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USMTS Modfieds Or Nebraska Football???
Former USMTS champion Jason Krohn won the feature last night at Jackson Speedway in Minnesota. The victory was Krohn’s first in over a year, a year in which he has changed chassis makers 5 times. His current chassis is from MB Customs-yes, Mars and Birkhofer known for their prowess behind the wheel of a late model, not a modified. If it works, why not?
Jon Tesch finished 2nd, Ryan Ruter was 3rd, and Ryan Gustin came home 4th. The current Casey’s Cup point standings were not available yet, but before last night’s race, Gustin was only 8 points behind Texan Rodney Sanders. Sanders ended up 6 spots behind Gustin, so I believe Gustin is now the point leader. Drivers only had to make a short trip from Jackson to Chateau Raceway, just north of Austin, Minnesota.
If I lived in the Austin area, I would make all five Labor Day weekend races. None of the tracks are more than a few hours away from the Austin home of head office of meat packing giant George A. Hormel. Minnesotans get more great modified racing in a week than Nebraskans do in a year. Of course, they also get the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, so it does equal out.
Would I rather be at Deer Creek Speedway tomorrow night watching a USMTS show, or in Lincoln tomorrow afternoon watching the Huskers play? Lincoln, but not by much. Honestly, I would not mind watching the NU game on TV in some Minnesota hotel and then head over to Deer Creek to watch some great modified action.
Mike Pierson went to US 30 Speedway last night and commented on a feature race that took much longer to complete than the others. Of course he was talking about B Mods aka IMCA Northern Sports Mods aka Sports Mods aka 360 mods. If you don’t have a family member or a friend racing in this class, I don’t think you can truthfully state you enjoy watching this class race. I enjoy watching late models and A mods race. I like watching Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks do battle on the track. I do not like the sports mods-this class simply drives me crazy. If this class is the future of dirt track racing, the future does not look very bright.
Thanks for stopping by.
Strange Days, Bucket List, Games, Plus Atlanta
I woke up this morning thinking that my old record player with its attachment to play 45’s was better than any MP3. I have no idea where that came from, unless it was the result of the Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza I had for supper last night. I no longer have the record player, but I still have all the 45’s I ever bought-most well worn, and few with dust jackets. I don’t have the record player, but there is always YouTube, and every time I have searched for a song I have found it there.
What that has to do with racing, I do not know. Next time you think I have strange thoughts about race events, just remember I have strange thoughts about many different things.
My Bucket List If I Win The Lottery doesn’t just include places and events I want to visit, it includes doing a Sunset Speedway book-and hopefully I will win the lottery before everyone who still remembers the track still remembers the track-and I typed it like I meant. It costs either a substantial amount of money to self-publish such a book, or a substantial amount of time (in addition to researching, interviewing, and writing) to do an incredible number of cumbersome tasks needed to publish a book. I don’t have the money; I don’t have the time, and know enough about the publishing tasks to know that no one in his right mind wants to do them.
Anyway, if I win the lottery, the book will become a reality, and along with the book would come a C.D. of old races that were taped, and a Sunset Speedway video game. Yes, both are expensive to have done, but if I win the lottery, I would not care. I would love to have a video game where it is 1999 and you could race a late model against Kyle Berck, the Kosiski’s, the Zeitners, Mark Wyman, etc. Wouldn’t it be cool to have the races called by the voice of Stan Cisar? I wouldn’t know how to have that happen, but heck, I don’t know how to have a video game happen either, and if one can be done for NASCAR, someone must be capable of doing it.
A book full of old Sunset photos; an oral history as told by scores of drivers, officials, and fans that made the track all it was along with a few musing by a writer or two; a C.D. full of old races, and a video game too. Wouldn’t that make for a nice Christmas present? Ah well, you all need to hope I win the lottery soon.
