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Florida Open Wheel
By Richard Golardi
Decision Point Looms for Florida Pavement – Davey Hamilton Interview
I spoke to Davey Hamilton shortly after he had left the Southern California video production facilities of MAVTV in Corona. The meeting concerned plans for the airing of the 2015 King of the Wing sprint car races on MAVTV. After conducting six races in 2014, the series will expand to twelve races in 2015, and Florida will be included for the first time. But Davey Hamilton’s plans for Florida go beyond one weekend of racing with three Florida races. He has planned a meeting for this coming weekend in Gibsonton, and has invited the entire Florida sprint car racing community to attend.
The following interview will serve to provide a summary of the points that Hamilton plans to present at the meeting on Sunday.Q. Why bring the King of the Wing Series to Florida, and what are your intentions with bringing the series to Florida?
A. I want to keep the King of the Wing as a national tour, and we hope to race in Florida. We have nine races confirmed, and we’d like to make it a twelve race series, which would be four weekends, twelve races. We want to be in the Midwest, we want to be in the Southeast, we want to be in California and the Northwest. We’ve got everything but the Southeast taken care of. To kind of clarify – the King of the Wing, that is the national races. Now Florida, that would be under the King of the Wing banner. I haven’t completely come up with a name, because I’m not going to move forward until after the meeting on Sunday to make sure that everybody’s on board with my plan. Without the racers and without cooperation, I’m nobody. I need support. I’m doing the regional series in California. I’m doing the regional series in the Midwest. The Northwest has called about me coming up there and taking over their regional part. I’m trying to get every sprint car that runs on pavement with a wing on the same rules package.
I spent over a year reading everybody’s rule book, and dissecting it and seeing where the differences are. The difficult part was the engines. Some were 360s, some were cast iron, there were 410s, I mean it was just all over the place. I had to put them on dynos, and then the chassis dynos, just to make sure that at the end of the day we had the same numbers. Now that that’s worked, and we’ve been able to prove that it’s worked, it’s allowed us to do the regional type programs where no matter what kind of engine you have, you could participate. You could get the car count up, and make it much less expensive at the end of the day.
To make the series stronger as a whole, I’m willing to come down to Florida and work directly with the promoters. A lot of the tracks told me that they are behind the concept. Without the racers, we don’t have anything. It’s like I’m going to explain to the racers – without you, I’m nothing. I’m going to make the best decisions possible for you guys, because it’s my money on the line. I don’t want to lose it. This is a very important meeting on Sunday. As a club, when they had their club meeting, I wasn’t invited to the meeting because I’m not a member and I didn’t race with their series.
Winged sprint cars at Showtime Speedway in 2014
Q. You are referring to the TBARA meeting that was held earlier this month?
A. That’s correct. At the meeting, they basically decided no one wanted to run it anymore. Dave Steele said the checkbook was like a hot potato. Nobody wanted to hang onto that darn thing. So they made a decision that let’s have Davey come in and tell what he has to offer, and let’s just put TBARA on hiatus for a little while, just to see if this is a better program. Here’s who I’ve invited to the meeting on Sunday – I’ve invited owners, drivers, sponsors, promoters, media, fans, whoever.
Q. So the meeting is open to everybody?
A. That’s correct. It’s open to anybody and everybody. There’s no hidden agenda. There’s no tracks scheduled. I talked to all of them and told them my idea. Everybody’s invited to this meeting, to hear what I have and so that I can answer questions no matter what side they are coming from.
Sprint cars in turn three at Showtime Speedway in 2014
Q. Are we looking at two separate entities here? One is the national series, where you are adding one weekend of Florida races, to go along with the other three weekends in other parts of the country. Would there then be a second entity? Would this be a Florida only series for the rest of the year, not including the one weekend that is part of the national series?
A. No, I talked to Tim, I talked to Mobile, and we talked to Watermelon Speedway up in Georgia. In that region, for sure. Not far out of the Tampa or Orlando area. Obviously New Smyrna. It may venture out of Florida, but not far. I talked to three outside of Florida (Montgomery & Mobile, AL and Cordele, GA) that could be part of the program.
Q. Have you spoken to the owners, promoters and leaseholders of all the pavement race tracks in Florida?
A. Yes. I think there were eleven tracks in total that I contacted. I think I’ve spoken to nine of them. I have messages to all of them. I had to do a lot of calls just to find the promoters.
Johnny Gilbertson, left, and Davey Hamilton, right, at Showtime Speedway in 2013
Q. For the Southeast series that is separate from the national series, is it going to include 360s, 410s, or what engines are you allowing to run in these races?
A. All of the above. If you have a 360 twenty three degree head motor, which is what TBARA rules are, you just run those. If you have a 360 open-head motor, you are still able to run with them but you have to run with a two one-hundredth fuel injection restrictor. Then, if you want to run a 410, you are welcome to runa410 with us as well. But if you want to run a 410, you’ve got to run an inch and seven eighths restrictor. For the TBARA guys, I’ve given them a 50-pound weight break over the open-head 360s and the 410s, and they get to be an inch wider. If you ran TBARA in the past, your rules stay exactly the same. They don’t have to change one thing.
If Aaron Pierce wants to come down with his 410, he’s going to be 50 pounds heavier, he’s going to have an inch and seven eighths restrictor, and his right rear is one inch off, I’ll go 43 and TBARA is 44. What’s going to happen is that the 360s are going to have an advantage. The TBARA guys will have an advantage and more than likely they’re going to beat the other combinations. I want a three year plan to where we all end up getting into the 410s. Just straight out.
You call any engine builder, and if you are buying a new motor, it’s the same cost whether you are buying a 360 or a 410. There are plenty of 410s out there. My own personal motors are used 410s, that I bought for fifteen to twenty five thousand. They last me for a long time, and they’ve got good power. I used that as my research on what engine to go with, and where we need to be. For the first three or four years, you can’t just change that overnight to get the 410s. That’s the way the King of the Wing nationals is right now. We ran thirteen races with this rules package, and seven of them were won by 410s, and six were by 360s. So it’s pretty darn even.Q. For the three Florida races in the national series, would it be in one weekend, and what month of the year, and at what tracks?
A. That’s the million dollar question. We’re working with six tracks down there. I’m waiting on an answer that I hope to have within a week. We’re looking at April to early May this year. The Florida dates are the only ones left to be finalized for the national schedule.
Q. Will there be two separate champions for these races in Florida, one as a component of the national series, and then a second champion for the Southeast regional series?
A. Yes. How I did it last year is I had the Midwest champion, which JoJo Helberg won, the West Coast champion, which JoJo Helberg won, and then an overall champion, which JoJo Helberg won. He did a great job. We’re going to have a regional Florida champion. Every region will have a regional King of the Wing champion.
Q. Will there be a TV deal for the national series only? It seems like you already have a working relationship with MAVTV. Will they be the TV broadcast partner for this year, and could this TV deal be expanded to include the regional series races?
A. At this time, no TV for any of the regions. Just working on the national only at this point. I was in a meeting with them all morning. That’s one of the reasons why I was out here. I was at MAVTV all morning. The three races that were televised from out west last year were a big success for everybody, including MAVTV. I’m working to get all national events on TV. Being behind the scenes putting things together is kind of a learning curve for me, but it’s definitely doable.
Q. What about tires? Will you use Hoosier, or American Racer tires, or what can you tell me about tires at this point?
A. Maybe I just open it up. You run kind of what you want to run. The deal is, but I’ve got to do some more research to make the best business decision that I can for everybody, but I’m still thinking about just leaving it like that. Run whatever tire that you want to run, Hoosiers or American Racer. The tire money goes into the purse; it doesn’t go into my pocket. The first thing that we’ve got to do is get the prize money up. The goal is to make it $2,000 to win and $500 to start.
Q. Is that for the national series, or the regional series, or both?
A. That’s for the regional series. The national series pays $3,000 to win and $750 to start. That’s the pay that we did last year.
READER SUBMITTED QUESTIONS FOLLOW.
Q. What can the car owners and drivers do to help now?
A. One thing that I think is needed is positive energy. When I talk to some of the racers down there, it’s nothing but negative. They’re telling their neighbors that, and they’re telling their sponsors that. Why would a neighbor want to come out and watch you race after you threw down on the race track or the other racers or the series? We’ve got to grow this together. You need to go out and be positive – saying, “Hey man, you’ve got to come out to the races this weekend!” Winged sprint cars are badass. They’re the fastest short track cars in the world, and you’ve got fantastic race drivers. For the owners and the drivers, whether I do this program or not, just be positive.
Q. How many races will there be during the year for the Southeast regional series?
A. I think my first year, my goal would be seven to ten. The winged sprint cars are not a weekly show anymore. We’re a specialty show. We’re the main event. We’ve proved it. There was one promoter who wasn’t on board at all. But the majority of them are at least willing to talk and to sit down and move forward.
Q. So you only got a negative response from one Florida promoter, that’s all?
A. At this point, just one Florida promoter has been negative.
Q. OK, I have one somewhat comical reader’s question, just to lighten things up a little bit and not be too serious. Will there be girls in Victory Lane?
A. I hope there’s some girls in Victory Lane. There is more than one I’d like to see there, and one is Sierra Jackson (sprint car driver from Idaho, who finished second in the West Coast regional King of the Wing points). I’d love to see her in Victory Lane after winning a race. We do need to put the show back in it. We used to have trophy girls. If I can get the proper partners to do that, it is something that is interesting. But it’s family entertainment, so first of all it’s got to be presentable to families.
If I do more races in the wintertime, obviously not this year, but in the future try to get some regional races down there in the winter, then Sierra and myself, and my son and others, they’d go down there in the wintertime.Q. So you would want the Southeast regional series to have their races concentrated from the months of November to early April?
A. That’s very accurate. That’s exactly right. I’m jealous of Florida right now, but when it comes to June, July, and August, I don’t want to be anywhere near that place. Why not go when it’s beautiful weather and everyone wants to be out? During that season, you also have over a million people that are coming down there – the snowbirds. They are looking for things to do.
Davey, that’s all of my questions, and thank you very much for your time.
Bubba Raceway Park’s Ambitious 2015 Schedule is Complete
By Richard Golardi
The All Star Circuit of Champions, USAC National Sprint Car Series, Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars, Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series, Bubba Army Sprint Series, and the USCS Outlaw Sprint Series. That’s a listing of the six different sprint car series scheduled to race at Ocala’s Bubba Raceway Park in 2015. It is the most ambitious schedule of sprint car racing for any Florida track, and a sign of track owner Bubba Clem’s great love of sprint cars. The controversial radio show host, broadcasting from Tampa during the week, has an RV at the track for weekend stays. His 12 year old son Tyler has raced at the track in a sprint car since 2013, starting at 11 years old.
Track prep at Bubba Raceway Park, January 2015
While Bubba Clem is the most well-known personality connected to the track, the person behind the scenes managing the daily operations at the track is Scott McAllister, the General Manager. McAllister has been the GM at Bubba Raceway Park since May 2014, after serving as the Director of Marketing and Communications at Racecar Engineering for three and a half years. Two of the major changes being overseen at the track this year by McAllister are the switch to Friday night racing, and the return of the track’s own sprint car series, the Bubba Army Sprint Series. That series will race on four Friday nights during the year, with all four races preceding a Saturday night Top Gun Series sprint car race at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, 56 miles away. Another challenge that lies ahead for McAllister is an intense five weeks of racing during the 4th Annual Bubba Army Winternationals, with a total of fifteen race nights from January 28th through February 28th.
“If you want to run two nights of sprint car racing, and you’re already going over to Volusia, then you can run here on Friday night, and elsewhere on Saturday night,” Scott McAllister told me, when discussing the new Friday night schedule of sprint car racing. “I am thinking 100% that it is the limited Top Gun type (not ASCS/USCS 360 engine rules).” And the series name? “I don’t know, but they are calling it, the spreadsheet he sent over to me said ‘BRP Sprints’, but everything else at this place is ‘Bubba Army’ this, or ‘Bubba Army’ that, so … But yeah, it’s going to be Top Gun rules, I’m sure. We’re calling this ‘back to grass-roots racing’. You know, going back to Friday nights, and that encouraged the owners to make the call to USCS and say that these guys were here before, and that’s what worked for us before, and let’s try and bring them back.”
The two USCS Outlaw Sprint Series races scheduled in October mark the return of the southern 360 sprint series to Florida after an absence of several years. The series used to schedule several races a year in Florida, but had recently been racing only in the Deep South and Mid-South states. Their return comes along with the reappearance of the Lucas Oil ASCS sprint cars, which last raced in Florida in 2008.
“We want to try the USCS series back out again here on Friday night and Saturday night, and see what happens and if we can revive that. It’s more of a try it out just one show for 2015 and then perhaps move forward with more dates in 2016. Bubba is such a strong sprint car advocate. He’s just hardcore on it. He wants to give it every opportunity to try to succeed and do what he can to keep that entire division and series going. He’s all about it, where I think a lot of the people have kind of abandoned it here in the Southeast. He’s just not going to let go. You know how he is, once he gets a hold of something he’s a bulldog. He’s not going to quit until he’s exhausted every resource,” according to McAllister.
This month, 300 truckloads of clay have been dumped on the track, and are being blended into the racing surface in anticipation of the upcoming Bubba Army Winternationals. Recent news of Florida’s population growth and migration of money to Florida gives renewed justification to efforts like those at Bubba Raceway Park. “Best race track in Florida. This is the track I told you about. What’s the address – I’m new in town? I want to go there – I heard about that track!” That’s a sampling of the messages on social media about the track known as ‘Bubba's’.
“We brought back the Top Gun Series with six dates. We’re doing the BRP Sprints. We’re doing the USCS show. Obviously, a lot of sprint car racing in the Winternationals. We’re all going to give it our utmost effort to promote this class and make sure that people are aware of it. There’s a lot or retirees here that have come down from up north. They’re used to seeing a lot of sprint car racing where they came from, whether it’s New York or Pennsylvania or wherever they retired from up north. I think that there is a market for that here in Ocala. Especially since we have so many retirees, or as I like to call them ‘mature adults’, since I’m nearing that age myself.” In addition, just down the road is The Villages, with 100,000 residents over the age of 55. Maybe The Villages Motor Racing Fan Club just found someone new to add to their list of potential monthly speakers.
Scott McAllister remembers playing a round of golf at The Villages when it was mostly cow pastures with some mobile homes, whereas now “it’s an entire city unto itself,” as he described the current retiree metropolis. He described the GM job at Bubba Raceway Park as something that he always wanted to do, and right in his own hometown. It was his opportunity to help progress the sport of auto racing in his own city. “It’s a steep learning curve. Unless you’ve been in this specific industry, you’ve never done anything like it. Unless you’ve dealt with race car drivers, and food vendors, and clothes vendors, it’s such a specific industry that it is a learning curve for everybody.” An earlier message from McAllister included the words, “Let me get off this tractor …,” showing he was a hands-on type of manager willing to get his hands dirty. With hundreds of truckloads of clay to spread, he was in the middle of the activity with his crew.
Scott McAllister
“I’ve been to hundreds of race tracks, and seen literally thousands of races, but with all this experience I’ve had, none of it prepared me for what goes on here on a daily basis. On a race night, the best laid plans are many times thrown out the window.” McAllister admitted to feeling a little overwhelmed at first, when it seemed like something new broke every day, and new problems cropped up daily. “Now I’m able to cope with it a little better. At first, every day was a calamity for me. Now I just shake my head, and kind of go with the flow.” Who did he turn to for advice? He sought out General Managers and owners at other tracks. They all confirmed that they all go through the same things that he was experiencing. “No – it’s madness,” they said.
The large blue tarps that appeared earlier this year, intended to cover the entire track surface in order to prevent rainouts, will not be reappearing. It was an idea that was tried, and did not offer a long term solution once dry-rot set in, and the tarps became unusable. McAllister thought that with some more design work, it was an idea that could be sold to every track in the country. There are also no plans to bring back the mobile big screen TV that appeared during the USAC sprint cars races several years ago. McAllister did not mention any plans for major construction projects at the track, as the main focus now is on bringing in the best possible racing entertainment for the coming year. Sprint car racing and dirt racing fans are in for an exciting year, as Scott McAllister and everyone at Bubba's have put together a race schedule that would be the envy of any dirt track in any state.
The2014 Speedweeks compilation video of sprint car racing from Bubba Raceway Park, titled “Speedweeks & Sprint Cars at Bubba's” is here:
2015 Florida Speedweeks Schedules
By Richard Golardi
For those considering a trip to Florida for a mid-winter dose of sprint car racing, I have two schedules to recommend. One schedule I will list as the “Short Trip”, and the other as a more ambitious “Ultimate Speedweeks Vacation”.
Short Speedweeks Trip
Friday, Feb. 13 – WoO Sprint Cars, Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
Saturday, Feb. 14 – ARCA Racing Series (Day) & The Sprint Unlimited - NASCAR Sprint Cup (Night), Daytona Int’l Speedway, or Non-wing Sprint Cars at Citrus County Speedway (Night) – Inverness, FL
Sunday, Feb. 15 – NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, New Smyrna Speedway, or WoO Sprint Cars (Night), Volusia Speedway Park - Barberville, FL
Monday, Feb. 16 – ACT (American Canadian Tour) Late Model Series, New Smyrna Speedway
Ultimate Speedweeks Vacation
Friday, Feb. 13 – WoO Sprint Cars, Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
Saturday, Feb. 14 – ARCA Racing Series (Day) & The Sprint Unlimited - NASCAR Sprint Cup (Night), Daytona Int’l Speedway, or Non-wing Sprint Cars at Citrus County Speedway (Night) – Inverness, FL
Sunday, Feb. 15 – NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, New Smyrna Speedway, or WoO Sprint Cars (Night), Volusia Speedway Park - Barberville, Fla.
Monday, Feb. 16 – ACT Late Model Series, New Smyrna Speedway
Tuesday, Feb. 17 – Off Day (Beach Day!), or New Smyrna Speedway (same as Monday)
Wednesday, Feb. 18 – Modifieds and Super Late Models, New Smyrna Speedway
Thursday, Feb. 19 – Twin 150 Qualifying Races, NASCAR Sprint Cup (Night), Daytona Int’l Speedway, or USAC National Sprint Car Series (Night), Bubba Raceway Park, Ocala
Friday, Feb. 20 – ASCS 360 Sprint Car Winternationals (Night), East Bay Raceway Park, Gibsonton
Saturday, Feb. 21 – NASCAR XFINITY Series (Day), Daytona Int’l Speedway, then USAC National Sprint Car Series (Night), Bubba Raceway Park, Ocala, or ASCS 360 Sprint Car Winternationals (Night), East Bay Raceway Park, Gibsonton
Sunday, Feb 22 – Daytona 500 (Day), NASCAR Sprint Cup, Daytona Int’l Speedway
NOTE: This longer vacation may be extended out even further, for those who want to include another round of the USAC National Sprint Car Series (Feb. 26-28 at East Bay Raceway Park), or another two nights of Lucas Oil ASCS sprint cars at Bubba Raceway Park (Fri. & Sat. Feb 27-28).
Florida Sprint Car Race Date Calendar:
The End of the TBARA?
By Richard Golardi
Certain moments in time stand out as definitive moments in Florida racing history. The elimination of the supermodified division at Golden Gate Speedway in the late 60s, and their replacement by sprint cars is one such moment. This directly led to a class of sprint car drivers from Florida who went on to dominate in nationalsprint car events, winning nine Little 500 races from 1979 to 2009. Another moment in time is the late 1970s. This period included a track construction boom that saw the building of East Bay Raceway Park and Desoto Speedwayand also included the first forays by Floridians into national events like the Little 500.
Today, Saturday January 10th at 12:07 PM was another such moment. That time marked the conclusion of a TBARA Officer Election Meeting held in Tampa. The meeting lasted a little over one hour, but apparently will herald major changes for all pavement sprint car racing in Florida. By a vote of fifteen to two, the members present at this meeting voted to cancel the 2015 TBARA racing season, putting all TBARA racing on hold for now. Earlier in the meeting, the members were asked to nominate prospective new club officers for the 2015 race season. Of the two names placed into nomination for a new officer position, neither member wished to accept the position. An initial report I received stated that all current TBARA club officers had resigned prior to the meeting. In a later email message to club members, club Vice President Josh Wichers stated that he did not resign as VP of the club, and that he would not resign.
Davey Hamilton at Showtime Speedway, January 2013
There is a surplus of funds in the TBARA coffer as of today, and a likely scenario that was presented at the meeting is that the funds will be dispersed to the remaining members (about 34 on the member list today) in one year from now, if the club will be disbanded at that time. Does this development mark the end of winged pavement sprint car racing in Florida? No. Far from it. In fact, it may mark the beginning of a new era, with sorrow due to the series of events that led to TBARA’s 2015 season cancellation and tenuous state.
I have learned that a phone call was made immediately at the end of the meeting to an interested out of state party. That person was Davey Hamilton. Hamilton is the organizer of the King of the Wing pavement sprint car series, which held six races in 2014. In a recent interview, Hamilton was quoted as saying that he saw the demise of USAC pavement sprint car racing as an opportunity for him. “It left the door open. We put wings on them, and made them World of Outlaws cars on pavement,” Hamilton said. “We put some restrictors in the 410s, and it worked,” he added. Several cars that raced had 360s, along with the majority of cars with 410 motors.
TBARA Sprint Cars at Citrus County Speedway in 2013
In December, Hamilton said that his plan at that time was to have 12 races in 2015, spread out over four weekends, with three races each weekend. He was obviously looking toward Florida at that time, mentioning that the series goes where there is an inventory of cars and drivers, to include Florida and its TBARA racers. That may have changed after today’s developments.
My source, present at the meeting, has informed me that some pre-planning has already occurred for a King of the Wing Southeast Series, to include five tracks, and as many as two or three races at each Florida track. The tracks mentioning included Three Palms Speedway (Punta Gorda), Desoto Speedway (Bradenton), Showtime Speedway (Pinellas Park), Citrus County Speedway (Inverness), and New Smyrna Speedway (New Smyrna Beach). New Smyrna Speedway already has two Speedweeks races scheduled in February, ready to be reassigned to a new sanctioning body.
It appears that several Floridians have already been involved in the planning process with Davey Hamilton, and have announced an intention to meet in Florida with interested parties in about two weeks from now to discuss the new series. That would leave only three weeks until the race weekend at New Smyrna to complete the pre-race preparation. Part of that preparation involves the readying of Midwest race teams who were part of the Midwest and California races in 2014, and would be part of the Florida races in 2015. These races would now include both Midwest teams with 410 motors, along with the Florida teams, most of whom have 360 motors. There may be three or four 410 motors spread among a small number of Florida teams.
These developments are an improvement for Florida sprint car racing in several ways. It will bring a new series that will bring more sponsors and money (reportedly a $2,000 to win, $500 to start purse), and more national level drivers. It will bring national cable TV exposure to Florida sprint car racing, which has been sorely lacking. MavTV recently broadcast all three California King of the Wing races in December. Another possible improvement, being debated in the Florida sprint car community now, is that it may be time to move beyond the “club structure that has failed to keep pace with increased costs by raising purses and has no TV deal”. TBARA may be on sound financial footing, but is it an outdated mode of organization? If the club is unable to elect new officers, and no members come forward to serve, then the club’s fate is sealed and the answer to this question is of no consequence.
Mixed emotions come with the realization that TBARA’s fate has been sealed. A recent club t-shirt proclaimed “41 seasons of ground pounding action!” The series was started in 1973, had a break in action from 1975 until it’s rebirth in 1982, and has operated continuously since that year. Other than the East Bay Sprints at East Bay Raceway Park, it is the longest running sprint car series in the state.
I have only been following the series since 2007, but many Sunshine State race fans have been following the TBARA drivers and their exploits on dirt and pavement race tracks for decades. The list of TBARA champions includes the names Dave Steele, Troy DeCaire, Sam Rodriguez, Wayne Reutimann, Robert Smith, and Taylor Andrews. TBARA champions have won seven Little 500 races, two Governor’s Cup late model races, two USAC Silver Crown series titles, and two Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series titles. They have raced and won open wheel races in midgets, sprint cars, and Silver Crown cars on dirt and pavement from coast to coast. Their exploits, and the remarkable racing history of the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association, will forever be a part of the extraordinary history of Florida sprint car racing.
Jack Hewitt and The Villages
By Richard Golardi
Jack Hewitt is speaking in The Villages on Wednesday evening. You know, it’s that place in Central Florida near Wildwood, with over 100,000 residents over the age of 55. It’s sometimes called the fastest growing city in America, with 11 AM happy hours and over two thousand “Resident Lifestyle Groups”. Living there has been described as being on permanent vacation, a chance to have fun and enjoy life after a lifetime of working hard to be able to afford one of the $200,000 homes. The place is huge, spread out over 32 square miles and three counties. I got lost my first time there, and had to ask for directions at one of the security checkpoints at a subdivision entrance. The guard was very polite and quickly got me pointed in the right direction.
One of the more popular resident groups is The Villages Motor Racing Fan Club. It’s a group of fervent auto racing fans that has embraced local racers, tracks, race teams, and even this reporter. I had the opportunity to speak to the group in October at their monthly meeting, held on the first Wednesday of each month in one of the community’s recreation centers. Two things surprised me – the size of the club and the number that came to the meeting to hear me speak (about two of Florida’s legendary sprint car drivers), and their acute knowledge of and desire to take in short track racing. They could often be found at Citrus County Speedway, sitting in a group with their yellow club shirts along the front stretch. They had chosen Citrus County as their home track, placing a club sticker on a wall above the track at one point.
Citrus County Speedway promoter Gary Laplant spoke to the group in late 2013 as a means to connect with the group and promote the upcoming 2014 race season. Later in 2014, Florida sprint car legend Stan Butler regaled the group with stories from his racing career from Florida to the Little 500. Jack Hewitt, who lives in Florida during the cold weather months and is now a Floridian (as stated on a certain government-issued state ID), is coming off an eventful year highlighted by his return to the USAC Silver Crown Series at Eldora Speedway in September. The 63 year old National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee expressed a slight bit of trepidation about his January speaking duties when I interviewed him at Eldora in September.
“I’m going to have to find out from you how it is, and if they butchered you are not,” Hewitt said after I informed that I’d be the monthly speaker at The Villages just a few months before his speaking engagement. “No, no,” I replied. “Stan Butler was there in July, and supposedly they loved him, and I’m October, and then they’ll have you, and I’m sure they will love you,” I said, mentioning all the sprint car racing related speakers. By the time my short interview had ended, my recorder captured the sound of several bystanders laughing uproariously, as Jack had managed to find the absurd and humorous side of any initially serious discussion about racing. Once Jack Hewitt started to tell a racing story, you had better prepare to laugh.
I asked Jack Hewitt for his reaction to the recent expansion of USAC and ASCS involvement in Florida Speedweeks, with the series adding races at East Bay and Bubba Raceway Park. “With USAC, what’s happened in Ocala is that it’s one little killer non-wing race track, and it’s brought the racing back. We know East Bay, we ran there without the wings years ago. It’s better racing. I’m not bad-mouthing the wings, but it’s so expensive. If you want to watch a parade, you watch a Macy’s day parade on Thanksgiving. The 360s, they’ve brought it back to where they’re competitive, with ASCS with the wings. I’m not bad-mouthing World of Outlaws, but there’s just not a lot of passing. It’s called racing, it’s not follow the leader. I drove ‘em both (wing and non-wing). Money will win with a wing, where money don’t dominate non-wing racing. I mean, you still got to have good equipment, but a decent motor will win you a race.”
I also asked about the expansion of Speedweeks to five weekends of sprint car racing, and if there was a danger of this being too much expansion that will over saturate the fan base. “I got to worrying about the week after Daytona, because a lot of the race fans have left. But, I think the fans may want to come down later to get some warmer weather. At first, I thought it might be a bad deal, but I really think it’s going to be better. Rather than come down for the World of Outlaws and the All Stars to watch, if they’re a 360 fan, they’ll just come down and do those two weekends (referring to the last two weekends in February). If they’re USAC, they’ll plan their vacation around the races that they want to see. There are a lot of cars coming. Before, they were coming down for three races, now they’re coming down for six. So now it’s worthwhile,” according to Jack.
