2011: A year to remember and forget

This year has been one that has had the highest of highs.  This includes Trevor Bayne's incredible Daytona 500 win that no one seen coming, Dan Wheldon's improbable 1 off ride to win the Indianapolis 500 in the most unimaginable, dramatic way possible, Tony Stewart's incredible run in the Chase to win the Sprint Cup title by winning the final race and beating out Edwards, Sebastian Vettel's utter domination of F1 that rivals that of his idol Michael Schumacher.  On the local level, several drivers around me either scored their first wins at tracks, won their first ever races, or won their first championships.  However, the sport experienced the lowest of lows this year as well.  I think it's safe to say the death of the Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon tops this list just for the absolute irony of it all.  Other huge lows include the death of MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli, freestyle motocross rider Jim McNeil, the loss of THE voice of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tom Carnige are just a few of the lows the sport have seen this year.  This sport is very bi-polar in nature, and event's can change one's thoughts and moods on an instant.  It truly offers a roller coaster experience rivaled by nothing else I can think of on this planet.  The highs are what we love to see and experience, but the lows, however grim and dismal they may be, bring us all together and make us truly appreciate the highs that much more.  This year was one I hope we don't have to experience for a LONG time, as the lows were especially painful.  What happened afterwards was inspirational and moving, but the pain is still ever present and ever real.  Only time will heal those wounds, and 2012 is the best thing to help that.  Congratulations to those who experience success during this last season.  To everyone in the community, PLEASE stay safe this offseason.  Hope the trade shows are successful.  The same sentiment to those hosting race parties.  Until 2012, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!!

Tragedy shows true reason to love racing...unity. R.I.P. Dan Wheldon

At only age 33, 2 time Indy 500 Champion (2005, 2011) and 2005 Indy Car Series Champion Dan Wheldon, passed away in a violent, fiery crash on lap 12 of the IZOD Indy Car World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Dan was much more than that though.  He was a loving father, husband, and son.  It only seems like yesterday that Dan was streaking by the wounded car of JR Hildebrand to win this year's Indianapolis 500, and celebrating with his trademark smile in victory lane.  Today is a bitter, somber reminder to all of us that enjoy motorsports that it is a dangerous, and it can become dangerous, even fatal, in the blink of an eye.  Moments like this show how fragile human life truly is, and goes to show you just never know when you will meet your maker, and how. However, after the wreck, other things emerged as well.  It showed one thing that I have known about this sport, and is the reason I love it so much.  During this trying time, EVERYONE CAME TOGETHER.  This tragic event brought the drivers and fans alike into unity for a singular cause, celebrating the life and memories of Dan Wheldon.  The sport doesn't always bring us together under such tragic circumstances, but this example proves yet again that, despite who you root for, how you may feel about someone at a point in time, you are ALL part of one big family. We all enjoy close, fast racing that excites us all, but we also enjoy the company and friendship of each other as well. The outpouring from the motorsports world has truly illustrated this point. Drivers and fans from all forms of motorsports have offered their condolences to Dan, his family, and friends.  I also extend my deepest thoughts and prayers to the Wheldon family as well to his friends, fans, and fellow competitors.  I would also like to say THANK YOU to EACH and EVERY driver who straps into a race car, risks their life, and races for the entertainment of us, the fans.  We all meet our maker at some point in time, and in various ways.  Dan met his doing something he absolutely loved doing, driving an Indy Car.  It is somewhat fitting, even though all of us didn't want to see him go.  Thanks for the memories Dan!!  Until next time...have fun up there at all of the different tracks up above!!

