Running Wide Open

The Rock ready to rumble again

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:33:25 GMT

The most important and interesting stock car race this weekend won't be at Richmond International Raceway, where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races Saturday night. It will be a few hundred miles south in the sand hills of North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.

After four years of relative silence, Rockingham Speedway will reopen its doors to thousands of race fans and fifty ARCA cars and drivers. Just like old times, the Carolina 500 will start at noon and have a national television audience via Speed Channel.

With the rest of the big time American racing series taking Sunday off, Rockingham, known by race fans and drivers as The Rock, will once again take center stage.

But is The Rock, which NASCAR abandoned in 2004 for a second race at Texas Motor Speedway, ready to put its best foot forward? Track owner Andy Hillenburg thinks so.

"I feel like we're well prepared for the race this weekend," Hillenburg said earlier this week. "We're looking forward to making engine noise at Rockingham again."

When Hillenburg, a former ARCA champion, race team owner and operator of a Charlotte-based driving school, bought Rockingham at auction last November, it seemed unlikely that the track could be race-ready six months later.

But here the 43-year-old track stands, ready to start writing a new chapter on Sunday.

"We're expecting a stellar field and a tremendous crowd," Hillenburg said. "I think we're going to make some history."

Rockingham faded into history in 2003 and 2004 when it could not draw 50,000 to watch NASCAR's premier division. With tracks like Texas, Charlotte and Daytona drawing crowds near 200,000 at the same time, many believed that Rockingham -- tucked away an hour from nowhere in rural North Carolina -- was a dead market.

After racing at Rockingham for 39 years, NASCAR pulled up its stakes and moved west, leaving the track behind to rot away.

Four years later, Hillenburg is singing a different tune about the communities around the speedway, and he believes that a strong walk-up crowd could fill all 32,000 seats the track has. If that's the case, Hillenburg believes more racing series will come knocking. There may even be a return of a NASCAR series down the road.

This weekend, he said, will go a long way to show The Rock's capabilities.

"We want to expand our schedule to three to five races, but a lot depends on how we do this weekend," Hillenburg said. "We've got to prove ourselves to get more dates. I think we're ready."

Kinsey wedges way to victory, Crouse wins again

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:16:26 GMT

Dave Kinsey led all 30 laps in the $1,000-to-win Pepsi Challenge Hobby Stock race Friday night at Ocala Speedway, but that's not to say he wasn't challenged. Kinsey held off David Miller over the last five laps, driving Miller into the infield to stay in front and take the win.

"I was just holding on for dear life," Kinsey said afterward. "It was an exciting last couple of laps, but we maintained."

Miller looked to have the strongest car and came from the back of the 24-car field to the front after spinning on the second lap. By lap 14, he had survived a handful of cautions to move up to second position.

Kinsey moved lower and lower on the racing groove as the laps wound down and Miller closed in. With two laps to go, Miller edged his car underneath Kinsey as the two drove into turn three. Kinsey refused to budge, forcing Miller onto the dirt bank on the apron of the track.

Miller regained control and finished second, but Kinsey made no apologies for the winning move.

"I wasn't going to give him the bottom," Kinsey said. "We were going to have to tear the bodies off these cars before that happened."

CROUSE WINS AGAIN

Jeff Matthews appeared to have the fastest modified in Friday's feature, but Roger Crouse proved again that the fastest car doesn't always win the race.

Crouse used late caution flags to reel in Matthews and made the winning pass with two laps to go to take his second win this season at Ocala Speedway.

"We put a crate motor in the car, and I had a little less horsepower than everyone else," Crouse said. "But I kept my pace up and everyone came back to me."

At one point, Matthews had opened up a full straightaway lead on second place, but he faded in the closing laps and gave up the lead to finish second.

"The track got really dry and we just lost traction," Matthews said. "We got to get better when that happens."

The Professor schools the field at Ocala Speedway

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:45:21 GMT

It may have taken him longer than he wanted, but Ocala’s Ivedent Lloyd found a familiar place Friday night at Ocala Speedway. After a ten-year hiatus, Lloyd was back in track’s victory lane.

“We’d been working on this new car for a bit, and we got it running real good,” Lloyd said after winning the 25-lap late model feature. Rich Pratt finished second and Mike Bresnahan fell from an early lead to third.

Lloyd started near the rear of the 16-car field but found himself running third by lap 9. On lap 10, Lloyd used a lap car as a pick to pass Bresnahan and J.O. Nobles to take the lead. He led the remaining laps, surviving two late-race restarts and a late charge from Pratt.

