Pocono Recap and Labor Day Weekend Preview

After a busy several weeks of summer travels, I took a couple off from the racing world. Now I will be gearing up for a couple more weeks on the road before waiting patiently for a couple major short track events to conclude the year.

The initial weekend of August meant an annual stop to Pocono Raceway for the Saturday portion of their race weekend, which included NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying and race and the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards race. As was the norm in this area weather was an uncertainty, but the ugly stuff held off just in time for the victory lane ceremonies for the ARCA race that concluded the afternoon. It was very enjoyable to see two first time winners, Joey Coulter and Chad Hackenbracht in the Truck Series and ARCA respectively. The quality of racing was as usually expected at the 2.5 mile tricky triangle, which resulted in some spread out single-file racing. However, the restarts were quite the show with a couple altercations in the Truck race and Coulter making quite the maneuver for the eventual win. The ARCA race was a little more exciting, also as expected despite there surprisingly being only one caution. It was neat to see the Hackenbracht crew roll the dice and steal away the win from June winner Brennan Poole and the experienced and always hard to beat Venturini Motorsports crew. I left the track feeling satisfied as the rain began to pour down.

Driving away from the storm, I made the decision to head an hour west to Mountain Speedway for an annual stop at the 1/3 mile track for some Saturday night racing. My first time attending a race at this track was in 2007, a late model race which had a turnout of 28 cars. Fast forward to 2012 and the same amount cars turned out across five divisions, including a "race" with one Bandolero. The main event for the night was a 75 lap, double points, $1,500 to win Sport Modified cone race which had a nine car field. Despite the low car counts, the racing was as good as it could probably be. The four car late model race was probably the most interesting of the night and the open-wheel TQ Midgets always put on a show. Unfortunately, it's kind of simple to tell why the competitors and the fans (there had to be less than 200 in the stands) have been slowly dropping off over the years. When arriving at the track nearly a half hour after gates were scheduled to open, there was a line because no one was available to work the ticket booth. Apparently there was an accident on the highway that caused a few of the workers to arrive late, but you would think there could have been some kind of backup plan. In addition, the food seemed a little excessively greasy and the spiders and their webs appeared to make a home for themselves in and around the restroom facilities. I don't like to talk negatively about tracks normally especially as long as they are still in operation and since I am aware that it takes a committed team of staff and mostly volunteers to keep a short track going from week to week, but it's sad to see such a promising place a few years ago in a slightly discouraging condition it is in today. If I don't hear of things improving, I probably will not return next year.

I am kind of glad I bypassed attending Pocono the day after, since the weather was very uncertain and the Cup race ended up being shortened. Seemed like a very dangerous situation that mother nature brought before everyone, and I was saddened to hear about the unfortunate events following the race. Still would have been neat to see the race to the rain and I would like to see Jeff Gordon win a race in person someday before his career is over.

The following weekend I made my first trip of the year to Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. I do not understand why it always seems to take me so far into the year before I head out there, because this is probably one of my favorite tracks. The 1/4 mile circular bullring produces sub-10 second laps for most of the modified field as well as ongoing side by side racing, which is better than Bowman Gray in North Carolina's quality of racing in my opinion. The triple 25 lap modified races produced three different winners, the supporting local divisions put on some great races and once the first feature started the show kept moving. First year track promoter Floyd Santee and the staff there have certainly done an exceptional job making this place enjoyable for the fans and competitors. I am definitely going to try my best to make it back up there at least once or twice more this year.

