ron.brown11

Yes, it's Kirby. He's the manager of HD Trailer Manufacturing in Aledo, TX. I have a cousin that lives 6-8 miles from the business there.

Evan Shotko spanked them again, this time for all 150 laps. Eddie MaDonald led the first 25 or so laps, and from then on it was the Evan Shotko show. With 10 laps to go, a yellow came out for a stopped car. McDonald tried wearing out the right side of Shotko's car on the restart. To no avail, as Evan put a full second on him in those 10 laps. Chris Davidson was fast qualifier for the race! The top 6 drivers had a pill draw to set the front 6. Chris drew a 2, and McDonald drew the 1 pill. Something was a bit off for Chris' car, as a yellow came out just 12 laps in. He came down pit road, swapped the left side tires, and made a chassis adjustment. That put him back to 17th. By the lap 40 stage break, he was back to 8th. By the second stage break at lap 90, he was up to 5th. With about 25 laps to go, Chris was up to 3rd, and that's where he finished. He really seems to like Jennerstown Speedway, as he looks very comfortable racing there. I know that there are a few different engine packages that can be run, from what the announcers said. So I'm not sure if that's why he doesn't seem to have as good of drive off the corners as some of the other cars. I know that all the local Jennerstown cars run a fairly low HP crate engine, and 6th was the highest finishing local car. Barry Awtey, was running a solid 5-6 place until a restart after the second stage break. The car in front of him missed a shift. That killed the nose/airbox on his Challenger. He parked it to save the motor, as it was kicking water out badly. He was the only local that looked to have anything for the traveling teams. Unfortunately there was 1 bad wreck in the third stage. Going into turn 3, a guy decided to take it 3 wide. He lost the nose, clipping the car in the middle. This shot the nose up into the left front of the car on the outside. His car got airborne, and went head on into the beginning of the front straight wall. Jennerstown is a fast 1/2 mile track, and it has wide sweeping turns. At the point where he was contacted, those cars are already at WOT, and he never saw the contact coming. I doubt that he ever touched the brakes before wall contact. Even if he could, I doubt that it would have helped. His car didn't touch the ground about 7 feet before impact. The impact sheared off all of the right front suspension, and the tire nearly contacted the leader Shotko. They don't have SAFER barriers there. He got out of the car after a couple of minutes, but he was hurt, as he could barely stand. Hopefully he just got the wind knocked out of him. There was no update on him at the close of the broadcast. The driver's last name is Marhefka, and he's a regular at Jennerstown. I was disappointed at the car turn out for the race, as only 17 were there. Not sure why it was so low. Last year there were about 25 cars, if I remember correctly. I don't know what the pay structure was beyond the fist 2 positions. First paid $10k, and second paid 3k.

Well, it rained at Jennerstown tonight. The race has been rescheduled for Sunday at 1pm. It's not supposed to rain either. I hope Chris has a great run!!

Kaden finished 4th in the CARS Tour 125 race at Ace Speedway in North Carolina. He started 11th or 12th, and had a good clean run, after getting taken out at Hickory in the last race. Kvapil won running the Jr Motorsports #8 car. He increased his points lead over Queen. Mason Diaz was second. Ryan Millington was third. Brendan Butterbean Queen lead the first half, but the car went away after a restart and finished 5th. I really think that Bobby McCarty had something for Kvapil, but on another restart he grenaded his tranny trying to get in 4th. That took a bit to cleanup, and they had to go red for a bit. Thankfully there were no major crashes, mainly just nose to rear damage for a few couple cars. That's a great thing for the teams, as the next race is next Sat at Tri-County in NC, and it pays $30k.

I'm trying Nick, as that's not something I've always been good at. But you know how it is with addicts lol..

