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Scroll down for the assorted quotes normally found here!


One-time Web exclusive: The Bobby Hamilton Memorial 200 May 23 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway (from staff and track reports):


The first extended-distance Late Model race under the new management at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway became the biggest victory in the four-year Late Model career of Daniel Pope. To most racers and fans, the event was known more for the antics and subsequent penalties of former track champions Andy Johnson and Mark Day, but that didn't ruin anything for the winner.
"They kinda stole the glory from that race, but it's all right," said Pope, from Smyrna, Tenn. "I'll take a win however I can get a win. It's so hard to win races any more. Everybody there at the racetrack could see I had one of the fastest cars at the track. The only car that could run with me was Mark Day."
Pope led most of the way, only to lose the point to Day just before the halfway break. The top six were inverted for the restart, and Day was soon back out front heading into a brief rain shower and another planned break at lap 150.
The draw produced another 6, and that soon produced some wild action. Johnson passed Steadman Marlin for the lead, and then Pope got around Johnson. Then Johnson and Day collided, triggering a mess that involved almost the entire field.
"Luckily I got in front of 'em before they got to meleeing with each other," Pope said.
As many cars limped around to the pits, Johnson and Day played bumper tag with each other. When the cars came down pit road, Day stopped at his stall, and Johnson rammed his stopped car, pushing it up against the pit wall as crew members and officials scurried behind the wall. A brawl ensued between the teams.
Day and Johnson were disqualified and suspended for one race. Johnson was also hit with a fine for endangering those in the pits.
"This has been an ongoing battle for several years between Johnson and Day, two of the best Late Model drivers in the country, but tempers flared past the acceptable stage," said track promoter Danny Denson of Full Throttle Race Parts. "I fully understand the passion and talent these two drivers possess, but those attributes should be a deterrent to such behavior, not a catalyst for a brawl to ensue."
Weather was threatening and only five cars were at full speed, so Denson shortened the race to 165 laps. After a confusing moment in which Sterling Marlin was penalized for working on his car under a red flag (invoking 2002 Daytona 500 memories), the race resumed, and Pope had no trouble heading to the checkered flag.
This was Pope's first victory since 2006. In that span he traveled to some UARA and NASCAR Camping World East Series races with a family team and even received a start in the then-NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. 
"I scattered myself around and got ourselves spread too thin," the 22-year-old Pope said. "We decided to come back home and settle down for a year, to show we could still do it."
He hooked up with a team, Beaty Enterprises, that has shown they can do it. Brance Beaty fielded a car for 2007 track champion Josh Adams, and Bo Miller and Chevy White both won races at Nashville for him last year. Pope drove the HarCor chassis to another win again the next week and is off to a great start in his search for a Fairgrounds championship.

Full Throttle 200 presented by Nossi College of Art: 1. Daniel Pope II; 2. Jimmy Victory; 3. T.W. Fisher; 4. Daniel Bolden; 5. Chuck Tuck; 6. Sterling Marlin; 7. Steadman Marlin; 8. Chevy White; 9. Dean McIntyre; 10. Joseph Meyer; 11. Paul Connolly; 12. Tommy Joe Martins; 13. Dakota Stroup; 14. Simon Yates; 15. Mike Pruitt; 16. Michael House. DQ: Andy Johnson, Mark Day.

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Quotable: Assorted sound bites from the Late Model world since mid-April:

"What does my car number 01 stand for? Stan, upside down."
- Phil Massuch, winner of the Stan Perry Memorial outlaw Late Model race June 12 at Angola Motor Speedway in Fremont, Ind. Perry, who passed away at a racetrack last spring, was known for driving #10.

"I looked around at the scoreboard and saw Scott Hantz in third. I thought, 'He'll be here shortly.' "
- Midrace leader Jason Shively, on frequent Angola race winner and hometown driver Scott Hantz. Surprisingly, Hantz didn't catch Shively when he was leading; Hantz wound up fourth, one spot ahead of fellow prerace favorite Jack Landis.

"You can mess a car up just as easy at the break as you can make it better."
- Four-time PASS North Super Late Model Series champion Ben Rowe, on the halfway break of the 200-lap PASS race June 13 at Speedway 660 in New Brunswick. Rowe picked up the win, his second straight in the series.

"The car was decent … but we were down on horsepower with this spec motor. We tried to hang around and irritate everyone up front all night."
- PASS veteran Kelly Moore, who finished sixth at 660.

"Hopefully I didn't show Eggleston too much for the ASA show."
- Home-area favorite Brian Campbell, who passed Chris Eggleston for the lead and the eventual win June 10 in a template-car special at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. Both drivers will return June 20 for an ASA Late Model Series Northern division show.

