Heading down state route 26 after an Oxford 250 that looked every bit like an Oxford 250, lasted some 165 minutes and provided us with a bunch of lead changes and caution flags....* Never been to an Oxford 250 before where the first question to the top-3 in the post-race press conference was, "OK, so who are YOU again? What can you tell us about yourself?"
* Nice to see Terry Labonte getting in a little seat time before moving into Michael Waltrip's No. 55 NAPA Toyota at Indy this week. Let's see, took a provisional to start last, ran a few laps at the back of the field, parked a non-competitive car. Yeah, that's about what he'll do at the Brickyard, too.
* After more than 8 hours on the microphone, it's hard to find fault with anyone's announcing. But I did get a kick out of 2 Kalle Oakes moments Sunday.
First, on lap 197, when David Avery was chasing eventual winner Roger Brown and and Oakes proclaimed "He's looking under his quarter panel now!" despite being at least a car length behind. I thought I was listening to MRN -- you know, just make it up as you go because no one can see it, anyway.
I also liked hearing him comment on young Josh St. Clair spinning "for about the 6th time." Hey, you invite JV drivers to the race, you get JV racing. Remember, you guys opened up the race to the weekly warrior, so you can't expect them to drive like seasoned pros every lap.
* After the race didn't finish until 10:30 p.m. for the 2nd year in a row, the starting time needs to be pushed back at least an hour. Maybe more. With 93 of the 96 cars at the track already on Saturday, it's not as though they need the extra hour of practice Sunday morning.
* Tons of credit has to go to Kevin Lepage. Lepage crashed in his heat race, helped his crew get the thing back together in time for the last-chance race and started 43rd in the 44-car 250 at night. Even after being lapped a couple of times, and pitting even more than that, he was still out there running when the checkered flag flew. Unlike Cup counterpart Terry Labonte, who parked it the minute he went down a lap, Lepage competed in the spirit of the race.
What that meant to that small team he was driving for likely can't be measured. I'm a fan.
* Breaking news: It's exceedingly difficult for Late Models to pass one another. There were 2 significant rounds of pit stops among leaders -- those who pitted on lap 90 and those on lap 97. With Scott Payea being the lone exception as he rolled up to a 3rd-place finish, those who came in on lap 97 became non-existent afterward, guys like Ricky Rolfe and Brad Leighton. Being buried in traffic is no place to be in a Late Model.
By his own admission, winner Roger Brown didn't have to pass many cars on the track. He said after he pitted on lap 90 ("We wanted to short pit to get track position"), he didn't pass anyone and, boom, he was in 2nd place. Interesting observation.
* Speaking of Brown, he understands the car he's driving better than any of us, I'd say. He wouldn't even let the lapped car of Eddie MacDonald go by, and he raced David Avery hard in lapped traffic with Avery ending up spun out.
Brown didn't want MacDonald to pass, for fear Avery would follow him by, and he didn't lift when he got under Avery heading into turn one to retake the lead. Brown knows what all of us know -- let a guy go by in one of these cars, and you may never get back around him, even if you're 2- or 3-tenths of a second faster.
* OK, I can't resist -- let's see what happens next year. We'll be watching with a keen eye to see if 95 cars show up again with no guarantee of starting in the show or if the fans come back in droves. I couldn't help but get the feeling that fans and teams assembled had kind of a "OK, show me," attitude. Or, maybe it was me who had that attitude.
Driving home from the track, I had the thought that maybe I was wrong. Maybe this wasn't the biggest year for the "new" 250. Maybe it's next year, to see if the torch will, indeed, be passed on.
19 comments:
did you notice in the heats the top 3 never changed? So much for that being the best part of the 250. he should call it what it is now THE LITTLE GUYS 250!!!!!!!
"Maybe this wasn't the biggest year for the "new" 250. Maybe it's next year, to see if the torch will, indeed, be passed on."
And the promotion and hype for 2008 can begin!! :)
I honestly feel that the activities of Sunday should make even more people that own a late model feel like they have a shot at winning the race. Winning this race is no longer the hard part...getting in is.
Wasn't that how it was designed 34 years ago?