The Knoxville Late Model Nationals 66 Car Cap Controversy: My Thoughts

Well, we have quite a situation.  Multiple drivers with good resumes (4 UMP Summernationals Championships, 3 UMP National Championships, 3 Northern Allstars Late Model Series Championships, and 2 East Bay Winternationals Points Championships just to name a few ). being denied admittance to this event because of a preexisting cap on entries.  However, earlier this year at IMIS, it was told that there was NO CAP.  It is understandable why these drivers might not send in blanks then figuring there isn't one.  There are also drivers pre-entered that will not show.  One driver even tried to give his spot to one of the drivers being left out, but was told they can't do that.  The explanation I received from Knoxville Raceway was this:
" Hi Patrick, There has been a 66 car cap on this event since it started in 2002. This number allows all the drivers to compete every night in a full show and for a chance to win more money. If we allowed more entries in, then we would have to split up the qualifying into two nights with each driver only competing one of those nights. Ultimately this is better for the drivers who get their entries in on time. I hope this helps answer your question."

I do understand their explanation, but I also feel with this set of circumstances, it is time to evaluate where the event stands now, and look at growing the event and possibly going to more nights like the Sprint Car Nationals does.  For those who have been turned away, LET THEM RACE.  It's pretty shitty that when a driver who can't come offers his spot to someone who can and they won't let that happen.  That just makes absolutely no sense to me.  It doesn't make sense from a PR and economic point of view.  There have been other issues, like sight lines for fans and officials.  This is where a promoter has to stand tall and be firm, and put the haulers OUTSIDE the infield and put all the necessary parts and so forth, in the infield.  This was attempted but the drivers drug their feet on it.  With a new person taking the reigns next year, they can possibly do this and kind of start anew in some senses.  It is a shame that a controversy like this has came about at an event that has quickly become one of the most prestigious in all of Dirt Late Model Racing.   I truly hope this is a one time event and that Knoxville Raceway can remedy this issue in the future and the event becomes even bigger in the years to come.

2011 UMP Summernationals in review/Thank you to everyone for their concern with Grandpa

This tour, when looked back upon, will be remembered for 3 things.  One is weather.  This had to be one of the rainiest Summernationals in recent memory.  Also, early on, the temps were cooler than usual.  This was a pleasant surprise.  The second thing that will be Shannon Babb's absolute dominance to close out.  I have, in all my years of seeing series racing, NEVER seen a driver close out with 6 in a row to win a points championship.    He had been consistent to that point and not had as much bad luck as his competition, and when he hit his stride, the tour became his personal playground.  The tour overall had a lot of average to poor racing, which was disappointing to see.  The field looked to be as competitive as ever, even with naysayers saying it was just a glorified local show.  The talent around here has shown it can compete past the local level.  The third thing will be the Belle-Clair tire cheating incident involving apparent race winner Michael Kloos.  He was eventually stripped of this and the win was awarded to 2nd place Ryan Unzicker.  The best race I seen that was a part of the tour I would say was at Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, Illinois, a track I had never been to until this year.  This weekend there were 2 make up dates, and they were 2 great shows.  One was the 31st Herald and Review 100, where Babb proceeded to win his 7th in a row, but it didn't count towards the points since they ended at Oakshade.  The 2nd was the Lynn Chevy Summernationals event at Fairbury.  This was one of the best races I have EVER seen in my 17 years of attending races.  The finish was so close, but looking back, I'd say they actually got it wrong.  I did that night as well, and it has cost Feger $5,000 as a result.  Not knocking the track or Rodney Melvin.  I didn't have an interest in who won in terms of which driver.  I just wanted the person who actually crossed the finish line FIRST to be crowned the winner.  It looks, after reviewing ALL of the evidence currently available, that didn't happen.  I am still completely puzzled as to why the transponders that the series utilized during the entire tour, weren't used for the make up dates.  This was a time where they really could have been a useful tool.  I understand hindsight is 20/20, but this is a case that this SHOULD have been in use, PERIOD.  This also makes me think that tracks should have a super slo-mo camera or a start finish line camera in the case there is ever a question to a result.  In the end, it's awesome to have a problem like that after 50 laps of hard racing on a well prepared track that withstood the hot, muggy, brutal conditions mother nature threw at us.  It is a testament to those who prepared the track.  Also, a big shout out of thanks to the Fairbury group for moving the Late Model feature to 2nd in the running order.  Great decision, and I know I'm not alone in this sentiment.  It sucks that you know some of the people involved on a personal level, but sometimes it happens.  I try to never let emotion get in the way of calling something as I see it.  That night, I called Melvin the winner and didn't have much doubt.  Now, there is a lot more after seeing all of the proof.  Other than that, it was all ANY race fan could possibly ever ask for in a feature event.  They just don't get much better.  My overall grade for this Summernationals has to be a C.  The tour early seemed to have the potential to be a free for all that could produce multiple winners, which it did. It also had the potential to have a 6 car or more race for the points.  However, this just never happened.  Luck had a big role in this, but this sport is notorious for that sometimes.  I would say the Summernationals needs to seriously look at format and series changes to revamp things.  Travel is definitely one of those things.  I'd say a shake up could really strengthen the series.  I will leave this with a link of photos of the races I went to over the course of the Summernationals tour.  In total, I hit 8 shows including the 2 make up events.  Here is a link to the photos from those events, http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150252641534248.344519.503429247&l=095f2f77d6&type=1     A bit of the sights of the Summernationals you could say.    Before I end this, I also have to send out a huge thank you to fans, drivers, crew members, and others for their concern, thoughts, and prayers for my grandfather.  It really means a lot coming from you all.  You all have reminded me yet again why I love this sport so much.  In a way, we all become one big family at the track.  He ended up missing this weekend of racing, but with the heat, it may very well be for the best. He is feeling a lot better right now.  Again, to all of those in the racing community who have sent many kind well wishes, THANK YOU!!  Hope you all enjoyed this recap of the Hell Tour.

