Volusia

[Stevensville Mike]

Night 1 of the sprints is tonight, gents.  It's about 70◦F out right now at 4:15 p.m.  Supposed to drop down to the high 40s tonight.  This looks like it will be the best night for weather of the five.  I'm headed out in about an hour.

Rain is the forecast for tomorrow night and possibly Friday Night, too.  Depending on how the weather pattern is, the Lucas Oil Late Models at East Bay are Plan B at this point in time.  We'll hope for the best.

I come to find out from a fellow fan at the motel that VSP took some damage a few weeks ago from a minor tornado.  He said they just got the place back up to snuff this week.  He was out there last night to watch the modifieds.  I was in a Mexican bar last night in St. Augustine with my far from Mexican wife.

First race of '11 for me!  I'll give 'em a yell for you when they drop the green on the first heat.  Maybe you'll see me on Dirtvision, eh?  I'll be wearing the purple hat, Bob!

Anything you want me to ask the guys just shoot me a line.  

Danny Smith and Cody Darrah are back.  Those will be the first two drivers I seek out.  I'll be looking for fellow forum subscriber Beaner later in the week.

To be continued.....

[beaner]

I will plan to see you Friday night Mike.  If weather plays a part, will adjust schedule and hit Sunday night.  Saturday is looking great and will be spending the day at the Daytona races for ARCA and Bud Shootout.  My first trip to Florida Speedweeks and I am pumped!!  Will even take in a Detroit Red Wing game in Tampa for good measure.  Wings, non-wing, late models, mods, big-block and minis....legends and paved action, I am ready for all.  Bring it on Florida!!!!

[Mudclodbob]

Well, how was it Mike ? Any inside info? How was the crowd? How was the racing? How was the track? How were the Brats? How was the weather? How were the cars, did they have those big fins on top of them?

[Stevensville Mike]

The usual cast of characters were there, Bob.  39 sprinters timed in and about a million modifieds.  The weather was great and the track was good all night long.

Stands were about half full.  It will pick up Friday when the WoO sanctions the race.  To the novice, the WoO are the best, so more people will show (even though it is the same guys from tonight).

The only thing better than the weather was Sammy Swindell.  He was in a class by himself.  The only guy that was even close to him was Dollansky.  So, all in all, it was a good night for the Big Game Tree Stands cars.

Funny thing about those two.  Pre-race, I was in the pits looking over Sammy's car and Dollansky came whipping in right next to him after warming his car up and nearly ran me over.  I jumped just in the nick of time.  Damn fans - always getting in the way.

Looks like rain tonight.  We'll keep our fingers crossed but it has drizzled off and on all day long so far.  We went over to a laundromat to do some clothes this morning and the place was packed with about 25 UNOH guys.  They have five mods down here they are running and are wrenching a few more to boot.  The one guy that was like their boss basically told me he hopes they get rained out tonight.  They need the break.

Plan B (East Bay) looks just as bad.

Ran into Danny Smith and said, "Hi" and wished him luck.  He said he felt fine.  Couldn't get near Darrah.  Kasey Kahne was on hand so that pit area was packed.  All of KK's cars ran like crap - Darrah, Sweet, and even Saldana.  They were all off the pace last night.

There was a racing products dealer in the pits with all of their products laid out by their rig - with price tags attached.  Chassis, rear end diffs, steering boxes, suspension parts, push bars, nerf bars, steering wheels, seats, fuel tanks, etc.  Good god - A guy could go broke just LOOKING at those things!


Some of the highlights:

Sammy wins.  He goes to Victory Lane and the announcer sticks a mike in front of him and starts pulling teeth to get him to answer questions.  The first thing Sammy says is something like, "Well, I could put the car anywhere tonight.  Those Hoosier tires on the front let me do that."

The All Stars have the big contract with Goodyear - just like the WoO.  So immediately, someone tosses a VP Racing Fuels flag over the front tire to hide the sidewall for all of the picture taking which had commenced!  They then put a small billboard in front of the tire!  It was great!

Goodyear - When you want to race.  Hoosier - When you want to win.


The announcer was periodically interviewing fans.  Other fans - not me.  Fans with character.  During a modified heat which was under about it's 12th caution in the first three laps, he was interviewing 'Dick from Massachusetts'.  It was Dick's first time to VSP.  The announcer asked him what he thought of the place. 

