While sitting in our trailer after our Limited Late Model heat race during Ice Bowl XX at Talladega (Ala.) Short Track last week, a range of emotions swirled through my head. On one hand, I was looking at a very good race car with hardly a scratch on it. On the other hand, I had just watched that same car lead five laps of a 10-lap heat, before slipping up out of the grove and eventually getting shoved completely out of a transfer spot with just a handful of laps left.

I felt like we’d just MORE

The Wild West Shootout has the honor of being on either extreme of highway miles logged en route to a dirt track race. The Arizona miniseries ranks both as the longest driving trip I've ever made to a dirt race (some 1,800 miles on my first visit to Casa Grande in 2008), and as the shortest driving trip I've made to the track (about 7 miles to this year's races in Tucson).

At the risk of being a prima donna, let's just say Saturday's few miles behind the wheel — after a smooth airplane ride MORE

Ready or not, race season is here. The 2011 season got off to a roaring start over the past weekend with the first two races in the six-race Wild West Shootout at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz., and Ice Bowl XX at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala.

Billy Moyer Jr. of Batesville, Ark., kicked off the year with a $3,000 victory in Saturday’s Wild West Shootout feature, while Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., earned $5,000 for the round-two victory Sunday. Two-time Ice Bowl winner Shane Clanton MORE

Rarely do I leave a racetrack feeling completely satisfied with the race I witnessed. Maybe I am overly critical or just hard to please. Either way, I usually don’t get very excited over a race if it doesn’t involve multiple lead changes and plenty of passing throughout the field.

I most definitely was not expecting to be thrilled by the Ice Bowl XX feature at Talladega Short Track Sunday afternoon. No offense to the folks at TST, but if you’ve ever been to the Ice Bowl, or have heard MORE

Let's just get this out of the way: If the Jan. 9 daytime race at USA Raceway's Wild West Shootout in Tucson, Ariz., is a total snoozer, I'll take blame for jinxing it.

That said, something struck me during Saturday's daytime opener. Of the handful of daytime dirt racing events I've seen the past few years, it seems they've all been pretty good. Some of have been downright excellent.

Saturday's racing at Tucson was no exception, even though action started under bright sunny skies at 1 p.m. and MORE