GroundHog 300 Results

[Dirt Master]

Congradulations to K9 DANA EILAND for a great perfomance and feature win!

Sportsman / Crate
K9 - Dana Eiland
K8 - Bobby Eiland
27 - Larry Harrod
46 - Chris Jones
34 - Allen Sparks
7 - Steve Seagraves
01 - Travis Pennington
4 - Brad York
66m - Max Colson
110 - Ricky Culpepper
22 - William Thomas
77 - Tracy Watson
40 - Marvin Cook
66t - Johnny Tribble
7 - Jack Mills
3 - Shannon Dodson
34g - Bob Gibby
44 - Curtis Cline
91 - Tod Darda
55 - Steve Richardson
00 - Shane Thompson
17 - Larry Eldridge
18 - Bruce Taylor
16 - Josh Noles

Super Street

66 - Scott Knowles
6 - Jim Brophy
M1 - Marc Collins
50 - Steven Gaines, Jr.
10 - Jeff Chumley
110 - Ricky Culpepper
5 - Rodgerick Dykes
37 - Ricky Burgany
56 - Lee McElwaney
22 - Efrem Holbrook
26 - Josh Marchman
A1 - Andy Spradlin
27 - Chad Marchman

Modified

35 - Dennis Barton
103 - William Thomas
11 - Tommy Bailey
13 - Kevin DeYoung
6 - Rodgerick Dykes
S22 - John Rodgers
B1 - BJ Freeman

Hobby

7 - Roger Arnett
M4 - Winford Minix
15 - Keith Hudson
2 - Duck
25 - Kirk Johnson
20 - Jason Anthony
27 - Chad Marchman
3 - Donnie Cheney
7 - Roy Jackson
55 - Kenneth Mathis
0 - Jason Craft
7 - Larry Guilford
27 - Don Whitehead
12 - Jim Gossett
23 - Ken Melton
44 - Joey Morrow

Bomber

83 - Karl Willard
13 - Craig Grice
86 - Wiley McDaniel
8 - Rodney Gorman
401k - Dave Forker
16 - Christy Noles

4-Cylinder

J3 - John Capps
NO1 - Ty Parmenter
17 - Alton Weed
21 - Don Don Cook
26 - Phillip Sander
13 - Terry Braswell
6 - Roger Nickerson
25 - Billy Pate
5 - Chris Snow
1 - Kevin Williams
44 - Buddy Garrett
21 - Matt Gainer
X1 - Grady Garrett
M14 - Michael Fitzgerald
25 - Scott Cooper
99 - Ronnie Poole
7 - Henry Martin
00 - Mike Truelove
69 - James Head
J53 - Johnny Morris

Cruiser

47 - Richard Stephens, Jr.
21 - Kevin Clouse
81 - Pappy Powell
77 - Jack/Tammy Raborn
22 - Larry Floyd
83 - Brian Harden
2 - Steven Garnto
R57 - Mark Yeoman
7 - Billy Nipper
S55 - Paul Morris
51 - Bryanna Vinent
32 - Alan Clark/Lee Sissor
17f - Eric Moore
36 - VJ McDonald

[Dirt Master]

East Alabama’s Groundhog 300
by Jay Vaquer

PHENIX CITY, Ala. -- On February 2, before sunrise, Georgia’s official weather prognosticator, the groundhog General Beauregard Lee sent an email to his nemesis and famous Northern colleague Punxsutawney Phil. Phil replied, “it’s my shadow I see, six more weeks of winter weather will be”. General Beau thought to himself, “good, that’s what them d**n Yankees deserve“. Then he emerged from his antebellum mansion, saw no shadow, and thought to himself, “God does smile on the South“. He then turned toward East Alabama Motor Speedway and shouted, “Gentlemen, get those dirt track engines started and let’s get the Groundhog 300 crunk”. Unfortunately, the cloudy skies began dropping rain and the Groundhog 300 had to be postponed until the following week. While the year’s worst winter blizzard inundated the Northern states with snow, East Alabama held this inaugural event in bright sunlight. The Late Model field was full of contenders and it seemed fitting that East Alabama’s most prolific winner, the legend, Dana Eiland, would win fast time qualifying and take the pole for the feature. When the green flag dropped on the feature, Dana immediately began to pull away from the field. Only Bobby Joe Eiland, running second, stayed up with him as they ran several car lengths ahead of Shane Thompson in third. Larry Harrod began to challenge Thompson for position but Thompson had all correct responses to maintain his third spot. On lap 4, William Thomas, from the sixth starting position was looking for the handle on his brand new Rocket Chassis the Racing Zone # 22 Monte Carlo when he spun in turn one, clipped Bruce Taylor sending him into a spin, and brought out the first yellow flag caution. Thomas was relegated to the rear for the restart as once again Dana Eiland set the blistering pace. Taylor passed Marvin Cook on the high groove but most of the cars were busy trying to hold on to what they had. Suddenly Josh Noles lost power and coasted around the lower groove of the high-banked clay oval to bring out the lap 10 caution. Noles rolled into the pits for an unfortunate DNF and the green flag flew again. Harrod tried to pick up a little extra speed in turn one to pass Thompson but instead, he pushed high, which allowed Chris Jones to slide under him and take the fourth position. On the next lap Jack Mills spun out on the back straightaway for the lap 13 caution. On this start, Dana’s tires were dialing in and he pulled away from Bobby Joe in second. Dana’s crew chief, Mike Harris had spent the better part of the morning deciding which Hoosier compound to run, the D-28’s or the 1350’s, trying to get not too hard to get a grip but not too soft to not last the entire race, and he was right on the money as Dana’s tires warmed up giving him more speed as he lapped the back of the field on lap 21. Larry Eldridge was giving it all he had when his power plant went up in smoke and he coasted to the pits for his DNF. Dana put Shannon Dodson a lap down when the trouble with Johnny Tribble was a flat left rear that sent him into Tod Darda knocking him off turn three and bringing out the lap 24 caution. On this restart the pace was even faster as Dana and Bobby Joe got out front quick. Thompson was beginning to hang with them when he suddenly lost power and coasted to the pits, relinquishing the third position to Harrod on lap 27. On this restart Steve Richardson and Bob Gibby went after the same piece of real estate at the same time and crashed to a halt in turn 2. The green came out again and Tod Darda had to leave the field with a mechanical failure followed by Curtis Cline, who also coasted to the pits for his DNF. Alan Sparks was having an excellent run as he worked his way around Brad York, Travis Pennington, and Steve Seagraves to capture the fifth spot. Dana Eiland’s K-9 had the taste of that first Groundhog 300 in his jaws as he lapped the back of the field to take the checkers, uncontested wire-to wire, and capture yet another victory to begin the 2006 racing season. Bobby Joe Eiland ran the entire race and finished in the second spot. Larry Harrod finished third, Chris Jones fourth, Allen Sparks fifth, Steve Seagraves sixth, Travis Pennington seventh, Brad York eighth, Max Colson ninth, Ricky Culpepper tenth, and William Thomas came from last to round out the top eleven in eleventh.