"When you're lapping cars that are pretty darn good, you know you've got a good car."
- Scott Thomas, who lapped up to sixth place in winning the outlaw Late Model portion of Berlin's midweek show.

"It's hard for us country boys to come here and compete against that Gibbs stuff, but we do what we can."
- Late Model Stock Car veteran Jimmy Mullins, who finished second to Darrell Wallace Jr. in the Old Dominion Shootout at Franklin County Speedway in Callaway, Va. Wallace is a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing.

"That year I think there were 36 cars in the field, and I got hit 42 times."
- Clay Rogers, referring to a 2003 visit to Winchester Speedway in the USAR Pro Cup Series. Rogers won the 2009 event, the series' first trip back to the Indiana high banks since '03.

"We'd just got our steam going in this series. If we go to ARCA or try to do anything else, we're gonna be starting back over again, running against notebooks that are an inch thick."
- J.P. Morgan, on his decision to stay with the Pro Cup tour, even though it had an uncertain future in November, December and January. Morgan was happy with his decision by the fourth race of 2009, when he finished a career-best second at Winchester.

"I was more disappointed that Dad didn't make it than I was excited that I made it. This is his deal. He loves these Super Late Models. I'm a modified guy."
- Shawn Stroble, on transferring through a last chance race to the Main Event Racing Series season opener at Angola, when his father John Stroble missed the feature. The elder Stroble turned his season around with good runs in the next two events. Shawn is in his first season of Super Late Model racing.

"I was talking to Joey King last night; he's putting one in, and I told him that thing's a pain."
- ASA Late Model Series Southern division driver Justin Larson, on installing the new LS3 crate engine. ASALMS North driver King is also switching to the LS3 after more than a year of using one of GM's previous sealed powerplants. Larson won in his first race with the LS3, at Senoia, Ga.

"I tell everyone these insoles are like walking on a cloud. Like Dr. Scholl's, but better. That's my little sponsor tidbit."
- Brandon McReynolds, who won the UARA event May 30 at Dillon Motor Speedway in South Carolina. His new backer for the year is AirPlus Footcare.

"Bill Lackey's doing a hell of a job. When you can get 26 cars to run for $1,000 to win, you must be doing something right. Bill treats you like people wanna be treated."
- Tom Smith, who won the May 30 SuperPro Late Model Series race at Baer Field Speedway in Fort Wayne, Ind. Lackey is the SuperPro director.

"I became one of the veteran racers instead of a young gun somewhere along the line."
- Central Wisconsin standout and multi-time Golden Sands Speedway champion Mark Eswein.

"I thought I was going to have to buy a ticket to Loudon, because Joey Pole was so unbelievable."
- Dave Pembroke, who won the ACT Late Model Tour Memorial Day Classic at Thunder Road in Barre, Vt., after leader Joey Polewarczyk slid off the pavement and spun. The winners of each ACT race this year will have automatic berths in the tour's first-ever invitational race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sept. 19.

"How am I gonna get this trophy back to Colorado?"
- Chris Eggleston, looking at the five-foot hardware after he won the George Appleton Memorial ASALMS North race at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Ill.

"Driving ovals is totally different from the road course racing I'm used to. For the oval you dive low in the corners and drift up coming out of them. If I did that on a road course, I'd be passed by half the field."
- Andrew Hagen, who made his first Late Model start May 22 at Toledo, Ohio, for Brad Keselowski Racing. Hagen came from Australia with a background in open-wheel road racing.

"How many of you guys are Tony Stewart fans?"
- Clay Rogers to the fans, after winning the USARacing Pro Cup Series show May 23 at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., and before he and some crew members began to climb the frontstretch fence. Rogers didn't remember that IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves had a fence-climbing tradition well before NASCAR's Tony Stewart did.

"They said I was way ahead at one point, but it wasn't way ahead to me."
- Indiana veteran Scott Ross, who led all but the last lap in the Jim Blount Memorial at Plymouth Speedway.

"I'm not the one who should win it; Dad should."
- Tyler Roahrig, who passed Ross on the last lap at Plymouth. Tyler is 18 years old; his father J.R. Roahrig was also in the race and has more history with the Blount family.

"I was watching my mirrors. I couldn't even see which cars were behind me, just that there were two of them."
- Paddy Rodenbeck, who led the UARA race at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C., until the last five laps. Jamey Caudill and Brandon McReynolds were side by side behind him. Caudill went on to win the race, while Rodenbeck spun after contact with McReynolds and another car and wound up with a midpack finish.

