EASTABOGA, Ala. (Jan. 10) — All things considered, Patrick Lyon likely wouldn’t have been an oddsmaker’s pick to win the Crate Racin’ USA Street Stock portion of the prestigious Ice Bowl Sunday afternoon at Talladega Short Track.
A regular in the division at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., Lyon likes to travel a bit in his racing endeavors, but his road map had never previously led him to the third-mile oval. Aside from the CRUSA organization’s gradual move into his home region with last year’s acquisition of the SECA organization, Lyon isn’t overly familiar with most of the drivers who compete in the highly-competitive division with the Adairsville, Ga-based organization.
He does know they’re tough to beat, and especially on turf where familiarity can make a difference. While Street Stocks no longer compete on a weekly basis at the high-banked track, they were included as one of four different CRUSA-sanctioned divisions on this year’s card of events at the 30th edition of the traditional weekend, and the division’s competitors showed up in extremely strong numbers with a 48-car field dotting a pit area that held 350-plus cars in eight different divisions.
Lyon didn’t show up until Friday on the second afternoon of a four-day event, and those first two days were hampered by steady rains, leaving deep mud in the pits and a track surface that was less than ideal for practice sessions due to a heavy, rain-soaked condition. Not exactly the best way to learn about a racetrack’s characteristics, and especially when it was bound to change repeatedly through a long weekend.
Lyon didn’t get much practice, and he didn’t know much about the racetrack considering he’d never previously raced there. Although not exactly behind the eight ball, he did have some catching up to do, and Lyon knew it.
“I’ve never been here except once, and that was a long time ago and I was just here to watch the race,” Lyon said. “I think it was in ’08, or somewhere around that time. We left home at the last minute to get here this weekend, and didn’t even show up until Friday. We only ran 11 laps of practice, and that was pretty much mostly in the mud.”
That didn’t stop him from qualifying among the top 10, and winning a heat race. He started from the pole in the main event, and survived seven restarts during the 30-lap feature to claim a $2,500 victory over Charles Zimmerman, 10th-place starter Keaton Downing, Scott Spurgeon and Jason Maurer.
“I’ve always liked a little bit of travel, but to come to a track that’s not our home, and come out on top is a huge deal,” Lyon said. “It really means a lot to all of us. It’s almost hard to believe we won the race, and especially against all of the competition that was here this weekend.”
He held back earlier efforts from Spurgeon and Zimmerman, both of whom held the runnerup spot on various restarts. Outside front-row starter Chad Winkles also challenged after involvement in a first-lap incident, spinning in turn three after the initial start. He got his spot back since a lap wasn’t completed, and ran with the leaders until the 14th circuit when he spun over the fourth-turn banking while running third. Winkles was never again a major factor, but rebounded through the field to finish seventh.
Meanwhile, Lyons handled every restart challenge thrown in his direction to seal the victory.
“I just tried to keep my pace on the restarts to where I wanted it, and kept steadily firing away every time we had a caution,” Lyon said. “I picked my groove, stuck with it and fortunately we were able to keep the lead with all those guys lined up behind us so many times. You always know that whenever you come into CRUSA’s home territory, you’re going to face some tough competition.”
CRUSA Street Stocks (30th Ice Bowl): 1. Patrick Lyon, 2. Charles Zimmerman, 3. Keaton Downing, 4. Scott Spurgeon, 5. Jason Maurer, 6. Justin McDaniel, 7. Chad Winkles, 8. Kaleb Vandygriff, 9. Blant Duke, 10. Chad Thrash, 11. Russ Gabbert, 12. Johnathon Duncan, 13. Bo Minor, 14. Tony Cruse, 15. Dillard Hatchett, 16. Hunter Runions, 17. Jeremy Isbell, 18. Trevor Woodard, 19. Tim Merritt, 20. Brent Steele, 21. David Gentry, 22. Booger Brooks, 23. Gary Tucker, 24. Krista Travis.
Article Credit: Brian McLeod