Wrapping Up the 2023 Racing Season, Time To Look Ahead

 With the conclusion of the Gateway Dirt Nationals in St. Louis last weekend, it is time to put the 2023 racing season to bed and start to think about the upcoming 2024 season. The off season gets shorter every year, especially for those of us fortunate enough or crazy enough to do some chasing to different parts of the country. 

This year the race to get away from the cold weather and snow is not as strong as in most years as our unbelievably mild off season continues. Except for the gloomy skies day after day, the month of December has been a great one for those of us that don't necessarily care for cold weather and lots of snow. As I type this, we have no snow at all and it will be one of those rare Christmas' when we have to snow for the holiday. Light rain has been falling from time to time and we are promised a soaker for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, another very rare development. Still, we look forward to sunshine and even warmer temperatures in our travels soon. 

The 2023 racing season was another busy one for me. With time on my hands and so far the resources to be on the go, I accidently set a new record for myself as I attended two hundred and nine race programs in 2023. The last three years have been quite spectacular for me as I have attended six hundred and eighteen nights of racing. Never thinking it possible that I could or would ever get to two hundred nights of racing, I now have done it three straight years. 

Obviously the ability to travel to other parts of the country for races both before and after the Midwestern season is active boosts the totals immensely, but it is something we do for enjoyment, not to set records. If there were a contest to see who could get to the most races, I would get serious about it but the truth is I just enjoy being at the track and can think of no other place I would rather be so while I can and until I'm not able to do so for whatever reason, I think we will continue to visit tracks across the Midwest and across the country. 

In 2023 we started out with racing in Arizona and New Mexico, headed back again to Arizona and when we were done there, we headed to Florida for Speed Weeks on both sides of the state. We then worked our way back North and hit the Midwest, with a side trip to Texas. Much of what we did last year is again in the plan and the weather will play a large part in just exactly where we end up, just as it does every year. 

The first four months of the racing year was very productive for me and while many race fans are waiting for the snow to melt and tracks in this area to open up, I had already been to sixty five races by the first of April. 

An extended dry period over the Summer made the number of rain outs smaller than normal and while the dry conditions hurt some, It was great for me. I had one period in June where I attended races on twenty seven straight nights. On the other hand, October was terrible with two of the four weekends being complete washouts, something that has never happened before. My racing season season started under the sun in Arizona in January and ended up under the roof of America's Center in St. Louis.

2023 marked the forty third consecutive racing season where I attended at least one hundred nights of racing. In 2023 I attended races at seventy tracks in sixteen states and one Canadian province. I saw races at three tracks for the first time, one in Arizona, one in Texas and one in Oklahoma. Since I have started attending races at a young age, I have now been to three hundred and thirty four tracks in twenty nine states and three Canadian provinces, by my best guess. 

July was my busiest month with twenty nine races attended during that month but May through September were all over twenty per month.  

I never pick out a best night of racing or a best track. All nights at the track are good ones, just some are better than others. It does no good to bury one's head in the sand and pretend that the sport doesn't have its problems and that some tracks and groups need to do better and upgrade their facilities and treat their customers better, but it also does no good to immediately blast out negative comments on various forms of social media when things go wrong, whether by accident or neglect. If we would all work together I think we would all be most successful but the same thing could be said for society as a whole. 

Plans for our 2024 racing season so far are much like what we did last year. We plan to visit Arizona first and do a few nights at the Cocopah Speedway where Brad Whitfield is always very welcoming. We will then head to New Mexico for Chris Kearns' annual Wild West Shootout. This is one of our favorite races of the year as Royal Jones has one of the finest tracks in the entire country and the FLO staff of Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett are always great to visit with. We then head back West into Arizona to the Central Arizona Raceway where Minnesota native Don Shaw puts on a series of races with the help of regular promoter Whitfield. Shaw's rules use a formula that allows many different drivers from various parts of the country to race and their Late Model races end up being some of the most interesting of the year with many familiar faces on the track. When we are done there we will then head to Florida. 

Of course, all this depends are things working out as planned with continued good health and other factors always a bit of a guessing game. We will hope for the best. 

