]]> http://tennesseeracer.com/?feed=rss2&p=1133 0 http://tennesseeracer.com/?p=1132 http://tennesseeracer.com/?p=1132#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:49:12 +0000 admin http://tennesseeracer.com/?p=1132

Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tennessee led all the way to grab the $3,000 first prize for the NASRA sanctioned Buddy Rogers Memorial 44 at the Tazewell Speedway on Sunday night.

Marlar started from the pole position after drawing the top number among the four heat race winners. That inside front row starting spot proved beneficial as the race saw an enormous sixteen car pileup on the first attempted start when outside front row starter Vic Hill of Mosheim, Tennessee lost control of his car in turn two and created a bottleneck that involved two-thirds of the field.

Most cars were able to continue as only Chad Ogle retired to the pit area for good after that initial melee. However, a number of machines suffered at least some damage in the incident.

Once everything was sorted out the race restarted and developed into a two car battle between Marlar and Hill, who suffered little damage in the wreck. ‘The Winfield Warrior’ took command and went the distance for the win. On a couple of occasions in heavy lapped traffic Hill was able to draw alongside but never quite found the grip to pull off the pass.

One of the drivers to be hampered by the first lap incident was Knoxville’s Rick Rogers. He suffered a flat tire and had to restart the race from the rear of the pack.

Rogers had set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 11.066 seconds around the third-mile high banked oval but was forced to start ninth after being unable to overcome an unlucky pill draw for his heat race. It was the second year in a row in this race named for his father that Rogers had suffered a similar fate after setting fast time.

Finishing behind Marlar and Hill were Mike Weeks, Anthony White, Jason Trammel, Jeff Wolfenbarger, Chris Combs and Rogers.

One of the more interesting moments of the night occurred during and after heat race #4. As the cars came to the white flag of that race, driver Rodney Kiker made a very aggressive move the get around Michael Chilton.

Kiker went on to win the heat while Chilton’s car was badly damaged after slamming hard into the front stretch wall. As Kiker rolled his car onto the scales, Chilton ran over and threw his steering wheel at the parked car. Then, someone tackled Chilton and a bit of a fracas broke out that eventually ended with Chilton standing on top of the pit wall waving his arms to the large assembled crowd to gain their approval, which he did.

Kiker dropped out of the feature race. Chilton’s night ended after the heat race as his car was too badly damaged to continue.

Follow @RacingWithRich on twitter.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly columns appear in The Mountain Press and The Knoxville Journal.

For information regarding the Demolition Derby, contact Volunteer Speedway Facilities Manager/Race Director David Bryant at (865) 978-1752.

Tell your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers all about racing at Volunteer Speedway. You can’t beat the excitement of an action-packed night of racing at “The Gap!”

Directions to Volunteer Speedway: South on Interstate 81 from Tennessee/Virginia state lines, take Exit 23 (Bulls Gap/Greeneville), then turn right onto Hwy. 11-E at bottom of the exit ramp. Look for track entrance approximately 200 yards on left.

North on Interstate 81 from I-81/I-40 split (East of Knoxville, TN), take Exit 23, then turn left onto Hwy. 11-E at bottom of the exit ramp. Continue underneath the interstate over-pass and track entrance approximately 300 yards ahead on left.

]]> http://tennesseeracer.com/?feed=rss2&p=1127 0 http://tennesseeracer.com/?p=1125 http://tennesseeracer.com/?p=1125#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:27:43 +0000 admin http://tennesseeracer.com/?p=1125 BULLS GAP, Tenn. — A special mid-week racing program will be held on Thursday, Aug. 19 at Volunteer Speedway with NASCAR in the East Tennessee region at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The “Summer Sizzler Shootout at The Gap” will showcase Super Late Models for a 50-lap, $3,000-to-win main event. Also racing will be Fastrak Racing Series-sanctioned Crate Late Models (35 laps, $1,000-to-win), and Hobby Stocks (20 laps).

