2010 Illinois State Fair Racing recap

It has come and gone again.  Racing at the Illinois State Fair is done again.  Friday night before Saturday' scheduled USAC Silver Crown 50th Annual Tony Bettnhausen Memorial 100 and UMP Modified 1st Annual Illini Dash, heavy rains bombarded the Springfield area, including the Illinois State Fairgrounds.  It was bad enough that USAC and Track Enterprises both agreed to cancel the show. 

Sunday was a different story for the ARCA Re/Max Series Allen Crowe Memorial 100 and 17th Annual  Sportsman Nationals.  Steve Arpin was fast in practice, and won the pole for the ARCA race.  He established early he was going to be a contender.  The Sportsman Nationals race was the 1st event.  Four time champion Dennis Vandermeersch started on the pole with 5 time champion Wes O'Dell right behind him.  Three time champion Jeff Leka started deep in the field, while one time winner Timmy Dick was right behind O'Dell.  Only 4 time champion Steve Sheppard Jr. was the only previous winner not in attendance.  The green flag dropped and early on Vandermeersch made it well known he was the car to beat.  Jeff Leka  marched up through the field as well.  For over half of the race, the 4 previous winners ran 1-4, with Vandermeersch leading O'Dell, Leka, and Dick.  Trouble would strike Leka late when Dick went into 1 too hard and make contact with Leka causing him to wreck.  It was obvious Jeff was upset.  This happened at the same time that Ethan Schnapp lost a motor.  The only way I knew there was contact between the 2 was that there was right rear quarter panel damage that wasn't there before.  Vandermeersch went on to tie Wes O'Dell's record of 5 Sportsman Nationals titles.  This was his 3rd in a row.

Next was the 48th Annual Allen Crowe 100 ARCA Re/Max Series event.  It is always awesome to see NASCAR style stock cars race on the dirt.  The race took the green with Steve Arpin leading lap 1.  He would lead the first 7 laps before Soddy Daisy, Tennessee's Ron Cox, a mason and substitute high school teacher by profession and racer at heart, took the lead.  He would lead a large portion of the race.  Arpin found the backstreth wall on lap 14 and did damage to the right rear.  He had a tire rub after that.  This would come back to bite him later in the race.  The first yellow would fly on lap 27 for debris.  West Lake, Louisiana driver Mikey Kile and Venturini Motorsports teammate Steve Arpin were the only 2 to stay out and were running 1st and 2nd on the restart.  The race went back to green on lap 33.  Kile slipped coming off of 2 and Arpin blew by him to retake the lead while Frank Kimmel, 9 time ARCA Re/Max Series champion and 7 time Allen Crowe 100 winner, was in 3rd not even 7 laps into the restart.  He was showing that he was going to be there in the end, no surprise to me as he runs extremely well on the dirt.  The yellow flag would fly again on lap 37 for Tim George Jr of New York.  He backed his Richard Childress Development #31 Chevy into the turn 4 wall.  He would be able to drive away and keep racing.  The race went back to green with 40 laps in the books.  Arpin got heavy pressure from Kile as Kile while Kile felt Frank Kimmel breathing down his neck.  They ran this way until the yellow came out on lap 57 for Patrick Sheltra, who went outside a lap car and lost it and backed into the turn 3 wall, causing pretty heavy left rear damage.  Mikey Kile came in when the pits opened on lap 60 but Arpin ended up staying out.  This decision would come back to haunt Arpin not too far after this.  Robb Brent also had a brake fire during the pit stops as well.  He reported early to his Allgaier Motorsports crew that he was losing them.  You could see extinguisher material go up in the air from the stands and seen it on his wheels when he pulled back out.  The race would go back to green on lap 63 and King Kimmel as he is known to some, was all over the Fort Frances, Ontario native Arpin.  Arpin ended up losing a tire on lap 64 as Kimmel was able to blow by.  Arpin drove around for a couple laps until the yellow flew on lap 65 for him slowing.  He stayed on the lead lap.  He stopped to get fresh right side tires.  The green flag came back out with 70 of the scheduled 100 laps in the books.  Cox would pressure Frank Kimmel heavily.  Meanwhile, Arpin was slicing his way up through the field.  Disaster struck as Kimmell lost the car coming off of 2 while leading and he hit the wall causing significant front end damage to his Menards/Ansell #44 Ford Fusion.  He would pit, take 4 tires and make repairs, but not before losing a lap to the field.  The green flag came back out on lap 76.  Will Kimmel, son of Frank Kimmel's brother Bill, had problems while running in the top 5 and ended up dropping out.  With 20 to go Arpin had come back from around 23rd to 6th.  Right behind him was Patrick Sheltra, who had worked his way up from back in the field as well after his earlier accident.  Frank Kimmel lost some debris RIGHT in front of the flagstand and race control, but it sat there for 2 laps before the yellow finally waved on lap 86.  Ironically, Kimmel was the 1st car one lap down and got the Lucky Dog award, which put him back on the lead lap.  Sheltra was running 7th at this point.  Cox was leading.  The race restarted on lap 91 and Sheltra made one hell of a ballsy move by going up top and passing everyone by the time the field got to turn 1.  He was very close to jumping the start, which I honestly think after seeing what I did and seeing the video he did as he wasn't quite side by side with Cox as they passed the start/finish line.  He would feel the pressure from Cox.  The top 3 of Sheltra, Cox, and Kile ran close together.  Going into turn 1 of the last lap Mikey Kile bored it in deep and ended up making contact with Ron Cox to the point it sent Cox up the hill and into the wall.  He just was making a hard move and overdid it.  He wasn't trying to wreck Cox.  Cox would hit the turn 1 wall and his day was over after a fantastic run.  Since the leaders had taken the white flag and ARCA doesn't end races under yellow, there would be a one lap suicide shootout to the finish.  The green came back out on lap 105 with Sheltra getting a good start.  Kile stayed close, and for a second looked like he might have a run coming to the line.  Coming out of 4 he was a car length behind and that is how Sheltra and Kile took the checkers. 