The plan is to provide converge on all these events here at Positively Racing.com if everything works out. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone reading this with the hopes that 2024 will be even better for you than the current year was.  

Sheppard and Troutman Big Winners at Gateway

 Despite rain most of the day in the St. Louis area, the Dome provided the shelter and warmth needed and the Gateway Dirt Nationals was completed in a spectacular way on Saturday night, December 19th. In front of what was reported to be the largest crowd ever to attend this race, Brandon Sheppard and Drake Troutman would be the winners of the Late Model and Modified feature races to climax three wild nights of racing. 

For the first time ever, in anticipation of a large walk up ticket sale, the top section of the grandstands at the Dome had the tarp uncovered in sections 401-13 of this huge building. Amazingly, even these sections were mostly filled with fans despite the fact that they were farther away from the starting line than if you were watching the race on tv in Peoria!

And the crowd was electric as the atmosphere here, particularly for the final night, is one that rivals just about any other event on the racing calendar. Even the 50/50 drawing is one that tops most others as with the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame running this as a fund raiser, the split amounted to $109,098! That would certainly be a nice surprise Christmas present. 

All drivers would get the opportunity to come back and race on Saturday, no matter how poorly they may have run or unlucky they might have been earlier in the week.  In many cases this is not good news for the fans because the unvarnished truth is that there is a lot of "iron" racing here that probably shouldn't be on the track but one of the beauties/problems of this event is if you get your entry in early, virtually anyone can enter a car and while many drivers each year are knocking off a bucket list item by racing this event, so of the races are like a trip to the dentist's office with no Novocain offered. 

The Late Models would run non qualifier races for those who did really poorly on the qualifying night, followed by a series of qualifier races and a Last Chance race to set the field for their forty lap main event. 

With a smaller field of cars, the Modifieds would just run qualifiers and the Last Chance race to set their running order for their main. 

The nine Late Model prelims had a total of thirty yellow flags and one that was actually checkered early due to a time limit. The Modifieds did slightly better with only ten yellows in their five races but it took some time to cut the field down to the feature size. There was plenty of action going on though between all the yellows and several dramatic passes, spins and wrecks that changed up the running order. The fence got knocked down at least three times that required fixing and in at least two cases, the replacement of the fence posts also. The drivers really get pumped up for this event and their emotions are on display, for better or worse. 

One of the more dramatic finishes in the prelims was the last lap of the Modified Last Chance race when Brandon Copp, after leading the whole race and close to making the main, hung his car in the fence in turn one on the final tour and missed the main. I know Brandon quite well as he races in my area and he so badly wanted to make the feature, having received an invitational this year for the first time. He got a whole group of friends and backers that helped him get to St. Louis from his home in northern Wisconsin as his is not a big buck team by any means. In fact, he told me that he set the cruise on his old Ford Dually at 65 and hoped that it would make it all the way to St. Louis. Now he just has to get it back home on Sunday!

One thing that continues to bother me is the foul mouthed interviews that too many of the drivers are providing. Now, I'm not so naïve as to believe that stick and ball players don't swear either, but they have been coached so that they at least keep it clean for their interviews on tv. If the drivers in this sport can't learn a little self discipline, then perhaps they shouldn't have the opportunity to talk on tv. It's gotten so bad and so frequent that the announcers don't even apologize for it afterward any more. We keep advancing the façade that this is a family sport yet seem to do everything to the opposite of promoting it as that.  

When all the prelims were completed, twenty drivers made the show for each of the two features with Tyler Erb and Tyler Peterson taking provisionals as the most recent winners not in the field. Three drivers were able to make the field in both classes and they included Ricky Thornton Jr, Jimmy Owens and Mike Harrison. Of those, Harrison would do the best overall between the two features. 

The driver introductions were spectacular as usual and all involved with this production really do a fantastic job. No matter how you feel about the actual racing, one way of the other, the introductions are a must see part of the show. 

