Midwest Dirt Race Car Show @ Central Mall 3-10-12

Suffering serious racin withdrawal and antsy to at least SEE some cars and drivers, I put some Indigenous on the stereo and headed for Salina yesterday. Got to talk to Justin and Justin....and a lot more. Dusty was always headed somewhere or talking to somebody, but I still got to visit with him a while too. There was a nice variety of machines there. Everything from Mod Lites to antiques to Late Models were on hand. In fact, about the only type absent was a sprinter.

Garett Hood always has one of the nicest looking midgets at any show, and this one is no exception.

Another great looking car is Kyle Ord's TQ that he'll be campaigning with Jayhusker.

Josh Howard and his #11 Mini Stock.

Paco Montague and his ace pit crew.

2011 Minneapolis track champ Brandon Gray and his Mod Lite.

The #101 Mod Lite of Randy Ferguson.

Getting the Mod Lite of Karmon Kindall finished up.

Corbin Pickerill's Mod Lite.

The Late Model of Kelly Dunn.

Brandon Blochlinger's sweet looking BMS Modified.

Randy "Rooster" Rice and his Mini Stock.

Justin Murdock with his Stock Car.

Brandon Belvill's B Mod.

The simulators had a lot of business Saturday.

The Belleville High Banks Hall of fame is raffling off this slick Mod donated by the 2011 IMCA Chassis Builder of the Year, Belleville Motor Sports. The drawing will be the 2nd weekend of the Boone Nats.

Bryan Hickman had another nice looking car at the mall Saturday.

Brendon Thiessen had his Jayhusker Mini Truck there.

Bill Grit's Late Model.

Cory Lagroon's Mod.

Troy Cottam's classic Super. These were some of the nicest looking cars to ever roll onto a race track!

Austin Carter will be running this beaut at Salina, Hays, and WaKeeney this year.     

Check out some of the racing coming up this year............

  Salina Speedway

  Dodge City Raceway Park

  Jayhusker

  RPM

  Belleville High Banks

CVOR/KAR Antique Meet 8-1-2010

I don't think I've been to an antique show that Tom Barclay (29) wasn't at. On the outside, Pete Brandenburg pilots Sid Blandford's #31.

There were only a few caged midgets left Sunday, but they were nice ones. On top is Fairbury, Nebraska's Steve Gasper and Iowa driver Bryan Johnson down low.

I try to stay impartial at most events, but I have to admit these are two of my favorite old cars. Skip Roberts's immaculate #27 always looks impressive out there and Chet Wilson's famed Offy Killer always draws lots of attention

Who can look at an infield full of such meticulously restored cars as these and not feel a thrill?

Dan Koch got to drive Lynn Anderson's 4Q both days. Danny Berndt said he has run the #1  in several configurations, but it looks pretty good as a champ car.

Brian Parks took time off driving his midget to catch a few pics. That's Don Tice (4), Marlyn Klunder (3), and Dave Chambers in the 4.

Dwayne Wolfe (15) runs alongside the 99 of Bob Land.

Joe Lehman did a great job of restoring his old mod to original condition. Joe Sullivan's #51 was another car that looked almost flawless.

Flagman Vic Smith did a great job and received almost no recognition during the weekend. I think you know the car by now.

Lynn Anderson drove his other car himself. The gold (?) champ car looks good along side another nice car, the #72 of Al Thomas from Ludlow, Illinois. SciFi fans may remember Ludlow as the town the giant grasshoppers ate in the 1957 monster movie The Beginning of the End.

One more shot of Vic Smith at work.

This is the entire "others" field Sunday; quite a diverse bunch. That blue 9 on pole is another Morosic innovation...it runs on propane! That's Dan Andre in the red #16 outside with Scott Miller (41) & Todd White (98) behind them.

Wayne Johnson (56) leads Brian Parks into turn 3.

Skip Roberts provided one of the biggest thrills of the weekend when he got a little too close to the infamous backstretch guardrail. That could have gotten ugly; I've seen a lot of bad crashes at that spot over the years

I don't think Dan Koch has been a racer in several years, but he looked pretty comfortable running side by side with John Batchelor in the 3.

A group of fast supers, Larry Cottam (99), Chuck Faulkner (2), Bob McCall (327), and Ed Bowes in maybe the most interesting looking car here.

A better look at Ed Bowes's wedge shaped mod.

Gary Huibregtse finally got to run his supermodified Sunday after spending all day Saturday keeping the show running smoothly.

Since a lot of the car owners had to be home Monday, there were fewer cars on hand Sunday afternoon, but there were still over 40 of them! With fewer cars and lower temps, the dust was never much of a problem Sunday. Once again, the event went very smoothly. By the end of the day, everyone was about worn out, but they all agreed it had been a fantastic weekend.
I have to apologize to Skip for screwing up his last name...twice. That's bad enough, but I didn't even give him the same wrong name both times!! I'll blame it on rushing to finish up at 3AM, but I've met him before AND had the right name in my notes. I still mean what I said about the car though; it IS a beaut.

Contact me at: agringotimo@aol.com

All photos are now up at: http://racetrackin.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp