Rob Blount at 9 pm ET on Monday, December 7, 2015.
Rob Blount, from Speed 51 is our guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, December 7th, 2015 at 9 pm ET. Then at 9:30 pm ET, Snowball Derby polesitter, Ty Majeski joins us. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @beberly18 with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.
For Super Late-Model drivers and fans, the first weekend of December is for Five Flags Speedway racing including the Snowflake 100 and Snowball Derby. The best Super Late-Model drivers in the country make the trek to the track in Pensacola, Florida each year in hopes of winning the most exciting, competitive and pressure-packed event of the season. And there was plenty of drama this weekend.
Last year’s Snowball Derby winner, John Hunter Nemechek was on a mission to sweep the weekend by winning both events – the Snowflake 100 and Snowball Derby. The first part of his plan fell into place when he won the Snowflake 100 on Saturday, but trouble in the late laps of the Snowball Derby ended his hopes when his car went up in flames. Two crew members had injuries, with one treated in the infield care center and the other sent to the hospital for further evaluation. Both were in good spirits according to NEMCO Motorsports.
One @NEMCOMotorsport crew member has been treated and released, and another has been transported for further evaluation. All in good spirits
— NEMCO Motorsports (@NEMCOMotorsport) December 7, 2015
For another competitor – Christopher Bell, with Kyle Busch Motorsports – the drama of the weekend was more than he bargained for when he made the trip to Five Flags Speedway.
Bell raced his heart out to just qualify for the Snowball Derby, by setting a Derby qualifying record on Friday. But he had to start at the rear during his second qualifying effort after a rules infraction during the first post-qualifying inspection. The track Chief Technical Inspector, Ricky Brooks, found that the car had too much clearance between the right rear quarter panel and the right rear wheel of more than seven to seven and a half inches, violating the ABC Template Body rules.
The violation meant that Bell would start in the rear of the field and need to finish in the top-four of the 50-lap, ‘Last Chance’ qualifying event on Saturday. Bell, raced into the top-ten within 12 laps, reached fourth-place by lap 30, then took the lead by lap 42.
From there, Bell had no problems on his way to the checkered flag finishing first to qualify for his first Snowball Derby appearance on Sunday. The other ‘last chance’ qualifiers were Christian Eckes, Cassius Clark, and Caleb Adrian. More on Bell coming…
In all, 21 drivers didn’t make the show for the 48th annual Snowball Derby with one of the biggest names that of Todd Gilliland – son of Sprint Cup Series driver, David Gilliland. The younger Gilliland has victories in ARCA, CARS and NASCAR K&N Pro Series this season, but his car lacked the speed he needed to qualify for the 300-laps of the Snowball Derby.
On Sunday, the most anticipated Super Late-Model event of the season took place at 2 pm with Christopher Bell starting from the 31st starting position. He rallied his car and team to first place and crossed the finish line to seemingly take the victory. But after rolling across the post-race technical inspection scales, the No. 51 of Bell and Kyle Busch Motorsports was again found with a rules infraction.
The weight on the left side of Bell’s No. 51 car was at 58.3 percent, in excess by 0.3 percent of the 58 percent limit – that’s a five-pound difference. Chief Technical Inspector Ricky Brooks said that he gave the Kyle Busch Motorsports team three separate chances to correct the left side weight of the car throughout the week.
In a video on Speed51.com, the No. 51 crew chief, Chris Gabehart said he believes the buildup on the left side is because of Bell’s victory lap, when he drove the reverse direction around the track.
“We were paranoid in tech about how to let the kid celebrate his first Snowball Derby win, and for good reason,” Gabehart explained. “Obviously the left side tires are caked in rubber from the cool down lap. He rode around backwards and had the left sides up in the debris. I can promise you we can weigh the left side tires and they are five pounds heavier than the others we had on the car. No question.”
But Brooks has a zero-tolerance philosophy for enforcing the rules and wasn’t buying any excuses for the infraction. His inspection area is known as the ‘Room of Doom,’ and Brooks explained to Speed51.com that…
“…If they were too close, they shouldn’t have taken a backwards victory lap and put rubber on the tires,” said Brooks. “Every car had rubber on their tires, the other two cars were well within the limits. They said they burned fuel, well they pitted on lap 265 and they were really close on the total weight at the start of the race, so you can’t blame it on fuel burn off.”
When all cars completed the post-race technical inspection, second-place finisher, Chase Elliott was officially presented with the prestigious Tom Dawson Trophy. Interestingly, two years ago, Elliott was in a similar position when his car failed post-race inspection for using tungsten, giving his victory to Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Erik Jones. So Elliott understands the heartbreak for Bell.
“I think he did a really good job and he deserves a lot of credit for getting the job done on the racetrack,” the now two-time Snowball Derby winner said. “I’ve been there and I know how it feels. I wanted to crawl in a hole two years ago.”
Although the circumstances are not what anyone wishes to happen, Elliott – the Sprint Cup Series No. 24 driver for the 2016 season – is happy with his team effort at the Snowball Derby.
“It’s special, and to be able to take that trophy back home it means a lot,” Elliott remarked. “Obviously we would have loved to cross the finish line first. That’s the ideal way to do it, but we’ll definitely take it.”
Finishing in the runner-up spot is Zane Smith in his first Derby appearance. Ty Majeski, the polesitter for his Derby debut finished third, with 2014 runner-up Dalton Sargeant in fourth and Super Late-Model racer, Bubba Pollard finishing fifth.
For some fans, the zero-tolerance approach by Brooks is an ideal for penalizing those outside of the stated rules. For others a disappointment for their investment of time – with four post-race disqualifications within the past ten years. Yet for others, its more drama to an already pressure packed and exciting race.
Mark your calendars now for the first weekend in December next year, because without doubt most are already anticipating the 49th Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in 2016.