Williamson, Sheppard and Schatz Top World Finals, Friday Edition

After a Thursday night of qualifying and a few Big Block heat races, the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway kicked into full action on Friday night, November 3rd with a nearly full program in all three divisions.

Big Blocks would run Last Chance races and their forty lap main event while the Late Models and Sprint Cars would have full shows including heats, Last Chance Qualifiers plus feature races, the Late Models going fifty laps and the Sprint Cars thirty.

With only an abbreviated program on Thursday night, the attrition rate among the three class was very minimal. In the Big Blocks, Jimmy Horton, who blew up  a motor on Thursday night, borrowed a back up car from Pat Ward to race in the feature race on Friday. Justin Rasey, who pounded the wall in turn four on the last lap of a heat race on Thursday night loaded his car up and watched the action on Friday so they were down one car.

In the Late Models, only Chris Ferguson did not return so there were seventy four Late Models trying to make the main event.

And in the Sprint Cars, they actually gained a car as John Price, who was on hand on Thursday night but had mechanical issues prevent him from getting on the track, tagged the back of a Sprint Car heat so there were fifty three of them looking to qualify for the feature race.

Qualifying for any main event was a brutally difficult assignment as the qualifying  races were all very short in length, not many cars moved up and the fields were both big and very talented. For example, the Big Blocks ran two Last Chance Qualifiers with thirteen cars in each and only two moving into the main over a ten lap distance. The Late Model heats started twelve or thirteen cars for an eight lap race with only the top three moving on and of course, the lineups were straight up off time trials. Then they ran three Last Chance races that started about twenty cars apiece with only two moving into the mains. The Sprint Cars use their regular Outlaw format so they run dashes after redrawing the top two in each heat and the dash sets up the front six rows for the main event with the other qualifiers falling in behind them.

They did start big fields of cars for the main events with twenty nine Big Blocks taking the green, thirty one Late Models starting the Late Model main and with thirty cars taking the green, perhaps the biggest field of Sprint Cars to race a main event that I have seen in a long time. Of course, a cynical person might say that one reason there are so many cars in the main event fields, and this holds particularly for the Late Models, is that so many of their series regulars failed to make the show through the normal means that they had to take a provisional to start the main event. Of course, only a cynical mind would come up with that.

 The Big Blocks are the only division where the World of Outlaws title is still undetermined with both Donny Schatz and Brandon Sheppard having already guaranteed titles in their respective divisions. In the Big Blocks, defending champion Matt Sheppard holds a thirty something point lead over Billy Decker as the two come into their final weekend of competition. Sheppard's story is one of the most amazing of any racing season as Sheppard was battling for the point lead until he was suspended for two races following an on track scuffle following an incident with another competitor. He fell all the way back to ninth in points but when he returned, he was "on fire" as he won a stretch of consecutive main events and fought his way back into the point lead, even though it was tenuous coming into the last weekend over veteran Billy Decker.

Sheppard started on the pole and led the first few laps of the Big Block feature, which was slowed three times for yellows in the first five laps.

On the next restart, Sheppard didn't get a good one and Mat Williamson shot past him for the lead. They then ran off the last thirty five laps nonstop and Williamson did a great job of holding off Sheppard for the win. Several times Sheppard got close in traffic but each time the young Canadian driver would hold on and he would cross the line with a couple car lengths on Sheppard at the finish. Decker started tenth and worked his way up to third at the end, so those two will go into the final night of racing in 2017 with the title still undecided.

The Late Model feature was truly the only really entertaining race of the night. With only two yellow flags in the fifty lap distance, it was a good battle right down to the end. Mike Marlar took the early lead with Jimmy Owens chasing him. Dennis Erb, Josh Richards and Dale McDowell were also in the lead pack. Marlar was able to maintain the top spot but Owens was never far behind. Follwoing a yellow flag, Erb was able to move into second and he set up the chase on Marlar.

