This is a great day if you are a college football fan with several marquee matchups, but don't forget to put the DVR to good use tonight as the World Finals will be telecast live from the Dirt Track in Charlotte on SPEED. Hopefully they will show some highlights from Friday night's show as it looks like the Sprint Car main event was a real barn burner. After seven lead changes across four different drivers it was the ageless Sammy Swindell taking the win in the 30-lapper followed by Brian Brown, Kraig Kinser, Paul McMahan and Jason Johnson. Lucas Oil series champion Jimmy Owens topped the World of Outlaws regulars in the Late Model division and Tim Fuller held off Tim McCreadie to win the DIRT Modified main event. Night number two will be shown live at 7 p.m. Central.
Speaking of the Outlaws, speculation is that they will be part of an announcement tomorrow of a big event coming to 34 Raceway in Burlington in 2013. Track promoter Amy Laue has said to watch for a Matt Levins story in this Sunday's Burlington Hawk Eye for "a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT regarding bringing in a special race to 34 Raceway in 2013... YOU RACE FANS ASKED FOR IT." I will stick my neck out and predict that it will be a return of the World of Outlaws Late Model series rather than the Sprints as some others are speculating. Either way I have to hand it to Jeff and Amy for keeping it under their hat and allowing the local newspaper to make the announcement. John Bohenenkamp, Matt Levins and the Burlington Hawk Eye have done a spectacular job over the years of providing coverage of 34 Raceway, something that you just don't find out of most "stick and ball" sportswriters. I for one can't wait to grab my Sunday paper tomorrow! (Sunday morning update, I guess I should listen more to others' speculation! The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars will be at 34 Raceway on Friday night June 7th)
It sure was nice to have October racing so close to home the past two weekends in Donnellson and Memphis and the fact that the schedule for both events had to be altered to run on Sunday afternoon reminded me of the old days when the only October racing that you could find around here was at Hawkeye Raceway near Blue Grass. You drivers that read this aren't going to like what I have to say next, but is you guys who have proven this out over the years. A $600-to-win, $75-to-start one day show with no entry fee draws more cars in October than does a two-day show that pays $1,500-to-win, $200-to-start and has a $75 entry fee. History shows substantially more cars. "Offseason" events apparently don't need to pay big money to draw cars, they just need to pay fair money. I like to use the annual Ice Bowl at Talladega Short Track as an example where every January around 80 Super Late Models will show up for $5,000-to-win. Nearly every year the forum boards have a discussion that has the theme of "with this many cars they should be paying $15,000 or $20,000 to win!" And I always wait for the voice of reason to chime in and say "no, they get 80 cars BECAUSE they only pay $5,000-to-win." Yes, big money is pretty much a requirement to draw large car counts to a special "in season", but history shows differently for the out of season events.
I would love to see a track around here give the old Fall Series concept a try once again, just like Hawkeye Raceway did. Run on Sunday afternoon for three or four weeks in a row in October and if a show or two gets rained out, so be it. Maybe charge less, like $15 or $20 for a pit pass and less than $10 to get in the stands and focus your purse on the starting pay rather than the winner's share and see what happens. Low risk with a chance for solid rewards. Eldon, Memphis, CJ, Donnellson, Jeff and Amy, what do you think?
A couple of tracks around the Kansas City area are doing this as we speak as Valley Speedway will close out their "Fall Fast Series" tonight and the new Atchison County Raceway will continue to race on Saturday afternoons until Thanksgiving weekend when they will race on both Friday and Saturday.
The CJ Raceway put any doubts to rest as to whether or not the track would operate in 2013 by recently announcing former Stock Car driver Kurt Burmeister as their new Race Director for next season. The track in Moberly, Missouri, has new ownership and will return to weekly Saturday night racing with ULMA Late Models apparently on the card. That leaves Tipton as the only track in the area that seems to be in limbo right now without even any good rumors going on as far as who the new promoter will be for 2013. So for any of you around here who wants to use the "tracks are closing" argument, you might want to think twice.
Hard to believe it, but I can already start to work on the Specials calendar for 2013 as we have already seen the Lucas Oil Late Model series schedule for next year and the Marshalltown Speedway released its slate for 2013 this past week. Ever the promoter, Toby Kruse will have people speculating for the next several weeks due to a couple of items. First is the fact that the Deery Brothers IMCA Late Model Summer Series is not on the schedule as it has been the past few years in late May, but the track will still have a Late Model show as the Corn Belt Clash will be there on Tuesday August 13th. I have circled this date on my calendar as it will be awesome to see the open Late Model cars work the high banks of Marshalltown once again, but I found it interesting how the track's publicist has replied to the questions as to why the Deery race is no more. "As for the Deery show I am not sure but the facts are when we got only 26 cars this past year for the deery show it didn't not (sic) help in the bottom line!" The CBC averaged 28.6 cars over their 17 events in 2012 and if you take out the co-sanctioned shows the average was 24. So don't look for a bigger car count when you go to this one, but as far as I am concerned no matter how many Late Models you turn loose at Marshalltown they are going to put on a good show.
The second subject of conversation will be the $10,000-to-win "7th Annual World Nationals" to be held on September 20th and 21st. When I first read this it confused me because I could not recall where the first six "World Nationals" had been held, but after some old man head scratching I realized that this was a re-branding of the annual Havoc on the Highbanks event. If the fact that this show is going to pay ten grand to the winner isn't enough to get this one talked about during the offseason, what you will read in the following will. "The 2013 “World Nationals” will be a Hawkeye Dirt Tour event. It is with great pride that Marshalltown Speedway is able to partner with PBM Performance/Erson Cam/World Products to become the title sponsor of this high profile event. With this new sponsorship package in place, during the 2013 “World Nationals”, the IMCA Modifieds will be running built motors only, this in appreciation for the support of local machine shops and high performance engine builders." Back in September IMCA announced that the GM604 Crate engine will be an option for the 2013 engine rules so to have a sanctioned big money event that will not allow a car that is legal to run at any other sanctioned event seems odd. Plus, with this being a Hawkeye Dirt Tour event is will likely eliminate drivers who have run the tour using the Crate option. This one is going to be interesting to follow......
Thanks to a lot of interest in Ryan Gustin's Late Model debut and to some nice Facebook referrals from Jodi Foster, the winningest wife in October Modified racing, the Back Stretch established a new all-time monthly record for Page Views during October eclipsing the old record from July of 2012. In fact the story on the Friday night show in Lakeside is now my third highest viewed entry in history still trailing "34 Raceway Practice Day" from March 27th of 2010 and "Some Old Sprint Car Pics...." from February 28th of 2010. So the Lakeside report is now the most read that does not include any photos.
Hopefully some of you who may have visited the Back Stretch for the first time recently have bookmarked it and will continue to check in from time to time as I will try to keep you informed and entertained with news, notes and state points.
Enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you in a couple of weeks down in Springfield!
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