MASON-DIXON MELTDOWN - LEGENDS : 11/17/07
Concord Motorsport Park - Concord, NC
By Jason Buckley
LAST LAP PASS GIVES PAHUD SEMI-PRO VICTORY
Legends Car racing is a physical sport. No matter if drivers are racing for prestige in front of thousands of fans at the Summer Shootout at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (NC) or just racing for trophies at a local show at Wake County Speedway (NC), bumpers and fenders are used by competitors to route and gouge their way to the front of the pack and to the checkered flag. When big purse money is involved, which is something the competitors are not used to, it can get downright ugly out on the race track.
Saturday at Concord Motorsport Park (NC), it got just a little bit ugly when the 22 Semi-Pro drivers took to the quarter-mile track for their 50-lap feature in the Mason-Dixon Meltdown. When the dust settled, Christian PaHud crossed the finish line first, taking the $600-to-win victory after contact on the last lap with Steven Ross, making one driver happy and the other one not so thrilled.
Ross, PaHud and Justin Lloyd took the victories in the three heat races, placing them in the first three positions on the grid. All three drivers tried to distance themselves from the rest of the field, but multiple cautions slowed the field, keeping them all bunched up.
Lloyd, who was able to take the second position at the start, rode the rest of the race in the third position behind the two leaders.
Christian PaHud celebrates his Mason-Dixon Meltdown Semi-Pro win with his team. (LN Photo)
Steven Ross and Christian PaHud went side by side entering turn three on the last lap (top), but contact between the two (bottom) sent Ross into a spin and PaHud to the win. (LN Photos)
“The car drove real good the whole race,” said Lloyd. “Christian PaHud, Steven Ross and I pulled away from the whole field and were riding. There was a little bumping here and there, but that is just racing. We were having a lot of fun out front. I knew before I came here it was going to come down to the three of us.”
PaHud paced the field past the halfway mark of the race, but then had to give up the top spot to Ross, who led the field around until the final lap when the contact occurred, knocking him out of the lead in the last corner.
“The race went good,” said Ross. “I just used patience throughout the race to save my tires since I knew it was going to be a long race. I fell back to third and didn’t panic or anything. I just took my time. I got back up to the lead passing Christian as clean as I could.
“The caution came out and I tried to get my restart perfect so I could get a decent jump so he wouldn’t be right on my bumper. With three to go we ran up on some lapped traffic and that is how he caught me. He almost wrecked me going into one on the last lap, then going into three he finished me off.”
While PaHud drove on to the checkered flag, Ross went for a ride and ended up crossing the line in the 11th spot. After the race he wasn’t too thrilled with the result, but understood that happens in Legends racing.
“That is how it goes,” said Ross. “All we can do is go to the next race.”
On the other side of the spectrum, PaHud was thrilled with his victory. Just a month ago at the Las Vegas Nationals (NV), PaHud made contact with leader Zach Zimmerly, sending him into the wall. 600 Racing officials declared the victory would not go to PaHud then, but the PASS officials didn’t strip him of the Meltdown victory, giving him a cool $600-to-win check.
“We were just riding hoping we could get him on the last lap,” said PaHud. “I got under him going into three on the last lap. It just got real close and ended up getting into him. The last time we got together he didn’t seem too mad about it, but we got over it and hopefully we can just do the same thing with this. At least we get to come away with the trophy and money in this one. We will hopefully just move on.”
Lloyd, who crossed the line in second, had a perfect view of the incident in front of him and just took it for what it was.
“The last lap was just good hard racing,” said Lloyd. “Sometimes that happens and I feel bad for both of them. I am sure both of them tomorrow will understand the situation.”
There are still a few more events this year for PaHud to rack up more wins and possibly a few chances for Ross to get revenge, or at least vindication. PaHud plans to run the PRI show in Florida next month, but his focus at the end of the night was what he was going to do with the $600 he brought home with the Mason-Dixon Meltdown Semi-Pro victory.
By keeping out of the controversy, Justin Lloyd was able to collect the second-place trophy. (Jamie Williams Photo)
“I am probably going to go out to eat (with the money) and give the rest to the car owner,” said PaHud with a smile.
HAIR DOMINATES PRO/MASTERS RACE WHILE VAN WINGERDEN AND DANIELS FUED
When a big Pro/Masters Legends event is scheduled anywhere in the Carolinas, the familiar #29 Clay Hair Motorsports Legends Car driven by team owner Clay Hair is sure to show up and make a run for the win. This weekend wasn’t an exception as Hair entered the $1000-to-win Mason-Dixon Meltdown Pro/Masters 50-lap event, dominating the small 10-car race from green to checkered.
