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Just around the corner now!

Tri-State is also paying $1000 to win to Front Wheel Drives with a $50 entry fee and $500 to win Roadrunners with a $25 entry fee this coming Tuesday night!!!

Does anyone know if Timms is coming?

God made dirt,man made asphalt.

Or any of those SFS area drivers?

Why Tri-State on Tuesday, I-30 on Wed, Ark-La-Tex on Thurs, Monticello on Friday, Fast Trax on Saturday and Thunder Valley on Sunday? Boy, this is going to take some explaining!

If you were doing this based on ease and common sense routing only, you'd probably go Tri State-I30-Monticello-Chatham-Thunder Valley-ArkLaTex, Tuesday through Sunday. That shortens up a couple of the drives between shows and points a lot of the travelers home a little better at the end of the week but there are several reasons why we couldn't do that. You also can't race back-to-back nights too close to each other either. For example, it would not be a good idea to run Ark-La-Tex and then Champion Park the next night. You end up trying to get the same crowd to attend both and the fans can't afford it right now like they once could so unfortunately the shows have to be spread out some. And then of course, you're limited by who wants you and who doesn't.

First, last years "Speedweek" fell short of 5 or 6 races like we wanted but being the new kids, you have to earn it. We had a nice 4 track run of Batesville on Thursday, Monticello on Friday, Fast Trax on Saturday and Boothill on Sunday. We were hoping we could get Tri-State and I-30 for the Tuesday-Wednesday last year too but it didn't work out then but fortunately, it has in 08. Why so many in a row? Scheduling mostly. Did you know the USMTS crew will run more shows this year than the WoO Sprint Cars will? It's like 80 to 73 or so. Of course WoO goes coast to coast. USMTS [i]just[/i] does border to border! Minnesota to Texas!

So, we get these six shows out of the way now for the Southern Series and we will be passed the half-way point in the season with a 2 and a half month break before the next race. That's a nice breather for the guys who are only chasing the $25,000 Southern Series point fund paying 20 spots, $10,000 to win with the $2000 to win Dustin Duncan-JustSayYes Rookie of the Year award and all the rest of the cool stuff that USMTS has put together for touring Modified racers. By June 9th, the Southern Series contenders who choose to do it, will have their handicap points and positions to take into the Casey's General Stores USMTS Hunt for the National Championship. "The Hunt" is like NASCAR's "Chase" for those who didn't know that. The USMTS Southern Series qualifiers are elgible to join the 3 northern USMTS regions in The Hunt across the midwest that begins in early August and ends at the USMTS Featherlite Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek Raceway in Minnesota in September. I don't remember what that National title pays but it's a lot more that $10,000! And the Jamboree pays $2000, $4000 and $6000 to win over the three-day finale. Down here, we're getting there! Our Southern Series finale at Houston Raceway Park in December will pay $2000, $3000 and $4000 to win over 3 days.

Ok, back to the Southern Series Speedweek. Tri-State/Pocola/Fort Smith is a good track with good size, great history and that location just seems to be a good fit for a kick-off point. The 5 weekend spring schedule that just concluded (one weekend rained out but everyone traveled it anyway before it did and wound up doing it for nothing) was really good traveling for the Houston & Louisiana competitors for the most part but put the Oklahoma crowd on the road early 4 of the 5 weekends so Fort Smith as the starting spot for Speedweek is welcomed by that bunch. There are also a lot of local Fort Smith cars and regional modifieds around northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. Should work even on a Tuesday night and has the advantage of being the first night of Speedweek while everyone's still fresh!

When trying to pick a southern track in this area that even has a prayer of making a Wednesday night Modified show work there aren't many choices. You need a metropolitan track to make it work. Memphis Motorsports Park (closed), Devil's Bowl, Cowtown, big city tracks, etc. We were lucky enough to a get the perfect one IMO -- I-30 Speedway in Little Rock -- and right in the perfect location too. Centralized, easy to get to and it's spot between Tri-State and Ark-La-Tex on the schedule should make I-30 a good show too. It's a great time to get a feel for what this year's Topless Modified Nationals is going to be like too as it's going to be sanctioned by USMTS for the first time. Friday October 3rd will be a one-day, $2000 to win/$200 to start race while Saturday, October 4th will pay $5000 to win and $500 to start! Pretty sweet!

Last year's Thursday night show at Batesville was a success on the pit side. 58 cars. But the crowd was light as it always seems to be up there when it's a big Modified race that does not include NASCAR guys. That's a shame. We would have liked to gone back but can't fault Mooney for not signing USMTS again even though I don't think they have had 58 Mods since. Just wish the fans would show up with half of what they do for a Late Model show up that way. The Modifieds race great at Batesville!

