8/31/2017
Last Weekend I had the chance to hit one dirt race and one monster pavement event. The MARS/UMP series had a $5,000 to win Super Late Model Event Russ Wallace Memorial and basically just down the road The Verizon Indy Car Series was at Gateway for the Bommarito 500.
Friday at Tri-City Speedway fans saw a stellar field of Dirt Late Models. Drivers on hand included Billy Moyer, Bobby Pierce, Jason Feger, Brian Shirley, Jonathan Davenport, Terry Phillips, Tony Jackson, and Gordy Gundaker to name a few. The event drew nearly 30 late models and when it all said and done Bobby Pierce led all 40 laps to take home the $5,000 check. Billy Moyer finished second with Brian Shirley taking home third. Jason Feger was the driver on the move, he seemed to be the only driver that had anything for Pierce but Jason’s luck ran out just past the halfway mark. He retired from the event with a broken radiator. Tim Manville started tenth and came home fourth and surprise entry Jonathan Davenport rounded out the top five in his GR Motorsports XR1 Rocket. One other note Highland’s Mike Harrison won the modified feature. Mike is on a roll as he is closing in on 30 feature wins already this year.
The Bommarito 500 what can you say, after not having the series here for almost two decades and packing the house with over 40,000 spectators what a spectacle. A big shout out to my friends Chris Blair and Curtis Francois for pulling this off, the repaving of the racetrack and seeing speeds close to 200 mph on the 1.25 mile oval was just crazy. Will Power driving the Penske Verizon Chevrolet circled the oval in qualifying at nearly 190 mph. The move near the end of the race when Josef Newgarden in his PPG Penske Chevrolet passed his teammate Simon Pagenaud for the lead was just down right insane. He passed him going into turn one on the bottom when there was no room, but he made the pass stick to take the lead and race to the checkers in front of the standing room only crowd. If you were not there, please get it on your calendar next year you do not want to miss it, what and incredible night for the St. Louis area. Thanks to Gateway for bringing the oval back to life.
This weekend I will be traveling to Farmer City for a special event featuring late models and modifieds. Saturday Fairbury will be the place to be as the mods will be racing for $10,000 to win and Sunday off to the State Fair at DuQuoin for the USAC Silver Crown Cars. Ken Schrader will be racing a champ car with his buddy Tony Stewart in a modified for the weekend.