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Saturday night was Memorial Day Lucky-Ganza, presented by Great Clips and Pro Rolloffs at Eagle Raceway. It also was Driver Appreciation Night since last week’s action was claimed by Mother Nature. That meant an overflow crowd packed the stands, hungry for some racing action. When you have 163 cars running 15 heats, 4 B Features and 5 A Mains on a track that had been baked by a blazing sun and near 100- degree temperatures you sometimes have conditions that aren’t ideal. But, a little work at intermission had lap times actually lower as the night ended.
The IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car finale saw Mark Pace the first back to the flag stand in his 40X, Doug Lovegrove’s 1 second, Mike Boston third in the 51 and Gene Ackland’s 14G fourth. Joey Danley passed Ackland on lap 2 in the 14. Boston moved up to second on lap 11 and Danley followed him into third with Toby Chapman putting the #7 into fourth. Trey Gropp looped the 54 in turn 4 on lap 13. Danley and Chapman both passed Boston with 9 to go. Danny Nekolite spun out in turns 3 & 4 with 4 to go, slowing the action for a final time. From there to the checkers Pace extended his lead with the final top 4 being Pace, Danley, Chapman and Boston.
One of the true joys in my position is being able to interview drivers who are over the moon happy after finally getting their first victory at Eagle Raceway, and tonight with Pace was a prime example. Although he spent a number of years in the 360 division at Eagle, he had never managed to snag a victory. He has spent quite a few years away from the sport but proved tonight that he still had the knack. “The last time I was here was 2 years ago for the Racesaver Nationals. I started 25th and got up to ninth, winning the hard charger. That’s the last time I was in a sprinter” he said. I asked what prompted him to come back to racing at Eagle. He stated “These guys (The Bogues) wouldn’t let me not come back. They told me ‘You’re our driver’, so I came back into town just for this. I’m loving life right now; this is unbelievable. It’s been a long time in the making. 2006 is when I started racing 360’s, and I was close so many times. So many seconds, so many thirds and so many wrecked race cars. Now we parked it tonight on the front stretch, finally! I love a dry-slick race track like we had tonight. Whenever a track takes rubber I always smell it first and get right into it. It makes you a driver! I also like a heavy track where it’s elbows up, but this kind of track is more technique. I can’t thank the Bogues enough for giving me the chance to step back into a sprint car, and they gave me a great one for sure”. Pace’s sponsors include Husker Lock and Key, Harris Decals, Penelope’s ‘Lil Café, Vogt Poured Walls, Randy’s Road House, Conklin and Benton Foundations.
I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks
anywhere.
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