Expect to see the top Super Late Model drivers from around the East Tennessee region such as Vic Hill  (1997, ‘98, 2000, ‘05 and ‘09 champion) of Morristown, Greeneville’s Jeff Maupin, Tommy Kerr of Maryville, Bristol’s Kerry Jones, Rick Rogers of Knoxville, Powell’s Mark Vineyard, Chad Ogle of Sevierville, Knoxville’s Mark Douglas, Michael Smith of Rogersville, and others battle it out for the $3,000 winner’s share of the over $12,000 purse.

With summer winding down and schools already back in session all around the East Tennessee region, Volunteer Speedway owners Joe and Phyllis Loven want to thank fans for their support of the track this season by offering a family-friendly admission package: Adult grandstand admission only $15, youth (ages 11-16) $5, with kids age 10-and-under admitted free in the grandstands. Pit passes and backside tier-parking $30.

The pit gate will open Thursday, Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. and the grandstand gate at 5 p.m. The drivers’ meeting will be held in the backside pits at 7 p.m. Hotlaps are scheduled to begin around 8 p.m., to be followed by qualifying and then racing action.

Tell your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers all about racing at Volunteer Speedway. You can’t beat the excitement of an action-packed night of racing at “The Gap!”

Directions to Volunteer Speedway: South on Interstate 81 from Tennessee/Virginia state lines, take Exit 23 (Bulls Gap/Greeneville), then turn right onto Hwy. 11-E at bottom of the exit ramp. Look for track entrance approximately 200 yards on left.

North on Interstate 81 from I-81/I-40 split (East of Knoxville, TN), take Exit 23, then turn left onto Hwy. 11-E at bottom of the exit ramp. Continue underneath the interstate over-pass and track entrance approximately 300 yards ahead on left.

Fans of the North/South 100 at the Florence Speedway in northern Kentucky saw the best finish for that race since, well, last year.

Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tennessee and Earl Pearson, Jr. of Jacksonville, Florida exchanged the lead twice over the course of the final thirteen laps with Owens making the deciding pass as the two cars roared under the flagman’s stand to take the white flag. It was the second year in a row the race had been decided by a last lap pass.

“I’ll tell you what,” a breathless Owens said in victory lane, “the fans got their money’s worth .”

Those final laps were set up by an entire evening of jockeying for position. Chris Madden started from the pole position of the 28^th annual running of this event but Eddie Carrier, Jr. jumped out to an early lead and held on until running into slower traffic as he caught the back of the pack. From lap 14 to lap 19 Don O’Neal, who was passed on the last lap by Jimmy Mars in 2009, applied heavy pressure to Carrier and eventually took the lead just before lap 20.

O’Neal lead throughout the middle stages of the race as the field settled into a single file pattern for a number of circuits around the half-mile clay oval. O’Neal would again fall short in the latter stages of this race as Owens grabbed the lead away from the Martinsville, Indiana driver on lap 77.

Aside from O’Neal and Carrier in those early laps, drivers such as home state competitor Steve Francis, Madden and Ray Cook ran in the top-5.

However, after the halfway point, Owens and Pearson began making the moves that would ultimately place them in a side by side confrontation in the race’s closing moments. After starting the race from the 5^th spot, Owens ran around the 6^th position for most of the first half of the event. Then, after discovering a very low groove off of turn 2 he began moving forward.

On the restart after a lap 48 caution, Owens boldly moved to the inside and went around Cook and Francis on the same lap. Just five laps later he wrested the 2^nd spot away from Carrier. And it was he who, after moving his car to a higher groove, took the lead from O’Neal at lap 77.

Pearson had much more work to do than Owens in getting to the front. After starting 14^th the ‘Hurricane’ methodically moved toward the lead by also employing a very low line off of turn 2.

