Reaction to Twin-PASS Hickory 150’s

Photo courtesy of: Will Bellamy / Racing America

March 17th, 2024

[Opinion piece]

Race 1

I almost called this one some variant of a title with “Hickory History” in it. I also, late in the race, found myself almost hoping Cole would stay in the ride after all for race 2. I didn’t actually want this - it would be unfair to Jarrett, and I wanted to see Jarrett here, anyway. But at the same time, it was just incredible to see what Cole was doing, and to keep that long-running PASS Streak alive with marquee wins, never mind his very strong run at Hickory with ASA last year, too.

I was also almost ready to make a light joke, about how the streak of a Nova Scotian driver winning these things was broken (Alan Dietz? I think it was - the commentator) kept saying Cole was from New Brunswick, and Cory Hall was from Nova Scotia, when the reverse is true. I think he knows that, but just got hung up on it, and ended up saying the same mistake after - I just found it a bit amusing. Also, it kind of sounded like he said Garrett Butcher at first, but not sure, and with a slight accent (to me), and what sounded like Jarrett later, maybe not.

Anyway - great show put on by 3 drivers, all of which I would have been happy to see win: #53 Butcher, #83 Hall, and #15 Mike Hopkins. I think Butcher led something like 133 laps. It looked like there was a near-constant possibility of either Hall or Hopkins winning, and who knows sometimes in a race like that, who may be saving, and what they may have, for a potential late race charge after a restart. It seems to me that in many cases, Butcher’s restarts are not his strong point. Maybe some of that is that he may often have a set-up that is a bit on the longer-run side, where the car gets better after a couple of dozen laps, I don’t know. But sometimes it seems like he falls back just a bit on the restart, but then within half a lap, to a lap and a half, picks it back up.

At times, it would seem that when Butcher got into traffic, Hall would quickly close on him, and then following that, Hopkins would quickly close on Hall. It was like an accordion between the 3 front-runners, stretching it out a little, before always reeling it back in closer, seemingly all race long. It seemed like a pass might be difficult, and without knowing who has what left, but it really gave a feeling of Butcher probably winning, with a possibility for a nail-biting finish. They all seemed hooked-up on both the short, and long run speed, and had their stuff preserved.

36 Laps to Go

Let me start by saying: I don’t know much about J.P. Josiasse, my impression is he is an Ontario driver who runs a handful of PASS races every year, and is almost a guarantee to end up multiple-laps down while on the track. I haven’t generally had much to be critical of him about, before, though. I don’t know what the issue was, and I doubt intent, but on Lap 36, JP got into Butcher almost dangerously going into turn 3. This would not be the first incident (or near-incident) with JP on the day, also making contact with a near-front runner while coming out of pit area I think, and more.

I don’t know if it was an issue in specific with turn 4, or turn 3 going into turn 4, but it seemed to be a source of multiple issues during the day, including #39 Cookson and #12 Griffith having a contact caused spin during their heat race for Race 1, too.

25 Laps to Go

I hated this one for Hall. I don’t know what happened. The top-3 were in a really tight bunch, right around that turn 3/4 area I mentioned. Cole was to the outside of a fast #60 DJ Shaw (at this point, really good cars were being put down a lap), with Hall immediately to the outside of Hopkins right behind them. I don’t know if Hall started to lose the handle on his own a bit first, or if contact happened a bit first, but Hall started to spin, while him and Hopkins leaned on each other coming out of the turn, with Hall getting the worst of it, and needing to head to the pit.

It is not common that I find myself thinking during a race ‘Where did they come from?!’, but when I saw Sorel in 5th place with 16 to go, this was exactly my thought. In the ensuing laps, Hopkins was really stalking Butcher, able to pull so close, but it seemed like Butcher definitely wasn’t going it easy.

The Finish

What a dramatic finish, and also, what a bummer. With 3 laps to go, Butcher left Hopkins just enough room to sneak his nose under, and I think between those 2, they were both fast enough to get to each other’s bumper, and if they were side-by-side, whoever was going to be on the inside, was going to be the one who would pull out ahead. In basically the exact same place that Hopkins got under Butcher in the previous lap, Butcher did the same, except there wasn’t quite as much space for Butcher to squeeze the nose in. I am not a driver, and I don’t know exactly what happened. It looked to me like Butcher sent it in a bit too hard into the right-rear quarter panel, racing for the big win, with 2 laps left, Hopkins didn’t lift and let Butcher have the space (Butcher would have completed the pass, I think, if he did - and then who knows what would have happened after that). I hated this for Hopkins.