Brandon Sheppard, who had started sixth but faded back a bit was now on the move as he raced to get into the top five while at the same time, Richards, in a near look alike car, started to fade just a bit. As the race started to get near the thirty five lap mark, Marlar started to have some handling issues with his car and he was slower coming off the corners. Erb began to close on him and as Marlar was slowing down the top runners, Owens, McDowell and Sheppard were all closing up on him.

It was at this point that Sheppard made the move of the night as with most of the front runners racing low through the corners, Sheppard threw his car to the high side of the track and it stuck. He quickly began to reel in the top three at an alarmingly quick pace and before we knew it, suddenly the top three were running in a bunch.

Erb tried his best to get under Marlar but at the same time, Sheppard had a full run on the top side and he blew past both drivers to take over the lead, a lead he would extend over the last few laps as the Outlaw point leader did a nice job of saying the day for the regulars over the Lucas Oil invaders and others. Erb, Marlar, Owens and McDowell completed the top five in what was a good race.

Schatz continued to show why he is the ten time Outlaw Sprint champion as he came from behind to make a remarkable pass that guaranteed him the feature win. Billy Balog, the Wisconsin driver, likely raised his notoriety on this night as he won a heat race, then a dash and led the first few laps of the feature race.

A "shoot out" to Balog who's family lives only about forty miles from me and who's father I used to watch race full bodied cars back "in the day." When Balog moved back to Wisconsin from Alaska and started his stateside racing career, he hung out at the local tracks while he was building his racing operation and partnered with local sponsors as he started his Sprint Car career. Then he discovered the IRA and everything built from there.

Balog had the Madsen brothers chasing him early in the race while Schatz, who always seems to start slow in every race, worked his way back up into contention. Schatz runs a different line than everyone else at this track, much lower on the track and when he is able to make it work, allows him an open passing lane as most of the cars are up beating on the cushion.

That's what he did again on Friday as he was able to drive under both the leaders who were battling each other and traffic and he cleared them all in one mighty move. After that, he led the rest of the way with just one yellow with six laps to go to bunch the field. He got away clean following that restart and really wasn't challenged the rest of the way. Ian Madsen finished a strong second while Dave Blaney showed he still has got the moves as he came from tenth to third in the Minnesota based Motter car. Kerry Madsen and Joey Saldana completed the top five.

Unlike other years, there wasn't the slew of wrecks that have often been a part of this race. While there were a couple of hard contacts with the wall, only one car got upside down during Friday night's action.

One thing that I must mention that you probably won't read or hear about any place else is the horrible conditions that the spectators have to endure at this race. The dust problem at this track is absolutely terrible. Friday night's show was certainly for me among the top five dustiest races I have ever been to. While the track may remain racy for the drivers, the dust situation in the grandstands is almost unbearable. Many times it is impossible to even see what is happening on the other straightaway or identify cars because the dust is so bad. You walk out of the track literally coated in red dust from heat to toe. It makes watching the races miserable at best. Yet, everyone just seems to take it as a part of the show and while they might roll their eyes a bit at the conditions, no one seems to say much. I guarantee you that if a similar situation occurred at any track in the Midwest, a near riot would likely take place and spectators simply would not tolerate such miserable racing conditions. Truly it is a disgrace that World Racing Group allows such conditions to exist at their premier event of the year and seems to be uncaring about making any improvements to the situation. I saw Tom Derry walking around the area where I was seated before the show started but I'm willing to bet that once the action started, he was up in the air conditioned, glassed in VIP section, not in the "real folks" section where we were all getting "sand blasted". This place is jam packed with people and there aren't even enough seats to go around for everyone. But I can guarantee you that all the fans on hand watching are "hard core" fans because any casual fan that would come out for this race would never attend another race in their life, based upon what they would have to endure and how they would look and feel by the time the night was completed. I, for one, will have to seriously consider whether or not I want to put up with this again for another year because it is so bad that it makes the racing not even fun to watch. But, just like track management is counting on, by Saturday night I'll have put my objections aside and I'll be out in the "sandstorm" for more of the same, at least for one more night.