ron.brown11

I agree 24nomo. However this was not a CARS race. This is the first race for the VA Tri-Race series (not the exact name, as it escapes me right now). The next race will be at Langley, and the final race will be at Martinsville. There they will crown the race winner & the 3 race series champion. As I've said on here before, the CARS Series, with all the new Cup/team ownership involvement, is the hope for asphalt racing in America. Their lead series is the Late Model Stock Car series, and the second is the Pro Late Model series. They also have, but it has been weak & lightly promoted, is their Super Late Model series. My hope is that with the SRL expanding from their west coast home base, and having strong fields, the CARS Tour might start trying to beef up their own Supers program. As the SRL is now sanctioning races on the west coast, in Alabama, Michigan, and unfortunately the rained out/cancelled race at I-44 Speedway. Maybe the CARS tour will take advantage of hosting races, that some of these current Supers, that are racing shows under the SRL banner, will attend. There are still a lot of Supers out there in this country, they just need rules that are consistent, that will allow them to go racing without having to rebuild their cars, depending on which series they want to race with. All of the SRL races have Mr Ricky Brooks as the head of tech. He's the same guy that runs tech for the Snowball Derby. The rules are the rules, and they are enforced. I love that the rules apply to all, regardless of the driver/owner's name. The CARS Tour showed that last week when the DQd Harvick's #62 car. I hate that they had to do that, but it's better for the sport.

Well I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the SoBo 200 last night. It must be the week for DQing the winners. Carson Kvapil (driving Dale Jr's #8) got DQd for having a left rear shock that wasn't "to code". They weren't done yet with the DQs. Third place finisher Landon Huffman was also DQd. His was pretty flagrant too. Both axle tubes were cambered, and the left spring & rear shock assembly were not in compliance. Dale Jr said that the shock that they ran had not been approved by the sanctioning body, and accepted the DQ. The race winner officially is Bobby McCarty. That's 2 in a row for him. An interesting side note, the Huffman car that was DQd, was the car McCarty had driven for the last few years. Neither McCarty or the car owner ever explained why they split. They had won quite a few races, and I think 2 championships together. The SoBo 200 was the first race this season that car even looked competitive. I hope the reason wasn't just the illegal stuff. Huffman is the second driver for that car this season. I can't think of the first driver's name right now, but he ran a season or two in the Xfinity series a few years ago.

If I had the money to start a race team, Kaden Honeycutt is the person I would try to hire. I've never seen him race in person, but it seems that he can drive just about anything and be very competitive. I've said this on here before, I really hope some well funded/connected team will give him a shot at at least an Xfinity ride. Really glad he was there at HMS to race for a TX win!

Landon Huffman, a pretty damn good racer in his own right, made a really smart observation about last night's race. And it didn't have anything to do with the #62 car that Riggs drove. He said "The best racecar driver of this generation had to race his tail off to run inside the top 10 last night at Caraway in solid equipment". His comment was talking about how stout the fields are now for the CARS Tour series in general. He was also referring to Kyle Larson's run. I agree, up to a point. Larson drove the crap out of that car, the same car that Dale Jr drove at Wilksboro. Unfortunately Kyle really smacked the wall hard with the right rear tire, very early in the race. I don't think Landon saw that, as he was ahead of Kyle at the time. I honestly didn't think that car would make the whole race because of that hit. Since the CARS Tour was bought out by the NASCAR guys, the fields have gotten bigger, and the competition has gotten stiffer. Both are good for the sport.

You were right Rodney. He was DQ'd for an oversized sway bar, at the mounting point. I couldn't find it anywhere else, until I went to the start of the story, FloRacing. I read Rodney Childers comments to admitting that is was a mistake. He said he owns that, but went into why there was no advantage. The diameter of the sway bar determines the amount of twist it can/can't make. The size of the end mounts won't change that. The bar will twist at its weakest portion, regardless of the diameter of the mount. The question that I have is, did they run the same sway bar mounts when Harvick ran the car at Wilksboro? If they did, why did they not catch it then? If it was the same mount, were they afraid to DQ Harvick? I'm certain that they pre-race teched all cars, and would be surprised that Childers would bother changing out the entire sway bar mounts. I hope that Harvick lets Riggs run the car again. I want to know if that car is as good with the correct mounts installed. That car was on rails last night, all night. On a brighter note, Jared Fryar wins!!

Caraway's website also says that Riggs was the winner.

