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Blaney: ‘I think it’s the best event we have’
Photo
NASCAR driver Dave Blaney talks to a member of his race team after a hot laps race Tuesday night at the Sharon Speedway.
Staff report
HARTFORD
It may have been Sprint Cup drivers who stole fans’ hearts at Sharon Speedway Tuesday evening, but it was their sprint-car experiences that stole the show as part of a night dedicated as the Lou Blaney Memorial.
The appearance of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Dave Blaney, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne helped support the cause for Dave Blaney’s father.
“I think it’s the best event we have at Sharon every year because it brings people out and they support it because of my dad,” Dave Blaney said. “We get so many of the guys who raced with dad or guys who owned cars that raced with dad, and we get to see them once a year. The fans and competitors, whether it’s in modifieds or sprint cars, have supported it well. It’s a fun event and means a lot to us.”
Although he didn’t race later in the evening, NASCAR Nationwide Series upstart Ryan Blaney joined the three Sprint Cup drivers as they addressed the fans from a stage.
Stewart and Dave Blaney bantered with each other, while Kahne also offered thoughts on sprint car racing.
“I’ve watched guys like Sammy Swindell and this old guy named Dave Blaney and always wanted to run with them,” Stewart said. “It’s something I’m passionate about.”
Stewart, the reigning Sprint Cup champion who is currently fifth in the point standings, said his first sprint car victory was huge.
“That was a pretty big check mark on my bucket list, for sure.”
On a more personal note, Stewart said that his log house in Indiana is finally done.
“I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see that, so I got to move into that this week. It’s been nice to go home and have a few days there in my new house,” he said.
He said he wouldn’t mind if he had to enlarge the trophy case.
“You never get tired of winning races,” he said.
Kahne’s interest developed because his dad worked on sprint cars. Kasey said he was a huge Dave Blaney fan.
“I loved it when the World of Outlaws came to town,” he said. “Now, it gives me something to do other than the NASCAR stuff. It gives me an opportunity to run 10-15 times are year and also to watch and cheer on our guys each week.”
Kahne said fans seem to enjoy watching NASCAR drivers do something different [than Sprint Cup racing on TV].
Kahne, who last won a sprint car race a year-and-a-half ago, explained the differences between Sprint Cup cars and sprint cars.
“They’re way different,” he said. “You have to remember how each one of them works and try to figure it out right away. It’s much easier getting in a stock car and racing on pavement than it is getting in a sprint car and racing on dirt. I could run five dirt races in a row and get back in a stock car and be good the first lap. But if you run five stock car races and get in a sprint car, it takes a little bit of time.”
In 16th place with eight races before cutoff for “The Chase,” Kahne said his Farmers Insurance team has a good shot.
“We’re fast each week and if we can just stay out of trouble and get another win or two, we’d be in good shape,” he said.
His lone win this year was at Charlotte on May 27.
No. 34 Dave Blaney said that Tommy Baldwin Racing picks its spots to race full-bore.
“We’ve got some races we think we can run well at and some that we think we can just try to get through,” he said. “We haven’t run as well sometimes as we think we should, but we’re staying alive and, for the moment, that’s the biggest part and pretty much what we expected.”
Golden Corral will sponsor one more and SealWrap will be behind at least three more.
“Past that, I don’t know,” Blaney said. “After that, we’ll just keep trying [try to sell them last minute].”
Blaney and TBR’s No. 36 doesn’t have a sponsor this week in New Hampshire and he doesn’t know how much he’ll be racing.
“You never know until you get there and raise money,” he said.
Of his son, Dave said: “He’s doing well, it’s just going to take laps and experience. We’re trying to get him all the laps we can and I think he’ll have some good options in the future to race with some good teams.”
Ryan, a grandson of Lou Blaney, finished 7th, last and 15th in his three Nationwide starts so far.
“It’s been an up and down deal, but we had a solid run at Kentucky [June 29] which was a big learning curve because it was a mile-and-a-half track,” he said.
He said Indianapolis, as a two-mile track, will be even more of a learning curve experience.
“I’m looking forward to Indianapolis (July 28) and two more Nationwide races after that,” he said of races at Bristol (Aug. 24) and Charlotte (Oct. 12).