It was an incredible sunny day in the land of infinite superiority, as the Indy 500 venue paid tribute to former NOWS (National Open Wheel Series) crossover driver Mert Socks. He won their stock car division races at the Indy road course in 1966 and 1967, and many looked to follow in his tradition for the final regular season race of 2019. Coming in, Zach Michael was only 21 points ahead of Matthew Dominique for the final chase position. Matt Raboin and Dave Miller were long shots, but a bad finish by Scott Jackson could propel them to the championship promise-land.
Early on, there was no doubt that Tim McDonnell was the class of the field. Dave Miller and Matthew Dominique could hold on to the draft as long as they wanted, but it was clear that the #22 was handling perfectly for the 26th race in-a-row.
It took an incredible 72 laps before John Battista, who had been running in the top-7 all day, blew up entering turn one. John Tharp creamed him from behind and destroyed the front end of his machine. He would limp around to finish 31st. Battista, who started the race 156 points ahead of 10th, would finish 42nd.
Zach Michael's championship dreams would be sandwiched after helping Ken Pettit squeeze Zakk Miller on the frontstretch. Zach's front end was slightly bent, as Miller flew directly into the path of Ben Geer who slammed him drivers-side first next to the inside wall. Johnny Reed Foley also caught a piece of the incident.
Craig Lee, Rick Jackson and Scott Jackson dominated the middle portion of the event, leading a combined 29 laps before a flying Ryan Heuser came out of nowhere to pass them all. Sadly, Craig and Rick would pit early on the next round of pit stops, where chaos and sorrow ensued.
On lap 109, Rick merged out of the pit lane wide trying to apex turn three, and cut across of Craig Lee's nose. Both cars suffered minor damage, though each, including Scott Jackson, Ken Pettit, Tyler Scott, Scott Drake, Randy Dobbins and Glenn Kaufmann, were now trapped a lap down.
The next restart provided some three-wide bump-and-run action, as leader Tim McDonnell was punted out of the way by Dave Miller entering turn three trying to navigate the lapped traffic in front. Tim was pushed back to seventh, as Dave Miller pulled away from the field after Ryan Heuser made contact with Scott Drake.
Another bump-and-run by Ryan pushed Dave out of the lead on lap 131, giving Alex Crapser the room to navigate three-wide on the inside and pass them both. Despite a few lead swaps between he and Jimmie Stevens, who was having another miraculous day, the #04 looked to have the final-run charge to the finish.
With less then 10 laps to go, Scott Jackson had gotten his lap back and worked his way to 19th position. Zach Michael struggled to stay in the top-20 after his early accident and was slated in 23rd. Matt Raboin was 5th, though teammate Matthew Dominique was one position behind to play spoiler to both him and the #20 team. For now, Scott and Matthew were in, with Zach and Matt coming from behind with nearly no laps left.
Misfortune occurred on lap 150, after Dan Johnston blew up in front of Steven Spears, who were both in the top-15. They both slid into the outside wall, bringing out the final caution of the race. Leader Alex Crapser hit their debris entering turn one and blew his left-front tire, forcing him to pit and drop back to 34th position. Dave Miller would re-take the lead for a seven-lap shootout.
Lapped-car Randy Dobbins raced side-by-side with
... Read more »
Two races remain in the regular season coming into the Southern 500. Everyone from fifth through 15th is within 228 points, leaving it an 11-driver desperation race at the narrowest track in all of Extravaganza.
Terror arose on lap 8 for points leader Tim McDonnell, spinning hard into the inside frontstretch wall with Randy Dobbins and Dalton Lucas. He has already clinched, though Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro battled desperately for the lead up front with their championship hopes in jeopardy. Unfortunately for Ryan, he and the #12 would be involved in a pit road incident later on, sending him two laps down en route to a 28th place finish.
Complete disaster struck for #12 and #20 teams on lap 73. Trying to get past the Tony Long machine, the two tangle and fly towards the inside wall. Zach Michael was able to correct his car forwards suffering only minor damage. Pizzaro slammed head-on, destroying his racecar and eventually winding up 31st. Zach Michael could only rebound to 17th, leaving him needing a good finish at Indy. Pizzaro would need to win that race and then some.
Teammates Craig Lee and Dave Miller raced hard during the earlier stages of the race, with Alex Crapser lurking inside the top-5 as he always does. Craig would go on to lead 81 laps during the next green flag run, and 112 overall.
Scott Jackson, John Battista and Ken Pettit spent some significant time leading during the middle stages. Both went on to lead 20+ laps and finish in the top-12, significantly increasing their championship chances coming into Indy.
