After getting our seats in the bleachers I went on the hunt for Billy Egeler.... I found him down by the shirt sales booth along with his sister and niece...... after talking with Billy I had his thirteen year old niece assist me in the pit area with taking pictures while I interviewed drivers... thankyou so much Krystal....that really helped me out and you did a great job on taking the pictures...
I was on a mission to find three drivers.....Todd Sherman....Tim Reynolds and Craig Conyer.... I found two of the three....I swear Craig Conyer...you could not have been parked in that space all day.... I hunted for you forever before I found you........and....Todd Sherman was across from you and Jeff Leka was too.... I had been at both of their trailers........
...Well glad I found you...... I asked Craig if he knew if Tim Reynolds was there...He told me that Tim had raced friday night...I am assuming at Paducah and messed his car up and had to head home..... sorry to hear that Tim....Well my first stop was to go to the pit area of Matt Mevert to meet Larry....real nice meeting you....... I took a picture of Matt's car and told him I would be back to get a picture of him in his uniform...and this time I got it done!!!! Hooray for me....
Next off I went by Michael Fox #66 and talked with him and his brother...nice kids....... then I went down to the #95 crew and took a pic of Aaron's car and said hello to Mike....
Of course I went by Team #22 and said hello to Chad Kinder, Will Snyder, Eric McVicar, Don Kuhl, Joe Bell, Jamie Price, Dennis Waggle, Brian Knapp, Joel , Luke, Kevin Short and Troy Leonard....
Right next to Chad was Ed Roley #11... I had some pictures to drop off for him and got to say hi to his dad Don Pearcy...
Not far from Chad was Team #16 Justin Rattliff...I got an interview and pics with him as well as Paul Wilmoth #1hc .. Paul was the winner of Bluegrass Bash II...
When I went to Ed Roley's pit area I was introduced to Tommy Bailey soooooo... I grabbed him for an interview....
I then went over to the other side of pit area and got interviews with Todd Sherman and with Craig Conyer.. thankyou so much for the tee shirt.... was very much appreciated!!!!! NIce meeting Craig's wife Katie....
Was nice meeting Todd Sherman ... I have heard alot about him from my son in law Mike Buddell.. glad to put a face to the name...
Got to say hello to Pam Leka... always nice talking with her....
And during a break in the action my name and website was announced over the loud speaker telling me that BILLY EGELER wanted me to come to the tower............. I GOT TO MEET ARMY ARMSTRONG........ thankyou thankyou thankyou Billy!!!!!! What an experience getting to talk with an icon of racing....................... of course how luck would go...after all the pictures Gennie Bare and I had taken my battery in the camera was out and did I check my recorder for batteries before I left this morning ...NO............. I was so flustered in getting to meet this man that I did not get an interview... He is wonderful to talk with and told me so many stories.... he gave me a card and I will be calling him..and I promise you a good write up on this guy!!!
BILLY I THANK YOU!!!!
Now for the race.......... man oh man was it cold...but there was a really good crowd of fans....
In qualifying there were a lot of spin outs... ..
Army Armstrong made several comments on how the track would be inconsistent all day because of the weather and the drivers were really gonna have a challenge ahead of them... what worked one time would change the next time ....
Beings this was an all modified race with very little free time in between events my good friend Nicole Bare helped me keep records of the races.... I so appreciate her help... this gave me time to go to pit area and get some pics...
There were ten heats... only the winner of the heat advanced to the Feature... there were five consi's where the top two advanced to the feature... then they had a last chance race where 4 went to the feature... we both missed this race ...this was when both Nicole and I were in talking with Army Armstrong....
Heats were won by Everett Bradham..Tim Dierlam..Andy Bond..Mike Harrison..Jeff Leka..Joey Kramer..Kevin Cole....Kevin Weaver..Chad Kinder and Paul Wilmoth..
Heat #3 was pretty wild.. Paul Miles spun out while up in front and had to go to the tail.. The #110 spun out a couple of times..pulled out before finish..the #23 of Stephens climbed the wall in turn three...#55 pulls off... out of 8 starting 5 finished...
