The owner of this website occasionally uses his space to allow himself to "vent" on various topics, some of which involve racing issues and some not of that topic. I'm going to do that today and will attempt to tie racing in with the broader topic and I'm sure that if this blog gets too far "off the rails" that it will soon come down and never be seen again.
Caronavirus, also known at COVID-19. As it affected you? Do you feel that you life has been over affected by the threat of such a virus infecting you or anyone you know? Does it seen to you like the entire world has lost its compass and is just going crazy over the fears of this so-called pandemic.
From where I'm looking at things, the whole world seems to have lost track of what is common sense and what is hysteria and we are treading on thin ice of losing all perspective. Certainly this disease is serious, but is it really to the point that it has been taken by both politicians and the media and taken by the "sheep" in our society to the point they can't think or talk about anything else. And what about all those weak kneed business and sports executives who have caved into the "me too" attitude that has created a "snowball" effect that has virtually frozen all of society.
In my home state(Wisconsin) latest data updated this very afternoon reports that nineteen people have been diagnosed with COVID-19. NINETEEN in the whole state. In the entire United States there have been reported to be sixteen hundred and sixty two known positive cases. Now there are three hundred and twenty seven and spare change million people living the the U.S. right now. That means that the rate of infection by this disease is .0000446% or roughly about the same odds as getting hit by a meteorite on the street! Yet just the perceived threat of getting this disease has caused all major league sports to put their seasons on hold, cancel most of the college conference championships, cause the NCAA to cancel the basketball tournament along with tournaments for hockey and wrestling, cause most state high school tournaments to either be canceled or severely limit the spectators that can attend, cancel concerts, close theme parks, force the Master's Golf Tournament which isn't even scheduled until April to be postponed and even NASCAR today changed their mind and postponed their two coming races rather than run them before closed grandstands(the empty grandstands would have been the first thing that did look normal!) Colleges and universities are closing down their campuses in favor of on line courses and even St. Patrick's Day has even been postponed!
More people die every day in this country from car accidents, the common flu and colds and drug overdoses but I don't see any panicked rush to close the highways and stop producing pharmaceuticals. At what point did we lose our common sense as a people and start flying off the handle from these perceived threats and taking overboard knee-jerk reactions?
Yes it is true that there isn't a vaccine for the flu right now. But the vast majority of people heal from this flu the same way that they do from any other type of flu.And the groups most at risk of catching this flu are not any different than those most suspect for any of our Winter diseases and that won't change.
It's not real hard. Do the things you're supposed to do like washing your hands often, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, stay home if you feel sick and avoid crowds if you have any of the symptoms of this or any other Winter disease. And for goodness sake, let's not turn this entire world up side down over one type of flu. And for those of you hoarding toilet paper, I don't even want to get on that subject except to let you know that COVID-19 isn't a diarrhea type flu.
let's start thinking smart again and using a lot more common sense in what we do and what we believe and not being such an overreacting society.
Friday, March 13, 2020
Monday, March 2, 2020
There's a Booger on the Toilet Bowl at Clarksville !
There was a Booger sitting on the Toilet Bowl following the Late Model feature race Saturday night at the Clarksville Speedway. However, that Booger had a last name of Brooks and he did a fine job holding off the challenges of Brian Shirley and Donald McIntosh to win the thirty lap Late Model main event and head back to Chattanooga with five thousand additional dollars in his racing account in the highlight event of the fourteenth annual Toilet Bowl which was completed on Saturday night.
An overflow pit area and sunny weather greeted the good crowd on hand for the second night of the Toilet Bowl. It was reported that two hundred and seven cars had signed in to race for Saturday night's show and I will take management on their word for that. In addition to the six classes that raced on Friday night, we also had the additional classes of Pure Mini Stocks, Mini Mods, Dwarf Cars and they even dug up seven Cruisers from somewhere that also raced. And interestingly, while some of the Cruisers had two seats and the set up for both a pilot and co-pilot which is the Cruisers that I am familiar with, there was only one person in each car as that class raced so I guess they were just "half Cruisers." In any event, there appeared to be a class for anyone that had a race car to bring and there was more than enough racing action to satisfy the most thirsty of fans.
A tight starting time of 2:30 pm ended up being just one hour and fifteen minutes later as they sorted out the paperwork before the first car hit the track for warm ups. Everything but the Cruisers also had to qualify which meant that we put over four hundred laps on the track on a sunny late afternoon before the first race ever took the green flag. No wonder that the track took rubber about as deep as I have ever seen. In fact, I had rubber on my face after the show was over that looked to be about as heavy as a picture of Ernie Derr's face would look like after he just got done running four hundred laps at the Iowa State Fair on a afternoon show!
