The Pace Lap - Friday June 2, 2006

Welcome to this week's edition of The Pace Lap. Here's some tidbits, commentary and news from last week.

-It's Novelty Race Weekend - Bicycle races at Beatrice and Butler County this weekend, with the buses being brought out at Eagle. Yes, the "short bus" jokes have flowed like water from the bottom of Eagle's turn one.

-The I-80 Speedway Alphabet Soup Late Model Race is really turning out to be something special, with 79(!) SUPER Late Models running. Steve Kosiski showed why he's part of the NASCAR NDWS all-time 25 by winning the event over Kelly Boen. Despite some annual races at area tracks fading in participation and interest, this race is becoming a staple on the Nebraska Racing calendar.

-The Jumbotron looked good Saturday at Eagle. "Speedy" and crew did a great job getting it up and running. Speedy told me afterward that they were told by the sign company that it would take two weeks to set up. They did it in a matter of days. About the only complaint I heard was the numbers for the scoreboard were a little small, and they told me that they're going to fix that. Otherwise, it looked good for a "trial run." But my favorite part was watching them play Pole Position and Ms.(?) Pac Man afterward. If you got Tempest up there, I'll see you in the press box Saturday. Speaking of Speedy, he'll be filling in for Roger Hadan as race director Saturday June 3.

-If you want a lot of racing, Red Cloud's Speed Bowl is the place to be Friday. Rain shortened the program prior to the Cruiser heats. They're running the Cruiser heats along with the feature races for all 4 divisions, followed by the evening's regular race program. Race time is 8:00 p.m. Bring your seat cushion!

-I'm thinking about doing some bumper-sticker sized Heartland RaceNews.com decals. Nick Bryan gave me a heck of an idea and that is selling them. I'm thinking just for a couple bucks ($2-3), enough to cover some production costs. They would be an adaptation of the logo at the top of the page - simple and readable, suitable for your car, covering dents, bandaging wounds, whatever. If you're interested, let me know by email. If I get enough interest, I'll do a run of them.

-The best race on TV this weekend was the Indy 500 - by far, and I can never get tired of watching the speed shots through the tunnel at Monaco during an F1 race. Even the slowest car looks awesome.

-I'm looking for Hornet/Tuner/Sport Compact drivers who haven't yet taken to the streets or who've recently acquired their driver's licences for a possible story. Email me if you're interested in an interview.

-Eagle Sprint Driver Mike Boston took a $500 offer from Gary Dominguez and Eagle Raceway promoter Roger Hadan to win the A feature, if he started one row back. However, Boston offered a lucky fan the opportunity to win the money. The four-peat didn't happen though, as Boston finished 9th. However, he did take the point lead from Jeff Griffis.

-There's a point battle going on in the Pro Hornet division at I-80 Speedway with Rick Havenridge and Austin Kurtzer tied for the lead with 202 points.

-Only TWO points separate the top four in the Stoney Burk Memorial Stock Car divison at JMS. Bryan Boersen of Grand Island, NE holds the lead with 153 points, followed by Andy Wilkinson and Jason Wilkinson, tied at 152 with Jason Van Winkle in fourth with 151. A point race like that would wake up even Rip Van Winkle.

-While Johnny Saathoff is putting a lot of distance between himself and Chris Alcorn for Butler County Motorplex IMCA Modified points (31), the gap between second and eigth place is just 11 points. Travis Dickes leads Late Model standings, with Michael Nichols atop the Stock Car points, Rich Small leading Hobby Stocks and Chuck Wergin the Hornets.

-It's three nights of sprint car action at Eagle next week, with the Jim Eckley Memorial Backrow Challenge for 360s leading off on Thursday June 8, then the World of Outlaws Eagle Nationals taking place Friday and Saturday. For the first time in several years, the 360 sprints will not run support. Instead Late Models run Friday with Modifieds on Saturday night. Car counts for the Outlaws have been respectable, but their tour is highly focused on hotbeds of Sprint car racing (IN, OH, PA). Don't be surprised to see some 360s fill in the ranks with the chance of getting into A feature money. Last year, Gene Ackland qualified for Saturday's A feature and pocketed $800. Mike Chadd, who's been running select NST races will be out both nights with a 410 motor under the hood. He's run well in NST races this year, so it will be fun to watch him on a familiar track.

-The Outlaw Vintage Lites dwarf cars take to I-80 for the first time Saturday night.

-The National Sprint Tour - rival series to the World of Outlaws Sprints announced a $2,400,000 point fund over this and the next two years. Where the funding is coming from, I'm not sure, but either way this seems to guarantee a split in the top ranks of sprint car racing for several years to come. I don't know if this is a good thing.

- I'm sure someone's going to take this the wrong way, but oh well... I went to the POWRi Midget / ASCS Sprint race at Junction Motor Speedway last Friday. I was surprised to see a promoter take on two "premier" classes for one night. You're looking at well over $20K in purse, plus sanction fees. Kudos. It was a quality field, though the midget count was a little thin, it was great to see a Nebraska team take the checkers. The Sprint field was top notch.

However, I was disappointed in how the track turned out. It took rubber in the sprint B feature and left racing as nose-to-tail along the bottom for most of the show, and bald tires on the sprint cars afterward. As most sprint car fans know, dry slick is one thing (I actually like the races a little dry), but taking rubber is another and usually a safety issue - in this case, Chad Humston's blown left rear and subsequent flip. Again, as I said in my post on Dirtdrivers.com (see JDO Media, about 15 posts down), I won't fault JMS, it can be hit or miss and I'll call it a miss and certainly not negligent. But I think the people who are defending the conditions by telling others to hit the road if they don't like it are missing the point and setting the wrong example.