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Quick Time: Wrapup of 41st annual World 100

September 14, 2011, 9:51 am

By Todd Turner

DirtonDirt.com managing editor

Take a quick lap around the proverbial dirt track with managing editor Todd Turner for roundup of Dirt Late Model racing through the latest weekend of action. Quick Time, one of the newest features of our website, will appear every Wednesday at DirtonDirt.com:

Frontstretch: Drivers of the Week

National: Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., backed up his favorite status heading into the 41st annual World 100 by leading 88 laps in grabbing his second globe trophy. Owens had his hands full in the final laps fighting off Eddie Carrier Jr., Don O'Neal and Darrell Lanigan in notching his 11th victory of the season.

Regional: Brad Seng of Grand Forks, N.D., earned the richest victory of his career Saturday at his hometown River Cities Speedway, earning $9,200 in the WISSOTA-sanctioned John Seitz Memorial in outrunning Brady Smith and Pat Doar all 92 laps. Honorable mention: Greg Roberson of Waynesboro, Va., swept D&D Auto Recycling Steel Block Bandits events at Eastside and Natural Bridge Speedways; Eddie Kirchoff of Gillette, Wyo., dominated his hometown track's East-West Clash with Friday and Saturday victories, along with a modified victory Saturday.

Weekly: Ryan Unzicker of El Paso, Ill., resuscitated his UMP points championship hopes with a Saturday victory at La Salle (Ill.) Speedway and a Sunday victory at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill.

Crate: Ron Parker of Belwood, N.C., completed his sweep of NDRA's season with a pair of $3,000 Dirt Wars victories at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, N.C., and Lancaster (S.C.) Motor Speedway. Parker previously won NDRA's weekly points crown and its Heintz Performance Road Show touring title.

Turn 1: Top five World 100 leftovers

A few offbeat odds and ends from Eldora Speedway's 41st annual World 100:

• Cornhole tournament winners were introduced during Saturday's pre-race ceremonies, and the tournament obviously required much skill and preparation. When announcer James Essex asked one pair of winners how long they'd been playing, the answer was simple: "Since yesterday."

• Eldora sold $50 lap sponsorships, and one lap was purchased by fans wondering why the reigning UMP champion skipped the big event. The lap title? "Where are you Rusty Schlenk?"

• Brandon Sheppard was directed to the Eldora stage to pick up his consolation prize of a new transmission after finishing sixth in the first consolation race. But as the Illinois youngster was heading up the ramp to the stage, officials reversed their directions, helping him back down the ramp to head to the scales because fifth-place finisher and apparent transferee Clint Smith had weighed in six pounds light. Sheppard weighed in legally and earned his first World 100 start.

• Scott Bloomquist would just as soon forget his hot-laps crash in his Silver Anniversary car at Eldora, but the track's Larry Boos brought up the tried-but-true joke about the car during the media luncheon. Grabbing nearby foil wrapping and wadding it up, Boos asked: "What's this? Scott Bloomquist after hot laps." Bloomquist managed a smile.

• Jimmy Owens and his crew chief Chris Fox were less than complimentary of the Eldora surface during Friday's qualifying night, but they came around after they ended the weekend getting photos snapped in victory lane. "When you win," Owens said, "you love the racetracks."

Turn: 2: Top five World 100 moves

• Eldora rookie Klint Byars wasn't intimidated when Jimmy Owens pressured him in turns one and two at the beginning of their heat race, staying in the gas on the high side when lesser drivers might've backed out of it. Alas, mechanical woes forced Byars out while leading midway through the heat.

• Eddie Carrier Jr. rallied from 10th in his heat race, making a dandy fourth-to-second move on the last lap to transfer to the main event. When Jon Henry and Dustin Neat lost momentum exiting turn two, Carrier squeezed past on the high side to grab the runner-up spot.

• Carrier had a similar move in the main event, going from fourth-to-second on the second-last lap. This time, Don O'Neal and Darrell Lanigan got hung up on the outside, so Carrier ducked low to make a three-wide pass on the backstretch en route to his second-place finish.

• R.J. Conley charged from 12th-to-fourth in his heat race, making a key move exiting turn four when he threaded the needed between between Chub Frank and Dennis Erb Jr. with inches to spare on each side.

• The move of Saturday's pre-race drivers' meeting to the frontstretch grandstands instead of the infield so fans could eavesdrop on instructions from officials.

Backstretch: Weekly racing tidbits

• Crate Late Model veteran Dennis Lunger of Corry, Pa., notched his first career Super Late Model victory Saturday at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

• Mike Measamer of Clinton, S.C., captured his third straight Super Late Model victory at Laurens County Speedway in Laurens, S.C.

• In capturing his fifth straight victory at Dog Hollow Speedway on Sunday, Andrew Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa., wrapped up the Fastrak Crate title at the Strongstown, Pa., track. Satterlee won seven races overall.

• Joseph Joiner of Milton, Fla., had a big Saturday night by winning a Crate Late Model special and a Super Late Model track championship — at two different tracks. Joiner won at Deep South Speedway at Loxley, Ala., the same night he clinched the track championship at his hometown Southern Raceway without even being there. He has 13 victories overall.

• Breaking through for the first time at Grandview Speedway, Kory Fleming of Milford, N.J., captured Saturday's feature victory at the Bechtelsville, Pa., oval. Chuck Schutz wrapped up the track's NASCAR-sanctioned championship.

Turn 3: Top five World 100 quotes

• Eighth-place finisher Jeep Van Wormer of Pinconning, Mich., after listing reasons why his car wasn't at its best: "It's just the little things. Little things that make the big things."

• Seventh-place finisher Scott Bloomquist, talking at the pre-race media luncheon about how he selectively dispenses advice to competitors: "In the past I spoke too openly to guys who didn't have my cars that may have cost me some money."

• Six-time winner Billy Moyer after his team struggled to make repairs after his heat race collision: "I don't feel like the team was prepared like it oughta be prepared for the Billy Moyer Racing team. We looked like a bunch of street stock guys."

• Brian Ruhlman of Clarklake, Mich., talking about his unique angled left-rear quarterpanel. "Does it make a difference in winning and not winning? No," he said. "If it was that good, I'd have more than one win this season."

• Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., disappointed in the track conditions for the main event: "I'd say if a guy would've started out front on the front row outside with a blindfold on, he'd probably win tonight."

Turn 4: Turning back the clock

Five items from this week in Dirt Late Model history:

Sept. 19, 1981: Ken Walton of Viola, Iowa, dominated at Hawkeye Downs Speedway for a $5,000 Yankee Dirt Track Classic victory. He lowered the track record of Rodney Combs at the half-mile oval, which is now asphalt.

Sept. 15, 1985: Jeff Purvis of Clarksville, Tenn., won at Auto City Speedway in Flint, Mich., in the waning weeks of the National Dirt Racing Association's final season.

Sept. 15, 1990: Curt Martin of Independence, Iowa, won on the IMCA-sanctioned Deery Brothers Summer Series for the first of three straight victories en route to his first of back-to-back tour championships.

Sept. 14, 1996: Billy Moyer led the final 41 laps at West Virginia Motor Speedway for a $30,000 STARS victory in the Auto Value King of the Mountain 100. Davey Johnson led the first 59 laps but settled for third behind Moyer and 15th-starting Bart Hartman.

Sept. 15, 2001: Rex McCroskey outran fellow Springfield, Mo., driver Terry Phillips at Joplin 66 Speedway for an unsanctioned Fall Nationals victory worth $6,600. Bill Frye led the first half before broken rear end gears sent him pitside.