O'Neal From Twenty Third, Williamson With Another Last Lap Pass as Volusia Wraps Up

 After a drippy Friday night that forced the action to conclude prematurely, Saturday, February 18th would produce a sunny but very windy and unseasonably cold day for racing as the DIRTcar Nationals wrapped up at Volusia Speedway Park. However, while the temperatures may have been cool, the racing was plenty hot with two memorable feature races to leave the fans and competitors talking. 

Hudson O'Neal, after having to run a Last Chance race and starting twenty third in the World of Outlaws Late Model feature, would pass Devin Moran with five laps to go and then hold off a Moran re attack on the last lap to earn a $20,000 victory while in the Big Block Modifieds, for the second straight night Mat Williamson would make a final lap pass, this time on Jack Lehner, to get the win and take home his second Gator trophy of the week. 

The final night of racing would produce some spectacular action in both classes and highly entertaining races that had the huge crowd on their feet cheering

Fifty three Late Models would sign in to race on Saturday night with most notable absentees being Hunt Gossum and Donny Schatz after both blew up motors during the abbreviated Friday night action. The program would see the standard six heats for the Late Models, followed by three Last Chance races and the longest race for the Late Models this week at fifty laps. The track would slow down quickly during time trials with Brandon Overton and Chris Madden topping the two flights with Overton quickest overall at  15.886 seconds.  

The six heats and three Last Chance mains would produce a few surprises and a number if the WoO regulars would find themselves  on the outside looking in and having to rely on provisionals of some sort to get into the fifty lapper. There were owner provisional starters, driver provisional starters and series provisional starters and by the time the green flag waved, there were thirty cars to start the fifty lapper. 

Tim McCreadie would start on the pole for the twenty grand to win race and would hold that  spot for the first forty one laps of the feature with a variety of drivers chasing him for the lead. Chris Madden was strong early as was Brian Shirley and both following closely with them dicing for that runner up spot as well. Devin Moran was also moving up after starting eighth as he was producing his best run of the week. 

Meanwhile, O'Neal was making steady progress as he drove to the front, mostly pounding the high side of the track and being dogged by Brandon Sheppard who followed him in that line around the track. With only one yellow in the first half of the race, there was plenty of time for the drivers to work around the track and find their best line unimpeded.  

By the halfway point of the race, O'Neal had cracked the top five as he followed Moran with McCreadie still showing the way. They made four more laps before Mike Spatola stalled, bringing out the second and final yellow of the race,at which time O'Neal was now up to fourth. 

Very hard racing would mark the latter stages of the race. Madden and Shirley, who had really challenged earlier, started to slip back in the field as O'Neal and Moran continued to hunt the front. McCreadie got into some very heavy traffic and it really started to bother him. He seemed unable to drive around the slower cars that were riding the low groove which was also his line and his times dropped. 

Moran was really invigorated and he jumped on the opportunity by driving by McCreadie on the outside to take over the lead on lap forty two. O'Neal threw caution to the wind though and was flying on the high side. Moran, after making the pass for the lead, fell into the same trap that McCreadie had and hung just a bit too long on the bottom and with just five laps to go, O'Neal blasted past him to take over the lead. 

However, the race wasn't over quite yet as O'Neal then dropped back to the bottom and Moran rallied, making one last all out effort to get the lead back. He threw a couple of slliders at O'Neal but just couldn't quite get the job done and came up just short as O'Neal's bold charge using all the track paid off in victory. 

Very quietly, Ricky Thornton Jr would make another big charge as he had done a couple of times this week as he came from twentieth to nip McCreadie for third with Overton completing the top five. 

Only seven drivers wouldn't be running at the finish and with just the two yellows, there was plenty of passing from front to back in the field on a track that held up very well to the pounding it took all week. A somewhat chagrined McCreadie would accept the Big Gator as the point champion for the week but he clearly was looking for bigger rewards, not the participation trophy. 

Forty Big Block Modified drivers would sign in to race on Saturday which would produce four heats, a pair of Last Chance races and then their longest feature of the week by twenty laps as they would also go fifty for seventy five hundred dollars to win. 

H.J. Bunting and Jack Lahner would be the quick drivers of their groups with Lehner quickest overall at 17.404 seconds. Plenty of extra provisional starters would also grace the Modified field as twenty eigh tof them would take the green with Justin Stone borrowing a car from Russ Morseman after his own pulled up lame. 

Lehner would draw the pole for the Modified feature and he would take the early lead with Rick Laubach close behind. Erick Rudolph, Max McLaughlin and Jimmy Phelps would be in the top five for the opening laps. A slowing car would stop the action with thirteen laps complete and the restart produced the first lead change of the race when Pennsylvania veteran Laubach would drive around Lehner and take over the top spot. 

And once in front, Laubach would then begin to drive away from the field as he opened up a lead that would balloon to nearly a full straightaway at one point. Even yellows on lap sixteen and twenty six would not bother Laubach who would pull away from the pack each time. Meanwhile, Williamson was starting to climb to the front after starting ninth on the grid. By the halfway point, Williamson was up to fourth as he passed McLaughlin and was putting pressure on Rudolph for third. 

After having such a magnificant run through the lap thirty point, Laubach suddenly began to lose time and his lead was quickly trimmed by Lehner. It seemed that perhaps Lauback had run out of tires as he lap speeds really started to drop quickly and markedly. Lehner continued his march and on laps thirty eight he drove under Laubach for the lead, with Rick offering little resistance. He would then continue t to slide back, eventually ending up seventh. 

However, Williamson was closing in and as Lehner got into lapped traffic, he had the same problem that was seen quite often all week, and that was for the leaders to get by the slower cars at the back of the field. Lehner chose to tail gate a couple of slower cars and on lap forty, Williamson blew past him on the top side for the lead. 

Lehner saw his error and he moved up the track and he got a great run on Williamson, retaking him for the lead just two laps later. It appeared the Lehner had fought off the storm as he continued to hold off Williamson as the laps ran down. However, there was still lapped traffic to be handled and while Jack got by one of he slower cars, as he took the white flag, he chose to duck low and follow the other tail end car. This gave Williamson and opportunity and he moved to the top side of the track, raced past both the slower car and Lehner on the final lap and for the second straight feature, stole a win on the final tour. This race had some periods where not too much was happening but the last dozen or so laps really got interesting. 

It was another great win for Williamson and Lehner joined the increasing number of drivers that got foiled by slower traffic at the end of their events. Rudolph, McLaughlin and Peter Britten would complete the top five with a half dozen drivers not on the track at the end. 

Despite a really cold night, particularly after a warm week, the crowd was huge for the finale on Saturday. And really, crowds at the all the venues for these special events have been very good which must provide promoters of upcoming events some high expectations and hope. 

As this DIRTcar series wraps up, I want to thank all the officials of the World Racing Group for their help. All the workers at Volusia Speedway Park really deserve a pat on the back as this series for them is quite the marathon from Sprints to Modifieds, Late Models and Big Blocks and lasts for several weeks. Especially a nod should go to the track prep crew. It's had to say how many hours they have spent circling the track, watering, grading etc. but the surface stayed good for the whole time and provided good racing conditions for all groups. 

Personally, the wrap up here at Volusia brings and end to the longest racing adventure that we have ever partaken in. From Arizona to New Mexico and then various parts of Florida, we have been lucky enough to catch great racing at a variety of tracks and having been on the road for the better part of two months, we had only one full rain out! Now we migrate back to the Midwest where there is a Winter storm waiting and snow shoveling skills to break back out. However, Spring can't be that far away and it won't be too long before dirt flies in our part of the racing world. 

Thanks again to all the promoters, drivers, crew members, track workers and fans that have made this a memorable  experience. 

 

Short Night At Volusia As Rain Wins The Feature

 It was bound to happen at some point but for race fans hoping to attend Friday night's DIRTcar Nationals, the hope was that the beautiful and warm weather would continue right through Saturday night's finale for the World of Outlaws Late Models and the Super DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds. 

It was another sunny day for most of the day and temperatures were at their highest point of the week so far but a strong wind was blowing and that was the driving force for a cold front that was moving across the state of Florida as the day wore on. Despite predictions that most of the rain would dry up before it hit the Daytona Beach area, the skies would get very dark by race time and only three Late Model heats would be completed before it started to rain. It didn't rain too hard for an extended period but it never would shut off completely with heavy mist at times making track drying impossible and rather than tear the track up so bad that it would be a poor track on Saturday for the finale for both classes, the program was called sometime after 9 pm. 

Before the rains hit, a field of fifty four Late Models and forty Big Blocks had signed in to race. The program was scheduled to be the same as in previous nights except the Late Models were scheduled to run an additional ten laps. 

Missing from the field on Friday were Late Model drivers Stacy Boles, Doug Drown and David Breazeale with only Boles expected to run again later this week while the only Big Block driver absent was Stewart Friesen who was racing in the Truck Series at the big track. 

The track was just a bit different on Friday night with perhaps the extra heat and wind drying it out prematurely but during qualifying it slowed down significantly quite quickly and was apparently tough to negotiate and a number of drivers found themselves jumping the cushion and turning some bad laps. 

The field was divided into two groups and the quickest two drivers were Brandon Overton and Bobby Pierce with Pierce being the quickest overall at 16.345 seconds. Three heat races, all won right off the pole, went to Overton, Tim McCreadie and Dale McDowell. Heat four was ready to roll on to the track when the rain first hit and they would never see the track again on Friday. 

Big Block qualifying would see Max McLaughlin and Demetrios Drellos turn the quickest laps with McLaughlin being the fastest overall as the first car on the track with a time of  17.971 seconds. The Big Blocks would see no track time after qualifying. 