Unless I get a wild hair and decide to go to US 30 Speedway tomorrow, it appears like no racing this holiday weekend for me. Saturday will be Nebraska football. Sunday is a meeting of the Henry Ross Meyer Fan Club to celebrate his first birthday, and I am President of the club, so no racing that day. Boone for the Deery Brothers Late Model show at the IMCA Supernationals on Monday is tempting. Driving home from Boone on Highway 30 at 3:00 a.m. is not. Right now it is looking like Friday, September 14th for the Tiny Lund qualifying and SLMR show at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa might be my next race. Darn.
At least the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Atlanta doesn’t start until 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Henry’s party will be over by then, so I can at least watch a race on TV. In the past 10 years the fall-now the only-Atlanta race has had six different winners: Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne have won victory each, and Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, and Tony Stewart have won twice. Who is it going to be in 2012? Check back tomorrow for not only the rest of the dirt, but the last word in asphalt too.
Thanks for stopping by.
USMTS, I Have Been Married 42 Years, World 100, IMCA Supernationals
After 10 days off the USMTS series gets back into action tomorrow at Fairmont, Minnesota and Thursday night at Jackson, also in the GopherState. Promoter’s Gary Jacobsen and Jon McCorkell must be crazy. They teamed up to offer a ticket that allows fans to get into both shows for only $25. Promoters co-operating? Now that is something you don’t see everyday. Or every week. Or every season. I know promoters who would cut the throat of a promoter a few miles down the road, but never co-operate with him, even when it is in everyone’s best interest to do so. Two thumbs up to Gary and Jon and I hope they both have a packed grandstand.
Ryan Gustin is the cover boy on the September 2012 issue of Speedway Illustrated. No, you can’t find it at a bookstore, you have to subscribe to the magazine. To subscribe to the magazine, go to: www.speedwayillustrated.com for details.
Today is my 42nd wedding anniversary. No, I do not know how Jane has put up with me for so long. She will watch NASCAR on TV, though she usually naps during the race, but she will not go to a dirt track. Before we were married she went to Sunset Speedway with me often. In the first few years we were married she would go to Sunset occasionally, but each time more reluctantly than the last. I can’t tell you the last time she went to a race, but it could not have been after the 1975 season. Anyway, Matt discourages me from encouraging our spouses to attend races with us, something about them wrecking the evening.
The Best Appearing Car at the World 100 will receive a $1,000 bonus. Actually only cars with a special design for the event can win, and the prize is split between the car and the graphic designer. I like the idea, though the special design seems to be a lot of expense to win the prize. I have been trying to come up with an idea to replace the Fan’s Vote at the Silver Dollar Nationals and maybe a contest like this would be something to heighten fan’s interest in the event. There were many great looking cars at this year’s event. Maybe a $500 prize could be given to the best looking late model and another $500 prize to the best looking USMTS modified. I am open to ideas on this.
There are already over 600 entrants for the IMCA Supernationals at Boone, Iowa next week, with 216 modifieds the most in any division. 25 states and several Canadian provinces are already represented. I always am on the fence about this event-some years I tell myself I really need to go, others I am less enthused, seeing 600+ race cars as too much of a good thing. That is the side I am on this year.
If you can’t go to Boone, check out the XSAN article in the news on IMCA’s website. For $75 you can watch all the racing all six nights, or you can watch a single night of racing for $15. With 60 races some nights, $15 seems like a reasonable fee.
Does anyone really see all 60 races on a given Supernationals’ night? Between concession stand lines, restroom lines, and a need for sleep as the races go into the wee hours of the morning, it seems unlikely that anyone can truthfully claim to see every lap of every race any night, let alone all 6 nights. If there is a fan I am not sure if he deserves a trophy or to be sent somewhere for a long rest.
Thanks for stopping by.
Ride With Rusty Wallace, Plus Some MLRA
Craig Kelley sent me the following link for a discount to the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience. Any weekend in October you can schedule a 4 lap ride or a 12 lap you drive the car experience at Iowa Speedway, just east of Newton, Iowa off I-80. With the coupon the ride is $64 and drive is $199.
About 10 years ago we were in Daytona and I wanted to do the Richard Petty Ride Experience, but my wife balked at the $105 for three laps cost. With the coupon this seems like a good bargain-$16 a lap vs. $35 per lap for the Petty experience, AS LONG AS Rusty’s son Steve isn’t driving.
