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Round And Around: DIRTcar Nationals At Volusia Speedway Park by Fay Hendricks 2/8/2010 Another day, another short track. Today we joined the 39th edition of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, home to DIRTcar's All-Star, UMP, and World of Outlaws sanctioned racing. Many of our previous late models were missing, but more new entries replaced them under the UMP banner. The UMP mods had begun their annual run last week, already completing two nights of qualifying for Monday's "The Gator" championship race. The top ten in accumulated points were already locked into the main event, including NASCAR racer Kenny Schrader. Missing the cut by one car was Clint Bowyer, and Kenny Wallace also missed the top ten. Interesting to see that both Buzzie and Davie Reutimann also ran mods at Volusia, and father Buzzie was competing Monday. Because of this format we saw far fewer than the mod count of over 80 entries from around our nation. Qualifying took place in groups, assuring each cluster would have equal conditions when they ran their heats in the same groups. I miss much of this process with people talking through the announcements, but will have to train my ears better next time. Things moved along quickly here, the top five posted on the scoreboard that kept the audience up to date. The mods opened the racing program with four heats that only transferred the winner to the main event. Before 30 cars began the 30-lap feature, the top ten in points drew for their starting positions in the first five rows. Coming up with the pole was Wisconsin's Jason Schill, the only Badger State racer we could find here. New Mexico's Stormy Scott drew the number two, and Jeff Leka picked the third position but began in the back of the pack with mechanical problems. The Gator offered $5,000 to the winner, a huge amount of money for the mod racers. Schill's chances looked good at the drop of the green flag, but a spun mount collected others, and Bowyer was among the retirees before one lap was complete. The next time around was good, and Scott got past Schill to take charge of the race until just past the halfway mark when debris landed on the track. The race resumed its fast pace all the way to the checkered flag. We noted the steady progress of Schrader to the front as Schill faded, and suddenly the triple-seven car of Jared Landers was there. We hadn't noticed his late entry to the starting field, but Landers was on a mission after starting in the back of the pack. Suddenly Landers zoomed ahead with five laps remaining, threading his way through the field that ran high, low, and in the middle grooves. At the end Landers was elated to emerge in victory lane, telling the crowd, "I've been off here the last three nights. I couldn't be here without all these guys who help me." Among those helpers were the Shaw race car builders and Dale McDowell's brother Shane. Landers fielded a late model as well, but did not make the second main tonight. Scott would have preferred to be the winner, but was pleased with his runner-up finish. "We're real happy about it," claimed Scott, explaining, "We only run the UMP tire when we come here." Austin Dillon's third place was good enough for the podium interview, and the youngster thanked many people who helped him get here. "It was a good run for us," claimed Dillon, adding, "But not as good as we wanted." Dillon ended by telling all that he and his younger brother Ty would be joined by their grandfather, Richard Childress, in the pits to sign autographs after the races. Six late model heats placed the top three finishers to the feature, with triple B mains placing another six finalists into the final two dozen. More than forty others would become spectators Monday. Jack Sullivan's heat win in the GRT house car put him on the pole of the 30-lap contest, with Brian Birkhofer outside. Birkhofer was ready at the green flag, leading the way past a pair of slowdowns in the first ten circuits. At the halfway mark Darrell Lanigan had moved into the lead from his third row start, and things got crowded at the front of the pack. Birkhofer got past the next time around, then Lanigan surged ahead again as they pair dueled in tandem. Behind the lead pair Jimmy Owens and Billy Moyer were quietly moving to the front. Owens wowed the crowd by surging ahead on the penultimate lap to steal second place away from Birkhofer. Moyer improved by seven positions for fourth place, and Danny Schlieper earned fifth place honors. Lapped cars became an issue at times, but Lanigan held on for the first win of the week. "The car was awesome," declared the winner, adding, "The track was perfect. It was the first time we ran this car." Owens was happy with his finish, stating, "We had a good run. To race like that with Lanigan and Earl (Pearson) and everybody, it was just great. Everything's working out good for us." At 10:30 the chilled audience chose the warmth of their vehicles or a walk to the pits to visit their heroes. Earlier it was announced that fans could upgrade their tickets to pit passes, with the warning to stay out of the way of the working teams. Trivia questions during down times kept fans entertained, and without a breeze we remained dirt-free. In the decades we have been coming here, that is quite an accomplishment. We were told the track added a lot of clay to the surface just for this purpose. With temperatures in the forties, this was to be the warmest night for the rest of the week. To be continued. |
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