For most of us, the last few laps of the 2015 racing season are now over and just memories for us to reflect on as we wait to turn the page on the calendar over to January and start a new year. It doesn't take long to start to feel that restlessness that fills us in the off season as we wait for the first engines to fire and the fumes of a high performance racing engine to waft into the grandstands and tell us that another season of short track racing has begun.
If I may, I would like to suggest that you consider starting your 2016 racing season with a trip out West to warm and generally sunny south Arizona in January for the Wild West Shootout at U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson Arizona from January 9th through the 17th. A number of years ago, when we first considered a trip out to Arizona in January for dirt track racing, the idea seemed both exciting and daunting. However, after the first year we quickly discovered that the trip is not near as difficult as we might have imagined. For those that choose to drive, if you have the time to spare, it's not a bad trip at all. For those that fly, a little digging can generally find a pretty reasonably priced plane ticket. We just made our reservations within the last week and found some reasonable fares though Southwest Air Lines, but depending where you may be departing from, the best airline ticket may be with another carrier.
If you are flying and need to rent a car, our tip is to rent one in Tucson and not in Phoenix, even if that if the city that you land in. Rental cars are incredibly high priced in Phoenix and our calculations were that it was much cheaper and not that inconvenient to even catch a shuttle bus in Phoenix down to Tucson and then to rent a car there, the different in rental car prices was that significant.
Hotels can be had at a reasonable price with a wide variety of choices available in Tucson. The U.S.A. Raceway itself has an offer through its website with a hotel close to the track that offers a very good deal and that is one that we jumped on for 2016 but there are many other properties close by where a good deal can be had also. It is also surprising how many people have friends or relatives wintering in the Tucson/Phoenix area that would love to have you visit them in January, if you know what I mean.
January in Arizona is an event that can easily be sold as a true racing vacation, and has become one of the big selling points for both spectators and competitors. The weather is usually very agreeable and attractive to even those family members that might not normally travel that far to watch a race. While the racing is intense, the off days during the series are pleasant and perfectly timed so as to allow those that wish it, the chance for a couple of days to either relax in the sun or do some other touristy things. In the years we have been going to this race, we have found many fantastic and interesting things to do in Tucson and the surrounding areas and have yet to run out of exciting things to do in our off days. And the food at area restaurants in and around Tucson is spectacular, so if you wind up at Mickey D's, it's your own fault! If you're bold enough, try the local food trucks and you won't be sorry.
Now, let's talk racing. Some of the best Late Model and Modified racing I have seen in recent years has been at U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson for the winter series. The track is just the right size and the surface generally holds up very well over the course of the ten days. They work hard to prep the track and keep it in good shape and there is always lots of side by side racing and passing and a minimum of dust for the fans to deal with.
The field of race cars is spectacular and with the extra money in the purses for 2016 plus other incentives, the fields are expected to be even bigger for 2016. More and more nationally known drivers are finding out that Tucson is a great way to test for the coming year, perhaps make some good money on top of that and also enjoy a few days of warm sunshine. But it's more than just the "big names" that show up. This series provides one of the most cosmopolitan groups of racers that can be seen all year and much of the fun is watching drivers that won't compete against each other the rest of the year go at it and nearly every year, surprises take place that have people talking all Spring. You truly never know just who might show up for this series and that is part of the fun. Even the seasoned announcers and journalists comment on what an interesting field of cars show for this event and how unique the racing fields can be. Every year there emerges a driver or drivers that surprise and shock the troops at this series and that is part of the fun, waiting to see who that driver will be each year.
Along with the Late Models, the Modifieds always put on a great show with some of the top talent in this class from throughout the country. There is always a strong contingent of drivers from the North and honestly, for me who sees many of these guys and gals race during the Summer, it's especially fun to see them take on and do well against some of the best around.
For a few years, the other support classes were not of the best but especially last year, when they settled on the X Mods as the third class, their program really took off. The quality and quantity of the X Mods vastly improved and their portion of the program provided some close racing with not a lot of yellow flags, something vital to keeping the program moving. I know it sounds crazy, but the combination of Winter racing and the warm weather has seen drivers pull all the way from Canada to race in the X Mods!
Track officials have always been spot on about running off a quick program here and this is one series that won't find you at the track until the wee hours of the morning, unless you choose to party that long afterward! And ticket prices for these events are very reasonably priced and actually a great bargain compared to what you might have to pay for a similar program later in the year.
