13th annual Racers Reunion and a trip to "The Gap"
Dustin and I made the trip up to Jonesborough for the Racers Reunion Event this past weekend. We have some terific interviews to share....after several more hours of editing and getting familiar with some new equipment and software. We were able to record some stories from Rex White, John A. Utsman, Layman Utsman, Sherman Utsman, Gary Potter, Dr. Don Tarr, Travis Tiller, Brad Teague, Brownie King, Paul Lewis, and Jim Hensley. We saw several of our RacersReunion.com members in attendance including one of our supporters, Quicshine99's Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy brought up an Alan Kulwicki car from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame for all the fans to see, and made a donation to the Racers Reunion from the proceeds of his sales there. Thank you, Jimmy!After leaving Jonesborough, we went to Bulls Gap, TN to Volunteer Speedway to take in a night of some really fine dirt racing. Volunteer Speedway ("The Gap" as we call it) is a 4/10 mile track with 32 degrees of banking in the turns. The Super Late Models get around it in just over 12 seconds. Yep, that's what I said....12 seconds. We looked like we knew what we were doing when we did four pre-race interviews with Vic "the Thrill" Hill, Jeff Maupin, John Cook, and Dale Ball (son of legnedary racer, Walter Ball) as three of these guys went on to win their features. Vic Hill won the Super Late Model show with Maupin coming in second, John cook won the Hobby Stock race, and the best racing of the night found Jeff Maupin winning the Crate Motor Late Model show after an exciting battle with Dale Ball. This brought back some great memories of racing there...especially after taking a shower and cleaning the red clay out my hair, ears, nose,....and lungs. If you are ever in Northeast Tennessee on a Saturday night....you need to check out the show at "The Gap"! Track owner Joe Lovin will be there riding around on a 4 wheeler.
That was definitely the most fun I have had in a long time. Can't wait to get back up there.
Unbelievablly, Bulls Gap has announced they will be CLOSED for the remainder of May. Why? Fuel costs, poor economy, poor turnouts and TOO MUCH NASCAR ON TV! "The Gap" is an icon of the dirt industry, Vic Hill runs there, Scott Bloomquist lives nereby and The Gap, apparently, ain't makin' it! That's scary, ya'll!
Yes, all of the above....according to Joe Loven. That place used to be packed for the regular Saturday night show. But even the regular shows included 100 lap Late Model features when they had those full stands. They are now running 35 lap Super Late Model features and 15 and 20 lap support class features. Just my opinion, but if you want to increase the crowds....even in a slow ecomomy...you gotta put on a show. And if you want good car counts....you gotta offer a decent purse. Joe says he's runnin it like a business....sometimes you have to invest in your business to make it grow. I'm trying to not be too critical of Joe, but he's got a great race track...it's a shame to see these cut backs. These Saturday night tracks are the roots of the sport, and you see this sort of thing happening everywhere. Too sad.