Garvey Survives Snowball Demolition

Crashes snarl race
Jamie Secola • jsecola@pnj.com •
December 6, 2010

The 43rd Annual Snowball Derby started with a field of 37 cars.

When Johanna Long took the checkered flag, there were just 12 left.

But that's the treacherous nature of the Derby, the most prestigious and competitive short-track race in the country.

Wreck after wreck, breakdown after breakdown, drivers were picked off one by one in a race that saw 16 cautions. Some, like former Derby champ Dave Mader III, fell victim to faulty equipment. Some, like 2005 champion Eddie Mercer, saw their title chances wrecked with a totaled vehicle.

Some, like Mike Garvey, were outdone by aggressive driving. "It was a rough race, to put it mildly," said Mike Garvey, who led the Derby twice for a total of 55 laps and was involved in a handful of cautions. "To win, I think you should pass people and not run over them."


Even so, Garvey was one of the lucky ones. He actually finished the race at the half-mile track, where the field of 37 covers about half of the available real estate.

One of the most heartbreaking wrecks occurred on Lap 298. Chase Elliott, the 15-year-old Super Late Model phenom and son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, had fallen toward the middle of the field after leading for 63 laps. He slowly was making his way back toward the front when Landon Cassill spun him into a wall. Elliott — who won the Snowflake 100 on Friday — didn't return.

The same thing happened to Augie Grill, another favorite and two-time Derby champion, when he slowed for a wreck and was hit from behind.

"It's a 300-lap race, and drivers have to manage their equipment and their cars, and most of them did in the beginning," said Tim Bryant, owner of Five Flags. "But when the laps start winding down, there's a little less caution and drivers bear down a little more."

That showed in the final 38 laps, which saw seven cautions that slimmed the field from 18 down to its final 12. Bubba Pollard, who was second in laps led with 59, was one of the drivers who wrecked toward the end when he was spun out by Donnie Wilson, who finished second.

"We had a real good car," said Pollard, a regular at Five Flags. "(Wilson) usually races me pretty clean. I knew he was good. I guess he just couldn't wait any longer to pass me. It's just disappointing."
In last year's Derby, only 13 drivers were still running at the race's completion. This year, even out of the 12 that did finish, not one car escaped damage.

"At this level, guys are racing hard," said race director Dan Spence. "A lot of times, a guy gets spun because he tries to block."

"In this race, we had guys competing from 18 different states and Canada," Spence added. "That has a lot to do with it (the wrecks) because the drivers aren't familiar with one another. Also, it's not a points race, and a win is strictly for the money and the glory."

Even Long caused some of the carnage, though not intentionally. When Long made a late move for third, she tried to get around Cassill at the same time as Grant Enfinger. Enfinger attempted to pass on the outside, while Long took the inside and clipped Cassill, spinning him on the back straightaway.

"She did a great job," said Cassill, who ended up finishing fourth. "I would have done the same thing. She had the faster car with newer tires. It was a good day. We were just trying to hang in there and be there at the end, and it almost worked."