Darlington, SC: The FASCAR Classic Series will run it's 6th race of the season at the Darlington Raceway this Saturday night at 7:00 PM (EST) on SPEED.
This will be the 1st FASCAR Classic Truck Series race of the season, earlier this season the FASCAR Head 2 Head Nationwide Series raced at the Darlington Raceway. Recap: The first half of the FASCAR Classic Series saw 4 different race winners: Linda Schmaltz with 2 wins, Angie, Megan & Austin Ebach all with 1 win.
4 different pole winners: Mychal Cardwell with 2 pole wins, Angie Ebach, Austin Ebach & Katie Cardwell with 1 pole win.
4 different drivers holding onto the number 1 spot: Wendal Ebach 2 Weeks, Angie Ebach, Austin Ebach and Linda Schmaltz 1 week.
Angie Ebach is the only driver to win a race from the pole which was the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. History-Darlington Raceway: The first race was scheduled for Labor Day 1950. Brasington expected no more than 10,000 fans, but the crowd of more than 25,000 showed up.
Californian Johnny Mantz drove to victory that day in the first Southern 500. The race took more than six hours to complete. Still, it set a precedent for a series that would grow to be one of the largest spectator sports in the country.
Mantz started dead last in the field of 75 racers, many of whom had never raced on asphalt, but roared to the checkered flag averaging a blistering 76 mph. Over the next 50 years, names like Baker, Flock, Thomas, Pearson, Yarborough, Petty and Earnhardt became commonplace in Victory Lane.
Today the Darlington Raceway is known as the track "Too Tough to Tame" and "The Lady in Black." FASCAR Classic Series: Going into this race Points Leader Linda Schmaltz driver of the #55 Diet Coke Chevy has been on a roll in the FASCAR Classic Series with Back 2 Back wins. Both wins came in the Nationwide Series. Linda will try and make history on Saturday as she will try and go for 3 in arow.
Wendal Ebach driver of the #23 ND Game & Fish Chevy may have lost his #1 spot in the Standings in the last race but, he will try and rebound this weekend and get back on Top of the standing.
Austin Ebach driver of the #95 John Deere Chevy is just waiting for the 2 top teams to have a bad race so, he could capalize on it and get back into that #1 spot.
Megan Ebach driver of the #18 M&M's Chevy is only 56 points behind and with a good finish this weekend at Darlington that could get her closer to that #1 spot.
Mychal Cardwell driver of the #39 Bakugan Chevy was last race biggest mover in the standings jumping up 3 spots to 5th. Mychal will try this week to get his 3rd Pole of the season.
Jonathan Carlisle, Joseph Cardwell & Angie Ebach are going to try and get a good finish at Darlington. As all 3 drivers truley need to get a good finish as their chances at winning the championship are slipping away.
Katie & Vincent Cardwell are stuggling so far this season and just maybe the 2nd half of the season will bring them some luck & wins and get them back in the Hunt for the Championship. It Go Time for these 2 Teams.
-- Edited by Whooz Racing on Monday 9th of August 2010 10:42:25 AM
-- Edited by Whooz Racing on Wednesday 11th of August 2010 11:53:20 AM
LOL that is not going to happen Austin. That is if your Dad didn't jinx me. LOL Thanks Jonathan for your great writeups and like Wendal said we are all wishing you and your Dad and family the best and know that my prayers are with you and yours.
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- This is one NASCAR schedule shake-up Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning is not sweating out.
With NASCAR tracks all around him losing races and shifting dates, Browning continues to go full throttle to keep the old country track viable in the sport's modern age.
The latest burst of life? Saturday night's Truck Series event, which marks the first time in six years the circuit's oldest superspeedway has unlocked its gates for more than one NASCAR weekend.
"So many people had put us on the endangered list," Browning said. "It's a great feeling where we are to where we were six years ago."
And that was clearly on the verge of extinction.
The signs were all there. In 2003, NASCAR's late leader, Bill France Jr., had called out Darlington as one of the sport's underperforming tracks. Then later that year, the event on Labor Day weekend, a tradition at the track since 1950, was pulled from Darlington and shipped off to California.
Even worse, the track's lone date was Mother's Day weekend, considered an unsellable dark hole by promoters, so much so that NASCAR's top series had taken the day off the previous 18 years.
There were aging grandstands, old bathrooms and a foreboding sense the best days for the Lady in Black were in the rearview mirror.
Since then, though, it's been a bona fide Southern revival for the historic track.
"There's a whole lot of comfort in that," Browning says.
The turnaround began when Darlington added $3.5 million in improvements, including a light system in 2004 that allowed the track to race at night for first time in its storied history. That led to a sellout in 2005, then three more the next three seasons. Darlington's owners, International Speedway Corp. (ISC), took notice and gave Browning's team about $10 million for capital projects, including repaving the track and adding a modern tunnel for infield access.
