Ah yes, the grand Finale!! What a season!! I got all kinds of stuff so let’s get on it….
Saturday was pretty cool. The X-cars shows are fun to watch. X-mod car count was brutal though – like watching a practice session on that one. Congrats to my main man Chris Correll and the #7 Hooters team on the truck win. Having someone to root for can make all the difference. Didn’t really dig the trucks until I met Chris and now I have a blast watching them. Under that same logic – Pro4 Mods are tough to watch that’s for sure. The kid Paul winning again in the Legends. Good show for qualifying day.
Dare I say I actually got into the NEMA’s. But what was with Bobby Santos III being able to pull into the infield and then come out before they went green – and get his spot on the pole back. I thought maybe they told him to come in, checked him out and then said he was OK – which I guess you could justify the spot being given back, but when they interviewed the crew chief he sounded like they made a physical adjustment on the car. Doesn’t that mean ‘to the back’? Who knows? Maybe NEMA has it’s own rules on that one – hey, it’s the first race I got into, whatta ya want from me?
And then the Mini’s – awe yeah baby – 5 victories this season and winning the last two!! Big Ball going out strong!! Great season Rich, Nick, Joe, Jimmy, Kyle, Diane and TK. Props to Chris in the #66 throwing up tons of top 10’s and some podium finishes too. (And Ronnie U – wassup with the lame 8 points in the 2-race #66 stint – that ain’t right!?) Norm – way to build a rocket engine!
Congrats to Glen on the division title. And to Timmy for 2nd and throwing up a 5 spot in wins as well. Little Godbout was running like champ in the Finale. I know I’m bias, but I think the mini’s were consistently a good show this year. We had some wreck-fests no doubt, but every division did at least a couple times.
Best wishes to Soup and Kathy!!
Sportman race was just INSANE!! Holy crap it was outta control!! Rocco was my pick for the race, but he got the title instead. Giddy Up. Got the ‘bowl off the hook in my opinion because he got hosed being sent to the back when Gertsch spun on the pole. With Root, they went from running 1-2-3 in the points (6 points between all 3) and in the race too – then to dead-deader-deadest last and now Conant (12 points or so back) running in second is in it for the title as well!! Are you kidding me, bring it on!! Oh man what a race!! Then a few laps later it looked like Gertsch spun his other teammate and Root got collected. His car was junk. Worst deal out of all of it for the #80 crew. Roger Perry wins and Rocco gets close enough to Conant and stays enough in front of Gertsch for the Championship. Now that was a great point race. Down to the final LAP of the season!! Good show! Sportsmen ran a lot of Gr-Ch races throughout the year! Impressive.
Bill McNeil blew a gasket out there in turn 1!! Holy Crap he went nuts!! I didn’t even see what happened between him and the #57 on the track. Textbook bear-hug tackle by the track guy when he went after Emery!! That was hilarious!! Then McNeil does the rain dance on Emery’s hood. What the hell is going on here?? What a show!!
Corey claimed the title in grand fashion. My man only had to start the race to win the championship, but race for the win is the way to go! #36 was the best car all season long. Rondeau went out lame. Got hit hard twice within seconds. Congrats to last years Mini Champ Joe Perry and clan on the LM Rookie Points. I think it’s safe to say Late Model season didn’t live up to the hype in the points battle – but they had some awesome races along the way.
Mods went out with another hour-long session. By the way – are we gonna count cautions or aren’t we? One way for the entire race please!! That was weak!! Props to JP on the 7th finish after a tough race. And to Ronnie U for the back-to-back podium runs. And to Charrette, JP and Eddy on the 3 wins this year!!
Eddie finally gets the title!! Awesome!! Eddie was one of the first non-65 racers that I got to know at the track 6 years ago. And he’s always the same guy just glad to be racing no matter how his season’s going – and that’s easy to root for. Class act to Dennis for Eddie’s championship banner in Victory lane. Lots of winners throughout the year and that means better competition and that’s a good thing.
