Today, Route 66 ran the fourth Test & Tune of the season with the Midwest Super Comp and Top Sportsman Series. The wheel standing big block Chevy powered Smart Car of Mark Cryer was also there today. The Smart Car has a 462 C.I. big block Chevy engine and a 6-speed Jericho transmission. It ran consistently in the 11 second bracket. Mark wants to get it down into the 10's. Congratulations to Larry Wasielewski and Tony Grzelinski for their Midwest Super Comp and Top Sportsman wins, respectively.
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The weather Saturday for the Rockett Brand Fuels ET Bracket race 1 was supposed to be bad with rain starting at 9:00 a.m. and continuing off and on all day. I did not expect to get the event in. Mother Nature was very nice to us and the whole event was completed. It started to rain just as the last car turned off the track. However the wind was really blowing with gusts up to 25 knots. There was a hold in the morning until the track temperature was sufficient for grip and due to the wind, the race distance was limited to 1/8 mile. The racing was very good with an emphasis on getting a hole shot because of the shortened distance. It may have been my imagination, but there seemed to be an inordinate number of red lighting, maybe because of the 1/8 mile distance. Congratulations to all the winners! Super Pro - Kenny King Pro - John Haut Sportsman - Tony Lyons Motorcycle - Bob Foster High School - Ben Grand Congratulations to Antron Brown, Robert Hight and Erica Enders-Stevens on their win at the Houston Spring Nationals. Erica's win was the 99th win for a woman in the top three tiers of NHRA racing.
In the NASCAR world congratulations to Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano on their wins at Richmond International Raceway. This morning my phone starting buzzing at 6:00 a.m. My first reaction was, who is contacting me this early in the morning?! When I checked my email all was forgiven because it was the documentation for our credentials for the INDY 500! Indy here we come!! I'm looking forward to getting back to the Brickyard for an event. To see all of Sunday's action please click here. To view our complete collection please click here. All prints can be ordered by clicking on the Ordering tab at the top of the page or here. Today, Saturday, Route 66 held the third Test & Tune of the season. The car count was up due to tomorrow's first Rockett Brand Fuel ET Bracket Series opener. The only thing that wasn't up was the temperature! It was in the mid-50's with a 20 knot wind blowing straight into the face of the race cars as they went down the track. I did not anticipate the wind, so I froze. I will be better prepared for the weather tomorrow! Other than the weather, the story was a Chevy powered Smart Car drag racer. I have to say, that was a new one for me. Please click here to see the action from today's racing. While there was weather in the Chicago area, Joliet stayed clear and Rt. 66 had a great opening day. The car count was in excess of 120 cars. We had a few cars break down, but that is what the Test & Tune is all about. All in all, I think it was a very successful day. Click here to see all the action from today's racing. Tomorrow, I am scheduled to be at Rockford Speedway, however the weather still doesn't look good. We will have to wait to see how that develops. Also congratulations to Kevin Harvick and the entire SHR team on winning the Bojangles Southern 500. It's finally here, the beginning of my race season in the Chicagoland area! Its been a long, cold winter. I want to thank GLX Snocross' Dennis Whiton for allowing me to photograph snocross snowmobile racing this winter. It helped me get back on my feet after my health issue. I am looking forward to doing it again next year. Now onto auto racing. Tomorrow, Janet and I will be photographing the Easter Egg Dash Presented by Julie. I will be shooting the Gatorade Victory Lane with the Easter Bunny and Janet will be photographing the activities of the day. The weather looks to be very good with the temperature in the mid-50's and mostly sunny. I hope everyone can come out and enjoy the day. The event runs from 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. After that event, I will be heading to the Rockford Speedway for the WXRX Stone and Double T 200 4-cylinder Enduro. The day starts at 11:00 a.m. with an open practice until 2:30 p.m. with the Enduro green flag at 3:00 p.m. Next weekend will be busy with Saturday's Route 66's first Test & Tune and Sunday with Rockford's 37th Spring Classic. This is the start to what we hope will be an exciting racing season in Chicagoland! Check back Sunday for pictures from the Easter Egg Dash and the Enduro.
