Harrison Burton ought to just stay in Fla for about 6 weeks.
He ran the Pete Orr on Saturday (wiped out a front clip in a scary fence-stuffing), entered for the PASS race, and both a Pro & Super LM for 9 nights.
I’m guessing he is ‘home-schooled’, because he’s gonna miss most of February at the public school…
From the entries so far, here is the odds-on favorite. Defending PASS North champ Cassius Clark (Maine) was always really fast in his family team #8. Since teaming with Hight Motorsports 77, it seems he’s gotten even stronger.
I’ve seen him at The Derby, and impressed me in that field… he’s one to keep an eye on in this one.
Jay Fogelman has been around a long time now, running the LMS cars in the Carolina’s, a couple years on the Busch GN Series, one of the top Hooters Cup winners, Super Lates… and also finds time to build a bunch of race winning chassis for customers.
Another real young kid following in his fathers footsteps, Tate Fogelman will be riding along with father Jay. If they bring separate rigs, one will have a hired driver… Tate can’t get his own license for another 2 years.
Here’s one I don’t know much about, but Trevor Noles will bring his 16 car from NC.
Looks like Brandon Ward will haul down from NC, run the PASS race, and go home to re-load the trailer with K&N Series equipment, as he is also entered at both of those races too.
Sounding like a broken record here, but ‘another son of a Nascar driver’ will be part of Speedweeks.
Brandon Setzer, son of Truck Series multi-race winner, Dennis Setzer is coming in after a pretty successful run in the Late Model Stock cars that are dominant in VA, NC, SC, and parts of VA.
Many of today’s top drivers ran those cars before moving up the ladder.
Jamie Mills is bringing a Big Block down from Delaware.
A few years ago at VSP, Jamie was THE show. He found a groove that I hadn’t seen before, and haven’t seen it used since. Every eye in the place was on him… yet almost nobody noticed Matt Sheppard running the extreme bottom sneak past and run away with the win. Most fans were shocked to find out that Jamie didn’t actually win.
Darwin Greene is making the trip from PA again. A couple years ago, he split his time between VSP & NSS, running a Modified on both surfaces that week.
Must be nice to have 2 different crews set up at 2 different tracks, and getting to pick which one he wants to drive tonight…!
I want to go see the big block mods run one night…when and where are they racing during Feb???
there it is
2014 DIRTcar Northeast Region Schedule of Events
NP=Non-Point event
*All events subject to change.
Super DIRTcar Big Block Modified Series Schedule;
Date Track Location Laps Points
Wed., Feb. 19 Volusia Speedway Park Barberville, Florida 30 N/P
Thurs., Feb 20 Volusia Speedway Park Barberville, Florida 30 N/P
Fri., Feb. 21 Volusia Speedway Park Barberville, Florida 30 N/P
Sat… Feb. 22 Volusia Speedway Park Barberville, Florida 50 N/P
Sat., April 26 Fulton Speedway Fulton, New York 100 100
Wed., May 28 Brockville Ontario Speedway Brockville, Ontario TBD 100
Tues., June 17 Fulton Speedway New Egypt, New Jersey 60 100
(Rain date June 18)
Wed., June 25 Utica-Rome Speedway Vernon, New York 100 100
Sun., June 29 Cornwall Motor Speedway Cornwall, Ontario 100 100
Thurs., July 3 Rolling Wheels Raceway Elbridge, New York TBD 100
Tues., July 8 Albany-Saratoga Speedway Malta, New York 100 100
(Rain date July 29)
Tues., July 15 Big Diamond Speedway Minersville, Pennsylvania 75 100
Wed., July 16 Glen Ridge Motorsports Park Fultonville, New York 100 100
(Rain date July 30)
Mon., July 21 Autodrome Granby Granby, Quebec 100 100
Tues., July 22 Autodrome Drummondville Drummond, Quebec 100 100
Mon., August 4 Merrittville Speedway Thorold, Ontario 100 100
Tues., August 5 Ransomville Speedway Ransomville, New York 100 100
Also, as you can see, there is only ONE Saturday point race in the whole schedule. And all those races will be jam packed solid. No …Not because it’s Up North, it’s because it’s a hell of a show.
Thanks Andre…
To your point on the mid week shows…as it would pertain to Florida…from the schedule I see they will race at a different track every race except for 2 tracks that they run twice…so this is a travelling series that runs special events and I would imagine (correct me if I am wrong) are not run on a weekly basis at tracks…the only class of cars we have in FLorida that fit that status would be the TBARA asphalt sprints…do I think they could run a few big mid week events and have a succesful fan showing ??? Possibly once or twice a year. Maybe 5 years ago they could have had a better chance, TBARA has gone through its own “political” down falls and while they still put on a great show it is a bit smaller than the past…Do I think any of the track owners would take that chance…minus July 4th week…NO!
