A 220 Racing News Exclusive

2001 YEAR IN REVIEW: JANUARY - JUNE

JANUARY

• Mike Head wins the 10th edition of the Ice Bowl at Talladega Short Track.
• Californian Steve Drake wins the rain-delayed Early Thaw I at Central Arizona Raceway.

FEBRUARY

• Freddy Smith opens the UDTRA Pro DirtCar Series 2001 season with a win at Golden Isle Speedway.
• After a record 92 cars enter for opening night of East Bay Raceway's week of Winternationals, Don O'Neal wins the opening pair of Renegade STARS Racing Series features. Davey Johnson and Billy Moyer win in UDTRA action on consecutive nights at East Bay. On the next night, Jackie Boggs triumphed over Moyer for the STARS closer at East Bay. The curtains closed on East Bay with Steve Shaver in victory lane for $25,000 in UDTRA action. Rough track conditions at East Bay wreaked havoc on teams all week.
• Matt Miller wins his first career UDTRA event in the closer of a 3-night run at Volusia Speedway Park. Rick Eckert leaves Florida with a 15-point lead over Steve Francis for the UDTRA championship.

MARCH

• Rodney Wing wins the O'Reilly SUPR postponed season opener at Pike County (MS) Speedway.
• Dale McDowell takes the postponed Southern All-Star win in the Bama Bash at Green Valley Speedway over John Jones. McDowell's $15,000 win is a record for a winner on the SAS Dirt Series.
• In late March, Jimmy Mars wins his first career UDTRA Pro DirtCar Series event after a rodeo-style scramble at Texas Motor Speedway.

APRIL

• On April 7, Billy Moyer wins the $10,000 James King Memorial at Columbus (MS) Speedway.
• Chub Frank brings home $20,000 after heading south to take on the UDTRA Pro DirtCar Series events at Oglethorpe and Fayetteville.

MAY

• Terry English and Anthony Rushing win Rick's Series events in the 2-day trek to Soggy Bottom (KY) Speedway.
• Freddy Smith wins the $35,000 Show-Me 100 at West Plains Motor Speedway.
• Scott Bloomquist opens the 4-day Bristol Motor Speedway UDTRA show with a win on May 31 during the last lap over Freddy Smith.

JUNE

• Scott Bloomquist and Jimmy Mars continue the UDTRA Bristol show with wins. Bloomquist's $25,000 win is considered the final dirt Late Model event for the immediate future at the World's Fastest Half Mile.
• Donnie Moran wins the ever ballyhooed Eldora Million on June 9 at Eldora Speedway. C. J. Rayburn Race Cars take the top 2 spots as underdog Steve Smith races to second in a Rayburn house car with Scott Bloomquist third. The $1,000,000 payday for Moran is the largest ever in short-track history.
• For the fifth straight event, the Mid-Atlantic Championship Series is rained out. This time, the first-ever appearance at Virginia Motor Speedway is postponed.
• Billy Moyer wins the UMP Summernationals event at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway after the scheduled opener at Brownstown Speedway is rained out. Moyer wins three more Summernationals events before the end of June, including $10,000 at I-55 Raceway.
• On the Southern All-Stars circuit, Chris Madden wins $10,000 in the first ever SAS appearance at Lowe's Motor Speedway Dirt Track.

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