Speedweeks Recap and a Potential Truck Series Up-and-Comer

Who would have predicted that Daytona Speedweeks would result in a driver leading 1/8 of a lap to win his eighth race at the track after the front four drivers ran out of fuel, an announcement of a temporary Daytona short track for 2013, a rookie that never competed on a track larger than a mile and a half winning the truck race, a driver coming from 11th to the win in the last corner after the top ten drivers all wreck, a Daytona 500 being run on Monday night/Tuesday early morning and a freak accident that almost resulted in three underfunded teams and a start-up team finishing in the top four in the biggest race of the year? Even the nearby short track in New Smyrna Beach had some unusual controversy when perennial Tour-Type Modified favorite Ted Christopher won his first night, wrecked the second night and then came back and won the following night. However, after the third race another competitor protested the winning motor. After TC and crew refused to have the engine torn down they were disqualified and packed up and went home. Was this a disastrous Speedweeks or a huge success? Regardless, I'm glad the racing season is upon us!

There were a few drivers that I had my eye on going into the last couple weeks, and they all showed that they belong in their respective series:

The first was a no-brainer. Bobby Gerhart Racing once again overcame the odds after their qualifying time was disallowed and was forced to start 42nd. An unorthodox pit strategy early in the race put them a lap down, but the team took advantage of the "free pass" rule to get back on the lead lap. Obviously some luck is involved to win any race, but the team keeps showing year in and year out that they are capable of putting themselves in contention for the win no matter what obstacles they need to overcome. Pitting one lap after the rest of the competitors during an early caution turned out to be the unexpected winning strategy.

In the Truck Series race, the racer I was most impressed with was Grant Enfinger. After his recent performance in ARCA and the last couple years in the Truck Series races at Talladega, it came as no surprise to me to see him steadily marching through the field. He never contended for the lead, but besides the brush he had with Ty Dillon in the major wreck involving at that time leader Johnny Sauter he drove like a veteran throughout the entire race. I noticed that he ran the inside line during most of the race which put him in a spot to make some impressive maneuvers to avoid some wrecks, and he would occasionally get the momentum and find a hole in the middle with former Daytona winner and fellow Alabama driver Rick Crawford in tow on a couple of occasions. For the most part, he brought the truck home in one piece with a respectable 12th place finish.

Danica might have been the fastest qualifier for the Nationwide race, but the girl I was watching was Johanna Long who started 21st and finished 21st. I believe she was involved in one of the late race wrecks and she did fall a lap down once or twice, but the fact that she finished the race and gained a full race's worth of track time in a Nationwide Series car is something she and the ML Motorsports team should be proud of.

During the Daytona 500 and the days leading up to it, one of the hardest working teams had to be Tommy Baldwin Racing. They gave up last year's guaranteed owner points, and while I questioned this move at first they certainly proved me wrong when they ran a very smart Duel race on Thursday to get into Sunday's field. Of course the race didn't run until Monday night, but Dave Blaney drove a smart race again throughout the 200 laps. For a short time I thought that the Central Pennsylvania fans would have something to celebrate with Blaney in the lead during the long red flag period, since Blaney is a World Of Outlaws graduate and sponsor Ollie's Bargain Outlet was founded in state capital Harrisburg. The win wouldn't occur, but like Enfinger in the Truck race Blaney ran the inside line most of the closing laps and made some evasive maneuvers in order to minimize damage in the late race accidents. Blaney and the hard working Tommy Baldwin Racing team brought the car home in 15th, a very good start to the 2012 season.

Earlier in the month of February, I had the chance to chat with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver and team that did not make the trip down to Daytona. Todd Peck and Peck Motorsports had their truck and hauler on display at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on a cold Saturday afternoon. If that last name sounds familiar, he is the nephew of Tom Peck who had some impressive runs in the NASCAR Nationwide Series during the late 1980's and early 1990's. After gaining experience in the Allison Legacy Series, Pro Cup Series, Super Cup Stock Car Series and the K&N East Series, Todd and his team made the move to the Truck Series for a few races in 2011 returning the family's #96 to one of the top levels of stock car racing. The team plans to race 10-12 times in 2012 starting at the third race of the season, the debut of the Truck Series at Rockingham Speedway. The team's hauler was also on display to show off their plans to convert it into a "green" machine with LED lighting and solar power and run on a blend of diesel and biofuel as they make their journey to and from the race track. In addition, the team is racing to spread awareness about Juvenile Arthritis, a condition Todd suffered from as a child. They even gained some local television exposure when Peck teamed up with a local ambulance company to grant a fan's wish to meet him after she was hospitalized for a serious arthritis condition a day earlier. Sadly, the young lady passed away last week and the team will race at Pocono later in the year in her memory.