At the time of a lap 62 caution, Pearson had lifted himself to the 6^th position. From there he began picking cars off at a steady rate until he went to 2^nd on lap 83. He then set his sights on Owens and took the lead on the race’s 87^th circuit when Owens found himself caught up behind the slower car of Dan Schlieper.

It looked for a moment as though Pearson would cruise on to the victory. However, once the two finally cleared the traffic Owens began to come back to the leader. As they were about to race toward the white flag, Owens got a good run through turns 3 and 4 and carried the momentum down the front straight on Pearson’s outside. The #20 Bloomquist Race Car with a Cornett Thunder engine cleared Pearson’s new Longhorn chassis in turn 1 which allowed the ‘Newport Nightmare’ to claim his second North/South 100.

“Earl got around me in traffic when I had trouble getting around Dan(Schlieper),” Owens explained in his post-race interview. “It was tough in traffic.”

In victory lane Owens remembered others. “This win was for Duayne Hommel,” he said with some obvious emotion. “And it’s for (crew chief)Chris Fox and all my crew.”

As for Pearson, he summed up coming so close yet falling short in a very simple and matter of fact way. “That’s just how it goes in racing,” he said.

Owens, Pearson, O’Neal, Francis, Cook, Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Mars and Madden made up the top-8 finishers.

Follow @RacingWithRich on twitter.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly columns appear in The Mountain Press and The Knoxville Journal.

*This was my first North/South 100 so I have nothing to compare it with but the crowd seemed like a big one. The grandstands were full and it was the highest number of people I have ever seen in the pits and infield at any track I have been to.

*A storm passed through at about 6:00pm which delayed on track action for an hour or so.

*71 cars made an attempt to qualify for the $50,000 to win event.

*Heat winners were Chris Madden, Dan Schlieper, Jimmy Owens, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Don O’Neal, and Steve Francis.

*In heat #2 driver Mike Marlar was so upset after being spun that he got out of his car while everyone was stopped on the track and went after Brett Wyatt. He was restrained before getting to Wyatt’s car and then returned to his own machine.

*Heat #3 was particularly stacked with Brady Smith, Jimmy Owens, Jimmy Mars, Tim McCreadie and Darrell Lanigan.

*After being bounced around a good bit in his heat race, Billy Moyer did not make the field for his B-main.

*Lucas Oil officials announced in the driver’s meeting that there would be no more racing to the line if there is a caution on the last lap. The race will simply be restart as for a caution on any other lap. This applies to the rest of the season.

*The list of drivers not to make the A-Main was an impressive one. Moyer, McCreadie, Lanigan, Jameson, Shaver and VanWormer all loaded up early.

*The Florence Speedway does not have a scoreboard, or at least not one visible from my spot in turn 3, which makes keeping up with things a bit more difficult.

*O’Neal and Carrier made hard contact on the back stretch while racing for the lead on lap 14. O’Neal had the right side of his spoiler hanging off from that point on.

*Mars and Bloomquist staged quite a battle for position in the top-10. Considering their run-in at Lernerville, the racing appeared to be clean.

Friday night’s qualifying session for the $50,000 to win North/South 100 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race provided some of Tennessee’s finest drivers and car builders an opportunity to grab the spotlight on one of dirt late model racing’s biggest stages.

Dale McDowell may be from Rossville, Georgia but his Warrior Race Car chassis was built in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Clint Bowyer owned car ran the quickest lap of 71 cars on Friday with a time of 17.335 seconds.

But the Volunteer State contingent was far from finished with McDowell’s Warrior effort. Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tennessee posted the second fastest overall lap with a time of 17.367 seconds.

Qualifying was broken into two groups due to the number of cars on hand.

