July 18 - Conococheague Controvery

That's it. I'm convinced that the Hagerstown Speedway no longer has a big show. Lisa has completely ruined the tradition of the speedway. The legendary track announcer Frank Sagi once said that the Conococheague 100 was the "greatest race I ever saw" when introducing race fans to the Conococheague 100 event. Now, since the event was rained out one time as a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event, the track has seemingly just cancelled the event altogether, which makes no sense whatsoever. People can argue with me all day, but you'll never convince me that the Octoberfest, or the Hub-City are bigger events than the Conococheague 100 was. I'll explain later why I keep calling it the Conococheague 100. I mean, come on people, the Octoberfest is a horrible day race, and the Hub-City is a former day race, that doesn't pay enough to be the track's signature event. Yes, the Conococheague 100 has always been the track's marquee event, and the Hagerstown Speedway, as usual, has tried to ruin it. It started in 2004 when the World of Outlaws Late Model Series first came in and sanctioned the event. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the Concococheague 100 being sanctioned by the WoO Late Models is a problem, it's the fact that it was renamed the Conococheague Classic, and was shortened to 50 laps that is the problem. Hagerstown's marquee event should be 100 laps. If they have to bump the winner's share up a little bit to extend the race to 100 laps then do so, but don't compromise the event just because the WoO Late Models are scared to death to run 100 lap races. When the Conococheague 100 was sanctioned by the STARS and then the Renegade DirtCar Series following them, the event was 100 laps. While the event being compromised down to a 50 lap regular show for the WoO Late Models should be looked down upon by fans and supporters of the Hagerstown Speedway who are aware of the track's history, at least they were still running the event. This year, since the Conococheague rained out and the WoO Late Models and Hagerstown could not find a suitable date, they have just decided to cancel it altogether. That's a load of crap. I know what people are going to say. They are going to say that, well they couldn't find a raindate so what do you want them to do. They should run the race anway. It's the Conococheague, run the damn race. The Williams Grove National Open in 1998 was rained out two or three times and the WoO Sprints dropped their sanctioning of the event. But, guess what, the Williams Grove Speedway still ran the event. Billy Pauch won the National Open that year. Hagerstown, on the other hand it seems, is just going to skip the Conococheague this season with all of this time remaining in the year. It makes no sense to me as a race fan. Past winners of the event include Rodney Combs, Buddy Armel, Bob Wearing, Rodney Franklin, Ronnie McBee, Gary Stuhler, Tom Peck, Nathan Durboraw, Larry Moore, Jack Boggs, Bart Hartman, Steve Francis, Todd Andrews, Earl Pearson Jr., Davey Johnson, Rick Eckert, Robbie Blair, Clint Smith, and Shannon Babb. The list has a lot of great names on it, and the track is going to throw that all away by just giving one chance at running the track's marquee event this season. It's only July, and the Hagerstown Speedway is not going to reschedule the event at all. The Hagerstown Speedway should reconsider their stance on the Conococheague issue this season and reschedule the event anyway. Who cares if the WoO Late Models won't come back. Run the race anyway.

