The Pace Lap – July 9 2008

-We’re starting to get into “specials” season again. For just starters, this month I-80 has Carl Edwards night, Eagle with their Bootlegger’s Run NASCAR stars special as well as their big Kid’s Night. Adams County is gearing up for a USMTS event featuring Kenny Wallace, Shelby County has Fan appreciation night in about two weeks. Butler County has their fan appreciation night as well as the return of midgets. Thayer County has more Hobby Stock money on the line on Friday.

-Speaking of Butler County, promoter Jacy Todd has been giving away free pit admission and waiving registration fees for new drivers to help get more out to the track. It’s a good, SHORT TERM idea, as the back gate is likely the primary source of revenue. Cutting that lifeline even temporarily is a heck of a risk – but at least someone’s trying something. It’s the kind of things that you have to do when your track was essentially defunct for a year and being put into that situation is the kind of risk you take by ever shutting down the program, even temporarily. They’re trying and it seems to be gaining traction, along with resurgence at Thayer County.

-Midgets are coming back to the “short” tracks, Eagle and Butler County on the last weekend of July. I’ve never thought much of the small cars on big half-miles, thinking the bull-rings were the best place to watch these machines. Fans would do themselves a service by getting out on a Sunday and Monday night and watching these cars on the tracks they were meant to run. The trip from Lincoln to Rising City isn’t that long, but budget an extra 10 minutes for HWY 79 being closed from Lincoln to Raymond.

-It was a good week for Late Model fans, with over 70 making the run at I-80’s Alphabet Soup makeup and treated to a fast, racy track by most accounts after the rain. I guessed wrong this time and let the forecast keep me home. The WDRL brought a 57 car field to Eagle the following night. The track was dry and smooth, but needed watering during intermission (where my camera survived a water truck soaking – so far). The watering saved the track, but fans expecting another last-lap thriller were maybe disappointed by John Kaanta’s wire to wire win. But as late model races go, it was actually OK, and a very clean run. The wingless sprint show was also OK. Both shows were average, but if you look past that, the back-story played the lead here, a sponsorless Kaanta downing a big field of heavy-hitters, and the legacy of Eagle Raceway legends taking part in the Wingless sprint event; Don Droud, Jr, Tige Jensen, and Robby Wolfgang all ran without the sheet metal like their fathers did decades before. Sometimes not all of what makes a race special needs to take place ON the track.

-This weekend I’m probably going to be away from racing entirely. Plans for a US36 ASCS trip are likely squashed due to work, and my wife’s birthday is this weekend. Despite working at Eagle for 3 years, a racetrack is probably the LAST place she wants to be on her birthday weekend and me being at one without her…that probably won’t fly either. Family first.