This message was edited on
April 29, 2012 at
02:34:18 PM by PorschePeteTx
Since I moved to Texas, this was the first non-Nationals show I had
been to in a good 10 years. I forget how much I love the place and after
getting settled it felt like I had never left.
I love the views of the pits which so few tracks offer anymore. You
can see car warmups, engine changes and all of the other pit drama.
Most tracks you are staring into an empty infield and bored stiff until
the action starts. It really adds alot to the evening.
A decent crowd for a weekend that rain was predicted all the way up
until Friday night. I made my decision to drive the 90 miles at 4pm after a final check of the weather radar. Race time was grey skies, 53 degrees and a damp east
wind. Only the hardcore fans were going to pay $30 to sit in the stands in that weather. Everyone was well bundled with blankets and hoodies. Not sure I understood the fashion choice of the blonde with the torn jeans look.
42 410s and 26 360s...and a show that did not screw around at all. No extended breaks and the 360s pushed off for their feature before 10pm. By the time they interviewed the 360 winner the 410s were starting to push off. I love a track that understands the show needed to go fast and not sell more beer and food.
I was half way into the night before I remembered the preseason muffler drama on this forum. Never noticed any difference in sounds...26 410s are still plenty darn loud.
360s feature was great, Higday and Van Haaften gave each other lots of room while racing side by side for half the feature. Doubt the 410 pros would have been as nice to each other. Lee Grosz got some huge air in turn one, glad to hear he was ok I felt sorry for the Peterson kid whos rearend broke off out of turn 4 on lap one of the 360 hot laps, upside down and tore up, what a way to start the season.
Trey Starks was impressive especially in the dash, that is a pretty heady group to be starting on the front row in front of when you know he is 16 years old and has never been to Knoxville. They must have missed the setup in the feature and when that happens the outlaws are going to eat you up and quickly.
Brown looked strong all night, after Sammy moved into second you could just feel he was waiting for the right moment and when he saw it he was gone. It was all about momentum on the cushion.
I was surprised with Sammy's patience when a couple laps after passing Brown he ran up on some lappers that he ran behind for a full lap before finding an opening. From then on it was a race for second, Dollansky and Saldana were second and third but never had anything at all for Sammy, even on the restarts. Brown seemed to overdrive it a bit after Sammy got by him, but you see that alot when a leader gets passed and tries to make it back in the next turn.
Zomer and Sides must have to wonder what could have been if they were faster earlier in the night and managed to make it to the staging call on time.
Missed the Kinser/McCarl issue but it was fun seeing the hand gestures when they parked side by side on red flag. They raced ran together the rest of the night and never touched each other.
Is the 55 Concrete sprinter cursed? Once upside down was bad enough, but to get tipped over fix it in the work area and then dump it again a lap later? I always think that car should be competing for a track championship...but.
I am hardly a Sammy fan , but the man can drive a car. I did not stick around for the winners interview, why bother. I like Sammy behind the wheel, not on a mic.
I was in my car at 10:50, temp gauge read 47 and I warmed up about when I got to Osky.
Much thanks to the Patrolman who pulled me over just 2 miles from home at Mt. Pleasant after I passed a car going 50mph and they gunned me at 65 as I had merged back into the right lane. After figuring I was not drinking and what a Texas car was doing in Iowa he asked me to slow it down the rest of the trip and did not ticket me.
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