So just how blessed are you feeling today if you hold a season ticket in this section of Assembly Hall at the University of Indiana? And I read this morning that this eight foot long, fourteen inch wide, fifty pound piece of aluminum was "ornamental", not essential to the structure of the building. Hey thanks architects for including some decorations of death in the design of the place!
This is the second instance in the past few years where a University of Iowa athletic team was, in a way, involved with heavy objects falling from above. Remember the Insight Bowl when ESPN's overhead camera crashed to the turf just a couple of feet behind Marvin McNutt? And it was just last May when ten race fans were injured at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte when a cable snapped on the overhead camera sending debris into the stands and onto the track.
I must admit that I a am a bit of a worrier to begin with, so when things like this happen I definitely take notice. When I was in high school we played one basketball game on a court that had an overhead scoreboard and I swear that I thought about it coming down on me with each transition. My coach told me afterward that he had never seen me get up and down the court so quick before and of course I did not let him know of my motivation. When you see me at the race track you will notice that more often than not you will find me sitting toward the turn one end of the bleachers or grandstands. It is all about the physics of what direction something will fly if it happens to come off of a car at certain points on the track.
Even if I were the biggest Hoosier fan around and all decked out in crimson and cream, there is no way that I would step foot in Assembly Hall again, at least until they took down the decorations!
There have definitely been some interesting winners so far down in Florida. First off I think that it is fantastic that Steve Kinser scored a victory very early on during his final season with the World of Outlaws. It just would not have been right to have "The King" go winless this year and hopefully he will be found in victory lane another time or two as the farewell tour rolls on.
In the Late Models we have seen names such as Eddie Carrier Jr. and Bobby Pierce as perhaps being unexpected winners at East Bay while with a win at Ocala, plus several other top five finishes Wisconsin's Brady Smith just might be having the best Speed Weeks of any Late Model competitor. But the surprise factor has definitely gone up a notch on the first two nights at Volusia as first local driver Ivedent Lloyd Jr. raced to the win on Monday night and then last night it was Delaware racer Kenny Pettyjohn in victory lane. For fans who have watched these two race locally over the past several years, their wins on a national stage were likely not that big of a surprise as both have been dominant at times over their regular competition.
The key to a Late Model victory at Speed Weeks this year? Earning a front row starting spot. Twelve of the fifteen Super Late Model feature events contested thus far have been won from a front row starting spot. Not that the racing has been bad, it just hasn't seen many stirring charges from deep in the pack. Billy Moyer won from fourth on Tuesday at East Bay, Brandon Sheppard came from fifth to win on Saturday in Ocala and Darrell Lanigan started third on his way to collecting $12,000 from Bubba The Love Sponge on Sunday night. I still believe that a change in format would improve the situation.
We are enjoying our second straight day of sunshine and temperatures in the mid to high 40's with rain and potential thunderstorms in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Unfortunately the temps are supposed to drop again and run twenty degrees below normal for all of next week putting many of the early season specials on the schedule in jeopardy. Hopefully things straighten out soon and the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis can be put together in time for their show on March 21st and 22nd and that both 34 Raceway near Burlington and the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson can run their events scheduled for the final weekend in March. If not, you can bet that many of us will be looking to the south and west where the snow cover is already gone (at least as of today) to get that early season fix. Keep an eye on the Calendar page at Positively Racing as we continue to add events to the Specials schedule and we hope to see you somewhere on the Back Stretch!
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