*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: Not that there was any reason to think otherwise, but Jonathan Davenport and Kevin Rumley have now shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are back to their old form of when they were last together in 2015. Now working under the Lance Landers banner, the driver and engineer have solidly established themselves as a top team on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and in all of Dirt Late Model racing. So far the No. 49 Longhorn Chassis has collect six wins spread over four different series.
Jonathan Davenport
Whether they will go on to win as many crown jewel races as they did in that unbelievable 2015 season remains to be seen but they have reached the point in which Davenport goes into most every race as one of the pre-race favorites if not the clear overall favorite.
But along with that, Scott Bloomquist is also on quite an early season tear. The leader of Team Zero has also scored a significant number of wins and has seemingly been on the podium for as far back as can be remembered.
It looks like these two are in for a memorable season as they take each on head-to-head throughout all of 2018.
Certainly, though, others have shown strength. Josh Richards won the first two LOLMDS events of 2018. And on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series side of things it looks as if Brandon Sheppard and the Rocket Chassis house car team are set to enjoy another dominating season. Also, Dale McDowell has looked exceptionally strong in scoring multiple big money regional wins so far.
Of course, the competition is not going to throw in the towel but it certainly seems as if everyone else is in the position of having to step up their games to keep up with the top runners, doesn’t it?
Michael: It’s pretty typical of one team or another get off to a hot start. The rest of the crowd steps up or the hot drivers come back to the pack.
I’m not saying Lucas is better than WoO, but there are more drivers capable of reeling off hot streaks in the Lucas Oil Series than World of Outlaws Late Models. I look at it from a statistical standpoint. Look at how many drivers have won races in that series and how many have won championships over the last 5 years or so.
We still have a ways to go before we get to the crown jewel races. Heck, seems like we just started racing with all the rainouts this spring.
Scott Bloomquist
Richard: One thing that has occurred during these fits and starts of the 2018 racing season is that other solid chassis contenders have emerged to challenge what looked in the beginning like a season bound for domination by Rocket Chassis and Longhorn Chassis.
In recent weeks, Bloomquist, McDowell, and even Canadian Ricky Weiss have scored victories in Sweet-Bloomquist Race Cars. Also, Chris Madden has won two $10,000 features in the early spring with his Barry Wright Race Cars house car. So like drivers and teams, it appears chassis builders rise to the challenge as well.
In the Sweet-Bloomquist case in particular, it was almost certain that putting two race car building minds like Bloomquist and Shane McDowell together was bound to produce great results, wasn’t it?
Michael: I think the McDowell’s move to Mooresburg has helped out both programs. Bloomquist is always tinkering with different things to try to find an edge. McDowell has enough knowledge on the modern components of today’s cars to help in that regards. To put the two together makes for an interesting and potent combination.
While Sheppard seems to be on his way to another dominating season on the World of Outlaws tour, there are always those weekends when other teams step up to get their piece of the pie. This weekend’s races at Smoky Mountain Speedway could be one of those weekends. Sheppard looked to be headed for a win at SMS last year when a late caution allowed Brandon Overton to get by and win the race. There are a number of drivers that will be on hand this weekend that have either WoO wins or Smoky Mountain wins that could be a factor.
Richard: Since you mentioned the big WoO Late Models weekend at Smoky Mountain, it leads to our next topic. As has been well documented here and other places that cover this form of racing, weather has been a major issue this spring. That said, it really makes the events that are run that much more important for a number of reasons.
For one thing, a facility such as Smoky Mountain which is not used on a weekly basis needs each of its races to go well in terms of attendance, car counts, and just the overall quality of the show since they don’t get as many chances to stage a race event as some other tracks do. For a special events based track, they need a great weekend in order to continue offering more race weekends.
Further, it is important for the competitors in that some of these teams have not raced as frequently as they may have planned on and need the cash flow as well as the track time. And more, with so few events in the books to date, a couple of races such as these can cause some really big points swings in the standings depending on how well or poorly the driver does.
In many ways, this World of Outlaws Late Model Series weekend at Smoky Mountain is a big deal, isn’t it?
Smoky Mountain would love to see the grandstands filled this weekend
Michael: It certainly is, especially for the track. They had a tough year last year, so much so they had to put off some planned renovations. For a track that doesn’t run every week, a date with a big loss just sets back the whole season as was the case last year. I hate the weekend of racing was rained out back in March. There were going to be drivers from both national series there and that helped generate some excitement.
From a racing standpoint, I will be interested to see what drivers, aside from the series regulars and local competitors make it to Smoky Mountain this weekend. It’s a good opportunity for someone to come in and make some noise.
Richard: To change the subject to some degree, I attended the weekly show held this past Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway. This coming after a Friday night in which I had followed along with races being held outside our region on social media. There was a major contrast between the shows being run on Friday and the one I attended on Saturday.
411 started what I would consider to be the primary feature, Limited Late Models, at just after 9:30pm. In my opinion, that’s how things ought to work. Obviously, there can be unexpected things that can occur to slow the action. An overturned race car, damage to a catch fence, power outages, or any number of other factors can interfere. But if none of that happens, a racing program should run just as 411 ran it on Saturday.
Instead of that, however, the two shows I was keeping up with on Friday did not wave the green flag over primary feature of the night until after midnight or close to it. To me, that’s inexcusable. If something has occurred to slow the program, then the primary race should be moved up. If the main event can’t be run early because of the number of classes, then the track has too many classes within the show.
That’s just too late of a night, isn’t it?
Michael: It certainly is. I don’t know if many promoters have noticed this. The average age for race fans has to be in the 40 year-old range, probably somewhere in the upper end of that range. If the sport is to grow or survive, it needs young kids to be interested in it at an early age. Having your primary event start at a late time does not allow for growth or making the fan bases younger. Folks with young children will have to leave early, then are likely not to come back with their children if they see a pattern of late starting races.