USAC had originally expressed their desire to have five or six races in Florida over the course of a six or seven day period. The final schedule showed a marked departure from this plan, with a four day stretch of no racing between race dates in the last week of the month. “Well, you got to have it. The tracks are taking a chance even on the weekend. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is not going to be a really good date down here. Sunday’s the problem. They have to have a rain date. He wanted Sunday for a rain date (referring to Bubba Raceway Park owner Bubba Clem), and you kind of got to give them what they’re needing to stick their neck out and do three,” Jack said.
Hewitt gave special praise to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, which has been the only Florida track to host USAC sprint cars in the past few years. Track owner Bubba Clem is a dedicated lover of sprint car racing. “Ocala – that is one of the number one non-wing race tracks in the country,” Jack Hewitt proclaimed. “Now, I’m not just talking Florida. I’m saying in the country. I’ve never seen a bad non-wing race down here. It just amazes me how it just suits it so good. Right now, we’re talking to them to see maybe we can bring the two-seater and be involved with it that week. So, that would be something special.”
TOP FIVE STORIES OF THE YEAR IN FLORIDA SPRINT CAR RACING
Intense racing, close finishes and deciding the season champion at the year’s last race is enthralling racing entertainment, but it resulted in a only a slightly larger audience for Florida sprint car racing in 2014. Now that Florida is the third most populous state in the union after California and Texas, and has experienced dramatic population growth and influx of money, should a corresponding dramatic growth in the short-track racing fan base have occurred during 2014 and recent prior years?
Here are my “Top 5” stories of the year in Florida sprint car racing, and the readers’choice for the 2014 Florida Sprint Car Race of the Year.
Joey Aguilar and Crew in Winners Circle in March 2014
1) Rise of Non-wing Pavement Sprint Car Racing
Citrus County Speedway in Inverness was the first to schedule a full season of non-wing sprint car races and was largely responsible for the reappearance of sprint cars on pavement sans wings. Promoter Gary Laplant thus became the most prominent sprint car innovator of the year, followed by Robert Yoho, promoter at Showtime Speedway. Yoho followed Laplant in scheduling non-wing sprint car races, and added his own innovative feature by promoting double feature sprint car nights, with both a winged and non-wing feature race. Citrus County Speedway held eight non-wing feature races, consistently drawing twenty plus cars through most of the season, and also larger spectator crowds than several other pavement tracks. Non-wing races at Citrus and Showtime were accompanied by several more races at Desoto Speedway. Desotoalso saw first-time sprint car winners later in the year (Garrett Green and Jason Kimball).
2) Turmoil on the Tarmac, Tires Too
The beginning of Florida’s year of turmoil for pavement sprint car racing could be traced to early season domination by Joey Aguilar. This period of domination included skirmishes with other racers and TBARA series officials. After receiving a five race probation and small fine for unsportsmanlike conduct (an identical fine and probation was also conveyed to fellow TBARA racer Shane Butler), another incident at Orlando Speedworld in April resulted in Aguilar’s suspension from TBARA racing for the remainder of 2014. He had won the first three TBARA races of the year at Auburndale Speedway, Desoto Speedway and Orlando Speedworld, and appeared to be on his way to dominating the remainder of the season and cruising to the TBARA championship prior to being sidelined. He later won races at Showtime Speedway and in USCS competition in Southern states, capping off his year with a marquee event win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in August. His win total for the year was eight winged races. He’ll be back in 2015 with a new team, and the same car he used to win at Atlanta.
A switch to American Racer tires by Citrus County Speedway and TBARA was made to reduce tire costs. Feature race winners at Citrus County Speedway on 6-7-2014 (Jimmy Alvis, Citrus County Speedway Sprints) and 7-26-2014 (Mickey Kempgens, TBARA) were then disqualified due to accusations of tire prepping and results of a post-race tire hardness test, respectively. At Desoto Speedway in August, another round of disqualifications removed two of the top three finishers from the race order. They were second place Mickey Kempgens because of the angle of the cylinder heads, and third place Collin Cabre because of the right rear wheel offset.
With the tire hardness rule bringing a lot of frayed nerves and discontent, a change was made at Desoto Speedway and TBARA to have only a pre-race tire durometer test, in place of the post-race test. There were nodisqualifications for tires or other reasons after August, and the fans knew who won when they left at subsequent races.
Heat race start at sunset at Desoto Speedway
3) Florida Speedweeks Continues Growing
The February Speedweeks sprint car racing schedule now has five weekends of dirt sprint car racing in 2015, compared to just three weekends in 2014. One more weekend of USAC sprint car racing was added, as well as two weekends of Lucas Oil ASCS series racing. Pavement sprint car racing returns to Speedweeks with two weekends of racing in 2015, compared to one in 2014. The two main Florida series, Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series and TBARA, both return in 2015 with Speedweeks races in January and February, respectively.
The World of Outlaws sprint cars are back at Volusia Speedway Park, which was expected due to the track’s owners (World Racing Group) being the same as the organizer of the series. The 3 nights of USAC sprint car racing added for East Bay were expected ever since this news was revealed by USAC in 2013. The most recent revelations were the ASCS sanctioning added for the East Bay 360 Winternationals and two additional ASCS race nights at Bubba Raceway Park on the last weekend in February. Of these series, the World of Outlaws has been drawing the stoutest car counts and greatest fan popularity. USAC has had lower 2014 car counts, and was just hit with the loss of Tony Stewart Racing’s team cars. They hope to rebound with the recent doubling of their Florida Speedweeks race nights from three to six nights. Total ASCS and USAC races during Speedweeks go from three scheduled races in 2014 to eleven races in 2015.
Shane Butler at 2014 Little 500
4) Florida’s Pavement Aces are Dominant Nationwide
Florida is widely recognized as the home state of some of the best pavement sprint car drivers in the nation, who sit near the top of the national ranking of drivers and the national pavement sprint car win list.Three Floridians are in the Top Four of the PavementSprints.com 2014 Final Power Rankings by way of having outstanding years that included dominating wins. They are Troy DeCaire (6 wins), Shane Butler (6 wins & TBARA Champion), and Joey Aguilar (8 wins).The Frank Riddle Memorial, a TBARA race held at Desoto Speedway on October 18, 2014, ended with a dramatic last lap pass by Shane Butler, who clinched the TBARA driver’s title two weeks later at the same track, after a mid-race incident nearly put him in the wall.He won races on dirt and pavement and was the car owner for Citrus County Speedway sprint car champ Herb Neumann Jr. Troy DeCaire won in four different series across four different states, and reunites with car owner Lenny Puglio for 2015 races. The talented Tampan looked impressive in late season TBARA action, and must be considered one of the 2015 Little 500 favorites with his entry in the car nicknamed “Half Breed”.
Danny Martin Jr. in Winners Circle in April 2014
5) Dirt Sprint Car Racing’s Course: Steady, Workmanlike Progress
The future of dirt sprint car racing in Florida looks promising. The evidence for this statement is as follows. See #3 above. Additionally, the Florida dirt sprint car racing split is over, with all dirt racing under the Top Gun Series aegis (East Bay Sprints continue intact, racing only at East Bay). This year saw Top Gun bring Bubba Raceway Park back into the fold, with their races replacing the Bubba Army Sprint Series races held in 2013. Bubba’s and East Bay continue to stage some of the most exciting sprint car races each year, with stable management and heightened efforts to bring national dirt series to their tracks in February. The Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series returns with Don Rehm’s steady hand at the controls, assuring another year of racing with professional management. Danny Martin Jr. returns in 2015, after earning the Top Gun Series driver championship and solidifying his prevailing champion status on dirt in 2014.
The race that was selected in a reader poll as the 2014 Florida Sprint Car Race of the Year is The Frank Riddle Memorial, a TBARA race at Desoto Speedway. The drama-filled race and Shane Butler’s last lap pass were combined with pits that overflowed with cars. The Frank Riddle Memorial was later recognized as the race with the greatest number of entrants for a winged sprint car race in all of 2014 (Source – Pavementsprints.com). In the second year of the event’s rebirth, it also received recognition from the writers of that same website as one of the nation’s “Marquee Events”, and the only such event in Florida.
2014 Florida Sprint Car Race of the Year (as selected by the readers of Florida Open Wheel, poll conducted from 12/19 to 12/29/2014):
The Frank Riddle Memorial, Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series, Desoto Speedway, Bradenton, FL, 10/18/2014
Race video: http://youtu.be/ZrvRrc4KNCk
Sprint cars at Bubba Raceway Park in February
Top Five Florida Open Wheel Most Viewed Videos of the Year (2014 Races):
1) “USAC National Sprint Cars at Bubba Raceway Park, Feature Race, 2/20/2014”, 2/20/2014, 11,751 views, http://youtu.be/sk_9VHvQ_Y8
2) “Rico Abreu at Volusia Speedway Park”, 2/14/2014, 4,840 views, http://youtu.be/4cZObE-diCo
3) “Jac Haudenschild at Bubba Raceway Park, Part Two”, 2/9/2014, 4,169 views, http://youtu.be/LJNWC5pSMe4
4) “Jac Haudenschild at Bubba Raceway Park, Part One”, 2/9/2014, 3,454 views, http://youtu.be/X6C9ZtlV2Q8
5) “CCS Wingless Sprint Cars at Citrus County Speedway, 2-1-2014”, 2/1/2014, 2,643views, http://youtu.be/25UX9rMPLIE
Jack’s Place – A Saturday in December in Florida
By Richard Golardi
The invitation to attend Jack Nowling’s 75th Birthday Party, clearly the Florida open wheel racing community’s social event of the year, came from both Jack and his daughter Dorothy after my initial interview with “Captain Jack” earlier this month. My interview, and also the Saturday night birthday party, would take place in The Cracker House on Jack’s residential property at the end of a dead-end road in Gibsonton, Florida. Nearby are Bull Frog Creek, known for its fishing, and East Bay Raceway Park, known as a favorite track of a generation of sprint car drivers from Florida. Many of the best drivers from the most recent generation have driven one of Jack’s sprint cars, and thereby have the privilege to be listed as one of “Names of the Quickload Racing Team”. The names are enshrined under a thick layer of varnish on a tabletop near the house’s entrance, along with photos from the tracks where Jack’s cars have raced. The listing of the names reads like a virtual Who’s Who of American open wheel racing.
The Names of the Quickload Racing Team.
The annual party serves a dual purpose, as both an event to celebrate Captain Jack’s birthday and his life in racing, and also as the year-end Florida social event for all of Jack’s friends to get together and talk about open wheel racing all night, or at least until the lights go out in The Cracker House at about midnight. It is also a time for congratulations and back slapping for those who have achieved milestones in their careers and in their lives, on and off the track. Many of the partiers fit into this category, as they are recently retired, nearing retirement, or winding down their racing careers. Captain Jack himself is now a retired car owner, having sold the last of his race cars.
Jack Nowling’s aluminum boat trailer business, which once employed dozens under the Quickload Aluminum Boat Trailers banner, is now reduced to some occasional boat trailer work at his workshop, which is lined with long shelves of racing trophies. Jack had worked as a boat captain in the waters off Florida, and was also a track promoter at the Florida State Fairgrounds Speedway in Tampa (the “new Fairgrounds”) back in the 1980s. One of his best known race wins as an owner came at the 1996 Little 500 sprint car race at Anderson Speedway, Indiana. His driver was Dave Steele, who would later earn multiple USAC Silver Crown and TBARA sprint car titles, in addition to USAC wins in all three national series, and a second Little 500 win in 2009.
Jack Nowling and his drivers - Left to right, Dave Steele, Joe Melnick, Jack Nowling, Jimmy Cope, Bobby Alexander, and Jack Hewitt.
Nowling told me that Steele arrived at Anderson Speedway in 1996 on Little 500 race day with knees that were swollen and painful from a wreck earlier that day at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. That track was the site of the Hulman Hundred Silver Crown race(which was later retroactively renamed as the Hoosier Hundred), where Steele had wrecked and banged up his knees. The Hulman Hundred was originally scheduled for the night prior to Anderson’s Little 500, but a rain delay moved it to the same day as the Little 500, which was a night race. Steele arrived at Anderson ready to race, but in pain. Jack Nowling had a solution to relieve the pain and swelling. He sent a guy out to get big bags of ice at a nearby store. They arrived at the track shortly thereafter, and now Steele would have some time to rest, with big bags of ice on top of both knees, prior to the early evening start time of the Little 500 pre-race ceremonies. Steele would start on the pole position as one of the race favorites, having had good top five finishes in the 500 three times previously. At the end of the night, Steele would be smiling through the pain on the podium along with Jack Nowling, finishing two laps ahead of his nearest rival for the first win in the Little 500 for both men.
The Saturday night birthday party isn’t the only annual event at Jack’s Place that draws a crowd. There is another annual event that draws a fleet of RVs and race trailers to Captain Jack’s Gibsonton property. The racers will be gathered around the fire pit until late in the evening, telling stories during February Speedweeks. It’s a short hop to Jack’s Place from East Bay Raceway Park’s 1/3 mile dirt oval, and many of the racers will have made the trip to Florida to race in the East Bay 360 Sprint Car Winternationals in mid-February. Some will even be racing in the other dirt racing events in Ocala and Volusia during Speedweeks.
During the time spent with Captain Jack, I learned that he was very loyal to those who worked hard and raced hard for him. Wrecking one of his cars could be a forgivable offense, with one condition. “I always told everybody I don’t care if you crash, as long as you’re going to the front. If you’re in the back and crash, you’re fired. It’s that simple,” Jack told me. He also told the story of the team that came together for the 1996 Little 500, with Harold Wirtjes offering Jack and Dave Steele a set of three brand new motors to use for one year, as long as he painted the car orange and gave it number 14, the same number used by AJ Foyt. The trio formed the team that took a ten year old car to the Little 500 winners circle, but Jack made it clear that Harold Wirtjes was not a co-owner that year. “Oh, hell no. He never could win the Little 500. He always thought a motor won the Little 500. We was good friends, and I kept telling him, Harold it takes four things. It takes a good car, it takes a good driver, a good crew, and a whole bunch of luck. I said that’s what wins it. That motor don’t win it. But you couldn’t convince him of that.”
“When that Quickload trailer pulled in there, that’s the car to beat. Especially down here, but up north too.” Nowling did drive a sprint car in the Midwest prior to moving to Florida. “I could have been either probably AJ Foyt, or six foot under, one of the two. You never know.” He did later take his sprint car out for hot laps in Florida, and also a USAC champ car for hot laps up north. “My second or third wife, or whatever it was, she didn’t want me to race. She said you could have all the race cars that you want, as long as you don’t race. So I had a bunch of them,” he said, letting out a hearty laugh.
If Jack Nowling grabs your arm while telling a story, it will be a good one.
It wasn’t until after leaving Jack’s Place for the first time in early December that I realized that there was something special about Jack. There was something unique. I did not see it at first, but the unique aspect of Jack Nowling was finally clear after Jack’s 75th birthday party on December 13th. It was that everybody loved Jack. He was a little ornery, he had strong opinions, and there was a slight gruff edge and a cloud of cigarette smoke around him, but you couldn’t help but love him. Dave Steele and many others saw that Jack Nowling had a selfless heart, and would do anything to help others. The list of open wheel drivers who credit Jack with helping advance their careers is long, and includes many storied names.
One of the best expressions of love was written by Jack’s daughter Dorothy, who told me about going boating with her father. While on the boat, he would reach out and put his arm around herand say, “Let’s just look out over the water for a little while.” As her expression of love for her father, Dorothy Nowling wrote, “Poppy, did you know about the safest place in the world? It's by your side. I want to thank you for everything you've done for me and my girls, every hug, every smile, every boat and golf cart ride, and your unconditional love. You are simply the best! ‘Long story short’ … we love you.”
At the bottom of the list titled “The Names of the Quickload Racing Team,” a parting note from Jack Nowling is printed. It reads, “Thank you for the memories and the good times!! Captain Jack.”
Year on Dirt: Winding Down the 2014 Season, and Looking to 2015’s Speedweeks
By Richard Golardi
The tracks are covered with snow. The front gates are padlocked, with a sign hanging forlornly on the gate. The sign states “Closed – See you here in 2015.” That may describe a large portion of the nation, but not Florida. Florida is the only state in the nation to have an open wheel racing points championship that is stillundecided. The Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series will hold its decisive Florida dirt sprint car race on Saturday at Bubba Raceway Park. It will determine whether Danny Martin Jr. or Mark Ruel Jr. will be the 2014 Top Gun Series driver champion. The two are currently separated by 24 points, with Martin having the advantage in the points tally, and also on track with wins in the last two races.
Upon completing the 2014 Florida dirt racing year on Saturday, the dirt racers will have only seven weeks to rest and prepare for 2015. The beginning of 2015’s year on dirt and the opening sprint car event of 2015 Florida Speedweeks is at East Bay Raceway Park on Friday, January 30th, the first of two days at the Gibsonton track. An extraordinary expansion of dirt racing for next year’s Speedweeks sees Florida dirt tracks hosting five weekends of dirt sprint car racing, up from three weekends in 2014. The most recent addition, for the Lucas Oil ASCS sprint cars, is at Bubba Raceway Park for Friday and Saturday, February 27th and 28th. Most national sprint car series now include a Florida race date on their schedules. USCS (which has held races in Florida previously) along with the recently organized National Sprint League are the exceptions.
Here are the Speedweeks racing plans for several of the teams competing in the Top Gun Series, which recently added a FebruarySpeedweeks out-of-state two day event at Golden Isles Speedway in Waynesville, Georgia:
Car # 24 – Danny Martin Jr.
The car that won Saturday’s race at East Bay Raceway Park will be raced in the ASCS race events with a 360 motor (both East Bay Winternationals and Bubba Raceway Park). The team will have a new car to run in the Top Gun Series races next year, beginning with the East Bay and Georgia races in January and February.
Car #5 – Hayden Campbell
The team previously told me that they intend to run the full Top Gun Series schedule in 2015. They do not have the 360 motor to run the ASCS races in February.
Car # 9 – Billy Boyd
Boyd was back in the car after missing the last three months of racing. He still managed to garner the East Bay Sprints championship during this time, which saw the last series race of the year get rained out in November. The team does not have an ASCS 360 motor right now, but did not want to rule out the possibility of a deal to get one and race with ASCS in February.
Car #82 – Matt Kurtz
His team will run at the Bubba Raceway Park ASCS dates, but not at the ASCS East Bay Winternationals. They will run Top Gun and East Bay Sprints races also, including the East Bay Top Gun races on January 30th and 31st.
Car #3A – AJ Maddox
More than likely he will be running the ASCS 360 East Bay Winternationals and the ASCS races at Bubba’s the next week, as his team does have an ASCS 360 motor. The team will also enter the Top Gun races at East Bay in January.
Car #55 – Kerry Gilbert
He doesn’t have an ASCS 360 motor and doesn’t intend to race in the ASCS races. He will race in the Top Gun East Bay races during the last weekend in January.
Car #22 – Shawn Murray
Shawn is an active duty US Navy pilot, flying the P-3 Orion out of NAS Jacksonville, where he is currently stationed. The four engine turboprop aircraft is used by the US Navy for patrol, recon and anti-submarine warfare. Shawn may be deployed overseas on January 25, 2015 for 6 ½ to 7 months, after which he wants to race in the last couple of USCS and Top Gun races at the end of the year. He is waiting for orders for his deployment, and will know soon. If he’s not deployed, then he’ll remain in Florida and has an ASCS motor that he’ll use for both the East Bay and Bubba Raceway Park ASCS races. These races will be in addition to racing in the Top Gun Series races at East Bay in January.
Car #83 – Mark Ruel Jr.
The team will have two complete cars, and another that can be cannibalized for parts. They also have an ASCS motor and will run in both the East Bay Winternationals and Bubba Raceway ASCS weekends in February. This will be in addition to running the Top Gun races at East Bay and in Georgia, but they will be using a different car than the one used for the ASCS races.
Car #36 – Ken Laureno
The team does have an ASCS 360 motor for him and does intend to enter the two ASCS races at Bubba Raceway Park during the last weekend in February. They will not enter the East Bay 360 Winternationals, which is also an ASCS Series race for 2015.
Car #38 – Tony Agin
Tony has an ASCS motor that he anticipates will be delivered to him in January. Once delivered, he believes he will likely use the motor to race in both the ASCS weekends in February. He does intend to race in both the Top Gun Series races that are planned for East Bay in January and in Georgia in February.
Car #17C - Aileen Collins-Love
She doesn’t have an ASCS motor, but Aileen (who is recently married) does intend to race in both the Top Gun weekends already announced for East Bay and at Golden Isles Speedway in mid-February.
Car #12C – Collin Cabre
The team does have an ASCS 360 motor, as Lou Cabre told me on Saturday. They will be racing in the ASCS races at both East Bay and at Bubba’s in February. The team does have a 410 motor, but does not intend to race in the USAC events in Florida in February. They will instead concentrate their efforts on the ASCS Series races, now expanded to two weekends of racing in Florida. Collin recently participated in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine in Virginia in October, and is awaiting word on his further participation in the NASCAR program.
A Florida sprint car racing tidbit that Hardy Maddox (grandfather of Top Gun racer AJ Maddox) told me last Saturday is that the Maddox family (with AJ’s father Brian) is the only family to have three generations of winners in sprint cars at East Bay Raceway Park. Thirty years ago, Hardy Maddox had a front row starting spot in the 1984 Little 500, along with another legendary Floridian named Frank Riddle, who started on the pole position and won the race. He retired with two top five finishes in six Little 500 starts and a best finish of third placein 1982.
The video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (Top Gun Sprint Series at East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, December 6, 2014):
Notes from Florida – Nearing the End of the Season
By Richard Golardi
A dirt sprint car driver from Australia named Will Carrollis in the states from March to December this year racing the red number 81 late model race car. His results in NASCAR Whelen All-American Pro Late Model Series racing at New Smyrna Speedway show that he took three wins and the 2014 Championship. Earlier this year, he was autographing and handing out a glossy magazine spread showing him in his sprint car on the dirt in Australia. He told me of the tracks that he raced down under. Carroll made a daring late race pass for the lead on the half mile track that night and was first to the checkered flag.
Danny Martin Jr. and 'Joe Dirt' Linebarier
Will Carroll is moving on, and moving up next year. No, he’s not returning to Australia. He’s going to be racing in the ARCA Racing Series with Team BCR Racing. Next year, it’s a limited ARCA schedule, followed by a run for Rookie of the Year and the full race schedule in 2016. His schedule of ARCA races for 2015 hasn’t been set yet. But he hasn’t left the world of open wheel racing behind. He told me that he was looking for any available seats in a dirt sprint car in Florida, and wanted to get in some Florida dirt racing in the future.
The Sunday race at Bubba Raceway Park, a regular season Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series affair, was won by Danny Martin Jr. in dominating fashion. The feature race top five finishers also included two rookies in their first full year of sprint car racing. Twelve year old Tyler Clem drove a steady race to a fifth place finish, and Hayden Campbell added a fourth place finish to the heat race win earlier in the day. Both drivers carry names with a degree of notoriety in Florida racing circles. Clem is the son of Bubba Clem, also known as radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, and the track owner of Bubba Raceway Park. Eighteen year old Hayden Campbell told me that, “We went to sprint cars because it’s been really big in my family.” His great-uncle is Harry Campbell, a Florida sprint car racing legend who died earlier this year. Harry was a master car builder and mechanic.
AJ Maddox feature race start
Also present at Bubba Raceway Park was recent Desoto Speedway feature winner Garrett Green. The family run team was moving forward with plans to run more dirt races in the coming months. The number 01 car being raced was owned by Jim Brinkley Jr., and operating out of the Team Green Racing shop in Valrico. Green has run a limited dirt schedule this year, including some earlier races in another car that was destroyed in a wreck at Volusia (Green was not driving that night). Garrett will be in the number 01 car again on Saturday night at East Bay Raceway Park, as they take advantage of Florida’s extended racing season. The Top Gun Series will end its race season one week later at Bubba Raceway Park on December 13th.
At one time, Showtime Speedway took the lead as the prime innovator for Florida open wheel racing. Some of the innovations included a Winter Series which included sprint car racing in 2012-2013, a Thursday Night Thunder race (subsequently rained out after a Tampa TV station ran a morning promo with a live exhibition sprint race), and Doubleheader Sprint Car Feature nights, with both a winged and non-wing feature on the same night. With Showtime recently canceling plans for another doubleheader sprint car night this coming Saturday, and with no sprint car racing on its 2015 race schedule, it seemed as if Florida’s age of open wheel innovation was over.
Top Gun cars at Bubba Raceway Park
Enter Bubba Clem and Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala. After ending the Bubba Army Sprint Car Series earlier this year, the track ran all sprint car races under the auspices of Top Gun in 2014. The big news hit the airwaves one day earlier than planned, courtesy of Bubba’s Monday morning radio commentary. Bubba Raceway Park management confirmed that they will be moving to Friday night racing in 2015 for their weekly series. This does not affect the February Speedweeks events already set. Some of those sprint car races are on Thursday and Saturday in addition to Friday, which includes the All Star Circuit of Champions weekend and the USAC National Sprint Car weekend.
Pavement sprint car racing returns to Florida’s February Speedweeks in 2015, with races at Desoto Speedway and New Smyrna Speedway. This recent news came after the addition of another three USAC sprint car races for Florida during the last weekend of February. This deal had been under negotiation since 2013 for the USAC sprint cars to return to East Bay Raceway Park, where they last raced in 2010. The three East Bay race nights are Thursday 2/26 to Saturday 2/28/2015. Florida will always hold a special place in USAC racing history, as it was the location for the first ever USAC sprint car race in 1956. The 2015 Florida Speedweeks will now have five weekends of dirt sprint car racing, up from three weekends of dirt for 2014.
One happening that won’t return for Speedweeks is the Battle at the Beach at Daytona International Speedway. The race was canceled by ISC after plans were finalized for front stretch spectator stand construction, which will continue through 2015 Speedweeks. The updated plans also revealed that the back stretch stands will be disassembled and removed, leaving no spectator stands for any future races on the back stretch. NASCAR is now building up the full week of racing at New Smyrna Speedway as the place to go for race fans in town for Speedweeks. The Tuesday night prior to the Daytona 500, dominated the last two years by the Battle at the Beach race events, will now feature the ACT (American Canadian Tour) late models at New Smyrna.
The feature race video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (Top Gun Sprint Series at Bubba Raceway Park on 11-30-2014):
Troy DeCaire Interview – “Next Year I’m Going to Back It Down”
By Richard Golardi
Troy DeCaire had a six win season in sprint cars in 2014. But he wanted more. “This very easily could have been a 10 or 12 win season for us. I predominantly drove for DJ Racing and they gave me all the opportunities to win as many races as they could,” he told me earlier this month. His 2015 plans do not include racing the full season with the Dick Fieler owned DJ Racing team. He will continue driving for Floridian Lenny Puglio’s LP Motorsports, as he did in the last few weeks of the 2014 racing season in Florida. The number 91 sprint car owned by Puglio took the win in the final TBARA race of the year this month, with DeCaire behind the wheel. Troy DeCaire will be back in the car again in February for the TBARA races scheduled at New Smyrna Speedway during February Speedweeks.
The biggest change for Troy DeCaire that lies ahead in 2015 is his decision to step away from racing full-time. He will be a part-time racer and work full-time as crew chief for Kevin Thomas Jr. for his winged dirt sprint car team. His pursuit of his first Little 500 win will continue in May when he teams again with Lenny Puglio in the car nicknamed “Half Breed”. He last drove this car in the 2012 Little 500.
Car owner George Rudolph and Troy DeCaire
“Next year I’m just kind of going to back it down, because I don’t really have the ride options that would please me. I’m going to scale back. I’m going to crew chief a winged dirt car. We’re going to run some Outlaws and All Stars. He’s got 55 or 60 races on the schedule, so I’ll be pretty busy with that. It gives me a chance to step back and facilitate a guy like Lenny who only wants to run part time. So, I’ll run Speedweeks, the Little 500 and probably Winchester and we might run some of that Davey Hamilton stuff (referring to the new King of the Wing Series),” Troy told me.
