For thee days the excitement, momentum and anticipation has been building and everything and everyone cut it all loose as the Gateway Dirt Nationals at America's Center was completed on Saturday night, December 4th. On the schedule for Saturday night would be Last Chance races for both the Late Models and Modifieds while their field for their main event was already set through two nights of qualifying with their small field of cars. Following all the qualifying, the official opening ceremonies would be held and then the three feature races where the big checks and the big cash would be passed out.
A tour of the pits before racing started would confirm that most teams had indeed stuck around to give it one last shot to make the main event. It also reinforced once again how dedicated and talented these teams are. Following the Friday night show, the pit area looked like a bone yard with trashed cars parked everywhere. Yet just twenty four hours later, the vast majority of these same cars would be ready to race once again and many bore no scars from their Friday night wars.
Bur for most it was just jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire as if the heat races weren't rough enough, the Last Chance Qualifiers were absolutely brutal with lots of drivers wishing to run the features and not near enough openings for them all. So they proceeded to scratch and claw and run into and over each other in an effort to get into the "big show." In fact, a mind boggling twenty five yellow flags flew during the six Last Chance races for the Late Models and then the Modifieds chimed in with another eleven yellows in their four Last Chance races. Most had only a handful of cars left running at the end but for those that made it, all the trouble was more than worth it to them.
Perhaps the most interesting development occurred during one of the Mod Last Chance races where Joe Dresch started in the back of one, let everyone else destroy themselves and then he took one of the last spots available. The interesting part was that Dresch was driving a B Mod utilizing a crate motor and three link rear suspension against a full field of open motor cars.
The Late Model feature would be first up on this night, a nice touch to allow the premier attraction of this weekend to run in "prime time" for viewers and fans at the track also. Tyler Carpenter, who became a household name to many people that had never heard of him before the 2019 race, would be going for his second straight victory here.
And from the beginning, it appeared that this would be Carpenter's night to shine. He won his heat and then the preliminary feature race on Thursday night. Then he drew the pole for tonight's finale as his luck and skill continued.
He would actually go on to lead all forty laps and take home thirty thousand dollars for his efforts along with the opportunity to race a NASCAR truck at the dirt show next Summer at Knoxville. For Carpenter, he used a combination of excellent skill, a good car and a modicum of luck to score the victory.
Carpenter has a good car and runs well at the Dome. The fact that they reworked the track entirely before the feature played into his wheelhouse also as the inside lane was very fast , making the outside groove not so successful. Carpenter was smart enough not to get off the bottom and only when drivers like Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr and Ryan Unzicker decided then had nothing to lose by trying the outside line and finally cleaned that lane off, did the outside work for them at all. But by them it was too late to catch Carpenter.
A couple of times, fortuitous yellows slowed the action just when he had caught the back of the pack which is when most of the passing takes place, so he found himself racing with a clean track in front of him for most of the main event.
And of course, the last yellow found him with a right rear tire slowly going down but Tyler was able to generate enough heat in it for it to hold air for the last three laps as he drove to victory. It was just his night. Tyler English ran second for the whole race and only got close when they caught lapped traffic but he would finish solid as the runner up while Nick Hoffman would finish third with fifteen of the twenty one starters still on the track at the finish and none lapped.
Just when we were ready to write off the Midget division from this event going forward after their poor turnout of cars for this year's race, they go out and produce the most exciting feature race finish of the entire weekend. And it was Jonathan Beason, who had dominated the opening two nights with wins , that produced a thrilling finish that had the crowd on their feet.
Beason started out incredibly strong as somehow he found a hole on the opening lap and moved from the fifth starting spot to take the lead before one lap was scored. After that, he accelerated away from the field and it looked like a clean sweep would be an easy one for him. That is however, until lap twelve when he came up on Terry Babb too quick as he was about to lap him and jumped up on his car, triggering a yellow as the two locked together.
Beason caught a break when his car was unharmed but he had to go to the back of the pack and his chance of winning seemed unlikely. However, this is when things really started getting interesting . Throwing caution to the wind, Beason moved all over the track as he roared through the field and soon he was in the top five once again with the help of a couple of well timed yellows.
Beason continued his charge to the finish, even as the rear suspension of his car was torn up following a bout with the back chute wall. As Beason charged, it looked like he would run out of time as Chris Windom, who had inherited the lead from him after his tangle. was ahead on the final lap while Beason battled for second with Zach Daum, just behind the leader.
However, Daum went for a wild flip in turn three on the last lap, the red flew and a one lap sprint to the finish was the official call. Windom went to the top side for the final lap to protect himself against Beason. However, Jonathan dove low in turn one and crossed his over and then again crossed down the back chute. They raced side by side off the final corner with Beason nipping Windom by less than a car length in a wild finish that stirred the crowd into a frenzy. Earlier there were all kinds of reports about what class would replace the Midgets next year after their poor showing of cars and they certainly helped state a case for their return with this dandy race. Nick Hoffman would get his second, third place finish of the night as he improves continuously as a Midget racer.
The Modifieds would wrap up the night with an excellent thirty lap main event of their own. Jordan Grabouski would draw the pole and take the early lead with Tyler Peterson and Jeff "Bone" Larson putting the pressure on him. Peterson would hang to the inside but when Grabo started to slow a bit, Peterson would move to his outside and this would trigger the best side by side racing for the lead of the night.
For several laps, it would be Peterson pushing on the top side while Grabouski would fight back on the bottom but inch by inch, lap by lap, Peterson would be gaining ground. Finally, one lap past the halfway point, Peterson would clear Grabo and take over the lead.
A big charge would be put on by Michael Ledford and he cut considerably into the advantage opened up by Peterson. After putting a nose inside Peterson, Tyler decided he better hang on the bottom and this strategy worked as he was able to gain a few car lengths on Ledford. Peterson continued to run smooth and smart and he would drive on for the win with Ledford a strong second while Hoffman made a late charge to get by Larson and record his third straight third place finish of the weekend. Hoffman was by far the most consistent and successful of those drivers that ran multiple divisions and earmarked him as a "wheelman" of note.
The win by Peterson was especially sweet for yours truly as Tyler is one of "my guys", a WISSOTA racer that I see run at many events over the course of the year. He really wanted to run this event in the worst way and worked social media hard in an effort to be invited. I think his thrilling run to the national title for WISSOTA where he edged out Shane Sabraski by a single point got him noticed and then he did the rest. Larson and Grabo also did their fans proud too.
So, the fifth annual Gateway Nationals is now history. Promoter Cody Sommer indicated that tonight was the biggest Saturday night crowd in event history but that didn't surprise anyone that was there and saw the huge crowd. I thought the pre race "buzz" for this show seemed down this year but boy, was I wrong and there were fans from near and far that attended and many for the first time. Including all those that watched on FLO, it's hard to say just how many folks national wide were introduced to dirt track racing on this night.
The Gateway Dirt Nationals is really an anomaly when it comes to racing. It is one part racing, one part WWE style entertainment and one part high drama. The event is carefully scripted to be just that from the attention drawing driver introductions to the spectacular pyrotechnics and light show. And while the results of this race have little to do with how a driver did or will do at any other race track, clearly a win here is a defining moment as the tears from two of Saturday night's winners will attest to. And that is what makes this race so unique and something that everyone should attend at least once, just to say that they have "done the dome."
Borrowing a phrase, "What happens at the Dome, stays at the Dome."
Thanks to everyone involved in this spectacular event for their incredibly hard work.
No comments:
Post a Comment