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Whynot a winner with Wing
Late Model Mark
PINSON, Ala. (October 27) - The Dodge was rolling along the interstate heading for another race at another track on a cool autumn Saturday afternoon. This would be one of the longer one-day trips of the season, a 180 mile run to a track I have never seen a race at. Today I was making a visit to Rodney Wing's track located just outside of Meridian, Mississippi. The superb Whynot Motorsports Park. This track was built a long time ago, closed for 8 years, and brought back to life in spectacular fashion by Mr. Wing. With the help of racers, fans and the local community, this overgrown with weeds and trees track, really came back from the dead and might be one of the best dirt tracks around.
From the interstate it is 11 miles of 2-lane road until you arrive at Whynot. Unlike most tracks, instead of parking, walking to a ticket gate and then into the track, this one is different. When you drive unto the grounds, the ladys in a booth collect your admission first, and then you park. You park in a very spacious, well groomed grass parking lot, very easy and orderly. The track is a 3/10mi. high-banked layout with wide straights and turns. The concession area is paved and well laid out, there is room to move around. The restrooms are large and spotless. On the front straight there are nice sized grandstands with new suites lining the length of the seats. On the back straight, the seats are somewhat smaller than the front but they too have new suites running the entire backchute. Real nice trackside parking in turns 1 and 2. It was interesting and different to see those in trackside with campfires burning, at night, right by the track, a fire? That was cool!
The pits are large, well lit, watered and groomed smooth. In one corner of the pits is where Rodney built a cool and large shop, next to that is the house he lives in, the shop was a busy place during the event. The clay is some kinda awesome stuff. A local property owner that supplied the original clay way back when, was the source of the new clay put down at Whynot. Not as red as most tracks down here, more of a light brown, one thing about this stuff is that is rock-free and ultra clean. The track has very good lighting, new walls and catch fence. also a very nice scoreboard. The staff working Whynot is top-notch. Professional, kind, courteous, helpfull, and skilled at what they do. The announcing team of James and Cory Murphy are a hoot to listen to and know dirt racing. This race also had Midsouth announcer Ben Shelton calling the Supers, a great trio a race-callers. The track safety crew also do a real nice job, on top of any problem on or off the track.
This race was the season closer for the track, it's annual Fall Classic that hosted a whopping 188 cars with 60 Super Lates signing in for this $15,000-to-win event. In a competitive 75 lap race, Ronnie Lee Hollingsworth scored his biggest win ever, the crowd loved it to say the least! The racing was excellent all thru the pack with dicing in every corner. One track worker told me the track was junk,huh? He said it usually is much better, what? The surface was glassy smooth, dust free and wide. If the track this night was junk, an opinion I don't buy, I wonder what it is when it isn't junk. The track surface was one of, if not thee best, I have seen in 2009. Whynot has a good weekly fan base with no curfews, averages 80 cars a week and finishes by 11:00pm. Rodney told me the track is making money and things look very bright down the road. Rodney would like to upgrade the grandstands in the future and a few other areas. In my view, this track needs very little if any upgrades, it's darn near perfect. So there you have it, a track doing good in these times with a great crew, good fans, good racers, and excellent racing in a sweet setting. A winning combo for a dirt track, there is no doubt, Rodney Wing has a winner at Whynot, hands down. I drove out of Whynot into the darkness smiling big time as I just had one of the best days at a track in 2009. Thanks Whynot Motorsports Park for a great time, I'll be back again. Job well done!!!
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