Cheerwine Cherry Bomb 200

[falcon325]

I took two daughters (and one boyfriend) to the Rock for the Cheerwine Cherry Bomb 200 yesterday.  Andy Hillenburg was putting on two 100-lap races.   Andy’s got the place looking spiffy.  Tickets were only $10, with $40 tickets available if you wanted to sit in the air-conditioned suites (bring your own food and drink).

The Frank Kimmel Street Stock division took to the track at a little after 10:00 a.m. with 42 cars lining up.  The early start time was intended to avoid some of the afternoon heat and get us back home in time for the fireworks.  Some of the cars were unsponsored and looked like the dents from the last race had been beaten out with a baseball bat.  A couple were puffing blue smoke even before the green dropped.  The drivers came from as far away as Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Massachusetts up north and Alabama and Georgia down south.  There was even one driver from Bogota, Columbia.  Two guys from Kentucky, Brett Hudson (Owensboro) and Tony Conway (Louisville) started on the front row and put on a heck of a show.  Hudson led much of the second half and we thought he was playing possum, letting Conway reel him in and wear out his stuff trying to get by before stretching it out again.  But on the final lap, Conway got along side and challenged for the win out of turn four.  Hudson held on for the win.

The ASA cars were slicker looking and the drivers came from as far away as Florida (all the way down in Miami), Colorado, Texas , Mississippi, Michigan and Wisconsin.  But, perhaps in a sign of these hard economic times, there were only 23 of them.  One young lady, Rebecca Kasten, took the green flag.  Stephen Leight started well back in the field and it was fun watching him work traffic.  But he had mechanical problems and dropped out.  Brandon Johnson of Longwood, Florida started 8th and came on to pull away with the win.

We drank a lot of Cheerwine (with a little of Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon mixed in for luck), Sundrop and RC Cola (with the obligatory Moon Pies) and had a lot of fun.  We hope to be back for the ARCA race in October.  The Rock is truly a gem and we need to help Andy save it.

[CodeBlueEMT]

 Midnight Moon. I've got an autographed bottle that Junior signed December 2007.

 I'll try to remember the ARCA race in October.

 Shayne

[falcon325]

I've got an autographed bottle too.  But this one was for sippin', not lookin' at.

I've got a daughter getting married the week before, but we're going to try to make the ARCA race.

[smyler]

Dang, I miss living in Charlotte, NC.  I'd have loved to go to that event.  I also miss Bojangles, Cheerwine and Lake Norman.  Not that Las Vegas is so bad, but I'd rather be in the heart of NASCAR country.