To compensate for the inevitable higher speeds for 2022, Jeremy Pringle has mandated the Extravaganza teams to use tungsten instead of steel in the chassis of every racecar. In the event of extreme impacts to the outside wall, the tungsten will break apart more easily, but will also dissipate energy to prevent aircraft-like injuries. This will be safer for the drivers, though the cars will suffer more damage during an accident. Expect more attrition for 2022!
Not long after Jeremy Pringle announced the banning of bump stops for 2022, the Goodyear tire company announced the "tread that never dies" campaign as the second big change for next season. They will use the Extravaganza Series as the primary "market of demonstration" for their branding at the gratification of the smaller teams, hoping the new tire will even out the playing field. These tires have been rumoured to be dipped in a "Dr. Pepper like solution" prior to their entrance to the speedways. They will also be softer than any Extravaganza tire in it's 70-year history, increasing the speeds to cataclysmic levels. "This new tire may save my Extravaganza career" says Michael Henson, who has struggled with the squandering Shake N' Bake Racing team all year. "The short tracks will be a free-for-all in 2022". Tim McDonnell doesn't agree with the consensus. "It's like pouring a bottle of Fresca over your favorite lamp. We've worked hard for the setups we have, so we'll have to endure the same growing pains that rookie teams do. It's a huge disadvantage for the established organizations such as Top Geer". Rumours have the average draft lap time at Daytona over 210 miles per hour. Fans expect the residual effects to be on the positive side, bringing faster and more competitive racing to the masses!
Ken Joynt will start on the pole for the first time in his career, with points leader Ken Pettit on the grid in 10th. Pettit led 91 laps in the Rockingham spring race and looks to pull away from John Battista and Scott Jackson for the fan-favorite Championship.
Bill Werkheiser crawled from 7th to first to take the lead on lap 7. Not long afterwards, the points leader was already up front, swapping the lead with Bill three different times before the first round of green flag pit stops.
A frontstretch spin by Alex Crapser brought out the caution flag during the pit cycle. Most of the field was trapped a lap down, ad Johnny Reed Foley, William Perry and Zakk Miller battle three-wide for the top-spot.
Alex Crapser went from spinning to the lead, flying through the abundance of lapped traffic. He would make an unscheduled pit stop halfway through the fuel run, giving Dan Johnston the lead for 30 laps in a miracle run for the Allstate machine.
A Dalton Lucas spin brought out the second caution flag, again in the middle of green flag stops. Johnston had just pitted, while Crapser nabbed his lap back with the fresher tires. There were now seven cars remaining, with a full field ready to pounce on the leaders to get back in the race.
Tim McDonnell led the restart after falling to 30th place earlier in the event. Excellent fuel mileage had brought him and Matthew Dominique to the front of the pack, battling for the lead while Ryan Heuser and Crapser lurked from behind.
Heuser took the lead several laps into the run and pulled away by ten full seconds. A run-in with John Battista put him into the outside wall, though the #138 kept on trucking. An accident on pit road, combined with this accident and an unscheduled pit stop found Battista in 36th place by the end of the event. He would drop from 10 points behind to 103 back in the standings with two races left.
Despite a 17-second advantage by Heuser, Alex Crapser was attempting a three-stop tire strategy that looked to steal the victory away. Crapser was over a second faster than the rest of the field with the fresher tires, but the last set proved to be his setback. Crapser managed to pass the leader as many times as Rick Jackson did at Darlington one year ago, but to no avail for the victory. Heuser still maintained his 17-second lead.
An enormously competitive race for second place between Matthew Dominique, Johnny Reed Foley, Tim McDonnell and Zakk Miller stole the show from behind, McDonnell would eventually race to the spot and keep it, while Heuser battled lapped cars who were getting their lap back from behind with slightly fresher tires during the final laps.