Yes, Randy, I do know that if I did the ride along they would probably have to change the set up on the car because of all the additional right side weight. And yes, I assume they would have to go to a tent maker to get a fire suit big enough to fit me. And no, I would not be too afraid to climb into the race car. I’ve ridden thousands of miles with your buddy Boy Genius and that would prepare me for anything short of a roll over by the professional driver.
Oh, and great directions Rstar. Why not just tell us to go to Beatrice to park? Actually, between BG’s big donation and having TicketMaster on speed dial we’ll get a parking permit for a lot a few blocks east of the stadium for slightly less than a ridiculous amount. It will be great to see the Huskers back in action again. Tony Anville thinks Nebraska will play in the Rose Bowl twice this season-in September against UCLA, and on January 1st against Oregon.
The MLRA was part of the show at Missouri State Fairground Speedway in Sedalia that was cancelled after the second of two separate bad accidents. Next up for the series is a Saturday evening show at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri. On 9/15 the MLRA drivers travel to Springfield, Missouri and the series last two nights of racing are at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City during the NASCAR weekend at Kansas Speedway on October 19th and 20th.
John Anderson holds a 310 point lead over second place Jesse Stovall. It appears that even with bonus points and if Anderson was a no show for the last four nights of racing that Stovall could not accumulate enough points to top Anderson. Mark Dotson is only 3 points behind Stovall, so that is certainly a point battle, and Terry Phillips could still catch Kevin Sather who is just 25 points ahead of him in 4th place.
Thanks for stopping by.
NASCAR, And Rain + Dirt = Mud
Will Matt Kenseth ever admit to causing a wreck in a NASCAR race? I can’t ever remember him saying “yeah, that was a really dumb move on my part, I should have had more patience.” He kept his streak intact last night, not accepting the blame that sent Tony Stewart’s car to the Bristol Motor Speedway garage for 25 laps for repairs.
Of course without Kenseth being Kenseth we would not have had Tony Stewart throwing his helmet at the 17 car. I enjoyed that spontaneous burst of emotion far more than I do the now lame burn-outs every winning driver seems compelled to do.
While Kenseth cannot admit the truth, I admit I enjoyed watching Carl Edwards passed by car after car late in the race, then running out of gas in the closing laps to end up finishing 22nd in a race that was close to a must win for the Missouri driver.
I would be doing a good imitation of Kenseth if I said it broke my heart to see Brad Keselowski smack into a wall and end up finishing 30th. I suppose it was cheating by the Hendrick and Childress teams that caused his spin.
I was pleased to see Jeff Gordon finish near the front of the field, but he is currently in third in the wild card standings and needs a win, not a solid third place finish. For Gordon to make the 2012 Chase without a win at Atlanta or Richmond, no other wild card contenders can win either race and Kyle Busch needs to run poorly at one or both of the tracks. The odds get longer every week.
Both World of Outlaws late model races were rained out this weekend. Neither date will be made up. The Lucas Oil series race at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana was a go, and Jimmy Owens easily claimed the $10,000 winner’s share of the purse by defeating Don O’Neal by almost a straightaway. John Blankenship, Steve Francis, and Brian Birkhofer made up the remainder of the top five.
I am crossing my fingers but not holding my breath that the Labor Day weekend will hold more racing for me than this weekend. Right now it is looking like my only race will be riding with Matt to the Nebraska game on Saturday and he drives like that other Matt in NASCAR. I wonder if Highway 77 south of Fremont is open yet, and if 14th street coming into Lincoln is open. I hope so, or the conversation on the way to Lincoln is liable to sound like Jeff Gordon talking to his crew chief about Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Michigan.
Thanks for stopping by.
Late Model No-No, Lucas Oil, WoO, And I’ll Get By With A Little Help From-My Readers
Todd Turner, one of the www.dirtondirt.com columnists listed the Top Five No No’s For Late Model Features. Number one was features that start after 11:00 p.m. That occurs far too often, and not just with late models.
