Tuesday, August 23 - Tonight the New Egypt Speedway was running the first of two Tuesday night events with the big block modifieds and the ARDC midgets on the dance card. Next Tuesday will feature the 410 sprint cars joining the big block modifieds. It was a nice evening for racing with cooling temperatures and an awesome racing surface prepared by the New Egypt track crew. On hand for tonight’s racing were 34 big block modifieds and 21 ARDC midgets. Action got underway late at 7:45 but once underway it was moved along swiftly. The modifieds were first out for their three heats with Billy Pauch, Tad Cox and Jeff Strunk scoring the wins. The ARDC midgets ran two heats with Steve Buckwalter and Tim Buckwalter winning. Heat racing was done in 50 minutes. A modified consie followed with Rick Laubach winning and a slight delay was needed to work on the third turn inside fencing before the racing continued.

The 25 lap ARDC midget feature would be first and this was good for two reasons. That being that the track was in the best shape for the small, light race cars and most of the drivers and crews came from further away and could start their mid-week trek home sooner. The racing in this one was very exciting with three and four wide dicing commonplace. Tim Buckwalter took the early lead in turn two on lap 7 and held sway until his cousin, Steve, raced into the lead down the backstretch on lap 13 after starting tenth. Buckwalter would never relinquish the lead thereafter but Brett Arndt never let him get too far ahead. At the finish Steve Buckwalter won for the fourth time with ARDC in 2011 over Arndt with Drew Heistand nipping at Arndt’s tail tank in the late stages. Heistand who started 16th make the late run to end up third with 11th starter, Ryan Smith, fourth and Tim Buckwalter finishing fifth after tangling with a lap car while battling cousin Steve for the lead and losing four spots before straightning out. It was a very competitive feature with only one caution and spun off in 14 minutes. Heistand maintains the point lead in the season long contest leading over Nick Wean and Ryan Smith.

As good as the midget feature was the big block modified feature was better. Oley, Pennsylvania invader, Duane Howard, took the lead on a lap one restart from his fourth starting position and led the first 29 laps. In between there was some great side by side action with 18th starting Billy Pauch spinning in turn three on lap four and restarting in the back of the field. He sliced his way through the field and in the middle stages of the race waged a 10 lap side by side battle with Sammy Martz for second as Howard continue to lead. This battle alone was worth the price of admission. On lap 16 third running Jeff Strunk looped the Norm Hansell #357 in turn two without any help. The spins by Pauch and Strunk unassisted were very rare occurances for these two veterans of dirt track racing. But in addition there was some other great racing throughout the field. Danny Bouc ran very strong after starting 7th and ran as high as 3rd before fading in the later stages of the 40 lap tussle. Finally Pauch was able to clear Martz and take second and closed on Howard. He caught and passed Howard in turn two on lap 29 and completed his impressive run from the back to the front. We wonder if Howard was starting to experience mechanical woes around the time Pauch caught him as he had slowed noticeably. Three laps later Howard would pull on lame on the backstretch with what could have been driveline problems. We still feel that Pauch would have passed Howard but it might have been more difficult. Pauch pulled away over the final eight laps and flashed under the checkered at 10:05 winning for the 12th time at New Egypt in 2011 and his career 101st win at the central Jersey speedplant. Jimmy Horton had closed on Pauch late but was never able to seriously make a challenge for the lead and finished second after starting 20th. Richie Pratt Jr. made a last lap pass of Sammy Martz to finish third with Martz fourth and Wade Hendrickson taking fifth after starting 21st with his new small block under the hood.

It was a fine night of racing with a superb smooth virtually dust free surface on a pleasant temperature evening with the racing ending at a good hour. This race ranks in the top ten of our year and maybe even cracked the top five if I review our races of 2011. Looking forward to next Tuesday and the return of the 410 sprints to the Garden State and hopefully the surface will be as great as this night.