Also, to the Anonymous...there were 16 qualifying races (8 heats, 4 consis, 4 last chance). Exactly half were won by the guy on the pole and each round was exactly half (4 out of 8, 2 out of 4, 2 out of 4).
I'd say that the top three changed aplenty and that winning from the pole in a heat race has happened many many times in all of the different types of cars that the 250 has seen.
You are right Travis...this year was the first look at something that is a question that will be answered over many years, not just one.
FanMark, are 15 cautions a race record ?
No, it is not. I believe 1997, or the Massacre Nearing Midnight, had 22 or so.
I've seen a few others in that had a similar number of cautions as last night. There was some inexperience shown after lap 150, but I can't say that surprised me (Travis referenced this point in one of his posts...when you bring up the lesser experienced drivers and put them in a 250 lap dogfight...expect attrition).
OPS or Kalle Oakes would have to verify. 1997 may not even have been the most, but it felt like it! I do believe it was more than 20 cautions though.
Very intersting things to think about regarding next year...I guess we'll have to wait and see what the next 12 months bring.
I thought Terry was the car on the bottom of that maylay in turns 1/2 - although I could have been mistaken because while scoring it's VERY hard to actually watch a race - in fact most of the time I don't have a clue who's winning (besides of never actually hearing of this brown guy - but I have never been a big LMS follower either) because I'm not watching anyone but my car.
I can speak on behalf of Kevin though - there was a LOT of work put in all weekend by everyone involved and even though all but I believe 2 cautions he pitted and gave the team PLENTY of practice (even joking about it over the radio) he always kept working on it trying to figure out the tires as to him and the crew as well it was a whole new experience unlike many others who have raced on those tires all year I believe if not mistaken???
Overall not a bad race by any means...
I did notice quite a few people leaving on the caution on lap 193 I believe...I just don't understand how you can sit in the heat all day and for the practices and the heats, consi, and holligan races only to leave with that many laps left ... Did you really pay money to get in just to leave and not know who won till you got a phone call from a friend that stuck it out or to read about it in the paper? Usually the best racing (in any division or form) is in the last 30-40 laps IMO then again maybe it's just me...
The race record for cautions is 21, set in 1997.
Viva MRN!
Hey Travis, haven't you ever heard of foreshadowing?
Aw, heck. After watching about 1,200 laps in three days on no sleep, I sees 'em like I sees 'em.
In all seriousness, man, your coverage of this race was stellar, not to mention tremendously fair and a great service to the fans out there.
Did I mention this was a Late Model race?
;)
Kal
Um, Travis, did you get locked out of the media box? You seemed to have really turned on poor 'ol Bill soon as the checkered flag fell.
Yes Brenda Terry Labonte was involved in the turn 1/2 incident. He was stopped on the apron, with no damage, when one of the "JV" driver's landed on his hood. The right front suspension was damaged beyond repair. He didn't park the car "the minute he went down a lap." He was in 14th place, at that time, with a full tank of fuel and four fresh tires. Eleven of the cars in front of him hadn't pitted yet. He was good to go the distance. So much for him being non-competitive Travis.
Right on. Terry got wrecked. Hard. And I believe he was on the lead lap when it happened.
His effort deserved better than a cheap shot.
I agree with Bill Ryan. Travis must have been asleep at the switch ... First he missed the Labonte wreck ... then he missed Avery's nose underneath Brown when Oakes made the correct call. Try watching the race next time.
Avery was under Brown in turns 1 and 2 on lap 197 just before the yellow came out for Tommy Ricker in turn 4. Avery backed out for Brown and I wrote down, "Good battle between 99 and 10. Interrupted by another caution. 17 working hard to get lap back."
I'd agree with Kalle on this one. Interesting that five different people can have five different views on the same things. Sight lines and different angles make a big difference.
I think Travis is reporting what he sees and interprets. The only thing I'd disagree with is that there was any less action\passing then any of the last five years. Let's be honest, the track itself has been a difficult place to pass on since the paving project...especially in the day time. When things cool off the outside groove becomes raceable.
