By Don Figler - Saturday night at the Southern Illinois Center, DuQuoin, Illinois was the place to be. It was the fourth annual Shamrock Classic 50 Lap USAC Midget event. Fifty-five cars were entered hopping to make the twenty-two car feature, paying $4000 to win, with one exception. That exception was an option for who ever earned the right to start on the pole position could start last and if he/she would win, it would be a $54,000 pay check. The weather was good and the crowd was at near capacity.
The evening racing schedule was moving right along when during one of the two C-Main's, Karsyn Elledge (great-granddaughter of Dale Earnhardt) flipped, crashing on top of the gate. It took over an hour to repair. Karsyn was not injured.
The evening started with the eventual winner, 16 year old Cannon McIntosh's car catching on fire during his hot laps. He did received some minor burns but after changing into another driving suit he was ready to return to the action. And the action was going to be very interesting because the pole winner, Colten Cottle took the $50,000 challenge. The feature had McIntosh lead 40 of the 50 laps, Logan Seavey led for 10 and Colten raced his way up to fifth before breaking, finishing nineteen. All the photos and stories can be view on the NSSN web-site. There were 5 of us representing NSSN working the event.
Then for me it was a straight drive Sunday morning from DuQuoin to pick up Janet, to Wente's Open Wheel restaurant for the 10th annual "Racers Reunion". As per usual the place was packed. I counted 15 race drivers now inactive (racers from back in the day) and 2 still very active drivers, Chris Fetter, and yes Kenny Schrader. I may have missed somebody, like I said, the place was packed.
To finish the week-end off we had time to return home and watch the pre-recorded IndyCar race from St. Petersburg. Nice.
The evening racing schedule was moving right along when during one of the two C-Main's, Karsyn Elledge (great-granddaughter of Dale Earnhardt) flipped, crashing on top of the gate. It took over an hour to repair. Karsyn was not injured.
The evening started with the eventual winner, 16 year old Cannon McIntosh's car catching on fire during his hot laps. He did received some minor burns but after changing into another driving suit he was ready to return to the action. And the action was going to be very interesting because the pole winner, Colten Cottle took the $50,000 challenge. The feature had McIntosh lead 40 of the 50 laps, Logan Seavey led for 10 and Colten raced his way up to fifth before breaking, finishing nineteen. All the photos and stories can be view on the NSSN web-site. There were 5 of us representing NSSN working the event.
Then for me it was a straight drive Sunday morning from DuQuoin to pick up Janet, to Wente's Open Wheel restaurant for the 10th annual "Racers Reunion". As per usual the place was packed. I counted 15 race drivers now inactive (racers from back in the day) and 2 still very active drivers, Chris Fetter, and yes Kenny Schrader. I may have missed somebody, like I said, the place was packed.
To finish the week-end off we had time to return home and watch the pre-recorded IndyCar race from St. Petersburg. Nice.
