Friday, November 6, 2020

Sartain Wins Wild USMTS Feature at RPM

 It was time to make a real old fashioned road trip so with great weather being promised, we headed out for the Lone Star state of Texas and a triple header of Modified racing at the RPM Speedway of Texas in Crandall for the last three USMTS races of 2020 for the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals. 

Along with three straight nights of Modified racing, USRA Limited Modifieds and Factory Stocks would be on the program with Tuners added for Friday and Saturday nights shows. 

This was the first time ever for us to be at RPM Speedway, a track we were told by a driver from "Up North" that we would be seeing some very competitive racing and a lot of s*** probably torn up! His prognostication proved to be right on. Later on we would see one of the wilder and most competitive Modified features of the year. 

RPM Speedway of Texas is a very wide quarter mile black dirt track. It has a large metal grandstand that runs most of the length of the front chute with a nice tower for officials behind the grandstand. A very strong p.a. system makes it easy to hear the announcers. Concession buildings and restrooms are behind the grandstand are are also very functional. Nice restrooms are also located in the pits which is something that many race tracks do not offer. The pits are huge for a quarter mile track as they start right at the entrance from turn four, wrap all the way down the back chute and extend quite a ways past the track. The pits can hold a large, large field of cars. The track lighting is a bit spotty with generally good lighting for the track but a couple of noticeable dark spots on the track. Noticeably missing at the track was a scoreboard which should be a requirement at any race track, just like it would be at any football field or baseball park. 

The track has medium banking and as one driver told me, in order to run the wall the track would need much more banking and because of the very tacky nature of the track on this night, most of the racing was done in the lower and middle grooves of the track. 

One very distinctive feature of the track that is quite unique is that the cars enter the track by passing between the grandstands and the front stretch wall with the flag stand between the driveway and the actual track. I have seen a few tracks like this, but not very many. One of the results of this set up is that cars can not return to the track if they pull off the track and on Thursday at least, pit crews were not allowed in the infield so essentially if a driver has any trouble with his car, he is done as there is no way to get a tire changed etc. and still return to the race. 

One certainty was that the track provided a warm welcome to its visitors and promoter Kevin Rogers came up to meet me in the grandstand when he was informed that we had traveled a distance to see the races and I got some free swag which I do not plan to report to the IRS. 

Even though I didn't know a lot of the drivers here, I was still able to visit with a few and get a little information about the track. One driver that I did stop to talk with was Modified veteran Terry Phillips who was working on his GRT chassis when I walked by. He reported that his last race of 2020 will be the Duel in the Desert next week where he will again drive a car for Jordan Grabouski. Then he gets ready for the Wild West Shootout in January. Phillips surprised when he said he is putting together a new Late Model for Arizona and that it will be a Capital chassis car. 

Another driver I spoke with was local racer Lee McCullough who gave me some info on the Factory Stock class. These cars look like Stock Cars but have less horsepower than the Stock Cars. They are very popular in this part of the country and have big fields of cars at many tracks. They also now have a lot of big money shows, probably because they can make these shows work due to large fields of entries. Lee, second in track points here this year, was driving a different car this weekend as his regular car owner was done for the year and he didn't have a good night, not making the main. 

I also spoke to young Modified driver Ronnie Yanacsek who lives up in the panhandle of Texas. The twenty year old is a student at Texas A & M but all his classes are virtual this year. It has been a tough year for Ronnie, having wrecked one car and blowing up one motor and now he is just trying to get as many laps in as he can. In an interesting move, he will hustle home from RPM, change over his MB car and then race at Vegas next week as an IMCA Mod. This will require a lot of work, including changing motors and as Phillips said, there would be no way he would do that which is why he drives for Nebraskan Grabouski. 

For the last USMTS weekend of 2020, eight of the top ten in series points are on hand and while neither would have a very good night later, Rodney Sanders and Dereck Ramirez would clinch the first and second place in series points later on Thursday. With forty four cars on hand, five heats and a pair of B Features would set the field for the main event. 

The Modified feature would be one of the wildest of the year and at the end, a glorious night for the local race drivers. Twenty four cars would start the main on a very fast but rough race track. Apparently they have had a lot of rain in the area lately so the corners were soft. I walked the track after the show and the corners were still very tacky with not a hint of a dry or slick track. It was "hammer down" but the problem was that there were some significant ruts in both corners, some of the biggest I've seen at a track this year. With the tight corners that the drivers really set their cars sideways for, hitting one of those ruts would send the cars wobbling in various directions and we did see that throughout the main. However, that didn't keep the drivers from running side by side and really running hard. 

Early on it was Bo Day and Bobby Malchus battling for the lead, with them trading back and forth for the top spot. Then Fito Gallardo moved in to challenge and Fito was very fast but spent nearly as much time chasing the car through the infield as he did on the track. There was hard contact between Day and Gallardo when the yellow flew for a marker tire on track. 

On the restart, perhaps due to that contact, Day spun in front of the whole field in turn one but all were able to avoid him but Day went off on the hook. Amazingly, despite all the wild action, those were the only yellow flags of the race. 

Then it was Machus receiving pressure from Gallardo and Jack Sartain who charged up from eighth on the grid. He was able to blast into the lead but just when it seemed like he would pull away, Cody Leonard, who was very fast in his heat, moved in to challenge for the lead. In fact, as the last few laps ran down, Leonard was able to dive into the lead but then Sartain crossed him over to regain the lead, protect the bottom on the last lap and take the win in a frantic feature race. Gallardo would finish third, Clyde Dunn would advance from twelfth to fourth with Marchus holding on for fifth as Texas drivers held the top six spots at the finish. 

There were thirty six Factory Stocks on hand and they ran four heats and couple of B Features to set their twenty four car field for the main event. Their main was a good race with not many yellows and some good battles up front. At the end, it was Bobby Ruffin who came up from the third row to take the win. Dalton Faulkner made a late charge from tenth to finish a close third with Jason Hood third. 

Limited Mods were also on the schedule and their were thirty three of them that signed in. They also ran four heats and a couple B Features to set their field. The Limited Mods are much like the IMCA Southern Sport Mods and I was very surprised to see that two classes sanctioned by USRA were running on Hoosier tires. 

After some early jockeying for position it was Coty Tupper who took the win after a good battle with Kale Westover who was running in both open wheel divisions. Finishing third in another competitive race was Thomas Blackwell. The Limited Mods raced well also with a few yellows for minor issues to slow the action. 

The whole show was clicked off at a rapid pace with the final checkered flag waving just after 10 pm. Both of the "support" classes were running for good money with even more on the line the rest of the weekend with the fields expected to just grow. As soon as the show was completed, the track equipment was on the track, packing the surface as they work to smooth the surface for the Friday night show. 

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