(Aug. 10, 2015) If you are a fan of Sportsman racing, there’s plenty to talk about heading into this weekend’s Firecracker 150. The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman Division is having a bounce back year with a growing car count, tight racing, a rivalry or two and dare I say a couple of controversies! 

 “Nobody is bigger than the sport!”

Who was the last driver, other than Dave O’Blenis, to win a major Sportsman race at Speedway 660? Ponder the answer to that question and I’ll clue you in before signing off, if you haven’t figured it out by then.Dave O’Blenis will go after another Firecracker 150 victory this weekend at Speedway 660. O’Blenis will face some strong challengers in his efforts to make it three in a row. 

We’ll get to the Firecracker 150 in just a bit, but first I want to weigh in on a couple of touchy incidents, something I normally don’t do, at least not in this space. I’ll stick to the facts because I don’t want to set the whole social media world into a freaky frenzy.

The first incident is no where near as serious as the second one, but it is something that has been an issue over the years in all divisions. Lapped cars were racing side by side late in the Sportsman feature, about to hold up the front runners. Eventually the point leader, who just happened to be leading the race, wrecked while trying to avoid a spin-out involving the lapped cars. To be fair, the lapped cars were driven by a couple of kids who likely learned a valuable lesson and that is to get in single file and give the leaders an opportunity to race each other for the win.It sure looked like Devin Snell was going to win his third Martin’s Home Heating feature of the season last Saturday night. Late in the race Devin got caught up in a wreck and instead of ending up in victory lane he left the track on the hook!

The second incident was far more serious. It started in a Sportsman heat race when a couple of cars got together and one of them spun out. It was one of those racin deals that we see a few times every week. No big deal, right? It’s fairly common for cars to slip or slide into each other from the shortest of the short tracks all the way to Talladega!

Our Race Director was told by another race official about a driver warning another driver and telling other folks that there would be pay-back in the feature. So Brent Dunphy went down to the pits during intermission to sort things out, make peace and let the drivers involved know that any shenanigans would result in a black flag. The warning was issued but went unheeded. We didn’t get through turn one in the feature before we had an ugly wreck. Understandably, the black flag, which has been used sparingly over the years, waved from the flag stand.Firm but Fair. Speedway 660’s Race Director Brent Dunphy (right) and Technical Director Donnie Greer have tough assignments. They do a great job and have earned the respect of our drivers.

At times like this the Race Director needs to take control for the safety of the drivers and the integrity of the sport. And that’s exactly what Brent Dunphy did on Saturday night. He might have ruffled a few feathers, but he did his job. Someone has to make the tough calls. The best hockey refs are the ones who don’t put up with any nonsense and the best Race Directors are the ones who take charge. They have to.

Earlier this season our Race Director had to warn a driver or two about reckless driving in the pits. He also penalized drivers for jumping the starts and then instituted a new starting box protocol. Addressing stuff like that is his job and Brent Dunphy is doing a good job, better yet he’s doing a great job.  Coming to the Green. Race Director Brent Dunphy took positive action and established a “starters-box” to ensure fair and even starts and re-starts  to our races. The new system is working well and is a huge improvement over the previous method.

We’ve had our fair share of racing rivalries and controversies over the years. I always remember what my old side-kick Hughie Yorke used to say when a driver would threaten to stay home because things didn’t go his way. Hughie would say “Well that’s your decision, but you know what, we’ll be racing next Saturday night with or without you.” Hughie had a lot of great lines, but this is my favourite: “Nobody is bigger than the sport.” Just think about that for a moment, if you will.

There’s a lesson to be learned by closely watching  our RE/MAX Group Four Realty Pro Stocks. Do you think Lonnie Sommerville, Greg Fahey, Dave O’Blenis, Kevin Moore, Matt Harris and the other great pro stockers are all best buds? Not very likely, but they do respect each other. They trust each other when they race door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper. We could use some of that respect, trust and sportsmanship in our Sportsman division.When the action is as fast and close as it is in the RE/MAX Group Four Realty Pro Stock Division, drivers have got to respect their fellow competitors and trust them out on the track.

And I’m confident that’s what we’ll get this weekend. Let’s move on and let’s stop “flappin our lips” with negative comments on social media! You can’t pretend to be a big supporter of racing and then turn around and slam the very sport you supposedly love on FaceBook. I never ever did get that.

And let’s remember that we’ve got six Sportsman rookies this year and over half of the roster are young drivers. They are the future of racing and what a great opportunity for the veterans to be positive role models for these kids. We’ve got a great group of veteran drivers and youngsters in the Martin’s Home heating Sportsman Division. It’s always been a terrific brand of racing and the youth movement will ensure the Sportsman Division will entertain and thrill fans for many years to come. 

OK, so who was the last driver other than Dave O’Blenis to win a major Sportsman race at 660? The answer is Andrew Rodgers. Andrew took the checkered flag in the 2014 Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 100. It paid $3K to win and was Andrew’s biggest payday. I hope he slipped that cash into his university education fund!Richard Martin congratulates Andrew Rodgers, winner of the 2014 Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 100. We expect to see Andrew and his brother Matt back at Speedway 660 this weekend for the Firecracker 150.

Does anyone have an answer for Dave O’Blenis this weekend? He has won five out of our last six big Sportsman races. That includes the last two Firecracker 150s, the last two Irving Blending & Packaging 150’s and this year’s Martin’s Home Heating 100.

This Saturday night the Firecracker 150 is the prime time attraction at Speedway 660. We’ll have our weekly Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman drivers, two or three Pro Stockers who will strap into Sportsman cars and a few visiting drivers. It’s going to be a great show.  Why not use social media in a positive way and encourage folks to come to the Firecracker 150!

We’ll see you at the races!

BTW the opinions expressed in this weekly web article are solely those of the author and were not influenced, authorized or censored in any way by Speedway 660 management!