  The victory lane celebration was capped off with a handicapped man in an electric wheel chair doing donuts and making the tires squeal.  It had everyone in victory lane laughing and cheering.  He even got cheers from the crowd that was left in the grandstands.  One of the funniest things I have EVER seen at a race track.  Congratulations to Patrick Sheltra and Dennis Vandermeersch on their wins on Day 2 of Illinois State Fair auto racing.

Sheltra obviously did the best of the drivers who came from the dirt. He is a veteran of UMP Late Model competition with 1 World of Outlaws Late Model feature win to his credit.  Tom Hessert, a long time east coast midget driver, was 3rd.  USAC racing veteran A.J. Fike, who won his first USAC Silver Crown feature at Iowa Speedway this year, was 5th.  Local driver and regular car chief on the Allgaier Motorsports #36 of Robb Brent, Kelly Kovski came home 6th.  Steve Arpin, the Canadian UMP Modified ace, rebounded to finish 7th in his Mike's Hard Lemonade, Venturini Motorsports #55 Toyota Camry.  Robb Brent, driving the Orchard Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Allgaier Motorsports #36 Dodge was 8th.  Dakoda Armstrong, USAC hotshoe from New Castle, Indiana, was 9th.  Four time UMP Late Model National Champion Rodney Melvin finished 16th.  UMP Sportsman veteran and one of the crowd favorites, Mark Littleton, was 17th.  Ron Cox ended up finishing 20th after his great run came to an end.  Local UMP Late Model and Modified veteran Kyle Logue came home 23rd.

There you have it folks.  That is the recap of racing during the 2010 Illinois State Fair.  When there is any info about a makeup date for the USAC Silver Crown event, I will let you know for sure. I want to send out my thanks to Track Enterprises for another exciting day of racing at the Illinois State Fair.  I am sure Saturday would have been good if it had been suitable to run.