“Running second to him is almost like a win,” Pratt said about Lloyd. “He’s the benchmark, but we’ve made big gains over the last few times we were here.”

Longtime asphalt ace Wayne Anderson brought his dirt late model to the track to make his debut, but he did not make a competition lap. During practice, Anderson spun on the slick surface and backed his car into the retaining wall.

Drivers afterward continued to talk about the track surface, which by the end of the evening became dry and tabletop slick.

“It’s slick and slow, but you can run side-by-side on it,” Lloyd said. “It definitely makes the racing pretty exciting.”

Meet me at the races

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:05:16 GMT

Let's say I'm a little lonely, hypothetically of course. I hang around racetracks and go about my business, but I come home to an empty apartment.

Remember, this is hypothetical.

Nevertheless, there are a lot of single race fans out there, race fans who may want to find that special someone with a similar passion. If you're into online dating, big sites like eHarmony and Match.com don't have any exact criteria for one Jeff Gordon fan looking for another.

For those looking to find romance at a race, Steve Agins has created a special place for that special someone. Meetmeattheraces.com, which debuted in February, welcomes those single, lonely race fans who want the love of their life to share in the real love of their life.

"This has been something I've been thinking about for a long time," Agins said. "You go to Daytona and there's 168,000 devoted motorsport lovers there, and you don't know who to talk to.

"I wanted to find a like-minded woman who enjoyed what I enjoyed."

Agins said the completely free service has attracted about 100 members so far without any advertising. On Monday, he'll start a marketing campaign with hopes of gaining a few thousand more members by the end of summer.

Instead of focusing on typical personality traits, meetmeattheraces.com asks profile questions about what kind of motorsports each member favors and what NASCAR races they will be attending.

"NASCAR says there are 75 million fans, and half of them are single at any given time," Agins said. "We're looking for the diehards."

Since I am going to the NASCAR races in Darlington, S.C., next month and have an extra ticket, I decided to give this site a try.

"Some people say I look like Kyle Busch, but that's not right," I wrote in my summary. "I'm better looking, and he has approximately $20 million more than I do. I guess it's about a push."

Almost instantly, I had 14 matches. Fantastic. Could my new love be just a click away?

Maybe not.

Seven of my 14 matches were over 35 years old, so they were officially out of the running. Christa in Alabama doesn't have children but likes to dance and ride roller coasters - two things I'm not really down with. Opieli88 in Maryland seems to be a big Dale Earnhardt fan and likes to travel - for the record, I love to travel - but she has four kids.

Then I saw jessy4luv, and I was in love already. We're the same age and we both enjoy traveling, especially to NASCAR races. Be still my heart.

Her summary just said, "I love u," 33 times. Of course, that's how many cars start the Indianapolis 500 every year.

But open-wheel racing really isn't my thing. And she's from New York. My family would kill me.

NASCAR goes back in time at Martinsville

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:07:39 GMT

This is a good weekend to be a NASCAR fan, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.

There are really only two racetracks left in NASCAR that stand as a living piece of the past: Darlington and Martinsville. But to gauge what NASCAR was like when it started up 60 years ago, there is no better gateway than the 62-year-old half-mile paperclip in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

While other older tracks like Bristol, Daytona and Charlotte (Lowe's) have all been gutted and rebuilt, parts of Martinsville Speedway still look like they are from another time and place. Race fans walking into the facility may as well be walking back into a simpler time in NASCAR.

Maybe it's because the track isn't as shiny and refined as others, or maybe it's because the facility only seats 65,000, but talk creeps up every year that Martinsville is in danger of losing one of its two NASCAR race dates. Detractors of the place have a valid argument.

Yes, there are other racetracks on the schedule that could draw a bigger crowd if given one of Martinsville's dates. Yes, Martinsville is a logistical nightmare with a complete lack of hotels, corporate hospitality space and four-star restaurants.

But Martinsville has something that no other track on the NASCAR schedule does: a birthright. Martinsville is the only operating track left from the original NASCAR schedule. To disregard that would be no better than a rich and selfish man disregarding his own grandfather.

The biggest racing series in America has every right to leave the small Appalachian track behind, but it shouldn't. Just as the Red Sox still play baseball in Fenway Park and Green Bay Packers still throw the pigskin around in Lambeau Field, race fans still get to watch their favorite drivers slam each other around Martinsville Speedway.

