RaceDayCT Daily Poll: What Has Been The Best Weekly Division At Stafford Speedway In 2021?

Comments

1. Rob A says

   September 5, 2021 at 11:08 pm

   Street stocks have been outstanding and surprisingly there’s been a ton of good hard racing in the limited late models, that class is definitely stronger this year and seems to be growing.

   SK’s obviously always great and they’ve had some great moments this year but they get enough love.
2. Doug says

   September 6, 2021 at 8:27 am

   I cannot vote in this one. Literally every division including the LLM’s are having feature races that are exciting and it hasn’t been this good top to bottom for a very long time. My vote, all of the above.
3. Doug says

   September 6, 2021 at 10:34 am

   I’m a Stafford fan first. Last night they had a SMART race at Carteret. Much is made of the southern shows and their strength. If you have a Speed51 subscription and did not view the race you might want to check out the replay. At least the SMART portion of the event if nothing else. Carteret is unique to say the least and with apologies for the intrusion I’m going to review the event and track with far to many words that most won’t read all because it made me appreciate all the more what we have in our own back yard.

   Thanks to Speed51 and the SMART Tour for giving we in the Northeast a taste of racing in beautiful North Carolina and Carteret County Speedway. Excuse me that’s Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway that the announcers say what seems like hundreds of times during the show.
   They may not build tracks up here any more but Carteret was built in 2015 and looks fresh in every respect. The decisions they made on the layout maybe not so fan friendly. They seem to go out of their way to obstruct the view of fans at the track and on Speed51 from actually seeing all the race track. They treat the American flag like a decoration where quantity trumps the meaning of the flag and put it in places that obstruct the view. Then they load up the infield with haulers so you can’t see what’s happening on the backstretch and with bleachers only going 10 rows high or so the fans have to guess what’s happening on the back stretch.
   The announcing is some of the most unique I’ve seen and may be the best part of the show. They’ve got the traditional announcer in the tower the difference being Chris Carter who hangs out near the starters stand and acts mostly like a cheer leader. A self admitted fat guy in shorts exhorting the crowd, hugging drivers doing victory lane interviews and prancing around the front stretch willing to do literally anything including shaking his booty to keep the energy level up. He may not have known what holiday it was confusing Labor Day with Memorial Day but it’s understandable because the theme of the track is support the military. The worst kind of patriotism in my view using it in a superficial, opportunistic way for showmanship but that’s just a Yankee’s view.
   It’s not just about racing or show at Carteret County Speedway it’s a statement about being part of the real America. All those American flags, real Americans in the stands and even a driver memorializing the “13” military killed in the exit from Afghanistan like they were the only ones to die there. When the energy level sags Chris Carter injects some kind of military related call for support that always gets the fans going no matter how many times it’s used.
   A lot of divisions with car counts like 6 and 8 that could only be framed as abysmal. 6 Late Models in a 60 lap feature was not impressive. Stafford weakest division the LLM’s would be one of the strongest at Carteret. It’s not really a problem though because Chris Carter is cheering the crowd on with “did you see that” and “do we support our Marines?” so the action on the track that you can’t see on the back stretch ends up kind of secondary to the Carteret “experience” that the crowd clearly loves.
   The SMART race was the headliner, was terrific with Labonte making a couple really nice late race moves for his second win in a row. As good as the race was what happened in victory lane during the interviews was more entertaining.
   Third place finisher Brandon Ward and Burt Myers got into a dust up in the race that carried over to victory lane. The two face to face with Ward calm and Myers very animated, arms flailing away with the camera on him as we hear the interviews going on in the background. Ward never given the opportunity to be interviewed as Myers was giving him a piece of his mind it was bizarre to say the least. As I understand it this was an extension of what happened a Bowman Gray but Myer’s in victory lane hogging the attention was high on the jerk meter in my view.
   Other then the SMART race I don’t see any reason for attending the event if your interest was seeing racing but that’s where Chris Carter is so important.
   The best way the track can be described in congested and it was built that way. The stands not very high, the infield packed with transporters, the 4/10’s mile track itself relatively flat and tight. The car counts low, the crowd not that big but it looks huge since everything is so packed in and Chris Carter is constantly haranguing the crowd with some kind of emotional outburst.
   I’m making fun of them but it is a show and the Northeast tracks steeped in tradition and perhaps a little conservative might take a look at the energy they provide the fans and the show they put on. They’re not providing anything race related that is superior to virtually any of the Northeast tracks yet this guy Chris Carter and the way everything is packed in makes it look like a hugely successful event.
   Best description for Bobby Watson’s Carteret Country Speedway………..all hat no cattle but the fans seem to really like the hat.
4. getserious says

   September 6, 2021 at 11:58 am

   Thanks Doug, for the thoughtful review. It sounds like they are taking a page of instruction from big-time wrassling. Six cars in a 60-lap race? But anyone is shamed into not complaining, because how dare you complan about a place that “honors” the US and the military?
5. Jason P says

   September 7, 2021 at 9:50 am

   Perhaps the answer for Carteret’s honoring of the Military and specifically the Marine Corps lies in a quick geography lesson – the track is almost entirely surrounded by USMC Camp Lejeune and MCAS Cherry Point. Fort Bragg is hop and a skip away as well as many other military installations – there is a huge military presence in eastern NC.
   So I ask you, getserious, How dare you complain about a place that “honors” the US and the military?
6. Doug says

   September 7, 2021 at 12:05 pm

   It’s completely subjective so there is no real wrong opinion.
   Mine is that there is a line that you can cross over going from honoring the military to opportunism making it a part of the show and reducing the American flag to a decoration. The military is about decorum and discipline if nothing else. Dozen’s a American flags and a bizarre cheerleader who it turns out is the track manager using it when energy in ebbing is inappropriate in my view and would be so even if the track was located on a military base.
   I have a neighbor the was a huge supporter of the last president who put a 4 by 8 foot small billboard on his front lawn and fancies himself a patriot. Near the Forth of July he plants twenty or so small American flags near the road in front of his house. You may call that good old patriotism. I call it disrespectful especially seeing the small flags hitting the ground and falling over as the holiday passes and the flags that were really only decorations fall over.
   All you need is one flag because of everything it represents. It was never meant to be a decoration.
7. Elect says

   September 7, 2021 at 10:35 pm

   Doug I couldn’t agree more
8. Doug says

   September 9, 2021 at 10:22 am

   Thanks Elect I know I’m on thin ice on topics like this.
   I don’t know what the occasion is but the neighbor has the small flags out by the road again, used as a decoration again and hitting the ground and abused again.
   Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!