"One for the Road" at Fairbury

[Mister Ricochet]

The heats did start an hour late. That's probably why the LM feature was first.

Very unlike Fairbury. Hot laps were at least 20 minutes late, maybe a 1/2 hour. Very unlike FALS.

[Mister Ricochet]

Pierce officially promoted to 3rd.

Anyone know how the scoring works at FALS? As I watched Pierce and Frankie drag race to the line and then some confusion as to who was 3rd I immediately thought about Rice and Pearson at the North/South. ........

The transponder at Florence that picks up the signal from the cars is not affixed at the start/finish line it's like 10-15 feet before it. That's why it looked like Rice won cuz he got him at the line but was a tick behind at the transponder, which is before the line.

Is the transponder right at the start finish line at Fairbury? And why did the electronics immediately tell Shelton and Mike that Frankie had 3rd? Why did they ditch the electronics and go to the eye test to give Pierce 3rd?

Anyway I was sitting near the top at turn 2 and Pierce had a good 2 car lengths on Frankie on lap 50. I thought Frankie will duck in behind Pierce, play it safe and settle for 4th. Was pumped to see Frankie say what the hell, why not and slide Pierce. Then they called Frankie 3rd and I told my bud that was worth the price of admission in a 50 lapper on a bullring that had 5 lead changes. ............ Just rewatched the race and DoD did not have any footage of Pierce and Frankie in that turn 4 battle and drag race to the finish. Too bad cuz the 2nd camera located at the top of the front stretch in turn 1 showed quite a few excellent looks at the cars exiting 4 and racing up the front stretch. As wonderful is streaming is for the fan you just can't beat being at the track, that's for sure.

No doubt the surface was very un-FALS like but even on a bad day Fairbury produces one helluva race. We've all seen turn 3 sometimes have that nasty rut on entry (have seen them tear that up and put it back together for the feature in 20 minutes a few times) but I don't remember 1-2 ever being so choppy high and low.

Also great to see all the heavy hitters there and even better to see the Illinois Boyz slam the door on them save for Richards. Bronson, Overton, Strickler, Marler, Madden, Davenport all 9th or worse and Moyer not even making the show.

[Mister Ricochet]

Oh, and count me as a fan of tacky fast, at least on bullrings and black dirt. Can not tell me there was not any passing on a night where a 9 yr old fast lap record was beaten and guys like Pierce can come from 17th to 3rd cuz the track has what they need to do so, GRIP. No slip sliding on a sheet of ice where it takes 2-3 laps to lap a car.

Never been in a race car and never will but from the peanut gallery the tacky fast track gives the racers the grip they need to use their skills to come up thru the field.

[HoosierDirtFan]

The battle between Richards, Strickler, Babb, & Sheppard was some of the best d@mn racing I have seen in a long time. The attrition on the track was tough to see with all the cars pulling into the infield. I would have love to seen that race go green to checkers with out any cautions because that was one he!! of a duel between the four drivers.

[drich24]

I watched the Flo broadcast. In real time, they were showing the race from the backstretch camera. As Shepherd and Richards crossed the finish line, they held the camera on the finish line. When Pierce and Frankie crossed under the flag stand, Pierce clearly was ahead based on the red line in the wall under the flag stand. I assume that is their official finish line.

I was shocked when they said that Frankie was second. Replay verified Pierce was ahead. The slow motion wasn’t even needed. Now where the transponder wire is, who knows. Just saying what my eyeballs saw.

[Rajflyboy]

Were they steamed, boiled or pickled beets? 邏

Both Brandon’s are bringing STEAM every night and Jimmy Owens has a lot of steam too.

[Rajflyboy]

Tacky throws a lot of crankshafts. Too many (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) cautions.

[Mister Ricochet]

The battle between Richards, Strickler, Babb, & Sheppard was some of the best d@mn racing I have seen in a long time. The attrition on the track was tough to see with all the cars pulling into the infield. I would have love to seen that race go green to checkers with out any cautions because that was one he!! of a duel between the four drivers.

You ain't lyin. For 6-7-8-9 laps those 4 were slicin and dicin top to bottom and anyone of them could have been 1st or 4th in 1 lap. Outstanding speechless racing during that stretch between those 4. You just looked at the guy next to you with a goofy smile on your face. No words needed.

They did start the race with about 25-30 laps green didn't they? But no doubt all those heavy hitters, including Erb Jr out on lap 1, not finishing the race robbed us of an even better race than it was.

You knew when Opie was 2/10ths off the track record in HOT LAPS we were in for a show.

[Mister Ricochet]

drich24

I watched the Flo broadcast. In real time, they were showing the race from the backstretch camera. As Shepherd and Richards crossed the finish line, they held the camera on the finish line. When Pierce and Frankie crossed under the flag stand, Pierce clearly was ahead based on the red line in the wall under the flag stand. I assume that is their official finish line.

I was shocked when they said that Frankie was second. Replay verified Pierce was ahead. The slow motion wasn’t even needed. Now where the transponder wire is, who knows. Just saying what my eyeballs saw.

As mentioned I was high up in turn 2 and even there it looked like Pierce got 3rd. And Heckenast afterwards didn't contest the order of finish. I just wondered why both Shelton and Mike called it for Frankie based on the electronic scoring then it was changed to Pierce. And again like I mentioned I immediately thought about Rice and Pearson in the North/South.

I'm just happy Frankie went for it instead of playing it safe.

[TeNfOMaFiA69]

The Rice and Pearson deal did not happen at the North South... it happened a month before that

[Dlmfan123]

I heard Erb's motor did break. I felt if the track would have been slower by maybe at least 1/2 second it would have been better racing overall. They guys that came from the back, survived more than anything, including Pierce. Thanks to FALS, specially for the $1500 to start. But that was hard, hard on equipment. Drivers will NOT say anything bad about the track. Remember Babb did a few years ago and was booed really badly.

Dennis broke the throttle linkage