Posted By: Some Guy In Texas on March 26 2011 at 12:14:20 AM
What a race!
Not to mention it's 11:50 & I've been home for 20 minutes after seeing 50 plus sprint cars & I live at least 30 minutes from the track! Well put together show & no reds helps a lot I'm sure.
I bought a pit pass & took about 50 pictures before the race. I'll get them posted on photobucket or something tomorrow & post the address here.
Jeff Swindell did NOT have the Ford in there. I stopped by & bought a Jeff t-shirt; pretty small trailer. I took a few of Jeff's car before the race and noticed the left rear wheel had a really chewed up bead on the outside, like it had been damaged and/or repaired. I don't know if it's the wheel he had on during the feature... but I noticed it. You CAN see it a little in my picture (I just blew it up big and checked), at least the top half of the wheel. Maybe it's photoshop time & I'll post just the wheel, too.
I've read in his column about the Eckley motor, they have a sticker on the car, too. I know about Jack Dover & Jeff running the Eckley motors... those things really run in those 2 cars.
I spoke to Wayne Johnson before the race; he looked good on & off the track, very upbeat. I asked who the owner was and he pointed and said "Brian". I didn't press for more. Really sharp car. Wayne said something about just getting it finished; I didn't want to bug him too much. Not sure about the need for secrecy earlier in the week. To build suspense?
The feature: Jason Johnson is aggressive & fast (shocker). Jeff sincerely had him covered, though. I don't know how many passes there were for the lead... had to be around 10. 2 on some laps. GREAT battle between those guys... and I'd say clean battle. I've seen Jason run Bruce off the backstretch at the Bowl to win... but this was classic. His victory lane speech was strong that I could hear. A line about not giving a SH$(*$) about being locked in to Saturday's feature, that he was going for the win was cool. I'm quoting, btw. Not my word choice... that's what he said. S bomb time! (it was cool!)
Track was maybe too good until feature time, not that much passing. Very few cars made a significant move. Herrera was fast, Michael Dupuy was WAY fast (didn't he win a big one in Florida this speedweeks?). He's for real. Johnson was fast in the heat.
I say the track was too good because some really good cars were either way off or it was just too tough to pass. B's included some of the best cars in the field including Brian Brown (front end damage in the B), Tim Crawley (provisional in the A) and Gary Wright (way off all night... last in heat and maybe 9th in the B).
When the cushion came in during the A... Brady Bacon was amazing. From way deep in the field to the front... that guy is good. The Dude looked quite pedestrian to me most of the night but came alive in the A.
I felt for Stewart tonight. He zoomed off the track after his heat because he didn't transfer. He had bad starting spots and seemed to keep getting bottled up behind crazy moves/decisions by others. It happens to the best of 'em. I paid double for my Stewart tshirt, btw, on purpose. Told him to put it on his "keep on truckin down the road fund." Wish I would have done more for him or Wayne. Always next time I guess. Reading about them running used tires during their championship year... I should have brought extra cash & bought them a tire. I like the little guys, can't help it. I don't say this for attaboys or kudos from you guys... I hope we all do a little act of kindness for an underfunded team sometime. I can't help but think anything is better than nothing.
Long enough post... I'll post some more thoughts Saturday afternoon.
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