Commentary-Weekend Recap

It's been a busy week already, and it's only Tuesday. I wasn't able to post a weekend recap on Sunday, partly because I worked the races Sunday night for Speedway, but mostly it was because Saturday night was my bachelor party, and getting up early on Sunday morning just wasn't an option.

With so much going on both at work and at the track, there's probably no way I'll be able to keep up. I'm going to try, but it's an uphill battle.

The race marathon is in full swing, but already I opted out of one night of racing. I hope my race fan card isn't revoked!

My Take...
Saturday
As I mentioned above, Saturday night at Eagle I had my bachelor party. Of course, to everyone else it was called Fan Appreciation and Kid's Night. Really though, I think the nearly 6000 fans were there for me to celebrate my upcoming nuptials.

-Jack Dover won his third consecutive Eagle feature. It was his fifth win this month, and heads into August on a roll. Dover qualified for every feature event he traveled to in July, and never finished worse than fourth.

Tige Jensen finished in the runner-up spot. Jensen had a strong car, and was making some progress on Dover as the checkers fell. Adam Gullion had a much-needed third place finish. Gullion has had some awful luck in 2008 so I was happy for him park it on the front stretch. Jason Danley came home with another top five run in fourth, and Gene Ackland rounded out the top five in fifth.

-Championship Sprint points leader Mike Boston suffered damage in the rear suspension. Boston's crew was able to make repairs to the car, and Boston did manage to salvage an 11th place run.

-The biggest story to come out Saturday's race was the Kid's Night Bike Giveaway. Rhonda Bryan, and the entire Bryan racing team outdid themselves once again this year. Over 350 new bikes were given away to kids.

There were enough bikes to fill three semi trailers, and lined up side-by-side, they took up nearly most of the front stretch.

Eagle Raceway generously agreed to buy one bike, for every other two that were sold. I have confidence that the bar will be raised again next summer, but for now, the Bryans, and all of the kids should rejoice in the success of this year's Kid's Night.

-In spite of it being my bachelor party night, none of us got too out of control. I was tired Sunday morning, but luckily not hungover.


Sunday
Sunday's AIMS midget show at Eagle started early for me. I worked the race for Speedway Motors, so I began my day at two, getting all of our promotional materials ready.

It was my first time working for Speedway at a race, and I had a lot of fun interacting with the midget teams, and feeling sort of big time in my Speedway colors. I even got to ride around in the pits on the Cushman.

Hey, anything to get into a race!

-I was extremely disappointed in the track condition. It looked to me like nothing was done to the surface from the end of Saturday's show to the midget hot laps.

I have heard conflicting stories that it was left dry on purpose for the motorcycles, or that it was dry at the request of the midget promoters and officials.

Either way, the dry slick conditions didn't make for a very compelling race.

-The car count was very high, with 36 cars in attendance.

-Jerry Coons Jr. in the Wilke-Pak car drew the number one pill, and led all thirty laps of the feature. Brad Kuhn finished second, Josh Ford third, Don Droud Jr. fourth, and Zach Daum fifth.

-It should be noted that Daum won last night's midget race at Rising City.

-Droud had a strong drive to fourth, passing several cars in the process. Droud kept his nose clean, and didn't set a wheel wrong. He was the only other car besides Coons that wasn't smoking his tires the entire race.

-Davy Ray, driving for Nebraskan Kenny Love, pushed Coons in the middle stages of the race, but abused his tires too much. Ray suffered a flat right rear, ending his chances at a victory.

-Several cars got upside down, and there was a lot of bent looking equipment at the evening's conclusion.

-With the five p.m. start time, it was basically a day time show. I hate day time shows, and now I remember why. It was hot. Brutally hot. And dusty. Hot and dusty isn't fun and the crowd size reflected that.

-After Sunday night, I'm not sure what the future holds for midget racing at Eagle. I hope the midgets return to Eagle next year to a later start time, and better track.

Monday
On Monday afternoon, Speedway invited all of the midget teams to a luncheon and museum tours, before they had to leave for Monday's race in Rising City.

-I had the opportunity to meet and talk to longtime racer Johnny Heydenreich. He was a very nice guy, helping me set up and take down all of the parts we had on display. Heydenreich now works for Seals-it.

I can remember watching Heydenreich at Belleville and the Chili Bowl, which he won in 1990. The guy is full of energy, and a lot of fun to be around. I hope I can chat with him again sometime.

-It was fun to be around all those teams, and it's amazing to see just how much of a family sport racing is.

-I had planned to attend the show at the Butler County Motorplex last night, but I was tired from the weekend so I took a night off.

I still have a few shows to see in the next two weeks, so I enjoyed a nice evening at home with Erin.

And Finally...

I am very fortunate that I'll be able to see so much great racing in the coming weeks, and that includes tonight's show at Junction Motor Speedway.

Next Up...
7/29-POWRi Midgets, Junction Motor Speedway
7/30-POWRi Midgets, Junction Motor Speedway
7/31-All Star Circuit of Champions, Belleville High Banks
8/1-Midget Nationals, Belleville High Banks
8/2-Midget Nationals, Belleville High Banks