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SENOIA SPEEDWAY

"Back TO DIRT", IN THIS 2010 RACING SEASON!

Yes it's Dirt over the Asphalt, why dig up a good track when you can just dump loads of dirt on top and make it a superior racing facility.
Why tear up the asphalt when you never know you may want to race short track races again.

What can you say, except "When is the first race?"

Jack Mills, with Tony Moses and Tim Moses have brought Senoia back to life after years and years of rumor, that the track would return to DIRT. Remember they were only rumors, and some drivers were wishing, well maybe their wishes have come true.

I know in 2000 when I was filming there, it was hot and the asphalt made it worse. Plus such a long drive for me not to see any pay out. I mean, if you were looking for racing, Asplalt was not the place to see it at. Remember I had worked a few years prior to Senoia at 7 Flags Speedway where racing was racing, and I mean on the dirt. Lots of great drivers won at this wonderful old speedway. Drivers like Shane Clanton, Richard Bagby, Lamar Haygood, Little Joe Armstead, Frank Long, Joe Hillman, and so many more great drivers some who still drive today.

How many times have we heard how great it would be to have Senoia back like it was in those glory years and filled with dirt, where racing is racing. No more asphalt, follow me around and around and around, with the dirt back on the track you will see some of the greatest racing on Dirt.

Promoter Jack Mills has rules that will be followed are you will not race, this will be a no nonsence race track payout will be on the level, and cars will be checked and everything better be legal.

Lots of time and money has been invested in this project that looks to put some of the smaller tracks out of business, like West Georgia Speedway, where driving is a hazard. One thing for sure at West Georgia Speedway or "The Burg" as I call it, if you can win there you can win on any track.

The Burg is known to take no prisoners, and when drivers come and race there they know they are in for a battle. But taking that checkered flag is a prize in itself, because if you have won on this track you have won it all.

To find out more about Senoia Speedway just click the link and take a look yourself.

http://www.newsenoiaraceway.com/

How many drivers will try and win at Senoia, on the dirt?, who will be the first? and Will it be the same as in the years past at racing there?.

All I can say is good luck Jack and Tony and Tim, because you will need it, but remember you are bringing back some real history and that is a great thing.

The amazing Sammy Duke, who can pull wreck cars off the track with his loyal Ford F150 tractor than any NASCAR race, Sammy has no time for idleness.

That brings me back to the track that has been called to hard to tame, and that is the one I call "The Burg". West Georgia Speedway has been in excistence since 1992 or before. The man at the helm of this ship, is still Sammy Duke, one of the South's legends of his own kind.

When driver came to West Georgia Speedway they knew how Sammy was, and some drivers got angry with this old man, and would leave and never return. One thing you have to say Sammy never put on a bad show for the fans. What seems like ages ago when the famous 7 Flags Speedway closed down in Douglasville, Georgia, it was either race at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock Georgia or Rome Georgia or maybe take those long drives to Alabama for some racing at East Alabama Speedway. Most drivers who wanted to remain racing went to West Georgia Speedway, where there they put on a show. Sammy seemed to have things working his way, but you have to move on when progress approachs, and if you don't the good times will pass you by.

For pure pounding side by side racing, and all hell breaking loose, "The Burg" was the place to watch a race. Some of the wildest and fastest drivers came and raced and gave their cars everything they had in them. Some of the wildest races I have filmed, I mean last lap nail biters, also crashes where drivers would get out of their wrecked cars, and howl at the moon!.

Then you had some of the really crazy races like the imortal "Fog Bowl", a race that everyone either pulled over or drove like he had some great sence and that would be Alabama's own pride and joy, Ryan Law.

West Georgia Speedway has seen some action, I mean, if you wanted to see some rough house driving, West Georgia was the place to be on a Saturday night, some drivers can't take losing and it shows.






Then you have some of the classist drivers around, who win, take the money go home and come back to race the next weekend, holding no grudge.



A Winning driver is a driver that has pactience and does not let others get into his mind. These are winning drivers.


