Anyone up for an eleven hundred mile ride South to see some Modified racing this week? The answer was a resounding NO, but I went anyway as I headed for Louisiana for five straight nights of racing, weather permitting of course.
For a number of years, I have been seeing center steer Modifieds in action once or twice a year as circumstances would permit. Exclusively, I would see them race either in Florida at Volusia in February or at the World Finals in Charlotte in November.
I always found the cars to be immaculately prepared and always very sharp looking, all chromed up and spotless. Granted, to me the center steer Modifieds are a bit odd looking but once one gets over the fact that they look like a Sprint Car chassis with a Modified body hung over it and the driver sits right in the middle of the chassis, you appreciate how clean the cars are.
Frankly, however, while they are very clean looking and certainly unique, especially for us from the center of the country where we never see them in person, I have never found them to race very well and the vast majority of races that I have seen them compete in have been less than stellar. However, they are hugely popular in the eastern region of the country and believing that those race fans must know what they are cheering for too, I have assumed that I just haven't caught their racing on their best days. Perhaps it was the tracks they were racing on , I thought, so I wanted to see them race on a couple of shorter tracks that were prepared somewhat differently on some different dirt and see if that made a difference. And by the end of the night on Tuesday, my answer would be a resounding YES.
On Tuesday night, November 9th, I made what I hope will be the first of five straight nights of Modified racing in the Cajun state of Louisiana seeing the center steer Modifieds in action. This would be the Cajun Swing of the Short Track Super Series Cajun Region combined event at the historic Boothill Speedway, just West of Shreveport Louisiana which by the way is celebrating its fiftieth year of racing in 2021. Racing this week will be held from Tuesday night through Saturday night at four different tracks across northern Louisiana, ending up with a $20.000 to win show on Saturday night at Super Bee Speedway. Along with the Modifieds, a variety of classes that race weekly at these five tracks will also be in action on a random basis at the various tracks.
Racing in the Modifieds will be under the auspicious of the Short Track Super Series and its owner and promoter Brett Deyo. Deyo is one of the hottest young promoter in the entire country and his rise to racing prominence in the powerful East Coast racing scene has been a wonder. Starting out as the promoter of one special event not that many years ago, Deyo now runs a whole gauntlet of racing events including a STSS North and South division series on the East Coast that stands toe to toe with the powerful World Racing Group Super Dirt Car Series with his fifty thousand dollar to win events. He also is the weekly promoter at three prominent tracks in the Northeast, runs a series for the Sportsman cars, administers the American Racer tire championships and has now started the Cajun Series to try and bring this brand of Modified racing to the southern region for a class that has been pretty much locked up in the Northeast. He may be involved in other things that I have omitted but the bottom line is that he is a promoter on the move and one of the biggest "movers and shakers" on the East Coast.
This series of races is the second year for the Cajun Swing which is designed to bring some of the eastern stars to this part of the country so fans can see them in action and his eastern drivers can race at some new tracks. It is also designed as a reward of sorts for those southern drivers that have built cars and races his Cajun Series this year plus their chance to race for extra money, far more than they normally do plus rub shoulders with the biggest stars in center steer Modifieds. It also gives the fans of the South a chance to see Stewart Friesen, Matt Sheppard, Mike Mahaney, Erick Rudolph and others in action.
The series was expanded this year to five nights and the amount they were racing for was also increased with the twenty thou pot at the end of the week. The Cajun Series drivers did support the series soundly with the top fourteen in their points standings on hand and around a dozen or so drivers from the Northeast made the pull down to Louisiana too. Some came directly from the World Finals at Charlotte last weekend while others just drove down this week. John Lutes told me he drove twenty six hours nonstop from northern New York to get to Boothill with only a short nap once he is the Cajun state.
In all, thirty two Modified drivers signed in to race which was double the number that were on hand for last year's initial series as the number of cars in this area of Louisiana and Texas grows and more of the professional racers look for a nice week of racing in the warm temperatures before Winter sets in as these guys have to battle as harsh of Winters as I do.
Boothill Speedway here in Greenwood La. proved to be a great track for these drivers to showcase their cars and prove to me that yes, they can put on a show that features passing, wild turns of fate and plenty of "rubbing is racin." Boothill is a quarter mile oval with fairly tight corners but wide enough that passing can take place. Series officials requested a heavier than what his generally done surface here which required a little more wheel packing than normal. However, it produced a very fast track that was still able to be passed on plus a nice berm built up and even the support class drivers later would comment that they liked the change in the surface as apparently they normally run it pretty slick with not much to get a grip of. The STSS also runs a format that is attractive to me as a fan as no time trials were held, double file restarts were used up to the last five laps of the main and they redrew the top twelve from the heat races which is a pretty deep redraw compared to most. All these things were attractive to my tastes as a fan and also, by the way, allowed them to start the program about ten minutes earlier than even the advertised start time! This would be the first race ever for this series at Boothill but the drivers quickly adapted to the track.
