MILLBRIDGE LEFTOVERS - 5/6/07 LEGENDS AND BANDOLEROS
By Matthew Dillner
BLOW OFF THE DIRT RATHER THAN BLOWING OFF THE RACE
Millbridge chooses to run races in the dirt and not mud.
Kendall Sellers says that many asphalt drivers fear going to a dirt track because of the extra time it takes to clean off the racecar afterwards. A common misconception about Millbridge Speedway (NC) is that it has a muddy surface. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Millbridge is typically a very dry race track, and according to Sellers, that makes cleanup a synch.
“It’s no big deal,” says Sellers. “A lot of people don’t want to get their cars dirty. The car getting dirty is really pretty easy to clean up. It’s only dust, so you can take an air-nozzle and blow it off.”
OHIO DRIVER LIKES IT DIRTY
Falcon Smith is a long way from home. How long? Smith is all the way from Ohio. So why the move from the Buckeye State to Tar Heel territory?
“We relocated down here a few months ago and are now out of Greensboro,” said Falcon of his new home. “We did it just for this season to hopefully impress a few people and open up some eyes and see what we can get.”
In the meantime, Falcon is having fun racing in the Legends Pro Division on the dirt at Millbridge. The friendly driver admits that he feels at home, no matter what state he is in, racing on dirt.
“It’s the most fun you can have, being out here on dirt in one of these cars,” said Falcon with a smile. “It’s a lot more cleaner racing. There is a lot more give and take out here, and it’s not as cut-throat as some of the asphalt races are.”
PASCHAL AND SMITH GOING TO NATIONALS; ONLY ONE HAS A SPOT
Jordan Paschal used a little tap to move Falcon Smith up the track and slip by to take the win and a coveted guaranteed starting position in the Legends Dirt Nationals at Missouri’s Lebanon I-44 Speedway in September.
“This being a regional qualifier and me getting a spot in the Dirt Nationals makes it much bigger than a regular win out here,” said Paschal. “We didn’t want to go out to Missouri without a definite guaranteed starting spot. Now we can go out there and know we are going to be in the race no matter what happens to us. It feels awesome because I missed the asphalt nationals last year and now I get to go to the dirt nationals with that spot. It will make it a whole lot more fun out there.”
Falcon Smith didn’t make much of Paschal’s bump-and-run pass, and said he plans on making the trek to Missouri. He is confident he can race his way into the show.
“We’re going to go out to Lebanon I-44 Speedway,” said Smith. “We are going to race our way into the deal and finish in the top five. That’s how we do things.”
HARD WORK PAYS OFF FOR RODGERS
Most of the time you have to work hard to earn things in life and in racing. Outlaw Bandolero driver Nathan Rodgers didn’t earn a winner’s trophy at Millbridge on Sunday but would be the leading candidate for the “hard work award” of the day.
Rodgers #42 shut down on the frontstretch during practice and, with the help of track workers, had to be pushed back into the pit area. From there, the rest of the day was spent thrashing on his Bandolero, trying to diagnose what was going wrong with it.
“I wasn’t really too sure what was going on at first,” said Rodgers. “I thought maybe it was the chain being loose and jumpin’ and catching. We had a problem like that one time at the Summer Shootout. So we ended up changing that and went out there and it took a lap and thought, ‘man this thing sounds weird.’ We brought it in and changed the sparkplugs thinking that was maybe the problem. Then we said, ‘I guess we’re going to have to take this whole thing out.’ One of the cylinders went down in the motor, so because of taking it out, we missed our heat race.”
Nathan didn’t have the race he hoped for in the feature, but did finish second in his division.
Rodgers isn't just a wheelman. He also works on his car.
DRIVERS WANT MORE CARS TO COME TO MILLBRIDGE
The Legends and Bando car counts at Millbridge are low. That is a fact. Only 14 cars (seven Legends and seven Bandoleros) sat in the paved pit area just outside turns three and four.
Millbridge produces some of the best dirt track racing for the Legends and Bandoleros in the South. (LN Photo)
For some, that makes the race day more easy going and the racing less aggressive. Heck, Larry Friddle got a Dirt Nationals spot by just showing up on Sunday. But the general consensus throughout the pits is that more competition is welcome.
“It’s just a real fun race track,” says Bandolero driver Kendall Sellers. “Come on out here and have some fun. It’s a real down-to-earth environment, and everyone is real cool out here.”
“This is a pretty neat little place,” adds Legends driver Falcon Smith. “It’s real fast for the size that it is. Most of the time it’s got multiple grooves to where you can pass pretty good. Melvin and his guys do a great job down here, and I wish we could get a few more cars so we could put on a better show out here.”
BANDO DRIVERS TRULY HAVE TO FIND THEIR WAY
Bandolero drivers had a rough time seeing where they were going Sunday.
The dry surface at Millbridge Speedway may make it easy for post-race cleaning, but how do you deal with the dust during the race? Looking at some of the windshields on the Bandolero racecars when they pulled in would leave some thinking, ‘how do those kids even see their way around the track?’
“You couldn’t see much out there today because there was so much dust on the windshield,” said Sellers. “I had to look through about a four-inch hole in the windshield. We got out to a pretty big lead and just rode around and had some fun.
“It’s pretty hard to see out of these darn things especially when the track is dry. When it’s real dry, you get a lot of dust built up on the front windshield. Usually by the end of the race you can’t see much and you have to take your prior knowledge of the track to drive it.”
Nathan Rogers, who grew up racing go-karts at Millbridge, was able to draw on that knowledge of the track to help him get around. He says it was a rut in one of the turns that caused the dust to be more exaggerated than normal.
“Dirt and dust was flying everywhere down in the one turn because the Legends cars had made a hole down there,” explained Rogers. “By the end of the race I could hardly see.”
THEY CALL HIM SQUIDGET. YES… SQUIDGET
Bandolero Young gun driver Kyle Shano is a little energetic fellow with a great attitude. If you take a second to look at the name on his drivers’ suit, it’s clear just how much fun he and his family have in racing. Stitched on that suit is one of the more creative nicknames in racing, “Squidget.”
But what the heck is a “Squidget?”
“A Speedy Midget,” explains Shano. “It’s because I am short for my age. But my dad says I go fast, so a Speedy Midget is a Squidget. I get asked about it a lot. People sometimes say Squigget because it is spelled weird. It’s Squidget.”
So, how old Shano? “I’m 15,” says Shano. And how tall? Shano simply replied, “Short.”
