More Speed Weeks

Part two of our seven night Speed Weeks trip started with a road trip across the state on Super Bowl Sunday and with Volusia taking the night of we headed over to New Smyrna Speedway for some pavement racing. An early afternoon shower had delayed the program by about a half an hour so we caught the end of Pro Late Model qualifying before the Florida Modifieds would run the first of four main events on the night.

Terry Fisher would lead early before yielding to Bruce Bennett, but after opening up a big lead Bennett's car would falter late in the race allowing Fisher to regain the lead and the win. Multi-time track champion Jerry Symons would be a distant runner-up.

Thirty-five laps of Super Late Model racing would follow with Iowan Sammy Smith starting from the pole in his TMC sponsored #22. Smith would set the pace with Stephen Nasse in hot pursuit and when Nasse was able to pull even on the bottom he and Smith would race wheel-to-wheel for a couple of laps. Finally Nasse would ease ahead only to have Smith cross him over and again they would race side-by-side for a lap before Nasse took control. There would be no catching him from there as Nasse captured his ninth career victory at the annual World Series of Asphalt. Smith would finish in second while our two-time winner of the Upper Midwest Pavement Late Model Points, Justin Mondeik from Wisconsin finished third. Derek Griffith was fourth and local star Brad May inherited fifth when Bubba Pollard slowed exiting turn four coming to the checkers.

The Pro Late Model feature would also run for thirty-five circuits on the fast half-mile with Giovanni Ruggerio setting a quick early pace in search of his second straight win here at New Smyrna. Quick qualifier Hunter Wright would get to second after drawing a four for the invert and when the caution waved they would lineup two wide for the restart. Friday's winner Michael Hinde would be in the second row and once back to racing it would be a three car tussle for the point.

When Wright and Ruggiero pushed up the track in turn two, Hinde would get a run and the trip would exit turn four three wide. Contact from Hinde would get Wright loose going down the front stretch and while he almost made the save Wright would end up nose first into the inside wall. As he bounced off the wall most of the field was able to avoid, but a couple of the back markers did not and the race would go red.

Following the clean up there would be no stopping Hinde as the 17-year-old from central Florida would take his second win in three nights here and his third of the season after taking Speed Fest in southern Georgia the final week of January. Conner Jones would slip past Ruggiero late in the race to finish third followed by Gus Dean and young Minnesota driver William Sawalich.

I was excited to see that New Smyrna was on MyRacePass only to then be disappointed when I realized that they don't actually use it. And, when the P.A. announcer decided to wait until cars were on the track before giving the lineup it was impossible to hear if he was actually giving the names and hometowns of each driver. I enjoy watching races much more when I know who is driving each car and frankly the art of announcing to the people in the stands, you remember those of us who actually bought a ticket to be there, has been totally abandoned. Instead of playing music while the cars are sitting on Pit Row, give the lineup while those ticket buyers can actually hear you! Thank goodness we were able to at least get the driver names by pulling up Race Monitor and it was interesting to know that the Axalta sponsored #24 running mid-pack in the Super Late Models was William Byron. He would drive the Donnie Wilson owned car to a ninth-place finish.They also mentioned that the Modified winner, Fisher, had beaten some of the best track regulars. It would have been nice to know where Terry Fisher towed in from to compete.

The 602 Modifieds from the northeast were to close out the evening with 75-laps, but when one driver hit the wall during warm up laps and then waited for a tow truck to finally make its way out to the track, we decided to call it a night. Carsten and Jarret DiGiantmasso would dominate this one finishing one-two.

On Monday night we made our way to the Volusia Speedway Park for what would be my first visit in about twenty-five years. Outside the facility looks much the same as I even paid a visit to the "second track" that was built when the primary track was paved in order to appease the dirt track fans. As I recall my last time here, I paid an extra five dollars to be able to go back and forth from the dirt track to the pavement track as both were in action on the same night. Apparently they now use it as an oversized go kart track.

