South Bend, IN. With this weather we are having, it is pretty lucky to get in any shows so far in 2008. This weekend was no exception. M-40 Speedway was going to have the AVSS Sprints, USA Modifieds, Michigan Legends, and Vintage Cars. All week the forecast is doom and gloom, for Friday. All the classes had cars from a couple few hours away, and a call had to be made by a certain time. With gas at $4, and Diesel close to 5$, the conditions have to be just right, just to maybe break even. And a race track is a business, not a hobby unless the owner is Bruton Smith. The show was called about noon, the time for many teams to head to the Track. Of all things, the weather did not get as bad as predicted, and some felt the show should have ran. Look at it this way. The purse had to be close to $20k, with track expenses, and with the weather forecast, the track might have got 500 Adults. To me, I was watching the internet, and saw the cancellation. I believe it was a good call. And with my stuff, rain and photo books do not mix. That was apparent at Angola last year. Look at it on the other end, say the race ran as scheduled. We could have had 15 Sprints, 17 Modifieds, 13 Legends, and 6 Vintage cars, and then fans would have been complaining about paying x amount to get in for so few cars. If anything, give tracks credit for putting these type of shows on the schedule despite the tough times.
Saturday was the 3rd Annual Old Timer's Night at the Plymouth Speedway. Windy, boy was it windy. We got there early, but we couldn't open the books up, as the wind was blowing photos OUT of the pages. I haven't seen that too many times. The wind finally calmed down around 9 o' clock.For the Old Timers, the first year was 57, last year 73, and this year, 82 in all. I had close too 100 confirms. That looks pretty good, 82 out of 100, right. Well not really. I had 18 Old Timers show, that I did not have on the list. Which means about 35 from the list, did not show. Some guys, I am on the phone with, and they will talk it up, on and on, what time to show, on and on, and then never show. I just don't get it. Some of the Old Timers, and well known ones, have not come out to one yet, and now, I'm not even calling them. This isn't for everybody. Atleast the ones who come out, have alot of fun, and I try to catch everyone, and thank them for coming out. I will list all the Old Timers who came out on the www.stockcarextreme site Monday night, as the list is pretty long. Speaking of Old Timers, you will never guess who was the last Old Timer to show up ? You guessed it, Ozzie. This was totally my fault as I should have told him it was an afternoon deal, and be there by noon. Instead, I told him to be there by 5 o' clock, and he strolls in at 9 o' clock. He's already getting in for free. Old habits never go away. The Plymouth Pilot came out in the form of James Costello, and he did a story on the Vintage cars, and regular show. And I did the deal on the Old Timers. That story will be out in Tuesday's paper. You should be able to look it up online.
Despite the surrounding weather, the crowd was pretty good and they saw 20 Late Models, 20 Sportsman, 12 Thunder Cars, and 10 FWD's. The Michiana Vintage Racers had 6 cars, plus 2 Sprinters from the HOSS Series, Sam Davis and John Witter, brought their cars out to promote the Sprints heading to Plymouth, next Saturday.
The Late Models ran a 100 lapper, that being the second leg of the Jim Blount Triple Crown. The invert was 12 with Shane Sanders and Cory Pressler on the front row. Mike Shewchuk had problems with his 32 car, and got in the Nick Pressler #10 Sportsman, to get in a few laps. Cory Pressler takes the early lead. The field strings out nicely, with side by side battles starting to develop. Scott Ross, takes the his #1 car to the pits on lap 20. While Pressler leads the pack, the first car making headway is Ronnie Maynard in the 27. He takes 2nd on lap 25, and 4 laps later, takes the point. 2 other drivers making their moves upward is Brian Ross and Scott Hantz. Starting mid-pack, they both get by Pressler on lap 35, but at that time, Hantz stops on the track, with a flat left front tire. And at that time , Micheal Thayer pulls out,with Hantz returning to start on the tail. Ross takes the lead on lap 38. Hantz is the fastest car on the track, and by lap 51, is back to 5th, 4th on lap 54, and 3rd, by lap 57. Disaster strikes on lap 62, when something breaks on the car sending it into the wall at a pretty good clip. Scott is ok, but perhaps the drive of the year, had ended. With 5 laps to go, JR Roahrig, goes from 4th to 2nd. Several yellows hinder the last 5 laps, but Ross holds on to win his 2nd Feature of the year. Roahrig takes a great 2nd place run, over Maynard, Sanders, Brian Muick, Adam Terry, Pressler, Matt Norem, and Keith Franz. A special win for Ross, as he always looked up to the late Jim Blount for advice, anwsers, and parts for his cars for many, many years. Roahrig's second place was his best finish in a Late Model at Plymouth.
The Sportsman main was taken by Kurt Gunkel as he started up front, and held off Mike Shewchuk for the win. Jeff Stetler was 3rd over Derik Griffin, Kevin Papa, Kevin Gunkel, John Marshall, Jason Sheppard [nice car], Nick Pressler, Rob Hampton, Matt Elliot, John Streeting, Stephanie Scott, and Greg Gifford. David Long took the Thunder Car main, and it was nice to see Amanda White back at the track after the big time hit last week.
Next week, weather permitting, I'll be at two shows. The first is a special Friday Night at Galesburg. It will be the Freedom 100 for Late Models, with the Sportsman, Streets, and Minis in action, too. Saturday, they are having a Night of Destruction. I was there in May, and got a few requests about returning this year. I saw the Friday show date and called Ralph Warning. He said great to have you return. With that, how do you say no ? I gathered a bunch more Galesburg shots from the MARC TIMES archives for this event, so fans should have a ball with the old shots. Then Saturday, and I still need to clear it with Steve, is to head to the Jones $10,000 to win Late Model Special. With the afternoon format to qualify, and some down time, the books were a great addition to the show last year, as this gave the early birds something to check out. With many fans pulling into M-40 for the first time, they were much impressed with the track, food and personnel. Then they saw all the photos, and wow, what a deal ! With Kazoo off, and Plymouth with the Sprints, a quality 50 car field is a real good probability. Former winners include Andy Bozell and Jeff Daughtery. Go to M-40 Speedway for the rules and procedures. A big fireworks display will cap the evening. I'll be taking pictures at both venues for the "Faces at the Races" on the website. Fans are really getting a kick with that site. Other big shows this week are the HOSS Sprints at Plymouth Speedway with Fireworks, the CRA Sportsman at Angola Thursday, MSA Super Modifieds at Angola Saturday, with Hartford and New Paris running regular shows, and with Fireworks