It has come down to the last weekend of the long USMTS racing season. Event number thirty six would start off a three night swing through Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas and by Saturday night, a new USMTS champion will be crowned.
The first night of the three night swing would be held on Thursday night, October 27th at the Tri-State Speedway just across the border from Fort Smith Arkansas in Pocola Oklahoma. Always a bit confusing, while the official address of the speedway is Fort Smith, the track itself actually is about two miles into the state of Oklahoma where it was built in the Poteau and Arkansas River valley just outside the city of Fort Smith. The track was built on a hill and offers a panoramic view of the river valley region.
Tri-State is one of the more historic race tracks in this part of the country, having been in operation since 1969. The track was paved in 1971 and some of its biggest years under the direction of famous promoter Cecil Harlan where among the track champions of that era were some pretty famous drivers such at Larry Phillips, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace. The asphalt era wore thin and in 1979 the track was returned to dirt. Since then, it has gone through several owners and in 2018, Mike and Jenny Hoover bought the track.
In recent years, the track has had many upgrades including new bleachers, lights, concession stands, a new press tower, paved walkways, p.a. system and many other items too numerous to mention. A big one was when the inside wall was added all the way around the track.
The track is a three eighth mile oval with long chutes and tight, high banked corners. The race cars pit off turns three and four and there is also infield pitting but most prefer to pit outside the track, as they should. The races are staged down the infield pit asphalt strip, a left over from the days when the long distance asphalt races were held and live pitting was done in the infield. The track is is a red clay surface, one that most of the tracks in this area feature.
It has been a number of years since I was last at Tri-State and I believe the last time I was there might have been the infamous "all night" race when the last checkered flag of the night(day) flew at 5:12 a.m. and the only fans left in the bleachers were myself and the late Gary Story. I remember they ran the Modifieds last and Gary and I were bound and determined we would see the Mods race, even if we had to be there for breakfast!
Fortunately, those days are long gone and tonight's program would be run off must smoother, even though is was 7:45 p.m. before the first green flag waved but after that, things moved along at a very quick pace and the drivers had to be on their toes as their events were called off in quick order.
Thirty three Modifieds were on hand for the opening night of the last round of the USMTS season, a number that I found somewhat disappointing as I perhaps in error, expected that with this being the last go round of the season and good weather in the offering, that there would be more drivers ready to go one last time. The USMTS regulars were out as expected with seventeen of the top twenty in points on hand. However, the local support was minimal with only four out of the top twenty five in local Modified points on hand, despite the fact that this is a USRA track and runs the same rules that USMTS does.
The Modified format would be the same as normal, with the drivers split into four groups for qualifying, the top four in each group inverted and then passing points from the heats would determine the starting field for the feature with a pair of B Features to round out what would be a twenty four car starting field for the forty lap main, paying ten grand to the winner. Tyler Wolff would be the quickest overall, at 18.655 seconds.
Tri-State is a track where they typically run things dry and slick. The red clay really polishes up and normally provides a smooth and slick surface from top to bottom and allows the drivers to run all over the track. They had just gotten over running their "Spooker" last weekend, their biggest race of the year in terms of cars and laps over four nights. The track appeared quite dry tonight and while they were able to find a fast groove early right up against the wall, by feature time things had changed.
One of the announcers for the night, Trenton Berry from RacinDirt, indicated as much when he commented that the track looked like it was in heat race shape when the hot laps were taking place. By feature time, it went from a wide open track to a mostly one lane groove right on the inside with the drivers scraping the inside wall almost as they hugged the low groove.
Quite frankly, it made for not such a great racing conclusion to the night. A few drivers tried the outside with little success and the only driver able to make some headway on the top side was Terry Phillips. He started seventh on the grid and had gained a couple spots when the only significant yellow flew with twenty three laps in the book. Restarting fifth, he was the only one to go to the top side and he made it work as he gained two spots and then squeezed by Dereck Ramirez to get second before he felt the need to get back to the bottom quick. After that, he rode in second but never was able to make a challenge for the top spot.
Dan Ebert, the Minnesota driver who has supported the whole series and currently rides in eighth place in the points, would take the lead at the start and would still be there after forty laps. Ramirez would follow him for the first half of the race, sometimes closing in slightly and then sometimes falling back a few lengths. However, Ebert never wavered off the bottom and never gave an opening to anyone to make a pass.
