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Quick Time: James is the latest to drive 'Maude'
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Take a quick lap around the proverbial dirt track with managing editor Todd Turner for a roundup of Dirt Late Model racing through the latest weekend of action along with some other quirks of racing (and the occasional ax-grinding). Quick Time appears throughout the regular season every Wednesday at DirtonDirt.com:
Frontstretch: Ol' Maude
Many Dirt Late Model race cars are driven by a single driver before being put out to pasture. Some are driven by a few different drivers on the same team. Other Late Models are sold several times, giving a half-dozen drivers a chance to climb into the seat.
And then there’s “Maude.” (Yes, I realize I’m dating myself).
Maude is the name the Warrior Race Cars crew has tagged on the 2007 model car that’s been house car of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based chassis manufacturer piloted by more than 20 drivers over the past six seasons.
And while “still going strong” is an overstatement, the car proved it’s not through by carrying new house car driver Scott James to a $5,000 victory Saturday at Florence Speedway’s Spring 50. James was forced into the backup machine after crashing the newer primary house car a week earlier.
Michael Nuchols, the head sheetmetal fabricator at Warrior, said the car was originally designed in the fall of 2006 as the first of the current-generation of Warrior cars, but it’s considered an ’07.
“It’s our baby, and many people have told us time after time to retire it ... It’s old, but it keeps coming back,” Nuchols wrote in an email. “People laughed last summer when we fixed it after (J.J.) Yeley attempted to kill it in the 2012 Prelude.”
Twenty-two drivers have piloted the car with James, Dale McDowell, Todd Morrow and John Gill scoring victories in it, according to Nuchols.
Other drivers competing in it: Yeley, Roger Best, Hunter Best, Dave Blaney, Ronnie Johnson, Austin Dillon, Tim Dohm, Kurt Owens, Stephen Rogers, Pierce McCarter, Dane Dacus, Marshall Green, Eric Wells, Rick Rogers, Freddy Smith and Billy Drake.
Two drivers drove it in practice only: Sandy Goddard and Rick Eckert.
Turn 1: Unexpected points leaders
As I prove each week, making predictions about what will transpire in Dirt Late Model racing is a futile exercise. If there’s any doubt, checking out the points leaders on three tours so far in 2013 provides testimony.
Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., leads the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., leads the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series and Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Ind., leads the first-year Spring Nationals, Ray Cook’s latest promotional endeavor. Anyone predicting a year ago that this trio would be leading points on these series — or even that the Spring Nationals would exist — would’ve had quite a crystal ball.
Most observers expected Richards would be chasing his NASCAR dreams, Casebolt would continue a break from the sport and Davenport would be fielding a Clint Bowyer-owned car on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
Instead, Richards is back with a vengeance in pursuit of his third World of Outlaws title, Casebolt has connected with Tennessee-based D&R Motorsports with a Southern-focused schedule, and Bowyer’s firing of Davenport saw him land at AES Racing.
Not that anyone is predicting these three drivers are sure bets for championships. Richards and longtime traveling partner Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., have already launched an interesting race to see who can become WoO’s first three-time champion while battling Shane Clanton, Rick Eckert, Tim McCreadie and WoO regulars.
Casebolt will have his hands full with his new rival Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., among others, over the final eight Spring Nationals events.
And it appears Davenport, although a two-time Southern All Star winner already, won’t likely purse the series full time.
We’ll let you know how it all turns out — next April.
Turn 2: Co-sanctioning that works
Too often regional touring events are co-sanctioned in name only without providing fans anything much different than if the race was sanctioned by one series or the other.
But there is an attractive multi-sanctioned weekend coming up later this month that gives fans a solid three days of racing along with a mix of drivers they would rarely see competing together.
The April 19-21 weekend takes drivers from Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill., to 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, to Quincy (Ill.) Raceway in races tri-sanctioned by the Sunoco American Late Model Series, Corn Belt Clash and MARS DIRTcar Series.
