Octoberfest at Hagerstown Speedway

   Octoberfest at Hagerstown was different. Saturday it rained most of the day, race fans were there sitting in their cars, napping, reading something, talking with the fans in the next car, waiting for mother nature to quit screwing around so they could get some racing in. The noon starting time was pushed ahead until four, when the track crew started drying out the surface, and by 5:00 hot laps were on (qualifying started at 5, and was completed by 9 pm). Hagerstown's Octoberfest features 410 Sprints, Late Models, Big Block Modifieds, and Small Block Modifieds, they qualify through heats and consi's on Saturday and race all divisions a hundred laps each, 50 laps for Sprints, all on Sunday afternoon. The winners in each division get paid ten thousand each (what a whopper of a purse that must be eh). The track is a banked half mile red clay surface thats as smooth as a babys ass, almost dustless red clay, and the wind that blew from turn three and four towards turn one and two didn't hurt.
   On Sunday all qualified cars, 24 Big Blocks, 22 410 Sprints, 26 Late Models, and 26 Small Block Modifieds, 98 total, their haulers and teams all pit in the infield. The fans have something to watch between races. The Hagerstown facility is nice, the normal pits are on the first turn side of the grandstand, similar to Brewerton, the fences and the walls are all straight and equal height, painted up, the grounds are neat and the track folks are good to talk to, all A plus. The race surface, for all it's smooth beauty gets slicked over fast, and then the groove moves down, as close to the inside as humanly possible, then it's follow the leader, just like blacktop. Now we got a one groove affair, wait until the car ahead makes a mistake and lets you under him. Unless you just got more horses and can increase your lead a little each lap on the stretch's, hold your own in the turns, and make the guys behind you work their buts off and use up their tires, similar to the way Hearn did in the Big Block race, and McCreadie did in the Small Block 100. Rick Eckert's Late Model Win was a similar style, but the second and third place guys were right on his butt. Chad Layton did the same thing winning the 410 Sprint fifty lapper. Lance Dewease stayed on Laytons rear nerf bar most of the way, but his late charge caused him to smoke his right rear tire coming off the turns, hot tire, no grip, settle for second.
   How did our racers do? Big Blocks- Pat Ward 3rd, Larry Wight 9th, Dale Plank 17th, Dr Johnson 19th, Matt Sheppard 20th, Billy Decker 23rd. Late Models- Vic coffey 5th, Tim McCreadie 9th, Tim Fuller 10th, Billy Decker 11th. Small Block Modifieds- Tim McCreadie 1st (in the 4 car), Billy Decker 4th, Pat Ward 11th, and Matt Sheppard 22nd.
   Saturday was damp and cold,and I shivered my ass off watching from the grandstand. Sunday was 65, and sunny with that fall breeze, it was beautiful. We left the speedway at about 5:30 Sunday afternoon and arrived at my friends car at Walmart in Oneonta at 10:45. Thats 75 all the way, with a "whoops were doing 80" a few times (except in the many 55 mph work zones where we followed the speed limit), all on three quarters of a tank of gas. I got home at 11:30 and did up most of the commentary, and then crashed.