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6/7/98 17:54 Richmond UCAP
Well, what do you say about a weekend that starts with a terrific concert by the Moody Blues/VirginiaSymphony and ends with that great race in Richmond? -- "Wow" (to quote BP)
The concert was superb -- held outdoors in the Va. Beach Amphitheater, it was over 2.5 hours in length witha wide latitude of songs performed. Even my 14 yr. old thoroughly enjoyed it ("hey Dad, they're pretty cool fora bunch of old guys" :/ )
Well, Saturday dawned cool and cloudy in Chesapeake as I strove to motivate the slow movers out of bed and into the car for the trek north. The skies cleared enroute and we were greeted with light traffic, warm weather and quick parking near the track on arrival. Folks, the gouge has to be to take Meadowbridge road and park in the (free) satellite lot, served by the (free) shuttle or by a paved walkway all the way to the track (.25 - .5 mi walk) which is also screened from vehicle traffic by a fence. When we left, it was only 25 minutes from engine start to southbound on I-295 @ 0030L.
Got to our seats to watch WC practice (MM was fast, out early and into the garage early) and 2nd round qualifying. I gather no past champion's provisional was used as DW started 42nd and Cope 43rd....sorry to see Buckshot didn't make it since CC is a local organization and it would have been fun watching the, uh, interaction between the 8 and 50 (not that the older boys didn't provide enough of their own later). Hooked up with Wayne and his clan towards the end of qualifying -- always great to see new fans at the track; looks like they had a great time Wayne :)
>From there, after the obligatory purchase of overpriced souvenirs (had to get the Eagle One car) and the trek back for a late lunch/early dinner, we headed back for the rasn reunion. One of us almost didn't make it as my wife was nearly flattened behind the track by Jeff Burton driving his wife in a golf cart (turned the corner and went beak to beak :O) -- he waved and off they charged for the compound. Off to the reunion we went; always great getting to place faces with the electronic traces we follow here (Lou, John, Bonnie, Ellen... :) )
Well, re. the race:
* For starters, one of the best races at Richmond for me to see in quite a while. Lots of interesting stuff back in the pack, an interesting (if short) parade of leaders and some of the usual short-track hijinks, even if there wasn't a full moon.
* Mark ran pretty consist all night, usually a 22.3 at the start on fresh tires and falling off to a 22.9 after 60+ laps. They obviously were hooked up for long green flags as he ran better (comparatively) than most of the field as laps passed. The 88 was the only other I saw that looked better on long green flags.
The 5 was pretty good as well, but appeared to have some problems getting up to speed on the yellow flag restarts. A tip of the ol' fedora to KS for a great run as well as for JB, and, until the fracas in the last couple of laps, to JB and CL.
* Watching Rusty and Jeff after the restart you could just see the thought balloon over my head that said "uh - oh" and sure enough, after a little beating on each other, off they go into turn 2 w/Gordon trying to go around Rusty high. >From my perspective (apex of the turn, looking into the action from the rear) it looked to me like Rusty was in the racing groove and heading for the point where it takes a hard swing up towards the wall coming out of turn 2. Next saw a huge cloud of smoke and thought both of them were out of it....to say the stands went ballistic would be a gross understatement, after watching the replay on the Deuce earlier today and hearing Benny et al saying "well, there's some cheers and some boos." well, the boos were very few and far between....
* The (in)famous red flag -- well, sorry folks but I was and still am all for it. There were enough laps left that it could have been more than a yellow-white-green dash to the finish, or, heaven forbid, an 11 lap yellow follow the leader to the checkers :p Yes, it was indeed a popular call for the fans at the track and ya had to wonder what was going through DJ's and Brad Parrot's minds as they awaited the restart....
* Unfortunately all I could monitor during the race was the MRN feed. Don't know if it was the very *ancient* scanner I borrowed (for my loving wife who has read this far, HINT HINT -- Father's Day is just around the corner) or what, but I never got the 6 on primary or secondary freqs, and only occasional hits (with lots of static and other garbage) on the 2/99/81/and 24 freqs and, of course, never when anything interesting was going on. MRN had a couple of interesting things though -- one of which was the statement that Rusty only pitted for gas (no tires) to put him out ahead of the 24 (which caused Wayne and I to raise our collective eyebrows -- why bother pitting at all if you have plenty of gas to get you to the end if you don't intend to take on tires?). The fire under the 12 car was much more evident than on TV.
* Last item -- is it me or are some teams (notably the 24) getting somewhat Nixonesque in the compilation of "enemies lists" ? I recall comments from Talladega as well as post race last night (including the 88) and a couple of other times this season. Maybe the booing might be having a cumulative, insidious effect...?
Anyway, great race, congrats to TL (but don't be surprised if the favor is returned at a later date), great run Mark, Jeff B -- how about a horn on that golf cart :) and I look forward to seeing more shinning faces at the Sept. reunion.
P.S. The best line of the night came post race from the slow moving herd going back to the parking lot on foot: "hello, this must be the nursing home Olympics"
Will Dossel
Chesapeake, VA
#6 is #1
Put the STOCK back in STOCK car racing!
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