After a very successful series last year, promoters Chris Kearns and Mike Montgomery have really upped the ante for 2016. Purses have been raised significantly for the Late Models and more drivers are expected to join the field for 2016. The Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge plus additional sponsors like Real Truck.com, Barnett Harley-Davidson, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Border International Truck and Trailer Sales all will help to increase the visibility of this series and no doubt stir additional drivers to make the pull Southwest.
For those that can't attend the races in person, a good alternative would be to purchase the series package on pay-per-view from DirtonDirt.com, who do a great job of presenting the action. However, I would say that there is nothing that can replace the excitement of witnessing the racing first hand. Do yourself a favor and take in one of the rising events in the country at a time of the year when everyone can use a break from the cold and snow. Each year I run into more people from my area and the rest of the Midwest checking out the racing in Tucson in January and I have not yet heard from a single one that they were sorry they made the decision with most immediately working on their plans for the following year. Take their lead and check it out as I don't think you would be sorry either.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
A Comparison of the SMI Dirt Tracks
While I chose not to blog about it due to the fact I was there on my own dime, a couple of weeks ago, at the last minute and on a "wild hair" idea, Linda and I drove to Charlotte North Carolina for the World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway featuring the last race of the year for the World of Outlaws Sprints and Late Models plus the big block Modifieds in their Super Dirt Series finale.
When the long range forecast of great weather suddenly turned much grimmer just before our scheduled time of departure, it was probably a fool hardy trip, especially knowing that if the Sunday rain date was used, we couldn't stay to see that part of the show. Be it as it may, we still went and while we battled the weather for three days and only saw one of the two scheduled programs, it was still an entertaining and learning experience for us.
We picked probably the worst year ever to attend this race with all of the weather issues but record numbers of both Late Models and Sprint Cars showed up anyway along with a stout field of Big Block Modifieds. The racing was intense in all three classes despite the difficult track conditions that saw a lot of expense race cars used up and I could not help but marvel at hard the drivers raced, even though the track was a real handful. of particular interest for me on this trip was the opportunity to see the Big Blocks in action. In the last couple of years I have developed quite an increased interest in the center steer Modifieds that are huge on the East Coast. With the lack of race papers now available(some of you hopefully still remember what a race PAPER was), I started subscribing to Area Auto Racing News which is published in Trenton New Jersey. Owner Lenny Sammons and his writers do a great job of covering racing, particularly East of the Mississippi, and their coverage of Modifieds, Late Models and Sprints is first rate and it is perhaps the best race paper I have ever read, bar none.
Anyway, I was very anxious to see drivers like Tremont, Friesen, Sheppard, Pauch and Hearn race for the first time and they didn't leave me disappointed. Even Linda, who knew none of these drivers, had to admit that their racing was some of the best of the entire weekend. What I was surprised was how poorly they were treated as a class. Going from being the "big shots" on the East Coast, they became the track packers here and they raced first both when the track was at its worst and also the latest in the wee hours of Saturday morning. But I saw enough that I know that I would definitely like to see them again some time, perhaps at a track just a mite smaller that Charlotte.
But I digress. This blog was to compare the three SMI tracks and in the short days after Charlotte, we then flew out to Vegas for IMCA's Duel In The Desert at SMI's track there. I'm guessing that we may have been the only two to pull off that doubleheader, but it's not surprising since there aren't that many "goofballs" left around any more.
All three SMI tracks are first rate and provide great accommodations for the fans. All three have fantastic grandstands with excellent, TV quality lighting. The sound systems are great in all three and the only time I ever had any trouble hearing was at Charlotte when I was trying to hear time trials with multiple cars on the track. For some reason, even though all cars were using transponders to record times, they didn't flash the times on the scoreboards, which are actually pretty pedestrian at all three tracks and certainly not like anything Knoxville has for example.
While the spectator seating and amenities are pretty similar at all three tracks, the pits areas on the other hand vary widely. Vegas has great pit parking that is all on blacktop for almost as far as one can see while Texas is slightly smaller but still good. Charlotte, on the other hand, is worlds behind. Most of the cars pit on dirt quite a distance behind the pit grandstands while the Sprint Cars are crammed in a tight area just off turn one with the unfortunate late ones from the non power teams forced to pit on grass in a spectator parking area that with all the rains this Fall, was a muddy mess with haulers sinking out of sight on occasion.
