From the Crossville Chronicle-Crossville, TN. August 24, 2007
By Joe Dunn/ joe@onpitroad.com
(BRISTOL, TN.) – Nearly 200,000 people will be on hand this weekend here at the racing capital of Tennessee. They come from thousands of miles away to the racing Mecca.
I’m here with friends from all across America at Bill Gaines’ Bristol Campground. For 2 weekends out of the year this 120 acre farm field is transformed into a city of campers. No one know just how many campsites that equals, but estimates are that over 10,000 people call this farm ‘home’ for the week. Looking beyond Bill’s place, it is campers for as far as you can see in any direction. Across the street is the most famous race track in Nascar, along side it is the Bristol Dragway, it too is a huge campground.
The mad rush that normally rolls in on Monday was delayed this week due to the rain delayed 3M Performance 400 at Michigan. But that still leaves the throngs that arrived even before last weekend.
Carl Edwards and the Office Depot team are looking for a good race in both the Busch series food City 250 tonight and the Nextel Cup Sharpie 500 tomorrow night. Carl is on a runaway for the Busch series title and it appears to be an impossible task for anyone to catch him. I asked Carl if he had any thought to cut back on the Busch series next year and he was emphatic in his response, “I plan on running again next year, I thinks some of the other guys are going to do it too. I really like running the Busch Series, I mean it’s a lot of fun and I really enjoy racing with those guys.” About his chance of repeating next year what he has done this year, “This year has been an anomalies, you know we have run really well. It’s not always going to be like that, you know last year was a big struggle and in 2005 was a real hard fight.”
Edwards look for some hope in the cup race at Bristol, he is safely in the Chase at this time, but he admits that the entire Roush Fenway group got surpassed by a lot teams early on with the COT. “The car of tomorrow has been a real struggle, at the beginning we were not as prepared as some of the other teams. You never really know where to put all your resources. Sometimes you do it right and sometimes you don’t.” About where he feels the organization stands now, “I feel good, I feel good about the chase. We are doing better at a lot of different tracks. We have done a lot of testing with the new car and it is working better.” Look for Carl to be running up front both Tonight and Tomorrow night at Bristol.
LOCAL RACING
Last week saw regular action at Wartburg Speedway on Friday night as well as Saturday Night at Crossville Raceway.
Wartburg Speedway top 5’s;
SLM-1. Anthony White, 2. Curt Williams, 3. Tim Damron, 4. Matthew Langley, 5. Glenn Vanover Sportsman-1. Jeff Adkisson, 2. Keith Longmire, 3. Derik Duggan, 4. Greg Martin, 5. Shaun Shadoan Pure Street- 1. Reagan Williams, 2. Jason Capps, 3. Wes Johnson, 4. Michael Brashears, 5. Doug York Pure Mini-1. Brian Frost, 2. David Christmas, 3. Darren Goins, 4. Jim Frost, 5. Tyler Brummitt FWD-1. Spunky Brown, 2. Randy Badd, 3. Joe Freels, 4. Blake Hall, 5. Justin Scott.
Saturdays winners at Crossville Raceway LLM – Brandon Williams, OWM – Steve Mullinax, Street Stock – Chris Croinex, Mini – Derrick Hutchings, FWD – Jonathan Norris, Cruisers – Josh Proffitt and Scott Brown
No local racing this weekend, the action returns Labor Day weekend at Crossville Raceway with the Advance Auto Parts Thunder series $3,000 Super Late model race Saturday Sept. 1. Wartburg Speedway will return to action Monday Night Sept. 3 with a $5,000 super Late Model race.
Get off that couch and bring the family out to a local dirt track and support the local racers. You may just see the next Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart on his way up.
