If one of these days you notice your favorite driver not go out for the heat race, or suddenly pull off on the 14th lap of a 30-lap feature, don't automatically assume there's something wrong with the car.

Man, is Aug. 13 going to be one strange day. Why strange? It will be the opening day of football practice, and for the first time in 36 years, Gary Korhonen won't be at Richards High School welcoming the varsity Bulldogs as head coach.

Some of you who are regular readers of this space probably need to - no pun intended - get up to speed today on what happened over the weekend at your favorite local asphalt short tracks.

Obviously, you can come away impressed by a driver after watching him or her pull off a few fancy moves or run a good, steady race.

Maybe there really is such a thing as a seven-year itch.