An interesting phenomana I once again noticed this week…I am in Aurora, Ohio ( between Cleveland and Akron) this week and part of next going through training for a new job…as I have been driving around back and forth from my hotel to work or to eat or to find a laundry service etc…it is amazing how many small “communities” or towns there are and how they all revolve around community events or entities such as the local high school sports teams or even small colleges around…there is still small town America happening…I know this is the same in the Northeast and Midwest also…I truly believe this is why racing is so different in these areas of the country…that and the change in weather thus keeping the season shorter…I am looking out my window and there is 4" of snow on the ground and it is 15 degrees…talking to people at work and in the past you realize that they really appreciate and enjoy to the fullest the 6 months that they can be outside and have good weather…they embrace the spring and summer months…I ate lunch at a golf club this week…it was covered in 6 inches of snow…I ate at a “lakeside” pub this week…the lake is frozen solid and obviously the outside patio was not in use…I am from Florida…in the last month I have played golf, gone fishing and had baseball practice outside with a team I coach…I have not been to a race yet because of time but my father has as many of you have I am sure…
SO my point is…if you look at the “succesful” tracks in Florida, if you can use that word, they are in smaller communities such as Auburndale, Citrus , Ocala etc…and in FLorida the small community is slowly eroding away and not near what it is up here…people don’t live in “Cleveland” they work in Cleveland and live in a small community 45 min to an hour or more away…where as in Florida most people live and work in bigger cities…then there is the weather…Floridians (which I am) or people that now live in FLorida , are spoiled in the fact that we can pretty much do anything all year around…yes there are a few weeks maybe where it would be uncomfortable to play golf, fish or sit in the stands at a racetrack but still possible…THe other factor is that FLorida is obvioulsy a peninsula stuck on the bottom of the land mass in which 75% of the state or more does not have a border or is not near any other state…plus it is the 3rd or 4th (?) sized state land mass wise…I could probably be in 5 or 6 different states from where I am sitting in a 4 hour drive…it takes me that long (or close) to get to the Georgia state line from Orlando…hell its 8-10 hours to Pensacola which is still a “Florida” track…
AS you can see I am bored in a hotel thus the long winded expose into racing in Florida vs the rest of the country…Can’t wait to get back home for speedweeks…
Speedweeks, at least on the Short Tracks, starts TONIGHT in Ocala for the Crate Late Models.
Here’s a group of the cars coming for the week:
Cars are coming from all over the east coast, but the local to beat has to be Ivedent Lloyd. He knows this track & these cars better than anyone, but there are a bunch of HEAVY hitters on hand for the week.
Tampa area racer Jeff Matthews has been known to stand on the gas on most occasions. He’ll represent the locals well.
If he’s not already in the Hall of Fame, he WILL be. Ronnie Johnson from Chattanooga TN has been around for a LONG time, and has been a personal favorite for probably 20 of those.
Ronnie is known as the guy that always shows up at the last minute, unloads, and kicks everyone’s ass that’s been there all day. The T-shirt I have shows the crew unloading, with the caption “5 minutes till race time”.
Middleburg Fla’s Mark Whitener is another local that doesn’t back down to, or for, anyone.
They have a big motor also and will be at a bunch of the Super Late shows as well.
Cecil Eunice has been around since his car looked like this in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
But he still wheels the crap out of them. He won the Limited Late portion about a month ago at Ocala. He even spent a few seasons on the Busch GN Series in the early 90’s.
Will Thomas from PA has only been running dirt for 2 years… But the name should sound familiar to NSS Speedweek fans. Will was the man to beat in the Pro Late class for a couple years.
His family goes way back in racing, as his father Bill Thomas was a big supporter along the career of Lou Blaney, father of Dave & Dale, grandfather to Ryan.
Tyler Clem, the son of track owner Bubba will be in his Crate this week.
My opinion of real young racers won’t allow me to comment further …
Since you won’t I will. While I am a big fan of raw talent, there are multiple considerations to be made for youth in professional level racing. Younger than 16 the body from a physical standpoint is still developing and is not prepared to deal with severe injury without long range complications. The maturity that comes from past experiences is simply not there. Their involvement beyond the thrill of driving is minimal, they are not the wrench and they aren’t paying the bills. The road for youth is clearly go karts quarter midgets and mini- sprints and legends. I have long worried about a catastrophic event involving youth and having our elected officials feeling that they can legislate the only solution. Beyond that I do have to admit that Kyle Larson is still the best on the horizon.
