NASCAR not WWF

Congratulations to Brad Kos asking when are the NASCAR Sprint cup championship. I was wrong I never thought NASCAR would let Brad when because Chrysler Corporation and Dodge's lead in the series. So NASCAR is on the up and up and it’s not that World Wrestling Association. I apologize for my thoughts.




Jeff Gordon won the race. Think the problem with Jeff Gordon has been that Jeff was just too nice and I think is just sick and tired of losing and I think that the drive that he put on at Richmond was fantastic. Jeff Gordon made all those fans by the way drove and he made a fan out of me at Richmond. You have to have fire in your belly to be a champion and I think he has the fire back in his belly. I think he willbe the one watch out for next year.



Kurt Busch had his third straight top 10 finish at Homestead Speedway. This is a team that's going to have to be reckoned with next year and with Kevin Harvard leaving RCR that might leave the seat open for Kurt. This guy cans driver racecar. I think they'll be in the mix for the championship next year.



I was glad to see Clary’s Speedway in Brinkley North Carolina re-open. Track it been closed for 4 years. Buddy Isles has leased the track and worked hard to get back in shape. He wanted run a couple of shows this year show everybody that it was going to be open next year so they can make their plans. He opened on 11-17 with 85 cars on a frigid North Carolina night. How many tracks you have in your area that could be reopened? VADirt covered the event. See it on his page “VA Dirt". Click on the writers and photographers button on the front page.





The annual Blue Gray 100 was held at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina. Lenny Buff and the crew Cherokee run some outstanding late model races. March Madness kicks off the year. And Blue Gray 100 finishes it for late models. Cherokee is definitely a place that you want have on your bucket list. It's probably the most famous dirt track in South Carolina. LarrE had the coverage. See it on his page " On Track". Click on the writers and photographers button on the front page.

Great Chicken!

Brad Keselowski put it on Kyle Busch to win the Talladega NASCAR race. Brad knows how to win it from the front and how to win it from the second. After the race, kyle said “if he was smart enough to make that move, he deserved to win the race cause he’s smarter than me.”

Brad said in victory lane “ I dreamed about coming down in the same position that we are and I thought about 100 0times how we’re going to do it… it was really hard to make myself go high in 3 and then cut down across Kyle but it was the right move and it won us the race.”

Glad to see a good crowd!


I went to 85 Speedway Saturday night at Ennis, Tx. Randy Ferrell, former announcer at Ennis, went with me. I’m hoping randy will come on and cover everything from Waco to Ennis to Houston to Kilgore. Randy’s got lots of friends at the race track and if he decides to come on board you can count on him doing a good job.

Lots of friends at Ennis. Saw Brandon Leopolis, a friend I first met at the Chili Bowl. You can catch him and his crew in the front row outside of turn #2 on the back stretch. Those guys are the reason that Budweiser sponsors so many races. He was working on the Wally Beaty team #75 Mod. I said is this a fast driver? And Brandon told me he better be because its our truck and not his and he’ll be walking home if he don’t run good. One of the sponsors on Wally’s car is “Smokin Hot Wife”.


Miss Ramsey, that runs Texas Dirt Trackers, was there taking pictures. Always a delight to talk to her. 85 Speedway is such a relaxing place to watch a race. I think the fans may be the most laid-back fans in Texas. But the racings not laid-back at all. Its tough, fast, go hard or go home racing.


About 17 new bios to put up and 11 update photos so you might want to check out the 85 Speedway page.

Had the best piece of chicken that I’d ever had at a race track. It was their bbq chick and they smoked it. They were out of sausage which disappointed me. But I’m glad because I got the chicken. It was tender and moist and had just the right flavor. They’ve got good cheeseburgers also. After the races I saw the kid that was selling the snow cones at the convenience store where I was filling up and he asked me if I liked the chicken cause he recommended it… told him he did a good job.

I was gonna take pictures of the flagman waving the checkered flag and put that pic on my column… thought this could be the checkered flag on my Texas racing career but I thought …what the heck I’m gonna be back to Texas. Don’t do that Rog.

I have a driving experience that I have to take at Texas Motor Speedway before the 29th of August. I also have a guided fishing trip and overnight stay at Tanglewood that Sharyl got for me that I have to do before the 1st of September. So we’ll be back sometime this summer.


Got a new guy, Jon Aldridge, outta West Virginia covering some Penn races, and Jon does a really good job. Check out his coverage on the Penn Nationals on the Pennsylvania State page. Charity covered Diamond Park Speedway, VA Dirt got rained, LarrE flew home from California so he should be back at the races next weekend. Ina had her grandkids. Goose was in Colorado getting the Aerostar ready to roll. Bruce covered the Motorcycle Show for the Vietnam Veterans at Whiskey River in Texarkana Texas.


623 + stories posted on our racing news THIS WEEK. We have a new state page on Nebraska and a new Late Model Section page! They both have like buttons on it. Check it out and hit the “like” button…let’s see how many people we can get on those pages.