And a Winning driver is not one that trys to win the race on the first lap, these are the ones that most good drivers end up going around, most of your smarter drivers lay back staying out of the wrecks that seem to come early.





Can't see his face, I planned it this way when I took the shot, the young man filling out my note pad is young and talented Wren Goodman who at the age of 28 has taken on a challange because he has taken over a track that was known as Hollis Crossroads, and was known to be one of the worst tracks in Georgia, but Wren being young and having a goal has renamed the track as "Little River Speedway", at Hollis Crossroads in Alabama.







Wren is the type of man that when you meet him you see his honesty in his face, he works hard all day and drives home to Alabama and there he takes care of his family.







Being 28 and having such great goals is something I wish more promoters had.







So fans and drivers here is the run down, write it down and remember that when you race at Little River Speedway you will be racing on a new and improved track.







Here are some facts you may need to know, Practices will be held on March 6. 2010, this practice will be a day before the Bama Bash.



Wren will start out the full racing season March 13, 2010 if I understand him correct "March Madness" will feature $1000 to win, Limited + Crate



$750 to win Hobby, and $500 to Win Pure Pony.



Gates will open at 12 noon, practice starting at 5 pm







Also remember on March 13, and 14th which is a two day event Wren will pay out for the Limited Openwheel $1000 to win



Hobby - Streetstock $750



Pure Pony - Mod-Pony $500

Fans should be excited because the entry to the stands remains $10.00 while Pits are $25.00



Plus children 12 and under get in FREE.







Wren is one of these promoters that is looking out for the fans, he will be putting on some great shows and I know that he will be making you feel great. There are so many changes that I don't have time to go through everything but I will keep you in the loop as to what Little River Speedway is doing and what is happening. So all you have to do is continue to check this BLOG.







I also want you to know that if you want to see some racing excitement, Little River Speedway will be the place to take the families on Saturday nights.







Drivers I want to let you know that Wren Goodman is as nice as he can be, he is not stuck up in the air, and I am sure once you get to know him you also will see the glimmer of excitement in his eyes. That is one reason I have this photo of him without showing his face, so be ready for some great racing at his new and improved track.








Thanks











Tino Patti















A Freelance Photographer/ Video Journalist





With a World Wide Racing Blog Following

RESULTS April 25. 2009

"Welcome back, I have News and Results"

First off for all those that do not know, my wife had to be rushed to the Hospital, because the doctors thought her Kidney's were shutting down, and it did not look good at all. I was really scared and did some extra praying for her. Then on Saturday Morning she awoke, and was able to speak to me, and that is the best news I could have had. She is still in the hospital, and under good care. I am so sorry for not being able to film the pure mini class as I had thought I would have been able to, but when your spouse of over 21 years is laying in a hospital bed and you really don't have any idea what is going to happen you can become more than worried. As I said, she awoke Saturday and was hurting but was alert. I thought I was not going to film at West Georgia Saturday night, but she urged me to go and do the best I could and not worry. That seems easy to say but while I was filming my heart was in a different place altogether. So, now that you have heard my side of the story I will continue trying to keep the blog updated, including news from West Georgia Speedway, or "The Burg" as I have called it.

Racing was more than exciting, as drivers, fought back and forth to get the win at the Burg.

The crowd was great as HOT Georgia weather had arrived and that brought more and more fans to the race track, which was great to see. I know promoter and Owner Sammy Duke was happy.

In the HEADLINES : RICHARD BAGBY WON HIS 5TH RACE IN A ROW IN MODIFIED MINI, HE WILL BE SHOOTING FOR 6 WINS STRAIGHT THIS SATURDAY NIGHT, SO BE THERE AND SEE IF HE GETS IT.

IN THE HOBBY RACE, LEGEND ROSCOE COLLINS IN HIS FAMOUS #69 TOOK HIS 2ND WIN, IT WAS NOT EASY AS HE HAD TO BATTLE #3 JEFF CARTER.

