In the Groove
Sunday, May 22, 2005
by Stacy Ervin - I sometimes joke around about how old I am and how I am going to stop having birthdays one of these years. It’s not all joking though. An extremely stressful and demanding "real" job and the miles spent traveling between my real home at West Liberty and my second home at Knoxville are taking their toll more and more as I get older. And I always laugh when my friends at the race track think I’m being uptight about things. They should see me at work, I tell them. The race track is where I relax!
But as much as I would like to stay forever young, I know it isn’t possible and I’m still trying to learn that life lesson about enjoying the moment and taking things as they come. I have a lot of learning yet to do on that one. But I do have to say that this birthday that has just come and gone, on May 17 to be exact, turned out to be a surprisingly stellar one. And I owe it to the great friends I have made at the track over the years and to my parents, who are always there for me and who got me hooked on racing in the first place, back when birthdays couldn’t come fast enough.
I do have to say that it is great having a birthday that falls during racing season. At least there’s something fun to look forward to and plenty of ways to celebrate. For this year, my fellow pressbox dweller Lisa Bell made a beautiful birthday cake, and despite the fact that good food never lasts too long around the pressbox crowd, there was plenty to go around. It was delicious!
Track announcer Justin Zoch made it known to everyone in attendance Saturday night that I was having another birthday by mentioning it over the PA system. That started off a slew of well wishes and kept my phone ringing most of the night. Thanks to everyone who took the time to think of me. It really goes to show how much of a family the racing community can be and it reminds me that even though I’ve never been able to call Knoxville my hometown, I still feel right at home there after all these 30-some years.
The big kicker was the surprise that awaited me at my "home away from home" after the races. I returned to my room at John and Sheryl Gordon’s fabulous Super 8 Motel to find a yummy midnight snack and a birthday card. I had to giggle a bit as I looked back over my time at the Sprint Car Capitol of the World. I sure have come a long way from sleeping in a pickup truck off of turn three and crying when Chris Economaki tried to talk to me. Hey, I was only 4 then.
Obviously my birthday was not the reason we all gathered once again on Saturday night, so I’ll quit talking about it now and move on to the stuff that’s really worth talking about. For one, what happened to our car counts? After the previous week’s Interstate Racing Association show and the assorted other visitors who popped in, it was most disappointing to see the slim number of entries in both classes this week.
Think about this: Only 28 cars took time-trial laps in the 410 division and 24 of them started the feature event. The 360 division usually always draws more cars than the 410s, but even that class was down in numbers. Notable absences in the 410 division included: Billy Alley, who suffered mechanical problems last week; Kaley Gharst, the youngster from Illinois who had been trying to make a rookie run; Seth Brahmer, whose car was destroyed last week in a horrifying accident on the frontstretch; and the F5 car, also wrecked last week with Ian Madsen at the wheel. Larry Neighbors, who had started the year in the F5, made his return to the hallowed half-mile with his own 360 entry. In that 360 division, there weren’t as many Alexanders and Heskins as usual and they were missed. Doug Wilson has been a noted absence for several weeks too and that’s been a bummer.
All that said, the car count surely helped fan favorite Robert Bell, who was able to qualify for the feature event in the 410s through the B-Main. As all the Knoxville regulars know, while Robert may not have all the success he would like on the track, he surely has the most fun of any competitor out there. And he probably has the biggest love for racing of anyone out there. Way to go, Robert!
A couple of guys who had bad weeks continued their poor luck on Saturday night. The night before at a Sprint Invaders race at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Jon Agan took a ride out of the ballpark and destroyed a car. The next night, a bad flip in turn two didn’t help his situation. Luckily, he was not injured in either crash.
The midweek plight of Des Moines driver Josh Higday left most of our racing world in shock. His car, trailer and some items from his home were stolen on Wednesday. With help from authorities and media personnel, his race car was found and was not much worse for the wear. But a big melee at the start of the 360 feature put a premature end to his race night and probably contributed to his bad week.
On that start, the cars were bunched tightly together on an extremely rough race track. Near the back of the pack, Dusty Zomer got spun around and ended up flipping in turn two. As the caution lights came on, many drivers had troubles slowing and that caused other incidents all around the track. Along with Higday and Zomer, Eric Mason and Jarod Smith were also done for the night.
It was great to see Johnny Anderson picking up his first win the 360 division and to see all the emotion on his face and the faces of his family and friends. It was a well-deserved victory and has been a long time coming. I have had a soft spot in my heart for Johnny since he won the old Dirt Digest Dash for Cash a few years back and I was one of the trophy girls in victory lane with him.
Switching now to the 410 feature, Wayne Johnson was able to capitalize nicely on the misfortune of original polesitter Eric Vanderploeg. On the first attempt at a start, Clint Garner got turned around at the flagstand and nearly flipped over. On the complete restart, Vanderploeg offended flagman Doug Clark and was kicked off the pole and sent to the tail. That allowed Johnson to take the point and he never looked back. Though Matt Moro mounted a late-race challenge, Johnson was simply too strong on this night.
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