I see that Chris is on the entry list, for the Motor Mountain Masters race at Jennerstown Speedway tomorrow night. Right now there is better than a 50% chance of rain, so hopefully they get the race in. Last year's was cut short due to rain. Last year Chris finished 5th. If they get to race, I got a feeling that Chris will finish higher than that this year, as it looked like he found a line that worked for him about halfway through the race. Last year's winner Evan Shotko will be back to defend. Eddie MacDonald finished 2nd last year will also be there. There are a few others that will probably be strong there, but there is 1 name that makes everyone a little nervous, Barry Awtey. He's the winningest driver in Jennerstown history, and all of his wins have come in late models only. He literally lives like 3 blocks from the track, and his dad raced there too. And he's not a 1 track wonder either. Jennerstown has had a couple seasons that it was closed over the last 10 years. He just moved to a couple of other tracks, and won championships there too. About 6 weeks ago, I was watching a race night from Jennerstown. Barry got crashed in the heat, not his fault. Before they even got the car back to the pits, his crew chief was seen running to a car and exiting the track. A half hour later a rollback wrecker showed up with another car. They unloaded it, and took it through tech. He started last in a 16 car field, and won that 30 lap main. They had to run 3 of the 4 tires from the wrecked car, and a used tire for the 4th that night. Then won the next 3 races in that old car, even though the new car was clipped and ready to go. In some ways, he's kind of like Dale Sr. He can put his car in places that shouldn't work, but he makes it. Rarely does he touch a competitor, and for as much as he wins, he seems to be pretty humble. Jennerstown is a nicely laid out 1/2 mile track, and it's pretty fast. The pre-entry list only shows 18 cars entered, but I suspect that there will be more. I noticed that several of the local regulars weren't on the list, including a couple that have won there this season. No it won't look like the Battle of Berlin field, but it usually pulls a lot of the upper east coast racers. Hoping for a good show tomorrow.

Fortunately/Unfortunately I didn't get to see it live. We spent the evening with our 3 year old identical twin granddaughters, which was a blast. They're learning how to swim. Aw the unbridled joy of kids having fun.. I watched it about 10pm last night, but it was worth the wait. This guy Evan Shotko is a name that you need to keep track of. His driving skills are unquestioned in a super late model. But he works for his dad, and is the head honcho for chassis setups at that shop. Not just his either, as he does a lot of the top teams that race in the MI area. Teams that run supers, limited lates and street stocks. Last summer he went to Jennerstown Speedway in PA, and absolutely spanked them. A week or 2 later, he spanked the field at last year's Battle of Berlin. That field looked a lot like last night's, minus Chase Elliot. In his post race interview, he was pissed at himself. He said the he failed to account for fuel burn off when he took the new tires, and he ended up with a pretty good push in the car. I've always been bummed that nobody ever gave Bubba Pollard a shot at the national level. I don't think Shotko will suffer that same fate. He's good. I would love to see Hocevar and him compete on a weekly basis, as I think Shotko is better. Maybe down the road that will happen. Eric Jones finished 11th last night. My bad.. I think that Cole Butcher, driving Donnie Wilson's car, hurt himself. He really abused his first set of tires, and that got him a lap down. He had a really good car, as he did at the last CARS Tour Pro Late model race in another Wilson car. I think the in-car quote of the race came from Bubba. I think it came about 20 laps into the race. Said he couldn't believe just how hard guys were racing, with over 200 laps still to go. He only led twice early in the going, probably just to see how his car acted in clean air. And then at the end. He never looked like he was pushing his car that hard in either case. He just kept finding a place to keep his car out of trouble. There were several of the cars from last night there a couple of weeks ago, for a 75 lapper. Bubba never led until about halfway, he then passed those in front of him and drove off. He learned a lot he said from that race. This season he switched to a Terry Senneker chassis. Boy has that paid off. I try to follow the west coast SRL tour as much as I can. You'd be surprised just how many are getting their cars from Senneker in MI. Terry is a really good driver in his own right too. They were interviewing him at Berlin a couple of months ago. They asked him why he isn't racing much any more. He said that keeping his west coast teams, plus the locals, has put a big crimp in him racing. But says that's ok to him, as he loves building them as much as racing them. I saw Bob Senneker win a lot of races in the midwest, and the ASA series. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. At my home track in my high school years, there were 2 cars that would show up a big $$ races, that weren't regulars. when those 2 cars would pull in line at the pit gate, many late model drivers & teams shoulders would just drop. They were now wondering if third was as good as it would get that night. Most nights they were right. Those cars belong to Bob Senneker & Ed Howe. Both were great on dirt and asphalt, and Tri-County Speedway started out dirt and then they paved it. We had a really good late model field there for years. But they got beat mentally, while standing in the pit pass line most nights. The first time Jody Ridley showed up at TCS, they laughed at him. They all ran big block fords, Chevys & Mopars. He had a 1965 Ford Falcon with a small block. They weren't laughing at the end of the night, as he took the big purse home to GA. The next time he came, they wrecked in the first few laps to put him out. And it was intentional.. Jody never came back before I left for the AF, but he did ok, as he got hired to race a Cup car. Bill Elliot's first race car was one of Jody's old Falcons. It worked out for both. Good things do happen to good people.

