Ryan Glenski vs. the Young Guns
Young Racer Center of Attention After Controversial Winter Heat Series Conclusion
By Jason Buckley
[Editor's Note: A video of the incident between Ryan Glenski and Chad Finchum has made it onto the Internet. The link is below in the article, but can also be seen by clicking here.]
In life, people are judged by many things. Whether it is something they say, something they do or their behavior and mannerisms in general, an individual can leave a lasting impression on society in general, who will not hesitate to slap a label on someone that can help them rise to the top or plummet them to the bottom of the barrel in the eyes of the public.
Ryan Glenski has made an impression on many in the Bandolero nation over the years. Racing in the Bandolero Young Guns for multiple years, Glenski is known as one of the best racers on the track. His driving on the track and win record in the books has put him in the category of someone everyone shoots to beat when they head to the track.
However, while other racers have come and gone from the Young Guns division and Bandoleros in general, Glenski has remained in the smaller developmental cars well beyond what many feel is needed or even respected. Instead of just being known as a great competitor and one of the best, the label of “going nowhere fast” has been attached to his name by some of his fellow racers. Now, after eight events in the Winter Heat Series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway spanning between the end of 2007 and the end of January 2008, Glenski has a few new labels that have been attached to his name, including cheater, a 600 Racing and INEX Corporation “favorite” and intentional wrecker - things that cast a dark shadow over what was an extremely successful career over the years in the Bandolero class.
The problems started for Glenski during the Winter Heat Series due to his skills from behind the wheel and the setup on his Bandolero, as he seemed to never break a sweat outrunning the competition. While many cried foul behind the scenes every week, INEX tech officials cleared his car and declared him legal – that was until the fifth round of the series on January 12th, when Glenski was disqualified for an illegal carburetor.
Ryan’s father Randy Glenski, a former Modified racer, wasn’t thrilled with the disqualification, considering it wasn’t something he said they did on purpose.
“I guess there was rule changes that they have made since the Summer Shootout and I didn’t know about it because I don’t look at the websites that much,” said Randy Glenski. “We made a mistake and we cleared our fight, they took my carburetor last week and they said it was a DQ, but according to Scott (INEX National Tech Director Scott Reinhardt) and Darrel (INEX Executive Director Darell Krentz), it wasn’t a performance enhancement where it made us faster, but it was worked on and the rules say you’re not suppose to touch your carburetor and I got to agree with them. I don’t know how it slipped by. It’s a motor I bought from another guy. I bought two (engines) from 600, but I bought another motor from another guy that won the championship and somehow it was miss-looked. Nobody looked at it and didn’t catch it I guess.”
According to Reinhardt, the modification wasn’t something new in the book, but rather something that INEX is now able to check more closely at the track.
Ryan Glenski looks at the action from the garage at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
The new INEX tech tool used during the fifth round of the Winter Heat declared Glenski's carburetor illegal.
“In the pole portion of the carburetor, there’s a passageway that Briggs and Stratton installs which regulates how much fuel goes to the jets,” explained Reinhardt. “One of my new inspectors here had designed a ‘go/no-go gauge’ for that. This was the first time they saw that gauge, however that doesn’t change what the hole size should be. The size of the hole still has to be the size Briggs and Stratton makes it. What I think is happening guys are buying used carburetors from here and there obviously someone out there is indexing those holes.”
Just one day after the disqualification flap, the younger Glenski put on one of the best races in the eyes of the fans and competitors at Rockingham Speedway, crossing the line second to Chad Finchum, his Winter Heat rival. In post-race tech, Randy Glenski decided to pull his car out of the tech area and load up, taking a disqualification instead of the second-place finish due to INEX wanting all drivers in tech to remove their battery.
“We don’t cheat and they know we don’t cheat and they saw what happened,” said Randy Glenski. “Why do you check a battery on a road course? A battery does not doing anything. It’s the hardest thing to take off on a Bandolero. Here it’s 4:30 in the afternoon and I’m not going to spend forty-five minutes taking a battery out when we wanted to watch some of the other races going on and stuff. It was cold and we finished second and we are not running for points for that series or nothing. Just put it in the trailer and go home.”
The INEX rulebook states that a driver could face suspension for refusing tech inspection, but Reinhardt chose to not invoke any further penalties beyond the disqualification.
“There are certain situations that wouldn’t be expectable just to take the DQ and go home,” explained Reinhardt. “If it’s a situation where the inspector feels like the competitor has taken the DQ to hide something then there would be further penalties that would be issued on INEX’s part, but I took it upon myself to determine that there wasn’t any intent to deceive. It was cold as heck out there and he didn’t want to take the time to take the battery out and I accept that.”
