MAY 8th Senoia Raceway

WOW, WHAT'S

THE DEAL?

Senoia Raceway on May 8th, 2010 was a amazing place to be if you love fast cars, and lots of action, plus good food.

The night was billed as a 40 lap race of the Limited Late Models, and was paying $2000 dollars to win, so cars from everywhere were showing up plus those local drivers tried for the best money.

Unfortunately the race was marred with a first lap major crash where at least 8 or more cars were taken out of competition due to cars that were too damaged to continue.

The race was held as the last race of the night, which was sad because, the hobby race that started the show, was billed as “THE RACE THAT WOULD NEVER END”, Yellow cautions were out almost every time the cars tried to race, making it turn into an unbearable race to watch.

That was the major set back in time, because Jack Mills, Tony and Tim Moses have been making sure the races are over by 10 or 11 pm, which every fan likes.

Prior to the race, I had to try one of the hotdogs that every fan had been bragging about. So I hit the concession stand early and ordered a $2 dollar hotdog with a large Ice Tea, and I could not be happier, my spotter and young man who helps me at the track carry equipment up and down stairs, was so happy with the food that after the hotdog, he went back for a huge hamburger and was amazed at the food. His name is Jake and he was turning 17 on May 9th, and since he was helping me, I had the track announcer shout out a “Happy Birthday” to Jake from Senoia Raceway. Since I did not hear the announcement, Jake leaned over to me and said “Thank You”. He is such a kind and polite young man.

Back to the racing action, which was fast and furious and had some big names drivers show up.

One name that stood out boldly was Matt Dooley, who drives in the Crate race and believe me or not he is just 14 years old and can handle his #18 crate car with the best of the drivers. This was his first time on the new clay at Senoia Raceway, so he was nervous, but then again what does he need to be nervous about when he comes from a racing family.

Matt is one of the most likeable young men I have come to learn to respect in racing, he is talented in everyway, and is soft spoken, one thing for sure if you every get the chance to meet Matt you like I will be impressed, as you can tell he will be going far in his racing career.


I take pride in my work filming all the racing action as it happens at Senoia Raceway. During the qualifying I always walk down in the crowd and really get to know the fans who share their knowledge and what they think of the new Senoia Raceway, this gives me time to take a break from the action to get ready for the always fast and furious Crate cars and Limited Late Model races.

I have found that when I show a DVD of a race from Senoia most people on seeing it for the first time look at it and reply “It looks just like 7 Flags Speedway, now closed and torn down in Douglasville”.

What they are saying is a HIGH COMPLIMENT to the racing environment of the New Senoia Raceway.

Fans and drivers are finicky and when you treat the fans right, they come back and bring lots of new friends which is great for Jack, Tony and Tim and all of Senoia Raceway officials.

Drivers are the same, treat them right, make sure they get what is coming in pay, and you can expect to see these drivers return and bring fellow drivers with them.

I know of 3 drivers getting cars ready to bring down to Senoia to race in different features, they all want to try and win at Senoia.

Kip Stanfill, who owns Kips Automotive in Douglasville is getting his car ready for some hobby dirt track action, he was a proven winner at 7 Flags Speedway, now he wants to win at Senoia Raceway and give the fans someone else to cheer for. Kip will be driving his K1 car, a new car that will have lots of history behind it.

Zack Minnelli, and Tony Newman drivers who have driven at Dixie Speedway, will soon show their cars off at Senoia Raceway. Both of these drivers are also proven winners.

In the Modified Mini race, the race was another crash fest, with one of the best Modified Mini car drivers got caught up in a real humdinger, when coming out of 4 Frank Long spun and an collected 3 others. Needless to say Eric Hogsed in #9 went on to win.
#3 Todd Brewster came in 2nd, with #18 Heath Brewster coming in a distant 3rd.

The Hobby race had the most cautions, but the man that has won almost every race and continues to prove he is the man to beat #41 Scott Sherrer, showed again his car was ready for everything.

#E1 “Fast Eddy” Johnson started up front but was soon caught up in an early wreck which took him out.
So, it was a tough and rough battle with car #4p Mike Parker spinning Scott Sherrer out in front of the flag stand, which did not damage Scotts car, so he was able to get back in line and win his 4th race in a row, more or less making sure everyone knows Scott is a proven winner.