I hope they always do.

Monday Observations: The Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:29:22 GMT

Three years from now when Toyota dominates NASCAR like no other manufacturer, historians will remember that the manufacturer’s first step toward Sprint Cup supremacy came on a chilly day in Atlanta.

They will all remember Kyle Busch as the driver who got the foreign automaker its first cup victory. They may even remember him as the driver who earned Toyota its first championship.

Seriously, who is better than Kyle Busch right now? He’s already built a sizeable points lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and shows no signs of letting up. In fact, had a right front tire not blown out in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, he would have swept all three weekend events.

Though he says he doesn’t like the Car of Tomorrow, the car fits his driving style perfectly. The kid (he is just 22 years old) drove all 500 miles at Atlanta on Sunday with the back end of the car stepping out of line. I don’t think there’s another driver in the cup garage who could have done the same.

That’s why he’s a winner, and that’s why he’ll win a lot more this year.

Tire problems? Really?

Did anyone hear Tony Stewart bashing Goodyear after Sunday’s race. He wasn’t alone in his criticism, but he was certainly the most vocal.

In case you missed it, Stewart complained that the tire compound was too hard and hence caused the cars to handle badly around the 1.5-mile track.

Note to drivers: You control the steering wheel and the gas pedal, and you get paid millions of dollars to handle both to the best of your abilities. If the tires aren’t good, deal with it. You can always drive a little slower.

Just because a car is capable of going 190 mph doesn’t mean you have to push the car to that limit every lap. Remember, this is racing, and racing is not supposed to be easy and comfortable.

I don’t want drivers to feel comfortable when they race around at high speeds. That’s what separates the good from the bad. It’s really just a math equation: How hard can you push your car without going over the edge?

The best answer wins the race.

Williams wins first race on Ocala Speedway's new dirt surface

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:51:36 GMT

ZUBER – Shane Williams played spoiler to Ivedent Lloyd’s homecoming, all while writing his name in Ocala Speedway history. Williams held off all challengers to win the $3000-to-win United Dirt Late Model feature, the first dirt race at Ocala since 1995.

“That was some great racing there with Ivedent,” Williams said in victory lane. “We just got better as the race went on.”

Williams and Lloyd traded the lead back and forth during the middle stages of the 40-lap feature, but Williams pulled away when the two encountered lap traffic. Lloyd finished second with Mark Whitener, Jeff Matthews and Shan Smith rounding out the top five.

“I got a little tight at the end there, and we just killed the tires,” Lloyd said.

Smith led a full field of 26 late model stock cars to the green flag, but it didn’t take long for the caution flag to wave. On the opening lap, Bill Howard lost control of his car entering turn 3. Howard’s car spun across the track and into the path of the majority of the field. The crash took five cars out of the race.

Williams moved up early from his sixth starting position and took the lead from Smith on lap 8. But Lloyd battled his way to second by lap 13 and spent the next 10 laps stalking Williams for the lead.

After a caution for a stalled car, the two leaders battled side by side for another 10 laps. Lloyd passed Williams on the high side on lap 27, but Williams rallied back to take the lead on lap 29. He then pulled away as the leaders negotiated slower lap traffic.

The new Ocala Speedway surface faced a full night’s test for the first time and received mixed reviews from drivers afterward. But both Lloyd and Williams agreed the surface will improve as more races are run.

“The track came up pretty bad, but I’m sure that will be fixed,” Williams said. “I think this place will get better and better the more we race on it.”

Ocala Speedway's takes gamble on surface switch

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:42:54 GMT

You can feel the optimism and octane in the air as Ocala Speedway opens up for the 2008 season tonight. It's an optimism that hasn't been around the 3/8-mile oval for quite some time.

Ocala Speedway isn't just another small town bullring. The track happens to be the oldest in the state, even older than Daytona. If that doesn't give the place a little prestige, the track owners want to make sure it gets a little more.

The short track racing industry is a dying one, and it's been dying for some time. Cars are expensive to build and maintain, fuel and tire costs are high, and track insurance rates have skyrocketed. The general trend for any track in Florida is for both car and fan counts to go down.

That trend will be bucked tonight at Ocala Speedway, but only because track owners Mike Peters and Angie Clifton challenged the status quo. The two decided to put 350 truckloads of dirt onto the asphalt track in hopes of reinvigorating the driver and fan base.