On this night the UMP Late Models would serve as somewhat of a support class to the debut of the Xtreme Outlaw Sprints Series. This is the World Racing Group's foray into non-winged Sprint Car racing and I am still trying to decide if this, and their new Midget series, has been introduced to compliment or overtake USAC. For the debut though they definitely took advantage of having the USAC Sprints in Ocala later this week as a solid field of 37 drivers signed in for $5,000 to win Monday and $10,000 to win on Tuesday. More likely these series have een added in hope of driving more subscribers to DirtVision.

While not quite as fan friendly as the one USAC uses, the qualifying format is a good one as a draw would set the roster for the four heat races where drivers would then group qualify all at once. The top four in each group would be inverted for the heats and a point system for both qualifying and the heat race finish would be used to determine the top sixteen. Robert Ballou would be the high point man and he would then draw a zero, a four or a six to determine the invert and in true "Madman" fashion Ballou drew the six. Two Last Chance races would advance three each to give us a twenty-two car feature field for twenty-five laps.

Carson Short would lead the opening lap only to have C.J. Leary power by him one line higher in turn four to take the point on the second lap. The red flag would fly as the rest of the field raced into turn one as the driveline let go on the car of Dennis Gile and when he suddenly slowed Brady Bacon would launch over his right rear sending him into wild flip that tested the turn one catch fence. Thankfully Bacon emerged unhurt, but safety workers spent several minutes tending to Gile who likely had leg injuries from the mechanical failure.

Once back to green Leary was in complete control with just one more caution slowing the event before the Greenfield, Indiana, driver etched his name in the record books as the first ever winner of the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Series. Justin Grant made a nice charge up from fifth to second and was closing in on Leary late in the race while Short held on to finish third. Chase Stockon made a big run up from fifteenth to fourth while Ballou completed the top five.

So I can now add my attendance at this event to some of the other "firsts" that are in my notebook:

- First IMCA Summer Series event (announced at 34 Raceway)

- First pavement race at Hawkeye Downs (announced)

- First race held at the current Poplar Bluff Speedway

- First race held at the Clarke County Speedway in Osceola (announced)

- First Sprint Invaders event (Jacksonville)

- First NKF Tour event (Oskaloosa)

Okay, so yea that last one was a given and many of you are likely cursing the Hawkeye Downs mention, but it is what it is!

The thirty lap Late Model feature was a runaway as Ricky Thornton Jr. went to the lead at the drop of the green and drove away to a convincing victory. The race went non-stop and while it would have been nice to get a caution to see if Chris Madden could mount a challenge, it was forty degrees out and we were ready to get back to a warm hotel. Madden had advanced from eighth to finish second, Devin Moran moved from sixth to third, Brandon Overton faded from the pole to fourth and Dale McDowell started third and finished fifth.

Thankfully Tuesday's weather warmed up by about fifteen degrees since the Big Block Modifieds joined the Late Models and Sprint Cars for a full program featuring a total car count of 133. There was no rain in the forecast, but with an onshore flow a few showers started to pop up in the area and after the first three heat races were completed for the Sprint Cars one of those showers would shut things down for about an hour. Once officials felt that the track was close to being ready for racing, the fourth and final Sprint Car heat was pushed off and it quickly became obvious that the surface was still slimy. Then it started to rain again making that a moot point.

The second shower was very light, only lasting for about five minutes and during that time the World Racing Group altered the schedule in a manner that I am hoping reflected the fact that the Sprint Car teams wanted to get loaded up and on their way as soon as possible to Ocala for their Wednesday show. Surely they weren't saying that most of the crowd on hand, and watching on DirtVision, were more interested in seeing the Sprints than the Big Block Modifieds or the Late Models, were they?

Modified heats one and two were used to get the track back into racing shape with several laps of packing, then several laps of "hot laps" that started slow and gradually picked up speed before the two heat races were finally contested. The final Sprint Car heat would then be completed followed by the final two Modified heats. Even announcer Johnny Gibson alluded to the fact that we would now be "all Sprint Cars" going forward as following their two Last Chance races there would be a ten minute break before their thirty lap feature would be next on the itinerary.