The Order of finish was Winning again #41 Scott Sherrer.
In 2nd place was #M4 of Winford Minix a proven winner also.
And finishing in 3rd place was #20 Jay Conner.

Then it was time for the B-Cadet race, and this is one of the most heated races of the night.
It was getting cold at Senoia with a small breeze started to kick in, but the racing action would take on a new meaning.

It was amazing because #29 Rusty Johnson would be a late car to entire the race, he must have been running behind, but who cares because he had a fast car, and everyone was chasing Johnson down.

Drivers like #12 Gary Brand and a real up and comer, #25 Bobby Slauson who was going to race in Hobby but because of some issues was forced to change to the hottest race there was, the B-Cadet race. Good thing for Bobby because he took his #25 car, and proved that he can race with the big guns.

Also racing was the famous #03 of Buck Williams, and also #3 of “Top Gun” Big Jeff Carter, also in the race were #11 TJ Joiner, and #1 of David Chapman not leaving out #31 of Lee Fuller.

But the night belonged to #29 of Rusty Johnson who seemed to never look back, even with Jeff Carter chasing him, but Jeff would cut down 2 tires and make it impossible for the big man to win at Senoia.

But when the dust had settled, it was #29 Rusty Johnson winning the B-Cadet race with #12 Gary Brand finishing in 2nd place, and in 3rd place was the up and comer, #25 Bobby Slauson who I am sure we have not heard the last of.

Then it was time for the Nesmith Late Model races, and these men fly around the track. You will always get your money worth of action as the Crate cars make some noise.

In the race was the youngest and most talented driver I have seen in Crate and that was #18 of 14 year old Matt Dooley, that’s right 14 years old and he can handle his crate car as well as the best of the drivers. As a matter of fact Matt was so fast he started on the pole next to last weeks winner #91 Todd Darda.

He was also racing against some other star drivers like #27L of Doug Ludwig, #55 of Parrish Duncan, #6 of Chad Marchman and #25 of Dusty Hendrix.

And if you can believe it or not this was his first night on the new Senoia clay as he had never raced there before, so he was nervous, but when you come from a great racing family there is no need to be nervous.

On this night Matt would slip and slide because the track had dried up, so he could not get the traction his car needed. Needless to say, Matt would finish the race his car in one piece but in last and finishing is better than taking it home on a “Hook”.

So congratulations for Young Matt Dooley and I look forward to watching him race again at Senoia and winning.

The man that has to be beat is #91 Todd Darda, one of Nesmith’s real class acts as a driver.

The order of the NeSmith Late Model race finish was:
Winning #91 Todd Darda that is his 2nd win at Senoia.
In 2nd place was #27L of Doug Ludwig, who was a legends winner when Senoia was asphalt.
And taking 3rd place was #6 of Chad Marchman, who ran with the big guys and I look forward to seeing him win soon.

That brought on the Pure Mini Feature, which had some really tough drivers, back was #D7 Dorough Bright who if I am right won the $500 championship, that I was unable to capture do to my camera going
Also racing was #54 of Norman “BO” Chambers, who
lead an assault, on the pure mini class.

Also racing was #5 of long time racer at West Georgia Speedway Rocky Johnson, who would trail the pack but would end up with a 6th place finish not back for a driver who had never raced at Senoia before Saturday.

You also had drivers like #31 of Wesley Patterson, #19 of Scott Conner, #80 of Benton Morris not to mention #J17 of Joe Spencer plus his brother #M17 of Mike Spencer, and low and behold #16 was being driven by Evan Lancaster, a Modified Mini winner a few weeks back.

The order of finish for the Pure Mini Stock finish was:

Winning #54 of Norman Chambers
In 2nd place #D7 of Dorough Bright
And in 3rd place was #31 of Wesley Patterson.

The Enduro race has become one of my favorite races, these are real warriors, and the man that would take the checkered flag on this night was a elderly white haired gentleman who I would have never dreamed was racing a car, he was #99 Mike Ray who has proved he has the winning car and winning attitude to compete at Senoia.

Ray was able to hold off a up and comer, #44 Blake Griffin. Now ask yourself where have you heard Blake Griffins name before? If you said he was the winner 2 times in the B-Cadet series give yourself a pat on your back, if your arms stretch that far.

