Cleaning out the notebook from a week spent prowling the ARCA garage at Daytona, the Florida short-track scene and the corridors of the RPM Promoters Worskshop.
In an era when the Internet is full of rants about dirt track conditions, it’s reassuring to be able to report on a couple of really good surfaces. The Friday night late model show at East Bay Raceway offered multiple grooves all night, allowing Tim Fuller to go from third to first on the outside on the last lap of his consolation, with only the winner to transfer. Then Don O’Neal went one better by taking the cushion from fourth to first on the last lap to win the Strawberry Dash last-chance race.

• Over at Volusia on Monday night, the track held up both multi-grooved and relatively dust free through the pounding of 165 cars — 80 UMP late models and 85 UMP modifieds — with Steve Francis working from 19th to third and Shannon Babb making a late-race charge on the cushion until a tire went down on the last lap.
Of those 80 late models, 79 arrived in enclosed rigs. St. Louis veteran Mike Hammerle had a classic ramp truck worthy of J.D. McDuffie.

• Ken Schrader’s Volusia UMP modified title was assured when the scheduled Tuesday night finale was rained out, but he probably deserved a break after Thursday night’s performance. He missed his heat by working overtime at his day job, i.e., staying in Daytona for the Bud Shootout draw. That put him 14th in a consi with two to qualify. He reachd the runner-up spot he needed on the last lap, started 23rd in the feature and worked up to fifth in 20 laps with only one caution flag. Ironically that caution was for fellow Cup Series driver Kenny Wallace, a Volusia winner in 2007, who spun and got t-boned.   

• Over on the asphalt at New Smyrna, car counts were down a little in the tour-type modifieds and TBARA sprints, but up in the super late models and Sk modifieds. Overall, the pits were packed as usual. A fan friendly move is keeping the biggest of the big rigs outside.

• Jeff Choquette was the big winner and motocross legend Ricky Carmichael looked good, but Tim Russell was the show in the super lates. On Saturday night, he passed his way from 10th to second, and on Sunday, he had Choquette lined up when a caution came out.

• I’ll say it again. The TBARA winged 360 sprints are awesomely fast on the big half mile at New Smyrna. I can’t imagine the AVSS winged 410s at Winchester, but I might have to check it out.

• As recorded elsewhere, Lynn Phillips and Alfred Gurley of Talladega Short Track were popular winners of the Auto Racing Promoter of the Year award at the RPM Worskshops after many regional nominations, with Phillips accepting while Gurley was home working on the track. TST already had a winner under its belt before the award- over 380 cars at the Ice Bowl in January. So much of the track property was needed for pits that fans parked across the street at Talladega Superspeedway, Phillips reported while holding court at the “Alabama Lounge” — the non-stop bull session in the hotel lobby which kicks off before the workshops start.     
 
• Cary Agajanian’s legal issues presentation on the final day of the RPM Workshops is always fascinating, even for a mere journalist. Agajanian pointed out that one of the newest areas of sports liability litigation concerns injuries sustained by fans when t-shirts or other merchandise is fired into the stands.

• It seemed as many languages were heard in the ARCA garage as during the Rolex 24 weekend. The styles on display ranged from just short of Formula One to just above street stock, and that was on race day. The scene produced a flashback to the first time I entered a Cup Series garage at Richmond in 1984 — big money down here, regular folks at the other end.

• Frank Kimmel isn’t done yet. With little equipment or sponsorship but a ton of talent and experience, the perennial ARCA RE/MAX champion went from the tail to a top five. The sponsor on the side, Riverside Auto Parts, was last seen on Lee Raymond’s ARCA championship cars in the 1980s.

• Quote of the week came from ARCA independent Brent Cross, emerging from his car after a time trial run that obviously wasn’t going to make the field. “Anybody got 25 horsepower in their pocket?” he inquired.