Rodders take their show on the road for Kentucky event

A local group of hot-rod fans will spend their weekend in Louisville, Ky., for the annual Street Rod Nationals, a get-together that attracts street rods, fans and product vendors.

Larry Kaempfer said he and about a half-dozen other members of the 40-member River City Rodders made the trip for the annual convention that began Wednesday and ends Saturday. While there, Kaempfer, 55, of Cape Girardeau will have his 1932 Ford displayed among about 14,000 cars. Every car must be from 1949 or older -- the difference between street rods and hot rods, which are newer cars, Kaempfer pointed out.

The four-day event will include seminars, swap meets and, of course, a chance to reminisce.

"The truth is, even in four days you still can't see everything that's there," Kaempfer said. "We all just go every year to have fun, and that's why we're still in it."

The others from the Cape Girardeau area on the trip include Wes Morris and his 1937 Chevy, Ron Keller and his '33 Plymouth, Phil Craft and his '33 Ford, Keith Farmer and his '33 Ford and Don Dannenmueller and his '38 Chevy.

"With these cars the only thing old is the body itself," Kaempfer said. "Mine has a 350-cubic inch Chevy motor, and that's fairly standard."

Here and there

Tim Montgomery of Fredericktown overwhelmed a field of 48 sprints Saturday to win an event sanctioned by both the National Championship Racing Association and All Star Circuit of Champions at St. Francois Co. Raceway near Farmington, Mo.

Another Montgomery note: Tim's brother Joey won the 30-lap MARA midget series event Sunday at BelleClair Speedway near Belleville, Ill. Montgomery started on the pole, then was sent to the back of the field before moving ahead again to win.

Billy James of Sikeston, fresh off a late model win Friday at Malden, finished second Saturday in a special event won by Terry English at Milan (Tenn.) Raceway. Nathan Rettig of Sikeston was fifth.

Jeff Beeson of Benton topped a field of 33 pure stocks from four states Friday to win a special $1,000-to-win event at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park. Beeson led all 15 laps of the event. Beeson is second in the point standings for pure stocks at ATPR. Dietrich Bollinger, also of Benton, was among the early leaders and won an earlier heat race.

Terry Johnson of Benton is back in a late model race car this season. Johnson, who sat out last season, has 31 feature race wins at ATPR and is the second all-time winningest driver there. He's made two starts locally at Malden Speedway, and over the weekend Johnson was fifth in the steel-block late model class at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway near Calvert City, Ky.

The UMP Summernationals, a late model tour that made several stops at tracks in the region, wrapped up last week. Billy Moyer had 21 top-10 finishes in 22 starts and won the point standings by 52 points ahead of Don O'Neal. Western Kentucky's Terry English, ninth in the season standings at Malden Speedway, was fourth.

What's ahead

Auto Tire and Parts Racepark officials are billing Saturday's sprint car event --which carries an additional $500 to win -- as a "Benton-Farmington Shootout"since St.Francois County Raceway is closed this week because of a county fair. Not only will it be a chance for an outsider to take the $1,600 total top prize, but it's also a chance for track points leader Robbie Standridge to make track history by winning his sixth straight feature race event. He's tied now with Eddie Gallagher for most consecutive wins in any class.

With SFCR closed Saturday, Fredericktown Raceway will race Friday and Saturday. After a regular program Friday, modifieds, hobby stocks, pure stocks and mini stocks will compete Saturday. Racing is at 7 p.m. daily.

The Xtreme Dirt Car Series for late models makes one of its few stops in the region Friday with a $10,000-to-win event at Tri-City Speedway near Granite City, Ill. Spectator gates open at 5 p.m. with racing at 8.