DirtonDirt.com exclusive
Quick Time: Recalling Memmer's best remarks
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: Scott James of Lawrenceburg, Ind., notched one of the most notable victories in his career Friday at Cedar Lake Speedway, earning $5,000 in a UMP DIRTcar Summernationals triumph over a stout top five of Dan Schlieper (who he passed in the final laps), Shannon Babb, Brian Birkhofer and Jimmy Mars. Honorable mention: Steve Shaver, for driving a wide race car in his final desperate laps of his Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C.
Regional: Late Model rookie Mike Spatola of Manhattan, Ill., competing in his first career Summernationals event, won Thursday at Kankakee County (Ill.) Speedway, becoming the youngest winner in series history. He followed that with a runner-up finish the next night at Kankakee. Honorable mention: Curtis Roberts of Coleman, Mich. (second straight ALMS victory at Moler Raceway Park); Rusty Schlenk of Jackson, Miss. (Saturday's ALMS victory at Oakshade along with outrunning Spatola on Friday at Kankakee); and Butch McGill of West Union, W.Va. (first career UFO victory at Elkins Raceway).
Weekly: Terry English of Benton, Ky., picked up a Friday victory at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway, then followed it on Sunday with a rain-postponed victory at Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway.
Crate: Recent Edinboro University grad Kyle Scott of Garland, Pa., the 22-year-old son of long-time Late Model standout David Scott, notched his first career Crate Late Model victory June 18 at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y.
Turn 1: Five memorable Bob Memmer quotes
It's sad, but also fitting, that the anniversary of Bob Memmer's death always rolls around during the UMP DIRTcar Summernationals. When this year's tour hits Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway on July 8, it'll be seven years since we lost the founder of the United Midwestern Promoters whose brainchild became the series that's unmatched in drama, competitiveness and, yes, often wackiness.
Let's dig through the vault for five memorable quotes by Memmer, many of them no doubt uttered behind the wheel of that steel-gray van he parked in many a track's infield:
• On entry fees: "My drivers put on the daggone race. Why should they have to pay entry fees? You don't charge Willie Mays to play center field."
• On his German Shepherd, Sorry, who died in 1991: "I used to be more vocal and less patient. A lot of it has to do with that crazy dog the Lord put in my life. Any time I'd raise hell about something, it would come over and lay its head on my lap … the Lord, in his own way, convinced me to accept things as they come along and not raise as much hell."
• On Eldora Speedway: "You'd have to tie me down to keep me away from Eldora. If I had my choice of going to Eldora and staying home and living a year longer, I'd rather go to Eldora. If I can put one foot in front of another, I'll be at Eldora for the Dream and for the World (100) and for the (UMP) Nationals."
• On his $20,000 hip replacement: "I told everybody I was wearing my Corvette."
• On his hiring practices (the woman asking "where's the coffee maker?" didn't last long): "I don't hire somebody to sit around and look pretty or tell me funny stories. If you don't put out approximately the work I put out in a day, you're gone."
Turn 2: Finishing orders you don't see every day
• At Boone County Raceway in Albion, Neb., on Friday, the top-five finishers in the Limited Late Model division: (1) Mark Lueken, (2) Tad Pospisil, (3) Les Siebert, (4) Tad Behmer, (5) Randy Hooker. Pretty sure that's the first time in Dirt Late Model history that two drivers named "Tad" finished in the top five in the same feature race.
• At Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway on Saturday in the Crate Late Model Division: (1) Brandon Carpenter, (2) Gib Gibbons, (3) Ches Chester, (4) Johnnie Tucker, (5) Terry Lumley. Check that again and note the names of the second- and third-place finishers. Pretty sure, again, that's the first time in Dirt Late Model history that two drivers in a top five have had their first names completely repeated in the first portion of their last name.
• OK, the following top five isn't an actual finishing order, but County Line Raceway in Elm City, N.C., has the greatest collection of names in Dirt Late Model racing at a single track. And who knows, maybe these drivers will finish in this order some day: (1) Britches Liles, (2) Bobby Bottoms, (3) Doc Batten, (4) Dykes Maynard, (5) Travis Hair. It really doesn't get much better than that.
Backstretch: Five reasons laps count upward
I realize that cursing a dirt track that actually has a scoreboard is lunacy, considering the shocking number of tracks without one (yes, this means you Florence Speedway), but I suspect come Saturday I'll be cursing the Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion Speedway scoreboard. Why? Because the laps count down instead of up. Here are five reasons why this practice needs to stop:
• Most simply, things count up, not down. For instance, your age. We don't start at 99 and count down. We start at 0 and count up. And when the bank counts money back to you? They start at the bottom and go up.
• You never know what lap it actually is without doing a math calculation in your head.
• While a stopped clock is right twice a day, a counting-down scoreboard is right just once: at halfway of an even-numbered race. It's never right in an odd-numbered race, which makes my point in and of itself.
• Drivers who compete at tracks with the sanity of an upward-counting scoreboard are only confused at downward-counting tracks.
• And finally, it's just plain un-American.
Turn 3: Weekly racing tidbits
• The Brothers Lear were the stars Saturday at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway with Kyle Lear winning his first Super Late Model feature at the half-mile track and the younger Cody winning the sportsman feature.
• Kevin Sather of Ankeny, Iowa, won his second straight feature Saturday at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa.
• Kevin Nelson Jr. won Friday at Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Mich., snapping the five-race winning streak of Rich Neiser, who was 15th in the 16-car field.
• Joe Harlan of El Paso, Ill., on Saturday became the first three-time winner of the Pappy and Bob Allen Memorial at Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion Speedway, pocketing $2,000.
• Duane Chamberlain of Richmond, Ind., won Friday at Union County Speedway in Liberty, Ind., which finally got rolling after several delays to its season.
• Tony Knowles of Tyrone, Ga., won Sunday at Rome (Ga.) International Speedway for his second victory in as many weekends. He won at Dixie Speedway, Rome's sister track, nine days earlier.
• Evan Hubert of Cross Timbers, Mo., edged Ryan Long of Lockwood, Mo., on Saturday at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., snapping Long's four-race win streak.
Turn 4: Top five Facebook Posts of the Week
• On an unnamed track's wall: "Maybe if you water the track halfway through there won't be so many wrecks and the people in the stands could actually see the cars they pay to watch."
• From North Carolina driver Chris Ferguson: "Miss the days when I knew everyone on my Facebook."
• On another unnamed track's wall: "When r u guys gonna fix the seating?"
• On the wall of Steve Shaver after his recent victory: "Great job showtime!!!! drove a great race.....i dont know how you guys could see. i couldnt see much from the stands........"
• On the wall of Austin "McSling" Hubbard: "hates UMP tires and wishes they would grow up and steer like the regulars."
Checkered flag: Five fearless Firecracker 100 predictions
Five predictions for the fifth annual Firecracker 100 set for June 23-25 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., a three-day event made up of two $6,000-to-win semifeatures and the $30,000-to-win main event:
• Reigning track champion Dave Hess Jr. will win a heat, consolation or semifeature.
• The winner of Saturday's Uncle Sam 30 for non-qualifiers will earn $3,000 for 30 laps but will have a difficult time convincing himself that it's better than earning $3,000 for finishing seventh in the 100-lapper.
• The driver who is part of the winning team in the horseshoe tournament won't make the lineup for the 100-lapper.
• DirtonDirt.com videographer Michael Rigsby will stop at Sheetz convenience stores at least three times on his trip from the Summernationals to Pennsylvania and back.
• Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., will finish second in the Firecracker 100 for the fourth consecutive year.
