10-17-11
My 11-year-old grandson Keifer, a Sprint Car aficionado, called me on the phone Sunday afternoon crying. It was the first time that he had experienced the savagery of our sport. He’d seen probably 100 Sprint Car races and Late Model races across the country from Texas to Indiana. One time I was on the way home from the races in Texas and he called me from Haubstadt Tri State Speedway. “Grandpa I’m at a flip fest! They’ve flipped 11 cars and haven’t even started the feature yet.” His young mind was impervious to death.
Anytime somebody pulls a bell snap there’s a chance that they won’t come back. Did you ever hear about a dead baseball player unless they snorted too much cocaine? The bravery in our sport is real. It was hard to know what to say to Kiefer - because when I was young it seemed like death in the sport was a monthly situation. So many improvements have been made in equipment and cars and facilities that it leads us all to believe that perhaps it is “safe”.
But it’s not.
The threat of death and injury is real. Not only is this fact true for each driver but for the fans and the crews and the officials.
How do you tell a sobbing grandson that it’s going to be alright….when it’s not? I’m proud of my sport and proud of the fact that Kiefer reached age 11 and hadn’t suffered this before. But he knew Dan Wheldon, and he watched him win the most exciteing Indianapolis 500 there’s ever been. And he sobbed, “but he has a wife and two kids, grandpa!” As if that makes any difference to the Grim Reaper. The only thing that I could do was relate some of the experiences that I’d had and some of the experiences that his father had in the viciousness of this sport.
I was at Indy the day we lost Sachs and Macdonald - I couldn’t believe it. Eddy was so friendly to everybody - so nice to a 16-year-old kid who wanted to drive race cars. And in a flash and a fire ball…both he and Dave were gone.
So many great people have gone between that race and Earnhardt. I didn’t understand what Dale was doing with the drivers and the sport. The fact that we can go from there to Dan Wheldon is a tribute to the people who care and have influence and make decisions on the positive side. The drivers were all angry and hurt, and many are seriously considering abandoning the sport that holds their heart and their soul. Would this be because of the death of another driver? No. It’s the operational decisions that have contributed to the situation that allowed this to happen. The drivers have been complaining about safety issues all year. And their voices weren’t heard. I’ve heard interviews that said, 'we’re gonna get somebody hurt or we’re gonna get somebody killed if we don’t get his straightened out.’ And now they have.
Now, this is an old timer talking. The time for this may have passed, and if it has please forgive me, but they should’ve ran the race instead of stopping it. If they had kept running, I could have told my grandson, who was sobbing for a half an hour at the other end of the phone line, that it was about life and how you continue on no matter what happens … and not about death. By not running the race they robbed me and my grandson of that lesson.
- LuvRacinRog
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Tony Stewart Shook Things Up
October 4, 2011
Texas
Tony Stewart put a smile on most dirt track racers faces by winning the first two races in the chase. It’s a team sport for sure but the driver has to be the leader…and in this case Tony’s not only the driver but also the owner. He shook things up! One thing about Tony is he’ll tell you the way it is. If the owner of my team said we don’t deserve to be in the chase -- I think I’d better pick it up or I’m going to be there. You also have to remember this team is only three years old, and they have a good chance of winning the Nascar Championship.
The local buzz was all about Troy Taylor’s run at the World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway. He went to the top, he didn’t give up, and he MADE it work. It’s fun to watch! You can see it on YouTube.
Saturday night: Super Bowl Speedway in Greenville, Texas. James had the track super tacky; it’s always fun to go there. This track is the closest thing to Illinois or Indiana track conditions in all of Texas. Three wide - but you gotta run the top…good car counts and they ask everybody to move over, so people were still coming to the races at 10:30 at night.
Wayne and James went to Paris Saturday night. Paris has one of the most beautiful facilities in the state of Texas. Donnie Shipp edged out RJ Stroman for the Track Championship up there. Battle went down to the last night. I would really like to see more promotion and more support for that track because that’s a great facility. Looking forward to great year next year cause David Hill sure runs a good track.
Scoot Bloomquist and his cars continue to dominate the Late Model Series across the country.
