Craftsman Twin-75 night at ODS June 10, 2007
Posted by relantel in ODS.add a comment
Last night I was able to attend an evening at Old Dominion Speedway for the first time since the 2006 season. Although the day itself was a roaster, the evening was quite pleasant. The adult admission was $15 for this slate of races – Twin-75 lappers for the Late Models, 50 laps for the Grand stocks, 30 for the mini-modifieds and 30 for the speedway sportsman. The fields were smaller than I had remembered – there were 5 cars in the speedway sportsman race, and even the late models only had 11 for the first race.
The programs are again $3 this year, but the cover is on heavy gloss paper this year, an improvement in quality over last year. Fosters no longer has the food concession at the track – I was a bit disappointed to learn that after I had arrived, as I had only though to bring bottles of water and did not pack in food. (I would later order takeout from Philadelphia Tavern in Manassas – the best cheesesteaks around – not as good as Geno’s in Philly, but it’ll do in a pinch)
There were plenty of spins and wrecks on the night – including one on the first lap of the first Late Model race that knocked out the eventual 1st and 3rd place finishers in the 2nd late model race. Lots of loose race cars, and the occasional black-flag for spinning another competitor… Results
Craftsman Tools was the major sponsor for the night – from gifts to fans, both those wearing Craftsman logo items to those ticket numbers randomly pulled, to larger gifts to the winners of the major race divisions.
Also different for 2007 was the moving of the track entrance from along the frontstretch where it had always been over to off of turn two. The former location now sports a brick wall backed by a dirt berm. There have also been some wooden stands erected in turns 1 and 4, apparently for local TV, as it was announced that Comcast has been televising select races from select nights on their local cable outlets. In addition, the track itself apparently tapes every race, and gave out a few DVDs of those to people with birthdays.
I for one am glad that the track has survived to another season, and would hope that they will race again in 2008, and I look forward to making it back several more times in 2007.
ODS lives another year June 9, 2007
Posted by relantel in NASCAR Weekly Series, ODS.add a comment
I am a little late to the party, only learning today that Old Dominion Speedway (ODS) in Manassas, Virginia, has survived to open for the 2007 racing season, both on the short-track and drag-strip.
Last season, the track was sold to developers, and it was thought that 2006 would be the last season of racing. Enter the slight downturn in the Northern Virginia real estate market, and a temporary reprieve from demolition.
ODS presents an evening of racing that is still affordable to the masses – with adult prices ranging from $15-20 depending on the card. The Saturday night on the short-track features 5-6 racing series each night, with shorter distances and breaks in between that you don’t see at the major league NASCAR level. ODS’s premier division, the Late Models, competes against other tracks in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, and ODS had the 2003 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series National Champion, Winchester’s Mark McFarland. (McFarland would later get a ride in the NASCAR Busch Series in the 88 Navy car for JR Motorsports for 2005, and part of 2006 before he was replaced by Shane Huffman) McFarland won a whopping 15 of 17 late model races at ODS that season – and finished 2nd in each of the other two. That same season, he ran late models at another track in Southeastern Virginia on Friday nights, and won the track title there too.
