Hodges has good racing weekend in SoCal

Local Late Model driver Bobby Hodges had some good luck and bad luck last weekend at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California,

The good luck was drawing the No. 1 qualifying position, which turned into a pole starting position when qualifying was rained out. Hodges led for several laps in his first visit to the fast half-mile oval, battling with Irwindale regular Ryan Kaplan. Hodges lost a few places but stayed in the top five.

When the two leaders crashed late in the race, Hodges went for a hole that closed up on him, tearing the rear bumper cover almost off the car. The bad luck struck when he pitted for repairs and track officials waved the checkered flag along with the yellow, ending the race at 55 laps instead of the scheduled 75. Hodges was scored 30th out of 48 starters.

Hodges is excited about the new car, purchased recently for the 2009 season. He feels that he will be able to win races with this chassis, and he certainly showed speed and competitiveness on Saturday night. Congratulations, Bobby.

- If you weren't watching the end of the Rolex 24 at Daytona last Sunday on SPEEDTV, you missed one of the best finishes in years.

With an hour left in the race, four Daytona Prototypes were running nose to tail, swapping positions like it was a sprint race. In the final minutes it was down to two cars, and David Donohue's Brumos Racing Porsche/Riley held off the Lexus-powered Ganassi Racing Riley of Juan Pablo Montoya at the checkered flag.

This was undoubtedly the most dramatic finish to the Rolex 24 since Tony Stewart almost won it a few years back, turning competitive lap times in a car with a broken suspension. It was also an emotional win for Donohue, because it was the 40th anniversary of his father's (Mark Donohue) Daytona 24-hour victory driving a Penske Ferrari 512.

- Remember the good old days in NASCAR when a driver stayed with a team year after year, with the same number, sponsor and paint scheme? These days, it's hard to keep track of the drivers from race to race, let alone season to season.

This year it's especially confusing, with a number of familiar team names gone from the roster, and drivers still playing musical chairs. Weirdest of all is the acquisition of Petty Enterprises by the Gillett-Evernham organization. Ray Evernham is out of the day-to-day operations of the team, and in a tail-wagging-the-dog scenario the team will now be called Richard Petty Motorsports. I understand the allure of the Petty name, and hopefully it will be useful in attracting sponsors to the team.

Earlier reports that had put A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 19 car on this team were apparently erroneous. A.J. will instead drive the No. 44 Dodge in a 10-race deal for Richard Petty Motorsports, with potential for a full season if sponsorship is forthcoming.

(Further weirdness . . . No. 44 was a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota last season!)

The Budweiser Shootout is included in the deal, and A.J. expressed his delight with that situation in an interview on the Sirius Radio NASCAR channel. He mentioned that he has never run Daytona in race trim, since he always had to run a qualifying setup to make the race, so he looks at the Shootout as a big practice session for the 500.

- Looking forward to the local racing season, I am still waiting details on the re-opening of Reno-Fernley Raceway's dirt oval. Hopefully I will have that information by next week.

However, I had a meeting last week with Ed and Carol Brandenburg of Thunder Bowl Speedway in Mound House to talk about that track's 2009 schedule. After running motorcycle and quad TT races for the past few years, Thunder Bowl will add cars on the 1/3 mile D-shaped oval. The Dwarf Car division will have three consecutive Saturday Play days starting March 7th, with race dates April 11th, June 13th and October 10th. Motorcycle and quad racing starts April 4th, with 17 dates through October 3rd. Call Ed Brandenburg at 450-7167 for more information.

- Roger Diez is the motorsports columnist for the Nevada Appeal. he can be reached at racytalker@aol.com