Despite the fact that I already did my recap for the 2017 season it looks like I will add one more event to that list when Danny and I make the trip down to St. Louis on Friday for the Gateway Dirt Nationals. Last year I went down with the intention of taking in the whole weekend, but my mistake was being there for the Thursday afternoon and night/Friday morning qualifying fiasco and that caused me to make a change of plans to come back home and go to my wife's company Christmas party on Saturday night. Even with the nice recovery and the entertaining racing that then happened on Friday and Saturday I did not regret my decision because let's just say that my wife works with some very fun people!
This year the Dome race falls on the weekend of another traditional Christmas gathering that I would never want to miss, but when the Entry Lists came out they caught my interest and since the party is on Saturday all I needed was an accomplice to make the trip on Friday. So we will be there for one night only and here's hoping that this time the racing will hook me for the future rather than chasing me away. I am guessing that a portion of my ticket will go toward the lucrative payout?
For the past several years the PRI show in Indianapolis has been the place for most of the national racing series (World of Outlaws, Lucas Oil, All Stars, USMTS, USAC, etc.) to announce their schedules, but since all of them now seem to want to put them out earlier and earlier that was not the case last weekend. The one scheduling nugget that we did get was the UMP Summer Nationals slate that will open for the first time ever at the Peoria Speedway on Wednesday June 13th.
Instead the big news at PRI were the Late Model drivers declaring their national tour intentions topped perhaps by Mike Marlar's announcement that he will chase the World of Outlaws schedule in 2018. David Breazele, Brent Larson and Timothy Culp will join Marlar as Rookie of the Year contenders while Chase Junghans will also return to the Outlaws. And Brian Shirley will team up with G.R. Smith to go Outlaw racing as well. The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series will have regional star Donald McIntosh chasing a national tour for the first time along with Floridian Kyle Bronson.
Bobby Pierce and the Dunn Benson Team remain a free agent at this point.
Meanwhile closer to home the Late Model scene had another big announcement when the Independence Motor Speedway dropped the IMCA sanction from the class and will adopt the new set of rules put forth by the Farley Speedway Promotions team. There were twelve Deery Brothers Summer Series events contested in 2017 and seven of them were contested at tracks that are now either switching to the new rules, or have their operational status totally up in the air right now. So, when you ask what this does to one of, if not the longest running regional racing series in the country, just do the math. The remaining IMCA sanctioned tracks will need to step up with perhaps two events each in order to have a true schedule.
In more IMCA news......The IMCA Modifieds will be added to the program at the Boone County Raceway in Nebraska next season.....The Heartland Motorsports Park dirt track in Topeka asked IMCA if they could switch their weekly race night from Sunday to Friday in 2018, however due to the effect that it would have on the Salina Speedway the request was denied. Management of HMP stated that while they respect the decision it will force them to "only host special events" at the track in 2018.
I know that it is too early for a New Years resolution, but I do have a wish for 2018. I hope that we stop giving race fans more reasons to stay home and enjoy the sport rather than going to their local track and buying a ticket. Otherwise the demise of weekly racing will only speed up.
In what I believe to be the first ever NFL touchdown to be scored by a Mount Pleasant High School graduate, offensive lineman Leonard Wester put up six for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday!
That's it for today, perhaps we will see you at the dome where I will be seated high above the Back Stretch!
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