The two classes that had enough cars that B Features were in order (Streets and Mods), ran heat races and B Features on Saturday before their mains while the Pure Minis also ran a B Feature. All other classes lined up for their mains directly off time trials.
Brooks led wire to wire in the Late Model feature which was slowed three times for yellow flags. Dillon Tidmore pushed Brooks hard in the first half of the race until his car started to loosen up on him and he gave up several positions. Shirley and McIntosh then moved in to challenge but after a late yellow with only five laps to go, Brooks got away well at the start and wasn't challenged at the end. He got to sit on the customized "Throne" which is surely still one of the most unique and interesting trophies around the world of racing.
Ricky Arms, who was not on hand for the Friday show, topped the qualifying, won a heat and then led wire to wire to take the Modified win. Tyler Nicely, who had terrible luck all weekend, was challenging Arms for the lead when a lapped car spun into him and wrecked his car for the second straight night.
Rick Conoyer, in his unpainted and unlettered car, drove up to second and held off Tommy Sheppard Jr for runner up honors. For the second straight night, the Modifieds had the biggest field of cars as thirty nine were on hand to try and make the main.
The other featured division was the QuickSilver Street Stocks and Tony Cruse led wire to wire to take the grand for the top spot in that race. He held off David Earl Gentry and Keaton Downing for the win with twenty nine Streets signing in to race.
Crate class winners were Christian Hanger and for the second straight night, Clayton Miller in the 357/602 class while Miller was also very competitive in the Modifieds.
The other winners were just too numerous to mention but all the results are available at the Clarksville Speedway website. Overnight work allowed them to have the track pa system working on Saturday but the information that came out of the speakers was somewhat minimal.
As I stated earlier, the crowd was a good one and they mostly stayed for the whole show, even though it got quite cool again on Saturday. The final race wrapped up just about 11 pm which meant that those of us on hand for the gate opening at Noon spent nearly twelve hours at the track. There was quite a remarkable variety of home areas represented as there were drivers on hand from at least ten different states for the Midwest opener of the 2020 racing season.
An overflow pit area and sunny weather greeted the good crowd on hand for the second night of the Toilet Bowl. It was reported that two hundred and seven cars had signed in to race for Saturday night's show and I will take management on their word for that. In addition to the six classes that raced on Friday night, we also had the additional classes of Pure Mini Stocks, Mini Mods, Dwarf Cars and they even dug up seven Cruisers from somewhere that also raced. And interestingly, while some of the Cruisers had two seats and the set up for both a pilot and co-pilot which is the Cruisers that I am familiar with, there was only one person in each car as that class raced so I guess they were just "half Cruisers." In any event, there appeared to be a class for anyone that had a race car to bring and there was more than enough racing action to satisfy the most thirsty of fans.
A tight starting time of 2:30 pm ended up being just one hour and fifteen minutes later as they sorted out the paperwork before the first car hit the track for warm ups. Everything but the Cruisers also had to qualify which meant that we put over four hundred laps on the track on a sunny late afternoon before the first race ever took the green flag. No wonder that the track took rubber about as deep as I have ever seen. In fact, I had rubber on my face after the show was over that looked to be about as heavy as a picture of Ernie Derr's face would look like after he just got done running four hundred laps at the Iowa State Fair on a afternoon show!
The two classes that had enough cars that B Features were in order (Streets and Mods), ran heat races and B Features on Saturday before their mains while the Pure Minis also ran a B Feature. All other classes lined up for their mains directly off time trials.
Brooks led wire to wire in the Late Model feature which was slowed three times for yellow flags. Dillon Tidmore pushed Brooks hard in the first half of the race until his car started to loosen up on him and he gave up several positions. Shirley and McIntosh then moved in to challenge but after a late yellow with only five laps to go, Brooks got away well at the start and wasn't challenged at the end. He got to sit on the customized "Throne" which is surely still one of the most unique and interesting trophies around the world of racing.
Ricky Arms, who was not on hand for the Friday show, topped the qualifying, won a heat and then led wire to wire to take the Modified win. Tyler Nicely, who had terrible luck all weekend, was challenging Arms for the lead when a lapped car spun into him and wrecked his car for the second straight night.
Rick Conoyer, in his unpainted and unlettered car, drove up to second and held off Tommy Sheppard Jr for runner up honors. For the second straight night, the Modifieds had the biggest field of cars as thirty nine were on hand to try and make the main.
