Temps are up...gas is up...crowds are up?!

Racing season is in full swing and now mother nature has stopped dumping liquid sunshine on us and dealt us the real thing. Sun! Man, the heat is here to stay for the rest of the summer we know and that sometimes is not the best of things when you mix it with the racing surfaces and a sport that is as competitive as auto racing!

            As many track owners expected, gas prices have hit the $4.00 mark and this makes for very unpredictable crowd and car counts at the local tracks however, many of the local tracks I have visited over the past month, have seen stronger than normal crowds. This could be simply because many families won’t be making trips out of town for vacation with the higher fuel prices and allowing families to take part in this great sport we are involved with. No matter what the reasoning behind the stellar crowds, the track promoters, like myself, would like to thank the fans and racers who are coming out and supporting our tracks.

Photographs | Richard Cunningham and Donnie Hagan

            Windy Hollow Dragway just finished up with their Jeg's Super Quick Series event a couple of weeks ago and it was one great event! A full 32-car field of very fast cars was on hand and the crowd was there with them. Phillip and his crew have battled mom nature all year as have many of the tracks locally and things are starting to really click for them at the 1/8th mile NHRA Drag Strip. Keep you eyes on windyhollowdragway.com because there are some awesome events still on tap for this season along with the exciting weekly bracket racing. Oh and keep your eyes open because there are several of the local drag racers who are going to be heading to the STL soon to compete in the popular SPEED TV show Pinks All Out. This is going to be awesome if some of our locals can make the cut and bring home some W's for the home team!

            Western KY Speedway just hosted their annual Tommy Oldham Memorial for the Pure Stock division and Tinker Beals was able to bag his first win of the season and his largest career win. The pure stock division at WKS has proven to be one of the most competitive fields of cars around week in and week out. A great car count average has been blanketing the tracks each week and Tim, Tammy and the entire crew at WKS have been working their tails off to provide a great family friendly dirt track for all the fans and racers to enjoy. You need to make this venue down on a place to visit during the 08 season. Check out the all new website the track has at www.wkracing.com.

            Windy Hollow Speedway is under new management this season with Scott Slaton taking over the steering wheel. Scott and Clint and their crew are doing an awesome job with the track. They are working to improve the racing surface and dressing the place up nicely. Heck, you roll into the grandstand area and it looks like a new place with fresh paint and new bleacher boards in place. New lighting is in the works and many other improvements. The cars are starting to increase every week and the cool part is people are now talking about the NEW windy hollow speedway. Kudos to the WHS staff for doing a job well done so far! As far as the racing… man, there are some wicked fast cars out there and a different winner almost every week in all the divisions! The schedule is posted for WHS at windyhollowspeedway.com

Photographs | Richard Cunningham and Donnie Hagan

            High Banks Speedway located just outside of Owensboro is another track that has been struggling badly with the weather giving them adverse track conditions. The track made a very smart move by shutting the gates for two weeks to do track work and improvements and this should be praised by all for their attempt to make a better surface. Mike & Lisa Lambert, track owners, and their entire staff are doing a great job and we will be hearing more about their events in the very near future.

            Don't forget to swing out and check out the go kart racing action at Rockport Raceway and Fordsville Raceway on the weekends. This is where it all gets started for many racers!

            In closing I would like to again encourage everyone to come out to a local race track and visit us and check out the excitement for yourself! There is nothing like LOCAL racing! And don't forget for your weekly racing updates and results... tune myself and Jay Velotta in on Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Power Rock 93.9 WKTG for Radio Goes Racing. You can also tune it in on the world wide web at www.wktg.com.

            Until next time...Go fast Ricky Bobby...Go Fast!

~Peace