National 100 at East Alabama Motor Speedway: Report and Results
10 November 1997
Phenix City, AL - The Yin was within and the Yang went out to carry the "Yin Yang" #0 of Scott Bloomquist to victory for the fourth time in the National 100 at Bill Thomas' East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, Alabama. The 23rd running of the annual fall race in East Alabama saw many of the big names in dirt Late Model Racing take to the high banked 3/8 mile EAMS clay this weekend with the Rayburn/Cornett Ford of Bloomquist taking advantage of the misfortunes of both Skip Arp and Clint Smith to snatch victory, and the $20,000 winner's check. There were 56 Late Models on hand to take times in qualifying with the fast time going to the "Chattanooga Flash" Ronnie Johnson who blazed the track in 14.96 seconds for an average speed of 90.241 mph. This earned him the pole for the first heat race, and it was soon obvious that the inside of the front row was not the place to be on this night. Clint Smith started outside the front row and used the momentum of the outside line to take the lead and the heat win from Johnson. The win gave Smith the pole for the start of the National 100. In the second heat race Skip Arp was able to make the inside line work as Kenny Merchant seemed to bog down at the line to take the lead and the win to sit on the outside of the front row for the feature race. Other heat wins went to Wade Knowles, Bloomquist, Bill Frye and Jody Summerville. Bloomquist was the only driver besides Arp to make the inside line work on the start with a perfectly timed move from three-quarters of a car length back to fire and hit the line exactly at the right time. The first start attempt in this race saw Jack Pennington take a wild ride off the top of turn one thanks to contact with Bloomquist, thus adding to the dissent between the two drivers. The start of the 100 lap National 100 itself took six tries before a lap was able to be completed, as Jody Summerville, Freddy Smith, Jason Smith, Kenny merchant and Jason Smith again, failed to make it through turn one. Merchant was the only one who was unable to continue, although Summerville's car required extensive repairs before he could return to the fray, many laps down. When the green finally was able to stay out for an entire lap it was Arp who had used the outside pole to take the lead from Clint Smith, Bloomquist, Frye and Knowles. The day was to end early for Knowles as on lap 12 smoke began to appear at the rear of the car and two laps later he headed into the pits and out of the race. Arp meanwhile had pulled out to a 10 car length lead as the freight train thundered along behind him. By lap 15 the leader began to catch the slower cars and this allowed Smith to close the gap. Arp soon came to Jimmy Sharpe and was vainly trying to make the pass while officials waved the 'move over' flag. Sharpe held his position and Smith was able to close up on Arp's back bumper. On lap 28 as the cars exited turn four Arp made a move to the inside of Sharpe while Smith also decided that it was time to go inside Arp. Three wide they came off the corner, and Arp and Sharpe touched, sending Arp spinning to the high side and Sharpe to the pits with damage to the left rear. Smith was able to slide through on the bottom with only minor contact. Arp's spin carried him into the end of the front straight wall causing a fair amount of damage to the right front quarter of the car. Despite the damage, Arp resumed his place at the front of the pack. With other cars involved in the incident the running order at the front now had Arp leading C. Smith, Bloomquist, Frye, Pennington, J. Smith, Ronnie Johnson, Freddy Smith, McDowell, and Mike Head. The field returned to racing and once again Arp was able to stretch out to a 5 car length lead while behind him Freddy Smith was trying hard to get inside Johnson on the exit of turn two. He tried first on lap 43 and had to fall back in line, but on lap 45 he got right up alongside Johnson on the back straight, and completed the pass entering turn three. Johnson, who was dropping off the pace quickly now, soon headed to the pits with a flat tire. At the halfway point it was still Arp in front with Clint Smith, Bloomquist, Frye, and Pennington in pursuit. On lap 61 Arp appeared to have an engine let go on the back stretch and went for a wild ride off the top of turn three as oil got under his tires. The car was airborne as it cleared the track, but Arp was unhurt and drove was able to ride the car into the pits, under wrecker power. This handed the lead to Clint Smith with Bloomquist moving up to second and Frye taking third. As the cars returned to green flag conditions, smoke began boiling out of the left front wheel well of Smith's car when he was under braking, but after doing this for a few laps, it stopped. With Bloomquist right on his rear bumper putting on the pressure, Smith suddenly exited the track over the top of turn three. The smoke had been brake fluid boiling away and Smith found himself