World 100 at Eldora Last Night

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
1

WOW.

“Only” 112 cars showed. This race used to draw almost, if not, 300 (or more) cars to make the (now) 30-car field.

This place puts on a show.

After time trials on Friday, the field was set into six heat races of nearly twenty cars each at 15 laps a piece. And only the top three from each heat made it into the “big show”. Positions 4-11 in the heats were in the B-mains, and positions 12th on back were done for the weekend.

The starting field was bumped up from 28 to 30 cars this year, with two cars from time trials who may have not made the field otherwise, getting into starting spots 19 and 20.

The purse for the heat races and B-features was also increased just a bit.

When guys like Eckert, Moran, Chubb Frank, Brian Birkhofer, Bart Hartman, Clint Smith, Jackie Boggs…don’t make the field, you know it’s TOUGH.

So, the polesitter for the feature was the sixth heat winner, Chris Madden. Madden dropped off a bit early on, and outside second row starter Jimmy Owens got out front and walked away in the first fifty laps. A few cautions bunched up the field late, and the last caution came out with 18 laps to go. Owens led Darrell Lanigan, Dan O’Neal, and Eddie Carrier with five to go. Owens’ tires started falling off, and the field started reeling him in in lapped traffic. O’Neal took a shot at Lanigan, but in the meantime, Carrier went to the bottom and got around both the 29 and the 71 with about two to go. Coming down for the white flag and diving into turn one, Carrier took another shot at Owens on the bottom, but couldn’t make it stick. Out of turn four for the checkers, Carrier took one last shot at the win, but came up just short. Owens won his second World 100 title (he won the 2007 edition), Carrier was second less than a car length back. Less than a second and a half in back of that battle, O’Neal got around Lanigan in the final corner for third.

Jeep VanWormer out of Michigan got the Best-Appearing car award for his Spider-themed/9-11 Tribute/American flag machine.

Scott Bloomquist, who was never really a factor in the 100-lap feature, was quick time on Friday with a 15.009.

I have two photo albums on FaceBook if anyone wants to check it out :wink:

Oh - and GREAT, cheap food (less than $5.00 for a burger, drink, and a bag of chips?!), CLEAN, LARGE-CAPACITY restrooms, a printed program for an event of this magnitude was only 5 bucks, more souvenir trailers tan a NASCAR race…parking was just as bad…LOL…but man…what a GREAT finish to a helluva race last night!

2

Jimmy, how was the dust? I know sometimes it’s kinda bad. billy

3

Track stayed pretty good throughout the night. Just a light watering between the second last-chance race and the feature. Turn one developed a bad rut/“bump”; you can see it in my Facebook pics. Around the top was the fast way around, and these guys seemed like they NEVER lifted. Moyer ran a 14.977 in his heat race early in the night; lap times dropped off to around 17 seconds.

Two other things I liked about this place: a working scoreboard with the top five, and a live TV feed on a giant-screen in turn two. If you missed something (accident or some exciting passing/racing), it was replayed on the big screen.

The hillside seating was kinda cool as well :slight_smile:

The bumps and ruts in the center of turn one. If you went low and slid up over this bump, it was about six inches tall, and you could tell when someone hopped it. You had to be either way out to the wall, or way down on the bottom.

4

Awesome shots Jimmy! Makes me miss my days doing the Late Model Series, the absoulte best racing there is as far as I’m concerned.

5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geP6TfE-8vY&feature=youtu.be

Go to about the 16 minute mark to see the best action all night! And watch that fourth-place car at that time, the orange and black #28!

6

I met Eddie Carrier about 7 years ago at the EastBay Winternationals since then we have become pretty decent friends. Him and his dad are super nice guys and glad to see they are running good again. They struggled for a couple of years but seem to have really turned it around this year.

7

LOL…if you watch that video, he came from like 78 car lengths back with about 3 to go, to catch not only O’Neal and Lanigan, but took a shot at Owens. In his interview afterward about that slide he took there outta four, his respoinse was, “I race clean, I wasn’t about to slide up and take 'im out to win it all. Not a good way to win, and I hope these guys race me the same way down the road.”

8

Incredible!!!

Where and how much for the DVD? Can’t wait for Winternationals next year at Eastbay! Definately the best show I have EVER seen! If you like racing, start making plans now and don’t miss the opportunity to see these guys in action.

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Scotty Mac we gotta call one together Brother!!!

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Eldora’s Web site will have the DVD’s.

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Wouldn’t that be great! I would prolly blow up!

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I’ve seen a LOT of different classes of racing in my life, but the full-blown Dirt Late Models put out probably THE best show in short track racing. Crazy things happen often… The impossible happens pretty regularly.

-----Bucket List -------

13

WOW…

Jimmy Owens… Confirms what I thought of his talent. If you don’t trust my opinion, ask Kim Brown what we’ve seen him do on his way to the top of the sport.

Eddie Carrier Jr. … Never thought a whole of his skills, but I’m a new believer.

Darrell Lanigan… Never seems flashy, but always right there at the end.

Don O’Neil… The nickname “The Real Deal” didnt come by accident. One of the most exciting guys you can see in this sport… also see Jonathan Davenport for the same review.

John Blankenship… in my opinion, the Paul Menard of DLM racing. Money got him into this, yet he’s all of a sudden someone to reckon with… never saw that coming. Good run for him. Possibly the most impressive I’ve ever seen him.

Also wish Shannon Babb was a factor. When he’s on, that MF’er can make any diehard dirt fan sport wood…!

14

Jerry,
Babb looked pretty decent in his heat race, but the feature was a different story :\ Same thing with Earl Pearson.

Before this year, I hadn’t been to the dirt since…Volusia SpeedWeeks in '93. Been to the local dirt twice this year, and full fields everywhere both times. This was my first trip out to Rossburg…and I wasn’t disappointed :slight_smile:

Let me tell ya, this place (Eldora) is out in the middle of nowhere…LOL. Nearest town is about 15 miles away. It rained until I just about got to the track. The track parking lot was full; and even the campground/parking across the street was full. I had to park about a mile away on the side of the road…LOL :slight_smile:

15

Let me tell ya, this place (Eldora) is out in the middle of nowhere…LOL. Nearest town is about 15 miles away. It rained until I just about got to the track. The track parking lot was full; and even the campground/parking across the street was full. I had to park about a mile away on the side of the road…LOL
[B][I]
Which prove the point one more time:

If you have ‘‘The Right Show’’, it doesn’t matter where you’re at, shaky weather, traffic, time, day, etc, they will come.[/I][/B]