Open Wheel Modifieds at Auburndale

In the end, my Saturday evening race was determined, of course, by my hockey schedule.  After playing in Orlando, I had time to return my son home unload the car and his gear, have dinner and head off to Auburndale Speedway arriving right at the completion of the open practice sessions.

I was happy to see a field of 17 modifieds on hand for the 40 lap event.  Kyle Bookmiller dominated the event in the #03 car, but there was plenty off action further back in the field.  Also, during the evening the track champion in the modified 

Robbie Fuller flying around New Smyrna Speedway during this years World Series of Stockcars.

 was crowned.  By starting the feature event, Von Pope became the 2009 track champ in car #102.

The other division that I thought would be interesting was the mini stocks.  I was not disappointed, the feature event saw Chris Spring score the win in a stellar attempt to close the points gap on Fred Harrison Jr. before seasons end.  The top six finishers in the mini stock feature were all bunched in a close pack at the drop of the checkered flag providing an exciting finish.

As a last note, the dwarf cars were very impressive in regards to their speed and close racing action on the small paved oval.  They will be on my radar during the 2010 racing season.

Getting Back To It

It feels like I haven’t posted in forever, actually I probably haven’t.  I spent the summer and fall so far, running my son all over Florida with his ice hockey team.  I had not been to a race since June, but I remedied that 2 Fridays ago by attending the Super Late Model event at Orlando Speedworld.

The turn out of fans on a chilly November evening was pretty good by my standards, on the other hand the car/driver counts pitside were typical of the season long averages.  The Pro Trucks, Florida Modifieds and Super Late Models on the same racing program definitely drew my attention while planning my weekend attendance.  In my humble opinion, the overall show was a good one, although several wrecks in all 3 top divisions dwindled the number of cars finishing each event. 

I do not have any photos ready for this post today, but I’ll see that I have a few for my next page.  My weekend plan is in its infancy at this point, but it could possibly include the late models and sprints at East Bay Raceway Park, the open wheel modifieds at Auburndale Speedway or the Friday night portion of the Governor’s Cup weekend at New Smyrna Speedway.  I’ll let you know later in the week.

Checkered Flag Sprints and Florida Weekend Report

Gary Gimmler (#29) races close with Amanda Ferguson (#20) during the Checkered Flag Sprint feature at New Smyrna Speedway.

Saturday night was the first event for the Checker Flag Sprint Series at the New Smyrna Speedway.  The series brought a respectable field of fourteen cars, especially considering the TBARA event being run over at Desoto Speedway.  The feature win went to David Slawiak (#79).  The top four or five cars raced most of the event in close proximity, constantly challenging each other for position.  Late in the race Keith Butler (19) caught Slawiak beginning a battle for the lead and possibly the win.  The battle ended after contact between the two racers in turns #3 & 4 sent Butler flipping into the catch fence.  Following the caution, Slawiak drove away to the victory.

Over at Desoto Speedway, TBARA produced a full field of winged sprint cars for what sounded like a great race.  Bo Hartley held off a charging Dave Steele to preserve a victory.  Seeing the TBARA at Desoto Speedway is definitely on my schedule in the near future,  Desoto always provides exciting sprint car action.

As I was driving to New Smyrna, the skies and ominous rain clouds did not look promising and I began planning an alternative in case of a cancellation.  All the planning was for nothing, the track missed the rain, had a good crowd of fans and competitors, and completed another good night of racing action.  Both Volusia Speedway and Putnam County Speedway were not as lucky, the rain was south of my position as well as north because both race tracks were forced to cancel due to rain.

East Bay Raceway had no problem with the weather on the west coast of Florida.  Again the Late Model division had more than a full field of cars attempt to qualify for feature event action and the East Bay Sprint division continues its growthwith I believe 17 competitors on hand this past weekend.  Jeff Mathews and Paulie Milum were the winners in their respective divisions at East Bay Raceway.

David Slawiak driving away to victory in the Checkered Flag Sprint Series.

UDLMCS, TBARA & Checkered Flag Sprints Lead Florida Racing Weekend

This weekend of racing action will be highlighted by shows for several traveling sanctioning bodies.  The racing gets started tonight with Ocala Speedway hosting their second UDLMCS event of the season.  Ocala Speedway held the first UDLMCS event of the season back in late February which was won by Mark Whitener. 

Pavement sprint car racing takes center stage Saturday with TBARA having an event at Desoto Speedway and the Checkered Flag Sprint Series running a show at New Smyrna Speedway.  Both of these events should be very good as TBARA runs winged sprints and the CFSS goes wingless.  Also this weekend the Super Late Models return to the pavement at Citrus County Speedway.  On the dirt side Saturday, East Bay Raceway is providing a 40 lap event for the Late Models along with the Sprint Cars and Volusia Speedway is running Open Wheel Modifieds with the Sportsman.

