It was a good run in New Mexico and Arizona for us, but now it is time to move on and see some different sites, experience some new adventures and see some different race tracks and drivers.
We leave behind the brown, dry, generally sunny and spectacular views of the desert and instead trade it for the lush green, sometimes humid and stormy and always swampy region of the Southeast. However, to get from one extreme to the other, a few hours of seat time in the vehicle is needed.
We left right after the races on Saturday at Casa Grande and drove for a few hours before we stopped for the night. Sunday was a long day of driving as he managed to get all the way from New Mexico to Mobile Alabama before throwing in the towel for a few hours and then finishing up the trip on Monday in time to get to the first show at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton. The final total. two thousand, one hundred and twelve point seven miles from track to track. The trip was interesting, boring and hair raising from time to time. Texas is the most over rated state in the nation as many of us in the Midwest already know. Traffic clowns in San Antonio and Houston made the driving even more unsettling than it needed to be. But we made it anyway and in time to stroll the pits at East Bay before Monday night's racing began.
The Florida Speed Weeks journey for us would begin on Monday night, January 29th at the East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton Florida. This week it would be the UMP Modifieds racing in a solo division program all week. As most everyone knows by now, this is the final season of racing for East Bay and thus their final Speed Weeks ever. The track was sold several years ago and following an abbreviated season this year and a fifty thousand to win finale for the Lucas Oil Late Models this Fall, the track will be closed forever with the mining company next door taking over the property.
Normally the UMP Mod portion of the program is a five night stand but track owner Al Varnadore decided to all one additional night to the series in its farewell season. Thus the Mods will be racing six straight nights, weather permitting with the finale on Saturday scheduled to pay five grand. Not much has changed at East Bay for its final season. No new projects or touch ups were apparent as what you see is what you get at East Bay. Numbers have been put on all the seats this year and as opposed to all previous years when just the top few rows were reserved seats, the entire facility except one cheesy section near the pit gate is reserved, top to bottom. Apparently this presented one last chance before closing down to rake in just a few more bucks. The sign on the back stretch wall has been updated to indicate that EBRP was started in 1977 and will end in 2024.
I got a surprise at the driver's meeting when I learned what the format would be for the racing program on this night and the two following nights. Instead of the format that has been followed for years and years here where the drivers qualify, they run heat races straight up with a few moving into the main and then the rest run B Features to determine the last few entrants into the main.
Not this year though. Following qualifying, the drivers would be split into three groups of about twenty five a piece. They would run three feature races and that would be the program. Yep, a three race program. Surely not much of a show for the fans. The first few nights of this series have always been lean when it came to crowd size, but now there is a real reason not to show up until the weekend. This is not much to see, at least in my estimation. But apparently this is what they did last week for the Crate Late Models too and Volusia does it for their opening nights of the Mods also. However, that still doesn't mean it's right.
In previous years, one of the reasons that the drivers raced hand on the opening nights was that points were calculated for each night and that is what lined up the races on Saturday night. Now, that too has been eliminated for the first three nights too so in reality, the drivers are just testing the first three nights with the results meaningless, especially considering that they are running for fairly small purses on the first three nights. Perhaps for the first time in the history of this race, we will see teams move in on Thursday night and be contenders for the win on Saturday and that has never happened here before because of the format, and there are several teams that usually race here that were not seen on opening night. I guess we will all find out together if that occurs. I never saw this change in the format posted and from the reaction of the drivers, most didn't know it either. The car count was up substantially for the farewell year of this event as last year there were upper fifties for cars and this year, seventy six drivers signed in to race for the opener, making for three big feature races. And just like the Sunny Day's Little League kid's baseball tournament, all drivers that sign in will get their participation trophy by being allowed to start a feature race, no matter how slow they were. If you sense a bit of sarcasm on Positively Racing, you would be correct.
The only good thing that can be said about a three feature race program that offers only time trial qualification as a prelude is that it should be a short night of racing. Of course, that would be an incorrect assertion in this case as a combination of the tricky East Bay surface and a lot of ridiculous driving by many, who apparently thought that the winner's share had a couple more zeros on the back end of the number than there really was, would lead to a smash fest that would see twenty three yellow flags in just those three races and less than half the field around for the checkers in all three races. After such smooth racing seen in Arizona and New Mexico, this demo derby of a night was a shock to the system.
