Volusia Night #3

[HaudFan]

Great racing last night! The track took the time to get it right and it paid off with a thrilling feature. Stevie Smith and Craig Dollansky mixed it up the whole feature with Smith taking the checkers.

1. Stevie Smith
2. Dollansky
3. Saldana
4. Jason Meyers

Schatz qualified second. Didn't transfer out of his heat and broke running the B Main. TMAC had engine problems all night. And The Wild Child finally had a decent run finishing 10th after starting near the back.

[bubba]

Yea, I had my doubts when they brought out their fancy tiller/rake/farm implement to grind up the rubbered track, but that seemed to buy them a few races out of it.

Great race with Dollanksy and Smith. Really good racing with Saldana/Meyers and Kinser in the pack. They were barnstorming through traffic. Good stuff.

I was surprised with the modifieds and how many of they top shelf cars didnt make the cut or barely made it.

I have been impressed all week with how clean they are running each other. There really isnt any dirty gouging and bumping going on. With the kind of competition in the mods especially (88 cars) they seem content to race where they are and be patient.

I saw Lucas Wolf's team tearing their car down in the parking lot this AM by the Dunkin Donuts in DeLand. I have never spent much time up close and personal with a sprint car, so I got out and eyeballed it. The clearance between the driver and the drive shaft is all of about 3 inches and no real protection if it breaks. I knew they were crazy, but looking at the confines from which they perform their magic, I am now convinced they have a death wish! The car is an engineering marvel squeezed into a tiny space. Nothing on it is under-engineered that is for sure - except that drivers seat.

Anyhow, I wondered why they weren't at the track working on it and they said they liked working on the concrete at the parking lot by their hotel anyhow rather than the dirty track.

On the vendor side last night, they didnt even wheel out the beer girl!!! Shop was closed up. However big poppa pork chop man was in full effect. I gotta figure out what that brown colored juice he slathers on the chops is - I think I am addicted to it.

Bonus for going on a cold night, my coke stayed nearly frozen all evening.

One more non-racing observation...Something they are doing that keeps your mind off the breaks and I think adds to the entertainment value. The guy Shane and his sidekick that walk around giving things out and talking to the fans. A cheap and easy thing for a track to do that will add to the "show" for the fans. I kinda find his banter annoying, but I end up less frustrated by track delays..Some kind of Jedi-Mind trick i guess.

On to NSS tonight - if my wife doesn't kill me...

[HaudFan]

Bubba I believe they call that farm tool a "Sheep's Foot". It helps turn the track over and try to bring back some of the moisture. I know a lot of the teams were not happy with the track on Wednesday...I didn't understand why Jason Sides finished 3rd on Wednesday and didn't even pull the car out of the trailer on Thursday.

I forgot to mention Daryn Pittman had another good run in the #25 car. Finished 5th in the A after winning the B Main.

We'll see if some of the Outlaw guys learned anything from their three day test session with the All-Stars.

The Midway area is a little weak this year. No 2 inch thick pork chops this year.

[bubba]

I was gonna ask, is Pittman with a new team or just new sponsorship? I liked the Titan colors, etc.

[ancrdave]

Although the car counts aren't what they used to be (we always had 70-80 for the All Stars when I was announcing Speedweeks there on the shorter track), still a pretty good showing name-wise... Sammy and Steve still going at it over 30 years since they first started running down here in February... Hopefully most of the All Star regulars will hang around for the WoO shows too... Everybody have fun... I just can't go this year for 3 reasons...
I'm broke
It's too cold
plus I have a really bad head cold I need to get rid of before OSW starts on Tuesday...

[bubba]

they still have close to 50 and all good stuff too.cant imagine having 80 of them...

[ancrdave]

Look at my East Bay post from last week... 102 cars in 1980, all pitted in the infield at East Bay... You couldn't walk two feet without bumping into somebody or something...