Back gate promoters have added so many classes, it seems to take forever merely to finish hot laps, let alone heats, consolations, and features. The difference in talent level in some classes is so great it adds to the length of shows-B mods are the best example of this. You have experienced modified drivers dropping down a class racing against drivers with far less experience and inferior equipment. Bad things happen when fast cars are mixed in with cars that have great difficulty going through corners, even difficulty keeping a car straight on a straight away.
I think promoters need to be serious with enforcing the “lone ranger” rule-you spin on your own, you don’t restart before the yellow flag flies, you go to the pits for the rest of that race. Anything that eliminates caution flags is good-cautions are a time consuming, boring element of racing. Also, I understand that officials need a break during the evening, so yes a short intermission is needed. But keep it short. No more than 15 minutes tops-and don’t say “short intermission” and start racing a half hour or more later.
Yes, I know I have said these things many times in many ways, and the tracks that were getting it right before still are, and the tracks
that were not getting it right still are too. As that old song about promoters goes-“when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?” Well, it could have been about dirt track promoters.
35 cars took to the high banks of Volunteer Speedway at Bulls Gap, Tennessee. This track is on my bucket list if I win the lottery, if for no other reason the name of the nearby town. Billy Ogle crossed the finish line ahead of Scott Bloomquist in a race that saw the two drivers exchange the lead several times. Don O’Neal was third followed by Chris Madden and Vic Hill. The 50 lap race was caution free-wow, you don’t see that very often. The Lucas Oil series heads to Lawrenceburg, Indiana tomorrow night for a $10,000 to win show.
WoO has a busy stretch starting tomorrow night with a $10,000 to win show at Winchester Speedway in Virginia. The series heads to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania on Sunday, and Little Valley Speedway in New York on Wednesday, both $10,000 to win races. On September 1st, the WoO drivers will head to the Bull Ring, Tyler County Speedway in West Virginia for a $30,000 to win event.
The SLMR late models visit Junction Motor Speedway tomorrow night and head to Shelby County Speedway the following Saturday. There are only five races left on their schedule for 2012. The 2012 season is nearly over-the high school football season began last night, and college teams take to the field next week. The racing is good with many big dollar specials coming up, but by the end of October you have to have Ivan Tracy money to head to Arizona or other southern states to see any racing. That always bums me-in part because it means I am one year older and I know that I have already watched more seasons end than I will see in the future, partly because it will be at least five months before I sit in the grandstands and hear an 800 horsepower engine fire up again, and partly because it means cold weather is on the way, and I hate the cold.
Of course I have Mr. Henry Ross Meyer to pay attention to in the coming months and I can enjoy every new discovery this amazing young man makes. There is also college football, college basketball, and the Ron Meyer Reclamation Project to keep me busy. And knowing my son Matt, I can count on some magic to make me shake my head in wonder. I’ll get by with a little help from my family and friends-sung in a voice far worse than Ringo’s.
Thanks for stopping by.
Bristol, Minnesota, Kansas-NASCAR, USMTS, MLRA
This weekend the NASCAR action comes takes place in the Great Smoky Mountains area of Bristol, Tennessee. The Bristol Night Race-so famous it has to be shown in caps. This race used to be the hardest race ticket to get, and was one I would not even consider missing on TV. The action was non-stop, fast and furious, blink and you would miss something important. Cautions were inevitable, and drivers were ill-tempered five days before the start of the race. It was Earnhardt and Wallace and Waltrip and it was fun to watch.
Now it is Kenseth and Keselowski, Edwards and Johnson, and even with a “new”old track it doesn’t have the same feel as the Bristol races of yore. I’ll watch some of the race, maybe all of it. Owner Bruton Smith had work done on the track to once again give it the flavor of the old Bristol, but Johnson beating and banging with Edwards, Kyle Busch bumping Brad Keselowski, or Greg Biffle knocking Denny Hamlin into the wall just doesn’t have the same flavor as Earnhardt spinning out Terry Labonte for a win. That was a jumping off the couch moment, cussing or cheering depending on your favorite. Kyle Busch knocking Jeff Gordon out of the way on turn four of lap 500 might get me off the couch cussing, but anyone else doing anything similar would probably just draw a yawn and a question wondering if a rerun of “Storage Wars” or “Cajun Pawn Stars” was on.