THE CRATE RACE NEWS: WELL MICHAEL "MOUTH" KEENER WAS BACK IN HIS ORANGE AND BLUE #8 AND HIS RIVAL TONY KEMP WAS THERE ALSO, THINGS LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE GOING TO HEAT UP.

IN SPORTSMAN NEWS: HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO FLY?, WELL THAT IS WHAT CAR #28 OF MICHAEL MILLS DID ON THE FRONT STRAIGHT AS THE GREEN FLAG WAS WAVING.

Now we are back in the saddle so too speak, since it is past 12:30 a.m, and its a new day Tuesday arising. I have so much to do so I better get busy.

I am not going into great detail about the results because of time, and I need rest.

The Modified Mini race, was won by a veteran and champion driver, Richard Bagby, and guess what folks he has won his 5th straight victory at the BURG. Now the secret is out about his winning, how he does it and it is very simple every time Richard has won he has had Lauren and Lindsey along with his beautiful wife so you see he can't loose with folks like that around. Yeah, I bet you thought I would say he has a cheating motor, come on get real, Richard is a veteran of the dirt track wars, and he knows when to go and when to slow. Also if you are in the way, wait you will feel a tap on your back bumper, that means MOVE or he will Move you.

If you don't believe me ask Ross Baines, or Ryan Heppner, and they will tell you like it is.
So the finish of the Modified Mini race saw Richard Bagby in his now famous #6, I still think it is time for Sammy Duke to get out some bounty money to chase Richard back home.

Modified Mini Winner #6 Richard "The King" Bagby
2nd #14 Ross Baines
3rd #20 Ryan Heppner

The Enduro race proved to be exciting as well, lot's of great drivers and cars that were willing to battle it out. #M4 of Winford Minnix was the car really to beat but there was a new comer at least to me in car #92 I have know idea who this driver was, but I can report his car quit and that is never a good sign. So that left some real racing and car #8 driven by Dustin Smith was tearing the track up, but running hard to catch him was car #6 of Eddie Swafford, and he tried to out race Smith but there was not enough laps in the race. Closing in 3rd place was the #M4 of "the purple people eater", Winford Minnix, who has been trying hard to regain his winning habits at West Georgia Speedway.

So the Enduro Results were:
Winner #8 Dustin Smith
2nd #6 Eddie Swafford
3rd #M4 Winford Minnix

The Hobby feature was a real battle, and cars that had their chances to win were fan favorite #3 of Jeff Carter, as well as #19 of Chad Ledbetter, who was given a warning for rough driving. Charlie Garrett driving the GT47 car has always been a force and on this Saturday night Charlie was driving like he always has, running hard, and mean. Most of the race Jeff Carter held the lead but something was going wrong, and he spun a time or two, and was also given a good shot in the rear, by another car, so Jeff was not happy and his crew was not happy.
Staying out of trouble was #69 Roscoe Collins, who ran his wheels off, and if there is a inch he will slip his car between cars and make that incredible pass. That's what he did Saturday night coming around turn 4 and heading toward the front straight, he nosed to the inside where the wall was and some how made it past 2 cars and that gave Roscoe the lead, and he would go on and lead the pack around. Jeff Carter's car slipped back to 5th position, as Charlie Garrett in the #GT47, hung on to second place with #19 Chad Ledbetter rounding it out of the top 3 cars.

The final Results of the Hobby race were:
Winner #69 Roscoe Collins (the legend that lives on)
2nd place was #GT47 of Charlie Garrett
3rd place was #19 of Chad Ledbetter

IN HOBBY CAR NEWS: NEXT WEEK BLANT DUKE RETURNS WITH HIS NEW AND SEASONED NEW HOBBY ENGINE

Now those ever fast Crate Cars pulled onto the track for their feature, and driver Tony Kemp in his fan favorite #16 was starting on the pole, the only problem was that #8 driven by Michael "Mouth" Keener was right next to him, and it looked like it would be a Kemp, Keener shootout.
When the green flag dropped, Keener took off, but was recaled because he jumped the start, next time around Tony Kemp took off, and Keener some how lost control on the back streach and ended up having the flagman restart the race.
This time the start was perfect, and Keener blasted around the old track, Tony Kemp staying right with him, and them what seemed impossible happened, #16 Tony Kemp's car gave away and it quit, something that never happens to Tony, he is known to take care of his car. Then again this is racing and also at "The Burg".
As Keener was blasting the speedway, and had pulled away from everyone, the only driver that could give him a run was #89 of Carey Smith, but again Carey's car was not helping him at all.