Saturday, August 20 - During the day it was hazy and humid but since the sun is going down a little earlier the temperatures seem to cool down at night. By the time the first heat took the green at 7:35 the weather was perfect at Lincoln Speedway, 70’s and with a breeze. Tonight’s show was a bit altered. The thundercars were not on the agenda but there was an Old Timers Exibition. Starting out it seemed like a normal evening but it turned out to be way too long for a normal type of show. The red flags started early when Jay Galloway flipped his 358 sprint coming off turn four after the checkered fell. Not only did he wreck his car, he was in a qualifying position at the time. They ran 4 heats for the 358 sprints which numbered 37 strong and three heats for the 410 sprints which saw 28 cars in the pits. These heats are usually run off in no time but tonight it took over an hour to run off the seven 10 lap events and there were three red flags thrown during the events for flipping sprints.

As mentioned earlier the Old Timers were there and they ran two exibitions. It was during this time that things started to go wrong. The lights strung accross the track that signal when either the caution or red is thrown went out. The consolations were to run after the Old Timers but the schedule was changed and the kids big wheel races were brought out while the track electrician tried to fix the light problem. It was decided that they would place extra flaggers around the track and use the one way radio transmitters to alert the drivers if the caution or red was being displayed. The two consolations were spun off with little to do and the caution lights came back on. They then decided to take the time to fix the red lights also and before you know it, it was 10:30. This is usually the time we are leaving the track at Lincoln Speedway but tonight the features were first getting underway.

The weather was perfect, the track surface condition was awesome and they were lucky all the lights were fixed. During the first four laps of the 410 sprint feature they had 3 cautions and one red flag. After this the red would be thrown one more time for Derek Sell who flipped over his number 20 when Aaron Ott did a 360 in traffic and clipped Sell. Brian Leppo who took the lead on a lap 5 restart lead the final 20 circuits to win. Adam Wilt was second with Kevin Nouse, Brad McClellan and Jim Siegel rounding out the top 5. The event was over at 11:07 and a long victory lane interview ensued. The 358 feature did not start until 11:30.

The 358 sprints started out just as bad as the 410s. The caution came out on lap 1 when Chad Trout stopped in turn two. On the restart of lap 1 the red flag was thrown when a 9 car pile-up had the track blocked in turn four. Again when the green came out two cars tangled in turn two. We were 20 minutes into the race and still did not have 1 lap in the books. The caution would wave three more times during the event and the final one came out with one lap to go. Mike Bittinger won the event and became the first driver in recent history to win in both the 410 sprints and 358 sprints in the same season. Keith Prutzman was second with Austin Hogue third. Kevin Nagy ran a strong race coming from 12th and was running second on the last restart when he dropped into the infield as the race went green. A tough break for the New Jersey driver on this evening.

Racing was complete at 12:05 making this a two day show. The surface was awesome all night long but somehow the racing tonight just did not seem as good as usual. But then usual is over prior to 11:00.

Wednesday, August 17 - Tonight was racing at the 140th annual Kutztown Fair as the season at Kutztown winds down with one more race tomorrow to finish out the 2011 season. By race time a large crowd was on hand to witness the night of racing. The crowd was larger than normal due to the fair and the fact that admission to the race was free after paying the eight dollars to enter the fair and the two dollar parking fee. The action got underway a little late at 7:12 with a dash race for the 270cc micros to determine the starting positions of the top eight for the feature. Matt McAnally was never headed in this one. It was followed by time trials for the 15 national junior slingshots in attendance with Tyler Johnston setting fast time of 14.755 seconds on the 1/5 mile dirt oval. The wingless 600cc mini sprints had their dash race next with the same format mentioned above with Ryan Smith winning. The Atlantic Coast Old Timers had their track time next with about a dozen old time sprints and midgets on hand with many towing in from New England to show off their vintage machines.

