It’s the showdown at the Show-Me, when everybody steps up their game at Lucas Oil Speedway.

It’s one of the first crown jewel events of the season, and that’s a key part of the atmosphere of this coming weekend. There is additional tension and excitement, because everybody wants to run well.

This has been, frankly, a difficult season thus far for racing. Rain has been a near-constant plague in recent weeks, making it tough to establish a clear rhythm to the season. (However, as tens of MORE

It was 30 years ago today — May 8, 1983 — that popular racer Jim Dunn died in a tragic and fiery crash at Paducah Int’l. Raceway. His death shocked and saddened the blossoming sport of dirt late model racing, as he was the first high-profile racer in NDRA history to lose his life in a racing accident.

The precise events of that day remain somewhat clouded, even though the race took place in front of a packed grandstand on a bright Sunday afternoon. Those who were present recall that MORE