As we sat and watched the final night of racing action of Dirt in December a lot of amazing aspects were highlighted of dirt track racing. The big talker of the weekend was Tyler Carpenter winning the late model portion of show. The scrappy driver from West Virginia held off multiple attempts by a handful of the best drivers in the nation with the Brandon Sheppard charging hard at the end to only be edged out by Carpenter. From his lively interviews to his his ability to navigate the ever changing track that had plenty of character, it showed that the little guy still has a chance to be competitive with the big boys. Yes, the late models showed us that even the big names get stung by the bad luck bug from time to time as Scott Bloomquist blew his motor in the first lap of the first heat of the weekend and Ryan Unzicker flipped a few laps after taking the lead in Saturday nights feature. Yes, it proved that everyone can be bit by the bad luck bug.
The modifieds solidified both of those theories as a self proclaimed "hobby driver" Derek Losh beat out a field of some of the best drivers in the nation. This included the likes of Kyle Bronson, Tyler Erb, Kenny Wallace, Mike Harrison, Ricky Thornton, Kyle Strickler, and other professional drivers. Losh took advantage of a nasty bounce by Kyle Bronson coming out of corner four on the last lap to win. This proved once again that any given night the local guy can beat the big boys back.
The midgets had an extremely talented field that saw Nascar drivers, former World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell, MOWA points champion Paul Nienhieser, and an extremely talented field of drivers that span across America and parts of the world. In this case there was an extremely talented and heated battle for second and well Kyle Larson had a strangle hold on first. Which is extremely impressive that a driver of a different element of racing can switch over and be this dominant.
What was one of the more intriguing aspects of this spectacle was the overall driver list that was brought to the dome. What makes this driver list interesting is the broad range of drivers and the backgrounds that they come from. Let's take a quick glance into this and break it down a bit. First, there are the big named late model drivers who gain popularity from their success on the national tours. Scott Bloomquist, Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan Davenport, and Shannon Babb are the star power that brings the original credibility to the late model portion. From there you have the local heroes with the Tyler Carpenter, Ryan Unzicker, Scott Ward, and others who build up the next tier of drivers. After that there are the longshot hopefuls who come to say that they were part of such a neat experience. These drivers are the life source of this show as they fill the fields and help secure such a great experience for everyone.
From there comes the extremely neat aspect of this show and dirt track racing in general. Only in dirt track racing can you have a full time Monster Energy Nascar driver come in and flex his muscle to compete with some of the best midget drivers out there (Kyle Larson). Yes, Larson comes from dirt and so does Christopher Bell but then you add in Kenny Wallace a former Nascar driver who happens to be a home town hero for St. Louis. This however is just a really crazy and unique aspect that can't be matched in any other sport. Dirt track racing is one of the very few sports in the world where the professionals can compete at the grassroot levels and be handed their lunch. It's also where the young can race the old and depending on the night anybody can win if they are daring enough. Yes, dirt track racing is truly an enigma in the world of sports.
What the weekend also taught us that fans are yearning for drivers with personalities and not the ones who are extremely PC friendly. This was shown by Tyler Carpenter and his lively interviews. The line of, "I'm not here to ***** around." really showed his passion and fans absolutely supported and backed him the rest of the weekend. To flip it around to Kyle Larson who gave a very professional interview after his win made it feel that the race was beneath him. Which, I doubt was his intentions but it had that feel to it. The weekend also showed the value giving your bigger show some glitz and glamour. One aspect that really was a highlight and that the fans always look forward too is the driver intros. This allows for drivers to really let their personalities show, Shannon Babb and the his wheel barrow really was a hit with the fans. Tyler Carpenter also took full advantage of his opportunity and really let his West Virginian show as he came out in full country attire and was blaring Country Road. Yes, this is how shows and drivers go from average to legendary.
The next aspect of this show for our area is how well the Wissota drivers represented the late model division. Blair Northdurft and Scott Ward put on respectable showings in their Wissota late models with Blair being the highlight of the weekend for the Wissota cars. Blair had an incredible and certainly a surprising sixth place finish. It should also be noted that both drivers earned heat wins on Friday nights portion of the weekend. Yes, Wissota race fans should be very proud of their drivers and we should also take pride in our region as our drivers held their own against the best in the nation.
One last interesting aspect that has a North Dakota touch to it was that Donny Schatz brought his late model to the dome and had the best driver in the world for late models drive it. I'm not sure as to why Donny takes his cars to places and then puts different drivers in it to drive. However, I'm not complaining as it is a cool and distant dream that he could a big time car owner for late models. Another intriguing Donny aspect is that he did not take the opportunity to run his midget and practice here before competing in the Chili Bowl. One would've thought that Donny would take full addvantage of this race to polish his midget skills before he heads off to Australia and then the Chili Bowl.
Until next time, we want to wish you all a happy New Year.!