"Half of the cautions at Airborne were because of teams running 25th, 27th or 28th. That takes the race away from the people who want to see good racing out front. Sometimes you just have to swallow it and say, 'I suck today.' "
- ACT president Tom Curley, in the drivers meeting May 17 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. The Oxford race contained only two cautions in 150 laps, much calmer than the previous week's ACT race at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

"The way I look at it, the guy that won two Snowball Derbies was here, and that's who you need to beat, whether it's a crate or a Super car."
- Texan Jason Young, who won a $5,000 Pro Late Model race May 16 at Montgomery, Ala., on the fact that his biggest win was in his crate-engine car instead of the Super Late Model that he's been trying to win in for more than three years.

"Under caution and riding in the groove, you still hit rocks. I guess with the way it's been sitting with all those cars on it, tearing all those rocks up is real easy. They need to get one of those vacuums or street sweeper things and suck all this stuff up."
- Hunter Robbins, on the racing surface at Montgomery Motor Speedway. The facility sat idle for three years and was used as a storage facility for the nearby Hyundai plant before Bobby Knox and his group bought the track and reopened it in April. The race which Young won was the third night of racing since the reopening.

"I said, 'Jim, you make a better sponsor than a car owner.' "
- Indiana veteran Rick Turner, on Jim Mougeotte of Great Deals Coupon Magazine. Great Deals has sponsored Turner in the CRA Super Series for years and still does, but the company stopped fielding its own team after 2008.

"I watched the 5 car drive Penfold off the backstretch and I watched Johnny hit the 33 at Bangor and drive him off the racetrack too, and they got no penalty. I got no problem with going to the rear if that's the penalty for everybody."
- Four-time PASS North Super Late Model Series champion Ben Rowe, who was sent to the rear after contact with Travis Benjamin in the May 16 race at Unity Raceway. Earlier in that race, Chris Staples pulled, in Rowe's eyes, a similar move on Bill Penfold and there was no call from officials. There was also no call two weeks earlier after Johnny Clark's contact with Travis Benjamin at Speedway 95 near Bangor, Maine.

"He's not Bob Senneker, he's not Mike Eddy, and he's not Dick Trickle. This is Drew Brannon we're dealing with."
- Three-time American Speed Association champion Butch Miller, now the crew chief for ASA Late Model Series Southern division points leader Drew Brannon. At the ASA Late Model Challenge Series opener at the Milwaukee Mile, Miller was asked to compare Brannon to some of his contemporaries from ASA's glory days.

"I still look at it like there's no place in the country more competitive than the Southeast. You can't change my mind on that. But I haven't been many places either, so I might go up there and change my mind."
- Alabama driver Josh Hamner, who is racing in the ASA Late Model Challenge Series this season and visiting some Midwest tracks in addition to his Southeast Super Late Model schedule.

"Everybody that gets one starts running up front. So it's not really to my benefit any more."
- Northwest standout Gary Lewis, on the fact that he talks many racers into switching to Victory Circle chassis.

"As long as something doesn't happen to my lungs, we're looking forward to being there and doing the best we can do."
- Jim Pettit II, on the next SRL Southwest Tour race May 23 at Madera, Calif. Defending SRL champion Pettit's car caught fire in the May 3 race at the Bullring at Las Vegas, Nev., and it took quite some time before he was removed from the smoky, flaming car by fans and crew members.

"I don't want to say it's the changing of the guard, because those guys have still got some good laps in them, by far."
- Randy Schuler of Mequon, Wis., who won his first Super Late Model feature at Slinger Super Speedway May 3 after 12 years of trying, discussing the accomplished veterans at Slinger such as Al Schill, Lowell Bennett, Brad Mueller and Conrad Morgan.

"I told Dean, 'You made an old guy feel good.' Dean says, 'You made two old guys feel good.' "
- John Doering Jr., who won the Main Event Racing Series show at Angola Motor Speedway in his first trip to the Indiana bullring. Doering's car owner Larry Zent and crew chief Dean Hudson, who are both <a few> years older than the 51-year-old Doering, are from Indiana, even though Doering usually races in his home state of Michigan.

"I've been racing my whole life. I think I've run seven Main Event races, and the best I'd finished was fifth. For my son to roll off the truck, lead almost 50 laps, and run second is a true testimony to his talent."
- Jeff Finley, a veteran based in Lansing, Mich., on his 17-year-old son Chad's runner-up finish at Angola.

"I was sitting in the car for 20 minutes when they stopped us on the backstretch under red. I got to stare at that light pole the whole time. I said a few prayers and talked to God for a while. When they interviewed me after the race when I won, they said the track owed me one. Now I've hit two light poles and won two races. Next time I'll probably hit another light pole."
- Brett Sontag, who won the ASA Late Model Series Northern division race at Illiana Motor Speedway just across the state line from Chicago. Sontag also won Illiana's Bettenhausen Memorial last fall, but he's still remembered from his 2007 Bettenhausen crash where he slid along the backstretch gras and slammed an infield light pole, knocking four fixtures to the ground.

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