Dirt Late Models at Lernerville with a Couple of Guests

[steelerdirtfreak]

Back on the 16th Lernerville Speedway had a special Thursday night show featuring the late models. A couple of guest drivers were on hand, resulting in one of the largest crowds of the year. And it seemed that many in attendance were seeing their first ever dirt track races, which was the whole idea of the evening.

Here are a few of the shots I got that night...

[JSPhoto]

Nice Paul. but I knew who you meant by "guests" before I opened it up
At one of last years races at IRP Kenny stood next to me during the National Anthem then after it was over turned and struck up a conversation that went on till he was strapped in the car he was driving.... friendly as could be. Rare for Cup drivers anymore.

JS

[steelerdirtfreak]

Kenny was all over the place, talking to everyone. My wife shot the two head shots and got several more back in the pits. She went up to the concession stand to get us some water and she turned around and there was Kenny. She ended up talking to him for about 5 minutes. Tony was different, but almost by necessity; there was probably close to 1000 NASCAR fans crowed around the barriers that blocked off their haulers. If he had come out it would have been pure mayhem and he'd never have been able to race. It was the same thing at the Dirt Track World Championship last year. We didn't even try getting in that mess.

It was confusing on track as Kenny was driving a Chub Frank back up car and Chub was there racing as well. They didn't make any number change on the driver side, so when they ran close together, it was hard to tell for sure which car was which. Chub won, Kenny finished 5th, Tony got wrecked out.

[JSPhoto]

Did Tony pay for the wrecked car? lol, I doubt it....
Hey it's good to see you back Paul, hope you haven't had any heat related relapses. I thought I was going to have problems Saturday and Sunday but the air show folks kept us well supplied with water

JS

[Tyson L. Sparks]

Nice shots, I use to race street stock at my local dirt track. I loved it. I can't afford it now with kids and all.

[porterm]

from the conversation here,i get the impression he got wrecked.
why would he pay? he was in his own car apparently.
i guess im biased towards shrader,beings that he now owns the one track i go to most,I-55. i wish his cup ventures had been more succesfull,but as a realist,i dont think he will ever
win a cup race again if he even managed to get a ride. wish he hadnt bailed on petree just because the finances got dicey. he has never had the same success with any other team and now has kind of put himself in the position where why would any owner put him in a ride? i reckon it really doesnt matter as he is one of the premier dirt racers around and surely have a blast racing dirt tracks as long as he wishes,which im pretty sure will be for a long time forward. no matter waht .kenny is one of the most personable guys youll ever meet. in a few years or more ,ill probably be saying the same thing about tony,hes had his battles and being a two time cup champ,i gotta think his time is precious and he doesnt have a whole lotta patience for B.S. ive tried to go to a couple of those big shows here where a few big names show up but all i had to do is drive by the front gate and see the crowd(which was probably 10 times bigger than any other race night)and i have made the decision to turn it around and head home.one thing i will pass along and i hope i dont offend anyone but,watching the leaders is fine but if you want to see real racing ,look back in the pack a ways and see who is racing for 5th or 10th or 25th.you may see some of the best racing you have ever seen.

[tufcat]

Great pictures. Thanx for sharing them.

[JSPhoto]

porteerm,
Tony wrecked, not Kenny..... anyway. Normally at these deals the cup drivers drive locals cars, that way there is a level playing field as the rules are different all over the country. Plus, most cup drivers don't have latemodels sitting around ready to run. As Paul said Kenny was driving a locals backup car, Tony probably did too.

Apeaking of Tony and cars. The night of the race at Kentucky I was heading home and passed one of Tony's haulers on I70 headed back to Brownsburg. It must have been a late night at Eldora...

JS

[Jimmy B]

Paul good to see your back up and shooting!
I am sitting here tonight as Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart are racing an hour and 15 minutes away from here I am packed and ready to go too St.Louis in the am for the truck race:thumbsup:
I hope everyone has a safe and sane weekend!
Jimmy B

[porterm]

actually ,i understood that tony wrecked. its also true that many travelers dont have thier own cars but in late models,im sure tony has his own stuff and the legalities of the cars are fairly easy to fix. when the visiting guys race modifieds,then its usually a case of them racing a borrowed car. the owners usually get some kind of stipend,ive heard it was in the $400 range .

jimmy
your coming all that way to shoot the trucks? amazing!
ill be at that race,i just got home from the arca race.didnt take my camera and missed an opportunity to get some pics of a spectacular wreck on the backstretch.
dont really like the wrecks so much as the possibility of major injury is so great.
went to bristol last week and was real happy with the fact that the new track configuration actually allowed more green flag racing and even if it wasnt apparent,much more passing and 3 wide racing.