Dick replied, "I think they should speed up the modified program." 

That drew a pretty good cheer from the crowd.   


I always felt Dollansky had one of the best nicknames - The Crowd Pleaser.  There was a guy from Tampa racing a modifed last night named Kyle Bronson.  He had a different nickname.  One I never heard of before for a driver - Killer.

I thought that was Sterling Marlin's nickname for the past ten years, or so?


During an intermission, the announcer was filling in time. 

"Guys, don't forget Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  Girls love jewelry.  You can stop down at the World of Outlaws trailer and pick up some nice World of Outlaws earrings for her."

Somehow I don't think a woman tipped him off on that.


Clint Bowyer won the mod feature in a car that looked like it had 50 HP more than anyone else.  He outran Ken Schrader.  To Bowyer's credit, he worked lapped traffic a lot better.

Prior to the start, they interviewed Kenny Wallace, who was also in the feature.  Unlike Sammy, Kenny never shuts up.  They were talking about him winning a Busch Race at VSP back in 1991 when it was paved.  He was jabbering along, and then, like a message from God himself, the speaker system went out temporarily.

That got a big A-MEN from me.   


And last but not least, I noticed a Coors Light decal on the side of the hood on Danny Smith's usually blank white #4.  So, with that, I picked up a 24 ounce Coors Light at 7 Eleven on the way back for a nightcap when I got back to the motel.

Just doing my part to keep the $$$ rolling in for Danny.

Night 2 tonight (maybe).

[Mudclodbob]

Great report Mike, keep up the good work 

[drdoug]

Great updates Mike. Have a blast men. I just got back from the U.P. snowmobiling. Tuesday morning -9 temp with -25 windchill. Stay warm brotha.

[Stevensville Mike]

Will do, Doug.  You do the same.


Night 2:

The rain stopped ~ 1:00 p.m., but everything was still wet and soaked.  The track was run in and the show went on.

37 cars were on tap.  27 of them broke the track record in quals.  That is not a joke.  27 of them.  Jason Solwold set the record back in 2007 (I think).  It was eventually lowered by about 4/10s of a second.  Paul MacMahon holds it now.

MacMahon started out great in his heat and passed a few cars.  Fast time starts 6th, top 5 to the Feature.  The track was rutted in Turns 1 & 2 a little.  It ddn't take long to see MacMahon broke a shock, or something.  His car looked like a basketball going through the corners.  He fell off the pace and had to go to the B Main.

The next few heats - a one lane track.  Everyone on the bottom.

The mods eventually ran it in and the high line came in by B Main time for the sprints.

18 cars had Hoosiers on the front.  Sammy was one of them.  He made it to the Top 6 dash last night, so he started even closer to the front for the A Main.

He won again.  It was a lot harder last night, though.  He chased Stevie Smith in the Zemco #1 for about 19 laps before finally passing him.  It was a pretty good battle.

This time in victory lane, no one covered up the Hoosiers!  AND, Sammy gave them another plug and ended with words of such, "I don't mind if these guys don't try and copy what we're doing, because I'll just keep in winning then."

Dollansky was strong, but broke in the A Main.  Tim Shaffer blew up in the B Main.  Steve Kinser never made it out of the B Main.  Lance DeWease looked REAL good in the heats, dash, and A Main, but exploded the power plant in the A Main after smoking for about 7-8 laps while STILL picking off cars.

WoO tonight.  It will be interesting to see if the All Star regulars can stay at the front.  The Kasey Kahne cars ran much better last night then the night before.  Schatz, Kinser, Lasoski, Meyers... Still searching for the right combo.  Terry McCarl scratched completely.

Kraig Kinser, in the Casey's General Stores #6 has been good both nights.  So has Dale Blaney.

Cliny Bowyer won the mod feature again - Easily.

Highlights:

Talked to Danny Smith again pre-hot laps.  His Coors Light deal was through a friend of his that has a beer distributorship.


Pre-hot laps, I saw Greg Hodnett looking at the track from the pit fence.  I strolled up to him and asked him what he specifically looks for.  He was pretty informative about it, like always.  Every time I talk with him I get the impression he would make a good teacher.  The guy can explain everything to any fan and make it sound real simple.