“Next year is going to be more drive when we can and more show up to win and have fun. Not really worry about running anything full time.” Troy remarked that he is able to “arrive and drive” the number 91 car, and not be involved in preparing and maintaining the car. That job is done by crew chief Todd Schmidt in the Tampa race shop. There may be a week during the middle of the year when Troy is off, and the car and crew are ready, so they will go racing. “I can arrive and drive and still compete for wins, which is an extreme luxury,” according to Troy.
The number 22A DJ Racing car that Troy drove this year will now be driven by Bobby Santos, starting with the series of three California races this past weekend. “Dick expressed to me that he wants me to race every chance I get. But I committed to this winged dirt deal to crew chief because it’s going to pay me more. It’s for Kevin Thomas Jr. from Cullman, Alabama. He and I are roommates and I started working for him, and I build shocks, and he and I started hanging out. He said you know your way around a car pretty good, so help me. I started helping him and we had a little bit of success and he just asked for me to work for him full-time.”
Troy DeCaire in Winners Circle
Car owner Dick Fieler told Troy that he wants to run two cars at some tracks, like Salem and Berlin and Toledo. It will be an unusual year for Troy DeCaire, as it will be the first time in the past 12 years that he will not be racing full-time. He may run only 15 races next year, compared to about 40 races this year, and 55 to 60 races in past years.
What about your fans that would like to see you race more frequently? Won’t they be disappointed to hear this news? “Maybe it will attract a big-time sponsor who wants to come out and get me on the track more. I’ve been struggling running on the road a lot. I’ve won a bunch of races and six championships. I’ve done what I set out to do, and as far as doing anything else, it’s going to require money. If it’s not going to come, I’ve got to worry about my livelihood and making a living, so that’s why I took the opportunity to go work,” Troy revealed.
“I don’t really feel like there’s a whole lot left to prove on the winged pavement or on the pavement side in general. If I can maybe reinvent myself by going on the dirt winged deal, or sitting out a little bit may help entice somebody to go, ‘man, I really like watching that kid drive, let’s pick him up’. I’m looking to go next year and do the job that I have to do and come back and win as many races as I can. Fortunately, even though I’ll only be running 15 or so races with Lenny and Dick, I can still probably win eight or so.” Troy made it clear that his working relationship with Dick Fieler is still very strong, and that he always enjoyed having him as his car owner. Dick Fieler also is exploring racing in the USAC Silver Crown Series, where Bobby Santos has experience. Troy’s race schedule is not yet set for next year, and he does not know which winged pavement races he will be free to enter and race.
Half Breed in the Tampa race shop
When will he know his race schedule and work schedule for 2015? Most likely, that won’t be until after the schedules are out for the dirt sprint car series. “As far as nailing down a schedule, I don’t see that happening until after PRI, when all the dirt schedules come out and I can figure out what we’re racing. Probably January, Chili Bowl, I’ll probably know what I’m doing.”
During a visit to Lenny Puglio’s race shop earlier this month, I saw Half Breed sitting in a back corner of the race shop. Nearby, another car and various engines and parts sat, quietly waiting for Speedweeks and the start of another racing season. All that was left was to assemble the various parts to get the cars race ready for next year’s races. One important part of the lineup was ready and eager for the next race. I am referring to the driver. His name is Troy DeCaire.
Troy DeCaire race videos from Desoto Speedway, FL on 11-1-2014 (Troy DeCaire at Desoto Speedway, Parts 1 & 2) are here on the Florida Open Wheel channel:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/KK8Z-_FtBZo
Part 2: http://youtu.be/Z6gUgr18xu0
Desoto Speedway Concludes the Year of Change for Pavement in Florida
By Richard Golardi
Desoto Speedway was the venue for the last pavement sprint car race of the year in Florida. The race on Saturday night was the first sprint car race for 17 year old Carlie Yent, and it also marked the racing return of Dave Steele. Steele had sat out most of the year, content to concentrate on his family and his business. In fact, he told me that those two concerns are the most important things in his life now. Carlie Yent, behind the wheel of the number 63 sprint car raced for the past year by Terry Taylor, was making the move from mini-sprints to a full size sprint car. She had one prior practice session in a sprint car, which took place when her family had rented Showtime Speedway. She was confident and looking forward to her first competitive laps in a sprint car when I spoke to her on Saturday afternoon.
Dave Steele 3rd Place Finisher at Desoto
The race would also mark the culmination of a transformative year for pavement sprint cars in Florida. Citrus County Speedway would be the first to announce monthly non-wing sprint car racing for 2014, joined later in the year by Desoto Speedway. Desoto has scheduled a series of eight sprint car races for 2015. The trend for Florida tracks to sanction and manage their own pavement sprint car racing was begun in 2012 by Showtime Speedway, who joined the non-wing racing fray this year. Showtime continued their pathway as an innovator for Florida racing, bringing back a Winter Series in 2012, and doubleheader sprint car nights in 2014. These nights debuted in the spring with both a winged and a non-wing sprint car feature during the same night.
The feature race on Saturday was won by Jason Kimball in the black number 79 sprint car that he owns. In May, Kimball made his second career TBARA race start (and first ever start at New Smyrna Speedway) in the car. He had just acquired it in a trade with the Reutimann family. The car had previously raced in Florida as the white #00 Case Contracting car, with Wayne Reutimann, Jr. at the wheel. Kimball had traded a dirt late model car for this sprint car. Wayne Jr., known as Pookie, had raced in sprint cars and USAC Silver Crown cars previously.
Jason Kimball in Winners Circle
“The car was a little loose, but obviously it was good enough to come from fifth to win it,” Jason Kimball said after the race concluded. Kimball was quick to credit friends and family for the part they played in his first win with the car. “I couldn’t do it without the Butlers, and Jerry at Hurricane and Dad and everybody that helps.” Did he think that he would get his first win just six months after his first race in the car? “I’ve been around racing for over twenty years, so winning races ain’t really new to me. Without the Butlers showing me everything that they could, I wouldn’t be here,” Kimball remarked. It was his first sprint car win, with his most recent prior race win coming in a kart race. Regarding the last restart, with Sport Allen and Dave Steele directly behind him, Kimball saw when Allen got a nose under him in the turn, “but just kind of held it straight, and it was good enough.”
Carlie Yent, the high school student and racer from Tampa, was eager for her first sprint car competitive laps. She had raced USAC quarter midgets starting in 2007, and continued in the series for three years. She had been racing mini-sprints in Florida since 2012, and her and her family decided the time was right to step up to sprint cars. She had a mini-sprint win in a Young Gun race (18 and under), but had not raced as frequently as she wanted because of some on-track incidents. “We took time off since we had been racing since 2007, and it got too overwhelming. But we started back this year. I got into two bad wrecks in the mini-sprint at Bubba Raceway. Twice there, during Winternationals and during the first race of the season. So, we haven’t been racing the mini-sprint since March. I went to the hospital twice, and I got two concussions from both wrecks,” Carlie told me. The wrecks and injuries did not dissuade the family team from making the move to sprint cars.
First lap feature race crash from Dave Steele car
“It scared my Dad and my Mom. But my Dad’s a big supporter, and the same with my Mom,” Carlie explained. She had just tested her mini-sprint at East Bay Raceway the prior night. Johnny Gilbertson was present at the test night at Showtime Speedway, and got in the sprint car for test laps, in addition to coaching Carlie that night. “The second time out, I was driving it as hard as I could and I spun it. My Dad thought it was great for me to spin it, because I was driving so hard. I learned on asphalt. Dirt was a little hard for me to get used to.” Her preferred racing surface was asphalt, but she’d still see some dirt racing ahead in her mini-sprint. The family was looking forward to non-wing sprint car racing in 2015. “I’m excited, but I’m a little nervous,” she said, when asked about her upcoming heat race. Her night would end with a collision with another car in the heat race which left her with a sore shin. The team looked over the damage after another car struck her left front corner, and they planned to make repairs and return for next year’s non-wing races.
Dave Steele’s last race was in March at Showtime Speedway. Originally, he had not planned to be out of a race car for that long, as he had prepared a special car for his return to the Little 500 during Memorial Day weekend in May. After multiple tests with a troublesome engine that leaked oil, he changed his plans and withdrew from the Little 500, a legendary sprint car race he had won twice previously. “Came up a little short. We just ran into a couple of little motor problems at the last minute. It was time to load up and head north, and we were still battling motor problems, so we didn’t want to battle the problems up there,” Steele told me. He subsequently sold all his sprint cars, dirt and pavement, to Taylor Andrews. I asked about that choice to sell, in light of his new plans to return to racing in Florida next year with newly built cars.
“Sometimes you just liquidate and start from scratch. We own a speed shop so we sell race car parts, whether they’re attached to a race car or not.” How has business at the race shop been this year? “It’s been pretty good. This is our slow season. They’re not really thinking about next year until next year.” What made him choose to race this night at Desoto? “The last race of the season, so may as well get another in here. Well, Larry (Brazil Jr.), the main driver here, he’s on vacation. So I’m just filling in.” And if he wasn’t on vacation? “Then I’d be walking around with a tape recorder interviewing people,” he joked, implying a new career was ahead. He then smiledslyly. What about next year and are you still semi-retired? “Yeah. I’ve never officially retired, or un-retired. We’ve got some cars we’re putting together. We’ll probably come out and race a little bit,” Dave Steele revealed. His plans do not include racing outside of Florida, but he was non-committal about making another attempt at the Little 500 in 2015. “Hopefully they’ll have some races around here. Yeah – Florida only. That’s pretty much all we’re geared up to do right now.”
So business is doing well, and your family and your business are your priorities? “Ah – there you go,” he replied. Then Dave Steele turned his attention to his sprint car, and the night of racing yet to come. If racing was moved down a few notches, and now ranked lower on his scale of life’s important activities, Dave Steele seemed content with his priorities.
The feature race video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (Desoto Speedway Non-wing Sprint Cars from Bradenton, FL on 11-15-2014):
Florida’s 2015 Speedweeks Expanded to Five Weekends of Dirt Racing
By Richard Golardi
It is a sign of sprint car racing’s assured future success in Florida. The 2015 February Speedweeks in Florida has now been expanded to five weekends of dirt sprint car racing. Four of those weekends involve nationals sprint car series, and the fifth weekend includes the Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series. This series is currently a Florida-only dirt winged sprint car series. The Speedweeks wing / non-wing ratio is 3 wing / 2 non-wing weekends. With no pavement sprint car racing in this year’s Speedweeks, a two-night stand for the TBARA winged sprint cars has been confirmed for 2015 at New Smyrna Speedway. The dates are unknown, but are rumored to be a Sunday and Monday.
Yesterday’s announcement that the USAC National Sprint Car Series was adding another 3-day stand to its February schedule (2/26 to 28) at East Bay Raceway Park was not a surprise. The announcement has been anticipated since December 2013, when USAC’s Jason McCord informed me that USAC had attempted to strike a deal with East Bay for February 2014 race dates. The surprise was that the three East Bay dates were set for the weekend following the weekend that USAC raced at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala. That left four off days with no racing between race dates. That was not the preferred schedule, according to Jason McCord.
USAC sprint cars at East Bay Raceway Park in 2010
“The goal would be to have 5 or 6 races in 6 or 7 nights. Maybe one night off in between to give guys a chance to work on their cars. But, you can’t take too many nights off because a lot of the guys that are traveling down there have full-time jobs. You can’t ask them to take off too much time,” Jason McCord said in 2013. This was not the race schedule desired by East Bay management, according to McCord. “I was in talks with Al Varnadore over at East Bay to try to get something going for this year (2014) to try to put a second part of the swing together for the sprint cars, and hopefully get 5 or 6 races in. He was open to doing it the following weekend, but to keep teams here for a week would have been too problematic,” McCord said. The final 2015 race dates seem to indicate that East Bay management got what they wanted.
Will USAC sprint car drivers and crews fly back north during the four day layoff? The layoff may be shortened to three days for those teams that take advantage of the Wednesday night practice session at East Bay. The anchor event of Speedweeks, NASCAR Sprint Cup racing at Daytona International Speedway, will have already packed up and headed north. The Daytona 500 race date is Sunday, February 22nd. Many race fans making the trek south from northern states will have already gone home too. I had previously postulated that the most likely ideal dates for USAC sprint cars at East Bay were Sunday and Monday, 2/15 & 16, allowing for a rest day on Tuesday and a total of five races in seven days (Wednesday 2/18 is a Bubba Raceway Park practice day).
Shane Hmiel at East Bay Raceway Park in 2010
One missing piece of the puzzle for Florida’s sprint carschedule is a live or tape-delayed TV broadcast. MavTV announced a new 2014 year-end schedule of sprint car races, all from California and Arizona. East Bay Raceway Park’s race schedule is packed with sprint car racing in the last two weeks of the Winternationals, seemingly making it an ideal broadcast site. The track had a MavTV live broadcast event last February, for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The race broadcast was aSaturday night feature race. None of the Speedweeks sprint car venues have announced an intention to have a live or taped TV broadcast, other than internet-based PPV broadcasts, which generally do not reach a wide audience.
A Speedweeks sprint car event that was attempted in 2014 and which will not return in 2015 is a large-purse heavily promoted pavement sprint car race. Such an event was held at Showtime Speedway in February, offering a $5,000 first place prize. It was a major disappointment, as it drew only seven cars for the 75 lap feature race, and a dismally small crowd. No promoter has come forth to attempt a “360 Pavement Winternationals” in Florida, likely due to the failure of the event attempted at Showtime. Florida’s Speedweeks is now heavily dominated by dirt sprint car racing. The three weekends of dirt sprint car racing in 2014 have now grown to five weekends of dirt racing for Speedweeks in 2015.
Bryan Clauson at East Bay Raceway Park in 2010
Juxtaposed against this disappointing showing for pavement sprint cars in February is the widely-recognized success of monthly non-wing pavement sprint car racing in Florida. Citrus County Speedway in Inverness regularly attracted fields of twenty of more non-wing cars for most of the year, and Desoto Speedway will attempt to do the same in 2015. Despite a successful Winter Series at Showtime Speedway two years ago which included winged sprint cars, no track has attempted to duplicate the short schedule of races for November through January. The Winter Series race at Showtime Speedway in January 2013 attracted a crowd that was the largest I had seen at the Pinellas Park track. Showtime had scheduled a single sprint car date on December 6thwith both winged and non-wing sprint cars, but that race date was later canceled.
The new Florida Sprint Car Race Date Calendar is here (public calendar listing all Florida sprint car race dates for all Florida tracks, dirt and asphalt):
Shane Butler Drives to the Championship at Desoto Speedway
By Richard Golardi
Shane Butler’s year included six sprint car feature wins, a TBARA championship, another championship as car owner for the Citrus County Speedway sprint car track champion (Herb Neumann Jr.), and most sprint car feature wins and second place in points at Citrus County Speedway. It also included a dramatic drive to regain positions lost in a mishap near the midpoint of Saturday’s season ending TBARA race at Desoto Speedway. Going into the season finale with a small point lead over second place Ben Fritz, Butler needed to finish within 8 positions of Fritz’s place in the feature. That night, the feature race win seemed to be safely in Troy DeCaire’s control. He had methodically moved through traffic and advanced to the front in a fashion reminiscent of the race two weeks prior. By the conclusion of the 40 lap feature race, he and car owner Lenny Puglio would celebrate their first win together since 2012.
Shane Butler, 2014 Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Champion
Ben Fritz did everything that could be expected to win the TBARA championship. After 21 laps, he made the pass to move into second place behind DeCaire. That would be as far as he would advance, as no one would deny DeCaire the win that night. Shane Butler seemed to have the points lead safely in his grasp, holding onto fourth place behind the #21 car of Matt Alfonso. If he just held this position, it would be enough to assure him the championship when the night was over. The race restart on lap 18 would be a crucial turning point for Butler’s strategy.
“We were doing alright passing cars, and we got to fourth there behind Matt Alfonso,” Shane Butler told me on Saturday. “I think we were 17 or 18 laps in and it was like he was going to leave the bottom open. He was staying up pretty high. I went to go for the hole that was there at the time, and as I got there he decided he would close the hole up. I just couldn’t get stopped in time, and I ran over him. My right front went over his left rear. It was nothing intentional. In the position I was in, that’s the last thing I needed was to make contact. I just barely tapped the wall up there.”
“I went to the back, and I started counting spots. I knew I needed 8 spots behind Ben to win the championship. I just knew I had to start passing cars. I was just taking my time, one by one, picking them off. It got toward the end, and I could see on the scoreboard that Brazil was running third. I finally found Brazil. I knew where I was running. It was about seventh or eighth at the time. Laps were going and I was still passing cars. We ended up with a fourth, which was enough. We were back to Brazil’s bumper at the end of the race. It ended up being a pretty good deal,” Butler said, describing his run to the Championship in the last TBARA race of the year.
Troy DeCaire in car
Shane Butler did have a brief moment of despair as his car was heading up the track toward the wall in Turn 1. He thought he had blown his shot at taking the championship. The safety crew looked at his right front, and told him that nothing was wrong with the car. He was pushed away from the wall, and rejoined the race at the back for the next restart, moving up ten positions over the remaining 22 laps. It was enough to earn the 2014 TBARA championship.
I asked Shane to tell me what was next for him and his race team? “As of right now, I think we’re going to call it a year. We’ve done pretty good this year, and everything’s in one piece. I think we’ll call it a year, and we’re probably going to park the sprint cars next year and go back to running the modified again.” Shane admitted that the reason for his decision was because of the climate in Florida sprint car racing this year. “Too much drama this year. Between tires, rules, guys trying to get you thrown out for different … basically guys trying to win races in tech and not on the race track. The bad thing about the whole deal is with winning six races, I should be ecstatic. We’ve had a great year. But a lot of it, I have not had fun. When it’s not fun, it’s time to do something else.”
“I want to concentrate on my son’s go kart this year. We ran three races with him this year. That is number one. Number two is the modified,” Shane Butler said, outlining his race priorities for next year. “Then the sprint car. Hopefully, this winter we can maybe put something together for the 500.” He had already made the decision not to run any full sprint car schedules, and that included TBARA and Citrus. “Points racing just gets so stressful. Sometimes it kills you more mentally than it does physically. It can be very stressful and no fun.”
Troy DeCaire early in feature race
Butler was not ruling out the possibility of running some sprint car races next year, and said he definitely wanted to race at the Little 500. He also was not entering a sprint car for Herb Neumann Jr. next year for non-wing racing. Desoto Speedway has announced their plans to have monthly non-wing sprint car racing in 2015. It is unknown if the non-wing series held at Citrus County Speedway will return in 2015. I was told that Neumann is making plans to return to racing his modified next year, as the seat in a Butler Motorsports sprint car was for one year only. The team’s goal was for Neumann to win the Rookie of the Year at Citrus County Speedway, and he went on to become the 2014 track sprint car champion.
“If anything, I really want to run non-wing. If I do run, whether it be Desoto or wherever runs non-wing, I might show up. I enjoy the non-wing. I enjoy what it takes to win a non-wing race as far as the driver having to drive the car. You don’t need a whole lot of horsepower. It’s easy on engines,” according to Shane Butler. During the night at Desoto Speedway, I spoke to several other drivers that expressed an interest in running more non-wing races next year in Florida. Could Florida see the same group of drivers that fought it out for winged race wins this year competing on the same tracks with non-wing sprint cars next year?
Looking ahead to 2015, the first announced pavement non-wing race is at Desoto Speedway on Saturday, March 21, 2015. The pavement sprint car year starts at New Smyrna Speedway in February with two nights of TBARA racing. It seems likely that Florida will again have more pavement sprint car races during the year than Indiana. There will be either one or two tracks having monthly non-wing sprint car racing, and the TBARA seems poised to have as many tracks as 2014, or possibly add some tracks. There could be one North Florida track added, in addition to the return of open wheel racing to Southwest Florida at Three Palms Speedway in Punta Gorda. That track is making some painfully slow progress with catch fence installation, keeping the Southwest Florida fans and racers hopeful for the New Year.
The race videos from TBARA at Desoto Speedway on 11-1-2014 (Troy DeCaire at Desoto Speedway, Parts 1 & 2, and the feature race video) are here on the Florida Open Wheel channel:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSdPdgmUo6WfkfR6Eo__QBA
Mark Ruel Jr. Takes His First 2014 Win at Bubba Raceway Park
By Richard Golardi
“This is the first one,” Mark Ruel Jr. replied, when asked about feature race wins during the 2014 season in Florida. It came during a cool, clear night at Bubba Raceway Park. The slick, dry track was praised as the best track conditions this year. The Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series was moving into its last 2 months of competition, which would extend to within 2 weeks of Christmas Day. The 2014 season marked the series return to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, a track that had run its own Bubba Army Sprint Series the prior year. The series recently announced that it would be a part of the East Bay Raceway Park Winternationals in 2015, racing for 2 nights during the last weekend in January. That would give teams an abbreviated off-season of only 7 weeks to prepare for the new year of competition.
Panoramic view of sprint cars at Bubba Raceway Park
The return to Bubba Raceway Park also saw 12 year old Tyler Clem, son of track owner Bubba Clem, back behind the wheel of a winged sprint car. Clem had also raced at Volusia Speedway Park earlier this year. On Saturday, he had the misfortune to have a feature race spin in the fourth turn in front of a pack of approaching cars. Two of the cars struck his car, and the car of rookie Hayden Campbell was out with front suspension damage. Clem would continue and eventually finish in 4th place in the feature, behind the top three of Ruel, Danny Martin Jr., and Matt Kurtz. Danny Martin Jr. and Mark Ruel Jr. continue their close battle for the 2014 points championship, with Martin leading Ruel by a mere 16 points at the top of the standings with 5 races remaining. The season finale is at Bubba Raceway Park on Saturday, December 13th.
“We finished second a lot, and third a lot. We just haven’t broken through for a win until tonight,” Mark Ruel Jr. said on Saturday. He told me that the team had been following the same strategies as last year before decided to try some new things on the car, which then brought the success that they desired. The slick, rubbered-down track on Saturday gave him the difficult task of finding a way to pass after easily advancing to second place early in the feature race. “Brett O’Donnell was out front and it was going to be hard to catch him. He went down into three and four and just kind of washed up the track with some lapped cars and I was able to sneak underneath him. I knew if I could keep it on the bottom in one and two, and three and four, it was going to be hard to pass us. We’ve got so much more experience here at this track. That’s the main thing. It’s knowing where everyone’s going to go. It’s knowing what the track’s going to do.”
Sprint cars line up for Top Gun Series hot laps
“We were leading the points and we went to Volusia and bent a valve. It really, really put us behind. Danny’s hard to beat every night. When he’s winning, and you’re finishing second, you’re still losing points. To be able to come out here and at least get 4 points on him, we’re carving away at it.” Mark was hoping to keep the points race close and end the season with a championship celebration for him and his team. What about 2015 plans? “Probably won’t be running the full Top Gun Series. Actually, we got a 360 and we’re going to be running the Winternationals to start with, in the limited and in the 360. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put in some USCS shows next year. That’s really what our goal is. We’ve been running limited stuff for about 8 years now. We finished second in points a lot. I think we’ve done it 4 times now. We’re really trying for a championship this year, but if we can’t pull it out, we’ll go into next year. We’ll run some more 360 shows, and get out of here a little bit,” Mark Ruel Jr. said.
With the MRR Racing team being based in Jacksonville, the USCS races in Georgia are not that far away. In fact, the travel time to the Central Florida tracks is about the same as to the Georgia USCS tracks. “It’s only about 45 minutes to get to the Georgia border from my house. Savannah’s only like two and a half hours, so it’s like coming here for us. If we can run six, seven hours away (travel time to USCS race), we know it’s feasible for us as a team to go that far.” They need a Jacksonville Speedway again, I remarked. Several North Florida dirt tracks that previously saw dirt sprint car racing are now defunct, including Putnam County Speedway Park, JAX Raceway (New Jacksonville Speedway), and St. Augustine Speedway. “I don’t know if they’re ever going to let a race track back in Duval County. I’ve heard from a lot of people that Duval County’s just not allowing race tracks anymore. I heard they’re opening Putnam back up next year, from a pretty reliable source,” Mark said, relaying the good news about a possible North Florida track comeback.
Tyler Clem at Bubba Raceway Park
In other sprint car news from The Sunshine State, the inaugural Citrus County Non-wing Sprint Car track championship was won by Herb Neumann Jr. in his first year of sprint car competition. The race on Saturday night was won by his car owner, Shane Butler. It was Butler’s fourth win of the year at his home track, bringing his 2014 sprint car feature win total to six. Neumann had previously won multiple championships at Citrus County Speedway in other classes. The TBARA points champion will be determined on Saturday night at Desoto Speedway, which has become the season finale after the cancellation of the November race at Three Palms Speedway. The Punta Gorda track could not complete construction of fencing and stands by the race date, so it may be seen again on the TBARA schedule next year. The only Winter Series dates for Florida pavement sprint car racing are at Showtime Speedway in December, which has one night of both wing and non-wing racing set for December 6th. The track had previously set multiple dates for winter sprint car racing, but it is unknown if they will plan to do the same this coming winter.
The feature race video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (Mark Ruel Jr. at Bubba Raceway Park on 10-25-2014):
Mark Ruel Jr. with announcer Joe Linebarier
Improbable Win for Shane Butler at The Frank Riddle Memorial
By Richard Golardi
An improbable win occurred on Saturday night at the running of The Frank Riddle Memorial at Desoto Speedway. The Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series race, held to honor and remember the 2-time Little 500 race winner and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, was returning to Desoto for the first time since 2008. Shane Butler’s feature race win seemed improbable, due to the bad luck he had prior to the feature race that day. After breaking a left rear birdcage in hot laps, a fuel pump loosened during Shane’s heat race. In addition, all of his feature race wins thus far this year had come in non-wing races at Desoto and Citrus County Speedway. The race itself had been hyped as “the biggest pavement sprint car race of the year in Florida”. After its completion, many were labeling it as “the best pavement sprint car race this year in Florida”.
Feature race pass for lead by Shane Butler
Troy DeCaire’s return to Florida sprint car racing for his first race since 2013 came in the Lenny Puglio black #91 entry, which had not been raced in Florida since March. Puglio had taken a step back after mechanical failures at Showtime Speedway in March, and now could match a fast car with a driver returning from Midwest racing. Puglio had told me that he does intend to enter the car with DeCaire driving for the remaining TBARA winged races, but not the non-wing races (there are 3 non-wing races remaining in Florida this year). DeCaire started near the back after a broken pushrod left the team scrambling to retrieve a replacement part from a nearby shop. By midrace, DeCaire had carved through the field to challenge polesitter Mickey Kempgens for the lead. After using lapped traffic to his advantage to dive under Kempgens and take the lead, a fluid covered track in turn three caused multiple cars to spin. After spinning, DeCaire was left sitting stationary next to the turn three wall and his chances to get back to the front were dashed. Another near spin later in the race, and he would settle for a fourth place finish.
“Growing up watching the old man, it was always pretty cool to watch him. To win this race, his memorial, it’s pretty cool,” Shane Butler told me. Butler told me that his race strategy involved keeping in mind that he had 40 laps and that there was plenty of time to move toward the front. “I was still trying to pass cars, but not taking any unnecessary chances. I didn’t think we had a car to win there, especially with Troy out front. On the restart, Mickey kind of pulled away a little bit, but we reeled him back in. He left the bottom open getting into one on the last lap, and I took the hole.” Regarding the points chase with two races remaining, Butler had lost some advantage with the problem in the heat race, but made it up with the feature race win. Ben Fritz, second in points prior to Saturday, finished in sixth place in the feature race.
Heat race start at sunset
“I never made contact with anybody all night long. It was close racing. We both respected each other (referring to Mickey Kempgens), and gave each other plenty of race track,” Butler said, when asked about the late race duel with Kempgens. Butler would pull alongside Kempgens on the back straight on the last lap, and complete the pass in the last turn of that lap to top off the thrilling feature race. “We gave each other plenty of room. No harm, no foul. Everything was good.” Can he repeat in the two races that are left? “You never know. I’m not saying that we can’t. If things happen right, I mean we have a good enough car.” With DeCaire building a sizable mid-race lead, and a trail of troubles earlier in the day, a win looked improbable for Butler. Then things happened right, as they have done for most of the last half of this year for Shane Butler.
