(captainblowdri file photo)
As my summer vacation is slowly coming to it’s end, I still have one last opportunity to Work On My Redneck! One of my last stops this summer is in Chico, CA. The 320 mile drive from La Pine, Oregon, where I spent a total of four and a half weeks, to Chico, CA took about six hours. Need I say that the drive was spectacularly beautiful. The prettiest part of the drive was transiting the Lake Shasta area on I-5.
However, the goal on my 320 mile sojourn was to arrive in Chico, setup my RV, and then enjoy four fantastic nights of sprint car and midget racing in Northern California. The Silver Dollar Speedway is an action packed, high banked, 1/4 mile clay racing facility. The Gold Cup Race of Champions, as this event is called, is the culmination of a hot summer of intense, close competition. It is one of the most prestigious races on the West Coast for Sprint Cars.
The first night of racing consisted of winged 360 sprint car racing in the 2011 Civil War Invitational. The top 35 drivers in the points for this series are invited to compete for some really big money.
Likewise, the top drivers in the in the Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Spec Sprint Car Series were invited to compete on Wednesday, the first day of this four day event.
There were 53 sprint cars, both winged and wingless, for the first night of racing. The quality of the racing was top notched and rivaled racing that I have witnessed at The Knoxville Nationals, in Knoxville, Iowa. In both the winged and the wingless sprint car A mains, the racing was fast and furious! The size of the race track, 1/4 mile, facilitates tight, wheel-to-wheel, aggressive fast racing.
No matter where you were focusing your attention, front stretch, back stretch, turns 1 and 2, or turns 3 and 4, it was an action packed evening of thrilling, intense, throttle-jockeying!
This was just the first night of an action packed four nights of racing. If this was just a precursor to what is the culmination, a two night show from “The Greatest Show On Dirt”, The World Of Outlaws, then it will be money well spent!
So for now:
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING, ROGER, WILCO, OVER, AND OUT!