Man, did they have boocoo cars at New Smyrna last evening, and quality cars at that.
The Racing:
Modifieds–A deep field of 15 cars started the Modified feature, and most were stout indeed. Tank Tucker finished fourth, running like his usual bat out of hades, which says a lot for the quality of the field. The #38 of Chad Pierce is a beautiful piece with a throwback Cavalier body, and the aero is beautifully done, as is the entire car. Chad came home in third place. Jerry Symons was there with killer new bodywork, had a ton of motor coming off, and had a pretty fair lead when overheating issues took him out.
All of that said, Dillon Wood was in the Funk Powered, Harris Chassis #1 machine last evening. The car was relentless on long runs. On a track that usually features smooth racing once they are settled in, Dillon was picking them off. He had worked his way into second place, and although it is debatable, he may have had something for Symons if he had not had to pull in the number 66. Congratulations to Dillon on his win.
Late Model Sportman–Yes, the Late Model Sportsman (hey, it’s my post…) was the field of the night, featuring an almost unbelievable starting lineup of 27. Patrick Thomas started eighth and picked his way through the pack to the point, notably coming very close to having major “issues” with the #09 fielded by John Emerson on several occasions. But while Thomas is aggressive, he is also a thinking driver, and eventually got by the 09 without major incident. Toward the end of the event Sean Bass passed Patrick for the lead, but the story does not end there…
The Story:
Sean Bass is the grandson of the legendary Ernie Bass, so he has racing in his blood. Wheeling a beautiful piece recently built by AMF racecars featuring Ernie’s #28, Sean was bad fast and fearless, but later…
Running a “built” motor, the engine builder apparently built the motor to a set of rules. Unfortunately the rules were not those of New Smyrna Speedway, and that was…that.
Sean stated that he painted the motor and bolted into the chassis, but was unaware of the internals.
Sean and Patrick were both more than cordial, each congratulating the other as the win moved back and forth.
In the “ps” dept:
>Thanks to Kim Brown for the weekly rundown. I can remember (parts of) the story, but not the details. They help with the report.
>>The number 21X of George Dahm ran the feature in it’s entirety, I believe, but the big news is that it is no longer simply flat black. It now has a “Donnie Nerone Enterprises” purple sticker emblazoned on the rear quarter panel.
>>>“The Bandit” Patrick Thomas prevailed once again, and took home the (relative for the class) Big Money, besting 26 other cars that came there to beat him!