With the black clouds now following Glenski around the circuit, a week-later controversy struck the team again as post-race tech found J-B Weld on the #28 team’s motor seals. A day later Reinhardt said that it was something the motor shop did at 600 Racing, and that Glenski was declared legal; however many competitors told LegendsNation.com they have never seen seals with J-B Welds on them, including ones received from 600 Racing after Glenski’s motor was delivered.
A motor recently picked up from 600 Racing after the Glenski J-B Weld issue shows that not all are coming out of the engine shop the same way.
Eyebrows of the Young Guns division, and all of the Legends and Bandolero nation, started to rise.
Everything came to a head on the final weekend of the Winter Heat Series, when Glenski’s legality issues, conduct on the track and what many feel is a bias on behalf of 600 Racing and INEX showed what many believe the brightest.
Locked in a heated battle for the championship with Finchum, Glenski needed to beat Finchum on the track to win the title. If Finchum won, Glenski was looking at a second-place finish in what he has told LN as his final stint in the Bandolero division.
At the start of the race, Finchum lead Glenski around the circuit ahead of the Young Guns field. What occurred a few laps later stunned just about everyone in attendance.
“We were coming down the front stretch and my car pushed up,” said Finchum. “He (Glenski) went low, so I went low to keep him from getting under me and pinched it off, so I got loose. We were going side-by-side down the backstretch. I saw him, so I got off the gas and got into the brake to fall in back behind him and keep racing. I didn’t expect what he did. I felt a big hit and our cars hooked. When it came unhooked the car went head on into the wall.”
Finchum’s car slammed the wall hard, which did significant damage to his car. While he was able to continue and finish out the race, what shocked the crowd the most was when officials restarted the race with Glenski still out front instead of penalizing him for what many thought was an intentional move.
Krentz, who officiated the race from the tower, didn’t agree with any blame being put on Glenski.
“Two fine Young Guns racing for a championship and doing everything that they could to win,” said Krentz on what he saw. “From my angle, when the #19 (Finchum) went to the outside it was no man’s land out there. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t think that Glenski intentionally tried to interfere with the #19’s momentum. Well, let me say he may have tried to interfere with his momentum, but I don’t know if he ever meant to push him off the track or certainly cause any harm.
“They are both fine young men that are out to win and do a good job. There was never ever any indication that either one of them would be capable of doing something inappropriate like that. I think he (Finchum) was in no man’s land and Glenski got up high to get a good arch into the turn and there was contact and the #19 car got spun out.”
600 Racing’s General Manager Ken Ragan also didn’t blame Glenski for the incident, rather blaming the track design for the issue.
“That happened to be one of the races I was watching,” said Ragan. “I guess the biggest contributor to that, if you will look at the front straightaway [the wreck was on the back straightaway], the straightaway is not straight. When Glenski was under the #19 he came off the corner on the outside all of a sudden the front straightaway puts him in the grass because it runs off to the left.”
Chad Finchum's Bandolero comes to a stop after slamming the outside wall. (LN Photo)
After the race, Ryan Glenski told what really happened from his perspective.
“I started out the race, I was second,” said Glenski. “I stayed in second for a few laps and started working Chad over. I got under him and he drove me all the way into the infield. I got back past him on the next lap and drove into the side of the race track a little bit to get his tires off, and whatever he did. He drove me like that so I will drive him like that.”
After learning Glenski admitted to wrecking Finchum on purpose, Ragan still defended Glenski, putting the blame on the track and not the driver.
“I don’t think that he did (wreck him on purpose and admit it),” said Ragan. “I don’t know what his story would be after the fact. Certainly I don’t know what he stands to gain by saying that he did do it or if he didn’t do it on purpose. The fact is that in motorsports you are going to have some contact and you are going to have some judgment calls on how it happened and what happened, but I didn’t really see anything that I would call intentional on either driver’s part other than maybe the words exchanged at the end of the event.”
Chad Finchum and Ryan Glenski generally are found at the front of the Young Guns races. (LN Photo)
Ragan also agreed with Krentz in the tower, who didn’t penalize Glenski for the move.