The track was even wetter on Saturday than it had been all week which helped cut down the dust to a reasonable level but also turned the track into a "cowboy up" affair, something that almost seems inevitable. While the statistics will show that both feature winners led all laps, it really was a much better race than that. With the cream rising to the top, the Late Model drivers only had two yellow flags in forty laps and the Modifieds just one more in their thirty lap main. 

Brandon Sheppard would take the lead right from the start in the Late Model feature and would be firmly in control for most of the contest. In the last ten laps or so, he would start to get bogged down with traffic which slowed his pace. 

Thornton Jr was mired in sixth spot until he realized that the laps were winding down quickly and he really picked up the pace. Showing a marked increase in speed, he was able to race his way all the way up to second and was able to put a scare into Sheppard on the last lap when he dove low in turn one, a move that brought the crowd to its collective feet. However, Sheppard had just enough space that he was able to hold off that last lap bid and drive home for the win. One wonders just what the result would have been if this race had a few more laps or Thornton Jr would have picked up the pace just a bit sooner.

Another strong and consistent finish would see Tanner English come for tenth to finish third ahead of Devin Moran and Chris Simpson. Only three drivers wouldn't finish the race and there was not even a single grinding crash. 

Troutman would get the jump on Thornton Jr to take the early lead in the Modified thirty lap feature. Jordan Grabouski, Michael Ledford and Harrison would quickly fill the top five in the early going.  Troutman was working the cushion and while it was rough, it was also fast as long as you hit it correctly. Thornton Jr would continue to pressure for the lead but Harrison, who loves to bang the wall, was on the move as he and Ricky battled for second. 

Harrison would move into second and close on the leader but Thornton would fight back as that battle raged. A strange set of circumstances changed things on lap twenty two. Harrison got sideways and killed his car in turn three, seemingly forfeiting second. Thornton Jr actually contacted him, straightening him out and allowing Harrison to refire his car. When Thornton Jr stalled seconds later with a lost drive shaft, Harrison would catch a break and be restored to second. 

The last eight laps would see Harrison throw the kitchen sink at Troutman but Drake would not buckle as he maintained his line and made no mistakes as he drove on for the ten grand win. Harrison would finish a strong second with Grabouski, Ledford and Kyle Steffens completing the top five. 

It was such a pleasure to listen to the Troutman interview. Only eighteen years old, he shows the maturity and level headedness of a veteran of many more years as he calmly and clearly answered the questions with no screaming, finger pointing and foaming at the mouth of some of the others. And in the last few years, he has had to overcome heartbreak and set backs that most of the others could not even imagine. 

It's hard to believe but this spectacular gets bigger each and every year. I've made it clear that there are some parts of this event that cause me to grind my teeth but it is hard to argue with the success that it has produced and continues to do so. Whatever the formula for success for this event is, they have managed to bottle it and break it out every December with more and more folks wanting to be a part of it. 

Thanks to the three lead announcers, Ben Shelton, Dustin Jarrett and Jerry VanSickel for their usual great job of calling the action. I particularly appreciate when Jarrett is calling the main event action and just before the green flag waves, he politely but firmly asks the crowd to maintain their seats so that all can see the action and for the most part, it seems to work. Thanks also to Cody Sommer for allowing me to be a very small part of the program and to all the employees of both Sommer and the Dome for their tireless work in this long three days of racing. 

The 2024 version of this event will be on December 5-7 and tickets will go on sale this coming Tuesday. I'm guessing that next year they are going to have to open up even more of the seats to accommodate all who desire to attend. 

Gateway Round Two Winners Include Thornton Jr(again) and Grabouski

 Round two of the Gateway Dirt Nationals took place on Friday night, December 18th at The Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis Missouri, right near both the Arc and the Mississippi River.

The program would be identical to Thursday night's show in that Late Models and Modifieds would qualify, run heats and B Features and wrap up the night with two main events that would lock in another three drivers in each division for Saturday night's big finale. 

On Friday, another sixty four Late Model drivers and thirty Modified drivers would be laying it all on the line in an effort to make Saturday night's show. 

