WE ARE ...
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS!
Langley & Corey Go ... OFF THE WALL, Again ....
WE ARE ...
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS!
Another new section(one we hope is a hit with the readers) is OFF the WALL with Langley and Corey where the two racing guru's chat about some of the going's on in the regional Late Model Stock Car racing scene and this week we're talking about NASCAR, Concord, UARA and everything in between!!!
Langley Austin
Corey Latham
Langley Austin: Alright Here we go again with "Off the Wall" ... Welcome Corey!
Corey Latham: Word up!
LA: Well another weekend of Late Model Stock Car racing in the books and not much has changed ... Philip Morris won his third straight at Motor Mile and Jake Crum finally landed a win this season, but hey he could have won any of the first four.
CL: It was only a matter of time before Jake won, he is by far the one to beat this year on the tour this year. Although tough, he had a little help because BJ was bad fast before the motor went sour. And as far as Morris, he has had some tough competition up there for sure. I don't think it will get any easier as the year goes on.
LA: No doubt, no one had anything for BJ Mackey Saturday night, but that's the chips fall sometimes and Jake got what had been coming to him, a WIN .... with Philip Morris, he's like Tony Stewart he gets off to a slow start then blisters the field for the hot summer months and I think he got there a little soon this year.
LA: Philip Morris is not the only guy on a roll, how about Corey Strickland at Southern National and speaking of Southern National, what is he deal with all the DQ's this year and it's not just SNRP, SoBo and Langley ... it's been crazy!
CL: Yeah they have something going on down there, not quite sure what it is. The track was rumored to be all but closed earlier this year and then they changed the schedules so that every LMSC night is twin 75 lappers, which to me is awesome. Guess if you go down there, you better make dagum sure your stuff is right. Was Godsey DQ'd this past weekend also?
LA: yeah ... I haven't done the research to find out why Godsey was DQ'ed, but no one is surprised .... Nick Smith(SoBo and Langey) and Doug Godsey can easily be labeled cheaters and no one would argue with the title except them. It's a tough year for disqualifications, I guess they actually care this year???
CL: Well, it's just gotten to the point where everybody knows exactly what to do with the cars, and now every little bit more is over the edge. And the fact that they ARE teching the cars a lot better has come into play. The worst has to be the Camping World East Series. They took a win away from Peyton at Greenville Pickens and then had a heck of a time with the winner this past weekend at SOBO. Kinda strange that Austin Dillon was the second place finisher in both of those races, and he ended up with the win at Greenville.
LA: yeah the Camping World East deal is kinda strange ... my understanding is Lynn Carroll was temporarily the head over the series at South Boston because the head guy who made the decision to disqualify Peyton Sellers and Marc Davis(Iowa) was fired ... this is shaping up to be a wild, wild year on all fronts.
CL: Speaking of Greenville Pickens, how about that Coleman Pressley? Is he bad to the bone this year or what?
LA: yeah, Coleman is the man ... between him, Matt DiBenedetto and Jake Crum we've got some awesome young talent around here.
CL: It seems that the young kids are running really well, and that some of the veterans are having the worst luck ever. Ross Furr still can't buy a break. And just when Alex Yontz gets things turned around he gets snakebit. And Rodney Cook is having a good year, but he isn't winning at ACE like last year and they just can't seem to get the #14 black car for SOBO going at all.
LA: no doubt about the veterans struggling ... Ross Furr has run like you would expect the defending champ to run, but he can't finish the races, but you know at least at Dillon he didn't tear the car up, he just broke a wheel and that means his luck is getting better ... I think.
CL: And speaking of Dillon, think Brandon McReynolds is hanging out with Paddy Rodenbeck anytime soon? Paddy has made it exciting for people in the stands, but the car owners and drivers are none too impressed with his style.
LA: well .... you know the deal, you give an inexperienced driver a missle and he'll probably find someone to aim it at ... I've seen it a lot over the years and Paddy is probably the most talented of the ones I've seen .... I'll have to say he he figured out how to make it 144 laps this week, which means he either did a better job or finally learn how to wreck others and not wreck himself???
