By Kevin Busse, Correspondent 

Does your car know when it’s being pampered and will it run better and smoother when it’s washed, cleaned or freshly painted?

That’s just a myth, but it seemed to work for Dave Nogel of Hastings at Raceway Park on Shakopee on July 20. With a fresh paint job and a dent-free machine, Nogel won the first feature in the Figure Eights race.

In a closely contested battle, in which the top position was up for grabs in the final lap, Nogel was able to pull out the win ahead Steve Cheever of New Prague.

In the second Figure Eights feature, Dennis Barta of Richfield was the winner.

In other races, Jeff Partington of Farmington won Hobby Stocks. Keith Paulsrud of Rogers won Short Trackers, while Chad Walen of Prior Lake won Late Models and Red Wing’s Scott Gustafson won Bombers.

Action will continue at Raceway Park on Sunday, July 27 at 6 p.m. For more information, go to www.goracewaypark.com.

Cheever took an early lead in the first Figure Eights race with the field spreading out and making things interesting in the “crossroads of doom.” However, Nogel was moving quickly through traffic and moved into position to challenge Cheever for the lead with 11 laps to go.

Two laps later, the top two were pulling away from the rest of the pack and, with four laps to go, were running side by side. Meanwhile, another battle for third spot was shaping up between Burnsville’s Todd Wilson and Mark Bronstad of Rockford.

While Nogel edged Cheever for the checkered flag, Wilson was inches ahead of Bronstad for third.

In the second Figure Eights race, Barta led the pack to the green light, but seconds into the race everyone had to slow down. Caution flew when Prior Lake driver Steve Dehler blew his power steering and slammed hard into the front straight wall.

When action resumed, Barta returned to the lead as Fridley’s Phil Haluptzok gave chase from second place. With tight racing in the turns and near misses in the crossroads, Farmington’s Rick Martin was able to move up to third as Barta started to extend his lead almost a quarter track ahead with 11 laps left.

Ricky Martin moved in challenging Rick Martin for the third spot, while Barta was starting to lap slower cars. Haluptzok ended up second, while Ricky Martin was third.

Meanwhile, the Short Trackers division has been featuring great showings by rookie and second-year drivers this summer, and the latest feature highlighted them and the experienced wheelmen.

Paulsrud led early with Shakopee’s Charlie Pehrson close behind. The 2007 Short Tracker Champion, Paul Haeg of Shakopee, was quickly moving up to challenge Pehrson with 15 laps to go, but Paulsrud pulled away.

Pehrson and Haeg continued their back-and-forth battle for second and third and that’s how they finished, respectively.

In Hobby Stocks, Partington forged ahead with the lead with 21 laps remaining.

Don Whitebear of Red Wing was trying to hold off a challenge for fourth place from Chaska’s Jeremy Wolff, but was unable to hang on as Wolff passed with 16 laps to go. Second-place driver Dusty Mann of Dundas was trying to stick with Partington, but never really challenged for the top spot.

After passing Whitebear, Wolff had his sites set on third-place driver Bill Woodworth of Chanhassen. On the final lap of the run, the motor gave out on Adam Purcell’s machine, sending the Minnetonka driver to the pits with the black flag just as the rest of the field got the white flag signaling one lap to go.

As the pack crossed the line it was Partington followed by Mann in second and Woodworth holding off Wolff for third.

 In Late Models, it was a three-way battle for the point most of the race between Matt Dickey of Shakopee, Walen and Chaska’s Bryan Turtle. New Prague’s Jamie Farrell, making his first Late-Model appearance at Raceway Park this season, challenged Walen down the stretch.

However, Walen was able to hold him off, with Adam Royle of Northfield taking third.

In Bombers, Gustafson grabbed the early lead and held it. Terry Hawes of Shakopee was sent spinning as drivers bumped and banged with 11 laps to go. Shakopee’s Chuck Constazo was the man on the move, taking advantage of an opening when Minneapolis driver Todd Eberhardy found himself in the dirt inside of turn two.

That allowed Constanzo to move up to third with eight laps to go, passing Eden Prairie’s Kenny Schug for second place just four laps later.