Two junior slingshot heats were next with Jacob Dunn joining Tyler Johnston as winners in these races. Two B mains were next on the agenda, one each for the 270’s and the 600’s. All this activity was recorded by 8:55 and it was intermission time. I ventured out into the fairgrounds and found the Kutztown Fire Company had a stand where I purchased a delicious grilled bologna sandwich. By the time I finished eating the 30 minute intermission was over and the first feature of the evening was staged and ready to go. One of our racing buddies mentioned that the junior slingshots would run first as they had to get home to go to bed. Tyler Johnston invaded and swept the evening’s events for the juniors winning over Chris Kurtz and Abbey Price in ten minutes with only two cautions.

The 30 lap, $1000 to win 270cc feature would be first to take the stage with 17 year old Matt McAnally taking off like a shot from his first starting position. This one became almost painful to watch with eight cautions interrupting the racing. Young McAnally would hold off all challenges through the numerous slowdowns and take the checkered over Ryan Smith, Ross Perchak, Richie Hartman and Trevor Kobylarz. That is an impressive group of racers to fend off and McAnally should be proud of his big win. The last feature of the evening would be for the wingless 600cc mini sprints contesting their 30 lap distance for the $1000 first place prize. Without an inversion of the top cars with a straight up start from the dash Ryan Smith would start and finish first but there was some good racing happening behind him. Tim Buckwalter moved up two spots to grab the runnerup spot with 8th starting Jay Hartman snatching third from Brett Schoenly on the last lap with 7th starter, Jonathan Hull rounding out the top five. An impressive run was turned in by Shane Lewis who got in on a provisional advancing from 25th to 8th at the final checkered which waved at 10:27. Look forward to the 141st annual Kutztown Fair in 2012.

Saturday, August 13 - After spending the evening at the Royal Mountain RV campground 12 miles above Fonda we left around 11 and weaved our way down the back roads toward the speedway. We were one of the first people beside some fair workers and the track crew to arrive at Fonda and we choose a parking area near the back of the fairgrounds against a chain link fence to park the motorhome for the evening. The only problem here was that there is a railroad track that ran right behind us and trains passed by (loudly) every 45 minutes to an hour. Bob and I walked across the street to the ice cream stand and I purchased some awesome Maine wild blueberry hard ice cream. It was so good that I purchased two others and walked them back to Pat and Mike to munch on.

Tonight was a special night at Fonda being dubbed BBL Championship night with each division running two features each with the exception of the four cylinders who only ran one feature. It was the final night for the point’s battles with a champion to be crowned in each division. The racing started at 7 with two B mains for the 602 crate sportsman to round out the starting field followed by two B mains for the modifieds with 64 year old veteran, Dave Lape, capturing one of the B mains. Then it was right into the first of nine features on the evening the 10 lap street stock feature which started 13 cars and went non-stop. Dave Horning Sr. won this five minute affair with some good side by side racing taking place. The pro stocks were next up and Pat and I agree that these guys put on some of the best racing every time we visit Fonda. Tonight was no exception with Rocky Warner advancing from midpack to win the 15 lap non-stop feature which started 18 cars.

The 33 lap modified feature was third on the dance card with 25 cars taking the green flag at 8:05. The action was lively and spirited and even though the race had five cautions they did not take away from the good racing. Danny Varin ran a fine race to notch the feature victory over Mark Kislowski, Matt DeLorenzo (who is one of the more impressive competitors at Fonda), Ryan Odasz and Ronnie Johnson. The first 602 sportsman 20 lapper ran with only one caution and had some impressive runs during the race with 27 cars starting. Mark Mortensen came home with his fourth win of the year winning over Korey Wilder and Ray Zemeken, father of Jessica. Ken Hollenbeck scored his second win of the weekend in the lone 4 cylinder cruiser feature in another non-stop race over a 12 lap distance with Ben Righi being crowned the first 2011 track champion. The second street stock feature was again entertaining with Cassidy Wilson winning and being crowned the street stock track champion for 2011. The second 15 lap pro stock feature again went non-stop with Ivan Joslin scoring his first victory and Rocky Warner chasing him across the line and garnering the 2011 pro stock championship.

