Western Kentucky Raceway
Nebo, Ky
March 29th, 2008
Wow is all I can say....
when my hubby and I took out for Nebo at nine a.m. it did not look promising on the radar....50% of the R word.....
When we got to the track you could tell they had got rain...the parking lot was really moist and was a little concerned if we got more rain if we would be getting out of the lot...
I want to first before anything else say..........I can't believe they got that race completed.... it was overcast all day and rain that came and went...by the Feature it was a pretty steady rain.... they kept that race going from one event right into the next....they were determined to get the race completed and they did..... Kudos to track employees !!! No one will argue that the track was terrible....BUT... when I was walking in the pit area and talking to the drivers everyone I talked to said that they were lucky to have been able to race and the crew did a heck of a job getting this race in.......
As soon as we got to the track I set my stuff up in bleachers and headed to the pit area.... I ran into the Leka crew first.... Pam Leka informed me that Jeff had awakened this morning feeling like C R A P !!! He had the flu...........I had that for three and a half weeks.... I don't know how he was even able to be there.... I talked to him...........at a distance ..lol ... and let me tell you........HE WAS SICK......
I only got five interviews but very pleased with the ones I got... a partial interview of Shelby Miles..he had to go to track to qualify..Nic Neville....Shawn Tolson...Dave Hess,jr and Jimmy Westerfield...
I went looking for my other very favorite people ...."the Robinsons".....Kent was parked almost all the way to the end of the pit area.. I yelled at him when I finally found them and told him I wanted him to park closer to the gate area..........I don't think I made an impression on him.... he just smiled..... I got to talk with Becky and Bethany....Becky always gives me care packages when I see her... she is a very sweet lady....
I finally got to meet little Cody Kneisler and his mom Amy...Cody is fighting cancer....really cute little boy and very sweet...
I talked with Rob Fuqua, another one of my favorites and his crew chief Tim...I told Rob that I was going to start referring to him as "no brakes Fuqua"
talked with Cody Hood and took pictures of his car which was designed by Brian Shaw of Robinson , Il......ran into Tyler Wiese of Brideport, Il... drives the #50..had not seen him in a long time..... I went by the Randle Sweeney pit area...........and.......let me tell you.... I found Randle Sweeney's secret to his success....He has a special weapon that he uses and he will not share with any of you !!!!!!Click to view attachmentAnd met a couple of members off 4m that recognized me as carcar..... so glad you said hello..... NOW... lol....you better join my site !!!!!
I also went by Craig Conyer's area and took a couple of pics and said a quick hi... nice guys...
and I went by Matt Mevert's area and said hello.... Matt told me that this will more then likely be his last year.... he told me that he just does not have the time he needs to spend on his car....he said that he is too competitive and if he can't run to his full expectations he won't be able to race...... I totally understand what Matt is saying...he is one of the top notch drivers out there.... I have watched many a race where Chad Kinder and him kept you on the edge of your seat with them side by side on the track..... I hate hearing this and hope maybe something will change and it won't come to this but...like I said.. I do understand.........
........
The racing.........those poor poor cars !!!!! and the drivers had to be jerked to death....but.... when you race this early in the season and with the weather the way it has been...the drivers knew what to expect...
Rain was expected to arrive by around 3 or 4..... the crew got the races started and ran thru the events very smoothly........we had rain throughout the day but was light..got heavier by feature time...
Fast qualifier was Jeff Parks with 19.081...
they did group qualifing which I really like...
Fast qualifier in each group:
1..Kenny Gaddis...19.611
2..Tim Dierlam......19.629
3..Randle Sweeney...19.236
4..Tim Hancock....19.513
5..Danny Schwartz..19.112
6..Jeff Leka....19.298...........Chad Kinder....19.329
7..not sure
8..Jeff Parks...19.081
Heat one
Gaddis...Boone
Mevert..Harrison
Adkins..Anderson
Warren..McDowell
Guss,jr..Spatola
finish...Harrison..Gaddis..Mevert..Guss,jr..Adkins..Warren..Spatola..McDowell
***the #14 of Boone pulled into the infield at half way point....
caution comes out for Larry Anderson who stops in turn 4
on white flag lap Mike Harrison got around Kenny Gaddis for the win... Gaddis had led the whole race until the caution came out for Anderson by a pretty nice margin.... on restart took advantage and got around Gaddis
heat two
Dierlam...De Schwartz
Kirtley...Weisser
Miles...Henry
Porth...Wenger
Cook,jr...Huddleston
finish: Schwartz,Weisser, Dirlam, Cook,jr, Kirtley, MIles, Porth, Huddleston
***the #18 of Huddleston pulled to infiedl shortly after the start
the #42 of McKay Wenger pulled off the lap before white flag
heat three
Sweeney...Bumgardner
Rasdon...Walker
Adams...Westerfield
Goulden...Vinnedge
Penny
finish: Bumgardner, Sweeney, Rasdon, Goulden, Adams, Vinnedge,Walker, Penny
**the #05 pulled to the infied after his car broke......**crap...can't remember what Jimmy told me he broke **
heat 4
Hancock....Hood
Owens....Coakley
Tolson...Walker
Weaver...Verbeck
Brantley
finish...Weaver, Hancock, Coakley, Owens, Hood, Tolson
**caution came out for the #17
**the #35 of Walker pulled off
**Kevin Weaver came up from 7th to win the race..
heat five
Da Schwartz...Kent Robinson
Weber...C. Miller
Young..Cobb
Mc Dowell #8...Reed
DeJoving
finish: Kent Robinson, Da Schwartz, Miller, Weber, Young, Cobb
heat six
Leka...Kinder
Mallady...Moore
Roley...Gilpin
Fuqua..Ransom
Rich Robinson
finish: Kinder...............
sorry...when Kinder is out there..........well....
**Leka pulled off
**Roley pulled off
**Chris Moore spun out on last lap...
heat seven
Simpson...Neville
Leach...Weise
Conyer..Baize
Jewell..Stryzinski
Bradham..dns
finish: Neville, Wieise, Jewell, Baize, Conyer, Leach
**caution when the #80 of Simpson hit the wall in turn 4....
**Simpson pulls off
***Stryzinski pulls off
heat eight
Parks...Hess,jr
Johnson...Cates
Miller...Hastings
Bruce..Bostrum
Giffin....Fair
finish: Hess,jr, Johnson, Parks, Bruce, Fair, Hastings, Giffin
**Cates pulled off track
during consi's I went back to the pit area......Gennie Bare kept records for me....THANKS GENNIE...
consi one: Cook,jr, Dierlam, Guss,jr, Spatola, McDowell, Wenger, Porth, Boone...
**the #7 of hit the wall and pulled off
**the 18 of Jon Henry hit the wall in turn one
**the #7k of Kirtley hit the wall and went off on hook
**the #18 of Huddleston and the #22d of McDowell pulled off
***the #76 pulled off
consi two..Rasdon, Goulden, Walker,Verbeck,Hood,
**Tolson pulled off
consi three...Clayton Miller, Fuqua, Rich Robinson,B. McDowell,Reed
consi four....Bruce, Parks, Boone, Hastings
**Craig Conyer hit the wall ..out
**Baize pulled off
#95 of Fair pulled off
B MAIN...........
GUSS,JR......#14
#15.....VERBECK
SPATOLA...HASTINGS
B. MCDOWELL....#71
#37...HOOD
WENGER...#14
REED...GIFFIN
PORTH...BAIZE
14.....JEWELL
***FINISH :
1..RAY GUSS,JR
2..HASTINGS
3..PORTH
4..WENGER
****#14 PULLS OUT
***Cody Hood pulls off
*** over half way thru the race the leader #17 of Verbeck hit a hole in between one and two ..made it around track to just about same spot and stopped....was very obvious he broke something...
***the #71 pulls out..the #37 pulls out.... the #0j Jewell pulls out
Feature:
Harrison....De Schwartz
Bumgardner...Weaver
Robinson....Kinder
Neville....Hess,jr
Gaddis...Weisser
Sweeney...Hancock
Da Schwartz...Mallady
Weise...Johnson
Cook,jr....Rasdon
C. Miller...Bruce
Dierlam...Goulden
Fuqua..Parks
finish...........Kevin Weaver.....Dave Hess,jr......Randle Sweeney.....Gary Cook,jr
This was a very intense race...hard to watch...was afraid someone was going to get hurt...after Chad Kinder almost flipped his car I could not watch him too closely... then when Mike Harrison flipped...I was glad to see him walk away from that one..it looked bad...roof was smashed down....I am sure he is feeling the results of that crash today....Denny Schwartz had a close call as well...Becky Robinson told me that when Denny broke down on the track it was due to a drive shaft... it came up through the floor and just missed his legs and made a hole in side of his door....sure glad he escaped what could have been a very bad situation....