It did appear that another large crowd was building for the night as despite all the other goings on of the night, there were plenty of folks that wanted to see some dirt track action. 

Saturday night's action will see the Late Models and Big Blocks in their final performance with their longest and richest paying races of the week on tap. 

Pierce and Williamson Both Pass and Win On Final Lap At Volusia

 Thursday night, February 16th would be a spectacular night for racing as the DIRTcar Nationals rolled on at the Volusia Speedway Park near Barberton Florida. On tap Thursday would be the first night for the sanctioned World of Outlaws Late Model series to visit during the Nationals while the Big Block Modifieds of the Super DIRTcar Series would make their second straight appearance. 

The weather was spectacular on Thursday as the great streak of weather this week has continued with sunny skies and gradually warming temperatures. For the Late Models, they would see their biggest car count of the week as fifty six drivers signed in to race on Thursday. Jonathan Davenport finally made his debut along with the two car Florida team of Jason Garver and Nevin Gainey while a surprising appearance on this big track was made by short track stalwart Freddie Carpenter. The fifty six car field moved the total compared to last year's event to within a couple of cars, continuing a pattern that goes way back to East Bay's shows. 

One more Big Block entry signed in as Kyle Dingwall drove a second car out of the Corbin Millar team which allowed the Big Blocks to have exactly the same number of drivers on hand that raced in 2022. 

Alternating the running order for these two classes as they always do here at Volusia, it would be the Modifieds that would run first with the Late Models following them. On a track that was just a bit drier than on Wednesday night, something that many of the drivers apparently hoped for, the two flights of Big Blocks would see Mat Williamson and Erick Rudolph set quick times. Williamson would be quickest overall at 17.217 seconds. 

Four heats and a pair of Last Chance races would set the field for the Big Block feature with five coming out of each heat and two out of each Last Chance. A pair of DIRTcar provisional starters would make up the twenty six car field, racing for thirty laps on this night. 

Demetrios Drellos would get the jump on fellow front row starter Rudolph and take the early lead. As Rudolph would settle into second, a great battle for third would see Williamson, Jack Lehner and Matt Sheppard battle for the position as they traded the spot amongst the three of them. Drellos was setting a blistering pace as he pulled away from the field and soon put Rudolph nearly a full straightaway behind him. 

Williamson would settle into third and then gradually start to track down Rudolph for second as the midpoint of the race drew close. Last night's winner Max McLaughlin would start to march forward after starting ninth and moved up to challenge Sheppard for a top five spot. By the halfway point, McLaughlin had passed Sheppard for fourth. 

With the race continuing under the green, leader Drellos got into some heavy traffic but he was doing a great job getting by them as he was passing nearly a car a lap as his hot pace continued. Williamson was on the move too as he got by Rudolph and set off after the leader. With ten laps to go, the lead was about a half a straightaway and it seemed unlikely that Williamson could provide a challenge. 

But suddenly the lead started to shorten up, slowly at first but then more dramatically as the laps evaporated. With five to go, Williamson was just a few car lengths behind and still charging at it appeared that Drellos was starting to slip up in the corners and lose momentum. With two laps to go, Williamson was in a challenging position for the win and he looked for an opening. As the drivers took the white flag from starter Dave Farney, Williamson dove low into turn one and got under Drellos. Drellos tried to fight back but his car just slid up the banking as he lost traction and Williamson came out of the corner the clear leader. Drellos tried to fight back but he had nothing to offer as Williamson extended his lead through the final corner and drove home for the win. Drellos would finish second with Rudolph third. 

Larry Wight would make quite a drive as after starting twenty second on the field, and with zero yellow flags to aid him, he would make a final straightaway pass on McLaughlin to get fourth, crossing the line with Hoosier rubber flying in the air as he blew a tire right in front of Farney. 

With this race going nonstop for thirty laps, there were a lot of lapped cars with ten drivers finishing one lap in arrears. However, only three drivers did not finish the race in what was a smooth running affair. In fact, the whole Modified program was completed with the yellow flag waving only twice. 

The Late Models would be split into two groups of twenty eight drivers, qualifying for one of six heat races on the card. Brandon Overton and Brian Shirley would be the two quick qualifiers with Overton quickest overall at 15.902 seconds. Those six heats would qualify three drivers each, plus two each out of three B Features. Because this was an Outlaw sanctioned program, the provisional and emergency provisional starters would then mount for all those not fast enough to make the show the old fashioned way but being part of the protected Outlaw fleet. Thus, twenty nine drivers would take the green for the thirty lap main event. 

And who could have predicted that just like the Big Block feature, this race would go nonstop also and the winning pass for the lead would come on the final tour. Overton would get the lead as he would beat Chase Junghans into turn one and grab the top spot. Pierce, Tim McCreadie and Dale McDowell would soon provide plenty of action as they battled for third. Pierce would take that spot eventually after trading lines on the track with Tim M. and then he would drive into second with McCreadie following him. 

That was the running order at the halfway point of the race with Junghans continuing in the top five while Hudson O'Neal worked higher on the track as he looked for a faster line to move up. The top three would run with just about the same distance between them for a number of laps, with no one seemingly gaining much of an advantage as they varied slightly from lap to lap but never was there a concerted charge put on. 

This changed, however, in the last ten laps of the race when Overton caught the back of the pack. There were not a lot of lapped cars but there was a pair that were running side by side, very evenly spaced and Overton just couldn't get past them. He appeared to hope that the race would end before he would have to make a move as the outside line hadn't produced much success and trying to jump out there might prove risky.

However, this gave Pierce his chance as he quickly closed up on Overton in the waning laps of the race and looked for a line around the leader. As they took the white flag, Overton was feeling the heat and he apparently decided that riding the low groove behind the slower cars wasn't going to work so as he rolled into turn one, he tried to slide around the slower cars. The result was the front end pushed up the track while at the same time Pierce found an opening next to the rail, was able to drive under both Overton and the slower cars and take the lead. Overton made one last push in turn four to regain the lead but his cross over move came up a car length short and Pierce would drive home for the win. It was a surprising conclusion to what looked like a pretty pat race. McCreadie would stay with the leaders for third while Junghans would have a nice run for fourth and O'Neal would complete the top five. Only two cars in the big field were not running at the completion of the race. 

A mammoth crowd was on hand even though there was plenty going on at the "Big Track" down the road and as there has been for most of the January and February racing action, the crowds have been large, hopefully a good sign for the coming racing season. 

Two feature races both decided with thrilling passes on the last lap and a show completed before 10 pm. What more could a race fan ask for?  

Overton, McCreadie and Madden All LM Winners at Volusia; McLaughlin Tops Big Block Opener

 It was a busy night of racing on Wednesday night, February 15th at the Volusia Speedway Park as participation awards were handed out for the first time. Everybody got to race in a Late Model feature on this night with all drivers qualifying for one of three feature races that were run to wrap up the short week of racing for the UMP DIRTcars at the DIRTcar Nationals. Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie and Chris Madden would win the three, twenty lap main events that were held while the Big Block Modifieds also arrived on site to run the first of four straight nights of DIRTcar Nationals action for them and "Mad" Max McLaughlin would dominate their thirty lap main event. 

Disregarding my snide comment about "participation awards", the multi feature format where everyone on hand would get to run a feature actually worked out quite well I thought, although opinions on the whole idea would vary wildly from fan to fan and from driver to driver, largely depending on what side of the fence you were located. 

Sam Driggers, UMP Director, came up with this idea which was used by the Modifieds last week where fields of nearly one hundred drivers were on hand, many of which never got a sniff of feature race competition until this format was used for one night. Liking the ideas, he also added it to the last night of racing for the UMP cars before the World of Outlaws takes over management of this racing the last three days of the series. 

All drivers would draw for one of the three features held and then all would qualify like normal. However, there was one twist in that there would be a possible inversion of one of one to four in the feature lineup, depending by the number pulled by the last driver to qualify in each group. Things were only shuffled in one of the three groups though, as 1,1 and 4 were draw. 

Fifty two Late Models would sign in to race on Wednesday night under beautiful sunny skies and temperatures approaching the eighty degree mark. New entrants on Wednesday would include Ryan Gustin, Colton Flinner who just arrived, Johnny Scott and Gordy Gundaker. After taking one night off, Blake Spencer would run with a new motor under the hood. However, calling it a week and packing up were Stormy Scott, Reid Millard, Austin Kirkpatrick and Kyle Larson who had to get back to his NASCAR responsibilities. Daulton Wilson would roll out a different car to race on this night that would later prove to be very fast. 

It was a two Gator night at the Gator pond as for the first time this week, multiple Gators were seen swimming the pond, eyeing the small animals and kids as they searched for a treat. Just kidding, as the Gators are prized here and are protected with anyone messing with them getting the heave-ho from the grounds immediately. In fact, as the Gator swam by, Wild West Shootout promoter Chris Kearns was fishing in the same area as the Gator as they battled for food. 

Strolling through the Big Block pits is always quite the culture shock and again this year, there are quite a number of French speaking Quebec teams entered and that provides a unique experience for a Midwestern based person who has heard a lot of different lingo spoken in the pits at various tracks, but seldom in French!

Overton, McCreadie and Madden would be the three group fast qualifiers in the Late Models but while each would eventually win a main, their paths to victory were quite diverse. The track was blazing fast for qualifying with Madden within a tenth of a second of setting a new track record. The heavily watered track would eventually come around  but would lead to a fifty minute late start for the night's racing. 

