Shawn Miller's Hoseheads Column - "A list of favorites from 2011"

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A list of favorites from 2011...

by Shawn Miller
As I have a few moments to relax following a family filled Christmas in Oregon, my mind has started to process 2011. It was a year of firsts; a season of new sights.

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I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to travel the country, chasing sprint car races from coast to coast. I branched out to numerous tracks I’d never been to and states I hadn’t visited.

I have a variety of stories – good and bad – from my life on the road and I can’t wait to resume the active lifestyle of living out of a suitcase. As I finish the rest of the year with family I rarely see in the damp, cold Northwest, it has prompted me to reminisce about some of my best moments of last season.

Without further ado, here are a few of my 2011 favorites off the top of my head:


– RACE –

What a tough category right off the bat. I saw 78 nights of racing across most of the country, so I have more than a few options to choose from. In fact, there were a handful of heat races that were probably better than most features.

With that said, I’ll give a slight edge to the best race I saw to the first one of the season – Feb. 9 at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. It was the ASCS National Tour’s inaugural event in California and my first visit to the semi-banked, 1/3-mile dirt oval.

The racing was fast and the battles tight. Tim Kaeding outlasted Roger Crockett, but the competition behind the leaders was just as intense. A pair of Inside Line Promotions’ drivers – Tommy Tarlton and Trey Starks – charged from deep in the field to earn top 10s.

The race was taped for a delayed television broadcast on VERSUS and it was just as exciting to watch months later as it was live.

Picking this race as the top was a difficult decision, so I will toss out a couple of honorable mentions. ILP driver Jack Dover came up with thrilling wins at the Eagle Nationals at Eagle Raceway in Eagle, Neb., on June 11 – another ASCS National Tour race that was televised – and he held off ILP veteran Danny Lasoski for a down-to-the-wire victory on Aug. 26 at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo. Also of note, the All Star Circuit of Champions’ Speedweek race at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio, was a great finish with Kyle Sauder claiming the win. The track was so small that nearly all of the drivers banged their right rear wheel on the wall exiting turn four at some point.

– REGION –

If this is about presentation, it’s a no-brainer. The ASCS Northwest Region is by far the best in that category. They have a dedicated staff of officials, trophy girls and media, and nearly all of those individuals attend each race throughout Washington, Oregon and sometimes Montana. I was very fortunate to spend a year working in that region and whenever I visit new areas, I always compare them to the effort and support the Northwest provides its teams and fans.

If this is about competition, it’s the ASCS Midwest Region. I saw nearly half of its races throughout Nebraska, Missouri and Minnesota last year, with a bulk of them being contested to the checkered flag. There is a strong contingent of Midwest racers and usually a handful of the premier drivers from the ASCS National Tour compete as well. Also, the three-man crew of the ASCS Midwest does a great job and has always been more than helpful with me.

– STATE –

Ohio has a ridiculous amount of race tracks for the size of the state. Ranking amongst the smallest one third in the country, the Buckeye State has more than two-dozen dirt tracks. Despite fighting off rain all week, I was able to visit five of them last June when I attended the All Star Circuit of Champions’ Speedweek.

However, it’s not just about the number of tracks. The competition is very good and the track conditions are eerily similar everywhere – super dry. I was amazed at how dry the tracks were, but it set up some great racing. Given the dedication toward the sport by the various tracks and the proximity to one another, I think Ohio provides a great opportunity for any driver.

– TRACK –

This is probably the hardest category. I started out with nearly a dozen awesome tracks off the top of my head. From the West Coast to Pennsylvania and extending from Minnesota to Texas, I could probably pick one from each state.

I’ve already mentioned Thunderbowl Raceway, Eagle Raceway and Limaland Motorsports Park for elite races. I think those tracks produce great races on a regular basis.

Additionally, I attended my first race at Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg, Penn.), KC Raceway (Chillicothe, Ohio) and Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, Mo.) last season and all were phenomenal.

And I’ve enjoyed events at the Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., and at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz., for years. I would recommend everyone see at least one race at both tracks to showcase the best kind of racing on a short track and big one.

With that said, my favorite track last season goes to Eagle Raceway. The facilities are great and I can’t think of a track where I saw more spectators. From my standpoint, it was easy to access all the drivers, film the races and find a place to watch the feature atop the grandstands in turn one.

– ATMOSPHERE –

At 41 tracks across 16 states, I was introduced to several new facilities last year. I can think of a ton that captivated my attention outside of the racing. However, only one place had an amazing atmosphere – Pennsylvania.

The fans got to the tracks before I did. They tailgated and played games in the parking lots. The stands were always fairly full and rowdy. It was the environment you’d see at a college football game.

All of the tracks had a similar excitement, but one stands out above the rest – Williams Grove Speedway. From the moment I parked my car and walked through the pit gate, I was enthralled. It was surreal to walk across the famed bridge over the backstretch. The infield pits were separated by a “fan zone” with simulators and various booths scattered across from the food building.

As I stood on Jason Johnson’s trailer watching the races, the weather was near perfect and the sunset dreamlike. Families hung out on a green “patch” of grass, where kids ran around with footballs and Frisbees, and multiple generations watched the festivities in lawn chairs. It was truly an amazing atmosphere. The only way it could have been any more made for the movies was if there was a last-lap pass for the victory.

– ROAD TRIP –

I had fun on every road trip; even the ones that were interrupted by those notorious night storms in the Midwest. One night last August on my way up to Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Minn., a powerful rainstorm forced me off the road. Somehow a leak developed on the passenger side near the front seat. By the time the rain lightened, I had a puddle that sloshed around the remainder of the drive. Fun times.

I recall a lot of good memories on the final trip of the season, when I tagged along with a couple of friends to New Mexico and Arizona last November. From leaving the Northwest last February to that final road trip, life out of a suitcase was a blast.

However, the trip that stands out the most is the venture to Ohio and Pennsylvania for a pair of Speedweeks. It was my first time in both states and I was able to watch 13 races at 11 tracks in a span of 17 days.

The racing was amazing and the tracks were neat. The environment was better than I imagined and the drivers were more than hospitable. But the thing that stands out the most was some of the drives to and from each track. After a long trip from Missouri to Ohio, my schedule mostly consisted of finding the tracks, dodging rain drops, trying to find food, then crashing for a few hours and repeat.

I was fortunate that one of my good friends – the great sprint car driver Channin Tankersley, who dared to say, “Wow, where did he come from?” much to my amusement on one of our prerace highlight videos – was along for most of the trip. It was a great experience and we had just as much fun hauling around on the back roads throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I remember one stretch of a certain drive fairly vividly. The sun was out and the windows of my Mustang GT were down. The GPS sent us on a random back road and it didn’t take long before I felt like we were in a video game. Big, green trees lined the sides of the hilly road and twice we came upon tiny towns in the middle of nowhere.

One church we passed was old – circa the 1700s – and it quickly felt like we were on a mission in Ridge Racer. I opened up the Mustang to the warm breeze and maneuvered around the tight turns. At one point we nearly caught air and I desperately wanted to repeat that drive on a closed course.

When we arrived at the track, I was ready to turn around and take that stretch of the road again. It was a simple moment of fun and one that stands out during a season of driving thousands of miles.

This past year has been amazing and in no way do I mean any disrespect toward any of the other tracks, regions or moments that I didn’t mention. I hope everyone has a successful and exciting 2012.