with no way to slow down and took the same route to the pits Arp had before him. Bloomquist now had the point with Frye second, Pennington third, Freddy Smith in fourth and McDowell in fifth. When racing resumed, Bloomquist left no doubt as to who had the faster car as he soon pulled out to a 10 car length advantage over Frye, who had Pennington all over his rear bumper. Pennington obviously had the faster car, but was unable to find a way around the Frye machine on the tricky track. Bloomquist survived through three more restarts before he claimed his fourth victory in the event with Frye holding Pennington at bay for the last 30 laps. Freddy Smith finished fourth and McDowell took the fifth spot. There were only 13 of the 24 cars running at the finish with Dewayne Johnson and Vic Hill being laps down while Bobby Thomas suffered a flat tire just two laps from the finish, but limped home to end up in 11th, a lap down. It was a fine field for the event, but one has to wonder why the likes of Wendell Wallace, Billy Moyer, Donnie Moran and others were not at this prestigious event. The track, although very difficult to pass on, held up well to the pounding it took over the two days and the capacity crowd, although cooled somewhat by 50 degree temperatures, made plenty of noise. Following the race, Bloomquist commented that "The guys in front had some problems that allowed me to take the win." and then retired to his transporter. Pennington, in his comments following the event, stated that "I have a long memory," in regards to the incident between himself and Bloomquist in the heat race. Bloomquist is a driver that you either like or hate, there is no middle ground, but whichever way you feel about the man, you have to respect the talent he displays and the professionalism with which he approaches every race. The hair may have been cut, but the black car and driver's suit still bring to mind a pirate, who on this day stole away with another $20,000 prize. John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel East Alabama Motor S/W - Qualifying results for the 23rd National 100, Late Model Feature: Ps.No. Driver , Car Lap Time M.P.H. -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- -------- ------- 1 5 Ronnie Johnson 0:14.960 90.241 2 31 Skip Arp 0:14.980 90.120 3 17M Dale McDowell 0:14.980 90.120 4 0 Scott Bloomquist 0:15.010 89.940 5 66 Bill Frye 0:15.180 88.933 6 12 Jason Smith 0:15.270 88.409 7 1 Clint Smith 0:15.270 88.409 8 C28 Kenny Merchant 0:15.280 88.351 9 66k Wade Knowles 0:15.280 88.351 10 01 Jack Pennington 0:15.310 88.178 11 5k Greg Knight 0:15.310 88.178 12 2 Greg Brown 0:15.330 88.063 13 70 Jeff Smith 0:15.330 88.063 14 90 Bobby Thomas 0:15.360 87.891 15 114 Randle Chupp 0:15.370 87.833 16 4 Ed Basey 0:15.370 87.833 17 45 Dewayne Johnson 0:15.400 87.662 18 25 Jody Summerville 0:15.400 87.662 19 60 Gar Dickson 0:15.410 87.605 20 00 Freddy Smith 0:15.440 87.435 21 K9 Dana Eiland 0:15.450 87.379 22 B4 Jack Boggs 0:15.470 87.266 23 12a Joe Armistad Jr 0:15.470 87.266 24 U2 Buckshot Miles 0:15.470 87.266 25 7 Mark Miner 0:15.480 87.209 26 99 Johnny Johnson 0:15.490 87.153 27 201 Steve Smith 0:15.510 87.041 28 9 Frank Ingram 0:15.520 86.985 29 55 Terrance Nowell 0:15.540 86.873 30 H2 Stacy Holmes 0:15.550 86.817 31 0n Mike Nasworthy 0:15.570 86.705 32 26 Jimmy Sharpe 0:15.600 86.538 33 54 Mike head 0:15.610 86.483 34 1v Vic Hill 0:15.620 86.428 35 4B Jackie Boggs 0:15.620 86.428 36 49 Eric Evans 0:15.650 86.262 37 21G Curtis Galbreath 0:15.660 86.207 38 1s Johnny Stokes 0:15.700 85.987 39 24 Buddy Morris 0:15.700 85.987 40 222 Mike Boland 0:15.710 85.933 41 23 Rex Richey 0:15.760 85.660 42 10 Glenn Brewer 0:15.830 85.281 43 3 Eddie Blackmon 0:15.840 85.227 44 15B Brian Birkhofer 0:15.870 85.066 45 68 Eddie Rickman 0:15.870 85.066 46 14G Curtis Galbreath 0:15.890 84.959 47 81 Lonnie Roberts 0:15.920 84.799 48 21 Steve Hennies 0:16.160 83.540 49 98 Pete Broughton 0:16.170 83.488 50 25k David Killian 0:16.170 83.488 51 L97 Randy Little 0:16.280 82.924 52 24c K.C. Carpenter 0:16.700 80.838 53 83 Richie Beasley 0:16.710 80.790 54 11 Leland prewitt 0:16.730 80.693 55 83m Joe Morris 0:17.150 78.717 56 21s Robbie Starnes 0:17.420 77.497 Track Length : 0.3750 Miles East Alabama Motor S/W - Provisional results for the 23rd National 100, Late Model Feature: Ps.Ql.No. Driver , Car Laps -- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- 1 4 0 Scott Bloomquist 100 2 5 66 Bill Frye 100 3 10 01 Jack Pennington 100 4 20 00 Freddy Smith 100 5 3 17M Dale McDowell 100 6 22 B4 Jack Boggs 100 7 21 K9 Dana Eiland 100 8 29 55 Terrance Nowell 100 9 32 26 Jimmy Sharpe 100 10 7 1 Clint Smith 100 11 14 90 Bobby Thomas 99 12 34 1v Vic Hill 87 13 17 45 Dewayne Johnson 86 14 6 12 Jason Smith 74 15 11 5k Greg Knight 72 16 18 25 Jody Summerville 65 17 2 31 Skip Arp 61 18 15 114 Randle Chupp 61 19 1 5 Ronnie Johnson 53 20 30 H2 Stacy Holmes 28 21 13 70 Jeff Smith 25 22 37 21G Curtis Galbreath 24 23 9 66k Wade Knowles 13 24 8 C28 Kenny Merchant 0 Track Length : 0.3750 Miles