The last couple weekends I spent some time away from the track, but now it's time to get back at it again and the schedule I have planned surely will make up for it. My Labor Day weekend will consist of three races in four days (weather permitting), starting with a trip down to Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina for their Friday night ASA-sanctioned local divisions. Defending ASA Member Track and former NASCAR Winston Racing Series national champion Barry Beggarly will be among the competitors in the field for the twin 50 lap late model stock car features. On Saturday, I will make the short trip to one of my personal favorite tracks Orange County Speedway to see the CARS Pro Cup Series, the Allison Legacy Series and the Rolling Thunder Modifieds. All three series have somewhat struggled with car counts this season, but have produced some good racing and this weekend should be no different. Pro Cup has recently signed Rev-Oil as their series sponsor and looks toward a bright future with that announcement. After a short break on Sunday consisting of some other sightseeing, it will be back to Ace for their Labor Day event. The Madhouse divisions will be on hand including some of the top southern modified racers as well as the USAC Eastern Ignite Midgets.

The weekend after will be an event that I was not originally planning on attending, but from discussions in recent weeks I will finally be attending my first Piney Lasky Memorial race at Motordrome Speedway. I will have the chance of meeting and doing anything I can to assist the Super Cup Stock Car Series for their 50 lap season finale as a guest of Joe Schmaling and the supporters of the series. Four drivers have a shot at the title: currently winless Indiana veteran Jimmie Crabtree, June Motordrome winner Kevin Kromer, two-time defending champion Jody Harrison and his uncle Harvey Harrison. I'll also have the chance to witness the 100 lap TBRA Late Model Series race, which should feature over 30 cars including points leaders George Skora III and Matt Barndt, veteran area racer Glenn Gault Jr., defending Piney winner Jimmy Carter from Ohio, track points leader Neil Brown and North Carolina invader Colt James. I'm really looking forward to and thankful for this opportunity, and perhaps there is the potential for some more of the same in 2013!

Next month I will be putting together a post a little different than the usual. It will be a preview for the Pro All Stars Series All American 400 at the legendary Nashville Fairgrounds, but will be a summary of several statistics I am compiling regarding the teams that will be expected to be competing. I plan on being their the entire long weekend, and can't wait to cross this historic track off my bucket list.

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.

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!

One Good Day, One Bad Day

Both of the past two weekend resulted in a great Saturday and a not so great Sunday. Two weekends ago, I went to the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in York Springs for the first time. Boy was it neat. My favorite was seeing a modified that Bobby Gerhart raced back in the 1970's. Photos can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajcrdstr2009/sets/72157622342284097/. Once again weather foiled my plans on Sunday, which was to go back to Sundance Vacations Speedway for some more racing.

Last weekend I had my fingers crossed once again that the weather would hold up for some racing at Mahoning Valley Speedway Saturday night. The forecast began to look promising later in the week, but on Saturday there became a chance of thunderstorms. Luckily, mother nature finally cooperated and my first visit to Mahoning was definitely worth the wait. Over six hours of side-by-side racing around that small track. The faster modifieds went around the track in less than ten seconds! Photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajcrdstr2009/sets/72157622516354216/

Then Sunday, I was ready to drive to the Eastern region's TOC poker tournament. However, 45 minutes into the tournament I woke up with pocket Queens and raised pre-flop...got three callers. Flop was KQ8...3 diamonds. Every checks so I bet the heck out of it and still get two callers. Turn is meaningless...everyone checks and I bet again, only to get min-re-raised. At this point I had over half my chips in the pot. End result was, he had the nut flush and the board didn't pair and I just drove an hour and a half to play 45 minutes of poker! Oh well, there's always next time.

The rest of October will be pretty quiet before making my final trip to North Carolina in November. More details to come.

Change Of Plans

Good things come to those who wait. I won't be going to North Carolina this weekend since the race that was originally scheduled was postponed, and the weather forecast for the weekend is looking quite miserable as well. Instead I'll be staying local, but still trying to leave Lancaster county. I might consider going to the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in York Springs, since I've never been there. Also, if the weather is nice, I might possibly go back to Sundance Vacations (Mountain) Speedway for their Sunday afternoon races.

I still hope to attend at least two more races the remainder of 2009, including Saturday night October 3rd at Mahoning Valley Speedway where there will be two Modified features along with all of their local divisions (once again, weather permitting). Then the trip to North Carolina will be in either October or November. Right now it looks like I'll be going to Hickory for the ISCARS finale. It fits well in my schedule since I have off work for Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11 and I can spend Thursday and Friday in Charlotte and Mooresville. We'll see when the date gets closer.

