CHARLOTTE WORLD FINALS (13th November 2025 BLOG)
The last Blog ended on Wednesday, November 29th , just one day after returning from my trip to England. If things had gone to plan , it would of given me a just a few days break before heading off on my next little sortie.
I’d intended setting off on a road trip south on Saturday 1st November starting off at the Thunder Mountain Speedway (Center Lisle NY).
Then two things came into the equation which made me change my mind,
It would of been the start of my normal, North Carolina trip for the World Finals at Charlotte, which would include a few days stop over at my daughter, Carla’s place near Raleigh North Carolina. Since our return from England , both Carla and her husband Alex had gone down with a virus
They were both very much under the weather, and I didn’t want to catch what they’d got. Also, the weather leading up to Saturday’s Thunder Mountain race , hadn’t been good.
Therefore , after consideration I figured it too risky on both accounts to head south that early.
Instead, I stayed at home until Tuesday before setting off to the Carolinas.
TUESDAY 4th November
An early morning start from my place in Cornwall , Ontario, saw me pulling into Carla’s place in Willow Springs at 7-30.
By now Alex was over the virus and Carla was feeling a lot better.
Wednesday 5th November .
This was a day of relaxation and after school , I took Benji and Sophia out for a few hours , and went 10 pin bowling .
Once the bowling was over, we finished up with supper at the Chinese Buffett in Fuquay Varina
Thursday 6th November
I was up early the next morning for the racing section of my trip.
I was off to the Dirt Track World Finals at Charlotte, which is about a two and a half hour drive from Willow Springs .
Technically speaking , Thursday was day two of the World Finals , with the timed qualifying scheduled for Wednesday.
In my opinion , it wasn’t worth me paying an extra nights hotel for time trials
I’d booked the same place to stay as I’ve used for the past two years , the Rodeway Inn at Kannapolis .
I arrived in the area at 11-00 am , which was too early to check in to the room, so I went to the track first.
I parked my car beside the adjacent Drag Way , and once I’d sorted my media credentials, I took off for a wander around the pits .
I spotted a few of the Canadian teams so headed over to chat with them, First with Steve Morin , the Crew Chief of the Felix Roy Team, then Ray Samuel , one of Mat Williamsons crew guys.
It was Ray who took this picture .
I then returned to Kannapolis to check into my room. It wasn’t far away, just a 15 minute drive up I 85 .
Racing was set to begin at 4-00 pm , so headed back to the track and got set up in the media tent.
The World Racing Group (the organisers of the event) really look after the media well, with Wi Fi and electrical hook ups as well as a good supply of snacks and drinks which are available at all times .
My first visit to the Charlotte World Finals was in 2010, (15 Years Ago) and over the years I’ve seen many new faces come and go. These days there are a lot of youngsters doing media stuff , but there are still a few of us ‘veterans’ in attendance.
During the three nights of racing, the divisions taking part , Sprint Cars , Late Models and Big Block Modifieds rotate the order of feature races.
My preference and reason for being there were the Modifieds, They were scheduled to be the last feature on Thursday, 2nd on Friday and first on Saturday .
That was perfect , as I needed to get away early on the final night, for a Lacrosse event early Sunday morning. (my grandson Benji’s final tournament of the season in Raleigh) .
I was ready with all the other accredited photographers to move on to the middle for the opening ceremonies at 4-00 pm .
With the qualifying done the day before , we went straight into the heat races.
Once these were done there was a bunch of Last Chance Qualifiers races for all the divisions before the features.
First of the nights feature winners , was Rico Abreau, who had a runaway win in the Sprint Cars.
FLASHBACK to my World Final visit in 2016, when I got to meet Rico trackside
Hudson O’Neal was the Late Model winner
While I was shooting in Victory Lane , I got this picture sent to me from my friend Chanty . She had spotted me out there , doing my thing.
I didn’t know she was there , she said it was a last minute decision to fly down.
It was then time for the race that interested me most, The SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES Big Block Modified feature
Matt Sheppard started on the front row , and as you’d expect , the multi race winner at Charlotte , stayed at the front to the end . I was hoping for a more exciting race, but that’s what happens when someone of his caliber draws a starting position as good as that.
Victory Lane pictures were all done by 10-30 and I was soon heading back to my room.
FRIDAY 7th November
After a morning of picture editing , I took off for a brunch at Panerea Bread , then on to the track .
I like to get there early and get settled in the media tent.
I had plenty of time to kill before anything started happening on track, so went for a wander .
While I walking through the Sprint Car pits , I met up with long time friend , media writer, Rhonda Beck . She’s from North Carolina and we first met back in 2010 on my first visit to the Charlotte World Finals .
On that occasion we were high up in the Media Room that’s located on the top level of the grandstand .
On that inaugural visit , I was invited to shoot pictures from the roof of the grandstand . I tried a few shots up there , but my camera wasn’t up to it , so decided to shoot from the infield instead .
FLASH BACK 15 YEARS to 2010
Just like Thursday’s show , I joined the other ‘togs’ on the middle , just before the 4-00pm opening ceremonies .
The Late Models started the night , with the Big Blocks and Sprint Cars following.
Before the feature races took place , the traditional four wide ‘Salute to the Fans’ by all the divisions took place .
It’s an awesome sight, when you see the worlds top Dirt racers on track at the same time.
The Late Model feature was up first
The winner was Johnathan Davenport
Next up, it was the turn of the SUPERDIRTCAR SERIES Big Blocks .
