by Don Martin STLRacing.com
This past weekend Cody Summer pulled off a miracle making the Gateway Dirt Nationals a success. For the past 6 months he had heard all the negative remarks, how it wouldn’t work and why they should not have it. Not only did it work looks like it may be around for at least the next couple of years as a lease looks to be in place for at least the next two years. You have to commend Summer he put up a considerable amount of cash up front which I will not discuss and delivered a spectacular event. Running dirt late models indoors which had not happened in 35 years! Nearly 100 late models showed with over 130 modifieds in the pit area. It was a crazy late model field, no way did I expect to see Casey Roberts and Ray Cook in the pits, the modified pit area was exactly what I thought it would be with most of the best regional drivers in the house. Pitting took place Wednesday, meanwhile Kevin Gundaker was in charge of building a race track. Kevin put his reputation on the line and gave the competitors a 1/5 mile oval with a type of dirt he had never worked with before. Kevin had 8 days to build the track, which included moving dirt and barriers and putting up a fence. He pulled it off as Friday night might have been the most exciting race of the year as Shannon Babb pulled off the win as Bloomquist, Feger, and Lanigan were damn near running four wide at the checkers. I could not be happier for Kevin, but again I give it to Summer he put Gundaker in charge of the track and let him do what he had to do. The other smart move was getting Matt Curl involved. The Fairbury promoter is as organized as any promoter I have been around. Having Gundaker and Curl working together is definitely a recipe for success.
The biggest issue I thought would be the fumes and fueling the cars outside. The competitors all bought in and there were a couple of challenging moments but remember this was the first time something like this was taking place with so many cars and elements we had not seen before. I hated that the weather was nasty with freezing rain both Friday and Saturday. Still each night had a nice crowd. I thought Michael Rigsby and his staff did a fantastic job of keeping the fans entertained and by the way before I forget the driver introductions and music selections for the drivers was awesome. One of the best moments had to be when Scott Bloomquist did the crotch chop as he entered the “Thunderdome” love him or hate him he knows how to get a crowd going.
The racing Friday of course watching Babb take the checkers beating Bloomer was fantastic and some are saying it was the race of the year. The action mid-pack was just as exciting watching our Illinois young guns Brandon Sheppard and Bobby Pierce coming thru the pack. What can you say about Scott Bloomquist what a show he put on Saturday night in the 40 lap feature paying $20,000 to win. I don’t think I have ever seen Scott drive that hard, especially when you take in consideration the smaller bullrings are not really his cup of tea. Well he could have fooled me! I left thinking if this guy really wants something, he is going to get it!! Also how about the homeboy Tommie Seets taking home the $10,000 in the modified ranks, that was pretty cool too. Thanks VP Racing Fuels for stepping up as the title sponsor.
In closing the crowd, teams, officials, sponsors to everyone involved did a fantastic job. I can’t wait til next year, and if the weather cooperates I would not be surprised if the crowd doubles and to all of you that said it could not be done, well you were wrong. By the way most of the people that said it couldn’t be done were not even there !!!
Happy Holidays !!!