Florence Speedway
Brakeless James repels Marlar's Florence charge
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Scott James arrives in victory lane. (rdwphotos.smugmug.com)
UNION, Ky. (March 30) — Driving a virtually brakeless car doesn’t typically lead to success, but Scott James found the malady helped give him an edge on the last lap of Florence Speedway’s Spring 50.
Mike Marlar had thrown all his best moves at James but saved his best for last, hoping to build up enough speed down the backstretch to snatch a victory in the unsanctioned event. But those plans were foiled when James, smashing on his brakes with all his might and trying to get his car through turn two one final lap, briefly checked up, costing Marlar his momentum and any hope of victory. | Video | Slideshow
"He made the best mistake he could ever make in that situation,” Marlar said with a smile.
James, who grabbed his first victory since climbing in the Warrior Race Cars house car six weeks earlier, led the final 33 laps for a $5,000 payday in taking the checkered flag three lengths ahead of Marlar at his home track.
“The pedal was going to the floor so I was driving more with the gas pedal,” James said in victory lane after the caution-free race. “It was fun. This place is awesome.”
It was an awesome end to a weekend that the 41-year-old Lawrenceburg, Ind., driver hadn’t even planned on racing until making a Friday run to Knoxville, Tenn., to pick up the team’s backup car. James wrecked the primary machine a week earlier, and repairs were still being made at Sanford Goddard’s shop.
“They gave me an awesome car, that’s all I can say,” the fourth-starting James said. “Sanford, he’s in Las Vegas. Hopefully he’s winning more money than we’re making here tonight, but he might need this. We can bail him out.”
Marlar, of Winfield, Tenn., and a former Warrior house car driver, advanced six positions to finish second while early leader and polesitter Greg Johnson of Bedford, Ind., was further back in third after a late duel with fellow front-row starter Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, Va., as the top four cars ran together most of the race.
James scored three top-five finishes at Georgia-Florida Speedweeks in Warrior’s primary car, but the 4-year-old backup hadn’t seen much action. But passing up a race at one of his best tracks was too much for James, who is tacking the World of Outlaws Late Model Series in 2013.
“I kind of made a last-second call, ‘Hey, I want to race, it’s Florence!’ They said the car’s loaded up and tied down. Come get it,” said James, who practiced at Lawrenceburg Speedway from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. “We got to learn quite a bit this morning. Everything we learned there, then we went and worked on some shocks ... and it really made a big difference. It was a great night. I’m kinda shell-shocked that we got the win. I mean, there’s a lot of good cars here, and to be able to unload this car and do what it did, I’m tickled to death.”
Johnson outjumped Carrier to grab the early lead and had a half-straightaway margin after two laps when Carrier slipped high in turn two to bottle up the pursuers. But James reeled Johnson in after 10 laps, stalking the leader before going low down the frontstretch to pull alongside on lap 18.
Johnson dove low at the same time amid traffic and the collision hampered Johnson’s steering while costing James his brakes.
“Right when I went to go under him into (turn) one, he was behind lapped cars. He turned down and I was already there,” James said. “I hit the brakes so hard, we broke a brakeline.
Johnson, making his second start in a new Revelution Chassis owned by Gary Engle, kept going but couldn’t get his No. 15 running as good as it had before the collision.
“It’s just one of them racing deals. I don’t think he meant to do it or anything,” Johnson said. “I just think what happened was, I seen the lapped car and I dove to the bottom, and he was committed to the bottom. It was just one of those things. ... It just bent my front end and took my traction away.”
Marlar quickly moved up to challenge Johnson, taking the second spot for good on lap 24 and chasing James into traffic into the race’s late stages. James and Marlar had talked tire choice before the race and James wasn’t surprised to find company from Marlar’s No. 5B.
“I had a feeling at the end of the race, that’s who it was going to be there,” he said.
James and Marlar battled through wave after wave of slower cars the rest of the way, each of them losing and regaining momentum every time they left the high side to dive underneath a competitor.
“The traffic was really bad at the end. I tried to do everything I could do to get by ‘em. I think we cleared (Tim) Prince, and then we ran down a bunch of ‘em there at the end. They were just there in the way,” James said. “I know I fired some slide jobs on a couple of guys to get by ‘em.”
Marlar knew that getting past James would be difficult as they both ran the higher groove in the late stages.
“The lapped cars, you know, they were just trying to get out of the way, and they would move out of his way and right in my way most of the time,” Marlar said. “So I’d set him up and have everything where I needed to be to make the pass, then one of them cars would switch lanes on me and there I’d be. So we just never could get around and catch those guys on the right spot — or I wasn’t a good enough driver to, one of the other.”
Notes: James drives a Custom-powered Warrior sponsored by Goddard Performance Parts, Powell Motorsports and Willett Powder Coating. ... James scored his first feature victory since an Aug. 2 Corn Belt Clash triumph at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., while driving for Illinois-based Riggs Motorsports. ... A dozen drivers finished on the lead lap. ... Fifth-place finisher Tyler Reddick of Corning, Calif., was hobbled by a sore left foot after injuring a big toe in a shop accident three days earlier. ... Last year’s track champ Robby Hensley finished a lap down in 14th. ... Two drivers failed to make the feature lineup through prelims: J.T. Conley and Rob Starkey. ... The track made some significant off-season lighting improvements with two new poles behind the grandstands and another between turns one and two, improving visibility. ... Florence returns to action April 6 with a $3,000-to-win Late Model event.
Spring 50: (1) Scott James, (2) Mike Marlar, (3) Greg Johnson, (4) Eddie Carrier Jr., (5) Tyler Reddick, (6) Josh McGuire, (7) Mike Jewell, (8) Jason Montgomery, (9) R.J. Conley, (10) Kent Robinson, (11) Justin Rattliff, (12) Joe Janowski, (13) Jason Jameson, (14) Robby Hensley, (15) Tim Prince, (16) Andrew Reaume, (17) Wayne Chinn, (18) James Rice, (19) Nick Latham, (20) Rod Conley, (21) Mick Sansom, (22) Stephen Breeding, (23) Michael Chilton, (24) Steve Landrum. Fast qualifier (among 27 cars): Marlar, 16.128 seconds. Heat race winners: Johnson, Carrier, McGuire. Consolation winner: R.J. Conley.