Browning remembers a turning point after the sellout in 2006, the second time the track ran on Mother's Day weekend. "I didn't hear anyone ask me if I thought we were going to be on next year's schedule," he said. "That was big."
Browning has kept pushing to find events that fit one of the region's staunchest fan bases. The track ran a U.S. Auto Club race during its NASCAR weekend in 2007, the first time in more than a half century that open-wheel racers cruised the egg-shaped oval.
In 2008, the track introduced a Historic Racing Festival that played into Darlington's role as a cradle of the sport. Racing greats like David Pearson and Cale Yarborough met with fans, who could also drive the layout with their car clubs. The third edition of the event is Sept. 24-26 and Browning says the response is growing. "We think when we look back 10 years from now, we'll see this as something good," he said.
Darlington leaders hope to say the same thing about the trucks. The series ran at Darlington from 2001-04, but scheduling problems -- along with balancing three races in one weekend on an infield tight for space -- ended that run.
When Truck organizers asked if Darlington could hold a midsummer's night race, Browning jumped at the chance and hopes it stays for some time to come.
Todd Bodine, the Truck Series points' leader, is one of the few drivers on the circuit with significant Darlington experience. He has 38 starts at the track in NASCAR's top three series, including a 2003 victory in a Nationwide race where he slid across the finish line after hitting Jamie McMurray.
"Every corner is different. It's fast, it's aggressive, it's Darlington," Bodine said. "I love it."
Bringing the trucks here also exposes a new generation of drivers to the track. Timothy Peters' Truck team came in for a March tire test and could not believe how quickly the track can grab you.
"I got my Darlington stripe early," he said after hitting the wall.
For Trucks racer Austin Dillon, the 20-year-old grandson of owner Richard Childress, the biggest memory of Darlington came in 1997 when Dale Earnhardt was carried from his car after hitting the wall twice during the first two laps of the Southern 500 on Labor Day. Dillon's father, Mike, had to jump in the No. 3 Chevrolet to take control.
Austin Dillon's glad for the chance to drive the matchless track and looks forward to returning for years to come.
"It's a historical place where many NASCAR memories have been made," he said. "This being NASCAR, you got to go there. You've got to go to Darlington."
We brought our same truck that we raced at the Iowa Speedway where we won in the FASCAR Head 2 Head Truck Series, so we will do a little work to match the #39 & #23 Trucks.
Congrats to Mychal getting Pole # 3 on the season!
Once again we did not have the right set-up under us for Qualifying yesterday, but rest assured, as we have everytime we don't start well we finished well, and we will keep that trend going tomorrow night.
-- Edited by Joseph31 on Friday 13th of August 2010 11:07:23 AM
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2010 FASCAR BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT WINNER Dega Racing...There's Nothing Else Like It! "Ya Soshla S Uma"
It looks like Joseph and his #31 Dr. Pepper Toyota found the right set-up during the race on Saturday night.
I would like to congrats Joseph & his team on winning their 1st race.
We had a blast driving our #23 ND Game & Fish, Budweiser, Snickers, Pizza Ranch, FishingBuddy.com & HP Chevy Truck on Saturday night.
To us it was like winning the race due to the performaces we have had in the Trucks in the Head 2 Head Series.
Our last adjustment that we made to the truck was totally wrong -- we got tight and hit the wall a few times ending our chances at winning the race.
With only 4 races to go we need to find that winning car or truck becuase these 6 Top 5's look nice but, I think a win would gain us some ground on winning this FASCAR Classic Series Championship.
Looks like a few more hours of overtime for the staff at Whooz Racing.
Congrats Joseph on your win. We just didnt have the right set up this weekend to get the job done but hey cant be # 1 all the time, have to give the others the feeling of victory. Great race.
This was a new truck that we brought to Darlington, we just never found the right set up and it looks like we need to do some more work on this truck before the next race next weekend at the Chicagoland Speedway.
It is great to be back in Victory Lane for my first Points Paying Classic Win since Kansas in 2008! I thought winning the Bud Shootout at Daytona in February was exciting, but to come to the historical Darlington Raceway and edge out a Win here is spectacular! I want to thank Dr Pepper, Red Bull, Reese's, Golden Flake, and Miller Lite for Sponsoring our efforts this Season and look forward to continuing to move up in the Standing and bringing home a Championship for them and my guys back at the shop who work their butts off week in and out!
-- Edited by Joseph31 on Monday 16th of August 2010 02:47:52 PM
__________________
2010 FASCAR BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT WINNER Dega Racing...There's Nothing Else Like It! "Ya Soshla S Uma"