This message was edited on
September 14, 2010 at
04:50:31 PM by hook
My apologies if I've written this before. I'm getting a sense of deja vu all over again. But here it goes....
Normally, I don't root for Jason Hughes. Not that he isn't a great guy and a great racer deserving of all the fans he can get, but it's that Darrell Waltrip/Dale Earnhardt/Jeff Gordon/Kyle Bush syndrome that I and other fans are afflicted with.
What?
You know what those 4 NASCAR guys have in common? They all were unmercifully booed when they were at their best and winning all the time. Darrell Waltrip booed? Oh yea, you have no idea. I think Richard Petty and David Pearson were the only two dominant NASCAR racers to not get booed. I can't recall them getting booed anyway. Why do folks do the other ones like that? Americans like underdogs. We don't like to see the same winners all the time. Time was good to Waltrip and Earnhardt as far as fan favor goes and you watch, it'll be good for them other two as well before they hang it up.
The racing universe just wasn't right until Darrell Waltrip won the Daytona 500 driving #17 in his 17th try. Darrell seemed to transform into a fan favorite on the day Rusty Wallace spun him out of the lead at an all-star race. And who didn't feel good when Dale Earnhardt won that 500 in what, his 20th try? Loved or hated him, that was cool for anybody who watched it. Jeff Gordon? When he finally wins a race again, you will not hear the boos that he used to get -- it'll be the opposite. 20 years from now assuming someone doesn't knock his head off first, Kyle Bush will be cheered too. Who would have been the more popular winner of the Sprint Cup championship in 2009, Jimmy Johnson or Mark Martin. Obviously Mark Martin because he never won it and finished 2nd. Again.
Well, in our little corner of the racing universe, it's about the 12th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree and the USMTS Casey's General Stores Hunt for the National Championship presented by Bad Boy Mowers. (There! Got in the sponsors and a big thanks to those three and all the rest as well!!!) Jason Hughes has never won that championship.
Now down here in the south, no driver is booed that bad around a dirt track. Scott Bloomquist probably gets it the worst but we tend to cheer for all of them. The further north you go though??? In the northeast, you can always tell who the winning-est driver is at a dirt track. It's easy. Just listen to who gets booed the most.
When we were at The Hunt race at Monett earlier this month, I saw and heard that 'mixed' reaction from the crowd when Jason was introduced. They were about a thousand strong on a Sunday night and that bunch likes their locals. Terry Phillips, Jesse Stovall, Terry Beckham, Johnny Bone, Jr., etc. Hughes was 'that' guy who just wins too much.
USMTS NATIONAL title aside, Jason has won it all. 2-time USMTS Southern Series Champion and looks like a shoe-in to win his third in that series. He probably has more $5000, $10,000 and $20,000 wins than anybody else in Open Wheel Modified racing. Do I know that for a fact? No. There's Eddie Martin, Ron Jones, George White, etc. but if Jason is not at the top, he's got to be mighty close. Jason and Kelly Shryock have by far and away the most USMTS wins between them but while Kelly was able to get an unprecedented USMTS national title #9 last year, Jason suffered yet another disappointment with a hard crash in the next-to-last race at Deer Creek that cost him a shot at his first title. Again. Feel sorry for him? Hard not to. He was obviously disappointed. In true Hughes fashion though, they worked all night and day on the car and then won last year's Jamboree finale with a dramatic last corner pass of Phillips to claim a $9500 victory. Another big battle won but another war lost.
When USMTS went to this chase-like Hunt format, it really added some drama to it. Last year was the best Hunt yet and while the car counts this year aren't where they were at last year, I'd watch that top 20 in USMTS points race anywhere, anytime. The crowds seem to be there and why not, it's just simply great racing. Kelly won #8 at the first Hunt but then the Hunt did it's job the next two years and gave us two new deserving champions in Jason Krohn and Tim Donlinger. That made it not just easier to take but actually enjoyable to watch Kelly win it last year. One thing Shryock and Hughes have done to themselves is spread their knowledge and race cars around to the point where it's tough for them or anyone to dominate in USMTS like those two once did until, maybe, #19R? Going into last Friday's action, it was the new kid on the scene, Ryan Gustin who had everyone's attention. 'The Reaper' is one of them there 'Dirt Knights' and he's young, talented and has landed himself a top ride AND... is in a chassis built by Jason Hughes. That's enough irony right there. Gustin almost spoiled Shryock's Hunt last year and finished a close second in his rookie year and had The Hunt lead this year. That is, until Saturday night....
