Cleveland (TN) Speedway, June 27, 2006 2006 July 4
On the night of June 27′th on my way back home from ALA in New Orleans, I stopped at the Cleveland Speedway for a rare Tuesday night race (esp. in the South). On tap at the 1/3 mile semi-banked red clay track was a super late model race featuring Kenny Schrader, crate engine late models and two classes of street/pro stocks. Racing was advertised to start at 7:30. That didn’t happen (although that is about when the drivers meeting started). About an hour latter we finally seen some cars actually racing. The late models and limited late models took time trials which set the front of the a-mains. The drivers that didn’t make it on time had to go through a consi race. Despite the fact that there were no heat races for the two top classes, they night still dragged on. Kenny Schrader took fast time and ended up starting on the pole for the race. Although Kenny looked good in time trials, Clint Smith was really the best car during the race (until he broke). Schrader ended up finishing third behind race winner Mark Marlar and former Dirt Track World Championship winner Marshall Green. The racing was pretty good, but it dragged on too late for a Tuesday night with the Late Model race finishing about midnight with the crate late model race still to go. The track was pretty nice other then the late start and breaks between races. I kind of wish the race was held at one of the legendary super high banked dirt tracks of Eastern Tennessee though because I still haven’t seen a race at Bulls Gap, Atomic or any of the others. However, this was not the first dirt track race I saw in Tennessee, as I did visit the state for a race to see the World of Outlaw Sprintcars race at Bristol when they covered it with dirt a few years back.
My 2006 race viewing stats after Cleveland Speedway:
Races: 17
Tracks: 14 (11 new) (148 lifetime)
States: 12 (3 new) (35 + DC lifetime)