#19 Jeremy Hall was chasing Keener but he did not have the horsepower to over take Keener in any way. So Jeremy hung in and finished in 2nd place.

The Crate car result were:
Winner #8 Michael Keener (seems like ever time he is at The Burg, he Wins)
2nd #19 of Jeremy Hall
3rd place #89 Carey Smith

Time for some fast food and good drinks from West Georgia Speedways Concession stand.

Ok fans were back in their seats to see the super fast Sportsman feature and they all got a tastes of racing reality. Tonight the fans were about to see a racing nightmare, as the green flag fell, #99 Rucker Orr blasted out taking a lead, well like I have always done while filming I was following the lead cars as they headed into turn 1 were lots of action takes place, when all of a sudden I saw a yellow blur past me, as I sung the camera into place, I could see it was a car flying through the air, and it was not a good site. The driver was #28 Michael Mills, and as his car came to a crushing stop, all of West Georgia Speedways fans stopped for a moment, I mean it looked bad. As the fans rushed down to the straightaway to get a better look, paramedics were on the way, as well as race officials. Every one was doing there job, and to the crowd roar and cheers Michal Mills climbed out of the twisted mass of what was a nice looking Sportsman car. He walked to the infield, and was greeted by family. Are for as his car, Sammy Duke was using his Ford F5600 tractor to move the wreckage off the track. When this reporter spoke with him on Tuesday morning, I asked him if he was ok?, "He replied he had a sore tailbone and that was it", he also said he would be back in a back-up car. Another driver that had his car beaten to where one side was caved in was a great driver, Scott Duffy. Duffy a fan favorite drives the #25 White car, and has always been moving on up. Tonight was not his night either at racing, as his car was beaten so bad at the end of the night it was thought that it would be able to continue in the race, but Scott is a battler and he did finish.
As for Rucker Orr he was a run away express, the only competition he was having was from car #11 of Ryan Law and Law tried his best to catch Orr but Orr was to fast.
Hanging in there also was the every present #13 of Roger Cassell.
After all the crashing was over, the fans could sit back and know that they had witnessed some racing action.

The Final Results of the Sportsman feature were:
Winning #99 Rucker Orr
2nd Ryan Law
3rd Roger Cassell

So folks I hope we see you next Saturday night for some more exiting racing action at "The Burg".
I mean where else can you see a Sportsman car fly through the air, and the driver walk away from the wreck and wave to the crowd and smile?

Thanks to all,

Tino Patti

a Freelance Photographer/video Journalist
With a world wide blog readership.

HUMP DAY, ABOUT GONE!

"HUMP DAY, ALMOST THERE HEADED TOWARD RACING AT "THE BURG"

If everyone is ready, well so are we, as racing has been taking a while to get here again. I know that some of you were racing at West Georgia Speedway on Sunday, but hey that was Sunday when it was cold and no crowd, and really not much to cheer about.

The modified mini feature was won by #6 Richard Bagby, who really had no challenges, and the race was good , it was so good that he was able to load his car back on his trailer and collect some extra cash.
Like they say when you can load your car back without a problem, you have made your life a litter easier.

No where was Frank Long who has won every modified mini race at "The Burg", he must have decided to wait until a warmer day, to bring his #07 car back down to see if anyone could catch him.

The weekend looks great for racing, and I believe this week will give me a chance to get the Canon GL-2 my new camcorder- pro style ready and for some great action. I hope that I can learn all the bells and whistles that this camera has on it, it sure is different, and that is good in a way. So while all the drivers are getting their cars ready for Saturday night to try and win on a track that is known to take cars apart, I will be test all my camera gear, I hope for the best for all of you drivers and families.

