Cleveland Speedway
Notes: McDowell golden after slipup at Shamrock
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Dale McDowell (17m) works the low groove at Cleveland. (mrmracing.net)
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (March 9) — Dale McDowell heeded racing version’s of the Golden Rule on Saturday at Cleveland Speedway’s Southern All Star-sanctioned Shamrock.
The Chickamauga, Ga., driver was trying to regain the second spot from Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville, Tenn., when he made contact with a lapped car in turn two on lap 31, getting McDowell out of shape just enough to upset Ogle’s machine.
Instead of roaring past Ogle on the backstretch, McDowell got out of the gas briefly, then resumed his chase in what resulted in a fourth-place finish in the caution-free, $10,000-to-win event won by Randy Weaver of Crossville, Tenn.
“Obviously, you’re going to race those guys the way they race you,” McDowell said. “I just went in and tried to clear the lapped car, and when I clipped the lapped car with the right rear, it turned me into Billy. So, it was not any fault of his — it was my fault — so I mean, the kind thing to do is to back off and let that guy get gathered up and go back.”
“The unfortunate part is we both got passed right there (by eventual runner-up Mike Marlar), but we were able to come back and race right there, so everybody was sliding each other. But you know, it was fun. I just wish we’d have been better. We didn’t have a winning car tonight so we’ll work hard and come back and get ‘em next time.”
McDowell led the first 14 laps at the third-mile oval after starting outside the front row, but he wasn’t quite good enough on the slippery surface.
“They were better than I was,” he said. “We just missed on some changes or setup or something tonight. It’s the first time we’ve been here in a MasterSbilt car, so we just missed a little bit.”
Marlar praises racetrack
All the frontrunning drivers at Cleveland’s 18th annual Shamrock talked about having fun during the back-and-forth duels that brought nearly countless position changes among the top five, and runner-up Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., credited a racetrack that offered multiple grooves.
“The high side (was fast) there in qualifying, then it went to the bottom, then it evened back out and went back to the center,” Marlar said. “Really, we had three or four lanes to race there in the feature. That’s getting to be a rare thing in our sport. Our cars are really good, and it’s hard to get a track that complements the cars and let’s us race really good like that. Yeah, the guys here, the staff here at the racetrack did an excellent job.”
Marlar advanced six positions from his eighth starting spot but couldn’t quite catch winner Randy Weaver in the 50-lap feature.
“We got a little behind early tonight, but it’s just a good field of cars,” said Marlar, still looking for his first victory of 2013. “It just takes a little bit there to get behind some of those guys.”
Rubbin's racin'
While winner Randy Weaver and third-place finisher Billy Ogle Jr. mostly swapped spots without contact during a feisty mid-race battle, the frontrunners banged together exiting turn four on the 29th lap as Weaver took the lead for good.
The contact ended up not causing either driver any trouble as it marked the conclusion to a battle for the lead that kept the attention of Cleveland’s big crowd.
“It was fun, but we hit a couple of times. I thought I might’ve cut a tire down. Nothing was wrong with the car but a little sheetmetal,” Ogle said. “We kept going. Me and Randy kind of rubbed there off of (turn) four pretty hard. We were just racing — like I told him, I didn’t mean to get into him. My car just wasn’t that good in the bottom. I couldn’t hold it down.
“I was trying to get back off of him and go on, and that’s what we did. We went on. I ended up third, and I’ll take it.”
Cleveland odds and ends
Shamrock winner Randy Weaver hasn’t finished outside the top three in four 2013 starts. ... The top five at Cleveland was made up of drivers who combined to win the last 10 Southern All Star races of 2012. ... Tennesseans swept the top three spots at the Shamrock for the first time since 2004 when Patrick Duggan of Lenoir City, Skip Arp of Georgetown and Scott Sexton of Pigeon Forge finished 1-2-3. ... No other Tennessee driver finished better than 12th at this year’s event. ... Michael Asberry of Crossville, Tenn., earned J.T. Kerr Racing Equipment Hard Charger honors at Cleveland with his 20th-to-13th run. ... An unsolved glitch in the system prevented the series from using transponder timing and scoring at Cleveland. ... The Southern All Stars head to East Alabama Motor Speedway on March 16 for the tour’s first visit to Phenix City, Ala., since 1984.