A New Deal at Dream XVII/Catchup

I know this is a LOT later than I would like, but here is a summary of my Dream XVII weekend, and a general catch-up post all in one. It all started when I rolled out Wednesday with my mom, who had never been to Eldora Speedway before, to go see the 7th Annual Prelude to the Dream. I ended up going to this event thanks to the fine folks at Eldora Speedway having a trivia contest about previous NASCAR champions who have competed in the event.  Without that, I most certainly would have just stayed home and purchased the Pay-Per-View broadcast.

The racing itself was not too bad, but I had still seen better racing at the track.  However, it was a fun time, even though, sadly, some fans had to be a bit ignorant.  You could really pick out the dirt track and overall race fans from the straight NASCAR fans who had no clue what a Late Model even was.  
The race would end up being dominated by Clint Bowyer

After this, it was back home thanks to the fact I had to interview for internships for school.  I had packed everything I possibly could have in the motorhome before then so come Friday I could just get changed and then Grandpa and I could hit the road and get to our campsite at the track.  We hit a few snags, including overheating over the Indiana border, and we arrived just as it began raining harder and round 2 qualifying ended up being restarted.  I had missed Jimmy Owens breaking the track record with the first ever 14 second lap for a dirt late model around the high banks.  Fortunately, I got to see Jared Landers go out and set the mark that is now the new track record at 14.922, which is an average speed of 120.630 MPH.  Landers was flat out around Eldora, which was incredible.  With only 91 cars there, that meant no non-qualifier races.  I had predicted 93 cars for the event, while some had thought that there could be 130 or 140, but most fans and insiders believed it would be down, and we all were right.
Saturday early in the morning there was more weather coming.  It hit hard, with heavy rain and strong winds.  I had seen lightning out of the window up top where I was sleeping, and we were able to shut the windows in time.  For some of my friends and fellow fans, it put a large damper on their weekend.  Saturday was the first time I go to grill out at the track.  The wind sucked horribly, but I was able to grill out some delicious brats, but they didn't quite cook fully.
The heats were event filled, but not terribly racy, and the feature was the same way.  Moyer lead most of it with Steve Francis in pursuit most of the way.  Don O'Neal, who to this point had NEVER won a "crown jewel" event.  However, late in the race, O'Neal, who made contact with Moyer, was able to get by Moyer for what was a popular win.  Overall, I'd say the race SUCKED.  The track was one groove around the top and fast.  O'Neal was able to move to the middle and make it work, but he was alone in that.  I had a good time as always, but the racing was by far the worst I had seen in all of my trips to Eldora so far, but considering that was the worst, I won't be too harsh.  Every track can have a show that sucks every once in a while. I will admit, I was happy to see O'Neal FINALLY get a long overdue big race win, as he has been so close before.  No longer will he be dogged by that.  Below are victory lane shots I got of the 2011 Dirt Late Model Dream champion, and the trophy that his name will go on now as well as the field from the race.  There are a lot of victory ceremony photos below.  Congratulations to "The Real Deal" on the big win.  It really was a "New Deal" for someone who has been bitten with bad luck late in big races.

