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| A.J. Hicks #64 |
What a great weekend of racing! Jackie Boggs #4B would find himself at the “Big E”, Eldora Speedway, for the 49th World 100.
Jackie and the #4B team are no strangers to Eldora. With a field of almost 100 cars, this is where the best of the best and the biggest of the big end up racing. Jackie and the whole team gave it their all but fell just short of making the feature. Jackie had this to say: “It just wasn’t the weekend we wanted. We went up and gave it 100%. Thanks to all the fans who support us and stand by us through the rough times.”
Johnathan Davenport would go onto win the World 100 with his throw back car, the 49 “Brewster Baker” Six Pack, from the famous 1982 Kenny Rodgers movie about racing and kids. While it was a good race, I would have much rather seen the Carter County Boys bringing the money home. Their 50/50 drawing the pot was at a record of $80,000 going to whom every held the winning ticket on Saturday night.
With all the other tracks taking off for the World 100 We find ourselves looking at the Beast of the East Richmond Raceway for Saturday night action. AJ Hicks hit the road Saturday and rolled into the beast of the east with his #64 crate late model in hopes of picking up another victory there. AJ had a great car all night and looked very good. I was unable to catch up with him and speak to him. He parked the #64 car into victory lane and took the feature win.
I would find myself, Gunner Johnson #9F, headed to Richmond as well. I had my crew with me and my black stallion. We also brought along the S&S Motorsports #B5 sport mod of Boogie Sammons for my good friend Jimmy Lennex Jr. to drive in the Bubba’s Towing Sport Mods Mania.
The night started off great for Jimmy Lennex Jr.- he received the award for setting the track record in the #B5 last weekend. Jimmy raced great all night through qualifying and heat races. He would end up starting on the outside pole, and quickly took the lead after a couple laps of hard side by side racing. Lennex would find himself leading the race, but then, due to a suspension break, he was forced to pull the #5B hot rod into the pits. Jimmy said it definitely wasn’t the night he had hoped for and was very fortunate for the opportunity to pilot the car for Boogie Sammons & S&S Motorsports.
Jimmy wanted to thank all his crew and sponsors. He also wanted to thank his father Jimmy Lennex for everything, and he couldn’t do it without them all.
I, Gunner Johnson #9F, would unload, and roll out for some hot lap qualifying. I got one lap in, and the carburetor malfunctioned. It left me setting in the infield. My crew came over and got me pushed back into the pits where Kenny & Pit Daddy were waiting on me. We quickly found out it was a fuel flow problem, and took action to get it going again. Just in the nick of time we finished her up, and they were already lined up for my heat race. I barely made it out there in time. I started in the 2nd row inside, and would finish in 2nd place of my heat.
Allen Hackworth Jr. #33 would find himself having a interesting night. He rolled into his heat race looking great, and then due to some confusion, pulled into the pits thinking he had an oil leak. He actually had no leak, so he found himself starting the tail end of the feature.
I rolled into the feature in the 2nd row inside, and would quickly learn we were in for a ride. My car felt great! I was the only thing not working at a 100% in the car. It took my a few laps to get myself where I wanted to be, and I was finally getting a smooth roll going. I was running in 2nd place, and I could hear Allen #33 right behind me in 3rd. We were rolling and digging, but we ran out of laps. Allen had came from the back to 3rd, and we had more to offer- just couldn’t get it going in time.
All in all, we had a wonderful night and a great time. People who never go and experience what all goes on in the pits of a dirt track just hasn’t lived life to the fullest yet. There is so much that people have no idea about. It’s a lot of hard work, and behind the scenes- high tensions. I’m telling you- go to a dirt track some where and get the pit pass. I promise you’ll leave with a life time story of some kind. I hope you enjoyed this weeks race recap. #9F #nocommercials
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