May 17, 2008
Well..........it started off to be a good day.......... I was excited that we were going to Charleston Speedway.... I have met a lot of really nice guys from the Charleston track and a lot of our members are from that area...
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I ran into David Shain at the pit gate and his dad.........David is such a nice young man....they told me where to go to get into the pit area and David told me where his car would be parked...the #87 modified..
David graduated from Charleston College in December of 07 and now works for Amercan Fiber Optic Services...says he does a lot of traveling all over the country...........David is planning on giving up his bachelor hood in October of this year......wishing you much success with your future....
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I ran into Josh Griffith and talked with him for a while.........
I was trying to locate the guys that our members on my site... I found Justin Watson and finally got to meet Jim Cross, Jr and also got to meet his dad Jim Cross, Sr. .... was great meeting all of them...
Jim jr and I have corresponded for quite a while so it was really nice finally getting a chance to interview him...and what an honor to meet Jim Cross,Sr........he will be 70 years old this year....
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I looked for Jesse Leo but never did find him.... sorry Jesse.......hopefully next time...
All the guys that I interviewed saturday night were extremely friendly and I really enjoyed talking with all of them...
I got a special surprise in getting to meet one of my long ago members Rodney Gould.......... I wondered what had happened to him.... he was Crew Chief for Greg Short and then left for a while to crew for John Blankenship.......but Greg wanted him to come back and he did............ glad your back Rodney !!!
and glad I finally got the interview with Greg...
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I saw a number 9 car and wanted to know who drove the car..........they told me Wildman and where to find him..... I did not realize his last name was Wildman.........I thought they were just calling him that..soooo I got an interview with #w9 Shawn Wildman.........
I also got an interview with the #144 of Ryan Cary.........what a character.... he was a lot of fun to interview....
Next I found Jamey Hensen and was going to try and get back to get an interview with Tim but never got back to that area........hopefully next time..
I got an interview with hornet driver #M2 Matt Adkins...very nice young man...
Then I came across Chad Evans.... I watched this young man race in a sportsman against JJ Miller quite a few times... He put on some very exciting races with JJ..... now he is in a modified and also has a late model.... was nice to finally put a face with the car....
And then I ran into David Wheatley.... was nice to finally meet him as well....was nice talking with him...
I went over to where my guy Chad KInder and Team #22 was parked... and chatted with them for a while..
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The makeup race for the street stock was going on the field so I headed for the bleachers...
It looked like Josh Griffith was going to pack up the win for the Street Stock but for some reason he slowed up on the track and Randy Smyzer who was right behind him tagged him making way for Randy to take the lead.........and he stayed there to the finish..............next was the makeup race for the hornets.... the #25c of Jim Cross,jr took the win easily...
I have to say the track looked great.......but with the two make up features and the semi consi for the hornets by the time the modifieds came out it was a dust bowl....
I won't go in to writing up the results for the Charleston track or much write up on them because the announcer at Charleston does a great job on doing that so please read his post of Charleston...
All divisions put on good racing......
Now the touchy part..............................
............I have waited all day to give myself time to think and to listen to other people on what they think...........I also put a call in to Mike Cobble and I have to say he did call me back... I respect him for that...We got to see a lot of good racing.......I can not complain about any of it.... they ran a smooth race up until the time the hornets came out for their semi consi...........the track had finally dried out and it was so dusty you could not see the cars.... the track should have been watered during the break or as soon as the hornets left the track....
Instead they brought the modifieds out and lined them up........they did not even get one lap in before a car spun bringing out the caution... during the caution the ground crew went from car to car asking the drivers if they wanted to pull off and let the crew water the track...........the majority of drivers voted to pull off. and let them water.............. we sit about a half hour if not longer waiting..........all was good.... the track needed watering.......... in the meantime I know of two cars that had pulled to the pit area and then returned to the infield.....the one car i did not notice whether the ground crew went over to talk to them or not but the one car they did.... I thought it was strange that they would allow cars to go off the track and then return........finally they got the track watered and the cars went out and starting packing the track.............now they were ready to race........the green flag drops for the second time and off they went......rounding turn four poor Rob Fuqua who had looked really good in his heat got sideways going into the turn........Danny Schwartz was on the outside of him and verily escaped tumoil.....KInder had no where to go but into the side of Fuqua........when Chad drove past us the whole side of his car was caved in...going around the track was Denny Schwartz with sparks coming out of the bottom of his car... I am assuming it was him that got into Chad...........and......he was on outside row of Kinder on the start so I am sure he had no where to go as well.... I heard later that he did not get to finish the race.........
Well in the meantime since there had been no laps in and the race had not started Chad went to the pit area and had his tire changed then tried to re enter the field.........he was not allowed too.........OF COURSE all the Kinder fans were furious........we could have understood if the race had already started but it had not ..... we were all angry..........my hubby and I drove around by Team #22 and needless to say they were not to happy ... we went home...
It was good I had an hour ride home before getting on the computer ..... I tried sorting out what had happened..............one of the team members called me and told me that not only did they not get to race but when they went to get their money for starting the feature they were told they would get no money because Chad did not make a green flag lap...........***and I am sure it was not enough money to worry about but it was just the topping on a bad night***
When I got home I put very little on the computer .....I did however get some replies and also some pm's concerning the matter..............
All the Charleston guys told me that what happened to Chad was a rule at Charleston..that was the way Charleston handled the flat tire situation.... if you left the track you could not come back on...........and a couple said that if they would have allowed Chad to come back on there would have been a whole lot more guys mad then just the #22 Team.....................not that the guys agree to the rule but that is just a track rule that they have had to abide by....all thought though that Kinder should have been paid his start money..
Well this morning I called Mike Cobble and left a message for him to call me back... I really didn't think he would but I wanted to discuss the situation over before I posted my comments... I thought that was only fair...
MIke did call me.... I told him up front that I was a Chad KInder fan and was bias BUT it would not have mattered if it was Chad or any other driver..... I would have been upset.............
That feature was geared to be a great race with Fuqua, the Schwartz's , Kinder, Evans, Short, Wheatley, Hensen ..etc...Itwould have been great to watch.... unfortunately for Fuqua his night was over but it should not have been over for Kinder...........
Mike talked very openly and I felt very honestly with me.... He told me he is still trying to get the track lined out and he had made his share of mistakes.... he said he has taken care of one big problem and is now working on some others.........he did tell me that it was a rule of the track on the flat tire situation.... he said the reason they had that was for safety reasons.....being afraid that a tire would fly off when they were going to pit to change the tires.............. he did say he was going to change that rule............ he said he felt that if there is not a lap in you should be entitled to change the tire............he also said he was not aware that Chad did not get paid....siad he should have...........the rule in the book is that you have to take the green in order to get paid..... Chad had done that....as a matter of fact "twice"....
Mike said he is working hard to mend the problems that Charleston Speedway has........ I do beleive that he is sincere...............
I am sorry that this had to happen on the night I was there......I do think with the help of the fans and drivers at Charleston he will be able to improve the issues at hand..........but.......I have had so many pm's telling me that what rules are for one week change the next weekend..........drivers are not going to risk going to a track not knowing what to expect........
I wish you luck Mike..........I would not want to take on the responsibility of trying to promote a track..it 's not an easy job.............
Just be consistent..........
cj