Another full house watches Daryn Pittman during qualifications at Berlin Raceway. (T.J. Buffenbarger Photo)By T.J. Buffenbarger
Last Saturday’s World of Outlaws sprint car program at Berlin Raceway was another successful venture with a huge crowd, improved car count, and surprising finish with Donny Schatz passing Daryn Pittman off the last corner. With the later start the program did run a bit longer than in 2014, but the pit area was packed with fans after the race getting a closer look at the World of Outlaws teams. The most popular thing we witnessed post-race? Selfies with feature winner Donny Schatz, which he seemed to be enjoying following his Berlin victory.
Many dirt track fans cringe when they see the black, slick conditions at Berlin. Keep in mind though the pavement is not far below the dirt surface there and has produced good racing the past three years without turning into a tire burning affair. Some rubber did seem to lay down late in the feature, but all the tires viewed in the pit area after the races still had tread left. Jermie Corcoraine from Canandaigua Speedway has done the track prep for Berlin’s dirt races and deserves a lot of credit for providing a smooth racing surface in a very unconventional situation.
One question is if the Berlin dirt races will continue in 2016? Fan attendance for the Saturday portion of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and last weekend’s Sprint Car program were great. I would rate the past two World of Outlaws sprint car crowds larger than what I saw on hand for CRA and two other pavement sprint car programs. I get the impression though that the work and expense it takes to put on those programs makes the decision to keep doing them a last moment decision every year. Hopefully Berlin officials continue to hold the World of Outlaws programs as they add a nice twist to every racing season at Michigan’s nicest short track facility.
I don’t consider the Berlin dirt races a given every year and having the biggest sprint car series in the World Outlaws 15 minutes from is why I chose to attend close to cover rather than the 4-Crown. It was not an easy decision, but I made a promise to myself to attend all of the major sprint car programs in Michigan this season (All Stars, World of Outlaws, etc). I made it to all of them except for Butler due to taking a last moment, fill in announcing job. Even though I love road trips for racing I don’t want to travel over four hours to every major sprint car event I attend. I believe that sprint car fans spoke loud and clear this season they want more quality shows in the state, and by the looks of how 2016 is shaping up they may get their wish.
Mudclodbob was present at the 4-Crown Nationals to witness Greg Wilson put his car on the fence at Eldora to win his first career World of Outlaws feature. It just wasn’t the fence you would expect when using that phrase. Wilson’s bottom hugging, three wide pass for the lead was so far off the radar Bob didn’t realize Wilson won until he saw him in victory lane on the jumbotron from the parking lot. When I first heard this news on the phone I was stunned he missed the pass for the lead until talking to no less than 20 people the following 24 hours that had done the same thing. Wilson’s low key win was big for a low budget operation on the rise. Over the past two years Wilson has come up big in some very key moments since taking car ownership along with driving duties. Much of Wilson’s support is based not far from Eldora, making it a huge team victory.
On the USAC side the 4-Crown has always been a showcase for some of the best talent in open wheel racing. More recently the 4-Crown has highlighted the next driver to head south into the NASCAR ranks. This year Christopher Bell joined that list winning the midget and silver crown features. 4-Crown success has often translated well into stock car racing careers, and Bell is already well on his way in that arena with more NASCAR Truck Series starts in his future. To say Toyota is very engaged in Bell’s progress would be an understatement as it seems David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, is always keeping a watchful eye on any updates we have from Bell’s races I have covered from CRA stock cars to open wheel racing.
Thomas Meseraull is always a colorful on and off the race track, and lived up to the billing with his 4-Crown Nationals sprint car victory and victory lane interview. T-Mez may rub some people) including former car owners) the wrong way, but you cannot deny the man’s bravery and talent behind the wheel. Meseraull followed up his 4-Crown USAC victory by making the feature with the All Star Circuit of Champions in a rare winged sprint car start for Stan Cortad.
With the off season approaching big news has been coming in by the truckload. Last week included the retirement of Don Kreitz, Jr., purse increase for the Kings Royal, and adding the All Stars to the Saturday portion of the 4-Crown Nationals. The Kings Royal and 4-Crown news were both welcome announcements as Eldora continues to make their sprint car races bigger and better. The purse changes for the Royal adding money to the middle of the field is something that has been desired for a very long time. Hopefully teams react with attending the event. The All Stars being added to the 4-Crown continues to leverage Tony Stewart’s investment in the series and the race track.
This week’s news of Tony Stewart’s retirement leaking into the media was best summarized by Jenna Fryer from the Associated Press on Tuesday. One of the most interesting conversations I ever had with Stewart was about some of the things he did during the peak of his popularity to maintain some level of privacy. It will be interesting with this impending NASCAR retirement to see him around his short track entities in person on a more frequent basis. Stewart is very engaged despite his busy NASCAR schedule, but without driving duties I’m looking forward to seeing how his schedule changes.
The lack of commentary by yours truly has been a product of a few remodeling projects in some office space and the studio where the podcasts are made. This has been a year in the making, but shifted into high gear over the past month. With the return of podcasts impending and some dedicated off space to help give some quiet space to work without waking up my family should improve the TJSlideways.com product leading into our 20th year of open wheel coverage.