I went to the CARS Tour website, and they're still saying that Riggs won. I googled again, simply asking to see if he had been disqualified. There were no articles/conversations stating so. So my guess is the he did win the race. Plus, I think that it would be terribly embarrassing for Harvick & Childers to do so. What does that say when a part owner in the series, who is a NASCAR Cup championship driver & championship crew chief, having to cheat to win in a single A racing series?? I know that it would really piss me off as a fan, and can't see what they would think the positives would be from cheating. It would also cancel out all the good that has come to asphalt short track racing. I sure hope that they didn't do that. They're my last/best hope for asphalt racing in TX. If I find out anything else I will post it.

I don't know Rodney, but I'll try and find out.

Here is the top the top 10 as I caught them. First: Car 63 Layne Riggs in Harvick's #62 Ford Mustang; Second: Car #14 Jared Fryar in his Ford Mustang; Third: car #8 Carson Kvapil in his JR Motorsports Camaro; Forth: Car 24 Mason Diaz in his Ford Mustang; With: Car 10 Kaden Honeycutt in his Ford Mustang; Sixth: Bobby McCorty in his #6 Ford Mustang; Seventh: Car 03 Brendan Queen in his Toyota: Eighth is #77 Connor Hall in his Toyota Ninth; Is Kyle Larson in his JR Motorsports car # 5 Camaro. Chad McCumby finished 10th in his #16 Ford Mustang. Three cars that really impressed me: Riggs driving a new car to him, and winning the race. Mason Diaz started in 24th, and drove it to finish 4th. That's a lot of passing.. Bobby McCarty started about 8th, but was sent to the rear (30th) for spinning a car out (and that was a questionable call by the officials). Bobby passed the most cars (25), to get to 6th. And he did it cleanly. It was a really good showing for the Ford drivers tonight, as they finished 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th & 10th. Thankfully nobody got hurt in the 2-3 spins that happened. The whole night was a good show of all involved.

Riggs took the lead with 57 laps to go. Kaden drops to 6th, and Larson is 10th. He's driving the same car that Dale Jr drove at Wilksboro. Riggs' crew chief stated that Layne says that this is the best car he's ever driven. I guess, Rodney Childers spent a year building it for Harvick. They're under a comp yellow with 27 laps to go. Queen is 4th.

At lap 75 under yellow, Kaden is 5th. Fryar is running a strong 3rd, Larson is 11th. Queen is 4th.

40 laps in, Kaden is up to 8th. Riggs is really strong, running 2nd in Harvick's car.

Mayfield didn't last long, dropped off the track after just 15 laps. Kaden is up to 12th, 18 laps in. Larson is now 15th, as they are under yellow for a single car spin.

Some interesting things from the starting line up for the CARS tour late models. Jeremy Mayfield is in it, starting 31st. I can't remember the last time I saw his name in a race. Kyle Larson is making his CARS debut, starting 16th. Kaden Honeycutt didn't have a good qualifying run, clocking in 17th. Lanye Riggs qualified 3rd in Kevin Harvick's #62 car. This is only the second time that car has been on track, as Harvick ran it at the North Wilksboro race. Fryar will start 4th, and Brendan Queen starts 6th. Should be a good race! Kayden Kvapil won the Pro Late model race earlier, and Katie Hettinger finished second in the opening night 100 lapper. Hettinger was holding the series point lead prior to the start of the race. I don't know if Kvapil passed her tonight, but it is a very tight points race. I'm telling you, Katie Hettinger is a name to keep your eye on. She's a driver!

As much as I was disappointed for how bad Kaden's night went, the finish more than made up for it. I'm a big fan of Brendan "Butterbean" Queen, from Hampton, VA. I expect that he will get to either the truck of Xfinity series pretty soon. He lead all but about 5 laps (the last 5 laps), when Carson Kvapil got up to him. They raced 3 straight laps side by side, and as they say, rubbing is racing. And not the kind of rubbing that puts one or both into the wall. But with 2 laps to go, Bobby McCarty dove underneath both of them coming off turn two, and again nobody is crashing!! McCarty beats Butterbean at the line by 9 thousanths of a second. Again, nobody crashed!! It took me 10 minutes to stop clapping, it was that good. To show how really excited I was about the finish, I spent the next 10 minutes explaining it to my wife! That was a great race, with an even better finish.

Kaden qualified 3rd at Dominion for the CARS Tour race. Was running 3rd, 19 laps in, and something broke. What a shame, as it looked like he had a good car again tonight.

Outstanding!! I truly think that there is hope for asphalt racing in TX. Wishing you all nothing but the best Rodney!

