Published: Sept. 5, 2017
‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over’
LaMonte convinced by crew to finish out season, wins track
championship
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
SLINGER — Two weeks ago, Gary LaMonte and his crew looked
over a battered race car needing close to $4,000 in repairs.
At that point, with two races left in the season, LaMonte
sat 35 points behind Steve Apel for the championship lead in the super late
model division.
“I totally thought it was over; the car was demolished,”
LaMonte said, adding, “We contemplated not even coming back because we were so
out of money.”
The team convinced LaMonte they’ve come too far to give up.
“The crew has worked their butts off since the winter to get
to this point so I decided let’s fix it,” LaMonte said.
On Sunday night, that decision paid off.
In one of the most exciting finishes to a season in more
than 15 years, LaMonte edged Apel by three points to win his first career super
late model championship, the closest finish to a championship in the division
in track history, besting last year’s seven-point gap between Chris Blawat and
Apel.
“It was for them,” LaMonte said, referring to his crew.
“They busted their butts for the last eight months to make this car what I feel
is the best car here week in and week out.”
Dennis Prunty won the 100-lap feature, his fifth of the
season. LaMonte was second, followed by Brad Keith, Apel and Ryan DeStefano.
Alex Prunty was sixth and finished 15 points behind LaMonte
in the final standings.
“I just got to thank my crew, my wife for letting me spend
as much as time and money as we do,” LaMonte said. “So many people to thank.”
For LaMonte, it was his first track championship since
winning the 2004 midwest sportsman title at Slinger, the second-longest drought
in track history, behind only the legend Bill Johnson (1948, midget; 1963,
modified).
“This is the first year we’ve run a full season in a
decade,” LaMonte said. “It’s a lot of work, costs a lot of money, a lot of
effort. I commend all the guys that run for points because this has got to be
one of the hardest tracks to keep your car running, keep it in one piece and
come out every single week.”
Sunday’s race and this championship battle will go down as
one of the greatest in track history.
In the last 40 laps, the championship lead changed three
times. With 40 laps to go, Alex Prunty led LaMonte by one point and Apel by three
points. With four laps to go, Apel led LaMonte by one point, Alex Prunty by 19.
With four laps to go, Blawat spun on the back straight,
bringing out the caution. At that point, the field had spaced itself out and it
looked like Apel was about to become a fourtime champion.
From there, mayhem broke out.
On the restart, it appeared Apel, starting on the inside of
the second row, struggled to get going, which backed up the field, while Dennis
Prunty and LaMonte drove away. For the next two laps, Alex Prunty and Apel were
door-to-door battling for third. The championship rested on that battle.
A third-place finish by Apel would’ve given him the
championship by 13 points over LaMonte. A third-place finish by Alex Prunty
would’ve given him the championship by two points over LaMonte, five over Apel.
“I don’t know what happened, but Steve checked up and we got
into him,” Alex Prunty said. “Next thing we know, we’re racing side-by-side
going for a championship. That was championship on the line, all the cards on
the table.”
Just as Dennis Prunty and LaMonte crossed the start-finish
line and took the white flag, Apel and Alex Prunty ran high, close to the wall
coming off Turn 4. Apel slowed and tried to get the bottom underneath Alex
Prunty, but caught the front bumper of Grant Griesbach’s car and Apel spun,
collecting Griesbach and Blawat.
After a lengthy discussion among race officials, a ruling
was made: Alex Prunty and Apel to the end of the lead lap because of their
involvement in the caution. That call put LaMonte in control of the
championship as Apel had to restart sixth, Alex Prunty in seventh.
“Didn’t think we were the cause for him spinning out,” Alex
Prunty said. “But that’s Slinger making
calls. What are you going to do?”
While Apel is a threetime champion, coming up short on the
final night has unfortunately become routine.
In 2012, he lost the championship by 10 points to Dennis
Prunty. He won the titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Then he lost the title in
2016 by seven points to Blawat. In the last six years, Apel has the three
titles, but also lost three titles by a combined 20 points.
“We gave it our all; we never gave up,” Apel said.
On the victory deck near the start-finish line, LaMonte
stood in front of nearly packed grandstands almost in disbelief over what had
just happened.
“We shouldn’t even be up here,” LaMonte said.
What saved him was his six fast-times, making him the owner
of arguably the fastest car all season at Slinger. He just thought he didn’t
have enough results to show it.
He had just enough as lady luck give him the biggest break
at the last possible moment.
“We’re ecstatic,” LaMonte said.“Everything fell where they
needed.”
He added, “I’m not surprised we won. I’m surprised because
we had so many DNFs.”
With the two races remaining and a fixed race car, LaMonte
knew he needed close to a miracle in order to win the championship.
It started with him winning the feature Aug. 27. That was a
race he had to win in order to give himself a chance. Then, he knew he needed
to have a similar if not exact same performance, but with a little help, in the
finale.
“Everything needed to fall into place,” LaMonte said. “To
win by three points, I believe there was a little intervention.”
LaMonte is also the oldest first-time champion in track
history, besting Willie Goeden’s mark in 1982. Goeden was 44 when he won the
super late model title that year.
“I don’t care if I’m 70. I won it,” LaMonte said with a
laugh.
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