The car type is irrelevent in my opinion. I've watched every long distance Pro Stock and Late Model race at the track since 2000 and I will say that I thought this years race was in the upper half with regards to action on the track. Not number one in the books...but nowhere's near the worst.
Perspectives are always interesting, aren't they?
I think it's interesting that in pointing out that it's difficult to pass in Late Models that I "turned on Bill Ryan" -- as Damon's Ghost pointed out -- or that I said there was a "lack of action."
Hey, truth is, it's difficult to pass in evenly-matched Late Models. It's also true that it's hard to pass in Cup cars. That doesn't make it good or bad, that just makes it what it is.
As I started off that post by saying, it still looked like the Oxford 250 to me. What's to haggle with that?
And to all of you, thanks for reading. This blogging thing is a great outlet for my general dissatisfaction with life.
And to Kalle -- you did a great job all weekend. I wouldn't want that microphone for all the money in the world.
TB
I know! Being a bombastic windbag with a microphone in your hand is a lot of fun. So is blogging.
I'm in the process of learning sign language in order to communicate this week. But my vocal chords were a small price to pay for a terrific weekend.
Perspectives and personalities are what make our sport so great.
Cars and controversy make the TDB 250 great. Always have.
I almost wish we could do it all again this weekend.
Almost.
Write on,
K.O.
I think you need to attend a few more Late Model races and pay attention.
If David Avery was "slower" than Roger Brown, how did he muster up enough speed to get around him on the outside?
How did they have so many lead changes? I know they all weren't the result of caution flags because I saw lead changes happen on the track - Carey Martin taking the lead from Ricky Rolfe, who took the lead from Shawn Martin. I seem to recall that 89 car doing a lot of passing to get to the front too.
A Late Model .2 or .3 seconds faster than another is going to get around the slower one pretty easily unless there is some heavy blocking going on - that can be said for just about any short track division.
If this race was made up of "JV drivers" as you call them, what does that make drivers like Bobby Dragon, Jeff Taylor, Bobby Gahan, Patrick Laperle, Mario Gosselin, Robbie Crouch, Alan Tradiff and others who didn't qualify?
PASS had more caution flags in a race with less laps, does that mean they are something less than "JV"?
If you and your fellow scribes don't know who the top 3 are, maybe some homework is in order? After all, two of the top 3 are front runners on the ACT Tour. I guess if you don't know who Scott Payea & Roger Brown are, you probably don't know who J.P. Cyr & Brent Dragon are.
There is a racing universe outside of Northeastern ME, you should try discovering it sometime.
My reference to the PASS race was the 200 at ALL-Star about a month ago.
Wow. For once, I'm at a loss.
Andy B, you level some pretty harsh criticism. To begin with, finding the racing world outside of "northeastern Maine" -- Machias? -- is difficult for a writer covering the sport in central Maine. Like it or not, that's my responsibility.
As for knowing these guys, the homework wasn't easy. The only info released by ACT on July 7 regarding Brown was that he "was 9th in ACT points" and "finished 2nd in a race at Oxford" earlier in the year.
And, for the record, I was the only newspaper reporter to talk to Brown that day. Said he learned some things for the 250, which I also asked him about in the press box.
As for your accusation that I don't watch enough races, well, I'll just let you do a byline search, and you can see exactly how many Late Model races (at various tracks) I've watched, covered and written about over the last decade across New England. Again, I don't dislike Late Model racing at all, though it's funny to hear that's the perception out there.
Finally, I never said Avery was slow or slower or anything to the like. Brown himself said in the post-race that he didn't want to let him by, whether he was faster or not, because he didn't want to lose the track position.
(Note: Avery caught Brown in lapped traffic, not that I think it makes a difference.)
Why is it that if you say it's hard to pass in a Late Model, everybody gets so defensive? That doesn't make the racing bad. It just is what it is.
Hey, guys -- the drivers themselves say it's hard to pass. It's my job to report that. I can't believe how if a driver says something fans don't agree with, it's somehow the writer's fault.
And, "Andy B," my name, phone number and email address are attached to every story I write. One would wish you made yourself so well-known.
TB
TB email me passgirl@gmail.com
thanks
Bren
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