CL: Ummm.....I guess. Aside from all that wrecking, the rookies are really impressive this year. Ryan Wilson finally broke the stranglehold that Randy Benson has had on Caraway this past week and came through with his first ever LMSC win.Even though there are only about 8 cars running there, about 5 of them are really good rides. I'm looking forward to the Rusty Harpe Memorial race on July 2nd. Should be a heck of a field and Caraway is a great track. Well, the track itself is great, I'm not a fan of anything else there but that show should be one of the highlights of the year. The next night is SOBO's 200 lapper and that should bring out the big dogs also. Moving on, seeing that Motor Mile has this impressive payout that other tracks can't compete with which brings many cars, is it hurting the other tracks?
LA: The Rusty Harpe Memorial is quickly becoming the pinnacle of Late Model Stock Car racing, obviously it will never be the Bailey's 300, but outside that, this is the race .... I don't know if I'll go, but it should be a great show and I know we'll have BIG coverage of this race with Corey and Doc planning on going.
LA: On the Motor Mile deal, I know it's hurting, but it's not hurting these other tracks as much as their lack of promotion ... these guys can't just open the gates and say hey guys didn't you know we're having a race ... it's promotion 101 ... take lessons from Sherry Clifton at Hickory, she at least tries ... I can't say that for anyone else especially Southern National, Caraway, Concord and it doesn't look to promising for the new deal at Tri-County .... racing is hurting, but it's not all the gas prices, someone has to work.
CL: I agree, and I can't figure out for the life of me what the deal is with Concord. It's one of the most awesome racetracks there is with great facilities, but i never hear a thing about it at all. Do they make so much money from testing and commercials that they just don't care? In the location that that place is in, it should be full every week easily. All tracks are hurting, but they have been hurting for a while and I've not seen many of them take a different approach to change it. If gas goes up anymore, we might start having scooter races.
LA: Gas prices aren't that bad, people just need to get their head out of Fox News and CNN .... yeah, I'd love to buy gas for 99 cents like I did when I started driving, but that isn't the way it is .... for these race tracks they need some excuse all the time .... tracks are hurting because they don't work the region like they should, they put TOO much stock in racing websites(like this one) to get the word out .... drivers are on here, your LOCAL fans aren't .... do some advertising ... letter your car up with race dates, DO SOMETHING!
LA: As far as Concord goes, they don't care, the money coming in from TV commercials and testing are enough, but eventually that won't be enough to keep short track racing going there .... I hear we may be closer to seeing that track not opening the gates every week than any of us think.
there is a lot of tracks in that position ... don't be surprised if the number of weekly tracks slims down like it's on a big diet very soon.
CL: As some tracks might be closing, it seems that tracks with the NASCAR sanctioning has been going down swiftly the last few years. Has the time came that a track doesn't need the NASCAR logo on the wall anymore to do well? And that's pretty much all you get, a logo on the wall.
LA: I think the NASCAR sanctioning is killing some of our local tracks ... I'm sure everyone has seen by now the deal where Tucson Raceway Park dropped the sanctioning and that was a flagship track for NASCAR .... stick a fork in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, IT'S DONE! ... plus how screwed up is there points deal ... five out of the top ten are Greenville-Pickens drivers, are you kidding me there is more competition racing down I-81 here in Wytheville ... that's ignorant.
CL: The whole thing is messed up, they don't really care about the local racer and from what I hear the whole thing will be done in the next 5-7 years. ASA seems to be the way to go now as far as track sanctioning. The owners and drivers love it, the pay seems a little better and the insurance is definitely better. I really think tracks should just drop it all and run the dagum cars themselves. All the tracks should get together in a certain area and make rules where cars can rotate between the tracks if they want. Get local businesses to sponsor the place and go racing.
LA: sounds simple, Corey ... now all you need is the money to buy or lease a track and we'll have a good place to race ... Good Luck on that.
CL: I thought you could loan it to me. I'll pay ya back...............I swear.
LA: we should both just hit up Doc for the loan ... he's got the cabbage .... OK, Guys that will wrap up another session of "Off the Wall" for RACE22.com!