Race All Night. Sleep All Day.

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on September 24, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last checked flag fell at 6:20 ...  A.M.  Despite Mother Nature's best effort to cancel, halt, or outlast the dedicated USAC race fans, and foil Tony Stewart's 2nd running of the USAC 4-Crown races, the races finished last night.  I mean this morning.

The annual 4 Crown races are the pinnacle of the USAC series.  There are bonus available to drivers who compete in all four divisions.- midget, sprint car, Silver Crown, and modified.  Win more than one division, and the bonus is big ($25,000 each).  Three divisions, bigger.  Four divisions - massive.    Have the right motor (Mopar) and you could add $200,000.  Stewart himself captured two of the 4- Crown races one year.  The only man to win all four divisions in one night, who naturally is revered by the USAC crowd, is Jack Hewitt.  To all this, add in the races are held at the historic, fast, and dangerous Eldora Speedway, and you have a recipe for fan adoration.

The weather forecast was not good.  Large hail.  Winds.  INCHES of rain.  All scheduled to arrive at Eldora Speedway during the midget, sprint, Silver Crown and modified races.  A similar forecast and actual rain stopped the show on Friday.  USAC and Stewart prepared a contingency plan that was to run the whole two day show on one day.  Or maybe over the next two days.  Or maybe in late October (don't they know it can snow then?). 

 But Saturday started with the qualifications that had been run on Friday.  Yes, they started over from scratch.  It helped some drivers.  It hurt others.  A new track record was set in sprint cars by Jerry Coons, Jr.  At the end of the "Friday" program, the plan was to clear the stands, and then admit the people who had Saturday tickets.  That plan was scrapped and all ticketholders were allowed to remain.  (Savvy business move if you ask me).

Rain stopped things several times on Saturday.  JJ Yeley arrived with Stewart fresh from his Busch race.  Yeley prompted won his midget heat, but didn't finish well in the A Main. 

Fans took shelter from the intermittant rain under the grandstand roof.  Some napped while waiting for the rain to clear, the track to be ran in, and the cars to be brought back out on the track.  Rumor has it at one point a push truck slid into the wall, providing additional excitement for fans. 

The final race finished at 6:20 a.m.  Tracy Hines, a former Busch series regular, won the midget and sprint car races.  Mat Neely won the Silver Crown series and Jerry Bowersocks won the modified division.

 

From Dirt to Pavement, Back to Dirt: Eldora, Indy, Osky, and Knoxville

I survived my wild racing vacation!  After 9 days/ nights of racing, I'm already planning my next adventure...  But first, a brief recap...

My first stop was Eldora, in Rossburg, Ohio.  The World of Outlaws were racing there - and I was excited to see that series as they would all be at Knoxville for the The Nationals at the end of my vacation.  Eldora is the quickest dirt track around - and the fans love racing.  The crowd at the WoO event was fairly laid back - but the next night's Dirt Big Block Modified fans were even more so.  in the Friday WoO event, Joey Saldana made a fantastic last lap pass to steal the win - and car owner Kasey Kahne was on hand to attend the victory lane celebration.  On Saturday, Tim Fuller won the 100 lap Dirt Modified feature - leading all the laps. 

The next day, I went to qualifying at the Brickyard, racing's holy grail.  I actually sat in the infield to see the qualifications.  Afterwards, I went into the IMS museum.  There are lots of race cars, motorcycles, and memorabilia.  A quick tip - ask the museum attendants questions - you never know who you may be talking too.

For the Brickyard 400 I sat in the Paddock area - which was great because I was in the shade and I had a wonderful view of pit road.  I always forget how big the track is.  In many ways, it is not the race to take new fans too as you cannot see all the action around the track.  But in terms of the history of the track, and the spectacle of racing, it is fantastic.

This is Jimmie Johnson stalling out the car before his burnout.  I wasn't sure he would get it fired again when it stalled.  While I knew Kasey Kahne had crashed, I didn't realize how flat the front of the car was until I saw the news later that night.  As fun as the Brickyard and the tailgating was, I had to get out of Indy and head back to Iowa for a week of dirt track racing.

Monday night and Tuesday night were spent at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.  Rain threatened both nights, but the races got in before the storms broke.  Kasey Kahne traded his Nextel Cup car for a ride in his winged sprint car. 

