ALTAMAHAW, NC :: The first annual Rodney Cook Memorial race at Ace Speedway will go down as one of the most emotional nights in recent memory as Justin Snow surprised everyone by capturing the race victory. Snow from Danville, Virginia was making his first start at Ace since his days of running Legend cars. A former teammate of the late Cook, Snow broke out an old Pit Stop Racing uniform and used that as motivation en route to victory lane.
The track saw 21 of the region’s best Late Model drivers show up and attempt to make history this past Friday night. Todd Gilliland celebrated his 14th birthday by claiming the pole award with a time of 15.720. The remainder of the top five starters included Thomas Scott, Snow, Devin Steele and R.D. Smith.
The prerace ceremonies consisted of an autograph session for the fans to meet all the drivers, and Ace Speedway track announcer Tyler Williams interviewing each driver about their favorite Rodney Cook memory. Following the interviews, and emotional Brad Allen gave a heartwarming speech about Rodney’s memory, and then dedicated a banner in turn 2 in Rodney Cook’s memory. The drivers then lit Chinese Lanterns and let them go up into the night sky signaling a moment of silence and the end of the memorial service.
Following the memorial service the field received the command to fire the engines, and the fans held up a “1” and a “4” in salute to Rodney Cook has the field underwent the parade laps.
The green flag waved as Gilliland and Scott led the field of 21 cars to the start of a long evening of racing in Cook’s honor. Gilliland got the early jump on Scott and took the lap 1 lead, but that would be short lived. Scott made the move under Gilliland a lap later and took the lead and command of the race.
The race’s first caution flag would wave as the field was working the third lap for Dean Fogleman’s spin in turn 4. Patrick Coleman and Ryan Gray received minor damage in the incident. For Coleman the race would be finished due to an ignition issue following the accident.
Ace Speedway utilizes the cone restart rule, and under the lineup Scott and Snow would be on the front row. The restart saw Scott take off and Gilliland, who restarted third, have a bad restart costing him some spots. Snow dropped in line in second, and Steele moved into third. Shortly after Gilliland retook third from Steele, Jason York went for a spin in turn 1, but had no contact with anyone or anything.
After a few more minor caution flags the restart at 18 saw Scott stumble and Gilliland run right into the back of the 8 car causing significant damage to front of the Gilliland #98. The yellow came right back out for debris on the front stretch, which saw Gilliland and R.D. Smith come to pit road for damage assessment.
The green flag waved again and Thomas Scott took off from the field showing he had the car to beat tonight. Steele dropped into second ahead of Snow, while Gilliland was working his way back through the field following the pit stop. Unfortunately for Gilliland, contact between veterans Todd Massey and Jason York sent York around in turn 4. Gilliland made heavy contact with another competitor and ended up with heavy front end damage, and a broken radiator which ended his night at lap 37.
The green flag waved yet again and finally we got to see some hard racing through the field under this long run. While Thomas Scott was in a different zip code, the fight from second place on back between Steele, Snow, and Massey was a hard fought battle. Snow tried and tried to get around Massey for the second spot for several laps, but couldn’t get the job done. R.D. Smith had now moved back up through the field and passed Steele for fourth around lap 85, and used the bumper to move passed Snow and Massey and into the runner-up spot.
The competition caution waved at lap 100, and this allowed all the drivers to come to pit road for a 10-minute adjustment period. The running order on the restart with 40 laps to decide the $2500 first place prize was Scott, Smith, Snow, Massey and Fogleman in the top five.
On the lap 101 restart, Scott’s car didn’t go like before and Snow and Smith went three-wide off turn 4 with leader Scott. Snow would emerge with the lead for a couple laps before Scott’s car found its groove again and at lap 106 Scott retook the lead.
Snow showed the power of the black, sponsorless #0 Chevrolet with a move back by Scott to lead after 112 laps. Smith and Massey were exchanging the third position behind the leaders as we hit 25 laps to go.
With 10 laps to go Snow was in command ahead of Scott and looked to be on his way to stealing the victory away from home track hero Thomas Scott. By the time we were coming to get 3 laps to go, Scott was on the bumper of Snow for the lead, but his challenge was halted as Steele and Fogleman went around for spins in turn 4 bringing out the last caution of the night.
Snow and Smith would restart on the front row, and Scott and Barry Beggarly in row two. Snow got a tremendous jump on the green flag and was gone out front of the field. Scott ended up with a bad restart and got shuffled back allowing Smith and Beggarly in the top 3. Coming to the checkered flag, Scott and Gray got together in turn 3 sending Gray into the wall, and a frustrated Thomas Scott would cross the line with a fifth place finish.
The night belonged to Justin Snow as he dominated the final segment of the race, and took home the 1st Annual Rodney Cook Memorial race, and the $2500 prize that went with it.
In victory lane Snow had these comments, “This suit has literally been hanging there for 10 years. I had not worn it since the last race that I raced for Pit Stop,” “It’s an honor for me to win and have it on. I’ll cherish this forever.”
Official Results of the Rodney Cook Memorial 140
1. #0 Justin Snow
2. #16 R.D. Smith
3. #82 Barry Beggarly
4. #70 Todd Massey
5. #8 Thomas Scott
6. #2 Dennis Holdren
7. #07 Clint King
8. #71 Dean Fogleman
9. #14 Jason York
10. #17 Devin Steele
11. #13 Robert Turner
12. #12 Ryan Gray
13. #9 Brad Kurth
14. #81 Zack Clifton
15. #12 Garrett Campbell
16. #44 Coy Hedrick
17. #77 Blake Stallings
18. #98 Todd Gilliland
19. #3 Nathan Crews
20. #88 Dustin Rumley
21. #81 Patrick Coleman