Great race tonight!! There was only 1 scary wreck, and that was 31 laps in. That was for the defending ARCA West champion, Jesse Love. He had the left rear hub snap going down the front straight. When that tire departed from the car, he hammered the turn 1 wall. Glad he didn't get hurt. There was several cars that spun down the front stretch about 30 laps later. Seven cars spun, with 2 getting race ending damage. One of those that spun was Josh Berry, more on him in a minute. Here's the top 10 1) All World Super Late Model driver Bubba Pollard (Ford) in a Senneker Chassis 2) Chase Elliot NASCAR Champ (Chevy) 3) 20 year old Evan Shotko Berlin Track champ (Toyota) 4) Josh Berry driving The Van Doran Race Cars house car (Chevy) 5) Kyle Crump a Berlin regular (Chevy) 6) Dylan Stoval a Berlin regular (Chevy) 7) William Byron NASCAR Cup Driver (Chevy) 😎 Cole Butcher driving a Donnie Wilson Toyota 9) Joe Bush a regular at Berlin (Chevy) (only driver in the field running a crate motor) 10) Austin Hull a Berlin regular (Chevy) Eric Jones came home I believe in 12th (Chevy) and he runs a crate engine! Carson Hocevar finished 24th (Chevy) With the exception of the Snowball Derby, I think Bubba has won virtually all of the premier Super Late Model races in this country. He's done it at all 4 corners of the country, with many in between. It kinda makes you wonder why a NASCAR team has never looked at him to drive for them. Bubba also won the 75 lapper 2 weeks ago at Berlin. Josh Berry, got spun by the mad Russian Boris Jurkovic, and that's what caused the several cars to spin on the front stretch, and 2 getting race ending damage. Berry made 1 hell of a ride up through the field, to finish 4th. Five of the top 10 were locals. Both Eric Jones & Carson Hocevar locals too, but they just don't run weekly because of their Sunday jobs. The car that nearly beat them all though was Evan Shotko, and he was doing it on old tires. They finally caught a scheduled caution, and changes 4 tires. With those new tires, as fuel burned off, he picked up a push. Bubba caught him with about 15 laps to go, and Chase Elliot got by 1 lap later. The grandstands were full and very loud! Every single one of the NASCAR top 3 level drivers that ran tonight stated that they want to race here again. Their reason? They loved how that track management treated them, and the fans were even better. Oh, and the money is great too. That was what each one of them said after the race. I hope that there are track promotors reading this. To get the big names racing at your track: treat them great & have a strong fan base. Just a week ago, Berlin sold out too when the SRX show came to town.

Chris Buescher wins again!!! Nice job of holding off Martin Truex Jr in the closing laps. Brad K finished 4th. Everyone was saying the Martin was the car to beat, and he was really strong both days. I was a bit surprised, but not shocked that both RFK cars were fast, but wasn't expecting a win & a 4th place run. I know that it's killing Brad that he can't get a win at MIS, but this must be a pretty good consolation prize. Texas boy does good, AGAIN!!

Here's the drivers for this Thursday Night Thunder SRX race at Berlin Raceway near Grand Rapids, MI. Helio Castroneves Marco Andretti Kevin Harvick Hailie Deegan Brad Kesolowski Kasey Kayne Johnny Benson Jr Toney Stewart Bobby Labonte Ryan Newman Kyle Busch Kenney Schrader As Berlin was Johnny Benson Jr's home track, and he still runs super modifieds there occasionally, he could be good there. Seeing as how Paul Tracy isn't racing, there might not be as many crashes. Oh wait, Hailie running, never mind. Hopefully they have their brake issues fixed. Both weeks they ran at Stafford Speedway, they had several cars that had brake failure. Ryan Preece was easily leading, even Tony Stewart commented that Preece looked like he was doing a good job taking care of them. He cursed Ryan. A few laps later he ran into turn 1, and nearly walled it. Amazingly he only dropped to 2nd. Then he nearly walled it again going into turn 3. That was it. Two other cars had brake issues last Thursday. Two weeks ago nearly half the field had brake issues. That was the talk in the booth before the races began last week. Hopefully not this week. Stafford & Berlin are similar sized tracks, but at Berlin, it's almost a constant turn. Stafford has very fast straights, and the brakes are really needed. If anyone ever questioned the driving talents of Ryan Preece, they need to see him race a Whelan Modified at Stafford. He's an animal, and he doesn't wreck people. He ran the same line in the SRX car as he does in mods. I'm glad that ESPN & the SRX series get together to revive the Thursday Night Thunder racing. I wasn't sure that ESPN would ever get back into covering stock car racing, after the way they were treated by NASCAR. Hopefully this will lead to more racing coverage by them.

