It has been so long now that I can't even remember when I last made a trip down to Florida for Speedweeks. If I had to guess I would say that it was in 2002, the last February before I had to start making tuition payments for the first of three, but now that I no longer have that annual January payment to make I need to make a plan to get back down there in 2014. The media coverage from the Florida action is better than ever now with the opportunity to even watch most of the events live on the internet but, for me at least, watching on the computer or even on TV doesn't even come close to the same as being there so I do not take advantage of those opportunities. The one thing that I will say though is that the coverage you see on the internet is ten times better than what you get in an event that is recorded and then later shown on television as the live coverage doesn't do the constant jumping from camera to camera like you see on the edited re-broadcasts. As the field takes the green flag I don't want to watch from somebody's in-car camera as they race into turn one and then quickly switch to another car's roof cam facing backwards coming out of turn two and then get two seconds of the good camera view from the top of the pressbox as the leaders roar into turn three for the first time, then go to the camera that is buried in the berm of turn four. No, I would rather just watch all of the action that unfolds on the first lap of a race from a camera view that would be similar to the best seat in the house. Every time I watch a re-broadcast of a race and see how they cover that first lap I want to slap the director up side the head!
I am looking forward to watching today's ARCA race at Daytona to see how a couple of young open wheel drivers do as Kyle Larson and Chad Boat will take the green with a bunch of other drivers that I otherwise know little or nothing about.
The World Series of Asphalt Racing was scheduled to start last night at New Smyrna Speedway, but I have not seen any results as of yet. Looking at the pre-entry list the age range for the Super Late Model entries started at 14 with Quincy's own Jake Griffin and went all the way up to 71 with Canadian Bruce Gowland. I think that is pretty cool that the driver's age is included on the list.
The World of Outlaws Late Model show in Ocala drew 39 cars last night while the Lucas Oil event in East Bay had 37 cars. In the past, without the head-to-head competition, the car count in East Bay was closer to 76 and while some fans may not like the split and the fact that they now have to choose where to go, others realize how good this is for the drivers. Fifty-one drivers received feature purse money last night and that is twenty-five more than what would have done so in the past. It will be interesting to see how many Lucas Oil drivers run up to Ocala for Sunday's finale that pays $20,000-to-win and, for those craving big car counts, Volusia will again be the place to be next week with more than sixty cars likely each night.
Darrell Lanigan scored the UMP sanctioned win at North Florida Speedway last Sunday night and then raced to the WoO win last night at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala and will be tough to beat as the defending champion of the Outlaws. As I scan the results some other drivers who have caught my eye this week include young Bobby Pierce who has scored a third and a fifth at East Bay, Dennis Erb Jr. who for some reason never gets mentioned when people list off the elite Late Model drivers has two wins, a fourth and a fifth place finish in four nights at East Bay, while Don O'Neal has posted a first, second and third so far. Doug Drown was impressive running second to O'Neal last night and I have enjoyed seeing Florida driver Mark Whitener making some good runs as he competes at the Super Late Model level for the first time.
The UMP Modified car count is huge once again at Volusia as 82 cars were in competition Friday night. Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, North Carolina, took the win over a roster that was littered with names from NASCAR including Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan, Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Matt Crafton, Kenny Wallace, David Stremme, Ken Schrader and David Reutimann. Allgaier had the best finish of that bunch running fourth just ahead of Kelly Shryock. Quincy Raceway regular David Wietholder finished ninth. Rodney Sanders topped a field of 77 on Tuesday night for his fifth win already in 2013.
The Mods ran in support of the opener for the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Friday night where Daryn Pittman put Kasey Kahne's #9 into victory lane. The driver that Pittman replaced in that ride, Joey Saldana scored a 12th place run in the return of the Motter Motorsports #71m. Danny Lasoski did not make the show running sixth in the B-Main and former Outlaw champ and current NASCAR driver Dave Blaney was also a non-qualifier.
The short track action in Florida continues all the way through next Saturday and believe it or not the first action scheduled for the upper Midwest is only three weeks away. Make sure you check out our ever growing
Specials Calendar at
Positively Racing to plan your early season events.
Yes, I know that I started out this entry saying how I have a hard time watching racing on the computer or TV, but knowing that many of you do enjoy it make sure that you check out the
Racin' Boys pay-per-view coverage of the season opener for the Lucas Oil ASCS National series coming up next Friday and Saturday night from Tucson International Raceway. It is a great track and you can bet the coverage will be top notch.