The movers are here. Sharyl’s callin. I gotta go…………………… to the next set of race tracks.


LuvRacin Rog

What's wrong with NASCAR?

What’s wrong with NASCAR? I have been at Bristol and turned down $450 for my ticket. Last race had 58,000 empty seats. I think it is many things and I am interested in your thoughts. Racing on Saturday night does not endear the Saturday night racer to NASCAR. The Saturday night racer is the back bone of racing and it is where the drivers and the crowd for NASCAR USED to come from. Their arrogance and lack of loyalty has offended their core base. There are a lot more of us Saturday Night People than Sunday afternoon dudes. I think we need a strong NASCAR leading racing. But when Roaring Knob PA has a record crowd of 10,000 + for the Lucas Oil Late models, and is only one of 1100 weekly racing shows that are having record crowds to start the season, then they have to recognize where the problem is. An example of how they treated their core is friend mine that had tickets to Talladega for 23 years in a row. He ordered his tickets right after the race and sat in the same seat for years. He made about 6 races a year. He told me one year he ordered, and they said his seat was not available. When he got to the track his seat was part of a BIG corporate block. Suuuuuuuuuuure makes you want to go back. Several years ago I was in Florida for the Winternationals. A friend in the news business and I were talking. I said it must be great to have your races sold out and the same people year after year in the seats. He said “Rog you are wrong! Over half of the people at a NASCAR race have never been before.” I did not believe him so I started asking and he was right. In the fall I saw him at the PRI and I said “I did not believe it but you were right. Why do you think that is? He said well they jack the ticket prices so they can turn over the people in the crowd. If you have been 10 times you already have your shirt and your hat and your jacket. If its your first time then not only are you buying you a hat and a shirt, but you are getting one for your brother in-law and 3 of the guys you work with. I guess I am DUHHHHHH I saw Bill France speak once and he was talking to a group of promoters. He said My Father and I have made every decision based on what right for racing and the money has flowed to us. Make your decisions on what’s right for racing and everything will come out right for you. Do you think they are making decisions based on what is right for racing? Kudos to Burton Smith he is listening to the fans and he is doing something to Bristol to try to fix it. Super Bowl Speedway, Sat Night: Sharyl and I were showing Sherry Hastings how to do the driver interviews and up dates. Sherry and Lonnie are going to help us keep up with the drivers across the south Dallas area. Superbowl is a great track; almost every race is won on the high side. And James Bryant almost always has smooth fast track. We had 186 race car drivers we have done stories on at Superbowl. So we have a lot of good friends we are leaving in good hands, with Lon and Sherry. Becky is always nice to me. They have great crowds and great car counts every week. Out newest reporter, Short Stuff, Ina Morrell, form Columbia SC covered the WoO Late Models at Tazewell TN. Great coverage for a start. See it on our New Late Model page. VA Dirt did a Pictorial on Johanna Long in the Nationwide series. It is the start of a new series on Women in Racing. You can see it on our feature page. Lots of rain in the Midwest keep others from the races. One more racing weekend in TX. Then the Big move. If you have not been to the races in Texas you are missing out!

New People, More Coverage

Tony Stewart’s always in the lead paragraph. He won the ASCS sprint car race at Lincoln, NE Saturday night. Goose covered it. He wins in a variety of cars in a variety of places. I know he’s the best since Foyt. AJ Foyt was the best race car driver I ever saw. Mario Andretti was the most talented and smoothest race car driver I ever saw. Scott Bloomquist is the smartest racecar driver I ever saw. Tony luv’s racin. Geez, he’s won in go karts this year, Sprint cars this year. He’s won prelude to the dream in a Late Model. He’s won in Indy Cars. He’s been the champion in Midgets and Sprint cars. And most important, Tony hasn’t forgotten his roots; he continues to help promote racing at every level – not just the top. Thank you, Tony! Denny Hamlin won the cup race at Kansas with Tony’s old crew chief. Martin Truex ran second, and had a couple of real good tries. All the Toyotas are running better this year. Truex is 2nd in points, and the Joe Gibbs guys are doing great. On to Richmond where I Think VA Dirt will have coverage. It was a little too cool Friday night to go to the races so I went to Joe’s Crab Shack and ate by myself. Sharyl’s still in Illinois, preparing the way (the move is going to be May the 11th). She found a Four-Leaf-Clover in the yard of the house we’re moving to, and she’s never found one before. She said it’s a good omen. Lucky Sharyl! Lucky me! I got to go to 2 racetracks in one night on a Saturday night! First I went to Cowtown Speedway which is always a great track with great racing. Jeff Martinez is doing a great job of getting the Cowtown crowd back. Then I went to Richard Snyder’s Kennedale Speedway Park. 25 cars in the A Modified Main. 24 cars in the Sport Mod main. 24 cars in the I-Stock main. Absolutely great racing. I talked to Doug Rollo and Neil Palmer who announce at Kennedale. (Neil also announces at Boyd Speedway on Friday night). They have a new deal going on at RacingWithNeil and they’re doing in-depth interviews with local drivers. They go to their shop to do it. Check it out at RacingWithNeil. If you can’t find it, we have a link on our Texas Link Page to Neil’s great site. I’m trying to get around to all the North Texas tracks before I go. I think next weekend I’ll go to HOT, Heart O Texas Speedway, on Friday night and either Ennis or Devil’s Bowl on Saturday night. Next week I think I’ll do RPM Speedway and Super Bowl Speedway. We need people to help from Dallas on South… if you’re interested in being a race reporter, contact me. VA Dirt covered the opening of Virginia Motor Speedway. We’re now starting to get coverage in the West VA and Penn area. Jon Aldridge is our new guy in West Virginia. He loves Late Models. He went to Roaring Knob Friday night where they had 10,000 people for the Lucas Oil Late Models. We’ve also got coverage from Bryan Chase. He’s our Pennsylvania guy. He went to the opening at Penn Can. Charity Price was holding down Diamond Park Speedway. Ina Morrell and her husband chase races all over the country. She came on with us, and she had some coverage of the USAC Midges at 311 Speedway. She has a really ambitious summer plan. I don’t have her page yet but it’ll be called Short Stuff Shots. There are 642 racing news stories posted on our racing news this week. Check out the news in your area! LuvRacinRog

