Hall of Fame and WoO Ramblings

Week #7 at Knoxville Raceway was washed out after time trials. All teams were given show up points and ticket stubs may be used this coming Saturday night, and kids will once again be free admission.  Hard to believe we made it through April and almost all of May without one rainout. The last time we made it this long without a rain out to start a season was 2010 when we raced the first seven weeks. We made it six weeks in a row to start the 2005 season.

Hall of Fame Induction Notes
Still plenty of news to talk about this week. The NSCHoF&M inductions were this past weekend. I was able to attend and I was especially happy for some people I helped get on the ballot this year, Dave Argabright, Mark Kinser, and Bobby Davis Jr.  Here are some quotes from the inductees.

Mark Kinser didn’t look a day older than the last time we saw him at Knoxville, ten years ago at the 2004 Knoxville Nationals when he drove the Roth 83 to a ninth place finish. His father was in the hospital that night with an appendix being taken out, and Mark was suffering lingering affects from a concussion after a crash at Fargo.

"I took a pretty bad concussion crash at Fargo,”said Mark. “I had a few (concussions) before that. After that point it just seemed like I was missing my marks and Dad wanted to know why I was wingin’ it the corner and it was because I couldn’t really see when I got there. So it just seemed like the right time to hang it up.”

Mark has no regrets calling it a career at the age of 41 and moving back home to Oolitic, Indiana to raise his kids. “I didn’t want to go to any races after I retired because the sights and the sounds, it’s all I know, so it would be easy to try to get my fat leg back up into the car ya know. So that was my decision, I stuck with it, and I’m glad about it. I have a good daily life with my kids and my family. Oolitic is a humble town, we have one street light that doesn’t work.” 

Mark shared a story about racing with Dave Blaney, Bobby Davis Jr., and thanked all of his long time partners such as Chuck Merrill, Stu Murray, and of course his father Karl.

Dave Blaney was very gracious in his speech and was emotional when he talked about Kenny Woodruff and the influence he had on his career. Bobby Davis Jr. no longer has the mustache but has a silver head of hair and was also very gracious in his speech.

It was great to see these very deserving drivers be inducted this year, but as I relfected back on this event at the end of the day I realized that this is probably the last time in my life I will see Mark Kinser, Karl Kinser, and Bobby Davis Jr. Those mental images will stick with me forever and I enjoyed watching their careers.

I was happy to see Dave Argabright be inducted as well. No one in the media has done more for sprint car racing in the past 20-30 years than this guy. His work in Speed Sport, Open Wheel and Sprint Car & Midget magazines, television, and books is unparalleled. Dave has covered motorsports with integrity and in a positive way. It’s not often you read a glass is half empty column from Dave, but when you see one on occasion, you better take notice. Argabright has influenced me as a writer, he is a pioneer in the racing genre and I can’t thank him enough for paving the way for future writers.

World of OutlawsNotes
The World of Outlaws season is his hitting full stride now that we are through May and heading into June.  I keep track of stats of the WoO much like I do with the weekly stats at Knoxville. It looks like the Outlaws is a four team race with Schatz, Pittman, Saldana, and McMahan.

Schatz has been on fire recently, His average finish the past ten races is 3.7 and he has a streak of 18 consecutive top ten finishes, and eight top five’s. He has qualified in the top five in 6 of the last eight races. Schatz is winning races, recently is qualifying better, and he is leading the points. If he gets the qualifying package nailed down, look out. Schatz could start to pull away in a hurry.

Pittman, Saldana, McMahan… I’m not counting those guys out by any means. I think it’s a fight to the end for these guys.

The Outlaws are so tough this season. On any night there are 15 drivers capable of winning. Madsen, Sweet, King Kinser, Darrah, Kraig Kinser, Sammy, Gravel, Schuchart plus the locals at the tracks they go to.
Jason Sides is struggling more than anyone out there right now, only five top ten finishes this season in 33 races.

Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen are learning in their rookie season and expectations were low for this underfunded team, but they have both showed glimpses of how good they will be in the future.

Let’s hope this rain out thing doesn’t start a pattern. I’ll be back next week with more tidbits.