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Quick Time: A little ink valuable for dirt racing
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Take a quick lap around the proverbial dirt track with managing editor Todd Turner for a roundup of Dirt Late Model racing through the latest weekend of action along with some other quirks of racing (and the occasional ax-grinding). Quick Time appears throughout the regular season every Wednesday at DirtonDirt.com:
Frontstretch: Drivers of the Week
National: After national touring races were rained out, Doug Drown of Wooster, Ohio, won the weekend’s richest event with a career-high $12,000 payday at Southern Ohio Speedway in Wheelersburg, Ohio. Drown was the last of five leaders standing in the 60-lap finale of the Southern 100 weekend and notched his fourth victories in his last eight starts.
Regional: Gregg Satterlee ended a 27-race winless drought with a two-victory sweep of Virginia specials. The Rochester Mills, Pa., driver earned $5,000 on the Three State Flyers circuit at Eastside Speedway in Waynesboro on May 3, then followed that with a $3,000 Lee Stultz Memorial victory May 4 at Winchester Speedway.
Weekly: AMRA weekly points leader Andy Bond of Coolville, Ohio, won May 4 at Ohio Valley Raceway for his third straight victory at the Parkersburg, W.Va., oval. Honorable mentions: Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del. (swept Twin 20s at Delaware International Speedway) and Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M. (victories at El Paso and Southern New Mexico).
Crate: Zack Carley of Freedom, N.Y., had a two-victory weekend, winning his first Crate Late Model feature at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y., on May 4 and adding a May 5 victory at Humberstone (Ontario) Speedway. Honorable mention: Dennis Lunger Jr. of Albion, Pa. (May 3-4 victories at Raceway 7 and Sharon Speedway).
Turn 1: On the racing beat
I see it a handful of times each racing season. The local newspaper sends out an inexperienced reporter, sometimes an intern, to cover the big Late Model race at the dirt track. And out of a sense of duty to my appreciation for both journalism and dirt racing, I often offer to point them the right direction with a story idea or which drivers they might interview.
I don’t always see the results in print, but I can imagine that the newspaper’s stab at providing rare dirt track coverage often falls short of what would satisfy local fans who are also readers.
That’s why fans who do have a newspaper or TV station that genuinely takes an interest in local racing should count themselves blessed. And while the newspaper industry has clearly seen better days, a racetrack getting weekly coverage and occasional feature stories benefits, too.
One of my favorite racing blogs to check out is Stevie Dirt of auto racing writer Steve Eighinger of the Quincy (Ill.) Herald-Whig. His coverage of the track is as good as any I’ve seen from a newspaper around the country as he profiles drivers, reports on news tidbits and keeps detailed stats for every division at Quincy Raceway.
Other favorite writers who know dirt racing include Lyndal Scranton of the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader, Thomas Pope of the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, Dusty Shull of the Paducah (Ky.) Sun and Steve Rogers of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, all of whom have written pieces that I wished were mine.
The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., smack dab in some of the most fertile dirt racing territory in the country, also does a great job covering racing (and I’m not writing this just because a fresh-faced Michael Rigsby, years ago, labored on the Pantagraph’s racing beat).
In the Carolinas, DirtonDirt.com contributor Gene Murphy provides local racing perspective for the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal, and Rhonda Beck does the same for the Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, N.C.
There are others I’ve missed or am unfamiliar with, I’m sure, but if you’re in an area that gets some ink about local dirt track racing, don’t take it for granted. Drop the sports editor or the writer an email to let them know it’s appreciated.
Turn 2: Turning the corner
Wet spring weather has definitely put a damper on the Dirt Late Model season so far, but maybe it’s not as bad as we think. Or at least there’s time to recover.
A spot check of a dozen series shows that most series are still on track to run as many races as they normally do, even with the high-profile national tours combining for more than a dozen rainouts, cancellations or postponements because of weather.
An evaluation of five seasons (including 2013) of the 12 Dirt Late Model tours, chosen because of their longevity and relative stability, shows seven of them have actually successfully run more races than average, and three others are within one race of the average. Only the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series and Deery Brothers Summer Series are more than a race behind their average pace since 2009.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series has run 12 races — thanks in part to its busiest-ever Georgia-Florida Speedweeks — nearly two races above its average events through May 8. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has run 10 events, matching three of the past four years and just two fewer than the 12 it had run by this time last season.
Other tours ahead of the average pace from 2009-2013: The Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series (five 2013 races vs. a five-year average of 4.2), the Three State Flyers (five races vs. 2.6), the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series (five races vs. 3.6), the MARS DIRTcar Series (six races vs. 5.2), Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association (five races vs. 3.2) and Sunoco American Late Model Series (six races vs. an average of three races going back to 2009).
Backstretch: Weighing in
The concession stands at some Arkansas dirt tracks shouldn’t be as crowded this season with a group of promoters and drivers battling to be the biggest loser — with some big money on the line, contributor Ben Shelton reports.
At last month’s Comp Cams Super Dirt Series event at I-30 Speedway near Little Rock, Ark., track promoter Tracey Clay, series director Chris Ellis, Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway promoter Mooney Starr and drivers including former series champ Brandon Smith and Tommy Surrett were part of a group going pound-for-pound in a weight-loss contest.
The competitors had a weigh-in in front of the grandstands and the second weigh-in for the CCSDS visit to I-30 Speedway in September will determine the winner after each contestant put $500 into the pot. Whoever loses the biggest percentage of weight collects $3,000, with the runner-up receiving the balance of the money.
Turn 3: Names from above
Names of five Dirt Late Model drivers with a religious flavor:
Jeremiah Hurst
Turn 4: Turn back the clock
Five items from this week in Dirt Late Model history:
May 8, 1983: Former Dirt Track World Champion Jim Dunn of Roseville, Ohio, dies from injuries suffered in a fiery crash at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway.
May 7, 1988: Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa., won at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway for the lone World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory of his career. Stuhler steered his Speedy Hays-owned No. 44 to the checkers ahead of Larry Moore, Rodney Franklin, Scott Bloomquist and Nathan Durboraw.
May 4, 1996: Bobby Traweek, the flagger at Super Bee Speedway in Chatham, Ill., died of a heart attack after leaving the track’s Saturday night racing program. Traweek had been involved with racing more than 40 years.
May 3, 2001: Eldora Speedway released an official entry list for the upcoming Eldora Million that included 275 drivers alphabetically from Jeff Aikey to Chad Zobrist.
May 7, 2011: Timothy Culp of West Monroe, La., led the final 18 of 50 laps at Greenville (Miss.) Speedway on the Southern United Professional Racing tour for his first career Late Model victory. Culp, 20, held off a late charge from Ray Moore.
Checkered flag: Five fearless weekend predictions
• Both La Salle (Ill.) Speedway winners on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be drivers who have previously earned $10,000 victories at the track.
• Half of the 10 spots of top-five finishers in World of Outlaws Late Model Series events at I-30 Speedway and Whynot will be among drivers not in the tour's top 10.
• Two series rookies will score top-five finishes in national touring events.
• The Spring Nationals points battle will go down to the last lap between Steve Casebolt and Billy Ogle Jr. as the tour wraps up with a weekend tripleheader.
• Saturday’s winner at Cherokee Speedway will notch his first Carolina Clash victory at the Gaffney, S.C., oval.
(Last week: One of two predictions correct; three rained out)