Local racing is getting ready to start up for the 2012 season as well, and last week I had the opportunity to head to Reading, Pennsylvania for the 27th Annual Racing Legends Reunion and Car Show. The week long event is held at the Reading Fairgrounds Mall, which was formerly the site of the Reading Fairgrounds Speedway. The show features several appearances from current local drivers as well as reunions featuring drivers from the past. This year's showcase was NASCAR sanctioned Grandview Speedway, which is celebrating it's 50th anniversary in 2012. Most notably were the number and variety of race cars on display inside the mall including different types of Dirt Modifieds, Dirt Late Models, Midgets, Micro Sprints, SCCA Sports Cars and much more.

Before I sign off with this post, I'd like to return back to a major positive that came out of Daytona Speedweeks. The ones that may not always be commended as much as they should be: the track crew. Not only did they do a phenomenal job getting the race track back into a raceable condition following the unimaginable jet dryer fire in such a short amount of time, but the job they did throughout the entire two week period so that we could get to the point of seeing the Daytona 500 take place better late than never. Where I work we recently switched cleaning companies to ServiceMaster and certainly now I see why. Finally, kudos to everyone else involved that made sure first and foremost to assure that those affected by any accidents at Daytona International Speedway escaped major injury.

Motorsports Show/Gambler's Classic Recap and Daytona Picks

Even though no NASCAR races have taken place, I have kept myself quite entertained just a month through the new year. I didn't have the highest expectations for this year's Motorsports Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, but there was quite an impressive turnout despite the snowstorm that passed through the Northeast the evening before.

Apparently weather was wreaking havoc throughout most of the east coast as the flight to PA for early afternoon guest, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus, was canceled. Fans didn't need to worry thanks to late afternoon guest Matt Kenseth who offered to fly Knaus in as the driver and crew chief for competing teams signed autographs and answered fan questions together. The situation worked out well for me too. Due to the delayed autograph session, I had the opportunity to attend the "Taking Photos at the Track" seminar which was among those that were offered free to the public throughout the weekend. Although I would consider myself an amateur at best and some of what was covered went way over my head, I think that whenever the time comes where I am able to upgrade from my little and worn out digital camera I could use some of the beneficial information I learned during the 45 minute session. I also spent much of the afternoon exploring the countless booths and cars that were on display, and met some various personalities involved in the racing industry at both local and national levels. Overall, it was another positive experience and I will almost certainly be returning in 2013.

This past weekend, I made the annual trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey for the tenth addition of the Gambler's Classic Indoor Races. This was the first year that I attended both Friday and Saturday nights, and I must say that I seemed to enjoy Friday's preliminary features slightly more than Saturday's main events. My pick to win the main event, Johnny Benson Jr., didn't fare too well on Friday night. Benson was among a handful of competitors that were piloting a new Drinan TQ Midget, which looked sleek and certainly was fast. However, I can't remember a single competitor driving this new chassis that didn't spin out at one point or another during the weekend. While leading from the pole and pulling away from the field in his heat race Benson's car all of a sudden spun without the aid of any other competitors, and despite his best efforts did not qualify for Friday's feature. Friday featured two A-Mains, a 600cc "Dirt" Micro Sprints 20 lapper and a TQ Midgets 30 lapper. Both races were won by NASCAR Modified Tour competitors, Erick Rudolph in the 600s and Ted Christopher in the TQs. Another reason I enjoyed Friday more was the exciting maneuvering that Johnny Benson's owner "Liquid" Lou Cicconi made on several occasions throughout the evening. Cicconi spun early in his TQ heat race as well as in the 600 and TQ features and had to restart in the back of all three of them. He came back to win the TQ heat race, finished second in the 600 feature and finished sixth in the TQ feature. Unfortunately, after all that work he did it appeared that he may not have saved enough for the next day.

