The Thunder's About To Roll

In Michigan's own Irish Hills, the normal summer sounds of crickets and birds chirping, and the usual smells of greasy burgers and bratwursts on the grill are about to be interrupted. The culprits are about one hundred and thirty of America's top stock car drivers and two hundred thousand of their closest friends. Yes, this coming weekend is a local holiday for me. It's not Father's Day I'm talking about, it's race weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Three of America's top stock car racing series are making the trek to Brooklyn for the Father's Day weekend Festivities. The Automobile Racing Club of America's RE-MAX series will run a two hundred mile race on Friday afternoon, while NASCAR will bring their Craftsman Trucks for their own two hundred mile show, and their Nextel Cup series for Sunday's Citizen's Bank Four Hundred. It should be a fantastic weekend over at MIS.

Friday at MIS is headlined by the ARCA race at 5 o'clock. It's a one-hundred lap contest around the speedway between drivers who are either lacking experience, drivers who haven't been discovered yet, drivers who are "over the hill" and can't compete at a higher level, or drivers who happen to drive stock cars as a hobby. This year's field though, has a true established star, Defiance Ohio's Sam Hornish Jr., 2006 Indianapolis 500 champion will make his ARCA debut in Roger Penske's #27 Dodge, with Mobil 1 sponsorship. Expect him to have a big race, based solely on driving ability. A pair of Toyota's are entered in The ARCA 200, piloted by up-and-comers Ken Butler III, and Bobby Santos. These two are both serious racers, and with Toyota's deep pockets, they'll be in solid rides. One guy to not count out is eight time champion Frank Kimmel. Last season's race was thoroughly dominated by Nextel Cup driver David Stremme, who lapped the field by the halfway point. The 2007 ARCA 200 is scheduled for Friday at 5:00.

Saturday's Craftsman Truck race should be exciting. The story of the season so far is the absolute dominance of the many Toyota Tundras that run in the developmental series. Former series champion Mike Skinner has visited victory lane his fair share of times this year. Ron Hornaday in Kevin Harvick's #33 Camping World Chevy is on a hot streak, winning two of the last three races, and the Ford camp has put solid trucks in the field for every race. One point of interest is the Bill Davis owned #36 Tundra, whose driver, Tyler Walker was suspended indefinitely for breaking NASCAR's substance abuse policy. It should be interesting to see how that team reacts. In the 2006 edition of this race, Grand Rapids native Johnny Benson beat Mark Martin to get his first win at his home track. As much as it bothered me to see him sell out to Toyota, it was nice to see him win at Michigan. Saturday afternoon's 200 miler will go green at 3:00.

This brings us to Sunday. The Main Event. The premier form of motor-sport in America makes the first of their two visits to MIS with the story that has rocked the NASCAR world at the forefront. Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced on Wednesday that he would take his Most-Popular-Driver awards, and his Souvenir sales, and his massive Red Army of rabid, borderline insane fans, to Hendrick Motor-sports. Yeah, he will be Jeff Gordon's teammate. The Jeff Gordon who Dale Sr. dubbed "Wonderboy", and the same Jeff Gordon who inspired so much of Junior nation at Talladega to whip Beer cans and the occasional roll of Charmin at his victorious car this past April. Wonder how this will be received by the fans? We'll all get our first idea at MIS this weekend.

This year also has brought Toyota into Nextel Cup competition. They've suffered terrible luck, as well as putrid performances by all drivers including flagship Driver/Owner Michael Waltrip. Waltrip, a two time Daytona 500 champion, has qualified for just two races, and is not expected to dazzle at Michigan. The usual suspects like Gordon, Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson, and Tony Stewart will probably run up front, but two of the last three weeks have seen first-time winners in Casey Mears and Martin Truex Jr., who should both make strong showings at MIS. I would expect one of the Fords of Roush-Fenway racing to pick up their second win of the season, most likely Carl Edwards or Matt Kenseth, who won at California in February, Michigan's Sister Track. Last year, Kasey Kahne pulled off a rain-shortened win. Rain, thankfully, isn't expected to play a factor this year. The Citizen's Bank 400 will go green on TNT at about 2:00.

This weekend will bring the fans out in droves to the State of Michigan, and has become too big to ignore. How can 200,000 people be ignored? They aren't all a bunch of uneducated drunken hillbillies, but sports fans like everyone else. Michigan International Speedway has hosted racing since 1969, and never has the event been bigger, or the racing better than it is right now. Give it a chance, it's in your own backyard.