The auto racing season is getting ready to kick off in the Chicago area, if the snow ever stops. My first event will be the WXRX Stone and Double T 200 Enduro. The following Sunday, April 13th, will be Rockford's Spring Classic. I received my credentials for those two races last week, so I'm feeling good about the start of the season. At Route 66, the first Test & Tune of the season is on Saturday, April 12th, with time trials beginning at 9:30 a.m. Grundy County Speedway opens their stock car program in April and their open wheel STARS midget racing in May. I am very much hoping to be able to get there to photograph the midgets. In the NASCAR arena, I was happy to hear Robin Pemberton announce their plan to reduce horsepower for the Cup series. We were made aware of this several months back, but we weren't able to discuss it until the formal announcement. Optimally, we were told that they would like to get the horsepower down to around 650, but that will be determined at a later date. You ask why reduce horsepower? The way it was explained, was that with today's car package, the engines are overpowering the cars and the racetracks. The engine builders have done too good a job optimizing the package. NASCAR needs to reduce horsepower to complete their plan for better side-by-side racing. So far this year, I have been impressed by the racing even though there were tire issues at Auto Club Speedway. All the teams claim it wasn't Goodyear's problem, but it was caused by the teams using an over aggressive suspension package on the cars. It appears the teams have yet to determine that fine line between fast and crash fast! This week the Cup series and the Trucks will run at the Martinsville Speedway. In the Cup Series, Martinsville has been a Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin playground. Here's hoping Denny, after missing last week's race, is healthy enough to compete. I have been impressed with the NASCAR racing this year. On the mid-size tracks we are seeing the ability to run side-by-side, draft and slingshot by. As soon as the teams get a better handle on the total car package, it can only improve the on-track performance. If the on-track performance is better, hopefully that will result in more butts in the seats. As previously reported, Janet and I were scheduled to represent the Chicagoland Speedway/Route 66 Raceway at the World of Wheels show in Rosemont on Friday, 2/28/14. We ended up working not only Friday, but Saturday also. We had a great time interacting with all the fans and hopefully we recruited some new ones. Janet primarily worked the Kids Club booth while I worked the Team Demo corner. Right across from where I was standing, I noticed a white Chevy II SS. I thought the car looked familiar. Then I saw the name on the passenger door window, Hollis Jones and I realized that I had photographed Hollis' crash back in 2012. I later talked to Hollis and he stated that it took 14 months to complete all the repairs! Please click here to see all our images from the World of Wheels. And the car now! On the NASCAR front, they were at the Phoenix International Raceway. Because we were working, I was not able to watch the new qualifying format. With certain codicils, it received positive reviews. The teams want the ability to cool down the engines on pit road to allow them to run tape on the grills allowing for faster qualifying speeds. From what was reported the teams would remove the tape and then drive slowly around the track to cool the engine. Then, they would re-tape the grill and try to run a fast lap. I have no insight as to what NASCAR's response will be. The most obvious move is not to tape the grill and run it in race mode. However, I'm sure NASCAR will be doing some tweaking of the rules. In the delayed, rain shortened NASCAR Nationwide race, it was another Kyle Busch dominating race. There was an immediate uproar and call to reduce the participation of the Cup drivers/teams in the Nationwide Series. I think I heard the best response and that was that we don't need to stop the Cup drivers from participating, only ban Kyle Busch! This is a very sticky situation in that NASCAR, traditionally, has taken the stance if you can construct a car, show up and qualify, you can race. Back a few years ago, there wasn't much hue and cry when Mark Martin in the #60 Winn-Dixie car showed up and consistently won. Who's record for most wins in the Nationwide (Busch) Series did Kyle Busch break? Mark Martin's!! Everyone should remember that this is professional stock car racing which equates to entertainment dollars. Racetracks want to put people in the grandstand, not only for the ticket dollar, but also for the concession dollars. Who is going to draw more spectators, an unknown, underfunded team or a Cup driver? The flipside is what do you do when a dominating driver such as Kyle Busch enters a bunch of races and normally wins? NASCAR is in a very difficult position because we have fans who have voiced their displeasure and the racetracks who want as many Cup drivers in the race for the draw (which by the way also involves track sponsorship dollars). It will be interesting to see what NASCAR does. On the Cup side, Kevin Harvick had a dominating race car. PIR is one of Kevin's favorite tracks and he has won there more than any track he has won at. The back story that I was looking at, was not the dominating win, but were the cars stable, could they run side-by-side and pass. Knowing that this was only a one mile track and the full effect of the new aerodynamic changes won't be