I am just returning to some sort of normalcy after a long drive down to Charlotte North Carolina and back for the World Finals at the Dirt Track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The long drive home followed up immediately by a couple of surprise days of employment has put this entry into the "old news" category almost before it got spit out of my lap top. For that I am sorry, but with the huge numbers of "real media" on hand to cover the event plus live TV, anyone that really wanted to know who won and other details of the event should have been able to do so almost immediately.
This was actually planned as a "bus man's" holiday with no reports of any kind, but when Shaun Johnson of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Operations Department generously offered to arrange free pits passes for us, I felt compelled to supply some kind of report to all those still following this blog, which appears on a rather hit and miss schedule at this late time of the racing season.
So rather than supply a "blow by blow" account of who won and the other minute details of the event, which is not my forte anyway, I'll try to amuse with a few of my thoughts on the overall event.
The car count in two of the three classes that participated was down from the record breaking numbers of 2015. The Late Model count dropped by double digits from last year while the Sprints was down by a smaller amount. Only the big block Modifieds held true and actually had one more car participating than last year. In all, one hundred and sixty four cars took to the track for qualifying on Thursday. Later in the week, Late Model drivers Joey Coulter, Dustin Mitchell, Willie Milliken and Brian Shirley either rolled out back up cars or borrowed rides from other racers so they could continue competing.
There were only two drivers that participated in more than one class and they were Dave Blaney and Donny Schatz. Blaney ran both a Modified and a Sprint Cars while Schatz had his new XR1 Rocket Late Model to compliment his title winning Sprint Car. It is interesting in particular to watch Schatz during the course of the week. He spends as little time as possible with the Sprint Car in their section of the pit and instead spends most of his time shooting the breeze with the Rocket people and their acquaintances in the Late Model pit. My feeling is that he has been with his crew in the Sprint so long they know just exactly what he wants and any adjustments are made seamlessly while he seems to just have more plain fun hanging out with the Late Model guys. I was told by a reliable source that Schatz's plan is to run the Sprints for three more years and then retire from that aspect of the sport. He's then going to have some fun and my guess is that the fun includes running his Late Model a whole lot more.
One driver that would have liked to run both classes was Tim McCreadie and it is quite surprising that for a high profile event like this that he can't line up a ride with one of the large teams. Folks who aren't familiar with the big blocks should know that money oozes from these teams in just as impressive fashion as any Late Model or Sprint Car operation. And these cars are very much fun to watch in action. They definitely aren't afraid to "lay the lumber" on each other and their fans are just as rabidly enthusiastic as any in the sport.
It was a "who's who" of drivers in all three classes. While there were certainly some of the big names missing, many of the best in the business were on hand and just to see the list of drivers that couldn't even make a main event was impressive.
Overall, drivers were pretty happy with the track conditions for all three days. While there were certainly some periods of time when the track went one groove, most of the time there was racing all over the track. It was somewhat comforting for the local tracks and promoters that with the best in the business brought in to prepare the track, they still completely goofed on Friday night by over watering the track and causing the event to start a full hour late.
While the drivers as a whole were happy with the track, fans on the pit side of the track might have felt somewhat different. Even though there was a cushion and two grooves, the track continued to blow dirt at a monumental level, creating a sandstorm on the pit side of the track. Thursday and Saturday night, the track was a "top five, dirtiest night" ever spent at the track for me. We all complained as we coughed up dirt, but I didn't seen anyone get up and leave. It was a weekend for the hard core fan though, as I can't imagine any "casual fan" putting up with the dirt and ever returning again. Unless of course, you were sitting with the "beautiful people" in the VIP suites.
The employees at the DT@CMS are a very polite crew. They are most helpful and courteous and not at all like their brethren at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Dirt Track where many of the employees are somewhat on the surly side.
Despite great competition and lots of it, it was interesting how the same few drivers seemed to dominate in the three classes all weekend.
Unless you have been to this event, it is hard to comprehend the actual number of fans that are on hand. I can't even imagine how many people were on hand but it must be among the biggest couple of dirt track races anywhere. Even many of the employees at the "Big Speedway" commented on how many campers were on hand for the weekend, perhaps even putting the NASCAR premier events to shame.
If you are a dirt track fan, and I don't care which class is your favorite, it should be a top priority to attend this event at least once.
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