I can’t believe Chris Pasteryak wasn’t one of the umpteen SK’s with a feature win!!
RANDOM NUGGET AWARDS
So here are some ‘off the top of my head’ year-in-review lists
FEEL GOOD MOMENTS
- Dwayne Conant holding off brother/teammate Ed Gertsch Jr for the win.
- Tommy Fox and Timmy Jordan with #47 wins on the same week.
- Ernie Bertrand with his first LM career win.
- 16-year-old Jeffery Paul taking the Legends National Qualifier
- Bruce Thomas Jr’s return to victory lane.
- The Mooch taken down his first SK win.
- Home track Coates winning the Funk show.
- Eddie finally beating Dennis for the points after 3 straight 2nd place finishes.
BEST ACTION ON THE TRACK
- Corey and Allen trading bump and run moves in back-to-back weeks.
- St Hilliare hangin on the outside of Eriksson for at least 10 laps for the lead and eventually the win.
- Richie hangin on the outside of Sylvia to take the lead.
- Tommy Fox’s bottom shot on rookie Shawn Monahan for the lead.
- Rondeau’s ‘stick it in there’ move on Coates for the Pepsi 300 LM win.
- Jeff Miller, Glen Colvin and my man Rich going 3-wide for a complete lap to the checkered flag
- Dennis Charrette’s spin across the checkered ahead of Mark Pane riding up Tommy Fox
MELTDOWNS… LOVE THE MELTDOWNS
- Bill Leonard-Glen Colvin under yellow almost-disaster
- Coury-Aquilina tempers
- Bill McNeil’s sprint-bear hug-rain dance routine
- Justin Gaydosh’s bird-flipping exhibition.
- Conant-Dorr ‘if I’m not winning you’re not either’ DQ’s
- Allen Coates love-tap on Mike Gada under yellow
- Brandon Plemons season suspension after ramming Ericksson head on under caution
OFFICIAL-LY ANNOYED
- Doug Coby’s post race DQ for frame heights.
- Teching frame heights in the minis the next week.
- Calling back the Yuhas-Reed restart for no reason
- Vinyl swapping conspiracy
- Officials using the F-bomb (beyond unprofessional)
- Waiting to long to throw a yellow
- Inconsistent ‘dump the leader’ calls throughout the year
- Missing a race to sign a waiver with a ticket stub in my hand
- The mic system (god does that thing suck)
SURPRISE OF THE YEAR
Kobyluck finishing 3rd in the BNS race
DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR
Kevin Harvick’s no-show – Larry Goss’ newly painted car waiting
DISAPPEARING ACTS
- TC the last few months
- Wayne Burroughs
- Jay Stuart
- Jeff Miller
COOL LOOKING RIDES
- MS – 3, 8/28, 47, 65/66, 81
- SM – 12, 15, 80, 83/89
- LM – 3, 5, 6(Harvick style), 31, 35, 73
- SK – 1, 2, 5, 6, 13, 31, 47, 51, 71, 72
FANS ALMOST AS OUTTA CONTROL AS US
- 83/89 Sportsman
- 91 Legends
- 51 SK
- 80 Sportsman
- I’m sure there’s more – but I can only see so far…
MOST NIGHTS ON THE HOOK AFTER I PICKED ‘EM
Tie – Jeff Pearl / Ron Yuhas Jr
REALITY CHECK
Tiger Tom Baldwin’s passing reminding us just how dangerous this crazy sport can be.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
“I was huggin’ the bottom like a turtle!”
Chris Correll – #7 ARTS Truck
Most of all, I had a blast this year. Rich running good helps, but we usually have a good time anyway – hope your clan did too.
Thanks to the Pearls for the extra noise when Richie’s on the track!
Thanks to all the people (half of whom I’ve yet to meet in person) who’ve said some nice things about my bigball ramblin’
Bring on the World Series
Did I miss anything?
Sid