Where to start? The World Finals held at the Dirt Track at Charlotte knocked my socks off! It was the best produced, best organized and best executed race night I have ever seen in 45+ seasons.
By the numbers:
around 160 cars: WoO sprints, WoO LM and Super DIRTcar modifieds
sold out grandstand of 14000 fans, and many thousands more in the pits and standing areas
3 series championships decided, and 2 of them by a razor’s edge.
the 50/50 jackpot? How about $32,967!!
22 heats and qualifiers, and 3 features.
All this taking place with temperatures in the high 30’s.
15 push trucks (at least) that could start the entire 27 car sprint car field in 30 seconds.
4 racing grooves that extended from the infield grass to the wall, and none of them were any good!
Do you know how many people left before the end? None! In fact, the crowd was whooping and hollering about the great show they had seen, and this happy bunch was still rowdy and pumped as they filed out after the fireworks faded.
No intermission and non-stop racing, I was dazzled. I also understand that this was SMI, the group that runs the big track, so they had unlimited money, connections, influence and experience to put this together. But they did it right, and it is a shining example of what can happen if a track swings for the fence and puts on a big, BIG show.
A comment on a refinement that I noticed. We are used to the term “B main”; it is a chance to qualify at the back of the feature, but it is kind of a boring term. World of Outlaws calls these races “Last Chance Showdowns”, and they actually provided desperate, crazy races to make the big show. Showdowns #2 and #3 worked as designed; those drivers went wild.
In 2020, I WILL RETURN to the World Finals, and I hope you can make the trip too!