A Trip to North Carolina for the Charlotte World Finals (17th November 2024 BLOG)
November began with a big list of non racing things happening locally that occupied my time.
On Saturday the 2nd , I had a new washing machine delivered and fitted in my house, followed by medical appointments on Monday the 4th , Tuesday the 5th and Wednesday the 6th. .
The latter of the two appointments were for I.V.I G infusions at the Cornwall Hospital relating to my ongoing Myasthenia Gravis condition. They usually take place in the morning and last about three hours.
I had big plans coming up for the next two weeks, so asked for an early session on Wednesday.
I was heading down to Charlotte , North Carolina for the World of Out Laws World Finals.
It’s a great annual event, that I don’t like missing , especially, as my daughter, Carla , and her family are now living in nearby Raleigh.
The show consists of the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars, Late Models, and my main reason for me being there, the Big Block Modifieds of the SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES. Most of my attention would be given to the latter.
My Impala was tanked full of gas and packed the night before as I arrived at the hospital at 8-00 am. The IVIG was hooked up and by 10-45 am I was done.
Just after 11-oo am , I was on the 401 heading out of Cornwall in the direction of the 1000 Islands Canada/USA border crossing.
I was hoping to get as far as I could that day before making an over night stop.
I did quite well and had no delays , going through New York, Pennsylvania , Maryland and West Virginia , then by 8-15 pm I was pulling into one of my regular ‘stop over’ places, the Red Roof Inn , in Winchester , Virginia .
I was on the road again at 7-00am and after exiting the I81 at Staunton, I cut across the mountains to pick up Route 29 that goes down to Greensboro NC . From here it’s about a two hour drive down the I85 to Kannapolis where my next two nights accommodation were located.
I stayed at the Rodeway Inn in Kannapolis last year, and was pleased with the price and friendly hospitality , so rebooked again for this year. It’s less than a 15 minute drive from the Speedway.
I was able to check in earlier than normal and by 2-30 , I was at the track.
Once I’d signed in at the main gate, , and picked up my credentials, I made my way to the media tent. I then found a table to set up my lap top and use as my ‘base camp’ .
When I’m taking pictures at Charlotte , I usually locate myself on turn three and four, and shoot from there most of the time.
A downside to taking pics on the middle, is the few opportunities throughout the night, to cross the track. You could be stuck there all night , if you are not ready to move when the chance exists.
Each night the three participating divisions , alternated on which feature would be staged first/last.
On Thursday night the Modified Feature ran last , so I was committed to staying right to the end.
First was the main event for the Sprint Cars.
This went to David Gravel.
Next up was the Late Model Feature .
Ricky Thornton Jr took the checkers .
The Big Block Modifieds that I’d come to see, followed this .
These are my preferred division that I follow throughout the the year. Many of the drivers I know personally, and if I don’t , then I’ve seen in action numerous times
Tim Fuller , one of my local guys from Northern New York, got to the front early in this one, and although he was harassed through out by Anthony Perrego , he never relinquished his lead .
There was a late caution that closed the gap, but Fuller managed to hold off Perrego to the checkers.
Demetrios Drellos completed the podium.
It was all over before the 11-00 pm curfew, so I was back at the Rodeway Inn , in good time, for some much needed sleep.
It had been a crazy 48 hours.
The race cars were not due on track until 3-00 pm on Friday , so I had plenty of time to kill.
My ‘tog’ buddy John Lyng from Odessa , Ontario , was in attendance watching from the grandstand and had messaged me on the phone, so we agreed to meet up for lunch.
The first time I attended the Charlotte World Finals , was back in 2010, and on that occasion, I visited the nearby Hooters eatery , that’s located just a short distance from the track. Back then I was joined by my UK buddy Martin Clark . At that time we were both columnists for the now defunct SHORT CIRCUIT MAGAZINE.
Well , for some reason, I’d never made back to that particular Hooters , so a return was well overdue . That’s where I arranged to meet John at 11-30.
It took longer than expected for the food to be served, but I was in no hurry.
Once fed, I returned to my base camp in the Media tent, and caught up with some picture editing.
I also had another thing I needed to do before the racing started .
I was informed prior to my arrival that British driver , Ryan Harrison # 97 was taking part in the Sprints.
He has a 410 Sprint Car , that he keeps and maintaines this side of the ‘pond’ , for occasions when he’s not racing his BriSCA F1 in the UK.
Back in the 1970’s and 80’s when I lived in England, I was racing in BriSCA F1 at the same time as his dad, Murray.
I met up with them a few years ago at the Can Am Speedway NY when Ryan was racing an ESS sprint.
Their pit stall at Charlotte was close to the media tent, so I didn’t have far to walk to find them..
I chatted with Murray and his wife Sally , while Ryan and his team prepared the car for warm ups.