Memorial Day Marathon of Racing 2011

It has come and gone again.  Memorial Day is in the books again. First and foremost, Memorial Day weekend is a time for us to pay homage and give thanks to those fighting men and women who protect our freedom and give us as citizens of the United States of America the chance to go and do what we want to do.  This Memorial Day Marathon of Racing 2011 wouldn't have ever been possible without what you all do.

Friday got the weekend started for me with the Northern Allstars Late Model Series at Lincoln Speedway.

The track was in great shape.  It was plenty wet and smooth considering the amount of rain the track had received all week long.  The track was fast all night long.  During the heats, the racing was fast and fierce.  In Late Model Heat race 3, Dillan White attempted to pull a slidejob on Eric Smith, and the results were catastrophic.  The images here show the damage suffered by White in the wreck.


Heats were won by Roger Brickler (who dive bombed Michael Kloos in Turn 1 on the last lap to win), Brandon Sheppard (in dominant fashion), Steve Sheppard Jr. (also in dominant fashion) and Ryan Unzicker.

The feature was paced by polesitter Steve Sheppard Jr. and Brandon Sheppard.  When the feature went green, son Brandon checked out on father Steve Jr, who was quickly passed by Ryan Unzicker.  While those 2 dueled and the field kept racing one another, Brandon paced the field and went on to score a convincing victory.  With his feature win, night 1 of 4 of my Memorial Day Marathon of Racing was in the books.


Saturday I ventured off to Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis for the Night Before the 500 featuring the USAC Midgets.

 I ended up going here thanks to a great offer made by Lucas Oil Raceway.  When we reordered our tickets for the Thursday night portion of Kroger Speedfest featuring the USAC Silver Crown and Midgets, and now this year the ARCA Re/Max Series, we recieved passes good for free admission to either the Night Before the 500 or one of their Thursday Night Thunder USAC Sprint Car Series. 

The weather at home was nasty, with lots of severe weather, and all of my local tracks were rained out, so it in the long run worked out.  It seemed like watching the weather we'd dodge the rains.  It was a wonderful day at the track with some cloud cover.  It started getting cloudy right after qualifying, and the map showed rain moving in.  We got qualifying in for the USAC Midgets, the Star Mazda Series, and the USF2000 series.  After that, the Midget heats rolled out, and were completed successfully with some fast and furious racing.  By the 3rd heat, rain could be felt hitting us, but it was nothing more than drops at that point.  The track continued keeping the show ahead of schedule as much as possible. The heats were completed successfully, and the Midget last chance race was rolled out almost immediately.  This would be the last race ran before the rains hit. At that point, the tracked had hustled and the show was an hour ahead of the schedule they handed out as we came in the gates.  The rain started falling, but that wasn't my biggest concern.  When I seen the first flash of lightning, I let people around me know it and I headed down under the stands, and many others heeded my warning.  When the next flash lit the sky up, and the large boom of thunder that followed, the stands proceeded to clear out rather quickly. 

