Nobody Asked Me But...

Nobody Asked Me But...

By Brad Vores March 6, 2008

Nobody asked me but…

Did anyone really think that Lincoln Speedway would not race last Saturday. Lincoln makes every effort to get races in and luckily, the wet stuff stayed just north of the Pigeon Hills Friday night.

What a difference a year makes with track conditions for the opener. Last year the track was extremely rough but this year, only a hole or two in turn four turned out to be an obstacle.

Fred Putney is still the master of providing top notch racing surfaces, not only in Central PA but most likely anywhere in the country for that matter. I hope he gets paid decent!

It was nice to see Niki Young score the Icebreaker 30 win. Young is one of the nicest guys in the pits and while not a big winner, he still has a big fan following at Lincoln. He drove a nice race.

Young drives for one of the nicest car owners in the pits as well. Car owner Denny Neiderer has been around the sport a long time and deserves to win races.

Like him or not, Fred Rahmer’s drive through the field in the feature on Saturday was brilliant. But no one raced him as hard as Greg Hodnett did and that was as far as Rahmer advanced after losing the battle with Hodnett in turn three. But it was good clean racing.

I said it a few weeks back and I’ll say it again, the J & S Fabrication No. 22 team will be Port Royal Speedway regulars this season on Saturday nights. No matter what anyone says, losing Hodnett at Lincoln is a big blow no doubt about it for the track.

It’s neat to see Cris Eash back behind the wheel of the No. 17E sprint car. Eash will win a race or two this year.

It’s amazing to see how many drivers have apparel for sale on opening day. It’s definitely a big business for some drivers.

Williams Grove Speedway lost a real nice day for early March on Sunday. The track turned out to be unfit Sunday morning after the snow on Friday night. Hopefully they get things worked out and are able to present a good show this weekend.

The 28 car count at Lincoln was good for opening day but the crowd was probably the smallest one in the last several years for the opener.

It will be interesting to see if the state of the economy will have any outcome on race crowds and car counts this season. Opening day was cold but there’s been colder race days and bigger crowds.

It seems Hagerstown Speedway’s late model car count was down on opening day as well.

With the World of Outlaws off this weekend, hopefully we get to see Lucas Wolfe turning some laps on the local front. Wolfe won’t get much action in Central PA this season.

We didn’t like to see the likes of Doug Dodson and John Westbrook get torn up at Lincoln on Saturday. Doug Esh also turned over but was able to continue.

I am sure Lance Dewease left Lincoln disappointed. His showing wasn’t very impressive. Hopefully he can turn up the wick on the All Star tour.

Niki Young is the early leader in Speed Dawg points but when it comes down to it, only Rahmer and Hodnett will have a chance at winning the championship at seasons end.

It will be cool to see the “Chip car” of Keith Kauffman on the track this Sunday at Williams Grove. Kauffman’s car was a show stopper during the offseason with the new wrap chip design.

Brian Leppo made some good moves in the feature at Lincoln and finished third. Leppo fell back as far as fifth during the feature and actually was up to second at one point before getting high and losing the spot back to Mark Smith.

PIT STOPS
Jason Meyers became the first repeat winner on the World of Outlaws tour this season after winning Saturday’s A-Main at Manzanita Speedway in Arizona. Meyers started fifth and took the win over polesitter Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart, Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky. Lucas Wolfe finished 11th. The Outlaws have already cancelled next weekend’s two day show at Tennessee’s Volunteer Speedway due to track conditions…

Rick Eckert picked up the $2,000 win and a guaranteed starting spot for the Octoberfest 350 with his opening day late model win last week at Hagerstown Speedway. Eckert’s win came over Roy Deese, Jr., Josh Richards, Dan Stone and Jim Yoder. Brett Hearn won the big block modified feature. The track is back Saturday with late models and small block modifieds…

Trail-Way Speedway opens up next weekend, March 15 with Micro sprints. The track will use Sunday as a raindate for the Saturday show…

Fred Rahmer turned 50 over the weekend. He is now eligible for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. No doubt Rahmer gets the nod in 2009...

Lincoln is back this Saturday with Sprints and the Lawrence Chevrolet Spring Thaw for the thundercars. Race time is 2pm…