At this point in the program the track locked down and like Hagerstown Speedway during Octoberfest there was no more track to run on. With Ronnie Johnson holding a five point lead going into the final race and main contender, Bobby Varin, starting third and Johnson starting sixth it looked like the son of Jumping Jack had his work cut out for him. Well, Johnson went right to work and stormed into the lead on lap three and never looked back building up over a straightway lead over second place. The checkered waved at 10:17 with Johnson streaking underneath to the roar of the crowd in the old wooden grandstand. It was Johnson’s fifth win of 2011 and more importantly he was the 2011 modified point champion!! He was joined in victory lane by his legendary father, Jack, recovering from a race crash and battling lung cancer, as the crowd cheered wildly as the celebration went on. The best thing of the interview was when Mimi Lazzaro asked Ronnie Johnson if his father had given him any advice before starting the last race and he replied that Jack told him “Race to Win” and he must have listened well as he blew the field away in a dominating fashion. Bobby Varin came home a distant second with Danny Varin taking third, Jim Davis fourth and Elmo Reckner taking the fifth spot. We still have one more feature to go and the second 20 lap 602 sportsman feature went green at 10:30. Doug Flynn took off and was never headed winning his first career race at Fonda winning over Robert Bubiak and Vermont’s John Scarborugh with the final checker waving at 10:45 ending a fine night of high speed action. Mark Mortensen was crowned the 2011 602 sportsman track champion.

From the national anthem sang expertly by trackside announcer, Mimi Lazzaro, until the final checker at 10:45 it was a well run program spun off in quick succession. It was the cherry on top of the sundae to top off a fine weekend of racing. If only the trains had stopped running during the evening and early morning hours!!

Friday, August 12 - It was a perfect day. The sky was bright blue, the humidy was low and there was not a cloud in the sky. All this on a Friday, what could possibly make it better. I’ll tell you we had a motorhome trip plan up into New York. Bruce had the day off and I left at 12:30. At 1:30 we all rendezvoused at the Route 33 Park & Ride. Bruce showed up with the motorhome, I showed up after working half a day, Bruce’s brother Bob showed up from New Jersey and Mike Wenner showed up from Coplay, PA. Within 10 minutes we all piled in and were on our way to north of the border. Our destination was Glen Ridge Motorsports Park in Fultonville, New York. Bob and Mike were making their first trip to the 1/4 mile semi banked clay oval and Bruce and I were there the very first year they ever ran. We pulled the motorhome in at 6:45 and things have sure changed. The tiny grandstand that was there originally could never have held the nice crowd on hand to see the races presented by the close to 100 cars in the pits. What a difference!!

There were 30 sportsman, 21 big block modifieds, 15 rookie sportsman, 14 cruisers and 12 street stocks. The first heats took to the track at 7:35 and the sportsman ran four 8 lap heats before 8:00. The modifieds followed with 3 heats, the rookie sportsman had 2 heats and the cruisers and street stocks ran only features. The sportsman also required a consolation. Once racing started they ran one race after the other like a fine tuned clock. By 9:30 all was in the books except the modified and sportsman features. There was a 25 minute intermission and racing resumed. The modified feature was up first and the 35 lap event saw only two cautions. It was a highly competitive race and the final 10 laps saw a race for the lead that was awesome. Craig Hanson held off Kenny Tremont for the win followed by Marc Johnson, Jackie Brown and Bobby Varin.

The sportsman feature was last on the card and it looked like it was going to be non-stop but a 9 car tangle on lap 19 brought out the red flag. Dave Constantino won the 25 lap event.

Racing was over at 10:40 and it was a good night. What a difference from our first visit years ago. The only downside of the entire night was a rock the size of a baseball was thrown over the fence during the heat race and struck the man sitting next to Bob in the shoulder and then hit Bob in the rib cage. Bob sported a sore side the remainder of the weekend and a nice sized bruise where the rock hit him. We ate sandwiches in the motorhome waiting for the parking lot to clear then headed for the campground up near Caroga Lake.