The downpour lasted about 15 minutes, but it rained long and hard enough to require a 2.5 hour period to dry the track.  They even had their jet dryer out for about an hour to get it dry.  When it was all ready to go, the show was about 2 hours behind, but considering it was 9 PM eastern when we got things going, it wasn't too bad.  The first race was a 75 lap (with a 30 minute time limit) USF2000 event.  There was one wreck that took a good 5 minutes to clean up.  In the end, the race ran 69 laps and was won by Petri Suvanto of Nurvo, Finland won the race.  The next race was a 100 lap (with a 45 minute time limit) Star Mazda Series event.  This race went green almost throughout with one caution when the leader at the time hit a lapped car and wrecked in turn 3.  The Star Mazda race went 85 laps and was won by Connor De Phillippi of San Clemente, California.  After this was the 50 lap USAC Midget event.  Brian Clauson made an early move in turn 1 to lead the race early, but it was apparent that he would have company from Darren Hagen.  At 10 laps in, the race between the top 4 was so close you could literally throw a blanket over them.  They were slicing and dicing and moving all over the 6/10 mile pavement track.  On lap 15, Hagen tried to look inside of Clauson in turn 1 but then he got a great run into turn 3 on the low side and passed leader Clauson.  Hagen took the lead, but for a while he was far from comfortable as he couldn't build much of a lead as the top 4 remained all right together.  The first yellow of the feature would fly on lap 30 for a slowing Brian Clauson.  Hagen then proceeded to get a huge jump on the restart, but it was too large as the start was waved off.  "The Hawk" as Hagen is known, got another great start and then proceeded to pull out to a small lead.  Tanner Swanson and Tracy Hines were running together, and picking a lot of cars off. Swanson was in the top 10 from 22nd, Hines from 12th.  The second yellow flew when Mario Clauser stopped on the track on lap 35.  The next restart would be waved off for debris.  The final 15 laps went green, and Hagen would eventually cruise to The Night Before the 500 feature win. 

Sunday I headed to Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois for the Budweiser 50 UMP Late Model Special.

With this event falling right after the Show-Me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, there was good reason to expect some good cars and a good car count, and it didn't disappoint.  46 UMP Late Models were in attendance as well as 57 UMP Modifieds.  This was the hottest race I have been to this year weather wise, with temperatures during the daytime being up as high as 94.  There was a stiff wind blowing towards the frontstretch, which I knew was a bad sign knowing how things are there usually.  The track started off brutally rough.  The crew at the track worked to cut it up and smooth it out, but didn't really water it down like I had hoped.  The track did smooth out, but the heats were far from exciting, which was very disappointing to see.  The program had originally called for a Late Model Dash, but the drivers approached promoters Kevin and Tammy Gundaker to fix the track and start straight up in lieu of running the dash.  This decision would be great when the features rolled around.  The Late Model Feature was supposed to be 2nd behind the Crate Late Model Feature, but the order of events was changed and the Budweiser 50 would be the first feature ran.  This was a decision that I was glad to see as the track was coming around.  The feature went green with Brian Shirley getting the early jump, leaning on 6 time World 100 winner Billy Moyer in the process.  The car that was on the move early, however, was the 25 car of Jason Feger.  Feger, who started 9th in the feature, and was up to 4th in 3 laps on the high side, living up to his nickname of "The Highside Hustler".  The first yellow fell on lap 4 for Chad Zobrist.  Feger was doing something that he has been criticized for not doing so far, running more than just the top side of the race track.  Scott James a few laps after the restart would make a move on the 3s of Squirrel, as Shirley is also known.  He took the lead and Feger was side by side with Moyer for 3rd at the same time.  One of the big moves was in turn 2, when Feger made a ballsy move through the middle between Shirley and Moyer to take the lead, which got the capacity crowd going.  The track was really racy and was making up for being so terrible earlier in the evening.  Feger proceeded to open a large lead, but as he got into traffic, "The Silver Shark" Scott James was reeling the tumbling dice 25 of Feger in as well.  Moyer also proceeded to reel in James, and took multiple looks at him, but he wasn't able to get around the 81 of James.  At halfway, Feger had his hands full with James, and James gave him multiple challenges.  Feger fended him off, then proceeded to open a bit of a lead on the field.  With 5 to go, James was all in, and was spinning the tires, even lighting them up off of the corners.  With 2 to go, James bounced off of the lapped car of Brian Divley.  At the white, the leader Feger and James were about nose to tail, and in turn 1 James went for a banzai move in turn 1, making contact with Feger, but both soldiered on, and Feger would end up winning the thrilling Late Model Feature.    It was a fun car ride home as I had gotten a ride from Jason's mom Tracy.  The UMP Pro Late Model (Crate) feature was won by Dustin Griffin.  The UMP Modified Feature was fun watching Ken Schrader battle some of the toughest modified competition in the country.  Michael Long slipped past Schrader but then stuck it in the wall, and Schrader went on uncontested for the win.  After it was over, I went out to the pits and celebrated a bit with Feger and Schrader proceeds to roll up.  In typical Schrader fashion, Schrader yells"Hey Feger!!  When I grow up I want to be just like you!!"  That was pretty funny yet an awesome compliment from a veteran racer.  Also in the pits was Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame driver Roger Long, who was smiling ear to ear with the success Feger was having.  Definitely a cool night, but it was definitely dirty.  Below are some victory lane photos and what I looked like when we stopped for something to drink (and I wiped my face off once during the night. 