Saturday night included 25 lap features for the Slingshots and Champ Karts in addition to the 20 lap 600 Micro A-Main and 40 lap 10th Annual Gambler's Classic Main Event for the TQ Midgets. Saying that the evening's races had a few wrecks would be an understatement. The Slingshots had their share of altercations and controversies which resulted in a last corner pass for the win. The Champ Karts had a few recognizable names such as Modified driver Justin Bonsignore and NASCAR K&N East Series second generation driver D.J. Shaw, but they couldn't hold off a former winner of the division's race from a few years back. Erick Rudolph made a late race pass for the lead to win for the second night in a row in the 600s. In the TQ Main Event, the previous night's winner Ted Christopher was done for the night after a multi-car wreck in the first turn on the first lap. Johnny Benson Jr. started mid-pack and had steadily moved into the top five until he ran into one of the inside truck tires, ending his night due to damage to the left-front wheel. The track layout was modified from previous years with the placement of tires spread out through the inside of the turns rather than a solid guardrail. It provided for a wider racing groove and increased some side by side racing competition, but at the same time it caused some new problems for the competitors such as what happened to Benson. Top dirt modified competitor Stewart Friesen led for most of the race until Erick Rudolph emerged again and didn't look back for his third win during the two nights of racing.

Once again this year's trip whet my appetite for the racing season, and also provided some entertainment of the gambling kind. I took some money from a couple first and second place finishes I had during the month of January in some free poker tournaments, and ended up slightly ahead overall playing roulette, blackjack and war (yes, war the card game). I would not recommend playing war at a casino as they do certainly find a way to have the house advantage and you can risk losing your money fairly quickly playing such a simple game.

As I look ahead to the Spring months, besides a couple local shows that I'm planning to go to I will be spectating from my living room couch or the chair at my computer for the most part. One task that I need to accomplish during the month of February is to get my travel plans organized for my first trip to Las Vegas in late June. The World Series Of Poker schedule has been released and although most of the events don't seem to interest me during the time frame I'm able to go, I'm still planning to go out there for the experience. During the weekend I'm out there, I'm planning to drive out to California to see more parts of the country that I've never seen and check out a SRL Southwest Tour race at Madera Speedway.

In the immediate future, I'll be looking ahead to the Daytona Speedweeks festivities. My first pick is for the ARCA race, and it is the perennial favorite Bobby Gerhart. Until one of the teams shows that they can consistently outrun the Lebanon, Pennsylvania based team, the veteran driver will most likely be my pick year in and year out...or until he retires. The most exciting race during speedweeks could most likely be the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. With several veteran competitors switching teams during the off season and rising stars joining the series, the race could potentially be wide open. If I had to pick one driver it would have to be Todd Bodine in his new Red Horse Racing ride. Don't count out some dark horses such as Cale Gale in the Eddie Sharp Racing #33 though. The NASCAR Nationwide Series race is probably my toughest one to pick since I hardly followed the series in 2011. For that reason, my pick will be Elliott Sadler mainly because I think the KHI/RCR equipment will boost him to victory.

Finally my pick for the Daytona 500 is a standard one, none other than Jeff Gordon. Many may think it could appear biased to pick Gordon or another Hendrick car almost every year, but their past and present on track performance at the 2.5 mile tri-oval including January's preseason testing puts them at the forefront of the competition. Obviously there is the usual luck factor and the perennial dark horses that will be in contention, but Gordon appears to be the overall favorite to win. Expect to see drivers such as David Ragan, David Gilliland, Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, Bobby Labonte and Dave Blaney to have a shot for at least a top ten finish once again. After all, my system for picking top ten finishers can't be too flawed considering that I am proud to be the defending Raceline Mechanix Wear Weekly Racing Challenge Daytona 500 winner!

Less Than A Month Until THE RACE!

Most might refer to the 2011 Daytona 500 as potentially the race of the year even though we're not even a month into the official racing season, and while NASCAR is off to a positive start with the excellent competition in the Cup and Truck Series I think the best stock car race of the year might not even be NASCAR sanctioned.

The Pro All Stars Super Late Model Series has continued to gain momentum each year since adding its presence in the Southeast in 2006 during the demise of the old NASCAR Southeast/All Pro Series, and in 2010 they announced the country's richest asphalt short track race to take place at the Historic North Wilkesboro Speedway on April 9, 2011. The winner will take home, at a minimum, $75,000 for the victory in this 300 lap race. A PASS Series regular will receive a bonus and with supporters signing up to sponsor nearly a third of the race's laps, the victor could easily see a 6 figure payday. The drivers and teams have come calling with over 70 entered from all over the United States and Canada, and more are expected.

As a fan, once this race was announced and it was assured that this event would take place, I began to plan my trip. Now that the preliminary racing events from the winter months have taken place, I'm ready to head South! Before I go into the plans for my trip, I'll briefly recap the latest two events I attended. The 26th Annual Racing Legends Reunion and Car Show took place in late February at the Fairgrounds Mall in Reading, Pennsylvania. I don't recall ever going to this show before and was quite surprised about how much there was to offer and see. Photos can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067223&id=37801386&l=47282190cc. The following weekend I attended the Laurel Mall Racing Show in Hazleton, Pennsylvania for the second straight year. This show was smaller than the previous year and turned out to be a bit disappointing. Photos from this show can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067427&id=37801386&l=7b8f986673.

