Nearly 24 hours after watching his beloved South Carolina Gamecocks beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in college football, the veteran driver throttled the opposition at the flat half-mile Iowa track located east of Des Moines.
The 44-year-old fan-favorite McGee, who started on the outside pole, overtook teammate VLR_18 in turn three on the first lap with a crossover and tried to pull away. He was able to do so for a short time, but VLR_18, WFO_Rainman, and WFO_ICE all closed in on him midway through the race.
In the midst of their battling, though, he built yet another cushion and was able to pull away and win by 1.5 seconds over WFO_ICE, who rebounded for his best finish of the season after a slow start on the fall tour.
“I’m so happy I could poop rainbows,” said McGee, referring to the noodles and maters he had for lunch before the race. “We had a good car; I knew they were starting to run me down at the end. I was just hoping my tires were going to hold up.
“I think for the compound we went with it turned out pretty good,” he added. “After all, we got the win.”
There’s no doubt that McGee’s Hawkeyetrucksales.com Team VLR Ford Fusion looked good on the famed half-mile oval. He pulled away from VLR_18 early and settled into the high groove and gradually pulled away from the pack while the battle for second was raging behind him.
WFO_ICE was credited with the runner-up finish after moving up one place from his starting spot. The finish wasn’t as simple as it looked for the Tahlequah, OK., driver, though, as he dropped as far back as sixth at one point during the race.
Defending VLR Gen 3 series champion VLR_18 of Brookfield, Wi., faded slightly from his pole starting position to bring home a third place finish in his Dodge Charger.
WFO_Rainman started fifth and moved up one spot at the finish to take fourth, and last season’s winner at this track, VLR_Shock of Crossville, Tn., advanced from the seventh starting position to complete the top five in the NOS Energy Toyota.
Once in control, McGee seemed to have his car in cruise control while counting down the laps, and hoping he chose right on his tire compound.
“I was trying to take it easy and save the tires, but at the same time I was in a hurry because I needed to go make me a grilled cheese sandwich after the race,” said McGee, who was unable to convince his girlfriend to make him the grilled cheese. “When you run 50 laps you start to get hungry, and I couldn’t get Mama Tiger (his girlfriend) to make any for me so I was trying to get done and go do that.
“But I am tickled to death to be able to beat these fellers out here. I knew they were gonna be tough to beat.”
It didn’t look at difficult as McGee made it sound when one considers that he won the race by fifteen car lengths, but in the middle of the race he was being challenged heavily by several drivers at once, including runner-up finisher WFO_ICE.
“I thought I picked the right (tire) combination tonight,” said ICE, who is still searching for his first win of the season at VLR. “I got beat around early and dropped back to about sixth and worked my way back up, finishing second. It wasn’t too bad. Me and Wheel got together after I got around him, and that kinda blew any shot I had at the win. All in all I was pretty happy with it.”
“Anytime you’re in traffic here, with this group of drivers, that’s a problem. I just happened to catch everything at the right time, and got around WFO_Rainman, when he got in the wall. I caught back up to Wheel and slingshot around him and pulled a slide job on him. I sure hope it was clean, I think it was.
“It was fun, I’m kinda disappointed with second, but it’s my best finish here (VLR) in a year, best finish in two years I think here.”
McGee picked up his first victory at VLR in nine months with his effort at Knoxville. It was his third career VLR main series win and tied him with several other drivers for fourteenth on the All time win list.
In addition, two of McGee’s career wins have both come at the Knoxville Raceway. His previous conquest came in January 2010 when he beat 28 other drivers for the win.
“It feels good and I think we have a pretty good car for next week at the work, too, at least that’s what they tell me,” concluded McGee, who stands fourth in the points heading into a track similar to Knoxville this week, DW_Cumberland 2k10.
VLR_18 ran second for much of the race, and even went side by side with VLR_McGee for the lead on several different occasions, but in the end his tires began fading and allowed WFO_ICE to make the pass for second.
WFO_Rainman was in the hunt for much of the race as well after starting in the fifth spot, but the driver from East Moline, Ill., couldn’t hang on in the closing laps and drifted to fourth when his tires began losing their grip.
VLR_Shock, 22, grabbed fifth from Doit 3 early in the race and held on to that spot until the finish. The Tennessee driver was looking to pick up back-to-back wins at the track and make up more ground in the points, but it wasn’t to be in the end.
“There were a lot of fast guys here tonight,” Shock recanted. “I guess we weren’t one of them. I used a little different tire compound then the last time when I won here and it felt like I was running on all softs because I didn’t have much grip.
“I’ve got nothing to be disappointed about, though, I really think we were the fifth best car tonight, and that’s where we ended up.”
Finishing in positions 6-10 was rookie Doit 2, who climbed as high as third after starting 10th, before tire wear hurt his chances to win; Doit 42 of Phoenix, AZ who finished 7th for the second time this season in three starts; jus8x of Maryland, who will be heading to his home track to race next week; Doit 10 of Fort Worth, TX, who finished fourth here a year ago; and New York driver Doit 3 rounded out the top 10 when his right-front tire blew with five laps to go.
Twenty-four drivers attempted to make the ten car show, which was ran on a cool and crisp autumn evening.
VLR_18 won the tiebreaker for the pole award over a couple other drivers as he circled the track in a time of 13.43 seconds.
Heat winners were VLR_18, VLR_McGee, and WFO_ICE. The B-Mains were taken by VLR_Shock and Doit 3.
The VLR Gen3 series now heads east for their second visit ever to DW_Cumberland 2k10 on Sunday at 8 pm eastern. WFO_Rainman was the victor at this track last season, and will try to do so again.
In the process he hopes to become the fifth different winner in as many races on the VLR tour this season, but VLR_McGee will be looking to repeat at another track he’s strong at.
BLS_F1yer used second place finisher WFO_ICE as a sub on Sunday, and now holds a four point edge in points over VLR_18. VLR_Shock sits third just fourteen back from the top spot heading into the Cumberland 50 this Sunday.
Top 10 Results of VLR Late Model series Knoxville Nationals 50 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver):
1. (2) VLR_McGee
2. (3) WFO_ICE
3. (1) VLR_18
4. (5) WFO_Rainman
5. (7) VLR_Shock
6. (10) Doit 2
7. (9) Doit 42
8. (4) jus8x
9. (6) Doit 10
10. (8) Doit 3
Time of Race: unknown
Margin of Victory: 1.5 secs
Rookie of the Race: Doit 2
SuperClean Fast Time Award: jus8x 13.38
SuperClean Hard Luck Award: Doit 3