Pit amenities varied considerably with Charlotte again on the outside looking in. Both Vegas and Texas have fine restroom facilities for the pit personal while Charlotte is still in the dark ages with Satellites the only convenience offered.
Without seeing a race at Charlotte that wasn't plagued by all the wet weather that made the track tough to both pack in and race on, I have to qualify any comparisons on the racing surfaces and the racing itself. I was only at Texas one time, and both nights of the racing there were very good on a smooth and fast surface that did take just a little rubber for the Late Models. The infield tunnel there is a special bonus as it allows cars to exit to the pits smoothly while not holding up the action for those in the next race rolling on to the track.
Charlotte seemed like it would be a good track to see racing if the conditions were more favorable and I have seen some TV racing from the track that looked good, if but a big dusty. If fact, by the Sprint feature from Friday night, even with all the mud and wet conditions, where the track had dried out low in the corners, we got blasted with dust from the prevailing winds in our faces.
Vegas' issues have been well documented throughout the years, virtually from the time the track was built. However, quite frankly, when you have a track situated in the desert, finding proper material to race on can be challenging, although there are certainly some other tracks in the same situation that seemed to have solved the problem some way. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson would be a prime example. This year their promises to rectify the situation for next year seemed the most sincere ever, so we will wait to see what happens for 2016. Despite the less than perfect conditions that the drivers have had to contend with, there have been some good races in the Modifieds at the track over the years. I have not seen a Sprint show at Vegas so cannot comment on how their racing goes, but the Late Model shows I've seen all saw the track take rubber.
All three tracks vary slightly in size and shape and particularly Vegas gives the impression that they had "so much land available" to make a dirt track so they made it fit that land. The one thing that is always mind boggling at these three tracks is that they are used so seldom. Vegas has two races per year along with Texas while Charlotte is used slightly more than that but under a half dozen times. Just about any other track in the country would kill to have the kind of facilities that these three tracks offer, yet they mostly just sit. They certainly can't be money makers and I'm guessing that if SMI was building these three super facilities over again in 2016 as opposed to when they were built in the "hey days" of NASCAR, the dirt tracks would have been left off the plans. All three are certainly among the nicest tracks in the country though and shouldn't be passed up if one would happen to be in their area when one of their rare races takes place.
One last comment this time; during my visit to Charlotte I had the opportunity to meet Karl Fredrickson as I wandered under the grandstand on a wet Friday morning. Karl is the Publisher of Dick Berggren's Speedway Illustrated and has a column in the magazine every month. If you're not familiar with Speedway Illustrated, it is by far the finest of all the racing publications on the market today and a magazine you should be reading if you're not. Anyway, a nicer person in the sport I have never met before. He was so friendly and pleasant and easy to talk with. I suspect that I could have talked racing with Karl for hours if time allowed and would certainly like to do so sometime in my life. He is one of racing's true "insiders" but so easy to talk with and so down to earth.
When the long range forecast of great weather suddenly turned much grimmer just before our scheduled time of departure, it was probably a fool hardy trip, especially knowing that if the Sunday rain date was used, we couldn't stay to see that part of the show. Be it as it may, we still went and while we battled the weather for three days and only saw one of the two scheduled programs, it was still an entertaining and learning experience for us.
We picked probably the worst year ever to attend this race with all of the weather issues but record numbers of both Late Models and Sprint Cars showed up anyway along with a stout field of Big Block Modifieds. The racing was intense in all three classes despite the difficult track conditions that saw a lot of expense race cars used up and I could not help but marvel at hard the drivers raced, even though the track was a real handful. of particular interest for me on this trip was the opportunity to see the Big Blocks in action. In the last couple of years I have developed quite an increased interest in the center steer Modifieds that are huge on the East Coast. With the lack of race papers now available(some of you hopefully still remember what a race PAPER was), I started subscribing to Area Auto Racing News which is published in Trenton New Jersey. Owner Lenny Sammons and his writers do a great job of covering racing, particularly East of the Mississippi, and their coverage of Modifieds, Late Models and Sprints is first rate and it is perhaps the best race paper I have ever read, bar none.
