By Al Stilley
Editor

Kenny St. John, 75, who passed away Sept. 13, brought modern-day Figure-8 racing into a new and exciting era at the Indianapolis Speedrome.

Mentored by the late Sonny Thompson, St. John became the king of the new high-horsepowered Figure-8 with two track championships and the World Championship Figure-8 endurance race five consecutive times from 1978 through 1982, including a record 512 laps completed in 1981 that still stands.

St. John also raced and won several Outlaw Figure-8s at the Speedrome against winged late models built by Whiteland’s C.J. Rayburn and Michigan’s Ed Howe among others in Outlaw Figure-8s at the Speedrome. He also competed in a few American Speed Association races during his illustrious racing career.

His Figure-8 duels with the late Wayne Arnold at the Speedrome are legendary for their fervor and sportsmanship. They were racing for a 50-lap Figure-8 in their heyday one night when St. John spun Arnold for the lead with less than two laps remaining. St.John slowed, waited for Arnold to recover, and they raced for the coveted win.

No matter where he raced, St. John respected each of his competitors and always acknowledged the crowd after winning races. He was inducted into of the Indianapolis Speedrome Hall of Fame following his retirement.

St. John also served as the chief steward of the national General Tire Figure-8 series following his retirement. During that three-year series, St. John fittingly had the drivers’ interests at heart.

For several decades, he served as an ambassador of modern-day Figure-8 racing.

St. John was born July 9, 1948 to the late Marvin and Ramona (Hargraves) St. John. He attended Manual High School and married Mary “Lou” Carrico who died Aug. 4, 2017.

He was the owner of a body shop in Indianapolis and the Benton County Speedway. He is survived by daughter Shannon who is married to World Figure-8 winner Doug Greig, and two more children and two grandchildren, two brothers and a sister and two great-grandchildren. His brothers Tommy and Mike St. John also were Figure-8 competitors. He also was preceded in death by three sisters.
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Funeral services were held Sept. 20 at Shirley Brothers Washington Memorial Chapel, 9606 E. Washington Street. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Indiana Organ Donor Network.

Austin Tunny, middle, celebrates his second triumph Saturday night in the World Championship Figure-8 three-hour endurance race at the Indianapolis Speedrome. Austin is with Ben Tunny, left, who led for 70 laps, and runner-up Jesse Tunny. Austin led 213 of 390 laps and captured the $20,000 winner’s prize. Ben started second and placed 17th. Mark Tunny, who led for 45 laps, finished third for a 1-2-3 Tunny finish for the first time. The top-five that included John Conner Jr. and Mike Hadley Jr. were all on the lead lap at the checkered. The Tunny family has won 14 World Figure-8s with patriarch’s Bruce (3) and the late Bill Jr. (1) plus Ben (4), Mark (3), Austin (2), and Jesse (1). Austin also has claimed major Figure-8 races in California and Colorado.

​(PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLIE ANNE PHOTOGRAPHY)

Beech Grove native Kyle O’Gara poses with checkered flag and winner’s trophy after capturing a 50-lap 500 Sprint Car Tour race Saturday in Ohio to remain in series championship contention.

(DAVID SISK PHOTO)

By Al Stilley
Editor

Southsider Kyle O’Gara did exactly what the talented open wheel competitor needed to do Saturday night by winning a 500 Sprint Car Tour race in Ohio.

Driving the familiar No. 67 Speedway Indoor Karting non-wing sprint car,  O’Gara started on the front row and led from start to finish for his much-needed second win of the season worth $4,000.

O’Gara went into the race at Lorain Raceway Park in third place and trailing by 66 points in the championship chase. He emerged still in third place but 50 points behind leader and fast qualifier Tyler Roahrig.

He finished in front of runner-up Billy Wease who challenged O’Gara after the halfway point (25 laps), third-place Tyler Roahrig, and fourth-place Kody Swanson – all open wheel pavement veterans.

“I saw his (Wease) nose once in traffic when we were on top two-wide,” O’Gara told the series publicist. “I knew the pressure was on at that point. We did our best to get settled in after we cleared traffic.”

O’Gara continued, “There was a yellow that came out. It made us focus on that restart and nailing it. This place is super hard to drive and easy to over drive. I focused on hitting my marks all night and we ended up decent.”