It was announced at the driver's meeting on Friday that Thursday night's crowd was a record turn out for that night and based on what was seen on Friday, I would imagine that at some point there would also be an announcement that Friday night's crowd was also a record. So, thoughts that with the dates for this year's race falling so close to the Christmas holiday might slump the crowd have proven to be incorrect. Some folks might get shorted on their Christmas presents this year but enough money was scrapped up to pay for transportation, tickets and plenty of refreshments for the Gateway trip!

And just by the interviews by Trenton Berry asking folks where they are from and seeing the license plates in the parking lots etc., it is remarkable how many folks are from far flung places that chose to attend this race. Despite what you think about the atmosphere that Cody Summer has developed and cultivated for this event, it clearly has been much more than a one hit wonder and looks to be not only surviving but thriving. And there is much about the atmosphere for this event that I do not care for. Summer at the driver's meeting today mentioned that he wanted everything settled on the track but not brought into the pit area where there are kids around as this is a family event but I certainly wouldn't bring a child to this race, with some of the stuff on the track and in the grandstands that is not only condoned but encouraged. 

Much was made about the fact that "it rained on the track during the morning" and that the surface was much heavier than it was on Thursday which , quite frankly, wouldn't have taken much H2O, and it did race heavier for the first few events but before long the dust clouds were billowing again toward the ceiling. There was enough dirt up by the wall that some of the drivers were able to bang the cushion for most of the night but that big, heavy berm of some years just wasn't there. And this track seems to have only two choices, either very dry and hard when it gets slick and smooth or if any moisture is added at all, it gets bumpy and humpy and cars are lurching all over. There doesn't seem to be any in between choice. 

Things got off schedule early on Friday as a car flipped into the fence during Late Model time trials and a considerable break was needed to repair the fence and then later during Modified time trials there was a grinding two car collision after one car broke and stopped abruptly. So, by the time they dropped the first green flag they were about an hour behind their planned schedule but were pretty much able to stay on task after that. Even the two seater ride was marked by Tyler Carpenter knocking the right rear corner off that car. 

The Late Model driver who wrecked, Shaun Wiltjer-Hunt, along with his crew did a remarkable job getting their car fixed to race, minus the whole front end but later, in another chain reaction collision and without the front end bracing that was cut off previously, he knocked off the radiator and did other damage that ended his night. 

Much rough and border line dirty driving just expanded on Friday and while the track officials publicly clucked their tongues, I think secretly they were smiling as such controversy is what they like to brew in this WWE style event. Anything that takes place during this weekend should be taken with a grain of salt as it is more hippodrome than a racing event. 

Such things as a blatant takeout by Kyle Steffens on Mike McKinney in a Mod heat and then for Steffens to say it is payback for some alleged event that happened years ago and Gordy Gundaker's blatant take out of Steve Sheppard Jr while Steve was leading a heat and then Race Director Kelly Carlton dropping the ball by allowing Gundaker to be restored as the leader after Sheppard was knocked out of that spot reek of poor judgement at the minimum and favoritism at the worst. But that sort of thing is both ignored and cultivated here. 

After all the slamming and crashing and finger pointing and waving was done, eighteen cars made the grid for each of the two main events. The Late Models would go first with Chris Simpson shooting into the early lead in the Jason Suhre car out of central Illinois. This race was called back on the initial start when Simpson apparently got too good of start on Gundaker but the second attempt saw Simpson do the same so this time the race continued. 

Only three laps were completed before Ryan Montgomery got shoved over on to his roof in a multi car pileup. Again, something you will only see here and that was when Montgomery got the car righted, he fired it up and rejoined the race! He would eventually finish eleventh. 

Ricky Thornton Jr would move into second after starting fourth and would dog Simpson for the first half of the race. Following a spin by Ryan Unzicker on lap fifteen, Thornton Jr. would get a big run on the green. slide down inside Simpson and take over the lead. After that, the last eleven laps would go green to checkered and Thornton Jr would run away from the field. 

So Thornton Jr. won his second main of the weekend already and will sit in a good spot to perhaps accomplish the first double win in event history. Simpson would go on to finish second but add him to the long list of whiners after he complained that Thornton Jr. slid him for the lead and then just about stopped in front of him. That is the kind of criticism you take when you have a forty win season. Brandon Sheppard would do some wall pounding and move up to third and lock himself in for Saturday also. 