Kasey finished the race in fourth and stayed late in the pits signing autographs for the fans. 

On Tuesday night, it was the non-winged sprint cars chance to shine for the fans at Osky.  Jerry Coons Jr. passed Brian Clauson for the win.  Tony Stewart didn't race, but was in the pits wrenching on Levi Jones' sprinter.  Most of the fans didn't even realize he was there.  I watched the race from the pits - the first time I had done that.  It was quite an experience - the trick is to stay out of the way, not get run over, and don't fall in the mud.  Oh, and be careful who you are standing next too - you may not recognize the car owner, crew chief or other driver until you've said something stupid.

Wednesday night brought the first night of qualifying for The Nationals.  Over 120 cars were entered.  The first night, Steve King crashed in turn three and died the next day. 

The format for qualifying for the Nationals involves passing points, qualifying times and heat races.  I won't try to explain it - but it is fun to watch.

Thursday night was night 2 of the qualifications, with the rest of the field getting the chance to race.  Passing was better on Thursday night, but some big named drivers had problems.  Drivers such as Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Danny Lasoski, Jac Haudenschild and Brooke Tatnell had problems.

Friday night brought the last chance races for non-qualifiers and the World Challenge for invited drivers.

Then Saturday brought the main event - the Nationals.  The Nationals are a big deal - the payout for the winner is $140,000.  Second pays around $70,000.  To put it in perspective, the winner of the King's Royal at Eldora won $50,000.

Danny Lasoski, a multi-time winner at the Nationals, started from the back of the B Main, but charged toward the front.  He bumped Kerry Madsen, who crashed, and proceeded on to race his nephew for the fourth and final transfer spot into the A Main.  Lasoski & his nephew  Brian Brown banged together several times - with Lasoski spinning.  The spin brought out the caution, but Lasoski got his spot back when he was able to continue on.  The crowd would have preferred he be sent to the tail.  Lasoski & Brown banged together several times under caution, and Lasoski eventually took the fourth spot.

In between the A & B Mains, Lasoski & his Dad had a loud argument about the incident with Brown - it took several people to separate them.  The Crowd by this time had decided Lasoski was the villian of the night and booed him every chance they got.

In the A Main, Lasoski & Steve Kinser raced from the tail to the fourth and sixth spots, but Donny Schatz, a four-time bridesmaid at The Nationals, finally won. 

Whew, that's a lot of racing - and I haven't even gotten to comment yet on all the silly season news.  I guess I'll save that for tomorrow.  And I've got to make my new vacation plans...

 

From Earl's Dream to Tony's Prelude: Who Knew Dirt Track Racing Was So ... Cool?

Originally Posted on June 6, 2006 on Foxsports.com

In 1994, Earl Baltes, the owner/promoter of Eldora Speedway had another one of his wacky ideas:  A Dirt Late Model Race with a $100,000 payout.  That's right, the winner got $100,000.  Earl called his race "The Dream" because for most drivers, winning $100,000 in one race would be a dream. 

Since the inaugral running, The Dream has attracted  scores of drivers hoping that they can make it to the A main and the chance to win the money.  The event has become one of the premiere Late Model events in the country.

Tony Stewart purchased Eldora Speedway from Baltes in late 2004.  To add his own touch to the track, he added some events, including "Nextel Prelude to The Dream" a Late Model race between current racing stars.

Last year, the first running of The Prelude, Kenny Wallace astonished everyone by winning.  Red Farmer, a dirt track regular, former Cup driver and senior citizen, was the pole sitter.  This year, the cast of characters includes both Wallace and Farmer, in addition to Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Ron Capps, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Petty, Bobby Labonte, Robby Gordon, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, JJ Yeley, Ryan Newman and Dave Blaney.  Stewart, due to his shoulder injury, will not be competing.  Dale Earnhardt Jr and Greg Biffle will be at the track as well.  Proceeds from the event will go to the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

What I like about this race is that it gets together two distinct groups of fans in auto racing:  Nascar Fans (who may not go to a dirt track) and Late Model fans (who may not ever go to a paved track).  Who knows what they might learn from each other?

The other cool thing about this race is that a lot of publicity is generated for a dirt track via this event.  People who would not even know a place like Eldora exists may actually be interested in the race results.

And all of this is before someone wakes up on Sunday morning with $100,000.

Maybe some of the Baltes promoter magic rubbed off on Stewart?