Better yet, each series is a mostly outside its comfort zone and traditional haunts in visiting three tracks that should offer some entertaining racing.
It would be great to see the first three rows of a feature event filled by Brian Ruhlman (ALMS) of Clarklake, Mich.; Tony Jackson Jr. (MARS) of Lebanon, Mo., Chad Simpson (Corn Belt Clash) of Mount Vernon, Iowa; Jeff Babcock (ALMS) of Wayne, Ohio; Jesse Stovall of Galena, Mo.; and Tim Isenberg (Corn Belt Clash) of Marshfield, Wis. Which series will get bragging rights?
Backstretch: You can’t miss it
Big things along that highways and byways that long-traveling Dirt Late Model fans see multiple times each season:
Big Peach: The million-gallon water tower near Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., decorated to look like a peach in a major peach-producing state that can’t quite get over Georgia’s better-known reputation.
Giant Jesus: The huge statue off I-75 near Monroe, Ohio, that many fans pass en route to Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The original statue burned after being struck by lightning in 2010, but it was replaced last fall.
Muffler Man: The bearded, Paul Bunyan-looking figure in front of Muffler & Brake City at U.S. 41 and Causeway Boulevard in Tampa, Fla., not far from East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla.
Florence Ya’ll: The water tower not far from Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., that once said “Florence Mall” before legal questions arose about such a large sign on city property advertising a private venture.
Turn 3: Tweets of the Week
Twittercourse between drivers Chris Ferguson and Billy Workman Jr. the day after Lancaster (S.C.) Speedway’s Carolina Crown:
@BillyWorkmanJr: what happened to you last night in the feature?
@ChrisFerguson22: fuel pump came loose and lost fuel pressure ... I tried my best to get out of the way lol ... She just shut down.
@BillyWorkmanJr: lol I thought I wrecked ya, we were side by side and all the sudden caution was out for you.
Turn 4: Turn back the clock
Five items from this week in Dirt Late Model history:
April 6, 1996: Bill Frye of Greenbrier, Ark., surviving a skirmish with teammate Johnny Virden and Billy Moyer that sent their cars to the tail, overtook Wendell Wallace late a $5,000 Hav-A-Tampa victory at Super Bee Speedway in Chatham, La. Wallace ended up second in a race where Arkansas drivers were the top contenders.
April 5, 2000: Terry Wilcher of Campbellsville, Ky., was named general manager at Allegany County Speedway in Cumberland, Md., and Bedford (Pa.) Speedway, promoter Bob Salathe announced. Wilcher replaced Ashley Ness.
April 6, 2002: Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., raced past fellow Tennessean Duayne Hommel on the 74th lap to capture the Waste Management Thunder 100 at Atomic Speedway near Knoxville, Tenn. Bloomquist earned $25,000 in outrunning Hommel, Jimmy Mars, Dale McDowell and Dan Schlieper.
April 5, 2008: Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., overtook Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., in the final laps of the Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway for a World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory worth $20,150, the richest Dirt Late Model purse in Illinois history.
April 4, 2011: B.J. Parker, the beloved and legendary racing promoter who founded the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series in 1983, died at his Graysville, Ala., home after a battle with cancer. He was 78.
Checkered flag: Five fearless weekend predictions
• An Illinois driver will finish higher in one of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events in Mississippi and Texas than at the World of Outlaws Late Model Series Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
• Two-time and reigning Lucas Oil champion Jimmy Owens will break into the top five in series points.
• 34 Raceway’s Brent Slocum Memorial winner will be a former champ on the Deery Brothers Summer Series.
• A first-time winner on the West Coast Late Model Shootout will break through at Kings Speedway’s Gary Jacob Memorial in Hanford, Calif.
• One driver will sweep the MLRA/Corn Belt Clash features at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb.
(Last week: Two out of four predictions correct, and one rained out)
