I Can’t Wait To Feed That NEED FOR SPEED
March 21, 2004
I can’t wait! Yeah, that’s Right! You Know! I can’t wait to feed that NEED FOR SPEED and hopefully you feel the same. For me, to take the journey down that dirt track road is almost here. If you’re not ready, you better get yourself primed, and painted, so you can smile and shine with the rest of us.
Even though, some other tracks have begun their season, my home track opens in just two more weeks with the famous “free-to-the-spectators” admission, for the Test-N-Tune night on Saturday, April 10. If you don’t have a clue as to what I am talking about, just sit down, pull up a chair, and hold on; because the Delaware International Speedways 2004, twenty-second season is going to be a hot, sizzling, night after night of some of the best jammed pack, superb, and fastest, dirt track racing, on the East coast.
The speedways grounds opened their half-mile in 1965, as the U. S. 13 Speedway where the U. S. 13 Dragway stands today. But, a few changes through out the years to better the complex have taken place to keep competition first rate. That includes shifting or building a new speedway track in 1970, to a three-eighths circle track, all the way from one side of the grounds, to where the half-mile oval resides today. Then in 1982, the name of the Delaware International Speedway became the official stamp in history as the track enlarged back to a half-mile semi-banked oval. Either way, the track races supremacy of racing action every single race night. We are so lucky to have this track, the sport, and the talent in our area.
If you can’t make it there, which I don’t see any reasons why you shouldn’t be there, then I will help fill you in on all, the DIRT as often as I can. If you are like me, viewing racing on TV or listening on the radio is not the same as the roaring sounds that you hear up close and personally. I love to hear the sweet purr of an idling engine, yet with such a nice quality of a louder and accentuation of a tone. I crave witnessing all that force roaring down the front stretch and around to the backstretch. But, just wait until you see that view of that side-slinging of the tires going into the turn, while the tires going in the opposite direction, and all that metal shifting to the right as the driver gets under that power to get that extra push or run in the turns and then bring it on home. That’s what I’m talking about! If you have not yet experienced that cool rush, this should be your year to give in and give it a try.
The U. S. 13 Dragway has already been testing and tuning since the end of February. That quarter-mile is just starting to have some, quick, bold, ET Racing, and top speeds as the points are just getting started. The forty-first season is off to a big crowd with some classic beauties as always. The line up and show of cars is off to a bang of a year. I heard some guy (Ben Byrd I believe) driving an import, drove in, got on the track, and drove up to 137 MPH, and then drove the same car home. Impressive! Some other speeds by owner Allen Jones’ and his driver, Mike, drove a 7.57 second stretch with speeds up to 177 MPH.
Back on April 14, just in the second test-n-tune day, enough cars burned rubber down that stretch for a Gamblers event. Jay Glasgow took home a nice pocket of cash when he won the gamblers pot of gold. So make sure you come by on any Sunday afternoon through the first week of June and check out those quarter-mile speeds. After the first week of June, the Dragway will be open on Friday nights until near the end of August. Those cars really get a moving. This weekend the 2nd Annual East Coast Bracket Nationals on Saturday, March 27, and the Summit ET Racing Points begin on Sunday, the twenty-eighth; enjoy two full days of racing. For your entire schedule dates and times check out the tracks web site at www.delawareracing.com.
Don’t forget that the new AC Delco TSS Modified, small block debuts this year. The response on this class of car has been intense and there will be a lot of new drivers. I just got word that Donnie Lee Dutton Jr., will be a new driver to take to the oval. Donnie is Nephew to Robert Dutton, who’s a regular Big Block Modified driver and finished thirteenth in DIS points for 2003.
For drivers to be able to run each weekend at a mere minimal cost, as compared to the other classes running each weekend is every racers desire. But more so, the higher costs are geared toward the Big Block Modified and the mighty fast Late Models that have become so excessive to run for almost an average driver. I’m not saying that this class will be that cheap to run, but it will allow the guy who wants to race each week more of an opportunity. Many divers don’t have the backing or who can’t even afford all that horsepower and equipment that some teams posses. That is so many drivers wish, to run each Saturday night; especially for drivers that are not full time drivers, but the weekend warrior which is a rather large sum for most tracks.
Drivers like to race no matter what class they race in, it is all an adrenaline rush to them, I am sure. I would have loved for my Dad to have shown me to drive a race car; I know he would have loved teaching me. Not that many women raced when my Father raced. My Father taught me to drive a standard shift VW Beetle, not that this really has to do with racing, it’s more of a fond memory I have of my Dad and a lesson learned. I was twelve when he started showing how to drive a clutch, and I prefer a standard shift vehicle to this day. During my learning permit time, my Dad took me to this big hill in Salisbury, MD, called Lemon Hill Road. Get it? Lemon HILL Road! (You’ve got to know Salisbury has no hills, okay.) Anyway, the purpose of going to this hill is to parallel park. I had to park near the highest part of the hill, which is on the right side going east, and turn off the car. The end result is to restart the car, and be able to move the car without stalling the car or giving it to much gas to take off fast, and be able to pull out smoothly onto the main stream of the road. Great lesson! I won’t go into all the skills I learned from that lesson. I learned it isn’t hard. No problem. I love driving anyway. I feel in more control with a standard shift. Guess I get that honest from my Dad, Norman “Windy” Bailey a racer in his day. Thank goodness for memories of out loved ones, no one can take them away.
Back to racing, this year hasn’t even started and the buzz of new drivers is humming. The Street Modified class has rumor that many time champion Jeff Patilla, of Delmar, DE will be competing in the number forty-eight. Jeff has been out of the circle for a while, but can he still high-side and hammer down? Then, new to the DIS track will be the “east coast rookie” of Steve Stamps of Milford, DE sporting the number eighty-three. Steve has been driving out mid west during vacations and before the move to DE various other tracks. Steve is featured in Emma’s Turn Four Driver Report on my web site www.redbud69racing.com. Go to the article and read up on Steve, I think he will prove to be very competitive too. To see how these two drivers heat up the action on the track, you better come on out to see for yourself.
There will be a lot more new drivers to DIS this year, especially with the new class. Word is a few new drivers for the Modified Lites class with Michael White for one. I hope I can keep up with all the DIRT? I just can’t wait to smell, see, and feel all the drama. So look for this season to be as steamy as ever. Come out and get into some good family fun for all. For all your updates and news visit my site, and the tracks site to know your racing. Don’t forget the U. S. Kart Club has begun practicing. The karts take to the track each Friday night, starting April 2. But you can watch them practice this Saturday on the one-sixth oval clay track. All three action venues of the Dragway, speedway, and the kart club are all on the Delaware Motor Sports Complex. See you at the track!
Bonnie Nibblett