Gambling in Mississippi and My 2nd Annual Snowball Derby Trip Recap

For the second straight year, my late fall trip south has been completed without delays, and with quite excellent weather and some exciting racing!

This year the week began in Mississippi, as I used a prize package I won earlier in the year for a three day, two night stay in Biloxi. The town is very clean and safe and the casinos are state of the art, but it is evident that they are still rebuilding after the tragic events as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Maybe it was because I was there early in the week rather than the weekend, but many of the casinos were not very populated. Most of the poker rooms only had a handful of tables playing and the tournament I played in only had thirty-some players enter. Although I had a great time, luck was not on my side. Let's just say that the only profit I made in any session was $2.50 on a video poker machine. It would be neat to see in a few years how the town develops, hopefully barring any further roadblocks from mother nature.

From Wednesday on, it was time for me to travel to Pensacola for the 44th Annual Snowball Derby festivities. Once again, it was a superb time. Wednesday night was the Green Flag Party where fans can roam around the pit area and watch crews go to work in preparation for the next day's practice sessions. Also featured this year was the qualifying draw for both the Snowball Derby and the Snowflake 100 pro late model race, as well as some live music.

Thursday night was the Fast Eddie's Snowball Showdown at the local go-kart track and entertainment center, which featured a media race, drivers race and then heat races for the main event where fans could compete against the drivers and media for a very small fee. For the second straight year, I proved that I am not a race car driver after failing to qualify through my heat after three attempts. Although it was very brief, standing next to the eventual winner of the Snowball Derby and more than likely a future NASCAR star is indescribable and probably something that an ordinary race fan does not have an opportunity to experience just about anywhere else.

Friday was the site of Snowball Derby qualifying and the local Super Stock and Modified division features. I had the chance to witness 19-time late model winner in 2011 Bubba Pollard qualify on the pole and break a track record set by Gary Balough several years ago. The Super Stock and Modified races were unlike last year's crashfest and completed within a few hours with some decent racing.

Saturday featured qualifying for the Snowflake 100, last chance races for the Snowball Derby and Snowflake and the Snowflake 100 lap feature. The first 75 laps of the Snowflake were phenomenal and showed that these were some of the best pro late model drivers in the country. Then the last 25 laps occurred. The first 75 laps took less than an hour to complete, but after caution after caution the remainder of the race took about an hour and a half to conclude. For instance, there was so much attrition that 2010 race winner Chase Elliott finished fifth with no front end. Through it all, Augie Grill stayed out of trouble out front to become the first driver to win two Snowflake 100s and two Snowball Derbys.

Sunday's prestigious 300 lap race kicked off with some exciting green flag racing throughout the first half of the race. A mid-race incident took some of the top competitors out of contention. Chase Elliott was also involved, but managed to stay on the lead lap. The scariest moment of the race was with only a handful of laps to go when a multi-car wreck involved Derek Thorn, who's team traveled 36 hours from California to make the race, when his car clipped another car and flipped across turn one. Luckily he was okay. This was believed to be the first super late model at Five Flags Speedway to do such a thing. This set up a thrilling five lap dash to the finish between Elliott, who worked his way back to the front, and local driver D.J. Vanderley. The two raced side by side until the last turn of the last lap, resulting in Elliott winning by the smallest margin in Snowball Derby history.

It was certainly one if not the most exciting finishes of the year, and made it for me a requirement to work on coordinating getting a group together so I can make it to my third Snowball Derby in 2012. It was very nice catching up with old friends and meeting some new friends during the week, and I would recommend to anyone to go see this event at least once in their life. There is also so much to do in the area: Pensacola beach, downtown Pensacola, Naval Aviation Museum and nearby towns and beaches such as Mobile and Gulf Shores, Alabama just to name a few. I uploaded videos from just about every day of the week and they can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/ajcrdstr24.

Now I count down the days until the Atlantic City Indoor Races in the new year. Until then, have an excellent Festivus and see you in 2012!

44th Annual Snowball Derby (Sunday)

Highlights from Sunday's running of the 44th Annual Snowball Derby, including the thrilling last laps!

 

44th Annual Snowball Derby (Saturday)

Snowball Derby 50 Last Chance Race, Snowflake 100 Qualifying and Last Chance Races.

Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model race.

44th Annual Snowball Derby (Friday)

Highlights from Friday's action, including Snowflake 100 practice, Super Stock, Modified and Snowball Derby qualifying and Super Stock and Modified 50 lap features.

