BY JERRY BINNER
-KARNAC.com

A few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to try going to a few new tracks I hadn't been to before. The USCS Sprint car series was running at Swainsboro Raceway and Oglethorpe Speedway Park, both in East/Central Georgia. I had a great time and promised myself that I would return someday. Little did I know then, that “someday” would only be 2 weeks later!

With a little research, I found a double-header of racing action happening at Swainsboro again, and Cochran Speedways. No Sprints this time, but the Super Late Models of the Southern All-Star series, and the National Late Model series (NLMS), were on tap.

After 5 hours and 362 miles, I pulled into Swainsboro Raceway. Within minutes, I spotted a couple of racers from Karnac Country. Ivedent Lloyd brought his NLMS car, while J.O. Nobles and Chuck Chitty brought Super Late models.

Swainsboro is a ½ mile dirt track, that reminds me a bit of Volusia Speedway Park, but more of a true oval, rather than D-shaped. Many of the fans enjoy the “Drive-in” style parking, backing their Pick-ups and buses to the fence, and breaking out the grills and coolers, all along turns 1 and 4.

I introduced myself to a couple of very nice and helpful people, in Promoter Paul Purvis, and announcer Shawn Wombles. They were not only helpful, but very appreciative of the fans and drivers who support their place. Looking down the front stretch, it becomes obvious that someone is a very good salesman, as there were 70 sponsor banners along the fence separating the pits from the track.

That doesn't include the bigger sponsors, like Coca-Cola, Hoosier, Dominos Pizza (who supplies the concession stand pizza), Sunoco, and more. The fans and race teams continued to pour in.

With a 6 division card of heat races & features for the 18 Cadet cars, 20 Super Streets, 10 Outlaws, 9 Mini Stocks, 17 NLMS cars, and 20 SAS Super Lates, (94 total) there was plenty of action to watch. Skip Arp set fast time for the SAS cars (with a 17.487), against other top names, like former Nascar regular, Jack Pennington, Randle Chupp, Mike Head, Shane Tankersley, Ed Basey, and multi-time VCS visitor, Jimmy Sharpe.

One thing I noticed immediately, was that they don't waste any time getting things going. The cars enter the track in turn 1, and get the green coming off of turn 4. No pace laps, no white flags… line 'em up and go! Very competitive racing, a little bump and grind, but no harm/no foul as they go on.

After the features for the lower divisions, the NLMS cars came out for their feature. The local dominating driver seems to be Ken Ricks in the yellow # 12 car. He won 2 weeks ago, and led every lap to win this week also. Not much passing in this race, but nobody ran away either.

The top 10 or so, all finished on the same straightaway. Top 5 finishers were #12 Ken Ricks, #83 (who I never did identify), #23 Mitchell Meeks, #2 Terry Lumley, and #45 DeWayne Johnson. Ivedent Lloyd finished 6th after the long drive from Ocala, Fl. The Lloyd team was treating this race as a test for the big $12.000.00 to win show over July 4th weekend at Swainsboro.

The SAS feature saw #31 Skip Arp, immediately start falling back in the running order, as #4 Ed Basey took over the lead around lap 3-4, and never was headed, although he was pressured a few times by Mike Head in the #44 car, who finished 2nd.

Casey Roberts in the #101 and Jimmy Sharpe in the “X” car rounded out the top 4. A pile up under the checkered flag confused things, and I didn't catch who finished 5th. Neither Chuck Chitty, nor J.O. Nobles had their best nights, and finished back in the order.

The non-stop action, was finally completed around 1:00 AM, and my son AJ, and friends John & Mary Gross, started tearing down and headed for Dublin, Ga., and a (short) night of rest. In the AM, we're off to Cochran.

After a little trouble finding the track (even a Cochran Police woman had trouble giving me directions), we pulled into Cochran Speedway. Guess who's already there? Ivedent Lloyd again. This day I spent more time in the pits than in the stands.

They say this is a ½ mile track, but 4/10th's is more like it. High banked turns, no guardrails on the outside, and a groove that's driven more like a “controlled push” rather than drivers turning the front end, all made this a fun place to watch. It looks a little like a dirt Bronson, only longer.

You don't go up the grandstands though. You walk up a little hill and enter at the top of the stands and go down to your seat, or bring a lawnchair if you like.

Not exactly a state-of-the-art facility, but this place is fun, and is well run. Promoter Winford Johnson has created a real family atmosphere here, and seeing 3 or 4 generations of family sitting together is not unusual. Another great field of cars (88) in 5 divisions (no Minis tonight), and time enough to meet some people.

I spent awhile with Ivedent and his Dad, Ivedent Sr., and with Floridians Dickie & Richard Ferry. Had a great talk with Dickie, who was pumped up about the atmosphere here, and having more fun than he's had in years. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again!

In the NLMS class alone, I also met Lonnie Roberts, Ben Faircloth, Steve Jones, and Tracy Mimbs. Other Floridians included Bob & Aaron McQuaig, Michael Lloyd and Tuck Trentham,
35 NLMS teams went out to qualify, and Ken Ricks, again, showed how strong he is, by setting fast time, and starting on the pole for the 50 lap feature.

“Hurricane” Henry Carter grabbed the early lead, and was on a rail, when near-disaster struck. A couple of lapped cars got together in turn 1, Henry had no place to go, and made contact that sent him sailing and twisting through the air. Landing on all four's, damage was checked, and he was given the lead back.

The wreck didn't slow him a bit, as he wired the field for the win. Right rear tires were the story, as no less than about 9 cars had flats, some more than once. Ivedent Lloyd had an early flat, but came back for a fine 5th place finish. The top 5 were #28 Henry Carter, #12 Ken Ricks, #3 Chesley Dixon, #81 Lonnie Roberts, and # 21 Ivedent Lloyd.

As luck would have it, I was seated right behind the whole Carter family, including his Mom, Claudia Carter, who would have stood & cheered her son to victory, if not for rocking her grandson to sleep at the time. I said this was a “Family” place!

As the night wore down, I also met “Woody” Burkhalter, the youngest brother of Don'l and Ralph Burkhalter and uncle to Don and Chuck Burkhalter, the “Boys in Black”.

Dickie Fery and I agreed that this is the way racing used to feel, and we both miss it. Fill the pits, fill the stands, rub fenders a little, and then all have a beer together.

Another group having a lot of fun was the Stacy Roberts crew, and the Faircloth Brothers, Ben and Jeremy. Three hours after the show, there were still people hanging out, talking, laughing.

This is how I fell in love with racing, and to know it's still out there (even if it's 812 miles round-trip), made this a great weekend for me, and for many others also. Try these tracks someday. You won't be sorry you did!

Editor's note: Jerry Binner is our newest reporter for KARNAC.com and will be reporting on various experiences from short tracks across the South Central US. Welcome aboard Jerry! Questions or suggestions can be emailed to the Editor.
Rebecca Richards

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