Volusia Begins

We are now in the stretch run of Florida Speed Weeks as the action moved East across highway 40 to Volusia Speedway Park for the final six nights of racing. Late Models will be the featured attraction for all six nights while the UMP Modifieds wrap up their long run at Volusia with their championship race on Monday night followed by a night of feature racing Tuesday, with every car on hand eligible to run one of several feature races. After that, the Northeast Big Block Modifieds of DIRT move in for a four night stand in concert with the Late Models.

Volusia is one of the few tracks in Florida that I have been to previously but it's been so long that the track they are running on wasn't even the track that they were using back then. At that time, they actually had two tracks on the site, one dirt and one asphalt and both were running on the same night! You could buy one ticket and walk back and forth between the two tracks. In fact, the track that is now dirt was the asphalt track back then and the dirt track back then is no longer operational.

Volusia has a very nice set up for both the racers and the fans and seems to be a fitting place to wrap up the Speed Week activities. Its close proximity to the "big" track down the road probably also helps bring some extra notoriety to the dirt track activities, especially if some of the "name" drivers and car owners happen on in to watch the dirt racing.

Car counts are generally the biggest for this concluding event and such is the case again this year. However, it remain perplexing the number of drivers that pull into the pits and then sit and watch for the opening rounds of the racing action. Forty four cars actually signed in to race on Monday but there were another eight haulers that didn't open up Monday plus a couple of others not even on the grounds that are expected also. Once everyone decided to open the trailers and race the field will be well above fifty. Jordan Yaggy had no intentions of racing on Monday but they still signed in to race so I'm not sure if just drawing a number entitles them to start money or what but there must be some benefit for them or they wouldn't bother to go through the ceremony. Actually, they planned to spend the day changing a motor but in a surprise move, car owner Steve Yaggy ended up swapping the motor they were going to use to Bill Schliepper for a brand new motor which they then installed.

There was an increasing threat of rain after dark after the day was cloudy and murky, but it felt good just to have it warm back up after some cool weather earlier. With only three races scheduled for the Modifieds and no qualifying plus the Late Model program, DIRT officials showed that they can move things along too if the mood strikes them. The racing started right on the dot at the advertised time and they kept the show hustling along throughout the evening. A couple of times it started to mist lightly and one time just at the start of the Modified feature it almost got heavy enough to start to affect the track, but fortunately it stopped at this point and the rest of the show went on without any problems.

The Late Model feature went nonstop for thirty laps and to look at the start and finishing positions of the event, it would look like absolutely nothing happened as there was virtually no changes of position. However, I can tell you that this was one race that raced better than the stats would show. Moyer Jr. took off like he was shot out of a cannon and built up a big lead. This was the same thing that happened up at Screven but after some laps, he faded badly up there and when Dennis Erb Jr. started to reel him in, it looked like the same thing might happen once again. However, Moyer Jr. stood his ground and after Erb Jr. got to within a few car lengths of him, Moyer Jr. fought off every advance to win what was a slightly surprising win to me.

There was much celebrating in victory lane between father and son and I think we might have been witnessing some dynamics going on much more powerful than we may never know. Needless to say, the win was some vindication for a driver who from time to time, fairly or not, gets his credibility questioned by many.

Perhaps the best run was turned in by Heckenast Jr (lots of Jr's turning up in the results on Monday) who came from the fourth row to third and might have gotten even higher if not for a momentum killing move to the top of the track off turn two that really slowed him down. For a half mile track, Volusia actually races like a much smaller one as it seems like short track momentum plays a bigger part than brute horsepower, at least when it slicks up like it did Monday. Josh Richards was decidedly quiet Monday and Shane Clanton didn't gain any ground from his starting position; in fact he actually gave up a couple spots as he moved around the track trying to find the fast line which appeared to be mostly on the bottom except for a few drivers that were able to work higher on the track.

Tyler Breuning had by far his best run since he first showed last weekend at Screven as he made the show solidly and raced competitively which is something the team can build on as they shake down their new Capital car.

Racing in a light mist, the Modifieds also did a good job as they had only one yellow flag in their thirty lap main event. The top ten drivers in the main events on the previous two nights that served as qualifiers for Monday's Modified finale drew for their starting spots and when the hottest driver of the week, Nick Hoffman, drew the pole it looked like problems for the field. As it turned out, it was indeed as Hoffman led all the way in a race that didn't feature much passing. The Dillon brothers tried to stay with Hoffman but they couldn't provide any kind of serious challenge. The one driver that moved up decisively was British Columbia's Jason Beaulieu who started twelfth and raced into the top three late in the contest. If there would have been one more late yellow, it could have gotten interesting but at this point most fans were just hoping for a clean finish so that the Late Models could hit the track before it rained again. Thirty cars started the main for the Modifieds and only four dropped out, so Hoffman's biggest challenge was getting through lapped traffic while not giving an opening to the Dillons.

For those that haven't been to Volusia, while it is a half mile track, it is more of a circle than the traditional paper clip fairgrounds half mile. It has very wide corners that are sweeping and long and the chutes aren't particularly long for a half mile. And when it slicks up like it did on Monday, it races much different than many half miles do. The track is prepared for racing with no packing needed and the track is actually packed in by a huge roller machine, much the same as they would roll in freshly laid blacktop. I don't recall ever seeing a track prepared quite that way before.

The track is well lit although the grandstands are just a bit dark and the scoreboard that flashes the qualifying times has about the tiniest numbers on it of any scoreboard I've ever seen, or perhaps it's time to visit the optometrist.

Opening night was a well run show and orchestrated well, but one would expect that from DIRT Motorsports, who are one of the premier groups at running races right now.