I hope so Nick. I love drag racing, but it's a distant second place. To me, this is like the Cup guys buying the CARS Tour. It should be a win/win. And with Tony's circle track background, and that he still races & has a racing series, there's a chance that brings more eyes to circle track racing, from the straight-line crowd. Plus, it gets away a bit from the structured ways of the NHRA. Gives it more of an outlaw feel to it. That there might bring more drag fans out that might not otherwise go. Unless it fails miserably, I can't see any negatives to it. Stewart isn't one to want to attach his name to something he doesn't think can be successful. I think by the time they get this thing up and running, it will end up with a pretty strong SRX feel to it. People seem to like that so far in the SRX series. The fans like to see the drivers and racing, without the pressure of the points championship. Yes, there's still an SRX champion, but only about 2/3 of those drivers are actually competing for it. Plus, I don't think that any of those that do are relying on that for their livelihood. So still, it's racing for the sake of racing, and for the fans. That's always a great thing.

I just watched a press conference on FloRacing, our Austin based home for streaming all things circle track. But this wasn't about circle track racing. There is a group of really accomplished Drag racers & team owners, that have put together a pre NHRA season opening racing event. It will basically look like a Street Outlaws No Prep Kings event, but the track (in Bradenton, FL), will have a full pro prep. Anybody can go onto floracing.com and read the press release, and they will probably put the video back up, as they were doing Q&A with the media when something happened to the feed. The press conference was taking place live here in Austin. Here are the folks that did the conference: Steve Torrance, many time top fuel champ from San Antonio (CAPCO); Erica Enders many time pro stock champ; Alan Johnson many time NHRA winning crew chief; Chad Head race winning driver/owner; Richard Freeman owner of Elite Race Cars from TX; and some guy named Tony Stewart, who owns a top fuel & a funny car team. Also a top alcohol dragster driver. It will be by invitation only. There will be 3 pro classes; top fuel; funny car & pro stock. The top fuel & funny cars will run to 1000', and the pro stocks will run the full 1/4 mile. They said that there will be about 12 cars per division invited. They are working on having 2-3 lower classes as support classes, but that will be announced at a later date. Each pro class will pay $250k to win, and that's larger than any NHRA event according to this group. The event will be held at Bradenton Motorsports Park before the 2024 NHRA season starts. This isn't an attempt to hurt NHRA, as apparently they NHRA has been involved in some manner. Like in the Street Outlaws events, drivers will do pill draws to see who they will race. They're saying that this will be a 6 day event, with concerts and other activities during the week. They also said that fans will get to see a whole lot more of the drivers than just the 1-2 minute interviews that are usually shown on NHRA events. They will show a lot of behind the scenes stuff too. They said that it will be called the Superstar Shootout. SRX anybody? Everybody knows that Tony Stewart hates a lot of things. In this press conference he was heaping a lot of love or FloRacing. It also looks like they are trying to develop a series, not just this 1 event. If that happens, it will be included in the FloRacing package. I hope that it all works out.

