Race Weekend Central

Thursday Morning Thunder: Quiet Track – 1 Final Race at Oglethorpe Speedway Park

Oglethorpe

Photo Credit: Bryan Davis Keith, Frontstretch

POOLER, Ga. – Pulling off Route 80 to make the right turn into Oglethorpe Speedway Park, I stopped to snap a picture of the roadside track sign, which had a digital message board advertising the night’s “Final Race” event. So did three of the next four cars that made the same turn towards the racetrack. …

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Thursday Morning Thunder: 2021 Concludes with NASCAR, Grassroots 2,372 Miles Apart

NASCAR

(Photo: Bryan Davis Keith)

NASCAR’s Cup Series Championship Race in Arizona went green at approximately 3:34 p.m. ET on Sunday. On the other side of the country, 2,372 miles away in Swedesboro, N.J., I was standing in line to buy a pit pass at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park for the conclusion of the High Banks Classic at that time.  …

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Thursday Morning Thunder: Less Is More for Weeknight Dirt Racing

2019 Las Vegas Dirt Sprint Car Keith

Photo Credit: Bryan Davis Keith, Frontstretch

One of the perks of the spring and summer dirt racing season is that there’s events nearly every night of the week. Having the World of Outlaws to enjoy from Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Tuesday night (May 18) as I did my evening workout and paid bills was a welcome treat, even if the feature …

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Thursday Morning Thunder: Fuel Shortage Puts Local Racing Front & Center, Flaws & All

2017 Gallatin Bdk

Photo Credit: Bryan Davis Keith, Frontstretch

It’s peak 2021 that fuel shortages would cancel stock car races, but that’s exactly what’s happened this weekend. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, the premier ranks of super late model racing in America, have canceled their weekend swing to the 411 Motor Speedway in Tennessee and the Talladega Short Track owing to uncertainty …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 19: In Racing, Like All Sports, Fighting Has to Be All or Nothing

2021 North Florida Flipped Late Model Bdk

Photo Credit: Bryan Davis Keith, Frontstretch

For as long as I’ve been a dirt racing fan, I’ve been a DC sports fan longer. “It builds character,” my dad has often told me. Being a lifelong DC sports fan, it was no surprise that my phone was blowing up all day with folks asking for my take on Tom Wilson’s latest highlight …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 18: For Late Models, When Size Does Matter

Bristol

(Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Had I waited another couple of hours to write this week’s Thinkin’ Dirty, the tenor may have been a little bit different. And thanks to a race at the dirt track equivalent of a superspeedway no less. This past Sunday night (April 25) was highlighted by a race dubbed simply “The Return.” In the first …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 17: Dirt Racing & Soccer Diverge in a Wood

Flo Racing

Photo Credit: World Racing Group

Let’s compare and contrast two major sporting events that have kicked off in the last week. Last Thursday (April 14), the Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, West Virginia, hosted the first round of the Castrol Racing Night in America dirt late model tour, a race that saw a stacked field of super late models compete …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 16: Too Much Eldora in 2021?

Super Lates At Eldora 2020 06 04

Photo Credit: World Racing Group

There’s a reason the expression reads, “heavy weighs the crown.” At day’s end, there is only one king. That solitary existence is what makes a king so unique, so illustrious and so powerful. Sadly, that fact appears lost on the Eldora Speedway, whose 2021 schedule released this week includes what they’re terming a “double down” …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 15: Sprint Cars to the Olympics? Worthy, But No Thank You

2019 Sprint Car Wrg

Photo Credit: World Racing Group

Jonathan Davenport is the hottest driver in dirt racing and the favorite to win the weekend’s upcoming Bristol Bash for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. Big story, sure, but I’m frankly Bristol’ed out. Plus, thanks to the amazing work of the medical community, my parents are now both fully vaccinated, meaning today marked …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 14: From Iowa to Arizona, Dirt’s Messy Ups & Downs

2019 River Cities Woo Sprint Cars Wrg

Photo Credit: World Racing Group via Dave Biro

Thanks to NASCAR’s Bristol Dirt Race being moved to Monday, I didn’t have to make an excuse not to sneak a peek. My 9-5 took care of that for me. That being said, as I do multiple times seven days a week, I was sneaking peeks at my dirt Twitter list that continually has 500-plus …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 13: For Better or Worse, the Bristol Dirt Race Is Today’s NASCAR

ARCA cars race in a blur at Bristol Motor Speedway

(Photo: ARCA Racing)

There’s an irony that the week prior to the Bristol Dirt Race, the week prior to NASCAR taking its most tangible steps “back to its roots” since returning the Southern 500 to its rightful home in 2015, that one of the controversies leaving Atlanta involved artificial turf.  I didn’t watch any of the weekend’s races …

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Thursday Morning Thunder, Vol. 12: 3 Hard Lessons Learned After 3 Days of Bristol Dirt

2021 Bristol Dirt Chris Buescher Late Model

Photo Credit: Chris Buescher via Roush Fenway Racing

As I sit down to write this, we’re on day three of the Bristol Dirt Nationals, the guinea pig event for the first NASCAR Cup Series race to tackle a dirt surface of any kind in 50 years. It’s the first time any driver has tackled dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway since 2001. And as …

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