A Firecracker 100 Preview or Something

Hey there race fans. Coming up Thursday night is the beginning of one of the biggest race weekends in dirt late model racing, up at TDN's home track, Lenerville, the Firecracker 100. So what I'm gonna do is put a small preview together so you'll know what to expect if you haven't been before, plus some bonus predictions at the end. Now, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this thing.

Who: There's likely to be around 60 of the very best late model drivers in the country. I say this because that's pretty much the car count every year. I'm not into putting driver lists together, because shit happens and dudes don't show, or dudes that weren't planning on racing do show. There will be all the WoO fellas, some other national touring level dudes, a bunch of regional guys and the guys we see at Lernerville week in and week out.

What: Three days of late model racing, culminating with the running of the 100 lap Firecracker 100 Saturday night for a cool 30k to win. There will be a full show each night, with time trials, heats, consis and a 30 lap feature for 6k on Thursday and Friday night. Saturday night, the format will change a bit. There's no qualifying, the heats are lined up from the drivers' best finish Thursday or Friday night, but then after those heats and b-mains, the bros who didn't qualify  for the big show get a 30 lap feature of their own for 3k. As an added bonus, there's various things to do around the speedway during the weekend, including live music after the Thursday and Friday programs.

Why: Why not? Racing is fun, yo. 

Where: Lernerville Speedway, Sarver, Pennsylvania. It's a high banked 4/10  oval on Route 356 in Sarver, Pennsylvania about 10 miles south of the small city of Butler, Pennsylvania. If you need more information about the track, you can go to their website here.

When: There's a bunch of stuff going on all week. I'd try to list it all and stuff, but I'd rather let Lernerville do it, because they're smarter than I am. A schedule can be found here, and ticket info can be found here

How: With a lot of planning and a great race track, I suppose. 

Now that I've got that stuff out of the way, I'm gonna tell you who will win the race, who won;t win the race, and which guy could shock the world. Then some other, silly predictions. 

Who will win: 

 Josh Richards. He's heating up after being off for just about all of last year, and he has an absolute ton of laps at Lernerville his years in a late model. Plus, the last time he ran the Firecracker, in  2013, he had as dominant a weekend as I've ever seen in any kind of racing, sweeping the weekend, when the track conditions were completely different all three nights.

Who won't win:

Darrell Lanigan. Yes, yes, I know. He won the thing last year. But 2015 has been very., very different for Darrell. He hasn't won with the WoO yet. He's just off, by his standards. I don't think he's suddenly going to figure it out this weekend, either. He randomly showed up to a weekly show about a month ago. He ran third, and in a few more laps, would have been been fourth, passed by two locals. It just isn't his year. 

Who might shock the world:

 

Jared Miley. He's always very good at Lernerville, and in 2012, was clearly the fastest car on the track in the second half of the 100. If he can manage to qualify near the top, the possibility of him running up front for all 100 laps is very real. 

Some other predictions:

I will eat roughly twelve pork chop sammiches in three days. 
Modified legend Sammy Beavers will be in attendance, but just as a fan.
Rain will make an appearance during the weekend. It won't cancel the racing, though. It'll just make the track have a foot high cushion that night. 
All them pork chop sammiches will give me pretty raunchy gas. You might not want to sit near me.
Scott Bloomquist will show up late. 
Tim McCreadie will win a preliminary night. That thread on 4M about him will get retarded. 

And that's pretty much it. I hope this was helpful, and I hope you have a crapload of fun if you go. If you happen to see one of us TDN staff, say what's up. We don't bite. Unless you're pork chop sammich. Then you'll get bit.