Then the #94 Garrett Hall gets tagged by Hopkins in the ensuing wreck, who was running #3rd at the time, and one of the best cars all day behind the top-3 group. Hopkins was upset, and Butcher was sent to the rear, to a bit of cheer from some of the crowd. This incident made me not want to talk about this race at all, it’s unfortunate. But then I felt compelled, while unable, and not at the track, etc… to want to just ask both drivers something, the same thing to both drivers, right away (and a follow-up would be nice, but hopefully this just ends up behind them, as is often the case in racing):

Cole: What did you experience happen, and what do you think happened?

Mike: What did you experience happen, and what do you think happened?

I believe Mike gave a thought, or his thoughts on the incident on camera, I’m sure if you’re reading this, you’ll be able to find it if you search for it.

If I were able to get an answer to both of those things, I would have shared those Q&A’s, and I would have had no follow-up question, and not said what the other answered, and not given any of my own commentary, and kept it at that; that’s that extent of what I wanted to know, I felt it was a fair question, simple, and the intent wasn’t to drive attention through dramatics. I did decide to write a bit about the event itself, though, after all.

Final Thoughts on Race #1

With 2 laps to go, and Sorel on the front-row, I really wanted to see him win it. I felt really bummed out about what had transpired over the last few dozen laps, but I was really hoping for that. Turns 3/4, final circuit around the track, going to the checkered… That same spot. With all the late race calamity, #00 Renfrew Jr who had fallen off of the pace not long prior, was on the inside of Sorel for third, and Sorel spun, getting passed by a bunch of cars, and crossing the finish line sideways, and damaged.

Cole had virtually no chance at the win anymore, being at the very rear of the lead lap, and lapped cars. A little thought - sometimes strengths can be weaknesses. Aggressive/hard driving, timing of it, intent, these are all things that matter, and there are different scenarios where things can play out different ways, sometimes in your favour, sometimes not, and that goes for others around you, as well, and vise-versa.

At the end of the day, though, while a bummer when it happened - it’s a single race - it just happened. It’s over. It was interesting to see an 8th, 9th, 10th finish (the last 3 on the lead lap) between Naugle, Hall, and Butcher.

It may not sound sincere, but all credit to the #74 Ryan Moore team, and crew-chief Andrew Hicken from the Maritimes for outlasting this race of attrition, and being crossing the finish line on the only lap that really counts.

Race 2

Considering the amount of fast cars caught up in things, etc. I had a realization, if, a big if, Cory Hall’s #83 was fixed up and about as good as for race 1, he may actually be the favourite. I texted Hall to convey that thought, he told me it was ‘certainly no where near as good’, and how it was frustrating.

Another consideration, was what Jarrett Butcher was going to bring to the table. Different driver, same team, same car, and a shot at a win. This was quickly dashed, with another heat-race dramatic. With Jarrett looking to have the best car in his heat, he gave Renfrew a shove to the bumper early in the heat, enough to upset Renfrew’s handling, but not spin him. It seemed to me that this led to Renfrew making a quick recovery, and forcing Butcher to have to lift (or else drive right through him), allowing #47 Gabe Brown to get right up to Butcher’s bumper, and get a nose to his inside going into turn 1. With Butcher now stuck on the outside losing track position, he was trying everything to slot back into the line, and not get freight trained.

I don’t know if the #74 Ryan Moore ran Butcher a little high towards the wall or not, it did seem like he may not have left him quite enough space. At the same time, Butcher came down slightly, with not quite enough clearance, onto Moore’s front end, Moore didn’t appear to lift, and the Butcher car, and the #7(3D) Joey Doiron seemed to be out before the feature even started, with junked race cars. Doiron managed to get back out there, but would only complete a bit over half of the laps.

With Griffith taking the lead with 135 laps to go, it looked like he may never look back. And then with 125, another incident that appeared to be involving JP that I had in mind earlier. It was hard to see clearly, but it seemed Brown gave JP a bit of room, trying to pass him, much faster, on the outside, and JP got into Brown, wrecking 2nd place Brown, who had only recently surrendered the lead to Griffith.

While Griffith busied himself putting nearly the entire field down a lap on a ‘Sunday Drive’, it was fun seeing Hall continue to gradually work his way up the field, and stay on the lead lap, but definitely left a sense of ‘what if?’ - a sentiment I am sure shared by at least a handful of drivers that day.

All credit to Griffith for a dominant victory, and in a day of twists and turns, it’s a step in the right direction still early in a 2024 season that seemed to be starting off a bit rocky for Griffith.

On to the next race(s).