Murray was the BriSCA F1 World Champion in 1999, and I spotted him chatting with Peter Falding , another champion, who was also visiting from the UK.
Peter is a four times winner of the BriSCA F1 World Championship, and I’ve also witnessed him winning the Long Track World Final in the Netherlands on a couple of occasions too. Here he is foll0wing his LTWF win at Baarlo in 1989.
One things for sure, I always bump into a lot of people I know when I’m at Charlotte. My local Brockville Ontario Speedway promoter Paul Kirkland was there , with Dean Billings (father of Modified racer Matt)
I always seem to make new friends when I’m there , too .
For most of the weekend I was shooting beside Angel Smith, a videographer .
Angel and her husband have a media company , ( Dirt Co Media House) and were there covering the pursuits of top Sprint Car driver David Gravel.
On Saturday it was the turn of the Late Models to be first with their big race .
The Modifieds ran second, and the sprints were the last feature of the night.
I spent a bit of time on the middle, getting heat race shots before retiring to the media tent until feature time.
As mentioned , the Late Models were up first and this was won by Bobby Pierce.
Next up was the Modified feature ,
It was Mat Williamson who dominated this one with his SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES points rival , Matt Sheppard taking second place .
Fellow Canadians in the grandstand were also ready to celebrate.
Demetrios Drellos once again joined the podium with another third place.
That was it for day two as far as I was concerned, , as I decided to pass on the final race of the night (the Sprint Car feature) and head back to my hotel .
I was able to get away quickly from the track before it got busy , thanks to my friends on the Mat Williamson crew, who gave me a ride back from Victory Lane to the media tent on their golf kart. Cheers buddies !
The next day was going to be a busy one.
Saturday was the final day of the World Finals weekend .
I checked out of the Rode Way Inn just before 11-00 am and made my way to the track.
Once again , I had plenty of time on hand before the racing got under way , so spent some time wandering.
Rhonda Beck Photo
I hadn’t managed to visit the Modified pits, since the day I arrived , so it was something I needed to do..
I mingled and chatted with a few friends before heading back to the media tent to get my camera stuff ready for picture taking.
I will take this opportunity to thank Chris Dolack and Nick Graziano, who are in charge of the media at the World Racing Group . They do such a great job, and keep us photographers and writers well looked after , with internet connections , desks for our lap tops , plus food and drink.
Once I was back on the middle, I shot the heat races before taking a break before the feature.
As scheduled, the Modified feature was up first on final night, which worked out perfectly , as I wanted a quick get away .
I had plans to drive to Carla’s place near Raleigh NC straight after the races for another important sporting event early the next morning.
It looked like Tim Fuller would get his second win of the weekend in this race, until once again, a late caution closed the field.
This time, Anthony Perego who’d been chasing , grasped the opportunity , and got the better of Fuller on the restart.
Once the pass was made , there was no stopping him, and that’s how it stayed until the checkers, with Mat Williamson not far behind in third.
This was good enough for Williamson to clinch the championship from his points rival, Matt Sheppard.
At this point, there was no presentation for Mat, as all three division champions, ( Sprint Cars and Late Models and Big Block Mods would be crowned at the end of the night.
Obviously , I had to miss this , as I was leaving the track early and heading to Raleigh.
I left Charlotte at 9-30 pm and was pulling into Carla’s driveway in Willow Springs at mid night.
At 7-00am on Sunday morning, I was woken by my grandson Benji, “Time to get up Grandad” the game starts at 8-00 am. He was playing in a Lacrosse tournament in nearby Apex. The family all piled into Carla’s Audi and off we went.
The grandkids were on a break from school that week, so the rest of my time was spent relaxing and hanging out with them.
Sophia had her running club on Wednesday and again on Saturday morning.
There happened to be a car show taking place at the High School in Fuquay Varina as well on Saturday , so after Sophias running, we went there .
This was my final night in North Carolina and we had something special arranged .
Since I learned to love the game, ‘My’ hockey team has been the Ottawa Senators and they were in town that night playing the Carolina Hurricanes .
We managed to pick up a couple of decent tickets at a reduced price on the day of the game, so Carla and me went off to the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
The ‘Canes’ thrashed the ‘Sens’ . My team were bad.
Caroliner deserved to win , because Ottawa just failed to get their act together.
It was sad for me really , the end result was Canes 4 Sens 0, but I’m glad I was there to watch my favorite , and second favorite teams play each other.
Carla’s place is only about a half an hour drive away , so we were soon back in time for me to get a good nights sleep.
I was awake at 5-30am on Sunday morning and was on the road at 6-00am.
The drive back to Canada was trouble free and I was pulling into Cornwall , at 8-30 pm , on Sunday night, to conclude my latest Carolina trip
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