How far down the dirt compacts when the big rig runs over it.  How the clods out of the racing line squish down or kick up.  Seeing how it rained all night, and all morning, I asked him if he thought they had enough water in the track.  He looked at me like I was nuts.  We were also standing in mud.  He then realized I was joking.

It was good to see him make the Feature.  Something he didn't do the first night.


Mud everywhere.  VSP obviously had no time to clean up after Wednesday Night.  If you got off the beaten path anywhere, you could have lost a shoe.  The pits, however, were fine (for the most part).  Grandstands still smattered with clods from the night before.


Earlier that afternoon, I saw two guys walking down US-92 in Deland.  One looked like Lucas Wolfe.  I pointed that out to my wife.  She told me I was nuts.  He wouldn't be walking down a highway.

Later, pre-race, I found LW in the pits and asked him.  It was him.  He and his bud were walking to a restaurant to get something to eat.

"Maybe I should have offered you a ride?" I said.

"Yeah.  That would have helped," he replied, agreeing.


Dale Blaney was on Hoosiers (on the front).  One of his pit guys said that they really didn't cars about the end-of-the-year tire money.  They want the best setup they can get and that is what looked the best last night.


Speaking of Dale Blaney...... come Feature time, some guy came up and sat next to me in the stands.  The crowd was real sparse.  The stands maybe 1/5 full.  It was chilly, windy, and damp.

Anyways, I look over, and the guy is Dave Blaney.  A few fans say, "Hi".  I just nodded to him.  I don't think he recognized me with all of my winter garb on.  


Terry McCarl came up into the stands come Feature time.  Watching him walk down the stairs looked painful.  He's got a limp.  Too bad.  He's a tough guy, and has had some pretty good injuries over the past few years.  He's had a tough week, too.


Only one real bad crash so far in two nights.  Spud Gustin caught the wall coming out of Turn 4 in the B Main last night and rolled it side over side a few times.  Always seems like the underfunded guys have that kind of luck.


And one last note:  I just realized last night that something (someone) was missing from the DirtCar Nationals this year - Glenn Styres.  Always one of the brighest, nicest looking cars on the track.


Night 3 tonight.  Weather is overcast, but we'll be fine.  I'll have the Hoosier hat on, with a plain black jacket.  I always sit somewhere between the start/finish line and Turn 1.  I'll look for you, Beaner.  Free pit passes for everyone at VSP.

Talked with some guys from Manitoba last night.  Man, did they have an accent!  Ate breakfast downstairs this morning and the guy at the table next to us was from Montana.

They are coming from far and wide.

Who knows what might happen tonight.  Hosni Mubarek, the President of Egypt just resigned today.  Maybe some race fans from Cairo are here?  Could have repercussions at the local dirt track.

Maybe that's why the SOD schedule hasn't been released yet - Mubarek is going to assume the helm at SOD and it took him longer than he thought it would to "turn over" to his VP in Egypt?

To be continued.....

[Mudclodbob]

I'm thinking TJ should hire you as an ace reporter Mike. The pay is great and the hours are long. :-)

[jl47]

mike great reporting i think tj should hire you i look foward to reading what you wrote since i cant be there. keep the updates comming .

[crazycarpenter75]

Awesome Reporting, way better than anything I read anywhere else!!!

[Stevensville Mike]

Glad you like it, guys.  Wish you could be here.  Never did find Beaner last night.


Night 3:

Good weather to start with – mid 50s.  It dropped down to 39-ish later I hear.  Slight breeze blowing in.

A few drivers were no longer on hand for the WoO opener.  Mark Smith, Spud Gustin, Cap Henry, and a kid from Pittsburgh, Pete Miller III.  Rolling in was Bill Rose in the 6r.  35 cars.

You could tell it was theoretically a bigger show.  The crowd was MUCH bigger than the previous two nights.  The WoO promoting it and being a Friday Night vice a weeknight aided it.  The place had been cleaned up, too.  

Drivers were wearing some different uniforms.  Much newer looking and cleaner.  Looked like they were getting ready to go to church.

Danny Smith, Greg Wilson, Daryn Pittman…..  Everyone looked more spiff.  Tyler Walker, too.  The first couple of nights he looked like he just survived a meth lab explosion, or something.