Friday, August 5 - We decided to attend a county fair in Martinsburg, West Virginia and take in a figure 8 race there. We arrived around 6:30 and made our way into the fairgrounds after paying our $5 admission price which also included the evening’s events on the track area. We secured a seat in the long 13 row high aluminum grandstand running the length of the dirt straightway setup and wandered out into the fair checking out the goats and other animals. Then we each visited different food stands where Pat purchased a chesseburger and beef/cheese fries while I indulged in a polish sausage sandwich with peppers, onions, cheese and sauerkraut. All the food was judged delicious and throughly enjoyed. The International Demolition Derby organization would be presenting the program this evening and they started out on the wrong foot by starting over a half hour late from the scheduled starting time of 7:30. Most motorsports groups that stage racing at a county fair try to move their program along as quick as possible so people can watch the show and still be able to roam the fair afterwards. This group was not one of those as the completion time of 11 PM matched the closing time of the fair.

By race time the long grandstand was filled and people were milling around on the sides and sitting down in front of the stands. In total I would guess that there were 3000 to 4000 people attending this night of racing. That is a great crowd and I know a lot of the oval tracks today would love to have such a large crowd in attendence. I don’t know if the fans in attendence were oval fans or not but they enjoyed their night of figure 8 racing as many yelled and screamed most of the evening. The night started out with timed two vehicle runs over a course set up on the straightway with two sets of dirt mound jumps to add to the excitement. Classes that participated in these runs were 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder cars, 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder trucks, motorcycles and quads. This took over an hour to spin off and then they brought out several tractors and front end loaders to prepare the figure 8 track.

At 9:30 the double figure 8 racing finally got underway with the first of three heats for the good 18 car 4 cylinder field on hand with 2 cars advancing to the main event. This was followed by the three car 6 cylinder car feature with one of the three breaking down before making the starting grid. David Beesaw won this thriller. A 4 cylinder consie was needed before the 20 lap 4 cylinder feature would line up. By 10:45 the feature was ready to go and off the seven car field went. It was more a demo derby than a figure 8 and no one was able to make the full 20 lap distance. Mike Smith completed 18 laps and was declared the winner when neither him nor the second place runner could fire their cars in the sixty second probation period. So the final checkered waved at 11 and the long night of racing was in the books.

The county fair type figure 8 races are the weakest of the figure 8 division with the ones on the permanent courses at an existing oval especially in Florida and Indiana are the best. To each their own but the figure 8’s for us are not really our cup of tea. Give us a well manicured 1/4 mile dirt bullring and we are happy.

Wednesday, August 3 - Wait a minute here you say!! The ROC racing at Grandview was listed on the schedule as a one day event. Why do you have two nights of racing at Grandview? Well, read on and you will find the answer.

The Race of Champions (ROC) dirt tour was scheduled to invade the Grandview Speedway with a doubleheader of big block modifieds and sportsman. They did invade but the dismal forecast would eventually lead to the race being postponed to its raindate of Thursday night. I believe Thunder On The Hill promoter, Bob Miller, painted himself into a corner when he made a jab at Brett Deyo and his postponed Big Diamond ROC race which was postponed in the morning on a dismal forecast which did not hold up and it never rained. First off I believe Brett Deyo made the correct call considering the travel distance of many of the competitors and fans alike who would travel down to Big Diamond for the race. Bob Miller should have heeded the forecast of 60 per cent chance of scattered thunderstorms and postponed the race to the scheduled raindate of Thursday where the weather was predicted to be cloudy but only 10 per cent chance of rain. Instead he proceeded forward and after two modified heats run on a very heavy track surface where passing was nonexistent the rains finally reached Grandview in earnest at 7:40 and about 15 minutes later the plug was pulled on the night’s events. It poured all the way home and there was no chance they would have gotten this one in.

