IMCA Modifieds drew drivers...
IMCA Modifieds drew drivers from New York, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia, Texas, and Tennessee. Photo by Jeff Huneycutt
Still, the track has plenty of charms. With the help of lights at ground level in the infield, The Dirt Track was rather bright. According to one track official, the four-tenths-mile track is actually brighter than the mile-and-a-half Lowe's Motor Speedway, the first NASCAR superspeedway to get permanent lights.
Roach and Stuber liked one thing about racing here: They don't run with radios anywhere else, but they did here. An official in the tower talked to the drivers, telling them when to slow for a caution or how to line up for a restart. The two drivers said that was the main reason the race program finished on time Friday night despite all the wrecks and cautions.
On Friday night, no one knew if there would even be a consolation race in IMCA Modifieds. Eighteen drivers went from the heat races directly to the feature. The top six finishers from Saturday's last-chance race made the IMCA main, and the 25th spot was a provisional.
Courcy won the first IMCA Modifieds heat race, and Moser won the second heat. Stuber began the third IMCA Modified heat, the last heat of the cold night, in First Place.
Stuber, who prefers to run the low line, was down there when Roach took the middle line and jumped between him and another driver early in the eight-lap heat. Both drivers picked up the pace, and Roach and Stuber finished 1-2 to make Saturday's feature.
Stuber says he was happy to finish Second. "There wasn't any reason to chase down the guy in front when you're both qualified for the main," he adds.
The wrecks in the various divisions didn't slow the schedule despite the cautions. There were supposed to be four Fastrak Dirt Crate Model heats, four Heintz Performance ASCS Southern Tour heats, a 20-lap CRASHCAR feature, four USLMS Late Model heats, six Four-Cylinder heats, and four IMCA Modified heats. The first IMCA Modified heat started on time at 10:20 p.m. and finished at 10:45.
Sugg went into the infield with an overheating car on the sixth lap of his heat race. He was challenging for the heat lead but realized something was wrong. He shut off the engine and dove into the infield.
"It didn't hurt [the car] as much as it could have," Sugg says.
On Saturday, he was back for more. He started next-to-last in the IMCA last-chance race with the hope that he could earn one of the last six spots in the feature race. If he didn't finish in the Top 6, he'd still have a shot at getting the provisional spot. Sugg got the provisional spot but didn't run in the feature.
But Stuber, Roach, and Courcy did. Roach showed the same hell-bent-for-leather aggression that he had shown a night earlier in the heat race. Stuber quickly jumped up to Fourth and was still running a comfortable Sixth on Lap 15 of the 25-lapper when he blew a tire on the backstretch. Someone thumped him, and he spun into the wall.
As the cars filed past Stuber under caution, Roach was third in line.
Josh Richeson wound up winning the IMCA feature in a car prepared by Ken Schrader Racing, and Roach finished Second to earn the money to get home. Catanzano finished Fourth, Stuber 20th and Courcy 22nd.
As the final race of the night ended, the pit area was already a madhouse, and Stuber and Johnson were readying the No. 4s Modified for travel. Stuber busted a tire, and the car had a heavily dented left-rear fender.
"I've had a lot worse rides than that. I've gone end over end and sideways," Stuber shouts over the din of cars, fans, and the still-droning public-address system. "Besides, Al's wife is a nurse. If something was wrong, she could help me." He grinned broadly.
Stuber had to return the rented radio earpiece. Then they'd go back to the hotel. Just a little more sightseeing the next day, and the long trek home would begin.
"I'd come back, I guess," Stuber yells, still hurrying to get the car ready to roll. "It was pretty fun."