Richard: The two week run of the Southern Nationals is always one of my favorite times of each year, and 2015 proved to be no different. I was able to make it to five of the nine contested races and enjoyed each one of them. However, one of the events in particular got me to thinking about something.
Last Tuesday when the Southern Nationals rolled into Boyd’s Speedway, teams and officials were greeted by a heavy rain shower that dumped a significant amount of water on the grounds about two hours before the scheduled start time for the night’s proceedings. As an obvious result, the track surface was soaked and muddy.
After an exhaustive effort by Dale McDowell and the entire Boyd’s crew, the track was made ready for racing. Of course, Mother Nature had dictated that the clay would be very tacky. As a result, both the Super Late Model and Limited Late Model qualifying records were toppled during time-trials.
The point I’m actually getting at, however, is that I have never fully understood the fascination of some dirt racing fans with the “hammer down” track. In this case, such was unavoidable. But on many nights in which no rain falls, some will call for the water truck to dump loads of H2O on the racing surface.
Yes, it was exciting to see two track records broken and to watch cars carry that much speed throughout the night. But at the same time, the track became very topside dominant and wide open fast, which left little room for passing.
Nobody wants a track to be so dry and dusty that it makes everyone miserable. But there is a happy medium in there somewhere because I’ve seen many tracks, including Boyd’s find such on numerous occasions.
What are your thoughts on track surfaces?
Michael: There are certain tracks that when they are hooked up, they are so much so that it becomes a one-lane track. It’s almost like it’s too fast. On the other hand, a track too dry leads to dust problems and eventually becomes locked down where there is no passing. The most successful tracks seem to be able to find that happy medium night in and night out. Like you said, weather can many times dictate the outcome of a track’s surface.
Richard: As you say, the key is having a prep crew who knows and understands their track. There are some tracks that are better when left a little dry while there are others(such as Tazewell) that actually race better when they are a bit tacky. I guess my point was that “hammer down” can be exciting, but it is not the answer every time.
To completely change gears here, Mike Marlar debuted his new Capital Race Car this past weekend in the USA Nationals in Wisconsin. The Winfield, Tenn. driver began the season with a Longhorn(which was not used very often) then went back to an older Rocket Chassis and has now made the move to the car born out of the collective efforts of Marshall Green and Shane Clanton.
In my opinion, this was a great move on both their parts. I consider Marlar to be one of the most talented drivers anywhere, but he is also great at working on race cars as well. Being that Capital does not have an overwhelming number of drivers in their stable, his feedback could prove to be invaluable.
Added to current veteran drivers such as Clanton and Ray Cook, I see the addition of Marlar as being a move that could really move Capital forward. Further, with young Austin Smith now in the Capital fold, it also means that shock and setup guru Gary Winger(who works on Smith’s car) is also there to provide information.
I’m not necessarily saying that Capital is about to go on a Longhorn type run of success, but I do believe their results are about to get even better than they already have been.
Michael: Winning races is what sells car. No one wanted a Longhorn the first few years they were in existance. Get a few drivers in them that can win with them, now everybody wants them. It would be the same for Capital or any other brand.
Marlar is a very talented driver. The Longhorn just didn’t suit his driving style. He’ll win in a Capital and I suppose that will lead to others getting one. It’s certainly a copycat business.
Capital has been a bit of a one-man band with Clanton. Cook has won a few races for them, but doesn’t race enough to really get the attention of someone winning double-digit races on a national tour. Adding Marlar will be a big help to their sales program.
Richard: Speaking of winning races on a national scale, as you pointed out in your ‘Quick Six’ last week, a team that is struggling to do that is the two-car effort for drivers Don O’Neal and Steve Francis owned by NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer.
Just a year removed from winning the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series title with O’Neal, the organization has not been to victory lane nearly as often as they have grown used to. CBR is somewhat of a lone eagle in their use of the Barry Wright Race Cars chassis.
One has to wonder if the fact that they have little if any other like minded teams to share information with is hurting their efforts.
Michael: The Barry Wright cars seem to be in that category of the flavor of the month among chassis. Jonathan Davenport wins a lot of races driving for them and they sell a lot of cars. Davenport goes to a Longhorn and wins there and many Barry Wright customers start jumping ship.
For the Bowyer teams, I don’t know if it’s lack of feedback from other teams and drivers, those guys are just off this year, or maybe something else. I have some theories, but it would be purely guessing on my part. So I won’t get into those. Both of those drivers are too good to be struggling the way they are. They probably just got behind somewhere and it usually takes a whole season to get caught up when you’re on a national tour like they are.