Anyway, I was very anxious to see drivers like Tremont, Friesen, Sheppard, Pauch and Hearn race for the first time and they didn't leave me disappointed. Even Linda, who knew none of these drivers, had to admit that their racing was some of the best of the entire weekend. What I was surprised was how poorly they were treated as a class. Going from being the "big shots" on the East Coast, they became the track packers here and they raced first both when the track was at its worst and also the latest in the wee hours of Saturday morning. But I saw enough that I know that I would definitely like to see them again some time, perhaps at a track just a mite smaller that Charlotte.
But I digress. This blog was to compare the three SMI tracks and in the short days after Charlotte, we then flew out to Vegas for IMCA's Duel In The Desert at SMI's track there. I'm guessing that we may have been the only two to pull off that doubleheader, but it's not surprising since there aren't that many "goofballs" left around any more.
All three SMI tracks are first rate and provide great accommodations for the fans. All three have fantastic grandstands with excellent, TV quality lighting. The sound systems are great in all three and the only time I ever had any trouble hearing was at Charlotte when I was trying to hear time trials with multiple cars on the track. For some reason, even though all cars were using transponders to record times, they didn't flash the times on the scoreboards, which are actually pretty pedestrian at all three tracks and certainly not like anything Knoxville has for example.
While the spectator seating and amenities are pretty similar at all three tracks, the pits areas on the other hand vary widely. Vegas has great pit parking that is all on blacktop for almost as far as one can see while Texas is slightly smaller but still good. Charlotte, on the other hand, is worlds behind. Most of the cars pit on dirt quite a distance behind the pit grandstands while the Sprint Cars are crammed in a tight area just off turn one with the unfortunate late ones from the non power teams forced to pit on grass in a spectator parking area that with all the rains this Fall, was a muddy mess with haulers sinking out of sight on occasion.
Pit amenities varied considerably with Charlotte again on the outside looking in. Both Vegas and Texas have fine restroom facilities for the pit personal while Charlotte is still in the dark ages with Satellites the only convenience offered.
Without seeing a race at Charlotte that wasn't plagued by all the wet weather that made the track tough to both pack in and race on, I have to qualify any comparisons on the racing surfaces and the racing itself. I was only at Texas one time, and both nights of the racing there were very good on a smooth and fast surface that did take just a little rubber for the Late Models. The infield tunnel there is a special bonus as it allows cars to exit to the pits smoothly while not holding up the action for those in the next race rolling on to the track.
Charlotte seemed like it would be a good track to see racing if the conditions were more favorable and I have seen some TV racing from the track that looked good, if but a big dusty. If fact, by the Sprint feature from Friday night, even with all the mud and wet conditions, where the track had dried out low in the corners, we got blasted with dust from the prevailing winds in our faces.
Vegas' issues have been well documented throughout the years, virtually from the time the track was built. However, quite frankly, when you have a track situated in the desert, finding proper material to race on can be challenging, although there are certainly some other tracks in the same situation that seemed to have solved the problem some way. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson would be a prime example. This year their promises to rectify the situation for next year seemed the most sincere ever, so we will wait to see what happens for 2016. Despite the less than perfect conditions that the drivers have had to contend with, there have been some good races in the Modifieds at the track over the years. I have not seen a Sprint show at Vegas so cannot comment on how their racing goes, but the Late Model shows I've seen all saw the track take rubber.
All three tracks vary slightly in size and shape and particularly Vegas gives the impression that they had "so much land available" to make a dirt track so they made it fit that land. The one thing that is always mind boggling at these three tracks is that they are used so seldom. Vegas has two races per year along with Texas while Charlotte is used slightly more than that but under a half dozen times. Just about any other track in the country would kill to have the kind of facilities that these three tracks offer, yet they mostly just sit. They certainly can't be money makers and I'm guessing that if SMI was building these three super facilities over again in 2016 as opposed to when they were built in the "hey days" of NASCAR, the dirt tracks would have been left off the plans. All three are certainly among the nicest tracks in the country though and shouldn't be passed up if one would happen to be in their area when one of their rare races takes place.