So far, the risk looks like it's paid off. Peters has 52 late models pre-registered for tonight's $3,000-to-win United Dirt Late Model Challenge Series race. To put that in perspective, the track's premier race last year, the $5,000-to-win Powell Memorial, brought in 26 late models.

That's the same number as the number of drivers who won't qualify for tonight's feature. Talk about a quality field.

As successful as tonight may be, this won't be the measuring stick for success Ocala Speedway achieves this year. The real question will present itself next week, when the weekly classes race without a special event. What will the car counts and grandstands look like in July when the newness of dirt racing has worn off?

I think they'll look pretty good, pretty full, showing proof that the racing industry has gone full circle.

When the first rash of short tracks started popping up in the South, all of them were dirt tracks. Then NASCAR started getting popular and local tracks followed suit. That meant the dirt was covered by asphalt, and stock cars began looking more like race cars.

But now, asphalt racing doesn't work anymore. Local drivers - most of them, at least - can't afford $200 tires, fancy suspension pieces and race engines. The product of single-file parades with the fastest cars leading is no longer appealing to the average race fan.

Dirt racing, by contrast, is a little cheaper for drivers because they don't have to blow money on new tires and big engines to compete. Cars can run anywhere on the racetrack and pass each other. Track promoters can pay out smaller purses because dirt racers don't spend as much money.

Peters saw the trend and made this permanent change. Will it be a change for the better?

I can't wait to find out.

Joe VanHoose may be reached at joe.vanhoose@starbanner.com or 352-867-4124.

A look back at Daytona

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:21:24 GMT

Was anybody else surprised about who won the 50th Daytona 500? Better question: did you wake up last Sunday thinking that Ryan Newman would win the Great American Race?

I didn't. Unless you're a big Newman fan, you didn't either.

Last Saturday when I was writing about each driver in the 500 field, I wrote this little gem:

"Ryan Newman. Why he can win: Showed strength on Thursday (in the qualifying races). Why he can't win: Not enough friends at the front."

On the last lap, Newman didn't need a lot of friends. He had the only one that mattered -- his teammate Kurt Busch -- giving him a "push from heaven" to get by Tony Stewart to take the win.

Forget that Kyle Busch led almost half the race and had the dominant car. Forget that Stewart was in perfect position to win the biggest race he hasn't won. Forget that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had won everything else during Speedweeks.

Just remember Newman or, better yet, Newman's dad. Did anyone else get choked up listening to the father -- tears falling, voice rising -- talk his son to the finish on the last lap?

Just another great moment in a race that has more great moments than any other.

Newman won, fair and square

For the two of you who called me this week to protest that Newman did not win the race, let it go. Yes, NASCAR has a rule that the winning car must cross the finish line under its own power.

And yes, Newman's car was definitely under power when it got pushed to the lead from Busch on the backstretch.

There is no conspiracy here, I promise.

Meet Kyle Busch and a hero

I had the thrill of my life on Daytona 500 media day when I got to meet one of my heroes, Ken Squier. While fans sought after names like Earnhardt, Stewart and Waltrip, I made a B-line toward the NASCAR broadcasting pioneer.

This man was a founding father of the Motor Racing Network and was the voice of the Daytona 500 on CBS from 1979 to 1997. In 1998, he interviewed the late Dale Earnhardt in victory lane.

Now he stood in front of me, just 10 feet away. I had to talk to him.

I walked up and after a little small talk said, "Mr. Squier, I had to tell you that you're the reason I'm here today."

"Well," Squier replied. "That's a pretty lousy reason. I guess we all have our faults."

Yes, but Ken Squier is as close to perfect as anyone to ever pick up a microphone.

Friday morning before the race, I too found out what it was like to be a celebrity. Walking by a bunch of race fans toward the Daytona International Speedway media center, one woman reached out with a Sharpie and a hat.

"Can I have your autograph?" She asked.

"Sure," I said, figuring she really liked my column. Before I knew it though, more and more people were handing me programs, T-shirts and hats to sign.

"You do realize who I am," I said to the growing crowd.

"Yeah," one woman said. "You're Kyle Busch."

Nope.

"Well, sign it anyway," she replied. "My friends won't know the difference."

I guess Kyle and I do look a little alike. We're both blessed with pale skin, a goofy smile, and a desire to be notorious.

Good enough for me.

Live from the Daytona 500

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:01:40 GMT

Check here for live updates from Daytona, including a lap-by-lap recap of the race.