Twenty five cars would start the first of the three feature races with quick qualifier Lucas Lee on the pole. Lee would lead the first three laps of the race which would also include the first two yellow flags. The track was very difficult to assess as it had black patches in the corners but was slimy up against the wall and every time the yellow would wave, it would seem to get slicker and slicker and this quite cool and damp feeling night. Jason Garver and Brian Skaggs would close in on the leader and on lap four, Garver would get around Lee for the lead and the outside on the restarts seemed to be the best option and some drivers had all kinds of trouble getting their machines to turn in the corners and with no one giving an inch, lots of collisions took place.
Kyle Strickler and Kevin DeYoung both moved into the top five and Strickler looked like he might be a challenger, moving into third before he broke just after the halfway point of the race with DeYoung also following him to the side lines shortly afterward. Lee and Skaggs would continue their scrap for second for much of the race with the last of seven yellows waving with just four laps to go.
Garver pulled away once again and he would drive on for the win with Lee fighting off Skaggs for second. Ray Bollinger, after triggering a first lap yellow, would fight his way back through the field for fourth with Seth Daniels fifth. Only ten cars were running at the finish with most looking like they had lost a small war to get to that point.
Another twenty five would hit the track for war number two with this event being even rougher on the equipment as the yellow would wave ten times and only eight cars would be operable at the finish of this one.
Rodney Wing, former excellent Late Model driver and track owner in Mississippi, would be driving for Jeff Mathews this week and would start on the outside pole where he got the jump on EBRP point champion Brian Bernhardt to take the early lead. It took three attempts to get just one lap in but Wing and Bernhardt had some of the best racing of the night as they went at it with Bernhardt throwing the kitchen sink at Wing but Rodney continuing to fight him off.
Will Krup moved up and with Bernhardt trying so hard for the lead, he left the door open and Krup would sneak past him for second. They would continue to run in this fashion through the halfway point which would include eight yellow flags for one car spins and some big crashes. Local driver David Pollen and North Dakota's Joseph Thomas would close into the top five and as drivers dropped back and slipped up, Thomas was particularly adept at taking their spots.
Krup would spin with just two laps to go after he got plenty of help from Bernhardt and that will something to watch the rest of the week as Krup was justifiably upset and with no protection rule in place, he had to go to the back while Bernhardt continued to race in second. Wing would pull away on the final restart but Bernhardt tried too hard and slipped up in the slime and Thomas would drive past him to take second as the finish. Behind Bernhardt, it was Mike Potosky and Pollen at the finish with only eight cars still on the track.
Austin Holcombe would lead from start to finish in the third feature which would have plenty of issues of its own. Holcombe, even though he would win the event, would cause his share of problems as he was having mechanical issues that would cause his car to bog on the starts and restarts and he created a stack up on the first attempt when he didn't fire and several collided behind him and then later the same things happened once again with him somehow being lucky enough to avoid being tagged for his problems.
Later he would figure out how to adjust and it wouldn't be an issue further and once he was rolling, he was fast. He did get a fairly stiff challenge from Chris Wilson several times but each time he would fight off the push. Oscar McCown was on the move near the halfway point and was challenging for second until he spun and triggered the last yellow of the night which was a dandy as four cars smashed into him and each other.
After that, with the field reduced, they actually ran the longest stretch of green flag racing all night as the last thirteen laps would go green to checkered. Holcombe would pull away to take the win with Wilson second and Jeremy Rayburn driving as smooth and steady as was possible on such a night, moving up to take third. Treb Jacoby and Travis Varnadore would complete the top five. Ten cars would still be mobile at the finish of this event.
With qualifying being held, of course the program would not start as advertised with the first green flag happening just before 8 pm. With all the yellows it took just at two hours to run off the three features so it wasn't as early an evening as some would have hoped on a down right cool evening with Winter coats being advisable.
Hopefully, by Tuesday night, everyone will have simmered down just a bit and also hopefully all the damaged equipment can be repaired so the Modifieds can put on a show that they are capable of and can be proud of instead of Monday night's fiasco.
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