SCOUTING REPORT: Kent Robinson

OVERVIEW:  Former Modified standout Kent Robinson set sail on the entire World of Outlaws Late Model tour in 2012 and finished the season with a respectable 11th place tally in the final points standings, making 37 of the series' 40 A-Mains.  He finished the season strong, including a ninth place run in the World Finals at Charlotte.

WHAT WE KNOW:  K-Rob will start the season with the intention of running the WoO tour again this year.  After running the Outlaws gig through the Georgia/Florida Speedweeks, Robinson plans to evaluate how things look and make a decision on the rest of his season.  If he opts out of the WoO tour, look for the Bloomington, IN driver (who is running the same cars and motors as last year) to run some UMP Summer Nationals races as well as other big shows close to home, including those sanctioned by WoO and Lucas Oil.  In his spare time, Robinson will return to his roots and run 10-15 UMP Modified races for a team based out of southern Indiana.  With a new car and motor, the new combination plans to hit select Mod shows in Indiana and Ohio.

WHERE HE'S GOOD:  Last year's traveling helped make Robinson a more well-rounded driver.  You always hear drivers say things like "the more you race, and the better the competition...the better driver you become".  And that adage is certainly true with Robinson.  If he doesn't run the full Outlaws tour in 2013, he'll be considered a threat to win at any regional show.  As far as the Mod gig is concerned, I look for that team to be a solid top three runner in every race they enter.  Guaranteed. 

WHERE TO IMPROVE:  Injured race cars and hurt motors killed Robinson about halfway through the season in 2012.  He and his team have to find a way to keep the cars and motors in one piece this year.  If they can do that, he'll certainly have a strong year no matter which route he chooses.  

DRIVER'S THOUGHTS:  "We don't really have anything set in stone for 2013. I'm going to run the Outlaws through Georgia and Florida, then make an assessment and decide if we want to continue on with the tour or drop off and run more of a regional schedule while still hitting the big shows like Eldora, Knoxville, Cedar Lake, Florence, etc."

Five Weekend Afterthoughts 8/27/12

1.  Skyline Speedway in Stewart, OH is in some hot water with both fans and drivers for advertising their admission (or should I say "addmition") prices as $15 GA/$30 Pits for Friday's "Sarah Bond Tribute" race, only to raise those prices to $20 GA/$40 Pits when folks arrived at the gate.  Rumors of an organized boycott are running rampant, I just hope it doesn't happen at this weekend's Greg Schilling Memorial, a Modified race that pays tribute to one of the late "good guys" in the sport.  The "thanks" for this laughable photo goes out to sprint car driver Mitch Harble, who saw this sign (that, obviously, a four-year-old wrote) and opted not to give the promoter his money after the false advertisement.  For that, Mr. Harble is certainly commended.

2.  Congrats are in order for Rusty Schlenk who nabbed his 100th career victory over the weekend.  The win came, notably, at his home track, Oakshade Raceway, where Schlenk has all but wrapped up his fifth career track championship.  This weekend, Oakshade hosts double features for the Sunoco ALMS Late Models.

3.  The decision to cancel Friday's WoO Late Model show in Winchester, VA due to rain (or lack thereof) certainly hit a sour note for a few of their drivers.  Shortly after the announcement was made Kent Robinson tweeted "...'Rained out' tonight in VA. It never rained and probably won't. They just didn't want to race" and, later in the evening, Clint Smith tweeted "Still waiting on some rain in Winchester VA to justify u being called off none yet though".  Clint continued his humor Sunday morning by tweeting "We are sorry to announce but due to all the rain we have had this morning in Winchester VA the 2013 race has been canceled".  Funny stuff from the world Twitter.

4.  Ryan Missler won an eventful A-Main Saturday night at Attica to help him wrap up his fourth straight Attica Raceway Park Late Model championship.  The race wasn't without its drama as fellow title contender Mike Bores led early on before breaking under a lap 11 caution.  In addition, Missler withstood several challenges from both Ky Harper and 11th-starting Garrett Krummert (both of whom would spin while challenging for the lead) en route to the race win.  Rumor has it Attica - who led all Friday night tracks in Ohio with an average of 29.7 Late Models per race going into Friday's show - will up their purse for the UMP-sanctioned division in 2013.

5.  The announcement was made last week that West Virginia Motor Speedway is set to reopen next month.  Unfortunately, it won't be the "completely redesigned" WVMS that was originally worked on and in the blueprints.  Instead, the track simply built a new turns three and four, thus condensing the huge track down to a big 4/10 mile.  Of course, I'll reserve my final judgement until racing actually happens, I can't help but wonder what kind of racing we'll see with, essentially, shorter straights but the same long, sweeping corners.  As always, I hope for nothing but the best for all involved with this project.

BONUS #6 - Limaland's entire racing program was finished shortly after 9:30pm Friday night.  I've always said the 1/4-mile track located just west of Lima, OH is one of the most well-run shows in the country, and that show further proved my point!