Scotty Adema was stopped in the middle of the track in the third turn, which turned into calamity corner at Desoto on Saturday. “Went down into turn three, went to the outside, nothing but oil, got it a little bit sideways and then I hit one of Desoto’s lovely potholes,” Scotty told me. “It’s hard to get a car that sits two inches off the ground to go through a four inch deep hole. I spun. I tried to get the car in line with the race track, so that I wasn’t crossways, T-bone style. Unfortunately, Chris (Gimmler) was trying to pass somebody and couldn’t see me until the last minute. He got wrapped up in it.” The two cars collided nose-to-nose in the center of the track. The impact left Gimmler with a sore neck, and feeling thankful that the HANS device protected him from further injury. He hopes to have another car ready for the next race in November. Adema was uninjured, and felt safe in the knowledge that he has always kept safety as an utmost concern. He later expressed doubts that his car could be repaired, due to the chassis damage.
Shane Butler in Winners Circle
Mickey Kempgens entered the race as one of the favorites, with a team that had seen success from its first race together earlier this year. Assured of a pole position start in the feature with a decent heat race finish, he won his heat race and then led early in the feature race. With DeCaire’s misfortune near the middle of the race, it seemed as if he might be able to back off and wait for a final push in the last laps.
“On a restart, it would go five or six laps like a rocket ship, and then just progressively get tighter and tighter. I kept moving the wing forward. Then Troy got by me, and I thought I’d just cruise for a little while,” Kempgens remarked. “And then on the restart, with 13 or 14 to go, I moved the wing forward even more and the car was good for 5 or 6 laps. I was pulling away from Shane, and then it just kept getting tighter and tighter. On the last lap, I rolled down into one and all of a sudden it decided to push up a quarter of a groove. It just took off up the hill. It gave Shane enough room, and he passed me clean. So, that was it. I ran second.” Next, the team will run the two November TBARA races, and come back to Bradenton for a third race in three weeks on the 15th, without wings this time.
To celebrate his victory, Shane Butler climbed into the flag stand, where Bud Howell had stood previously during the last TBARA visit in March, and raised the checkered flag over his head. Howell had loved his craft and loved his time with the TBARA racers, and the one moment spent by a single racer to honor him seemed to sooth the frayed edges of a racing community, if only for one short moment in time. The TBARA drivers and teams are back to the track next week.
Remaining 2014 TBARA Races:
11/1 - Desoto Speedway, Bradenton (Wing)
11/8 - Three Palms Speedway, Punta Gorda (Championship Night, Wing)The feature race video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (The Frank Riddle Memorial at Desoto Speedway, 10-18-2014): http://youtu.be/ZrvRrc4KNCk
2014 TBARA Fall Season Preview
By Richard Golardi
Event – The Frank Riddle Memorial, a Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series race at Desoto Speedway, Bradenton, FL, on Saturday, October 18, 2014. This race will honor Frank Riddle, a two-time Little 500 champion and Florida auto racing legend. It will be a 40 lap race and will pay $2000 to the feature race winner. It is the first of three fall season races which will conclude the 2014 season for the TBARA:
Finish of Heat Race with Bud Howell, TBARA Flagman at New Smyrna Speedway
10/18 - Desoto Speedway, Bradenton (Frank Riddle Memorial, TBARA, Wing) 11/1 - Desoto Speedway, Bradenton (TBARA, Wing) 11/8 - Three Palms Speedway, Punta Gorda (Championship Night, TBARA, Wing)
Driver Name / Car # / Owner Name; for Saturday, 10/18 at Desoto Speedway:
Mickey Kempgens debuts new graphics on car, and new firesuit in July
Mickey Kempgens / #5 / Doug Kenny – Mickey has confirmed that the engine is being put in the car tonight, and that they are in the process of preparing the car for Saturday night. They will know in the next 24 to 48 hours if the car is ready and will be raced on Saturday. Right now, they are working toward that goal. Mickey told me that he is assured of the pole position in the feature race on Saturday, as long as he has a heat race finish of fourth place, or better.
Dave Steele / Unknown / Unknown – Dave Steele will not be racing in the TBARA race on Saturday. This was confirmed by a call to Steele’s race shop today, Tuesday.
Johnny Gilbertson / #22 / Johnny Gilbertson – Johnny confirmed that he will be entered in his own black #22 winged sprint car. Gilbertson was the 2011 and 2012 TBARA points champion, but has run a limited schedule of races this year.
Sport Allen / #88 / Taylor Andrews – Taylor Andrews confirmed today that he will enter only one car for primary driver Sport Allen, and shot down the rumor that he would enter a second car for Dave Steele. Andrews had previously told me that he was not making any plans to race a second car for another driver, and confirmed today that those plans have not changed.
Troy DeCaire / #91 / Lenny Puglio - Troy DeCaire had previously confirmed an entry this weekend in a scheduled TBARA race at Citrus County Speedway (now being run at Desoto Speedway) in the #91 Lenny Puglio owned car. I was unable to reach him today to reconfirm this commitment.
Collin Cabre at Langley Speedway for NASCAR D4D Combine
Collin Cabre / #41 / Terry DeCaire – Terry DeCaire confirmed earlier this week that he was entering a single car for Collin Cabre. Cabre was participating in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine at Langley Speedway, Virginia for three days this week. He was then returning to Florida to race in the winged sprint car race at Desoto Speedway on Saturday.
Garrett Green / #3 / Team Green Racing – Green, the most recent pavement sprint car winner in Florida, will be entered in his family’s black #3 car. This car was the winner, with Garrett behind the wheel, of the most recent Florida non-wing sprint car race earlier this month at Desoto Speedway. Garrett has shown steady progress this season, with one win and three top three finishes at Florida tracks.
Shane Butler / #18 / Butler Motorsports – Shane goes into the final three races of the 2014 TBARA season with an eight point lead over second place Ben Fritz. Shane already has three wins in Citrus County Speedway sprint car racing this year, and another win at Desoto Speedway in a non-wing race in August.
Ben Fritz / #16 / Tommy Rice – After a second place finish at New Smyrna Speedway in the last TBARA race in August, with points contender Shane Butler right behind him in third place, this year looks to be Fritz’s best chance yet at a TBARA championship. In the last TBARA race at Desoto in March, Fritz finished in third place, while Shane Butler was in second place. With so many finishes close to the front, it appears that the year-end championship fight will be contested by these two racers.
The race scheduled for November 8th at Three Palms Speedway (previously known as Punta Gorda Speedway) will require a stepped-up construction timetable, to allow for the catch fencing to be completed, and spectator stands installed. The last TBARA race at the track, in October 2012, was under a different track leaseholder when the track still had catch fencing and stands. After a successful series of races with sprint cars prior to its closing, the fencing and stands were removed. With a small enclave of TQ midget teams located in the Southwest Florida area, and a ready base of open wheel race fans, the reopening of the track for oval racing has been a much-anticipated event. At this date, the current leaseholder still intends to reopen the oval track in a little over two weeks from now.
Citrus County Speedway was the original setting for The Frank Riddle Memorial race, now rescheduled for the same date at Desoto. After originally announcing a cancellation of the remainder of their 2014 schedule, Gary Laplant has instituted a limited schedule for this year, with a planned return to a full race schedule next year. An October 25th non-wing race at the track will determine the 2014 track sprint car champion. Teammates Herb Neumann Jr. and Shane Butler are currently in first and fourth place in the points chase, with 19 points separating first place Neumann and second place Dave Retzlaff.
TBARA is apparently heading back to New Smyrna Speedway for 2 nights in February 2015, marking their return to February Speedweeks in Florida. I spoke to New Smyrna Speedway Vice President Andrew Hart earlier this week, and asked about the possible dates for the two Speedweeks nights at the track for the TBARA. Could those two dates be the Sunday and Monday of the week prior to the Daytona 500 weekend, as in prior years (2/15-16)? Hart told me that the track had not yet set a date in February for the TBARA races.
The big unanswered question from the recent 2015 East Bay Winternational schedule release was, where's USAC?Could there be a conflict with an early week visit to East Bay on the same days as the possible two day run at New Smyrna for the TBARA? I was previously told that USAC would add East Bay to their 2015 sprint car schedule for Speedweeks, and that may be still in the works. The 2015 USAC sprint car schedule will likely be released at the December PRI Trade Show. East Bay’s schedule still shows Sunday 2/15 to Tuesday 2/17 as open dates.
The Frank Riddle Memorial race is returning this year to its original home, as the race was held at Desoto Speedway in 2007 and 2008. This race will also mark the first TBARA series race since Flagman Bud Howell died in a tragic accident at the track in September. Bud was known for his big smile and positive attitude about the sport he loved. TBARA President Buff Fritz recently wrote that, “Bud loved practicing his craft of flagging, and he was certainly a faithful supporter of our club. I hoped we would all grow old racing together, but things just went so wrong.”
I had the pleasure to share the flag stand with Bud Howell in May at New Smyrna Speedway for one heat race, and also watch some races together with him at East Bay during the summer. I join his friends in stating that he will be greatly missed.
Interview - Danny Martin Jr. at Volusia
By Richard Golardi
Reviewing his last race at Hendry County Motorsports Park, Danny Martin Jr., who is one of the favorites to win the Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series championship, said that a little mishap in the heat race can lead to a big setback in points. “One mishap in the heat race – I got into somebody’s right rear and we got together and the car hit the wall, and it destroyed the car. I didn’t start the feature and lost a hundred points. I didn’t realize it was like that. I learned real quick that this deal can be taken from you. The heat races are important to qualify, but you’ve also got to be real cautious,” Danny Martin Jr. told me. The car could not be repaired to get back into the feature race at Hendry County that night, and that brought on the loss of a hundred points.
After the most recent Top Gun Series race on Saturday at Volusia Speedway Park, Danny Martin Jr. retains the points lead with a 20 point advantage over second place Mark Ruel Jr. Martin had a second place finish in that race which was won by Brett O’Donnell. O’Donnell remarked after the race that he and Martin had, “a little bit of a mix-up last time, you know. I went and talked to him tonight. He’s a good guy. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a very good racer. About the race? I started on the outside pole, and was able to lead every lap. I’m alright with it!”
“What if you lose a motor in the heat race?” Danny Martin Jr. knew the points lead was tenuous. He knew that things could change with about two months of racing left in the 2014 Top Gun season. The season finale is set for December 13 at Bubba Raceway Park. How has your year gone so far? How would you rate your year? “Good. We won every race (prior to last Saturday) except the Hendry County crash. Then at East Bay, I was leading and I entered the bottom, and there was two cars sitting there and I got into them, and I got on my side. I got sent to the rearand in ten laps I came back up and we still almost won it. So, we’ve been good. I’m pretty sure we won every race except for two of them. The car owner let me build a new motor this year. It’s running good. I designed my own piston and cam. It’s perfectly legal, and it works, and I’m happy with it,” Martin told me.
Danny Martin Jr. admitted that he did not know if they had picked up power, as the team did not have a dyno. “Of course I’m going to say yeah, yeah, we picked up a whole bunch,” he said slyly and laughed. The motor that he built was in the car that night at Volusia. It was probably just a little lighter, he said. Durability was still an unknown factor. “I don’t know how long it’s going to last.” The season was started with “our old motor”, on which the team ran two races. The new motor has been under the hood since then, and has been consistently successful. “The car has been fast every night, motor wise,” he told me.
Danny told me that he did one three-day stretch of races with USCS this year. It was not a run that included a trip to the Winners Circle, as frequently happens for Danny. He found the track at Lavonia to be wet and sloppy on the bottom. It was a follow-the-leader type of race, and nobody was passing. Then, the next two nights got rained out. There was another planned USCS race at Senoia, but the team was unable to make that trip. But, Danny was putting his mind on the remaining Top Gun races for the rest of the year. “The sixty points to show up, and the hundred to start – you better be there, and you better start the feature.”
“I’ve got a lot going on right now,” Danny admitted. “Work’s been good and bad, up and down. My girlfriend and I, we just found out that we’re having a baby girl. So I’ve got a lot going on in my life. The car’s been fast, so I’ve been trying to be not so serious at the races, and use this as my fun, hobby time. Normally, at the races I’m so stressed and so worried and everything. I’m trying to have fun here and tonight we started last in the heat and won. So, I guess that’s a good sign.”
Loss and Renewal – One Race Day in Florida
By Richard Golardi
On race morning last Saturday, one could wonder if there was any good news that would be forthcoming for Florida sprint car racing. The remainder of the 2014 season had just been canceled for Citrus County Speedway by its promoter, Gary Laplant. He had been one of the most adamant supporters of Florida pavement sprint car racing since taking over the reins at Citrus. Rain had taken its usual summer toll on racing, with multiple race cancellations. The return of oval track racing to Southwest Florida, at Punta Gorda’s Three Palms Speedway, was still in doubt due to the slow construction progress of catch fencing and spectator grandstands. As of today, the only photos released by the track show the installation of a flag stand, but only minimal progress on fence installation.
It has also been a tough year due to those who have been lost. The Smith family losing three of its members has been particularly devastating. After interviewing 1974 and 1984 TBARA Champion Robert Smith last July, he survived for another four weeks after the interview was completed. I felt fortunate to take part in remembering him with a YouTube tribute video, and also with work on a book chapter that deals with his life, part of an upcoming book. Remembering the good times always seems to have an analgesic effect when dealing with pain.
Hayden Campbell in the 5 car at Volusia Speedway Park
Out of this sense of loss and longing for good news comes the story of two young sprint car racers, racing at two different tracks last Saturday evening. Their names are Garrett Green and Hayden Campbell. One raced on asphalt, while the other raced on dirt. I had been following Garrett’s progress behind the wheel of a sprint car since the summer of 2012 at Showtime Speedway. 2012 brought his first sprint car race, followed by his first sprint car heat race win in the summer of 2013. A sprint car feature win seemed sure to follow in due course. During this time, he earned the 2013 Little 500 Rookie of the Year honors and the USSA Rookie of the Year award in competition at Anderson Speedway. He impressed onlookers who watched him race at tracks around Florida and in the Midwest. A third place and a second place feature race finish in non-wing competition at Citrus County Speedway foretold that the first feature win was near.
Desoto Speedway in Bradenton took on the duty of promoting and supporting non-wing sprint car racing after the demise of the 2014 season at Citrus. They scheduled three non-wing races for October and November, in addition to taking over the TBARA race originally set for Citrus County Speedway on 10/18, The Frank Riddle Memorial. The first of three non-TBARA races was held last Saturday. Garrett Green survived the turn one contact with race leader Shane Butler (which caused Butler to spin) to move out to a comfortable lead, while Sport Allen made a late race charge to the front. Garrett Green held off Allen, the veteran Florida sprint car campaigner, to charge to his first sprint car feature race win on the 3/8 mile asphalt at Desoto. “Well I got my first win last night, but it just doesn't feel real. I'm just glad all this hard work paid off. Thanks for everyone's help last night,” the sixteen year old racer remarked after soaking in his first sprint car Winners Circle celebration.
Hayden Campbell
After missing some Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series races during the summer due to rainouts and other race conflicts, I had not seen the new driver racing in the #5 red and white sprint car. His name is Hayden Campbell. His great-uncle is Harry Campbell, a Florida sprint car racing legend who died earlier this year. Harry was a master car builder and mechanic who had a long list of Florida racing legends sit in his cars. Eighteen year old Hayden Campbell had been racing late models and modifieds on dirt in Florida before moving up to sprint cars this year. “All my career’s been on dirt. This is my first year in a sprint car. We went to sprint cars because it’s been really big in my family,” Hayden told me. “My great-uncle’s side of the family, Harry Campbell, he was really big on asphalt sprint cars. Dad raced sprint cars a little bit on asphalt, and we wanted to try something different. We got away from the late model and modified stuff, and decided to build a new sprint car.”
The car looked new, as did the paint and sponsor stickers. The newness of the car matched the driver’s experience in dirt sprint car racing. The race suit had the name of another Campbell family member across the front. “Yes – The Harry Campbell. That’s Hayden’s great-uncle, his grandfather’s brother,” Hayden’s family explained to me. “We had a little bit of a rough start, but we have everything squared away now. We’re going to have a great rest of the year, and come back next year and try to go for the points championship,” Hayden told me. Does he hope to live up to that type of legendary status, and to rise to that same level of achievement like Harry Campbell? “Of course I would love to. I would love to keep up the Campbell name. With my Dad following in his footsteps and he’s done great. My grandfather, Steve, he’s actually still racing now. Hopefully we keep going with the sprint car and hopefully we’ll have good luck for the rest of the year.”
Garrett Green after a Top Three finish at Citrus County Speedway.
His team plans to run the rest of the Top Gun sprint car schedule this year, which continues until mid-December. They may also add some East Bay Sprints races during the Top Gun Series off weeks. For 2015, they plan to run the entire Top Gun Sprint Car schedule, which will begin in January 2015 as part of the East Bay Winternationals. It was announced earlier today that Top Gun will start their season next year with two races at East Bay on the last weekend in January. That leaves the series with only a seven week off-season before the 2015 season launches. The three days of the East Bay Winternational 360 sprint car races will now carry ASCS sanctioning again in 2015. “You’ll be seeing a lot more of us next year,” Hayden Campbell remarked.
Video from the Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Car Series feature race at Volusia Speedway Park on 10-4-2014:
Step Right Up to Florida’s Amazing and Constantly Changing Pavement Sprint Car Race Schedule
By Richard Golardi
Step right up! Step right up! Step right up to Florida’s Amazing Traveling Carnival and Side Show Extravaganza (with added Pavement Sprint Car Racing). You sir! Yes you sir! Come on in! It’s only a few dollars (more or less)! Come see the Wild Wings! Come be amazed by high speeds and high risk! What’s that sir? Yessir, all the daredevils of the speedway will be there! No sir, he won’t fix all the problems in Florida pavement sprint car racing (which are many), but I guarantee you will see pavement sprint car racing at some Florida tracks between now and the end of 2014!
You sir and miss! I can tell you’re a couple of classy, intelligent types from the sprint car racing caps and t shirts that you are wearing! Come on in, try your hand at Race a Sprint Car and win your lady a prize (may cover cost of fuel, parts and tires, but probably not)! It’s what separates the men from the boys! Do it sir, and I promisenot to tell anyone that you took time off from following NASCAR Sprint Cup racing! Come on in! Just a small sum of money (not much more than a movie ticket)! I promise you won’t be disappointed in the following incredible, stupefying, confounding 2014 Florida pavement race schedule!
The hectic day of schedule changes (too many to count occurred on Tuesday, September 30) is done, so it’s time for a list.
Remaining 2014 Pavement Sprint Car Races in Florida (as of 9-30-2014):
10/4 - Desoto Speedway, Bradenton (Non-wing)
10/18 - Desoto Speedway, Bradenton (TBARA, Frank Riddle Memorial, Wings)
11/15 - Desoto Speedway, Bradenton (Non-wing)
12/6 - Showtime Speedway (Both Wing and Non-wing)
TBD - Possible additional wing races added for TBARAStep right up lads and lassies! Fun for the whole Florida sprint car racing community! Step on up one and all! Come see the implosion of Citrus County Speedway’s remaining 2014 race schedule, which was cancelled today! Race track leaseholder and promoter extraordinaire Gary Laplant explains that he is forced to cancel the remainder of this year’s schedule due to personal reasons. Once the dust settles, come have your fortune told! Learn what the future holds for you, if you dare (future race winners and race results excluded)!
Evening officer, nothing to see here, nothing to see. Come back later in the pits to see if all drivers, crew and assorted fans and friends are playing Go Fish in a kind and sharing manner while they share a Root Beer. You’ll be entertained and amazed! Trust me sir, you haven’t lived until you do! Just hold onto your glasses, GoPro cameras, and your BBQ sandwiches.
Come see side by side racing with open cockpits and open wheels! All the way from exotic Thonotosassa and also Riverview and Bushnell! Desoto Speedway, Showtime Speedway (and other possible hosts) have brought them straight to you! Last chance mister, I hear they’re due to begin the winter off-season any day now! This could be it, your final chance to see them! Only a small sum between one dollar and a hundred dollars (including beer, popcorn and a program)!
Step right up, step right up! This week only (on Saturday), a race that at one time was taking place at Citrus County Speedway, is now going to be thrilling race fans at Desoto Speedway! In the course of a few hours today, the weekend of racing at Citrus (for Friday and Saturday 10/17 and 10/18)was replaced by one day of racing with the fine young men from TBARA on Saturday, 10/18 at Desoto Speedway. The amazing feats of Showtime, The Wonder Speedway (Pinellas Park) will also be on display with a rescheduled sprint car racing extravaganza. The date will be Saturday, 12/6 with both wing and non-wing sprint car racing (until the next time it’s cancelled, which has happened once already) No nets here folk! You’d never believe an open wheelrace car could reach such speeds!
Hello sir, hello ma’am! You look like you’ve seen it all. I can tell from that Jac Haudenschild cap that you’re wearing. Well I promise you, you haven’t seen anything like the possibility of more TBARA winged sprint car racing later this year! Who knows where the winged warriors will choose to do battle? Bronson Speedway? New Smyrna Speedway? We’ve got it all: Car with wings, racers returning from their race seasons up north, racers with the first name of Troy, racers with the name Aaron who said they’d be back to Florida in the fall season. Come marvel at the sight of men wearing a pink item of clothing to get $5 off their race ticket! Everyone says that they will get some weird looks in the 7-11 if they thought they had to wear pink from head to toe. Are you brave enough to see what Florida sprint car racing holds for you?
Rides? Of course we’ve got rides! We’ve got Look Out for That Hot Exhaust Pipe and Try Walking Up the Stairs Holding 4 Beers and 5 Hot Dogs (I dare you)! Better than any Merry-Go-Round or Ferris Wheel! And you thought the Strawberry Festival was fun? You sir, are about to see real fun!
Come for the funnel cake, stay for the Wild Man of Gibsonton! We’ve got Florida Swamp flavored soda pop and Gator Jerky! Boiled peanuts and Hamburgers from an old Golden Gate Speedway recipe! Come one come all! Limited time engagement (ends 12/6)! No refunds, exchanges,or complaints allowed (social network complaints excluded)! What you see is what you get! Only a headache or two away and a ride down fear-inspiring I-75!
Step right up, you ladies and gentlemen! Step right up, you boys and girls! Some weekends only! Florida’s Amazing Traveling Carnival and Side Show Extravaganza (with added Pavement Sprint Car Racing). It’s been going on in Florida since the 1960s. Upon looking into my Crystal Ball, I can tell you that it will continue its wild and wonderful journey for some time yet (just don’t ask if it’ll rain on Saturday)! Step right inside and get ready to be entertained!
Jack Hewitt - The Legend is Now a Floridian
By Richard Golardi
Jack Hewitt, in his native State of Ohio for the USAC Silver Crown Series race at Eldora Speedway, was making his comeback to the “Big Car” series. It would be his first Silver Crown race in the past 12 years. Jack would spend much of his weekend greeting fans and admirers, posing for photos, and soaking in the love and approbation. Eldora Speedway seemed to be the appropriate location for Jack’s return, as it was the site of his amazing 1998 domination of the 4 Crown Nationals. In one night, he won the USAC Sprint, USAC Midget, USAC Silver Crown, and UMP Modified features at the track. That same year, he made it to the pinnacle of American open wheel racing, the Indianapolis 500. He finished in 12th place. This was followed by induction into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2002. He currently is in first place on the USAC Silver Crown Series win list with 23 wins.
Jack Hewitt also spent time granting interviews to the gathered press, and I was one of the fortunate few to get to interview the legendary race car driver. I had heard a rumor that Jack now lived in Florida (near Palatka) year round, making him officially a Floridian. Jack is easy to find during Speedweeks, as he can be seen sitting in his favorite spot on the front stretch at Bubba Raceway Park during the USAC Sprint Car Series races. While in Florida, he gets to enjoy his favorite fishing spots and avoid the cold and blizzards up north at his Ohio home. The rumor about Jack being a year-round Florida resident turned out to be false, as he does spend his summers in Ohio. He then retreats to Florida during the cold weather months. A certain state-issued ID card in his possession does have the words “Florida The Sunshine State” at the top, making him a Florida resident. The Florida sprint car racing community may now claim him as one of their own.
“No, I’m a Buckeye, born and bred, but I don’t like cold weather. I don’t even want to see snow on a postcard.” So, you’re just a snowbird? “Yeah, I go down from November until April. I’m actually there a little over half a year, and that way I can get my license down there. I only have to renew it every six years.” So you have a Florida driver license, which makes you a Floridian. “I’m a Floridian, but Buckeye bred. Yeah – I’m not a Gator fan.” So we can say that you are a Floridian? “Yes, I’ll buy that. I’m a Buckeye who lives in Florida full-time. I’m one of them damn Yankees. Because I live down there, and get to bug them more now.” So we’ll see you down there in the winter, and back at Bubba Raceway Park for Speedweeks? “Oh, absolutely. I follow the sunshine.”
Jack Hewitt did have a warm-up session at Waynesfield Raceway Park in the Silver Crown car, to prepare for his Silver Crown comeback race at Eldora. “We went and did eight or ten laps over at Waynesfield last week, just to try and get the gas pedal and things like that set. I was out there by myself. Tonight I’ll have the kids around me. This is something that I’m going to try tonight that I never did in racing. I’m going to try to be smart.” Did he have any other races in other cars since 2002 I asked? “Well, I got into a couple of cars (sprint cars), and made the shows, but that was about it. For an old man that’s broke up to get in a sprint car with these kids, it’s pretty rough. I figured that when we get in the ‘ole Silver Crown car, the ‘ole girl will treat the old fellow a little nicer.” You called them ‘kids’, so how old are you now? “I’m sixty-three. Just like the car I drove last night (a vintage sprint car with #63).”
Are you going to return for more Silver Crown races after this weekend at Eldora? “It’s about like my wedding. I’m going on my honeymoon tomorrow. No, this is Eldora Speedway. I’m home, I’m sixty-three years old and I’m bent up a little bit. Anything that I can do when I get on the track is a bonus tonight. I’m already living the dream again. I don’t think I’ll need any Viagra tonight. I think we’re good to go. The racing will do that. Now we’re at Eldora Speedway. Duke probably said it the best when he said, ‘that’s when men were men, and women were glad of it.’ Well, Eldora has that same effect.”
What are your expectations for tonight’s Silver Crown race I asked? “Like I said, I’ve already won the feature. Just being here and seeing my fans, I just don’t want to let anybody down. If I go out, and I don’t feel comfortable, I’m not going to do it. I’ve got nothing to prove. I’m here to have fun, and I’m having that. If I go out, and I’m alright, and I’m not in anybody’s way and I can run smooth and consistent, I’m going to race. If not, we’ll go find a new driver. But at least I’m giving her a shot.”
Jack revealed to me that he was going to be a guest speaker at a meeting of The Villages Motor Racing Fan Club this winter while he was in Florida. I told Jack that he would be following me, as I was the scheduled guest speaker at the club’s meeting on October 1st. Stan Butler had spoken to the club during a meeting earlier this summer. “That’s pretty cool,” Jack replied. “I’m going to have to find out from you how it is, if they butchered you or not.” I assured Jack that it was a pretty cool group of guys, and that I’d already met several club members at the track. Since he was following Stan Butler and me, I remarked that I thought the club would be ready for more exciting open wheel racing stories. They should also be ready to laugh, as Jack’s friends and admirers did as they listened to his stories (some of which were not fit to print, but were still hilarious).
“Thank you, buddy,” Jack said after I thanked him for his time. I felt like I had arrived at a new level of recognition in the world of American open wheel racing. I had shared a few laughs with Jack Hewitt, and he and I would share some more memories and good times again, somewhere down the road.
The video of Jack Hewitt at Eldora Speedway, 9-20-2014, is here on the Florida Open Wheel channel:
Photo Album of "Jack Hewitt at the 4 Crown Nationals, 9-20-2014" is here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/105092965792373343944/albums/6061930178775783345
Remembering Bud Howell
By Richard Golardi
Interview with Bud Howell conducted at Auburndale Speedway, Auburndale, FL, on Saturday, March, 15, 2014
“I am the Flagman for the TBARA, and my job is to make sure it’s safe on the track and put on a show for the fans and the drivers,” Bud Howell told me. I know that you flagged TBARA races before, and that you have 30+ years of experience flagging at short tracks, is that right? “Correct. I’ve flagged pretty much all over the United States. I started at Toledo Speedway, and it progressed on to other traveling series. I did flag at Eldora for a little bit for Earl (Baltes), before Tony took over. I moved down here in 2002, and now I’ve been flagging at all the short tracks here in Florida.”
