COMMENTARY-That's All For 2008

The local race season for 2008 has come and gone. I watched a lot of great racing and had a lot of fun, I'm definitely sorry to see it come to an end.

Eagle Raceway concluded their 2008 campaign with the Nebraska Cup. Fortunately, the rain stayed away and all of the races were able to run. Jack Dover wrapped a very successful local schedule, winning the Nebraska Cup and putting an exclamation point on his 2008 ASCS Midwest Points Championship.

My Take...

-While Dover was extremely fast last night, he did catch a few lucky breaks on his way to the win. In the early stages of the feature, Chad Humston looked strong from the pole in Mark Burch's 1M. Humston jumped to an early lead, but tagged the wall in turn two, knocking him out of the race.

Mark Pace inherited the lead but was eventually overtaken by Frank Galusha. Dover tracked down Galusha in lapped traffic and took over the lead which he would never relinquish.

Throughout the main, smoke was puffing out of Dover's motor. It finally expired on the final lap, but Dover was able to coast accross the line ahead of runner-up Mike Boston, and third place finisher Billy Alley.

Dover had some luck, but took advantage of every break, and dominated another Eagle feature.

With local racing completed for 2008, Team Dover will head south through the rest of the fall in an attempt to capture their goal of 20 feature wins.

-Truth be told, I was hoping to see a new face in victory lane on Sunday night. Frank Galusha and Mark Pace both led some laps, and it would have been cool to see either of them take the checkers.

-It wasn't meant to be for Galusha. He was credited with a fourth place run, but was later disqualified, giving fourth to Pace. Dusty Zomer rounded out the top five.

-Don Droud Jr. posted a strong run, qualifying through the B main to finish sixth in the feature.

-Defending ASCS Midwest Points champion Natalie Sather finished 11th in the feature and fifth in the final point standings.

-Mike Boston finished up a great 2008 season, winning the Eagle Points Championship and finishing second in ASCS Midwest points.

-I'd sure like to see Chad Humston in the seat of the 1M more next season. The combination looked very strong. Humston won the "Dash For Cash" to earn the pole position on Sunday. Had it not been for hitting the wall, Humston looked strong enough to contend for the win.

-It looks like the Cup will be my final sprint show for 2008. With work commitments, I doubt I'll be doing much travelling this fall.

-The Nebraska Cup wasn't the only open wheel race of interest Sunday. The IndyCar Series concluded their season at the Chicagoland Speedway.

-In the best race of the season, and second closest finish in the history of the IRL, Helio Castroneves came from last (28th) to first, barly edging Scott Dixon at the line by .0033 seconds.

-Dixon did hold on to win the 2008 Series Points Championship over Castroneves by 17 points.

-The IRL managed to botch their awards ceremony. In spite of the close finish, Dixon was the assumed winner, and rolled into victory lane. It wasn't until a few minutes after the finish that Castroneves was declared the winner, after officials had time to review the photo finish.

Dixon's championship was certainly worthy of priase, but both the League and TV broadcast seemed to ignore the fact that Castroneves won the race. With such a close finish, it might have been prudent to wait until the winner was officially announced, before pushing cars into victory lane.

-It was a fitting end to 2008 as Dixon and Castroneves battled for the win, and the league denying Helio a true victory celebration.

-Onto 2009...Hopefully Indy Car racing can build on their momentum from 2008 and continue on the long road back.

And Finally...

Just another six months until it's sprint car season in Nebraska. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy some Cornhusker football and spending time with my wife!