Hall of Fame driver Freddy Smith of Seymour, Tennessee, who was steering the Warrior house car laid down the 5^th fastest lap in group one with a 17.521 second lap. Smith will be awarded the Sportsmanship Award by the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Bloomquist Race Cars also had its time in the spotlight on Friday. The Mooresburg, Tennessee operation of driver Scott Bloomquist placed no less than five cars in the top-10 positions among those who went out with group one. Bloomquist himself was 4^th while Newport’s Jimmy Owens was 6^th, Chris Madden was 7^th, Dan Schlieper was 8^th and Brady Smith was 9^th in those machines. Brett Wyatt of Crossville was 11^th in group one.

In group two, Knoxville’s Billy Ogle, Jr. kept Tennessee at the forefront by posting the 3^rd quickest lap among those drivers.

On Saturday, Bloomquist, Smith and Owens will each start on the outside of the front row in their respective heat races. The top-3 for each heat race were inverted.

Follow @RacingWithRich on twitter.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly columns appear in The Mountain Press and The Knoxville Journal.

Have you ever watched qualifying at a late model dirt race? I mean have you ever really watched qualifying at a late model dirt, particularly one as big as the North/South 100 at the Florence Speedway?

Dale McDowell of Rossville, Georgia drove his Clint Bowyer owned Warrior Race Car around the half-mile clay oval in a time of 17.335 seconds to earn a $1,000 bonus as Friday night’s fast qualifier. But that’s not the truly intriguing part.

Watching cars blister around a dirt track at lightning fast speeds is very intense and exciting. However, what goes on just before the cars actually hit the track is every bit as interesting.

Since there were 71 cars to attempt time trials for the $50,000 to win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race, the competitors were broken up into two groups. By far, the most interested spectators watching the first group of cars were the drivers and team members of those cars scheduled to go later in the first group or those slated for the second bunch.

As each of the early qualifiers was rolled to the line, other competitors would come over to inspect the tires of that car. I witnessed drivers and crew members peering closely, some even going so far as to get on their hands and knees to see what compound of tire each car sported.

Often times after such information was acquired, the individual sent to do this industrial espionage would take off in a mad dash to his team’s spot in the pit area, presumably to recommend a tire change.

In an attempt to play along, early running teams brought extra tires to the staging area and would wait until the last possible moment to decide on what tires to use. Some changed right there as they were about to take to the track and some did not.

I even witnessed one prominent team in particular that had assigned a crew member to walk alongside their car’s left rear tire so that no one could get close enough to obtain a good look. It did not stop a number of people from trying.

And more, several teams had a crew member watching the on track action very closely so as to discern what line around the speedway appeared to be working the best. There was more than one occasion in which LOLMDS officials had to root a crew member away from the car because that person was trying to relay a message to the driver as it was time for the car to hit the track.

So, watching super late model cars roar around the track can be exciting, but watching the intrigue that takes place before the cars even hit the track can be interesting as well.

Follow @RacingWithRich on twitter.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly columns appear in The Mountain Press and The Knoxville Journal.

Anthony White of Clinton, Tennessee came to the 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour looking to claim the $1,000 first prize in the fourth and final installment of the Tennessee RV Tuesday Night Tango Series and that is exactly what he did.

The driver known as the ‘Dirty White Boy’ started the 40 lap late model feature race from the 9^th position but he did not stay there long. Right from the drop of the green flag White began a bold charge toward the front that saw him swap paint with other drivers along the way.

Michael Leach, making his first appearance at the track this season, started from the pole position in his car #66 and got out to an early lead. However, White and 4^th starting Jason Welshan of Maryville, Tennessee came quickly through the field to challenge for the top spot.

Just after a restart from the race’s second caution on lap 15, White made an aggressive move to get around Welshan for 2^nd. The two cars banged side panels as they raced through turns three and four. But the contact did not slow White’s progress in the least as on the very next lap he went around Leach for the lead.

A caution just after the halfway point seemed to offer the field an opportunity to catch its collective breath after several laps of intense racing that saw a good bit of fender banging throughout the field of 17 cars. At the time of that yellow flag on lap 22, the race was being dominated by a group of invaders as the top-5 was entirely made up of drivers who do not compete at the track on a weekly basis. White lead at that point, followed by Leach, Welshan, Bobby Giffin and Jeff Atkinson.