The five thousand to win, five hundred to start three Late Model mains would start either eighteen or seventeen drivers, depending and run for a quick twenty laps. Overton would start on the pole for the first feature and would dominate, leading all twenty laps and never being challenged as the very fast track allowed him to pull away from the field easily. A good battle for second saw Max Blair hold the spot while battling with Ashton Winger for the position but by the halfway point of the race, Winger had gotten it and would hold on. 

One late yellow with only five laps to go bunched the field but Overton again pulled away from Winger to win easily as Blair settled for third. It was an up and down race for Bobby Pierce who charged up early, then went too high in turn two losing several positions and then he climbed back up to fourth at the end, nipping Brian Shirley for the spot. 

McCreadie would start on the pole for the second feature and would lead only the first lap before Daulton Wilson would go screaming by him on the outside to take over the top spot. McCreadie would then pick up the pace and chase Wilson for the first half of the race until Wilson got caught up in traffic, had his momentum broken and McCreadie would get back around him to take over the lead. 

After that the two would fly around the track with Wilson making several attempts to retake the lead but just not having quite enough to get past McCreadie who knows how to use the track and make his car wide when necessary without being obvious. 

The only yellow of the contest came with just two laps to and set up a sprint to the finish but Timmy was up to it, pulling away from Wilson to take the win. Devin Moran would run much of the race in third but would have nothing for those in front of him while Mason Zeigler and Michael Norris would complete the top five. 

The third feature race of the night produced a real head scratcher with more twists and turns than a cheap novel. The issue was flat tires and what was causing most of the front running cars to eventually  pit to replace flat tires, and in some cases, multiple tires at the same time. At first it was feared that some sort of enemy balloon had drifted over the area and was targeting the Hoosiers, sending supersonic rays at them to cause them to loose air, but it was eventually determined that some sharp metal pieces had become embedded in the track, causing the issues. 

Blair Nothdurft, continuing to show that he has arrived as a nationally recognized driver, would take the early lead from the outside pole and zinging around the cushion, hold the lead through the first half of the race. Hudson O'Neal would move up to second, getting around Chris Madden for that spot and following a yellow on lap eleven when Ricky Thornton Jr got a flat, O'Neal would blast around the top and get past Nothdurft to take over the lead.

However, Kyle Bronson would slow with a flat tire and the race would go under yellow once again. Then the leaders starting falling like dominos as first O'Neal had to stop with a flat and then third running Jimmy Owens did the same. Just when it looked like Nothdurft had retaken the top spot and we might be seeing a huge upset, he also had to pit with a flat right front tire and give up his position. 

At this time, a huge search party was sent out on the track with the offending objects finally found while those few drivers left on the track were holding their breath that their tires would continue to hold air. The last six laps would see Madden pull away to get the win after inheriting the top spot when all the challengers pitted and Boom Briggs, one of the few lucky ones along with Madden, would hold off a charging O'Neal for second. Dennis Erb and Chase Junghans would be the others not pitting and they finished behind O'Neal is a strange race indeed. 

Forty one Big Block Modifieds signed in to race on Wednesday night, their first of four straight nights of action here at Volusia. Their format was a bit different this year as instead of drawing for heat races and then qualifying against those cars, the field was divided into two large groups, they qualified and then were divided into heats, so they qualified not knowing who they were going to race against. Stewart Friesen and Mat Williamson would be the quick qualifiers with Williamson fastest overall at 17.213 seconds. 

They would race in four heats, a pair of Last Chance races and would open up with a forty lap main event on Wednesday night. It didn't take them long to produce the first flip of the week as during a heat race, Adam Pierson would clip a spinning car and tip over, ending his night early. Interestingly, the Big Block quick qualifiers for each heat are allowed to pick whether they want to start inside or outside for their heats and all four saw the pole sitter pick the outside, after which all four were winners. 

Twenty six cars would start the Big Block feature and it would turn out to be the Max McLaughlin show. He would get the jump on Erick Rudolph to take the lead from the outside before the only yellow of the race would wave with only a lap completed. Michael Parent and Louden Reimert would make hard contact in turn one, heavily damaging both cars. 

On the green, McLaughlin would pull away from the field once again with the driver on the move being Matt Sheppard who would hook up on the inside of the track and dive under driver after driver as he made a quick advance from seventh to second. Also battling hard for position was Friesen while Williamson, Rudolph and Demetrios Drellos moved to the front. 

McLaughlin would build up a comfortable lead and by the halfway point would hold a half a straightaway over Sheppard with Friesen, Williamson and Rudolph chasing. The long green flag stretch gave Sheppard his best chance to catch McLaughlin but he wasn't able to cut the margin much with the distance between the two ebbing and flowing slightly. However, McLaughlin continued to be fully in control.

With no yellows to tighten up the pack, McLaughlin would drive on for the unchallenged with with Sheppard settling for second ahead of Friesen, Rudolph and Drellos. Only five drivers did not finish the contest. 

On Thursday night, the World of Outlaws Late Models will take over the premises with their first point paying race of the week, leading up to Saturday night's twenty grand to win main. The Big Blocks will also be running another full program at thirty laps for five grand to win. 

McCreadie Scores at Volusia; Pursley Tops USAC Sprint Finale

 Tuesday February 14th brought more beautiful sunny weather to the East coast of Florida and provided another nice night for racing at the Volusia Speedway Park. On top on Tuesday would be round two for both the DIRTcar Late Models running under UMP rules plus the finale for the USAC Sprint Cars. 

Tim McCreadie, after having a number of solid but non winning races of late, would finally fight his way to victory lane, holding off heavy challenges from both Bobby Pierce and Hudson O'Neal to get the win. In the USAC Sprints, it would be Daison Pursley trading the lead with Emerson Axsom before Pursley would make the winning move with just five laps for his first USAC Sprint win. 

Night two for the DIRTcar Late Models would see fifty one drivers sign in to race, an increase of five over Monday night. Entering for the first time this week at Volusia were Dale McDowell, Michael Norris, Chase Junghans, Tanner English, Jimmy Owens and Kyle Larson, who snuck away from the big speedway to run what was reported as his only night of dirt track racing this week with all his other commitments.  Blake Spencer was the only driver not to return from Monday night as they were making a motor change in the pits and were in no hurry to rush the car back out on to the track. Ryan Gustin, who was also making a motor change pit side, Gordy Gundaker and Johnny Scott all still waiting to, presumably until the points paying events start on Thursday. It was reported that Jonathan Davenport is also on site but I have yet to see him. 

With the increase in entrants, so also the Late Model portion of the program was changed up too. Four heats last night became six heats on this night with only three drivers moving on. One more Last Chance race was also added and a twenty six car starting field would be the plan. Eventually, Tanner English and Shane Clanton would get the final two positions as provisional starters. 

Things started out on a stunning note with young Blair Nothdurft from Renner South Dakota outqualifying the field, turning a lap at 15.647 seconds. He was the first car out for time and the track quickly slowed down on this night but still, his effort against many of the top drivers in the country can't be diminished. It has been apparent at both here and East Bay that the South Dakota team has picked up speed this year and he seems particularly adept at turning quick qualifying times, a good trait to have in open motor racing where much of the night's success is predicated on turning a good qualifying lap and starting up front in the qualifying heats. Nothdurft still has much to learn about racing but at least by starting up toward the front of events, he gives himself a much better chance at success. 

The six Late Model heats would go much according to plan and it would be a power packed starting field for the twenty five lap feature race with Pierce and McCreadie sharing the front row. As seems to be the case much of the time here so far this week, the outside lane seems to be the best one to start in and McCreadie would get the jump and lead lap one. However, Pierce, looking to atone for Monday night's fade into the pack, would blast past McCreadie just one lap later to take over the lead. 

Behind those two, a great battle raged among Kyle Bronson, Brandon Overton and Dale McDowell. They were soon joined by Hudson O'Neal who raced up from the sixth row to join them. McCreadie began to pick up the pace again as the front runners reached lapped traffic and Tim would duck under Pierce and retake the lead on lap twelve. Overton was really getting strong as he challenged Pierce for second.

The track was not racing as well as it did on Monday night with most of the drivers drifting down to the low side in the corners. The slower cars were running that same line and it produced a traffic jam of sorts as McCreadie and the other leaders had to decide whether to duck into line and putt around the bottom or make a bold move and try to pass up high. Several times McCreadie almost got stuck between a rock and a hard place and had to dive back to the bottom at the last second to hold off Pierce and Overton. 

This issue was resolved with only five laps to go when Overton, with a legitimate chance at the win, would roll to a halt with a torn up tire and would need to pit, ending his chances of victory. With only five laps to go, a single file restart was called for which would seem to favor McCreadie. However, he couldn't predict that O'Neal, now up to fifth, would throw a "Hail Mary" on the restart, charging to the cushion and to most people's surprise, making it work like no one else had all week. He went tearing by Brandon Sheppard and Dale McDowell and then made Pierce his next victim as he raced into second. 

He had a legitimate chance at victory on the final lap as McCreadie suddenly moved up the track too, but not to the extreme extent that O'Neal did. However, it was "do or die" for O'Neal and on this night he didn't survive as the cushion monster reached out and snagged his car, costing him time in turn one. And his attempt to overcome that set back just got even worse when he really got caught up in the turn three mud and slipped back even further. 

Meanwhile, McCreadie was peddling as best he could in the middle of the track and O'Neal's slip up would allow him to drive home for the win. Pierce was able to slip under O'Neal off turn four as Hudson was trying to yank his car off the cushion and would take second. Sheppard would get a quiet fourth and Bronson would nip McDowell for fifth at the line. 

There would be only the one yellow to slow the pace and only three drivers wouldn't be running at the finish, thus adding to the bottle neck at the back of the pack that almost snared McCreadie. 

