Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Weather woes, Mansfield's revival
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: Saturday’s cancellation of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Malvern Bank High Bank Heist finale was the type of scenario that will always bring out the critics. Track and series officials made the decision to call off the $50,000-to-win show around 2 p.m. when rain hadn’t arrived, which of course prompted speculation that perhaps the program could have been completed with the forecast calling for showers and thunderstorms to come later. In fact, the start time for Saturday’s hot laps had already been moved up one, to 5 p.m., in a nod to the expected rain. But it needs to be noted that the forecast was for severe weather — high winds, hail, even a chance of tornadoes — so keeping the teams and fans at the track with such conditions looming wouldn’t be the same as simply trying to beat some approaching rain. The decision was made with safety and common sense in mind. Rocket Chassis house car owner Mark Richards was one racer who offered a pragmatic assessment of the situation in a Facebook post on Sunday. “Really hate that the Eagle race had to be canceled last night,” Richards wrote. “As we were leaving the track, we saw three storm chaser vehicles at a truck stop not far away. With large hail and gusty winds in the forecast, as a former promoter I understand why the event was canceled. The rain hit around 8 or 8:30 last night, so maybe we could have gotten it in, but either way, with that forecast, the promoter was really going to take a hard hit.”
No. 2: How did Mansfield (Ohio) Speedway’s reopening after a nearly seven-year racing hiatus go Friday? Track owner Matt Tifft remarked in a postrace video on social media that he was pleased with the turnout for the three-division show (including 28 Super Late Models), though he also addressed several things (long concession lines, adding a lap counter to the video board, the length of the program, etc.) that he pledged to work on for May 29-30’s big World of Outlaws Late Model Series weekend. The crowd certainly seemed healthy for the first race, and the racing surface, while not optimal as Tifft and his track crew essentially went into the night blind after a cold winter and wet spring allowed them to run only a handful of laps on it prior to the opener, showed potential. Veteran Rusty Schlenk, who finished second to Kyle Moore in Friday’s feature, told me that there were far fewer rocks in the track than during Mansfield’s previous stint in the late 2010s (though he said a “couple of us got bopped” with some) and “for the most part I think they can have a good surface once they get it figured out.” Schlenk added that “the clay is good” and he “didn’t barely touch my tires” in the 30-lap feature.
No. 3: WoO regular Drake Troutman of Hyndman, Pa., celebrated his 21st birthday Saturday, though a rainout of the tour’s $30,000-to-win Connor Bobik Memorial at Marion Center (Pa.) Raceway prevented him from chasing a home-state victory — and perhaps a legal celebratory sip of a beer — on his big day. It seems like only yesterday when I was seeing the fresh-faced, 14-year-old Troutman making his first Super Late Model starts.
No. 4: I noted that before this weekend’s action at Hunt the Front’s Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., one of the HTF boys, Joshua Joiner, made a Facebook post revealing the news that, as the track’s “resident craft beer guy,” the speedway’s beer stand would begin offering IPA brews “for the refined palates among us.” I wondered how they sold in their debut so I checked in with Joiner on Sunday and he said of the 30 assorted cans they ordered they still had a dozen left. “I drank a few myself over the weekend so not exactly sure how many were sold but it wasn’t very many,” he quipped. But hey, the IPAs weren’t included in the $1 Busch Light promotion from 6-8 each night, so maybe they’ll catch on in the coming weeks.
No. 5: Congratulations to DirtonDirt staff reporter Kyle McFadden, who celebrated his marriage to Hosanna Joy on Saturday. He’ll be walking around with a ring on his finger when he returns to the track following his honeymoon in the Caribbean over the next week.
