Volusia Night Two!

[JackTripper]

I guess I'll keep the tradition alive.

Random thoughts:

Wayne Johnson - Wow! That move he put on in the A Main going from third to first in one turn to take Lasoski, that was a bold, bold move. That man has cajones. Seriously, what a move. There was no room there.

UMP Modifieds = wrecks. But a pretty good feature nonetheless.

Kenny Schrader won a heat in his UMP Modified. I guess if you can't win in Na$car, win in UMP.

Lots of World of Outlaws regulars sent packing and didn't make the A-main. I'm sure HaudFan was as disappointed in his driver as I was in mine.

As always a strong showing by the PA Posse. Embarassing really how the PA Posse sends the "big team drivers" like Kraig Kinser packing before the A Main gets rolling.

My girl Natalie Sather looked lost once again. Running the top and bottom to no avail. I was sitting right next to Kenny Woodruff who didn't change much of anything on the car as to almost say, "it's not the car."

Sam Hafertepe - he was bad fast all night, but lacked the bold moves.

And thanks VSP for that nice long intermission in the middle of the night...

[bubba]

10-4 on that move in the A Main, I was focused on the Dude's battle and whooosh, he just blew by outta nowhere.

What was up with little Kinser and Mccarl leaving - I thought they would at least run tonight. Too much heat I guess. That is a top flight field when you see the lineups for the C main and the depth on the heats.

I was disappointed in the track conditions, 2-3 seconds lap slower in qualifying. When I got there at 6:15 it was already rubbering up and getting slick. Interestingly, it made for better racing in the mod heats. I had big hopes of getting home early - then came the graders....It helped for 2 maybe 3 races - but overall too little too late - it looked in need of a complete rebuild with water and some real turnover. Not sure if it was worth the 45 minutes or whatever - but I still got home at 12:15.

Dalton Zehr just doesn't seem comfortable on the dirt yet. First night, he looked pretty good, but got out of synch. Last night - he was just over his head. I was rooting for him. Schrader looked real good again.

Oh and I went down to check the beer girl myself - Haud was right, the ones in the main booth by the gate are mucho better.

Hot tip - check to see if they fixed the pricing on the reserved seats - they were the same price as gen admission last night...Announcer Joe dont tell anyone...

[HaudFan]

Tripper, at least Haud ran the B-Main. I knew as soon as I looked at the track with the rubber down I knew it wasn't going to be a good night for the Wild Child. Not his kind of track.

I was standing in the McCarl pit after his heat race. It sounded like they really missed the set up and decided to park it rather than wreck it. Don't worry Bubba I'm sure McCarl & Kraig Kinser will be back tonight.

I was down in turn one when Brandon Martin & Cody Darrah got together. That was a hard impact for Martin. Thank you Hans device.

Hey Bubba, they moved your beer girl down in between grandstands heading into one. Looked a little rough last night. Kinda sounded like Larry the Cable Guy...

I spent the night in the pits for the most part. I tell you what, it really kills the modified time. If you can swing the extra money for a pit pass I would do it.

Got to spend quite a bit of time with the "legend" Rick Ferkel the Ohio Traveler. At 68 he still looks like he can wheel a sprint car. Then Paul McMahon his driver walked up and we talked sprint car set ups. What a blast! Something I found interesting from McMahon was that when he was with Tony Stewart last year they tested wings in the wind tunnel. He said a flat top wing with a 1" wickerbill will add an additional 150 lbs of downforce to the rearend of the car as opposed to the dished non wickerbilled wing...

Tripper, I give VSP credit for giving it the old college try to fix the race track last night. However, I don't think the grader was the proper piece of machinery to use. Made a pretty good size hole going into one for the feature.

Johnson & Hafertepe put on a heck of a show. And I have to give Schatz credit he came from 19th to 5th on a rubbered down track.

[JackTripper]

HaudFan, go check out Stevie Smith's car up close. Coil over and a wicker bill wing. Talk about not running what everyone else is running. For the most part I saw pretty standard stuff on all the other cars.

Yes, I was bitterly disappointed with my man Terry McCarl. He would have been starting first in the C so he easily would have been in the B. But he's not running All Stars for points, so I guess I can see the logic in not wanting to tear the equipment up. But I like Terry because of the fire in his belly and that definitely caught me by surprise.

Kraig Kinser was just owned all night.

[HaudFan]

I checked out Stevie Smith's car. I asked him about the coilover set up. He said, "it ain't the coilovers why we're running like crap." He did say they have a pretty good handle on the coilovers now as before when his dad was trying to make them work.

Talked to the Hodnett team. They said they were running even bars in the back with about 11 1/2" of stagger. McMahon wanted Ferkel to run reverse bars in the rear. Instead, Ferkel walked over and put two turns into the right rear bar. Then I wondered down to the Kaeding pit and they tried to run 17" of backspacing on the right rear...It was an education last night watching teams try to get a handle on the rubbered down track.

The one I really wanted to find out about was Schatz. He's got some kind of magically set up for rubbered down racetracks. They we're telling me.