Drake Troutman would start on the pole for the Modified feature and would have seemed to be the likely winner. He would lead the first twelve laps of the race and through the four restarts following yellow flags. Jordan Grabouski would move up to second after starting fourth after he ran Dave Wietholder pretty much right off the track to claim second, a move that drew many "one fingered salutes" from the Wietholder faithful near me. 

Grabouski would make his move following the last restart as he slid in front of Troutman in turn one to claim the short lead. However, Troutman would cross him back over and retake the lead but Troutman was too hot into turn three, slid up the track and got stuck in the fluff and Grabouski would drive under him and retake the top spot. 

After that, both drivers went to the berm and with that turning into the fast lane and neither bobbling after that, Grabo would drive on for the win. Another wall pounder, Mike Harrison, would move up from sixth to claim the last lock in spot. With position changes seemingly most coming after yellow flags, one wonders if there would ever be any passing if there were no yellow flags these days. 

The win was an impressive one for Grabouski who is not a driver that races against these other competitors in the field very often. But I guess a Modified is a Modified, whether it has a crate motor and hard tires on it or an open motor on gumballs. I guess they all drive pretty much the same. 

The track does have a nice program for this event and even more surprisingly, it is free! Racing would be completed somewhere around 11 pm, later than hoped for but understandable given the unforseen circumstances that cropped up tonight. Saturday night will bring on a series of last chance races before the two big main events and as I type this, it is a good thing that tonight's events will be under a roof as it is pouring rain in St. Louis and outdoors this race would surely have been called off already. With all the rainouts at Marshalltown this year, perhaps J VAN should invest in a covered track. By the way, he is calling the action in the Modifieds this weekend for FLO. 

 

Gateway Openers To Hoffman and Thornton Jr.

 The Gateway Dirt Nationals kicked off on Thursday night, December 14th at the Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis. As has been the norm in the last few years, Late Models and Modifieds would be the two divisions racing on this weekend, with this being the first of three nights of racing action here. 

Both classes will run full shows on the opening two nights with the field split for the first two nights and then everyone will come back and race on Saturday for the big money main events. 

The Late Model field is open to everyone and it is first come, first served with the field filling very quickly once the go ahead was given to start entering. In fact, so many drivers want to test this event at least once that a back up list is developed with drivers then being added to the entry list if for some reason someone entered had to back out for whatever reason. There is always some last minute jockeying going on with sometimes drivers moved from Thursday to Friday or visa versa that alters the numbers slightly and this year there would be sixty three Late Model drivers ready to test the tight oval on Thursday. 

The Modified field, on the other hand, is by invitation only with drivers wanting to race presenting their resumes to the management who then doles out the invitations to drivers. The Modified field is kept small because there simply is neither the time nor space at the America's Center to house all the racers that would like to try this race at least once. Through experimenting over the years with numbers, the management has figured out just how many cars they can accommodate and still get the show over at an early time and avoid the very late nights that punctuated this event in its early years.  This year there would be twenty eight Modified drivers representing a broad range of sanctioning bodies and area to do battle. 

It is surprising but nice to see how many teams put special wraps on their cars for this event, especially knowing how the racing is here indoors and that lots of contact with each other and the walls is the norm for racing here. While some teams just presented their battle scarred machines, rubbed up after a long season of racing, there were many that had special wraps highlighting the Dome and St. Louis and others highlighting the holiday time of the year. Pictures were taken early, a wise thing, as while a few escaped damage, many were torn up before the night was over and some barely survived their first lap of competition. 

The pits had been rearranged this year with a totally new parking arrangement that saw the race cars parked in long rows nearly the length of the building instead of a maze of short rows everywhere and it seems to me to flow much better and better utilize the space in the building. Also to be noted was the change to the race track itself with the exit removed from turn two and instead redesigned at a different angle in turn three. This greatly decreased the number of bad wrecks when racers would hook the outside wall and drive out exiting turn two which had been the scene of many bad crashes over the years. Things went very smoothly on opening night once everyone figured out the procedure that they had to go to the infield and then drive backward up the track and out the exit, much like they do at East Moline, Macon and lots of other bull rings in the Midwest. 