Johnny Reed Foley is officially done for the second week in-a-row, and again it wasn't his fault. A Donald Stewart and Bill Werkheiser tangle off of turn four sent chaos through the field, with Ben eventually flipping the #18 machine over. He went on to finish 33rd. Matthew Dominique hit the turn 1 wall hard in the crash, damaging his roof and finishing 38th while dropping back to 11th in points.
Jimmie Stevens had the best race of his season, racking up 44 laps led and trying to match his top-5 performance at Bristol. He wound up 11th, but many say that a top-15 finish in points is in reach. Meanwhile, the QSM drivers battle hard behind.
Green flag pit stops occurred on lap 304, making it possible to stretch their fuel to the finish. Coming out, it was a three-car train between Craig Lee, Alex Crapser and Jimmie Stevens. The three stayed together and drafted away from the second pack, which was led by Dave Miller.
With 30 laps to go, the second pack caught up with the help of lapped traffic. Fourteen cars were now in contention for the victory, including a hungry Cristian Torres. Rick Jackson rode behind and points raced, while a nearly destroyed Tim McDonnell miraculously worked his way into the top-5.
Dave Miller passed Craig for the lead with 25 laps to go, with a helpful nudge from lapped teammate Ryan Heuser. John Tharp took the point one lap later and dropped Dave back to third. Ken Pettit couldn't hold off the strong #90 and relinquished second place, giving Dave a chance to re-pass the John Tharp machine before the lapped traffic hit. He did.
The final stages saw Dave five lapped cars ahead of second place Zakk Miller. With ten laps to go, he was able to pass two with drafting help from John Battista. Again, he was able to pass two more, and then pass Donald Stewart to end up one car-length behind Dave with four laps to go. It was the Miller and Miller show, but the #28 didn't have the muscle to pass the Marlboro Virginia Blend machine, giving Dave a much n
... Read more »
Points Standings After Southern 500: 1. Tim McDonnell - (In)
2. Craig Lee -203 (In)
3. Alex Crapser -282 (In)
4. John Tharp -310 (Has to Start)
5. John Battista -334
6. Ken Pettit -371
7. Rick Jackson -378
8. Ryan Heuser -418
9. Scott Jackson -441
10. Zach Michael -480
-------------------------------------
11. Matthew Dominique -21
12. Matt Raboin -53
13. Dave Miller -68
14. Tony Pizzaro -120
Team NSRA drivers Mark Murphy and Mike Carroll will share the #47 ride in 8 of the final 10 races of the year to prepare for the 2020 season. It is already rumored that Mark will replace the empty #32 ride, while Mike Carroll continues to show promise in the lower Busch Bonanza Series. It's going to be interesting to see how competitive the part-time team will be, but with the points leader in the cockpit for most of the events, the confidence is at an enormous high.
After a very good top-35 season for the old man, the longtime-veteran Walt Flowers will officially retire after 31 N.O.R.L. Extravaganza Series seasons. Still in high hopes for career victory #10 this season, it has been more of the same story, despite some decent runs in the last couple of weeks. NSRA Racing has two up-and-coming stars in the Busch Series and Guthrie was already expecting to lose his ride before the announcement. "Walt, Scoop and I have been in talks for some weeks now" referring to Old Farts Racing owner Scoop Driscol. "It's been a pleasure racing for a competitive team like NSRA, but it's time to go back to the roots and put some fun back into it". Walt Flowers will take part ownership of the third Old Farts ride that is expected to be announced by the end of 2019, and will remain at the racetrack. "I wish I could've won the Daytona 500, but other than that it's been the best career anyone could have asked for". Struggling teammate Dale Rosendaul will continue on in the #11, and has high spirits for the oncoming season.
When it comes to success at the Bristol Motor Speedway, the Quantum Racing and Quicksilver Motorsports drivers have it down as well as the rest of the field. The race proved to be as such, but with too many twists and turns that left it a race for the ages, despite the calamity.
Pole sitter Ryan Heuser went on to lead the first 10 laps before lapped traffic had Rick Jackson catch up and pass on the inside lane. Rick led the next 33 with Ryan in distance by less than a second the entire time, meandering through more lapped cars.
On lap 40, Adam Crapser spun out off of turn 4 and clipped Cristian Torres, spinning him and sending Adam into Kevin Corbat. Corbat flipped the #4 Pennzoil machine once and on top of Torres, doomly damaging all three cars. Corbat would finish 39th, Torres 42nd, and Adam 32nd.
