Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: The Clash on the Wabash (and more)
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: Eldora Speedway needed a name for its Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series doubleheader coming up on Oct. 9-10, an inaugural event that keeps the iconic track in Rossburg, Ohio, on the national tour’s schedule after hosting the circuit’s finale — Carl Short’s Dirt Track World Championship — for the past three years. Officials at the Tony Stewart-owned half-mile oval decided to take suggestions from fans, and man, did they receive a ton of possibilities — more than 2,500 names and ideas, in fact. They settled on a race title: The Clash on the Wabash, in reference to the Wabash Reservoir that sits just south of the track and is fed by the Wabash River. Three individuals — Warren Haas, Scott Siefring and Mike Norris — offered close iterations of the name so all of them will receive a prize pack from the track that includes tickets to the event, which features a $10,000-to-win preliminary program and a $50,000-to-win finale.
No. 2: The baby boom that occurred for Dirt Late Model drivers during the recent World 100 — remember Brandon Overton and Justin Duty ending their weekends after Thursday’s opening preliminary program to fly home for the births of their kids? — actually also included Garrett Alberson. While Alberson was sidelined for Eldora’s crown jewel event while recovering from facial injuries suffered during Aug. 8’s North-South 100 and stayed home in Colona, Ill., his wife, Dani, delivered the couple’s second child, Emerson Cale, on Sept. 12. So yes, on the day of the World 100 finale and one day after Overton and Duty had their babies arrive just minutes apart, Alberson welcomed a new addition to his family as well.
No. 3: As for the 37-year-old Alberson’s progress in his recovery from the broken nose, multiple facial fractures and laceration above his left eye that he sustained from a hit to his helmet at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., he had a followup visit Monday with a sports doctor who specializes in vision and cognitive-type function. He received promising news that would seem to point towards his return to competition with his Roberts Motorsports team soon. The examination “was mostly to get a baseline for where I’m at currently,” Alberson told me in a text message, “but the general feel was pretty optimistic and that it was mostly up to me from here, so I think we are getting pretty close.”
No. 4: Paging through my reporter’s notebook from the World 100, I came across one anecdote I jotted down but had forgotten to mention. It came during the Thursday preliminary show rain delay while I was talking in the pit area with Rocket Chassis co-owner Steve Baker, who always provides interesting conversation and quotable comments. As we chatted, Rocket1 crew member Joel Rogers was standing on the back bumper of the team’s car driven by Brandon Sheppard and pouring fuel into the tank for the upcoming hot laps. Seeing this prompted me to ask Baker what the going rate for race fuel currently is. He said he’s selling 116 octane Sunoco Race Fuel for $14 a gallon, which meant “there’s a lot” of money going into the tank of the house car that he fields with his longtime partner Mark Richards. Then Baker quipped with a sly smile: “The problem with this deadbeat crew is, I don’t get paid for (the fuel). They just say, ‘Put it on my tab.’ ”
No. 5: I found one other leftover in my World 100 notes. This one centered on Ryan Gustin’s tire guy Noah Bushman, who I asked during the Eldora weekend about his participation in the hot dog-eating contest that was part of Sept. 6’s Weiner Nationals at Moberly (Mo.) Motorsports Park. I wanted to know how many hot dogs (with buns) Bushman ate during the five-minute competition. “Three,” said Bushman, who added that he “just did it for fun.” He also noted that the contest was won going away by a ringer who was brought in, a professional eater who scarfed down 21 hot dogs in the five minutes — not quite the pace of the legendary Joey Chestnut in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, but still a remarkable number of hot dogs that left Bushman shaking his head in amazement.
