Ice Bowl Thoughts From The Tower
The 30th edition of this winter show at the Talladega Short Track is now in the books. Here are some of my honest thoughts from this show that continues on, we race when most won't or don't, or can't due to "the rona" (Corona Virus)
Thursday
A cold dreary overcast day with a very poor forecast, after opening the gates a day early, this day had limited practice due to periods of rain that eventually was called with good amount of cars.
Friday
After all night rains, early morning rain the saturated the track, pits, the entire facilty turned muddy and challenging. Practice started many hours late. Track was blazing fast all night, many rotations of the 8 classes provided many opportunities for all attending due get many, many, laps. Two classes, the Hot Shots (mini stocks) and the Factory Stocks ran qualifying heat races. There was a 65 Hot Shots and a track record 44 Factory Stocks. There were around 12 heats with the nights action ending near 11:00pm.
Saturday
Saturday proved to be a challenging day and night for the staff and crew at TST. The pits were very muddy as was the entire track. I am going to give a huge atta-boy to the track crew for working tirelessly in the pits and especially the staging lanes. Cars had to be assisted with 4-wheelers and such just to get thru the lanes and up the hill on to the track.
Action started at 10:20am. We hot lapped 352 cars in very cold conditions, high of 36 degrees. 2 hours and 27 minutes later it was over.
13 minutes later at 12:40pm we time trialed 243 cars. 6 classes with 4 cars at a time for 4 timed laps. By 4:30pm qualifying was over. Then we ran some Hot Shot and Factory Stock stuff and that was over at 5:15pm.
At 5:50pm. the qualifying heat races for the Supers, Limiteds, CRUSA 604 and 602, Crusa Street Stocks, and were run. 24 heat races were run, 24. A number of the races were caution plagued. After those races were finished it was main event time and consolation races for the Hot Shots and Factory Stocks, those races were messy, it all ended at 11:50pm. Nearly 15 hours of action with TST tower and track officials busting their tales all day and night. I was in the booth from 9:00am until midnite with a couple of breaks when Roby Helm did the CRUSA 604. It was very cold and I got to give it to the racers and fans who were there.
Championship Sunday
This day had better weather and some sun. It was time to crown the 6 remaining classes. Right at 11:55am. That was five minutes early for you time keepers we had the prayer and national anthem. Pit conditions were much better as the crew burned up fuel in the tractors working the lanes and roads. At 12.01pm the cars rolled onto the and the B-Mains and locked-in car hot laps for the 6 divisions ran off. By 2:30pm all 12 heats and 6 locked in events were done.
A 35 minute intermission was taken to water and prep the track, give fans a chance to go eat and such. The main events started at 3:15 The Supers were 2nd on the list giving consideration for those who had a drive and such. The sun was still up when page was interviewed. I had to leave after the Supers, the was still 4 mains left when I departed.
Final thoughts
This large of an early season event with rough weather is never easy and it is a giant undertaking, logistically and on the track. Things can go south, I will say overall the TST staff busted tail over 4 cold and wet days and pulled it off. We had a much better than expected Sunday crowd, thank you.
We/I had many out of state phone calls from folks watching on first time broadcasting Flo Racing subscribers stating they are enjoying seeing some action. While Saturday was a long day, Sunday was a gas. 352 cars folks is stout. This is an event that is a once a year gathering of races and fans, the campfires, cook outs, parties, get togethers, and socializing was so much fun. While no event is perfect and with out glitches, the folks at TST work very hard in these pandemic times and I am proud to be part of it, thanks everyone!
Late Model Mark
TST Announcer
