POSTED MAY 22, 2025
One
of the challenging things about owning a speedway is that no two nights are ever
the same! That was certainly the case this week-end! Saturday night our car
count was down about 5-6 from what we had been running and then the scratches
started! Now you never want scratches but on a night when you are already short
on cars they really hurt badly! First Mike Jones crashed his number 29 into the
turn 2 wall hot lapping! Bill Crapo, who would have taken over the Bomber points
lead, had engine problems! Defending Mottville Stock points champion David
Schaefer had engine woes and was done for the night also! But there is nothing
you can do but go on with the show and that is what we did! Fortunately we had a
big field of karts which really helped!
A
week ago young Greg Brown crashed into the turn 2 wall in his kart by the exit
but Saturday night he came back stronger than ever and won his 4th
feature of the season! As has been the case all season the kart feature was
exciting and close! Then Chris Arnett won his first ever feature in the Thunder
Cars! Merle Yoder became the 8th different winner in the last 8
nights in the Mottville Stock division when he won his first feature since March
31! So in spite of
everything it turned out to be a decent night!
But
Sunday was truly awesome! We had a season high 8 streets stocks and a season
high 32 stock cars! The street stocks really put on a show! Terry Kline was out
for the first time in his beautiful SS and showed the value of Good Year tires!
He finished 6th in the heat and then purchased a set of Good Years
and went on to win the feature! It was one of our best features of the season as
he and Randy Morley really fought it out and Ron Coburn led half the race and
was a close 3rd.. Ryan Prough was a strong challenger all 30 laps
until spinning coming out of turn 4 on the final lap!
Rookie
Jeff Brunt won the dash for his first win ever and then came back and won again
in the heat! But he had engine problems and could not start the feature! Major
bummer! Local hero Burney Arnett came to race for the first time this season but
had heating problems and left the feature early. Before the races started it
appeared Richard Eastman was the SS to beat but he had engine problems in the
feature and left early also but vowed to be back! What a good looking field of
cars we had Sunday night! Wow! The SS feature alone was worth the price of
admission! Paul Scott says he will have his SS done this week-end and will be
running all 3 nights so the SS division is really looking up!
Josh
Salter was truly awesome in winning the MS 35 lapper rather easily! He is just
plain fast! Terry Humphries just as awesome in easily winning the Bomber
feature! Terry says he will be at Mottville both Saturdays and Sundays as he
wants that season points championship to go along with his Rookie of the Year
last year!
As
always the Thunder Cars were exciting , especially with Brave Dave Anthony
around! Sometimes I am laughing too hard to announce! Jamie Kline drove her
father’s number 27 TC and finished 4th and had a lot of crowd
support!
We
are not where I had hoped we would be or wanted to be in the MTC yet but I
understand the Aumack boys will be racing two cars this week-end and Robert
Sprague may have his MTC back this week-end! Its just a matter of time until we
get 10-12 MTC I am certain!
Thursday
night the track was
a beehive of activity as David Schafer assisted by Scott Baker, Bill
Crapo, Danny Zimmerman and Vic Krontz put two tracks lights up in turn one above
the caution light! A 3rd light now faces the driveway which really
helps that area! Guess what? We did not have to turn the lights on either night!
Meanwhile
Tom Pearson installed an air conditioner and new window in the ticket-pit pass
booth! The only building left to air condition is the concession stand and that
should take place within 2 weeks before they melt!
Speaking
of the concession stand I heard that people were asking for some sandwiches
other than hot dogs and polish and I want you to know I have heard your cries!
Starting this Saturday we will have a one quarter pound pork barbeque and a
quarter pound sloppy joe! I want you to know that I have personally tasted
both and they are delicious! Big and will only take a minute or less to prepare
and very reasonable priced for $2.25! We could have priced them at $2 and been
skimpy with the meat or sell them for $2.25 and fill the bun! A 3rd
new item starting this Saturday will be ice cream sandwiches for $1!! These 3
new items will give us a nice variety and that about puts us at our limit to be
able to turn food out quickly
Our
first triple header week-end of the season is coming up and I am most excited
about it! Saturday night we have a regular program and then Sunday the Vintage
Modifieds come in for the 3rd time and Monday is a trophy night with
trophies for the top 5 in A features and all heat and dash winners! If anyone is
serious about points they will be at Mottville this week-end, especially Monday!
Drivers who race all 3 nights receive bonus points and those racing 2 of the 3
receive the normal 50 bonus points! But Monday night to start with is TRIPLE
POINTS AND EXTRA BONUS POINTS! So if you drive all 3 nights you will get the
triple points on Monday plus the 100 bonus points for driving all 3 nights plus
bonus points for driving Monday! That is a big bunch of points!
I
need to mention that again last week-end we paid out way more than we advertise!
For the SS feature we paid $125-80-60-50-40(for those finishing feature). MS
feature paid 100-75-60-50-40-35-30! Saturday night the MS feature paid
75-60-50-40-35 with only 6 cars! Where else can you race and make decent money
and not have to spend all week repairing your car from wrecks each and every
week?
I
want to point out a odd statistic from tires sales! Most years we sell about the
same number each of 13”tires and 15” tires or if anything a few more 13”
tires. But his season to date 62% of our tire sales have been 15” but our car
count has been the best for the MS! If you can figure this out please let me
know!
How
about this for the odd complaint to a track official for the week? A driver on
his own went to the tail of the race to start the feature. Why we have no idea
but after the race the owner of the car was most upset at track officials for
not forcing his car to start where he was supposed to be! We post the line-up on
the board in the pits and if a driver chooses to go to the tail instead that is
his problem, not ours!
This
week-end coming up is perhaps the biggest week-end in racing all season with the
“500” heading the list!
I know I will be watching the
“500” and then heading to Mottville and hope you will be also!