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Fast Talk: Reviewing La Salle, I-30 action
Here’s the latest edition of Fast Talk, a DirtonDirt.com feature appearing each Monday and sponsored by Out-Pace Racing Products. Staffers Michael Rigsby, Todd Turner and Joshua Joiner gather weekly for a roundtable discussion about who’s hot, who’s not and other issues regarding Dirt Late Model racing.
Joshua Joiner: More events were hampered by weather this past weekend, but we at least got to see some racing with both national tours getting in half of their respective planned weekend doubleheaders.
Let’s start with Brady Smith’s Lucas Oil Series victory at La Salle (Ill.) Speedway. It was a thrilling finish with Smith edging Jimmy Mars for his second-career Lucas Oil win in a photo finish after the two had battled through lapped traffic for much of the race.
To me, Smith is one of those guys that you don’t really expect to win national touring races, but then it’s not really a huge surprise or an upset to see him win. Either way, it’s good to see him continue to win national touring races after sticking closer to home in recent seasons, especially considering Saturday’s race was his first race back since knee surgery sidelined him following Speedweeks.
Todd Turner: He's really one of those guys who lives so far off the beaten path that he really has to pick and choose his battles — so it's nice to see him find success when he does make a long journey.
And it's really no surprise to see Brady win. While he hasn't raced much this season, his second half of 2012 was superb in dominating regional events and strong showings at Knoxville on the national stage. Sounds like he was pushing it to get back in action so quickly after the knee surgery, but I'm sure it felt a little better while he was holding a checkered flag.
Michael Rigsby: Someone made the comment to me at LaSalle on Friday night: "These are the kinds of races Brady Smith needs to be at, and perform well at." And for whatever reason I couldn't have agreed more at the time. Brady has backed down his traveling a bit the past two years, so he has to strike when the irons hot in events like that sometimes, and he did that Saturday night. He really is a great driver, and when you look at some of the wins he's had the past several seasons, there are not only some really good one's in there ... but some really close calls as well. Not too many guys would have had that long of a layoff, and come back to get a win.
JJ: Smith noted that lapped traffic played a huge part in deciding the race, acknowledging that he caught a break when Mars struggled to lap the slower car of Jerry Lierly. Watching the video, it appeared that maybe Mars could’ve been a bit more aggressive in getting by Lierly, and Smith certainly didn’t cut Lierly any slack once he got to the lead. What do you guys think? Could Mars maybe have muscled his way by Lierly and held onto the lead?
MR: I asked them both the same thing afterwards. It seemed like Brady made his mind up after watching Jimmy ... "I will not let this cost me the race"...where Mars maybe played nice just a tick too long. Hindsight is always 20/20 so it's hard to say, but I think if Jimmy had to do it over again he may have thrown a little harder elbow.
TT: It looked like Lierly had steering issues because of the plastic piece that occasionally got under his left-front tire, so maybe he was struggling with the handling of his car more than he expected. I agree, I think Mars would've given him a stiffer nudge knowing that Brady was about to make the winning move.
JJ: It took some shuffling, but the World of Outlaws were able to complete the series event at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., with Shane Clanton claiming his third WoO victory of the season after inheriting the lead when Tim McCreadie tangled with a lapped car while leading late in the race.
Clanton admitted that he was a bit lucky with McCreadie's misfortune and his own left-rear tire that was going flat. But we've learned that sometimes is better to be the luckiest than the fastest.
TT: While it was more routine most of the race, it was a barnburner the last 10 laps among Clanton, McCreadie — and Darrell Lanigan pulling alongside Clanton with just a few laps to go.
Clanton willingly admitted his was lucky, but for him to be able to manhandle a car that had a deflating left-rear tire — it went flat in victory lane — and hold off Lanigan was pretty impressive.
Bummer for McCreadie for sure, with, just like La Salle, a slower car turned out to play a key role when T-Mac spun while trying to put a lap on Robbie Stuart. But all around exciting stuff for the fans, it appeared.