Matt Raboin and Dave Miller blew up Quick-Silver Motorsports engines early in the go. A Craig Lee explosion coming to the final lap caused an enormous melee directly in front of the leader. Jimmie Stevens ran into his oil, spinning directly into Dalton Lucas and flipping the #2 machine into the air. leader Heuser slammed into the rear of Donald Stewart attempting to avoid the accident, severely destroying a racecar that would be deemed unwinnable if the race went back green.
Heuser limped his decimated racecar across the track at caution speed, crossing the finish line battered and bruised on the pit lane with the checkered flag waving. It was his seventh victory of the season, and easily his most dominant of 2021. He would crawl to 2nd in the standings, only 22 points behind Ken Pettit. Congrats to Ryan, crew chief Mustard Mahoney, and the entire Quick-Silver Racing crew for an excellent victory!... Read more »
The points standings have rubber-banded back to a 10-driver race after Scott Jackson and Ryan Heuser crashed at Charlotte last week. Heuser qualified towards the back and fell victim while flying through the field. Jackson lost a lap early after stalling his engine on pit road. It took him 100 laps to get it back, suffering the same fate as Ryan while driving towards the front. This week, all of the Championship contenders will have to fly through the field in danger of the same fate. The top-7 qualifiers are all outside of the chase going into Rockingham.
Ken Joynt wins his first career Extravaganza Series pole with a lap of 23.424. Scott Drake pulled off the greatest qualifying run of his career as well, starting fourth on the grid after a fan-favorite top-10 effort last week at Charlotte. While these drivers start at the front, Charlotte winner Rick Jackson comes off the grid 37th. Eight time winner and second-in-points John Battista will start a rare 31st, leaving his Championship favoritism at risk with only three races to go. Points leader Ken Pettit led 91 laps here in the spring. He may be the one to jump ahead of the rest, qualifying 10th with a possible bunch-up within the top-5 in the early laps.
Ken Joynt wins his first career Extravaganza Series pole in what's easily the biggest Cinderella story in 2021 qualifying. This comes not too long after a horrifying Bonanza Series crash at Richmond that nearly took him out for a full week. As we talk about some of the hot rookies coming out of the woodworks for 2021, Ken Joynt has barely been mentioned. This may be the lap that gets him the big-time support that Bandit Racing needs to compete among the best in Extravaganza. He beat 2nd place Matt Raboin by nearly two-tenths of a second, an unbelievable feat for a driver that has nearly mastered the Rockingham circuit in Bonanza.
Scott Jackson is looking for career victory #79 as we come back to the Charlotte fall oval-race under the lights! Scott's Cinderella comeback season was put to the test last week, driving from 28th place to 11th and pulling ahead by 67 points after Ryan Heuser dropped from 1st to 32nd in the event. Scott will start 3rd behind pole-sitter Dave Miller and Donald Stewart.
Starting Position For the "Big Four" Scott Jackson: 3rd Ryan Heuser: 36th John Battista: 5th Ken Pettit: 31st
Zach Michael has won the Charlotte Road Race event, breaking a 43-race winless-streak that started after winning two in-a-row at Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen in 2020. More brightly, his finishing races streak is much longer, with his last DNF in the Talladega fall race in 2019. That was 74 races ago. Just one week later, Zach's refuse-to-lose mentality nearly initiated the greatest three-wide racing move of all time at Charlotte, where we are at this week! Here is the move:
With the points race as tight as it is, this may be par for the course under the lights at Charlotte!
The newly formed Lifesaver Racing has been formed after a three-year contract with Bink Lucas extends their relationship with Extravaganza! His Talladega victory may be the ingredient that stirred the pot for the biggest move of the silly season so far, the catalyst for Bink replacing Kevin Corbat in the #46 Ford. There is no word on where Corbat will run in 2022, rumoured to join Doug Spark in the Bonanza Series full time.
