Boy am I glad I went… what a show!! Just some rambling thoughts…
I have seen hundreds of shows at Volusia (dirt) over the years on both tracks (remember the kart track used to be a third-mile track) and have never seen the racing surface as awesome as it was last night… The morning rain coupled with the cool, moist air all night made it the most tacky thing I’ve ever seen and there was two-three wide racing all night… It got rutty from time to time but the packers got it back into shape very quickly. In the Mod feature Kyle Bronson got such a bite in turn one his car bicycled and nearly flipped over… several others did the same… This was in the final race of the night after qualifying, 4 Sprint heats, 6 Mod heats, a Sprint dash and B-Main and three Mod B-Mains…
The dirt clods being kicked up, especially by the Modifieds with the smaller tires, were unreal… some were the size of footballs and were being thrown well into the pits… standing in turn one, several feet back from the fence, it still was like someone was shooting a BB gun at you!
37 Sprint Cars and the best drivers in the country… over 20 of them broke the existing track record with Paul McMahan, the last driver to time trial, turning a lap at 12.569 seconds at 143.209 mph. The previous mark was 12.948 seconds. The standard for speed for a Sprint Car on a half-mile dirt track had been at Eldora Speedway where Craig Dollansky had the record of 12.707 seconds in 2002. So Volusia is now the fastest half-mile dirt Sprint Car track in the country!
Although the Sprint A Main was awesome, the Modifieds were the best show of the night. The Sprint heats and B-Main were typical with the winner coming off the front row and no real passing, but the Mod heats and B-Mains were incredible and the feature even better… 86 Modifieds in the pits… Buzzie Reutimann showed up but he was non-competitive all night… Austin and Ty Dillon looked very good and obviously have a big future ahead… Ken Schrader can still wheel a dirt car and I think Clint Bowyer would win every Sprint Cup race if they were held on dirt… His win was very impressive…
The “old guys” had a mixed evening in the Sprints… Swindell just keeps winning and I think he’s in his mid-50s now… He just sorta hung around during qualifying and the heats, made the show, then drove like a madman when the money was on the line… Steve Kinser qualified well but struggled after that and did not make the A-Main… I could tell he wasn’t happy, but rather than go in the truck and warm up… he stood right next to me in turn one watching the Modified B-Mains… He sure is looking his age though… needs to quit smoking!
Tim Schaefer won at Ocala - did not make the A-Main last night!!
Jessic Zemken is REALLY CUTE - she didn’t make the show either…
The Curly Fries were awesome once again…
The “Hot Zone” tent was a neat place to hang out… until the heater quit working…
So… thanks to Kear’s Speed Shop in turn one… I used their power generator as a heater between races and during caution flags… Smelly, but effective…
Crowd was OK, certainly a money loser for the track with the payout they probably have… Stands were maybe 1/3 full at best with a lot of people like me, standing and watching… just too cold to sit…
The show was run off nicely with only a few wrecks - Spud Gustin had a nasty spill in the Sprint feature and was OK thankfully - The track still has the old antiquated vehicles but the crew was fast for what they have to work with… I still got home to Orlando by 12:45…
and, from talking with Joe Dirt, things don’t look too good for a regular season at Volusia… Guess if you need a really great announcer, he may well be available this year… Congrats to Joe - he quit smoking and looks great!