The whole weekend has been a challenge here at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. With qualifying shortened up on Thursday due to rain, followed by all day rains that set the time table way back for Friday night's show which resulted in the three feature races postponed until Saturday afternoon and then followed right up by another full show, the weekend was a tough one for the racers and their crews, the fans but most particularly, the track prep people and employees of The Dirt Track who put in some long hours.
When you are at a track for three long days(nights) before you actually get to see a feature race, it makes for a long and frustrating weekend but our inconvenience was a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the people working at the track in some or another capacity were facing.
If the six feature races we were were all so anxiously waiting for would have been "wowzers", surely the misadventures of the rest of the weekend would have been easily forgotten. But when most of the mains were "duds", it make it even more frustrating.
The racing began in the early afternoon with the three feature races left over from Friday night that had to be held off due to the Midnight curfew. As all of us know, afternoon racing is often a challenge and so it was again on this beautiful but windy Saturday afternoon.
After waiting all year to see the Big Blocks in action after a Florida trip was not in the cards last February, the Big Blocks disappointed with one of the worst five feature races seen all year, irregardless of class. For some reason the drivers couldn't keep their Hoosiers inflated and on the rims as it turned out to be a race from yellow to yellow with the vast majority of the yellows due to flat tires. A mind boggling thirteen yellow flags flew during the forty lap main event with the longest stretch of green flag racing in the whole contest being seven laps and that was the first seven of the race before the Hoosiers started to peel, shred and lose air.
With this much dinging around, the race itself lost all credibility and turned into a contest of who could keep their tires inflated or charge from the back after being forced to pit. Brett Hearn was one of the very few to be able to keep racing the whole contest without having a tire issue and after taking the lead after Matt Sheppard suffered a flat while leading, Hearn was able to withstand all the show downs and drive home for the win. Tim McCreadie came from twenty fifth to finish second, but likely didn't pass a car under green during the entire race. Sheppard, who's early yellow threatened his point lead in the Super Dirt Car Series, actually gained some points when he was able to drive all the way back up to third at the finish, gaining two positions on his closest challenger, Erick Rudolph.
The Late Model feature was a decent race. While not a classic, it did feature some good battling among the top five with some trading of positions. The Late Models were also able to keep air in their tires and there were only two yellow flags, both for debris on the track. Brandon Sheppard would do all he could to close the point battle with his win, but Mike Marlar was also solid with a third place finish. McCreadie would have another solid finish it what would be a most prosperous day for him and every time he passed a car, the crowd would go wild as he was clearly the most popular driver among the fans. Meanwhile, Matt Sheppard and Donny Schatz particularly suffer from their success as every car that passes them is celebrated wildly.
The Sprint Cars wrapped up the afternoon with perhaps a top five dirtiest race I have had the displeasure of enduring. The dust was horrendous and with the wind dropping, it just hung in the air. I could see a small stretch of the straightaway right in front of me, but the rest of the track was just a mystery. I had to rely on the scoreboard to figure out who was in front but because there was a distinct lack of passing, it was a bit earlier to keep track of who was where. The crowd was happy that an underdog in Ian Madsen won the race, but as far as telling much else about what happened, I was in the dark. The Dirt Track appears to have some good red clay on it, but it must be mixed with too much sand or something as it never seems to bind together and no matter how wet the surface appears, it always soon is blowing dust. This has always been the case every time I have been here and getting filthy is a way of life at this track but it was even much worse for this afternoon show. With all the yellows, the three makeup feature races took three hours to run!
The best work of the entire weekend was then accomplished. The track prep crew dug the track, watered it and then rolled it in and the racing surface was remarkably improved for the Saturday night session. Even though the Late Models time trials rained out on Thursday were added to the already full program, the track held up well. It was slick and hard but wide and had several racing grooves and although it was blowing some dust, it was nothing like we had to endure earlier. With the surface improved, two of the three feature races also came right down to the wire. While I express disappointment in the racing for most of the weekend, please understand that it was almost totally caused by the weather conditions that made it so difficult.
The Big Blocks reduced their yellows from thirteen in the afternoon to only two for the evening main event. They also provided one of the closest finishes of the weekend. Sheppard had maintained a comfortable lead for most of the race until he got into lapped traffic late. Tim Fuller made a charge at him and when Sheppard failed to handle the lapped traffic well with just over a lap to go and got himself blocked, Fuller drove around him and stole the win, with a crowd pleasing move. Sheppard still won the point title as Rudolph was mired back in the pack but the last lap loss must have stung no matter what. McCreadie would harvest top ten finishes in both the Big Blocks and Late Models once again, making for a very productive weekend for the New York driver.
Donny Schatz had been quiet all weekend and I was beginning to wonder just how it was that he won all those feature races every year. Then he showed me what he is all about in the Sprint Car main, coming from tenth in a loaded field to take the win. He is so smooth and controlled that he isn't really flashy, but when the money is on the line, he shines. He took the lead on a restart late and then survived a slide job from Logan Schuchart which he responded to with one of his own on the white flag lap to take the win. The "Big Cat", Brad Sweet, also came from the fifth row to finish third.
The only feature race that wasn't a "nail biter" was the Late Model feature where Scott Bloomquist dominated, leading all fifty laps and never really having a solid challenge with the last twenty nine laps running green. There was a good battle behind him and the points race was still ongoing with Marlar and Sheppard fighting it out. Again, Sheppard did all he could by finishing third but even though he faded a bit at the end, Marlar still finished sixth and that was plenty good enough to ensure the point title and a smoky post race "burn down" on the front chute. Jonathan Davenport, perhaps driving a bit harder than normal to show that the visiting Lucas Oil point champions shouldn't be overlooked, drove from thirteenth to finish second.
Despite the less than spectacular weather we were handed, the crowds were absolutely huge and I would recommend this as an event that every race fan should see once and then decide if they want to make it a yearly happening. There are some very good things about this show including the awesome facility, the spectacular fields of race cars and the wide variety of racing related activities to do during down time. However, it is a very pricey weekend of racing whether you fly or drive, and hotels are outrageously priced anywhere in the area. Expect to eat a lot of red clay and to be crowded in the grandstands. I know that I will have to think long and hard before I decide one way or the other for next year.
Being the end of the racing year, there were the expected rumors flying concerning who would be driving what for next year. Lots of the Sprint Car news has already been revealed but for Late Model fans if you want to believe, I was told that Josh Richards will move to the Clint Bowyer Team next year as Darrell Lanigan is out. If a new sponsor isn't found, Don O'Neal may join Lanigan in the hunt for a ride for next year. Best Motorsports, the team that Richards drove for this year, is running again in 2019 but hasn't picked a driver as of yet.
Interesting but totally unrelated, on our long way home, we ran into the Ray Bollinger Modified team also taking a food break at a town in southern Ohio. They were returning to Kewaunee Illinois after having picked up a new Lethal chassis at David Stremme's shop in North Carolina. While I didn't get to see much of the car, I can tell you that it will be yellow again, but that should be no surprise. They will debut the car in St.Louis at the Dome race the end of this month and then on to Florida.
Special thanks go out for out weekend to Shaun Johnson of the Charlotte Motor Speedway staff, Don Stodola from G FORCE Racing Gear and Amy Haigler from SRI Performance for their special help and consideration to help make our weekend a pleasurable one.
No comments:
Post a Comment