Top that!

Greg Biffle won the race on a windy night in Texas. This put Jack Roush’s cars back up front. Hendrick didn’t win his 200th win even though Johnson dominated the lead. Johnson was gritty and daring. Biffle’s won Championships in every class he’s ever run in except the NASCAR sprint cup. If he wins the Sprint Cup Championship he’ll be the only person that won the trucks, the Nationwide, and the Sprint Cup. Carl Edwards recovered nicely to help his point situation. Tony used the back up car to finish 2 laps down.

Bob Sargent opened Macon Speedway to the tune of 116 cars and a full house. They had record crowds at Ooltewah, TN. Mountain Creek’s picking up a few cars every week. Local racing is healthy! Got rained out in Illinois all weekend. So I didn’t catch a race. James told me that William Gould had a heck of a run in Hobby Stock at Grayson County. I like to watch William run anything he’s running. There are some guys you just like. Johnny “The Jett” Saathoff, Don O’Neal, David Murray, they imbed themselves into your mind.

Scott Bloomquist won the $25,000 at Virginia Motor Speedway. VA Dirt has coverage!
Scott’s the smartest racecar driver I ever saw. Saw the pay-out for the MLRA Late Models at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska. It was higher than the ASCS Sprint Car payout. Check it out on the Nebraska State Racing News Page.

Charity Price had some great Drag Racing photos at Prescott Raceway in Arkansas.
Biggest racing in the country was this weekend at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC… cars go 4 wide racing. 230+ In a thousand feet! Unbelievable horsepower. I don’t like drag racing until I go and then the equipment makes my heart pound. Check out your local drag racing. 230 miles an hour in 1000 feet is amazing to me.

If you can top that this week, let me know!


LuvRacinRog

Everything but a crowd

I went to Mountain Creek Speedway Friday night formally Outlaw Speedway, formally Grand Prairie Speedway, and it was hard to recognize the place; so much work had been done to clean it up and make it nice. Charlie Upchurch and crew have done a great job in refurbishing the place. They had 68 cars that showed up, a smooth, fast race track, and a program that was run with efficiency. Three Groove Racing had a lot of moves. They have a $2 hotlink that’s outta this world. I think the lighting may be the best at a race track in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. They had give-a-ways for kids from Easter Baskets to bicycles. Security was visible from all over the place. And maybe 10% of the grandstands were full.


We all know the reasons (promoters in and out, shows that didn’t get paid for, points that didn’t get paid) they’re the decline. But there’s no reason for this racetrack not to succeed. Gather up a car-load and some kids who’ve never been to the races, and get down to Grand Prairie on Friday night. It’s only about a mile off of Loop 12.


Talked to Jeff Martinez, promoter at Cowtown speedway. He was there on Friday night. Talked about his Midget deal and how good it was. He said there was a $70,000 purse and they lost about $5000. They had 64 Midgets which is a great turn-out. He said they were going to run it again next year. I also saw the video of the tornado that came through Cowtown Speedway. There was some damage to the dragstrip but they still raced on Sunday.


I went to Grayson County Speedway for their opening Saturday night. I missed Harold Brown. He needs your prayers. Harold’s only missed 2 races at Grayson County Speedway since the speedway opened. Greg and Rana Cooper do such a good job. They had 84 cars and a full grandstand. Greg’s an old-time throw-back promoter. He’ll try anything. All the drivers marched down the front stretch and up in the grandstands, picked out a kid, and gave him a free HotWheels. LuvRacin.com also had autograph cards for the kids to sign, and there was lots of excitement.


