Yea, I’m a liar as I closed my last entry by saying that I would not be back until after the Nationals with a summary of the week. But comments made by two drivers during the intermission on-track entertainment at the Ultimate Challenge last night just had to be shared.
Morgan and I usually make a point of attending this event since it is one of only two nights where we can catch non-wing Sprint Car action close to home. Of course the other night is just two days earlier when the USAC Sprints run at Knoxville, but despite the fact that we see basically the same field of cars, the two events offer up two completely different types of shows. At Knoxville the format calls for two laps of qualifying, one set of heat races with the top four finishers advancing, a B-Main and a feature. At Oskaloosa drivers draw for starting positions in a first round of heat races and, following those heats, passing points are tabulated to run a second round of heats where the top six are inverted in each. Points from both rounds of heat races are then tallied with the top sixteen moving to the A-Main and the rest running the Last Chance race. I’m not sure how the drivers feel about it, but from a fan’s standpoint the Osky format of qualifying is fantastic!
The one thing that we don’t like about this event is that we know that it will always be a late night unless it is threatened by approaching weather. Now, while that may sound like a “slam”, let me clarify. The Osky Challenges have always been promoted as a party where a race breaks out and it caters to the thousands of sprint car fans who have flocked to the area for the Knoxville Nationals. We know that there are not many people sitting around us that will have an eighty-minute drive home following the final checkered flag and an alarm that will chime at 6:30 the next morning to start a normal day at work so it was no surprise when the advertised “Race time” of 7:15 p.m. came and went without a hint of even the track being packed in yet. And we were actually happy to be on the road for home after watching young Kyle Larson take the win just prior to 11:30. Yes, it gets us off to a weary start for the Nationals, especially since we do an “up and back” for the Wednesday show as well, but for a night of non-wing sprint action close to home we’ll catch up on our sleep later!
Last night when the first set of hot laps sent up a dust cloud around the half-mile it was a clear indication that the track was going to be a dry-slick tire eater even after the water truck tried to catch up a bit around the edges after hot laps. Given the less than ideal track conditions I was pleasantly surprised by the action that we saw during the first set of heats and there were at least three occasions where my heart jumped due to amazing moves by drivers during the second round of heats. No, it was definitely not the mud-slinging, cushion-pounding action you expect from the “traditional” sprints, but it was still entertaining. During intermission though, two drivers clearly expressed their opinion on the track prep although I am still unclear as to whether that task was the responsibility of the promoter, Terry McCarl, or the sanctioning body, USAC.
“The Madman” Robert Ballou actually got in three different swipes during his interview starting off by saying that whoever prepared this track needs to be fired. He then noted that the track condition the night before for the winged cars would have been much better for tonight’s show adding that wings are for birds. Then, when presented with a right rear Hoosier tire for winning one of the heats, he noted that it was nice to race on a tire brand that doesn’t blow up all the time. Morgan and I were happy to see Ballou get through a race night without getting upside down as maybe now our jinx is lifted (see the blog entry of August 8th). When announcer Blake Anderson made his way to Dave Darland his first comment was that somebody should have gotten McCarl out of bed this morning to come work on this track which drew some cheers and jeers from the good-sized crowd. Brady Bacon then won the foot race just ahead of a tumbling Bryan Clausen and the B-Main was soon on the track.
By feature time the top groove was pretty much gone as proven by defending race-winner Bud Kaeding who went backwards trying to work the cushion and by lap ten right rear tires were smoking as drivers did their best to save some rubber for the end. A red-flag for Dustin Morgan at the mid-point of the thirty-lap affair saw ten drivers, including the third running Ballou, make the decision to bolt on a new right rear tire and restart at the back, or in Ballou’s case ahead of the other nine guys who went with the same strategy. Kyle Larson who was in the Hoffman #69 for the first time, and Knoxville’s Sunday night winner Brady Bacon swapped the lead following the restart before Larson (The NorCal Ninja…..gotta love Blake) pulled away for the convincing win. Brady Bacon settled for second with “The People’s Champ” Dave Darland in third. Shane Cottle finished fourth while Jerry Coons Jr. posted the best finish of the ten drivers who took on new rubber in fifth.
More water on the track before hot laps would have made for a better show, but overall I’ve seen much worse and this event will still be on our “to do” list in 2012. Check back in later this week as Barry Johnson has promised that he will get some action shots from the USAC show at Knoxville to me for display here on the Back Stretch.
While I’d love to see Sammy Swindell in victory lane this Saturday night I am going to predict another first-time Nationals champion in either Jason Meyers or Craig Dollansky.
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