WINSTON SALEM, NC :: As we go into the seventh week of racing at Bowman Gray Stadium, a lot of things have come full circle. Of course the biggest story of them all is the one that took place last Saturday night, as contact from Burt Myers sent the Modified of Junior Miller around on the last lap as Myers took the win. The on-track antics and days of Facebook and Twitter blow-ups have made the story bigger than what it ever should have been. But that’s how it goes at the Stadium, it’s a way of life. Believe it or not though, other divisions will be racing this Saturday night.
Of course all eyes will be on the Modifieds though. Burt Myers is having a dream season and is leading the points. He seems to be the car to beat. Only question is if he beat himself this past weekend. And to even word it, or say it like that is wrong, but it is what it is. Burt had a faster car but Miller was holding Myers and Tim Brown up in the closing laps of the race. Any other time, or any other driver, the same thing would have happened, Miller was chopping down on the inside line (like he is supposed to do) and Myers gave him a shot going into turn three on the final lap. Not a “wrecking” shot, a BGS shot if you will, one to move you up out of the groove as that is a common way to pass around the bullring. BUT … Jr. went around, and in an instance the entire season may have changed.
Miller will go down as one of, if not the best ever in a Modified in the Southeast. He is one of the elite group members to be named by NASCAR as “The Top 25 Weekly Racers of All Time”, a group that includes Richie Evans, Barry Beggarly, Larry Phillips, Dennis Setzer, Denny Hamlin and the great Joe Kosiski who finished in the top ten in National points an astonishing 18 years in a row. But that was back then, this is now, a new movement of drivers has arisen. Since leaving the superpower team of Riggs racing six years ago, Miller has struggled, and many have wondered if he stayed around too long. But this season he is back with a great car and a hoss of a motor, and two weeks ago picked up his 72nd win of his career at the Stadium, extending his lead as the all-time wins leader. He saw number 73 in his sights Saturday night, and that dream went away only 300 feet from the finish.
This is what makes it bad. If it had been any other driver of course it would have gotten live for a bit, but it would be water under the bridge by now. But not with Miller, he and the Myers family have had bad blood for nearly 30 years now, and since he is not the “top dog” anymore, I’m afraid he will take all his effort just to make sure Myers is not the “top dog” either. Like I said, Burt was in a bad spot, he is there to win races, and he had the winning car coming from dead last, but your “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” in that situation behind the #69. You can win the race by bumping him and risk getting tore up every week from here on out, or ride and feel awful about yourself because you’re a racer, and you let someone win a race just because you were worried about what they might do later. You’ve got to give Burt respect though, he sure as hell wasn’t falling into the latter category. It’s a bad deal, and I’m afraid it will get worse before it ever gets better. Tim Brown is loving it right now, that’s for sure as he is second in points to Myers some 36 points back.
In everyone’s amazement, other divisions will pull onto the track this Saturday, one of them being the Sportsman division…..whew, glad there is no controversy in that class. It’s actually as big as the mods as Derek Stoltz is taking on, well, ehh, I have no idea who the hell he is taking on but he’s taking them on. After destroying the field two weeks ago for the annual 100 lapper for the division and getting disqualified after such dominance, he vowed to come back this past week and destroy every notion of someone beating him ever again. And he did, starting fourth and taking the lead on lap one and never looking back. Even then he was still pissed as his post-race interview stated that the win was to shut up everyone that was there running their mouth. He had a few teams in mind, I won’t speculate who… well I’m just not going to tell but it looks like the Modifieds may not be the only class to keep your eye on this week. Ryan Robertson has been the model of consistency as he leads the points with the always threat to win Taylor Branch right behind him. The guy in third may be the most refreshing surprise of the season as rookie Justin Taylor has the “DD” car humming after moving up from the Street Stocks. The top dogs will have their sights set on Stoltz, as he will them.
Speaking of Street Stocks, and I haven’t been able to say this in many years, it’s rather tame. No one wanting to kill each other, no rivalries really, it has gotten back to the way it was many years ago….good. David Sumner is the point leader but with better draws it looks as if John McNeal would be pulling away, his car is as fast as any Street car has been in years. Defending champ Doug Wall is right there with them, as is Brian Wall, Chase Hunt and Donnie Martin who picked up his first win last week after so many years of trying. I’m still amazed I have nothing more to say about the Street cars but trust me, after the past few seasons, that’s a good thing. Lots of great drivers in this class, glad they are finally able to race and show off their skills.
And now the real reason we should be looking forward to this weekend, the feature event, the “Stadium Stock 50”. These guys only get to run 15 lappers usually, and have to draw for positions like everyone else. This week we will see them qualify, so the fast cars will be in the front, and the slow cars will be in the back… which on many occasions, makes this race one of the best of the year. These guys put in just as much blood and sweat as the top billing Modifieds, but on so many occasions don’t get the respect they deserve. They will put on a show for you this weekend, Jason Keaton, AJ Sanders, Chuck Wall and Daniel Yates will all be front runners. As will the crowd favorite, the “Pintang” driven by Chris Allison who has proven he is a threat to win every race this year. Or could it be one of the underdogs suck as Billy Cameron Jr, Kevin Hedgecock or Shane Southard, I mean the leaders could get each other in trouble, it’s happened before and this season these other guys are right on their heels, closer than ever.
It will be a great night of racing and drama no matter how it plays out. And I’ve seen it all over the net, racing critics calling the action at Bowman Gray not “racing” after this past week. Well I’m here to tell you, 15,000 people, tons of sponsors and tons of drivers think differently. People get a bad opinion in their head by what they hear or the slight glimpses of drama they see in videos. It does have those traits of being over the top a tad, and sometimes it is, even for me. But that is just a small piece of the equation, the rest of the pieces fall into place with the hard work on the cars, the dedication of the drivers to their fans, the will to win and the great racing displayed every week. Not every race is a wreck. Not every race has people chasing each other. Last week we had 99 laps of amazing racing, cars going side by side lap after lap and never touching, awesome car control. Then to the outside world the night was nothing more than 300ft of drama and ridiculousness. I’m glad I was there with my closest friends and got to see what the other 99.8% of the race had in store.
RACE22.com will be live from the Madhouse on Saturday night with Five Star Bodies Interactive Race Coverage beginning around 5:30pm.