So, that meant we had to come up with plan B. We ended up with a plan "A" instead with Ark-La-Tex even though it screws up the Speedweek route up a little. Again, Little Rock-Monticello-Chatham-Glenmora then Ark-La-Tex on Sunday makes more sense travel-wise and Ark-La-Tex would do well on a Sunday for sure especially after the success we had at Boothill last year on the Sunday. We had 54 cars and a really nice crowd at that one and Boothill would have been our Sunday track again but they aren't open. They are suppose to open later on this year with new management but that didn't help us now. Moving Monticello to Thursday wouldn't be right either. They took a chance last year. They are a regular Saturday night track that gambled on a Friday date last July 27th and ended up hitting a home run with 73 cars and a really nice crowd! That 73 will probably never happen again no matter what we do but 50 on a Friday night at Monticello still makes an awesome show! The show is also well sponsored by Commercial Bank of Monticello so that Friday Speedweek date will be theirs as long as they want it.

And if we had moved Monticello to Thursday, then Fast Trax (Chatham) would have to move up to Friday night and that just won't work. That track just like Thunder Valley in Glenmora, Arkansas Motor Speedway in Murfreesboro (whom we'd love to get a USMTS date with) and a few others may just be too rural to make a Friday night work when all their local fans and racers are used to being there on Saturday night as it is. So Ark-La-Tex on Thursday and then leaving Monticello and Chatham where they were last year was the only way to go. Chatham got 62 cars last year on their Saturday date so we really couldn't take that away from them either. Again, an average 50 at all of these tracks would be great considering this economy and fuel prices. I think that Thursday night race at Ark-La-Tex though, may very well become the crown jewel of this Speedweek!

Now getting from Ark-La-Tex to Monticello on Friday may be a trick. It's not the distance so much (155 miles) but the roads. One route actually takes you down to I-20 and then north out of Monroe which makes it 208 miles but it's better road and the time is actually a little better if you believe Mapquest. Then there's the Lewisville, Arkansas route which is basically US82. 180 miles but again, a little better on time. Lower mileage may be the way to go now days though. We'll look at that route later on. Monticello to Chatham works well though as we learned last year and so will Chatham to Glenmora.

Until Thunder Valley Speedway got rained out in April, it looked like we weren't going to run Sunday at all. Already told you about Boothill. One place that I thought would have worked and also made sense driving wise and now that they have G60s there too was Jackson Motor Speedway. With I-20 and I-55 going through town, the place had good "escape" routes for heading home on a Sunday night and Jackon is metroplitan enough IMO -- like Shreveport-Boothill -- to make a [i]summer time[/i] Sunday night show work. Wouldn't try a Sunday NIGHT in Spring or Fall though there. I talked to Don Cliburn a couple times about the Sunday June date or a possible April date and sent him some information on the purse, etc. but he decided against it and after seeing what turned out on May 10th at Pike County, it was probably a good move. The race at Pike county was a really good one. Wide track, great show, great facility but only 33 cars -- 29 of which came from out-of-state. That's right. Only 4 cars entered from the state of Mississippi. The Mississippi/UMP Mods boycotted the track and Pike Co. is only 80 miles from Jackson so Don knew his Modified drivers better than I did. Throw out that one race and the other 8 USMTS Southern Series events so far in 2008 are averaging 54 cars. I'm just not sure anymore that Mississippi is the right fit for USMTS. At one time, I really thought it was a good fit. I don't really think those guys over there want to race against USMTS. They may just want to race each other and be content with playing second fiddle to Lates & Crates, I don't know, but when New Mexico has one less entry than Mississippi does at a race in Mississippi and Oklahoma cars outnumber Mississippi cars, then something's wrong for sure. The USMTS and out-of-state cars did their part, no one can say different. Good luck to the Mississippi promoters who stage big mod shows over there these days. Glad to hear Rodney had a good crowd at his Modified show at least even if the count wasn't there. If we could have got his 33 together with the 33 we had at Pike, now that would have been a race and yes, as fast as I heard he was, Jason Brock probably still would have won the thing!

OK, back to Thunder Valley. They have had some success running Sunday specials down there before. When they rained out, this June 8th date was the only one that would fit for everyone involved. It's kind of headed in the wrong direction for USMTS and the northern cars -- they have a race in South Dakota on TUESDAY, June 10th. But it's a great fit for many Louisiana guys and especially the Houston area racers who are on the tour as TVS is on the way home from Chatham for them. The word I'm getting is that Richard Ford has done a great job with the track and has invested a lot in improving TVS. It was pretty nice last year when we ran the Acadiana Modified nationals (58 cars) in November and Richard wasn't even there yet. Speaking of Mississippi promoters, Rodney Wing won that race!

Anyone know anything?

God made dirt,man made asphalt.

I doubt TIMMS will be there I work for him I will keep ya posted if I hear anything , He needs to go he won the big race earlier there this year !!

winners dont cry when they lose , they go back to the 
drawing board and come back for round 2 !

Thanks,appreciate it.Hope he does make it.Enjoyed watching him run at OMS in a LM the first year it open.

God made dirt,man made asphalt.

Posted By: hook on May 20 2008 at 08:41:09 AM USMTS Southern Series Speedweek June 3rd thru June 7th!!!!

