SUMMER SHOOTOUT: Legends Round 1 - 6/12/07
By Jason Buckley
RODERICK DODGES OIL SLICKS FOR PRO VICTORY
In the old days of video gaming, a popular favorite on the Atari 2600 home gaming system was a side-scrolling racer called “Grand Prix.” Besides race traffic, players had to avoid oil slicks on the course to race to the front. Casey Roderick wasn’t even born when the highly-acclaimed game hit the market in the early 1980s, but Tuesday he had to avoid the oil slicks on the Lowe’s Motor Speedway ¼-mile track like he was playing the game en route to his first Pro Legends Shootout victory of the season.
Roderick started from the fourth position and used patience to guide his car to the front. His #147 car had to negotiate around multiple wrecks in the early stages of the race, including a caution that collected frontrunners Toliver Smith, Kyle Fowler and Patrick Molesworth. Due to the “choose rule” restarts, Roderick had to deal with more fast cars up towards the front, including Jordan Anderson.
Casey Roderick slip-slides his way to victory. (LN Photo)
“I got a pretty good start,” said Roderick. “I was making it alright and then I felt something in the left rear. Then they had that big caution. When they went back green it was fine. Jordan Anderson got up there. I was a little worried because the ‘choose rule’ can help you or hurt you.”
While Doug Stevens ran out front, Roderick was looking to advance through the field when a restart wreck slowed the group again. This time, track officials had to stop the race to clean up oil that was dumped all the way around the track. When the green flag was dropped, Roderick and the rest of the drivers had to negotiate around oil spots on the track that were still present. Stevens hit some of the oil, sending him up the track and out of the lead.
“We got in that oil on the restart and pushed up the track,” said Stevens. “I guess I was the first to find it. Casey and Chris (Buescher) got by me. We got back by Chris and ran up to Casey, but the race got shortened a little bit. I wish we could have went the full distance and see
if we could have gotten by Casey. We had a lot of fun though. Casey is like my teammate. He runs out of my shop. I am glad he won if I didn’t.”
Roderick weaved his way around the cars and the oil slicks on his way to the winner’s circle.
“He (Doug Stevens) got high in the corner and that is how Chris Buescher and I got around him,” said Roderick. “The next lap I was right on Buescher and just pulled out and got around him. He gave me plenty of room, so I appreciate that. We just took off from there.
“I couldn’t ask for a better car. It was a little snug in the corner but it helped coming off. I just want to thank my dad for his hard work and his effort to help me make it in my career. We have the points lead for the first week. You never know what is going to happen the next week. We got a pretty good start on it so far, so hopefully we can come out here and do it again next week.”
FRIENDS TANGLE GIVING PARKER HAMMONS THE WIN IN SEMI-PRO
Through the early 1990s in NASCAR racing, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace had a personal friendship that extended outside the racing garage. Off the track, the two drivers were seen together enjoying life and taking it all in. On track, the two were some of the biggest rivals in racing history, often spinning each other out for positions within the race. Some 15 years later, a similar situation found it’s way into the Legends world of racing.
Zach Stroupe (#51 top, left) and Justin Lloyd (#43 top, right) tangled on the last lap (bottom), causing some hurt feelings between the two young drivers. (LN Photos)
The friendship between Zach Stroupe and Justin Lloyd can be seen off the track and in the garage at the race tracks. But a last-lap tangle in the Semi-Pro Legends race sent both drivers into the spin cycle and caused some hurt feelings between the two.
Lloyd started the feature race from the pole position with Stroupe in the fourth spot. Both drivers battled at the front of the field with Steven Ross, Daniel Hemric and Kyle Hall throughout the event. Towards the end of the race, Stroupe moved by Lloyd into the lead, setting up the run to the checkered flag. On the last lap, contact between the friends took both out of the battle for the win.
“I was here last year,” said Lloyd. “I saw what can happen in the front and how people get all excited and hyped up that they’re in the front. It’s the last couple laps and you got to make a move. I got caught up with somebody that was trying to do what he thought is best and there is nothing wrong with that. I felt that something was going to happen, so I was trying to take it easy there in the turn one and unfortunately I got pushed from behind a little bit, which caused me to hit one of my best friends out here at the track and spin him around. I’m truly sorry for what happened and I hope he realizes what happened. I hope we come to an agreement about tonight and I hope we come back next week and be just as good of friends as we were this week.”
Stroupe had mixed emotions after the event regarding the race and the incident with his friend.
“I was kind of ready for it (the contact), but you’d never think it would come from your best friend,” said Stroupe. “That’s how it goes sometimes. I’m frustrated, but then again I’m not real mad at him
because I moved him up a little bit. But there was no reason to go in that far. He drove in as far as he could and just tried to wreck me. We’ll be back next week and we will see what we can do.”
While the two drivers sat in their cars within a big mess of Legends that piled in behind them in the incident in turn two, Parker Hammons rolled right through the mayhem to take his first Summer Shootout career victory.
“The car was awesome at the first part of the race,” said Hammons. “Then it tightened up on me. I was hoping for a top five, but when they wreck you have to take the opportunity. I hate it for them, but it is a win for me.
Hammons has been racing for years, but only racing ‘real cars’ for just a single year. Most of his racing experience has been through video games, which he thinks has helped him behind the wheel of his Legends car.