One last comment this time; during my visit to Charlotte I had the opportunity to meet Karl Fredrickson as I wandered under the grandstand on a wet Friday morning. Karl is the Publisher of Dick Berggren's Speedway Illustrated and has a column in the magazine every month. If you're not familiar with Speedway Illustrated, it is by far the finest of all the racing publications on the market today and a magazine you should be reading if you're not. Anyway, a nicer person in the sport I have never met before. He was so friendly and pleasant and easy to talk with. I suspect that I could have talked racing with Karl for hours if time allowed and would certainly like to do so sometime in my life. He is one of racing's true "insiders" but so easy to talk with and so down to earth.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
The Duel in the Desert
For what I believe is the seventh straight year, we attending the annual IMCA sanctioned Duel in the Desert at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on November 12-14.
As usual, the event was a Modified fan's nirvana with open wheel cars coming from near and far to attempt to make the show at what is one of the most prestigious Modified events of the year anywhere. By my count, along with some help from the announcing duel of Toby Kruse and Chet Christner, there were drivers on hand from twenty three different states and four Canadian provinces, which is mighty impressive.
The combination of this being the biggest Modified race West of the Missouri plus the allure of Vegas for reasons both racing and non racing make this a very important race to be a part of as along with the normal top notch field of weekly racers representing the best in IMCA, there are always a number of top drivers from other sanctioning bodies and other racing disciplines to make the racing even more interesting.
Two hundred and six Modifieds signed in for opening night action along with sixty five Sport Mods who were added to the full three night program just last year. One more Modified rolled out of the trailer on Friday night to give a total of two hundred and seven Modifieds in total. While this sounds like a huge number of cars( and truthfully it is without a doubt), the 2015 numbers show nearly a thirty per cent drop in Sport Mod entries and nearly thirty less Modifieds than rolled through the gates for last year's edition of this event.
Whether this entrant drop off is just a natural "leveling off" of the playing field or for some more specific reason I'm just not sure, and while we as fans always long for bigger and better, quite frankly, two hundred and seventy two race cars running full programs each night is more than enough cars for any track!
While I hate to belabor the point, track conditions for this event are always a point of contention among the drivers. For as long as I've been attending this race, the track conditions have always been "challenging" to say the least. The drivers have learned to understand and accept that when they come to this event, they can expect that the track conditions may not be the best. Quite frankly, the middle of the desert is probably not the ideal place to build a dirt track and finding appropriate material to cover the track is hard to come by. I was told that, surprisingly, a high amount of the dirt covering this track is actually gypsum which is readily available in this area of the desert.
It certainly doesn't help that this track is only used twice a year; for this event and then in March for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car shows. Many tracks that suffer from yearly Spring time issues of bumpy conditions only improve as the surfaces get beat down from repeated races on it, something that just does not happen here.
It was reported that officials at LVMS brought in the track prep crew that does the track at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I would assume that would be the same group of folks that do the track prep at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania but whether the acclaimed "Wizard of Dirt", Gary Risch, was on hand at Vegas, I do not know. They put in some long hours over the three days as they tried to bring around a track that I was told had not been touched since March until this week.
Track conditions for the opening night of racing were to be kind, horrid. The track was as bad as it has even been for the seven times I have seen this event and even many drivers, who had grown accustomed to what to expect here, were very vocal in their complaints by Friday in response to what had been the conditions on Thursday. One very prominent driver told me on Friday that no matter how much they complained, as long as two hundred or more drivers show up to race, there isn't a huge incentive for track officials to make wholesale changes, especially when it could be very costly compared to the few times the track is used.
To be fair, the track prep crew and track officials went into high gear after Thursday's show to try and make things better for Friday. And they were very successful, providing a track that while it still had some bumps, was much wider for racing and allowed much more side by side racing. The hope was that things would be even better on Saturday, but unfortunately, things regressed just a bit as the track didn't "clean off" very well on Saturday, so it was more one groove with the cursed bomb crater entering turn one taking more than its share of race car suspensions to task. However, I did get the feeling that LVMS officials truly put in their best efforts to improve the race conditions and I am hopeful that 2016 will provide a turn around for the drivers.
An incredible forty five races were run on Thursday night between the two classes. The "one and done" rule was used for all races except the main events and this tool was a "God Send." This rule kept so many races under the green that otherwise would have seen yellow flags wave. In fact, of this huge amount of races, only the Sport Mod feature saw more than two yellow flags in any race all night.