2010 28th Annual North/South 100 recap

This is my recap of the 28th Annual Sunoco Race Fuels North/South 100.  Again as it has been the last few years, this event was run under the banner of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. It all started at 4:30 CDT when I left the house with mom to make the trek to the city of Florence, Kentucky to check into the hotel and unload and hang for a bit.  I left for the track at about 2 to look around and see what all was going on.  It was most certainly a hot one.  Friday's portion consisted of Late Model qualifying, modified heats, and a full show for pure stocks.  Dale McDowell, who has had a down year for his standards, set fast time at a place even he admits isn't a place he's run too well at.  After the on track activities were finished, the party picked up at Florence Speedway.  The Kings do something not a single promoter I can think of around the country does at a big show.  They actually roast a hog and make pulled pork barbecue sandwiches which fans. drivers, and others can have, for FREE.  I would like to express my thanks to the King family for the wonderful food.  After that I kicked it with some of the fellows of the T3G and DRC.  Thanks to Teea Cook for the jello shots and to whoever made them as well, thanks!!  They were good.  Also seen Kent Robinson.  Can tell he's doing better since his accident that injured his shoulder at the Dream earlier this year.  It was good to see everyone!!  After all of this I made the drive back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep

On Saturday, after getting cleaned up and whatnot, we headed over to Bob Evans to meet up with a couple of people we are good friends with to eat breakfast.  Got my first taste of fried mush, and it reminds me a lot of waffles.  Good stuff.  After that we rolled out to Florence Mall to kill some time and do a bit of shopping.  After that it was off to the track.  I walked through the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame again this year.  Picked up a shirt since a local driver who I grew up watching, Roger Long, was inducted.  The ceremonies were supposed to start at 6, but Mother Nature was in a foul mood.  The winds picked up and lightning lit up the Union, Kentucky skies at the track.  It did rain for a bit then quit.  When the ceremonies started, things looked to start to flare up again.  There was some lightning and rain fell harder than it had all day.  Overall, considering the conditions, things went well.  Things started about an hour late for the ceremonies, and it was that way all night, which is fine.  It does happen.  The first set of events were the Late Model heats.  Heat 4 was pretty racy out of the 6, but the other 5 were typical of Florence.  Leader got out front and it was pretty much single file with a few cars trying to work off the bottom and middle.  After this the modified feature was ran.  This event saw some fantastic side-by-side racing that was a definite preview of the 28th Annual North/South 100.  When the dust settled and the checkered flag flew, 41T of  Dennis Robertson held on for a hard fought win.  The late model semis were next, and not as racy but still not bad.  They did driver introductions and then the race went green.  When the green dropped, the all out war began.  Eddie Carrier Jr. led lap 1 but he felt pressure from Don O'Neal and Steve Francis early, with Chris "Smokey" Madden in that group as well.  Carrier Jr. led about the first 22 laps then the duo of Carrier Jr. and O'Neal threw sliders on one another from turns 1 down the back stretch, and into 3 O'Neal made the final one and eventually took the lead in 4.  The last caution was on lap 63 for Wendall Wallace slowing.  On the restart, Jimmy Owens showed how strong he was as he blew by Steve Francis and Eddie Carrier Jr. respectively.  It took Owens about 12 laps to reel O'Neal in.  O'Neal eventually surrendered the lead to Owens on lap 78, and at that point it looked as if Jimmy Owens had the race well in hand.  However, around this time, Earl Pearson Jr. was just starting to mow through the competitors in his way.  He was at that point visibly the fastest car on track.  Owens led the next 9 laps before being overtaken by the hard-charging Pearson Jr on lap 88.  At that point it looked like Pearson Jr's race to lose.  Earl ended up getting caught behind Brady Smith on the bottom, where Earl had been all race long.  Owens had dabbled up top for a bit and went back down, possibly knowing it was there and not wanting to tip his hand, so to speak.  Owens started reeling him back in and coming to the white flag, Owens actually led the lap by a nose, as the duo were side by side.  I was on my feet cheering as was the rest of the crowd at Florence Speedway.  Owens got a great run off of 2 up top and got ahead by a car length.  Earl bored it in deep on the low side, and Jimmy did the same up top, and Owens got the momentum from up top and won by no more than 3 car lengths.  It was eerily similar to 1 year ago with Jimmy Mars and Don O'Neal.  Everyone who left the track that night after this one definitely got their money's worth.  I know I did.  I want to thank the Kings for putting on such a great event!!  The facilities are nice, and the racing has been awesome.  Congratulations to Jimmy Owens on winning his 2nd North/South 100 title.                                                           

