*Turn 2 Blog is a regular feature on InsideDirtRacing.com. Here, site operators Michael Moats and Richard Allen take turns offering their thoughts on the dirt racing topics of the day from east Tennessee and beyond.
Richard: This past Saturday night during the first heat race for the Blue/Gray 100, front row starters Scott Bloomquist and Dennis Franklin came in contact with each other resulting in Franklin’s car slamming the wall. As the cars toured back around the track under caution, the driver known as ‘Rambo’ was out of his car and waiting for Bloomquist to come back around. When the Zero car approached, Franklin hurled his steering wheel into the oncoming car.
Soon after, Franklin’s team set about the task of unloading his backup car so that their driver could participate in the feature. However, they soon reversed their course and put the car back in the hauler.
As it turns out, Southern Nationals Bonus Series director Chris Tilley and his staff made the decision to disqualify Franklin for the remainder of the night for both leaving his car while other machines were circulating around the track and for dangerously throwing an object at a moving car.
In light of recent events in the dirt racing world, I believe this was absolutely the right decision. What are your thoughts?
Michael: That was absolutely the right call. I know tempers are high when a crash occurs. Throwing a steering wheel or a helmet at another car should always be unacceptable. And given the circumstances concerning the death of Kevin Ward Jr., there should be no reason for a driver to approach cars on the track.
This is one of the first examples I have heard of something like this happening since Ward’s death. There was a time seeing something like this was becoming too common. Since then, drivers have used better judgment. I think as time goes by, we’ll see more and more of this stuff happening again. It will be up to race directors to be on their toes if things like this start to escalate again.
Richard: There is somewhat of a paradox at work in situations like this. Fans enjoy seeing the drivers exhibit raw emotion, but at the same time, no one wants to see another tragedy unfold. If Franklin had wanted to go confront Bloomquist after all the cars had come to a stop in the pit area, that could have been a potentially bad situation, but a confrontation on the track can lead to the ultimate in bad situations.
Considering that dirt tracks are by nature slick and sometimes steeply banked, it would be easy to slip and slide right in front of the oncoming car. Again, I too agree completely with the decision to bench Franklin for the rest of the night.
On another topic, also involving Bloomquist, the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member did a little pre-race track prep on the Cherokee Speedway racing surface on Saturday afternoon prior to the start of the action. ‘Black Sunshine’ steered the track’s water truck around for quite some time to pack the dirt down.
Granted, Bloomquist studies race tracks perhaps more than any other driver, and likely more than most officials as well, but should a driver who is going to participate in a race later that evening be allowed to work on the track?
Michael: I don’t know if that helped him any. But I can see other drivers wanting to do this in the future if they think they can learn something. So to that, I say no to letting drivers do this type of thing. People, mostly fans, already accuse Bloomquist of getting preferential treatment at these non-Lucas races as it is. This is just one more thing to give those people another notch in their column.
I’m sure some people around here will say the same thing about the track prep at Smoky Mountain Speedway. One of the co-owners has his crew in assisting on track prep. But none of their drivers actually do anything regarding track prep. To me, that is completely different. But getting back to Bloomquist, I think people in those positions should be smarter about the appearance something like that gives to everyone else.
Richard: My chief concern regarding any driver being involved in track prep is that he has knowledge that the other competitors may not be privy to. Further, I would be afraid that a door could be opened in which multiple drivers might be out on the track ‘shaping’ things just the way they want it.
That said, both of the things we have addressed here garnered a great deal of attention for the Blue/Gray 100. And as the old saying goes, “any press is good press”.
Lastly, track prep aside, Bloomquist continued on his amazing roll by winning the Blue/Gray 100. He’s made so much money over the last few weeks that DirtonDirt.com editor Todd Turner has labeled it as ‘The Hunt for Green October’. Can anyone stop the Team Zero boss’s dominance in the foreseeable future?
Michael: He should be the favorite for the National 100 this weekend. I suppose his next big challenge will be at the World Finals in Charlotte. They have put down new clay and that should give teams an added challenge to figure it out. Some will hit on it and some will take longer. But knowing Bloomquist, he may be one of the few to hit on it right out of the box.
