Just a bit of rambling on what I thought was the best Speedweeks in some time despite the early problems with the weather that canceled so many shows…
NASCAR got a huge shot in the arm yesterday when Junior won the 500… You could just feel an excitement in the air that even came across TV that would not have been there had someone like Johnson, Gordon, Keselowski, Harvick etc. won the race… Dale’s enthusiasm was great to see… All month he seemed to have a different attitude and I, for one, hope he can finally get his first Cup title this year…
Had the opportunity to meet so many great people this year including a number of “old timers” I met for the first time… too numerous to mention… Having Buddy Parrott here for a couple of hours was a blast… boy, did he have a few stories to tell… Also got a chance to spend a good part of this past Friday with 1959 Darlington Southern 500 winner Jim Reed and his wife… Jim is a former NASCAR short track champion too and it was the first time he’d been to Daytona in over 40 years… He had some great stories about racing on the beach… Also made my first visit to Racing’s North Turn Restaurant… great food and atmosphere… If you haven’t been there, try and do so sometime, it’s worth the trip…
It was a blast working again with old friends Hank Sanders and Ben Dodge at New Smyrna… Car counts were decent and the racing was great… Crowds were much bigger than in recent years and it was great to see so many old friends in attendance (some older than me LOL)… The K&N race surprised many by being so competitive and the crowd was incredible… We brought NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Ingram over on Monday and he was very impressed with the facility, staff and quality of the racing… The only downer was missing the Mod Reunion yet again, but it’s on the one day that I have so many other things going on…
Only made it to Volusia for two nights, but the racing, as usual, was excellent… UMP Mod car counts were a bit down this year (if you call 60 cars a down year) but I was told a lot of teams gave up trying to get down here due to the weather… Pork Chop sandwiches were awesome like always!
I haven’t been to East Bay in 5-6 years but it was so good to see the support the 360 Sprint Car teams gave the track this year… 53 cars is an excellent car count for any type of car, anywhere, nowadays… Also looks like the USAC guys really supported their shows at Bubba’s… They don’t have that many cars for a lot of their races in Indiana!
I’m really pumped for 2014… It looks like it could be a really good year…