Night number two of the Tuckasse Toilet Bowl Classic was held on Saturday night, March 4th at William Scogin's Clarksville Speedway. After Friday night's long night of racing, everyone was hoping for better racing and a shorter night on night number two. Of course, our hopes failed to factor in that there were at least two additional classes racing on Saturday night along with more race cars on hand with additional money on the line. If you catch my hint on the direction in which things ended up trending, you are perfectly correct.
While the Late Models again fielded forty MARS entrants, a few local drivers did not return and were replaced by such strong runners as Steve Francis in Justin Ratliff's car, Tim Manville, Logan Martin and Rodney Melvin. However, there were only seven of the top twenty five from last year's final MARS standings, so it doesn't appear that there will be many serious point chasers in 2017. Both the Modifieds and Crate Late Models had twenty six car fields on hand while the new classes racing included Pure Mini Stocks and Pure Street Stocks along with Mod Lites and Mini Sprints. Truly, there were plenty of classes for this special and plenty of laps to be put on the track.
But first things first. First we must qualify the top three classes once again and then line up the heat races straight up by time. Despite a stern warning by the promoter at the driver's meeting that the program must move along better than it did on Friday night and the races had to be done much sooner so that he and his crew could clean the grounds and get ready for drag racing at noon on Sunday, things didn't quite work out as planned.
After extended hot lap sessions for all classes, a couple of driver's meeting and qualifying, it was time for racing to begin. A glance at the watch showed that the track had made significant progress from Friday night. The first race hit the track at exactly 9 p.m., a whopping four minutes earlier than Friday night!
Again, the races were pretty predictable with Friday night's pattern holding pretty firm. Of the twenty three races run on Saturday, all but two were won right off the front row again, just like Friday as the drivers hugged the low groove and those trying to move up the track generally moving back in the pack. The lone exceptions were one of the Mini heats where they drew for position but the stunner was the Modified feature where some how, Allen Weisser found a way to move from the third row into the lead and eventually the win. A combination of a good start and and the seas parting for him found him moving from fifth into second on the first lap and when Steven Brooks slipped off the bottom, Weisser was right there to jump on the opening and drive into the lead. Once in front, he showed that he was the best car in the stacked field as he pulled away for the victory and his "pot."
Erb got the jump on last night's winner Rodney Sanders on the green and Sanders then spent thirty five laps trying to get under him. Sanders actually looked the quickest but he played things clean and didn't try to "booger out" Erb for the lead. Dennis was very good in the heavy lapped traffic and didn't allow Sanders any openings. Scott Crigler, who was quick qualifier, ran a strong third with Gordy Gundaker also having a good run.
It was a great night for the Illinois drivers as Weisser's team mate Chris Osborne Jr won the Crate feature race, thus giving the Illinois drivers a sweep of the top three divisions. Weisser actually gave his team mate his biggest thrill as they were battling for the lead when they came together and Weisser spun while Osborne was able to keep going and eventually collect his own "throne."
With the first feature race not taking the green until 11:45 p.m, it was bizarre when suddenly there was a sense of urgency that saw the last two features, the Modifieds and Pure Mini Stocks , see their feature races cut in length. I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that we had reached the 1 am hour and perhaps a curfew but I can't speculate on that. Somehow, it seemed a little late in the goings on to be taking action at this point, when plenty of time could have been trimmed hours before. The final checkered flag flew at around one thirty in the morning, or about the time that they were issuing "last call" orders back home.
One saving grace was that it was much warmer on Saturday than Friday night and not uncomfortable at all in the bleachers. I'm also happy to report that there was a very nice crowd on hand Saturday although to be frank, there were more than a few that were gone before the first feature ever hit the track. I'm thinking they won't be back again for a while either.
There was a solid turnout of cars for this event and it has clearly found a place as the first event following Speedweeks. My hope is that they realize that the late nights just aren't appealing to even the most hard core of fans and when you attract interested new observers to the sport, it is not in your best interests as a track to run off such a long show that they leave with a bad taste in their mouths and perhaps don't return again. Cut classes if you must, and eliminate qualifying for all those that don't require it under their rules, but do something drastic to speed up your show. A long program does not necessarily translate into a good program.
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