I love Buescher as a driver, and I loved the quote from Jack Roush, after resigning him a couple of years ago. "We're correcting a mistake we made in letting him go before". Can you imagine the trepidation Kes must have had, leaving Penske to try and right the ship at Roush? But he had something that most don't know about. His dad Bob was a really good racer himself. I won't say that he never drove for somebody, but most of his career was driving the family car. He won races and I think a couple of ARCA championships, and did it with a lot less than a lot of his competitors. That's where Brad learned his work ethic. He was able to translate that into a successful truck team, that had a few current top 3 division drivers come through his program. When NASCAR forced the truck teams to go to the Ilmore engine, and Ford pulled their financial support, he sold out. Having the business genius Roger Penske as a boss for a decade, sharpened his business chops I'm sure too. He then started his machining business, and does a good amount business for the government & large corporations. The Buildsubmarines.com isn't just happenstance. They are a big racing advertiser at Langley & other tracks along the east coast. I don't know if Ken has any contracts with them, but I sure wouldn't bet against that idea. Plus, there are a lot of great fabricators in the racing community, that's a pretty good place to look for fabricators to build submarines. Wouldn't that shock the racing world, if both RFK cars get wins and hold their own in the playoffs? Did you hear the interview with Kyle Busch? He was shocked how good the RFK cars were. He was expecting the Gibbs & Hendrick cars to dominate, and said "where'd they come from"? Brad is proving to be a good leader at RFK, and that's good for racing's future. Jack is no youngster, and has tried to kill himself a couple of times in his planes. The second one cost him his eye & his pilot's license. He also didn't have any succession plans in place if/when he couldn't run Roush Fenway Racing. You can bet that the Fenway side wouldn't have kept the race team going. Now they have a plan to continue, if Roush can't continue. I hate the fact that there really isn't any good independent teams anymore. So if we're stuck with having mega teams, we need as many as possible to be competitively and financially viable as possible. That too is good for racing.

I absolutely believe that it's a good thing. I have a Masters in marketing, so sure I believe getting the drivers out there touting the greatness of NASCAR. And it looks like NASCAR is going to invest millions for this program, if it comes to pass. So that begs the question, why haven't they done this before? They have a large public relations/marketing department, and make millions each year. I'm sure that someone in those departments have thought of this before. If not, maybe they shouldn't be there. So why now? Why is it a good thing & proactive now, but not once before in the last decade, or more? Unfortunately, I've seen enough things (some good, some bad) get floated before from NASCAR. One thing I've learned from those past events, NASCAR RARELY acts beyond what's good for NASCAR. If NASCAR is going to do something, you can bet that it's probably in their best interest, or they're being forced to act. Even if safety is involved. In 2000, NASCAR lost 3 drivers to the exact same thing, basil skull fractures. Do you think that they hadn't already figured out what was causing that? They've been taking every car that has a fatal to their facilities for a long time now. All the while extolling the great safety of their cars. When NASCAR was sanctioning the Winter Heat series at Tucson Raceway Park, in the late 90s, they impounded Chris Saylor's car, when they thought he was going to die from his injuries. Thankfully Chis survived, and his dad got the car back about a month later. When John Baker was killed at Irwindale Speedway during a Southwest Tour race, they impounded his too. John's wife didn't get his car back for a long time, because she was seeing NASCAR & Irwindale. I don't know how much the settlement was, but there were 2 commas on the check his brother said. I also know that K&K Insurance (yeah the same K&K that used to sponsor the #71 in Cup for several seasons), pulled Irwindale's insurance coverage. John was the third fatality there in 3 seasons. After making the changes that K&K required there, they got to reopen. When Dale was killed, his car was also impounded. They didn't give that one up for a long time. They tried to convince the public that Dale's death was because of Bill Simpson's seatbelts. This was a guy that has done more for driver safety over the last 5 decades, than any other single person. He was so incensed over these allegations, that he sold the company and started legal filings against NASCAR. Once he was able to prove that his products, he started another driver safety company, Impact. With this new car, early on last season, drivers were complaining that impacts that were considered very minor in the old car, was really hurting them. We had what 3 different drivers hurt from rear impacts, causing concussions. Finally after enough crashes this year, they have changed the rear clip. Thankfully, after Larson & Preece's crash at Talladega, they didn't wait very long to make some major changes to the front clip & the right door bars. Kyle Larson was a very lucky man that day. I haven't seen a cockpit intrusion like that in years. Just from looking at the quick tv video shots, I saw 3 door bars that broke. I think it scared NASCAR too thankfully. All that was said to say this. Never underestimate NASCAR's ability to act in their best interest first, always..

I just read an article on Jayski.com. It looks like NASCAR is looking to start a driver incentive program (once the new tv media rights deals are signed for the 2025 season and beyond). This program will basically make the drivers paid spokesmen for NASCAR. Their task will be go make appearances touting NASCAR to the public. It's all still in the planning stages for how the payments would take place. But it sounds like it will be tied to how a driver performs throughout the season. To me, that sounds like another "the rich get richer" system. A small team/driver combo is probably never going to have the resources, to make as much money as better funded teams/drivers will. Hell, they are the ones that need it the most! Plus, by featuring some of the smaller teams & lesser known drivers might actually get some new viewers. What I find interesting about this possible program, is the timing. With the drivers & the RTA not even bothering to show up for scheduled meetings with NASCAR, concerning how the possible breakdowns of the new tv deals, is this NASCAR trying to do an end around past the RTA? If so, that could get really interesting. The last time I checked, there aren't many independent owner/drivers anymore. So the drivers may carry some sway, but the team owners still carry the sacks of money, that funds the cars that the drivers race in. This could be fun to watch play out, if what little info that has gotten out is accurate.

