Thunder in the mountains

May 15, 2018

Friday Night Thunder kicked off under threatening skies at Elkins Raceway. The rain held off long enough to see some great racing in two of our divisions. The Super Late Model car count was down but the action was good as Billy Holbert notched his first victory to kick off the 2018 season. He took the Ace Metal works car to victory lane over veteran Bob Gordon. Shane Hitt was fast qualifier but suffered problems in his heat race and DNF the feature. Dylan Lewis in his first Late Model start finished third. Shawn Polling finished fourth with Hitt finishing fifth. The FASTRACK ...

Exciting pack racing

May 10, 2018

First of all I want to thank everyone who lifted up my family in prayer. I was out of town in North Carolina for my uncle’s funeral and our column has fallen behind in the race coverage. There has been so much happening in the racing world over the last two weeks on both the local and national scene. My uncle’s death touched me and my racing. He was always a big supporter and interested in what I was doing. He was a pit crew member for NASCAR great Harry Gant before he made the move to Cup racing. He also briefly helped Butch Lindley and L.D. Ottinger on their late model ...

Statewide Sunday hunting to begin

May 5, 2018

The long prohibition of Sunday hunting is over. On March 29, Gov. Jim Justice signed into law Senate Bill 451. This bill will allow Sunday hunting on public lands in the state. I was talking with West Virginia Division of Natural Resources officials at the Elkins Operations Center this past Monday, and they informed me this new law will go into effect on July 1. This bill passed both houses of the Legislature by huge margins. This is something I have wanted to see for a long time. From the time I was a teenager, I have bitterly detested the law that prohibited someone from going ...

Test and Tune event is Friday

April 26, 2018

The regular season schedule at Elkins Raceway is set to kick off Friday evening with the first Test and Tune event. This is an opportunity for new drivers and cars to check out setups and not have the pressure of a race event. This may be the only chance you get to see them in pristine condition before the race action puts scrapes and dents on them. The rain date is set for Saturday evening if needed. Admission on the hillside is free. Gates will open at 5 p.m. Come on out and get your first fix of speed and noise! Hope to see you there. The first regular season points event is set ...

Time for shooting practice

April 21, 2018

The weather was perfect for being outdoors last Saturday, and I used this time to take a trip to the shooting range during the afternoon. The rifle I decided to shoot was a .22 rimfire Mossberg that has been in the family for more than 80 years. My father purchased this bolt-action rifle from Montgomery Wards in Charleston in 1934 shortly after he and Mom were married. From the story that Dad told me, this particular rifle was on sale for $9.50. After all, this was the era of the Great Depression of the 1930s. I think Dad told me that he worked at the glass plant in Charleston for 62 ...

Hot racing in cold weather

April 19, 2018

It’s Bristol, baby! Finally the NASCAR teams made it to the half-mile, high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway in the beautiful East Tennessee Mountains. On Saturday, the Xfinity series took to the track for the Fitzgerald Glider 300. There were rain showers in the area but they were able to get the race run on time and for the full distance. Christopher Bell got out to an early lead and captured the stage one victory. Young Ryan Preece was making another start in the JGR Toyota Camry number 18. This young man has been extremely impressive each time he has driven this strong car. Ryan ...