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Down To The Wire: Senneker Wins Track & State Titles At Kalamazoo

One of the great racing family names in Michigan and the Midwest emerged as the 2009 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Michigan state champion.

Terry Senneker, 29, of Wayland, Mich. also won his second Super Late Model division championship at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway, a fast high-banked .375-mile paved oval.

Senneker won the 2009 track and state titles by a slim margin over Andy Bozell, who has been the dominant Kalamazoo driver for more than a decade. Bozell has won 10 of the past 12 Kalamazoo Late Model division track championships, interrupted only by Senneker in 2006 and 2009. Bozell also won a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series regional championship in 2004.

The battle between Senneker and Bozell for the 2009 Kalamazoo track championship went down to the last race of the season, a 100-lap event. Senneker started 16th but was able to take the lead during the second half of the race and drove on for the win. Rick Sexton finished second followed by Bozell. Senneker won the title over Bozell by 77 points.

“Andy’s always on his game,” Senneker said of Bozell. “He’s the Mark Martin of Kalamazoo. He’s a veteran driver who keeps on winning. In order to win this championship, we had to beat the best.”

Although he was around race cars and race tracks even as a toddler, he was 20 before he got his own career going.

“My dad and his brothers raced all over the country,” Senneker said. “I wanted to get into racing sooner, but it wasn’t until dad stopped driving.

“I took out a small loan in 1999 and bought a Sportsman car to race at Berlin (Raceway in Marne., Mich., operated by Johnny Benson) and we won a few races. The next year Dad and I made the car better.”

They moved up to the Late Model division in 2001, and migrated over to Kalamazoo Speedway in 2006.

“Kalamazoo turned out to be a pretty good track for us,” Senneker said. “I can’t explain why. Sometimes a driver and a track just match up.”

Senneker’s father, also named Terry, and uncle Bob, were icons in Midwestern pavement Late Model racing through the 1970s and 1980s. Bob is known primarily for his years in American Speed Association competition, winning about 50 races and the 1990 series championship. Counting all races entered, Bob has a feature win total of more than 200. Bob also made eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts with a career best finish of 13th in the 1968 Daytona 500. Terry (Sr.) preferred to chase money races instead of points and amassed many feature wins. The regular south Michigan racing circuit at the time offered four nights a week. Bob and Terry Senneker have both been retired from driving for years. A third racing Senneker brother, Rich, was lost in a racing accident in 1973.

Senneker drives for owners Terry and Carolyn Gentry. Crew members include the driver’s parents Marcia and Terry Senneker, wife Sara, Larry Rieffer, Chris Modzeleski, and Dennis Farmer. Sara and Terry Senneker have a son, Reese, 1.

Team sponsors include T.A. Gentry Supply, Waste Management, Weller Auto Parts, Enterprise Iron and Metal, Oetman Excavating and Woodhamm’s Equipment. The team uses a Baker Engineering Racing Engine.

Senneker operates Senneker Performance, LLC, which builds Senneker Chassis for a variety of divisions. The Wayland, Mich.-based company also specializes in fabrication, and is a dealer for high performance auto parts.