“I started a year ago in the Summer Shootout,” said Hammons. “The only other thing I have raced before this is online. Everyone can say it doesn’t help, but for me it obviously did. We have a Legends race on there with Lowe’s Motor Speedway (NC) and Atlanta Motor Speedway (GA). It helped me get prepared. Everything is the same.”
While Stroupe was credited with a 14th-place finish, officials put Lloyd In 28th, the last car in the finishing order for rough driving.
NEW YOUNG LIONS DIVISION PRODUCES WIN FOR PRESNELL IN PHOTO FINISH
Dylan Presnell. (LN Photo)
Over the years in the Summer Shootout, some 50 drivers attempted to make the Legends Semi-Pro feature race. With half of the drivers going home, it left many drivers wondering if it was worth it to make the trip to the Summer Shootout.
The answer was the formation of the Young Lions division, which split the Semi-Pro division into two groups. Inexperienced drivers from 12 to 16 years old could opt to race in the Young Lions division, leaving the more experienced drivers in Semi-Pro. While the addition of the new division added to the time crunch during the Summer Shootout, it allowed 19 drivers to take the green flag that could have gone home the year before. Dylan Presnell, one of those 19 drivers, was probably the happiest of the group as he crossed the finish line first in a photo finish ahead of Trevor Farbo.
“This is my fifth race in my Legends car,” said Presnell. “I stayed out of trouble. There were a bunch of wrecks. I got up there to second and I got the guy on the last lap.”
Andrew Lloyd and Tyler Millwood started on the front row of the Young Lions race with Presnell buried in the pack of cars. While the leaders battled it out up front, Presnell methodically moved his way towards the front.
The front was not the place to be early on in the race, as drivers went from the lead to the back after being involved in racing incidents, including Lloyd and Ryan Blaney. When it all shook out, Presnell led Farbo over the final laps as the two battled hard for the top spot. Farbo got to the bumper of Presnell and on the last lap Farbo made a move coming off the final turn for the win. Farbo came up just short in the closest finish for the Legends and Bandolero divisions Tuesday night.
“We got wrecked on the first lap going into the first corner and went through the barrels,” said Farbo. “They reset the field to where we all started. I battled back to second and tried to pass for first on the last lap, but couldn’t quite get by him. We had a photo finish by a few inches.
Dylan Presnell (#83) and Trevor Farbo (#35) in a photo finish Tuesday night. (LN Photos)
“I wanted to win really bad. I thought we had it because we were passing for first but I guess they shortened the race so we couldn’t quite make it past in time. We would have gotten him that next corner. But I am pretty happy with the second place. It is good for the points.”
Presnell used the skill he learned in Quarter Midgets and Bandoleros to hold onto the lead and take his first Legends win.
“He (Farbo) got me loose coming through the last turn and I thought he had me,” said Presnell. “I just got back on the gas sooner than I usually do I just beat him back to the finish line.
“We will be here for all of the races. We want the championship but it is really experience we are after. This is my first time running the Legends car so all this competition will give me a whole lot of experience.”
WEIMER AND HAIR ALL SMILES IN ONE-TWO MASTERS FINISH
The last thing many would expect after a hard battle on the race track is the two drivers involved laughing and joking around about the race. But for Legends drivers Brian Weimer and Clay Hair, the one-two finish not only provided both with great starts to the Summer Shootout championship chase, but a lot of entertainment on and off the track.
Hair and Weimer shared the second row on the start of the Masters race and both quickly made their way towards the front of the pack. As soon as Hair took the lead, a caution flew for a spin on the track. The officials reset the race putting Hair in second and Weimer in the third position. Weimer used the choose rule, which allows the drivers in order to select either the inside row or outside row for the restart of the race, to sneak up to the outside lane for the restart.
“Brian chose the outside,” said Hair with a smile on his face. “I was trying to get the knucklehead to stay on the bottom. But he chose the outside.”
“Clay was telling me to follow him (on the inside line),” said Weimer with a chuckle. “I said ‘no way’ and I went to get that position (on the outside line).”
While Clay Hair (right) was being interviewed by Jason Buckley of LegendsNation.com (left), Brian Weimer (middle) wanted to make sure everyone knew he was "number one" tonight. (LN Photo)
On the restart, Weimer was able to take the lead with Hair following him through to second. The two ran nose to tail the remainder of the race. Even though the race was caution free during the remaining laps, the action was intense as the two leaders had to negotiate their way around lapped traffic. Both drivers swung from the inside to the outside to pass the slower cars with Hair looking for that opening to take advantage of. Weimer was just too strong and held off a last-lap charge by Hair to take the first Masters win of the 2007 Shootout.
“He (Weimer) had the better car tonight,” said Hair. “I got up under him a couple of times coming off the corner but I just couldn’t get him. The track got a bit greasier than normal but he did a fantastic job outrunning me.
“Here at the Summer Shootout, you have to have good finishes. I would like to win, but you can’t win them all. I will get him next week.”
For Weimer, the race might have been a bit too close for comfort, but a win is a win as he hopes to obtain another Shootout championship this season.
“I don’t know if lapped traffic hurt Clay,” said Weimer. “I was kind of working through it okay until it got all bottled up on the last lap.
“The win feels good. Last year I lost the championship by two points to Cotton ( Spry), and I should have won it. I won it two years ago, so I think I am due another one.”
For full Summer Shootout Round 1 results, click here.
