The Martinsville, Va short track is notorious for their red hed dogs at 2 bucks apiece. Another distinction is that dreaded paperclip shaped track that makes a driver crazy. Nine warriors showed to tackle this tiny bullring. They tuned and tweaked their rides hoping to get hold of that famous Grandfather Clock at the end.

Steve Biddle driving the #51 Motrocraft Ford Fusion would be the one to look out for when he posted a stunning 19.999 sec. time to win the Pole. Closest to Steve would be Joe Szot in his #33 Chevy Impala SS with a great time of 20.006. Right behind Steve and Joe came Kent Thomas' #19 Toyota Camry with a sweet 20.013. As you can see by these times it was gonna be a battle.

A battle it was indeed and a couple of early on incidents shrunk the field some. 250 laps around this little paperclip made for some exciting racing. Steve would lead most of the laps with Joe and Kent hot on his trail. At the end there was but 3 warriors standing. Steve Biddle would lead everyone across and get that Grandfather Clock. Kent Thomas tried valiantly to prevent that coming in second. Surprise to all was Ray Chandonnet in the #61 Mohegun Sun Casino Chevy Impala SS coming in third 2 laps down. Congrats Steve for a great performance!

This is Ray RamJam Chandonnet CanAm' staff reporter eating his last red hotdog before leaving Va. and heading to the desert in Phoenix to report again.

Eight brave warriors unloaded at the Bristol Motor Speedway and prepared to do battle in Thunder Valley. An hour of feverish adjusting and tweaking preparing their cars for both qualifying and racing was impressive. By the looks of things this was going to be one highly competitive event.

The biggest surprise of the day was Ray Chandonnet driving the Mohegun Sun #61 Chevy Impala SS posting a sweet 15.626 time to take the Pole Position. Joe Szot tried to prevent that and came close posting a great time of 15.665, a mere 3 one hundred off Ray's time. Right behind Joe Tony Oscar posted a 15.683, 5 one hundred off of the Pole.

The race was just as expected as well. With but one caution early on in this 250 lap grueling event many lead changes and multiple green lap pitstops had everyone biting their nails. Six of the eight competitors got to lead a lap. Tony Oscar posted the fastest lap of the race with a blistering 15.809 time. Steve Biddle, coming from the back of the field soon showed he'd be the force to reckon with when he lead the most laps(148) and brought his #51 Motorcraft Ford Fusion home for the win. Congrats Steve on a well deserved win.

Eight transporters unloaded their precious cargo in Atlanta. The drivers took to the track for their one hour practice at 8:00pm ET. Frantic little ants adjusted and tweaked the chassis to get the most speed out of their cars. There was no one particular standout during practice so this reporter suspects that some fudging on the times put up was being done.

When it came time to qualify it was obvious that these cars were maxed out. MSRL's Steve Biddle driving the #51 Ford Fusion posted a steamy 29.922 seconds. Hot on Steve's trail was Ray Chandonnet in the #61 Chevy Impala SS with a time of 30.151. And right behind Ray came Rich Haynie's #57 Chevy Impala SS with a 30.272.

A long 160 lap event called for some strategy to be put into place. Would the car be set up for a lot of cautions? Would it be set up for long green flag runs with green flag pitstops? Those that chose for the former were elated early on when a couple of early cautions flew. But as the drivers settled in it became long green flag running with multiple green flag pitsops putting a smile on some other drivers faces. One of those drivers, Tony Oscar, driving the Petty Racing #43 Dodge Charger was smiling ear to ear as he crossed the Finish Line on lap 160 with hardly any tires left. WTG Tony, congrats on a job well done.

This is Ray RamJam Chandonnet reporting to you from Hotlanta. See you in two weeks at Bristol.

Would there be as heavy gambling found on the track as was found downtown Sin City? Well for these 11 speedsters it appeared there was going to be. With technical glitches to overcome the field of 11 managed to get going on time but had to sacrifice precious practice time.

At 9:00pm ET sharp qualifying began. Some obvious bluffing during practice brought out a few surprises during qualifying. MSRL's Steve Biddle surprised no one however when he smoked a lap of 29.027 in his Ford Fusion #51 to take the Pole. Another hot lap 29.578 was posted by the #77 Chevy of Gord Carter a full half second off Steve's time. Kent Thomas another MSRL star was right on Gord's lap posting a fine 29.665 in his #19 Toyote Camry.

A long 135 lap race with a mere 4 cautions presented the ultimate challenge to these 11 drivers and crews. The drivers had to save their rubber and keep the body clean. The crews had to be on their game and get the car out of the pitstall quick. Gord Carter looked like he would be untouchable as he led most of the race. That last run to the Checkers proved fatal for Gord who had a great car for the long run but with a late caution with but a handful of laps to go, Steve Biddle had the car for the short run and overtook Gord to cross the Finish Line just ahead of Gord. An exciting finish to a great race...Congrats Steve!