’Mac Daddy’ Claims Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series ‘Mountain Spring 50’
Maryville, TN (5-10-08) Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Georgia became the fifth different winner in as many events of 2008 on The Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series Tour by claiming the $3,000 to win Mountain Spring 50 at Mountain Raceway Park in Maryville, TN on Saturday night.
“Well I didn’t really know if it was going to be me or Joe (Armes) that was actually going to race this car tonight but since he couldn’t make it I was happy to drive it. I’m working mostly on driver development programs but getting these wins sure makes me want to drive more. It feels good to get another win. It’s a great car. I want to congratulate the track on running a great program and you guys (referring to the series) for putting on a good show” said a jubilant McDowell from Victory Lane.
Great weather and a great night of good ole fashioned dirt track racing action were long awaited by the fans and drivers of Mountain Raceway on Saturday night after many weather related cancellations. The ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ John Gill of Mitchell, IN set Powermaster Fast Time with a 15.98 second lap and proceeded to the pill draw and drew out his car number (number 1) which meant the Sunoco Quick Six Dashes would start straight up from qualifying with no inversion.
Mike Weeks of Friendsville was able to get the jump on Gill in the first Sunoco Dash and led flag to flag over the top six qualifiers which meant he would start from the pole for the 50 lap A-Main. Gill finished second in the dash, followed by Randy Weaver of Crossville, McDowell, Dan Tipton of Kingston and Skip Arp of Georgetown.
Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series point leader Rick Rogers of Knoxville claimed the second Sunoco Dash over the seventh thru twelfth quickest machines and would put him starting seventh on the feature grid. He was followed in the dash by Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville, David Crabtree of Maryville, Mike Hill of Rockwood, Dusty Carver of Englewood and Herman Goddard of Knoxville.
With the top twelve starting spots locked into the feature, the thirteenth thru twentieth starting spots would be set thru two West Haven Speed Equipment B-Mains. Drivers would need to finish in the top four spots to claim a spot in the A-Main. Chad Ogle of Sevierville won the first B-Main and was followed across the stripe by Tommy Kerr of Maryville, Tony Schrimsher of Loudon, and Stacy Boles of Claxton. B-Main number two was claimed by Mark Vineyard of Powell, followed by Bobby Giffin of Maryville, Steve Smith of Powell and Anthony White of Clinton.
The series point provisional starting spots were claimed by April Farmer of Livingston and Jeff Neubert of Rockford. The two fast-time provisional went to Scott Gardner of Knoxville and Frank Merritt of Maryville which set the final twenty-four car starting field for the Advance Auto Parts A-Main.
Just after the drop of the green flag of the fifty lapper, the #1G of Gill, starting from the front row outside, waved his hand to alert the drivers behind him he was without power thus ending his night then and there. This would pull the #77 of McDowell up to the front row along side the #22 of Weeks for a complete double-file re-start.
Once the green flag flew again Weeks would charge to the lead with serious challenges thrown at him by McDowell until the first caution flag waved on lap five for the #4 of Vineyard, who spun in turn two. Before the sixth lap was officially scored, caution number two flew for the #12 of Schrimsher, who spun in turn four, collecting the #86 of Neubert, the #25 of Gardner and the #C8 of Merritt.
With Weeks still out front on the next re-start, caution three waved over lap six for the #22 of Goddard after he rode the back stretch retaining wall before coming to a stop in turn three.
Dixie-Double File Re-Starts were utilized in the feature, which meant the leader re-started from the front row by himself with second on back able to choose the inside or outside row. This proved advantageous for the #116 of Weaver, who chose to start outside of McDowell in the second row, as he was able to take over the second spot and then grabbed the lead away from Weeks on lap six. McDowell got by Weeks for second on lap eight.
A real dog fight ensued over the next several laps between Weaver and McDowell with McDowell claiming the lead on lap sixteen but caution number four flew over lap eighteen for Weaver, who came to a stop on the front stretch. He then pulled into the pits only to discover there was no flat tire so he reported to the rear of the field.
