Stars shine as Fairgrounds Speedway opens 52nd season
By: Rob Spires

It was a hot weekend of action as Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway opened its 52nd season of racing.

On Friday night, fans were treated to quarter-mile racing, as well as time trials for Saturday night’s races on the larger 5/8s mile track.

In the first race of the evening, David Moyes jumped to the lead of the Legends/Dwarf feature, and never relinquished the top spot. Tim Lunn took victory in the Dwarf class.

The Frontrunners were the next race on tap, and as always, the division provided plenty of excitement. At the start of the race, William Owens jumped to an early lead. Owens held off challengers until the 18th lap when Artie Graham was able to work around him in turn 1. However, as the cars entered turn 3, Paul Cummings was able to work his nose to the inside of Graham. Cummings pushed up into Graham, leaving the inside lane open. Owens seized the opportunity to dive under the other two cars, and the trio came down the frontstretch three-abreast. After some more beating and banging in turn 1, Cummings was able to escape from the chaos with the lead. He would go on to win the race uncontested.

As the Super Stock cars were lining up for their feature, the rain came for the first time during the weekend. After an almost two hour delay, track crews were able to get the track dry and racing resumed.

Robert Forsythe started from the pole in the Super Stock feature, and never gave up the top spot as he completely dominated the caution-free race.

The last action of the night was qualifying for the Supertrucks and Late Models. Andy Johnson and Mark Day won the Murrco Pole Awards for their respective divisions.

Kicking off Saturday night’s action was a pair of qualifying races for the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Nationals cars. The races, which determined the lineup for the feature, were won by Brett Hudson and Todd Kemph.

The feature races began with the track’s premier division, the Pro Late Models. Day used his pole position to grab an early lead in the 125 lap race. The first caution of the night flew on lap 9 as Zach Johnson looped his car in turn 3. Day chose to lineup on the outside of the double-file restart, and was able to use that line to get a jump on the restart and take the preferred line going into turn 1. The yellow waived again on lap 15 when Joseph Meyer and Tony Ussery got together in the third turn. On the 22nd lap, Meyer once again spun in turn 3 and was collected by Jimmy Victory and Ricky Wilkinson. All three drivers were uninjured, but Meyer and Victory were done for the evening.

Under the caution, Sterling Marlin pulled down pit road with smoke trailing from his car. His crew went under the hood, but was unable to make repairs, and Marlin was also finished for the night. On lap 34, Marlin’s teammate Michael House also pulled out of the race with engine trouble.

Another spin by Zach Johnson brought the caution out on lap 68, and the cars remained under the yellow until the mid-race break on lap 75. It was at this point that the skies opened up yet again. Although the Fairgrounds Speedway attempted to wait out the rain and finish the night of racing, Mother Nature just did not cooperate and the race had to be postponed until Sunday afternoon.

As the action resumed on Sunday, the top two cars were inverted, putting Day on the outside of the first row and second place Clay Alexander on the inside. As the cars came to the green flag, Day accelerated faster the Alexander and was leading by the start/finish line. Officials called off the restart and warned Day that Alexander would have to be the first car to the line on the next attempt to start the race. As the cars came out of turn 4, Day once again accelerated past Alexander and into the lead. This time, Day was given a drive-through penalty for the infraction.

The rest of the race was caution-free, giving Day little chance to work his way back to the front. However, he was still able to carve through the field, working his way back to third by the checkered flag. Alexander took an easy victory, while Alabama’s Johnny Brazier finished second.

Andy Johnson was to lead the Supertrucks to the green, put he made a pit stop during the pace laps and was forced to start at the rear of the field. This allowed Clint Crowell to move alongside Terry Hayes on the front row. The first caution of the event occurred on lap 2 as Stacey Crain looped his truck in turn 3 and was hit head-on by Michael Bolden. Kyle Ivey was also collected in the incident. As a result of the incident, all three drivers were done for the day.

On lap 9, Ronnie Campbell worked his way past Crowell to take the lead. The duo was joined by Johnson and all three drivers battled for the lead until Crowell went for a spin on lap 26. Johnson jumped to the lead on the restart and maintained the top spot until Campbell spun in turn 4 on lap 29. On the ensuing restart, Crowell got the jump on Johnson and took the lead, as Campbell followed past Johnson for second. As the leaders came out of turn 2 on lap 35, Campbell turned Crowell’s truck into the inside wall on the backstretch. Campbell was undamaged in the incident and held the lead as the trucks came to the restart. Campbell was able to get the jump on the restart and drove uncontested to the victory.

The Frank Kimmel Street Stock cars finished up the day of racing with their feature event. Brett Hudson rocketed to the lead from the pole, a lead he was able to maintain until he pulled off the track with mechanical trouble on lap 27. Todd Kempf inherited the lead when Hudson pulled out, but Chuck Barnes, Sr. worked around him for the top spot two laps later. The biggest incident of the race occurred on lap 43, when Clint Watkins spun and was collected by Chad Hall. The field was slowed again on lap 66 when Chris Evans tagged the wall in turn 3.

The caution flew again on lap 69 when Steve Hadley and Jeff Caudell got together in turn 1. Jason Sullivan was also involved in the incident. Through all the restarts, Barnes proved to be too tough, and as the cars passed under the checkered flag, Barnes easily took the win.

In all, it turned out to be three days worth of great racing action. A crowd of 9,500 attended Saturday’s events, proving that there is still a great amount of interest in Nashville’s historic Fairgrounds Speedway.

Final Results:

DWARF FEATURE: 1. Tim Lunn #7 2. Rick Webster #47 3. Mark Cole #50 4. David Ring #44 5. Chris Crutcher #27 6. Greg Gresham #57 7. Rick Patton #53 8. James Rodgers #49

LEGENDS FEATURE: 1. David Moyes III #D3 2. Wade (Ten-A-C) Slatton #101 3. Darrell Holmes #5

FRONT RUNNER FEATURE: 1. Paul Cummings #A1 2. William Owens #709 3. Hardy Krantz #17 4. Travis Owens #02 5. Kevin Figueora #14 6. Scott Allen #2 7. Mark Cummings #1 8. Kenneth Vetetoe #64 9. Tony Harding #20 10. Graham Howard #41 11. Shawn Gregory #56 12. Chris Allen #01 13. Isaac Davis #36

SUPER STREET FEATURE: 1. Robert Forsythe #87 2. George Saldana #56 3. Charlie Briley #18 4. Travis Ryman #16 5. Wille Coats #71 6. Gary Bullock #37 7. Stephanie Barnes #31 8. Randy Clements #33 9. Mike Pruitt #75 10. Charles Thompson #28 11. Unknown Driver #57

PRO LATE MODEL 125 FEATURE: 1. Clay Alexander #84 2. Johnny Brazier #71 3. Mark Day #8 4. Dakota Stroup #47 5. Mike Pruitt #2 6. Davey Coble #14 7. T. W. Fisher #61 8. Jared Foley #04 9. Daniel Bolden #09 10. Joe Buford #88 11. Tony Ussery #7 12. Zach Johnson #116 13. Michael House #84 14. Richard Wilkinson #45 15. Sterling Marlin #40 16. Joseph Meyers III #121 17. Jimmy Victory #18

SUPER TRUCK 40 FEATURE: 1. Ronnie Campbell #26 2. Dan Hall #777 3. Andy Johnson #20 4. Clint Crowell #48 5. Terry Hayes #99 6. Stacey Crain #11 7. Michael Bolden #09 8. Kyle Ivey #53