Sprintfreak's Travels 7.22.99
Hello sprint fans, the sprintfreak is back with another addition of sprintfreak's travels! I have been to Attica and Eldora in the past week and have news and info from around the country. Let's get started!
First off, if you were at Attica last Wed. night you understand what makes Attica such a great track. Joey Saldana appeared to be running away with the a-main until about lap 35 when Butch Schroeder found the middle and went on to take a thrilling last lap victory! Coming off the fourth turn on the last lap Butch and Joey were side by side, Joey tried to ride up on Butch who did not give an inch! Butch and Joey made contact with Butch going airborne and sideways in front of Joey. Joey then proceeded to push Butch across the finish line first! In victory lane there was no hard feelings as Joey told the crowd that Butch had the faster car and deserved the win! A nice show of class by Joey.
After Attica it was off to Eldora, which is by far the best track in the nation! On Thursday night it was the Mark Kinser show as Mark pretty much dominated the evening. The Mopar engine appeared to be in a class by itself.
On friday it was Greg Hodnett with the upset win! It seemed as if Dean Jacobs and Hodnett were going to battle down to the wire, but Dean blew a tire and Greg went on to win the TNN televised event. It was nice to see something good happen to Greg after the kind of season he and the Apple Motorsports team have been having this year.
Then on Saturday it was the Slammin Sammy show as Sammy just flat out kicked everyone's butt! The best race of the whole night was Sammy's heat race, he and Jim Neir put on a fantastic display of sprint car racing at its best! The last three laps of that heat brought everyone in attendance to their feet and after it was over even non-Sammy fans, which includes myself, were standing and cheering Sammy and Jim for the action they provided! If you were there you know what I'm talking about!
How about Jimmy Hawley? The guy just keeps on winning! At the begining of the year I said Jimmy would win about 20-25 races, actually, he might win close to 30 before the year is over. Watch out next year if he decides to run the All-stars! I have spoke to people close to Jimmy's team and I have been told that if they can secure enough sponsorship next year that they will give the All-stars a try, if not, they will pick and choose events with both the All-stars and Outlaws and mix in some local shows. Whatever they decide, you can bet one thing, Jimmy will be up front!
I haven't given an opinion on my column in a while so I feel I should give one now. This pertains to Fred Rahmer. On Wed. at Attica Rahmer finished thrid after starting sixteenth and in victory lane when asked if he was going to run the King's Royal Fred replyed that he didn't like Eldora and that there wasn't any use in running there since he doesn't do that well there. What I find interesting is, most people who were sitting around me started to think about the times in the past that Fred has run at Eldora and we all agreed that Fred has actually ran pretty good at Eldora the few times that he has competed there! So why would he say that he doesn't like the place and that he doesn't do well there? Nobody could figure that one out, we assume that Mr. Hamilton doesn't want to stay away from home anymore, but that really doesn't make sense. Pretty much we all agreed that Fred has an inferiority complex and he does not want to run anywhere where he does not feel confindent he can win! Whether or not that is true, Fred just disappointed all the fans with the way he worded his victory lane speech. That's ok though, Freddie will always have plenty of fans to cheer him on!
How about Dale Blaney's run Monday night with the Outlaw's! Second place to Steve Kinser, not too bad. I reported on my last column that Dale would be running the Holbrook Motorsports car for at least the next couple of weeks. I know Dale was excited to get in the ride and he hopes it will last the rest of the season, but word from the Holbrook camp is that this is a temporary deal that will only last a couple of weeks. For Dale's sake, I hope it lasts much longer. When he is in top notch equipment, Dale is as good as anyone in the country! I know Dale is eager to prove that he can run upfront routinely, and even if this deal doesn't last too long, maybe Dale can secure something more permanent for next season!
Greg Hodnett parlayed his Outlaw success from friday night into a big win at Grandview on Tuesday. Maybe Greg and the Apple team have finally got the monkey off their backs and are heading in the direction that they ended last season with, which is a lot of big wins!
As to the poll questions from the last column, the majority of readers felt that Fast Freddie Rahmer is the better driver between himself and Jeff Shepard, however, most people felt the Jeff has a better shot at winning a big race like the King's Royal or the Knoxville Nationals because he travels more and is a better qualifier. I would have to say that I agree with both results, Fred is the better driver and Jeff has the best shot at a big win!
This weeks questions:
Who has the best looking car in the entire country? Answers can come from local or national drivers.
And, who is the most disliked driver in the country? This is a poll question from one of my readers, this should be an interesting one!
Well, it is time to wrap up this week's column. Thanks for reading, e-mail me with any questions, comments, or answeres to poll questions. I always look forward to hearing from my readers! Until next week, happy sprintcar racing!