Mason Diaz finally won a CARS Tour race. He ran a very good race, never falling lower than 3rd. Kade Brown, a local ran second, he started from the pole and ran top 2 the whole race. But the third place finisher had the best drive of the day. With 40 laps to go, he was running 24th. With 30 laps to got he was 15th. With 20 laps to go he was 5th. I would have loved to see a caution with 10 to go, as it would have been a heck of a finish. What a drive by Brendan "Butterbean" Queen! I believe he could have roughed up Kade Brown, as he ran him down from a full straightaway back in 5 laps. He never touched him. Last year at Langley (Hampton Heat), at his home track, Brendan was just 3-4 car lengths from going a lap down. He won the race. He also won the Hampton Heat a couple of weeks ago. For being so young, he sure has learned how to save/use his equipment. Brendan drives for Lee Pulliam, so he's in good equipment. If he continues on this trajectory, it won't be long before a team from the top 3 series comes a calling.

Well that sucks! Honeycutt got turned head on into the turn 4 wall, with 31 laps to go. He was running 6th. For sure the car will need a front clip, and possibly both ends.

25 laps in Honeycutt is still running 8th. Drivers are mostly riding, but there was 1 2 car spin. Minor damage for both. It's a bit hard watching this race, as they are doing a throwback to the stars of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup series. So a lot of different paint schemes & several number changes.

I just found out that Kaden Honeycutt sits 4th in the points for the Late Model Stocks division. What's so great about that? He hasn't run all the races. He's starting 8th today. Laine Riggs is running the Harvick #62 in the race. Let's see if that car is as awesome as it was last month after winning and then getting DQ'd.

Driving for Donnie Wilson, Cole Butcher led nearly the entire race at Hickory. Kaden Kvapil finished 2nd. The points leader Katie Hettinger came home 4th. She had an 11 point lead coming into this race. I don't know their points structure per position, so not sure if Kvapil took the points lead or not, but I think she's still the leader. Unfortunately it took 24 hours to complete the race. They made 32 laps yesterday before the rains came. The top CARS Tout cars are coming up next.

