TUESDAY NIGHT JANUARY 28 Golden Isles Speedway

UMP dumped after tire controversy



After a controversy over Scott Bloomquist's disqualification for illegal tires Monday, Golden Isles Speedway dumped UMP sanctioning for Tuesday night and opened up the tire rule to any Hoosier tire at the Super Bowl of Racing IV. UMP, which employs two-tire Hoosier rule for Super Late Model events, sanctioned the first three events and had been scheduled to sanction Tuesday's and Saturday's racing at the southeast Georgia track. Track owner Frankie Lloyd said he has invited UMP back to sanction Saturday's UMP Super Late Model action, but UMP series director Sam Driggers said he doubted UMP would return.

(The O'Reilly Southern All Stars, which allows any Hoosier tire, is scheduled to sanction Super Late Model events Wednesday-Friday. UMP will continue sanctioning crate engine Late Models and modifieds, Driggers said.)

The controversy erupted in Monday night's preliminaries when Bloomquist was disqualified following the completion of time trials. Bloomquist's time of 15.742 seconds was nearly three-tenths quicker than any other driver, but he was stripped of the time when officials said his Hoosier LM-20 tires tested too soft according to UMP rules.

Driggers had announced at the drivers meeting that all tires had to score at least 40 when checked with a tire durometer, a device used to measure the rubber's hardness. That's intended to prevent drivers from using a softer tire with a legal branding or using chemical softeners on the rubber. Bloomquist's tire officially punched 35 before qualifying and 38 after qualifying, Driggers said, although he got a later report that Bloomquist's tire indeed punched 40 moments after punching 35.

Grady Lloyd, the son of the track owner who helps operate the track, was unhappy that Bloomquist was allowed on the track after officials had determined his tires were illegal. "The second you send him out there," Frankie Lloyd said, "you're saying he's OK."

The track was also concerned about losing star power if UMP suspended Bloomquist from the remaining UMP events at Golden Isles. Driggers said on Tuesday afternoon Bloomquist's penalty for using illegal tires hadn't been decided by officials with the World Racing Group, the parent of UMP.
Driggers said UMP was forced to pull out because the track insisted on allowing softer tires for the remaining events. "These guys that are cheating up these tires like they are, it's tough," he said. "It was a no-win situation for anybody. When (the Lloyds) made the decision of what they wanted to do, I'm fine with that. Do I like it? No, I don't like it."
Frankie Lloyd said he wasn't unhappy with Driggers and would welcome UMP back on Saturday.

Driggers was frustrated by the tire issues that made events difficult to govern for tracks and series. "In the long term, it's going to hurt everybody," he said. "This is the fault of some individuals who want to cheat tires up and make it hard for us to do our jobs correctly." � Todd Turner and Michael Rigsby