RICK @ the RACES

5/6/7/ Nov      The Dirt Track at Charlotte NC       DIRT TRACK WORLD FINALS

A few months back, my report for Sept 11/12 centered around a trip to Timmins in Northern Ontario where I revisited some of the places I’d been to during my early trucking days in Canada. This was around late 1995 to 2001. If I go even further back, to the spring of 1995 when I got my Canadian AZ license, the first job I had involved hauling loads of bottled water and beer down to the southern states of the USA. My destination would usually be either Orlando , Florida or  Atlanta , Georgia .

To get to Atlanta, I would travel via Charlotte, North Carolina where I’d often have to pick up a return load for Canada. This past weekend I returned to Charlotte for the first time in 15 years when I attended the DIRT TRACK WORLD FINALS.

It’s a fourteen and a half hour drive from my home in Cornwall, Ontario and the original plan was to join my buddy Roger Aubin for the road trip. Unfortunately Roger hasn’t been well of late, and had to miss out, so it meant a solo trip for me. The WORLD FINALS were being staged at the Charlotte dirt track located next to the NASCAR super speedway on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (5/6/7 Nov). My accommodation for the trip was gratefully provided by my buddy Martin Clark who lives just five minutes away from the track. Martin is originally from the UK just like me, and now works for BMRS ( a manufacturer of professional racing products)  that are located close by. As well as this, he’s also involved in media work and is a fellow contributor to Short Circuit Magazine (Europe’s leading oval racing publication)

I’d booked a few days vacation and my plan was to leave home in Cornwall, Ontario on Tuesday Nov 3. Here is my day to day report.

Tuesday 2 Nov

My Chevy HHR was packed and ready by 10-00 am and my first port of call was a nearby gas station. Just a few minutes after leaving home I noticed I’d got a problem. None of the gauges on the dash were working ( fuel, speedometer or temperature). I’d never had this problem before, so quick action was required. I made a hasty visit to SEAWAY GM the local Chevrolet dealer where my racing friends Gilles Goddard and Amy Levac are employed. They were really busy but managed to get me slotted in as quick as they could. As the car was driven in to the shop, mysteriously all the gauges suddenly started working again. Rather than chasing a fault that was no longer there, I decided I might as well carry on with the journey.

It was now 11-30 in the morning and I was finally on my way to Charlotte. I crossed the border into the USA at 1000 Islands and made my first stop at the Salmon Run Mall in Watertown NY, where I grabbed a burger and fries at Wendy’s. From Watertown I carried on down I81 to Pennsylvania where a buffet supper was had at the PETRO truck stop at Carlisle . In the past I’d often eaten at the Flying J at this exit, but now many of their restaurants have been turned into Denny’s, so I’ve changed my habits. I’ve nothing against the Denny’s chain , but buffet’s are my preferred choice over a waited service when I’m in a hurry.

The I81 was used for most of the journey and once through PA , I continued through to Maryland , West Virginia and Virginia. By midnight I was at Greenville, VA where I parked up at the PILOT Truck Stop for the night.

Wednesday 3 Nov

I awoke from my bed in the back of the HHR just before 8-00am and once I’d grabbed a coffee ‘to go’ I was on the road again. By 9-00 am I was at Roanoke where I stopped at the TA Truck Stop for a shower and breakfast at the nearby ‘Friendlys’. Once fed and watered , I was back on I81 for a few more miles before turning off down the I77 towards North Carolina. The last time I traveled down this road I was driving a big Peterbilt rig and the memories came flooding back. As you enter North Carolina you come down a big mountain at Fancy Gap which can be very treacherous for large trucks. You have to take it really easy to conserve your brakes, and there are emergency ‘run off’ areas at various intervals for run away trucks. I must admit, the first time I drove down there it was a scary experience ! but I felt a lot better doing it in my car.

Once across the State line I stopped at the North Carolina Welcome Center and picked up some tourist brochures. From here I continued on the last part of the journey arriving at the Speedway in Concord, (just outside Charlotte) at around 2-30 pm. I’d arranged to meet Martin my host at the BMRS shop where they were holding an ‘open house’ for interested race teams.

Sammy Swindell and Randy Hanagan were there having work done to their Sprint Cars. I had time for a quick chat with Sammy while Martin showed me around the shop. They make and supply hoses, wiring harnesses and bumper bars for many of the top teams in racing.

While Martin continued with his work day I took a drive to the nearby Hendricks Motorsports shop and Museum.

In present times Hendricks are probably the most successful team in NASCAR with such great names as Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon under their wing.

It was now time for supper so I met up with Martin again in the local HOOTERS. The food and scenery is always good in this eatery and plenty of other race fans were there too.

It’s strange how you can be hundreds of miles away from home and bump into someone who lives close to you ? Sitting at one of the tables was former Cornwall Motor Speedway Modified champion Bill Mullin from Iroquois, Ontario and his party. I ended the evening socializing with them, before heading back to Martin’s place.

Thursday 4 Nov

The weather forecast for Thursday wasn’t good and sure enough when I woke up, I found it wet and miserable. Prospects of the evening’s racing didn’t look good as I took a mid morning drive into down town Charlotte.

My agenda for the first part of the day was to visit the new NASCAR Hall of Fame that had opened in May of this year. I don’t use any fancy GPS systems in my car, so once I’d negotiated the city center ring road, I arrived the HoF at about 10-30 am before it got busy. Parking was easy, and cost me about 4 bucks by using the official indoor lot next to the building. The entrance fee was just under 20 bucks, and well worth it. My visit started with an introductory film show, then afterwards I toured the exhibits.