As I've said on here before, whether we like NASCAR or not, we all need them. We need Indy cars, NHRA, IMSA too. Yeah, NASCAR has screwed up a lot of things over the years, bad calls, bad policy, bad cars (remember the COT), etc. But there is a massive trickle down effect by having them viable. One of the best examples I can give you is this. NASCAR knows that they really NEED local Saturday night racing/racers. That builds interest for the top 3 divisions. It also creates a pool of future drivers/crew members & sponsors. When NBC Sports Gold folded about 3 years ago, NASCAR dumped a lot of money into FloRacing. They knew that they needed to prop up the local racing scene, especially the asphalt racing scene. Prior to them doing that, FloRacing almost never showed asphalt racing, only dirt racing. Just as Josh42 said above, cross talking/selling is good for all parties. High tide raises all boats. I absolutely love it that these Cup drivers are running a lot more local stuff. That brings eyes to both, a win/win. It is also one of the ways it used to be done. Getting a big star go run a local show, brought in a large audience. That would get the locals to try and attend, or watch a Cup race. It was a fairly common practice, that NASCAR & the local track to rent a ride for said Cup star to race. I nearly got Kenny Schrader to run my mod on the Sat night, before the Cup race on Sunday @ Phoenix. Unfortunately it fell through about 2 weeks before they went to PIR. We had Ron Hornaday Jr race there numerous times in Tucson, and this was after he had been hired by Dale Earnhardt. There was about 10-12 of us mod drivers that pitted together. He pitted right there with us. Great guy! Before he got hired by Dale, he owned Victory Circle Race cars in LA (he sold it about a year after moving to the truck series). If you asked him to look at your car, he would. If he saw something that he thought needed addressed, he tell you. Not to try and sell you something, just because he wanted you to get better. He helped a lot of the locals. During the Winter Heat Series years at TRP, he kept his cars (Winston West, Southwest Tour & late models) at a local racer's shop, 2 blocks from my business. He would gladly show you his cars, and didn't mind if you took pictures/notes either. Probably the coolest thing that I ever saw him do was this. He was driving a super late model, that belonged to a local racer. In the main he was leading. Another local racer, unprovoked, just flat wrecked Ron going into turn 3. Knocked the front clip to the left about 2'. Big hit. Of course the track announcer wanted to interview Ron after that. Most every driver would bad mouth the driver that just wrecked them. Ron didn't. Because he respected racing at the local level so much, he told the announcer that it was his fault, because he hadn't properly secured the steering wheel, and it came off. Now this is a driver that's already racing in the truck series. Do you think he's forgotten how to install the steering wheel? It gets better too. I knew the driver that loaned Ron his car for that night. He told me that Ron said that if he'd bring it to his shop in LA, he'd clip it for him, no charge. The only thing that he asked, was to not tell anyone what he was doing. That's how much he respects the local racer, and how much he knows that big and small time racing needs each other. It has been incredibly popular on just about every racing site, to bash what Brian France did to damage NASCAR. And I agree with about 98% of that. But Brain France will always be a love/hate thing for me. I saw what he did for local Saturday night racing in person, at Tucson Raceway Park. When ISC took over the lease there from the Fairgrounds, they pumped in about $4 million into the facility, and changed it from dirt to asphalt. All of the local sentiment was " nobody will come see asphalt racing in AZ. It's a dirt racing state". I went opening night as a fan in the stands. It was standing room only, not enough parking, food or restrooms. They only had a 2 station ticket booth, and a 1 station pit entrance booth. Brian France stood on the front stretch with a mic in hand. He promised that would not ever happen again. Seven days later there was twice as much parking. The ticket booth now sported 10 windows. The pit window now could serve 4 at a time. He brought in more than 50 port a potties, until they got 2 new restroom buildings completed (that was finished 3 weeks later). He had 2 brand new aluminum bleacher sections installed in the turn 1 area the next week . He brought in 5-6 food vendors until they could get a fairly large food service area finished (2 weeks later), and they added an open flame mesquite wood grilling area. To this day, the 2 best chicken sandwiches I've ever had at a racetrack were the Jalapeño one at SAS, and the mesquite chicken sandwich at TRP. For a local Saturday night track, TRP was a show palace. The changes that occurred there over a 4 week span was incredible. I have no idea how much money they spent after opening night, but not was a lot. I agree that as Josh42 said above, that the racing product, and for the most part how they manage race day, is getting better. I think that they are having more trouble overcoming people's mindsets then they are with the racing product itself. If they fix their short track program, that will go along way to make the overall racing a success. There are a lot of really smart people in the garage area, it shouldn't be a problem. However, the biggest stumbling block to fixing the short track problems, may reside in the NASCAR offices. They've always had a problem with admitting that they may have caused the problem. Some of the things have to do with the design of the new car. If they can get past their own egos, it shouldn't be that big of an issue. As I said, there are a lot of smart people there in the garage area.

Atwell got as high as 8th, but finished 10th, 1 lap down. I rechecked Evergreen's website, and Chris was listed as the driver & 3rd place finisher in Friday's Pro Late Model feature. Preston Peltier won the super 150 lapper on Sat. He started 18th (had a mechanical issue in his heat". He took the lead 40 laps into the race, and never lost it. The driver I was most impressed with was a guy named Haddon Plybon. He finished in the top 3 in Friday's racing, and had the chance for an extra $5000 if he started shotgun on the field and won. He nearly did it, but ended up 3rd. Peltier is from Colorado, but should move to Monroe. It almost seems as though he races there every week. Almost unstoppable there in supers.

At lap 75 of 150, Atwell is running 12th.

I'm just getting to see the Sat races from Evergreen Speedway, and the super late models are running first tonight, before the Pro Late model race. Last night during the Pro Late Model race, they said that Chris Davidson ran that and finished 3rd. Today, in the super race, a guy from FL named Mike Atwell is driving the Davidson Electric car. So either Atwell is running the super & Chris is running the Pro, they announced the wrong driver in the Pro last night. I'll update this as I get more info either tonight or tomorrow.

I hadn't read anywhere that Chris Davidson was going to Evergreen Speedway up in Monroe, WA.He started pretty deep in the field. He finished the 100 lapper in in a strong 3rd. Nice race Chris!! I don't know if he's running on Sat, but if he does I hope he wins..