Wild Wayne lost his phone and his camera. He had 16 bios and hundreds of update photos for Grayson County. If it turns up in one of your trucks or in your toolbox, please give it back to Wayne.


As I left Grayson County Speedway, sadness and nostalgia overwhelmed me. I made so many great friends here in Texas, and I’m going to miss seeing them in the pits and how they handle a car on the track.


The beauty of the net is that you can keep those contacts and see what’s going on with people. Whereas, if this was 10 years ago, it would have already just been the end.


I went to church Easter Sunday, and the pastors talk was that the end was the beginning.


So the sadness passed, and the anticipation of the move to Illinois rose.

1500 miles travelled this week!

Well… Tony didn’t win this week…but his car won! The last five laps of NASCAR is always certainly good. I thought it looked a little short on the seats again this week, but there’s nothing wrong with the racing. As usual at Martinsville Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson had to feel covered. Everybody was mad at David Reutimann, but I don’t think they outta be mad at Reuti. I thought the wreck looked like Clint Bowyer was a bull in a China Shop. Clint had a good car all day. But he took himself and Jeff and Jimmy out of it. Ryan Newman, Tony’s driver in the #39 snuck through for the win. So tony and his team and the people around him are batting over 50% for the last 16 races.


I took a lovely drive with my Sharyl from Texas to Warsaw, Mo. Ate at the Rusty Skillet. They had the best tenderloin I’ve ever had for supper. But let me warn you if there’s two of you, split one! I ate for an hour and 15 minutes and couldn’t get around it…had half left. Everybody had a box going out the door, and one guy said that he ate his tenderloin with his fried eggs in the morning. Went down to the river below Truman Dam, and watched them catch a lot of fish. Must have been 200 people and kids in the area. Now you might be wondering what that has to do with racing, but on Tuesday they had an open house in the meet and greet with Forrest Lucas at Lucas Oil Speedway. After going to the speedway I can see why Goose said he’d be jealous. Forrest Lucas only does things one way, and that’s the right way. I have photos of the speedway on my page, Winners. I will have a complete in-depth article on Forrest Lucas, the track and 254 mile-an-hour drag boats in a ¼ mile. They have an event coming up in June that will feature the drag boats in the daytime and the dirt tracks at night. 254 miles-an-hour on water in ¼ mile seems Extreme to me! Stay tuned for the proper date.


Didn’t go to the races Friday night because Sharyl has to start her job in Illinois on Monday, and she was leaving Saturday morning. So Friday night we went to Joe’s Crab Shack. We had Dungeness crabs, Queen crabs, and Snow crabs, and I’m sure glad I had that bib on. Now…I sure do miss my Sharyl.


Lucas Oil Late Model Series came to Lonestar Speedway in Kilgore, TX. Scott Bloomquist, Jared Landers, Jimmy Owens, Steve Francis, and all the crew, along with a good smattering of locals, were involved. Lonestar Speedway is the best place to watch a race in Texas. It may be one of the best places in the United States. It’s the best-lit racetrack that I’ve ever been to. It’s better than The Dirt Track, and it’s better than Knoxville. 48 laps of green flag racing in the feature before the number 71 Real Deal Don O’Neal broke and slid up into the wall. I love watching Don O’Neal. I think I’ve watch Don O’Neal win a feature in Florida every year. When he runs the summer nationals it doesn’t matter if he’s first or tenth -- he always puts on a show. CJ Rayburn told me at lunch one day that Don had more ‘want-to’ than anybody. The evening was a lovely Texas spring evening. Just a little sweat on me. Huge crowd turned out for the Lucas Oil Late Models. Glad to see racing so healthy here. Jared Landers and Jimmy O put on a show. After the yellow flag they traded the lead 5 times in the last two laps. The track was fast and smooth and you just can’t get better racing than that.


Talked to Jay Brunson and his crew said they made their first trip tot the Winter Nationals in Florida this year. They went to East Bay, Volusia, and Bubba’s Raceway Park. They said they absolutely love it. They said Bubba’s Raceway Park had several things for the kids, and they had a song that they played for each driver. It just created a lot of excitement. They said if everybody ran their racetrack like Bubba’s they have a lot more people show up. It wasn’t just a race…it was a show.


LarrE went to the Midget Races at Ace Speedway in NC. Got a great shot of the Midget wreck. It’s on the front page this week. I made two trips to Ace Speedway and it was the cleanest, most professionally run place I’ve ever been. LarrE said they’d been through two other promoters since I’d been there, and it was still the cleanest, best-ran place he’d ever been. He said he’s definitely going back.