No, the Bristol night race just doesn’t feel the same, just is not a “can’t miss it” race. But that is NASCAR for you. Every change the series makes to better entertain fans seems only to provide a flavor that is always vanilla. I don’t hate vanilla; I just want something less bland.
Who should I curse with TRODT’s choice of the week? I’ll say Kyle Busch will win the race and nail down a wild card spot in The Chase. He has done well at the track in the past and needs a visit to Victory Lane to keep his championship canoe from sinking. It won’t be easy though as there are about four other drivers desperate to win one of the final three non-Chase races.
My racing schedule looks like whatever is on TV this weekend. I am not sure what next week will hold. Matt is making noises about Fairmont or Jackson, Minnesota, but I think he is just trying to irritate me. I’ve been to Fairmont and like the track and like their pork chop sandwiches and would certainly go there for a USMTS race. I have never been to Jackson, but wouldn’t mind going even though the race is next Thursday night. I am going to call his big talk on either race or even both, but I suspect all he is doing is bluffing. Oh well.
He is also making noise about Lakeside Speedway in October for the MLRA race. Probably just noise, but I wouldn’t mind that. We could go to the qualifying day at Kansas Speedway and watch both the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series practice and qualify, and then head up the road a few miles to Lakeside for the late model show. Nebraska plays at Northwestern that weekend, so there would be no conflict about getting home late and having to get up early to go to Lincoln for a football game. Heck that would be a great birthday present, even though my birthday is in September.
If we don’t go to Minnesota, I am not sure when I will go racing again. We are celebrating Mr. Henry Ross Meyer’s first birthday on Sunday, September 2nd, so I-80 Speedway that night is out. I have been thinking of a trip to US 30 Speedway some Thursday, but I have also been getting up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to go to the Fremont Y Wellness Center to work out (I have lost 17 pounds, thank you), and that makes for a short night. I hate to think that the Friday night of the Tiny Lund in Harlan will be my next night of racing but it may be.
Thanks for stopping by.
Sedalia, USMTS, Plus Cliches I Don’t Use
Here is a reply to yesterday’s post about the pit accident at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia:
“Did you notice the inside guardrail in the Sedalia video? It’s almost non-existent. Whoever let that happen – and whatever insurance company overlooked it – probably isn’t sleeping well these days. This happened after a sprint car went through the fence and the driver had to be airlifted out. Then they cancel the show and the racers don’t get paid. Pretty lousy night in Sedalia all the way around, and that place is notorious for having one fiasco after another.”
TRODT: Your comment wasn’t the first I received wondering how insurance could overlook an obvious safety issue. I understand that when cars going fast bump bad things can happen, incidents that no one can perceive happening. However, that guardrail was something bad waiting to happen and the track’s insurance carrier should have demanded it be upgraded.
Believe it or not, the USMTS modifieds have not raced since Saturday night, and won’t race again until Wednesday August 29th.That is the start of a five day trip around southern Minnesota. I don’t envy Minnesotans their harsh winter, but I do envy their access to USMTS racing. The Land of 10,000 Lakes is host to 23 nights of USMTS racing while Cornhusker State fans were entertained by the best modified drivers a scant 3 times in 2012.
If you like stats, the USMTS website offers enough to satisfy even the nuttiest number fiend. Most laps led? Ryan Gustin, no surprise there, but he doesn’t do it starting on the pole either. Gustin is tied with Rodney Sanders for the lead in the Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger Award. Gustin has led 516 laps this season, with Terry Phillips second in laps led at 303. Gustin does OK in qualifying, but his interest seems to peak when there is cold, hard cash on the line.
