2008 Summer Shootout Legends Stories - Round Nine - August 6th, 2008
Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, North Carolina (Quarter-Mile Track)
YOUNG LIONS: WALKER LEADS THE WAY TO WEEK 10 AFTER BLACK-FLAG FRENZY ~ By Elgin Traylor
It’s a battle that’s going to go down to the last lap, just like the 1992 NASCAR Cup championship. There were six drivers that went into the final week that year with a shot at the title. With two weeks left in the Summer Shootout, six drivers came into the night with a chance to take the points lead, but bad luck left just a few to decide the championship next week.
Top: The Young Lions received a second driver's meeting, this time after their race was stopped by officials for poor driving. Bottom: Sean Shalvoy's car was a bit damaged after going up in flames. (LN Photos)
Bryce Walker overcame all the on-track issues to score the win while Evan Swilling and Harrison Rhodes was second and third. Devin Jones, who entered the night with a three-point lead over Dylan Presnell and a four point lead over Walker, settled for fourth.
“We have been working really hard and winning some races,” said Walker. “You always want to envision yourself at the top and I am glad we are here.”
Walker will unofficially take a 16 point lead over Jones into the final race of the season. Walker has won three races, while Jones has the best average finish a 4.0 for the season. Walker knows who he going to have to watch next week.
“The 35 car of Devin Jones, yeah we are going to have a pretty good point’s battle,” said Walker. “Tonight was awesome, I can’t ask for a better car then the one we had tonight. It was super fast and I would like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting us.”
The race itself was pretty wild as it was the first feature of the night. After several rough starts that were filled with hard bumping and spins, track officials parked the field in the fourth turn for a little time out.
Former race director Roger Slack, who still works close with Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s new sheriff Seamus Curley, went down to the turn to have an additional drivers meeting with the competitors.
“It felt like we were back in school and not on summer break,” said Walker. “I can understand where he is coming from. It just gets out of hand sometimes. It seemed like we got it pretty much under control after we had that meeting.”
The race was moved to the end of the night before it was completed. Before the time out period, all of the six drivers who had a shot at the title were still running. That was until lap five when a bunch of cars got together after Scott Hensley spun off the fourth turn. It created a log jam that resulted in a yellow flag. When Sean Shalvoy piled in, his engine erupted in flames, forcing a red flag. This is where things got interesting.
Drivers were reminded a few weeks back in the driver’s meeting to immediately stop when the red flag is out. After the red flew and was called out on the radio, three cars were parked for the night not responding to the red flag notice. Chad Cutting and two points contenders, Dylan Presnell and Justin Grimes, all were told to take their cars to the garage before the race resumed.
“Anderson and me talked. He still got into me there, I believe. I haven’t seen any tapes, but I felt like he was bumping me getting in there. We were all riding on each other. I had to check up on Hemric and he just got up into my left rear and pushed me right into him. You have to bump to win on this track, I guess. It’s a shame. In any other form of racing, you don’t have to bump someone to come in first.”
“It’s like I said last week,” Anderson states, “you’re going to have beatin’ and bangin’ and that’s expected. You don’t want to come out here and lose your temper about it. It’s just good racing. Fans love that kind of stuff. I’m just glad to have my third win of the year. Good racing, that’s all I have to say.”
MASTERS: HAIR WINS CHAMPIONSHIP WITH HEAVY HEART ~ By Elgin Traylor
The points battle in the Masters class came down a pair of drivers, Clay Hair and John Sossoman. Earlier in the year Sossoman told LegendsNation.com that he would be missing a week later in the season. The week finally came and Sossoman was nowhere to found at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the ninth round of action. That gave the championship to Clay Hair who has won countless races and titles. When his famous number 29 rolled to a stop in the tech area after winning another feature, a championship was the farthest thing from his mind.
“It feels fantastic to be the champion and these guys have worked really hard for me to help me get here, but I am just not going to celebrate,” said an emotional Hair in Victory Lane.
People who know Hair know of his fondness for motorcycles. He was racing with a heavy heart after one of his friends, and riding buddies, past away last week.
“Click Baldwin got killed last week,” explained Hair. “He was a really good friend of mine. He was my first sponsor on my car and he helped me get my first Harley. Everybody in the motorcycle world knew him and he was a big supporter of the Kyle Petty charity ride. I got to do several of those rides. I just can’t say enough about him and what he’s done for me and everybody else. We are going to bury him on Wednesday and ride our motorcycles down there, I am not celebrating tonight.”
