The flagman may have been sleeping on the job, along with the announcer, but Chris Windom and Jon Stanbrough sure as hell weren't. Those two just went at it tooth and nail for the last 20 laps or so. It's Paragon, so you have long straightaways and tight turns and you got to see two of the best drag race down the straights, play chicken with one another entering turns 1 and 3 and throw their cars back into position to exit 2 and 4 very fast. Over and over and over again.

Short dominated the biggest part of the race, while Stanbrough was in second and wasn't catching the leader, but himself was being reeled in by Windom. It really seemed like that if Chris could get around Jon, we might be in for a real great race, but if not then maybe not, because it just didn't look like Jon had anything for Brady. Then there was a yellow, so they were back nose to tail. Brady got a great restart and had a good jump when they crossed the start-finish line. But Jon quickly closed when they got into the turns and challenged for the lead as the exited 2, but was not successful. But the next time they came around to that end of the track, he closed again and this time he took the lead. Brady hung tough for a few laps, but then Jon began to stretch out his lead. Just then, Brady had been caught by Chris and quickly lost that spot to him. It took several laps for Windom to close in on Stanbrough, but when he did it seemed inevitable that he would take the lead. But, time after time Jon fought him off and escaped. This went on for many laps. It wasn't until they reached lapped traffic that Chris was able to seize the lead. There was contact, but it's Paragon and that's the way it often happens there. Jon attempted to claim his lead back, but was blocked by lappers more than Chris and never got to seriously challenge for the lead again. And then, as they came out of turn 4 and headed for the checker, Kyle Cummins made a mad dash for Jon's second spot and damn near took it from him.

It might have been a bit of a bizarre evening, but it sure culminated a great feature. Especially the final throwdown between Windom and Stanbrough. It was definitely the best race I've seen so far this year. The Ol' One Arm Bandit was looking out for his race again, this year. And it was another one of them wee hours of the morning, Paragon classics.

Jerry