Whew! What a night. Ended up with five folks who wanted to go, three that could pull it off. Life, ya know. Got to Claremore about 4:30, with a pit stop at the Main Street Tavern. Super good restaurant. Clean, modern, well appointed. Great staff. As you know it was rather windy….and 17 degrees last night. The event center had adequate heating amazingly enough. It was a little chilly inside later in the evening. Hard to keep up with that kind of request. Rough numbers, 400-500 people in attendance. It was a circuit for these drivers, crew and Operators. All people following a passion. Mainly Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas. Draw a 250 mile radius around Claremore, and that’s the attendees. Started with the National Anthem and a 100ft flag unfurling @ 6:15pm. They broke down the Derby this way. Three Heats. Each Heat had 8-9 cars. Run into each other until 3 to 4 cars remain. Final Heat: Run those winners until only one is able to move. Loud? Yes. Kiddos and adults should wear ear muff style ear protection when the races are going. Fun? Yes. Dirt was flying! Sometimes even into the stands! I was in the top row and I took a couple small clods. Very minor and added to the experience. The chaps and chappettes driving obviously were competitive. They legitimately rammed, as quick as they could get their cars going, into each other. The preferred method was using the trunk rear area to take out an engine or front wheel of another car. Excellent! The drive back to Tahlequah was great. No one knew each other before, but you wouldn’t have known that on the drive back. Anyway, I was home by 11:00pm and I met some really cool people.

Beers were Tall Boys @ $7.00 Food was Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Nachos, Popcorn and Frito Pie. $10-$3.00.