Twenty six USAC non winged Sprints would return for Tuesday night's show after a couple blew up on Monday night and called it a week. Three heats and B Feature would set their twenty two car starting field as four poor drivers were left on the sidelines come feature time. Just as in the Late Models, the first car out for time trials would set the quick time as Thomas Meseraull would be quickest at 16.482 seconds. I really thought that the Sprint Cars, on this big track, would be quicker than the Late Models but that proved to not be the case. 

The Sprint feature would be provide an emotional moment for the eventual winner Pursley. Eighteen months ago he was severely injured in a Midget crash in Arizona and for quite some time, there was a question whether he would ever walk again, much less race a car. However, while still feeling some of the after effects from that crash, he has made a remarkable recovery and was even able to race some late last Fall. 

However, his experience in Sprint Cars has been limited to a handful of starts but you would never have known that as he raced hard and smooth to edge out his buddy Emerson Axsom. Pursley would start on the pole and would take the early lead as the Sprints quickly dropped to the low groove on the track. A good battle for second saw Axsom, C.J. Leary and Meseraull battle for that spot. Eventually it would Axsom that would claim second and he would then close in on the leader. 

Racing through traffic on nineteen, Pursley would slip off the bottom and Axsom would be right there to jump on the mistake and take over the lead. However, there was no quit in Pursley and he came right back to challenge for the lead. On lap twenty five, with just five laps to go, Axsom got hung up in traffic with his low side blocked and Pursley would spot that and power to the higher side of the track where few had ventured except the wild Robert Ballou. 

Pursley would roar back around Axsom and retake the lead and then drive away in the final laps to take the win. Things were dicey at the end however, as his motor started to smoke badly and he crossed the finish line with a cloud of smoke coming from the sizzling engine. But he got the win, which was his first in USAC Sprint action. I don't know about you, but when I was eighteen, I wasn't racing Sprint Cars but both the winner and second place driver are exactly that age!

Leary would finish a strong third, ahead of Meseraull and Jake Swanson. Swanson's solid two night effort would earn him his first Gator as the overall champion of the short series here. 

I must give credit to the USAC drivers that were on hand. They ran fifty five laps of feature race action over the two nights and had just one yellow flag during that time. Tuesday night's show was completed with only two yellows for their entire program to along with the nonstop main event as the non winged drivers seem to race each other with a bit more respect than the winged drivers seem to. 

I felt it an odd pairing to be running USAC non winged Sprints with UMP Late Models but both sides seemed to make it work well with two smooth, organized and well run programs that produced good racing and also quick shows that were done by 10 pm both nights. There is not much more than that to be asked for. 

The Sprint Cars of USAC are now headed to Bubba Raceway Park starting on Thursday for their first point nights of the 2023 racing season. I especially want to thank Richie Murray of USAC for his help and as usual, enjoyed hearing Chet Christner call the action. 

For the Late Models, the DIRTcar portion of their week ends on Wednesday night with a new event for them. On hand will be a triple header feature  program with all drivers being divided up into three groups, then qualifying and everyone runs a twenty five lap feature. I have already heard that the Late Model drivers have not been particularly receptive to this format so it will be interesting to see who races, who doesn't and who whines!

O'Neal Tops Volusia Late Model Dandy; Swanson Victor in USAC Sprints

 The Late Model portion of the Federated Auto Parks DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park opened up on Monday night, February 13th with Hudson O'Neal winning a thrilling twenty five lap Late Model feature that saw four different leaders in just the twenty five laps of this event while the USAC Sprints made their Volusia start with Jake Swanson dominating that feature race. 

The Late Models will run two more nights under UMP DIRTcar sanctioning before the World of Outlaws Late Models take over on Thursday night while the USAC Sprints will run one more non point race on Tuesday before they head West to Bubba Raceway to start their point season and are replaced at Volusia by the DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds for the rest of the week. 

Under sunny skies but with cool temperatures, the Late Models and Sprints would both begin their runs on Monday. Forty six Late Models would sign in to race on Monday night, just one less that for last year's opening night show. However, along with the forty six on hand racing, there were a number of other drivers on hand, waiting later in the week to reveal their hands, just as was done at East Bay. Having cars on hand but either waiting or doing mechanical maintenance work on their machines were Johnny Scott, Dale McDowell, Gordy Gundaker, Chase Junghans, Jimmy Owens, Tanner English, Ryan Gustin and Kyle Larson so when when everyone gets on the track together there will be somewhere close to sixty cars competing. 

The format for opening night would see the Late Models divided into four groups, where they would qualify against each other. Four heat races would move a total of twenty drivers into the main and two each would come out of two Last Chance races. Heat races would be lined straight up off time trials with Brandon Overton the quickest overall at 15.784 seconds.  There would be no provisional starters on opening night as you had to race your way into the show or watch from the sidelines, something that seems only eminently fair. 

The opening night feature would have a seven grand top prize on the line and since they would be racing for the smaller purse, they only went twenty five laps in the main event. With the track fast and smooth but wide, it seemed like only twenty five laps would not be enough time for much racing to take place and I was fully expecting a very quick race with perhaps not a lead change to be seen in this quick burst of a race. 

Boy, was I wrong! Instead we saw what was arguably the best Late Model race since they came to Florida as the drivers put on a fantastic race. There was a total of four lead changes in those short twenty five laps among four different drivers and winner O'Neal came from the third row to take the victory. 

Bobby Pierce sat on the pole and my thoughts were before the race that he would lead all twenty five laps after being very quick in his heat. Pierce did lead the opening lap but surprisingly, Nick Hoffman would drive around him on lap two to grab the lead away from Pierce. The top five or six drivers were running tight in front and only four laps later it would be Tim McCreadie that would grab the top spot away from Hoffman. 

By the halfway point of the race, McCreadie was under the gun as Pierce was again pushing him hard while O'Neal had worked his way up to third with some big passes on Chris Madden and Hoffman. One lap past halfway, Pierce would dive back under McCreadie to retake the lead as the front running cars started to work through traffic. However, the passing wasn't done yet as just one lap later the charging O'Neal would make the move of the race as he split McCreadie and Pierce while also moving past a lapped car to fly up into the lead from third, one in one swoop. 

After that, O'Neal would lead the last ten laps of the race, although when O'Neal had to fight his way through traffic at the end, McCreadie again closed to within a couple of car lengths of the winner. The passing throughout the pack continued, as Madden was also marching forward as he would get by Hoffman to finish third and Ricky Thornton Jr would make a monster rush, coming from twenty second to complete the top five with only a single yellow, on lap five by Frankie Heckenast Jr, to help his charge. Pierce, after leading early, would fade bad the later laps and was passed by Brandon Overton for sixth as the race concluded. 

No doubt this was the best Late Model race that I had seen in over a month as it isn't too many times when you will see the race lead change so many times, particularly with different drivers involved on what was a finely prepared racing surface. Only three drivers didn't finish the event and only four weren't on the lead lap. 

The USAC Sprints were making their first appearance as a part of the DIRTcar Nationals as last year the non winged Sprints ran under a different sanctioning body. It would be the first appearance for USAC at Volusia in many years and the first time they had been a part of the Nationals. Their two races are special events this year and not points shows but virtually all the drivers that race here the next two nights will be USAC regulars once their season begins. 

Twenty eight open wheel drivers would sign in for their portion of the show and while I'm not a fan of multi division shows here, preferring those shows where Late Models, Modifieds or whatever class is the featured division, to get a show of their own, the Sprints did a great job of being ready to be pushed off, getting their portion of the show started quickly and smoothly and most important, running off races without a lot of yellows. 

Kyle Cummings would set a new track record in qualifying for the USAC Sprints, turning a lap at 16.398 seconds as all twenty eight cars would take time. The program would see three heats, moving the top five up and then a B Feature with the top seven moving on. This would set up a twenty two car field for their main event. 

USAC sets their lineups just a bit different than the rest of the world with B Feature qualifiers getting their time trial spots back and the top six inverted for the main event. So California driver Jake Swanson would start on the pole and would eventually dominate the race, leading all twenty five laps. 

He would blast out to a big lead, eventually opening it up to over four seconds as no one could stay with him. Chase Stockon, Brady Bacon and Thomas Meseraull would have a good three car battle for second. Meseraull would move into that spot for awhile but then Stockon would pass him.

On lap seventeen, the lone yellow of the event would wave when Meseraull would roll to a halt with a flat tire and bunch up the field once again, which would cost Swanson a big lead.

However, he didn't let that bother him as he once again pulled away from the field, riding the cushion on the slick track that still had a nice berm on the top side. While Swanson pulled away for the win, the show at the end was Robert Ballou who made a late charge through the field and with a big slider on the last lap, passed Stockon for the second spot. Stockon would hold on for third over Bacon and Justin Grant who started fourteeth. Only two cars wouldn't see the checkered and there was just the one lone yellow to slow the contest. 

As usual, the DIRTcar Nationals is favored by its starter Dave Farney who is undoubtedly the best and most entertaining flagman on the scene to day. The announcing team was a strong one too as Chris Stepan was calling the Late Model portion of the show while Chet Christner offered his expertise on the open wheel division. Perhaps the biggest Monday night crowd in track history was on hand on this cool night, lending thoughts to breaking all time attendance records with good weather predicted the rest of this week. And what a smooth show overall on a very nice racing surface. The first green flag flew at 7:02 pm and the final checkered flew at 9:30 pm as everyone on hand did a great job. This was a very strong opening statement for the rest of the week. 

