Dave Wietholder won the feature race in the Modifieds on Opening Night last year, but Michael Long eventually was crowned champion.

Race week is finally here.

If it seems like an eternity since we last gathered at the Bullring … well, it has been, at least in racing terms. September was a long, long time ago.

Sunday evening cannot arrive too soon, and for reasons beyond the excitement of Opening Night. Three of the four Quincy Raceways classes will begin running for points right out of the gate.

Modifieds, stock cars and hobby stocks will have no mulligans. Pursuit of the track championship in all three classes begins this week. Only the late models have a few weeks to fine tune. Their points start April 26, one week after the scheduled April 19 Deery Brothers Summer Series tour event.

WILL OPENING NIGHT PROVIDE A TITLE CLUE?

Here’s what a happened a year ago on Opening Night:

Late models: Mark Burgtorf ruled the field, the first of his series-best six feature victories. Surprisingly, track champ Jason Frankel did not reach victory lane until May 18.

Modifieds: Dave Wietholder held off Michael Long to win the feature, which only delayed Long’s domination of the series for a second straight year. Long won the next six main events en route to a second straight championship.

Stock cars: Eventual champ Jeff Mueller claimed the first of his nine checkered flags. Mueller was the lone eventual track champ to win on Opening Night.

Hobby stocks: Steve Carlin was the Opening Night winner, then he did not win again until Aug. 31. Class champ Aaron Brocksieck claimed his first feature the third week of the season.

OPENING NIGHT, PART DEUX

Only four times in the past five years has an eventual track champion won on Opening Night:

Modifieds: Michael Long, 2007
Stock cars: Jeff Mueller, 2008
“B” Modifieds: Wyatt Lantz, 2004.
Hobby stocks: Eddie Dieker, 2004.

Ten things to consider as the first green flag on April 5 draws closer at Quincy Raceways:

1. We always hear about how much more powerful those late model UMP power plants are when compared to the IMCA spec engines, yet I find it interesting the fastest lap turned in 2008 belonged to Jason Frankel driving an IMCA car, a 72.717 mph circuit on Aug. 31. That was a heartbeat faster than Ed Dixon’s 72.430 mph lap on June 10.

Chris Wibbell

2. One of the most impressive feats from a year ago remains Chris Wibbell’s steadiness and reliability in the stock car division. He was the only driver in any series to complete all feature laps. Think it doesn’t sound that difficult? Then why was Wibbell the only driver to accomplish the feat?

3. The number of modified caution flags has been on the rise for three consecutive years, ever since the mods were consolidated into one division. I’m not sure if there is a connection there or not, but last year’s 10.9 cautions per show was a track record.

4. The number of yellow flags for the late models have been on a remarkable downward spiral. Late models averaged just 3.9 cautions per night last summer, and that includes all shows, even the big Deery Brothers turnouts. The late models were responsible for 6.4 stops a night in 2006. I have no idea what the common denominator might be in this equation, other than theorizing all the young guns in the late model series were two years older in 2008.

Twice last year there were caution-free Sunday nights for the late models. Nada. Zilch. Nyet. One of those evenings, July 20, saw the feature run in a remarkable 7 minutes, 52.873 seconds.

5. Of the 41 cars at the recent Quincy Mall show, I would say the early leaders for two of this year’s ZZ Top Sharp Dressed Man Awards are Dustin Griffin the late models and Tony Dunker in the mods. If Dunker is deemed the most righteous dude in terms of good-lookin’ sheet metal, it will be his fourth such award since 2002.

6. Here’s hoping track officials opt to go back to using the transponders on the hobby stocks. They were removed in early June last season.

7. I’m interested to see the early season late model car counts. Even though the track averaged 20 late models per show for a fourth straight year in 2008, only once after June 29 was that number reached. By all offseason accounts, the economy and/or retirements should not have any sort of lasting effect on 2009 car counts, but optimism always reigns in March. Two encouraging sites in this regard were the new rides on display at the mall show for veterans Terry Gallaher and Jerry Weisenberger. Gallaher is celebrating his 40th year in racing.

8. If Frankel can repeat as late model champ, he will be the first driver not named Mark Burgtorf to go back-to-back in that series since Steve Fraise in 1989-90. It’s amazing how many fans Fraise still has. I regularly get e-mails and comments about him. My all-time favorite was someone who wrote, “Steve Fraise was Mark Burgtorf before Mark Burgtorf.”

9. I started tracking money won at Quincy in 2006. In three seasons, Burgtorf has won $43,060. The next-highest late model total belongs to Denny Woodworth ($21,445).

10. Michael Long’s domination of the modifieds for a second straight season included 15 feature victories. Ironically, Long did not win the first (Dave Wietholder) or last (Donovan Lodge) feature of 2008.

Mark Burgtorf

Do you realize this is the final year of the decade? It seems like just yesterday we were worrying about that Y2K computer thing.

So with the start of the 2009 dirt-track season less than three weeks again, it’s time to start thinking about drivers of the decade at Quincy Raceways. Let’s look at each of the classes:

Late Models

With six track titles in the first nine years of the 2000s, it’s a safe bet Mark Burgtorf would be a consensus pick here. Lonnie Bailey, with a 2004 championship and eight straight top-10 points finishes, would be runner-up.

Hank DeLonjay

Modifieds

This class is kind of crazy. The first six years of the decade, there were the seaparate “A” and “B” distinctions, but since 2006, there has been just one modified series. I’m going to lump it all into one school of thought.

