A Few More Observations From The 2019 Slocum 50

For the tenth time in eleven years I was honored to be a part of the announcing team for the Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway. Brent's personality always stood out to me as a driver who was a fierce competitor while being a true sportsman and at the end of the evening he was always ready to share a smile and a cold one with anybody else who just wanted to enjoy the moment. An outlook on life, and especially on this sport that I wish more of us involved in it would have, so for that reason it really means a lot to me to be able to participate by doing my bit of time on the microphone in memory, and in honor of Brent Slocum.

The only Slocum 50 that I have missed came last year when I was honored to attend a friend's wedding and I nearly had to forgo this one as well when my wife and daughter scheduled the bridal shower for my soon to be daughter in law for the same day. Thankfully Brad and Jessi worked with me so that I could have both of my sons up to to watch as well and let's just say that when we got home later that night it was obvious that the girls had a pretty good time in our evening absence. The empty bottles were evidence of that.

Three of my Positively Racing colleagues have also filed their report from the Slocum 50 and I do hope that you will read Brian Neal's Midwest Racing News, Danny Rosencrans' Racin' Down The Road and Ed Reichert's One Fan's Travels to get a full rundown of this event from three different points of view. I am so proud of the people that I associate with and there is no need for me to re-tell the tale of the night's action here since they each did such a fine job of doing so. Besides, as one of the announcers along with Tony Paris and MLRA's Billy Rock I left my notepad in the car for the evening so following are just some random observations from the event.

First of all, how about the weather?! It was sunny and in the seventies with a light wind, actually the first real "nice night" for racing in 2019 and I am sure that helped put more people in the stands here than perhaps even the first appearance of the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars several years ago. Only Brad & Jessi can confirm that assumption, but early on I started asking people to slide together and make friends with their neighbors due to the steady flow of traffic into the facility. And it was a "fun loving" crowd as well. Ed Reichert talks about the party atmosphere that he only sees at a couple of other events and readers, keep in mind that this man goes to more than 150 race nights a year so when something like this stands out to him, you know that it is something special. This crowd was here to enjoy the evening and cheer on their heroes, whether or not they were a hero to them before they bought the ticket and that is what makes for a great crowd. Even though the Stock Car feature was the last of the night, there was probably still a thousand people or more sticking around and as Abe Huls, David Brandies and John Oliver Jr. crossed the stripe three-wide for the lead with three laps to go they were going nuts just like they did a bit earlier when Bobby Pierce pounded the cushion on both ends to reel in Chad Simpson.

After Oliver prevailed for the Stock Car win I asked the crowd if that was worth sticking around for and the cheer was nearly as loud as when the place was still full. It was a special crowd and if you were one of them, pat yourself on the back because not only did you see a good show, but you also made it a great show.

Yes, Paul Nienhesier was a bit of a "ringer" in the Window World Winged Sprints as he drove Caleb Wankel's #5 to victory, but Harold Pohren made him work for it with Nienheiser taking the lead mid-race when Pohren hesitated for a split second when he closed in on the slower car of Noah Samuel. Earlier in the evening I had talked with Harold about his victory in this event two years ago. Let's just say that his wing dance that night did not go as planned and we talked about the lessons learned and how he should apply them on this night. He almost had that chance!

And speaking of Samuel, no ill will on him as the young man looked pretty darn good for his first night of racing a winged Sprint Car. He is getting some coaching from Justin Newberry who retired after scoring a track championship here at 34 Raceway back in 2015, so look for Noah to get faster on a steady basis.

Also a bit of a surprise early in the night was the heat race win by Nick Eastin who was driving Gary Bonar's #97x. I knew that Eastin was a good shoe back when he was doing this on a regular basis and we have seen this car go fast in the past, I just didn't expect it to be a winning combination on the first night out. With Scott Bonar turning the wrenches though, success should never come as a surprise.

The Late Model car count was phenomenal at 37 with big names up and down the line. With it being the Easter weekend this year neither of the National touring series were scheduled, and when the weather took out everything else to the east it truly made the Slocum the place to be this weekend. Or better said as now painted on the back stretch wall "The Premiere Place To Race". While it would be tempting to say that the Slocum should always be run on Easter weekend in order to avoid conflict with the National tours, keep in mind that Easter itself bounces around so next year it will be on April 12th and in 2021 it goes to April 4th, so that is not a likely scenario. But it sure worked out great this year with touring pros Hudson O'Neal, Tyler Erb, Chase Junghans, Dennis Erb Jr., Brandon Sheppard and Kyle Bronson in the house and while Junghans went flag-to-flag to win at Davenport Friday night, he had to race his way through a B-Main and then work hard to post a ninth-place finish on this night.

I can't believe that the appearance of Brian Birkhofer in a Jason Rauen owned car #OU812 did not get leaked pre-race. It even had the name Sammy Hagar on the roof of the car and while his first lap of qualifying was vintage Birkhofer, his contact with the wall in turn three on the second lap ended his evening.

Rauen also had a tough night running in a qualifying position before slipping over the cushion in turns one and two putting him on the DNQ list.

The Group Qualifying format with a straight up start made the four heat races high speed parades, except for Hudson O'Neal who put on a show coming from the rear of a ten car field to finish third in the third heat.

Local favorite Jay Johnson had to advance a few positions to get qualified out of his heat race and he had a solid evening and perhaps the most spirited battle during the qualifying events came during the first B-Main when young drivers Jonathan Brauns and Logan Martin swapped slide jobs on three occasions while racing for the final transfer position with Martin prevailing at the checkers.

The track offered up three distinct lines during the fifty lap feature with the "faster way around" changing a time our two during the distance, exactly what you want for a big race like this. Chad Simpson was the first to get the bottom to work allowing him to drive past early leader Shannon Babb, but it was the late race assault on the precarious cushion by Bobby Pierce that had the fans going nuts. Pierce was on the edge of disaster at any moment even making a couple of saves when it looked liked he was going to nose into the wall in three and four, or go over the top of turns one and two. With seven laps remaining he would sweep around Simpson for the lead coming out of turn four, the move that would the propel him to his third victory in this event.

Perhaps lost in the moment was the great racing going on behind the leaders with Babb and Chris Simpson racing wheel to wheel for third in the closing laps, plus big runs by Garrett Alberson who came from twelfth to sixth and Junghans who moved from nineteenth to ninth at the checkers.

In victory lane Bob Pierce and another crew member quickly removed the roof from the winning ride so that Bobby could exit in style out of the top of the car and standing on the roll cage to celebrate.

I already touched on the Stock Cars who closed out the night in fashion and then the folks at J&M Displays fired off an impressive set of fireworks with the prevailing color being Brent Slocum's green, of course. Even the traffic out of the place flowed better than I have seen it on a lesser attended show, so what else can you say but "wow, that was a good one."

I hope that you were there to see it and if not, you have another chance to see some big time Late Model action at 34 in just a few weeks when the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series comes to town on Thursday night May 16th. I will look for you there!