VADirt went to Winchester’s opening. Always great pictures from VA. Check them out on his page. Wild Wayne and James Brown (not the king of soul, but the king of sales) went to Lady Luck Speedway in Lubbock, TX. Wayne got 20 new bio forms which we outta have up next week. Bruce was at Diamond Park Speedway in Arkansas. Goose is getting a racecar ready to run. They had to buy new tires for the semi and put breaks on the trailer. I think they’re going to I-80 this week.


It’s up and ready to go. We need help to cover all these races. If you’re interested in being a reporter for LuvRacin.com send us an email to Racin@LuvRacin.com put Team 2012 in the subject line.

Trip to the races makes the winter blues go away

Tony Stewart was running the back at Knoxville, Iowa in August of last year. Ever since then he stepped up his program. He went to Ohsweken in Canada and won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car feature race and ever since then he’s been on fire. His win Sunday made it 7 out of the last 15 NASCAR races that he’s won. He was 5/10 in the Chase, and he is 2 out of 3 this year. His old Crew Chief, Darian Grubb, also has a win, so the people that are around him have 8/15 races they’ve won. Zipadelli is back with him now. Zippy was his original crew chief on the #20 car. And he’s now the director of competition at Stewart-Haas racing. I wonder if the reason that Tony wanted his own team is because he had ideas on how to go faster and how to win races that other people simply weren’t listening to. It’s been an amazing run. And I personally don’t think he’s done. He’s won in every type of race: 360 Sprints, 410 Sprints, and even Karts. I know I talk a lot about Tony in my column, but the reason is that there sure is a LOT to talk about!

J.C. Howell is on our front page this week! J.C. had 6 guys helping him get two cars ready to run Saturday night at Kennedale. I think if J.C. could get enough guys he’d run a car in every class. I spotted a sign on the back of his car; I thought it was the best tail sign that I’ve seen for a while. Thank you J.C. for putting a smile in my night.

California Raceway: I was happy to see that the stands looked full at California Raceway. I’ve been sick last week after I looked at Bristol. And I finally got to my first races this year! Absolute gorgeous night at Boyd Raceway West of Fort Worth with 120 + cars and ¾ full grand stand. It was a really great evening. Brad and Missy Shirley, of Extreme Graphics, sponsored the night, and they had all the Extreme Graphics cars come out at intermission parked on the main straightaway. They let all the kids down on the track to get autographs. It was a HUGE success! Check out the pictures. The Plato family always does a great job. I first met Davey 10 years ago at Boone, IA. Met him before we came to Texas…he was an inspector at the Super Nationals.

Saturday night we went to Kennedale Speedway Park. Another 100 + car night. Great grandstand turnout and the SST Sprint Cars. Another absolute gorgeous evening! A trip to the races makes the winter blues go away. Richard Snyder and his track crew did an almost impossible task of getting the pits dried out to where they could run after five inches of rain last week. Everybody gripes about promoters who don’t try to get the show in hard enough, but that’s certainly not Richard and his crew. Hats off to them for having the pits in such great shape.

Today, this week, Sharyl and I are on our way to Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO for a tour of the track and a meet-and-greet with Forrest Lucas and his wife, Charlotte. Forrest Lucas has done more to support local racing than any other person in this country. So many people choose NASCAR as their vehicle of choice and Lucas Oil has chosen local racing. They support off road racing, circle track racing, motorcycle racing…the Lucas Oil Late Model Series is the premier late model series in the United States today. But they don’t just put their money on the big guys. Their sponsorship of the MLRA is a 3-state regional series. So it’s going to be interesting to meet Forrest Lucas and get an interview with him. The Goose says Lucas Oil Speedway is the speedway of dirt track speedways. When he found out I was going up there he told me he was jealous. I would feel real bad for Jerry, but he gets a LOT of places I don’t!

Charity Price has come on board from Arkansas. Her page is called Arkansas Diamond. Her home track is Diamond Park Speedway where she’s the track photographer. Check her out on the writers and photographers page.

I spent all day Saturday and half the day Sunday packing for the move. I will get to see two springs this year. You need to take the kids to the races because they’re the future of racing. If you don’t think so check out the pictures of Boyd.


LuvRacinRog

Leaving Texas.

I was amazed by the empty seats at Bristol. I’ve been to Bristol and saw seats go for $450! The racing’s good. Brad Keselowski won. It was good to see the Blue Duece back in Victory Lane. Two of my favorite drivers, Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch both sat in the Blue Dueses and won races in it. There’s no doubt that Keselowski’s got talent and since Karl gave him the little ride, he seems to have respect for everybody too.

Cowtown Speedway opened with the POWRi Midgets and had 64 midgets. I think that’s an absolute awesome turnout. Dave Darland picked up the $5000 win. Boyd opened with 100+ cars, RPM was in the 90s, and a good bunch to start at Mountain Creek Speedway took care of the Friday night racing in the Dallas Metroplex.

