Well folks, here it is.................the weather was fabulous! A little cool early in the morning, but by race time, the sun was high overhead and temperatures were in the mid-80's!
We were hoping that the race would come off without a hitch, but if you were watching, that wasn't the case. Lap 1, Eric Norris (yes, he's the son of actor Chuck Norris!) didn't even cross the start/finish line to complete lap 1. He had tranny problems, and never returned to the track. After that, there were several others who had mechanical problems, including Jon Wood. I will say, Shane Hmiel was driving the wheels off his truck, bumping and banging. And, boy! There was some three-wide racing! It was fantastic! The wreck involving David Reutimann, Bill Lester, Robert Huffman and J.R. Patton was hair-raising! Chad Chaffin was also involved, but he was able to drive his truck away from the accident. Lester got loose coming off turn 4 and got into Reutimann sending both of their trucks nearly nose first into the outside wall! They then collected J.R. Patton, Robert Huffman and Chad Chaffin in the melee. While listening to the scanner, MRN was on a station break and they were discussing what they would be talking about when they returned from break. They did NOT want to discuss Reutimann at all. At that time, he was being cut out of his truck while it was sitting up against the pit wall. They covered Patton walking to the ambulance, and then Bill Lester walking to the ambulance under his own power. Only when they had extracted Reutimann from his truck did they discuss him. He was removed from his truck with neck brace and on a backboard. He was speaking to the emergency crews. Four drivers were taken to the infield care center, with Huffman and Patton being released shortly thereafter. Reutimann and Lester were transported in the same ambulance by ground to a hospital in Downtown Fort Worth. Later released without major injuries.
The crowd was really rooting for a David Starr win, since he considers this his home track. I was rather impressed by the crowd. I really didn't hear a lot of booing for ANY driver! It was rather pleasant!
If you would like to check out the pics that I took at the race, you can click here and then click on the Oct '04 Truck Race album. (Just so you know, the June pics aren't shared and cannot be seen. Yahoo only allows ONE album to be shared at a time.
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All in all, a good time was had by all! Enjoy!
We were hoping that the race would come off without a hitch, but if you were watching, that wasn't the case. Lap 1, Eric Norris (yes, he's the son of actor Chuck Norris!) didn't even cross the start/finish line to complete lap 1. He had tranny problems, and never returned to the track. After that, there were several others who had mechanical problems, including Jon Wood. I will say, Shane Hmiel was driving the wheels off his truck, bumping and banging. And, boy! There was some three-wide racing! It was fantastic! The wreck involving David Reutimann, Bill Lester, Robert Huffman and J.R. Patton was hair-raising! Chad Chaffin was also involved, but he was able to drive his truck away from the accident. Lester got loose coming off turn 4 and got into Reutimann sending both of their trucks nearly nose first into the outside wall! They then collected J.R. Patton, Robert Huffman and Chad Chaffin in the melee. While listening to the scanner, MRN was on a station break and they were discussing what they would be talking about when they returned from break. They did NOT want to discuss Reutimann at all. At that time, he was being cut out of his truck while it was sitting up against the pit wall. They covered Patton walking to the ambulance, and then Bill Lester walking to the ambulance under his own power. Only when they had extracted Reutimann from his truck did they discuss him. He was removed from his truck with neck brace and on a backboard. He was speaking to the emergency crews. Four drivers were taken to the infield care center, with Huffman and Patton being released shortly thereafter. Reutimann and Lester were transported in the same ambulance by ground to a hospital in Downtown Fort Worth. Later released without major injuries.
The crowd was really rooting for a David Starr win, since he considers this his home track. I was rather impressed by the crowd. I really didn't hear a lot of booing for ANY driver! It was rather pleasant!
If you would like to check out the pics that I took at the race, you can click here and then click on the Oct '04 Truck Race album. (Just so you know, the June pics aren't shared and cannot be seen. Yahoo only allows ONE album to be shared at a time.
)All in all, a good time was had by all! Enjoy!