His first title came in 2007.  The victory for the Newport, Tennessee driver marked a victory for a rebels.  For this year, the South HAS risen again.  Who will come out on top?  The only way we will know is when the 29th Annual Sunoco Race Fuels North/South 100 is ran at King's Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky.  I highly suggest if you haven't been, to order tickets and come to this one next year.

2010 USA Nationals review

Here is my take on this year's USA Nationals from Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin, which were sanctioned by the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. 

First, the Dirt on Dirt Pay-Per-View coverage for the first 2 nights was absolutely fantastic.  Night 3, the money night, was quite frustrating.  I ended up leaving and going out on the town that night.  Fortunately I can go back and watch everything I missed thanks to the archiving.  I did see that they had a ton of issues other than what I thought they were.  Overall it was a great effort by Michael Rigsby, Amber Vander Pluym Rigsby, Todd Turner, Steve Gigeous, and everyone else responsible for putting on the production.  I want to extend my deepest and sincerest thanks to them for doing what they did.  I know they learned from this experience and if they do another production, it will be better than this.  Awesome job for your first time everyone!!

Now, on to the racing itself.  I have seen varying opinions about the racing.  Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.  I might as well throw mine out there as well.  The racing in the features the first 2 nights wasn't bad. I liked the idea of having a dash for the heat winners to set the first few rows of the feature instead of a redraw.  Would have liked to see that be an 8 lapper but it wasn't bad at 5. Track was a bit choppy and VERY fast.  I like wet and heavy tracks, but that was a bit too heavy, but not terrible.  Heats 4 and 5 were filled with a lot of action and very racy.  The dash, mentioned just above, was insane. The leader did get away but the racing for every spot behind was intense.   Saturday night was waaaayyyy too fast.  Yes there was some good racing, but just look at the carnage that resulted due to the track conditions.  I know people are tired of seeing dryslick racing all of the time, I am among those.  However, that was the definition of being too wet.  There was a ton of torn up equipment even on those who did survive 100 laps.  That track was entirely too choppy.  There were more than just a couple of ripples.  It was rutty and rough.  When Scott Bloomquist, someone notorious for taking care of his equipment, says he has to do major repairs and scrap some things on HIS car, that is saying something.  The feature would have been a lot better if they had left the track alone and let it change over 100 laps.  It would have started out fast and changed as it went along.  Those kinds of tracks truly showcase who the good drivers are because they have to adapt to ever changing track conditions. Love the driver intros that they do.  It really gives it that big event feel like a heavyweight fight.  There are a ton of things I and a lot of us didn't see since we weren't there in person, which is why being there is the best thing there is.  This was the next best thing.  This was strictly a review of the racing and the broadcast, not of the whole event, including other festivities and activities that we weren't able to see or experience since we weren't in attendance.   Congratulations to Tim McCreadie on winning the tuneup race Thursday night, and to Scott Bloomquist on winning his 5th USA Nationals title, equaling the mark of Billy Moyer.