The start of that race was delayed twice. First when it was discovered that the car of Brandon Mattox had a bolt missing from the radius rod prior to being pushed off, so while the rest of the field circled the speedway, he was towed to the work area where repairs were made and once he was on the track the field went four-wide for the parade lap.

After that the start was delayed again when something broke on the steering of Dustin Clark's car, collecting Mattox as well, but at least we didn't cruise the track for several laps for Clark to make repairs before waving the green flag. Thomas Meseraull would jump to the lead with Brady Bacon moving quickly from sixth to second. Bacon was now driving the #13 car since Dennis Gile had suffered a broken ankle and Bacon's car was destroyed in the Monday night incident.

While drivers searched for a better line, this one had little passing in the front half of the field until the caution waved with three laps remaining. On this restart Chase Stockon moved from sixth to third in turns one and two, but that we would be all that he could get as Meseraull crusied to the $10,000 victory ahead of Bacon and Stockon. Robert Ballou finished fourth and C.J. Leary will leave Volusia with the Xtreme series point lead after taking fifth.

As expected, "T-Mez" gave an entertaining victory lane interview and after that whole process added another ten minutes to the show it would be just a few minutes before midnight when the Late Models finally returned to action for their heat races and few, if any of the ticket buying fans left when the Sprint Car portion of the show was completed.

The Modified feature will take my "Race of the Week" honors as front row starters Peter Britten and Stewart Friesen waged a classic battle for the lead throughout the thirty lap distance. Add in Max McLaughlin once lapped traffic was involved and this one really got wild as Britten and Friesen exchanged the lead officially seven times at the line, and even more often in between. During Britten's last lead from laps twenty-three through twenty-seven he would even pop a wheelie in turns one and two just to add to the thrills.

Friesen would take back the lead with two laps to go and as Britten warded off McLaughlin for second it would be Friesen taking the win. Jimmy Phelps would follow the trio in for fourth while Rich Scagliotta would complete the top five.

It was now 1:50 a.m. and time for the thirty lap Late Model finale with Tyler Millwood and Brandon Sheppard starting from the front row. Sheppard would start putting distance on the field once the green flag waved and his lead was more than a straightaway when the first caution waved on lap fourteen for a slowing Brandon Overton. On the restart Ryan Gustin and Tim McCreadie would make it three-wide entering turn one with Gustin charging from the middle to take the point down the back stretch.

With Sheppard now fading, Devin Moran was on the move after starting eighth and when Blair Nothdurft turned a slowing Mark Whitener with six laps remaining the field was brought back to Gustin for the restart. With Moran now within striking distance it was Tanner English driving Dylan Thompson's #99 who made the move from sixth to third as he tried to become a contender as well.

Moran was able to stay within a car length for a couple of laps, but Gustin was on a mission and he would dedicate the $7,000 victory to a long time supporter of his Leon Ramirez who had passed away on Sunday. Moran would be the runner-up with English taking third after starting eleventh. Ashton Winger posted another solid run in fourth while McCreadie filled out the top five.

It was ten after two as my party of five completed our seven straight nights of Speed Weeks action and now our hope is that we are able to get home before the next winter storm rolls in. Yes, the rain added a couple of hours to this show, but even without it we were looking at a finish time around the midnight hour. As the World Racing Group looks to the 2023 Winter Nationals schedule at Volusia one would hope that they reconsider the division roster as while seeing three headliners on the same night was fun, it was destined to be a long night.

The Xtreme Midget series is set to make its debut on April 1st and 2nd during the Illini 100 at Farmer City, a traditional event for the World of Outlaw Late Models and UMP Modifieds. It will be interesting to see how happy the fans will be with the addition as the patience level of fender fans are different than the open wheel fans. As an example, while it took several laps under caution to get a Sprint Car heat race lined up and ready for green once leaving the infield, the Late Models would leave the infield in turn one and take the green exiting turn four.

I like 'em all, but I am wise enough in my old age to understand that sometimes there is just too much of a good thing!

The refurbished Positively Racing website is back up and running so click that link and take a look including a new format for the Special Events schedule that is more smartphone friendly and searchable. Start mapping out your 2022 racing season now!

Usually with a sunset like this you don't get rain at the track!