On Thursday night, Tyler Frye totally dominated the Sport Mod feature as the soon to be crowned national champion easily controlled the field. Jesse Sobbing led all the way in the non stop Modified feature while Missouri's Scott Drake, driving as a hired gun for a West Coast team, won the second feature over USMTS star Rodney Sanders who was driving a second car for Wisconsin's Mike Wedelstadt.
Friday night saw the much different track allow more racing grooves to open up and many of the drivers were up against the outside wall instead of hugging the inside line as they had on Thursday while trying to dodge the big craters.
As opposed to Thursday when once the first green flag was thrown the track remained untouched, several breaks were taken on Friday to help massage the track. Changes were also made to cut down on the number of races and the start time was moved back an hour in an effort to avoid the direct rays of the sun.
Iowa youngster Chase Rudolph ran a high line to dominate the non stop Sport Mod feature race.
In the Modifieds, Jordan Grabouski came from the third row to win one of the twenty five lappers while another USMTS star, Lucas Schott, won the other feature driving a second car out of the stable of Cody Scholpp from Canada. Schott last drove this car on the Dakota Modified Tour this Summer.
Saturday night the dukes came off as the only preliminary racing was Last Chance Qualifiers and the racing was even more intense that ever the first two nights. In the Modifieds, only the winners moved on and with plenty of top notch drivers still on the outside looking in, no one gave an inch.
Finally the fields were set for the two main events. Again, Tyler Frye dominated the action in the Sport Mods. Only the two yellow flags in the main brought the field back to him, but each time he would again pull away from the field. Frye announced that he will be moving up to the Modifieds in 2016, something that the other sixty four drivers on hand would agree as the best move he might make.
The Modified feature race saw several startling developments take place over the course of the forty lap main, with many of the suspected race favorites on the sidelines by the time the checkered flag flew. Schott's strategy, after he redrew the front row, was to hang on the bottom of the track and if someone was fast enough to get around them, so be it. As it turned out, there were two drivers that fit that mold but neither finished the race. Jordan Grabouski showed his strength as he was able to jump to the second lane and get past Schott and appeared ready to run off and hide.
Unfortunately, he was a victim of the turn one crater and the resulting suspension damage took him out of the race. The other strongest challenger was Sanders, and he attempted to roll past Schott on the outside. However, he also fell through the same crater and broke his front suspension and he was black flagged while running second, which eliminated him. So Schott continued to hug the low line and be as clean on his line as possible and he pulled away at the end for the win. This continues the surprising parade of outsiders that seem to end up in victory lane at this race as Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne, both non regulars with IMCA, have dominated this race before Schott.
Phillips was eliminated from the contest while in a challenging position as he and Sobbing got together on the back chute and then Sobbing "dumped" Phillips which eliminated both cars. As Phillips tried to scramble away from the wreck, he stopped right in front of Bobby Hogge who slammed into Terry and wrecked his car also. Later, when Grabouski lost control after his suspension issue, he shot straight up the track and pounded Hunter Marriott into the wall which eliminated him.
Sanders appeared to be the victim of a questionable call, as even though he had a broken suspension he seemed to have his car under control and was running second, with the cars behind him not able to catch him, much less pass. Earlier, in the Last Chance races, at least two other drivers in contending positions were allowed to continue racing with the same issues that Sanders had.
The crowds didn't seem as big as they were for last year's race. Perhaps the cold evening temperatures kept some people away. To be honest, this race is not one that is particularly fan friendly. The show starts early and finishes late. Unless you are a big fan of Modified racing, for many of the casual fans it is probably a case of "race overload." I would guess that the vast majority of the fans on hand were either directly attached to the competitors on hand or fans that would describe themselves as big Modified fans. The casual race fan might show up on Saturday night, but likely not before. It seemed like a breath of fresh air to be done with the whole program well before 10 p.m. on Saturday, after both Thursday and Friday night shows pressed or exceeded the Midnight hour. If there would be one thing that would make this weekend more attractive, it would be some way to shorten up the proceedings each night. If that meant running only longer distance heats and features and eliminating the B features and giving each driver only one chance to qualify each night, I'd be all for it. And if that meant fifty drivers stayed home next year because they only got one chance to qualify each night, I'd be OK with that also. However, I get the feeling that this event is done more for the drivers than for the spectators and as such, likely the format won't change soon. But, as a hard core fan, you can bet that if possible, I'll be on hand again next year.