**on first lap Neville lost his drive shaft
**running order.. Harrison, Schwartz, Weaver, Kinder, Bumgardner, Robinson, Hess, Weisser, Gaddis, Sweeney,Jewell, Da Schwartz
**Chad Kinder almost flipps his car in turn one...
***Bruce, Miller and Goulden all collide coming out of turn three
***Jeff Parks and Clayton Miller pulls off
running order: Schwartz, Harrison, Weaver..Kinder, Hess,jr...Robinson...Jewell..Bumgardner, Weisser,Johnson,Da Schwartz, Gaddis, Wiese,Cook,jr..Rasdon, Sweeney
**Dierlam pulls off
**caution comes out for Rob Fuqua......(ROB DID YOU HAVE BRAKES????)tire bouncing real bad for 3-4 laps or so then the rough conditions caused the bottom ball joint to break
***caution for Mike Harrison who flipped his car... it landed on its lid and then landed back on its wheels..top of car was smashed in....was so glad to see Harrison out of that car...** he was running really good...
only 8 laps in with 32 to go..
running order now is Schwartz, Weaver, Hess, Kinder, Hancock, Robinson, Bumgardner, Weisser, Johnson, Da Schwartz, Gaddis, Cook,jr, Wiese, Sweeney, Bruce, Rasdon, Goulden
**the #54 of Bumgardner rubbing the wall
**the T0 car is starting to smoke....he spins out coming out of turn one
***the #T0 car pulls off
running order: Schwartz, Weaver, Hess, Johnson, Kinder, Robinson, Bumgardner, Sweeney, Da Schwartz, Cook,jr, Bruce, Gaddis, Wiese, Goulden,
on restart the #54 of Bumgardner lost his wheel in turn four...
**on restart Chad Kinder pulls out
**caution for debrie
running order: Schwartz, Weaver, Johnson, Hess,jr,Sweeney, Robinson,Cook,jr, Bruce, Da Schwartz,Wiese, Gaddis, Goulden, Rasdon..
on restart the #12t of Gaddis pulls off
**caution come out for the #1 of Johnson who spins ......Weaver had just passed Schwartz...he had to go back
**Weisser pulls off
now we are betting on how many cars are going to be able to finish the race...Gennie says 8
running order: Schwartz, Weaver, Hess, Sweeney, Cook,jr, Bruce, Robinson, Da Schwartz, Goulden, Wiese, Rasdon
by half way point Weaver takes lead from Denny Schwartz
***caution out for the #21s of Schwartz...he stops in turn one.... lost his drive shaft which came up thru the floor almost getting his legs...made a hole in his door.... very lucky person.....
***on restart the #5 of Rasdon pulls off
***caution comes out for the #50 who spins
***Kent Robinson pulls off before restart
running order and only cars left: Weaver, Hess, Sweeney, Cook,jr , Bruce, Da Schwartz, Goulden, Wiese
**the #21d pulls off
**the #128 pulls off
**caution for debrie
down to six cars with 10 laps to go
Weaver , Hess,jr , Sweeney, Cook,jr , Goulden, Wiese
**Wiese spins for second time...pulls off the track
Weaver, Hess, Sweeney, Cook,jr, Goulden
Goulden pulls off
Weaver, Hess, Sweeney, Cook,jr
On the checkered flag lap Randle tried to pass the #44 of Hess,jr and got sideways going into one.....
Cook finishes the race with a flat tire...
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!
I am glad I went...was glad to see all my friends and meet some new drivers and fans....
Was called to the announcer's booth to meet Jimmy Westerfield and got an interview... thanks Billy..
and to you Billy......... I know the race did not turn out the way you wanted but Billy.... look at what you had to work with.... You did a heck of a job and all that I talked to in the pit area said the same...
You can't fight mother nature but you sure did the best job that anyone could have done....
You are a good race promoter.....
cj