I am guessing that everyone who had an interest in the Bristol Dirt Nationals but did not purchase the pay per view has seen the results and the multiple pictures and videos posted on the internet. So I will just add a few reflections after surviving the twelve and a half hour trip home.
Night number two unfortunately did not go as smoothly as Friday. Perhaps the hornet qualifying races run in the morning put the track prep team behind the eight ball, as things kicked off on time on Friday, but due to what may have been excessive watering, the show on Saturday was over an hour late with the first green flag. With three more races than Friday on the card including five features, this left us dangerously close to the curfew, with the final checkers coming several minutes after 12:30.
On the plus side, those five main events, even though all were shortened a bit, were highly entertaining. With Friday night winner Chris Ferguson grabbing the early lead from his pole position start, it looked like he may be able to sweep the weekend in the headlining super late model division. Friday runner up Kyle Larson had other ideas, however, as he shot to the front on lap eleven of the forty lapper. Following the first caution three laps later, Scott Bloomquist took advantage of the Delaware double file restart to power to second, applying pressure to Larson through two more yellow flag restarts. Meanwhile, Jonathon Davenport was climbing from his row five starting spot towards the front, and following a final caution one lap before the crossed flags signaled the halfway mark, he grabbed second from Bloomer. One more trip around and the lead was his, and he quickly moved to a different zip code, driving away to victory by a comfortable margin to collect the $50,000 top prize. Larson was bridesmaid for the second night in a row, and he kept that streak going with a runner up finish in the NASCAR Cup race today at Atlanta. With the program running a bit late, Kyle Busch was able to follow up his NASCAR truck series win at Atlanta by returning to Bristol in time to tag the tail of a late model B main and charged to second, putting him in row ten of the feature. He had no more magic, however, as he finished outside the top ten. Kyle Strickler was also a late arrival for the modified feature. He had apparently forfeited a front row start to compete at Brownstown, Indiana with the Lucas Oil late model series. But that event was stopped early due to poor track conditions, so Kyle hopped a plane back to Bristol in time to charge to victory lane with his #8 mod and claim the $10,000 check.
Perhaps the most competitive as well as entertaining class in the country, in the mid west, for sure, is the stock cars, and the IMCA boys had their moment in the sun at Bristol, dominating the field. It was awesome enough to see the father and son team of Damon and Dallon Murty occupy the front row for the $5,000 to win finale, but when they crossed under the checkered flag one two, with sixteen year old Dallon the Bristol champ, it was time to stand up and cheer!
Even though another Iowa hot shoe, Jake Benischeck, was starting deep in the thirty two car hornet field, I felt like he could make some noise. While Jake put on a show, coming through the pack to second, it was Hunter Anthony who climbed to the podium after cruising to an apparent $2,000 win. We watched curiously on the monitor as an official handed the driver a winners cap, then unceremoniously removed it from his head. The announcement soon came that Anthony had apparently driven without gloves, an oft stated rules infraction, and soon it was Jake on the stage, now the victor!
Cinderella would have missed the final 604 late model feature, as twenty three cars took the green flag for the final twenty laps of the weekend. Missing from the lineup was Iowa hot shoe Johnny Spaw, who had qualified but had to return to the Hawkeye state early. It was another NASCAR competitor, Austin Dillon, sitting on the pole, and he was on a rail, leading the distance for the win. The grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress is no stranger to the dirt, and I remember watching him compete as a teenager at the now sadly defunct Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway, which we had to painfully drive by on the way to and from Bristol.
With an original entry list of more than 1300 participants, the official count was listed at 823. With the challenges presented by Mother Nature, it would have been nearly impossible to complete the show with that many cars, although I am sure the financial projections might have been a whole lot different with 500 less entries. Day after day of rain created unending problems for the promotion team, and as we drove east in persistent showers on Thursday, we too were questioning our decision. When we woke up Friday morning to drizzle two hours down the road in Knoxville, things looked bleak. But even though the clouds and cool temps hung around on Friday, the rain subsided, and we were able to see a complete show on a racy track. Saturday finally brought us sunshine warmer temps, and an outstanding start to our 2021 race season. At this time, I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to my long time racing companion Fred, who generously decided to foot the bill for the four of us to upgrade to the comfort of a suite high atop the historic half mile. Everything did not always go smoothly for the 800 plus competitors, the race officials, or we three old men and the boy over the weekend, but hey, " It's Bristol, Baby! "
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