Manzanita Speedway
Madrid enjoys victorious guest role in Late Model
By Kevin Kovac
Southwest DIRTcar RacingLast Saturday night’s event at the Manzanita Speedway half-mile oval was a milestone moment for the Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series. And it was a huge evening for Anthony Madrid, a hometown DIRTcar Modified star who turned his first career dirt Late Model start into an emotional feature win.
�Madrid, 32, of Phoenix, pulled off an amazing Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series debut by capturing the 30-lap tour feature on June 28 at the nationally-known Manzanita facility, which hosted the region’s premier tour for the first time since 2004.
�“It was just unreal,” Madrid said of his $2,000 triumph behind the wheel of a Rocket dirt Late Model owned by Jeff Manka. “The crowd was so loud when I got out of the car. It’s something I will never forget.”
�A DIRTcar modified mainstay known as the Friday Night Flyer for his weekly exploits at Manzanita, Madrid worked out a deal several months ago to run Manka’s dirt Late Model because the car’s regular driver, Mark Fowler, had planned a vacation for the end of June. He climbed in the full-fender machine for the first time several days prior to the SWDLMS event for a test session on Manzanita’s inner one-third-mile oval, but his practice laps were limited due to mechanical trouble.
�“I was just hoping for a top-five,” Madrid said. “With hardly any laps in the car, I would have been happy with a top-five.” But Madrid did better than that — much better. He won a heat race and then charged to the front of the feature from the ninth starting spot, taking the lead from polesitter Randy Carder on lap 21 and marching on to a convincing victory margin of 6.03 seconds.
�One of the drivers Madrid sailed by early in the feature was four-time SWDLMS champion Lonnie Parker Jr. of El Mirage, Ariz., who entered the event riding a six-race tour win streak. Parker blew a tire shortly after being passed by Madrid and finished 11th, absorbing just his second loss in eight series events this season.
�“Once I got past (Parker),” Madrid said, “I said to myself, 'OK, we really have a chance to win this race. We just went by the guy who dominates the series!’ ”
�Madrid, whose 118th career victory at Manzanita tied him with Sprint Car legend Lealand McSpadden for third on the track’s all-time win list, seemed to have little trouble adjusting to Dirt Late Model racing.
�“Actually, they’re a lot easier to drive than a modified,” analyzed Madrid, who ranks ninth in the UMP DIRTcar Modified national points standings through June 30. “With the big tires, all that horsepower and the rack-and-pinion steering, the Late Model is just so much more comfortable and stable than a modified. You get so much more traction — it’s just unbelievable.
"I could never afford to run a Late Model on my own,” added Madrid, a salesman for Sunoco Race Fuels in Phoenix and a DIRTcar Modified owner-operator. “But I’d love to get another chance to drive one.”
Count Chris Morgan, who oversees the SWDLMS as the director of the DIRTcar Racing Western Region, as one observer who came away impressed with Madrid’s talent at Manzy. “He looked like a superstar driving the Late Model,” said Morgan. “You could see him smiling through his helmet as he ran around out there. He was determined to make it happen.”
Morgan noted that Madrid’s triumph in front of a partisan hometown crowd was the cherry on top of a spectacular night at Manzanita for the Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series. “We had two of our elite DIRTcar Modified drivers move up and make some noise in the Late Model division (Jason Noll of Phoenix finished 10th),” said Morgan. “We went from a field of 13 to 14 cars running the series earlier this year to a full field (of 20 cars). And we ran in front of the biggest crowd Manzanita had in four months. “It was a real big step for the Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series. Our challenge is to keep the momentum up and keep the car counts up so this tour will continue to grow.”