Texas
Tony Stewart put a smile on most dirt track racers faces by winning the first two races in the chase. It’s a team sport for sure but the driver has to be the leader…and in this case Tony’s not only the driver but also the owner. He shook things up! One thing about Tony is he’ll tell you the way it is. If the owner of my team said we don’t deserve to be in the chase -- I think I’d better pick it up or I’m going to be there. You also have to remember this team is only three years old, and they have a good chance of winning the Nascar Championship.
The local buzz was all about Troy Taylor’s run at the World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway. He went to the top, he didn’t give up, and he MADE it work. It’s fun to watch! You can see it on YouTube.
Saturday night: Super Bowl Speedway in Greenville, Texas. James had the track super tacky; it’s always fun to go there. This track is the closest thing to Illinois or Indiana track conditions in all of Texas. Three wide - but you gotta run the top…good car counts and they ask everybody to move over, so people were still coming to the races at 10:30 at night.
Wayne and James went to Paris Saturday night. Paris has one of the most beautiful facilities in the state of Texas. Donnie Shipp edged out RJ Stroman for the Track Championship up there. Battle went down to the last night. I would really like to see more promotion and more support for that track because that’s a great facility. Looking forward to great year next year cause David Hill sure runs a good track.
Scoot Bloomquist and his cars continue to dominate the Late Model Series across the country.
Monday, September 19, 2011
World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway.
World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway.
September 19, 2001
Texas Motor Speedway, TX
Rain out the first night only made for a super full day of racing on Saturday.
242 teams joined the racing from across the county.
Late Model winner was Ray Moore #93. Sport Modified winner was Troy Taylor in the #56 car, and the Modified winner was Clyde Dunn, Jr. in #88.
This was the best dirt tracking racing I’ve ever seen since moving to Texas. The afternoon track was dusty, and I thought: “How are they gonna run this whole show?”
Lanny Edwards, Jr. from Devil’s Bowl Speedway was the dirt guy, and he had an absolute great race track for the second half of the racing. There were 2 inches of rain Friday night made the track look like it was going be tacky… and the 3 rd lap of the first feature in the day we had dust.
When they finished with the first day’s program - and they cut the track with a road grater - there was dust behind the road grater blade as they skimmed it off…I thought “no way!”
Lanny and his crew went to work, and the race track for the evening was absolutely super…..
The Late Model feature was last after they’d ran heats and Cs and Bs…and both of the Modified features … Ray Moore came out of the 5th row to win. If you don’t have a race track you can’t do that.
In the first Modified Feature, Troy Taylor in the #56 car got to 5th and couldn’t move anymore. He went to the high side, he dropped three more positions to 8th, and he kept working the high side until it came in. Pretty soon he was in 7th…a few laps more he was 6th….a few laps more he was 5th…and the crowd was on their feet! He got to the 3rd place car, and he never gave up on the top groove. He made it work. On the white flag lap, coming out of #2 - while going down the back stretch - he passed the lead car for the win.
A crowd of my est. of 2800 people were ALL on their feet!
Clyde Dunn, “Lil freaky”, in the #88 car must have been watching Troy’s run because he came out and went to the high side from the start and totally dominated the Modified feature from the pole. Several Yellow flags gave others a chance but they had no chance with Clyde’s driving. He ran so hard and so high that he hit the wall twice in the last five laps. It was an example of you didn’t have to have passing to have excitement. The pits were wall to wall race cars…every place you looked there were race cars. Show went off without a hitch it was done at 11:15. Thanks to the great staff at Texas Motor Speedway. The sponsor of the event was Port-a-Cool. You really should look into their products. I think every trailer needs a Port-a-Cool… especially in Texas when we’ve had 68 100+ degree days. A 2.4 amp trailer box is $500.
Photo Coverage by Wild Wayne and Rog on Texas Racing Photos page.
Scott Bloomquist and Scott Bloomquist Cars continue to dominate the top end Late Model Racing across the country….As Scott won again at Winchester, Virginia.
See VA Dirt’s coverage at LuvRacin.com at http://luvracin.com/03_writers/A_VA_Dirt_L.htm.
42 crate models showed up at Cleveland co speedway in NC for the Bill Hendren Memorial.
