ron.brown11

Well after 225 laps of racing, for 2 different teams, Kaden finished 2nd. The fact that he even finished is amazing. He restarted 3rd and got shuffled back to 7th. With about 35 laps to go, Connor Zilich got into the then leader Bobby McCarty's left rear going into turn 3. It sliced his left rear, and that collected 5 cars. Somehow Kaden managed to snake between the cars that crashed both high and low. On the next restart Kaden started 2nd, and he just didn't have quite enough to run down Brent Crews, who was driving a Kevin Harvick #29 Toyota. He held off the 2 time champ Kvapil to keep 3rd. Before the big wreck, Kaden and Mini Tyrell got together, and Kaden said it knocked to tow in way out. He thinks that he could have won if not for that. At OCS, running the second grove in the fast way around. He was shocked that Crews gave him the top lane on that restart. But the car plowed like a truck going into turn 1, and that was his last chance to try for the win. Layne Riggs drove the #62 Harvick Ford. WOW what a night he had, and he finished 10th. He was spun out, involved in an accident, and cut a tire, all on separate incidents.

With 53 laps left, Kaden is running a strong 4th.

Kaden will start 6th in the LMSC race.

Kaden passed for the lead on lap 1 at Orange County Speedway in NC. He lost the lead on a restart late in the race for a lap. He spanked the field tonight, in the Pro Late Model 100 lapper, leading 99 laps. I hope he can double up later tonight in the Late Model Stock race. What a drive for that young man!!

All of Mr. Labonte's funeral services have been posted, and will take place in High Point, NC on Fri & Sat.

Mike, I'm not planning on checking out any time soon, of course my wife might have something to say about that lol.. But hey, I'm 67, and have had 25 surgeries between March 2008 and Jan 2021. Both my parents died at age 71, so maybe my time is getting close too. I always used to think that all of the fighting, and shit like that was because everyone was so competitive. I've come to believe that almost all of it was simply hard headedness. Once we get past that, it's funny how much we have in common. Then comes respect for each other, then friendship. I sure wish I'd been smart enough to realize that a bit sooner. I haven't known Nick anywhere near as long as you have Mike, but I've always respected him. He always played things straight, and by the book. When I was helping Greg Baber with his modified, he hired Nick for his expertise on chassis setup. I'd like to think that I learned a lot from him, but he didn't have a great student. Geometry was never my best course in school. But he still took his time explaining why he wanted adjustments etc, and never got frustrated. I also took his classes, and he showed patience there too. Again, I really respect that.

Nick, I was sure that you would know more than I do about Bob, and you did. All I ever heard was third party stuff. I too was glad to hear Mike with some personal info. I had always heard the Bob could be a little rough around the edges, but was a good guy. I never went to CC, going to SA on a GI's pay was about all I could afford then, while living in Del Rio. I was glad that he was able to get Terry & Bobby to Cup. I know that have been other Texans to make it, but none had the impact that Terry & Bobby had. I don't think I ever heard Ken Squire say Terry Labonte. It was always "Texas" Terry Labonte. Like you Nick, I was born somewhere else. But TX is my adopted home. God willing, this is where I'll die too.

Bob Labonte passed away this week. There weren't any funeral details listed in the story. He did a lot to put Texas asphalt racing on the national map. I'm sure that Nick Holt can add much more on that, as I was just coming to TX as Terry was moving to Cup. RIP sir..

Kaden started 6th, in Sat's 125 lap race at Caraway Speedway in NC. It was the season opener for the Late Model Stock season, and his first start in the Wood Brother's/David Pearson paint scheme #17 Mustang. He ran as high as third at one point, and got shuffled back to 11th, and then climbed back to 5th at the end. Caraway's grove is on the bottom in the corners, and if you get off the bottom (or get moved off the bottom), you can lose a lot of spots. He was running in 3rd and got moved, and finally got back 5th. Carson Kvapil won the race, but very early it didn't look like he would. He and Deak, McCaskill (spelling?) got together going into turn 1. Kvapil ran over Deak's left rear tire and went airborne with both right side tires. Luckily it didn't really seem to hurt either car. There was only 1 significant crash near the end. It involved 7 cars, but Andrew Grady really got the worst end of it. He got caught up in a lot of crashes, not of his making last year. Unfortunately this season started the same way. Too bad, as he was running really good too. That car will need at least a new front clip. Katie Hettinger, last year's runner up for the Pro Late Model championship, made the jump to the top series. She got as high as 7th at one point, and managed a top 15 finish. This years she's driving for her family owned team. That's an outstanding start for her, as there were 30 cars that started the race. She too lost several spots after getting moved. I think that she's got a bright future in racing.

