by Shawn Sell

Jason Eddy is the 1999 Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association points champion along with capturing rookie of the year honors. Aforce from the beginning of the season, Jason in the Larry Janney-owned machines, captured five feature wins in his rookie campaign. Jason’s dominance began from the season’s first event at Shady Bowl, an event he captured. From there, Jason captured two wins at Jackson, one at Lima and the season finale at Shady Bowl. Despite a rough stretch near the end of the season, Jason still managed a staggering 12 top five finishes along with picking up eight heat wins along the way. In fact, through the first six races of the season, Jason either won or came home second in every race and it wasn’t until the July 24 race at Shady Bowl that he finished out the top five. Look for more success for Jason as his career rolls on.

In a season full of break out performances, it is easy to include Bill Hostetler in that list. On the heels of a 1998 season that featured loads of bad luck and a seventh place finish in the point standings, Bill rebounded to capture the runner-up position in the 1999 OVDCA point standings. Bill demonstrated an ability to stay out of serious trouble throughout the entire season as one of two drivers to appear in all 17 OVDCA events. Despite missing the June Shady Bowl feature with a blown motor, Bill was still able to post seven top five finishes for the season. Bill’s best finish of the year came as the runner-up in the second annual Ohio Caverns Cup at Shady Bowl. On dirt, Bill also showed great consistency, posting three of his top fives, including a best of fourth, twice at Jackson. Bill also posted two heat wins, one at Jackson and one at Shady Bowl in a season that saw him finish no lower than tenth in any event.

Armed with a new ride and the same winning attitude, Greg Watson produced a strong 1999 campaign. Greg finished the season in third in the point standings, a mere two points out of second. In 1999, Greg was able to put together consistent runs almost every week, posting ten top 10 finishes in 16 appearances. Always a threat to win on dirt, Greg posted all but two of his top fives on dirt tracks. Among the highlights

of these top finishes were four runner-up efforts. Greg ran exceptionally well in the dwarfs first season at Lima, finishing second in both events there as well as one each at Attica and Jackson. In heat race action, Greg posted two victories in May at Jackson and in June at Attica. Piloting a new Marvin Sweazy-owned Bandit, Greg was also to step up his efforts on asphalt as well, with third place finishes in July and September at Shady Bowl.

1999 was a break out year for Mark Bernard. After finishing as high as sixth in any race in 1998, Mark broke out for five top five finishes, highlighted by his first career feature win at Shady Bowl in July. Mark also won his first two heat races in ’99 on the night of his feature win and the previous week at Jackson. Always known as a strong dirt racer, Mark posted three of his top fives on dirt with third place efforts at Jackson and Attica in June being his best finishes. Besides the feature win at Shady Bowl, Mark also posted a fourth place finish in the Labor Day weekend show at the asphalt oval. Mark wound up the ’99 season finishing ninth in a strong field at Shady Bowl.

Frustration and bad luck are the best way to describe 1999 for Mike Sell.  While Mike did experience his share of good finishes, bad luck took away from many other strong runs.  Still, Mike was able to put together two top five and eight top ten finishes to secure sixth place in the OVDCA final standings. Consistently a top runner on asphalt in previous years, Mike found mixed results at Shady Bowl this season.  Mike did, however post his two best finishes of the year at the Bowl, a runner-up in July and a fifth place effort in the Ohio Caverns Cup while picking up a heat win along the way.  After running asphalt only in previous years, Mike ventured onto dirt in ’99 with more mixed results.  Mike did manage his first heat win on dirt and finished the campaign with a top finish of sixth, once each at Lima and Jackson.

Seventh in the 1999 OVDCA point standings is 1998 champion Wayne Fitzpatrick.  After a consistent championship season, Wayne suffered his share of difficulties during the second half of the ’99 season.  A series of motor problems and a broken wrist suffered at KC forced Wayne to miss the feature of four straight races, mostly in August.  Still, Wayne was able to capture eight top five and 11 top 10 finishes for the season.  Wayne’s best finish of the year was a runner-up finish in July at Jackson, the track where he also captured his only heat win of the year in September.  Known in previous years as a strong asphalt racer, Wayne captured three top fives at Shady Bowl including finishes of third in April and June.  Wayne wound up the year with a fifth place finish at the Bowl to finish the season just one point out of sixth position.

After picking up his first feature win at Attica last September, Tracy Fritter had his coming out party in 1999.  Tracy, always known as a dirt-track specialist, showed every time out that he would be a force to wrecking with on the dirt.  Tracy captured three OVDCA feature wins at Jackson and coupled with five other top five finishes, was able to finish the season in eighth place in the OVDCA point standings.  In fact, Tracy only finished out of the top five twice the entire season and one of those came as the result of a blown motor in the season closing event at Shady Bowl.  Along with the three feature wins, Tracy also took the checkered flag first in his heat race seven times out of nine appearances.  On top of the three wins in OVDCA action at Jackson, Tracy also won multiple times in weekly racing at the track.

Finishing ninth in the point standings is West Liberty resident Keith Bailey.  After finishing 1998 second in the rookie of the year race and 13th in the overall points, Keith showed great improvement in his sophomore season.  Keith posted seven top 10’s in ’99, with two of those placing him in the top 5, both at Shady Bowl.  The first of the top five’s came in the April race at the Bowl with a fourth place finish, while the second came in the form of a fifth place finish in July.  After running a strictly asphalt schedule in ’98, Keith ventured onto the dirt in ’99, winning the season’s only B-Main at Jackson in May, and posting top 10 runs in the April Attica race and the July event at Jackson.

Mike Rector finished 1999 in 10th place in the OVDCA point standings.  After a limited 1998 season, Mike became a full-time racer in ’99 with appearances in 15 races.  After purchasing a new Pro chassis mid way through the year, Mike was able to step up his performance to finish with six top 10 finishes.  His best finish of the year came in the form of two seventh place finishes, at Jackson in July and the second race of the season at Lima.  Mike was able to improve over his 1998 performance, in which he came home 15th in the final standings, with four top 10 finishes.