The two races that will determine the 2023 championship are locally Oct. 7 at Anderson Speedway for the Tony Elliott Classic and Oct. 14 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Brownsburg.

O’Gara’s strategy?

“Race for the checkered; that’s all I can do,” the Roncalli High School product said Sunday after returning to his home on the Southside. “It’s a tight chase, for sure.”

O’Gara has enjoyed an outstanding campaign in only the second year of the series developed by promoters at Anderson Speedway. O’Gara won his second consecutive Glen Neibel Memorial race in April at Anderson Speedway, He has two wins, two runner-up finishes and a trio of top-three finishes this season.

His season helps validate a move from a few dirt track races several years ago to all-pavement competition with the United States Auto Club midget, sprint, and Silver Crown series and the highly competitive 500 Sprint Car Tour.

“We had been running only five or six dirt track races each year and the midget series was getting so expensive because of the engine cost,” O’Gara explained. “It was a good move when we decided to race on pavement tracks only.”
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O’Gara had a rare day off Sunday from his managerial duties at an ever-expanding Whiteland Raceway Park. The fleet of open wheel racecars is prepared and maintained at Speedway Indoor Karting. The two facilities are owned and operated by O’Gara’s older brother Andy O’Gara and wife Sarah Fisher.

Jesse Tunny seeks his second World Championship three-hour Figure-8 trophy Saturday night at the Indianapolis Speedrome. Tunny recently claimed his fifth Speedrome late model track championship.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KYLIE ANNE PHOTOGRAPHY)
Dana Tunny, the 2023 Bobby Ellett Memorial Rookie of the Year, finished eighth in overall late model track championship points. Dana’s father, Bruce Tunny, was the top rookie in 1983 and Dana’s brother, Mark Tunny, was the top rookie in 2003.

Speedrome track owner Kevin Garrigus, left, congratulates John Aldridge on fronttretch after the Beech Grove native was inducted into the track’s hall of fame.
(PHOTOS COURTESY OF KYLIE ANNE PHOTOGRAPHY)

By Al Stilley
​Editor

Beech Grove’s John Aldridge has seen it all at the Indianapolis Speedrome.

Aldridge, a former Stock class monthly champion, has helped outside the racer’s seat in a wrecker truck and as a track worker, flagman, and chief steward. The near-westside auto service center owner was inducted into the Indianapolis Speedrome Hall of Fame on Aug. 26.

He’s had little time to bask in the award because of his official track duties and the track’s all-time signature event – the 47th annual World Championship Three-Hour Endurance race – Saturday night. The three-hour thriller attracts Figure-8 drivers from Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Washington, and Florida.

“Every three-hour race takes on its own personality – no two races are alike,” Aldridge said. “Those who have never seen it think it’s a demo derby, but they have no idea of the finesse and bravery that these drivers have. They are driving race cars powered by 350- to 405-cubic inch V8 motors. It’s high powered and an adrenaline rush for fans. There’s so much going on, you never know where to look.”

The Figure-8 classic begins at 8 p.m. Saturday after final-round qualifying Saturday afternoon. The same drivers and cars are in action in Figure-8 heat races Friday night.

As a flagman and chief steward for numerous three-hour Figure-8s, Aldridge has seen all sorts of oddities with leading cars stacked up in accidents to close races decided on the last lap. Last year’s winner Mark Tunny completed 471 laps. In a warm-up to Saturday’s race, one-hour Figure-8 winner Jeffrey Shackelford completed 191 laps last week.

The Speedrome Hall of Fame plaque honored Aldridge for “flagging hundreds of races from preliminary heats all the way to the World Figure-8 Championship finish … rising to chief steward, he was overseer of all on-track activities and staff. His dedication to his position is unrivaled with fair competition, everyone’s safety, and a great entertaining show as the priority.

Aldridge served as flagman and chief steward under previous track owner John Stiles, a Greenwood business owner, and returned when current owner Kevin Garrigus bought the track seven years ago and made numerous improvements that have brought new competitors and fans to the track at Kitley Avenue and Brookville Road.

“As flagman, basically I made sure on the oval that the starts and restarts were clean and that track and driver safety was number one,” Aldridge said. “With the Figure-8, it’s the same except you always have one eye peeled on the crossover for a wreck or a stalled car.”