I’m gonna miss the Texas racing. This weekend you’ve got a big show at 281 Speedway at Stephensville… IMCA spring opener. There’s an ASCS Spring Nationals at Devil’s Bowl. Last Saturday night there was 100+ cars at Superbowl Speedway in Greenville. Grayson County doesn’t open ‘til April the 7th.

The target date for the move is April 1st for Sharyl and May 1st for all our furniture and me. My grandkids are excited. Keifer says, “There’ll be a LOT more sprint car races for me this year!!” I’ll be less than 5 miles from Lexi and we can do afternoon swims at Lytle Park Pool. I rode my bike 16 miles from Sullivan to Lytel Park several times each summer from the time I was 12 ’til the time I was 16 and got me some wheels.

Talked to Buddy Haimes and Heidi. Buddy used to drive for me in the Mopar Magic car at Macon. Heidi’s won the track championship a couple of times there. They came down to Dallas and stayed with us. And they said Heidi’s not driving this year. Said they’re going to concentrate on business and just go to the races for relaxation. I’ll bet anybody two tickets to Macon that Heidi’s in a car by the end of June. Any takers?

Lonnie Hastings told me that Jared Webb was gonna retire. And I’ll take the same bet on two tickets that Jared’s in a car by June!

Strong bonds have this sport on all of us. Bryan Chase joined us from Pennsylvania. Covered the Modified Race of Champions at Selinsgrove. Not only is he a shooter, check his pictures out, but he’s a writer too. Check out ChaseFX on the Writer’s Page. Charity Price just came on board from Diamond Park Speedway. She’s going to help us there and at some of the tracks in Arkansas and around the area. She’ll be Diamond Parks regular track photographer this year.

Back on the first paragraph about the empty seats at Bristol. We all think they’re a bunch of arrogant jerks. But we’re kinda a reverse prejudice in our own little world. And we need those guys to be healthy to help fuel our sport at the bottom too. To go from a $450 seat in a five-years to half empty. I really don’t understand why. We have more coverage and more exposure…. Aaahhhh could it be the same thing as when the Midgets overexposed their self after WWII?? Every town had a Midget track. You could go to midgets 6 nights a week in my home area in Illinois. I don’t know if that’s the reason. But I don’t like seeing any track half empty.

Now at our end of the sport in the short track, when a track goes down, 90% of the time, you can blame it on the promoter. And whether its true or not, when you switch the promoter, people come back to the races. TV ratings are up for NASCAR, and maybe that’s all that counts to them.



LuvRacinRog

First Win with New Chief!

Okay! Tony Stewart’s back in the Winners Circle in Cup. I think Tony’s going to be tough to beat. It’s his first cup win with his new crew chief, Steve Addington? Vegas said that the cup race adds $100 million to its economy.

VAdirt, LarrE, and Goose are all in action. Va dirt made it down to County Line Raceway in North Carolina. Lots of good racing happened as he covered their opening night. LarrE was busy! On Fri he covered the Carolina Clash preliminaries at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC, just outside of Charlotte. He covered the I-77 Chester Speedway Car Show Saturday afternoon. And Saturday night he was back at Carolina Speedway covering the Carolina Clash Finals. Goose was at Las Vegas and he covered the ASCS-USAC Showdown, the World of Outlaws Sprints, and the Championship Late Model Association. All us guys in Texas got raaaaiiiined out again. So I missed out on the USMTS Modified Show at Heart of Texas Speedway in Waco and at Cowtown Speedway. Big L got rained out at Superbowl Speedway. USMTS seems to have a hard time when it comes to Texas. So we normally got great weather and every time they come in they get weathered-out. But…we’re glad to see the rain anyway…we need it so bad!

March is great month for openings. I love opening nights. One year I covered 18 opening nights from Florida to Illinois. Everybody’s got brand-new paint. Brand-new graphics. Brand-new cars! And they forgot just how easy it is to tear them up, and how hard it is to fix them. Everybody comes outta the garage thinking they’re going to be the track champ. Lots of winners in the winter… lots of track champs in the garage.

Between crutches and rain…I’ve yet to see my first race this season! We were going to cut back our schedule to about 60 races, but I still think we can make that easy. I wanted to get 24 new tracks…and I think that’s a good possibility. So follow us around and see how we do.

We’ve got a new reporter whose home track is Diamond Park in Arkansas. Her name is charity price. She’ll cover her first race for LuvRacin next weekend. Looking forward to it. We also have a new reporter in the PA area named Brian Chase. Been active in racing scene up there for many years and I’m sure we’re going to get some great coverage outta Pennsylvania. He will be at Selinsgrove Speedway next weekend.

Hey, don’t forget to take a new kid to the races even if it’s the neighbor’s kid!