I asked Bud Howell if the move was because he had retired, or if something else brought him to Florida? “A change in career. I love the weather, and I’m happy to see short track starting to get better for the TBARA.” Were you still flagging up to last year? “No. I had two and a half years of enjoyment,” Bud Howell said, artfully avoiding the word retirement. “I missed it. I was going to a lot of different tracks, kind of nice because when you work for one track, you don’t get to see anything else. I got to enjoy going to other tracks, and when they called and asked me, I told them that I would be very happy and delighted to be their Flagman. I will be at every race that they have. I hope they get some more added in.”
What were you doing for those two and a half years of retirement, when you weren’t flagging? “Yelling at other Flagmen from the stands (laughing).” Did you like doing that or would you rather have had flags in hand? “I would have rather been in the perch, is what we call it. It’s funny when I think of how many people pick on me when I’m up there. You see everything, because you’ve been up there. When you sit in the stands, you’re bored because you’re used to being in the action, making the calls, and waving the flags. It drove me crazy, and that’s why I’m happy to be back in it.”
What were some of the most exciting things that happened over those 30+ years? Have you ever had a car come into the flag stand when you were up there? “I’ve had the top of a car come in, and knock me out. I’ve been knocked out three times. The best was that I got to flag all the NASCAR boys for qualifying at Michigan International Speedway. So, that was really a highlight, and also doing Eldora was a plus, flagging all the top dogs there.” So, nothing worse than being knocked out? “No, I’ve been on fire. Thank God, that’s pretty much been it. It’s a dangerous sport. Those wings put off so much draft that my flags got me a couple of times in the face tonight.” Bud even had a small wound on his nose, a testament to how he put everything he had into his flagging duties that night at Auburndale Speedway.
Bud Howell lost his life at the track on Sunday, September 14, 2014, when he was struck by a vehicle in the infield while flagging a spectator participation race. Without the dedication of brave Flagmen like Bud Howell, the racing never starts.
The following video is from the flag stand at New Smyrna Speedway for Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series Heat Race #3 on Saturday, May 10, 2014 with Flagman Bud Howell:
Billy Boyd Rolling Toward Repeating as East Bay Track Champion
By Richard Golardi
After winning on the dirt of East Bay Raceway Park for the sixth time this year in a winged sprint car, Billy Boyd was quick to credit his car owner and team for doing whatever it takes to go fast. “These guys spend a lot of money on this car, and they ask a lot of me,” Billy told me after his most recent win on Saturday night. “We like it to be perfect. There ain’t no in-between for us. This is my second full year for these guys (Jerry Amans and Amans Motorsports). I ran for them at the end of 2011, and ran a couple of races and we won a few. We won pretty much everything last year, the first full year with this car owner. This year here, we’ve racked up six already. He likes to win races, and I like driving fast race cars,” he remarked.
After winning the East Bay Sprint Car track championship in 2013, Billy Boyd seems to be assured of winning the championship for the second time. There are two series races remaining in 2014, and the finale is set for November 8th. “My goal was to win one. Two is going to be fantastic. I’ll probably be with these guys for as long as they keep me around, and as long as we’re winning races, they’ll keep me around.” A blown radiator hose near the end of that night’s race did not prevent him from winning, despite having to deal with a cloud of steam blowing directly into his face. Boyd backed off for the remaining three laps, and was pressed by the second place car of Dylan Colding near the end of the twenty lap feature race. He later reported that the engine did not suffer any damage from the loss of water, and the escaping steam and water seemed to subside after about one lap.
“I watched the temperature on it, and made sure the temperature was OK. When you lose water out of a motor like that, the temperature usually could spike up. I kept an eye on the oil pressure. Three to go, and I dropped into conservative mode and I wasn’t sure where Dylan Colding was, because he was pretty fast. I went to the bottom, and got off the gas a little bit,” Boyd said. His lead near the end was enough to allow him to back off, and still keep a seven car length advantage over second place Colding at the checkered flag. “I kind of maintained a safe speed. I backed off for the last three laps. It covered my shield, and I had to rip all the tear-offs away to be able to see. I had to take care of the motor, and make sure we still won it.”
I asked if this year’s six feature wins was the most ever for him in sprint car competition. “Well, last year I think we won six or seven. We’re pretty much on even keel from last year,” he remarked. Could he be on his way to his best year yet racing sprint cars? “It looks to be that way. We’re happy. These guys work hard, and the results show. It was a good night, and I enjoyed it,” Boyd said with a confident smile.
The video of Billy Boyd at East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, September 13, 2014 from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here:
RJ Johnson is the Lone Floridian at Knoxville and the Rookie of the Year
By Richard Golardi
Upon Roland Johnson’s retirement from racing at the end of 2003, his son RJ Johnson’s sprint car racing success became his priority. By the next year, RJ was the USCS Series Rookie of the Year, followed by a 2007 East Bay Raceway Park sprint car championship. Florida has had a recent dearth of racers start their careers with dirt sprint car racing success in their home state, and then move on to success as a weekly dirt racer out of state. RJ Johnson has now broken that trend, with the recent news that was confirmed by Brian Stickel, General Manager/Promoter at Knoxville Raceway. He confirmed that the 2014 Knoxville Raceway 410 Sprint Car Rookie of the Year is RJ Johnson from Tampa. RJ had raced 360s at Knoxville Raceway for several years before moving up to 410s this year.The 27 year old racer finished 16th in 410 points, ahead of two other rookie competitors who finished 19th and 21st in the 2014 Knoxville season point standings.
Roland Johnson, who holds 14th place on the All Time Florida Sprint Car Win List, now lives in Knoxville for most of the year and serves as RJ’s car owner. With the weekly racing completed at Knoxville Raceway for the year, the team plans on competing in some upcoming World of Outlaws races in the coming weeks. The team will return for another full season of racing on theKnoxville dirt in 2015, sprinkling in an expanded World of Outlaws itinerary in addition. In 2016, the extended outlook for the team sees it competing in 40 to 50 World of Outlaws Series races that year. They will still keep Knoxville as their base of operations in the coming years. The last time that he competed on the dirt in Florida was at the East Bay 360 Winternationals in 2012. Since then, he has been at East Bay during the Winternationals to help other teams.
“I helped my Dad, and when he decided to quit, I just carried it on, and that’s where we’re at now,” RJ told me earlier this week. “I’ve been racing our stuff ever since. The last full season that I raced in the Southeast was 2007, and we won the East Bay track championship, which I think was 16 or 18 races. We were also second in the USCS Southern Region that same year. So we had a pretty good year actually, and then we decided to come up here the next year. In 2007, I had been to the Knoxville Nationals with T.J. Winegardner, who we lost this year. He kind of got me interested in doing the Knoxville thing. We talked about it all the way home back to Florida. So, he went to Pennsylvania and I came to Knoxville the next year. Me and my Dad kind of lived in our toter home and raced that summer, just kind of a trial deal to see how it went. We haven’t ever left after that,” RJ Johnson said.
The team will get in some ASCS Series races early in the year before the Knoxville season starts, in addition to the Outlaws races that they plan for late year. December and January remain their off months, when team owner Roland Johnson is back in Florida. During their first full time Knoxville year in 2008, they started in 360s with one engine and two cars. “We really didn’t have our stuff together. We thought we knew what it took to run really well, and we were fast in the Southeast, but it was a whole different ball game up here. We basically got our butts handed to us until probably 2010 is when we got competitive. That’s when we could run in the top five in Knoxville. The 360 thing was just so tough. It took a while to get going. We just kind of came up here with what we had. We needed a lot of horsepower, and we were really behind in that area. Once we got our engine program picked up, we were pretty fast. When we first came up here the 360s were 40 or 50 cars every week (only 20 would start the A main at Knoxville). It was insane. I didn’t make my first A main until like 6 or 8 weeks into the season. It got better from there, as far as our performance. It got to where we won a couple of races, and 2012 we won another one and we moved up to the 410 thing this past year.”
RJ told me that the car counttotals for the 360s have fallen off from prior years, and purses have not risen in recent years. The bigger purses in the 410s attracted them to make the switch this year, and plan for more 410 racing outside of Knoxville. The team has raced only 410s this year for the first time, and has raced a couple of Outlaws shows during the year. “We’re headed to Outlaws shows this weekend at Spencer, Iowa and Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. So, it’s just been all 410 stuff, and that’s pretty much it for right now,” he explained. Without a press release from the speedway about his Rookie of Year season, RJ has not gotten much notoriety from his achievement yet. “We don’t have our awards banquet until the week before Thanksgiving. We knew what it was, because we were racing for it all year. We monitored it all year, because that was our goal. We knew we had won it.”
I mentioned that I had noticed names from Australia and New Zealand and all over the country on the drivers list at Knoxville. “It has been awesome. We’ve had guys who fly out from California to race here every week, and fly home. Jason Meyers did it for a little while. It’s pretty much a heaven for sprint car racing for April thought September. There’s no better weekly field in the world,” RJ remarked. RJ was the lone Floridian competing at Knoxville this year.
He had some bad luck in the Knoxville Nationals last month, getting caught up in a wreck, and flipping the car. He was uninjured in the wreck. “I was rolling up through there pretty good, and a kid from Ohio spun out in front of Jason Sides, and Jason spun to avoid him. I had nowhere to go, and I ran over Jason and flipped and destroyed the car. So we decided not to even come back on Saturday, because it’s a points-based system. So, it wasn’t a very good Nationals at all. We had a better Nationals last year, that’s for sure,” RJ said.
RJ does sometimes get confused for another young sprint car racer, also named RJ Johnson, who races non-wing dirt sprint cars. I had even mentioned a recent win at another track, thinking that it was RJ in the car. It wasn’t. It was the other RJ. “He wins a lot of stuff without a wing, so sometimes it gets confusing because I do winged stuff, and he does wingless stuff, and we have the same name.” He admitted that he was used to getting congratulated on race wins that were actually won by the ‘other RJ’. “It happens a lot actually. Actually, I know him. He’s a really nice kid, and he’s won a heck of a lot of races. It’s the same thing for him I’m sure. You won a winged race at Knoxville last week? No - that wasn’t me!”
After the coming weekend, the team is skipping the Eldora World of Outlaws race the next week, but will be back for the National Open at Williams Grove Speedway during the first weekend in October. He admitted that he was unsure how much longer his family might wish to field a car for him, as it is an expensive operation. “We’ve kind of picked out some bucket list races that they as owners want to do over the next year or two, or beyond. The one we’ve picked this year is the Williams Grove National Open. So, it’s $50,000 to win, and I’ve got a really good friend, Lucas Wolfe, that races and lives around Williams Grove. So, we’re going to go out, and hang out with him. We’ll just have a good time, and get to run at one of the most famous race tracks in the world. I’ve never raced there. This will be a first for me. There’s got to be 60 cars there. It would be a big accomplishment just to make the A main my first time out there racing. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Feature Race winner Larry J. Brazil Jr.
Larry Brazil Jr. Takes Flag to Flag Win at New Smyrna
By Richard Golardi
Larry J. Brazil Jr. returned to the TBARA Winners Circle on Saturday night in dominating fashion, after an absence of a few years. He led all thirty laps at New Smyrna Speedway in the Labor Day weekend visit by the Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series. “I think it was when I was driving for my parents, probably I’d say three years ago,” he said, when asked about his last TBARA win. “We came pretty close here with Crafty (car owner Mac Steele) two races ago. We led like 25 laps of it, and then kind of gave it up at the end. The motor went a little south on us.” Second place finisher Ben Fritz stated that he felt he could have given Brazil a run if he had a few more laps. Fritz made a pass to take second place after 27 laps. Current TBARA season points leader Shane Butler took third place.
Even though he led every lap of the feature race, Brazil said that he did have a few tense moments involving slower traffic. “Those lapped cars, man they get the move over flag and then they decide to pass each other. It’s a tough track, and then the lapped cars kind of crowd you. There was a couple of incidents where it was pretty hairy. There were some close calls. I come to find out I had a pretty good lead, but you don’t know,” Brazil said. He added that he wasn’t considered one of the favorites coming into this race, and that other teams had better equipment than what he had available.
Heat Race battle - 9 of Matt Alfonso and 16 of Ben Fritz
Brazil thanked his parents and his wife for their support, and then mentioned car owner Mac Steele, who he said, “I don’t think he’s won a race in fifteen years, ten years. It’s been a long time since Mac Steele won a race. It was a good night overall. Kind of the underdog going in. There’s a lot better equipment out there and we were at the right place at the right time, and got lucky.” Mac Steele, father of Dave Steele, is a Tampa, FL car owner with thirteen entries in the Little 500 from 1985 to 2006. His cars got three top five finishes there, and he was inducted into the Little 500 Hall of Fame in 2013.
Jason Kimball held onto second place through most of the feature race, in one of the best performances of his first year as an owner/driver. He faded only at the end of the 30 lap race, losing second place to Ben Fritz on the 27th lap, and then third place to Shane Butler on the next lap. He was credited with a fourth place finish. After starting in 12th place, Sport Allen had advanced to fifth place by the end of the feature race. He did have one incident, brushing the wall on the front straight on the 27th lap, sending up a cloud of dust at the point near the end of the front stretch. The race ended without the yellow flag being displayed, followed by an equally smooth post-race inspection. There were no penalties, and no DQs.
Heat race start from car of Sport Allen
A vote by the TBARA car owners turned down a proposal to eliminate the “punch rule” of durometer tire measurements, and left the current rule in place. This rule requires that rear tires are durometer tested prior to the heat race only. If a tire fails the test, the team may change the tire prior to the race. In addition, the rule bans the soaking, treating, or altering of the American Racer tires. The post-race inspection may also involve dismounting tires to inspect for tire prepping. The obvious intention of this rule was to remove prepped tires from the competition, and allow for the race winner to wheel his car into the Winners Circle with tires that had already been durometer tested and approved for race use. The possibility of a race winner losing his win in post-race inspection seemed to be remote. It did not happen at New Smyrna, and this seemed to reduce tension and leave more competitors with smiles all around. I did not hear of any competitors stating that they were not coming back to compete with the TBARA because of displeasure with the current rules relating to tires.
A video production team, led by Geared Up Productions ace video producer Chase Cabre was at the track for the purpose of producing a half hour race video to submit for cable TV airing. There is no contract in force currently, so the production team hopes to impress a potential network with their production and editing skills. The race was covered by a total of eight cameras, five of them on the track mounted to four different cars. The other three cameras consisted of one wall-mounted camera at the finish line to serve as a speed shot camera, and two hand-held cameras. One was located in the first turn, and a second was located on the roof of the scoring tower. Two of the cars with roll bar mounted GoPro cameras finished in the top three (Fritz and Butler).
Robert Smith was honored during the break prior to the start of the TBARA feature race. The audio from the “Remembering Robert Smith” YouTube video was played by track announcer Dave Westerman, along with a reciting of Smith’s career highlights. It was announced that an upcoming TBARA schedule change will move the next scheduled race at Desoto Speedway to Saturday, September 27th. The season will tentatively end on Saturday, October 18th with the Frank Riddle Memorial race at Citrus County Speedway. That leaves only one remaining pavement sprint car race in Florida during 2014. It will be the last regular season non-wing race at Citrus on November 1st.
A sprint car race previously scheduled at Showtime Speedway in December has subsequently been removed from their 2014 schedule. Their 2015 schedule shows no sprint car dates during the entire year for Showtime. The track did add sprint car race dates during the past two years, and was originally committed to sprint car racing. It is unknown if track management has had a change of heart regarding hosting sprint car racing.
Remembering Robert Smith
By Richard GolardiJoe Melnick -
“Robert Smith was probably the best sprint car driver to come out of Florida. They would be hot lapping for the feature and Robert Smith would be unloading his car and start dead last and win the feature. I don’t know how he did it. It didn’t matter if it was dirt or pavement. He was the best. It was just natural talent. He could build it, drive it, and fix it. He wasn’t always on time, but he could pretty well do anything. Robert Smith - he just had it, man. I’ve watched him win and win and win. When it was his time, you couldn’t beat the guy.He’s my ex-brother in law, but that’s not why I’m saying it. That’s just the way it is. I was married to his sister, a long time ago. I was in the family. I raced against him, but I didn’t really get to race with him until the end. I didn’t have sprint cars back when he was doing all the winning. When I finally got one, he was kind of getting out of it. We were teammates for C.T. Earle. We had two sprint cars. I’d go to East Bay one night, and he’d go somewhere upstate or he’d go to another state to race. He liked to travel. He kind of got out of racing, and he would work on my car for C.T. Earle. He could weld it, build it, and put the motor together. You name it. He was one of the best.
We had our fights, but he was good to me. He was a good guy. When he worked on my car, he’d come over Saturday afternoon and look at the car, and he goes, ‘don’t touch nothin’. I’ll be back in a minute. I’ll set it, and then load it up.’ We used to sit around the shop until like four or four-thirty, and then start panicking. We’d go, ‘where is Robert Smith?’ All of a sudden, he’d pull up and say, ‘now load it up and go to the race track.’ We’re like, ‘Robert! We can’t do like that, you know?’ But, that’s the way he did it.”
Taylor Andrews –
“Robert was racing when I got into it. Robert was probably one of the first people to help me out. He’d help anybody out. What I remembered about Robert was that we’d all be at the race track, and it’d be about 6 or 7:00. He’d go, ‘don’t look like it’s going to rain. I guess I better start working on my car and bring it up over.’ He’d get here about 7 or 8:00, wouldn’t practice or do anything, and go out and win the feature. Robert’s forgotten more stuff about sprint car racing than all of us combined. Robert probably beat me most of the time.One time, we were all up in Savannah racing, and it rained out and we were going back to the hotel. I remember that I saw Robert over there, and he’s got a sign that he’s holding up that reads, ‘will work for beer.’ He was waiting for all of us to get back there. We all sat around and drank a lot of beer, and didn’t do much work. Robert ran dirt and pavement both, and was super-good on both surfaces. He was one of the few guys that could run on both surfaces. Robert lived a great life, as far as a racing life goes. He was as good as a racer could get.”
Sport Allen –
“He used to help us out some, and point us in the right direction on what to do to the car. What to do to make the car safer and more drivable for me. The first car we had was a crossover car. We used to run it on the dirt and pavement. He used to drive it – the Alfater car. He knew exactly what to do to get it around there, because he won races in it.He was never in a big hurry to do much. He didn’t get too excited. We were there at the Tampa Fairgrounds, and warm ups were fixing to start. Here comes Robert Smith, hanging off the side of the open trailer, still bolting the headers on. He never got in a hurry to do it; he may have even won that night. He just had natural ability, and knew what to do to the car. He never really got too flustered, because he has that knowledge bank of what to do. He would just hustle it around there. I’m sad he’s passed. That’s a lot of talent there. He was one of the original Outlaws, and a lot of people don’t know that.”
Kurt Taylor –
“He was good on dirt and pavement. He could run either one. He was just a racer. He was amazing. Robert was just a down to earth human being. Between him and Charlie Alfater, you couldn’t beat them. Him and Robert got together, and when he settled Robert down, Robert would go racing, buddy. And you could see it. When Robert would go to the race track, he was ready to race. He was always late getting there. That was the funny thing. He would come after warm ups and go out and win the feature.He loved drinking beer, and I drank many a beer with him. He was a diehard racer. I don’t care what it was – midget, sprint car, late model. He’ll drive it. Robert was just a good ole boy. It’s a shame we lost him. It’s going to be hard to replace him. I used to go and work down there, and he and Round Daddy (Robert’s father) would get into arguments. He would say, ‘Robert, you need to do this the next time you go racing.’ He’d say, ‘Round Daddy’, he would always call him Round Daddy, and he would never call him Dad. I’d say, uh-oh, this ain’t good. All of a sudden, we’d go to lunch, and it was like nothing ever happened. It was just neat working with them. That’s about all I can tell you about Robert. He was one of a kind.
Robert Smith in George Rudolph car in 1984 at Sunshine Speedway Courtesy Chad Freeman
Robert got to driving for Butch Hall, in the Black Deuce. He won a lot of races in that. Robert was a natural. He could work on them, put them together, and make ‘em go. He did it all. He’d haul them to the race track. He went out to Knoxville, Iowa for the Knoxville Nationals. He qualified for that race. He went up to the Little 500, and he run second up there and he about won it. He always supported that up there. God bless him. I know he’s up there racing. I hope he does good up there. The Good Lord has got him a good one up there.”
Pancho Alvarez –
“One distinct memory that comes to me is when he was racing on the East Coast of Florida, and he was racing Frank Riddle. And they were see-sawing back and forth and I said, I remember this guy when he was just a kid, and was hanging around with my kids. And I said, look at this. And he won the race finally. He just persevered, beating Frank Riddle. I think Frank Riddle had just won the Little 500.”Randy Alvarez –
“In Gibsonton, he was an idol. He raced for a living. He had his speed shop. I’d go there after work, and help them, building torsion arms and radius rods. He was the original Gambler dealer down here.1986 Little 500, Anderson Speedway, Anderson, IN, May 24, 1986
Robert had a compression fracture during the Nationals that year. He calls me, and he says, ‘Cuban, I don’t know if I can last this far or not. Why don’t you go ahead and be my relief driver?’ I was also going to be David’s relief driver, if he needed it. So, I was suited up, and we were over there on the number three turn. All of a sudden, a guy blew an engine in front of Robert, and he hit the wall in the middle of the one and two turns. The rear end turned around and popped up, and he didn’t have a bladder in the tank. And that car just went up in flames. We took off in a run from the number three turn and they had it on ESPN, and you can see me in my orange uniform running to the number two turn. And when we got there, Robert asked me, ‘did you pull me out of the car?’ No. You got out of the car by yourself. I pulled you out of the fire. He made it to the left rear tire. And I grabbed him, and yanked him off the tire, and pulled him into the infield.The ambulance was there, and they took his uniform down. Well, he had these second and third degree burns all over him, especially on the back of his legs. He had gotten that far out of the car, but he couldn’t get any further. I was so close to the fire that it singed my eyebrows and the front of my hair. That’s how hot it was. I did get burned a little bit. It was like a sunburn-type burn. When he got to the left rear tire, I grabbed him and yanked him off the car. About four months ago, he asked me if I pulled him out of the car. I said no, you got out on your own. I got you out of the fire. He was maybe three-quarters of the way out of the car. He made it to where his ass was hitting the left rear tire. I grabbed him and snatched him the rest of the way. They were there quick. This happened within seconds. That was my best friend. I wasn’t going to let him die.”
Robert smokes the rear tire on the dirt, from Robert Smith Collection
Conclusion –
I did have the opportunity to interview Robert Smith on Saturday, July 26, 2014. He died just 4 weeks later, on Saturday, August 23, 2014. I had never been to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, just outside Tampa. Robert suggested that we meet there, and have lunch at the sandwich shop. I found that I had parked in the wrong garage for the Casino, and had managed to walk toward the Smoke Shop, which had no direct walkway over to the Hotel and Casino. My cell phone rang, and it was Robert. “No problem. I’ll be right over there, and pick you up,” he told me. Robert had just been discharged from Tampa General Hospital the prior day. I was concerned about the stress of an in-depth interview, but Robert insisted that he wanted to meet that day. He bragged that his weight had dropped from 263 pounds down to 239 pounds, and that he was feeling good.We did squeeze his life story and racing career into an eighty two minute interview over lunch that day. I asked Robert if he had any regrets about living that lifestyle of a racer, with having to endure the risk, the danger, and the pain of his injuries. “No regrets. None whatsoever,” he told me. “I wouldn’t change it for nothin’.”
The video from the Florida Open Wheel channel, “Remembering Robert Smith” is here (highlights of Robert’s racing career are also listed in the video description):
Don Rehm Interview – Winging Into the Second Half of 2014
By Richard Golardi
The Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series has had a satisfactory season this year, according to owner and founder Don Rehm. Just don’t look for them to join the Florida non-wing sprint car racing resurgence anytime soon. They are definitely keeping the wings on for the foreseeable future. The series is also considering a rule change requiring a driver to remain in his car until released by track safety personnel. It may resemble the most recent rule change adopted by NASCAR, but the penalty for violating the rule change is still under consideration. An incident in the most recent Florida sprint car race, at Desoto Speedway last weekend, did see a driver exit his car to express anger toward another driver. This occurred before the track’s safety crew arrived at the place where the cars were stopped in turn two.
Don Rehm at Volusia Speedway
Don Rehm did have recent knee surgery, and told me that he is up and walking around, and no longer using a walker. He is getting around by using a cane, and intends to be at East Bay Raceway Park on both Friday and Saturday for sprint car practice and racing. The next Top Gun Series event will be at Bubba Raceway Park on August 30th, the first series visit to Ocala since May. “I’m doing extremely well,” he told me. He was looking forward to getting out of his house, and becoming more mobile.
How has the 2014 Top Gun Sprint Series season gone so far, I asked? “I’m very pleased with it,” he replied. “For whatever reason, it seems like it always starts out slow, and car counts are down a little bit, and then the car counts pick up. We’ve had good races, and I’m really pleased with the turnout, and the amount of cars that we have, and everything else. I don’t really have anything negative to say about it.” There were two summer races at Bubba Raceway Park that were cancelled, but you are back there next week, and have more races in the coming months. Is there still a good relationship with that track and the track owner? “Oh, absolutely. The reason that the races were either changed or cancelled was because there was a conflict with some other traveling series. They asked me if we could drop a race. At the beginning of the year, they actually asked for more races than I felt like we needed to have there anyway. It’s kind of worked out to everybody’s satisfaction. There was no problem as far as the relationship with them.”
Top Gun sprint cars at East Bay
The series does not have a minimum age limit for drivers, and has seen 12 year old Tyler Clem race with the series earlier this year, when he was 11 years old. Don Rehm informed me that they make a judgment call, based on their own observations, and then decide whether to allow a younger driver to compete. “Right now, we do it on a case-by-case experience,” Rehm said. Clem has driven at both Bubba Raceway Park and Volusia Speedway Park, as they do not have a minimum age for drivers. He has not competed at East Bay Raceway Park, as Rehm has informed me that East Bay’s insurance carrier has required that all racers be at least 16 years old for sprint car competition. Rehm has spoken to the track’s insurance carrier, and they are unwilling to waive the age minimum for any driver. Tyler is still eligible to race at the remaining Bubba Raceway Park and Volusia races this year. His father is his car owner, and also an owner of Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala. Recently, Bubba Clem has been vocal about his support for Tony Stewart, who is a close friend.
The series has had a good safety record this year, without any serious injuries to its drivers. There have been some more serious wrecks, including some at Volusia Speedway Park, the track with the highest speeds. “You know – they get banged up. But as far as injuries – no. We haven’t had any injuries that would hospitalize them, as far as I know,” Don Rehm said. In the June race at Volusia, Bryan Eckley got together with another car and flipped violently down the front stretch, but escaped uninjured. “He got banged up pretty good. That’s probably the most severe. Last time we were there, AJ (Maddox) took a pretty good tumble also. But, in talking to both of them, they were sore and stiff, but no injuries per se.”
Is there any rule right now concerning getting out of the car while on the track prior to safety personnel getting there? “We are working on an amendment or an addendum to the rule. It’s very easy to say you can’t do this, but what happens if you do it? That’s where we’re trying to come up with something that’s the correct answer for that. You say – OK, you’re disqualified for the night. Well, if you’ve crashed, you aren’t going to come back and race anyway. We’ve got to derive something that will address that part of the situation. As far as getting out of the race car, that’s easy to state and write a rule to do that. It needs to be a fairly severe penalty, I feel.” The current Top Gun Rule Book does not have a penalty for getting out of the car on track prior to safety crews arriving at the scene.