Roving TV cameras in the pits, too, taking up close shots of guys getting heat into the engines.

Speaking of engines, I talked with one of Tim Shaffer’s crewmen.  They blew the engine up the night before.  Nothing worth salvaging.  Same for Lance DeWease.  He was having a great night Thursday Night, but it exploded on him.  He looked pretty bummed out last night and didn’t have much to say.  What can you say, eh?

Track was slower last night.  Go figure!  The Kasey Kahne cars found life finally.  Saldana took quick time.  

Speaking of quick time, Johnny Gibson called the play-by-play all night long.  Always welcome to hear him call it.  They had a moment of silence for Tom Carnegie prior to quals.

After hot laps, I went back to the pits to try and determine the WoO inversion process for the night (and for 2011, I guess).  I walked up to the WoO officials trailer and asked the one guy there that was watching a computer screen about it.  He didn’t know!  I kid you not, he didn’t KNOW what the inversion process was.  And this is the OFFICIALS trailer!

THIS was starting off as a heck of a night.

The WoO does their inversion different from the All Stars, and this always bugged me (how the WoO does it).  Top 4 are inverted and the Top 5 go to the A Main.  All Stars are Top 6 inverted, Top 5 to the A Main.  So, for the latter, the fast timer has to pass at LEAST one car to move on.  For the WoO, why even invert the Top 4?  The battle is for 5th anyways, and these are two or three guys lower down the speed pole.

Top 10 qualifiers that advance go to the draw for the dash.  

Did I say the place had a lot of fans there?  About 4/5 full, I’d guess.  I sat down, and the guy in front of me had an Ohsweken Speedway shirt on.  We talked for awhile, and then quals started.  It started cooling off, so he then put on a Hamilton Tiger-Cats jacket.  Not to brag, but I could more than likely venture I was one of the few in the crowd that would have known who the Tiger-Cats were.  We used to watch the CFL on CBC out of Windsor growing up in Detroit.

Anyways, the heats click off one-by-one.  Some of the strong:  Sammy, Saldana, MacMahon, Shaffer, Steve Kinser, & Kemenah.  Remember I said Bill Rose showed up?  He made the Dash.  Good job.

Kinser draws the pole for the Dash.  He took honors easily.  Earlier in the night Johnny Gibson was asking him about his woes the first two nights.  The King chuckled and said they were using a different, newer car.  They were going back to an older one tonight.

Terry McCarl finally came to life last night and made the A Main.  Unfortunately, it was at Danny Smith’s expense.

Come A Main time, 27 starters.  Sam Hafertepe, Jr, Ben Gregg, and Lucas Wolfe took provisionals.  Makes you wonder how many guys can take provisionals before someone steps in and says, “No mas”?  Is there a limit?  I have no idea.

Wolfe and Hafertepe pretty much finished tail end.  

Right off the bat, Stevie Smith and Lance DeWease get tangled up coming to the green out of Turn 4.  DeWease wound up sliding about 2/3 of the way down the front stretch and stopped right in front of me.  We all looked at each other in the stands.  I don’t think anyone there, me included, has ever seen a sprint car slide that far without tipping or rolling.  They pushed ‘em both back off and we restarted.  

DeWease then went into the infield after a couple of laps.  Stevie Smith started knifing his way through the field.  He wound up 6th in the end.  Too bad he missed the Dash by one spot.  He always runs good at Volusia.

Kinser was off like a rocket.  MacMahon was chasing him, along with Saldana.  Sammy & Shaffer were right behind those guys.  Dollansky was strong.  Schatz was nowhere to be found.  Lasoski, in his own car this year, was as good as he’s been all week, too.

Then he (Lasoski) blew a tire and was done for the night.

Restart.

This brings me to my second bit of turmoil – the double wide restarts the WoO uses.  Not so much that the double wide bothers me, but the leader is given the nod as to when to restart.  Anywhere between Turn 3 and the start finish line?  Way too much grey area.

Kinser picks his line (the top) gasses it at the apex of 3 and 4 and by the time he hits the line, he has a 10 car length lead.  Yeah, this is good for the fans…..

Sammy moves to 3rd.  He and Saldana go back and forth.  With about 6-7 laps to go, Kinser is lapping cars and Saldana and Sammy are right on him.  2nd place is going back and forth.  You could tell someone was going to make their move on Kinser.

