Published: July 14, 2008 11:56 pm            

BOWMAN: A night to remember for Darland

He is all smiles after Darland Memorial win

Special. Very special.

That is the only description that fits what took place Sunday night at the Kokomo Speedway in the sixth running of the Bob Darland Memorial.

Bob Darland was as good a man as could be found in the pits at any race track and that trait was passed on to his children, in particular his son Dave, arguably the most popular driver in the history of the track.

For five years, the younger Darland dreamed of winning the race in honor of his father only to come up short all five times — four times to Jon Stanbrough and the other time to Mat Neely.

Sunday night, however, with the racing gods looking on, Darland broke through to capture the win he most coveted.

Stanbrough appeared on the verge of winning his third straight Darland Memorial event while Robert Ballou was running second and Dave Darland third. But with just two laps remaining, two backmarkers got together directly in front of Stanbrough, flipping his Fox Brothers No. 53 machine and setting up a two-lap shootout between Darland and Ballou, who had mud packed in his right rear tire that made his car virtually undrivable.

On the restart Darland shot to the bottom while Ballou took the high line, but it appeared that Ballou just might be able to hold on for the final two laps. Darland wasn’t going to be denied this year however, as he used a strong run off the bottom in turn four coming to the checkered flag to score probably the most popular win in the track’s 60-plus year history in front of a capacity crowd.

Upon emerging from the cockpit of his Benic Enterprises/RWB/Maxim Chassis No. 2B with everyone in the crowd on its feet in appreciation, Darland was clearly touched and more importantly, relieved to finally win the race in honor of his father.

“This is really special,” he said while his eyes were welling up with emotion. “To win the race named for my dad and to have all my family here to see it means so much to me. Dad and I won my first race ever in a sprint car here in 1986 beating Bobby Kinser and Tony Elliott and those were some pretty tough guys to beat.

“Now to win this one with the field of cars we had here,” he continued, “it just makes me so proud to finally get this one. This is the one race I’ve wanted so bad and to do it here in front of all the great fans who have supported me so much over the years is great.”

When asked what his father would say to him if he would have had the chance, Darland smiled, slapped me on the arm and said “Dave, I’m very proud of you.”

Well, by the reception he received from his fellow drivers and the applause of the overflow crowd that didn’t want to go home, there obviously were thousands of others who were just as proud.

Brett Bowman covers the Kokomo Speedway for the Tribune. He may be reached at

brettbowman29@aol.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.