44th Annual Snowball Derby (Thursday)

Some footage from the first practice sessions during Snowball Derby weekend, and some footage from the 12th Annual Fast Eddie's Snowball Showdown.

44th Annual Snowball Derby (Wednesday)

Green Flag Party which took place Wednesday night at Five Flags Speedway, including the Twisted Tea Qualifying Draw and live music from the Wayne Mills Band (featuring Landon Cassill).

44th Annual Snowball Derby Preview

For a few years, my friend Andrew and I have been making picks for the annual 300 lap Snowball Derby super late model race and 100 lap Snowflake pro late model race at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. This year we decided to make a video and share our picks with everyone!

 

This Is Not The New 1992, Plus The Final 2011 Trip Preview

What Stewart has accomplished in turning around the former Haas CNC Racing team in such a short time is remarkable, but it still does not even compare to what Alan Kulwicki accomplished in 1992. Stewart has aligned himself with some phenomenal partners since day one, and it is obvious that some of the support came from those around him in these concluding races. I’m not throwing Stewart or his team under the bus as he is one of the most talented and versatile drivers we have seen in recent history. However, there is no argument that Stewart himself, the group from Haas Automation as well as many other corporate sponsors and the assistance from Hendrick Motorsports had already been established and had the luxury of investing a vast amount of funds in order to prepare for this moment. I do not consider Stewart an owner/driver. In my mind, he is a driver/partner.

The last owner/driver champion, Alan Kulwicki, turned a college education and impressive driving skills at the local level into a NASCAR championship in less than a decade. Clearly he gathered the support from a well-rounded team and highly engaged sponsors along the way, but he did this with very little personal funds and without a teammate or satellite team’s expertise. Even if he had the opportunity to consult with similar teams in the garage it would not have been entirely possible, because those were the teams in which he had to race against for the championship in the end.

Going back to 2011, there’s no doubt that Sunday’s race had a phenomenal conclusion. There’s not much in racing that is more exciting than seeing two of the finest competitors push their cars to the limit in order to achieve the victory. The problem I still have is how the champion has been decided in recent years. From a statistical standpoint, some of the numbers just don’t make sense. Stewart earned the least number of top five finishes among champions since 1950 (back when they only had 19 races), which equates to only 25% of this year’s 36 races. I believe that the unique competition in auto racing is entirely different than most other sports, so why try to make it like several of the others and add a playoff format? These teams are competing in a 36+ week marathon to be the best in the sport. From my perspective, the driver that completes the season with the most consistency should be the champion and it’s highly doubtful that my opinion will ever come to any other conclusion.

Now I will be moving on in just over a week to see a race where no points, only bragging rights are involved: the 44th Annual Snowball Derby weekend at Five Flags Speedway. Before I head there I will be stopping in Biloxi, Mississippi for a few days as part of a trip I won a few months back. I’ll be checking out a few of the casinos, playing in a poker tournament and since I’m so close perhaps driving into Louisiana for the first time in my life. Then it will be off to Pensacola, Florida where for the second straight year I plan to attend many of the week's events leading up to the 300 lap race on Sunday. Five Flags Speedway holds 3 nights of supporting races as well as a green flag party on Wednesday night where fans can meet the drivers and listen to live music. There's also the Fast Eddie's Snowball Showdown on Thursday night where fans can race against some of the drivers in go-karts. Speed51.com kicks off the week's festivities on Tuesday night at the local Beef O' Brady's restaurant with a radio show featuring many of the drivers as guests.

I’m going to try and put together a Snowball Derby preview video beforehand if time permits, and plan to upload photos and videos nearly every day during the week. Stay tuned to http://www.youtube.com/ajcrdstr24!

North Carolina Never Ceases To Amaze Me

So much to see, so much to do and such friendly people.  Maybe I've just been fortunate, but that pretty much sums up my experiences in North Carolina to date.  I arrived at my hotel in Hickory early Thursday evening a few weekends ago and from then straight through the time I packed by bags and started heading back home on Sunday morning it was non-stop enjoyment, much like most of my previous trips but once again with a few added bonuses.

I had the opportunity to experience my first race from the pits on Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway with the ISCARS Dash Series and the Super Cup Stock Car Series.  I've had pit passes before, but only at small dirt tracks where the pits are on the outside of the track and major NASCAR events where you can only stay there for a particular period of time.  This was all access!  I had the chance to see the crews prepare their cars for the night's festivities, chat with a couple competitors, pose in a victory lane shot and see things from different vantage points such as the announcer's box and the passenger seat of the pace truck.  I couldn't thank the folks with ISCARS enough for the great time I had, and I look forward to attending more events hopefully in the pits in the near future!  Their PR guy was even gracious enough to show me around to some of the shops in the Concord area the day before.