Live from Daytona: Camping World 300

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:39:54 GMT

Check here for live lap-by-lap updates from Daytona International Speedway, including Daytona 500 final practice.

Live from Daytona: The Gatorade Duels

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:30:17 GMT

Check here for live lap-by-lap updates from the Gatorade Duel qualifying races.

Plenty of storylines at Daytona this week

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:14:34 GMT

DAYTONA BEACH – NASCAR is back at the beach this week, but the feeling in the Florida air is a little different.

What’s different? Plenty.

For one, the stars of NASCAR will race the 50^th annual Daytona 500 next Sunday. The occasion has brought all of the race’s former winners – names like Petty, Pearson, Foyt and Allison – back to the World Center of Racing. It’s hard to walk through the paddock and not see a living racing legend.

Secondly, this is the first Speedweeks featuring NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow. If last year’s race at Talladega is any indication of what the racing this week will be like, there might not be much to watch.

But race teams have had all winter to tweak these race cars for this race. I bet the racing will be just fine.

Reflections from NASCAR Media Day

I can’t really figure out the purpose of media day, and I can’t really figure out why all the drivers have to dress in their sponsor-covered fire suits for media day.

Apparently, if Jeff Gordon wasn’t wearing his orange and blue DuPont suit, he could pass by any reporter like another face in the crowd.

Nevertheless, all the drivers paraded through an endless line of reporters and said the same old things on radio and television interviews. Everyone except for Kyle Petty.

Petty was asked by some crazy guy with a recorder if NASCAR drivers would have wanted to be on the old pony express.

“No,” he replied, rather awkwardly. “They don’t pay enough.”

The perils of Pole Day and qualifying races

The Daytona 500 starting field forms like no other NASCAR race. To keep it simple, the cars qualify on Sunday, and the top two qualifiers are locked in. The fastest couple of cars that are outside the top 35 in last years point standings are also locked in. Everyone else races their way in to the show in Thursday’s qualifying races, but the top 35 in last year’s point standings are automatically guaranteed a starting spot.

Did you follow that?

Dale Jarrett, who has no guaranteed spot in the race he’s won three times, says Sunday’s qualifying is critical.

“Sunday’s a huge day,” he said. “You want to get yourself a position and a time down if something bad happens on Thursday.”

Update from Ocala Speedway

How successful was the first dirt track practice at Ocala Speedway last Saturday? The pit area had to be extended.

In all, 153 cars and drivers showed up to take their first laps on the new 3/8-mile clay oval. From what I’ve heard, the feedback was great.

Plus, the pre-entry list for the Feb. 29 season opening late model race is already 40 names long. To put that in perspective, only 28 cars showed up for the Powell Memorial last year.

It should be a dandy.

North Florida Speedway Speedweeks Report

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 15:19:08 GMT

"Fast" Freddy Rahmer wins the All Star 410 feature.

Speedweeks begin this week

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:25:06 GMT

NASCAR fans who call themselves race fans think that Speedweeks starts in Daytona with the Bud Shootout and Daytona 500. That's fine.

But race fans know Speedweeks and the racing season starts tonight and in the coming week, not in Daytona but at a few local tracks across the state.

This year, North Florida Speedway starts off Speedweeks tonight and tomorrow with the biggest of dirt track draws: the 410 sprint cars of the All Stars Circuit of Champions series. They'll join forces with the UMP Modifieds for a two-day show at the Lake City track before heading off to Volusia Raceway Park and East Bay Raceway.

If you've never seen sprint cars race on dirt, do yourself a favor and go. These 750-horsepower hot rods sling around these dirt tracks faster than any other short track car. There is truly no other show quite like them, and this one-of-a-kind show visits North Florida Speedway for the first time this weekend.

"It's going to be a very fast track," said All Stars Circuit of Champions spokesman Larry Boos. "I know we'll have a nice talented field, so the racing should be great."

Bringing in the big name series is the next step North Florida promoters Phil and Liz Guadagno took to revitalize the track. Once considered the worst facility in Florida, the Guadagnos have turned the place around in just a few years. In fact, KARNAC, the unofficial Florida short track racing headquarters, named the two the 2007 Florida Short Track Promoters of the Year.

Ocala Speedway: This could be a big deal

I'm not one for predictions, but Mike Peters will win the Promoter of the Year award in 2008. In one off-season, this guy has turned the Ocala oval from a ho-hum asphalt track to what could become one of the premier dirt tracks in the state.