What are you looking forward to the most in the remaining competition this year? “Good, even competition amongst the members and good car counts at the race tracks. Having good car counts leads into the next year and what race tracks want from you as far as number of shows. There’s some things that we’re looking at, maybe go out of state next year. Maybe once, maybe twice. I’ve had an out of state race track contact me. Right now, that’s about all I can say about it. Like I told the gentleman that owned the race track, I only get one chance to make an impression on him. So, I want to go and make a good impression. So, I need to have good car count. That’s the biggest thing, getting participants to travel and participate. He wanted to have a show this year. I told him we had all the shows that we could justify at that time. He asked if he could be considered and put on the list for next year.”
Rehm feels that dirt sprint car racing is on an upswing in Florida. There are a number of new cars, and he mentioned some cars that showed up in mid-season that had slowly gotten assembled. There were also cars that hadn’t been at the track in a while that had recently returned to competition. What about the resurgence of non-wing sprint car racing in Florida? Is it possible that non-wing racing may return to the dirt with Top Gun? “At the present time, no.” The last time I had asked about non-wing races in the Top Gun Series, it was the drivers and car owners that objected to it. Is that still the same? “Well, exactly. That’s still the main opposition that in the past when we tried to do it, they all told us they would be there, and when it came time to race, it was, ‘oh, I don’t want to do that, all it does is tear up race cars.’ We try to put together what people want, and it don’t always work out that way.”
Rehm told me that the Eagle Jet International is on board again as the series title sponsor next year. They have also agreed that if another potential series title sponsor comes along that is offering a bigger sponsor package to the series, then Eagle Jet will be satisfied with being a presenting sponsor. Right now, they are the intended series title sponsor in 2015. “Don’t stop taking on sponsorship, is what he said,” according to Don Rehm. Top Gun seems fortunate to have Eagle Jet International as a very dedicated sponsor during a time when sponsor dollars are in short supply.
Thunderstruck – Disqualifications Strike Again in Pavement Racing
By Richard Golardi
At Desoto Speedway on Saturday for the non-wing sprint car race, another round of disqualifications removed two of the top three finishers from the final feature race order. The second place car of Mickey Kempgens was disqualified because of the angle of the cylinder heads. The third place finish of Collin Cabre, in his first race in the Jimmy Alvis owned #21 car, was wiped out because of the right rear wheel offset (Source – Desoto Speedway race official). After an extraordinarily long post-race tech inspection, which involved track owner Jimmy Cope being called to the tech area, the measurements of cylinder head angles allowed Shane Butler to retain his feature race win. I next witnessed a race official call out “twenty one point six”, after making a measurement on the #5 car of Kempgens. He would not retain his second place finish.
Feature Race Winner Shane Butler
With the cars of Kempgens and Cabre now disqualified, second and third place in the finishing order now went to the #88 car of Sport Allen, and the #19 car of Keith Butler. These cars had been in the inspection line at the tech shed, and had been released and left the area. I had asked about the method used to inspect the American Racer tires (now required on all four corners), and was told that the durometer measurement was done prior to the race, when the tires were cold. I was also informed that the tires were dismounted and inspected after the race, for those cars at the inspection shed. This procedure was in contrast to the method used at Citrus County Speedway, and by the TBARA, which had both done post-race durometer measurements. Both Citrus and the TBARA had 2014 feature race winners that were disqualified for tire prepping (Citrus) and failing the tire hardness test (TBARA).
Collin Cabre
With the cars of Allen and Keith Butler now moved into the top three in the order, would they be recalled to the tech area to have their cylinder head angle measured? The car of Sport Allen remained at the track, and was available to be inspected. Keith Butler’s team had left. I was told that the reason for the inspection of the #88 car of Sport Allen was because other car owners and teams had protested and requested this inspection. This was the third car that I had observed having the angle of the cylinder heads measured.
The rule being followed was from the TBARA rule book, after a previous verbal statement from Desoto Speedway that they would incorporate the TBARA rule book into their track rules. From 2014 TBARA Rule Book, Revised January 4, 2014: “No heads other than original twenty-three (23) degree valve angle heads are allowed. All heads must remain within one (1) degree of twenty three (23) degree valve angle heads. This rule pertains to small block Chevy; however, any engine may be used after approval of the TBARA.” At a stated 21.6 degrees, and using tenths of a degree, this was the reason given by the speedway race official for the disqualification of the #5 car, which crossed the finish line in second place.
Feature Race Pace Lap at Desoto
I have learned that there will be a request for a vote of the members at next week’s TBARA series race at New Smyrna Speedway to change to a “no punch rule”, and eliminate the use of the durometer. I do not know if there will be a vote to eliminate the post-race durometer test, and instead have only a pre-race durometer test. This procedure resulting in no DQs for failing the tire hardness rule at the last Desoto Speedway non-wing race. It seems likely that one of these two alternatives will be chosen by the members at next week’s race, as the tire hardness rule has brought a lot of frayed nerves and discontent. In prior years, when Hoosier Tires were used, there was not a corresponding high level of DQs and disgruntlement. This year is the first year with widespread use of American Racer tires in Florida sprint car racing.
Why does pavement sprint car racing in Florida have such a high number of DQs for various reasons (many relating to tires), when other pavement series (mainly in the Midwest) do not have a similar dilemma? The Midwest-based Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series has not had a similar rash of DQs, and has also used American Racer tires this year. The Little 500 was another stellar show, and attracted a star-studded field of short-trackers this year, without DQs. The fans knew who won the race when they left the track, and it was the same driver who sprayed the champagne and raised the trophy in Victory Lane. Florida sprint car racing fans deserve the same, as do all the car owners, drivers, crew and sponsors.
The videos from the Desoto Speedway Non-wing Sprint Car race are on the Florida Open Wheel channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSdPdgmUo6WfkfR6Eo__QBA
The Life of a Florida Sprint Car
By Richard Golardi
The setting sun lights up the sky with shades of pink and orange as Richie Corr wheels his winged sprint car out on the track at Citrus County Speedway. The # 14 pavement sprint car has the Hurricane logo, known as the most popular chassis make in the Sunshine State. The fun-loving Corr has chosen the team name Blue Balls Motorsports after painting the car with a blue and black color scheme. His racing comeback this year, after thirteen years out of the driver’s seat, has seen a best feature race finish of third place in a non-wing race. He also has struggled to make repairs after several mechanical failures. On this night at the TBARA mid-summer race in Inverness, FL, he would drop out late after another failure, a broken lifter and rocker arm.
1985 Gambler dirt sprint car- original version of car
His car has not always been blue, and did not look like the current Hurricane chassis in its prior reincarnations. It was a blue #17 dirt car at one time, and raced on Florida’s dirt tracks. The car owner was James Donaldson, father of current car owner/driver Todd Donaldson. The list of drivers to drive the car on Florida’s dirt and pavement tracks includes the names Todd Donaldson, Todd Schmidt, Tommy Nichols, and Richie Corr over its thirty year life. It started life as a 1985 Gambler dirt car raced at East Bay Raceway Park, with the Donaldson family. When they tired of running on dirt, it was converted to a pavement car, to run in TBARA series races in Florida. It stayed in this iteration for about 15 years, racing on pavement tracks such as Sunshine Speedway, Desoto Speedway and Orlando Speedworld until 2010.
After the car had been unused for about a year, Corr bought it from his uncle, James Donaldson at the end of 2012. “When I bought it, it was in bad shape, after sitting for about a year,” Richie Corr told me. It still had the low, sloping wedge-shaped front end, a style that was popular with car builders in the 80s and 90s. The car had a TBARA win at Lake City, and numerous other top three finishes. Corr had driven the car twice during this time, for car owner Donaldson.
The car began its life as a blue #17 Gambler dirt car, before being converted over to the red #17 pavement car with the wedge shaped front body work. Today, the car has 2013 Hurricane chassis updates, and looks very much like all the other Hurricane labeled cars that it races against. “The updates were done by Jerry Stuckey, right here in Lecanto, Florida – builds all the good race cars,” Corr remarked. Why was it changed to the wedge-shaped type car from the Gambler dirt chassis? “My uncle (James Donaldson) is old school, he’s an older guy. He likes the look of the old sprint cars, the cars driven by Frank Riddle and the old school guys. The whole deal with the car is that it’s been in the family for almost thirty years. My uncle owned it, my cousin Todd owned it, and now I own it. It’s never going anywhere. That car’s going to be around for a long, long time,” Corr said proudly.
Pavement sprint car - second version of the car
Corr wanted the car to look new, with an updated appearance. It was taken to Jerry Stuckey, car builder at Hurricane Race Cars. “I told him that I want it to look like the brand new Hurricane. Do the body, whatever you’ve got to cut off the chassis to do the updates, do it. Spare no expense. It has been ‘Hurricanized’,” according to Richie. He explained that the updating makes it handle better, and improves the aerodynamics. It’s safer and more stable. Corr believes the car has the potential to be a front-runner, with or without wings. “Since I’ve owned that car, if it hasn’t broke, with every non-wing race in that car, I haven’t finished less than fifth place. It’s a really good non-wing car.”
The team operates on a small budget, with a small crew made up mostly of family and friends. Long term goals include adding sponsors to assure the team can continue racing. The business that Corr owns and operates is listed as a sponsor on the car now, which is RDC Restorations. “We want to keep making improvements, and eventually bringing that thing into Victory Lane.” What about the driver, I asked? Is he as skilled as he was in prior years? “I took about a thirteen year hiatus from racing. February 1st this year was my first race back since November or December of 2000. It goes to show you that you can just wipe the rust off, and keep on trucking. I’m about the same weight that I was whenever I raced the last time, but the 30 lap and the 40 lap races – they’ll get to you. We wear the fireproof underwear and the Sparco three-layer suits, and man, it’s brutal,” he said, talking about racing in Florida during the summer heat.
The car rebuilt at Hurricane Race Car shop in May 2013
Richie Corr feels that the car performance has improved over the years, and that it is now a consistent top five car. It did previously have a small number of wins as both a Gambler dirt car and as a pavement car. Corr did have a chance to drive in the Must See Racing Series during the April races in Pensacola and Mobile, driving Johnny Gilbertson’s #15 car. He does want to consider races outside of Florida, in addition to winged and non-wing races in Florida. “After we work a few more of the bugs out, we’d like to travel. So that is my goal for April of next year – if we have a good enough motor. They will let you run the 360s with the 410s for car count. I have another car that I am building that is strictly for big tracks – like New Smyrna and Bradenton,” he said, jokingly calling the project “top secret” after revealing some details to me. A photo had also “leaked online”, showing a car-sized object hidden under a tarp. “It’s big enough to go 410, and if I could find a 410 for that car, I will take it to Pensacola and Mobile next year.”
Completed car 29 years later - 2014 version driven by Richie Corr
“If I start jogging, and trying to get in shape now, I could probably finish that race,” he said, when asked about trying the Little 500. “But Rich, I bet you I couldn’t go seventy laps right now. If I had to go seventy laps right now, I would need oxygen and a paramedic. I’m in shape, but I ain’t in no kind of endurance shape to go run 500 laps, I can guarantee you that. Those guys that go run the Little 500 – they are machines.”
“This beautiful race car has been involved in the Florida racing scene for thirty years, and I hope that it has another thirty years. Because my stepson (Justin) is fifteen, and within the next year, we’ve got a car at the house that we’re putting together for him. We’re going to do non-wing only, at first, when he turns sixteen. So, my stepson can carry on this family tradition of this particular car that we all love so much. Maybe his kids one day can have this car around when you and I are seventy years old,” Richie said, looking over to a blue winged sprint car, sitting quietly after the night’s task was done. He had a look of contentment on his face, and smiled.
Odds and Ends – Of the Dirt and Pavement Variety
By Richard Golardi
Only one Floridian is listed on the pre-entries for the Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa this week - car # 71A of RJ Johnson, hailing from Tampa, FL. His qualifying night is Wednesday night on the half mile dirt track. His ultimate goal will be to make it to the final night’s feature race, this coming Saturday. In comparison, in this year’s Little 500 in Anderson, Indiana (a race considered by many to be the year’s biggest pavement sprint car race), there were four Floridians among the 33 qualifiers. Granted, it appears to be an easier task to qualify for the Little 500, as this year saw 34 cars attempt to qualify. The list of pre-entries on the Knoxville Nationals race website shows 108 cars attempting to advance through Wednesday and Thursday qualifying rounds.
Why are there so many Floridians that make it to the top level of pavement sprint car racing in the US, but so few dirt sprint car racers that make it to the top level? You may consider the World of Outlaws, All Star Circuit of Champions, ASCS and USCS in this group. They all lack any significant number of drivers who list a town in Florida as their home town. The height of domination for the pavement sprint car drivers from Florida was reached in the mid-‘80s, when forty percent of the Little 500 starting field was composed of Floridians, and Floridians won the 500 from ’84 through ’86. There are Floridians who have seen success on dirt outside of Florida. Kenny Adams has over 100 wins on both dirt and pavement with the USCS Series.
Collin Cabre
I have learned that Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprint Series founder and owner Don Rehm is recovering from knee surgery done earlier today. I will follow up with Don next week, to do a mid-year interview as the dirt sprint car series moves into the second half of its 2014 season. Don has told me that he currently plans to be at the next scheduled Top Gun race at Bubba Raceway Park on August 30th, as long as he is fit. Dirt sprint car racing does have one other major event during the month of August. Coming up at East Bay Raceway Park on August 23rd is the Bob Long Memorial Race for the East Bay Sprints series.
I was pleased to see Chase Cabre dive back into the video production business last weekend, producing a YouTube video of the most recent Citrus County Speedway Sprints race from Saturday, August 2nd. Chase has been diligently studying video production, and it showed in his smartly stylish video, with graphics and voiceover that he produced. He even risked the Citrus front straight camera stand, with its rotting plywood under foot. I jokingly told him that he would only fall about six or seven feet if the plywood gave way, to a lower level building’s roof. I still have hopes that we’ll see an upcoming TBARA or dirt race from Florida on the MAVTV program schedule in the near future. Hopefully this will happen before the Citrus camera stand plywood gives out and causes a “crash on Saturday, wake up on Monday” moment.
I spoke to Florida’s own legendary photographer Max Dolder earlier today, who is in Knoxville for his 35th year of photographing the Knoxville Nationals. He has a family reunion to go to this week, so he is not attending all of the nights of the nationals from Wednesday through Saturday. As of today, he will be at the track on Thursday and Friday. He had already covered the 360 Nationals, and said he had not spoken to RJ Johnson, the lone racer from Florida, but had spoken to his father. I’m looking forward to seeing some of Max’s work at Knoxville later in the week.
I have confirmed that Collin Cabre will be in the Jimmy Alvis owned black #21 car for two pavement races in August. The Collin Cabre Motorsports team had previously sent out a teaser photo of Collin’s seat sitting in the car, with no car number visible. Collin had been running a limited schedule of both dirt and pavement sprint car races so far this year. The family owned #12 dirt car had run in Georgia recently, and Collin raced on pavement at Anderson Speedway early this season. The first of two confirmed pavement races is next week at Desoto Speedway for the track’s own non-wing sprint series (8/16). Then it’s on to Atlanta Motor Speedway’s short track for the Friday, August 29th USCS Road to Atlanta season-ending race for the series that calls the Deep South home. The #21 team apparently has no plans to enter any TBARA or Citrus County Sprints races, and may limit its late season racing to Desoto and Showtime Speedway.
A late model race at New Smyrna Speedway last Saturday night was won by a dirt sprint car driver from Australia named Will Carroll. He is in the states from March to December this year racing the red #81 pavement late model car. As he autographed and handed out a glossy magazine spread showing him in his sprint car on the dirt in Australia, he told me of the tracks that he raced down under. Rex Hollinger and I got to speak to him for a few minutes while he waited for the command for the drivers to go to their cars. Carroll made a daring late race pass for the lead on the half mile track, and looked smooth all night long. He also remarked that he was looking for any available seats in a dirt sprint car in Florida, and wanted to get in some dirt racing in Florida this year.
On sad note, I have learned that Joe Renna, the father of the late IndyCar racer Tony Renna, passed away in DeBary in July. Joe was 74 years old, and was a friend of legendary Florida racer Ralph Liguori. Tony Renna was killed in an IndyCar practice crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October 2003, shortly after being added to the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver lineup. He seemed destined to be the first American driver from Florida to win the Indy 500, an honor that went to Ryan Hunter-Reay earlier this year.
The feature race video from the Geared Up Productions YouTube channel is here (Citrus County Speedway Sprint Series from 8-2-2014):
The Wild World of Pavement Sprint Car Racing – Tires and Testing
By Richard Golardi
The term durometer is often used to refer to the measurement of a hardness of a material, as well as the instrument itself. The basic hardness test requires applying the force in a consistent manner, without shock, and measuring the hardness. The tire durometer used at tracks in Florida is a small, hand-held mechanical device. Many consider it to be a reliable tool for measuring the relative hardness of racing tires. It may help a team decide when to replace a used tire. The device is rolled over the surface of the tire until it is flat, and a reading is taken immediately. Temperature can play a part in tire hardness. A higher temperature equals softer rubber. And softer rubber can create a problem for a pavement sprint car racer in Florida.
Feature race winner Tommy Nichols
In June, Jimmy Alvis pulled into Victory Lane and was interviewed as the winner of the Citrus County Speedway Sprint Series race in Inverness (race date 6-7-2014). In July, Mickey Kempgens pulled into Victory Lane and was interviewed as the winner of the Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series race, again at Citrus County Speedway (race date 7-26-2014). Both smiled for the cameras, and held a checkered flag or trophy in their hand. Neither of the drivers is listed as the feature race winner in the official results. After completion of post-race tech inspection, their cars were disqualified. Car # 21 of Jimmy Alvis was disqualified for tire preparation, or "tire-softening", as it was called by an official. Car #5 of Mickey Kempgens was disqualified because it failed the tire hardness test (as was told to me by TBARA officials.)
Spin in turn four from the 16 car of Ben Fritz
“No prepping – that’s my rule,” Citrus County Speedway promoter Gary Laplant told me earlier this year. “They wanted rules – strict rules,” he added. TBARA officials used a tire durometer to measure tire hardness after the completion of the feature race, and those cars that were outside of the prescribed guidelines were disqualified. Car #5 (Kempgens) and car #92 (Dave Retzlaff) were disqualified because they failed a tire hardness test (done by TBARA officials). I was also told that many cars had tires that failed the tire hardness test earlier in the day, during the height of the midday sun. The high temperature that day in Inverness was 91 degrees.
Sunset at Citrus County Speedway
Does the disqualification of a race winner result in confusion and dissatisfaction for the race fan – the “end customer” for Florida sprint car racing? Is the race tire manufacturer (American Racer Tires) able to guarantee uniformity in its tires sent to Florida such that they will not fail a tire hardness test after 30 laps in the Florida summer sun? The most recent feature race at Citrus County Speedway pushed off under the setting sun, and began with the last rays of the setting sun visible over the second turn wall. That meant that the track surface still retained a great deal of heat from the sun and air temperatures in excess of 90 degrees. Lastly, will the teams continue to race in those series and at those venues if they are dissatisfied with the current rules and tire testing procedures? The Doug Kenny owned #5 team was originally scored in first place and given the trophy on Saturday. The car was acquired so that it may be raced as a winged car in Florida. All of the remaining winged pavement sprint car races in Florida this year are TBARA sanctioned events, save for one race at Showtime Speedway in December.
Is it possible that one or more teams that were disqualified did not use tire softening agents on their tires? I did not survey all of the competitors that were disqualified, but one of these teams insisted that they did not do any tire prep or tire softening, and were still disqualified at the June race. If the teams are dissatisfied and withdraw from racing, then will the fans return in sufficient numbers to maintain the new found interest in sprint car racing in Florida? Two of the best attended races last year (not involving a national series) came after mid-October, at Citrus County Speedway in October, and also at New Smyrna Speedway in November. The answer to this question may involve checking back later in the year.
Mickey Kempgens with new graphics on car
Many have offered their opinions and recommended solutions to assist in reducing the number of disqualifications, and keeping the racing fair and unbiased. I offer a sampling of those opinions here, without an attempt to reveal the identity of the person making the comment:
• Submitted a rule change last week to get voted on at our next race to have no punch rule (referring to TBARA).
• It's concerning and a bit scary thinking you could lose a race because a durometer isn't used right or a tire did something different.
• Then let's all go back to Hoosiers and ban chemical prep and be done with it.
• Must buy tires the day of the race at the track.
• Speaking from a spectator point of view, you need to try and work out your differences. If you keep losing cars and end up with only a handful of cars showing for the races, the spectators will stop showing up too.
• Do away with durometer.
• That is the reason tracks and series have gone to the punch rule. They can't enforce the prep rule, so they allow the prepping, as long as the tires punch legally. I don't see a better way of enforcing it.
• My issue is the duro gauge. It's never been designed or endorsed as a tech tool because of its inconsistent results either by user or environment.
• There is too big of a grey area, Florida sprint car racing isn't strong enough to throw guys out for tires.A TBARA official later stated that all of the top five cars were initially checked well after the feature was complete. Three of those cars passed the durometer test, and two others did not. He added that all five were initially checked within a two minute window, and that the winning car did not pass. Upon the disqualification of the #5 car, the feature race win went to Tommy Nichols. It was his second TBARA feature race win within the past twelve months. Nichols was challenged by Shane Butler for the race win on the last restart with one lap remaining, but held him off by one car length. After the race concluded, Nichols remarked to Butler, “I knew you were coming!”
The videos from the Citrus County Speedway TBARA race are on the Florida Open Wheel channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSdPdgmUo6WfkfR6Eo__QBA
The Night of the Rookies
By Richard Golardi
Blake Rose, Chad Freeman, Kyle Bookmiller, Todd Blevins, Curtis Neumann, Jason Kimball and Herb Neumann Jr. These are the names of some of the rookie sprint car racers that competed at the most recent Citrus County Speedway Sprint Series race earlier this month. The group raced at the pavement track in Inverness, FL in a non-wing race that was the fifth series race of the year at the Central Florida track. Two members of the group took home the second and fourth place positions behind feature race winner Mickey Kempgens. They were the father and son team of Herb Neumann Jr. and his son Curtis. The rookies’ performance, with two of the top four finishing positions, and three members of their group in the top ten, further solidified Florida’s position as a fertile training ground for future sprint car champions.
For some members of the group, like Chad Freeman and Todd Blevins, they had experience in multiple vintage sprint car racing events. For regular series competition, they were rookies. Blevins was competing in his first ever non-vintage sprint car race, and Chad Freeman was in the second race of his first year of non-vintage series competition. He had even towed his own vintage sprint car from his home in Kentucky to Florida for some winter season competition this year. Curtis Neumann was the other non-Floridian to make the trip to Inverness, traveling from his home in North Carolina.
2nd place finisher Herb Neumann Jr. and his son, 4th place finisher Curtis Neumann
The track itself is viewed as an ideal training ground for rookies, without high banks or high speeds, and with a rumble strip down on the apron as a reminder to keep four wheels on the track surface. Teenage racers Ty DeCaire and Garrett Green have also turned in impressive performances at the track this year, with DeCaire getting his first heat race win, and Green getting his first top three feature finish. Blake Rose had also been in the top ten finishing order. The Tampa Bay Area Racing Association has taken note of the activity at the track this year, and recently added two additional dates at the track for 2014. The first is next week on Saturday the 26th, and the second is a non-wing race on Friday, October 17th, the first non-wing race for the TBARA in decades.
The most impressive performance by a rookie this night was likely turned in by twenty six year old Curtis Neumann, with a fourth place finish in his first ever sprint car race. He had the good fortune to have a seat in a Butler Motorsports team car, a team which has one win at Citrus thus far this year. His father Herb, a prior Citrus County Speedway track champion, was added as a teammate to Shane Butler in a second team sprint car earlier this year. “I’ve always been a sprint car fan. This is always what I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid,” Curtis Neumann told me. “I moved to North Carolina, and I came down for a vacation. We had a family vacation planned, and it just worked out that there was a sprint car race tonight, so we scheduled it to give me some seat time. Kind of fulfill a longtime dream of mine. I grew up racing here, starting when I was fourteen in the hobby stock class. Moved up to the modifieds, and traveled all over the state.” Curtis raced only on pavement, and continued to race while studying engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “I graduated and packed my stuff, and moved to North Carolina to get a job and be a part of the NASCAR deal. I’ve got a late model stock up there that I race. That’s been fun – way different than Florida racing.” Curtis had just moved to Raleigh after living in Concord, North Carolina.
Curtis Neumann
“I’m a mechanical engineer, so I was an engineer for a racing company up there, Richardson Racing Products. We do the templates for the Cup cars, and Nationwide cars, and the trucks. We manufacture the templates, and we manufacture all the spoilers for the cars. I was the engineer there, and I worked with the engineers over at the NASCAR R&D Center. It was a lot of fun,” Curtis Neumann said. He had just a handful of practice laps in a sprint car before his first sprint car race earlier this month. “I’ve got a lot of time now, because I just moved to Raleigh after quitting my job to start my own business. I parked my late model up there, because I’ve got to put all my extra money into the business to get that going. I’m going to start with racing products, and branch off into other areas. Some might find their way into NASCAR.” Curtis said that he is single and has a girlfriend, and they are making plans to move to Raleigh, NC together.
Kyle Bookmiller is one of Keith Butler’s co-workers, and Keith was aware of Kyle’s success in modified racing in Florida. Keith, as the owner of KJ Motorsports, had a second sprint car available, and offered the seat to Kyle for the most recent race at Citrus on July 5th. The Wednesday prior to that date was the first time he had ever sat behind the wheel of a sprint car, and his first laps came on race day during practice. “It’s something that I’ve got to get used to. The power is a lot more instant compared to my modified that I normally drive. We’ll get used to it as the night goes,” Kyle remarked. He had started racing go karts at age twelve, and then moved up to open wheel modifieds in 2005, and had been in that division for the past nine years, racing mainly at Showtime Speedway and Desoto Speedway. He is twenty nine years old, and is looking at getting his son into a go kart soon. He works at Ring Power Corporation, a Caterpillar equipment dealer in Riverview, during the week.
Kyle Bookmiller in the 99 KJ Motorsports car
“Make all the laps, and stay out of the way.” For Kyle Bookmiller, that was his stated goal for the night. He unfortunately found himself out of the feature race on the second lap. “A disappointing end to last night with the sprint car. Had a blast while it lasted! I was on the outside trying to pass another car when he moved up, and I wheel hopped him and hit the wall. The car needs lots of work,” Kyle reported after his race night ended early. He will still be racing his modified this year. “Modified comes first,” he added, calling it his primary car. He was the modified champion at Citrus County Speedway in 2006.
“Troy (Thompson) got hurt this week with his back. He pinched a nerve, and I work on some of his road race cars, so he came to me and asked if I would drive,” Todd Blevins told me. “I ran antiques (referring to vintage sprint car races). My grandfather has been around since back in the beach days. I traveled around with him. He announced last night that this is his last rodeo. His name is Russ Blevins. He has a 1950’s CRA sprint car that he ran with DAARA. Open Wheel Magazine is building one, to bring back the Ranger airplane motor, which my grandfather sold to them. It is the last one in existence that is actually running and racing.” Todd spoke about his first race at age four, when Stan Butler took him and Keith go kart racing. He has been friends with the Butler family since that time. The thirty eight year old racer has a fabrication shop in Pinellas Park with business partner Dan Partelo. Is it possible that we may see you in Troy’s #15 car again, if Troy’s back is not healed? “I hope he calls me,” was Todd’s reply.
Todd Blevins
“I’ve been in stock cars, and Keith and Shane have been in open wheel. I ran all over. I’ve been up in the Carolinas. I drove for Petty, I did test driving for Ganassi. I’ve been in the Cup, trucks, USAR Hooters series, all that. If it’s a stock car, I’ve driven it,” Todd Blevins proclaimed. “Open wheel, short of the vintage, this will be my first hurrah. It is a blast. It’s awesome. If any racer has never experienced this rush, they need to experience it, because there’s nothing like it. The equivalent to it is strapping a rocket to a skate board. It’s unbelievable. I can’t explain it any more than that.” So, it sounds like you are having fun so far? “Oh, I’m having a blast,” Blevins responded. With that said he pulled on his driving gloves and helmet and headed out for more of his inaugural tour of modern sprint car racing competition.