Going into ‘09, Hank DeLonjay and his four track titles rate a slight edge over Michael Long, who has completely dominated the past two seasons. But what some fans forget is Long also has two runner-up finishes in that period.

If Long puts together a third straight historic season, the choice could become quite a conversation piece. At this writing, though, I’m leaning toward DeLonjay, with Long runner-up.

Hobby Stocks

Eddie Dieker

This is another series that could stir some debate.

The retired Eddie Dieker won three championships and had two runner-up showings before calling it quits following the 2006 season.

Steve Carlin has captured two titles and is a heavy favorite to win a third this season. He could easily have four, having finished a combined three points out of first the last two years.

If Carlin ties Dieker with a third title this decade, who do you choose? Complicating matters would be each driver winning his three championships over a seven-year span.

If Carlin does pull even with a third title, I may lean toward the active driver. Otherwise, my gut feeling says Dieker deserves the kudos.

Stock Cars

Sorry, guys. We’ll have to wait until 2019 to start talking about a driver of the decade in this division. The stock cars are getting ready to begin just their second season at the Bullring.

Steve Carlin is just three points shy of having claimed back-to-back titles in the hobby stock division. (Photo Courtesy of Hulett Photography)

Steve Carlin may someday have a date with destiny, but over the last two years, his efforts to get there have resulted in frustration.

Carlin has won more features, heats and overall races the past two years than any other hobby stock driver — and it’s not even close — but has no titles to show for what has been an otherwise dominating two seasons.

Titles in those two years would place Carlin in magnificent company involving track history. Even one of those titles would have put him in great company.

Both of those championships would have upped Carlin’s career total to four, tying him with Eddie Dieker for the most in hobby stock/bomber series history. More important, he would be one of just seven to to have won four or more championships. Three track titles would have made him only the eighth driver to accomplish feat.

How close did Carlin come to those titles?

He finished a combined three points out of first place over those two years, ending up one point behind Todd Reichert in 2007 and two points in back of Aaron Brocksieck in a third-place 2008 showing. (Wes Mayfield was second last season, one point in back of Brocksieck.)

Carlin will be chasing another part of Bullring history this season. The Hannibal, Mo., driver should be the consensus favorite to win this year’s championship, and if he pulls it off, he will move into the No. 2 spot in The Herald-Whig all-time hobby stock/bomber rankings.

Carlin currently sits No. 3 behind Dieker and Bill Genenbacher. Points are awarded the driver for his position each season in the final points standings via the following scale: 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Carlin will enter the ‘09 season 11 points behind Genenbacher.

Here’s the all-time rankings going into the season:

1. Eddie Dieker, 101 points: Old No. 00 is still the series’ career leader in total victories (91), features (39) and heats (51).

2. Bill Genenbacher, 74 points: Genenbacher had seven top-five points finishes in his bomber career. Only Dieker (8) had more.

3. Steve Carlin, 63 points: Carlin has won 14 features the past two seasons. No other driver who will compete this year in the class hasmore than four.

4. Bob Uppinghouse, 57 points: Won the 1993 track title.

5. Harold Ketchum, 57 points: Uppinghouse had won more second-place finish (3-2) than Ketchum, bumping Ketchum to No. 5 in the rankings.

6. Junior Tuggle, 56 points: Won the 1991 track championship.

7. Adam Birck, 37 points: Birck finished second in points in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

8. Dale Hatfield, 36 points: Posted six top-10 finishes in his career.

9. Bruce Hatfield, 36 points: His eight top-10 finishes are tied for second-most behind Dieker (9) and Brent Chapman (9).

10. Brent Chapman, 32.5 points: One of the famed “Cheaterville” drivers.

The first year for the hobby stock/bomber series was 1987.

Lonnie Bailey hopes to claim his third track championship this season.

Six drivers at Quincy Raceways have a chance to join an elite club this season.

When the first green flag of the year drops April 5, it will christen the 35th season at the venerable Broadway Bullring. Only seven drivers have won three or more track championships over the past 34 years.

Here are the active drivers with two titles who could join that select group:

Michael Long: He’s won the last two modified championships and has been the most dominant driver overall at the .29-mile facility since 2007.
Titles won: 2008, 2007 modified.

Steve Carlin: No. 9 will be the favorite to regain the title in the hobby stocks with Aaron Brocksieck moving to stock cars.
Titles won: 2006 bomber, 2003 bomber (now hobby stock)

Lonnie Bailey: He’ll join Mark Burgtorf and Jason Frankel as the preseason favorites in the track’s marquee division — the late models.
Titles won: 2004 late model, 1986 sportsman

Steven DeLonjay: He’s just a teenager, but like NASCAR’s Joey Logano, DeLonjay has mad skills. Championships kind of run in the family. Steven’s dad, Hank, won 13 of them.
Titles won: 2007, 2006 hornet.

Tony Dunker: No. 4 has been knocking on the door of that third title for four years. Will the fifth be the charm?
Titles won: 2005, 2004 “B” modified.

Bill Genenbacher: Genenbacher arguably has the toughest road to a third title in the late model division, but if he gets close, don’t bet against him. He’s waited the longest among this select six since winning his second track crown.
Titles won: 2000, 1998 bomber (now hobby stock)

In case you were wondering, here’s the all-time leader in track titles:

Mark Burgtorf, 14
Hank DeLonjay, 13
Steve Fraise, 9
Terry Gallaher, 4
Eddie Dieker, 4
Sam Burgtorf, 4
Larry Larson, 3
(Bold face indicates driver was active in 2008.)