Short Ballou Stanbrough Darland lil Fitz Jackson Windom Cummings Sciscoe Malone Mattox Seiler Shanks Harris Johnson Belles big Fitz Perry Hupp Posted using Mobile Device
I think the spirit of the One Armed Bandit was looking over Paragon Speedway and Keith Ford, tonight. They got just the right amount of rain. The temps stayed mild. And there was just enough cloud cover to keep the moisture gained, from being lost. This all resulted in a track that didn't take much rubber at all and stayed racy till the very end. Brady Short was definitely the man tonight and was never in serious danger, once he took command. What went on right behind him, however, was the kind of stuff that legendary races of Paragon's past are made of and did justice to the name of the great Chuck Amati.
After the leader reached lapped traffic, he was caught by Jon Stanbrough. As he was caught by Robert Ballou. As he was reeled in by Chris Windom. Then, after a mid race restart, Brady slipped away again and those three just went at it tooth and nail, for a whole lot of laps. They raced each other clean and hard and each was creative in finding their own way around this "driver's track." It was the kind of stuff that you just couldn't take your eyes off of. Robert Ballou finally emerged the winner of this marathon battle. Then, with ten laps left, Windom spun and we had a ten lap shootout for the trophy. As the green flew, Brady put distance between himself and Robert and Robert did the same between himself and Jon. It looked settled, but as they gave the five to go signal, Ballou made one last run at the leader. As they gave the two to go, it looked like we might just have a race to the finish. Ballou getting real good bite coming out of two, but Brady just killin' him getting in and out of three and four. Robert closed the distance as the white flag flew, but by the time they got to the back stretch Brady surged, extending his lead and ending all speculation. He cruised home with a decent amount of breathing room. It was a powerful, impressive performance. And the way the top four or five guys were running, tonight, anything less would have fallen short (no pun intended).
Here's to the memory of the great Chuck Amati. A legend that was so much more than just a driver, to the fans of my generation. I think the last two Chuck Amati Classics have done justice to that memory.
Jerry
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
In over 30 years of traveling to races, I hadn't ever made the trip up to Paragon International.
That changed tonight. We''ll you really can't believe what your told or you can, Depending on who tells you.
I thought the place was neat. A throwback with several open trailer without even a tire rack rigs pulled in with a sprinter on it. However the stands were pretty nice, Concessions adequate, Restrooms OK.
Im told the track was better than its been in decades It was great and race-able from top to bottom with plenty of grip, wheelies, biking and everything in between.
Jerry Summed up the racing pretty well and it was good. JS got the lead for one lap and pulled even with him a couple other times but with little traffic for the last ten laps after the yellow. Brady kinda took it to the bank after a couple near challenges from Ballou that durring the middle of the race I thought might be the fastest on the track.
DD did a killer job keeping it clean to claim fourth after deep in the field start. Critter spun early and was very fast but never could make up his lap
I had fun at Paragon, Perhaps a yearly event for me.
Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
In over 30 years of traveling to races, I hadn't ever made the trip up to Paragon International.
That changed tonight. We''ll you really can't believe what your told or you can, Depending on who tells you.
I thought the place was neat. A throwback with several open trailer without even a tire rack rigs pulled in with a sprinter on it. However the stands were pretty nice, Concessions adequate, Restrooms OK.
Im told the track was better than its been in decades It was great and race-able from top to bottom with plenty of grip, wheelies, biking and everything in between.
Jerry Summed up the racing pretty well and it was good. JS got the lead for one lap and pulled even with him a couple other times but with little traffic for the last ten laps after the yellow. Brady kinda took it to the bank after a couple near challenges from Ballou that durring the middle of the race I thought might be the fastest on the track.
DD did a killer job keeping it clean to claim fourth after deep in the field start. Critter spun early and was very fast but never could make up his lap
I had fun at Paragon, Perhaps a yearly event for me.
Chuck
Have to agree. Great night of racing, and after driving through a downpour about 20 miles north of the track I thought we were just plain blessed to have a race at all. That was my first visit, and my family all came (kids wanted to take me to a race for Fathers Day). The track is in a beautiful location, and took me back to my first races in South Dakota. Only in Indiana could you see that kind of racing in that setting. Great Fathers Day present, so I thank my family.
I made my second ever trip to Paragon last night. I went 3-4 years ago and swore it off forever after my first visit. However I thought it was great last night. Very physical track. Good racing and good concessions. (Except they don't have the fish sandwich anymore!)
My favorite part of the night was during Josh Cunningham's red flag. Braylon Fitzpatrick stopped by the flagman. A couple of "fans", relatives or friends I presume, went down and yelled at him. Braylon gave them the 1 finger salute then passed Dave Darland right at the end of the heat for the win. Posted via Mobile Device
I just want to say THANK YOU to MR. FORD for busting his ass to get this race in. I got there round 130 and seeing track I was thinking no way will it happen tonight. Then saw the road back to pits and I just knew it was over but FORD and his small crew kept working and bingo it did happen and was a really great show .
I must say hats off to the crew at Paragon. After all the weather, they gave an excelent track to the fans and teams. This race also brought back a lot of memories from the "old days". It reminded me of the old 150 lapper they used to run.Yah, you have the lead , now get through lapped traffic. It made for a great show.
As for Brady, congratulations, and you missed a great show. The race behind was great.
Originally Posted by JSBH03:
I made my second ever trip to Paragon last night. I went 3-4 years ago and swore it off forever after my first visit. However I thought it was great last night. Very physical track. Good racing and good concessions. (Except they don't have the fish sandwich anymore!)
My favorite part of the night was during Josh Cunningham's red flag. Braylon Fitzpatrick stopped by the flagman. A couple of "fans", relatives or friends I presume, went down and yelled at him. Braylon gave them the 1 finger salute then passed Dave Darland right at the end of the heat for the win. Posted via Mobile Device
That would have been family. Including his mother. You know how moms are when it comes to racing. And it was informational that the red could have been easily prevented if people were paying more attention or not just bein jack a's or whatever it was. Coulda been an exciting feature with Josh in it. The big boys know he can be competition with them and it makes a good show. But racing is racing. It is what it is and it happened. Plus the crazy drunk hippie that wants to start flippin people off and hollering and being disrespectful, well he needs to learn to zip it or watch who he is talking to like that because he got off easy last night.
But overall definitely a good race, good track, with finally some good flagmen. Just wish they could stay and werent passing through with MSCS. Hahaha.