Ocala Speedway's pre-entry list for its Feb. 29 opening night late model race is already 40 names long. Not even the $5,000-to-win Powell Memorial drew that many cars when the track was asphalt.

How big of a deal could this be? Rumor has it that every track promoter in the state will be at Ocala Feb. 29. So will I.

This is dumb

I have no doubts that Steve Wallace is a good racecar driver. Heck, he's the son of Rusty Wallace, a Winston Cup Champion and winner of 55 NASCAR races.

But, my goodness, he likes to tear racecars up. Usually he does this on the racetrack. Last week while testing at Daytona, he wrecked trying to get on the racetrack.

This NASCAR quality driver hits a steel pole as he was leaving the garage area to go onto the 2.5-mile track. This guy was about to hit speeds of 190 mph but he couldn't handle driving 30 mph in the pits. How safe is that?

"Sometimes you do the most embarrassing stuff you ever thought you'd do in your life, he said, “and today was it."

No, leaving your shoe untied is embarrassing. Getting some cilantro stuck in your teeth when you're eating a burrito is embarrassing. Smashing into a steel pole hard enough to total the car while you're driving around the pits -- where, by the way, there are tons of officials and spectators walking around innocently -- is stupid and careless.

It's kind of funny too.

Asphalt racing ace to race on Ocala's dirt

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:22:39 GMT

Wayne Anderson will race at Ocala Speedway next season.

Taking a ride with Reutimann

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:04:14 GMT

I went for a drive with the NASCAR star, and I'm still alive.

The first rear-engine dragster, really

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:57:14 GMT

Back in August I sat down with “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and toured his museum. Inside his museum sits what is considered the “First Successful Rear-Engine Dragster,” the Swamp Rat built in 1971.

After running the story, I received an e-mail claiming that this car was not the first successful rear-engine dragster. The same man who wrote me the day after the story published just sent me a packet with the real first successful rear-engine dragster, the 1963 Israeli Rocket built by Leroy Goldstein.

This car was built from the ground up and ran on a gasoline-powered Oldsmobile engine. It had no rear wing but did incorporate rack and pinion steering, aircraft front wheels and spherical rod ends to make the car handle better. The car ran the quarter-mile in about eight seconds, topping out around 170 m.p.h.

Impressive, indeed, but it didn’t change the face of drag racing and set the tone for what racecars we see today. The full sentence I wrote about Garlits’ dragster reads, “He also designed the first successful rear-engine dragster in 1971, the model that all modern dragsters are based on.”

The Israeli Rocket ran mostly in Florida and, while it earned top eliminator honors at Palm Beach International Raceway, neither the car nor the driver achieved national status. Want proof that this car didn’t have a big enough effect?

This car raced in 1963. Garlits’ car raced in 1971. The big names in drag racing followed with their own rear-engine cars in 1971 and ’72.

So, yes, this car raced successfully long before Garlits’ Swamp Rat took to the strip. But when Garlits’ car took to the strip and won everywhere, the racing nation noticed.

His car might not have been the first successful rear-engine dragster, but it was more successful. I’ll take the latter any day.

Wrapping up a long racing season

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:23:09 GMT

The NASCAR season is over, and I am tired. So are a lot of you, according to the e-mails and calls I received about why you aren't watching the races anymore. Here are some reasons:

• "My main complaint is on the number of ads shown, particularly during green flag racing. NASCAR is getting so greedy even their own ads are being displayed while active racing is underway." Dick Wolfe, Ocala

• "It's just gotten a little boring, and the TV coverage is horrible. It's gotten to the point now that I listen on the radio if I listen at all." Anne Hamilton, Ocala

• "There's just too much talking on TV. Everything one person says, another one repeats. I don't care if I ever watch it on TV again." Harold Frederick, Ocala

It is clear that ESPN missed the mark on its return to NASCAR broadcasting this year. For Christmas, I wish that heads roll at the network so that when February comes around, Rusty Wallace and Jerry Punch are nowhere to be found.

But NASCAR has bigger problems than its TV coverage, regardless of what NASCAR Chairman Brian France may say. Ratings are down, grandstands aren't full, and the excitement is flat.

Next year brings with it the Car of Tomorrow, more Toyota teams, and a wealth of open-wheel drivers that know nothing of the clay bullrings of the South. Will these changes help? We'll see.

