I made my first visit in more than a year back to Volusia. Of course they are under new management now; thank Goodness someone opened this excellent track back up.
I’ve always loved the fast and racy surface! They had a solid turnout of late models (18? 20?) that put on an excellent feature. There were enough modifieds to run a spirited race too. Those were the highlights, but I have to say that they need to polish the presentation of the overall show.
Need examples? Look no further than the mini stocks. A few years ago, this was a large, competitive and interesting class. Last night they showed up with 7, and the show led off by splitting them into 2 heats. It didn’t exactly start off with a bang, especially considering a long red flag for an accident, and the wide difference in speed between the very fast and the very slow cars.
Since only 3 cars answered the bell for the feature, wouldn’t it make sense to move this class until late in the show? Instead, after a looong intermission, the features started off with an amazing uncompetitive 3 car race, complete with on-track driver intros and a long victory lane ceremony.
All those things are fine, but not for a 3 car race. The point I’m trying to make is to be flexible. It was clear that minis were going to be a snoozer, so why not change the highlight activities to another class and move the show along by putting the weak classes toward the end?
Enough rant, I still love the place. Congrats to Darrell Padgett for a smart and interesting win in the late models.