Did you ever try to light a wet firecracker? They just won’t ignite, no matter how hard you try! Last weekend, fans, sponsors, race teams and Speedway 660 officials were all amped-up for the Martin’s Home Heating Firecracker 150. But showers and rain short-circuited our spirits and we had no choice but to pull the plug on the race. And the second part of our weekend double header – the Enduro 200 scheduled for last Sunday, got washed out too.

Sportsman drivers will have their eyes on the prize at 7PM Saturday at Speedway 660. The Martin’s Home Heating Firecracker 150 is part of a double header weekend. The 2nd Enduro 200 of the season is scheduled for 2PM on Sunday.

But this is another week and as far as the weather is concerned, we’ll keep our fingers and toes crossed for clear skies on Saturday and Sunday. That’s because the Firecracker has been rescheduled for this Saturday night and the Enduro is set for Sunday afternoon.

With last weekend’s rain-out and our August long weekend break, we haven’t seen any racing action since July 28th! So we are anxious, to put it mildly, to get back to the Geary Woods for a big weekend of exciting short-track racing.

The Martin’s Home Heating Firecracker 150 still pays three grand to win and will still attract the interest of Sportsman drivers from all over our region. I just checked the Pro All Star Series and they are off this weekend. That may not be very good news to Sportsman drivers because we might very well see Lonnie Sommerville stroll into town with his Sportsman car!

I don’t know for sure, because I haven’t talked with Lonnie since our PASS 150 race back in June. But I do know that when the purse increases, you never know who you are going to see come out of the woodworks on race day.

Speaking of coming out of the woodworks, an almost always reliable source tells me, one of our “retired” Sportsman drivers has built a new car. Not sure if he’ll make it out this weekend, but I hear Randy McCoy – “The Stock Car Boy” is going to make a come-back in 2013 when Speedway 660 celebrates its 20th anniversary season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Randy shake-down the new ride before the curtain falls on the 2012 racing season.

SpeedWeekend is fast approaching. In just three weeks the Auto Value 250 will thrill race fans of all ages. It has become one of the premier stock car racing events in Canada.

We’ve talked about a possible show-down between Shawn Tucker and Johnny Clark in this year’s 250, but there will be other contenders for sure. While race fans here were complaining about the rain last weekend, one of the guys who could be a strong contender in the 250 had a great weekend.

On Saturday night Cassius Clark won the Atlantic Cat 250 down at Scotia Speedway and on Sunday afternoon he came home third at the PASS race at White Mountain Motorsports Park. Cassius is also leading the PASS points parade too.

I am not sure how Cassius got from Halifax, Nova Scotia late Saturday night to North Woodstock, New Hampshire in time for Sunday’s race. By the way, Lonnie Sommerville finished 2nd in that PASS race down in the beautiful White Mountains.

Last week’s rain-out robbed us of a Championship point race. Now there are just two point weeks left for four of our five divisions. The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman teams only have one point race left, because they are not running for points this weekend.

As far as the Enduro goes, I hear the car count will be up this weekend. Although there were fewer cars than hoped for in the first Enduro, the drivers who were here put on some show for the big crowd. So Sunday’s Enduro should be a great one.

It’s a double header weekend at Speedway 660. The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 150 at 7PM on Saturday night and the Enduro 200 on Sunday at 2PM. We’ll do our best to keep those firecrackers dry!
It’ll be an awesome weekend in the Geary Woods. So tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell everyone to make tracks to Speedway 660 for a great racing weekend.