Standing at the races

Standing at the races is something that happens all the time.  However, when it's not done right, it can obstruct the view of fellow race fans.  This is something that infuriates not only myself, but others around me.  It is rude and inconsiderate.  I will admit I do stand.  However, I try to be as aware of my surroundings as I possibly can.  I realize that someone else paid their hard earned money like I did to see the racing action on track.  We as fans need to be courteous and respectful to one another.  If we do this we can ensure that we ALL enjoy our time at the track.

My 2010 UMP Summernationals Review

Well, that time of year has come and gone again. The time of year where UMP Late Model drivers can go 29 races in 31 days. I always jokingly call it the traveling circus. I am referring to the UMP Summernationals, aka The Hell Tour. The UMP Summernationals is one of my favorite times of the year. So much racing back to back. I ended up hitting 12 tracks on this year's tour, 2 of which I had never been to. Since it has ended, it is time for me to give an overall review of the Summernationals.
The tour started this year at Brownstown Speedway in Brownstown, Indiana on Wednesday June 16th. Billy Moyer, who just won the $100,000 to win Dirt Late Model Dream that Sunday, continued rolling by winning stop 1 on The Hell Tour. My first night was night 2 of the tour when it rolled into Kankakee County Speedway in Kankakee, Illinois. That night saw Billy Moyer overtake Frank Heckenast Jr. and Jason Feger to win 2 in a row. My next stop was night 7, Tuesday July 22nd at Highland Speedway. This night would see Shannon Babb win a thriller over Jason Feger. Plenty of side by side, multi-grooved racing was seen that night. It was Shannon's first win of the tour. Night 8 took the tour and myself to Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois. This one saw Dennis Erb Jr. outlast a barrage from Shannon Babb. Those 2 ran side-by-side for the first 25 laps of the feature. This was Erb Jr's first win of the 2010 campaign. Night 9 almost didn't happen for me. I had a presentation I had to attend for a summer class. I ended up getting out right around 7 and booked from Springfield to Alexander, Illinois to Shepp's Speedway. Made it there in less than 30 minutes, and didn't miss the heats. Shannon Babb would claim his second win of the week and of the tour. The following night, night 10, took The Hell Tour to Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, Illinois. Don O'Neal rolled in driving for Larry Moring. At the end of the night, he lived up to his nickname of The Real Deal. He blew the field away and won. That was his first Summernationals race of this tour, and first win. My next night was Sunday, July 4th at Lincoln Speedway. This night was the first to have the racing be claimed by Mother Nature. Next up for me was the Thursday, July 8th event at Macon Speedway. This was the 30th Annual Herald & Review 100. The feature was probably one of if not the best I have seen this year, and in a while for that matter. It was a slugfest. It came down to 3 drivers in the end after Brian Shirley dominated the 1st half of the 100 lapper. Babb led a good portion. Jason Feger led a good chunk as well. But in the end, on lap 97, Babb went too high and Dennis Erb Jr. snuck by and led the rest of the race and took his first ever Herald & Review 100 win, which was win 2 of this year's tour. The next night took me to Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. This night was made possible thanks to Tracy Feger, Jason's mom. This night was a good one for the Feger group as Jason scored his first ever $10,000 victory. He won it in dominating fashion, running his traditional high line. This was Jason's first win on the 2010 Hell Tour. The next night took The Hell Tour to Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois. This is probably the most festive date on the whole tour. People come out in droves in campers and motorhomes to tailgate, have fun, and enjoy racing. The racing wasn't bad before the track locked down. In the end, Shannon Babb won his 3rd feature of the 2010 edition of the Summernationals. My next night was Monday, July 12th. This was originally an open date, but since Spoon River Speedway was rained out on Wednesday, July 7, the series decided to schedule the make up for this date. The racing this night was pretty good. This night saw Ryan Unzicker finally break through for his first ever UMP Summernationals win. The next night took the tour not too far, to Peoria Speedway in Peoria, Illinois. The racing wasn't too bad. This night saw Jack Sullivan survive a siege by Jason Feger. Jason was tough, and at one point passed Jack, but a yellow flag negated that pass. After that, Jack held on to win his 2nd win of the tour. My last of 12 races was the Saturday, July 17th date at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio. This trip was also made possible thanks to Tracy Feger. This was my first ever trip there. I loved the place. The racing was pretty good. Rusty Schlenk slipped by Dennis Erb Jr. on lap 17 and never looked back in the 60 lapper. This was Rusty's biggest win of his career, and his 2nd UMP Summernationals win of his career and of the week.
My overall thoughts of the tour this year was that it was a good one. The points weren't decided until the next to last night. There were 4 drivers in the running for a large portion of the tour for the championship. The tour saw 12 different drivers (Billy Moyer, Brian Birkhofer, Rodney Melvin, Jeep Van Wormer, Shannon Babb, Dennis Erb Jr., Don O'Neal, Jack Sullivan, Brian Shirley, Jason Feger, Ryan Unzicker, and Rusty Schlenk) capture feature wins on this year's campaign. Billy Moyer led the way with 6 feature wins. In the end, Dennis Erb Jr's stranglehold on the points championship was broken. Jason Feger was crowned the 2010 UMP Summernationals Champion.