Heck of a wheelman for sure. The talent is obviously there, and hopefully a team that has good sponsorship can pick him up. It's really hard these days to get good rides if you aren't bringing either a big sponsor, or a fat wallet. He led all but 30 laps (the first & last 15 laps of the race). At the beginning of the race, he was running 3rd, where he started. About lap 8, there were 3-4 cars behind him that were really getting aggressive, nearly wrecking him a couple of times. It looked like the flip of a switch. He just drove away from them, then passed the first 2 cars. As I watch the races from Langley very often, I figured that Hall & Queen were conserving their tires. But after the 2 comp cautions, and a couple more for crashes, he was still leading. He had 2/10s on second & third. On lap 16, Hall & Queen flipped the switch, and passed him on lap 15. Kaden ran about 2/10s behind them the rest of the race. With the exception of all the lights going out, and that hard 4 car crash, it was a fun race to watch. If the SRL & the CARS Tour can continue their upward trajectories, I really think that can have a very positive effect on asphalt late model racing across the country. This Wed is the Money in the Bank at Berlin Raceway. Carson Hocevar & Eric Jones from NASCAR will be on hand. So will Bubba Pollard. I was kind of surprised that William Byron won't be there defending his win there last year. He won at New Smyrna in Feb. Byron has a really good super late model program. But the car I think will win is a local youngster named Evan Shotko. I don't think he's 20 yet. Not only is he a wheelman, he's the head set up guy for several of the Berlin regulars in several divisions. Hocevar was a regular & a champion at Berlin before getting to NASCAR. I think Shotko is better, but doesn't have the big sponsors the he did. So like Honeycutt, $$$ may stunt their careers. I sure hope not.

With 15 laps to go, Connor Hall & Brendan Queen muscled past Kaden. Kaden finished 3rd. Both Hall & Queen are from Hampton, VA, and Langley is their home track. Queen has won the last 3 late model track championships there. Both have won numerous mains there over the last 5 seasons. Langley is really hard on tires, and I think that was the difference in the end. Both have run many short & long races there.

Well that wasn't fun. With 30 laps to go, all of the track lighting went out under green. Amazingly nobody crashed!! They were off for about 2 minutes. Kaden is still leading!

Hard 4 car crash, but Kaden is still in the lead with 38 laps to go.

With 45 laps to go, Kaden is still leading. They just got the last competition caution of the race. So far, except for the 2 comp cautions, the race has gone green. I expect that to change once it goes bad green.

Kaden started 3rd for the 125 lap race. He took the lead 15 laps in. After 48 laps, and 1 restart, he's still leading..

This is why I've talked at length on here before. FloRacing has an outstanding variety of racing from around the world. If you're into it (I'm not because I grew up in very cold winters), they even have snowmobile racing. Plus, it's a Texas company. There's nothing like being there in person, but it ain't bad.

It's true, sick minds do think alike Rodney. Late models & super late models have just about priced themselves out of a weekly show. If a track can put a good purse out there for a couple of specials a season, it's a lot more likely they can attract a bunch of the traveling late models. I love the mods idea, but the rules will need to limit the tires strictly, or make the run a crate engine (both preferably). That would put the onus on driving the car, as opposed to buying all the expensive stuff. I will always love the open mods, but they too are pricing themselves out of being a weekly series. NASCAR used to have a series called Grand American Modifieds (they may still have). The rules were fairly restrictive. No quick changes; stock front clips; only upper control arms could be tubular; 360ci engines w/steel or albumin heads; Steel non-rebuildable shocks; Steel cranks that weigh at least 52lbs; no aluminum rods with an inspection hole in the oil pan to check; stock type trans with at least 2 forward gears & reverse; must be able to start/take off from a stopped position; a clutch no smaller then 7"; no in/out boxes; 8" tires that are of a hard compound; 2600 lbs & max 58% left side weight with the driver; the track width no wider than 78" measured from outside to outside of the tires; must run a spool in the ear end; no drilled axles; coilovers on the rear only. I'm probably missing a couple of items, but the thrust of the rules is to try and keep the cost of the car down. There's a class that runs at LaCrosse Speedway that's very interesting. I have not looked at their rules for that division, but here's some of the cars I've seen race in it. Old (60s & 70s) late model/sportsman cars; modifieds; outlaws & 6 cylinder street stocks. Plus, all cars must run in a lap time bracket. If they bust that bracket, the are DQ'd. That way nobody can go faster than the bracket, and you can basically run anything. I know that some of the cars run a rev limiter, as you can hear the engines cut out. I was surprised the first time I saw that class race, but it was a blast to watch. As loose as all the cars are, I'm guessing that they must run old take off tires. One guy runs a 1965 Chevelle, that was an old late model track champion's car. It had been sitting in a field for over 3 decades! The entire purpose was just that. To get these old discarded race cars back racing, and at a pretty suppressed cost. Their average car count for that division is about 20 cars nightly.