It was an interesting weekend of racing, even with just two events on the schedule as there was enough action to dust off a Monday edition of the Notebook.
Let's start with the Ice Bowl first as, no surprise, the Super Late Model winner Michael Page went flag-to-flag for the win on Sunday evening at the Talladega Short Track. It was the second Ice Bowl win in a row for Page, the first time that anybody has done that since Kenny Merchant nearly two decades ago. Even though he went the distance hugging the bottom of the 1/3-mile oval there a appeared to be a second line to the track allowing for at least one driver to make a big run, but I am getting ahead of myself.
The notebook worthy items actually happened in each of the first two heat races on Saturday. The event uses the classic "time 'em and start the fast guys in front" format with the first heat race winner earning the pole for the feature and the second heat race winner lining up on the outside of row one for the finale so essentially this event is usually "won" during the first two heats on Saturday. In heat one Billy Ogle Jr. raced to the lead from the pole with John Ownbey chasing and on lap two as Ownbey tried to pass on the outside in turn four he hooked the right rear of Ogle and spun him sideways in front of the field. The caution waved, but when they came back for the restart neither driver, Ownbey or Ogle had been penalized. Things that make you go hmmmmm....
Ownbey would come back to complete the pass on the outside late in the race to take the win and sit on the pole for Sunday. In the second heat Michael Page had things well in hand leading from the drop of the green after starting from the pole position, but when a caution waved late in the race that brought the field back to him. On the restart veteran driver Ronnie Johnson got a big run on the high side and took the lead down the back stretch. His advantage was almost a full car length entering turn three where Page kept his foot on the gas, pushed up the race track and made hard contact with the right front of Johnson's car. Had RJ not been there to bank off of, Page likely would have driven over the top of turn four, but he was able to straighten it out, regain the lead and go on to win while Johnson faded to fourth in the final laps due to the damage sending him to a Last Chance race on Sunday.
Oh what might have been! Johnson advanced from his qualifier to start 20th on the feature grid and he would race his way all the way up to fifth at the checkers as Page took the win ahead of Jason Hiett, Ownbey and Ogle Jr. What surprised me was how mellow Johnson was regarding the incident on Saturday even congratulating Page with a smile in victory lane on Sunday. Johnson did get a $3,000 win in the Crate Late Model feature where, of course, he started on the pole and led every lap.
The reaction to a "that's racing" incident was not the same last night (Sunday) at the Wild West Shootout in Arizona where young talent Bobby Pierce and Ricky Weiss had a dust up while racing for the lead. The two were putting on an amazing show for several laps, throwing sliders at each other with no contact, but on lap 23 of the 40-lap main event Pierce stumbled just a bit on the cushion in turn four and that allowed Weiss to race under him coming down the front stretch. After several looks of the video on Dirt On Dirt it appears that Weiss came up the track before he had Pierce cleared and the contact sent Ricky for a spin down the rest of the straightaway and through the exit gate at the top of turn one. Weiss did make contact with an implement tire guarding the entrance ending his night and let's just say that he does not agree with my assessment of the incident vowing to pay back Pierce somewhere down the line.
On the restart Mike Marlar challenged Pierce for a few laps until Don Shaw made his way into second. The defending WISSOTA Late Model National Champion then chased Pierce over the closing laps as the track changed yet again to a line through the middle and when Pierce again stumbled in turn four with four laps remaining Shaw made the pass for the lead and the win. It was the second night in a row that a former WISSOTA National Champion had scored the win as Weiss was victorious in the Saturday opener taking the lead back from Chris Simpson after Simpson had snared it from him earlier.
Saying that a guy who won 34 features in 2017 is a "surprise" is kind of difficult, but Shaw does not yet have the star power that several of the drivers who finished behind him have. Most who are not familiar with the Ham Lake, Minnesota, driver might only remember him as the guy that Shane Clanton took out when this event was still held down in Tucson in 2016 and then blamed it on the passing points method of doing lineups. Sadly, that was the last year that the event used passing points. In Modified action from the desert Ricky Thornton Jr and Stormy Scott are your first two winners while Iowan Justin Kay finished fifth on Saturday night.
Don't forget that you can watch the remaining four events from Arizona, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday on a Pay Per View basis on Dirt On Dirt.
A couple of notes from 34 Raceway where they announced today that the Four Cylinder class will now be IMCA sanctioned Sport Compacts. The division has run non-sanctioned for the past several years. Also, the September 22nd Mod Lite Nationals event is also listed as the "Grand Daddy" where all five divisions that night (Mod Lites, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts) will be racing for $1,000 or a "Grand" to win.
One week to have your proposal in to the Hamilton County Fair Board, one week remaining! And the Southern Iowa Fair Board in Oskaloosa meets tonight where hopefully they will at least discuss the possibility of racing.
That's all for now, my prediction for tonight: Alabama 21 and Georgia 10 in what for me at least is the most uninspiring National Championship game that I can remember. If it gets out of hand early I will be switching over to watch The Bachelor where twenty-five beautiful women are chasing one race car driver. Enjoy your week!
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