SNOWBALL DERBY LEFTOVERS

FROM GOING HOME TO TOP THREE

“I'll tell you what. We got a third and I wasn't suppose to be here. I'm ecstatic.”

Those were the words from the final podium finisher from this year's Derby, Jack Landis.

You see, Landis finished sixth in last week's Last Chance race, missing the Derby by one spot. Therefore, he was sent home. However, on Monday following the rain out, Landis got a phone call that Charlie Menard would not be able to make it back to Pensacola to the makeup do to prior commitments and that he was now in the field, starting dead-last in 38th spot, if he so accepted.

Landis accepted, and made the best of the opportunity.

“On Monday afternoon, I got a phone call. We were out fishing, whining in our sorrows. We got that phone call and they told us that Charlie Menard couldn't make it. The week was suddenly looking better.

wanted to save my brakes and tires. The car was awesome.”

But within sight of the finish line, disaster struck under the hood of the #19 with just four laps to go..

“It is just a shame that we lost a motor. But we made a lot of good strides everywhere. I have to thank the pit crew a lot. I think they got me from 10th to third one time. The car was awesome. Probably a better car than I had last year.”

Casey finished 17th.

TWO DERBY ROOKIES LEARN A LOT

It would be pretty hard to rate a Snowball Derby where you finish 25th with a heavily damaged race car and 26 laps down a success. But that is exactly what 15-year-old Landon Cassill considered his Derby.

Their tenacity drew the eye of the new USRA Series from Texas (formerly, the ROMCO Super Late Model Series). The USRA stepped up and sponsored Casey for the rest of the weekend.

Things then started out tough for Smith though, even before the race. The team noticed that they had mounted the tires on the wrong side of the car. However, under the watchful eye of track officials, they were allowed to change them. And come race time, there was no indication that Smith struggled at all.

“They were racing real hard,” said Smith who found himself in third before long. “I figured I’d ride in my own pace. I

“I knew we had a great race car. Last year we ran in the top five with it.

“And there is something about starting in the last spot. The I know the last couple years the winner has started from back there. We finished third. There is evidently a little bit of luck there.

Jack was so happy, all he could mudder was a few little statements that had everyone laughing.

“Well, sorry Charlie, but thanks. That is the smallest biggest trophy I've ever got.”

SMITH HAS ANOTHER GOOD RUN “BLOW UP”

Last year, Casey Smith was nearly the surprise winner of the Snowball Derby at Five Flag Speedway (FL). He finished third and made a late race charge towards the front. This year, during practice and qualifying for the event it looked like Smith and his team would have quite an uphill battle to have any kind of a decent run in the race. Smith qualified outside of the top 30 in time trials and needed to run the last chance race just to get into the main event. But as usual, the tough Texas bunch did not give up.

“I’d rate this a 10 out of 10,” said the wise Cassill, a sorta Gary St. Amant prodigy. “I only learned out there tonight. I learned a lot and I’ve very happy.

“It is hard to be happy with a wrecked car, but I learned so much. We concluded that we had the right tire strategy to win this thing. We didn’t have the fastest car, but we could have been there at the end. I’m excited for next year.

“Saving the tires is a huge part of the tire strategy. I also learned a lot on how you need to run these guys. How to need to race them sometimes. How you need to let them go sometimes. I learned how to drive without power

at the end, I just raced at the back as to not get in anyone's way. There was no reason being up there in the mix of it when we weren’t contending for the win.”

Both sound wise well beyond their 15 years of age.

ANOTHER DERBY ROOKIE HAS LITTLE TIME TO LEARN

Country Joe Racing's Joey Miller headed to Five Flags Speedway and the Snowball Derby with one thing in mind... winning.

Likewise for fellow 15-year-old Matt Hawkins. Hawkins, who broke out in the Super Late Model ranks this year, specifially in special events, had a solid run going until he got a flat tire, which put him several laps down. He too, used the race as a learning experience.

“I learned a lot about tire management,” said Hawkins. “I also learned something about running a long race. This is the longest race I’ve ever run.

“We wouldn’t have been too bad, but we had a flat tire on lap 190 and we went five laps down. That flat killed us. I think we came back and got three laps back, but

Winning and being a rookie at the Derby is not an easy task, but Miller had the utmost confidence in his brand new #15 Super Late Model. Unfortunately, Miller's chances at a Derby victory were cut short just 16 laps into the event when he was swept up in an accident with Scott Carlson and Ricky Turner and finished 38th.

"We were just going at it," said Miller. "I thought I was in there. I guess when you get in there down here (at the Derby), and they turn into you, you have to turn into them to make sure you spin them around real quick. I got underneath Scott (Carlson). I was getting underneath him in the corners, but he was shutting the door.

"The guys (on the radio) were telling me to get going. I just went underneath him that time and he got into me a little bit. We all just went around. I should have got him hard and turned him around fast, but I’m not that kind of a racer. I don’t like getting into people.

"This is disappointing. Every race is a race though. This is just another one we didn’t finish. We’ll take it as a learning experience. We’ll learn from this and next time we’ll know what to do better and different."

FORMER CHAMP HAS LONG NIGHT

Former Snowball Derby Champion Ricky Turner had a very long, boring night at the Derby on Saturday.

Turner, who started 10th, was involved in the first accident of the night on lap 16 when he was swept up as an innocent victim of contact between Joey Miller and Scott Carlson.

were just trying to stay out of something like what we got into. It's just bad luck I guess.

“I was out there just counting down the laps. It really was just ride around till the race is over. It sucks.

But hey, we ran the derby on three sets of tires. That doesn’t count for much though.”

CRANE HATES PIT LANE

Youngster Ryan Crane probably hate pit lane. In fact, if he just didn't have to pit ever again, he'd probably be a happy kid.

In the Snowflake 100, the youngster appeared to have the fastest car in the field and was well out front, but he failed to come down pit road when the rest of field did for their only stop, sticking him in the back, where he eventually got swept up in an accident.

“We just got caught up in the wrecked. I just picked the wrong way to go. I saw (Scott) Carlson spinning and I thought he was going to stay to the bottom. I went high and when I saw that he did too, I just couldn’t get stopped.”

The accident wasn't a particularly bad one, but it did just enough damage to Turner's car to keep him from being competitive for the rest of the night.

“It popped the end off the tie-rod. So we just had to run around the rest of the night. It wasn’t no fun. We didn’t get to race. We weren’t racing at the beginning. We

In Saturday's Snowball Derby, Crane again appeared to have one of the fastest cars on the track and was slowly moving his way towards the top-five from his 12th-place starting spot.

However, it all fell apart yet again on pit road when Crane got into a little scuffle with the cars of Randy Gentry and Hal Goodson when leaving his stall following a round of stops.

“We had a good stop and someone ran into me and knocked me into the wall on pit road,” said Crane. “They came off pit road and ran straight into me. The tore up the left front and broke the right front sway bar.

“It is a shame. We had a good car. We had a real good hot rod, but we don’t get to show it tonight either. I really think we had a car to beat. It is just too bad that it turned out this way.

“I’ve kinda got used to losing. That is how it seems to turn out a lot this year.”