Everyone's aware of the downside of doing this "lap" around Arkansas and Louisiana at this time (fuel prices, little heat, 5 straight nights, toughest competition in America, etc.) but look at these positives:

-- 5 REALLY GOOD TRACKS!

-- Virtually NO CHANCE of rain! It appears the weather --despite the afternoon heat -- is going to be great after 7PM. The highest raing chance on any of the nights is 10%. The highest afternoon chance on any day is 30% of Isolated storms. May actually want that!

-- $10,000 to win combined over the five nights!

-- $1000 to start combined over the five nights ($1250 if you have a USMTS License)

-- $65,000 to $70,000 total purse for the 5 days. (exact amount depends on car count -- over $15,000 was paid out one night last year at Monticello!)

-- At least $60 back every night ($80 if you have a USMTS license)

-- A CHANCE TO PROVE YOUR METAL AGAINST THE BEST AROUND!

-- If you are a USMTS Southern Series points chaser with perfect attendance so far, hang in there! On Saturday, your quest for the $10,000 top prize, or your part of the $25,000 point fund, the $2000 to win Dustin Duncan-JustSayYes Rookie of the Year award, or that chance to stay in or reach that Top Dog Bonus range will be over half-way done! 14 races will be completed with no more than 14 more to go and right now, only 10 are scheduled!

-- TWO AND ONE-HALF MONTHS OFF AFTER THIS. Next race after Saturday, August 22nd at Golden Traingle Raceway Park!

So, load up them rigs with lots of parts, tires, bottled water, etc. and go shut them eyes tight and top off the tanks (ouch!) and we'll see you on the road!

Can't believe I am this excited over a mod race.After the Mod race we seen last saturday night at Thunderhill,Lawenceburg Tn,I guess there CAN be good mod racing after all.lol

God made dirt,man made asphalt.

Top 5

Martin

Shyrock

Hughes

Larry Campbell

Weder

God made dirt,man made asphalt.

Great job by the Tri-State folks on both promoting this show and prepping the track! It was fine race that I hope you didn't miss. Based on the crowd, not too many did either!

I-30 was another good race but against the Prelude, not as many folks showed up.

Tonight at Ark-La-Tex should be a dandy!

So far, both tracks have slicked up for the feature and had multi-groove racing! Primo conditions for the USMTS spec motor package and the bigger spoiler, right?

Well in the two races, the only top 3 run by a big-spoilered spec motor car has been third (Hughes at Tri-State). I know the top 3 last night last night at I-30 where the specs were supposed to be a shoe-in -- Sullivan-Shryock-Martin -- were on open motors and small spoilers. Holzkamper finished 4th but I can't remember if he had his spec in our not. He didn't run a spec at Tri-State I know. Rodney Sanders was fifth at I-30 and he did have the big spoiler.

It's even-steven other than it saving money because a $2000 cost for competitive heads & intakes at this level ($2500 max unless you're cheating or being dumb!) is a great deal and shouldn't be knocked by anybody anywhere! So, big spoilers cannot be the excuse this week!

Also, local cars have shown well too. Larry Campbell led a bunch of laps at Tri-State and finished 4th. Brian Williams had a good run there as well and Brandon Hunter raced his way into the show and that one had 57 cars! (55 ran the heat races!).

At I-30, Little Rock's Randy Weaver was top qualifier after going from 9th to 2nd in his heat but blew a motor and withdrew that car. He went to a back-up car in the B and came from 17th to 7th -- 2 spots short of a transfer. (Hughes won a B at I-30 after starting 14th by the way!!) Weaver was then added to the A mian anyway as track provisional. I would have liked to seen what he could have done in his primary car! He was the I-30 winner from Saturday night. Casey Findley made top 8, drew the pole, led a lap or two and posted a top ten and Scooter Scruggs almost got a top ten himself! There were just 44 cars at I-30 so the car count is not "scary" by any means.

Yes, local cars CAN compete and NO, big spoliers and car counts are not excuses this time around.

Cya there!

More Speedweek action TONIGHT at the big track in Monticello!

So far, THREE different winners!

Eddie Martin, Jack Sullivan & Duke Whiseant

8 different ones this year in the USMTS Southern Series!

Those 3 plus Jason Hughes (4), David Mitchell, Howard Willis, Chris Brown and Steve Holzkamper. Hughes leads the points by just 19 over Holzkamper.

Kelly Shryock? So far, 2 2nds and a 7th this week. 0 for 7 in Southern Series Speedweeks!

Martin, Sullivan, Hughes, Mitchell, Holzkamper and Shryock are all expected at Monticello tonight and Fast Trax tomorrow night!

8PM start tonight! Just 3 Classes: Mods, Lim Mods & Cruisers.

Kelly Shryock? So far, 2 2nds and a 7th this week. 0 for 7 in Southern Series Speedweeks!

Good for him.he lives just a little to far north for my satisfaction.lol I didn't like the way he drove Gould up the track in turn 2 @ TSS on the 1st lap and then did the same to baby Bone a few laps later.Glad to see Eddie hold him off with a broken engine.No wonder he conducts chassis seminars!

God made dirt,man made asphalt.