The other featured division was the QuickSilver Street Stocks and Tony Cruse led wire to wire to take the grand for the top spot in that race. He held off David Earl Gentry and Keaton Downing for the win with twenty nine Streets signing in to race.
Crate class winners were Christian Hanger and for the second straight night, Clayton Miller in the 357/602 class while Miller was also very competitive in the Modifieds.
The other winners were just too numerous to mention but all the results are available at the Clarksville Speedway website. Overnight work allowed them to have the track pa system working on Saturday but the information that came out of the speakers was somewhat minimal.
As I stated earlier, the crowd was a good one and they mostly stayed for the whole show, even though it got quite cool again on Saturday. The final race wrapped up just about 11 pm which meant that those of us on hand for the gate opening at Noon spent nearly twelve hours at the track. There was quite a remarkable variety of home areas represented as there were drivers on hand from at least ten different states for the Midwest opener of the 2020 racing season.
English Takes the Plung(er) at Clarksville
Friday night, February 28th, the opening night of the fourteenth annual Toilet Bowl Classic took place at William Scogin's Clarksville Speedway and Fairgrounds in Clarksville Tennessee. Somewhere around one hundred and forty race cars signed in for the opening night of racing action(I didn't have an accurate count of the Mod Lites so I'm estimating on just how many actually raced).
Six classes would be in action on this cool February night including UMP Late Models and Modifieds, 604 and 357/602 Crate Late Models plus Quicksliver Street Stocks and the Mod Lites. The Late Models had for a number of years been involved in one of several different traveling series for this opening weekend of racing but this year it would just be under UMP sanctioning with Sam Driggers on hand to coordinate the activity in this class.
Nearly thirty Street Stocks and well over thirty Modifieds were on hand for the first of two straight nights of racing but the Late Model count at twenty one cars for a three grand to win top spot was somewhat disappointing.
An unexpected weather phenomena would throw Friday night's racing action into a tizzy and result in a long and arduous experience. A threat of rain, which would first appear in the forecasts not until Thursday night, managed to come through for us on Friday in two separate visits. The first time, late in the afternoon, did nothing to harm the show. However, the second round of light rain came right in the middle of Modified time trials and with the track already pounded down hard, it took a while to re pack the track and get it ready for more racing. They had to re time all the Mods over for the second time plus they still had to qualify the Streets and 604 Crates and apparently they was no contingency plan to shorten up the show and get the racing started just a little bit quicker, given the circumstances.
So, by the time they got everyone qualified, the first race did not hit the track until 10:50 pm. They did eliminate heat races but that was part of the original plan anyway so the racing action consisted of B Features for those classes that needed them and just main events for the other classes.
Of course all feature races were started straight up based on qualifying so any big charges through the field were pretty much out of the question. The top attraction of the night was the Late Model main with all twenty one cars on hand taking the green. Josh Putnam started on the pole and led for a good part of the feature. However, lapped traffic proved problematic for him as the slower cars were also hugging the low line of the track and with Tanner English nipping on his tail, Putnam was forced to make a move to try and get past the traffic.
If worked badly for him as he got too high in turn three, got into the "snot" on the high side of the track and English drove under him to take over the lead. Tanner was then able to lead the rest of the nonstop main event to take the win over Putnam, Donald McIntosh, Booger Brooks and Brian Shirley.
The largest field of the night was in the Modifieds and Lucas Lee, who qualified the fastest of all, led all twenty laps for the win. Allen Weisser pressured him for a time but eventually Lee pulled away to beat Weisser, Dillon Nusbaum, Clayton Miller and Nick Allen in what probably the most stacked of any class.
The one driver that upset the "apple cart" was legendary Tennessee racer David Earl Gentry who started tenth and still managed to get to the front and win the QuickSilver Street Stock feature. Gentry, who recently celebrated his five hundredth feature win, finished ahead of another veteran in Charles Zimmerman to get the win. The Street Stocks, which look more like the Stock Cars or the Super Stocks that I am familiar with at home, put on a nice show with some very clean looking equipment. Other winners included Clayton Miller in the 357/602 Crates and Jesse Lowe in the 604 Crates.
What made the long rain delay even worse was the fact that there was a total lack of a grandstand pa system. While the announcer was able to talk to the pits, no one in the grandstands could hear anything that was said all night so we had to guess what was racing and why while I was able to use RaceMonitor to determine the qualifying efforts of those classes that ran determined time trials rather than group qualifying which a few of the classes did. It did make for an even longer night when the spectators grew frustrated not knowing who was driving what and just what race was on the track.
