Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Wednesday Notebook: September 24, 2014

Just a couple of quick thoughts here late in the afternoon as I count down the hours until I arrive at Knoxville Thursday for the opening night of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals.

How will the general media react to today's announcement that the grand jury found that there was no basis to file criminal charges in the death of Kevin Ward Jr.? That was not a surprise to me at all, but this was. Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo also said that marijuana was detected in Ward's system during the autopsy and that the levels were enough to "impair" Ward's judgement.

The common assumption has been that there would be no criminal charges filed against Tony Stewart, but that he would likely end up settling out of court should a civil suit be filed by the Ward family. This new nugget of information would seem to make that unlikely as well.

Scott Traylor, are you calling Kevin Keitzman at 810 WHB right now so that you can follow up on the conversation that played out on the Racin' Boys last appearance on "Between The Lines"? It would seem like the underinformed stick and ball radio show host should be eating some crow. And he is not the only one......

If you are going to Knoxville on Saturday you should consider getting there early enough to see Iowa greats Verlin Eaker, Curt Hansen, Tom Hearst, Fred Horn, Joe Merryfield, Ed Sanger, Ken Walton and Gary Webb live at 3 p.m. upstairs at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame. "Late Model 101 History" will no doubt be very informative and entertaining with these gentlemen on the panel. This group represents twenty-two of the thirty-four All Iowa Points Late Model championships between 1967 and 2000.

I look forward to spending Thursday night in Knoxville and on Saturday night the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will run their Season Championship at 34 Raceway near Burlington. In between I am hoping to make it down to Memphis, Missouri, for the first night of their two-day show this weekend as well.

The weather forecast looks perfect for the final weekend in September. Get on out and enjoy a race or two while you still can!

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