Welcome to the first edition of the “Monday Night Review.” A good way to end the weekend and start the work week – with a little dirt review. Fully Injected’s Monday Night Review is basically a recap of everything I can think of off the top of my head sprint car related that happened in the most recent weekend; with special attention given to those in Team FI. I hope you all enjoy and return.
Imagine the most insane, out of control, wild weekend anybody could ever have; and mine was the opposite of that. Perhaps it would have been wild if I actually would have seen some sprint car competition. Mother nature once again dominated in spectacular fashion, dropping the temperatures almost to the freezing mark both nights- ending all hopes of fan enjoyment and bearable race-time conditions. The initial plans were to head to Lernerville Speedway on Friday night for their second try at opening the season, before heading north on Saturday for the $5,000 to win Auto Racers charity 410ci event at Mercer Raceway Park, in Mercer, Pennsylvania. Instead, I spent my Friday and Saturday evenings doing what I do best- listening to the World of Outlaws on the dirtvision radio network – pretending i was in sunny California. Eventually reality set in and I found myself back in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania enjoying stale popcorn and flat dr. pepper. But, with spring time comes constantly changing weather and forecast unpredictability; so i guess we’ll try again next weekend here in western Pennsylvania.
Central Pennsylvania has a different story to tell; with all the major raceways such as Lincoln, Selinsgrove, and Port Royal all getting their shows in – only Williams Grove would be left out in the cold; and I mean that literally. Like the weather, central Pennsylvania also continues to be unpredictable on the racetrack. In the first 9 races of the Central PA 410 point standings, there have been 9 different winners. Ryan Taylor came out on top at the Port Royal Speedway in Juniata County over the weekend; with Mark Smith, Lance Dewease, Rick Lafferty, and Steve Buckwalter rounding out the top 5. Lincoln Speedway, in the pigeon hills of south central Pennsylvania, would also have somebody “different” in victory lane- as Mike Bittinger would come out on top, leaving McIntyre, McClelland, Dietrich, and Dodson all behind him at the line.
The World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series ended their Spring Break tour in California this past weekend; competing at two racetracks with two completely different shapes and sizes, right outside of wine country, California. From what I can remember reading, I believe fans could have even participated in a wine tasting event over the weekend. I can honestly say I have never done that. Anyhow, Friday night saw the Greatest Show on Dirt compete at the Merced Speedway in Merced, California. The one and only Sammy Swindell captured his, I think, second World of Outlaws A Main of the season – with his first being at the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas back in late February. So, yes, this would be his second victory of the season. Sammy would hold off California native, Tim Kaeding, at the finish to capture the glory at the little Merced bullring. That might have been the case for Sammy Friday night, but Saturday night would prove to not hold the same destiny for the Germantown, TN native. The Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, California was Saturday night’s destination for the traveling sprint car series. The World of Outlaws would see Jason Sides come out on top for his second victory of the season at the Calistoga half mile. Craig Dollansky would literally fall just short of victory, as he ran out of fuel coming towards the checkers, and lose the lead to eventual winner Jason Sides. This was Side’s first win since the World of Outlaw Volusia finale back in February.
Team Fully Injected had a pretty quiet weekend; with only one individual in any sort of competition. Kolten Gouse, who is a tire specialist for the Brownsburg, Indiana native, Joey Saldana and Kasey Kahne Racing, has been on the road since February traveling with the Greatest Show on Dirt, and has spent the past few weeks in California. As a Fully Injected Team Member – the plan this year is to have Kolten feed us his experiences through a Fully Injected segment known as “Life as a Wrench: A World of Outlaws Crew Member.” Stay tuned for more information.
Joey Saldana, the current World of Outlaws point leader, would have a rough start to the California finale weekend; he would suffer with a 16th place performance on Friday night at Merced Speedway. The second generation driver would bounce back – jumping back in to a top five finish with a 4th place rebound on Saturday night at Calistoga. Kolten and the KKR crew are currently truckin’ Indiana bound with intentions to determine race options for their off weekend.
Next weekend, Danny Holtgraver will be competing with the All Stars at Attica Raceway Park for the first round of the Ohio region. Rod George, Scott Priester, and Brandon “Wheelman” Matus will all be hoping for a nice weekend to kick off the local season. Sundown Motorsports is scheduled to open their season this weekend as well.
I haven’t seen a race in two weeks – but my track count still stands at 3 and race count at 4. Hopefully the coming weeks will allow me to pick up the pace. This weekend looks to be a “local” weekend for me – as I plan to head just 25 minutes down the road to the Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania for a 3rd attempt at opening the season. If the weather decides to destroy Lernerville’s Friday night plans early enough – then its off to Attica I go; in hope to see some rare faces and outstanding talent (considering the World of Outlaws are off and they visit there next month…)
Lots of anticipation for next weekend! The USAC National Sprint Cars, which will be visiting the Lernerville Speedway during Memorial Day weekend as a part of their Eastern Storm Tour, hit the ‘Big E’ this coming weekend for a double header wammy! The Greatest Non-Wing Show on Dirt- as I like to call it – lead by The Demon Damian Gardner, head to the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio for two day event. The All Star Circuit of Champions kick off their Ohio Region action this weekend with a double header at Attica Raceway Park. If any of you have never been there and get a chance to go – don’t pass it up. I promise. And last but certainly not least, The King of the West Sprint Car Series kicks off their anticipated “inaugural” season this weekend at the Antioch Speedway in Antioch, California. A little random fact for you – Brent Kaeding is the all time leading winner of that series with 83 victories. He also holds a record of 13 championships.
FI has been getting a lot of positive feedback and I appreciate every word of it so a shout out goes to all who support this website and mission. FI gear is going fast and most of it going to new race fans which is awesome!
For any information on our merchandise – check the merch page. It should be updated rather soon. Plenty of new stuff to show off and I am super excited about that. I hope to have a display up at a racetrack very soon – check our schedule for more information!
and as always- RACE OPEN WHEEL!
(feedback welcome)