McCarl wasn't all that pissed after he climbed out of the car. I think he realized that running the C gets you to the tail of the B. The track had lots of rubber so doing what Haud did the night before wasn't going to happen. Roll it in the trailer and save the engine.

[bubba]

And I always thought they just gassed em up and went....

I heard Johnny Johnson is running a trick aerodynamic paint. Problem is it burns off after a lap and he has to park it.

Dollanksy and Schatz were flying up through the pack. Fun to watch.

Yea, my beer girl was best viewed from the top row - your tip on the ones under the flag stand was dead on. I tripped on that stupid slab they have out front while I was determining just how right you were.

[HaudFan]

Bubba, this is no lie. He had a young cutie at his trailer all night. Racing groupies are great...Did you check out the two "working" the Lasoski t-shirt trailer? And get a load of the 2008 Lasoski t-shirt. Its called "The Season of Redemption."

I think Johnny uses the same right rear tire all season.

I'm hoping McCarl has a camo hat I can get! If not I'll have to settle for a camo hat of the "King."

[bubba]

I was amazed at the help in the trailers - it nearly worked on me. I had picked out a new wardrobe before my brains kicked back in. Schatz had some of last years stuff for half price. Decent hats.

I was gonna pick up some Lasoski pink panties for some of the folks on here.

How old is Johnson? I think he has it figured out, come down and run, park it for the features and hang with the sprint groupies while the hot shots are out running.

[HaudFan]

I think Johnny Johnson is in his mid 60s. The girl hanging out at his trailer was 20 something. Johnny Johnson is my new hero!...Bubba why would you buy pink panties that say "Dude" on them? Wouldn't you want them to say "Wild Child"?

Tripper did you see Becca Anderson last night? She kept hanging around the Dollansky trailer. Did you see what happened when Kaeding jumped out of his car after the heat and went down to the Shane Stewart pit? Did you notice the "Dude" last night? Not very friendly...And I think Stenhouse Jr was there in his Roush Fenway button down shirt. Saw him talking with Danny Martin Jr.

Jason Lefler looked like he jumped off the Lucky Charms box...

Has anyone noticed how the All-Stars teams are struggling? And Tony Stewart changed the driver & chassis on the Bass Pro car and it still isn't performing...

[bubba]

You guys are going to have to keep me posted on tonights festivities - I am off to Ft Laud till Fri afternoon then it is a mad dash up 95 to NSS.

Ohh I think there are a few folks on here that deserve the Alltel DIRTCar Nationals Pink Panty award...

Sounds like the pits were the place to be last night - I was stuck next to a Canuck and a guy that couldn't hear out of one ear. Made for some of the damdest conversation.

Canuck : "So...what do you do down here for a living - eh?" (spoken slowly and obviously carefully chosing words I can understand) Me : "Huh?" Canuck : "You know do you have a job?" Me : "Uh, huh - engine tuner/tire-shock specialist for 72"

Regarding the Leprachaun - I can't make my mind up about him. Seems to have good talent, questionable attitude and never goes away. Seen him wheel the hell out of some open wheel cars.

[Joe Dirt]

Johnny Johnson is 73. We all thought he would change his car number this season to correlate with his age.

[bubba]

Are you kidding me? That is cool! Wow - he is now my new hero and I won't charge him anymore for my engine tuning and tire guidance!

[Frasson118]

Glad to see old Johnny Johnson show up, for the 43rd consecutive year on the same tires! I think he bought them straight off of Jan Opperman, after defeating Pancho Carter and Billy Engelhart at Terre Haute!

All kidding aside, how can you not like a guy in his 70's, still pulling on an open trailer, that shows up every single year without fail. The first Speedweeks without Johnny will mean that we had lost him sometime in the previous 51 weeks, because he is ALWAYS in Florida during this week!

Someone should step up and honor his dedication before it's too late.

[JackTripper]

Yeah, I was going to say that Johnny Johnson typically has his number match his age. God bless that guy. He hauls down every year.

You know, I did a double take and thought, "I think that's Becca Anderson" but I didn't see her again to see what's up. I wonder if Mike Woodring is turning wrenches for Dollansky. That would explain Becca hanging around and doing grunt work. I hope she turns up somewhere again because she's got talent.

I did get a new McCarl shirt, where he's waving on the back as he's passing. Pretty amusing. I also picked up a baby shirt of Donny Schatz for my newborn since it was the only hauler I saw with baby stuff. That and the nice lady sold it to me for $5.

And man alive there has been an explosion of food vendors at VSP this year. My man from PA making cheesesteaks is back and I had a yummy Orange Crush float, but back in the pits there is a food vendor selling fresh Florida seafood and...uh...fried Oreos...

Have you ever seen Lasoski be friendly? I think Terry McCarl is probably the friendliest outlaw, but my favorite PA Posse guys (Hodnett and DeWease) aren't exactly friendly. But Bad Chad Layton is pretty friendly.

[bubba]

That BBQ trailer had a mean looking Pork Chop - saw one of the drivers grab one - but I had already downed a VSP Cheebugga and couldnt risk overflow, inspite of the immaculately maintained potties.