Lots of positive and negative emotions have been involved during recent motorsports events.  I don't wish to go into detail, as I could probably talk all day perhaps restating many things that others have already mentioned.  However, I would like to say that my thoughts are with the families of those who have suffered losses in the racing industry recently.  Despite recent unfortunate events, I am optimistic that this "off-season" will move into even more of a positive direction when it comes to technology, research and overall safety throughout the sport.

Turning to the future, I hope someday I can put myself in a position to be located in the heart of stock car racing as closely as I can.  As with any of the above that I mentioned, patience must be a virtue not only visually but personally as well.  Until then, I'll continue working hard and enjoy the moments at home.

Originally, it looked like my last race of the year would have been this trip to North Carolina.  Fortunately, due to a trip I won playing cards I will be traveling south to take in some racing action once again...the deep south!  I am coordinating the two-night visit to Biloxi, Mississippi I acquired with the annual Snowball Derby events in Pensacola, Florida, which I had so much fun attending a year ago.  My next blog will highlight my plans in more detail.  Stay safe everyone!

Hickory Motor Speedway Video Footage

ISCARS 2011 Championship Night
October 1, 2011
Hickory Motor Speedway

100 lap feature for the Super Cup Stock Car Series.  At the end, race winner and 2011 champion Jody Harrison puts on quite the donut show!

50 and 100 lap features for the ASA-sanctioned International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series (ISCARS).  Includes footage from the announcer's booth, pits and even the pace truck!

Fortunate

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to compose a new blog post, mostly because I’ve spent most of my time recently working and traveling more than usual. During the minimal amount of down time I had during my latest travel to Dallas, Texas for a workshop last week, I've been reflecting a bit on the opportunities I’ve come across as well as the ability I’ve had to chase around my biggest hobby, which of course is auto racing. One word kept surfacing: fortunate. While timing, luck and circumstances certainly factor into life, my interpretation of the word fortunate is that some work has been involved and skills have been acquired to achieve or maintain goals in most cases. With that said, I never was fortunate to get even close to my childhood dreams of being an actual race car driver mainly due to lack of family/personal finances. However, I have been able to build my knowledge with some of my other hobbies such as computers and statistical and data analysis in order to achieve a sufficient education, maintain a job I enjoy and manage to set just enough funds aside to put myself in a position to do some traveling and spectate at several races during each year.

I don’t always have the time and money to travel far so Labor Day weekend was spent locally, but included three visits to race tracks in three days. Friday night was a trip to championship night at Big Diamond Speedway to see the 600cc Modifieds, 358 Modifieds, Road Runners (Street Stock type cars) and Sportsman Modifieds. It was a wild night with three cars flipping at once in a 600cc heat race (everyone was okay) and a caution filled and time-shortened Sportsman race which resulted in a former co-worker’s husband winning the feature, and a driver climbing from third in points to win the championship despite a winless season. Unfortunately, since it was such a late time and I had to make the hour and a half drive home, I did not stay for post-race festivities or get the chance to congratulate the winner.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at Mountain Speedway. The crowd as well as the pit area was much sparser than I had remembered from past years, and there was some confusion on Saturday regarding whether the start time for the races was at 3pm or 6pm. Turned out to be 6 and many fans were not happy about the delay. Despite this, the racing was fairly exciting. On Sunday, I went into the pits following the races thinking it would be similar to my experience at Old Dominion Speedway in July. However, it was mostly composed of teams packing up and heading home rather than drivers signing autographs and talking with fans. Video from the entire Labor Day Weekend can be found at http://www.youtube.com/ajcrdstr24.

This weekend I will be heading down to North Carolina one last time in 2011. Friday will be spent traveling to some more NASCAR race shops I haven’t seen yet as well as some other possible sightseeing. On Saturday, I will be heading to Hickory Motor Speedway for the ISCARS Dash Series and Super Cup Stock Car Series championship races. I was invited to play in a poker tournament in Atlantic City with a cash prize pool at no cost a few weeks back, but due to Hurricane Irene the tournament was rescheduled for this Sunday. Technically I could leave Hickory Saturday night and pull off an all-nighter driving to get to the tournament on time, but I do have another safer option at a later date which I might take instead. It will most likely be a judgement call. I will have access to my laptop throughout the weekend so I look forward to posting photos and videos with a quick turnaround.