fully realized until they hit this week's high-banked Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I was encouraged by what I saw. The drivers were willing to stick there nose in there in the corners. That equates to the cars being stable. Of course, I realize that there were some loose and tight racecars, but I'm talking about those that have a handle on the new package and make the cars work. I'm very anxious to see next week's Las Vegas racing. Due to the fact that we had to work at the World of Wheels show, I was unable to attend this past weekend's GLX Snocross event, The Dan Jacksons - Amsoil Raceday. I am looking forward to the last race of GLX' season Saturday with the JBT Enterprises - Championships. The Awards Banquet will be the following day. The following weekend will be the National Event in Lake Geneva, Wi. Due to the restrictions of covering the event, I probably will not be attending. So, this weekend will be my last snocross event until next year. Its been a good season that I have enjoyed immensely. I met some really good people and this has helped in my recovery from knee surgery. I am already looking forward to next season. Fortunately, we will be racing cars very soon. To see all our images from the past events, please click here. Any image can be purchased by clicking on the Ordering tab above. This was a fantastic weekend for racing. The Nascar season opened on Friday night with Kyle Busch taking the Camping World Truck Series win followed by Regan Smith winning the Nationwide race on Saturday. On Sunday, the Sprint Cup race started under ominous skies and after 38 laps had to be stopped for rain. Over six hours later, they re-started the race and unless you are living under a rock, you know that Dale Earnhardt Jr. took his second win the Great American Race. The funny part was during the rain delay, they replayed last year's race and some folks thought it was live and Jimmie Johnson won! One of the Fox affiliates was even fooled and announced the win. Before the restart Jimmie was having fun with that one. Next up is Phoenix. Out in Arizona, the NHRA was running their National event at the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park with Antron Brown winning Top Fuel, Alexis Dejoria winning Funny Car and Allen Johnson, Pro Stock winner. It was Alexis' first Funny Car career win. For those who don't follow drag racing regularly the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park is the old Firebird International Raceway. After the old owner bowed out of renewing his lease with the Gila River Indian Community, NHRA successfully negotiated to keep the track on the circuit with the new name. In three weeks, they will be in Gainesville, Fl., for the Gatornationals. On a sadder note, at the Amsoil Snocross Championship National event in Mt. Pleasant, Mi., GLX rider Tyler Adams had a bad crash and was severely injured. Tyler remains in the hospital in Mt. Pleasant in the ICU. The last reports I had was that he will recover, but his season is over. Our prayers and best wishes go out to Tyler, his family and friends. Tyler won the last Pro Lite 1 event at GLX Snocross at the Golf Farm in Wauconda. Closer to home on Saturday, I attended the Race and Performance Expo at the Pheasant Run Mega Center in St. Charles. I hooked up with some friends and had an outstanding time. To see our complete portfolio please click here. If you see any images you would like to purchase just click on the Ordering tab above. Thanks for looking. Today, Route 66 Raceway announced the return of Team Demolition Derby and the addition of the Monster Truck Mayhem Summer Truck Fest @ 66 on August 9th. The five Team Demolition Derbies will all be themed events: May 24th - Memorial Mayhem to support our troops June 21st - Wrecks and Rock Night July 26th - Red, White and Blues with music and a fireworks show August 23rd - Light up the Night with the Cub Scouts September 27 - Pink Night supporting breast cancer awareness. Please click here for more information on the Team Demolition Derbies. This year the Dirt Oval is adding a monster truck show called the Monster Truck Mayhem Summer Truck Fest @ 66. This event starts with a free tailgate party from 4:00 - 6:30 p.m. This show will include fan events for those who drive trucks. Additional information will be available on the Route 66 Raceway website as the event approaches. The events at the Dirt Oval are the most popular and attended events all season. They very often are a sellout, so I wouldn't wait to the last minute to purchase tickets. My Granddaughter is a huge fan of Team Demo and is hugely upset when she cannot attend. I hope Janet and I will see everyone out at the Dirt Oval. If you see us, stop and ask for your picture to be taken and come back to the website after the event to view and purchase your photo. We can't wait to get started! Please click here to see images from past Team Demolition Derbies. Please click here for the entire portfolio. The awards banquet went very well and I think a good time was had by all. From the Juniors to the Track Champion ,received their awards. Chaplain Bill paid tribute to the loss of several members of the team who passed this season. In his presentation, Track President Scott Paddock gave a State of the Health of Route 66 Raceway. There are some exciting things in store for the Raceway and the 2014 season. To see all the happenings from tonight, click here. For all the action of the past couple seasons of Route 66 racing, click here. |
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