For some reason Griffin wanted to try and unseat Mike Ray and he was looking like he was going to, but the old gentleman Mike Ray proved his white #99 was still able to hold his lines and hold out till the end of the race.

Age does not matter in racing as proved again on this Saturday night at the new and improved Senoia Raceway, where fans are coming in droves.

The Enduro finish was like this:
Winning again was #99 of Mike Ray
In 2nd place was #44 of Blake Griffin
And in 3rd place was #23 of Greg Butler.

Then all eyes turned to get ready for the 40 lap feature event that pitted some of the best Limited Late Model racers on the track and they were racing for $2000 cash and a trophy.

Drivers like #9 Shane Fulcher was entered, plus, #27 of Glenn Morris, and #99 of faithful Rucker Orr.
Then there was #G1 of Glenn McWaters a proven winner at any track, also racing was the son of Alan Brewer, #22 Michael Brewer, another great driver that never backs down was #25 Scott Duffy and his long time friend #73 of “Racing Jason” Williams.

The drivers got into formation of 4 cars wide and were waving to the crowd, on the second time around the crowd was standing and waving to each of the drivers something that is real class.

The 3rd time around, the drivers pulled back into formation as to where they were starting, and when that was done the green flag was flying turning all 24 cars loose, well it did not take long as headed into turn one a car got sideways and took out 8 great cars and great drivers, the ones that made it through were the top 6 cars plus drivers like Scott Duffy who qualified in the back so he was able to hold on and do some braking and getting around the mess.

The scarcest was seeing #G1 of Glenn McWaters on his side, I mean literally on his side sandwiched between two other cars that were damaged.

One thing for sure the clean up took what I call forever, and I believe they need to have more tow trucks ready to get these wrecked cars off the track so that the fans can get ready for more racing action. The main thing was that NO DRIVER WAS INJURED AND EVERY DRIVER WALKED AWAY, maybe with a bruised up race car, but they walked away.

Since the night was closing in on midnight, there was nothing else they could do but run 20 laps and close the race down before 12 a.m.

Almost every night that I have been there I was able to gather was gear, and be home in Douglasville by no later that 11:30 pm, but this was not a regular night, and who would have expected the first race of the night would become the “Race that would never END”.

If it could have been shortened just a small amount of laps maybe we could have seen a full blown 40 lap Late Model race, instead we were forced to concede with just 20 laps.

Winning and taking home the $2000 was car #9 of Shane Fulcher, who started on the pole so he was never involved in any of the wreckage behind him.

In 2nd Place was #27 of Glenn Morris, who took 2nd because the 2nd place car would not tear down.

And in 3rd place was #99 of Rucker Orr, who has been battling to get his car into the winners spot. I know he is racing against some great drivers, but Orr is from a racing history of winners and he will be there soon.

For all the results just head over to :
http://www.newsenoiaraceway.com/

There you can also find a listing of the schedule and events where you can make plans to attend.

The New Senoia Raceway has been the place to be and remember when you come always bring your appetite because you will not find better food at any racetrack in the South.

As a matter of fact I look forward to getting some of their great hotdogs, hamburger, and chicken tenders with fries and a drink, makes me hungry just writing about the food. So bring plenty of cash and get fed right. By the way the price on every thing that they have is great on your wallet so you can go back as many times as you want and still have cash in your pocket when you’re headed home.

Remember the next race will be on, May 15th, 2010 be ready for a real show.


Many Thanks,

Tino Patti


A Freelance Photographer/Video Journalist


With a world wide racing Blog following!


REBLOG NOTICE : A $100 BOUNTY HAS BEEN SET ON #41 SCOTT SHERRER, BY NEW SENOIA RACEWAY.

NOTICE: TO WIN, YOU CAN NOT INTENTIONALLY TAKE SCOTT OUT OF A RACE , TO WIN YOU MUST WIN LEGALLY AND FAIRLY, REMEMBER YOU WILL NOT COLLECT ANY CASH IF IT IS FELT THAT YOU INTENTIONALLY TOOK SCOTT SHERRER OUT ON PURPOSE.

Looks like we are going to see a great race!!!!