Our video of the week from the Florida Open Wheel channel comes from 2014 Speedweeks in the form of a video compilation of sprint car racing at Bubba Raceway Park:
The following video is from the GoPro camera mounted on the car of Mickey Kempgens during his most recent feature win this month at Citrus County Speedway:
New Sprint Car Team Takes Win in First Pavement Race
By Richard Golardi
It was a “Night of the Rookies” at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, FL on Saturday. Several sprint car rookies were making their first ever start in a sprint car, and others were making their first or second start in a non-vintage sprint car race. But the winner’s trophy belonged to a veteran driver, making his first start with a brand new team. The new team, with Doug Kenny as the car owner, was now in possession of the car that Mickey Kempgens had driven to a tenth place finish in the Little 500 in May. The car even carried a motor with Miller Motorsports engraved into the surface. Miller Motorsports was a team that had raced this car in Florida as the black and green #78 winged sprint car. Mickey Kempgens had even driven the car to victories in Florida. Now a black #5, the car looked similar to the Lee Cipray owned black car that Mickey had driven to wins at Citrus and Showtime Speedway this year.
Mickey Kempgens
After transporting the car and motor back to Florida from the Sam Pierce Racing shop in Indiana, the old stickers were removed, new numbers added, and the car was prepared to race. The 360 motor was not even used while in Indiana, due to the lack of Midwest race series using these motors. The team had legendary car owner George Rudolph in their pits, reuniting the group that had raced together at the Little 500 just six weeks ago. The group included Ted Kempgens, who is Mickey’s father. In his March race win at the track, Kempgens had lapped the field up to third place, and had a half lap lead on the second place car. This time, his team did not dominate the 30-lap feature race, despite taking the win in their first race together. It was the second win for Kempgens in the new Citrus County Speedway monthly sprint car series. He had moved into the top five by the end of the first lap, and used the latter stages of the race to pick off the remaining cars ahead of him to finally take the lead on lap 26. At the finish line, the second place car of Herb Neumann Jr. was only about five feet off his rear bumper.
Mickey Kempgens and Doug Kenny in Citrus Winners Circle
This non-wing Citrus County Speedway Sprint Series, running their fifth race of the year on the 3/8 mile asphalt, had their first race with an entry list with fewer than 20 cars. The series’ success had even motivated Desoto Speedway and TBARA to add non-wing sprint car racing to their 2014 schedules. The controversy surrounding tire soaking which lead to three disqualifications from the last race in June did not reoccur. None of the three teams returned for this race. I was told that the tests that were done in June were within the purview of the officials to find any tires that had been prepped or soaked.
Chad Freeman, making the trip from Kentucky, entered his second sprint car race in a non-vintage racing series. Freeman has many miles of sprint car racing in vintage racing series, the most recent with the DAARA Vintage Oval Track Nationals in Auburndale. He was racing a second Rick Venema owned car this weekend, and had also brought his family to Florida for a summer vacation. The other Rick Venema owned car, with Geoff Styner behind the wheel, had its best finish of the year at Citrus with sixth place.
With a win in his first race as a sprint car team owner, Doug Kenny told me that he was not new to working with and racing with the Kempgens family. “I’ve been working closely with Teddy. I’ve known Teddy and Mickey – I’ve known Mickey since he was born. I’ve watched him race over the years. We used to run a truck together. Just in the last six months, I’ve been watching the sprint cars a little closer. This opportunity came along, and here we are. This car was up in Indiana. It’s a good, proven car. We know the car,” Doug Kenny told me. He also admitted that he was now following sprint car racing much more closely than he had in the past. The PCS Racing team name came from a company that he previously owned that was titled Precision Communication Services. The team had previously raced trucks and did some land speed racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats with a 1931 Ford Roadster. Kenny is retired after selling the company, but still keeps the racing enterprise alive.
“Mickey Kempgens is the driver, and we are primarily going to use it as a winged car,” he told me. The car may still be raced without wings, as occurred on Saturday night. The car’s main purpose will be as a winged car, as car owner Lee Cipray may still race his #5 car in more non-wing races for Mickey. Doug Kenny told me that he believes the car is suited to high speed tracks like New Smyrna Speedway, and also tracks with lower speeds. There are two winged TBARA races in Florida prior to Labor Day, and all the remaining Florida non-wing races this year are at Citrus County Speedway. Three Palms Speedway and the recently announced Sand Mountain Speedway in Fort Meade are two Florida pavement tracks planning to resume racing later this year, or in 2015.
Cars on back straight at Citrus County Speedway
Do you think that you are the envy of some of the other car owners by having such a talented pavement race driver like Mickey Kempgens? “Yeah, I know it. I’m very proud to have him. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have bought the car. You know – it’s the whole package,” Kenny told me. Are you going to run the rest of the TBARA races this year, to go for the championship? “We expect to, but I can’t say that for sure. We go week to week. But, I would say so – I mean that’s the plan.” With the team planning to enter this car in all winged sprint car races, does this make Mickey one of the favorites for the TBARA championship? “Good question. I’m not going to comment on that.” Will Mickey be in this car for any races up north this year, or in the Little 500 next year? “Yeah, we could easily do that,” Doug Kenny replied. “I don’t know what the future brings, but we are looking forward to it, so it should be fun.”
The feature race video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (Citrus County Speedway Sprint Cars from Inverness, FL on 7-5-2014):
East Bay Dirt and A Look at Florida’s Training Ground of Future Champions
By Richard Golardi
In the East Bay Sprints racing at East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday night, AJ Maddox and Billy Boyd had contact in the heat race and it resulted in AJ hitting the second turn wall. Later, AJ moved through the field into third place in the feature race, and was penalized for jumping a restart. AJ initially refused to go to the rear of the field. He was black-flagged. “I never had any intention on crashing Billy Boyd. Just wanted to race and put on a show,” AJ Maddox stated after the race.
AJ circled the track at slow speed for a short time and would not leave, despite efforts to convince him to leave the track, which he did a short time later. He did wave to the fans in the main stand, and was pleading for the fan support, but it was to no avail. He was disqualified from the feature race. Some fans did express their disappointment at seeing him work his way to the front, and not getting the chance to see AJ fight for the feature win.
Sam Rodriguez at Dirt Devils Speedway
Aileen Collins had her first top three finish in sprint car competition since making her full-time racing switch to sprint cars in 2014. It came in her heat race after a front row start on a dry dusty track. She later had an eighth place finish in a feature race that was won by 2013 East Bay Sprints driver champion Billy Boyd.
Rick Byerly, with father Dick Byerly in his pits, had a good night with a fourth place finish. The rest of the family team did not have equal luck, as DJ Peeples had engine trouble and was out of the feature.
Johnny Gilbertson looked like this could be the night to make his transition from mainly pavement to mainly dirt competitor complete after a heat race win. He was running close to the front in the feature race. When attempting to pass Collins low in the third turn, the resulting bump led to a flat left rear tire.
On a non-sprint car racing note, I had the pleasure to visit Dirt Devils Speedway in Land O’ Lakes. This is Florida racing legend Sam Rodriguez’s kart racing facility in a rural area west of I-75. The pits were crowded with young racers and their families, as the kart racing that takes place on the dirt one-fifth mile track is very much a family experience. There were several sprint car racing families that were present with the youngest racers in the family, including the DeCaire, Brazil and Bragg families. Terry DeCaire was present managing the racing activities, with grandson Ty DeCaire on the front stretch in the middle of the racing, getting the young racers positioned correctly.
Dirt Devils Speedway
The track seemed to have present and former sprint car racers everywhere that I turned, with present-day racer Ray Bragg II in the flag stand on this sweltering summer afternoon. Sam Rodriguez explained that the attendance was down slightly this week, due to an out-of-state event that drew away some of the local racers. The track regularly races on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. The racing that I witnessed was closely contested, and could be treacherous at times, as racers would sometimes spin out in the turns after losing traction with their slick tires. I got the distinct feeling that I could be witnessing several members of Florida’s next generation of winning sprint car drivers getting lessons in the basics of racing and car control.
Florida Teams Head North for the King of the Wing Races
By Richard Golardi
Two Florida racing teams are making preparations to head north next week for winged pavement sprint car competition in the Midwest. The teams are Butler Motorsports and driver Shane Butler, and also Team Green Racing and driver Garrett Green. Gary Green has confirmed that he and his son will be arriving next week, in preparation for the first ever race in the new King of the Wing sprint car series. Series founder Davey Hamilton, who originally announced the new series at the 2013 PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis, has designed the series to have two weeks of racing, with three races in each of the two weeks. The first week begins on Wednesday July 2nd at Toledo Speedway in Ohio, followed by races on July 4th (Winchester Speedway) and July 5th (Grundy County Speedway in Illinois). Toledo Speedway hosts “The Rollie Beale Classic” with drivers from across North America competing in a 40-lap feature race with a $25,000 purse. Then the series turns their attention to California for the second week of racing from November 21st to the 23rd.
Shane Butler and the 55 car
Shane Butler will be taking the red #55 car that he raced in the Little 500 in May, and has entered all three of the King of the Wing races with this car. This car has not been in competition in Florida, as the team has a stable of three cars, with the other two cars driven in 2014 by Shane, his father Stan Butler and also Herb Neumann Jr. “Two cars are going to Citrus and one car is going to Ohio next week,” Shane Butler said, referring to Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, which has a July 5th non-wing race scheduled. The #18 and #81 cars will be in competition in Florida on the same day that Shane will be in the #55 car in Illinois. Shane is hoping to improve on his result from the Little 500 in May, when the #55 car was out early in the race with brake trouble.
Team Green Racing owner Gary Green has informed me that he has entered the team’s #3 winged car for four races in four days in the Midwest next week. In addition to the three races in the King of the Wing series, there is another pavement race with the Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series on July 3rd in Michigan, at Auto City Speedway. This will be the first time that Garrett Green will turn laps at these four tracks. Both Winchester and Toledo are high speed half mile tracks, which is a track type that Garrett has raced on twice so far this year. Those two races were at Pensacola and Mobile, both in April with Must See Racing. The team had made some earlier plans to do more dirt racing this year, but the car intended for Garrett’s use on Florida dirt tracks was wrecked at Volusia Speedway Park earlier this month. I was told that the car was totaled, and will be replaced with another dirt sprint car.
Garrett Green and the 3 car
The team still plans to add more dirt track racing to its summer schedule, and East Bay Raceway Park, which is close to the team’s base of operations, has several more races this summer. The team may have a new dirt car during July. Green is also looking at more pavement races for fifteen year old Garrett (who turns sixteen later this summer), and is considering those events that will benefit the young racer and bring maximum media exposure. One of those events being considered is the Labor Day 200, a Must See Racing series race at Anderson Speedway on Saturday, August 30th. It was announced earlier today that a new television deal for the series will see the Labor Day 200 being aired in mid-October. The Little 500 is also one of the races to be included, and it will air in late July. Green is also considering making the trip to California in November, to enter the #3 car for Garrett in the second week of King of the Wing races in November.
Desoto Speedway Adds Its Name to the Pavement Sprint Car Mix
By Richard Golardi
Can Florida support additional pavement sprint car racing and additional tracks racing sprint cars? With the TBARA, Showtime Speedway and Citrus County Speedway having hosted pavement sprint car racing in 2014, Desoto Speedway was added to this list on Saturday night. It was the first race at the track without TBARA sanctioning since the most recent ownership change. A spate of driver penalties and disqualifications in Florida pavement racing events this year had drawn attention, and left some with dashed spirits and a sense of uneasiness. This continued on Saturday night at Desoto Speedway, as track management had apparently given two different officials the authority to oversee the post-race tech inspection of sprint cars. Despite the tense atmosphere, the ensuing tech inspection resulted in no penalties and no disqualifications (tires were examined closely by officials). Sport Allen was the winner of the non-wing sprint car feature race that night.
The 40-lap sprint car race was delayed by evening rain and lightning, and had fourteen starters. Two of the favorites, the #5 car of Mickey Kempgens and the #11 car of Joey Aguilar, had not raced at Citrus County Speedway the prior weekend. The track hoped to attract a larger field of cars by offering a larger purse, with a first place prize of $1,700 offered to the sprint car winner. A super late model race that night was offering a $3,000 first place prize. With numerous car owners having previously committed to running the full season at Citrus County Speedway, it was unlikely that Desoto could match the front-running car count numbers at Citrus. The race itself was entertaining, with Sport Allen, Kempgens and Aguilar grouped tightly after seven laps were complete. It seemed certain that the race winner would be one of these three fast cars. With Allen’s win, his third on pavement this year, his 2014 sprint car win total was upped to four.
Sport Allen in Winners Circle
I have learned that Mickey Kempgens may soon have a new car for his use in Florida winged sprint car competition, in addition to the Lee Cipray owned #5 car that he will continue to race in non-wing competition. As of this date, Desoto Speedway has not announced a decision on scheduling further non-wing sprint car races this year. Showtime Speedway has canceled its summer races, presumably due to low car counts (one sprint car race remains on Showtime’s schedule for December 6th). There are eight winged TBARA races remaining in 2014, with one additional non-wing race at Citrus in October. This could explain the team’s effort to find a car for Kempgens to race in winged competition in Florida. There are 6 non-wing races and 9 winged races remaining on pavement in Florida in 2014.
Aguilar and Allen seemed destined to add to their win totals in 2014, with Aguilar’s total at five feature wins this year. Aguilar said that the team is moving forward with plans to compete in USCS Road to Atlanta pavement races, but still needs additional sponsors to help pay for travel costs. The remaining series races are in Georgia and South Carolina. Sport Allen and car owner Taylor Andrews are moving forward with plans to continue their increased race activity, racing on both dirt and pavement. Andrews also has recently added more hardware to his race shop, buying three sprint cars from Dave Steele.
I asked Sport Allen to tell me about the feature race that night. How did it go, I asked? “Better than expected,” he said, laughing. “We’ve been trying to get some forward drive in this car for a while. We haven’t ever been able to make it too tight yet. We got a pretty good balance on it right there. I was able to still turn it and get under Joey, but not totally blow the tires off of it, if that makes any sense. We had no forward drive, but I had just enough. I was able to get by him, and then I saw on the scoreboard that Mickey was coming and I saw him poke his nose in there. I went and apologized to him because I thought I slammed the door on him once, but I wasn’t sure. I came to find out that I guess I had pulled out some distance from him eventually, but I didn’t know that at first. I didn’t want to slam the door on him, because I just didn’t want to drive like that.”
Sport Allen told me that they were lucky to race after the 75 lap late model race, as it put some rubber back on the track that was washed off in the early evening rain. He had gone back to the motor home during the rain delay, and was ready to take a nap. Upon finding out that the rain would not cancel the night’s feature race, he drank a 5-Hour Energy to make sure he was wide awake again. “Once we’re ready to push off, it’s different deal. I’m focused.” How much longer can you continue to win races on a frequent basis, as you have been doing for several months? “Hopefully forever, man,” he replied. “But that’s not realistic. I’m enjoying this as it’s happening because this has been a painful journey. We have had every goofy thing go wrong that could have, and it’s not for lack of nice equipment. We’ve done everything – it’s a top notch piece. Hopefully we’ve worked all the bugs out, and now we can concentrate on racing.”
Allen explained that the increased racing activity, and daily trips to the shop to work on the cars (I even saw him at the race shop on a Sunday afternoon), were contributing to his ability to win. “It’s a good thing I don’t have a garage under my house, because I would probably never sleep. If I get up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep, I’d be downstairs working on them,” he said, describing what could be either a racer’s nightmare or the ultimate dream home setup for a race car owner/driver.
“We’ve gotten a lot better on the pavement, both with the wing and without the wing,” Sport Allen told me. His last three wins, all on pavement, have included two non-wing feature wins. “I don’t know if that was a fluke deal on the dirt or not – that night at East Bay. We’ve got to get more dialed in on the dirt. We’re not running that much dirt. We’re running way more pavement than I’ve ever run. In years past I ran a ton of dirt, and very little pavement. Switching gears to the pavement, we’re getting more focused on the pavement. We may have let the dirt slip by us a little bit.”
Sport Allen is currently in 8th place on the All-Time Florida Sprint Car win list with 65 victories in Florida, 58 of which came on dirt surfaces (Source - 45 Years of Florida Sprint Car Racing, compiled by Bob Patten).
The feature race video from the Florida Open Wheel channel is here (Desoto Speedway Sprint Cars from Bradenton, FL on 6-14-2014):
http://youtu.be/CkeQ3KZjUB4
The Wild World of Pavement Sprint Car Racing – Florida Style
By Richard Golardi
Jimmy Alvis pulled into Victory Lane and was interviewed as the winner of the Citrus County Speedway Sprint Series race in Inverness on Saturday night. He smiled for the cameras as he held the checkered flag in his right hand. But he is not listed as the feature race winner in the official results. After completion of post-race tech inspection, cars # 21, 1X and 1 were disqualified for tire preparation, or "tire-softening", as it was called by an official (Jimmy Alvis, Brian Gingras, and Ty DeCaire cars). Feature winner Shane Butler was fined $250 for disorderly conduct in the tech area, but retained the first place finish and the winner’s share of the purse. Butler later stated that no punches were thrown, but a commotion caused a pair of glasses to be broken, and he paid for the cost to replace the glasses.
Another disqualification for the #79 car of Jason Kimball was later rescinded, as the promoter determined that Kimball did not go to the tech area immediately at end of race, but was not at fault as this was not mentioned as being required at the drivers meeting that day. (Source - Promoter Gary Laplant). Some have remarked that drivers were told over the radio that the top five were required to go to the front straight, but I have not confirmed this. Kimball was awarded fourth place in the final order instead of second place (where he originally stood when 2 of the 3 cars ahead of him were disqualified).
“No prepping – that’s my rule,” promoter Gary Laplant told me. “This is the third race where we have enforced the rule of no tire prepping. They wanted rules – strict rules; and they wanted payouts that were guaranteed,” he added.
The order in which the cars passed under the checkered flag were as follows: 21 (Alvis), 18 (S. Butler), 1 (DeCaire), 79 (Kimball), and 88 (Allen). The official results: Citrus County Speedway Sprint Cars Feature Race Results from Saturday 6/7/2014 (top ten positions):
Shane Butler Feature Race Winner
1) Shane Butler, 2) Sport Allen, 3) Dave Retzlaff, 4) Jason Kimball, 5) Herb Neumann Jr., 6) Keith Butler, 7) Terry Taylor, 8) Ric Voisey, 9) Steve Heisler, 10) Geoff Styner
A new car that debuted at Citrus County Speedway on Saturday night was the #1 DeCaire Motorsports car driven by Ty DeCaire, with sponsorship from St. Joseph's Hospital Federal Credit Union. I was told that it had a motor previously used in the #66 car driven by Ray Bragg II. The #1 car was found to have a broken rear panhard bar at the race’s conclusion, which may have been caused by the high contact style of racing seen in the early stages of the feature race. The race was less than ten seconds old when DeCaire’s head was thrown to the side violently from one collision. Later, he deftly avoided two cars spinning in the fourth turn, and continued on to take third place on track, a position later lost after a post-race inspection.
Geoff Styner, driving the #4 car owned by Rick Venema, had an incident in his heat race where he went over another car’s tire and did a single barrel roll coming out of the fourth turn. Styner had suffered a broken neck vertebra in a 2013 Desoto Speedway TQ midget crash, and returned to racing early this year. Fortunately, he was uninjured in this crash and the car suffered no major damage. The damage seemed to be confined to body panel and roll cage damage, which left the car still race ready. The team returned for the feature race, and managed a top ten finish with the damaged car.
Stan Butler and Geoff Styner
Styner told me that he just held tightly onto the steering wheel when the car went airborne. He did admit that he had one “flashback moment” during the roll, but the crash was far less violent than the roll-cage first impact last year that left him with broken bones and with a halo device holding his head and neck stable. Geoff now uses a carbon fiber Simpson helmet and a Simpson Hybrid Pro Rage for his head and neck restraint.
TBARA competitor Rex Hollinger remarked, “They pulled in a big field and put on an excellent race. No race fan could watch that one and fail to be entertained. Those guys went at it!” The attendance did not match the size of the crowds during the cooler weather early in the year, but that is an expected pattern in Florida. With the speedway scheduling sprint cars into November, the attendance will likely see an increase after the end of summer.
DeCaire Motorsports new 1 car
TBARA officials were present during the driver’s meeting on June 7th, as they wanted to inform participants about some schedule changes and races that have been added at Citrus County Speedway. I have learned that the co-sanctioned races that were scheduled for July at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Georgia have been removed from the TBARA schedule. USCS and TBARA, the two sanctioning bodies involved, were unable to agree to all the details of the contract to co-sanction the two races, and have agreed to end the talks. TBARA will instead add a winged race at Citrus County Speedway on one of the two original Georgia dates (Saturday, July 26th). TBARA will also add one more race at Citrus on Friday, October 17th, one day prior to the Frank Riddle Memorial at the track on the 18th.
The race on October 17th will mark a departure from the standard of racing only with wings, as it will be a non-wing TBARA sanctioned race. I can’t confirm the date of the last non-wing race held by the association, but apparently it was 25-30 years ago, when they held races on both dirt and asphalt. With TBARA officials and Citrus promoter Gary Laplant building closer ties with these added races, they have also decided to award points in both series for the finishers in the Friday night non-wing race.
Regarding the upcoming non-wing unsanctioned race at Desoto Speedway this Saturday, racer Joey Aguilar has informed me that race promoters may offer an increased purse to the sprint car racers, if more than twenty cars are entered and race that night. Aguilar has also informed me that he will enter all of the remaining USCS Road to Atlanta pavement races this summer, with an intended goal of winning the USCS Road to Atlanta championship. I asked if this was still possible, seeing that he has missed the first two series races of the year. He replied that he feels confident that he can win the 2014 series title (with five races remaining), and has complete support from his car owner and crew to meet this goal. Aguilar has five feature wins on pavement going into Saturday’s race at Desoto, where he will be one of the favorites to win.
I was asked if I will be returning for another round of Florida pavement sprint car racing this weekend, scheduled for Bradenton’s Desoto Speedway, with the now trendy non-wing pavement cars. I replied that it’s going to be a dirt week for me, so Bubba Raceway Park is where I’ll be. Compared to the wild and wonderful world of Florida pavement sprint car racing, it should be sedate and far less stressful, right?
Dave Steele is Still Semi-Retired, Or Is He?
By Richard Golardi
Over the past several years, when I have asked Dave Steele if his status should still be listed as “semi-retired”, his answer has always been consistent. His answer has been, “yes”. In 2013, upon hearing his team announce an effort to field a car for him in the 2014 Little 500, I was somewhat surprised. This effort appeared to edge him beyond the boundary of being “semi-retired”. It involved building a new car, and acquiring a 410 motor, and making a trip of over one thousand miles to get to Anderson Speedway, Indiana. The Little 500 is traditionally held on Memorial Day weekend, on the Saturday night before the Indy 500, which is held fifty miles away at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year’s Little 500 has already been run. Dave Steele was not there (despite a Little 500 program article that unfortunately proclaimed “Dave Steele Returns After Five Year Hiatus”). Dave Steele has sold his three sprint cars (one dirt car and two pavement cars), and has returned to his family and his business as his main concerns. He is once again semi-retired. Or is he?
The sale of Dave Steele’s three sprint cars was completed within the past week, in spite of rumors that it had been complete prior to race day in Anderson. The cars were sold to current car owner Taylor Andrews, who fields sprint cars on dirt and pavement for Sport Allen. This was confirmed today by Sport Allen, who has emerged as one of the hottest sprint car drivers in the state this year. His three wins have come at East Bay Raceway on dirt, and on the asphalt of Showtime Speedway in Pinellas Park, the city where the team’s shop is located. On a recent visit to the Dayton Andrews Dodge racing team’s shop, I found it to be packed with sprint cars. Add another three cars to the team’s stables, and one wonders how they will all fit. One of the cars was the “Little 500 car” that Steele had built for this year’s 500, without wings and with a 410 motor in front (a white number 33 car that Steele had hinted would be piloted at the 500 by him beyond this year). This will now become a Little 500 car for Sport Allen, starting with the 2015 race.
Sport Allen last raced in the Little 500 in 1985. His only other entry (in 1984) was remarkable because it made him the youngest ever starter in the event’s history at thirteen years old. Why has he not returned in the intervening twenty nine years? Because his employment with UPS made it difficult to accomplish, with more senior employees getting preference for taking off on the days just prior to Memorial Day weekend. But now Sport is one of those more senior employees, making a request for vacation days just prior to a major holiday weekend more likely to be granted. Plus – there’s a “Little 500 car” ready to be repainted and relabeled with Dayton Andrews Dodge and Sport Allen stickers. It’s ready – except for that oil leak.
The oil leak in the Little 500 car might have been what caused the reversal in plans for Dave Steele’s immediate racing future. At a Showtime Speedway test session on the Wednesday prior to race week, the car developed an oil leak which reappeared in a second Showtime test session on Saturday. There were reports of one or more offers of an engine made to Steele for the Little 500, to replace the troubled engine. The offers were declined. Steele withdrew from the 2014 Little 500, and has withdrawn from being a sprint car owner, for the immediate future.
Where does this leave Sport Allen? In an enviable position – that’s where. He is not only on a racing hot streak with three recent wins, but has a car owner dedicated to fielding the best equipment for him, and who is adding to the team’s fleet of cars. His three wins came on dirt with wings (with the Top Gun Sprint Series), followed by pavement without wings and then with wings (Showtime Speedway last Saturday night). He missed out on getting three straight wins with three types of sprint cars by just one finishing position, finishing second in a May 10th TBARA race at New Smyrna Speedway.
Showtime Speedway, sight of Sport’s two most recent sprint car wins, has canceled all sprint car races scheduled for the summer, presumably due to low car counts. Will he enter the upcoming non-wing races at Citrus County Speedway (this weekend), or Desoto Speedway on the following weekend (6/14)? “Yeah, we can,” was the response he received from his car owner, when the issue of running the race at Citrus was raised.
“He said he’s done (referring to Dave Steele). As far as I know, he’s done racing. He’s going to concentrate on business and his family. That’s kind of what I got out of it,” Sport Allen told me today. If he has sold all of his equipment, that’s his statement that he is done racing for now, would you agree? “Yeah, if there’s no race cars left to race … He was offered to go run Johnny’s car at Showtime last week, but he didn’t want to go run it.” Allen told me that he could empathize with Steele’s current life situation, and that he would also choose to concentrate on building his business. That business is Steele Performance Parts, which operates out of Tampa.
What did Taylor Andrews get in this purchase from Dave Steele? “The dirt car’s complete, and the 410 car is the one he was going to the Little 500 with. It’s complete. They think that they’ve fixed the oil leak in the motor, so it’s complete. The other pavement car, I guess that they are waiting for the motor to come back. That pavement car and the dirt car are at the body shop (at the car dealer).” Not at the race shop in Pinellas Park? “No. It won’t fit,” Sport Allen replied. So it’s three cars and two motors as of today? “Yeah. I’m not sure yet, as Taylor didn’t really make it clear what the deal is on the other motor. When it comes back from being fixed at Progressive in Miami, I’m not sure if it goes with the deal.” So this was all of Dave Steele’s racing equipment – all of his cars? “Yeah. He spent a lot of time putting that 410 car together for Anderson. It is a really, really nice piece. He built that car for the Little 500. Every possible thing he could put on there was to go win the thing.”
“It’s a done deal. The cars have been sitting over here for about a week,” Sport said. So the Little 500 car can now be called a 2015 Little 500 car for Sport Allen? “Yeah. That’s kind of the idea behind it. That’s what we’re shooting for. Now we’ve got a year to kind of plan it.” Sport admitted that they feel a need to get practice with the car, preferably a 100 lap race somewhere. They want to feel certain that the oil leak is no longer a problem. “We’ve got nothing but time now. We can take our time getting stuff ready. We’ve got to come up with a crew and a fuel rig, and all the essentials.”
I volunteered to be the team cameraman for next year’s Little 500, with the belief that I saw a good story developing (the race’s youngest ever starter making his return to the Little 500 after a thirty year absence). “That’s good. That’ll work,” Sport Allen replied. Sometimes you can see a good story taking shape, even if it is a good story that won’t come to fruition until fifty weeks in the future. Something inside just tells you that this is going to be good.