This soon came under red flag conditions when Tyler Siri had a big wreck in turn three and four, at the opposite end to where I was shooting.
The cars were brought to a stop on the back straight ,where the motors were shut off and the drivers allowed to exit their cars during the delay as Siri was extricated from his car . He was treated by the medics and taken away in the ambulance. Later reports stated he had suffered a number of fractures.
When the racing resumed , young Alex Payne took control and got the win.
Alex is sponsored by my friend Francois Bellemare and his Quebec company JENIK , so it was nice to see him out there joining the team in Victory Lane .
Following Alex across the line it was Mat Williamson in 2nd , with Tim Fuller completing the podium in third .
Once Victory Lane was over , I chose to miss the Sprint Car feature , avoid the traffic and head back to the hotel .
Saturday 8th November.
My day started off the same as Friday, with some picture editing before checking out of the hotel before the 11-00 am deadline
Saturday was the final day of the Dirt Track World Finals and my plan , was the same as last year , which was to head back to Carla’s place as soon as I’d seen the Big Block feature . I had to be up at 6-00 am the next morning for Benji’s final Lacrosse game of the season .
Once again , I had brunch at the Panera Bread before arriving at the track at 12-30.
There’d been a lot of rain overnight and the track needed a lot of attention before things got under way .Things started a bit later than expected, and there was a slight chance of rain later.
For some reason, the running order of the features got changed , and the Sprint Cars would run before the Big Blocks. Not good for me and my early get away plans , but still ‘do able’ .
The show opened up with Hot Air Balloons, Fireworks and fly over by a group of jet aircraft
I shot the heat races from turn two , the same place I’d been the night before.
It was now feature time ,
Just as the Sprint Cars took to the track , for the start of their big event , we encountered a slight bit of drizzle, which delayed things for a short while. They started the race and on the opening lap there was a wreck, and at least one of them ‘fell over’. ( I didn’t see the incident) but we had a further delay .
Then something happened that I’d never experienced before.
The public were asked to vacate the grandstands.
Apparently , lightning had touched down in the area , and there’s a rule that forbids racing when this occurs. We were told there would be a 30 minute delay before racing could continue.
This was something new to me, but was still prepared to wait it out .
Then about ten minutes later another lightning bolt got reported.
The announcer said there would a fresh 30 minute delay ,beginning from when the second bolt occurred .
I could see more lightning in the skies and was wondering how long this situation could go on.
With my plans for the next day in mind, I reluctantly decided to make my exit , A late finish wasn’t on my agenda.
So , I was soon on my way and heading back to Willow Springs . I drove through a lot of heavy rain and was back there around mid night.
Once back, I checked out the tracks status on line , expecting to find it had been rained out.
I was surprised to hear , they got the show in, with Mat Williamson getting the win.
Sunday 9th November .
As mentioned , I had to be out of bed early on Sunday morning for Benji’s Lacrosse tournament , which was being held in Apex, a suburb of Raleigh .
It was the finals of the 2025 season for his team , the Red Devils
In the last BLOG I covered my recent trip back to England when I attended my sister Anne’s Golden Wedding Anniversary.
While I was there, and chatting to my cousin Jamie , I discovered I had a distant relative living close to Carla, in Raleigh .
Let me digress , bare with me, while I give you some family ancestral history from around 70 years ago, when we all lived in Suffolk , England .
My father (Garnet Young) had one brother called Jim (My uncle Jim). Jim married Gladys Hood (My Auntie Gladys) Gladys was one of three Hood sisters. The others being Betty and Hazel Hood. Betty became a ‘war bride’ when she married John Hartley, a USAF airman based at Bentwaters near Ipswich in the early 50’s . (my grandfather, on my mothers side, was also employed there as a civilian worker).
In the early 1950’s, Betty and John had a son (John Jnr) , Jim and Gladys had a son (Jamie) and of course, in 1954, my mum and dad had me . So there were three young boys all around the same age.
I only remember one time that the three of us ever met as kids, which was before the Hartley’s back to the USA . That meeting would of been in the late 1950’s when we were about three or four years old .
So after all these years, and a few phone calls, we all met up at the Lacrosse game
A great family reunion after nearly 70 years in Apex
The rest of my Sunday was spent relaxing and editing pictures at Carlas.
Monday 19th November .
Monday was the day to return home to Canada.
I’d been following face book reports from friends and the weather forecasts , and knew it could be an interesting drive back .
My area of Easter Ontario were experiencing the first winter storm , and the ‘Lake Effect’ snow warnings were given out for Northern New York.
I left Willow Springs at 5-45 am and made good progress . I had a few flurries near Pulaski , New York . on I81 but nothing serious.
I crossed the border at 1000 Islands at 6-30 pm and still , the roads were good.
Things changed dramatically on my final stretch of the 401 between Morrisburg and Cornwall.
It became a ‘white knuckle ride’ as I encountered a big storm. Traffic was down to a crawl and already there’d been accidents with big trucks skidding off the road .
It was a relief to get off the 401 at C0rnwall and have just a few more miles of snow to contend with .
Well, that was it for this years DIRT TRACK WORLD FINALS , and with no other events planned , they will probably be my last races of the year.
It’s been a busy one in 2025, with a total of 105 shows covered . It’s this time of year, I always say , “I must cut down next year” .
It doesn’t usually happen so lets see what 2026 brings