Groundhogs can be one destructive pest

June 23, 2018

Punxsutawney Phil, French Creek Freddy or Willie Woodchuck may look cute on Feb. 2 (National Groundhog Day), but for the remaining 364 or 365 days of the year, this critter is just one destructive pest. Groundhogs, whistle pigs, land beavers, rockchucks, woodchucks or whatever anyone chooses to call them, reside in just about all of the 48 adjacent states. Today we seldom see hunters going after these varmints like we did in the latter part of the 20th century. There may be sound reason for this. The coyotes that have wandered the Eastern United States may have thinned these rascals ...

Elkins Raceway attracts good crowd

June 21, 2018

Finally we had a great weekend of weather for racing! A good crowd was on hand and they were treated to some action-packed racing at Elkins Raceway. The Super Late Models kicked off the night’s feature events. Eleven cars took the green flag and Cody Hardesty won the event. Michael Lake worked his way up to second and was trying to run down Hardesty. Shane Hitt finished a solid third place. Chuck Harper and pole sitter Skip Hare rounded out the top five. The 15-car field of FasTrack Crate Late Models was up next and once again they had trouble settling down and racing. Kyle ...

A special memory of my Dad

June 16, 2018

Editor’s note: The following column relates to many father-son/daughter relationships. It was first published in the June 14, 2014, edition of The Inter-Mountain. Father’s Day in the past for me was a day to spend with my children, sleep in and basically relax the entire day. But I’m going to start a new tradition this year—I plan to play catch with my son. Coaching a wonderful group of minor league baseball players this spring led me to the path of this tradition. From the first day of practice, I suddenly turned into a 12-year old kid again, and memories of my father ...

Action held at Elkins Raceway as weather cooperates

June 14, 2018

Finally the rain stayed away and we got in an exciting Thunder in the Mountains night of racing at Elkins Raceway. The car counts continue to improve. The AMRA Open Wheeled Modifieds were first to take to the track. There were 23 cars on hand and it was excitement from the start. There was close racing all over the track. Shawn Jett defeated Daniel Hill in the feature race. Dave Defibaugh finished third. Jamie McCloud and Kenny Rowback rounded out the top five. Even after skidding into a crash on the front straight and missing several spinning cars we were able to bring the MudBus ...

Rain plays havoc with race action

June 7, 2018

This week’s column will be a little shorter as Mother Nature played havoc with the racing action in the region this past weekend. Rain once again washed out the event at Elkins Raceway after part of the hot lap sessions was completed. There was a cloud burst finally as we completed our AMRA Open Wheeled Modified session. I just love loading up in the rain! Clouds and brief showers had threatened all evening and this had a negative effect on the crowd and car counts. We will try once again Friday evening to run a complete Thunder in the Mountain show. Make plans to bring ...

Spring gobbler harvest numbers up

June 2, 2018

On May 18, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) released the total 2018 spring gobbler harvest figures. This year, the harvest was 12,274 gobblers, which is a more than a six-percent increase over the 2017 harvest of 11,534. According to the DNR, the 2018 Spring Gobbler harvest is a 15-year high. Youth hunters harvested 431 turkeys during the one-day season on April 14. The top five counties were: Preston (553), Mason (468), Jackson (460), Harrison (440) and Marshall (417). Three of these five counties are located along the Ohio River. It looks like Brooke ...