The rumours are official. Long-time independent Glenn Kaufmann will retire from Extravagazna Series racing by the end of the 2021 season. The #54 car will be dismissed from the team, leaving only the #55 ready to roll for 2022. "We were planning to drop both teams by the end of the season if we couldn't find a sponsor for Donald." said Kaufmann. "He's been outperforming our equipment for years, and deserves a chance to compete for the Championship one day. Thanks to his determination, we have a provisional spot for next season regardless of who the driver is". Rumours say that Jonathan Cheeseman will take over the ride if Donald Stewart decides to leave the orgianization. "It's going to be a different Series without seeing aqua-blue in the field" says Tony Pizzaro, who got his start in Extravaganza with Gear-5 racing over a decade ago. "My ability was showcased in his cars, and I am forever grateful". Gear-5 Racing will continue on as a full-time two-car Bonanza team, with Glenn expected to run a part-time schedule. In three decades of racing, Glenn has one top-tier Series victory at Las Vegas in the Bonanza Series in 1998. He has four more events to record his second, easily becoming the most popular victory in sports history if he can pull it off.
The precipice of the season is here. Any way the wind blows, we have come to a road course in the latter stages of 2021. This will be the fifth and final of the season, with Scott Jackson and Ryan Heuser at a deadlock for the Championship lead.
Ryan Heuser led the opening 16 laps with Johnny Reed Foley in tow. He pulled off to over a second lead, leaving Zakk Miller, Tim McDonnell and Alan Nesfeder on the charge for second place.
Within laps, Alex Crapser was able to pass all of them for the second position. The #04 was unable to catch Heuser in time, but looked to be the second-fastest car in the field. He was hoping to gain ground on points leader Scott Jackson, who was mired back around the 30th position.
Heuser would relinquish it to Crapser on lap 17, coming in for an unscheduled pit stop and coming out of the pits mid-pack. He made contact with his teammate Craig Lee entering the first right-handers, spinning into the outside tire barriers and destroying his racecar. For the entire event, he would fight a tow-in problem that had him fall off the lead lap mid-way through the race. The Heuser and Mahoney duo would get it corrected by the end, keeping up with the leaders but to no avail in getting his lap back. He would finish 32nd on the day, in what he claimed best road course car of his career.
Tony Pizzaro shot from the 17th starting spot to first at the halfway point. He would lead the next 19 circuits, hoping to rebound back to form after an unbelievable first 26 races.
Jimmie Stevens, Ben Geer and Randy Dobbins all endured accidents during the middle-portion of the event. Stevens, who was inside the top-10 all day, crashed hard on the inside-backstretch-straightaway after contact from Adam Crapser. He would finish 22nd on the day. Geer and Dobbins both went a lap down after their incident and finished outside the top-30.
Two drivers looking for their first victories of the season were neck-and-neck for the second position. Ken Pettit was holding his own after some horrible finishes at road courses in the last couple of seasons. He would make the pass on Johnny Reed Foley, enjoying his last days at Shake N' Bake Racing in grand style.
The Fenway Park crew missed a lug-nut on their pit stop as the Red Sox Fusion vibrated profusely, forcing Pizzaro to give up the lead, and his hopes of winning his second race of the season. His teammate led a 1-2-3 group of non-winners in 2021, with Foley and Zach Michael ready to pounce.
Alex Crapser led 32 laps, and was in the 4th position when his engine let go. A devastating blow to the #04 bunch, dropping them to 10th in the standings after another unbelievable road course run. Late in the going, Scott Drake went for a ride across the asphalt to bring out the final caution.
Zach Michael made his move during the waning laps, already past Foley and drafting up to the Ken Pettit machine. He dove underneath the #8 entering the backstretch chicane and pulled off the pass in style as Domino's and Zach Michael look to win their first race for Team Danger Zone.
Even the Scott Drake caution couldn't stop the momentum, as Michael soared to a near two-second advantage in just three laps to score his first victory of the season in race 32 of 36. Congrats to Zach, crew chief Justin Knapp, and the entire Team Danger Zone team for a excellent victory!