LuvRacinRog

You Might Need a New Crew Chief…

You Might Need a New Crew Chief…



Win the championship, swap your crew chief. Tony Stewart’s turning loose of Darian Grubb as Denny Hamlin leading the points in NASCAR. Joe Gibbs snatched him up, and put him with the intense Hamlin… and at the start of the season it looks like the perfect match. In the last couple of years Hamlin has won at the front of the field, dominated several races, and hasn’t been able to close because of problems in the pit and problems in the crew. This may be just the thing for Denny and Darian.



I went to Vegas with Sharyl over the weekend. And Kyle Busch sure has lots of advertisements on Vegas TV. I wondered why and then I thought: ‘heck it’s his hometown!’ And let me tell you something…Kyle Busch is a hometown hero. It’s nice to see good things for Kyle….and positive things for Kyle.



IMCA opened the season at Mountain Creek Speedway in Grand Prairie, Texas. And the feature was won by a car from Iowa driven by #19, Jammin’ Jimmy Gustin. I’ll tell you what… Charlie Upchurch and the crew has that speedway really looking sharp! It gives us another Friday night venue in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.



HOT opened! Great car count. Texas Motor Speedway has its World Dirt Track Championships. Great coverage by JM Hallas! There were over 150 Modifieds and Limited Modifieds. My mind’s a bit scattered. Sharyl and I are headed by for the MidWest. Lots of good racing but geez they’ve got snow!

Tony, Kyle, and Kurt

Tony Stewart is going to be a racing champion. Many of the events he is scheduled to run this year across the country at the short tracks are coming across my desk so he’s not going to hide out on his laurels. We all knew tony was a true racer anyway but this just confirms it thank you tony.

Kyle Busch says he’s gotta change his attitude if he wants to stick around. He said in an interview with the NASCAR scene that he felt like he was under a lot of pressure… he said “I’m looking around and there are a lot of guys who have been around for a long time and haven’t won a race and they’re still here. So I need to change my attitude.”

Felix Sabates was instrumental in getting Kurt Busch ride with phoenix racing. And he said “Kurt’s always been really good for me I’ve never asked him to do anything that he didn’t do I had two charity events last year I couldn’t get my own guys to go to... Kurt did them on short notice. I was home at 11pm one night and thought Kurt needs a ride…I called a guy and said I want you to hire Kurt. I called another guy and told him I want you to sell him engines. So I put it together for him. We didn’t have any room at our place. And I think everybody deserves a second chance.”

LarrE is in Florida. We’ll have great coverage from a variety of tracks. Including Acala, Volusia, New Smyrna… Sunshine Cher is holding down East Bay. You can see photos on the Fla state page. And get all the news from all the tracks and all the classes from the Winternationals on the Florida State Page.

James and Becky Bryant are having the first North Texas race at Super Bowl Speedway this weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice. Seems like most every other track is waiting until the first weekend in March to open. Sure miss going to Florida this year. Although the weather’s been good here in Texas. LarrE said he bout froze to death in Screven Georgia.

The World of Outlaws LM are running at Bubba’s Raceway in Ocala. Bout 95 miles North of East Bay at the same time as the Lucas Oil Series Late Models are running at East Bay! It’ll be interesting to see because Bubba’s raceway has scheduled the same classes on the same night as East Bay. It always looked to me that there was a lot of cooperation in Florida and the guys could move from one track one week to the next track the next week back to the first track the following week. But that’s not the case this year. I think all decisions should be make based on the best interest in racing. And then racing would grow and thrive.

Winter Blues

On the front page, we’ve got a tribute to Donnie Ray Crawford and his smile.

Kevin Swindell topped the field with his third win at the Chili Bowl! Seems like the cream always rises to the top. Sammy was second. Amy was overheard in the pits after the race saying “well, my kid can drive a race car!” The first time I saw Kevin s drive a racecar he was 15 yrs old at Florence Motor Speedway, Timmonsville South Carolina. (Cale Yarbrough’s hometown). He was racing with Pete Walton’s USCS Sprint crew on an asphalt track. He lapped everybody twice in a forty-lap feature except the second place car – his uncle Terry Gray. In 40 laps I saw him turn his hands to the right twice. It’s the best asphalt run I’ve ever seen. And it was by a 15 year old kid.

261 Midget drivers from across the country. Tony Stewart NASCAR Champ, Levi Jones USAC Champ. So many champs you couldn’t name them all. On Tues they have a race of champions. Check out VA Dirt’s coverage and Goose’s coverage on the sprint car photo page.

Well the next big crank up is the Winter Nationals in Florida. Are you going? If not, why not? East Bay runs three or four days for each different class…five tracks running 40+ nights of racing. You can see a complete schedule on the Fla page, including track phone numbers and links to the track website. I missed two years since 1993…that’s always a great trip! East bay is a bull ring track quarter. If I had to choose one race to go to each year I could pick opening night of the Lucas Oil Late Models at East Bay.