 Here is the link to the Late Model Feature video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH1exb0h7kg

 I got home, showered, and to bed from Tri-City at 5:15 that morning, and was up at 10 to do it again.  Monday night I was off to Macon Speedway for NASCAR Night I featuring Ken Schrader, Kenny Wallace, and Justin Allgaier.  Racing were the Northern Allstars Late Models, UMP Modifieds, and Street Stocks.

Here are some of my thoughts regarding NASCAR nights.  Honestly, I'm not the world's biggest fan of them as they are now.  Jacking up ticket prices even more just to see people come in isn't my thing. As for them racing, that's fine, as it can be interesting.  A show that should have been $15 and usually would be was $20 because of the NASCAR people.  The crowd was thinner too, which showed that the novelty of the NASCAR nights have worn off. 

Moving on to the show itself, the track started out okay but started getting unusually terrible track conditions.  The track, usually wet most of the night then slicking off for the features, was hard by the time heats were to run.  Overall, the heat races were a huge disappointment.  For those who might have been there for the first time and are reading this, that isn't what Macon typically looks like. 

For the features, the Street Stocks and Modifieds were both stuck around the bottom, and I had a bad feeling that the late model feature would be as well.  Schrader won his 2nd Modified feature in as many nights.  I was wrong fortunately, and the track was racy for considering the shape the track was in.  It was EXTREMELY dryslick, especially for Macon standards.  Brandon Sheppard was the first to go up top, and it looked like it could cost him, but he was able to run it.  Sheppard was able to slice and dice through traffic and keep Mark Voigt at bay the entire feature.  However, coming off of 4 on the final lap, Voigt made a move, and almost stole one.  Sheppard won his 2nd Northern Allstars Late Model Feature in a row by a nose.  In the end, it wasn't a bad race.

 The final checkered flag of my Memorial Day Marathon of Racing fell at a little after 9:30.  There was some good racing and not so good racing.  However, I most enjoyed spending my weekend doing what I love to to with people who are great friends and family who I love.  Thanks Grandpa and Tracy for being a part of it!!  I was worn out after it all, but if I had the chance to do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing. 

Graduation...Checkered flag to an undergraduate career.

Well, it is finally in the books.  With the completion of my last final exam, it was the proverbial white flag.  Graduation this last Saturday from the University of Illinois Springfield was the checkered flag to my years of studying.  Racing, among other things, are partly responsible for my success.  I have met many wonderful people who I have formed great friendships with that I still have to this day.  I want to take this moment and thank everyone who has had a positive influence and helped guide me and help me become the person I am today.  I am eternally thankful.  I shared some parallels in my journey to a degree that racers do to win.  I faced adversity, overcame at times situations that were far from favorable, put in long hours and sleepless nights to get to where I wanted to be.  Now, the preparation for the next stage in my life and/or education begins.  What track my life ends up at next is one I don't know yet, but hopefully it's one that is racy and one I can thrive at.