September 17, 2011 - On a cool late Summer evening drivers, fans, crews and workers arrived at Tazewell Speedway with heavy hearts following the passing of a much loved competitor and friend, Chris Collinsworth. As heartbreaking as it was the racing community felt in their hearts that he would want us to kick the tires and light the fires and that's exactly what Tazewell Speedway did. The program began with qualifications and the pole winners in each class were:

Modified Street- Gary Blanken 13.922 secs.
Tazewell Late Model- Pierce McCarter 12.359 secs.
Classics- Robbie Sands 15.368 secs.
Pure Street- Apaches Quinton 15.812 secs.

Before the racing action began Tazewell Speedway took a moment to give tribute to their missing family member. It was an emotional time for all involved but when the car cover came off the #77 Chevrolet it all was clear. This was what Chris loved and he wanted us to be happy tonight. Donnie Petty made a tribute lap in the 77 as the National Anthem played and tear drops fell but the healing had already began. Joining him on the lap was teammates Robbie Buchanan and Brad Davis. The speedway then called out the Tazewell Late Models for the consolation race and the racing action that Chris Collinsworth so loved began to heat up. Moving on to the feature from the consolation was Matt Tharpe and Mark Knight.

The Modified Street cars were the opening feature race of the night. Gary Blanken and Brad Davis led the field to the green flag. An ultra-fast Gary Blanken put lots of clay dirt between his car and Davis' Camaro for the first 14 laps but his car began to slow a bit and on lap 15 the engine let go. Brad Davis moved into the top spot and on the restart he held off a hard charging Jordon Horton for the win. Behind Horton was Robbie Buchanan who very much wanted to be up at the front competing for the top spot but it just wasn't meant to be. Horton secured second and Buchanan finished a strong third. Fourth went to Warren McMahan and Tony Horton rounded out the top five. Davis climbed up into the flag stand and thanked all that had helped him. He went on to talk about the win, "There's no doubt that we had someone helping us from above tonight (referring to Collinsworth) and there was no way we were going to catch Gary tonight. He was fast. The only way I can explain it is that this was just meant to be."

Modified Street Results
1 88 Brad Davis
2 56H Jordan Horton
3 P21 Robbie Buchanan
4 33 Warren McMahan
5 56 Tony Horton
6 69 Shannon Emery
7 4 Clyde Overholt
8 54 Larry Burke
9 1 Scott Johnson
10 20 Scott Atkins
11 5 Gary Blanken
12 17 Leonard Bray
13 3 Tim Hatfield
14 18 Rick Welch
15 22C Dustin Collins
16 31 Greg Estes DNS

The 4-Cylinders took to the track next for the second feature of the night with a championship on the line. Allen Holloway and Bubby Braden were only 5-points apart when the race began. At first Braden looked to have Holloway covered but Holloway stormed back to eventually slide into the top spot securing both a win and a championship. David Creech finished third with Daris Braden and Mark Wallace getting the fourth and fifth spots respectively. In victory lane Holloway showed a rare bit of emotion by standing on his car with arms raised to he sky.

Four Cylinder Results
1 A27 Allen Holloway
2 B7 Bubby Braden
3 10 David Creech
4 52 Daris Braden
5 1 Mark Wallace
6 44J Jeromy Collins

The Tazewell Late Models were up next and they were led to the green flag by Pierce McCarter and Greg Estes with Anthony Arnwine and Mark Leach coming out of row two. McCarter took the early lead but accidental contact with Keith Chapman as the caution flag was being displayed pushed the leader into the wall in between turns three and four ending McCarter's great run. Estes moved into the top spot and held off Jason Trammell for his second Tazewell Speedway Late Model win of the season. Finishing third tonight was Steve Carr and fourth went to Travis Fultz. Rounding out the top five was Anthony Arnwine.

Tazewell Late Model Results
1 31 Greg Estes
2 90J Jason Trammell
3 77 Steve Carr
4 TO Travis Fultz
5 11 Anthony Arnwine
6 7 Brian Smith
7 97 Keith Chapman
8 75 Chris Long
9 18 Michael Rutherford
10 35 Matt Tharp
11 24 Allen Holt
12 18 Anthony Burchette
13 G7 Billy Gordon
14 22 Matthew Holt
15 71 Pierce McCarter
16 56J Jody Horton
17 14 Mark Knight
18 66 Mark Leach
19 54 Blake Smith
20 1 Kevin Gentry
21 24 Andy Wilder DNS

The Classics took the track next with Joe Keck and Jim Yeary fighting to the end for the championship. Keck drove to the win but was protested and found to be illegal giving the win to Logan Dukes and the championship to Jim Yeary. Charles Tharp finished second and Jim Yeary finished in the third spot just in front of Eli Keck and Robbie Sands.

Classic Car Results
1 20 Logan Dukes
2 59 Charles Tharp
3 7 Jim Yeary
4 18 Eli Keck
5 17 Robbie Sands
6 8 Joe Keck

The final race of the night was the drivers and cars of the Pure Street class. Apaches Quinton had the field covered but Steve Smith got close on a few occasions but could not complete a pass. Dustin Eldridge, Jonathan Miracle and Aaron Guinn finished out the top five.

Pure Street Results
1 15 Apaches Quinton
2 2 Steve Smith
3 94 Dustin Eldridge
4 41 Jonathan Miracle
5 97 Aaron Guinn
6 14 Austin Atkins
7 23 Paul Whitley
8 39 Johnny Miller
9 28 Justin James
10 15 Jason Long
11 O7 Tony Spoon
12 26 Jason Whitaker
13 O1 Luke Sharp
14 77XX Tony Knuckles DNS
15 17 Tim Stevens DNS

Tazewell Speedway will return to action on Friday night, September 23rd. The rained out NASRA, Buddy Rogers 44 lap event will be ran. There will be a food drive on this night and fans are encouraged to bring in some canned food donations. Also the near famous Tazewell Speedway hotdogs will once again be only a dollar. Please log on to www.tazewellspeedway.net for more information on this and upcoming events. Once again thanks to the best fans in all of dirt racing. Without you the speedway could not remain open. Next week the points standings will be certified and the winners in each class announced.