July 17

A hot topic on the Virginia Dirt Lovers board recently is Bo Feathers. Well, Feathers has always been a hot topic on the message board, but recently a lot of people seem to either be in favor of Feathers running at Winchester, and there are some people who seem to be against him not running at Hagerstown. I'm going to look at this objectively. Bo Feathers is not my favorite driver, but I also don't hate him. I respect his ability behind the wheel, and him being a driver with a great amount of skill makes me somewhat of a fan of his. First off, some people have said that he will never run at Hagerstown again after what happened at the season ending banquet last season, but he has already raced there once this year in the first round of the Hagerstown/Winchester Shootout. So that argument goes out the window simply because he has raced there this year. It couldn't have been bad enough for him to simply say that he would never race at Hagerstown again. Also, toward the end of last year Feathers had a falling out with car owner Greg Gunter and I would argue that it has only hurt the both of them. Bo Feathers benefited from having Greg Gunter as his car owner, and Gunter's cars ran better with Feathers behind the wheel than what the have with either Richard Gwisdale before Feathers, or D.J. Myers post-Feathers. Anyone who would argue that is not paying attention to the results. More importantly, Bo Feathers is not as fast in Preston Deitz's car than he was in Gunter's car. In 2007, Bo Feathers won more races than any other Late Model driver in the Mid-Atlantic area according to Area Auto Racing News, and Feathers also picked up a lot of wins in 2006 (Jeremy Miller got the honor that year). So far this season, Feathers has 4 wins, all coming at Winchester. A lot of people have said that Bo doesn't travel any, but he has proven that isn't true this season. With the exception of Jeremy Miller and Jason Covert, he has traveled more than any other driver in this area in 2008. Feathers has ran at Elkins, Hesston, Hagerstown, and Bedford (not sure if I left any out) this season outside of Winchester. He had a pretty good run at Hesston the one time he went there (day race, started up front), but he has struggled at Bedford when he's been there. The talk at the beginning of the year was that Deitz and Feathers were going to run the D1 car at Bedford on a weekly basis. Obviously, that hasn't come to pass. The fact of the matter is that the Feathers-Gunter split has only hurt Feathers as a driver, and Gunter as a car owner. It has allowed Gunter to travel more than what he did with Feathers though. In the last couple of weeks alone D.J. Myers has raced at Big Diamond for the WoO Late Models, Central PA Speedway for the Yankee Doodle 50, as well as both Wythe and Cherokee for the Southern Nationals events. No one can argue that Feathers ran that many different tracks as what Myers is running with Gunter. I also don't think anyone can argue that Myers is running as good at some of these places as what Feathers would run at these places. When Feathers and Gunter were together in their better days they were right up there with Jeremy Miller as the fastest car in the region. I would even argue that in 2007, Feathers was the fastest car in the region. So far this year, it has been Jason Covert and anyone who doesn't think so is not paying attention. Listen, Feathers not running at Hagerstown is only hurting himself. I know that Hagerstown reportedly gave the money to Gunter for the second place finish in points to J.T. Spence last year, a championship that Feathers would have won if not for a parts failure, but has anyone even mentioned what the process for championship money is at Hagerstown? Does anyone even know if the car owner is supposed to get the money or not? Hagerstown's procedure could be to give the car owner the money, and then the car owner pays the driver. It's just a thought. The fact of the matter is that the Feathers-Gunter split has hurt both of them. Feathers is not running as good in Deitz's car as he was in Gunter's car, and Gunter is not having the same kind of success with D.J. Myers that he was having with Bo Feathers.

July 15

The King tried proving last night that he's still got it. You've got to admit that Steve Kinser hasn't had a very good season this year so far by his standards. Up until last night, Kinser only had two World of Outlaws feature victories this season, at Williams Grove and Rolling Wheels. But, that all changed last night as the "Month of Money" is upon us in Sprint Car racing. This past Sunday night Daryn Pittman took his first win of the year with the Outlaws to win the Kings Royal, and last night, Steve Kinser broke through for a $40,000 victory in the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville (the best track in the country). This win means a lot for Kinser because he was way off the pace in wins this season. Donny Schatz has 10 wins, and Jason Meyers and Craig Dollansky both have 6 wins. The King is definitely much older than what he was when he won all of his WoO championships, and he still may be washed up to a certain degree, but there is no denying that Kinser is the greatest Sprint Car driver to ever strap into a winged 410. He still has the talent to pick up big wins like this. He will be a threat at the Knoxville Nationals in a couple of weeks. There is no doubt that Donny Schatz is the favorite for that race though.

Speaking of Donny Schatz, he looked very human last night. If it was 2007 and Schatz was starting on the outside pole of the dash, you could mark up a dominating feature victory for the 2-time and defending Outlaws champion. That wasn't the case at all though, as Schatz fell back to 5th in the Dash, and then got a break when Craig Dollansky broke running in the top 5. He passed Jason Meyers and ended up finishing second, but it just wasn't his night. This night belonged to The King.