McDowell was still showing the way at this point with Weeks in second, the #12T of Tipton, having a strong run, in third, the #44 of Rogers in fourth and the #201 of Ogle in fifth. Two more yellow flags would wave over lap nineteen, the first one for the #C5 of Crabtree, who slowed down the back stretch, the second one on the re-start for the #9 of Carver for slamming the turn one wall backwards after he and the #11B of Boles got together. An extended red flag period followed to remove Carver’s mangled machine and debris from the turn one wall.
At this stage of the race attrition was playing havoc on the field as only fourteen cars remained in contention with McDowell still showing the way. The best battles on the track were for positions second through sixth between Weeks, Tipton, Ogle, Rogers and the #97B of Arp. At least until lap #22 when the seventh yellow waved for Weeks, who slammed the turn two wall after something broke on his ride ending what had been a very good night for the Milkman.
The longest green flag run followed with McDowell still out front, followed by a great battle between Tipton, Ogle, Rogers, Arp and his teammate, the #97 of Giffin until lap thirty-nine when Giffin ran up on the dirt berm at the bottom of turn four, bringing the car off the ground and slamming it back to the surface on all fours therefore ending his night prematurely.
By now Weaver had returned to the top five after re-starting at the rear at least twice for tire changes but would run out of time before making another serious threat for the top two spots before settling for third. McDowell in the meantime had pulled away form the rest of the field and cruised to the victory over Ogle, Weaver, Rogers and Arp. Kerr finished sixth, followed by the #2X of White, Boles, Tipton, who suffered from a tire going down in the late stages, settled for ninth and the #10 of Chad Ogle rounded out the top ten. The #14 of Farmer managed to survive and finish eleventh among the eleven cars left at the end.
FEATURE RESULTS
1 Dale McDowell #77
2 Billy Ogle Jr. #201
3 Randy Weaver #116
4 Rick Rogers #44
5 Skip Arp #B97
6 Tommy Kerr #4T
7 Anthony White #2X
8 Stacy Boles #11B
9 Dan Tipton #12T
10 Chad Ogle #10
11 April Farmer #14
12 Bobby Giffin #97
13 Mike Weeks #22
14 Dusty Carver #9
15 David Crabtree #C5
16 Scott Gardner #25
17 Herman Goddard #22
18 Mark Vineyard #4
19 Tony Schrimsher #12
20 Jeff Neubert #86
21 Frank Merritt #C8
22 Mike Hill #17M
23 John Gill #1G
24 Steve Smith #3 Did Not Come Out For Feature
Did Not Start
Justin Arden #28
Brad Coffey #88
Kerry Jones #6
Jeff Franklin #J12
Jason Welshan #29
Chuck Laney #91
Steve Smith #3
DID NOT QUALIFY
Mark Douglas #52D
Tim Rucker #17
RACE SUMMARY
32 Entries From 4 States (TN, GA, IN, VA)
Time of Race: 51 Minutes (9:54pm - 10:45pm)
Yellow Flags: 8
Red Flags: 1 (20 Minutes)
Lap Leaders: 3 (#22 Weeks 1-6, #116 Weaver 7-15, #77 McDowell 16-50)
Powermaster Fast Time - John Gill #1G - 15.98
Sunoco Dash #1 - Mike Weeks #22
Sunoco Dash #2 - Rick Rogers #44
West Haven B-Main #1 - Chad Ogle #10
West Haven B-Main #2 - Mark Vineyard #4
Phoenix Conversions Hard Charger - Anthony White #2X (20th to 7th)
Racin with Rex Racer of The Race: Dan Tipton #12T (Qualified 4th, Ran as high as 2nd in Feature, Finished 9th)
Tiger Rear Ends / DWB Race Cars Rookie: April Farmer #14 (Finished 11th)
FSR/ Hans Safety Award: Dale McDowell #77
Double H Race Fabrications Bumper Award: Rick Rogers (Warrior Race Cars)