Four Went Forth - Florida’s Sprint Car Drivers Take on the Little 500
By Richard Golardi
Mickey Kempgens was the highest finishing Floridian in the Little 500 sprint car race at Anderson Speedway in Indiana on Saturday. He overcame multiple obstacles thrown in his path, ranging from running out of fuel twice during the race, and cars crashing in his path. It was his second start in the annual 500-lap endurance race, and his tenth place finish bettered his previous finish by one position. The engine was running very rich from the start of the race, and he and the crew discovered that they could not lean it down enough, resulting in excessive fuel use. It did not seem to affect his speed on the track, as he was able to make passes, and keep up with the lead pack for most of the race. When the fuel ran low, the car was spitting flames from the exhaust and sputtered at times. The only solution was to pit and refuel.
Mickey Kempgens race start
“I almost got in a couple of wrecks, but I got it turned and moved right at the last second,” Mickey Kempgens told me at the conclusion of the race. The incident between Geoff Kaiser and Jarrett Andretti that resulted in Andretti hitting the wall happened directly in front of him early in the race. “We should have been able to go 160 on fuel, but we were only going 100. And, both times it ran out of fuel, it was under green. It ran out of fuel twice. That’s where I lost most of my laps. It was just way too many pit stops for fuel, but the car was an absolute rocket. I don’t know if we had anything for Jacob (Wilson), but I think we could have run second. I passed the three (Jerry Coons Jr.). I caught him and passed him, and just drove off from him. Oh well – we finished.”
Mickey said that he was satisfied with the run, and was glad that the car was in one piece. “I wish it didn’t drink so much fuel, but overall, I’m satisfied,” he said. Mickey revealed that plans are being developed to bring the Lee Cipray owned black #5 car next year for him to drive in the Little 500. Mickey has multiple wins in this car, including at Citrus County Speedway earlier this year. “Next year, we’re going to win this thing. We’re doing it. It’s a done deal.” I asked if he would have preferred to have been in the black #5 car on Saturday night. “I mean – this Hurricane is a rocket ship and our situation was good. We had a car to win. Just had motor troubles that plagued us all week long. My crew was absolutely phenomenal.” I remarked that Mickey did not look fatigued from the effects of the stress and G-forces in the race. He replied that he did feel sore from the waist down, and then explained what caused this.
“My seat belts came loose – like lap 50. I didn’t get the laps belts tight enough, and every time I would go to cinch down on my shoulder harness, it brought my lap belt up until it was up near my belly button,” Mickey revealed, just one of many problems that he was forced to overcome to earn his top ten finish. His next race will be at Showtime Speedway this Saturday, with the orange #84 winged car, as long as the race is run as a winged sprint car race.
Mickey Kempgens early race action
Troy DeCaire described his ninth Little 500 as an up and down night. “Started off real tight, so I lost positions early. That’s when I kind of settled in behind the top five, and was running right with them. It starting burning fuel off, and started to finally rotate and just got caught up in somebody else’s mess. A wreck happened in front of me, and I got shoved into it. I missed it and had slowed down. I went to turn under somebody and the guy behind me didn’t stop and it caved my tail tank in. It sent me over Gerster and we were out around lap 200,” Troy DeCaire told me, summarizing his night. “It stinks because I really think the car was starting to come around. Actually, two of the guys we were ahead of ended up fourth and fifth (Geoff Kaiser and Kyle Hamilton). We probably would have ended up with a top five. But, there’s a lot of guys that would have ended up a lot better if their car wasn’t wrecked, and we were just one of them.”
Little 500 Florida Driver Group
Troy said that he knew the nature of the race, and that it was still his favorite race. “In 364 more days, I’ll do it again.” He lamented a chance to put a Florida car in the top five that was lost, but plans to return next year. His relationship with car owner Dick Fieler seems to be a solid one, and the team has added cars and expanded to dirt racing in recent months. Races with AVSS and the Must See Racing series lie ahead. He is hoping for five or six more wins during the summer, after a Must See Racing win on Wednesday. With all the cars available, I wondered if there may even be room for a teammate for Midwest racing, and next year’s 500. “I even told him – find somebody else for a race that I can’t make. I wouldn’t mind at all having a teammate. Dick says, “No – you’re the driver. You’re the guy.’ I was like – you got to love that.”
Looking forward, Troy DeCaire now sees greatly improved chances of putting together another season with ten or more race wins, like he recalls having in 2007 and 2008. With a stable relationship with a team and car owner now accomplished (something he has worked toward for five or more years), he can concentrate on race wins. “I think that we can get on a roll now,” he said confidently.
Butler Motorsports had two cars in the race, for the father-son team of Stan Butler and Shane Butler. Stan was uncertain of the tire availability for his car, so the team would likely put most of its time and available funds into Shane’s effort, with a new car built especially for this race. Stan would be making a 26th start in the Little 500, and could move closer to getting back into the top three of all-time laps completed in the race. Shane would be starting in the top half of the field after a four-year hiatus from the classic Indiana sprint car race.
After the race concluded, I asked Stan Butler to give me a recap of the night’s event. “We ran for a little bit, and we only had so many tires, and Shane had a flat right at the beginning. I needed to get in so that we could get that tire back for his car. So, once we got in there was no sense in going back out. We had changed tires on my car, to save the right front for Shane’s car for the race. But they wouldn’t let us do that. They said that we had to start on the tire that we had qualified on, so we had to leave it. The plan was to get in quick and get it off. The tire that he needed was on my car, but then his brakes are heated, so …”
“The good thing about it is that they are all in one piece, and the motor is still running, and everything’s all good. We’ve still got two complete race cars. I went out of the race first. I parked it so I could put the tire on Shane’s car. Shane lost the brakes on his car. We tried to bleed them, but couldn’t get the brakes back on. He lost the brakes, so we don’t know what happened. We could have ended up stuffed in the fence or something, and had a torn up race car. You just never know. Ultimately, things worked out for the best.”
Bobby Rose
We’ll see you back next year, since you are the ageless wonder, right Stan? “Well, you never know,” he replied. “If I can get the money, and get some seat time this year, I’d like to come back and do it the right way one more time. So, we’ll see. We’ve got a whole year to figure it out now.” Because this isn’t the last one? “I’m not going to say that now,” he said, and laughed. “It may or may not be.”
On a sad note, the Florida sprint car racing community lost three of its members over the course of the long Indiana race week. They are Doris Brazil, widow of legendary sprint car driver Larry Brazil, who sits in fifth place on the All-Time Florida Sprint Car Win List; Harry W. Campbell, a master sprint car builder and mechanic whose life is a trip through the halls of Florida sprint car racing history; and Bobby Rose, current sprint car owner and driver and father to sixteen year old Florida sprint car driver Blake Rose, who just transitioned to driving his family’s sprint car this year.
They will be missed.
Harry W Campbell_ L and Doris Brazil
Four Floridians Make the Field for the 2014 Little 500
By Richard Golardi
“I'm thinking Stan should quit.” Stan Butler said that he did post this message on a social media website, despite his friend’s proclamations that he must have been hacked. He was feeling frustrated and he wanted to vent his frustration. After his friends expressed their support and encouragement, he was feeling completely different by the next day. He was in the field for the 66th running of the Little 500 at Anderson Speedway, Indiana, and it would be his 26th start in the race. He would be starting from the 30th starting position in the field. His son, Shane Butler, a two-time TBARA champion, would be starting in 16th place. It would be the first start in four years for both drivers, and would further solidify Stan’s position as a Florida sprint car racing legend.
Were you satisfied with that qualifying run, Stan? “No. We just didn’t spend a lot of time making changes because I haven’t been racing the sprint car enough in the last year or two. No, I wasn’t real pleased with it, but I’m glad I’m in the show. Obviously this is a good year to not be as good as you need to be because of the lack of cars (34 cars made qualifying attempts). But, we’ll start another one and see what happens.” We spoke about the overall talent in this year’s field, with several drivers having multiple open wheel championships, such as Bryan Clauson, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Troy DeCaire. “This is probably going to be the fastest field, from start to finish, that they’ve ever had.”
What are your chances of winning on Saturday night Stan? “I’d say I’d have to be pretty low on the totem pole for a chance of winning this thing. But you know – stranger things have happened. We didn’t really come up with the tires we needed. I’m going to run the best that I can with what I’ve got. If the car’s really, really bad, then I’ll park it. I’m not going to take a chance tearing up a race car. Getting more laps completed would be nice, but taking a chance tearing up a race car is not worth it. It doesn’t pay anything to be third on that list of all-time career laps completed. It doesn’t pay any money,” Stan told me. He was also looking to the future beyond this year’s Little 500. “I think with some more seat time again in a sprint car, I think I could get back closer to where I used to be.”
Mickey Kempgens car for the Little 500
“I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t having any fun. I felt real rusty,” Stan said, describing how he felt after getting out of the car on Thursday. By Friday afternoon, with his car in the field in row ten, he felt very different. Relaxing at Gas City Speedway on Friday evening with friends and family, he was at ease and smiling. He was ready for Saturday.
Troy DeCaire goes into Saturday’s Little 500 at Anderson Speedway in a familiar position. He is considered to be peaking at just the right time, and is considered to be one of the favorites to win. In fact, he did already win once this week at Anderson, in Wednesday’s Must See Racing 60-lap race with wings. He will be in the team’s car designated for non-wing races on Saturday, starting from the inside of row five. The car was recently purchased by car owner Dick Fieler from Tony Stewart Racing. It will serve as a Little 500 only car for now, as the team may not race it in the Midwest again until next year’s race. Troy will return to winged Must See Racing events after this weekend, with Fieler as sole car owner. Troy had raced in the series last year with Davey Hamilton and Dick Fieler merging their two teams for the season. Davey Hamilton Racing has not returned to race with the Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series this year.
Shane Butler
‘We’ve been fighting some gremlins here and there, where we could run in the top three, but we couldn’t knock down a win,” Troy DeCaire said on Friday. “Last year, we were able to get four wins, just none with the Must See. I think we have a car that we can come through the field with now that we have some of our engine issues figured out.” Do you think that you will win on Saturday night, I asked? “I think that if you don’t think you can win on Saturday, you shouldn’t be here. This is a tough field. This is probably the strongest Little 500 field I’ve ever seen. I think anything outside of the top five would be considered a disappointment to us at this point.”
“Right now, me and Brad Brewer (his crew chief) – we jell. He and Ross Rankine work full-time here at the shop in Indianapolis. We’ve got four pavement cars, and two dirt cars now (all owned by Dick Fieler and DJ Racing). We ran some dirt races last week, and we’re going to run some more. Brad and Ross put their heart and soul into this, and I’m glad I was able to give them something back (referring to the win on Wednesday).” A problem occurred during the qualifying run on Thursday, when the weight jacker broke and fell down between the firewall and Troy’s foot in the cockpit. I saw Troy and team examining the part’s position and discussing how they would secure it to prevent it from happened again on Saturday. The car is a Beast chassis that was driven by Levi Jones for Tony Stewart Racing, and was sitting in Bob East’s race shop prior to being purchased by Dick Fieler. “After this week, we’ll put it on a stand, on moth balls, and drag it out next May,” Troy said.
Mickey Kempgens is in Indiana, and has been here for the past week, for one purpose – to win the Little 500. He is in a Sam Pierce Chevrolet Racing team car, as teammate to Aaron Pierce. But the team is run as a somewhat separate entity, not sharing crew with Pierce. Kempgens has George Rudolph as his crew chief, who won the Little 500 twice as a car owner, and once working with Frank Riddle for one of his two wins in the mid-‘80s. The car, originally number 6, has been renumbered as number 68, a number traditionally seen on George’s legendary purple number 68 sprint cars. Kempgens has won races for Rudolph in his number 68 car, and has also won races in the car he will race at Saturday in Anderson. The car was previously the green and black number 78 winged sprint car, which Mickey took to Victory Circle in Florida sprint car competition.
“The motor hasn’t been right all week. It’s been hard to start. Just kind of spits and sputters. But once it got heat in it, it seemed OK. But once I went out for qualifying, I didn’t get a chance to idle around, and get some heat into the motor, and the motor wouldn’t run. It spit and popped for four laps. Which is why I qualified so far back, because the motor wasn’t running,” Mickey Kempgens told me, describing his Thursday qualifying effort. By Friday, the motor problem was pinpointed and fixed, and Mickey’s confidence in the car and motor were restored. “Motor problems are solved – fixed that today. The barrel valve has been off all week. Motor’s been really rich. We got her leaned down. We went out during the last practice today, and the problem’s solved. We have a really fast race car,” he said confidently.
Can you win on Saturday, Mickey? “Yes. The car is extremely fast. Pit stops – we should be good to go.” And how is the driver, I asked? I knew that Mickey had previously told me that he needed to build his shoulder muscles back up to prepare (he suffered a broken collarbone in March). “It only doesn’t hurt when I’m in the race car. When I’m turning wrenches, it’s sore. When I’m in the race car, I’m either not thinking about it, or it’s not hurting in the car.” Mickey said he is confident that the muscle soreness will have no effect on his driving abilities on race day. They had considered running the Wednesday race at Anderson, but decided against it in order to not risk damage to the car. The car and team and Mickey are here in Anderson for one purpose. They want to win the 500.
He is the current TBARA points leader, and has 2 TBARA championships to his name. But there is one new title that he wants to earn, and he has even built a new car just to achieve that goal. Shane Butler wants to earn the right to call himself a Little 500 champion. “We can’t complain with 16th – that’s not bad,” Shane said about his 16th place starting spot for Saturday. “It’s been fast right out of the trailer. We’re pretty happy right now.” Can you win on Saturday night? “Actually, there are about thirty three cars that can win on Saturday. We get a little bit of luck, I think we’ve got a car capable of getting the job done. I think it’s definitely going to be a fast-paced race. We’re definitely going to have to be up on the wheel the whole 500 laps,” Shane predicted.
The race marks the first time for father and son to be racing in the same Little 500 since 2010. Only once, in 2007, did Stan Butler and his two sons (Keith and Shane) all race in the same year in the 500. Shane has set a goal to stay out of trouble for the first 400 laps, and then go all out during the last 100 laps to compete for the win. He also thinks that there are some very fast cars starting just behind him that will be immediately attempting to move to the front, like Helberg.
Does it help that your father is here and also competing in the race? “No, actually it doesn’t. We seem to do better when I’m driving and he’s helping me. It just seems to work better that way. I like the fact that we both get to start the 500 again, and this is the second or third time that we’ve had this father and son deal. It’s still neat having your Dad take the green flag at the Little 500. He has quit numerous times, and many times on the same day. When he cuts up his firesuit and throws away his helmet, then I’ll believe it. I’ll believe it when that happens. Until then …,” Shane said, while family and friends knowingly laughed, enjoying the moment and savoring the time together with family.
The Little 500 Florida Driver Lineup and Indiana Race Week
By Richard Golardi
Mickey Kempgens –
Mickey Kempgens in Winners Circle
Mickey will be making his second attempt to bring the Little 500 trophy home to Florida, having last competed in the 500 in 2012. He will again be in a Sam Pierce Chevrolet Racing car, as a teammate to Aaron Pierce. Both drivers have 2014 wins in sprint cars in Florida, having both won at Citrus County Speedway this year. Pierce also has another 2014 Florida win, at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway.
Mickey Kempgens 6 Little 500 car
Mickey told me that this #6 car is actually the same car that he raced in the Little 500 two years ago, and was previously the #78 car that he raced in Florida (with wings) and won. He was originally planning on racing a car that was previously numbered as #70 in Florida, but that was changed in the past week. It is a different engine than the one in the car two years ago. What’s different? “More horsepower,” Kempgens said. Kempgens suffered a broken collarbone in an off-track accident in March, missing the April race at Citrus County Speedway. In one start in the 500 in 2012, Kempgens finished in eleventh place. “This year, we have a little more time to plan, instead of basically the day before qualifying,” he told me previously. “We’ll have enough tires this time. We’ll have a crew. Should be good to go,” Kempgens said.
Troy DeCaire –
Troy DeCaire
Troy is entered in the #20 DJ Racing entry, a car owned by Dick Fieler, who was the co-owner of his car in 2013 along with Davey Hamilton. With the Davey Hamilton Racing cars apparently not racing in the Must See Racing series, and TruFuel having departed as the sponsor, Fieler and DeCaire have teamed up for their 2014 effort in Must See Racing and the Little 500. DeCaire has one top three finish in 2014 so far, coming at Mobile International Speedway in April. He finished in sixth place on the same weekend in a Must See Racing event at Five Flags Speedway (Pensacola, FL on April 11th).
DeCaire has eight starts in the Little 500, with two top ten finishes, and a best placing of sixth in 2010. This year marks the first time that he will be racing for the same Little 500 car owner for two consecutive years.
Dave Steele –
After debuting his new white #33 car that was built for this year’s Little 500 in a Showtime Speedway test session last Wednesday, it might have seemed that all that was left was to get the car and driver up to Indiana. But, that is not the case. I have learned that the car developed an oil leak, which reappeared in a second Showtime test session on Saturday. With the problems in the engine intended for the Little 500, the unconfirmed report I have heard is that the team may not race in the Little 500. Apparently, there have been one or more offers of an engine made to Steele (one from an engine builder) for the Little 500, to replace the troubled engine tested last week. As of the time of this report, I was unable to confirm that the team would have a replacement engine ready, or would sit out this year’s race.
Shane and Stan Butler –
Stan Butler
Shane Butler has been active in both winged and non-wing racing this year in Florida this year. With three second place finishes in early season TBARA competition, he already is one of the favorites to repeat as TBARA driver champion this year. He previously won the TBARA championship in 2002, and again in 2010. He was also penalized by the club after the second race at Desoto Speedway, and is on probation for a five race period now (for rough driving after completion of the race, under caution). He is an owner/driver this year, with a new car built for this race with sponsorship from Southwestern Truck Service. The red #55 car was not seen in competition in Florida, as it was being kept for this weekend in the 500.
Shane’s father, Stan Butler, who is a racer with a legendary record in Little 500 competition and also Florida competition, is making a Little 500 comeback this year. With the Little 500 having 32 race entries as of this date (and more expected to arrive), the Butler Racing team has brought a car to Indiana for Stan to qualify. Stan Butler had previously told me that he was uncertain if the car would be run in the race, even if qualified, as the team needed additional funds for tires for his car in the 500 lap race. Stan Butler, who hadn’t raced in the 500 since 2010, has four top five finishes in the race, with 25 race starts, and is fourth on the all-time list for race laps run. His first start was in 1978. He is in 12th place on the All-Time Florida Sprint Car win list with 44 victories in Florida (Source- 45 Years of Florida Sprint Car Racing, compiled by Bob Patten).
2013 Little 500 Driver Group Photo
Garrett Green –
Team Green Racing and team owner Gary Green reached a decision over the weekend that they would not race in this year’s Little 500, as the team has decided to put increased emphasis on their dirt sprint car racing program. Driver Garrett Green has raced in two Top Gun Sprint Series races in Florida so far, with a best finish of ninth place on Saturday night at East Bay Raceway Park. The team will enter additional Top Gun Series dirt races, and will likely favor East Bay Raceway, as it is very close to their race shop in nearby Valrico. They will also continue to race in select pavement sprint car races in Florida, and also possibly outside of Florida. The team raced in Alabama last month with Must See Racing, finishing in fifth place.
Gary Green told me that the team is positive about Garrett’s progress on dirt after two races and wants to see him progress further on dirt. They will hold open the option of returning to Anderson Speedway in future years to race in the Little 500 again. Garrett had previously told me that he wanted a top five finish in the 500, after taking home the Little 500 Rookie of the Year title last year.
With the possibility that Garrett Green and Dave Steele will both miss this year’s race, it looks unlikely that the Florida driver total in the Little 500 will exceed the driver total from the last two years, when Florida had four drivers. With other possible entries by Ty DeCaire and some others not developing, it is still likely that the string of Little 500 fields with less than five Floridians will end soon. Florida has developed into a prime training ground for pavement sprint car racers, with Desoto Speedway adding its name to the list of Florida tracks sponsoring sprint cars. Several young racers who moved up to contend in TBARA and non-wing racing have recently received recognition in Florida, and will be bound to gain experience and confidence on the Sunshine State’s pavement race tracks.
In other Indiana race week news, this reporter will be making an appearance at the Hoosier Hundred in Indianapolis on Thursday as a “Guest Crewman” working on the crew of the Sam Pierce Chevrolet Racing team USAC Silver Crown car. Driver Aaron Pierce was brave enough to allow me the opportunity to be a Crewman for a day, despite having never worked as a mechanic. I’ll be limited to dirt-cleaning and body panel polishing duties (and car pushing), and vowed that I would stay out of the way of the “real mechanics and crewman”. This opportunity also allows me to get some various GoPro camera vantages, from a chest and head-mounted camera worn by myself and Aaron, and mounted on the car for the 100-lap race. The car mounted camera should record some high-speed dirt action, as the cars exceed 140 miles per hour on the long straights of the Indiana State Fairgrounds one mile oval. The race was previously part of the IndyCar Series and is returning to the fairgrounds track for its 61st running this year.
TBARA – Scotty Adema Wins, Sport Allen Takes 2nd, Misses on Attempt for Three Straight Wins
By Richard Golardi
“Got a couple of breaks there on the start. Made it to the front once we got in clean air, and put some good laps down. The car was absolutely one of the best handling cars I’ve ever driven here,” feature race winner Scotty Adema told me. Adema took the lead in the second lap of the 30-lap feature race last Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway with the Safety-Kleen TBARA Sprint Car Series. The race would be the first this year without Joey Aguilar, who had won all three prior TBARA feature races this year, but was serving a season-long suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct in the last race in April. The TBARA series goes on a short hiatus until the last weekend in July (7/25 & 26), when a joint TBARA / USCS event will be run at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Georgia. That race serves as a precursor to the USCS event at Atlanta Motor Speedway on August 29th.
Scotty Adema in Winners Circle
Scotty Adema’s car had a unique rear suspension, which he described as a totally different setup and a different design. “If we weren’t perfect, we were close,” he said. He only had one challenger for the race lead during the thirty laps, and that challenge came from Sport Allen. Allen had won feature races in the two prior weekends. First he won on dirt, followed by a non-wing pavement race. A win at New Smyrna would give him three straight, in three different varieties of sprint car racing. Starting ninth in the feature race, Sport methodically worked his way through the field to reach the leader by lap19. He would dive for the low groove in turn three, but get loose and fail to complete the pass. A late race caution left two green laps remaining, but Adema would not be challenged for the lead again in his first 2014 win.
“I had actually kind of gone into conservation mode by about lap fifteen,” Scotty Adema told me. “I was just trying to save something for the very end. I got a little too lax there, and I could tell it was the black car. I saw him poke a nose down there in three, and I just saw it out of the corner of my eye, and I kind of moved up the track a little bit. I wanted to keep the high side for myself, because we were pretty good up top. I was expecting to see him again, because Sport’s resilient. He comes after you full bore, if he’s got anything left in it. Once he poked a nose, I was like, ‘we need to get going again here’. I was trying to get a good restart. I tried to get a nice run down the straightaway where I could at least get clean air to work for me, and outcorner him. It’s so hard to see behind you in these things. I didn’t want to burn the tires up. I was kind of waiting on something to happen.”
Ben Fritz car - GoPro placement
In the two races at New Smyrna Speedway late last year, Adema was in contention to win, and had two top three finishes. He did win his first TBARA race at the track in 2003. “I’ve loved this place since the day we starting racing here in Speedweeks ’01,” he said. The winning car was a new Diablo chassis that debuted in those 2013 New Smyrna races, and this was the first win for this car. It is emblazoned with a fire engine red Firefighter theme complete with flames. Adema’s last win was in the black #67 in 2012. “The black one was a different chassis, and then this one we brought into the mix last year. You don’t get a car like that very often. You’ve got a smile on your face because you can just about hold it wide open around there.” He is uncertain about the team’s next race, as they have a car to rebuild that was wrecked in a heat race crash with Ryan Partin behind the wheel. “I think we had a brake line fitting crack, and once you break the system open, as your pedal is going up and down, you are just pumping fluid out of the car. Once the fitting cracks, there’s no backup,” I was told, when I asked about the cause of the brake failure.
“I fully plan on coming back, putting Ryan in another car. That car, or another car,” Scotty told me, revealing that Ryan was a good friend and that they had been friends for a long time. “I enjoy hanging out with Ryan, I like his family, and he’s a lot like myself. We race the same. We get along really good. We’ve done podcasts and gone go kart racing in Orlando together. As long as Ryan’s OK, that’s all that matters.”
Ryan Partin, L, and Scotty Adema R
Ryan Partin Safety Equipment
While heading down the back straight at New Smyrna Speedway in his heat race, Ryan Partin discovered his brakes had failed on the orange #66 car, with the banking and turn three wall looming large at the end of the straight. “Basically, went into one, and I was following Rex there for a little bit, and I was using the brakes harder and harder. Went into one, and the brakes just completely went to the floor,” Ryan told me. “I gave it one or two pumps, and it didn’t pump back up. So, when I came off of two, I lit up and the car unloaded itself and drove down to the inside to the grass. Went through the grass all the way down the back straightaway. There’s a big swell back there, so I figured I’d just take an X Games jump through the swell. When I did that, my foot jammed up on the throttle, and it sent us right into the turn three wall.” The impact with the turn three wall was with the front at high speed, folding the right front corner of the car back. “Finally got my hand to the shut-off valve, and got it shut down, and that was about it.” I saw Ryan jump from the car after about a minute. He walked away, telling safety crew members that he was not hurt.
“I feel fantastic,” Ryan said. “I’ve been waiting on some soreness to come around, or something. I don’t feel bad at all – no soreness.” Ryan praised his safety equipment, and believes that it saved him from injury in this grinding crash. He was wearing a Simpson helmet and a HANS device for his head restraint. The car also had a Joie of Seating containment seat installed. Would he want to race at New Smyrna again? “Absolutely – yeah. We’re talking now about how we can get back here in August, if we can get a car together. I’m heartbroken for the team – for Scotty and his Dad. If we can, we’ll definitely be back. Not a problem.”
Jason Kimball
The Butler Racing team fielded two cars at New Smyrna Speedway, for Shane and Stan Butler. Shane is a leading contender for the TBARA points title, which would be his third TBARA title. He also has a car entered for next week’s Little 500 sprint car race at Anderson Speedway in Indiana. The car was not present at the track, as it had been built specially for the Little 500. The team also revealed to me that family patriarch Stan Butler, the Little 500 polesitter in 1988, would be making a qualifying attempt next week in a second team car. Butler told me that he was uncertain if the car would be run in the race, even if qualified, as the team needed additional funds for tires for the 500 lap endurance race on Saturday the 24th. The qualifying attempt would be a Little 500 comeback for Stan Butler, who hadn’t raced in the Memorial Day weekend classic since 2010. He has four top five finishes in the race, with 25 race starts, and 7,267 race laps logged in his racing career (fourth on the all-time list). His first start was in 1978.
A new addition at the track on Saturday was the black #79 sprint car owned by Jason Kimball. Kimball was making his second career TBARA race start (and first ever start at New Smyrna Speedway), in a car that he just acquired in a trade with the Reutimann family. This car had previously raced in Florida as the white #00 Case Contracting car, with Wayne Reutimann, Jr. at the wheel. Kimball had traded a dirt late model car for this sprint car. The dirt late model is currently being prepared at the home race shop of Wayne Reutimann, for his son to race at Florida dirt tracks. Wayne Jr., known as Pookie, had raced in sprint cars and USAC Silver Crown cars previously.
Three rookies at the track were entered for their first ever race at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday. They were Jason Kimball, and two drivers that are sons of TBARA racers – Blake Rose and Chris Gimmler. Chris has been the most impressive rookie of this racing season, getting his first top three finish at Orlando in April. On Saturday, he passed the ailing car of Ben Fritz in the last turn of the last lap to take fourth place in the feature, and his second straight top four finish. Fritz was carrying my GoPro camera in his car, and a loud click could be heard when he lost a bolt from the left front radius rod with one lap remaining. He brought the car around for the final lap, only losing two positions while going through the grass after taking the checkered flag.
The videos from the New Smyrna Speedway TBARA race are on the Florida Open Wheel channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSdPdgmUo6WfkfR6Eo__QBA
E-mail Richard Golardi quickterm@yahoo.com
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