An interesting part of this year's race was the theme for the race cars which saw them in some way representing their home states in their car wraps. There were some very clever designs on display. However, unlike some years, the winners weren't announced on Saturday in front of the crowd and in fact, not a mention was made who the winners were. I may have missed it, but I'm still searching to find out who the winners were, days after the event.
As usual, the event was a Modified fan's nirvana with open wheel cars coming from near and far to attempt to make the show at what is one of the most prestigious Modified events of the year anywhere. By my count, along with some help from the announcing duel of Toby Kruse and Chet Christner, there were drivers on hand from twenty three different states and four Canadian provinces, which is mighty impressive.
The combination of this being the biggest Modified race West of the Missouri plus the allure of Vegas for reasons both racing and non racing make this a very important race to be a part of as along with the normal top notch field of weekly racers representing the best in IMCA, there are always a number of top drivers from other sanctioning bodies and other racing disciplines to make the racing even more interesting.
Two hundred and six Modifieds signed in for opening night action along with sixty five Sport Mods who were added to the full three night program just last year. One more Modified rolled out of the trailer on Friday night to give a total of two hundred and seven Modifieds in total. While this sounds like a huge number of cars( and truthfully it is without a doubt), the 2015 numbers show nearly a thirty per cent drop in Sport Mod entries and nearly thirty less Modifieds than rolled through the gates for last year's edition of this event.
Whether this entrant drop off is just a natural "leveling off" of the playing field or for some more specific reason I'm just not sure, and while we as fans always long for bigger and better, quite frankly, two hundred and seventy two race cars running full programs each night is more than enough cars for any track!
While I hate to belabor the point, track conditions for this event are always a point of contention among the drivers. For as long as I've been attending this race, the track conditions have always been "challenging" to say the least. The drivers have learned to understand and accept that when they come to this event, they can expect that the track conditions may not be the best. Quite frankly, the middle of the desert is probably not the ideal place to build a dirt track and finding appropriate material to cover the track is hard to come by. I was told that, surprisingly, a high amount of the dirt covering this track is actually gypsum which is readily available in this area of the desert.
It certainly doesn't help that this track is only used twice a year; for this event and then in March for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car shows. Many tracks that suffer from yearly Spring time issues of bumpy conditions only improve as the surfaces get beat down from repeated races on it, something that just does not happen here.
It was reported that officials at LVMS brought in the track prep crew that does the track at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I would assume that would be the same group of folks that do the track prep at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania but whether the acclaimed "Wizard of Dirt", Gary Risch, was on hand at Vegas, I do not know. They put in some long hours over the three days as they tried to bring around a track that I was told had not been touched since March until this week.
Track conditions for the opening night of racing were to be kind, horrid. The track was as bad as it has even been for the seven times I have seen this event and even many drivers, who had grown accustomed to what to expect here, were very vocal in their complaints by Friday in response to what had been the conditions on Thursday. One very prominent driver told me on Friday that no matter how much they complained, as long as two hundred or more drivers show up to race, there isn't a huge incentive for track officials to make wholesale changes, especially when it could be very costly compared to the few times the track is used.
To be fair, the track prep crew and track officials went into high gear after Thursday's show to try and make things better for Friday. And they were very successful, providing a track that while it still had some bumps, was much wider for racing and allowed much more side by side racing. The hope was that things would be even better on Saturday, but unfortunately, things regressed just a bit as the track didn't "clean off" very well on Saturday, so it was more one groove with the cursed bomb crater entering turn one taking more than its share of race car suspensions to task. However, I did get the feeling that LVMS officials truly put in their best efforts to improve the race conditions and I am hopeful that 2016 will provide a turn around for the drivers.
An incredible forty five races were run on Thursday night between the two classes. The "one and done" rule was used for all races except the main events and this tool was a "God Send." This rule kept so many races under the green that otherwise would have seen yellow flags wave. In fact, of this huge amount of races, only the Sport Mod feature saw more than two yellow flags in any race all night.
On Thursday night, Tyler Frye totally dominated the Sport Mod feature as the soon to be crowned national champion easily controlled the field. Jesse Sobbing led all the way in the non stop Modified feature while Missouri's Scott Drake, driving as a hired gun for a West Coast team, won the second feature over USMTS star Rodney Sanders who was driving a second car for Wisconsin's Mike Wedelstadt.