Caution.  Dollansky rolled it in Turn 2.  Freddie Rahmer gets pushed back to the pits with a flat right rear as it deflated right on the front stretch under red.

Three laps to go.  Restart.

Kinser-Sammy-Saldana, 1-2-3.

Halfway through Turn 3, Kinser gasses it.  This time he has about a 15 car length lead on 2nd place by the line.  No contest.

So, a great contest was watered down by a gimmick restart to imitate NASCAR.  Sorry about the venting, but single file and a cone and a much tighter restart area works fine everywhere else.  Too bad it can’t be used here.

Taking nothing from Kinser, he was tough all night long and got the good Dash draw.

After the race, Sammy summed it up best.  He said that the Dash draw is a big deal, and Kinser had the restarts down pat.  He also said (and we had to laugh) that he spent too much time behind Paul MacMahon.  

“MacMahon was making mistake after mistake, and by the time I got around him….”

Good ol’ Sammy.  Never polished or politically correct.

Looking back, it’s amazing that these two guys, Steve and Sammy, are in their 50s and knocking them all off this week.  As long as they don’t get hurt, I can’t see how they wouldn’t be competitive in their 60s!


Highlights of the Night:

A long line to get a pit wristband last night.  Big crowd.  While waiting in line, I noticed a guy outside the fence with sunglasses in a wheelchair by pit entrance with a sign:  Need money for eye retina surgery  

Hey, it’s Florida!  There are panhandlers everywhere.

So I am squinting to read this, and I realize the two guys behind me are squinting to read it, too.  We all got a chuckle out of that.  Maybe WE needed the eye surgery?  I wonder if I can cover my ticket fee with a panhandler sign?  

“Cheapskate – Need money for ticket”


Once in the pits, I wandered over to Sammy’s crew (like a lot of people).  Kevin Swindell is running the ARCA race at Daytona today, and I asked one of Sammy’s guys if Sammy was going to be over there watching and not race Saturday Night at VSP.

He said Sammy is racing all the nights at Volusia.  Then he said something that summed it up for all dirt fans.

“Why let Daytona get in the way of good racing?”


No Clint Bowyer last night.  He must have been over at the big track testing.  That made the mod feature a little more fair.  

Ken Schrader lead most of it, but got pipped on the last lap by Ryan Gustin.  I wondered if he was Spud’s son?  Anyways, his nickname is “The Reaper”.

Austin Dillon rolled it in the Feature.  He’s on the pole for the ARCA race, by the way.  An interesting deal, too.  Kind of like old time racing.  He’s on the pole for a big stock car race at a superspeedway and is running a dirt modified later in the night.


Sat next to a couple from Fremont.  The guy was part owner of a supermodified and also a 305 sprinter at Fremont Speedway, driven by John Ivy this year.  She was telling me they were going to go to the ARCA race and Bud Shootout the next night and skip Volusia.

The tickets they had for the ARCA/Shootout were $50 apiece.  For the WoO night at VSP, it was $39.  Granted, for $39, you got 17 races (heats, dashes, B Mains, and Features) along with a pit pass, but those prices are a lot closer than I would have thought.

The guy she was with looked that that guy from “The Bachelor”, too.  I asked her if this was one of those one-on-one dates and instead of taking you to dinner in Paris, he took you to a dirt race in Barberville.


Jason Meyers got his 2010 WoO Championship ring pre-race.  


They now have a big screen at Volusia now, right behind the front stretch wall.  They have replays from time to time.  Not once, however, do they put a running order on there.  You still have to squint (again) waaaaaaaay across to Turn 3 to read the little scoreboard.  No big deal though.  Pretty much any fan can figure the Top 5-6.

Unfortunately, we are subjected to commercials from time to time in between races.


They have ATMs on the grounds of Volusia.  A few beers, and few heats, and before you know it, you could be out a bundle.  They remind the fans periodically that the ATMs are there, too.  Now that’s good promoting!


They have a “Hot Zone” behind the main grandstand.  What that is is a big tent with no bottom, with clear poly sides.  Like a portable concession building.  There is nothing in it, but you can go in, and it is heated.  Allows you to warm up.  Not a bad idea.

