The Racing Report is a five-part photo essay shot at short tracks in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania that will run in Farm and Dairy through the summer. Each month we have brought you a different theme to ponder from a different track.
For the fifth and final installment, photojournalist Matthew Chasney got rained out of two races in two different states over Labor Day Weekend.
I originally intended to shoot the final Racing Report for this year at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, West Virginia. I drove down from Cleveland with my friends Brian and David to shoot the legendary Hillbilly 100 dirt late model race. Unfortunately, Mother Nature and the brass at Lucas Oil Dirt Series had different plans.
While we were on our way south, the decision was made to cancel the race because the track was too muddy from rain the night before. A rainout in an extreme drought — go figure.
I learned the bad news from a gas station attendant about 10 minutes from the track who took one look at my tie-dyed 2007 Hillbilly 100 T-shirt and said, “Oh hun, they ain’t racin’ tonight on account of the rain.” I sent a photo of us feigning sadness and sent it to my editor Rachel along with the news. There was nothing to do but laugh about it.
I had to scramble and figure out a plan b. On our way down we passed Midvale Speedway near New Philadelphia, Ohio and they had a full parking lot. I’d always wanted to visit this 3/10 mile asphalt track and this, evidently, was my night.
I got to the track just in time for compact class driver Jakob Keller to load his car onto the trailer. He was done for the day. Jake led the heat race until a caution bunched up the field on the second to last lap. He got outraced in turn 2 and finished a more than respectable second. He liked his chances in the B-Main but a broken alternator took him out before he could turn a single lap. Racing isn’t fair.
Keller and his team have been mired in bad luck recently. They totaled two cars last season and blew a couple of motors. This race felt like a real turning point, though. They had the pace and luck was on their side. Until it wasn’t. The third-generation racer understands the value of patience and he takes setbacks in stride. When mechanical gremlins strike the calm and measured Keller says “You’ve just gotta roll with it, there’s nothing you can do about it.” For Jake, just racing is enough.
We went our separate ways and I headed down to take photos of the modified feature as dark clouds loomed in the west. On the first lap, two cars got into each other in turn 4 and a lengthy caution came out to clean up oil that had been spilled across the entire track. While cleanup crews were dealing with that, rain began to fall. The majority of fans made the exodus to the parking lot while a few die-hards put on their ponchos and waited it out.
The boys and I discussed our options and played amateur meteorologist while we watched the jet dryer turn some hot laps. In fact, I saw more laps from it than I did from any race car. The rain picked up and we decided to head home. I had been there for an hour, and I photographed precisely two laps of green flag racing. Racing resumed in the early morning — a credit to Midvale’s crew.
Regardless, I still had a racing report to file. As Sturgill Simpson said “That’s the way it goes, life ain’t fair and the world is mean.” Or, in the words of Jake Keller, “If it’s meant to happen, it’s gonna happen.” I had a deadline, so it was time to make it happen.
You can’t fight the weather (or a broken alternator). There’s enough to be upset about in this world, but a drive to West Virginia with friends, a late summer shower and an hour at the race track don’t make that list. It was a good reminder that the universe doesn’t operate on our terms, but it’s up to us to make it what we will. After all, where would the joy in life be if you expected only wins and sunny days?
I hope you’ve enjoyed the Racing Report as much as I have enjoyed making it. We’ll see you again next spring.