September 19, 2001
Texas Motor Speedway, TX
Rain out the first night only made for a super full day of racing on Saturday.
242 teams joined the racing from across the county.
Late Model winner was Ray Moore #93. Sport Modified winner was Troy Taylor in the #56 car, and the Modified winner was Clyde Dunn, Jr. in #88.
This was the best dirt tracking racing I’ve ever seen since moving to Texas. The afternoon track was dusty, and I thought: “How are they gonna run this whole show?”
Lanny Edwards, Jr. from Devil’s Bowl Speedway was the dirt guy, and he had an absolute great race track for the second half of the racing. There were 2 inches of rain Friday night made the track look like it was going be tacky… and the 3 rd lap of the first feature in the day we had dust.
When they finished with the first day’s program - and they cut the track with a road grater - there was dust behind the road grater blade as they skimmed it off…I thought “no way!”
Lanny and his crew went to work, and the race track for the evening was absolutely super…..
The Late Model feature was last after they’d ran heats and Cs and Bs…and both of the Modified features … Ray Moore came out of the 5th row to win. If you don’t have a race track you can’t do that.
In the first Modified Feature, Troy Taylor in the #56 car got to 5th and couldn’t move anymore. He went to the high side, he dropped three more positions to 8th, and he kept working the high side until it came in. Pretty soon he was in 7th…a few laps more he was 6th….a few laps more he was 5th…and the crowd was on their feet! He got to the 3rd place car, and he never gave up on the top groove. He made it work. On the white flag lap, coming out of #2 - while going down the back stretch - he passed the lead car for the win.
A crowd of my est. of 2800 people were ALL on their feet!
Clyde Dunn, “Lil freaky”, in the #88 car must have been watching Troy’s run because he came out and went to the high side from the start and totally dominated the Modified feature from the pole. Several Yellow flags gave others a chance but they had no chance with Clyde’s driving. He ran so hard and so high that he hit the wall twice in the last five laps. It was an example of you didn’t have to have passing to have excitement. The pits were wall to wall race cars…every place you looked there were race cars. Show went off without a hitch it was done at 11:15. Thanks to the great staff at Texas Motor Speedway. The sponsor of the event was Port-a-Cool. You really should look into their products. I think every trailer needs a Port-a-Cool… especially in Texas when we’ve had 68 100+ degree days. A 2.4 amp trailer box is $500.
Photo Coverage by Wild Wayne and Rog on Texas Racing Photos page.
Scott Bloomquist and Scott Bloomquist Cars continue to dominate the top end Late Model Racing across the country….As Scott won again at Winchester, Virginia.
See VA Dirt’s coverage at LuvRacin.com at http://luvracin.com/03_writers/A_VA_Dirt_L.htm.
42 crate models showed up at Cleveland co speedway in NC for the Bill Hendren Memorial.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Hot Hot Hot
Fayette county and several other tracks across the mid west cancelled races because of the heat.
That is a joke in texas when it has been over 100 degrees for many days. We would have to cancel summer racing. I went to Super bowl Speedway in Greenville TX and it was 107 at 6:30 in the evening with a steady wind of 35 MPH.
Not much in a way of tackie track in Texas.
LuvRacinRog
That is a joke in texas when it has been over 100 degrees for many days. We would have to cancel summer racing. I went to Super bowl Speedway in Greenville TX and it was 107 at 6:30 in the evening with a steady wind of 35 MPH.
Not much in a way of tackie track in Texas.
LuvRacinRog
Monday, April 11, 2011
Where we went
LuvRacinRog went to Gator Motorplex in Willis. Texas. Randy Waller had a great bunch of cars and a good grand stand. The fair was running which hurt a little. Check out our photo coverage at www.LuvRacin.com click on the Texas page then click on racin photos.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Parts Peddler trade show photos and inerviews
Went to the Parts Peddler show in Syracuse NY it was great. Check out our coverage on the Special events page.photos and interviews. LuvRacinRog
Racing Auctions and Trade Shows List
We have information on Racer racing auctions and trade shows and swap meets. from across the country. www.luvracin.com click on the show time button. if you need hour show listed send the information. use the contact us on the site.
LuvRacinRog
LuvRacinRog
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