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Racin Round Indiana with MaNunn
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Racin Round Indiana.....7/16/06
First off I would like to apologize for not writing last week but during the copy and paste portion of my writing we had a power surge and the computer went down and I lost everything I had wrote, and with some personal things going on never got sat back down to write.
Friday night saw Indiana USAC sprint week roll into Bloomington Speedway. 59 sprint cars were on hand for the night. Jared Fox a weekly local took fast time. Forgive me as everything I am writing is a second hand account, I didnt get to go because I had to work Saturday and with me getting up in years I needed my rest. Brady Short was the victor, nice to see a local driver in victory lane. I was told the sprint action was pretty good. I was disappointed in the Super Stock count of only 18 on hand. Jack Frye the 2003 Super Stock Champion lead from green to checker to claim the victory, Ben Dubois the 2004 champ was right on his heels I am told. Kevin Arthur and Jeremy Hines were the men on the move that night. Kevin started 16th and finished 7th and Jeremy started 18th and finished 9th. The mods had Friday night off and return next week with the Sprints and Super Stocks.
Saturday night the rains from the past week made Brownstown a victim of the weather and Twin Cities had it as an off night on their schedule. So me and the Husband packed up after I got off of work and headed to Paragon Speedway. I believe the count was 53 Sprints. We got there and got to see the make up consi and features for the Dave Peden Memorial which was rain delayed on June 17th.
Joe Lucas won the Dave Peden Memorial portion of the show. During the make up features I saw a Super Stock and a Bomber Flip. At this point I thought I was going to have a freaking heat stroke and found a Strawberry Sno-Cone to be quite helpful. Next came the 6 Sprint heat races (the count was 58). The announcer was a source of entertainment and I have nicknamed him the Bob Uchre of motor sports. The Sprint features were pretty much locked to one lane and during the second sprint feature the announcer made the comment that is was follow the leader. I would love to fill you in on the rest of the evening but at 12:30 am with 5 more races to go we headed back to Bloomington. I did read where Brad Cummings a Brownstown Super Stock regular won the Second Super Stock feature. I have to admit Keith Ford packs in the sprint car counts every week with having mutiple Features for the sprint cars and being race friendly to the weekly racer. I have a major suggestion!!! move the porta pots away from the main restroom, I thought I was in an outhouse on the prairie at 95 degrees the small was over powering. I now understand why there is an ad on the website for a flagman, the yellow flag was almost never thrown. Debris sat in turn 4 for at least 3 laps and was never thrown. I am adding a picture of the debris for all to see as it was a bigger piece and could have caused some real damage. I know a sore spot at alot of tracks is the response of the push trucks and tow trucks. Well the need for speed is a phrase I would use at this track, the response crew was one of the slowest I have witnessed in a long time. I am in no means trying to bash the track, I applaude Keith Ford for making it worth the while of the weekly I work 40 hours Sprint Car driver.
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Bobby Stines was the man in victory lane Saturday night at Putnamville in Sprint car action. Saturday also saw the USAC Sprint week roll into the Tri-State speedway. John Stanbrough was the winner over the youngster Bryan Clausen. In mod action at Tri-State Al Flick was the winner with another local Bloomington hot shoe Jesse Cramer in 4th with Matt Bex in 6th.
I have been reading on alot of the message boards of complaints of rough driving at different tracks. I know we as fans see things we think WOW! did you see that? It is hard to draw the line sometimes between a racing deal and a blatant take out. We all know that sometimes you have to rub paint to pass, but do you have to stick your nose in someones tail and keep pushing until the car is sideways?? The Track officials are in the worse postion, where do you draw the line. Calling too many rough driving calls affects your car counts, not calling enough rough driving calls affects your car counts. Some tracks I know have had drivers meetings with the classes involved making a statement and warning the drivers of what they are seeing happening on the track. I know alot of drivers in the Support divisions that dont have 500.00 to 600.00 per week to fix damages sustained in a race paying 400.00 to win. How do you sanction these repeat offenders of rough driving is a suspension the answer or is fining them the answer?? How many warnings does it take to get the message out there? I am a fan of close sometimes paint rubbin racin, but when I see some drivers who are repeat offenders beat and bang there way to the front each week I wonder what is the solution. Then it seems to me the drivers who bear the brunt of the beaters lose their temper and give them a bump or bang back they get the worse of the deal. I dont condone this but sometimes I as a person understand the anger and frustration of the situation. How much is a person to suppose to take before they lose their temper? Then sometimes what happens on the track overflows to the pit area and tempers and tensions are on high and the fights break out. Some where out there is a solution to the problem, but this race fan does not have it. The internet messages board have became the place for the drivers and fans to air out what is bothering them or what it is they dont like without the face to face contact and fear of being banned or labeled a whiner. I think it is Important that all track promoters and officials read the local track racing web message boards. There you can find lots of suggestions and insight on what the fans and drivers are saying to the public about what they think is happening at the local track.
Until Next Week Felicia Nunn
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