Clay Hair celebrates his victory with his family and crew in the Mason-Dixon Meltdown. (Jamie Williams Photo)
“We probably didn’t have as many cars as they thought, but the quality of drivers was top notch,” said Hair. “Thomas Van Wingerden, Mitchell Coble and all of those guys run up front and win out here each week. We haven’t been coming back here since we have been running the circuit, so this is good to come back here to our home track and run.
“This is the car that we ran the Summer Shootout with and the same car that we ran out in Vegas. We actually broke the thing last week practicing and the boys got it back together. I just showed them what I wanted done to the cars and those guys do it every day in the shop with the customer’s cars, so you ought to just talk to those guys because all I do is ride.”
Hair then pointed to his crew, which included Steve Covington, Director of Racing Operations at CHM.
“We work on it all week getting it ready for him,” said Covington. “It is up to him to drive it though. It is all team. We all work together to make the whole thing work.”
While Hair took the win in a relatively easy fashion, behind him Thomas Van Wingerden wheeled his brother Michael’s car to a second-place finish. Thomas filled in for his brother who couldn’t make it back to the track on Saturday when the event was moved due to problems with the lighting system.
Thomas Van Wingerden (left) and Steven Daniels (right) made contact a few times on the track. (Jamie Williams Photo)
“He (Michael Van Wingerden) had to go work today, so I guess that is why he couldn’t make it out here,” said Thomas. “I needed my 12 car. My brother’s car is a little bit different, but I ran pretty good times. It’s not bad for just getting in the car (for the first time) for the heat race. I am not used to it, but I will take second. I was as fast as he was running, but Clay had a better car and he had better laps.”
Van Wingerden’s race wasn’t without a bit of controversy. Steven Daniels’s #50 and Van Wingerden’s #23 took turns making contact with each other, resulting in Daniels dropping a few positions by the end of the race. The two drivers had a verbal confrontation after the race where they both expressed their feelings towards the other driver’s driving tactics.
Once they separated, Van Wingerden explained the on-track issues from his perspective.
“We were talking about if we won would we split the money up,” said Hair in reference to giving his crew some of the cash. “I started writing a list of all the truck payments and the house payments and we just killed two sets of tires today, so that is around $1000. They got paid well today, just put it that way.”
RESULTS
LN's Jason Buckley (left) was interviewing Thomas Van Wingerden (middle) after the race when Steven Daniels (right) came up to discuss the on-track action. (Jamie Williams Photo)
“He has a problem. He has been thrown out of every track. I am sure he has a problem wrecking people. You can ask a lot of people I race with. I race clean and I race the way you race me. It is part of it and we will go onto the next race.”
Daniels was credited with the fourth-place finishing position and wasn’t happy after the race.
When asked his side of the situation, all Daniels would say is “jealous,” which appears to be referenced towards Van Wingerden.
While those two had nothing good to say about each other, the one smiling at the end of the day was Hair, who was $1000 richer than he started the day with… or was he?
“The first 25 laps I put a straightaway on him (Daniels) and we go into the corner he runs into me,” said Van Wingerden. “He has just about a bumper on me going into three and I was just going to go in there like I normally do. He just drove it up in there and I had to go up into the third lane to not wreck. He just knocks everyone out of the way. I don’t like racing like that, but he did it to me first. You pass me clean I pass you clean.
Semi-Pro
1 #63 - Christian PaHud
2 #43 - Justin Lloyd
3 #10x - Ryan Blaney
4 #17x - Kevan Combs
5 #28x - Ronnie Milroy
6 #8 - Mike Alcaro
7 #52 - Matt Harris
8 #31 - Tyler Millwood
9 #28 - Kyle Pierce
10 #99 - Alex Kempf
11 #48 - Steven Ross
12 #02 - Matt Maring
13 #17 - Justin Morton
14 #99me - Charlie Buxton
15 #24 - Parker Hammons
16 #10 - Jason Wear
17 #07 - Chad Hackenbracht
18 #5 - Brandon McKenzie
19 #71 - Cody Blackburn
20 #06 - Michael Brown
21 #611 - Justin Grim
22 #0 - Dale Dodge Jr
Pro / Masters
1 #29 - Clay Hair
2 #23 - Thomas Van Wingerden
3 #48 - Mitchell Coble
4 #50 - Steven Daniels
5 #96 - Kyle Beattie
6 #55 - Keith Newcomer
7 #7 - Jan Ingram
8 #88 - Dennis Lamberth
9 #06 - Lynn Hunt
10 #84 - Ben Stancill