The problem is, one guy told me, is once you go in, you don’t want to come back out.


The WoO Feature was over at 10:45 p.m.  On a Friday Night!  Gave the fans plenty of time to go out afterwards.  

I stayed for the remainder of the card – Three modified B Mains and then the mod A Main.

T.J. would agree, it’s nice to see tracks not holding the fans hostage until the sprint A Main.


Night 4 tonight.

[beaner]

Mike:  sorry we did not connect Friday night....it was not for lack of effort. I arrived shortly after 7:00 and the place was a zoo as you know. I cruised the bleacher area a couple times and could not find the purple hat!  I spent a lot of time in the pits and ended up watching the A-Main from the pit stand in turn 2.  I thought it was a good competitive night and personally liked seeing the Steve and Sammy show 1-2 in the feature. I wished Brad Wickam #6 had been there....an ex Butler guy from a while back now running out of the South.  He was there for all-stars and I see showed up tonight.

P.S.  Daytona Speedway was good time today. Off to Ocala Sunday and big open  LM show with several Lucas Oil and WOO LM guys racing.

[Stevensville Mike]

Night 4:

34 cars timed in.  Spud Gustin and Brad Wickham were back.  Greg Wilson and Aaron Ott (Don Ott’s son) were gone.  Too bad.  I wanted to talk with Wilson and tell him the efforts he and his crew put forth for Aaron Shaffer last year at Hartford were still being praised and talked about.  Right, Doug?

Sammy hurt the engine in hot laps and had to go to a backup.  I think he went to a backup car, but maybe it was just a backup engine.  Anyways, McMahon qualified fastest.  Kemenah was second, and Danny Lasoski started showing signs of life with his own car qualifying third.  Kemenah has been quick all week in quals but not in the races.  He fades too much.

Dollansky looked strong again, taking his heat easily.  Cody Darrah looked good in his heat but broke a U-joint and had to go to the B Main.  Jessica Zemken won her heat and transferred to the Dash.

By the end of the second heat, the track was taking rubber in.  That’s the first time all week.  One thing that hit me, too – In all of the years I’ve been going to Volusia (five out of the last seven) I have never seen them put water down during the night.  They’ve come out and scraped it up from time-to-time and packed it back down, but never watered it.  Tonight was no exception, but it was the driest of the week.

Zemken was on the pole for the Dash with the inversion.  While they were interviewing most of the Dash participants prior to, the on-track announcer referred to her as Jessica SIMPSON.  It wasn’t the first time this week either.  She corrected him and he kind of half-laughed and then called her ZIMken.  Maybe by tonight he’ll do some homework and get it right?

Kraig Kinser won the Dash over Dollansky.  Both looked in top form.  Steve Kinser and Shaffer looked good, too.  Zemken got shuffled back to 7th.

The B Main was pretty good.  Some notables in it were Jason Meyers (who has been invisible this week), Darrah, Blaney, Gravel, and McCarl.

Darrah, Blaney, McCarl, and Brad Sweet transferred.  Meyers couldn’t make it.  He took a provisional.  The defending WoO champ is off to a slow 2011 start.

Showtime!

Dollansky took off like he was shot out of a cannon!  There was no doubt he was the class of the field.  By about Lap 10 he had more than a straightaway lead on the rest (mainly Kraig Kinser) and was working lapped traffic like a surgeon working an operation.  Steve was a solid third, with McMahon, Shaffer, and Saldana slugging it out from there on back.

Midway through, Cody Darrah (from the Dash) was up in the Top 5.  Dollansky had more than a half track lead by then.  By Lap 20, or so, Darrah was in second!  He wasn’t catching Dollansky, but he was inching away from the Kinsers.

Meyers was making little headway.  Saldana was there, but just that – there.  Shaffer seemed like he was just a tick off of the Kinsers.  Sammy and Stevie Smith were flat.  Neither had nothing for the top runners tonight.  Schatz was ‘kind’ of in the mix – he was running near the leaders, lapped.

Around Lap 24, Dollansky started smoking out the left side.  The night before, he flipped it on Lap 27.  This night, it blew up on him coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 27.  He coasted to a stop by Turn 1, right in front of where I was sitting.  I felt sorry for the guy.
Remember Darrah?  The best of the rest?  As the caution came out, his white #91 came waddling down the frontstretch.  The right rear blew on him in Turn 4 as the caution flew!

