The second annual VP Racing Fuels Gateway Dirt Nationals at The Dome at America's Center kicked off on Thursday night, December 14th with a rousing opening night of racing action.
An even two hundred race cars were positioned in the spacious pit area next to the racing arena with both Modifieds and Late Models set to do battle in opening night action. By my count, there were twenty four states plus a lone entrant from Ontario Canada represented in the pits as the field of cars was surely one of the most eclectic ones gathered all year. Both classes are running under UMP rules this weekend so that means Hoosier tires on both classes and all spoilers are gone in the Modifieds as the rules specify flat rear decks only.
Due to the logistics involved of staging two hundred haulers in downtown St. Louis and then methodically getting them parked, there is no time for a practice session so unlike most major events run in this country, everyone goes into the opening night action "stone cold" with each driver only allowed about a two lap, hot lap session right before qualifying. And with this track so much different than most that drivers will see, some tend to thrive on opening night while other struggle greatly. Area drivers tend to benefit slightly as this track is really not that much different than either Belle Clair Speedway or Highland Speedway just across the Mississippi River in Illinois and the top stars in both classes are good enough that they can adapt to almost any track in just a short time.
Everyone is allowed in the pits at 11 a.m. and then the teams hurriedly unload their race cars and get their cars ready for action. Many of the local teams switch to open trailers for this show as it just is a bit easier to navigate the smaller trailers inside the confines of the building.
At 3 p.m. the cars hit the track in groups of eight or so for a two lap practice session, after which they immediately go into time trials. New this year, all cars will only receive one set of time trial laps instead of two times through the rotation which literally added hours on to the opening night of racing last year and served no purpose since the track got much slower for the second go round anyway and no one was able to match their first laps because of that. Both classes were broken down into two flights for time trials so each driver was only qualifying against half the field. However, as I've maintained almost forever, time trials is really not much different than drawing a pill number as the first cars out for time trials draw the best track and invariably the quickest time comes from the first few cars. And such was the case again on Thursday as Mike McKinney was the thirteenth Modified out for qualifying and he was quick at 12.207 while Jason Welshan was the sixth Late Model out and his time was 11.477, good for the pole in the first heat.
The second half of the field found a track that was pretty well used up by the time they got on it. Still, Mike Harrison was the fifth out for the second half and Hunter Rasdon was the eighth out for the Late Model second flight. With times of 12.719 and 12.259, the track was substantially slower by the time the second half of the field saw the track.
Time trials would be a critical part of the show Thursday since everything is lined straight up and with only the heat race winners making the show out of the heats, a poor time trial would be a significant impediment to running a feature race either Friday or Saturday night.
After time trials, except for the Race of Champions, the Late Models would be done for the night while the Modifieds would have their eight heat races, straight up with thirteen or fourteen cars per heat and only the winner making the show. With seven of the eight heat races won right off the pole, you can see just how important the qualifying was. In the only race not won from the pole, Chris Arnold benefited from that curious UMP rule when he spun by himself on the first lap of his heat and was allowed to regain his spot on the inside of the second row, rather than go to the tail like every other sanctioning body in the world would require. Then, with point man Gary Bentley getting crossed up on the restart, Arnold would muscle his way past, take over the lead and win the race in what most people would say was a travesty of justice and Arnold would say was good racing luck.
In the first four heat races the majority of the drivers drove with some patience and civility and there were only a small number of yellows. The second half of the Modified heats saw impatience and desperation take over and these races were marked by drivers running over and through each other trying to get to the front. Suspension parts, sheet metal and front bumper sales went up immeasurably at this point as eighteen yellow flags were called for in the last four races of the night, sending many to the pits early and fans heading for the gates.
The Late Model Race of Champions started eleven cars with five grand on the line for the winner of the brief, twenty lap race. Shannon Babb is rapidly taking to this tiny oval, which in truth is not a lot different than his home track at Macon. The surface might not be quite as heavy and the banking not as high, but it does race much like the track that he cut his teeth on.
A curious start where pole sitter Don O'Neal got caught with his pants down as the starter surprised the field with a quick green and O'Neal, while rushing to stay with Billy Moyer on the outside of him, pushed up the track on the green. Babb used the opportunity to drive under Don into the lead and he led all twenty laps.
O'Neal, with nothing to lose, became the first driver that moved off the bottom on purpose all night and he nearly was able to catch up to Babb using the high side. Some parts of the high side gave him traction but there was also one corner that was too loose and what he would gain on one end he lost on the other. Still, it gave the drivers and spectators hope that the track would open up more for Friday night's racing when you know that the drivers will be all over the track if they can find some success by moving off the bottom. With just qualifying and the Modifieds on their narrow tires racing, everyone was on the bottom, even though it did start to get rather bumpy but nothing like it was last year.
Kevin Gundaker is again in charge of track prep and the consensus is that the track is slightly longer and wider than last year although it didn't appear to race any different than it did on the opening night last year, despite the two "talking heads" telling us otherwise. However, last year their was no evidence after the first night of racing that the following two nights would be as spectacular as they were so I don't think we really have any idea at this point how the track will race the rest of the weekend until we actually see it in action.
Speaking of the "talking heads", they would again be drawing Jeff Broeg's ire as they continue to announce to the TV audience to the point of ignoring us that are actually there watching the race! This is my "pet peeve" about live broadcasts too.
Another curious thing is that during the opening night of action the security people make everyone move to the back straightaway to watch the races and they close down the front straightaway entirely. Now, you can see just as good on the back chute, but for those fans that bought tickets for all three nights and wanted to sit right at the start-finish line, some did not take the news well at all. And it does seem strange to have a victory lane ceremony in front of a crowd of zero on the front chute, while everyone is sitting on the back chute! Oh, and they put up a victory lane banner behind the winner that completely blocks the view of the victory lane for those sitting on the back chute, which is everyone!
One great thing is that the management took the mistakes of last year to heart and learned their lessons after last year's opening night debacle where the racing program dragged on to the wee hours of the morning. Starting times were followed this year, time trials were cut back and the entire show was much more trim and "on point" than last year's had been. To wit, the final checkered flag waved Thursday at 9:30 p.m. while last year the racing didn't even get started until two and a half hours later than it finished this year! Now that's what I call a great improvement. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will go just as smooth and I have confidence that it will. Now we will all hope that when the racing gets going Friday night that the track widens out and we get the spectacular kind of side by side racing that last year brought us.
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