Saturday night, November 9th, the three night run that wrapped up the World of Outlaws Can-Am Finals at the Dirt Track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway was held under sunny skies and extremely cool conditions.
While the individual feature races carried their usual amount of tension and pressure, there was high drama in both the Sprint Car and Big Block Modified pits with point titles hanging in the balance and the closest battle in WoO Sprint history set to be decided. It was one of those rare nights when the actual feature races themselves seemed to take the back stage with most people having their eyes on a few cars to see how the points titles would play out.
If you were a Big Block fan, it was eyes on Matt Williamson and Matt Sheppard while the Sprint Car folks were checking on every move made by Brad Sweet and Donny Schatz while the Late Model title had been cinched long ago by Brandon Sheppard so all the Late Model folks could just worry about racing for the win. However, that was not totally true as the second through fifth position in points was very much in flux as the weekend finished up.
There must have been some whining after Friday night's Big Block feature which allowed all thirty eight cars on hand to start the main. After announcing that there would be no Last Chance races for this class on either night, the format was altered and two Last Chance races led off the Saturday night racing card.
Both Williamson and Sheppard were already safely in the show and in fact, they redrew the front row so they would start side by side for forty laps to settle the issue. After his mistake on Friday night that cost him dearly, Sheppard would need some help as well as pull off a major win in order to overtake Williamson and despite the outside pole, he simply didn't have what it took on this weekend to pull it off.
Sheppard did get the jump on Williamson to lead the early laps but then Billy Decker came charging up and took over the lead. Sheppard desperately needed the win and he drove very hard to try and get back to the top spot and that ultimately may have been his downfall as he may have worn out his tires on this very abrasive surface as he gradually started to fade back. Sheppard would later report after the race that his motor had dropped a cylinder and he was just "floor matting" the car the whole race with the hopes that something good might break his way.
Williamson proved to be just a bit more consistent as he raced on to a second place finish and became the first Canadian driver to win the Super Dirt Car series title. Mike Maresca came charging up on the second half of the race to get the third spot ahead of Sheppard. If not for bad luck with a flat tire on Friday night, Decker could have very well swept the weekend proceedings.
David Gravel would end up sweeping the weekend doubleheader in the Sprint Cars but hardly anyone would even know that he did this as everyone was focused on Sweet and Schatz. The draw bit Schatz for the dash as he drew dead last in one of the dashes and was only able to work his way up to fourth, which gave him a two row disadvantage to Sweet at the start of their main event, which did go the full thirty laps on this night.
Gravel would check out on the field early so there was no battle for the lead, but Sweet and Schatz did have a dandy for second. Schatz worked his way up into contention and with a strong move, pulled past Sweet into second and gave the appearance that he might indeed come from behind to win yet another title.
However, just like Sheppard in the race before him, Schatz may have used up too much of his car early and when passed, Sweet turned right around and blew back past Schatz with a wicked slider for second.
A late yellow set up a ten lap dash to the finish with the title contention directly behind Gravel. Schatz pushed as hard as he could but Sweet was simply just a little bit faster at the end on on this night and he remained comfortably in second to guarantee his first WoO title.
The Late Models were just racing for fun as Sheppard had long ago guaranteed the title in that class. It was not the best of weekends for him as he got an flat tire near the midpoint in this night's show and spent the rest of the event just driving hard to try and get back up into the top ten.
John Blackenship in the "Coal Car" returned to major racing this weekend and surprisingly got the jump on Shane Clanton to lead the early laps. Jimmy Owens quickly came up along with Jonathan Davenport to challenge with Davenport moving into the lead. However, those that thought that Davenport would then just walk away were surprised by the strength that Owens showed as in lapped traffic he blew past Davenport to take over the lead and then build on that.
Owens opened up a considerable advantage before Ricky Weiss and Dale McDowell moved to the front. Weiss desperately wanted to get that first sanctioned win and he pushed hard as he fought his way into second and seemed to be narrowing the gap on Owens. However, Jimmy did a great job in lapped traffic to again build his lead while Weiss had has hands full with McDowell for second. They would finish in that order with a late charging Mike Marlar in the "General Lee" car next in line.
All racing was completed by shortly after 10 pm as the temperatures dipped into the low thirties on a very brisk night. If you want to see many of the best drivers in multiple divisions in action at a track that is one of the premier facilities on the country in action, then the World Finals at Charlotte is certainly an event that you should consider attending. However, be prepared to battle with lots of people for seating, parking etc as the crowds are enormous for this event.
Our thanks go out especially to Shaun Johnson of the staff of the Charlotte Motor Speedway for his help once again this year getting us all squared away for this big event at perhaps the biggest motor racing mecca in the country now.
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