A couple of the Pennsylvania guys that went up didn't do too bad. Greg Hodnett and Jeff Shepard escaped with good runs at Lernerville. More PA guys than ususal showed up, and that is definitely not a bad thing. Hodnett, Shepard, Fred Rahmer, Chad Layton, and Lance Dewease, who I consider an All Star, but a lot of the PA fans still cling onto Dewease the same way they try to hang onto Lucas Wolfe, who is now running with the Outlaws, but is recovering from a back injury. The fact of the matter is, when you decide to run a series, or go out on the road full time, you are no longer a member of the Pennsylvania Posse. You are just a touring driver that cut his teeth in Pennsylvania. Dewease and Wolfe are not the first guys in the history of Central Pennsylvania Sprint Car racing to travel with either the Outlaws or the All Stars. Greg Hodnett came home in 8th, and Jeff Shepard took the checkers with a 10th place run last night at Lernerville. That's good runs for both of those guys, but it doesn't mean that Hodnett has turned around his season just yet. Three wins is not good enough for Hodnett at this point in time of the season. He knows he should be running much better. I will reserve judgment on Hodnett until a couple weeks after the Outlaws come through here. Why?, because just because you can run good in a time trial show, does not mean you will always run good in a handicapped show at Williams Grove, Lincoln, or Port Royal. He's got Port Royal figured out, he won there last Saturday night from 8th, but he has struggled at the Grove (NO WINS). If he runs good at Williams Grove this weekend for the Summer Nationals, don't think that he's out of the woods just yet. Fred Rahmer and Chad Layton did not run so hot last night. They both qualified, Fast Freddie charged to take the final transfer in the B-Main, and Layton passed Fritz to take the final transfer in their heat race. As good as Rahmer has been running in PA, you would have thought that he would have run better at Lernerville (he's won a WoO race there before, albeit, in better times). Rahmer came home in 11th. Dewease started 7th in his heat and was running 4th (the top 5 transfer), when he got together with Hodnett and was taken out of the race. It ruined the rest of his night, he didn't qualify.

In other action last night, Rambo Franklin defeated Chris Madden on the Southern Nationals tour at Cherokee. Rambo started 5th, and Madden was on the pole (set quick time again), which means every lap was not lead by one person this time. Madden fell back to 5th in the final feature rundown. Casey Roberts was second, Furman Parton ran third, and Tony Knowles ran 5th. Congrats to Rambo on taking the win from 5th, but the format starts 5th. When the top 10 guys in time trials don't have to run heat races, and get to start heads up in the feature, there are problems. D.J. Myers and Brian Booze struggled early on at least at Cherokee. They both ran 6th in B-Main #1 and B-Main #2 respectively. Myers turned it around though as he won the Hard Charger award running 12th after starting 21st. Not a great finish, but he did pass a lot of cars. Booze came home in 16th. For anyone who might say, well at least they qualified, there were 26 cars there, and everyone qualified. There were not many cars at Wythe either, but I think the Southern Nationals car counts will pick up once the weekend rolls around.

7/14

Chris Madden continued his dominance of Ray Cook's Southern Nationals by winning the opener at Wythe. I don't really like the format for the Southern Nationals races. The top ten guys in time trials are automatically locked into the feature and they start heads up from that. It typically leads to the fast timer leading every lap of the feature and Madden led every lap of the 35 lapper at Wythe last night after setting fast time and starting on the pole. Rambo Franklin came home in second, Brandon Kinzer was third. A couple of local guys made the trip down. Brian Booze, who ran the Southern Nationals last year and ran pretty good, and D.J. Myers, who has been traveling more since hooking up with Greg Gunter as his car owner. Neither of them faired too well though. Booze came home in 14th after time trialing and starting the feature from 6th, and Myers came home in 18th. Not a good night for the local guys. I would expect that Booze will stay out on the Southern Nationals like he did last year, but Myers will probably come back home. I could be wrong though. I would like to see Myers stay out there for at least a couple more races and then come back to Winchester on Saturday night for the Paul Johnson Memorial. Madden's win, and Eric Jacobsen's 6th place run continue to show how strong those Bloomquist Race Cars really are.

