Five Weekend Afterthoughts 7/30/12

Jon Henry has made the tough decision to cease his racing operation for the rest of 2012.

1.  With the loss of financial backing, standout Ohio driver Jon Henry has made the tough decision to park his #15 for the remainder of 2012.  The decision, as mentioned in his press release, was a tough one but also a decision "The Steel Driver" knew he had to make.  After completing the grueling UMP Summer Nationals "Hell Tour", Henry was left with two motors than needed tuning as well as upgrades to his 2012 Rocket Chassis.  With his impressive resume, the move will undoubtedly make Henry one of the most sought-after "free agents" in the sport.

2.  Ryan Gustin captured the $25,000 World Dirt Track Modified Championship Saturday night at Minnesota's Deer Park Speedway.  However, the bigger story of the weekend was the bombshell announcement - just 24 hours from the start of the main event - that a group of sponsors had stepped up and added $30,000 to the feature's purse!  The Mod industry is absolutely BUZZING about this, and rightfully so.  Will we ever see something like this in the Dirt Late Model ranks?  We can only hope.

3.  Eldora's "Summer Shootout" for the USAC Sprints went off without a hitch and the racing was pretty darn good too.  At one point, Robert Ballou had come from 23rd to 3rd until mechanical woes forced him pitside with just four laps left.  Chase Stockon completed a 20th to 4th run which kept the fans on their toes and, until the yellow on lap 46, Bryan Clauson was sizing up Dave Darland for a potential last lap pass.  All-in-all it was an excellent show which most folks should have been happy with.  

4.  Don O'Neal won his 10th Lucas Oil race over the weekend when the series made a visit to Hagerstown (MD) Speedway.  If it wasn't for Jimmy Owens banging out top five after top five, "The Real Deal" would most certainly be a solid title contender ... even more of a contender than he is now, being 350 points behind ever-consistent Owens.

5.  A lot of the buzz this weekend was about DirtonDirt.com's live broadcast of this weekend's 25th Annual USA Nationals at Cedar Lake (WI) Speedway.  I'm fortunate enough to be a part of the broadcast team again, along with Ben Shelton among others.  I'm not usually one who gets on here and "encourages" you where to spend your hard-earned money, but trust me when I say that this broadcast is well worth the investment.