An amazing coincidence! For the third year in a row I had the pleasure of attending 66 nights of racing and it was a fun year as I visited 30 different tracks in nine different states in 2016. Some were great, many were good, a few were marginal and, in something new for me, I even walked out of a couple before feature races ever made it to the track. Perhaps I am getting grumpier in my advancing age.
My season started with a bit of a surprise as a last second travel deal found us in Florida for three days and I was able to sneak out to East Bay Raceway for the February 9th Lucas Oil event at one of my all-time favorite tracks. My first Midwest race of the year was a return to the LaSalle Speedway for the Thaw Brawl opener, an event that had more of a debate on whether Brian Birkhofer spun Rich Bell or not rather than a celebration of Brian Shirley's win. A trip to Punta Cana for a destination wedding followed, a trip that was a lot of fun until a 7mm wide kidney stone stopped hinting that it was in me and started screaming to be taken out on the final night. After a miserable flight back home, the stone was removed surgically two days later and, against my wife's orders, I made the trip up to West Liberty for the Deery Series opener. I made it through the cold and windy night pretty well only to be pulled over by a Johnson County Sheriff's Deputy for doing a slow and go through a stop sign on the way home. Do you know what that ticket costs these days??? I have stopped and counted to three at every stop sign on a lonely county road in the middle of the night ever since.
Last year I already had nine events in by the 11th of April, but the 2016 season got off to a much slower start with just three before that date. The Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway was once again an early season highlight as Bobby Pierce posted his first of many big wins of the year. I had just settled into my seat next to my friend Gary Lee to watch hot laps when I was paged by the MARS announcer to come up and do the announcing for the local classes, and of course I never turn down the chance to announce at 34!
My wife Christine joined me at five races this year, the most that she has gone two in one season since before we were married and the first of those came at the Lebanon I-44 Speedway for the CRA JEGS All Stars Masters of the Pros event. Now my wife is very cute and quite personable so it was no surprise that as she walked toward the ticket window a nice couple from Lebanon asked her if she needed two tickets and when she said "yes", they said "here you go" and then refused to let me pay for them. Christine is very smart as well so after we were in the gate she told me that we would be using the money that we just saved to buy her something in the Ozarks the next day. Somehow she has it in her mind that if she goes to 30 races with me in 2017 that I will get a tattoo......don't think that will happen!
My first of four "new to me" tracks of the year was on the final night of May when I visited the Montpelier Motor Speedway for the opening night of Indiana Midget Week. A week later I was in Wisconsin on business allowing me to visit the Marshfield Motor Speedway for the Dick Trickle Memorial 99 and two weeks later I finally found my way to a dirt track in Michigan, although the I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa was also one of my "early exits" on the season. So too was my fourth and final "new to me" track for the year, the temporary 1/5th-mile built inside The Dome at the America's Center in St. Louis for the Gateway Nationals.
Talk about an event that has the racing forums and social media buzzing, I have been amused by the polarizing effect that this event has had. Even before the race we had some of the most respected voices in the sport writing about how bad it was for people to treating it so negatively with their posts, tweets and comments, a phenomenon that others figured out a long time ago (2009 for example) was bad for the sport, and then afterward it has been almost comical to watch people argue over whether it was a success or not. I went on Thursday with the plan being that I would decide whether to stay on Friday, or to return to Iowa to join my wife at her company Christmas party. There seems to be no argument that Thursday's qualifying sessions and Modified heat races did not go very well so after more than six hours in the Dome I headed back to my hotel and called my wife to tell her that I would be home on Friday. One only has to watch video of Friday's Late Model feature to see how well they bounced back and while I would have liked to have still been there to see it, I had no regrets about my decision as I also had a great time on Friday night with my wife and her friends. My colleague Ed Reichert filed this report from the whole weekend and it tells both sides of the story, that there were some "bad" that went along with the "good" just like what you will see at any racing event.
What I have never understood about this whole internet/social media phenomenon is why in the world would somebody feel that they should tell you that you should not go to an event even before it happens? How can that person consider himself to be a race fan when they are doing things that hurt the sport? Hey Joe Dirtfan, do I really care that you think a race is going to be a disaster and that you are going to stay home instead? Hey Racer X who feels he got screwed by a call at XYZ Speedway four years ago, but still gets on Facebook every week to tell people why they shouldn't go there, to me you just sound like a whiny baby so suck it up and find something else to talk about. It truly is sad that dirt track fans everywhere don't just appreciate the incredible risk that was taken to put on this show and acknowledge that it was much better than many had expected. But I digress.....
It may surprise you to learn that one of my favorite nights of the year came during the Wapello County Fair in Eldon the same track that gave me one of the closest finishes of the year as well later in September. You can see the picture here. I saw what would be my last race ever at the historic Iowa State Fair Speedway in June and the first picture that you will see in this entry, taken by my PR.com partner Barry Johnson, is one that will now have to forever live in the memory bank because it will not be repeated.
The 2016 Knoxville Nationals will always be remembered as one of the best ever with a Championship feature that may never be topped with underdog Jason Johnson fighting off the nine-time winner Donny Schatz. I am glad that I didn't miss this one as you can bet that the stories will be told for years to come and if the 2017 Nationals are not a sellout once again, I will be shocked!
A two race road trip to Kansas City (Lakeside) and Memphis highlighted my Fall schedule of racing and if not for a few rainouts late, and of course the decision to return to a Christmas party, seventy events would have been achieved. But hey, 66 for the third year in a row is pretty cool.
My nine states this year were Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Kansas while my thirty tracks stacked up like this. Knoxville would lead the way once again, but with only eight nights this compared to double figures in the past. I was at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on six nights with five nights each at Oskaloosa and 34 Raceway near Burlington. I made the trip south to Quincy on four nights while I saw three nights of racing at West Liberty, Dubuque, Eldon and Tipton. Two trips were made to Davenport, Vinton, Des Moines, Independence and Memphis with one night stops made at each of the following: East Bay, LaSalle, Lebanon I-44, Montpelier, Gas City I-69, Rice Lake, Marshfield, Spoon River, I-96, Maquoketa, East Moline, Eldora, Lakeside, Dells Raceway Park, Tri-City and the Dome in St. Louis.
It is hard to believe that we are already going to be turning the calendar to 2017 soon and it will be just a couple of short months before I can start working toward another 66 events, more or less. I have just sent the first draft of the Specials schedule to the Webmistress this week and you should be able to find it soon on the Calendar page at Positively Racing. Start planning out your racing adventures for next season as it is a great way to get through the winter months!
Have a very Merry Christmas and as always, thank you for visiting the Back Stretch!
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