If someone asked me to take a wild guess as to how many different chassis manufacturers have started a USMTS race in 2012, I would have guessed 20. I wasn’t even close. 55 different manufacturers have had a car race in at least one series event. Hughes Racing Chassis has won 32 of the 54 USMTS features run this year.
100 different engine builders are represented in USMTS standings. 11 different engine builders can claim at least 10 win, with Mullins Race Engines of Mt. Olive, Illinois the leader at 20 wins.
Gustin is the leading money winner taking home $85,340 in 49 races, an average of $1741.63 per event. 9 drivers racing a Casey’s Cup event have won just $60. The National Series champion will collect a year end bonus of $30,000, while the Casey’s Champion will pocket a bonus check of $15,000. Gustin’s money total doesn’t include big dollar non-point races at Deer Creek, Minnesota or Humboldt, Kansas.
At least 325 drivers have competed in a race in each USMTS division. Yes, many have competed in both. If someone wants the exact number of drivers to compete in a USMTS event, well, have fun counting because you are crazier than me.
Writer’s Digest editors came up with a list of 12 clichés to avoid. I don’t recall using any of them. I don’t know whether that should please me, or if I should be upset that the clichés I do use can’t even make the top ten. Maybe none of the editors writes about sports.
Thanks for stopping by.
Pits Are Always Dangerous, Plus A Good Writer Retires
Thanks to Scott McBride for sending me the link below:
http://fox4kc.com/2012/08/19/race-car-mo-state-fair-crashesseveral-injured/
The video has been seen several times on CNN and shows that a race car jumped a fence and ended up in the pits at the Missouri State Fairgrounds Speedway in Sedalia, injuring five people, three serious enough to require a life flight to the hospital.
To me, the pit area at a race track is a dangerous place. It always have been, and even with a well thought out track safety plan, it remains a dangerous place. I always worried about Matt’s safety the years he was on Joe Kosiski’s pit crew-not because Joe and his crew were not safety conscious, they were, but because the worst accidents are always something crazy, something no one ever thought would happen but did.
I am on my soap box now, but I am not a fan of allowing children into the pits of any race track. A mom or baby sitter need only turn away for just a split second for disaster to happen. Children belong in the grandstands at a race track. I realize many people don’t agree with me. All you can do is what you believe is right.
I am also not a fan of allowing pit spectators to stand along guard rails or on any infield berm to watch a race. There are plenty of enclosed trailers to stand on-trailers that are away from on track action.
I doubt this suggestion will be popular among promoters, but any track with infield pits should have a catch fence surrounding it, a catch fence as strong as in front of the grandstand area, and only pit entrances on the corners or in the middle of the front or back stretch should not be fenced in. Maybe that seems like overdoing it and would be a big one time expense for a track, but I would rather over do actions on the side of safety than ignore a potential hazard.
This does bring back a humorous memory though. Years ago when Matt and I went to the MikeDuvallRaceSchool, on track sessions were held at Carolina Speedway, near Gastonia, North Carolina. I do remember a fence, at least along the front stretch of the pits, and why I remember is it was topped by barbed wire. I am not sure if that was meant to keep drivers in or fans out. Along the North Carolina/South Carolina border it was probably for both reasons.
If you still want to call me overly safety conscious, so be it. I have observed too many multi-car crashes with cars and car parts flying everywhere to think “it can’t happen here.” I have watched too many ambulances leaving a track with an injured human being to not think about safety every time I go to a race track. I have watched six life flight helicopters leave a track, wondering if the person being flown to a hospital was dead or alive, and that is a sick, horrifying feeling. I’ll error on the side of safety. I think you and every race track should too.
Listed below is a link my son Matt sent me:
http://www.frontstretch.com/mmclaughlin/41124/
The link goes the Front Stretch website of Matt McLaughlin. McLaughlin has been a voice of reason trying to be heard over the insane roar of NASCAR hype. He proved the antithesis of Waltrip-take your pick which one, McReynolds, Petty, Dallenbach, etal, all homers singing the NASCAR endorsed song badly. McLaughlin was the sheriff who wanted to clean up the town, only to discover the mayor wanted it to remain dirty. He was outrageous, he was funny, and now he is leaving. The world of NASCAR will NOT be better off without him.
