Around The Corner: Best Time of the Year

The best time of the year is finally approaching, and its coming in a hurry.. We're only 19 days away from the Nationals kicking off for the 410s, and that is preluded by the much anticiapted 360 Nationals. The best show of the year in the country in my mind is the 360 Nationals Finale doubled up with the regular 410 show that brings in a good 40+ 410s just for that show alone. We get to see drivers doing double-duty for the only time of the year at Knoxville, and the show only costs $20. It was by far the best show of the year that I seen last year, and I'm really looking foward to getting done there for it again.

My schedule will definitely be picking up starting this week with 2 shows, 3 straight 410 shows the following week, and then its time to head to Knoxville. Can't wait for it, and it'll be here before ya know it.

Lets go over Sunday's races from last week which saw (my boy) Scott Winters take the 410 field out to the shed at Huset's. He set fast time for the first time all year, went 6th to 3rd in a stacked heat to hit the invert, and then won the fucker from the 8th starting spot. He was the class of the field for the night, and that was shown when won the race by half a lap and just over 7 seconds. Winters has been getting his ducks in a row at Huset's and has been consistently up in the top 3 for the last month or so. Should be fun to see what he does for the upcoming big money shows....

.. Which brings me to the excitement that the All-Star show will be bringing for the 2 night show on August 1st and 2nd. A list of confirmed drivers was posted earlier this week and the list was impressive to say the least. The All Stars are bringing: Point leader and defending race champion Tim Shaffer, Dale Blaney, Greg Wilson, Rookies Ryan Bunton and Daron Clayton, Randy Hannagan, Brandon Wimmer, Danny Smith, and Miranda Throckmorton. Other drivers that were "confirmed" were T-Mac, Shane Stewart in the Silva 57, The "Texan" Gary Wright, TK, and TBJ (Tony Bruce Jr). Saturday's show may be down a few cars because of guys electing to run Knoxville, but Sunday's 10 grand to win show should bring up those guys and we should push 35 cars or so.

In other news, Justin Henderson is back from PA (his tail between the legs after the beatdown out East) to pick up the sloppy seconds from Jake Peters and Dusty Zomer in Shawn VanWhye's 99JR. Nothing like going from a prominent 410 ride in PA that won with the Outlaws 2 years ago, back to a 360 back home! This should be a fun month coming from his excuse-filled fans. Hope they haven't ran out of those excuses quite yet!

Great time of the year to be a sprint car fan. Lets hope the weather continues to hold strong by staying dry for the upcoming month. Hell, I'll even take hot and humid for Knoxville as long as it stays dry the next month.

Effing Rain

Well, after waiting all afternoon, the Huset's WoO show was finally called around 5PM when it started to rain. This was after the rain somehow avoided the SF area all morning/afternoon. But the Rubins decided to try to get the show in, even though many drivers decided not to come and/or go somewhere else to race.

The best thing that could have happened would have been to cancel around noon due to the forecast and the radar being GREEN as fuck to the west and coming east. Sounds like the Outlaws wouldn't let them re-schedule for Sunday, so its just going to be a weekly show with a few heavy hitters hopefully. The rumor is that it will be rescheduled for September. More than likely the open weekend on the WoO schedule following the mid-week Spencer race.

Anyways, the car count was very low as Wayne didn't come up from Knoxville. McCarl bolted for Wisco. around noon to dominate the IRA again from his 10th starting spot. Dobmeier turned her around and headed back to Grand Forks to race (no info on where he finished). And many other "questionable" drivers didn't make the tow. Lets just hope we get to see the Outlaws sometime up here.

Thats all for now, Sunday's looking dandy weather-wise, and it should be a barn burner with McCarl back in town with possibly TK as well.