You could say Charles Thrash has the best of two worlds. He doesn’t have the headaches of managing a dirt track anymore, but he’s still right in the middle of his favorite sport.
For years, Thrash ran and promoted the Whynot Speedway. Before it closed in 2001, he leased and operated it. Then for a couple of years, he managed the Queen City Speedway, which closed last summer. But now, he and his wife, Jannie, run the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series (MSCCS) for the Super Late Model Division, which they started a few years ago.
The series tours the state, bringing the best Super Late Model dirt track drivers to different tracks. It is Thrash’s series but he doesn’t have to worry about managing a dirt track each week.
“People don’t understand what it takes to maintain a dirt track,” Thrash said. “But it’s a full-time job.
“We still go to a dirt track every weekend. But now, I don’t have to worry about what’s going on in the concession stand or getting the track ready to race.”
Thrash was at the Whynot Speedway when it re-opened last Saturday night. It was the first time there had been racing on the track since it closed in 2001. Rodney Wing purchased the track earlier this year and re-opened it for the first time this past weekend.
“It was good to be back out there,” Thrash said. “Rodney has worked hard and has it looking great. They had a large crowd and I think he learned a lot on his first night out.”
This past Saturday, a race fan became ill and had to be taken to the hospital. When the ambulance left the track, all racing was halted until it returned.
“Someone said ‘I guess we won’t be finishing at 10:30 p.m.,” Thrash said. “I said, ‘yeah, now you understand what I was doing all those years when we were finishing late and people were wondering if I was crazy.’ So much goes on.”
The MSCCS puts the Thrash family on the road a good bit. Their son, Chad, also competes and is in sixth place in the standings. The series may not run every weekend, but sometimes there are two races on different nights — which makes for a long weekend.
This weekend, for example, the MSCCS will run in Long Beach at the South Mississippi Speedway. But there will be two races on each of the next two weekends. They will have two races at the Pike County Speedway near McComb on May 27 and May 28. Each race will pay $2000 to the winner. Then on June 2 and June 3, they will race at the Simpson County Motorsports Park and at the Swinging Bridge Raceway in Byram, respectively.
Thrash said he is considering having a MSCCS race at Whynot this year, but added he has not discussed it with Wing. Each year, he sponsors the Fall Classic and held it in Jackson last year. That, too, might come to Whynot if things can be worked out.
“I want to see how Rodney does with it,” Thrash said. “It takes a big crowd to be able to put something like this on.”
Around the track ...
• Local race fans have their pick of two racing events in Lauderdale County this weekend. The Whynot Speedway will hold a regular schedule of races, and the Causeyville Raceway returns with a slate of Go-Kart races. Gates open at 4 p.m.
• Here’s how they finished in Saturday’s Stormpay.com Late Model race: 1. Lucky Keeton, 2. Terry Mosley, 3. Wiley Williams, 4. Owen Stockstill, 5. Bubba Jones, 6. Chris McElhenny, 7. Scott Grahan, 8. Roger Rollison, 9. Herman Reynolds, 10. Chad Thrash, 11. Larry Murphy, 12. Darrell Broome 13. Frank Mazingo, and 14. Jimmy Howell.
• Mike Boland of Cuba, Ala., was the winner of one of the Twin 25 Super Late Model races that headlined the Southern Showdown last Saturday at the Magnolia Speedway. Jimbo McDuffie of Clarkdale would come in second in the second race, finishing behind Dane Dacus. McDuffie claimed a fifth place finish in the first race with Roger Shirley coming in 14th.
Sports Columns
May 19, 2006
Thrash enjoys new view
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