Grand Rapids' Johnny Benson Jr. cracks top-five in his return to Berlin Raceway
By Steve Kaminski | Skaminsk@mlive.com MLive.com
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MARNE – A crew from the Charlotte-based Speed network packed up its cameras and headed to Berlin Raceway this weekend for Saturday night’s program to film a piece on Johnny Benson Jr.
Benson will be the subject of a Where Are They Now segment to be aired on Race Hub later this summer, and what they found out is that the Grand Rapids native is still racing and still having a blast.
Benson returned to his home track and ran with the traveling International Supermodified Association, which made its annual visit to the Marne half-mile and finished fourth in the 50-lap main. Benson is 49, and he said chances are that he will be retired five years from now.
“Five years? My kids will be out of school and I hope to spend some time traveling with my wife,” Benson said.
But Benson has no plans of slowing down just yet.
Benson hasn’t raced full-time on the NASCAR circuit since 2008 when he won the Camping World Truck Series championship. But that competitive spirit still burns for Benson.
“I would like to win an ISMA championship before I retire,” Benson said. “That would give me championships in five different series. I’m real proud of the four that I have, but it would be real cool to get one in an open wheel car.”
Berlin hosted the Open Wheel Spectacular Saturday night, which included the Must See Racing Extreme Sprints. The program was delayed for nearly an hour after veteran driver Jeff Bloom of Bangor slid his Sprinter backwards into the retaining wall between turns three and four during the opening lap of a heat race.
Bloom’s car caught fire, however, Bloom was able to escape serious injury. Series officials reported that Bloom was alert and talking before he was transported to the hospital via ambulance for treatment after suffering burns on his arms.
Benson participated in an ISMA race Friday night at Sandusky, Ohio. However, he dropped out of the event due to an engine problem. Benson was ready to go when the green flag dropped Saturday, though.
He said the Supermodifieds are one of the most challenging types of cars he has driven in his career.
“These cars are really, really hard to drive,” Benson said. “I have driven cars that are hard to drive, and all cars are challenging. But these things, holy smokes. They are an extreme handful. But when they are right, they are a blast to drive. When they are off a little bit, they are tough to drive.
“You have to give these guys who drive them a lot of credit. But I have been around so long and have driven on so many different tracks, it helps me run with these guys. These guys are very good, so we have been fortunate to have won three races. We were leading the points championship at one point, but we had a couple of DNFs, so that has taken us out of it. But we can at least still get second.”
Feature winners Saturday included Tom Thomas and Tim DeVos, who won the Late Model and Super Stock feature races, respectively. Lou Ciccone Jr. was first in the ISMA main, and JoJo Hellberg won the 30-lap Sprint feature and clinched the season championship.
Saturday night results
LATE MODELS (60 LAPS) – 1. Tom Thomas, 2. Ross Meeuwsen, 3. Ray Clay, 4. Terry Senneker, 5. Tim DeVos, 6. Steve Needles, 7. Terry VanHaitsma, 8. Mike Lichty, 9. Jeff Ganus, 10. Brian Maxim, 11. Monte Tolan, 12. Scott Thomas, 13. Mike Root, 14. Barry Hartwell, 15. Justin Schroeder, 16. Kristopher Fewless, 17. Dave Stehouwer, 18. Leroy Magoon, 19. Lee VanDyk, 20. Tim Yonker
SUPER STOCKS (30 LAPS) – 1. Tim DeVos, 2. Bob Bliss, 3. Jeremy Munniksma, 4. Seth Moody, 5. Justin Ryan, 6. Denny Anderson, 7. Nate Walton, 8. Andrew Nylaan, 9. Josh Slade, 10. Dave Hull, 11. Will Olmsted, 12. Weston Jewett, 13. Joel Baker, 14. Brett DeKraker, 15. Jerry Groenveld, 16. Brian VanZalen, 17. Cole Roelofs, 18. Trever McCoy, 19. Dennis Mann
HEAT WINNERS – Troy DeCaire, Dave Baumgartner, Billy Wease (Sprints); Justin Ryan, Joel Baker, Andrew Nylaan (Super Stocks)
FAST CAR SLASH – Mike Larrison (Sprints)
FAST QUALIFIERS – Ross Meeuwsen (Late Models) 102.703 mph; JoJo Helberg (Sprints); Bob Bliss (Super Stocks)