The Top 2 are now gone!  So, who are the benefactors?  Kraig and Steve!  As I sat there shaking my head at what had just happened in the last 10 seconds, I couldn’t believe the good luck Steve had.

So, under caution, Johnny Gibson starts reading off the running order.  Schatz WASN’T lapped!  He came from 17th to the Top 3!  Holy smokes!  He snuck up on me.  I missed him somehow coming to the front.

Restart:  Thre laps left.  Kraig takes the inside, Steve the high side.  Made me wonder… there were two lines by then – one real low and one real high.  The top side looked the fastest, but I am sure Kraig knew what he was doing.

Unfortunately, so did Steve.  Adios, son!  Steve won it going away.  Saldana and Jason Sides both got past Kraig as he wound up 5th.

So, Tony Stewart’s guys were 1-2, with Zemken having a good night, too (a bad A Main – 26th) but all in all, her best night.


Highlights:

First thing I did when I got there was go into the pits and look for a WoO official and ask what the rules were for provisionals, seeing as they allowed three on Night 3.

The guy I found told me there was a maximum of three allowed by the rules.

So, that cleared that up.

Three provisional starters again last night.  Jason Meyers, Lucas Wolfe (again), and Ben Gregg (again).  27 cars took the green for the Feature.



Tyler Walker blew the engine in hot laps.  They replaced it, he qualled on time, and wound up in the Top 10 in the end – 9th.


Lasoski finished 8th.  Danny Smith transferred straight to the A Main through his heat and wound up 10th.  Terry McCarl finally had some good luck and was 13th when it was all said and done.


I am starting to not dislike the WoO format as I did the night before.  I still think the fast timers should have to pass at LEAST one car to get to the A Main, but one thing I overlooked is that the Top 2 in each heat go to the Dash.  So, there IS something they are vying for at the front of the pack.  Hence, the fast timer, to go straight to the Dash, has to pick off at least two cars in the heat. 

But, to make a Dash of 10, there are two from each heat (eight) and then the next two fast timers, so…..


Austin Dillon was running his mod last night.  I was wrong when I thought he was on the pole for the ARCA race.  That was Ty Dillon.  Ty had last night off at VSP.  They split the mod field in half last night and the other half runs tonight.


Whenever I go to a WoO race with a lot of people there, and I want some elbow room, I use an old trick for years (don’t tell anyone).  I put down an extra blanket on the seats in front of me and sit behind it.  That way, everyone thinks that the seat has been reserved by someone, and I get leg room all night long (and a good view).

I went down to get a pop before the B Main and the blanket was gone!  Imagine that – theft at a dirt track!  Beaten at my own game I was!

I then realized it was the guys next to me.  The cold metal bleachers were getting to their backsides and they took it to sit on.  We discussed it, and I was okay with it, but I have to say, that was a first.  I’ve never had anything swiped at a track.  And yes, I got it back in the end.

I have to admit, it was cold, but not that bad.  However, when you aren’t prepared like some, you’re even colder.


Had to look up Brad Wickham on the SOD website.  He has two career SOD wins.


Sorry we missed each other, Beaner.  Have fun in Ocala tonight.  I wish they ran the late models there this afternoon.  I could do a two-fer!  But, oh well.


Night 5 tonight.

[Mudclodbob]

Yet another excellent report Mike.

TJ and I were at Millstream for Ohio Speedweek several years back in the stands and had a bunch of yahoos come in late looking for seats. They found a blanket taped down, pulled it up and threw it below. Some people said something but the yahoos wanted to fight.

Before long a young guy and his son came looking for their seats. He knew what happened but didn't push it with the "frickin yahoos". So I guess not all fans are cool. Some are yahoos.

[TommySalami]

And one last note:  I just realized last night that something (someone) was missing from the DirtCar Nationals this year - Glenn Styres.  Always one of the brighest, nicest looking cars on the track.

Back in January I asked Glenn if he was going to Florida this year...he said just Daytona 500.

Tyler Walker, too.  The first couple of nights he looked like he just survived a meth lab explosion, or something.

Thanks Mike.  Now everybody at work is wondering what I was laughing at...