It did not take long for the action to heat up as one of the weekend favorites, Hudson O'Neal, had his motor lock up on him and he pounded the first turn wall in hot laps and reported that he was done for the weekend before he could even turn a lap in competition. This was disappointing to his many fans on hand but certainly wouldn't be the only car to be eliminated early.

In and effort to keep the track smooth and not rut up like some years, the racing surface was really pounded down hard and quickly turned black and very slick. The only watering they did was right before the two feature races except to "tickle" the track a few times. Things were mighty dusty for the fans and while the drivers weren't bothered, the dust filtered down from the ceiling onto the fans like falling ash and everyone was pretty much covered before the night was over. It was not pleasant but as one of the drivers said, now that they have the track smoothed out for the weekend, they can probably put a little more water on starting on Friday to hopefully speed things up a bit and widen out the track more. 

The Late Model field was split into two groups for their six heat races and Nick Hoffman and Freddie Carpenter were the two quick qualifiers with Hoffman at 12.778 the fastest of all. Dave Hess would lead Mods at 13.412 seconds. 

Six heat races for the Late Models and four Modified heats would qualify cars for the main. Three B Features would set the final running order for the two, eighteen car main events, of which only the top three would be locked in for Saturday's main event. 

The action started quickly and there was plenty of it as you might expect on such a tight track with so much on the line and drivers feeling both extra pressure and adrenalin to make the shows and also be spectacular. Jason Feger was prominently featured in one of the big "dust ups" but he wasn't the only one for sure. 

Drivers were told at the driver's meeting that it they had a problem with another driver they should "settle it on the track"! That kind of mentality is what keeps some purists of the sport away from this event and I can't say that I totally disagree with them. This event is sold as one part racing, one part circus and one part WWE and some times things get out of hand here but I guess all should recognize that when they walk in the doors to either attend or race. Apparently this race can't be sold on its racing merits only and has to resort to some of the other things that we see on display. 

The slow and dusty track did not provide the most spectacular of feature races on Thursday but at least, after being plagued by many yellows in the preliminary events, when the evening's best drivers hit the track for the mains, they did better with only one yellow in the Late Model feature and two in the Modifieds. 

Nick Hoffman redrew the pole for the Late Model feature and as the quickest qualifier of the night, that was all the special break he needed as he led easily from start to finish to top the Late Model main. He pulled away right from the start with Jadon Frame trying to stay with him. Hoffman pulled out to a big lead before the lone yellow waved just one lap early of halfway. 

This eliminated all the slower cars that Hoffman had just caught from being a problem and he was able to pull away once again. Jason Welshan was able to get past Frame for second but was unable to cut into the lead of Hoffman. Nick just got to lapped traffic as the race ended so it worked out excellently for him. Only the top three were locked in for Saturday so Welshan and Frame also won't have to worry about getting themselves into the show on Saturday. 

The Modified feature saw Hess jump into the lead but the yellow waved before a lap could be completed and on the restart, Ricky Thornton Jr was better prepared and he got the jump on Hess to take over the top spot. Only one lap was completed before the yellow waved again but after that, they ran nineteen laps straight through to the finish. 

Thornton Jr was able to pull out to a big lead and only had to deal with a couple of lapped cars near the end which didn't hinder his effort at all. He had a big lead and pulled away from the field. Michael Ledford was able to get past Hess for second at midrace but never could close on the leader but they completed the top three and locked themselves in for Saturday night also. Only one driver in each of the two mains failed to complete the distance. 

The show was completed early with all racing done around 9:30 pm which the town fathers approve of since it releases hoards of hungry and thirsty folks loose to test the limits of downtown St. Louis after dark. One would be advised to be on foot in the downtown area this year as there is a ton of construction projects underway with many streets closed and navigating a thrill at best. 

The Friday night show will be a duplicate of Thursday night's with a whole new set of faces to compete in both classes and then everyone will  get back together on Saturday to crown champions in both classes.