Wayne County Outlook

Battle of the Bluegrass held at Clinton Co. Speedway
Roger and Trish Erikson

I passed through the pit gate at the Clinton County Speedway, Kentucky’s super track last Friday evening, June 11, at approximately 5:3O p.m. EDT.

The pit had already begun to fill up with motor homes, tractor-trailers etc., each bringing their cargo of a lightning fast Late Model stockcar. An aura of excitement filled the pit.

The Battle of the Bluegrass was scheduled to race 40 laps. These stockcars and their drivers represented some of the best in the nation. I parked the number R&T93 Road Hog between two large tractor-trailers. I felt strangely out of place.

Some of these people have more money invested in tires and rims than the total amount invested in R&T93.

Victor Lee, winner of a feature race here at the super track last season, set fast time in the Late Model class.

Victor turned the track in 13.01 seconds on his 2nd lap. Aaron Hatton, winner of one of the Battle of the Bluegrass events here last season, set 2nd fast time turning the track in 13.18 seconds on his 1st lap. A total of 20 Late Model stockcars qualified for the evening’s event.

The average qualifying time for all 20 cars was 13.46 seconds. Seventeen of the 20 cars qualified within 1/4 of a second of each other. Now that’s competition! Mike Watson, set fast time in the Open Wheel class turning the track in 14.3 seconds. Because of the large number of cars present, both the Road Hog class and the Chevette class drew numbers for starting position.

Michael Luna took to the high groove to win the 1st Late Model heat race. Mike Luna sat out the evening because of mechanical problems with his number 70 car.

Just prior to the heat race, Mike expressed concern to me that Michael’s tires were too soft for a 40-lap race. Interestingly, the Battle of the Bluegrass managers had posted their tire rules regarding the required level of hardness.

The tires had to fall between 40 and 60, as measured on a durameter. A durameter, as used in racing, is a small instrument that very closely resembles a pocket watch.

It has a small point approximately 1/32 of an inch in diameter and about 3/16th of an inch in length. One presses the point into the tire and reads a number from a scale between 0 and 100.

The numbers on the scale are dimensionless, that is, they don’t represent distance or force or anything. The higher the number read on the durameter, the harder the tire.

Tyrel Todd in car 14, won the 2nd Late Model heat race and Shannon Thornsberry in car 17, won the 3rd Late Model heat race. The drivers from these three heat races were assigned starting positions in the 40-lap feature event in accordance with their finishing positions.

Open Wheel driver, Mike Watson, in car 55, held off Aaron Coffey in car 17, and Kevin Douglas in car 0, to win the heat race. The Road Hogs ran two heat races. Barton Williams in car BP93, won the 1st heat and Jamie Taylor in car 23, won the 2nd heat. The Chevettes also ran two heat races. Mitchel Fields in car 01, won the first heat and Scott Shelton in car 3C won the 2nd heat.

During the 2nd Chevette heat race, Gerald McGowan in car 29, flipped upside down against the pit wall. Before the dust started to rise, starter Tommy Landom immediately waved the red flag stopping the race.

Gerald was assisted from the car, without serious injury. As I’ve said before, we at the Clinton County Speedway, Kentucky’s super track, are fortunate indeed to have a man of Tommy Landom’s qualifications working for us. Thanks for a super job, Tommy, we really appreciate you!

And for all you newcomers to racing, when the starter puts out the red flag, it means stop! The emergency vehicle cannot and will not come onto the track unless everyone is at a standstill.

Trish sat in the grandstands for the entire evening. Per chance, she sat next to Susan Patrick, wife of Late Model driver Joe Patrick. Their 12-year-old son, Joseph, drives the number 53 Road Hog. Joseph attends the Albany Middle School in Albany, Ky. I think it’s incredible that a 12-year-old can drive as well as he can.

The Patrick’s 9 year old son, Jacob, sat with his mother in the grandstand. Jacob had brought his cars to play with between races. Trish asked Jacob if he wanted to drive Late Models or Road Hogs. Jacob hesitated for a moment, looked at his mother, and then stated that he preferred Late Models. With parents like Joe and Susan, these kids are off to a great start in life.

We wish our very best to the Patrick family, both now and in the future. Borrowing a line from an old Irish poem, “May the wind be always at your back.”

Russell Gablart in car 11, held off a charging Dwight Chitwood in car 203 to win the Open Wheel feature race. Dwight kept gaining ground as the race came down to the wire.

Less than a car length separated the two cars when Tommy Landom waved the checkered flag. Mike Watson finished 3rd, Kevin Douglas finished 4th and last week’s feature race winner, Clifton Dobbs, finished 5th.

Twenty Late Model stockcars rumbled down pit road and onto the track. Within a minute, these 20 cars lined up 4 abreast for their parade lap. The anticipation was electrifying. The cars then moved back to double file and on the next lap their starter waved the green flag. The Battle of the Blue Grass had begun. Tyrel Todd in car 14, quickly moved out in front.

From the high groove, Michael Luna in car 112, quickly moved into 2nd place. While still early in the race, last week’s feature race winner at the super track, Tim Tungate, drove into the infield with a flat tire. Tim watched the race from this position.

On lap number 25, Shannon Thornsberry in car 17, passed Michael Luna to take over 2nd place. However, one lap later Shannon’s power steering servo failed and his car became all but impossible to drive. Shannon was forced to leave the race.

With only 3 laps to go, Michael Luna’s tires went “belly up.” (When a tire heats up beyond its operating range, it will not stick to the racetrack.)

Mike Jewell in car 9, passed Michael and moved into 2nd position. One lap later, Brad Neat in car 41, passed Michael for 3rd place and on the last lap Bobby Carrier, Jr. moved into the 4th position. Tyrel Todd took the checkered flag. Tyrel held the lead for the entire 40 laps. The top five in descending order were, Tyrel Todd, Mike Jewell, Brad Neat, Bobby Carrier, Jr. and Michael Luna. What an incredible show!

On Sunday, I spoke with Allen Tilley, director of the Battle of the Bluegrass. He told me that the drivers have nothing but good things to say about the quality of the racing surface at the super track.

In fact Allen thought that Shannon Thornsberry was planning to make the super track his regular Friday night show, even though he had a long pull from home. Shannon, you will add still another level of professionalism to the speedway.

Barton Williams continued his winning ways by winning the Road Hog feature race.

Jamie Taylor in car 23, finished 2nd. John Dobbs in car 97, came from the middle of the field to finish 3rd. John gets stronger by the week.

Tommy Hargis in car 17, finished 4th. Hopefully, Tommy solved his ignition problem. Gerald Haynes, Jr., finished 5th. It looks like Gerald’s driveshaft is here to stay.

Now all we need is to have that big orange and white number 20 come ambling down pit road. How about it, David? I’ll bet Gobel’s right foot is getting itchy. Next Friday evening the Road Hogs will race 20 laps for $400 to win. That ought to get everyone’s attention.

Mitchel Fields held off Scott Shelton to win the Chevette feature race. Brian Nation in car K3, finished third, and Jamie Burke in his number 28 car, finished 4th.

Earlier in the evening, sixteen year old Jamie finished 2nd in his heat race. Jamie is not only a good driver, he is a student of this game. Keep your eye on that young man.

Remember, next Friday evening, June 18, the Road Hogs will race a 20-lap feature race for $400 to win. Also, tentative plans call for the Open Wheel division of the Battle of the Bluegrass to race here at the super track on July 16. Mark it on your calendar and stay tuned to the Wayne County Outlook for further information. Till next week, take care, and buckle up! I know, I’m a broken record. But those belts really do work. See y’all at the super track.

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