Until then, I sincerely wish everyone fortunate days ahead…coupled with some good luck and timing as well!

Mountain Speedway Saturday and Sunday Video Footage

Labor Day Spectacular
September 3 & 4, 2011
Mountain Speedway

Factory Stock and Late Model features.

75 lap cone race for the Sport Modifieds.

Late Model, Factory Stock and Sport Modified features.

Legends and Bandoleros Features.

Big Diamond Speedway Xcel 600cc Modified Series Video Footage

Championship Night
September 2, 2011
Big Diamond Speedway

20 lap feature for the Xcel 600 Modified Series.

Ups And Downs

To say my last several weeks have had their ups and downs is an understatement.  Luckily, most things have ended on the upside...mainly on the racing and poker front.

The month of July finished off on a positive note with a beautiful night for some short track racing at the little 1/8 mile Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Newmanstown, Pennsylvania.  The Micro Sprints put on a great show as usual, and I left the facility satisfied and looking forward to the next weekend's festivities.

What I should have known was that going to a race for a fifth weekend in a row and not having precipitation interfere was too good to be true.  Heading to Pocono Raceway on the first Saturday of August for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA doubleheader, there was only a 30% chance of rain throughout the afternoon.  During the first few laps of the Truck race following NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, that changed to 100% fairly quickly.  After a few hours standing under the bleachers, the racing was finally called and rescheduled for Sunday morning.  We even tried to ride out less than an hour west to Mountain Speedway, but when the haulers are driving in the opposite direction as you it is never a good sign.  On the way home we were trying to coordinate how to make it back to the track at such an early hour on Sunday, but as we found out via a visit to the Pocono web site it wouldn't occur at all.  The track required fans to purchase tickets for the Cup race, which also had an iffy weather forecast, and a $25 credit would be rewarded if a Saturday ticket was purchased.  I was not happy with the circumstances, but what can you do against mother nature and also the fact that fans like me that attend only on Saturday are in the minority.  My Saturday ticket will be exchanged at no charge for one of the Saturday races at Pocono next year, but now that I know what the consolation plan is when the races get rained out I probably won't attend again after next year unless I can get some sort of deal for the entire weekend.

Not letting the weather get me down I made a trip to see more races just two days afterward, although the track was just a fraction of the size of Pocono.  I went to the Reading Fairgrounds for Kart and Slingshot racing.  While the $10 probably wouldn't have been worth the admission to the fair, in my opinion, the racing made it well worth it.  It was great to see some grassroots racing once again with the drivers going for the checkered flag just as much as the NASCAR guys.  For instance, one driver battling for the lead in the Slingshot consolation race lost control of his car, got his right side tires on the wall, kept going and still finished in the fourth and final transfer position to the feature without the aid of a caution.

The following weekend was a break from the racing world and a trip back into the poker realm.  Unfortunately, it would end in heartbreak and would continue a three month slump of failing to make any profit at the poker table.

The events during the next week would begin to improve.  It would start with a second place finish in a small poker game and minimal, but reassuring money won during the middle of the week.  As the weekend came around, the weather looked excellent for the Modifieds 100 lap appearance at Mahoning Valley Speedway as part of their Modified Poker Series.  The last two races for this series ended in photo finishes.  There would not be one this time around, but over 10 lead changes between the two leaders Earl Paules and Don Wagner wowed the fans, as well as the weekly local divisions which were all on hand this past Saturday evening.

Mahoning Valley Speedway Modified Poker Series 100

Mahoning Valley Speedway Local Racing

The day after was a rainy one, which meant it was a good afternoon to play some more poker.  I drove to a tournament in which I qualified for where the top 10 finishers would win vacation prize packages.  Some pigs must have been flying with that rain, because I dodged every bullet to make it to the finish.  I was initially considering using the three day, two night package for a trip to Las Vegas next summer, but after thinking things through I'll probably want to go there on my own terms and for a longer period of time.  I'm seriously considering choosing the trip to Biloxi, Mississippi later in the year and after my stay there driving nearly two hours east to Pensacola, Florida to take in the Snowball Derby festivities for the second year in a row.  Overall, it was a great weekend...which happened to be my birthday weekend by the way!

Things are definitely looking up, although my car just broke down and I'm trying to figure out a way to get to Atlantic City this Sunday for a tournament that I also qualified for by finishing in the top 10 this past Sunday.  We'll see what happens going forward, including potential trips to Big Diamond Raceway and Mountain Speedway during Labor Day weekend.  Wish me luck!