Thursday, August 4 - The first two modified heats would stand from last night and tonight would start out with the third of four modified heats for the 33 car field on hand. The track was still heavy and passing existed but it was still at a premium. Butch Tittle and Brett Hearn joined last night’s heat winners, Jeff Strunk and Ryan Watt, in the 12 car redraw of the top 3 finishers in each heat. The sportsman would run three heats for their 28 car field with Brad Brightbill, James Cornell and Joe Masiado. Two modified consies with Matt Sheppard and Billy Decker winning. All time win’s leader at Grandview, Craig VonDohren, failed to qualify but a provisional would solve that problem. Mike Mammana and Bob Lineman Jr. copped sportsman consie wins and the fields were set by 8:40.

A half hour intermission which included track prep followed and by 9:15 the 60 lap ROC Traffic Jam feature went green. Brett Hearn started first and took command from the wave of the green flag. Jeff Strunk who started third hounded him and finally passed him in lap traffic on lap 21 for the lead. Duane Howard who started fourth quickly followed Strunk by Hearn for second before the first yellow appeared on lap 24. On the homestretch on lap 29 a very scary and nasty flip occured when Scott Albert and Meme DeSantis tangled with DeSantis climbing the homestretch wall taking out a large section of the catch fence just past the starter’s stand heading toward turn one. DeSantis flipped over and landed on his side and everyone held their breath until they saw DeSantis scrambling out of his mangled machine. There was going to be no way that track personnel would be able to fix the gaping hole and the two bent support poles so everyone sitted in the homestretch grandstand were instructed to move toward turn four to relocate their seating. At this point Pete Knappenberger, who assists in trackside announcing, went into a verbal tirade on the microphone berating the people to move faster or they could not restart the race. His behavior was very unprofessional and uncalled for. Knappenberger and his New Egypt Speedway trackside counterpart, Nicky Leach, are two of the worst people to have an open microphone in hand with. They add nothing to the program and only portray the track they are working for in a bad light.

After a twenty minute delay the race was restarted but it lost some of its luster with five or six cars taken out in the vicious crash. A few laps after the restart both father (Jimmy Horton) and son (Jimmy Horton IV) rolled to stops with mechanical woes in turn four and the homestretch respectively. From that point forward (around lap 32) the remainder of the race went without caution. Jeff Strunk was able to fend off the challenges of Duane Howard to score the $8500 paycheck with Brett Hearn third, Danny Johnson fourth (up from 12th) and Doug Manmiller rounding out the top five. The checker flew at 9:58 and after victory lane ceremonies were completed the 40 lap sportsman feature was green flagged at 10:14. Even though this one had double the cautions (6 vs. 3) that the modified main had I felt that it was the more competitive race. This race started out bad with two cautions in the first two laps but once they settled down it was good racing especially in positions four through ten. Jared Umbenhauer marched from tenth to take the lead with an agressive move between two competitors on the homestretch coming for lap 18 and would lead it the rest of the way. Joe Masiado, the third heat winner, out for the first time this year ran a strong race actually closing on Umbenhauer in the late stages before his mount came up lame with only a few laps remaining. At this point 16 year old Sammy Piazza took up the chase but couldn’t mount a serious challenge in the remaining laps. Umbenhauer scored his second straight ROC sportsman win at Grandview over Piazza with Rocco Infante who had never raced here before catching Brad Brightbill late to steal away third with Brightbill fourth and Five Mile Point invader, James Cornell, rounding out the top five. Hats off go to sixth place finisher, Craig Whitmoyer, driving a borrowed car advancing from 15th. The final checkered waved at 10:40 (a well run program) and we stood around and chatted with my brother, Bob, and his friend, Mike Wenner before walking down near the fence and chatting with Jeff Alhum and his father, John.

It was a good evening of high speed racing and we went away satisfied with the racing action and a well run show.

