Allen Carter had added a spark on a cold Alabama evening, as his last lap pass secured the Street Stock 15-lapper to end the opening night of racing at Talladega Short Track’s 2015 Ice Bowl event. Carter, a regular title contender up the road at Tennessee National Raceway , took advantage when Richard Stephens and John Smartt tried to outfox each other on the final restart and allowed Carter to sneak into the picture.
The field was slowed multiple times in their 15-lap feature on a night when lots of beating and banging slowed down the action. But that set up the most thrilling moment of the night as the final caution led to a final two-lap dash for the 25-car field. Smartt and Stephens were the leaders coming to that final green but nearly banged wheels coming back to the green. Smartt got squirrelly, allowing Carter quickly by in 1 & 2. On the other end of the track, Stephens tried to keep Carter behind him but overdrove the corner. Crossing the stripe, Carter dove under Stephens and drove to a carlength victory by the time they came back around for the checkered.
“It was a good win for the team, a great way to get the season started,” Carter said in the infield after claiming the victory. “He was blocking me awfully hard [going into turn three]. He’s been a good sport, but he kind of did that to himself.” It is Carter’s first Ice Bowl Street Stock championship.
The bigger issue almost came for Carter in tech. His car utilized some legal, but not-often-used parts on its engine. After talking it over with the runner-up, tech officials decided there was no need to do any kind of teardown. Tire spacing was also heavily scrutinized, with gray areas in the rulebook coming into play. Ultimately though Carter was officially declared the winner.
The Super Stocks will not race in Talladega on Sunday as Super, Limited, and Crate Late Models will exclusively share the attention. Speed51.com will have live Trackside Now coverage of Sunday’s action from Talladega Short Track.
By Tim Quievryn, Speed51.com/51’s Third Turn
Ice Bowl Street Stock Feature Results
| 1 | 409 | Allen Carter |
| 2 | 69 | Richard Stephens |
| 3 | 10 | John Smartt |
| 4 | 2X | Tyler Hurst |
| 5 | 19 | Michael Williams |
| 6 | 29X | Wyatt Hill |
| 7 | 18X | Brock Love |
| 8 | 1N | Dale Nelson |
| 9 | 54 | Michael Blade |
| 10 | 7 | Josh Bondurant |
| 11 | 1K | Dewayne Estes |
| 12 | 23 | Steven Pate |
| 13 | 78B | Richie Berryhill |
| 14 | 17 | Ronnie Jordan, Jr. |
| 15 | 5 | Wayne Vinston |
| 16 | 15 | Trevor Woodward |
| 17 | 94 | Luke Riddle |
| 18 | 2H | Jud Hurts |
| 19 | 17K | Cory Korreckt |
| 20 | 99X | Eddie Brannon |
| 21 | 7 | Casey Hobson |
| 22 | 01 | Justin Owens |
| 23 | 25 | Greg Wilkins |
| 24 | 2 | Brian Hansford |
| 25 | 21 | Matthew Gainer |