Hair summed it all up in one phase after the race.
“He was a great human being, and I need to be a better person like him.”
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Justin Grimes went to discuss his black flag with officials after the race. (LN Photo)
Presnell had damage from the accident, while Grimes had no damage and was running third at the time of the wreck. He was so upset he came to the pits and parked by the gas pumps to speak with the scoring officials in the infield. Grimes was overcome with emotions losing his shot at the championship that he couldn’t provide an interview at the track, but talked to LegendsNation.com Wednesday afternoon.
“I got wrecked in turn two and I went to turn around. It looked like to me that the yellow flag was still out,” said Grimes. “They said they were hollering on the radio ‘red flag, red flag.’ It looked like to me that the red flag didn’t come out until after I rolled to my position. The championship was our goal, and now a black flag has messed it all up. It’s really disappointing.”
Heading into the final race of the Shootout, the question arises - is the lead the place to be? Jones has led the points for the last four weeks. Prior to that, the lead changed hands five times between four different drivers.
“We are going to have to see what everyone’s made of and we are going to be gunning for everyone because they’re all still in it,” said Jones. “We are going to have to beat 680 (Bryce Walker) by quite a few spots if we are going to win the championship.”
SIDEBAR: ROOKIE EARNS HER STRIPES AT LOWE’S ~ By Elgin Traylor
Amber Colvin (right) stands next to Sloan Henderson (left) in the second driver's meeting for the Young Lions drivers. (LN Photo)
Only six months ago Amber Colvin jumped in a Legends car for the first time. Since then the 15-year old from Florida has made a name for herself. She is third in points at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Chargers class. She has eight top-ten finishes in eight starts, including four top-five runs as well. At her home track, Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA), she is the Legends point leader after two wins this season. She came north for the first time and made her first ever start in the Summer Shootout Series.
“This was my first trip up here. I started 20th and I came up to sixth. I barely missed a wreck and I am thankful that I did,” said Colvin. “It’s really amazing that I got to race tonight; I have never even seen the track before today. It was really competitive out there. I didn’t know that they had a big point’s race going on tonight. I am really amazed with the Summer Shootout.”
Colvin ran in the Young Lions class and was right in the thick of the six-way points battle. She managed to dodge all the problems to post a solid finish, which is not too bad for a driver who only began racing in March.
SEMI-PRO: AUSTIN HILL WINS SEMI-PRO RACE AFTER WILD LAST LAP – OR DOES HE? ~ By Jason Buckley
When one driver dominates an event, it can leave a sour taste in their mouth if they lose the race on the final lap. That is exactly what happened to Currie Pierce, who looked certain to take his first Summer Shootout victory of the season Tuesday night, only to have it slip away in the final turns of the event with Austin Hill taking the checkered flag first.
Pierce took the lead on the start from the outside pole, holding on to the top spot throughout the whole race. While he was challenged many times on restarts from Sam McAuley and Austin Hill, he managed to keep the lead until a final restart put his win in jeopardy.
“I went into one and someone (McAuley) was up under me I guess,” said Pierce. “They kind of pushed me up. Luckily I maintained and saved it down the back stretch. I came down the straightaway and apparently Austin thought he had it up under me and I went into turn three and four and he knocked me sideways. He about shoved me in the wall coming to the checkers. I knew I had the race.”
While Currie Pierce leaned on his car after the race wondering what happened to his victory (top), Austin Hill celebrated his win (bottom). (LN Photos)
McAuley gave his side of the story, as well as his perspective of his view out his windshield coming off turn four to the checkered flag.
“We ran well the whole race. We were a little bit better than the #16 (Pierce),” said McAuley. “Going down into one I was up under him a little, then I got help from behind and I slid up the track a little and the #24 (Hill) got in there. Down the back stretch I was beside the #24 and he was up under the #16 a little, and coming off it looked like he just came up into the #16 and the #16 got real sideways heading for the wall. I got into him a little as I went by. Right now they say I am second.”
After the race, there was confusion outside the tech area as the officials were still debating on who finished where. Tech officials brought all the cars into tech they thought were in the top five and told the drivers the officials stated they were holding the finish, pending a review. Hill was unofficially credited with the
“The #12 (McAuley) got into the #16 (Pierce) going into one on the last lap,” said Hill of the last lap. “I ducked under them, and when I did we went off into three. I was hugging the white line and almost in the grass trying not to hit Currie. Somehow we touched coming off the corner.