Terry Finnell, who drives the #32 yellow Enduro car, could have won Sunday if he and is car were working on the same page. I call Terry "Sunshine" and it is because his car is a bright yellow, that can be seen everywhere. It also helps having those bright red letters on the side of his car that says "Carters Wrecker Service", add those two things and you can't miss "Sunshine" when he is on the track. I was thinking if he would have been there at West Georgia Speedway Sunday he would have started with 1 Enduro car and some Street Stock cars, and since every one was dropping out like flies he could have WON, trouble is he would not won as much money as he could have if there had been a full fill of Enduro cars racing. Oh, well maybe he will get back down to the track once his car is ready again.

The hobby race was looking like a dandy of a real show, except #3 of Jeff Carter never came out on the track after he found out he busted a rocker arm stud in the hot laps session.

I was working along in the booth high above the track, and I never noticed till I fired my camer up that in the starting line-up Jeff's car was not in line. I mean you had #01 of Blant Duke, #47 of Jason Causey, and #92 of Joe Hillman, so I knew I would see some real ation, but without the #3 car I knew the race would not be to my liking. Then again, there was some hard fought racing, between the Hillman car and Blant Duke and Jason Causey, so there was some real action, I just wondered what Carter would have had to show, well I guess we will have to wait till next race night to find out.

The Crates, ran, all 3 of them, and of course Tony Kemp ran like a lion and purred like a kitten around the old historic race track. He was in the grove all the way, and never let off. He was being chased by #19 of Jeremy Hall, and #89 of Carey Smith, who was trying to keep his car under him, it seemed he would drive to hard into the turns and get up in the loose dirt where he was forced to back out of the throttle.

Tony went on to win, with ease and who knows what this Saturday night will bring. Someone eles that did not make the Crate car show was the #K77 of Mark Knight, who had his car their but something was really missing in that engine. There has never been a time I have seen Mark at a race and that he did not come out, but I knew when he was not racing it was for a reason. Mark can be one of the most dangerous Crate Car drivers to take the track at any speedway, including West Georgia Speedway.

They called for a intermisstion, I guess that was to sell some more HOT COFFEE, because it was too cold for anything else.
Once that was over, and all the officicials back in place they started the Sportsman race, in which again #99 of Rucker Orr was locked and loaded and on a mission. He was there to win and 2nd place was not in his asignment for this overcast afternoon of Sunday racing.

Mark Sims was there to run his #22M in the Sportsman car divition, and he ran like a champ until bad luck struck and he broke a axle, in the rear end of his car. That was the sad part because earlier in the race, Mark dodged a major pile up, by lets say a fender. I know he could see cars sliding down inside toward his car, and like magic Mark hit the gas and drove past the mess never getting touched, now this is the sign of a good driver, one that has confidence that he can and will make the right moves at the right time. All I can say is when Mark seen the cars sliding toward him, it was time to GO and that is what he did, never getting a lick from any car that was involved in the wreck.

So, I know that Sammy Duke will be happy to see the sun shining on West Georgia Speedway on Saturday, because it is going to rain again on Sunday, so hey lets go racing on Saturday night and get the fans back in the stands. Sunday he was kind enough to give two good looking girls a ride on his Historic Tractor, that he uses on racing nights to pull wrecked cars on and off the track, Sammy is good as gold in his heart, and loves people. Many a night, Sammy will board the blue tractor and slowly ride around the track, waving at the fans, and they are cheering him back, you have to love Sammy Duke.

I hope that we will also see a great Hobby car battle, between Blant Duke, Joe Hillman, Jason Causey and Jeff Carter, and who ever else wants to try their luck at beating Blant Duke.


So with all that said, see you at "Historic" West Georgia Speedway! located in Whitesburg, Georgia, bring you families, friends and children to watch then brave mean tackle the track they say is to hard to tame.

Thanks,

Tino Patti
a Freelance Photographer/Video Journalist