McLaughlin is leaving for economic reasons. Surprise, surprise, his racing blog did not make enough money for him to live on. Well, maybe it is a surprise to you, it is no surprise to me. Thousands of hits a month does not translate into thousands of dollars a month in income for a racing blog. Sponsors are reluctant to spent money on trying to swim against the current. Other than selling ads a racing blogger can charge a subscription to his readers, or try earning a living selling some product generated by the blog. In a tough economy not many readers are willing to pay for what amounts to one man’s opinion, no video included, and if there is a product readers of a racing blog can’t do without, I wish I knew what it was. I would like my blog to make some money too.
Matt McLaughlin-you will be missed. Thanks for all of your great posts. And to my readers, thank you for stopping by.
More Thnunder, Some USMTS, And Danica Is NOT A Shoe Lover
One thing I missed in yesterday’s post about the truck and tractor pull was the wild ride one tractor driver took. Most of the tractors will lift their front wheels off the ground at some point during the pull. Many times it is more than once, and occasionally the wheels will get higher than the roll cage on the tractor. That happened to one driver yesterday and when the wheels came down they were not facing straight ahead. The tractor looked more like a bucking bronco than a vehicle with four wheels. The big screen replay showed the driver being flung around and hitting his head on both sides of the roll cage.
The drivers do wear a fire suit, a full face helmet, have safety belts, and wear a neck collar. Seeing that ride though, I wonder if something like the HANS device is needed in this sport. With race cars it seems like some of the energy of the crash is dissipated in the body of the car. In this case it seemed like most of the energy of the crash was dissipated in the body of the driver.
Can anyone other than Tony Anville attest to the fact that there was a demolition derby in Auburn on Saturday? He sent photos to Matt supposedly of the event taking place that night, but I wonder. He is far behind me in our annual contest of who goes to the most motorsports events, and I have a feeling he is using dubious methods to catch up.
Jon Tesch has only two USMTS wins this season, but they came Friday night at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin and Saturday night at Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah. The Tesch dry spell wasn’t quite Dale Earnhardt Jr. proportions, but it had been over 11 months since the Watertown, South Dakota farmer won a USMTS feature.
47 cars were on hand in Fountain City, and Jason Hughes, Joey Jensen, Ryan Gustin, and Rodney Sanders made up the top five in the A feature. Only 25 USMTS modifieds signed in at Decorah. Sanders, Jensen, Al Hejna, and Dereck Ramirez made up the top five.
Johnny Scott captured the checkered flag Sunday night at Nobles County Speedway in Worthington, Minnesota. Scott was followed by Rodney Sanders, Bryan Rowland, and his twin brother Stormy Scott. Sanders took over the Casey’s Cup point lead from Ryan Gustin who finished 24th.
I am in favor of the two caution flag rule-a driver who causes two yellow flags to fly on his own, no help from anyone else is sent to the pits for the race. I wonder how many times in the past this rule was used on the leading driver in the series. It was last night in Worthington. Ryan Gustin brought out a yellow early in the race when he had a flat tire. He went to the back of the field and on lap 18 spun out on his own bringing out a caution and ending his night.
Did you see the video of Danica Patrick driving over a shoe during the Nationwide Series race in Montreal? No, it didn’t happen in the pits, and there was no leg attached to the shoe. Someone threw a shoe unto the track and Patrick-who was leading the race at the time-ran over it. Whether that caused any damage is unclear, but a few laps later a bar that holds the car’s rear end housing came loose and she had to pit three times under caution. Later in the race she broke an axle and ended up finishing 27th in the race.
Throwing a shoe on the track? That sounds like something a redneck would think of as funny. Are there French Canadian Rednecks? Apparently Danica attended the Jeff Gordon School of Bad Luck sometime in the past because just like the 24 car in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, Patrick’s green number 7 has had some very strange things happen to it while she is doing well in the race.
Thanks for stopping by.
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