Racing Around Illinois and Beyond with Brent Harms

Racing Around Illinois and Beyond 7/10/06
By Brent Harms

Hello everyone out there in DRC and dirtfans.com land, I am very happy to be sharing some racing
views and other “stuff” with you all. I am not positive which way this column will go in the future, but
for this installment we will talk about a Summernational race I attended this weekend.

We packed up Friday and headed out around 3pm in route to Bureau County Speedway, in Princeton
Illinois. This was our first trip to the exotic D shaped speed plant, and we wanted to get there early as
we had been told seating would be at a premium. We arrived around 5pm to what was actually the
Bureau County Fairgrounds, picked out our seats and sat back to enjoy some exciting track watering
and packing action. I got to talking with a local that told me they had been watering the track since
11am. You could see there was plenty of moisture out there and figured if there was any chance to
derail the one lane crap racing that the Summernationals has become, tonight may be the night. I tell
you, if you go to BCS, make sure you get there early. The grandstands are more like the cattle judging
stands you see at the fairs. Real nice folks there though..real nice people indeed.

Qualifying got started just a bit late as the track crew got things into shape. The track was SUPER
FAST right from the start. They come down that front straightaway, sling the ass end around into turn
1, and go wide ass open from turn 1 all the way back to turn 4. It is a sight to be seen no doubt. Solon
Springs, Wisconsin hot shoe Brady Smith got a good taste of the front stretch wall in the last group. I
was real surprised that others did get up in there also, but they didn’t. It was real apparent that the
guys who had run BCS before had a major advantage over the ones that hadn’t. Darren Miller,
Birkhofer and Jimmy Mars looked (and timed) especially well. Gearing really played a major role in
this also.

The heat races….. Well, I will tell you like this. Let’s not even talk about the heat races because I don’t
think there was but 2 passes in all 4 heats. BUT- right afterwards on a trip to the pisser, we happened
to notice the shitter door come flying open and low and behold a cute little biker girl and her old man
come rolling out of there after what looked like doing the wild thing. I don’t know about any of you,
but them porta potties aint no place I want to be doing my old lady. Oh well, it was a nice addition to
what was up to this point an uneventful night. Did I mention that Brian Shirley hooked a rut in Heat
1, slapped the front stretch wall, flipped and well, I am betting the Happy Birthday paint scheme had
seen its better days. Was real glad to see Brian get out of the car after what seemed like forever. (Yes
Michelle I know you have your Blog- but now I have my spot too!)

Anyway, they graded the track after Shirley’s little mishap, which seemed to smooth things out a bit.
The track still seemed a bit narrow for the speeds they were running.

Shannon Babb looked like the guy to beat early on in the Feature. He actually got by Birkhofer for the
lead at one point, but was forced back to 2nd due to a yellow. The crowd was treated to a dandy battle
between Birky, Babb and Miller much of the first 25 laps. Things really got heated up with 15 to go,
but a caution on lap 28 gave Birky a clear track ahead. Babb and Miller each made their final runs at
the Iowa native, but Birky held on to win by 2 car lengths over Babb to delight of the packed
grandstands.

I did want to add that Jeff Larson should have been black flagged or at least sent to the tail in the
Modified heat. He intentionally took a guy out on the white flag lap. I mean it was blatant. They give
him his spot back and put the other dude to the back, giving Larson another shot at the win. That was
some BS home cooking there. Maybe he was a little frustrated he got spanked in the Late Model after
some locals had made bold predictions on another message board, who knows.

Good to hear Ken Schrader ran well at Kankakee Friday night, and Nunn just called and said Gill
looked good in winning his 3rd in a row at Brownstown. If he runs there every week Curry’s record is
in jeopardy.

Well that’s it for this edition, hope you like the recap of my racing weekend. Maybe next time I will
have something a bit more exciting. Possible heading to Burlington Iowa on Wednesday, always a
good show out there! See ya