This ended Erb Jr's streak of winning the points at 3 years in a row. There were some surprise drivers who followed the tour for part of if not the whole tour. Those drivers were Bub McCool, Wendall Wallace, Jack Sullivan, Richie Hedrick, and Jim Moon. Only Sullivan followed the tour for every event. I am glad, as the drivers are as well, that the UMP Summernationals is done for this year. It was fun, but now it is back to a state of relative normalcy here in the Midwest.

2010 UMP Summernationals WINS (per driver):
Billy Moyer-6
Jeep Van Wormer-4
Don O'Neal, Shannon Babb-3
Dennis Erb Jr., Jack Sullivan, Jason Feger, Rusty Schlenk-2
Brian Birkhofer, Rodney Melvin, Brian Shirley, Ryan Unzicker-1

To see pictures from the Hell Tour, just visit my Facebook album titled 2010 UMP Summernationals. The link is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=188264&id=503429247&l=5662abba64


Before I end this, I have to thank numerous people. First I have to thank my Mom. Without her, most if not all of my tour wouldn't have happened. The same goes to my Grandpa as well. I would like to thank Tony Hubert as well. He did Twitter updates every night and I was able to follow when I couldn't be there. I'd also like to thank Tracy Feger for the rides to Granite City and Oakshade. To anyone else I missed, THANK YOU!! It was a good tour. Look forward to what the rest of 2010 has in store.

2010 Mid-Season Recap/Analysis

Wow, this season has really flown by. We are already to the midpoint of the 2010 racing season. That means it is time for my mid season review of the racing I have seen so far. On to the grades for the tracks I have been to:

Farmer City: C. What has happened with Farmer City Raceway this season has been a travesty. It is a shame to see such a racy facility sit idle like it has this year. The racing action, the nights I have been and they raced, have been pretty good. The Illini 100 was a decent race. The weekly racing, when they ran, was ok. Crowds were scarce. When they race, the racing isn't too bad.

Macon: C-. Macon Speedway has definitely had an off year, even for it's standards. This year started out with some great car counts in all classes. The track conditions haven't been as good. There were 3 nights early in the season where the track ate tires up on the cars. FOr a month, between rain and scheduling, there were no late model races for a month and 2 weeks, which sucks for myself as a fan. There has been some good racing there this year as well. Last week was a very off night with the fireworks malfunction and dryslick, hard, one grooved race track. The biggest race of the year is Thursday night with the UMP Summernationals Late Model 30th Annual running of the Herald & Review 100.

