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You can read the whole thing at http://www.eagleraceway.com but here's the condensed version.
Anyone saying that 410 sprint car racing is dying, or even on the decline should have been at Eagle Raceway, America’s Home Track for the second and final night of the Eagle Nationals. A crowd, reportedly near 4000 saw the Greatest Show on Dirt put on their usual spectacle.
Although the wind and temperatures turned the track dry-slick by the time the Outlaws took the track for their qualifying, Joey Saldana turned the fastest lap with a time of 12.456 seconds; which is only 3/10’s of a second off of the track record.
Finally came the long-awaited World of Outlaws A Feature. Brooke Tatnell took the lead from his starting position on the pole in his #2 Volcano Joe’s Coffee sprinter. Behind him were the #11 of Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild’s #35 and Joey Saldana in the #9. Just 4 laps into the race Saldana moved around Haudenschild for third, but the red flag flew after Kinser got sideways coming out of turn #4 and Daryn Pittman’s #21 struck Kinser’s front tire. That sent Pittman flipping. Terry McCarl also received damage when he ran into Kinser, as did the #15 of Donny Schatz who suffered a bent wing attempting to clear Pittman as he flipped. Neither Kinser nor Pittman could restart.
The running order on the restart was Tatnell, Haudenschild, Saldana, the 7S of Jason Sides and Paul McMahan in the #20. But, after the green flag flew Saldana got around Haudenschild for second position. Just 2 laps later, Saldana got around Tatnell for the lead. Another 11 laps were in the books when Haudenschild also passed Tatnell, taking over second place. On the very next circuit Danny Lasoski passed the #2 on the bottom of the track.
From there the battle for the lead raged between Haudenschild and Saldana. By the closing laps of the race, the cushion was nearly non-existent in turns 1 & 2,and the cars were running inches from the wall, with the preferred line being on the bottom of 3 & 4. Haudenschild who struck the wall hard on the 30th lap showed this in grand style. After that, Saldana cruised to the victory.
“It’s so great to finally get my first A Main win at Eagle. I’ve run second, crashed…everything but won here. It’s so huge to finally get a win here. I know my dad would be thrilled, and so would my grandpa” he said. Joey’s father is of course one of the icons of sprint car racing, “Little Joe” Saldana who turned many many laps on Eagle’s high banks in the past. Joey’s grandfather was a fixture at the pit gate at the now closed Midwest Speedway in Lincoln, Nebraska years ago. When asked about the track conditions, Joey stated “I’m glad they decided to do rework it. The track held up really well, only going rubber-down in turns 3 & 4. If they hadn’t done it, the whole track would have been that way by lap 20”.
Editorial comment : Every time this series comes to Eagle, I'm reminded of why I love sprint car racing so much. I'm thrilled that we have the 360's every week, but nothing gives you that jolt you get when you have 24 of the very best 410's in the world roaring around a high-banked bullring.
Throw in a chance to talk for even a little while with old friends, and even have a few new ones come up and say "Are you the Eagle Pit Shack Guy" is wonderful. On top of that, having a nice long chat with someone who drove a long way and catching up or sitting next to another one while watching the WoO guys do their thing is priceless.
I'm hoping that the wife and I can make it to Knoxville for the Nationals again this year. We want to get together with the ones we first met face-to-face last year there. We're all members of the same racing family, and like a "real" family we don't get together often enough (well, maybe I'm the crazy old uncle who only shows up at reunions but you get my drift). I envy those of you who live close enough to see each other all the time, not to mention the racing you get to see.
Even though I lost some sleep the last couple of days, I wouldn't trade a minute of it.
I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks
anywhere.
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