It’s the showdown at the Show-Me, when everybody steps up their game at Lucas Oil Speedway.

It’s one of the first crown jewel events of the season, and that’s a key part of the atmosphere of this coming weekend. There is additional tension and excitement, because everybody wants to run well.

This has been, frankly, a difficult season thus far for racing. Rain has been a near-constant plague in recent weeks, making it tough to establish a clear rhythm to the season. (However, as tens of MORE

It was 30 years ago today — May 8, 1983 — that popular racer Jim Dunn died in a tragic and fiery crash at Paducah Int’l. Raceway. His death shocked and saddened the blossoming sport of dirt late model racing, as he was the first high-profile racer in NDRA history to lose his life in a racing accident.

The precise events of that day remain somewhat clouded, even though the race took place in front of a packed grandstand on a bright Sunday afternoon. Those who were present recall that MORE

Why do they do it?

To know the answer of that one would require a trip up the mountain to visit with the all-knowing; it’s too cold and too tough a hike, so I’ll just guess that he doesn’t know, either.

In the heat of battle racers loan each other stuff, directly allowing someone to compete with them for money, points, and glory. The most recent example came this past weekend when the hauler of Lucas Oil series rookie contender Bobby Pierce broke down near Hagerstown, leaving him without a MORE