ASCS Midwest @ I-80

OK, I did a little venting and now I feel better. I already addressed the issues facing last night's show, so in this post I'd rather talk about some sprint car racing.

-Brian Brown looked like his old, dominating self, winning the feature over runner-up Jack Dover, Jonathan Cornell, Doug Lovegrove and Don Droud Jr. There's something about running here in Nebraska that seems to up Brown's level.

If they're able to run at JMS this evening, I think it'll be tough to beat Brown and his #21 Super Clean car.

-I believe last night may have been the first time Doug Lovegrove ran I-80 Speedway since his vicious crash at the same event back in 2006. Lovegrove continues to build on a solid season behind the wheel, winning the heat race and starting on the pole for the A feature.

When the checkers fell, Lovegrove came home in a respectible fourth. He ran a pretty conservative race, and looked fast. His crew chief has said all year he wanted to see that car run on a big track, and I'd say they should feel pretty good about how the car ran.

-It was sure nice of the late model folks to volunteer to run their feature before the sprints. It was also nice of them to leave so much cushion for the sprints.

-You had to be brave last night to run the top. The cushion was pretty much on the outside wall, and several times I saw Jack Dover and Brian Brown slap the concrete and bounce off. It would take some nerve to stay in the throttle.

-Dover gave the Swenson 24A car a great run last night. He did manage to take the lead over Brown during the middle stages of the race, but just wasn't as strong and settled for second. You can definitely see how confident Dover is. Running as many times as he does has really sharpened his skills.

-Jonathan Cornell is a furture star. The kid has some serious talent.

-Chad Humston is fast in Mark Burch's 1M "Banana Wagon" but looked to be trying a little too hard during his heat race. He was unable to finish his heat and forced to run the B. He won that, started 18th in the A and raced his way to a sixth place finish.

I'm glad Humston is back in sprint cars, and I'm glad that the 1M is back to running up front.

-I was reminded again last night that late models and sprints just don't mix. It's like oil and water. Probably because late models think they're on the same level as sprint cars.

Of course, I'm sure late model drivers and fans feel the same way about sprint cars.

Tonight, Moses Motor Company presents the ASCS Midwest 360's at Junction Motor Speedway. Start time is 7:30. Hope to see ya there!