7/11-12

It was a great weekend in Central Pennsylvania for Dougie frEsh (Doug Esh). He turned a so-so season for him so far into two major victories. I was there for both of them. He won the Mitch Smith Memorial on Friday Night at Williams Grove. That race paid $5,000 to win. He then turned around and won the 56th Anniversary Race at Lincoln the following night paying $5,600 to the winner. That makes four wins on the season now for Right Said Fred (Esh). What’s even more impressive is that he beat Fast Freddie (Fred Rahmer) to win both of them. Fritz has been hooked up all year long, winning 12 races at the halfway point of the season despite the sheer number of rainouts that have taken away sure wins from him. Lance Dewease finally had a good run after he finished third on Friday at Williams Grove and looked fast. I don’t care that he won the WoO race at Charlotte, he has run inconsistent all season long. He would tell you that I’m sure. He’s holding onto a slim points lead in the All Stars points, and he hasn’t ran very good in PA all season long.
On Friday night at Bedford something special happened at the old fairgrounds track. Bedford, typically known as a track with not a lot of passing saw a lot when Jason Covert broke in his heat race and came from the back of the B-Main to start 17th in the feature and won. It has to be some kind of record for Bedford because I seriously doubt anyone has ever come from that far back to win a race there. Mighty Mouse, Donnie Moran, and Stuhler followed Covert across the line.
Saturday night saw Jeremy Miller (Mighty Mouse) finally win his second race of the year by taking the Ernie’s Salvage Yard 25 at Hagerstown. He typically wouldn’t race at Hagerstown, but with an open tire rule for the event he was allowed to run his American Racer tires. The Hoosier guys were bitching and complaining once again as four of the top five finishers were on American Racers. They need to stop complaining and make a better tire that can compete with the AR’s in this area. Brent Smith, zero wins on the season by the way, was the only driver in the top five on Hoosier tires. The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic contract that has all the local guys at Hagerstown running Hoosier tires every week. It’s a good thing too, because the American Racers guys would be winning every week at Hagerstown if they were allowed to run those tires there. Miller won’t be back until the Lucas Oil show it seems like. Covert finished off a good weekend with a second place finish from 9th. Stuhler continued his hot and cold season by finishing a pathetic 9th in Ernie’s show. Apparently he was on experimental Hoosier tires. Well, to be blunt, those tires fuckin’ suck, because Stuhler went backwards in the feature. I guess its back to the drawing board for Hoosier.
On the national scene, Freddy Smith provided a feel good moment pulling off the upset of the year by winning the Lucas Oil race at North Alabama on Friday night. The next night it was back to business as usual as Bloomer took the win at Columbus in a TV race. Daryn Pittman won the Kings Royal at Eldora on Sunday night after Joey Saldana has the show won, but broke. Donnie Kreitz made the trip out to Eldora on Saturday night and nobody can figure out why. The 1986 Kings Royal winner has not won a race all year in PA, but got a wild hair up his ass and decided to run at Eldora. Unfortunately for Kreitz, he came home after they rained out on Saturday night. Too bad for the PA fans too. The way they put Kreitz on a pedestal, I’m sure they thought he was going to give those Outlaw guys a run for his money. By the way, the Outlaws are coming into Williams Grove. I’m sure the PA fans still think Kreitz can get the job done against the Outlaws like he used too.

In other action this past weekend, Bo Feathers won at Winchester from the front two rows, what else is new. Good news though, Feathers will have to start 12th in the Paul Johnson Memorial this weekend. This further proves that Winchester's system of not handicapping ends up screwing its own drivers by penalizing them the week some Hagerstown guys come in to run the Memorial races. These guys get put in the back for the bigger paying races simply because they won the week before. Bo Feathers is the only Winchester regular who has a shot at winning the Johnson Memorial from 12th though. If Winchester was to handicap they would actually put their own guys in front of the non-regulars who come in for the Memorial shows that are points races.

Greg Hodnett finally won a race by taking the win at Port Royal, thus staying away from the bigger money paying show at Lincoln. Congrats to Hodnett for maybe getting a little closer to the track he got off of a ways back down the road, but he still should have went to Lincoln. A time trial show favors him a little bit better anyway. The track was too fast and tacky, so if Hodnett started up front, he probably would have won the show.