Saturday, March 26 - The forecast for the weekend was cold with the high temperatures only in the low 40’s and of course that was in the middle of the day. The night temperatures were in the 30’s during the time the races would be running. Therefore we had the following: Friday, Williams Grove canceled due to cold weather conditions. Saturday, Rort Royal, Selinsgrove canceled due to cold weather. But there is one track that will run if there is any possible way they can get it in. You never have to worry about them canceling for fear the fans will not show. That track is Lincoln Speedway and we knew there was no way they would cancel. So, Saturday morning with the temperatures in the low 30’s we had to make the decision. I can tell you I was kind of hoping they also would cancel when I finally stepped out of the house around 11:00. Bruce made the decision to go and we proceeded to gather layers of clothes and blankets along with the other things you normally take to the races, scarf, mittens, winter hats etc.

We arrived at Lincoln at 5:30 and the temperature was 38 degrees. The crowd was probably half of the normal Saturday crowd but then half of the normal crowd at Lincoln is probably still more then over half of the Saturday night tracks in the country. We laid down two blankets to insulate us from the cement grandstand and waited for the races to begin. They started right on time and they promised to keep the show moving along. A promise they kept. It was a three division show with thirty 358 sprints, twenty-four 410 sprints and seventeen thundercars. The three heats for the 358’s had their share of cautions but as one race pulled off the next was pushed off. In a little over an hour all qualifying was complete and within 13 minutes of the final qualifier the green dropped on the 410 feature.

Somehow when you are watching a good race you do not seem to mind the cold. There was only one caution in the 25 lap event and that came one lap after Brent Marks took the lead. Marks would never be challenged for the top spot and would become the fourth different winner this season at Lincoln. But behind Marks there were some real good runs. Back in the ninth and tenth positions Brian Montieth and Tyler Walker were giving a clinic on slid jobs while Fred Rahmer, Brian Leppo and Allan Krimes battled for position. In the end it was Marks, Jim Siegel, Greg Hodnett, Brian Leppo and Fred Rahmer. The race took only 9 minutes to run.

The 358 feature started at 8:15 and immediately the red flag waved as a 7 car pile-up happen in turn two on lap 1. There was a 10 minute break in the action to clean up the incident and it was only during this time that I realized it was not all that warm. When racing resumed Dale Hammaker moved to the front and it was all over. Second place was Michael Ruttkamp from Wilton, CT and Billy Dietrich was third.

It was only 8:40 but we chose to head on out before the running of the thundercar feature. It was 34 degrees when we started up the car but we can both say we were not cold as in addition to the 5 layers of clothes we had a quilt and another blanket covering us. As in so many other times when other tracks throw in the towel due to bad weather conditions Lincoln Speedway pulls it off. Not only did they run, the track was in good condition and the racing was good. There are some things you can always count on and that is why the fans show up in spite of the conditions.