Aldridge listed his additional flagging highlights as the two indoor Figure-8 and Legends oval races on the flat surface inside the Hoosier Dome and the three-year General Tire Figure-8 national series that raced on tracks in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Ilinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida.

He also flagged several of the USAC Regional Midget Series races on the Speedrome oval on Thursday nights that included midget drivers Tony Stewart, John Andretti, Jeff Gordon, Rich Vogler, and Kenny Schrader.

His sojourn to the Speedrome began as a Beech Grove teenager who wanted to race. He won his first Stock novice heat in 1975 as a 15-year-old, a year younger than the age rule. He lied about his age, but his dad found out about his first win while listening to the Saturday night radio broadcasts on WIRE 1410.

Aldridge later worked on Indy Towing trucks at the track. The racing bug struck again and he became a monthly Stock class tri-champion. He then went to work under Stiles’ ownership in 1987 and became the chief starter (flagman) in 1988 after a heart attack sidelined mentor and flagman Carl Hall. He and wife Rhonda were married that same year. The couple has four grown daughters, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Aldridge worked until Stiles sold the track about 10 years later and did not return until new owner Garrigus called.

He was employed by Indy Towing for several years until opening his own towing business on West Michigan Street. A self-made business owner, Aldridge expanded his business to the A and A Service Center, a full-service auto repair and tire sales facility on Lafayette Road on the city’s westside in 2001.

Aldridge has high praise for track owner Garrigus who improved and expanded amenities for weekend racing participants and fans. The Speedrome has stadium seats in the main grandstand, a new south and family grandstand seating, a backstretch spectator entrance, expanded pit area, improved restrooms and concessions.

Aldridge was asked what really makes the Speedrome one of the nation’s best short tracks.
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“It’s the family involvement,” the lifelong Beech Grove resident said. “It’s the number of generations that have come through these gates. The kids that were always in the grandstands become racers – that’s the tradition.”

​Beech Grove’s John Aldridge was joined by family members during recent Speedrome Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

By Al Stilley
Editor

Whiteland’s Randi Lyn (Shipp) Butner grew up about 20 miles from Lucas Oil Raceway, home of the 69th Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals during the Labor Day weekend in Brownsburg.

She competed as a youth in the National Hot Rod Association’s Junior Dragster program, winning her very first drag racing trophies. She returned several consecutive years with the Shipp family to the nation’s most prominent drag strip to compete in class eliminator competitions in the grand-daddy of all NHRA drag races.

Along the way, Randi Lyn won seven national events in Stock Eliminator and the 2021 NHRA Division 3 championship driving a 1967 Pontiac owned by husband Bo Butner of Floyds Knobs.

This was her second U.S. Nationals class win. It came in her very first attempt driving the Bo Butner / Jim Butner Auto Group Cobra Jet Mustang to Super Stock (FSS/L) class win, her first triumph in Super Stock. Bo won the inaugural Factory Stock Showdown in 2012 at the U.S. Nationals.

“Indy is the class win that matters the most,” Randi Lyn said in a press release. ‘It’s the one race everybody watches and everybody looks to be very fast. It’s a big deal here.”

Randi Lyn’s first-ever two trips in the Cobra Jet came during qualifications for the class eliminations. She admitted it was a trying experience.

“It’s been very nerve-wracking and I’m definitely still out of my comfort zone,” she admitted. “That (eliminations) was my very first run where I almost hit all my shifts. Everything came together, and it felt good.”

She recorded a remarkable .005-second reaction time and raced to a 9.702-second pass at 139.52 miles per to capture the coveted “Wally” trophy at this year’s U.S. Nationals.

“No matter if it’s a class win, a divisional, or a national – all of the Indy wins are front and center,” Randi Lyn said.

Husband Bo reached the Pro Stock finals Monday but bowed out in the first round.

Greenwood’s Wesley Wells missed making the top 16 qualifiers in Pro Stock Motorcycle Sunday. Wells missed by 0.392-second. His best time was 7.226 seconds, 185.10 mph.
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(Note: Bo Butner Racing contributed to this article)

Randi Lyn (Shipp) Butner is in line for eliminations run in Super Stock class with Bo Butner Racing’s Cobra Jet Mustang at U.S. Nationals. Husband Bo won his second consecutive U.S. Nationals Super Gas championship Sunday.