Federated Raceway at I-55
Notes: Richards's sweep hopes flattened at I-55
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Josh Richards set fast time at I-55, but a flat tire knocked him out of second spot in the main event. (stlracingphotos.com)
PEVELY, Mo. (April 13) — Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., took the lead from Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., on lap 23 Saturday at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 and began licking his chops for a sweep of the inaugural National Dirt Racing League weekend. | Owens win at I-55
But it turned out a lap-49 flat tire, three laps after eventually winner Jimmy Owens took the lead, doomed Richards. He ended up 13th in NDRL's Let’s Get Dirty 75.
“The car kept getting freer and freer and finally it just laid down,” said Richards, who drew the third and final caution with 26 laps remaining. "Which Jimmy was better anyway. I think he was probably going to get up through there anyway. It’s just disappointing when you’re running up front and get a flat like that.
“Our car was just a little too free to run how we needed to run, but still, I still felt like we could’ve run a top two or three. But it was a good trip for us, for sure. We definitely learned a lot and I’m glad we came out.”
Richards, who earned $20,000 by dominating the previous night at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway, was pleased overall with the weekend.
“We definitely had (a good weekend), against all these fields of cars. We ran out front last night, and tonight we were running up front again,” said Richards, taking a break from the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, where he’s leaving the points. "We’ve been competitive and working on learning (about) things with the car and everything. I think we just needed to make just a few minor changes in the feature, and I think we might’ve had something for sure.”
The lowest groove
Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., had a ways to go to the front Saturday at I-55, and racing higher on the racetrack wasn’t much of a choice simply because that’s where most of the competition was running.
So Owens — following a groove similar to the one Hall of Famer Ed Dixon ran back in the mid-1990s en route to a UMP Summernationals victory at the third-mile oval — put his nosepiece nearly up against the inside concrete wall and headed forward.
“The feature, I was real, real concerned. I was real loose and free in the middle of the racetrack, especially when the crumbs were down there,” said Owens, who was disappointed that a subpar time-trial lap. “But actually, once I got stuck to the bottom, and I started (racing) around the bottom, I was trying to get around Bobby Pierce and some more guys, and I was just racing and racing and racing, and I thought, ‘Man, this race is going to be over.’
“Then I looked up and seen the leaders, and I thought, ‘Hey, we must be pretty good down here.’ I was able to get the lead on the bottom and then I really felt like was going to be a lot better in the middle. But everybody was in the middle and everywhere — I guess to get by ‘em, you’ve gotta go where they’re not.”
Owens knew that running the low groove had its pitfalls, including the huge white tire barrier in turn two that he came oh so close too for several laps.
“I was really concerned about it,” Owens said. “I thought, ‘I can’t do this too many more laps or I’m going to tear the left-front (nosepiece) off of it.’ ”
Team approach
Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, has long worked as a psuedo-teammate to Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., his co-designer — along with Mars’s crew chief and brother, Chris Mars — of the successful MB Customs cars.
But with adding Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, to the MB Customs family during the off-season, personally building Simpson a new car, last year’s World 100 winner has found that cooperation gives him bonus feedback in finding the best suspension setups for his race car.
“I’m really happy with the consistency,” Birkhofer said at I-55 following his runner-up finish. “Having Chris involved. I basically built that car and did it, and it’s identical. I’ve put everything into it, I tell him everything I’m going to do, just because I know he’s just a good kid and he gives me good feedback. You watch him race, and he drives hard enough.
“It kind of allows me — and I don’t really use him as a test dummy — I just tell him what I’m going to do, or what I would suggest. I say ‘You do whatever you want.’ Hopefully we’ll keep going, and Jimmy’s program, everybody’s kind of getting more on the same page. Me and him have done different things, but we’ve had the same cars. Now we’re getting close to the same page, and hopefully it helps out.”
Charge falls short
Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., had to take a provisional starting spot in Saturday’s main event at I-55, but he had designs on working his way to the front.
Using the low groove, much like winner Jimmy Owens, Fuller worked his way into the top five with 25 laps remaining before his car faded in the race’s late stages. He ended up eighth.
“I had to start on the outside there on that last restart, and I just got hung out there and used my tires up,” Fuller said. “The bottom had gone away a lot. We went a little bit softer (with tire compound choice) than everybody else. We were on (Hoosier LM) 30s and not 40s like everybody else was. It was really good early ... the race had to go green the whole way for me to be good, to stay on that bottom. Once I got hung on that outside, I was a little screwed.
“It was really good early when (the surface) was dirty. Those (30s) work a lot better. I just didn’t line up where I needed to on restarts, and stuff, and I used up a little bit too much tires. All in all, it was all right considered where we started.”
