The Best Race of the Season: FULL THROTTLE vs. ORANGE CRUSH (First Night)
There were a handful of races I could have chosen for my Race of the Season. I enjoyed Full Throttle’s race against Mean Green Machine Fourth Night that both sides could lay claim to winning and I think Bad Company’s race against Reckoning First Night was the most hard-hitting of the season; the hit that Bad Company’s Jason Ritacco put on Reckoning’s Steve Gursky Jr. was one of the most sudden and violent of the year. The photo of this collision by Brett Moist is a work of genius. In the end though, I found it hard to pull the trigger on anything other than First Night’s match up between Full Throttle and Orange Crush.
Prior to the season, Orange Crush was looking like an absolute juggernaut. Not only had they added Pete Ryan to their 2010 championship arsenal, but the team members were also seriously talking about their desire to go 15-0 on the season. It seemed to a lot of people a foregone conclusion that Orange Crush was going to repeat as champs in 2011.
Full Throttle seemed cut from a different cloth. They were the newest team to join the TDA and, despite the fact that they had veteran drivers Ron Johnston, Pete Millette Jr. and Jay VanAllen, their fourth driver spot was somewhat tenuous. Andy Fleishman filled in First Night, having told team owner Johnston ahead of time that this was going to be his only race; Fleishman had a wife and child and couldn’t devote the time and energy necessary to driving for them full time.
When it was announced that Orange Crush and Full Throttle were going to face one another in the first round, a lot of people just assumed that it would be a cakewalk of a race for Orange Crush.
Then the race started.
It was a hard fought and well raced battle that ended with Full Throttle victorious. And, while the race itself was entertaining, the after effects were jarring. As soon as Full Throttle took the checkered flag, whispers began both in the pits and in the stands surrounding the fact that maybe, just maybe, the road to the season title was more open than had originally been thought. Some team—it turned out to be Reckoning—was going to win the night and be a whopping 6 points up on Orange Crush after First Night.
If there was one race this season that made people begin to think differently and one that made everyone aware that the last few years’ status quo had changed, it was this race between Full Throttle and Orange Crush. Besides being a genuinely entertaining race to watch, this race opened up a set of circumstances that few thought even possible. In retrospect, I find it funny that both of my top races of the year occurred in First Night.
1 comment
Really? says:
Dec 7, 2011
Maybe the most eye-opening, but not the best race “racing-wise” on the season. It lacked drama beyond the time Bleuer was stopped by Johnston and was plagued by car problems. Full Throttle had a tough time stopping Bleuer on 3-wheels, I don’t know if they would’ve had a chance on 4.
Some of the other most dramatic races of the year must include Stranglehold vs. Orange Crush in July, Mean Green vs. Orange Crush in August, and Full Throttle vs. Reckoning in the last race of the year. Those three races could be watched and analyzed over and over. A knowledgable and energetic play-by-play would’ve been the perfect compliment to the stories as they unfolded.
Bad Company vs. Reckoning seems like an afterthought with 34 races after it to blur memories. However, it definitely is worthy of mentioning and it ended up being one of the most brutal of the year. Maybe the most eye-opening fact of this race is that Ritacco and Shearer basically killed Reckoning by themselves. Had this race continued into a 6th lap, like we saw more than a couple do, it probably ends in a countdown or McGuire cruising around un-touched for 5 laps. What Full Throttle did to OC’s season, Bad Company nearly did the same to Reckoning.
Full Throttle vs. Stranglehold is also worthy of consideration for the shear amount of back and forth big hits from start to finish. They flat out destroyed one another. No one had a car physcially capable of driving off the track even if it wasn’t stuck or blocked-in. It was the start of “Stranglehold’s Night,” a night they should’ve won.