I've done quite a bit of sightseeing in the past, but this trip might be one of the best. In addition to "The Race," there will be a transporter parade through North Wilkesboro, plenty of practice sessions, qualifying, heat races and a 100 lap Modified race to witness from Thursday through Saturday. Outside of North Wilkesboro, my travel plans will include but are not limited to the Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports race shops, the Sam Bass Gallery and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. I like the move of the Hall of Fame induction to January, but I wish they would have done it a year sooner so I could see the second class when I visit. Nevertheless, it's going to be an excellent time!

There's a lot of preparation for a trip like this even as a fan, but I will make sure I tune in to see some NASCAR short track racing with Bristol and Martinsville coming up. I've also been getting back into playing some more poker in recent months and have a couple tournaments coming up for some nice prizes (perhaps some travel money for North Carolina!) Lastly I'll be making my picks and paying close attention to the NCAA College Basketball tournament as always. My pick to win it all is dependent on one player. If Kyrie Irving comes back, I have a feeling Duke will be hard to beat for two championships in a row. If he doesn't, Ohio State will easily be the favorite to win it all.

Next month I'll be back to share photos and videos from North Wilkesboro and preview my next trip which I'm trying to put together for the end of April.

Atlantic City Wrap Up and Daytona Preview

Well it was a snowy weekend, but the Atlantic City Indoor Races still went on as scheduled! This year's race was a lot more exciting, and many believe it was due to some of the changes that were made to the layout of the track. There were still several cautions and some scary moments, but there was lots of side by side racing. It was interesting seeing the mix of drivers in the field, including some of the Northeast's top Micro Sprint and TQ Midget drivers, a few NASCAR modified drivers and even a multi-time Indy 500 competitor! It was my first time using my Flip Video and I love it! I got some great shots from the pre-race "FanFest" and compiled them together. The videos are up at http://www.youtube.com/ajcrdstr24. Also, photos from the Motorsports 2010 show can been viewed at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049140&id=37801386&l=aefe0df5fa.

Now the focus has shifted to Daytona Speedweeks. It looks like Hendrick Motorsports is the team to beat once again. I may be biased since I'm a fan of them, but I think this is the year Jeff Gordon becomes a 4-time Daytona 500 champion. If not, then it could be Jimmie Johnson with his second Daytona 500 victory. Don't count out the Childress cars either, and my underdog picks are David Reutimann or Marcos Ambrose. The sentimental pick would be fast qualifier Mark Martin. No doubt he will have a front running car, but it would be great to see him pull off the victory.

The Nationwide Series looks like it will be another dose of "Cup Lite" this year. I haven't seen an entry list yet, but the Gibbs cars are most likely the favorites, but my pick is whoever is in the KHI #33. I think it's going to be Kevin Harvick, but it could be Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman.

The Truck Series should be exciting this year with a bunch of new teams coming in, but I believe it will be another battle between Ron Hornaday and Todd Bodine, with Hornaday coming out on top this time for KHI and new crew chief Dave Fuge. Surprisingly, Hornaday has never won a Truck race at Daytona.

Lastly, I'd like to say kudos to a team from my neck of the woods as Lebanon, PA's Bobby Gerhart won his sixth Daytona ARCA 200 Saturday. He has Daytona down to a science and seems to be one of the nicest guys in the garage area. In fact, he was one of the first drivers I ever met when I moved to PA at the age of five.

As for me, it looks like I'll be spectating from the couch the next few months. No travels planned, except for a poker tournament in late February in Myerstown, PA. However, I might venture out in the Spring weather to one of my local tracks in April, perhaps Big Diamond Raceway near Pottsville, PA. In May I plan to travel down South for the first time in 2010, but haven't decided where yet. The good thing is there are many options for where to go in May when it comes to short track racing!

Hope Everyone Had A Happy 4th!

So I got home in time to see the end of the Daytona race and I must say thank you to Tony Stewart. Kyle Busch finally gets what he deserves for continuously blocking at the restrictor plate tracks! Also, give a call to Regan Smith and that Furniture Row team. They continue to get things done.

One more thing to mention, I just read that NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Jason White is playing in the World Series of Poker main event. Being both a racing and poker fan, I thought that was pretty cool. Best of luck to him.