http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/bakosphere/45612 One of the more interesting online destinations in the Bakosphere is LateModelRacer.com, home of local dirt track conversations of all kinds.  But things turned wild early Sunday shortly after the races at Bakersfield Speedway when racer Richie McGowan jumped on the board and accused competitor Brian Shepherd of taking him out on the track AND cheating. Yep, them's fightin' words, and Richie said as much.  As you might expect, the discussion stayed heated as others piled on, questioned the claims and when Shepherd came in to defend himself. Oh, and the track promoter jumped in head first into the fray, much to the dismay of some observers. The thread is hard to follow if you don't know the characters and avatars, and all the bad spelling and name-calling makes it hard to wade through every comment. And I'm still not sure whether McGowan has officially retired/unretired or whether there's really going to be a rumble this weekend at Santa Maria Speedway. But after dozens of comments and almost 7,500 views, the thread offers a nice glimpse at the passion that powers local race fans. One of the more interesting online destinations in the Bakosphere is LateModelRacer.com, home of local dirt track conversations of all kinds.  But things turned wild early Sunday shortly after the races at Bakersfield Speedway when racer Richie McGowan jumped on the board and accused competitor Brian Shepherd of taking him out on the track AND cheating. Yep, them's fightin' words, and Richie said as much.  As you might expect, the discussion stayed heated as others piled on, questioned the claims and when Shepherd came in to defend himself. Oh, and the track promoter jumped in head first into the fray, much to the dismay of some observers. The thread is hard to follow if you don't know the characters and avatars, and all the bad spelling and name-calling makes it hard to wade through every comment. And I'm still not sure whether McGowan has officially retired/unretired or whether there's really going to be a rumble this weekend at Santa Maria Speedway. But after dozens of comments and almost 7,500 views, the thread offers a nice glimpse at the passion that powers local race fans. en-us Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:51:22 PDT