Wednesday night, February 3rd was the second round of racing for the UMP Modifieds and the opening night for the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars to take to the track at Volusia Speedway Park near Barberville Florida. A big field of cars was entered in both divisions with UMP Modified drivers on hand from many parts of the country while the All Star regulars were joined by many of the World of Outlaw Sprint stars, looking to get extra laps on the Volusia track before their point season opens up on Friday night.
Thirty four Sprint Cars were on hand while ninety four UMP Modifieds joined the field in what was a monstrously big night of racing. Both divisions would run full programs including everything from time trials all the way through feature events. It would be the third straight night of bone chillingly cold temperatures in central Florida but a hearty crowd of fans was on hand, although not anywhere near to the size that warmer temperatures promise as the weekend arrives.
The Sprint Cars qualified incredibly close together in time with Brad Sweet the quickest while the Mods were broken down into four groups of qualifying, of which it was done with five or six cars per group for their group qualifying. Nick Hoffman, Jason Hughes, Nick Allen and Curt Spaulding would all start in the front of heat races after leading their qualifying sessions.
The track seemed very different than what I remember from visiting Volusia in years past and much was made of the new material they hauled in to resurface the track with this year as it seemed to make the track quite different. It was not nearly as much of a heavy, hammer down surface as it previously had been and instead was slick and smooth and required the drivers to attack with a much different style of driving. Once the track was ready for qualifying, they didn't touch it at all and "what you see was what you got" as the surface didn't seem to change much through the night. The Sprints did widen it out some both other than that, it remained pretty much the same all night.
Whether it was because of the coolness of the night or because the Sprints are the featured division on this night, the program was set up to showcase them on this night with most of their races run off first, perhaps in an effort to get those Sprint fans in the stands on their way home if they chose before it got too late.
Anyway, after qualifying, the Sprints ran their heats followed by the Modified heats. They then ran the two Sprint dashes, the Last Chance qualifier and the main event before the Modifieds would get back on the track. This did allow the entire Sprint program to be completed well before 10 pm, after which a mass exodus from the grounds was done by the majority in the crowd.
Anyone who knows me well knows that Sprint Cars do not rank at the top of my "favorites" list. However, I do see them race a few times each year and both understand the skill and bravery that it takes to drive one of these cars and also the number of fans that swear by this class. And I thought their feature race was a good one on Wednesday.
The track had moved right to the extreme upper cushion for their main and it was a thin edge that they were racing on. The track was smooth and slick but there was some cushion up against the wall and that is where most of the drivers ran.
Brian Brown and Sheldon Haudenschild battled for the lead early before Brown took the spot. Both Donny Schatz and Brad Sweet were on the move to the front and they joined the action that saw quite a few slide jobs being thrown as the track favored that type of pass. Schatz would eventually drive by for the top spot and he looked pretty comfortable in the lead. However, Logan Schuchart really flying up from the thirteenth starting spot and was soon in the top five and continuing to move.
A couple of yellow flags for minor issues helped him gain some ground and soon he was up to third. He got by Sweet for second and was closing in on Schatz when a last yellow set up a six lap finish to the race.
Schuchart swept low into turn one, beat Schatz to the third corner and took over the top spot and then pulled away in the final laps as no one had anything for him. He won by a comfortable margin over Schatz, Sweet, David Gravel and Brent Marks. Only four minor yellows slowed the event and only a half dozen cars didn't finish although with the late yellow there were no lapped cars to deal with.
After Tuesday night's show with so many cars and only one main event which left a huge number of cars sitting on the sidelines come feature time, track and sanctioning body officials opted to change the program and run twin feature races for the Modifieds. This seemed to be very well received as of course, more drivers would get a check, more would get the extra laps on the track and thus with more cars qualifying through the heats, the Last Chance races were not nearly as large and cumbersome.
Twenty four drivers started each main event which were contested over twenty laps. This series of races, tied in as it is with the big races going on over at Daytona itself, draws the heavy hitters of the sport and the technology displayed at the big track is seeping into the world of open wheel Modified racing. Some of equipment and technology they use hasn't been seen before in Modified racing and while it is very successful, it also is very expensive and creates a new worry for a sport that normally doesn't pay huge figures to the winners but the expenses seem to be skyrocketing. The battles between the chassis builders like Longhorn, Elite and Lethal don't seem much different than the manufacturers' battles over at the "big track" in Daytona and are taken just as seriously, even though the top prize in both the features on Wednesday was only a grand. These drivers, given the expense incurred and the number on hand, are probably the most unpaid racers of the entire Speed Weeks.
The first feature on Wednesday was dominated by Kentucky's Tyler Nicely who took over the lead early from Lucas Lee and then just pulled away from the field. The last half of the race went off nonstop and he built up nearly a full straightaway over the field. Curt Spaulding, from Michigan, eventually drove into second but he had nothing for Nicely. The show in this race was produced by Kyle Strickler. He injured his hand in the pits before the program started and missed qualifying and a heat race as he had to go to the hospital for stitches for a bad cut on his finger.
He returned to start eleventh in a Last Chance race and raced up to second to second to make the main. He then started tail back in the twenty four car feature race and charged up to second and was still gaining when the checkered flag waved. And this was the first time he had sat in that car he drove, having spent his recent time working and racing his Late Model. It was an impressive run.
The second Modified feature saw Nick Hoffman get the jump on David Stremme and he would then lead the rest of the way for the win. He had a bunch of lapped cars to work through as the race progressed and Mike McKinney would play some catch up, closing in the late laps but not really able to make a serious challenge. Justin Allgaier would race up to edge Stremme for third as the so called "factory teams" were well represented in the final running order. An impressive twenty one different states were represented in the Modified pit area.
Track officials did a nice job of keeping the show moving but it did get quite late before the last checkered flag waved, simply because they had so many cars and so many races to complete. The same classes and format are scheduled to be raced on Thursday night before the World of Outlaw Sprints replace the All Stars while the Modifieds will keep racing for several more nights.
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