BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The SuperBowl of Racing hosted its largest crowd on Saturday, the final day of competition.
Final figures were not available, but attendance at Golden Isles Speedway was estimated at 2,500 or more. Attendance for the event, which started a week prior and included 10 super late-model features in 11 days, had been hampered by rainy weather during the week and the previous weekend, but the final two days of competition were met with clear skies, more comfortable temperatures and larger crowds. Three of the 10 scheduled races were rained out.
Golden Isles owner Frank Lloyd said the SuperBowl of Racing will definitely return in 2009, but probably with a smaller format. He said the payouts for drivers will remain high — $10,000 to win — but the number of nights will probably be scaled back. This was the first time in the four-year history of the SuperBowl that Lloyd had attempted such a momentous event, which hosted 83 super late-model teams.

• With three victories, Jimmy Owens was the big winner at the SuperBowl pay window with $39,600, followed by Scott Bloomquist with $24,500 and Steve Francis with $19,900.

• Both Keith Edge, a competitor in the National Late Model Series, and super late-model driver Mark Andersen provided a little unwanted excitement Saturday night. Edge and Andersen flipped their cars, ending up on their roofs. Edge’s accident came at the end of the NLMS qualifying in turn 2, and Andersen flipped at the beginning of the super late-model feature in turn 3. Neither driver was injured.

• Jacksonville, Fla.’s Dave Rader captured back-to-back victories in Friday and Saturday’s three-quarter late-model action.

• The packed SuperBowl of Racing schedule at Golden Isles Speedway has already taken its toll on the equipment of several teams, despite three cancellations due to rain.
Owens, who dominated the early portion of the event with three victories, had to repair a cracked engine block with an engine sealant for Friday night’s race.
“It’s been a hectic day — our block was leaking, so we had to change all that stuff and chase it all day,” Owens said.
Owens recovered for a second-place finish, but Don O’Neal wasn’t so lucky.
After winning the pole for Friday night’s main, O’Neal brought out the first caution of the night when his engine blew on lap seven, spraying the track with oil. O’Neal settled for 25th-place finish.
Billy Moyer, who finished 23rd in the main after winning a consolation earlier Friday, also experienced engine problems during the week.

• In addition to all-important victories, Owens also set a new track record during qualifying before the rains fell on Thursday night. The record time of 15.252 seconds on the four-tenths oval was originally scratched, but track officials later decided to uphold the time in the record books.

• Chris Madden got quite a birthday present last May when son Christopher Avery was born on his father’s birthday, May 23.

• Shannon Babb is sporting his familiar No. 18 in his first year of driving for Clint Bowyer’s new late-model team instead of the No. 79 Bowyer drove during his pre-NASCAR late-model career.