Shepp's: B-. I have been to about a handful of shows at Shepp's Speedway this year. Only once did I see a bad night. THat was the first night they had ever run the POWRi Midgets there. There was weather threatening earlier and that may have been to blame. Opening night was one of the best nights of racing I have seen all year long. Brian Divley, Dick Taykor, Jeremy Nichols, and Mike Hammerlee were all in the mix and running multiple grooves late in the race. Divley went for broke on the last lap into turn 2 and stuck it into the outside wall. Nichols ended up winning this free for all event.

Kankakee: B. I have attempted to make 2 shows there this year. The first was leg one of their late model triple crown. It got rained out as we rolled into town. I did make the UMP Summernationals race there, They ran just late models and modifieds. The track wasn't as racy as it usually is, but wasn't terrible. They did run quite late that night, the first time I had that problem there. Look forward to hitting more shows later on.

Fairbury: B. The environment there is by far the best there is locally. I always enjoy my trips to Fairbury. There had been a lot of rain leading up to the Bob and Pappy Allen Memorial. The track was rougher than usual> They worked to do what they could but it was choppy all night. It was still very racy however.

Lincoln: D. This grade isn't totally based on the racing. This has to do with how the show is ran. Both trips this year there was a threat of rain. It rained before the main event, the UMP Late Model features, had been ran. Last night's UMP Summernationals event was one that has me quite irritated. You could see there was rain in the area. Yet they ran the Crate Late Model and Modified features before the Late Model feature. Nothing against those classes, but when weather is a threat, you change the order of events to make sure the show that the people paid their money to see is ran. Pure and simple. Racing last night was blah but they kept working on the track and it did get better.

Highland: A. This was my first ever visit to the Highland Speedway located on the Madison County Fairgrounds. It is a unique little track. The racing I seen there was fantastic. They even went out after the semi's, cut the track up all the way around, and watered it. The results was fantastic feature racing in all classes. I had heard they had been doing this, and to see it with my own eyes was a good thing. Definitely will go back there again.

Belleville: B+ Belle-Clair Speedway was eventful as usual. The gates opened 20 minutes late due to their people not being there on time, which wasn't a good thing. The racing was pretty good. Dennis Erb Jr. and Shannon Babb ran side by side for 25 laps in the late model feature. The modified feature, even though it had 10 cars, produced a photo finish with Tyler Dibert winning his first ever feature. Another good night overall.

Brownstown (IN): C+. This is where I kicked my season off this year. I went there for the Indiana Icebreaker Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event. The weather for late March was beautiful and warm. The week before they had a lot of rain fall there. The track showed it as it was quite choppy in turns 1 and 2. The racing wasn't too bad. Definitely a racy track when right.

Eldora: A. I went to Eldora for the 16th Annual Dirt Late Model Dream, my 4th Dream event I have attended. The heats were some of the best I have seen at Eldora before. It rained during the 5th heat, but we got the heats in. After that the bottom fell out of the sky. Then it quit. It stunk, but it happens. The racing resumed 12:30 PM EDT with the C-Main. Don O'Neal actually made it from the C to the B, to the Dream. The race started with Ray Cook, who had just won the Show-Me 100 earlier on Memorial Day weekend, jumped out the the early lead. Moyer made his move on a restart on lap 20. After that he lived up to his moniker or Mr. Smooth. The racing behind him was pretty good for a day race. In the end only 13 cars finished but overall the racing wasn't too bad.

All in all, it has been a somewhat rainy season. The racing has been decent overall. Looking forward to what the second half of the season has in store.

Happy 4th of July

Hello everyone!! If you have seen the calender, it is July 4th. Happy Birthday America!! Today is the day we celebrate our freedom and independence. We have that freedom thanks to our fighting men and women, from the Revolutionary War days until now. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every soldier who has served. Some made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom. I know for sure I have enjoyed every bit of my freedom. Hope everyone celebrates responsibly and has a good time!! I am going to enjoy it the way I love to, going to the races!! However you celebrate, I hope it's both fun and safe!!