Matt Henderson won the inaugural Late Model race held at the I-40 Raceway.
The I-40 Raceway held its first official race night this past Friday to the acclaim of fans and drivers. The new track has stirred the memories of many in east Tennessee as it sits very near the site of the historic, but now defunct, Atomic Motor Speedway just outside Lenoir City.
One person who has memories of racing at Atomic is Matt Henderson, who made his way to the track for the opening night. For his efforts, the Loudon, Tenn. driver will go down as the first ever Late Model winner on the new Doug Sopha owned quarter-mile oval.
“It was the most fun I’ve had at a race track in a long time,” Henderson said of his experience.
According to Henderson, the track’s layout made for some close racing in both the 8-lap heat race and the 20-lap feature.
“It’s tight, no doubt,” he explained. “It’s going to be tight on a quarter-mile. We got fortunate because we drew a front row spot for our heat race. We led flag to flag in the heat so that put us number one for the feature. We led flag to flag in the feature so we didn’t have to do much passing, except for a lapped car, and that was kind of tight. I love the track, but it’s very limited passing.”
On the track’s opening night, Henderson says that at least from his racer’s point of view everything seemed to move along smoothly. The program was run in an efficient and timely manor.
“I felt they did a great job,” the driver of the CVR #17 said. “It was their first night and everybody’s learning their role at a new race track, but we were still out of there by 10 o’clock… paid and gone. I think everybody did a great job keeping things going.
“The race track is fun to race on and we just went to support Doug and those guys because we don’t have many people anymore in this sport who are making that kind of investment to give us somewhere to race, so it’s real important to support people like that.”
The track employs a unique system of distributing purse money. A $12 ticket allows everyone to have full access to the entire facility, grandstands and pits alike. Upon entering the facility, the signee chooses which class they wish to sign in under and part of their admission fee goes toward that class’s purse. Obviously, it is hoped that the system will not only encourage more racers to come to the track, but to also bring more fans with them.
“As a racer you’re more comfortable knowing what you’re racing for,” Henderson said. “Knowing what you’re going to make is an easier feeling, but they’re trying to do it as fair as they can. They’ve sunk a lot of money into that deal. I feel like it’s different and it worked last night. I’m hoping more guys give it a chance because the more that come and sign in under that deal and pay their way to race, the more money the winner gets and it goes through the field.”
Other opening night winners were:
Hobby- Aaron Duncan
Mod Lite- Carl Lovelace
Mini Stock- Derik Duggan
Sportsman- Robbie Comer