Bruton Smith called

When your phone rings at noon on an idle Wednesday, you don't expect the most powerful man in NASCAR to be on the other line. Nevertheless, I learned something about multibillionaire racetrack tycoon Bruton Smith Wednesday.

He returns phone calls.

Earlier this month, Smith acquired New Hampshire Speedway from Bob Bahre, and in doing so he also bought out Bahre's interest in North Wilkesboro Speedway. He still has no plans for the venerable North Carolina track.

"It's too much water over the dam," Smith said. "The place is returning to the earth so to speak. There's not a whole lot we could do with the place."

Except raise the sale price. The speedway went on sale earlier this year for $12 million. After no one stepped forward to buy the track, Smith has upped the asking price to $20 million. Since doing so, Smith says there's been interest in the facility.

"I don't know," Smith said, "but sometimes it works when you raise the value of something."

Fair enough. I still can't believe he called me. I'll never wash my ear again.

Cool the engines

Running Wide Open made it all the way through the 40-week racing season. Now that we're entering the holiday season, I'm going to take a little break.

Yes, it will be a little break. Speedweeks begins in 75 days. See you in February.

Heck, who am I kidding. Stay tuned to the blog page here for a few updates during the off season.

Ocala Speedway Division Champions

Late Models -- Dan Webster
Modifieds -- Robbie Cooper
Sportsman -- William Edwards
Street Stock -- Pete Close
V-8 Pure Stock -- Jessie Corbitt
4 Cylinder -- Justin Elwood
V-8 Rookies -- Guy Bucelo and Josh Brown
Figure 8 -- Larry Welter

The senior tour for stock car drivers

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:12:20 GMT

This is the coolest idea I've ever seen for a race series. I present to you the Old School Racing Champions Tour, which starts its 12-race schedule in May.

Gene and Norm Weaver's brainchild will put old-time stock car drivers in identically prepared cars, just like the defunct IROC series. They'll race at short tracks all over the Southeast, including a stop at New Smyrna Speedway in February 2009.

Check out some of the names that will race in this series: David Pearson, Jack Ingram, Harry Gant, Geoff Bodine, Dave Marcis, Phil Parsons, Derrike Cope and Andy Hillenburg. It's like a dream team of old NASCAR stars mixed in with a few who weren't worth too much to begin with.

As hyped as I am to see Pearson, who in my opinion is the best stock car driver of all time, I have some doubt as to whether this series will ever take a green flag. For one, Pearson is 72, and Gant and Marcis are both 67. Do these guys really need to be hauling it around a racetrack?

Then there's the "tentative" schedule, which starts in May, takes November through January off, and ends in February. That's a mess.

While the Champions Tour has been a success story for golf, let's not forget that driving a racecar requires a lot more physically and is inherently dangerous. All it would take to kill this series is an old driver to break a hip, something folks in their 60s do anyway.

But alas, I am again optimistic just by looking at the schedule. These guys will race everywhere from the dirt at Eldora to the hallowed grounds of Hickory and South Boston. Please, Weaver family, make this thing happen.
Racing back at 'The Rock'

The aforementioned Andy Hillenburg has locked up promoter of the year honors in my book, and his track hasn't hosted a race yet.

Hillenburg's track, Rockingham Speedway (formerly North Carolina Speedway), shouldn't even be around right now. Many in the racing community wrote off the one-mile high-banked oval when it lost its NASCAR dates in 2004. The track hasn't held a race since.

Hillenburg set out to change that when he bought the track for $4.4 million at auction last month. With the ink still drying on the contract, Hillenburg's already scheduled an ARCA race for May and a USAR race in November.

Everyone in the racetrack business will be watching Hillenburg's experiment. For years, it has been commonly believed that larger tracks could not sustain themselves without a NASCAR race, that no one would turn out to see a standalone "minor league" race without Nextel Cup's superstars.

But Hillenburg is making a go for it, and I think the racing-starved population in the sand hills of North Carolina will support him. I've already bought my tickets.
Sprint cars everywhere

If you like winged sprint cars, this weekend is for you. The TBARA will race at Ocala Speedway Friday night and at Citrus County Speedway Saturday evening. If you're a dirt sprint car fan, East Bay Raceway in Tampa hosts a two-day ASCS sprint car show tomorrow and Saturday.

If you're at Ocala Speedway tomorrow, keep an eye on the flagpole during the sprint car feature. The vortex those cars create is strong enough to wrap the flag around its pole several times. In a word, cool.