Volucia Speedway Park it’s a long fast ½ mile track … it’s 45 miles from Daytona. The World of Outlaws struts their stuff there…along with the UMP and All star sprints. The Asphalt World Series is at New Smyrna Florida.….seven classes run in 9 nights. Florida Speedway starts it all off early with Winter Nationals …. O’Bubbas raceway, formerly Ocala Speedway, has a full slate of dates.

Our home base for the last 9 years has been the Days Inn North in Tampa…one exit away from Busch Gardens. They have a $45 two person racer rate for the winter nationals. Give Dan Samborn a call at 813-977-1550. Jan and Feb in Florida at 45 a night is a steal. There’s no excuse for you not packing it up and getting the heck outta this cold to go to the races.

We’ll have several reporters covering the tracks in Florida. If you have any ideas, or you just want to say hi, stop in and talk to them. If you’d like to see better coverage in your area of local racers, or know somebody that would like to help us, talk to the guys if you see them in Florida…or contact me at racin@luvracin.com and put team 2012 in the subject line.

LuvRacinRog

Keep on Raining

Goose is on his way to the Chili Bowl. VA Dirt is on his way to the Chili Bowl. Rog is still on crutches – It sucks! I talked to Lonnie Hastings, and he said there wasn’t going to be a banquet at RPM this year. He said the Super Bowl Banquet that, James and Becky Bryant put on, will be January the 21. It’s raining in Tx! First rain that we’ve had all day long so long as I can remember. I hope it keeps raining. Last fall there was tracks that didn’t run: Devil’s Bowl, Grayson County Speedway, Abilene, and Waco: all four of them missed shows for lack of water. Everybody prays we don’t get rained out on the weekend and we didn’t get rained out any last year. Tony Hernandez is going to fill in for Greg Cooper at Grayson County while Greg is taking a travelling job with Traxxx RC cars.

LarrE Ervin covered the first show for us this year…Legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NC. LarrE covered 88 racing events last year for LuvRacin.com. There’s no schedule for Winter Nationals at Speedworld but lots of other action. See the Winter Nationals schedule on our Florida racing page. Lots of good things in the works for the New Year. Mountain Creek Speedway will be running on Friday night…so that’ll give us three Friday night tracks in Dallas and one in Waco.

I did 72 events at 26 tracks in 5 states in 2011. 12 of the tracks were new tracks. I’d like to do 30 different tracks this year…18 of them new. But only about 60 events. That way I can take Sharyl out one night a week.

We need development help across the Midsouth. We need reporters to get bios. We’re creating a local racing history on LuvRacin.com. I get emails every week from somebody that says “Do you know who the photographer was back in 1982 at (insert) track”… “Do you know where I can find some pictures of my dad at Thunderbird Speedway in a’89?” There are 250,000 plus photos of local racing on luvracin.com we’d like your track to be part of that history.

I think Kurt Busch may have the right owner in Phoenix Racing. He said that he was used to working with rough people in the construction steel business and a lot of people cussed. Said the only reason he was racing was to win and if he had to cuss a little win it wouldn’t be bad. I hope Kurt does well. And I hope Kyle takes a lesson. At this time David Reagan looks like the odd man out. Kid with so much talent and suck a great personality. You can go to Lowes on Tuesday night and David will be down there racing or helping. I’ve seen him come down to Florence and run when they had the Legends down there…I hope David finds a ride.

AJ Allmendinger got to ride in the Penske car. AJ will go to the front. I think Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, and AJ Allmendinger are the three people to watch this year.

All three are open wheel guys.

Still.....Tony, Tony, Tony...

Tony wins the NASCAR Championship. Tony wins the Kart Race at IMIS. Tony wins the Rumble at Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I think that they’ve should put out a notice to all the drivers that “you better watch cause Tony’s back in form.” When he got outta the car at Napa he said “Well the fattest guy won.” His win at Fort Wayne was stellar, and he’ll be at the Chili Bowl again this year. Check out last year’s coverage of the Chili Bowl on our Special Events page! Goose and VA Dirt will be there this year covering the Chili Bowl for us. We will have results everyday; we’ll have photos everyday. If I had money to bed I’d bet on Tony Stewart.

Last year was the first time I went to the Chili Bowl. I saw the best Midget race that I’ve ever seen in my whole life on the feature! On Saturday they took 16 midgets before they got to the D. There was action everywhere – super racing. High and low, slide jobs, flips, last lap passes…what more could you want? Perfect track. If it’s not on your bucket list it should be on your bucket list.

64 midgets at the coin, tuning up to the child bowl and 100 plus at Ft. Wayne. 200 + Midgets at the Chili Bowl. So… it looks like winter time is Midget action!

USMTS Tour this year has over 2 million in prizes posted already. It’s about time that Modifieds start getting the same recognition as some of the other classes. I talked to Cory Dripps – Dirt Night. He said they would be filming in 2012 for Dirt Night’s return in 2013.

World Dirt Track Championship at Texas Motor Speedway on March 2 and March 3 kicks off the North Texas Racing Season.

LuvRacinRog