Heat #4 the #41 of Phil Hill lost control and almost turned his car over....car was really smashed up...the 0 of Lee Hobbs, 1p of Pierce and the M20 all got caught up in this crash... Hobbs had to pull off.... then the M20 got sideways almost taking out Johnson and Pierce...
Heat #5 the #30 of Streeval and the #16 of Ratliff collided...Rattliffs car got some pretty major damage..#30 pulls off....the #50 of Tyler Wiese was running 3rd when he hit a tire causing him to spin out collecting the 0 of Brad Mitchell... the #16 of Rattliff gets sideways and spins out..he pulls off the track...
In heat #7 the #20 of Dixon and the #M1 of Westerfield crash causing Westerfield to pull off
In heat #8 out of eleven cars six finished..... Trent Young pulled off ...Ricky Waggoner pulls out... the #76 of Scotty Owens and the #16B of Boley crash..... Scotty Owens pulls out...... and a real scarey moment when Cody Hood coming out of turn one got a little sideways and with no where to go Michael Fox ran into him climbing up the side of Cody's car..... I talked with Fox afterwards and he told me that he thought he was going to flip his car..... luckily the two were not hurt... can't say the same for Hood's car... Michael was able to come out in the consi ...Cody didn't...
In heat #10 out of 8 cars only three finished the race... Pretty scarey moment in this race also when the #06 of Bostrum, the #8 of Belcher and the B4 of Boone got tangled.... the #06 ended up on the side of the burm .. thought he was going to flip his car....
During the consi's I went down to the pits for some more pictures and Nicole kept record..
top two went to feature... after the start of consi one I believe.... they stopped the races for safety reasons... the sun was setting and it was making it difficult for the drivers to see.....
consi #1 Paul Bumgardner and Randy Huffman advanced
consi #2..Dave Porth and Damon Fortune
consi #3..Brian Bilong and Matt Mevert
consi #4..Danny Schwartz and Gabe Menser
consi #5..Clayton Miller and #4w
The feature
row #1.....Bradham and Bond
row #2.....Dierlam and Harrison
row #3.....Leka and Kramer
row #4.....Cole and Weaver
row #5.....Kinder and Wilmoth
row #6.....Bumgardner and Porth
row #7.....Bielong and Schwartz
row #8.....Miller and Huffman
row #9.....Fortune and Mevert
row #10....Menser and Arms
row #11....Boone and #00
row #12....Sweeney and Streeval
Caution one for debre from Kramer's car... on lap two the #25 of Porth pulls off
caution two when Kramer spins coming out of turn three
Paul Bumgardner pulls out.....Weaver spins out..... Kevin Cole spins out
Bradham led first few laps and the a10 of Bond got around him.... Kinder had moved up to sixth and Mevert had moved up to nineth
caution for #30 of Streeval........#00 went off to change tire...to the tail...
caution when the #182 of Sweeney and the #4a of Arms tangle..both to tail
Dierlam spun out after being in top top...to tail.......lap 16
gas break at lap 20... running order..Harrison..Bradham..Leka..Bond..Kinder..Weaver..Wilmoth
Arms pulls off
drive shaft on track.....belonged to Danny Schwartz..he is off
Leka is around Bradham...Kinder passes Bradham for third
a10 is off
finished with Mike Harrison taking the win for $6000....2nd to Jeff Leka and 3rd to Chad Kinder
Two awards were given:
Everett Bradham received $100 for fast qualifier
Tommy Bailey $50 for the Best Looking Car....
Was a cold race but I would do it all over again today.... great racing from some of the best racers around... really showed their talent with what mother nature had dealt them...
Think Jeff Leka said it best when being interviewed after race congratulating the track officials and owners on how well they worked the track and kept things running smoothly... Jeff added that any driver who choses to race in this weather knows what to expect..... said he loved to race this track...
Chad Kinder when interviewed thanked his crew for the great job they do for him.... said they do all the work.... he just gets in the car and goes round and round..... Right Chad!!!!......
I think there is a little more to it then that He does have an awesome crew....and to Billy Egeler.... You need to pat yourself on the back for a great job Billy.......ya did good......
cj