Of course, I am scheduled to work today, so Ocala Speedway is out of the question for me this evening.  Tomorrow is a different story though, I believe the CFSS show at New Smyrna Speedway will be taking precedence for me because I have not photographed one of their shows yet.  My contingency plan is Late Models and Sprint Cars at East Bay Raceway. 

Keep an eye out early next week for new photos and a few opinions on the events that will transpire.  Have a good weekend at your favorite race track.

Dave Steele streaking to the TBARA win at New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Stock Cars.

Mark Whitener won the first UDLMCS event of the 2009 season at Ocala Speedway. Can he repeat?

Florida Racing Review…Weekend Without Rain?

The start of this past weekend looked almost as ominous as the one previous.  Both Ocala Speedway and Orlando Speedworld were again forced to cancel their respective racing programs due to inclement weather on Friday evening.  Saturday morning dawned looking much better with clear, sunny skies as we headed towards Oldsmar with 2 ice hockey games scheduled for the day.   Of course I had planned an attempt to get to the race track, but the second game ran late, the time involved in the locker room, stopping for dinner on the way home and just an overall long day, racing would just have to wait.

All the tracks did run their programs Saturday without any weather related problems.  Auburndale Speedway had been on my hit list due to the fact that the Florida Winged Sprints were once again on the schedule, the results showed that Paulie Milum scored another victory driving his #42 machine.  This event also marked the sprint car debut of Rebecca George, daughter of long-time sprint racer Tim George.  Just think what a great 13th birthday present that would be, getting your first taste of sprint car racing.

Over on the dirt side of things, Josh Peacock got the monkey off of his back by  scoring a Late Model victory at East Bay Raceway in the #21P car.  East Bay had a great turn out for the Late Model division with 30 cars pitside, that just might be the highest count of the regular racing season for the track.

On the opposite coast of Florida, Volusia Speedway had the #66h of Matt Harley in victory lane for the Late Model division, the #7s of Ronnie Chance winning in the Open Wheel Modifieds and The #00 Shaun Daugharty scoring another win with his Sportsman racer.

That’s all I have time for at the moment, but I’ll post again before the weekend to let everyone know what is on my viewing map for the weekend.

Paulie Milum races off turn four at Auburndale Speedway.

Josh Peacock coming out of the turn and heading toward the backstretch at East Bay Raceway Park.

Florida Weekend Racing

I guess our trend from last week is going to continue as Orlando Speedworld has already cancelled their Friday racing program due to the weather.  So far all the other tracks are on schedule for the weekend, but it is raining again outside my door which makes me wonder about status of the grounds at the race tracks.

Well, if all goes as planned it will be a full weekend of high speed action.  Ocala Speedway is running modifieds as the headline class this week. The modifieds are also at Volusia Speedway Saturday along with the Late Models.  Late Models also get top billing at East Bay Raceway and North Florida Speedway on Saturday night.

On the pavement side of the racing action, New Smyrna Speedway is having Limited Late Models and Modifieds.  Desoto Speedway is also having Modifieds as is Citrus County Speedway.  Late Models are headlining the action at both Charlotte County Speedway and Columbia County Speedway.  Auburndale Speedway has the only sprint car show of the weekend by running the Florida Winged Sprints on Saturday.

If all my chips fall into place  and my son is finished his hockey games at a reasonable time I may be able to see the action at Auburndale Speedway this week.  For now that is my plan, I am keeping my fingers crossed.  As a closing, please support your local race tracks by heading out to the track and also by remembering the many sponsors on the cars and at the tracks.

Zack Jarrell had his truck out front this past Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway before the rain cancelled the feature event for the ProTrucks.

Weekend Racing Theme…RAIN

As anyone in Florida knows,  summer is here which means rainy season is here.  This past week and weekend the weather produced rain every day making for a wet and flooded holiday weekend.  My racing plans for this past weekend included shows on both Friday and Saturday, but all preliminary plans had to be changed and amended to allow for attendance at a track on this trying weekend. 

Both Ocala Speedway and Orlando Speedworld were forced to cancel their respective Friday shows.  Saturday was not much better for most Florida race tracks as all the dirt tracks cancelled due to flooding and over-saturated racing surfaces which eliminated both my planned stops at East Bay Raceway or Volusia Speedway.  Also losing shows on Saturday were Auburndale Speedway, Citrus County Speedway and Columbia Motorsports Park. 