“I think in the tower when you make a call certainly it is a judgment call. You can question anybody’s judgment. The #19 (Finchum) was involved in the wreck. To me, had I been in the tower and I am not questioning the call in the tower, I would have deemed that the #19 was involved in the wreck and the other cars were not involved in the wreck. I still think the contributing factor to the wreck was the race track. That isn’t Finchum’s fault and that isn’t Glenski’s fault. If it’s anybody’s fault it’s our fault, but like you said earlier, everybody knows that track that knows the straightaway falls off, and if you are on the outside off four
[turn two], you are going to be the grass by the middle of the straightaway. Even if you don’t turn right or left, if you go straight you are going to be in the grass. I think that is the biggest contributor. We can’t stop and fix the track. We can stop and clean up the wreck. I think the only car involved was the #19 and that is probably why he was the only one put to the rear I think. That is kind of the way I saw it. I would think that is the way it was called in the tower. And for that reason only the #19 was put to the rear.”
A video of the incident showed up on the Internet Monday evening, which some believe shows Glenski swerving at Finchum, knocking him off the track surface (click here for the video on YouTube.com).
While Krentz and Ragan saw it one way, bystanders saw it another. Outlaw Bandolero racer Kendall Sellers saw the incident from the fence.
“They came up off (the corner), Chad gave him room and Ryan pushed him on into the dirt,” said Sellers. “Wrecking someone intentionally puts someone’s safety at risk, and I don’t agree with it at all.”
NASCAR Camping World East Series racer John Freeman has had his success in the Legends and Bandolero world. Freeman happened to be out observing the racing action and gave his opinion on the incident.
“That was definitely a dangerous move,” said Freeman. “That was a hard hit for a Bandolero. You don’t usually see them hit that hard that often. It definitely looked like the #19 got shoved out by the #28. There was definitely some force on that one. Unfortunately the #19 got taken out and I think he probably was the rightful winner of that race. It sounds like everyone here is on the side of the #19 on that move. It was a pretty dangerous deal there, and if it was my kid out there I would probably be just as mad as those people are out here.”
Matthew Linker was behind the front two drivers on the track in the same race, giving him a perspective from behind the wheel.
Randy Glenski and James Finchum discuss the incident after the race. (LN Photo)
“Glenski was driving him dirty,” said Linker. “Glenski just ran him into the wall. That is dirty driving right there.”
Despite the opinion of everyone at the track, including Glenski’s own admission he caused the incident on purpose, Glenski was given the unofficial win as both the racing officials and 600 Racing failed to call it rough driving by Glenski. This, along with other calls, had many grumbling that 600 Racing and INEX doesn’t apply the rules to everyone fairly. Ragan says that is not true.
“He is not in 600’s pocket anymore than anyone else that was out here today,” said Ragan. “We pull for all the competitors and we will help them all. I don’t know if I said Glenski did nothing wrong. I wasn’t in the driver’s seat riding with him. I don’t know whether he did or didn’t. I can give you my opinion. I didn’t see him do anything wrong. I don’t really think Finchum did anything wrong.
“You go take a survey of all the people you have talked to and I bet there ain’t 10% of them can tell you about the design of the race track.”
Sellers, who has raced against Glenski in the past and doesn’t personally have a problem with him, told LN the move by the young driver and the no call by the officials has everyone wondering exactly what the real story is.
“I have raced with Ryan before,” said Sellers. “The Glenskis have always been fair with me, but it always seems to come back like the #28 makes out like a rose. Everywhere we go, carburetors, motors, favoritisms on calls; the #28 is going to make out like a rose no matter what. He is a good driver, don’t get me wrong, but when it comes down to something like this, you take the good driver part out, if someone is willing to race for a championship and drive like that, why do they even come out here?”
After the race, Linker, who crossed the line second behind Glenski, protested the motor on his car. Reinhardt told LegendsNation.com Monday afternoon that the motor would be torn down Tuesday in the presence of Randy Glenski and Linker’s father to determine if it is legal or not. Until then, the race win, and the championship in the Young Guns division for the Winter Heat Series, is in question.
Ryan knows how to pose for the winner's photo. Will he pose again as the Young Guns champion? (LN Photo)
Even if Glenski is named the Winter Heat Young Guns champion, many feel it is tainted because of Glenski’s controversial season. Glenski doesn’t see it that way. In his final race in a Bandolero before focusing on the Allison Legacy Series this season as well as a 10-race run in a Chris Rogers Legends Car, Glenski told LN he felt he was in the right for his move on the track.
“If he wants to drive me all the way into the infield like that, I can’t let him do that,” said Glenski. “You have to make sure you are on top of your game and you can’t let anyone boss you around out there. I have been winning these things a lot and you can’t just let someone take over you.
“It was a good race. It was a good way to end the Bandolero career. I got the championship.”
LegendsNation.com is waiting for the results from the motor tear down, which is scheduled for today. When we have the official word, we will pass it along.
