yesterday’s
DIRT Words: Lee Ackerman Photos: Tony Hammett
Chub Frank three-wheeled his way to a fifth place run.
A TRULY COLOSSAL EVENT PART I
IN 2000, THE OWNERS of the Charlotte Motor Speedway built a 4/10ths mile dirt track just across Highway 29 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The idea was to host special events in conjunction with the two big race weeks at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In 2006, they decided to add a huge dirt late model event. The inaugural Circle K Colossal 100 came with a winner’s payday of $50,000. The inaugural event held in late April 2006 turned out to be a success, despite the fact that mother nature tried to put a damper on it. Thunderstorms hampered the event on both Friday and Saturday night, but a healthy crowd helped make things a success. When you put up a lot of money on the
table you get a lot of cars and that was true in the case of the Colossal as 119 cars entered the event. When time trials had been concluded it was Moweaqua, Illinois’ Shannon Babb with fast time with a lap of 15.421 seconds. This set the lineup for ten heat races with the top two finishers going to the 100 lap A feature. The top six finishers from each of two B features then made their way to the feature. Spots 33 and 34 went to the two fastest qualifiers who had not yet qualified for the feature with the final two positions in the 36-car starting field going to the two drivers not yet qualified with the earliest postmark entry. 12-lap heat race wins were scored by Babb, West Virginia’s Chuck Harper,
Bloomquist completed a sweep of the first two Colossal events.
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DIRT EMPIRE MAGAZINE • ISSUE 04 - 2021
Winfield, Tennessee’s Mike Marlar, Arkansas’ Jared Landers with Georgia’s Shane Clanton and Clint Smith claiming the next two heats with the final four going to West Virginia’s Mike Balzano, Minnesota’s Justin Fegers, Virginia’s Booper Bare and Ohio’s Matt Miller. North Carolina drivers won both of the 20-lap C features with Furman Parton taking the first one and Gary Mabe the second. Wisconsin’s Brady Smith took the first 25 lap B feature and moved to the big race along with Louisiana’s Garrett Durrett, Ohio’s Million Dollar Man Donnie Moran, Mississippi’s Rick Rickman, Parton (from the C) and Georgia’s Ed Basey. West Virginia’s Tim Dohm won the second B and advanced along with Pennsylvania’s Jeremy Miller, Illinois’ Darren Miller, Iowa’s Denny Eckrich, North Carolina’s Ricky weeks and Pennsylvania’s Chub Frank. Alabama’s Ronny Lee Hollingsworth and New York’s Tim McCreadie got in on time with Ed Basey and Virginia’s Ronnie DeHaven making it in with the earliest postmarks and filling out the starting field of 36. Some drivers just seem to rise to the occasion for the big money races and certainly Mooresburg, Tennessee’s Scott Bloomquist has proved that again and again throughout his amazing career. This race was no different. Bloomquist started fourth and patiently drove through the first half of the race where the caution flew ten times (13 in all). Those cautions help to diminish the 36car field as fast as the clouds that dumped a large amount of water about 5 pm had
