One More Night at the Track

After an abbreviated first ever visit to the Springfield,Missouri Raceway for the rescheduled Turkey Bowl, I was working on putting a wrap on my 2017 season. But an offer from "the Boss" to ride along to night number two of the Gateway Dirt Nationals at the Dome in St. Louis was too good to pass up. For a host of reasons, including inclement weather, I had passed on the inaguaral event in 2016. But the chance to attend my first ever indoor race and my first ever race in December while someone else did the driving sounded like a deal. After a trip to "the Hill" and some outstanding barbeque, we made our way to the in door arena along with north of 10,000 like minded fans for a full late afternoon and night of open late model and modified racing action on the 1/5 mile oval constructed over a two week period under the direction of Kevin Gundaker at the behest of promoter Cody Sommer. 107 UMP style modifieds signed in for Thursday night qualifying, and while I did not keep a count on Friday, I would guess all returned for Friday. 93 late models took time trials on Thursday and all returned, plus Billy Stiles, who broke down on the way to Missouri from Pennsylvania, but was allowed to tag the tail of a heat race on Friday, swelling the count to 94 super late models. As always, Jeff Broeg has a spot on recap of the nights action on the Backstretch elsewhere on this blog page, so I will just add some observations in this report. As a stand alone event at a regular racing venue, the Dirt Nationals would be open to more than a little criticism. But when you take into account the uniqueness of this event, much of the criticism melts away. To come into an enclosed facility with obvious space constraints, bringing everything from the dirt itself to the walls and everything else needed for a race program of such a large magnitude, is an amazing undertaking. I think it is important to understand the this be viewed an an "event" more than a racing program. As I said, it may not compare favorably to say the Dream, the World 100 or the Knoxville Late Model Nationals, but it is racing in the midwest in December! I do not do the extensive traveling that many of my friends in the racing world are able to do, but I was able for the first time to see dozens of drivers in both divisions that I have never had the opportunity to see in person, while at the same time watching them compete against drivers I watch on a regular basis. And if you are going to have the extended amount of down time required to filter the air - and do track maintainence - what better place than indoors where you can visit with friends you have not seen for a couple of months. Unfortunately for them and me, the modified drivers I am able to watch every week at Quincy Raceways, Michael Long and Dave Weitholder did not have good results, and while local late model standouts Jason Perry and Dustin Griffin were preentered, neither made the trip, at least not with their cars. I was able to give Dustin a scolding for showing up as a bench racer, like myself! The new owner/promoters from Quincy Raceways and 34 Raceways, as well as veteran race director Mike VanGenderen were among the attendees, all taking notes,and receiving advice, I am sure. After hearing some horror stories from the 2016 event, we did pack overnight bags "just in case," but the action began on time at 3:00, and the final checker waved at 9:55. Second generation driver Hudson Oneal was a popular winner in one of the two 20 lap $5,000 to win late model features, and there is no doubt he has a bright future ahead. The same can be said for the winner of the second main event, Gordy Gundaker, a St Charles,Missouri native, who calls Quincy his " second home" after graduating from Quincy University as an outstanding catcher on the baseball team. Gordy was a two time feature winner at Quincy Raceways in 2017, and I just realized he is living my childhood dream, a baseball player and stock car racer! It was my first time to see modified driver Tanner Mullins, and he was impressive capturing the $5,000 modified top prize. A couple of other drivers who have spent more than one night in victory lane at Quincy, Bobby Pierce in his #32 late model and Ray Bollinger wheeling his #77 modified collected the big checks on Saturday while I was up the street at the Scottrade Center benefitting from some free tickets while watching the St Louis Blues defeat the Winnepeg Jets in NHL action! After two successful runs on the third weekend in December - following the PRI race show in Indianapolis, I see the 2018 Dirt Nationals date has been set for November 29,30 December 1. What this means for the competitors and the fans remains to be seen, as there were mumblings about a possible open wheel type show as well. But what I can say is I came away happy to have been in attendance and looking forward to a possible return trip next year. Now that my 2017 season is truly over, I will be back soon with a recap of my year. Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas to all!