lalor, Brian Bolgrin, Kendall’s mother Brenda and his girlfriend Meagan Voltz.
Kendall’s team of sponsors includes Interstate Sealant and Concrete of Waukesha, American Family Insurance Tabitha Pierce Agency of Princeton and his motor builder Advanced Engine Concepts of Green Lake.
WIR notebook: With just a handful of race nights remaining in the 2020 season, the point battles are beginning to take shape in the respective divisions at WIR. Kendall has an eight-point edge over Darboy’s Effertz while Freedom’s Strelka sits 18 points out of the lead in third.
Just five points separate late model points leader Bryan Monday of Appleton over Neenah’s Braison Bennett, while Jason Van Handel leads fellow Freedom racer Cody Vanderloop by 21 points in the sport trucks. Kaukauna’s Trevor Howard holds a five-point advantage in the super stocks over Greenleaf’s Jeff Treml, while veteran Terry Van Roy of Darboy owns a 20-point edge over Bucktown’s Nick Ostberg in Figure 8.
Appleton’s Scott Wolf holds a comfortable 23-point lead over Ethan Beattie in the Sizzlin’ 4s, while Appleton’s “Team Berken” holds a 59-point lead over Kaukauna’s Jerry Schneider in the quarter-mile late models.
Greenville’s Bobby Bennett and longtime racer and tech official Bob Abitz of Freedom will be ushered into the Fox River Racing Club’s Ring of Honor on Thursday. Action gets underway at 6:30 p.m.
Dixieland 250 notes: NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch and short-track star Bubba Pollard of Senoia, Georgia, are among the entrants of the “Traditional Tuesday Biggie” at WIR on Aug. 4. Other heavy hitters include NASCAR truck champion and Necedah native Johnny Sauter, and NASCAR truck racer Derek Kraus from Stratford. Defending race winner and NASCAR truck driver Ty Majeski of Seymour will be on hand to defend his crown.
Also joining the field will be former series and track champion Casey Johnson of Edgerton, Dalton Zehr of Madison and locals including Appleton drivers Van Oudenhoven and Andy Monday, Reedsville’s Maxwell Schultz and Oshkosh’s Pete Vandermolen.
Dells leftovers: Former WIR champion Jesse Bernhagen of Markesan finished second in the Assembly Products 75 at Dells Raceway Park on Saturday. Neenah’s Braison Bennett took fourth while Oshkosh’s Chase Randerson finished 20th. The race was won by Portage’s Mike Litchfield, who pocketed $6,000.
Seymour back on: After not hosting races July 24, weekly racing will resume at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour on Friday for “Back To School” night at the third-mile, clay oval. Racing includes IMCA modifieds, northern sportmods, stock cars, street stocks and sport compacts and gets underway at 7 p.m. at the Outagamie County Fairgrounds.