O'Neal First Repeat Winner at East Bay Lucas Winter Nationals

 Ninety straight green flag laps of leading the field. The is the running count for Indiana's Hudson O'Neal as he led all fifty laps to win Friday night's Lucas Oil Late Model Series race at East Bay Raceway Park and increase his front running total to ninety after having led all forty laps on Thursday night for his first victory of the week. 

While the win was an impressive one, it was not without its struggles as he had to fight off two significant challenges to call the victory his as both Devin Moran and Dalton Wilson made things a challenge for the driver of the Rocket house car. But in the end, it would be O'Neal sitting in victory lane for the second straight night. 

Pre race, the pit area was at a fever pitch level of activity as now deep into a full week of nightly racing, things are happening as drivers are changing cars, fixing damaged cars and either replacing or repairing motors, rear ends, drive shafts and so far just about everything but the drivers. 

Jonathan Davenport, Spencer Hughes, Ashton Winger and Wilson were among others that changed cars for the Friday night show while Brandon Sheppard was busily changing a motor in his car. After taking a night off, both John Tweed and Mike Benedum returned to racing action on Friday while others including Danny Snyder, Blake Spencer, Perry Brown, Billy Boyd Sr, Shane Clanton, Tyler Riggs and Freddie Carpenter became new non participation members, some probably for the rest of the week. Surprisingly, even at this late date of the week, three new drivers showed up as Matt Cosner, Carson Ferguson and Chase Osterhoff all made their first starts of the week. Thus the sixty two entry list was determined. 

But the biggest news of the week, perhaps even more important than the racing itself was the fact that for the first time this week or perhaps for the last two weeks, the track prep crew finally figured out that magic formula to turn East Bay Raceway Park into the track that most people knew and were waiting for to reappear. 

The formula was a simple one and most surprising that it took them so long to figure it out. The secret, more WATER. That, and for the first time seen here this season, they dug the track up, thus allowing the water to get deeper into the racing surface and not just be kicked off as soon as the cars started to hot lap. Thus it produced a racing surface that was fast and tacky and had multiple grooves and made watching racing here so much more pleasurable. And I'm sure it is much more fun for the drivers to run on when if they are fast enough, there are places that they can pass, not just play follow the leader. It probably didn't hurt that it was a humid day too In fact, for the second straight night, lightning flickering in the Northeastern skies but didn't ever threaten the racing here. 

Everyone was on their "A " game on Friday including Lucas officials that finally limited the drivers to one hot lap session and didn't wear the track out before the real racing even started. Even the speakers in the grand stands sounded better on Friday so it was a solid night by all. Strange though, that it should have taken most of the week for this convergence of events to happen. 

The solid preparation of the racing surface showed up early. Garrett Smith and O'Neal were the quickest qualifiers of the two sections with O'Neal quickest overall at 14.706 seconds as the fifty ninth car to take a qualifying lap!

Six heats and three B Features would set the running order for the feature with the heats by far the best of the week with some great battles and very intense eight lap bursts of power and speed. They had the crowd salivating for more. A thirty car field would once again take the green for the main event. Stormy Scott would opt to go to the tail of the field and I believe the reason that he did so was because of a hand injury he suffered in a wall banger on Thursday night. Scheduled to start nineteenth, he instead opted to start in the back and do a "start and park."

O'Neal would start on the outside pole and grab the early lead over Garrett Smith, Devin Moran and Ryan Gustin. While O'Neal would get just a little breathing room early, the battle for second was really good. Unfortunately, as the pack came up on a lapped car, Gustin got tied up, had to slow down and both Smith and Tanner English ended up coming together, which took out two drivers in the top five. 

Only a few laps later, another stack up among top running cars saw Brian Shirley spin and collect Jimmy Owens and Kyle Bronson. This restart would see O'Neal get his first serious challenge as Moran got around Gustin for second and then raced up beside O'Neal for the lead. They were side by side but O'Neal fought off the challenge and then opened up a lead again as Gustin put on the reversers and started fading back in the field. 

After Tyler Erb slowed with a flat tire, the last eighteen laps of the race would go nonstop and two of the sports young and upcoming drivers would put on a show as first Ashton Winger and then Daulton Wilson would both charge to the front, with Wilson eventually getting past Winger for second. In the last ten laps and just as O'Neal caught traffic once again, Wilson really started to cut into the lead of Hudson. 

It truly looked like he just might have a chance to steal the win on the last couple of laps but he stuck it too hard into turn three and got into the wall and by the time he had straightened out, O'Neal was long gone. Hudson would drive home unchallenged for the win, worth twelve grand, while Wilson just barely fought off Winger to hold on to third. Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr, with a steady drive up through the field, would complete the top five. Nineteen cars would complete the race with only Garrett Smith a lap down after starting on the pole. 

Just when you thought there could be no way that more people could fit into this facility, the crowd on Friday was even more immense than even on Thursday night. It was announced on Friday that next year's final Winter Nationals would be held from February 4-10 but that there would be one special event to conclude the racing here at East Bay. On October 10-12, 2024, a three day event will be held paying fifty thousand dollars to win that will conclude the racing life for East Bay Raceway, first opened in 1977. So far, there has been no information available on what Speed Weeks in 2025 will look like. 

With the abrupt rainout of Saturday night's finale, I just want to take a moment to thank everyone at East Bay for their help the last couple of weeks. From all the employees of East Bay Raceway Park, to the UMP officials that helped with Modified week to all the officials from the Lucas Oil Late Model Series, thank you. It has been a most enjoyable couple of weeks that feel like they just flew by. We all saw  lots of good racing and with only one rainout in two weeks, we were blessed although raining out the finale for the Late Models really stung, especially after it seemed that the track prep crew had just located the secret sauce that made this place special. 

Hudson O'Neal From Start to Finish Winner at East Bay

 For the fourth straight night it would be a Rocket chassis that sat in victory lane at East Bay Raceway Park and this time it would be their house car as Hudson O'Neal would lead all forty laps and produce his first win for the Rocket team since taking over that prized ride when Brandon Sheppard stepped out of the car last Fall. O'Neal would start on the outside pole, put distance first between himself and Dennis Erb Jr, then Ricky Thornton Jr and finally hold off a late charge by Max Blair to take the ten thousand dollar victory in what would be the first point counting race for the Lucas Oil Late Model series here at East Bay. 

The beautiful weather of this week remained but it also produced just a bit of a Summer feel as not only was the temperature hovering around the eighty degree mark, there was a feel of humidity in the air, the first time that has occurred this week. This was one more factor that the track prep crew had to take into consideration as they continue to search for that elusive combination that would provide the best racing surface possible. As the evening progressed, a line of thunderstorms built just to the East of the track, providing a light show for much of the evening over the top of Mt. Slag, the huge pile of debris from the mining operation next door to the track that will eventually take over the land here. 

Sixty three cars signed in to race on Thursday night; sixty four if you count Perry Brown who got his car fixed and took some laps at the back of heat race number six. It is getting to that time of the week when the equipment is starting to get stressed with Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan Davenport, Chase Junghans and O'Neal all going to back up race cars with perhaps some others as well that I missed. There was one additional entry as local driver Adam Boyd broke out a new Kryptonite car while Mike Benedum, John Tweed, Daniel Adam and Payton Freeman were among the latest to call it a week. 

Brian Shirley and O'Neal would be the quickest qualifiers for the two groups as O'Neal would foretell the rest of his successful evening with a lap of 14,903 seconds. The first time trial session would start out quite shaky as within the very first cars that came out, Brenden Smith would stuff his car into the concrete and be done for the night and Brandon Overton would break a driveshaft, putting him behind the eight ball that he could never recover from. In fact, Overton, who was able to make the main by racing to a win in one of the B Features, would break once again on the parade lap of the feature and never see the green flag. 

The format would be the usual one with six heats and three B Features forming up the starting field for the main event, on this night for forty laps. However, since this was the first points race of the week, more provisional starters would grace the field and big one of thirty drivers would take the green flag. 

For O'Neal it would be a dominating win as he would lead all laps and only be challenged near the end when he finally caught lapped traffic. He would take the early lead over Dennis Erb Jr with Ricky Thornton slipping into third. Yellows early on lap two for a spinning Kyle Bronson and on lap ten when Sheppard lost a motor would keep the pack bunched. Right after Sheppard dropped out, Thornton Jr would fail to fire on the restart when his driveline refused to cooperate. Adding in the pre race woes of Overton and an early out by Devin Moran, the infield was quickly a collection of some of the sport's biggest stars. 

Blair would get past Erb and settle into second and the leaders then began to line up in a familiar single file formation, one that we had seen oh to often this week. While some at the back of the pack tried the outside and hammered away on the cushion, the drivers up front quickly found a single file formation to be much more productive. 

One lap past the halfway point, John Henderson slowed and the final yellow waved, which allowed O'Neal to have a clean track when the race resumed. Garrett Smith had driven up to fourth by this time with Tim McCreadie also in the top five. 

The last nineteen laps would go by without incident or any changes in the top five running order. O'Neal got close to the back of the pack in the last few laps but he was able to time things such that he didn't really have to try any passing attempts while still keeping Blair just a few car lengths back. Blair was hoping that O'Neal would have to fight that traffic, as it seemed his only chance at making a pass. Jimmy Owens was the most successful at moving up as he came from eighteenth to sixth by diving under cars when they slipped off the bottom or dropped out. Eight of the starting field were not on the track at the finish while only Wil Herrington a lap behind. 