A remnant of last year's tornado at the track was still evident. All the grandstand seating from the tower to the first turn is gone, blown away in that storm. New cement slabs have been laid down but to this point, just small temporary bleachers have been brought in with new ones yet to be erected but the plan is in place for that to happen.
It was a cool night and with many of the spectators damp from the rain, when they got cold they headed for the gates and by the time the final race was run, there weren't too many people left on the grounds to confirm that the final checkered flag waved at 1:20 am. As the first night of the Toilet Bowl, all the feature winners got a "special plunger" for their efforts on Friday night.
Six classes would be in action on this cool February night including UMP Late Models and Modifieds, 604 and 357/602 Crate Late Models plus Quicksliver Street Stocks and the Mod Lites. The Late Models had for a number of years been involved in one of several different traveling series for this opening weekend of racing but this year it would just be under UMP sanctioning with Sam Driggers on hand to coordinate the activity in this class.
Nearly thirty Street Stocks and well over thirty Modifieds were on hand for the first of two straight nights of racing but the Late Model count at twenty one cars for a three grand to win top spot was somewhat disappointing.
An unexpected weather phenomena would throw Friday night's racing action into a tizzy and result in a long and arduous experience. A threat of rain, which would first appear in the forecasts not until Thursday night, managed to come through for us on Friday in two separate visits. The first time, late in the afternoon, did nothing to harm the show. However, the second round of light rain came right in the middle of Modified time trials and with the track already pounded down hard, it took a while to re pack the track and get it ready for more racing. They had to re time all the Mods over for the second time plus they still had to qualify the Streets and 604 Crates and apparently they was no contingency plan to shorten up the show and get the racing started just a little bit quicker, given the circumstances.
So, by the time they got everyone qualified, the first race did not hit the track until 10:50 pm. They did eliminate heat races but that was part of the original plan anyway so the racing action consisted of B Features for those classes that needed them and just main events for the other classes.
Of course all feature races were started straight up based on qualifying so any big charges through the field were pretty much out of the question. The top attraction of the night was the Late Model main with all twenty one cars on hand taking the green. Josh Putnam started on the pole and led for a good part of the feature. However, lapped traffic proved problematic for him as the slower cars were also hugging the low line of the track and with Tanner English nipping on his tail, Putnam was forced to make a move to try and get past the traffic.
If worked badly for him as he got too high in turn three, got into the "snot" on the high side of the track and English drove under him to take over the lead. Tanner was then able to lead the rest of the nonstop main event to take the win over Putnam, Donald McIntosh, Booger Brooks and Brian Shirley.
The largest field of the night was in the Modifieds and Lucas Lee, who qualified the fastest of all, led all twenty laps for the win. Allen Weisser pressured him for a time but eventually Lee pulled away to beat Weisser, Dillon Nusbaum, Clayton Miller and Nick Allen in what probably the most stacked of any class.
The one driver that upset the "apple cart" was legendary Tennessee racer David Earl Gentry who started tenth and still managed to get to the front and win the QuickSilver Street Stock feature. Gentry, who recently celebrated his five hundredth feature win, finished ahead of another veteran in Charles Zimmerman to get the win. The Street Stocks, which look more like the Stock Cars or the Super Stocks that I am familiar with at home, put on a nice show with some very clean looking equipment. Other winners included Clayton Miller in the 357/602 Crates and Jesse Lowe in the 604 Crates.
What made the long rain delay even worse was the fact that there was a total lack of a grandstand pa system. While the announcer was able to talk to the pits, no one in the grandstands could hear anything that was said all night so we had to guess what was racing and why while I was able to use RaceMonitor to determine the qualifying efforts of those classes that ran determined time trials rather than group qualifying which a few of the classes did. It did make for an even longer night when the spectators grew frustrated not knowing who was driving what and just what race was on the track.
A remnant of last year's tornado at the track was still evident. All the grandstand seating from the tower to the first turn is gone, blown away in that storm. New cement slabs have been laid down but to this point, just small temporary bleachers have been brought in with new ones yet to be erected but the plan is in place for that to happen.
It was a cool night and with many of the spectators damp from the rain, when they got cold they headed for the gates and by the time the final race was run, there weren't too many people left on the grounds to confirm that the final checkered flag waved at 1:20 am. As the first night of the Toilet Bowl, all the feature winners got a "special plunger" for their efforts on Friday night.
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