Blog

After starting the year with gale force winds, arctic conditions, and lots of rain mother nature finally spotted the Slideways crew a decent weekend last week when we headed out to Gas City I-69 Speedway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and US 24 Speedway in Logansport, Indiana.

The biggest pre race news was the involvement of Joe Darmofal buying a controlling interest in the All Star Circuit of Champions. Joe has sponsored teams in the past, and was formerly the head of the Motorsports Alloys division of TW Metals. Joe has been a staunch All Star supporter and will do a great job leading the group into the future. To avoid speculation, a press release from the All Stars will be forthcoming and we will have an interview with Darmofal this weekend.

Sprints on Dirt during their 21st year returned to the site of the very first SOD event at the Crystal Motor Speedway. 28 sprint cars checked in for the third and final appearance of the Sprints on Dirt at the Crystal Motor Speedway during the 2001 season.

As the racing season hits the halfway mark, I have some random thoughts on the action I have seen to date.

Welcome back Terry, now can we hear “Full Time Racer”?

The heat races were incredible all night at the first night of the Eldora doubleheader. In particular the third sprint car heat race that featured a spirited dual with J.J. Yeley, Bill Rose, Tony Jones, and Tyler Walker. This quartet of drivers raced three, and for a couple of laps four wide all around the Eldora ½-mile oval.

The great fans of Fremont, Ohio will be getting a taste of something different on Wednesday (weather permitting) when non-wing sprint cars invade the 1/3-mile fairgrounds oval.

Boston Reid thrilled the crowd in his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana Sunday night by winning the GLOSS sprint car feature at the Kokomo Speedway. Boston, who graduated June 8th from High School, was still on cloud nine Monday about the big win.

During my 23 years of race chasing and the past 6 seasons of doing TJ Slideways.com (has it really been that long?) I have been to some of the biggest open wheel events in the world. Some are still going strong such at the Kings Royal, the Amoco Knoxville Nationals, Ohio Speedweek, and the 4-Crown Nationals.

The Gumout Series got a bit of bad news and a bit of good news on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway concerning who would be chasing the 2001 title. Saturday the Guy Forbrook team with Jeff Shepard secured funding to stay on the road with the Pennzoil World of Outlaws. No word on who the sponsor will be.