While the track was quite wet for the start of the program, it didn't appear quite as wet as it had been on Wednesday night. Still, Lucas officials opted to let the first four groups of hot lap drivers do double hot laps. While I'm still trying to figure out the point of this, one thing for sure is that it throws the race schedule totally out of whack with the first race not hitting the track until 7:45 pm. Then, after some smooth heats found them catching up on time, the decision was made before the feature race to grade and water both ends of the track and that took perhaps an hour or more. Sadly, all this work and effort didn't really seem to produce much in the way of positive results as the track became one lane quite quickly although I didn't observe it to rubber up and it produced quite the dust storm in the stands. Spectators at any track in the country would be raising the roof on their promoter if they had to put up with the sandstorms that have blitzed the fans here all week. 

Everyone that still has a working race car will try it again on Friday night. The stakes go up as it will be twelve grand to win and the distance of the feature goes up by ten more laps. By the way, the crowd was enormous on Thursday night and appeared more like a Saturday night crowd on a good year for this event. They certainly must be setting some attendance records so far this week. 

Gustin Finds Victory Lane as East Bay Rolls On

 The Winter Nationals for the Lucas Oil Late Model Series would continue on Wednesday night, February 8th and for the third straight night, a new winner would emerge. Iowa's Ryan Gustin would produce the dominating run on Wednesday, leading thirty nine of forty laps to get the win as he held off Tyler Erb and Kyle Bronson to record the seven thousand dollar win. While Gustin would lead the majority of the main event, he had one hiccup following a restart when he let Bronson slide under him to take over the top spot but Gustin then recovered to retake the lead and hold the top spot the rest of the way. 

The spectacular weather continued on Wednesday with nary a cloud in the sky and temperatures hovering just at the eighty degree mark. As he reach the midpoint of this week's racing, the car count would elevate to its highest point yet as sixty five drivers would sign in to race, meaning that sixty per cent of the drivers in the pits would not make the main event. Jimmy Owens and Brandon Overton(in their own cars), along with Jonathan Davenport would make their first starts of the week. Also entering for the first time was Stormy Scott who just arrived and Brandon Sheppard's father Steve, would take one of Brandon's cars, re letter it to his own #5s, and race on Wednesday. About the only driver in the pits who hasn't put his car on the track yet has been Shane Clanton but that is expected to change by Thursday. 

The light issue from last night was rectified although the other Musco light outside turn four wasn't working on this night so I'm not sure if they had to borrow from one pole to get the other one working. That light, however, wasn't near as key to illuminating the track. One of the portable lights inside turn one was still operating with the others positions just in case they were needed, which they weren't. A flatbed load of three more portable lights was trucked in on Wednesday afternoon and placed back in the dark corners of the pits to replace the ones that were pirated for the Tuesday night emergency.

As they continue to search to find the right mixture of water on the track to return the "old East Bay", they really had the track slopped up tonight. One had to feel sorry for the old time cars that come in to do the track prep as they were heavily layered with sloppy mud as they rolled the track. All cars were again required to roll the track and when it gets wet like this, for some reason Lucas officials feel they have to run double sets of hot laps for the Late Models, as if the quickest time in hot laps was worth anything. What it does do is negate much of their efforts to get more moisture into the track by all the extra hot laps and the end result was minimal at best. Once again, the vast majority of the racing was done right on the bottom of the track and while a couple drivers entertained the crowd by pounding the cushion, they really didn't gain much from it while beating the stuffing's out of their equipment. Perhaps the biggest story of the week so far and one that even the "experts" are having trouble answering is, "What has become of the old East Bay we knew.?"

There was quite a shakeup in time trials though, as under dogs Jensen Ford and Blair Nothdurft would be quick timers in the two groups, with Ford quickest overall at 15.001 seconds. Ford, however, wouldn't even make the feature as he finished out of the top three in his heat and hammered the wall in a B Feature. Nothdurft would squeeze by with a third place run in his heat to make the show. 

Six heats and three B Features would set the running order for the main event with Mike Spatola and Ross Robinson earning the provisional starting spots and twenty six drivers starting the main.  

Gustin would start on the pole and take the early lead as Tyler Erb tried the outside right at the start but found himself fading so he tucked in line behind Kyle Bronson. Only six laps would be completed before Benji Hicks would clobber "The Dreaded Infield Tractor Tire" in turn one, nearly tearing the whole front end off his car. 

Gustin would continue to lead on the restart with Bronson and Erb following while Jonathan Davenport, Garrett Smith and Brandon Overton would trade the fifth spot. By the halfway point of the race, the top five were pretty settled in with Smith getting moved back in the order by Davenport and Overton. 

The only change in the leadership of the race would be following a lap twenty one yellow when Logan Roberson would slow on the track. On the restart, Gustin would slip off the bottom and Bronson would dive under him to nose ahead. Gustin then probably made the move of the race as he moved to the outside of Kyle, drove in into turn one very hard where the car stuck and he was able to power back around Bronson to regain the lead, after which he dove back to the bottom. 

There was one more late yellow with only two laps to go but with a single file restart, it was up to Gustin to just protect the bottom and that's what he did to take the win. Erb had played on occasion with trying to work the high side and one of those attempts allowed him to nose ahead of Bronson for second before he dove back to the low side and he would take the runner up slot. 

Much of the late race entertainment was provided by Brandon Sheppard who decided to run the top side, come Hell or High Water. It did work to a point as he was able to gain a few positions late in the race but it was a rough ride, as he indicated following the race. However, he was never a threat to make that top side work to the top three and his run was more for entertainment purposes for the crowd, who are starving to see some rim riding work. Sheppard would end up fourth behind Bronson with Davenport completing the top five. Only six drivers weren't on the track at the finish and all were on the lead lap. 

Track officials made a nice recovery as with all the packing and hot lapping before qualifying, the first race didn't hit the track until 7:55 pm while the rest of the show was completed in less than two hours. Another huge early week crowd was on hand with the combination of great weather and the imminent closing of East Bay both likely factors.  

Winger Gets First Lucas Oil Series Win

 Ashton Winger, who is driving for Tampa Bay area businessman Jeff Mathews this year, led all thirty laps after starting on the pole to win the feature race Tuesday night for the Lucas Oil Late Model Series event at East Bay Raceway Park near Gibsonton. The win would be the first for Winger in Lucas Oil competition after having won his first major victory last season running with the World of Outlaws Late Model group.

Winger would face strong challenges from Kyle Bronson, Hudson O'Neal and Brandon Sheppard but would maintain his line to lead all laps. The closest he came to losing the lead was on lap nine after a restart when Dustin Mitchell slowed and Bronson was able to nose under him in turn one and grab the top spot temporarily. However, Winger would charge into turn three and make a rare outside pass which would allow him to be scored as the leader of the following lap, after which he dove back to the bottom and refused to yield that top spot at any other time. 

It was another spectacular sunny day on Florida's East Coast and for the second night of racing, some of the sitting drivers from Monday night would join the action such as McCreadie, Freeman, Blair, Briggs and Thornton Jr while Owens jumped into a car driven on Monday by one of his buddies from Kentucky. However, there were also a few cars that didn't race on Tuesday after suffering damage during Monday night's show and the bottom line of sixty cars in action, while obviously a very good number, was still ten short of the 2022 field as Davenport and Clanton chose to cool their heels for a second straight night. 

The easiest change to note early on was the condition of the track itself. Obviously, track officials have noted the complaints and gnashing of teeth by drivers, crews and fans over the condition of the race track and it's dry state that has led to a lot of one groove racing and a distinct lack of action. For when we arrived on Tuesday, the track was significantly wetter with some heavy equipment being used to till the surface. 

All this lead Lucas officials to call for track packing to start a half hour earlier with all cars required to be on the track by 5:30 pm or face the loss of one lap of qualifying. However, they also felt the need to hot lap each session of cars twice(not needed) which drove the starting time of the show back by 30 minutes, no doubt triggering more gnashing of teeth, this time by the tv executives. The track was significantly quicker for qualifying on this night with Dennis Erb Jr and O'Neal being the quickest in their groups, with "Catfish" Erb quickest overall at 14.797 seconds as for the first time this week we would see that the walls needed scraping so the drivers could see them. 

The format would be the same with six heats, three B Features and another thirty lap main event on Tuesday. Apparently the pressure on turned up on Tuesday as the first couple of heats saw plenty of contact between some of the drivers with some retaliation under yellow and ruffled feathers. 

The program was further delayed when the lights in turn one went out just before the start of heat race number three. The fans sat patiently while the lights were worked on but they went out as soon as they were relit and things went black once again. Eventually track officials brought four banks of portable lights to that corner as I'm guessing these were "pirated" from various now dark corners of the pit area. They did the job and worked just fine but the time lost was somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes(I didn't keep track.). Eventually the program was restarted and went smoothly after that with the final checkered waving somewhere around 10:30 pm. 

Twenty six drivers would earn starting spots in the thirty laps main event with Dustin Mitchell and Jason Riggs getting the provisional spots. Winger would get the jump from the pole and lead early over O'Neal who was trying to use the top side of the track to advance. However, it was Bronson who moved up quickly as he found a couple openings on the low side of the track and moved from fifth to second. 

He then began to pressure Winger for the lead, which led to the brief exchange of positions on lap nine. However, after he was unable to hold the top spot, he began to fade back some with both O' Neal and Sheppard getting past him. 

Thirteen laps of nonstop racing would see Winger extend his lead slightly while O' Neal and Sheppard had a good battle for second, each trying the outside but both eventually gave up on it. Finally, Bronson slowed with mechanical issues, setting up a six lap race to the finish. Winger would get a good jump but O'Neal would pull up beside him and nearly steel away the lead. But Ashton kept his line and failed to bobble while ONeal heated up his tires, faded back just a bit and then dove back to the bottom in front of Sheppard, signaling that his opportunity had failed. 