“It was a racing incident. If they do not give it to me I don’t know what to say. It wasn’t like I went in there and run him over to win. We just got together. He came down a little bit and I slid up just a tick. If we do get the win I will be very happy because I didn’t think we had a car to win tonight.”
Unofficially Mike Alcaro was credited with second, followed by McAuley and Jordan Penninger, who all crossed the line three wide for second. Pierce was unofficially credited with seventh, which had the racer beside himself after thinking the win was his.
“It is pretty frustrating,” said Pierce. “You come out here and race your heart out and do everything you can, then stuff like this happens.”
SIDEBAR: SWILLING AND BLACKBURN INCIDENT HAS CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS ~ By Jason Buckley
The buzz in the Semi-Pro Legends garage over the past week has surrounded Cody Blackburn and Justin Swilling. Both were teammates at Chris Rogers Motorsports and both were first and second in the points last week, but an at-track issue between Chris Rogers and Blackburn ended the teammate situation and started rumors flying around about what really did happen within the Rogers’ race camp.
Tuesday night, during one of the Semi-Pro heat races, the buzz got a little bit louder as Blackburn and Swilling had issues on the track, causing one to spin and the other to receive the black flag for the contact.
According to both drivers, as well as observers at the track, Blackburn appeared to have squeezed Swilling accidentally, and then Swilling came back and made contact with Blackburn’s car, getting him sideways. Officials gave the black flag to Swilling, forcing him to start in the back of the feature.
Cody Blackburn (left) and Justin Swilling (right) joke around after Tuesday's race. (LN Photo)
“To tell you the truth, I don’t think I did a darn thing wrong. I don’t think that anyone thinks that,” said Swilling. “I have talked to Cody Blackburn and he knows I didn’t mean to take him out. We are fine with each other. It is hard to understand how I am the only car that gets into somebody and gets black-flagged. I would like to understand that.”
Blackburn wasn’t happy when he came in from the heat race, but it wasn’t frustration at Swilling. He wasn’t happy his former teammate and still current friend got black flagged for the contact he felt wasn’t on purpose.
“It was just racing,” said Blackburn. “Everybody thinks it might have been something with the separation of the teams, but it wasn’t nothing like that. Justin and I are great friends and we are even planning on going to see a movie sometime soon.”
In the feature, Blackburn was able to race his way up to the 11th position, but appears to have lost the points lead. Meanwhile, Swilling got swept up in an incident towards the back of the field. His 24th-place finish essentially took him out of title contention.
While both Swilling and Blackburn managed to smile after the race, even posing for a fake fight picture in the garage, Swilling was still beside himself over the call that put him in the rear of the feature and in the middle of the chaos that ended his day.
“I just got caught up in some rough racing,” said Swilling of the feature race. “It really isn’t anyone’s fault. I just shouldn’t have been back there. What can you say?”
PRO: BAFFLING LAST-LAP WRECK GIVES WAY TO ANDERSON ~ By James Spencer
A wreck around the last turn of the Legends Pro A-feature turned the imminent finishing order completely on its ear. When a close top three between Daniel Hemric, Nick Carey, and John Ellenburg became too close, Jordan Anderson came from behind to cross the finish line first.
Immediately after the race, a simple “What happened?” regarding the wreck yielded a flood of “I’m not sure” and “I don’t know” from the drivers involved.
Defending Pro champ Jordan Anderson won his third 2008 Shootout race on Tuesday. (LN Photo)
“That last lap, to me, just looked like close racing,” explained Anderson. “I was just riding in third place, trying to take care of myself. I couldn’t really tell what happened when they got together. Neither party should be disappointed. It’s just close racing. You’re going to have that on a quarter-mile flat track.”
For the second week in a row, Anderson has enjoyed a first place trophy as well as some mild flack from his peers, particularly Nick Carey, who called Anderson out on his admittedly aggressive driving style last week.
“Getting into turn one, it felt like there was some pressure from the 19 car (Anderson) behind me,” said Carey. “I was getting in real good, but I checked up and it seemed like we were all bumper-to-bumper. Anderson might’ve gotten up on my left rear and kind of pushed me into Hemric. I feel bad for him (Hemric). I don’t like having to bump someone out of the way to win a race.