Two excellent announcers covered all the action. I apologize that i missed the name of the STSS announcer but the local track announcer who did the support classes was Joshua Bell who also displayed a great singing voice as he did the National Anthem.
Another appealing consideration for the evening was that the Modifieds would run first with both their heats and feature being up first on the card so that fans could leave early if necessary on a work and school night. Four heats and the only B Feature of the night set the running order for the main event for the STSS. They redrew the top twelve and their were two Cajun Series provisionals so twenty six cars started their main event.
The Modified feature would see three different leaders during its forty laps and eventual winner Ryan Godown, the New Jersey driver, would start ninth on the grid. The cream would rise to the top during the feature race with the biggest names in this form of racing battling it out for the win. Young Jack Lehner would be the early leader before he was passed by Rocky Warner who would hold the top spot after Lehner got a flat tire as he collided with a slower car while threading his way through traffic.
There was quite a disparity between speeds in some of the cars and on this tight track, it made the action both wild and hairy as the fast cars, while battling for position, tried to steer through quite a number of much slower cars. This did result in some wild goings on as after Lehner lost the lead when he banged with a slower car, the same thing would happen to Warner.
As he and Friesen battled for the lead, Warner banged wheels with a slower car, sending Jimmy McCommas up on his lid and into the night air. He would be OK but done for the night.
Rare and freak mistakes would plague some of the biggest names with Sheppard stumbling on a restart and getting run over that would end his night and Friesen would "step on it" while battling for the lead and end up flying through the infield and losing two positions. Meanwhile, Godown gradually worked his way to the front, took over second from Friesen and using the healthy cushion, blast past Warner for the lead with about ten laps to go. He then would pull away for the four thousand dollar victory while Rudolph would charge up from eleventh to pass Friesen for second. Only twelve of the starters were still on the track at the conclusion of this rough and tumble race that was highly entertaining, never the less.
The support classes were a little light on numbers but there were never the less drivers from four states in action in this area where there is a confluence of states packed closely together. It was reaffirmed that yes, I was witnessing racing in the South when two Bubba's were a part of the field for the first main event.
The Factory Stocks had a nice field of cars with twenty of them taking the green flag for their main event. Three tries and three yellows and this race would restart single file for the main. Stoney Dubois would lead all twenty laps to win the main event in this class but it was a tight race as Neal Kemp would challenge him closely for the whole distance. Kemp would get a nose under Dubois in every corner and try to beat him back up the track but each lap Dubois would fight him off.
A late yellow saw more of the same but to Kemp's credit, he ran the leader clean and Dubois would hold on for the win. In victory lane Dubois announced that it was his first feature win in eighteen years of trying so I guess he was more than due. He also announced that with some money in his pocket from the win, he planned on heading up to Ark-La-Tex to race on Wednesday night! Kemp and Ricky Ingalls, of the famous East Texas Ingalls racing family, would trail.
Fourteen Limited Modifieds would take the green flag for their main event with Derick Grigsby leading the early laps. However, Grigsby suddenly lost power down the back chute and dived into the infield, turning over the lead to Coty Tupper. Tupper didn't wear the lead for more than a few seconds as just after he passed the slowing Grigsby, he dug into the turn three banking and launched himself into the Louisiana sky as he barrel rolled. He was OK but obviously done for the night.
Chase Hatton would inherit the lead, lose it for one lap to Aaron Roy but then would fight back into the top spot and hold off Roy and Tyler Parker for the win.
I don't know if fans in this area like to "rumble" from time to time but a local law presence at this facility was very noticeable. A Caddo Parish Sheriff's vehicle was parked by the pit gate all night and when wrecks were cleaned up such as Tupper's flip, two of the Sheriff's vehicles were first to the scene along with the wreckers.
The FWD Front Wheel Drive ( or Forward class as they now have been infamously named by Michael Rigsby) didn't get the e-mail that they were racing on this night and only five showed up. However, just that small number still managed to create their share of controversy when Makayla Storm was unceremoniously dumped by Jack Dupont while she was leading the five lap main event. While she went skittering up the banking and rolled a tire off the rim, Dupont drove on to the win, only to be met in victory lane by a chorus of boos and jeers from the fifteen people that stuck around to watch the last race of the night.
All racing was completed by 10 pm but if you had come to watch the Modifieds alone, you could have left the track well before that time. The Modifieds showed themselves in a new and much more appealing light to me on this night plus the other support classes had a fun night as well. I wish a few more fans had been on hand to watch but this class is relatively new to the race fans of Boothill and indeed, it was a Tuesday night in November. Many likely watched on Flo from the Northeast and I;m sure the live body crowd will increase as we get nearer the weekend.
Thanks to Brett Deyo and the entire crew along with the workers from Boothill who were putting on their fourth special event in the last six days, something that tracks farther North could only dream about at this time of the year.
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