Jason Hughes has once again put himself in contention to win a National USMTS title. He has methodically worked his way up in the standings and after Friday night when Hughes grabbed his first win in this year's Hunt at LA Raceway, he found himself second and just one point behind Gustin -- whom he passed on the way to victory. That race had drama of it's own for Hughes as debris knocked a whole in his oil pan early in the race. The 30-lap distance was just right for Jason. Good omen? Maybe. We'll know for sure in 4 weeks but Saturday in Moberly, Missouri, the roll continued as #12 finished 2nd while #19R ended up 15th and with 9 races to go, the new point leader is Jason Hughes. Again.
And now comes the toughest week of the Hunt. Marshalltown-Osky-Allison-Lansing-Deer Creek-Kasson. Starts Tuesday and goes six straight nights. After that, 3 weeks to think about it before THE big one: The 12th Annual USMTS Featherlite Fall Jamboree back at Deer Creek Speedway on September 23rd, 24th and 25th. Modified racers, if you're reading and you haven't been to this race, do two things for me: Read up on the deal and check out some youtubes of Deer Creek Speedway. Last year's Jamboree would be a good one to start with. What a race track! What a race event! Look into the entry fee vs. tow money, start money, number of cars starting each A, non-qualifiers race and the whole package. It is AS GOOD AS IT GETS.
For example, if you can make each 30-car A-main for 3 nights, you're guaranteed at least $1700 as a minimum for your weekend's worth of work. You can pre-enter all 3 nights for a total of $250 before September 10th or pre-enter each night individually. If you can't make an A at all after racing all 3 nights, you'll get $200 of it back anyway in tow money but if you qualify between 31st and 60th after the B mains on Saturday, you draw into a non-qualifier's feature on Saturday that pays $2000 to win and $400 to start in it's own right. That $400 is what it pays to start a C-main at other big 3-day shows but at the Jamboree on Saturday alone -- not counting money earned on Thursday or Friday -- at least 60 cars will leave with $400 or more -- 30 from the non-qualifiers race and another 30, will leave with at least $800 or more from the grand finale feature that night. If you can only make it Saturday, it's still way worth it to enter. You can pre-enter Saturday only for $150 or at the gate for $175. Tow money is $100 back! Make the A and in addition to $800 just to start, you race for $6000 to win with a great paydown -- 6th place pays $2000 for example. You must race all 3 days though to be eligible for Saturday's NON-qualifier feature. Make it what ever you like. 1-day show, 2-day show, 3-day, 4-day even if you count Wednesday's practice on the 22nd. Any combination pays well and is worth the entry fee vs. payback. There's other neat stuff like a $500 award each night for 'putting on the best show' (can be anything that thrills that crowd), best looking car award, best looking crew award which could include a group of fans in sharp looking tee-shirts for a particular driver, etc. Be there Saturday as a minimum though and join the 'Dirt Knights' conclusion (YOU could be the spoiler in all of that and steal the spotlight away!), the USMTS Hunt points finale, the $6000 to win ($7000 if a past Jamboree finale winner can do it again!), etc. -- HAS TO BE the biggest night of the year in Modified racing!
Even though I'm 15 hours away, I'm not going to be able to stand it. I'm coming up to watch Marshalltown and Oskaloosa (I'm picking Hughes to win Osky -- saw him stretch it out on the big half-mile at Muskogee-Thunderbird back in July). I'd stay for all six races but I have commitments down here over Labor Day weekend. We'll see where Jason is in points after Kasson and will know then if he is still the story at Jamboree time and maybe 'the universe' will get right. Either way.... Cya at Deer Creek September 23rd!
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