My internet search and day long monitoring of the race tracks’ internet websites led me to New Smyrna Speedway for a Brighthouse Challenge Series event featuring the Super Late Models, Pro Trucks, and three of the tracks stock car divisions.  The sound of racing engines that evening made me feel great, but I also felt fortunate to be able to see racing after a week of terrible weather.  After seeing the infield conditions with standing water on a portion of pitlane and on a portion of the the pit area, I believed I was even more fortunate because the speedway officials could very easily have cancelled the event.  The grandstand had a modest speckling of fans and the fields were a little short on race cars but the racing went on as scheduled.

The Brighthouse Challenge Series event for the Super Late Models was won by David Rogers driving his TM Ranch sponsored #11.  All the other stock car races were completed, all be it the Strictly Stock event actually ran in a downpour, but the Pro Truck event was stopped due to the rain which arrived just before the event could be completed.

The only other tracks to race over the weekend were Charlotte County Speedway and Desoto Speedway.  That should due it for now, but I’ll post again later in the week.  Just as a  parting note I would like to again commend New Smyrna Speedway staff and officials for racing this past Saturday, the racing was good and I will return again this season.

Super Late Model feature lineup heading into turn one on the parade lap at New Smyrna Speedway.

David Rogers leading the way to the checkered flag in the Brighthouse Challenge Series event for Super Late Models at New Smyrna Speedway.

Florida Memorial Day Weekend Racing

It has been awhile since my last post, but I certainly haven’t been sitting around.  My family and I flew to Pennsylvania last week to complete some business and personal tasks in the middle of which I thought I would be able to see a World of Outlaws sprint car show at Williams Grove Speedway.  Our trip was scheduled without any knowledge of the weekend race events in Pennsylvania, but as usually happens in spring Thursday’s show was cancelled due to a persistent rain and Friday’s show just would not fit into our itinerary, so it was back to Florida without seeing a race again over the weekend.

The Memorial Day weekend brings many different opportunities for racing on Friday and/or Saturday evening.  For me this weekend will be the first racing in over a month, I’ll be getting things started on Friday by seeing late models at Ocala Speedway or limited late models at Orlando Speedworld depending on what the weather will be.  Saturday night will be dirt late models at either East Bay Raceway Park or Volusia Speedway.

I’ll be sure to post early next week with my views and results as well as some new photos.

Johnny Collins and Billy Costello race close at the Ocala Speedway during the UDLMCS event.

Top Gun Sprints vs. FSCA Sprints

It looks like the two biggest shows for the weekend will both involve sprint cars and of course both will be held on the same night.  The Top Gun Sprint Series will be at East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday night along with the Florida Mini Sprints.  Across the state on the east coast, the Florida Sprint Car Association will be racing at Putnam County Speedway along with the TQ Late Models.  The situation that will arise Saturday night will not be good for either sanctioning group.  Why make the drivers, teams and fans choose which track and which club to support?  The Top Gun Series only has eight races the season which are spread out over the year, on the other hand the FSCA has about ten races scheduled all of which will be at Putnam County this season,  why not as a sanctioning body or a race track/promoter alter your schedule to have your events on opposing weekends.  In my mind, this would benefit everyone involved including promoters, race teams, and fans.  The way it stands now the two shows will divide up the 30 or so race teams which will produce less than full fields of cars which in turn will affect your attendance and possibly your future attendance. 

Scheduling conflicts are not new to dirt track racing or short track racing, I see them all the time across the racing landscape.  I always tend to think that solving them would be easy, but that must not be the case as they continue to flourish adding to the decline of the sport.

There is another scheduling conflict this weekend  involving the Super Late Models which will be competing at New Smyrna Speedway or Desoto Speedway on Saturday evening.

My son’s hockey schedule this weekend will allow me to miss both of these conflicts, but I will be in attendance at Auburndale Speedway for the Aaron’s 37 Sportsman special.

Matt Kurtz at East Bay Raceway during the King of the 360's this past January.

Florida Racing Weekend Recap

It appears as though both big shows over the weekend were both good racing events.  Auburndale Speedway held the inaugural race for the Florida Grand Slam of Trucks which drew a respectable field of 16 competitors.  The speedway does not run the truck division on a regular basis leading me to believe that 16 racers is a pretty good draw.  Jason Howell was the winner followed by Keith Lilley and Steve Darvalics.  The next event for the Grand Slam will be held at Desoto Speedway on May 16th.

The other big show was for the UDLMCS on the dirt at North Florida Speedway.  Mark Whitener captured the victory which was his second UDLMCS win in a row and his third of the season.  John  Kellum rode home second with Austin Dillon finishing third.  According to the news reports, the show produced a full field of quality cars and drivers s well as a grandstand full of late model fans. 

Overall it seemed to be a good weekend of racing.  I am anxiously awaiting the coming weekend because there will be no work for me, which means I will be able to get to a race track for the first time in quite a while.

Keith Lilley wheels his truck around New Smyrna Speedway during the Red Eye 125 show this past January.