FULL MOON OVER "THE MELON" RESULTS IN A WILD NIGHT OF VINTAGE RACING! See video

Strange things happen during a full moon and such was the case at Watermelon Capital Speedway on Saturday night June 26th as the “Vintage Thunder” series turned into the “Vintage Wreckem” spectacular. When they weren't crashing the twenty-three NVRA race cars were racing in spectacular style for the spectators in attendance.

We hate to see any vintage race car sustain serious mechanical failure or crash damage but those things do happen occasionally. Well they happened a bunch under the full moon at Watermelon Capital speedway and we will recount the episodes as we go through the race report.

The Modified Open/Modified Sportsman combined heat race was something to behold. Two and three wide at times as the front runners jockied for position. The feature race promised to be even better than the heat race. But when the green flag dropped on the feature race all hell broke loose. Cooley Hobdy had to jump on the binders of his '34 Chevy skeeter at the start-finish line to keep from rearending Wes Whitfield who had missed a shift in his '65 Falcon. Cooley's car spun to the inside and contacted the pit road wall a ton. As the lead cars swept out of turn two Gene Maine's car spun just as the caution flag flew and was collected by Fred Herren's Mustang. Unfortunately, Wes Whitfield couldn't avoid the turn two crash and impacted Fred's Mustang on the drivers side doing substantial damage to both cars. The end result was three fast cars (Hobdy, Maine and Whitfield) out of action before the race could get underway. Fred Herren was able to continue on and won his fourth straight Modified Open race in his Ford Mustang. David Owens of Lizella, Ga came in second, Bruce Griffin of Lincoln, Al was leading the race in his '40 Chevy when the transmission failed and dropped him to a third place finish. Wes Whitfield of Homer, Ga. probably won't forget his first ever NVRA start and was credited with a fourth place finish after the first lap crash sidelined his Falcon.

Martin Sapp of Quitman, Georgia won his second Modified Sportsman feature of the year. Woody Callaway was second in a '36 Chevy coach, Allen Wheeler of Quitman, Georgia came in third, Happy Winslett of Brunswich, Georgia finished fourth. Gene Maine of Valdosta, Ga and Cooley Hobdy of Valdosta, Ga. placed fifth and sixth respectively after both were sidelined by the first lap crashes.

Allen Cantrell of Commerce, Georgia won his second straight Limited Sportsman feature in his Chevy coupe. Jerry Williams of Cornelia, Ga. was second, Robert Cantrell of Commerce, Ga. came in third and Ruben Frady of Cartersville, Ga. finished fourth.

Woody Moore of Hawkinsville, Ga. won his second Late Model Modified feature of 2010 in his Chevy Nova. Woody distanced the field with D. W. Hinson of Warner Robins, Ga. placing second, Jason Bowen of Bonaire, Ga. was third, David Adams of Tucker, Ga. finished fourth, Rusty Russell of Cochran, Ga. took fifth and Bruce Griffin of Lincoln, Al. came in sixth. Griffin was driving a beautiful new '64 Chevy II and was making his way to the front of the field when handling problems arose and he retired the car.

Bryan Cantrell of Flowery Branch, Ga. won his third Late Model Sportsman feature driving his '67 Mercury Cougar.

The next race on the National Vintage Racing Association, Racing Electronics "Vintage Thunder" racing series will be at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, Georgia on Saturday evening, July 31st.

By Joe Cawley