Saturday, July 30 - Did you ever leave a track talking about how good you thought the race was, how surprised you were that you did not get dirty and how you were not going to go back to the event when they ran it next year. Well that was exactly what I was saying on the ride back from New Egypt Speedway. I personally had not been to the New Egypt Speedway in a couple of years. Bruce was there earlier this season. We decided to attend the Friends of Mike race at the track and ask my dad to go along because some of the Grandview hot shots would be in attendance. My dad had never been to New Egypt and he was looking forward to the event. We left home at 2:00 in the afternoon, stopped to get something to eat and pulled onto the parking lot at New Egypt Speedway around 4:40. It was in the 90’s but there was a light breeze going and after the 105 degree temperatures the week before it was almost comfortable. We parked our butts down in the grandstand at 5:00 in anticipation of the event and racing started promptly on time at 6:00.

They were running three divisions on this special night and all were paying good money. The 35 sportsman ran three qualifying heats and the winner of the heat took home $250. The outlaw stocks numbered 27 and each of the three heat winners took home $200. This is really good money for these divisions. The modified pits were 49 strong with top driver from not only New Egypt but also from Pennsylvania and New York. Sorry we cannot forget Canada since Stewart Friesen was in the house. They ran five heats and each winner garnered $1,000 for their efforts. The outlaw stocks did not require a consolation but the sportsman had one and the modifeds had three. The track took on a lot of water the previous day as several severe thunderstorms soaked the area. This left the track in not ideal condition and there were some major dips in turns one and two and the low side of four. They worked on the track but this condition does not have a quick fix.

The outlaw stock feature was first and was spun off in under 20 minutes. Then it was time for the modifieds to run the Rogie Rumble. This was a match race where the winner would have his choice of his next competitor and in total 12 cars were invited to participate in the event. It started off with Gary Butler and ended with a match race between Grandview invader, Duane Howard, and regular Willie Osmum. The winner of the $1,000 prize was Duane Howard to the delight of my dad and I. This was followed by the sportman 20 lap feature and there were 7 cautions. I cannot say this was a good race. Pat Wall won the event after Kyle Borror who crossed the finish line first came up 15 pounds light on the scale. Now an announcement was made that you just knew was not going to be true. We were told they were going to work on the track fo just 5 or 10 minutes prior to the modified 100 lap event taking the green. Forty five minutes later the main event was underway.

Lots of times a 100 lap event has boring spots when it seems the cars are just actually driving around in circles. Not this race. I can honestly say all 100 laps were good, competitive and enjoyable to watch. Although Billy Pauch had them covered and looked well on his way to his 100th career win at the track, the number 1 slowed on lap 92 and exited into the pits. A fast approaching Tim McCreadie inherited the lead and hung on after a bobble on a lap 96 restart. McCreadie, who started 14th, took the top prize of $20,000. Duane Howard finished second. He started 19th and moved quickly through the pack and at one point was running second behind Pauch. Third was Stewart Friesen and he almost picked up the win when McCreadie bobbled on the restart holding up both himself and Howard. Fourth was Matt Shepard and fifth was Jeff Strunk. Nine cars finished on the lead lap. There was always something to watch.

So if I really enjoyed the race why did I say I am not going back to this event next year. Well if you recall I said we sat in our seats at 5:00. I do not like the bleachers here. There is no knee room at all and on a night when there are fans sitting right behind you and in front of you it is vey uncomfortable. It is also not easy to navigate the bleachers when it is crowded and you are not on the end of an aisle. Therefore from 5:00 to the checkered at 12:25 I was sitting in my uncomfortable seat. That is 7 and 1/2 hours and that is way too much show for me. The main event started at 11:26, which is 26 minutes after the curfew. They need to either drop one of the support division or drop the match racing. We managed to get out of the parking lot and out on the road in 20 minutes but did not pull into the driveway at home until 2:45. It was 4:00 until my dad got home. There was a great crowd on hand and I am sure the vast majority will be back next year but this person, even though the modified portion of the show was really good, will not be.