Winger would continue to hug the low line and would lead home the blue cars of O'Neal and Sheppard. Brandon Overton, having another solid run in John Henderson's car, would perhaps up the sale of Warrior chassis as he would finish fourth ahead of the always steady D. Erb. Eight of the starting field of twenty six would not complete the main although there were just three yellows, all for one car incidents. 

The attempt to widen the track and open up more racing lines was only successful to a point. The first couple of heats proved to be more fast paced but after the light issue delay, it seemed like the vast majority of the racing after that was right on the bottom with passing tough. It was pointed out to me that perhaps because this is East Bay that our expectations might be overblown  on what we could expect for racing and that theory does perhaps hold some credence. Still, following a disturbing trend set over the past ten days or more, there just seems to be way more follow the leader racing and with the way the track is graded now up to the wall, plus what appears to be a tired out surface that doesn't hold water like it used to and seems to turn crumbly much quicker, that the greatest days of East Bay might be in its past as it gets ready for its retirement next year. 

Racing will continue on Wednesday night with the top prize upped to seven thousand to win and the return of point racing will be on Thursday night which should trigger a few more entrants also. It was reported that the Monday night crowd was the largest ever for a Monday night at the WinterNationals and the crowd on Tuesday was another huge one, so a record on this night might very well have been set too. 

 

Tyler Erb Tops East Bay Lucas Opener

 Starting Monday night, February 6th, it is Late Model week at East Bay Raceway Park near Gibsonton Florida. This week, one of the most highly anticipated weeks of the season for Late Model fans, kicks off six straight nights of Lucas Oil Series, one class programs here at the "Clay By The Bay", a venue that often provides spectacular racing action on its third mile, getting flatter by the moment, surface. 

This year, fifty eight drivers would sign in for opening night action, down from last year's seventy entrants on opening night. However, it should be noted that I spotted at least eight drivers, many among the biggest names in the sport, that chose to sit out the opening night action. Certainly part of this was due to the fact that for some unearthly reason, Lucas Oil officials opted to make the first three nights of the racing here non point nights, even though everyone was already here. Apparently they don't care to provide a program that features all their best drivers even though the fans in the stands are still paying good money to see the race. It certainly must be a disappointment to fans that can only get to, say, a Monday night Lucas Oil program here and then find that McCreadie, Davenport, Owens, Clanton, Thornton Jr and others are not racing, even though their rigs are in the pits and the cars unloaded to work on. And the facts are that while this race is on the bucket list for many drivers, based on the location, time of the year and the reputation that the track has, the racing here does really not pay that well. Compared to many other big money races held throughout the country now, the purses here are pretty pedestrian with Monday night's show only paying five grand to win and the top money on Saturday night only fifteen thousand, a drop in the bucket compared to many other shows these days. East Bay officials must be relying on the February weather and reputation of the track to draw the drivers as most other races paying this kind of money would be met with up curled lips from many teams. 

The format for Monday night's show would be a familiar one for Lucas Oil Series fans. The drivers would be split into two groups, with the fastest drivers starting on the pole of their heat races. Six heats were held and then three B Features which qualified twenty for cars for the main event. The two provisional starters would be the quickest timer in each group that hadn't made the feature through the traditional route. Quickest qualifiers were Tanner English and Tyler Erb with English being the quickest overall. 

Quite frankly, the heats and B Features were bad. The track was too dry, the outside was crumbly and impossible to pass on and the racing was very one groove. A few drivers tried to advance using the high side but those plans were quickly abandoned as they dove back for the hub. With no apparent track prep strategy change from when the Modifieds raced last week, the results that they obtained were much the same, and that was not a positive result. I could see this coming after watching the Modified races last week but had hoped that there would be some changes made or that the Late Model tires would have perhaps a different effect on the racing surface. I certainly am no expert on reading this track, which is a most unusual one to decipher for anyone, but I could see this coming. In fact, it was locking down so bad that officials called for single file restarts during the B Features and they almost never do that. 

Apparently even one of the great tracks in the country can fall into the same trap as many tracks do these days and that is to not put enough water on the track. When East Bay is too dry, it races just as bad as any other track in America and rubbers up just as quickly. After it appeared for the longest time following the third B Feature that they weren't going to touch the track, suddenly a water truck appeared on the track, dumping some H2O on the top side of the track. The truck, by the way, was greeted with cheers by many in the crowd. If track officials or perhaps Lucas officials or perhaps encouragement from the drivers was the prompt that was needed, who ever motivated  the move should be applauded as the improved top side provided the drivers the only place to race other than following each other around the bottom and provided the only action of the main. While it still wasn't sufficient to keep the surface good for thirty laps, it did provide enough grip that a few of the drivers could venture up to the top side and put on a show. 

As for the feature itself, Kyle Bronson, who should know this track like the back of his hand, would lead the first two laps from the pole before Tyler Erb would slip to his inside and take over the lead. Erb would then lead the last twenty eight laps of the main for an easy win. He was getting maximum traction right on the bottom and never moved up the track, except for the one instance when he shot to the top to block Ashton Winger's charge and screw up his run. Bronson, meanwhile, would make a steady charge backward, finishing out of the top ten. 

Hudson O'Neal would move into second but even through five yellow flags, he would never be able to make a passing attempt on Erb who would continue to lead. After following each other around the bottom, even though the top had been juiced up, Brian Shirley was the first to jump up top and make it work. He gained quite a few positions until getting stuck on the inside on consecutive restarts and that messed up his plan. 

The next to try the top side was Winger, who had started sixth and he made the top side work for him as he charged up to second and made the most intense attack on Erb. He was up beside the leader in turn four when Erb suddenly shot to the top of the track, an area he hadn't been running at all before that lap as I'm guessing he got a sign from his crew to go into "block mode." Erb cut off Winger who then jumped the cushion, losing several spots. He then got into the berm again, rolled back the nose on his car and eventually would park it. 

After that it was Erb and O'Neal that would drive on over the final six lap sprint to the checkered after Winger stalled on the track. The late highlight was the charge of Tyler Millwood who had started twentieth, gradually moved toward the front and when the top side was open late, he took a gamble and went up there and found it to work as he passed numerous cars late to crack the top five, a first for him on the Lucas tour. Brandon Overton, driving the car of John Henderson and Dennis Erb would complete the top five. 

Despite a rather lengthy main event caused by five yellow flags, the whole show was completed before 10 pm as officials really got the early part of the program moving at top speed and the way they were rushing around, you'd have thought a storm was coming. 

If nothing else, Monday night's program showed that there are plenty of good drivers here and their cars are top notch. Given a track to race on, they WILL put on a show. Now the challenge is for track officials to give them a track that they can perform on and mostly that means putting enough water on the track so that there are multiple lanes to  race on.  

Lucas Lee Dominates For East Bay Finale Victory

 Saturday night, February 4th was the finale for the UMP Modifieds as a part of the twenty fourth annual Winter Nationals at East Bay Raceway Park. For Lucas Lee, it was an opportunity for him to show that he didn't need a post race call to ensure that victory was his as he dominated the seventy five lap feature race, getting to the front early and leading the rest of the way as he was clearly the fastest car on the track. 

The evening began with some disturbing news. It was reported directly to me that following Friday night's controversial finish in which apparent race winner Drake Troutman was docked two positions following what was called a jump on a restart with two laps to go and the victory was awarded to Lee, that the Race Director who made the call received a number of threats including at least two death threats on his life. 

Clearly something is wrong with us as a society when people feel that they can express their frustrations or disagreeing opinions on something that happened by threatening someone else's life is so disgusting that I can't even put properly describe it in words. This is still just a sport, no matter how much effort some people put into it and to feel that something that doesn't go their way gives them the right to make a threat against someone else's life disgusts me beyond words. People who do things like that deserve to be caught and prosecuted but lowlifes like that seldom are. 

Of the seventy two different Modified teams that took laps during this five night series, fifty three remained on hand for Championship night here at East Bay. The format would be changed up, for the better I might add, as time trials are eliminated from the program on this night. The points that drivers have been earning for the first four nights would be tallied with the top six in points not having to run a preliminary race while the rest of the field would have to qualify through heats and/or B Features, just as they did the rest of the week. 

Five heat races and a pair of Jeff Broeg sized B Features would set the field for the feature race with the top six in points just hot lapping, after which they would draw for the top six positions to take the green flag. 

The ruthless driving in the qualifying races that first cropped up last night would continue on into this night's program as the cautions were plentiful and some of the driving tactics on the brutal side as everyone apparently wanted to race the main really badly. One of the big beneficiaries was local driver Mavrick Varnadore who benefitted when a couple of other drivers running ahead of him engaged in the same kind of behavior that took place in the "Illinois Battle" the night before with both drivers knocking themselves out of action and Varnadore earning a feature spot. Both B Features continued the same kind of racing with more drivers not finishing those two races that did as the strategy must have been to either make the feature or take the car home in a basket. And some ended up doing just that. 

Finally it would be time for the main event. Twenty five drivers would take the green flag for the seventy five lap feature which would have a fuel stop near the halfway point. Scott Bane  would get the track provisional, having only finished twenty second in track points but everyone else in points higher than him either already in the show or not on hand as local participation in this event was not high this year. 

The feature event would be long and tedious; there would be no other way to describe it. The first thirty laps would go nonstop which was the good part but after the first yellow flew for debris, the yellows started raining down frequently with the longest stretch of green flag racing after that being the last ten laps of the race.

