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My Trip Down The Road to Moulton Speedway
Late Model Mark
PINSON, Ala. (April 7) - Round two of the "Red Clay Report" from Central Alabama will have a story about my trip to a new speedway and some opinions. When I moved from California to Alabama, I knew that I would have many choices for Dirt Late Model action, I may have underestimated the scope of Dirt Late Models here in the South. I knew it was good, but not this good! This column will deal with my first trip to Moulton Speedway. Talladega Short Track and Green Valley Speedway have been visited so far. The next new track on the list is up in the northwest part of the state. The first race of the season was their biggest of the year. It was the season opener for the Southern Regional Racing Series. So here is my account of the night.
Leaving the "Red Neck Riviera" in the late afternoon we headed north. From Pinson, I-65 north was the route towards Culman, Around 60 miles later I exit at Hwy 157 east. What a sweet drive on this highway. It is rather remote out here and I shook my head when I passed a tin "catfish" shack roadside eatery. After 25 miles you see County Road 184 and the sign for Moulton Speedway. A quick turn and you are at the track. It is a well groomed dirt road in and you pass two houses on the speedway property, Those houses are for the track owner and their daughter. Parking is on grass that is nicely mowed. A short walk to the track and $12.00 dollars later you are in. The track is leased to Bobby Carey. I met Colleen Crumb who is the track's owner, a very nice lady who was very busy running around doing what needed to be done. We picked a great seat. All the seating here is good as you are close to the action. We had arrived at 6:00pm. and the track looked ready to go as the crew had "sealed" the track due to rain that did fall all Friday, and early Saturday. The pits looked to have a decent turnout. Transporters kept pouring in left and right. At 7:00pm.the water truck comes out and soaks it down!! I am thinking, this track is wet and what are they doing!!! They knew what they were doing indeed! At 7.30pm with the lights still off the first car comes out to wheel pack on this drenched dirt. It is near dark at 7.45pm. when the lights come on and many cars are now wheel packing. The track runs in incredibly fast and well. At 8.05pm hot laps start and are done quickly.
The car count tonite is quite impressive as 36 Super Dirt Late Models from 5 states are in the house for this $3000 to win show. The track?? Can you say fast, wide, racy, and one of "the best" prepared surfaces I have ever seen. Billiard table smooth with multi grooves right off the bat. It is a 3/8 mile track that has wide straights and "very" wide turns, Stacked cinder blocks for turns 1 and 2, doublearmco guardrails in 3 and 4. There is no wall on the backchute. The pits are off of turns 3 and 4 and are roomy. A older style tower with a concession stand underneith. All you do is turnaround to see the action. 8:40pm the National Anthem was played and racing started with 2 great mini stock heats and 2 Late Model heats. At this point I was thinking, ok, it's 9:00pm, they must draw for heats, wrong!! At 9:05pm they qualify all 36 cars! The track was so sweet at this point that time trials were a gas to watch. A couple of other stocker heats later it's 10.00pm and heat 1 for the S.R.R.S. is on. These 4 heats went off like clockwork and were done by 10:30, and the heats were great, After 3 other feature events, the S.R.R.S. main event got the green at 11:45pm. and was done at 12:15am with 5 yellows slowing this good 50 lapper. The groove went from the middle or the top to the bottom by the end, imagine that, a multi groove racetrack!!
Some interesting things about this track that has been open since 1965. Colleen told me they need 60 cars to make purse and payroll. They have 90 to 100 on most nights. The crowd averages 400 to 500 on a regular night. They had a nice crowd this night who stayed for everything. The track is sub-leased to Bobby Carrey. The track is in a great area, no houses or people to complain about the noise. The concessions are decent and very cheap. The peanuts, a bag for a buck, were addicting. The weekly Super Late Model payoff is based on car counts. The track is well lighted and is well run in all aspects. Also I would like to mention they have no muffler rules, it's open headers here baby!!!
Moulton Speedway is a winner in my book and only 86 miles from my house!
Opinions, The rest of the country should now believe that Victory Circle Race Cars are the real deal. I now like showing up at a track just before 7:00pm, seeing hot laps, then racing at 8:00pm. All the tracks I have been to have been easy and no hassle, Out West, when are the Oregon and California drivers going to get together and run a show in Oregon? Was Scott Bloomquist and the "tire deal" good or bad? I say it opened some folks eyes to the ease of tire doctoring. Anybody else still ticked about the National Dirt Digest deal? The Crate scene around here is good and gettin better, Gas prices will be a big factor for short tracks in 2008. Last but not least, our son who had been a sprint car fan, or so he thought, had not been to a dirt race in years, now he is "hooked" on Dirt Late Model racing! See ya next time. Next stop, Fort Payne Motor Speedway, a track that is coming back from the dead.
Late Model Mark
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