Big Joe's Backseat Driver: Wrecks wreak havoc with TTS modifieds
Posted On: Monday, Aug. 31 2009 01:03 AM
What a mess.
That's the best way I can think of to describe the first two laps of IMCA Modified feature race No. 1 Saturday night at Texas Thunder Speedway.
Two mod A-Mains were on the card, thanks to the Aug. 1 rainout. The first feature was set up just like a race lover's dream ... 24 of those alcohol-burning, fire-breathing, ground-pounding metal monsters were poised to light up the night, all shined up and ready to go.
Then something happened.
The green flag dropped.
Was it during the first lap, or the second, that the metal carnage began? All I remember is looking up and seeing a five-car schnozzle on the south side of turn two.
Once that was cleared away, with Frank the Flagman's Mood-O-Meter down to 4, we tried again.
Guess what? Another gaggle of cars got tangled up right below the flagstand.
Officials even called out the ambulance for that one, but, thank goodness, it wasn't needed.
That left 14 cars gone, 10 still running and 17 laps to go. It was pretty much red beans and rice after that, with Kempner's P.J. Egbert claiming the win.
"It was a little rough out there," said the master of understatement in his post-race interview.
After all that attrition, only 15 cars were able to show up later for the makeup feature.
P.J. won that race, too, making him, as best I can remember, the only driver to win two modified features in one night.
There was more heavy traffic in the Street Stock main event, with Jeff Currier navigating the 19-car field to make a late pass and take the drive down Victory Lane. These guys are slipping, though.
Not one single caution flag waved between the green and checkered. That's the second time they've pulled that off in the last month.
Greg Atwood won a straight-forward IMCA Southern Sport Mod feature, while G.W. Egbert took his second-straight Classic Dwarf Car main event.
In the Texas Twister class, I was expecting fireworks when feature No. 1 lined up and we saw the Crossley brothers lined up side by side.
Remember a few weeks back when Stephen won and twisted the knife a little to sibling Scott? Well, that was then.
They raced each clean while trying to catch eventual winner Shelby Ellsworth.
Twister race No. 2 found "Nasty" Nate Cullifer cruising to the Winner's Circle in a runaway.
No, I haven't forgotten the IMCA Stock Cars.
An old co-worker of mine at KOOV used to accuse me of putting everything in a football context. And here we go agan.
After weathering a jumped start, which caused one driver to be sent to the rear, Big Mike McCarthy warded off heavyweights like Jason Batt, Eric Jones, Matt Guillaume and a dozen others to strike a blow for the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs, a team I've been covering since 1978, through good times and bad.
Mike drives what I call the "Bulldawg Special," since car owner Skip Darossett, another dyed-in-the-wool Dawg fan, applied a blue-and-gold paint job with paw print accents. For the first time this season, Mike, Skip and their crew got to celebrate a win in the I-Stock class.
During the early season, the team had its share of troubles, not being able to finish on some occasions. Saturday night, it looked like everything is dialed in.
Just like those special Bulldawgs who compete on Friday nights in another arena.
Yes, I'm a fan and don't care who knows it.
See ya at the track!