Post Labor Day Weekend

Well, it was an eventful Labor Day Weekend. Not as eventful as last year since I went to two races in North Carolina then. However, the local races were great! The weather was clear for both. Friday night there was some great racing at Big Diamond Raceway with Modifieds, Road Runners, and Sportsman all racing on the wide and short dirt track. The article and finishing order can be found at the track's Web site: http://www.bigdiamondraceway.com/PressRelease.asp?ID=578.

On Sunday, it was off to Sundance Vacations (formerly Mountain) Speedway. It was a very nice day compared to the past couple times I've been there when it was freezing. The show moved along very smoothly and it was some of the best racing I've ever seen there. The article and finishing order from that race can also be found at the track's Web site: http://sundancevacationsspeedway.com/.

I posted more photos and a few videos from the race. They can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044346&id=37801386&l=84cd254a04 and http://www.youtube.com/ajcrdstr24. I apologize for the bad picture quality from Friday night. I didn't realize that the camera battery was low and tried to get as many pictures out of it. After that I used my cell phone to take pictures, but they came out very blurry.

By the way, I wasn't even in contention to win the trip to Atlantic City Thursday night. I guess I'll try again next month.

Next weekend will be another weekend away from racing and poker, as I will be in Massachusetts. The weekend of September 26 will be the next racing weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, North Carolina. I'll give more details on that in the following weeks.

Labor Day Weekend

Well, I'm not really interested in talking about this past weekend. Everything went smoothly moving in my sister, but the driving in New York and the parking garage debacle was murder! I had a better time at Pocono Raceway sitting in the parking lot not moving for two hours!

Looking forward, Thursday night is one more chance at winning a trip to Atlantic City...once again at the Watering Trough. After that I'll be cutting back with the poker playing a little bit. Next major tournament will be the Tournament of Champions (if I qualified) on Sunday, October 4th. Since I'll be in North Carolina the last weekend of September, I'll be playing in the Eastern region's TOC.

Labor Day weekend should be exciting, and for once the weather forecast is looking nice! Friday night, if everything goes according to plan I'll be going to Big Diamond Raceway for some dirt racing. Then on Sunday, I'll be heading up to Mountain Speedway for the first time in 2009 for several different divisions of racing.

Have a good Labor Day weekend everybody!

Crushed By Quads!

So things didn't go incredibly well on Saturday, but I guess I can't complain. The race I was planning to go to was canceled Saturday morning due to rain in the forecast so I had the whole day to devote to poker. The Borgata qualifier was going well and I was ahead in chips and satisfied with the way I played until one hand in the middle stages of the tournament:

I get dealt KJ and three players see the flop: AA9, everyone checks. Turn is a K, big blind bets. Player to the right of me asks how much he has and looked like she was ready to raise until she just called. At this point, I thought she had an A and I should have just folded, but I call to see the turn. River is another A and the big blind puts out a decent sized bet. I was not convinced that this guy had an A just by the way he played the hand. Girl to the right thinks for awhile, which means she doesn't have an A, and finally folds. Just in case my instincts are wrong I just call. I was wrong and he flips over an A, and my chip stack is crippled. I spent the next hour and a half trying to double up, keep up with the blinds, and stay alive, but ultimately I was knocked out with about 17 players remaining. Oh well, there's always next time!

Later at the Watering Trough I was doing really well and catching cards and for awhile thought that I could possibly win two in a row there, but things went downhill at the final table and I finished seventh. However, the $10 bounty went to a good player.

On Monday night at the Watering Trough I have another chance at winning a seat in an Atlantic City tournament. In the racing world, I'm considering going to two races on Labor Day Weekend: 1. dirt racing at Big Diamond Raceway Friday night, 2. Mountain Speedway Sunday afternoon.

Once again, we'll see what happens!