Drake Troutman would redraw the pole and he would lead the first six laps of the race with Lucas Lee quickly moving up from fifth as he would hug the inside line, a strategy that he employed all week. Troutman would pound the outside line but that groove quickly began to give out and on lap seven Lee would drive under him and take over the lead. After that, the battle would be for second and back as Lee was never really challenged from that point on. 

Troutman, Rodney Wing and Tyler Nicely would battle back and forth for second, trading that spot in what was an interesting battle but they were all well back from Lee who was just motoring away from the field. Following the third yellow of the event on lap thirty three, the fuel stop would be called for and all cars would stop in turn one. Only fuel and tear offs were allowed with any tire changing being done in the work area with that driver(s) forfeiting their spot in the running order. 

Shortly after that that halfway point would hit with Lee comfortably in the lead with Wing, Nicely, Troutman and Allen Weisser breaking into the top five. Then the yellows started to fly in rapid order. After the halfway point, the yellow would wave seven more times for a variety of spins, breakdowns and accidents as the field was rapidly diminished. 

On each restart, Wing, who had established himself in second, would try to roll through the middle groove and get up beside Lee but each time Lucas would pull away. Wing was about the only driver to try anything but the inside line except for Troutman who would give it a whirl for a few laps, give up and then drop back to the inside. Near the end of the race it really started to rubber up and it was risky to even more out of the preferred line although Wing was able to do it at least temporarily. 

As some of the challengers like Nicely, L.J. Grimm and Travis Varnadore either dropped out or back. others with dogged determination would work into the top five. Those would include Weisser and Kyle Hammer. 

Through all the yellow flag slowdowns, Lee would continue to be strong. Despite other drivers having problems with tires, Lee apparently was having none of that as on each green he would fire strong and pull away from the pack. Even the rubbered up track didn't slow his progress and all the yellow played into his favor in a way as he didn't have to deal with lapped traffic the second half of the race after having quite a bit of it to race through early. 

At the checkered, Lee would have a comfortable margin over Wing, who's return to a Modified driving for Jeff Mathews turned out to be most successful. Weisser finished up a strong run with a third place finish while Hammer put a cap on quite the night to finish fourth. Hammer was hauled off the track following a heat race wreck on the wrong end of the wrecker and he was lucky to get his car prepared for a B Feature. However, he won that race from ninth, started seventeenth in the main and worked his way up to fourth. Troutman would come from the back following a tire change to round out the top five. Only nine cars out of the starting field of twenty five would complete the race and many of them looked like they had been through a war. 

For Lee it was a strong statement to the rest of the field as he early in the week established what would be his best line on the track and he stayed to that, as he "cat fished" to a five grand victory. The crowd was very good on Saturday with this being the first night where the fans in the stands exceeded those in the pits. 

In summary, I wonder if perhaps the format for this final night of the series could use a  little updating. It seems to me that all the extra feature laps and a stoppage for fuel do nothing to make the program either more interesting or exciting. All the extra laps do is turn things into a "rubber fest" where tire wear becomes the most important aspect and these cars don't need a fuel stop to complete the laps assigned for this race. Modifieds were never designed for these long distance races and frankly, don't do so well at anything more than a sprint. 

I am also a little worried about what the track is going to provide in terms of good racing for the upcoming week of Late Model racing. This last night of racing typically produces a "cat fish" domination by the inside line of the track but in five nights of racing we never really saw one night where the top side would work for more than a few laps. When Travis Varnadore indicated in his victory lane interview that he was racing the low side because during the Crate Late Model week the top side was wearing out quickly and repeatedly every night, that is not a strong recommendation  for the racing moving forward. I hope things are better starting next Monday as there is nothing worse here than having the whole field fighting to get to the inside line if the top side just won't work. As the track gets flatter and flatter each year, one wonders if the impending closure of this facility is affecting the quality of the racing here. I guess that remains to be seen in the coming couple of weeks. 

Lee Named Winner in Controversial East Bay Modified Run

 Friday night, February 3, proved to be a challenging and memorable evening for racing at the East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton Florida. It was round number four of the Modified portion of the twenty fourth annual Winter Nationals and the last chance for drivers to earn points toward their starting positions for Saturday night's big seventy five lap feature that will pay five grand to the winner. And along with the points, Friday night's run would be worth fifteen hundred dollars to the winner plus bragging rights heading into the finale on Saturday. 

The race event would start off challenged as a series of rain showers would sweep through the Tampa Bay area from morning until just after Noon, putting the program in jeopardy. Fortunately track owner Al Varnadore and his crew are not new comers to dealing with this kind of challenge and while the infield would be a sea of mud all night, they would get the track in racing shape as they worked throughout the afternoon, moving mud and packing the racing surface while also making the pits drier too. The drivers would be required to do a little more track packing than normal but the racing program actually started just at the same time as it had on the previous nights so a great job was done by those workers on the heavy equipment. 

Sixty four drivers would sign in to race on this night as heavy hitters like Kyle Strickler, Chase Allen and Dave Wietholder would be added to the field as the largest field of Modifieds at this event in the last two years would gather on this night. 

It would be a fast track early and the track would build up a cushion such as we had yet to see this week. The first sub seventeen second lap would be turned as Lucas Lee, later to be a part of the controversial finish, would turn the oval at 16, 937 seconds, early on establishing that he would be one to beat. 

As the week comes to a close, the gloves are off between the drivers in many cases and very hard driving, some the result of the heavy and fast track and some because of over aggressive moves, seems to have become the norm. The heats races were very hard fought and particularly evident in heat race number six where two Illinois drivers caused five yellow flags as they ran into and spun each other out on multiple occasions until track officials finally asked one of the drivers to exit the racing surface so they could do some real racing and not a demolition derby. 

Eight heat races and four B Features would again set the twenty four car starting field for the main event, scheduled for thirty laps. The redraw would find Lucas Lee on the pole with Kevin Adams to his outside as the heat winners would redraw for their starting positions. 

Lee would jump into the early lead, running the inside line as he has all week. Only two laps could be completed before a big five car pileup in turn one would slow the action, an incident that would take quite some time to clear up. Finally, racing would resume with Lee continuing to lead with L.J. Grimm moving into second. Rodney Wing was hanging with the leaders while Tyler Nicely showed for the first time in the top five after starting seventh. 

The next portion of the race would see the longest period of green flag racing as the green would stay out for eighteen consecutive laps. The biggest gainer by far was Drake Troutman, who had gone to the cushion and was driving a very aggressive line on the top side of the track. After falling back, he was able to fight his way past Grimm, Nicely and Adams and pull to the tail of leader Lee. 

This long period of green flag racing had allowed the front cars to catch the tail of the field and there was a group of about five drivers running nose to tail on the inside of the track that Lee caught he chose to follow them, rather than try to pass them. This was the opening that Troutman needed and in the course of about five laps, he made up a half a straightaway on Lee, using the top side. 

As they burst out of turn four, Troutman was able to blast past Lee on lap twenty three to take over the lead and just seconds later, Blake Brown would nose into the wall in turn three, triggering a yellow. Troutman would hold the top spot for the restart but Lee continued to be very strong on the inside line and with a clear track now, he would edge back in front of Troutman on the green as Drake continued to bang off the cushion. 

Lee would continue to hold a small lead over Troutman as the yellow would wave on two consecutive laps and when Adams nosed into the wall in turn one, it would set up a two lap sprint to the finish. 

As they came around to take the green, Lee was hugging the inside line and Troutman would get a strong run off the banking in turn four. They would race side by side down the back chute with Troutman getting just enough advantage the he would dive to the inside down the front chute, cutting off Lee's low side run. Troutman would gain just a little on the final lap and a last corner charge by Lee would come up short as Troutman would work the cushion and race home to a two car length wind. 

Or, at least that was what appeared to be the result. Troutman would then stop on the front chute and things didn't appear just right. Then, after crossing the scales, Lee would drive into victory lane and it was clear that something had happened. It was then announced that track officials had docked Troutman two spots for jumping the final restart and Lee was then awarded the victory. Nicely was moved up to second and Troutman was officially scored in third. 

I have my own opinion on the call but I was not at the driver's meeting so I don't know what instructions were given to the drivers there as far as how to handle restarts and what would or wouldn't be called relative to "jump starts." Therefore, without that information, which is vital to making a correct opinion, I will reserve mine until I talk to folks that were directly involved in making those decisions. What I can say with certainty is that the #7 car was much classier in defeat than the #12 car was in victory!

Devin Dixon, with his best run of the week after going to a second car on Friday, and Chris Wilson(#17) would complete the top five. This night did produce some drivers that hadn't been running as good earlier right up front and whether that was due to the heavy track, which always makes some cars otherwise struggling fast or not, will be determined on Saturday night when the long distance race will likely see a slicker track. 

The six drivers locked in through points for Saturday night's finale would include Troutman, Lee, Nicely, Adams, Dixon and Brian Skaggs. 

One thing is for sure though. The pot has been stirred and there will be several strong running drivers that have "scores" to settle and the action on Saturday night is sure to be as cut throat as it can be. It should be an exciting show to watch in person or on PPV. 

The cold front that came through and brought the rains also drove the temperatures down considerably. We had been basking in some wonderful weather early this week but reality hit on Friday with strong and cold winds and temperatures that dropped to the mid fifties. While I don't expect to get much sympathy from folks dealing with sub zero temps like at home, it did produce a profound change in how the night felt and it did get darn cold from my perspective. 

And for the first time this week, I found something to take the folks at East Bay to task for and that was the fact that they had only one wrecker available, making any accident clean up longer than it should have been and the five car wreck in the feature took a terribly long time to clear. Surely they have more wreckers available when they have Sprints to push off or Late Models. Couldn't they do the same for Modified week?