Friday night saw the much different track allow more racing grooves to open up and many of the drivers were up against the outside wall instead of hugging the inside line as they had on Thursday while trying to dodge the big craters.
As opposed to Thursday when once the first green flag was thrown the track remained untouched, several breaks were taken on Friday to help massage the track. Changes were also made to cut down on the number of races and the start time was moved back an hour in an effort to avoid the direct rays of the sun.
Iowa youngster Chase Rudolph ran a high line to dominate the non stop Sport Mod feature race.
In the Modifieds, Jordan Grabouski came from the third row to win one of the twenty five lappers while another USMTS star, Lucas Schott, won the other feature driving a second car out of the stable of Cody Scholpp from Canada. Schott last drove this car on the Dakota Modified Tour this Summer.
Saturday night the dukes came off as the only preliminary racing was Last Chance Qualifiers and the racing was even more intense that ever the first two nights. In the Modifieds, only the winners moved on and with plenty of top notch drivers still on the outside looking in, no one gave an inch.
Finally the fields were set for the two main events. Again, Tyler Frye dominated the action in the Sport Mods. Only the two yellow flags in the main brought the field back to him, but each time he would again pull away from the field. Frye announced that he will be moving up to the Modifieds in 2016, something that the other sixty four drivers on hand would agree as the best move he might make.
The Modified feature race saw several startling developments take place over the course of the forty lap main, with many of the suspected race favorites on the sidelines by the time the checkered flag flew. Schott's strategy, after he redrew the front row, was to hang on the bottom of the track and if someone was fast enough to get around them, so be it. As it turned out, there were two drivers that fit that mold but neither finished the race. Jordan Grabouski showed his strength as he was able to jump to the second lane and get past Schott and appeared ready to run off and hide.
Unfortunately, he was a victim of the turn one crater and the resulting suspension damage took him out of the race. The other strongest challenger was Sanders, and he attempted to roll past Schott on the outside. However, he also fell through the same crater and broke his front suspension and he was black flagged while running second, which eliminated him. So Schott continued to hug the low line and be as clean on his line as possible and he pulled away at the end for the win. This continues the surprising parade of outsiders that seem to end up in victory lane at this race as Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne, both non regulars with IMCA, have dominated this race before Schott.
Phillips was eliminated from the contest while in a challenging position as he and Sobbing got together on the back chute and then Sobbing "dumped" Phillips which eliminated both cars. As Phillips tried to scramble away from the wreck, he stopped right in front of Bobby Hogge who slammed into Terry and wrecked his car also. Later, when Grabouski lost control after his suspension issue, he shot straight up the track and pounded Hunter Marriott into the wall which eliminated him.
Sanders appeared to be the victim of a questionable call, as even though he had a broken suspension he seemed to have his car under control and was running second, with the cars behind him not able to catch him, much less pass. Earlier, in the Last Chance races, at least two other drivers in contending positions were allowed to continue racing with the same issues that Sanders had.
The crowds didn't seem as big as they were for last year's race. Perhaps the cold evening temperatures kept some people away. To be honest, this race is not one that is particularly fan friendly. The show starts early and finishes late. Unless you are a big fan of Modified racing, for many of the casual fans it is probably a case of "race overload." I would guess that the vast majority of the fans on hand were either directly attached to the competitors on hand or fans that would describe themselves as big Modified fans. The casual race fan might show up on Saturday night, but likely not before. It seemed like a breath of fresh air to be done with the whole program well before 10 p.m. on Saturday, after both Thursday and Friday night shows pressed or exceeded the Midnight hour. If there would be one thing that would make this weekend more attractive, it would be some way to shorten up the proceedings each night. If that meant running only longer distance heats and features and eliminating the B features and giving each driver only one chance to qualify each night, I'd be all for it. And if that meant fifty drivers stayed home next year because they only got one chance to qualify each night, I'd be OK with that also. However, I get the feeling that this event is done more for the drivers than for the spectators and as such, likely the format won't change soon. But, as a hard core fan, you can bet that if possible, I'll be on hand again next year.
An interesting part of this year's race was the theme for the race cars which saw them in some way representing their home states in their car wraps. There were some very clever designs on display. However, unlike some years, the winners weren't announced on Saturday in front of the crowd and in fact, not a mention was made who the winners were. I may have missed it, but I'm still searching to find out who the winners were, days after the event.
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