MR: You could tell McCreadie was really mad at himself .... immediately after it happened. Maybe not entirely mad at himself, but mad at the situation, as he was surely set to pick up the $10,000. That track is sort of tricky on the bottom with those tires down there, and there's still enough grip up top to make it frisky. It wasn't a "pretty win" for Clanton, but you know he'll take it and go on down the road.
TT: McCreadie looked so smooth down there the rest of the race, barely missing that infield tire exiting turn four — but all it took was on lap to lose the other 40something laps worth of work.
MR: Speaking of Clanton. He's firmly in the mix of the points right now ... It'll be interesting to see if he can keep up this pace all year.
JJ: Thanks for leading into my next question, Michael. I think everyone expected Josh Richards and Darrell Lanigan to battle it out for this year’s WoO title, but Clanton is right in the middle of that fight, just six points behind Richards at the top of the WoO standings. After the way he’s started the season, do you guys think Clanton’s capable of hanging around all season and challenging for the championship?
TT: As we've talked about before, Clanton might gain an edge from being outside the Richards-Lanigan chase for who can be the first three-time champ in the tour’s modern era. Clanton is certainly in position to swoop in there and spoil that party.
MR: I was reading your mind Joshua! So much was made about the sure-fire Lanigan/Richards battle for the points title (and it may still shake out that way) ... but Clanton has had a great year, and if he can stay consistent, he'll be right here. It will all be about consistency, consistency, consistency. I know they'll want to win races ... and they should still gun for that .. but he's got to top-five em' to death too.
JJ: Weather also plagued some of the weekend’s regional events, but quite a few tours were able to get events in Saturday night. Was there anything specific that caught either you guys’ attention among the regional events this weekend?
TT: Modified ace Ryan Gustin looked like he belonged, for sure, in winning that MARS race. That was a great move on the outside on the first lap to take the lead, and he didn't flinch when veteran Terry Phillips made a few challenges there. With his first Late Model victory under his belt, might Gustin be the next major modified-to-Late Model convert?
MR: I think we're all wondering if Ryan Gustin's first late model win could be the first of many, many more. Those who closely follow modified racing have been clamoring for a few years about how good Gustin is, so it was nice to see it carry over for the first time on the late model level. Also how can we ignore Ray Cook's Spring Nationals?? I mean 9 races, 9 winners, 44 cars at Dixie this weekend ... I think he's found a home run Spring event that we all kind of thought might work. Kudos to Ray for that, and to Steve Casebolt for winning the race.
TT: Also was impressed with Steve Casebolt winning at Dixie. Maybe it's just me channeling Steve, a driver who is as hard on himself as any you'll run across, but I've been a little surprised he's been so solid this spring, and leading the points without winning a Spring Nationals race was probably pretty unsatisfying. But for him to win the tour's richest race at a high-profile track with 44 entries was very impressive. Now he can become the year's first tour champion if he can wrap the title up at Boyd's on Friday.
JJ: Highlighting the upcoming weekend’s slate is the second annual Bad Boy 98 at Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway. The winner of the Lucas Oil Series event won’t drive away in a new sports car like Jimmy Owens last year, but it’s still a pretty nice payday with $20,000 going to the winner. What storylines are you guys watching for this weekend as Lucas Oil competitors make the first of this year’s two visits to Batesville?
MR: I'm interviewing Billy Moyer this week, who doesn't have a major event victory at Batesville since 2005, so I think it's worth noting that he really could/should be a factor this weekend, and would love to get the monkey off his back at his home track. Also I think we'll see some interlopers this weekend with the Outlaws off ... and some other cars coming ... I also want to see what kind of track Batesville provides. Wetter? Slicker? The weather this spring has been WILD down there too. That may have an impact.
TT: I think you're right about the track conditions — that's a place where cars seem to be so much faster than they were 10 years ago there.
The early-season shakeout is over on the Lucas Oil Series, and there's some interesting developments that might manifest themselves at Batesville.
Two-time champ Scott Bloomquist — someone with major success at Batesville — is way back in seventh in series points and could use the Arkansas trip as a chance to turn things around.
Then there's John Blankenship in third in the points chase who has done that without winning a race. Breaking through at Batesville would be a good way to show he's for real in giving O'Neal and Owens some heat in the early title chase.