There was plenty to see, as I’d expected. Once again, I bumped into some local Canadians, when a group of race fans from the Brockville Ontario Speedway spotted me and came up for a chat.

By 12-30, I’d seen enough, so it was back to Concord for lunch at IRON THUNDER, which is a similar eatery to HOOTERS.

By now the rain had stopped and things now looked better for the evenings races. I signed in at the Media booth and was all set. A tour of the pits was my first priority to check out the race cars. With it being the WORLD FINALS ‘everyone who is anybody’ in the dirt racing world was there. I chatted to many of my friends including Tim Kerr, a Big Block Modified driver from Picton , Ontario. Tim became the latest driver to add a ‘Rick at the Races’ decal to his car.

I also bumped into my friend Alyssa Sharman who was at the Matt Sheppard car.

Once the racing got under way I joined the army of official photographers stationed on the center.

There were no Feature races the first night and when the last race was over I returned to Martin’s place.

Friday 5 Nov

The weather forecast for Friday was better than Thursday’s, but some how the meteorologists got it wrong !

The morning was fine and dandy so I drove up to Mooresville to see the Penske work shops. This has got to be one of the best shops to visit if you’re in the area. There is a balcony where you can stand and look down on the race cars being prepared. I saw guys working on the Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski cars. Again I bumped into some Ontario locals, when I came across the crew members of Modified driver Pat O’Brien of Kingston.

From Penske I traveled back towards Concord and stopped in at two more race shops on my way.

Firstly Dale Earndardt Inc , then Stewart-Haas Racing.

I try not to have any particular favorite drivers, but Tony Stewart has to be one that I admire a lot, so this was one I really enjoyed.

It was now lunch time, so another trip was made to HOOTERS before heading to the track.

Like I said earlier, the forecast was good for today, but for some reason it wasn’t to be.

It started to drizzling on and off so I never bothered to venture on to the middle. Instead , I watched a couple of Modified races in the warm and dry press room before the days events had to be canceled.

The decision was made to postpone them, with Friday’s races now scheduled to start at 11-00 am on Saturday morning. This turn of events put a stop to my intended plans ! The nearby paved Concord Speedway was also running a show that weekend and I’d planned on catching a few races there in the afternoon before Saturday nights World Finals. This would have been another new track to add to my list, but the rain delay at the dirt track put a stop to that idea.

As the rain fell , I was in no hurry to leave the track and took my time walking back to the car. As I turned my headlights on to leave, I noticed that the drivers side bulb had burned out. Damn it , or words to that effect were uttered, as I had to figure out what to do. By now it was after 9-00 pm at night and with most garages closed, I returned to Martins place to get his advice. Like most modern cars , things that used to be simple tasks like changing a light bulb has now been made difficult for the owner to do quickly themselves. To change a headlight bulb on an HHR it involves taking the front wheel off and removing the inner mud guard from around the wheel arch . ( which I found out later !)

Saturday 6 Nov

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning and after getting directions from Martin, I was at the front door of the local GM GOODWRENCH waiting for them to open. I was the first one in line, and for my future reference watched how the mechanic fitted the bulb. It was soon fixed and I was away from there within 30 minutes and having breakfast at the PARKVIEW RESTAURANT close to the race track.

The sun was now shining and the weather looked good for a double dose of dirt racing. Friday’s rescheduled races were to take place first, followed by a two hour break for track preparation before Saturday’s races would commence.

During the afternoon , I chose to take advantage of the ideal daylight conditions to take photos from the middle, but decided to watch the evening show from the press room.

The afternoon Feature winners were Jimmy Phelps in the Big Blocks and Jonathan Davenport in the WoO Late Models. The ( Friday night) WoO Sprint Car Feature took place on Saturday night to give race fans double Features .

The evenings 40 lap Modified event was won by Tim McCreadie

while Jimmy Owens won the 50 Lap Late Model race. Jason Meyers won the Sprint Car races and also went on to claim the 2010 WoO Championship. At the end of the night Meyers joined fellow champions Matt Shepherd ( BIG BLOCK Mods) Josh Richards (WoO Late Models) on the front stretch to receive there awards and be presented to the crowd .

Once the photo shoot was over, I was out of the gate and heading for home. It was 11-00 pm when I left Charlotte and I hoped to get a few hours of driving under my belt before parking up for the night. At around 3-30am I’d reached the same PETRO Truck Stop at Greenville VA that I’d used on the way down, so pulled in there for some ‘shut eye’ .

Sunday 7 Nov

After all my years of truck driving, I’m used to having minimum amounts of sleep and was back on the road again by 8-00am. Once I’d crossed into PA , I stopped at the TA Truck Stop near Greencastle for breakfast before heading back up I81 towards New York. The clocks were turned back overnight by one hour for ‘day light saving’ so in effect I had an extra hour to get back home. I made good time and by 5-30 pm I was in Ogdensburg NY close to the border. A visit to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants was made before crossing back into Canada at 6-15 pm. One hour later I was back home in Cornwall Ontario, nineteen hours after leaving Charlotte.

The DIRT TRACK at CHARLOTTE became # 187 on my TRACKCHASING Totals and the ninth new track I’ve visited this year.

A Big THANK YOU goes out to my Buddy Martin Clark for providing my accommodation.