Kaden raced the CARS Tour Pro Late Model race today at Southern National in NC. He started 3rd and finished 3rd. On lap 3 Kaden drove it off into turn 3, and got under the then leader Tanner Tyler. I don't know if Tanner's spotter was asleep, or Tanner just decided that he was going to turn down and try and close the door. It really hurt Tanner's car the worst, but Kaden had the toe knocked way out for the remaining 97 laps. But he soldiered on for the third place finish. He also mentioned that the car he ran today is a 2015 Hamke chassis. The he went on to say that they have a new car that he'll be driving at Hickory. I'm not sure just how many of the Pro Late Model shows he's running this season. Next weekend the CARS Tour Late Model Stocks will be running at Southern National.I haven't seen the driver entry list for that yet. I'm hoping the Kaden will be there in the #21 car.

Ryan sure didn't have as good as last year at New Smyrna. Last year he drove a car out of the Jett stable and was stout all week. I'm not sure who he drove for, or if that was a family owned car. He was mostly middle of the park in the races that I saw this year. I didn't see every night this year. I'll go back and try and see the rest.

In his first ride for Niece Motorsports today, Kaden finished 6th. I don't know if this was his first run at Atlanta, but if it was that's a really good start. Great Job!!

It was bound to happen, and a bit surprised that it took this long. Did CPS ever build/do anything with the part that they bought? They probably passed on buying the track footprint, because of the costs of remediation. I'm sure that the pit area would be classified as "toxic". My brother retired from General Electric Jet Engines 4 years ago. Right before he retired, GE bought all of the acreage of Tri-County Speedway, located about 10 miles north of the main plant. They turned that property into an office complex, removing most of the office workers away from the engine plant. He said that it cost more for the remediation then what they paid for the land/track. He told me about how many truckloads of contaminated dirt they had to remove, before anything could be built, I just don't remember now. The track was a 1/2 mile high bank track. I'd bet that there was at least 30 acres for parking. Then the original track owner/builder bought another 60 acres, and built a softball complex, that had 8 diamonds, with more parking. It was quite the sports complex. All of that now sits under a GE office complex.

Ryan Preece finished 2nd on night 4 to Ron Silk, the defending Whelen Tour Champ, and winner of everything this week in a tour type modified. On night 5 Ryan won and Silk finished 2nd. Preece had an awful Whelen points race on Sat, finishing a lap down and barely inside the top 20. He may not be able to run the Wed or Thur show, as he has qualifying on Wed and the Duels on Thurs. He said that he's going to try and make the show on Wed, but Thur is a no go. Too bad, because he's got his family owned car hauling.

Bubba Pollard started 11th, and ran mainly3rd to 8th most of the race. But his car really looked great on long runs. It really looked like Ty Majeski who started 17th, took the lead by about lap 35, and looked untouchable. With about 9 laps to go, something happened, and he started losing positions, finishing 16th. It turns out that he had a drive plate fail, and he lost an axle. I'm shocked he finished at all. I thought he had a tire going down, but the more he ran it looked mechanical. It looked like a shock broke or the panhard bar broke. Casey Roderick was strong all night to finish 3rd. Young Jett Nolan ran the top 10 all race, and fought his way up to 2nd, and that's where he finished. Chase Elliot started 8th I believe, but did finish 6th. But the was mainly because of Majeski falling back and Nason following suit. A perenial World Series Asphalt race winner, and series champ winner got taken out going into turn 1. It was a really hard hit. The car will need at least a front clip, and possibly an engine too. Derek Griffin is from the Northeast, and is usually very calm. He came unglued on the guy that dumped him. Thankfully no punches were thrown. The Memorial is for super late models, and they put on such a good show at New Smyrna vs the late model stocks cars. There were still 18 cars on the lead lap after 200 laps. Good race to watch!!