Ryan took the lead back after the yellow flag and led through lap 84. Matt Raboin, coming in 37 points behind his teammate who was 10th in points, was only leading his 127th lap of the season. In this race, he went on to lead 167, all in a row except for 1. Ryan was directly behind the entire time, and made several attempts to pass back by.
Johnny Reed Foley's chase hopes blew up entirely on lap 72, where the header blew up and sent smoke into the teary eyes of his country fans. Tony Pizzaro blew up on lap 192 after breaking the ignition, sending him back to 12th in points and a 40th place finish. On top of it all, leader Matt Raboin blew up on lap 253 and spun in his own oil entering turn one, finishing 39th after an incredible performance.
Oil was all over the race track, sending Kevin Corbat for a spin directly in front of Rick Jackson and John Tharp, who were in 3rd and 4th place. Both drivers would fall out of the lead lap, finishing 33rd and 20th after a very good day. After hitting debris from the #87, Ryan also lost a lap in the pits repairing the front nose of the car. The top-4 were now scattered in the standings, giving Matthew Dominique the lead.
Points leader Tim McDonnell got spun after contact with John Tharp. After a checkup for the wreck, Zach Michael, who drove from last to second after 292 laps, at one point a lap down, got flipped over once on the backstretch and fell out of the race. After a 37th place finish, he would fall from 7th to 10th in the standings.
Matthew Dominique led 35 laps before that caution, but relinquished it to John Battista after he beat him out of the pits. He led the next 109 laps, and looked to be the strongest car in the field. With less than 100 laps to go, the two were side-by-side for three straight laps before Battista got caught on the outside line behind lapped traffic. Matthew, Alan Nesfeder and Scott Jackson all took advantage, dropping the #39 back to fourth.
Dominique was the sole leader again. Nesfeder took a peak to the inside for the lead on lap 410, but couldn't complete the pass. Several laps later, Scott Jackson passed both on the same lap and flew away. 32 laps later, Nesfeder and Dominique made contact battling for second. Dominique spun and hit the inside wall hard, flying back up the race track into Jimmie Stevens and Adam Crapser. Surprisingly, Dominique would continue on to finish 7th and crawl up to 9th in the points standings.
With a new spring of life, Nesfeder was able to take advantage. With 20 laps to go, he made a 3-wide move underneath 2-lapped cars while Jackson was stuck behind. Between lap 488 and 490, the two were again side-by-side. Jackson had the preferred line and picked the #78 behind the Steven Spears machine. Nesfeder made an amazing three-wide move in the middle and somehow kept the lead.... Read more »
For the first time in Extravaganza Series history, the best of the best go to Lime Rock Park. After the Forrest Grove death, it would appear that most drivers would play it safe. For the most part, it remained true.
For the first 12 laps, it was Johnny Reed Foley and Tim McDonnell battling for the lead in the early going. They passed each other four times before the first caution flew out.
Steven Spears and William Perry tagged coming into the chicane, sending the #65 straight into the tire wall and gasping for air. Despite the oncoming crowd, the debris barely missed the people.
Brodrick Wittmann and Aaron Cummings made contact in the same area as the last wreck. The Subway machine barely missing the crowd and went flipping violently into the forest. Brodrick would come out okay, with nothing but a head full of anxiety.
Matthew Dominique, Johnny Reed Foley, Ryan Heuser and Tim McDonnell were giving it their all to take the top spot, battling hard between laps 19 and 51. Foley and Dominique passed each other ten times during the green flag run.
Ryan and Foley also battled hard, passing each other five times during the same stint. The #18 would short pit on lap 52, taking a full load of fuel while Ryan came in 10 laps later with a half-tank and a five second lead. It's only halfway and pit strategy would start to look significant.
After a Mark Guthrie engine failure, a Cristian Torres crash and a Rick Jackson motor failure, it was a two-way race for sixth between Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro. As Johnny Reed Foley pulled ahead and four slower cars stayed out, the rest were trapped behind lapped traffic. Ryan Heuser and Matthew Dominique re-pitted and was working their way through heavier traffic towards the back, while Tim McDonnell and John Battista were waiting in the wings behind chase contender Donald Stewart, who went a lap down early. For him, this was likely the final nail in the coffin.
It was looking even more dominant for the #18 than Watkins Glen. With nobody in sight, a green flag run to the end probably would have meant victory again. The reality was a 15th place finish after pitting under the next caution, but he did lead the most laps and continues to be a force to be reckoned with three races remaining in the regular season. He'll have to gain 40 points a race on 10th place for the final three races to make it in.
Glenn Kaufmann had a tire go down entering turn one on lap 106. Chaos ensued behind, as Alex Crapser and John Tharp made every last attempt to crash while trying to pass him. They did not, but the chicane proved a different story for Matthew Dominique and Dalton Lucas. They were three-wide on corner exit, as the #25 hit the #54 on the right side and flew into the bushes, flipping and sending the #88 along as a spectator of the massive barrell-rolls. Both drivers were uninjured, but it sent Matthew all the way to 10th in the standings after leading for most of the season.
The waning laps were a show between Zach Michael, Tim McDonnell and Tony Pizzaro. John Battista, Alex Crapser and Jimmie Stevens lurked behind during the run, but after McDonnell passed Michael on turn one on lap 121, the Caterpillar machine was gone and nobody had a chance. They would need a caution to even the field back out.
The yellow flag never flew. Jimmie Stevens would have to pit for fuel with a couple laps to go, wondering if the rest of the field could make it. They did. McDonnell would ea
... Read more »
Today, at approximately 3:37 PM Eastern time, ARCA driver Forrest Grove was killed after exiting turn 6 in his #14 Stanley Dodge. He made contact with another car, sending him past the concrete bridge and over the hill. After being an estimated 7 stories above the racing surface, Forrest's car landed, the shear impact killing him instantly, and tumbled through a series of barrel-rolls until his car stopped near the pit road entrance. Few of the ARCA competitors who saw the incident were so horrified that they parked their cars in shear terror. "It was one of the worst incidents in modern stock car history" says ARCA chairman Dexter Holmes. "We are currently in thought and prayer for the Grove family." Forrest was the second-nephew of long-time Extravaganza Series driver Jason Grove, who was looking to fall into his footsteps. Today, the dream, as well as his life, has ended.
It was a wonderful day for the drivers who were farthest out of contention for the chase. While they reeled themselves back in, it was the opportunity for them and the rest of the field to beat the road course Big 3: Battista, McDonnell, and Pizzaro.
Tony Pizzaro qualified a miserable 24th, but worked his way up the field immediately. On his way up, he spun out Jimmie Stevens and kept the train chuggin'. Speedy was understandably upset.
Averaging over two positions a lap, Pizzaro took the lead away from pole sitter Rick Jackson on lap 11. He continued to lead until the lap 22 caution, when Ben Geer and Dale Rosendaul wrecked coming off of turn 5.
What was already deemed the fastest car in the history of the Extravaganza Series since the "Rapid Riker" in the 1984 World 600, blew up on the same lap 22. Some have already speculated that it was a test motor prepared for the chase.
Scott Jackson led the next 20 laps of the race before pitting. The rest of the field came in several laps later, handing the lead to the short-pitting John Battista, still recovering from the whiplash from last week.
It would be a loss for Battista, as Scott Deutsch flipped coming out of the pit lane with Bill Werkhesier. Ironically that wasn't the caution, as teammates Dave Butterworth and Ken Pettit blew up a few laps a part, with the latter bringing out the caution and forcing the #39 to pit virtually alone. Teammates Matt Raboin and Matthew Dominique grabbed the #1 and #2 spots.
A lot of confusion stems as to why the Race 2 Win Lombardi-Justice duo would decide to take a big risk this close to the chase. Perhaps it is only coincidence, but seeing Rick Jackson with arguably the fastest car in a road course race made some think otherwise. It could be dire straits for the field if this program hits it's stride. For now, Quantum Racing looks like the brains, as R2W engines go up in flames.
On lap 58, Dominique had a left-front tire going down and was forced to pit. Raboin came in after the next caution, giving the lead to Tim McDonnell. He had Rick Jackson, Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee up his tail before a three-wide incident into the inner-loop settled the race back down. Zakk Miller, Alan Nesfeder and Adam Crapser all have different opinions about who caused the wreck. The #4 says Miller dove down too late. The #28 says Adam was a lap down and should have let them go. The #78 made a remark about a sandwich, and how it's tastier when you don't crash.
It became a four-way battle for the lead in the waning laps. McDonnell suffered the same pressure from the #44 and #18 as the last run, but kept his cool as the two raced side-by-side for second. Foley would grab the spot.
Tim and Foley raced side-by-side for a half-lap before the AC Delco machine cleared the CAT car for the lead on lap 68. Rick tried to take advantage of the lost momentum, but came up short. Behind them, Battista was able to pass Craig Lee for fourth.
After a Cristian Torres spin on lap 82, it became a six-way battle for the win. Foley was able to pull away from the field after an incredible battle for second place. Battista was able to scoot by McDonnell after a lap-and-a-half. He was ready to run Foley down.