They hit lapped traffic at about the halfway point, a situation that could have proved difficult with everyone hugging the low groove and not wanting to budge. However, a yellow for a slowing car came out just past the halfway point and that took care of that problem.
With the large surface at Tri-State and a few drivers dropping out, Ebert never caught the slow cars again and all he had to do was "milk" his tires, as several drivers dropped out with flats, likely caused by what seemed to be a rather abrasive surface.
At the finish, Ebert had several car lengths on Phillips with Ramirez, Joe Duvall and Tanner Mullins completing the top five with all by Phillips also starting in that same top five. Seven drivers didn't finish and all left running were on the lead lap.
There is an interesting connection between the Ebert and Phillips clans. Of course, Terry's father Larry was an all time great racing in this part of the country on both dirt and mostly asphalt. Dan Ebert's father Russ, who was in attendance in Dan's pit on this night, was a crewman for years for the late Dick Trickle and those two drivers engaged in a number of epic battles across the nation on short tracks in their day so the Phillips and Ebert families have a strong connection.
It was announced after the race that based on their finishes in the main that Dustin Sorensen had clinched the USMTS title as he went into the night with a sizable lead over Mullins. Sorensen made a nice gain as after qualifying poorly, he had to run a B Feature but was able to move up from fifteenth on the grid to a seventh place finish, only two spots behind Mullins after he avoided the one big wreck on lap one that collected several cars.
Unlike the Mods, the local B Mods well supported this race with thirteen of their top twenty in track points on hand in the field of twenty nine. USRA national points were still on the line for this event and the Thursday night race drew a few travelers as well. Four heats and a B Feature would set their field for the twenty lapper, paying $800 to the winner. The #27 seemed to be a very popular number for this class with no less than five cars bearing this number.
Jacob Campbell would start on the pole and lead the first half of the race with Cody King and Kyle Slader close behind. As with the Mods, the B Mods would be hugging the low line around the track. Slader tried the high side but then quickly ducked back in line when that didn't work. However, he was able to edge past King with some braking into the corners and would take over second.
The first half of the race would go nonstop until the race slowed with a car limping on a flat tire. It was hard to keep exact track of laps on this night as for some reason the scoreboard wasn't working but it was at about that halfway point of the race. The Delaware restart would see Slader get a big run on Campbell as it appeared that he jumped the gun but the race wasn't called back. It proved to be a non issue when the race was slowed again for a spin.
Once again, on the green, it appeared to me that Slader jumped the start, perhaps even more so than the previous time. However, no one agreed with me and Campbell proved to be the loser because of it as Slader roared around Campbell, took over the lead and then extended it as he pulled away for the win with the race going green from then on to the checkers. Despite some complaints by the Campbell crew, they fell on deaf ears and Slader was awarded the win with Campbell, King, Daniel Cowett and Kevin Guinn completing the top five. The finish of this race was slightly confusing as the yellow flew for a slowing car after the white was waved. The race was scored complete and the results went back to lap nineteen.
The Stock Cars were small in number with only eleven of them on the grounds. They ran two heats and a main event but that race did see three different leaders. Cody Jones would start on the pole and lead the first two laps but he was then overtaken by Jeff Metcalf would would then lead for a few laps himself.
However, the driver on the move was Wesley Bourne and he would out power Metcalf into turn one and take over the lead, an advantage he would just build as this race would go green to checkered. Metcalf would hold on for second with Jones third at the finish.
One very unique aspect of this speedway involves how and where the cars are weighed and teched after races. The drivers required to weigh pull off the track in the middle of the back chute and then go around the outside wall, clockwise to the scale building which is located outside the track near turn four. They are then weighed and teched and they return to the pits by driving right in front of the main grandstand. There is a viewing area of sorts in front of the grandstands and the kids line it and when the drivers go by, they slow, pull over to the grandstand and high five or fist bump with the spectators. What a cool thing that is!
It sure makes for some fan interaction and allows all the spectators to see the drivers close up and minus their helmets.
It was about a three hour program that was moved along nicely once the first wheels were turned on a cool but not frigid by any means night. While the show can't be classified as epic, it was still a nice way to spend a Thursday night in the last week of October and I can't think of any place else I'd rather be. Thanks to Todd,, Janet, Ryne and the whole USMTS crew as well as all the track employees of Tri-State Speedway.
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