It's been ten years to the day since former Extravaganza Series road-ringer and executive Rounder Renfroe passed away of cancer at the age of 75. He and the Forester family ran the Extravaganza Series from 1979 to 1998. Rounder played an enormous role in beheading the Franz McFerrend Extravaganza tenure after he attempted to sell one-third of the series events to European circuits in 1978. From there, he was concerned and wary of the Harrison James and Roscoe Riker dominance of the 1980's and early 90's, attempting to make all car manufacturer's and race teams as equal as possible. His stance on having television cameras show each spot in the field equally helped promote sponsorship to everyone in the Series. The competitive events that we see today are largely a result of Rounders' intuitive mind. He also promoted the first Extravaganza Series All-Star event in 1988, as we await the 35th-annual race. May he rest in peace.
All-Star Race Entry List Tony Pizzaro: Talladega, 2022 Zach Michael: Homestead, 2022 Johnny Reed Foley: Darlington, 2022 John Battista: Martinsville, 2021 Alex Crapser: Road America, 2021 Bink Lucas: Talladega, 2021 Scott Jackson: Bristol, 2021 Matt Raboin: Kansas, 2022 Craig Lee: Dover, 2022 Donald Stewart: Rockingham, 2022 Mark Murphy: Martinsville, 2022 John Tharp: Bristol, 2022 Rick Jackson: Homestead, 2021 Dalton Lucas: Daytona, 2022 Alan Nesfeder: Texas, 2022 Tim McDonnell: Daytona, 2021 Ryan Heuser: Rockingham, 2021 Logan Sheets: Heat Transfer Dakota Wilkins: Heat Transfer Dave Miller: Heat Transfer Cristian Torres: Heat Transfer
The top-20 from the first All-Star heat will race tumultuously for the top-4 positions. This will be an assiduous 40-laps towards Extravaganza's holy grail event, with hard-chargers Zakk Miller and Bill Werkheiser starting towards the rear. Dakota Wilkins pulled off a miraculous lap-time to capture the pole, looking to hold off 19 of Extravaganza's best and clinch his first All-Star Race feature appearance.
Wilkins set the bar high in the early going, pulling ahead of the field and leading his first competitive Extravaganza laps since Pocono of last season. Cristian Torres, William Perry, Ken Joynt and Logan Sheets all fought hard for the second position in pursuit of the #77 Rockies machine. Outside pole-sitter Jimmie Stevens drifted back to 7h position, while Stephen Lowe encountered a problem on the starting grid, rendering his race unredeemable.
An enormous crash on the frontstretch on lap 8 took out contenders and pretenders alike. Ken Joynt and William Perry made contact coming out of turn-2, sending the #70 Flex-Fuel Dodge into the infield grass. William re-entered the racetrack into Joynt and both slammed ferociously into the outside wall. Chaos ensued from behind with Jimmie Stevens, Dave Daniels, Ben Geer, Tony Long, Geno Sphere, David Courtney and Joe Polson all suffering major damage in the accident. None of these drivers would advance to the top-4.
Leader Wilkins could not pull away on the subsequent restart as Logan Sheets made his bid for the top-position just after the half-way point. He would take the spot successfuly and remain there as Wilkins, Cristian Torres, Dave Miller, Bill Werkeiser and Zakk Miller made vigorous attempts to crack and stay inside the top-4. Wilkins had fallen to 5th by the 10-to-go mark, but sped back in with a hard-charging pass underneath veteran Dave Miller. Both Miller and Torres were able to surmount the #6 Werkheiser machine, leaving Bill and Zakk on the outside looking in during the final few laps.
Logan Sheets would cross the finish line with an easy multiple car-length victory over Dakota. A miracle top-2 in the making with Dave Miller and Cristian Torres clinching the final two spots in the All-Star Race field. Miller came out as the only top-5 favorite to clinch, with Jimmie Stevens, Matthew Dominique and Champion Ken Pettit all involved in accidents that took away their chances. A poor qualifying run in Heat #2 took away Zakk Miller's hopes, having to play catch-up without the proper time management. Good luck to the 21 entries entering the 100-lap feature All-Star Race event!
A tremendous excursion across this 1.5-mile racetrack for 42 cars, battling for top-20 supremacy and lurking into the All-Star Race field. Dave Miller and Zakk Miller start on the front row in seemingly comfortable circumstances before the 40-lap heat. Miracle-man Jonathan Cheeseman will start 4th, while Dave Butterworth and Cristian Torres attempt a maniacal bid from the back.
The first green flag run was only four laps as Dave Miller pulled away from the field. Champion Ken Pettit, Randy Dobbins, Jonathan Cheeseman and Jimmie Stevens all took turns at the second-place position before a three-wide bid for the top-spot on lap 17. Cheeseman rode the bottom line with ease and pulverized through to the lead at a rabid pace.
Ken Pettit and Randy Dobbins went for a spin on the backstretch after contact with Jimmie Stevens, with both cars pulverizing the infield-access outlet and ending their bid at advancing to the All-Star event. This would be the first time in Extravaganza Series history that the reigning Champion will not make the feature. The Lap-4 caution was brought out by contact between Matthew Dominique and Dakota Wilkins. Dominique slid against the outside wall before Mark Heron slammed into the front of his racecar. Philip Parker, Jonathan Skrabacz, Cristiano De Sa, Mark Heron, Rod Weston, Tony Gunk and David Butterworth were all involved. Battling for 16th, Steven Spears, Kevin Corbat and Mike Carroll went for a spin on the backstretch with only 14 laps to go. Only Wilkins would advance to the top-20 out of all the cars involved.
The ensuing restart saw a 10-lap shootout to the finish, with Dave Miller and Ken Joynt making a three-wide bid for the lead. Ken Joynt would take it and pull ahead by five car-lengths over Jimmie Stevens while the battle for 20th heated up. Joe Polson was hanging on by a thread before passing the damaged racecar of Dakota Wilkins for 19th position. Michael Henson and Chauncey Redmond Jr. could have made a bid for the final transfer, but they were racing hard for the 21st spot and handed away their chance.
The final lap saw a side-by-side battle to the line between Ken Joynt and Jimmie Stevens for the victory. Stevens would nab the inside-line advantage and cross the start-finish line as the winner of the first Consolation Race, preventing an enormous upset in the works for Joynt. Congratulations to Stevens, Joynt, Jonathan Cheeseman, Dave Miller, Geno Sphere, Dan Johnston, William Perry, Ben Geer, Cristian Torres, Zakk Miller, Tony Long, Bill Werkheiser, Logan Sheets, Aaron Cummings, Dave Daniels, Stephen Lowe, Rob Scarberry, David Courtney, Joe Polson and Dakota Wilkins for advancing to heat #2!
