Compiled by: Corey Latham — [email protected]
OK, The opening event at Ace Speedway is over and done and Speedy Faucette is in the record books as the winner. It’s a new week and to the racers, last week is just that…..last week. But there was so much more that went on at Ace, let’s talk a little about it … maybe a little Ace Speedway Casserole.(Since Speed51 has LeftOvers we’re going to take that to the next level and make a casserole out of leftovers!)
Last year in the Late-Model division, controversy was the main factor as the year wound down. Rodney Cook and Speedy Faucette both were not happy with the officiating, and eventual champion Dean Fogleman just sat back and let them bicker amongst themselves, as he quietly won his first ever Late-Model championship. 2009 has brought new management, and a new way of doing things at Ace. Speedy and Dean seem to be optimistic,and Rodney Cook isn’t changing his mind quite yet. Add in a new player to the fold in Dustin Rumley, and you’ve got extremely different driving styles, and very different personalities who will be going after it in 09′.
After the race the drivers had a lot to say……..
Speedy Faucette(1st): “We had a good car tonight, we weren’t quite as good as we were last Fall, but we didn’t do a lot of testing, practice actually might mean something (laughing). The longer I ran the better it got, I just had to settle down and get it going. I saw Rodney back there and he’s always a threat, and I respect that, I just hoped he would run me clean and he did and the rest took care of itself. Just glad to get the first one down and done.”
Dustin Rumley(2nd): “We’re real happy coming home second, this is a brand new car and we’re trying to get all the bugs worked out. It was good, we got to adjust it a bit, it was really snug in the center and if it wasn’t for that I believe we could of had something for Speedy. They pulled away from me there a bit, but I was able to clean my tires off good there during that last caution, and I just got a run on Rodney and got by. I saved a little bit till the end, I knew Rodney was going to throw everything he had at Speedy, and I just tried to maintain with them, and luckily I got the opportunity to get by him at the end to finish second. We’ll come back better next week.”
Rodney Cook(3rd): “Man I’ll tell you, I was wearing my brakes out right there trying to get by Speedy. I was doing everything I could in a clean way, just trying to get a run on him. I thought we had the car to beat, but something happened there at the end, I just started pushing terribly bad all of a sudden, and Dustin got around me on the green-white-checkered. Turns out right front tire was going down and had 13 lbs. in it after the race was over, that’s not good on the right front. I’m happy, I just wanted to make a race out of it at the end, it’s been too many times I’ve been behind him(Faucette). I mean I came here and did it with the Chevrolet, (Rodney had wanted to race his Ford motor, but NASCAR rules require him to add weight) so I came away happy I guess. I want to win in this Chevrolet here because, what are they gonna b*t*h about then? That’s sorta what I’m after, and I almost got it tonight. No practice, nothing, just show up in my Chevrolet and race, let’s see what they want to whine about now.”
Bobby Griffin and Dean Fogleman about incidents with Brad Kurth during the race: “@#^%$%^#@, $@&@$%!%)!!%!!!!!”
Brad Kurth on the Fogleman incident: “My car wasn’t that good to begin with after the crash in qualifying, it bent the right front suspension up pretty bad, but it got decent. Me and Dean were racing good, and he got by me and he looked like he just lost it turn 1, I never touched him. We’ll have to work on it this week, but we’ll get it fixed up and be back next Friday.”
The Late-Models weren’t the only action-packed event of the evening, as the always competitive Mini-Stocks put on another exciting show. Defending champion Michael Tucker jumped out to the early lead, but 68 year-old Archie Sanders would take the top spot and looked like he was on his way to victory. Behind them, AJ Sanders(Archie’s son) was coming in a hurry after starting deep in the field of 14 cars.
Chuck Wall was quietly making his way to the front, picking cars off ever so slightly. Archie Sanders ran up on a lapped car with a handful of laps to go, and Wall made his move and went on for the victory, his first ever at Ace Speedway. AJ Sanders would beat his father out for second, but the motor began expiring with 5 laps to go, and as he crossed the finish line he had to cut it off, it was done.
Another fan favorite of Ace Speedway, Brian King, made his return in the modified division, after sitting out the end of last year on the Whelen Southern Mod tour. King was one of the most dominate racers at Ace when he raced there weekly, and he showed no signs of rust as he totally destroyed the field. The Whelen Southern Mod tour races at Ace this week and when asked if he would be there King said, “I doubt it, I don’t think we’ll have our tour motor back yet”. Those remarks may have just been a play to the competition, and if King is there this Friday, he will definitely be the favorite to win the 150 lap event.
In other divisions you had Ed Peters winning the Mini-Cup race, Jimmy Rice taking the Limited Sportsman win, and Keith Brame coming from the back as he did all last year to win one of the cleanest X-treme races ever held at Ace.
Overall, the first night of racing at Ace under the new management was a great success. There are still bugs to be worked out, but overall, the races were exciting, well run and officiated and the drivers commented on several occasions about how the show was run more smoothly than in the past. It looks like they are well on their way to being one of the premiere tracks in the Southeast.
This week’s schedule is packed once again, with the Nascar Whelen Southern modifieds for 150 laps, 50 lap Late-Model, 30 lap Limited, 25 lap Mini-Stocks and 20 laps for the X-treme cars.