However, that lap 22 caution proved detrimental to two of those outsiders as Leach and Atkinson both retired from the race with mechanical issues. The new top-5 was then made up of White, Welshan, Giffin, Barrett Terry and Ryan King, the most recent 411 winner.

After the lap 23 restart Welshan appeared to ready to take revenge for White’s aggressive move of a few laps early. As the cars entered turn three the #129 of Welshan stirred up a cloud of dust as he rooted his way under White’s #2 and slid up the track in front of his rival. He was just able to clear the ‘Dirty White Boy’ as they exited turn four. However, the pass was not to be as the track’s caution lights came on for a spin behind the leaders before Welshan was able to complete the lap.

Although Welshan dogged White for a few laps after the green came out again, the blue #2 eventually opened up an advantage and went on for the victory.

White was followed to the line by Welshan, Giffin, Terry, and Mack McCarter.

Follow @RacingWithRich on twitter.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly columns appear in The Mountain Press and The Knoxville Journal.

By Richard Allen

Herman Goddard began racing around the dirt tracks of east Tennessee at the age of 19 and he has enjoyed over 50 years of thrills in that endeavor. Not only has he raced for all that time but he has won. From the time of his first race in the 1950s until just recently the legendary driver amassed over 500 feature wins.

Those impressive numbers earned Goddard a place in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in Union, Kentucky in 2008.

So what started a young man of 19 years of age on the path to the Hall of Fame back in 1955? “A friend’s father had a race car,” Goddard explained. “When my friend went to go fight in Korea he left the car.”

That first race was at the old Broadway Speedway in Knoxville. From there, Goddard moved on to chalk up wins on just about every asphalt and dirt track throughout east Tennessee and beyond.

Perhaps the track most associated with Goddard’s racing career was the now defunct Atomic Speedway, just west of Knoxville. There he won such events as the Memorial 100, the J.T. Kerr Automotive 100 and the 1984 Tennessee Dirt Track Championship. He also ran a lap there which was, at the time, referred to as a world record for a 1/3 mile dirt track.

Notably, Goddard won a feature race at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee in 2008 at the age of 72.

Besides Atomic and Volunteer, Goddard remembers the Newport Speedway as one of his favorites. “It seemed like it was never muddy or dusty,” he recalled. “No matter whether you ran high or low there it was always good, but when they paved it we quit going up there.”

Although Herman said he has raced against a number of fierce competitors he remembered Tootle Estes, Ronnie Johnson, Buddy Rogers, Buck Simmons and Scott Bloomquist as some of the best.

But life has been about more than just race tracks and drivers for Goddard. He is an active member of the Sevier Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville where he serves as an usher.

“Church is good for anybody,” Goddard, who has gone on a number of mission trips, says. “It helps you stay where you need to be in life.

“I’ve always tried to live a good life,” he went on. “You have to remember that everything you say and do can change other people’s lives.”

In making that point he reached for a piece of paper that held the words to a poem someone had written for him. “This was written for me by a guy who started hanging around me when he was a small boy,” Goddard said of the verse composed in honor of a heroic figure. “Now, what if had used words I shouldn’t use or thrown fits around him when he was just a young kid? You never know what impact that might have had on him.”

At age 74 Goddard’s racing career may be over. “I passed out one night at 411(Motor Speedway),” he says. “And now I’ve got a pace maker. My car is ready to race but I don’t know that I ever will. I’ll just have to make that decision when the time comes.”

But don’t take that to mean Goddard is saddened or discouraged. “Racing has been real good to me,” he says. “I’ve won my share of races. I don’t have any regrets.”

Follow @RacingWithRich on twitter.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly columns appear in The Mountain Press and The Knoxville Journal.