Sep
27
CFWS Race Report – with Pictures!
By
DATE: September 26, 2009
SERIES: Central Florida Wingless Sprints
TRACK: Citrus County Speedway
ADMISSION PRICE: $25 for a pit pass. You can’t beat that. I signed in under Travelin’ Troy’s team to amuse myself.
FOOD ORDERED: Cheeseburger, Egg Roll. More on that in a moment.
FOOD GRADE: B+ I enjoyed the cheeseburger very much, the egg roll not so much. But I ordered the egg roll simply because I could. Seriously, when do you ever see an egg roll as an option at a short track in Florida?
DRINKS ORDERED: None.
DRINKS GRADE: A+ . You’re saying, “you damn fool – you didn’t order anything, how can you supply a grade?” Well, word leaked out to Joey “The Ace” Aguilar that I’m quite fond of Orange Crush soda and he had plenty of it on hand. That alone is worth an A+ but me and the Australians had some Yuengling out in the parking lot as well. Now that is an A+ night of drinking my friends.
CROWD GRADE: C. I must admit, I was shocked that the stands were not more full. Last night also had a 100 lap Mini Stock race as well. I can only think the rain that was all around the track kept people away. Hell, even I was skeptical about the rain.
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 20 for the feature.
SERIES GRADE: A+. From all accounts that was one of, if not the biggest field the CFWS has seen.
TRACK GRADE: A. There were some showers earlier, but the track crew got that squared away quick. The staff are also super very friendly as always.
WHO WON: Tommy Nichols. Heat wins went to the 87,78 and 55.
REST OF THE RACING GRADE: C. I was really looking forward to the Mini Stock 100 lapper but I think the first segment saw maybe 10 laps of green. I am all for big money mini stock races, but some kinks need to be worked out. Our buddy Rex “Boneman” Hollinger did a respectable job for his first time racing at Citrus County.
FSCF.COM DRIVER OF THE RACE: I’m going to go ahead and give this one to Tommy Nichols. The Shane Miller cars were looking good but I was thinking maybe Kempgens would be the one to take it. I also liked the way Travelin’ Troy and Joey “The Ace” Aguilar were coming forward. I also had high hopes for Dude Teate. But at the end of the day, it was a shortened race, Tommy jumped out front and nobody could put a bumper on him and that was some smart driving on Tommy’s part. Congratulations Tommy!
OTHER NOTES: I’ll get it out of the way right now – we fans got robbed! Now I will also say this – it’s not anybody’s fault. The race got called short just when things were really heating up, but there was a yellow and because of the track’s curfew, the feature got called. THAT SUCKED! But again – the track is leased from the county, what are you going to do? Well, next time start the sprints feature before the Mini Stock enduro.
20 wingless sprints, a short track that requires much skill, only 20 laps to get the job done, well….there is going to be some beating and banging. And there was. There was a first lap shamozzle (to quote David Hobbs) when it looked like Teate got tapped and Bradley ended up literally going into the fence. Shame for all involved, especially Bradley because I just love the way that car looks. Then at the end there was a big dust up with Alvis, Aguilar, Stephens and just about everyone else up front. Everyone sees things differently but I saw drivers going for it, rubbing on each other and generally doing what I pay to see at a short track race – get up on the wheel. It was very unpleasant in the pits afterward with tempers flaring, sheriffs standing around, series officials having talks with drivers, and one driver in particular saying one of the dumbest attempts at an insult I’ve ever heard in my life.
I got to make some new friends in the pits this go around, starting with Curtis Carter who is a super nice guy. I also bent the ear of Michael Jenkins about his nifty chassis he got in Indiana. And I finally got to meet the Misuraca clan as well, who were also very nice despite a verrrrry long night.
It was also a pleasure to catch up with Steve Heisler, who seems to think I owe him some beer even though he’s never filled out his 10 Questions profile. Though in Steve’s defense, I did ask him quite possibly the most ridiculous set of 10 Questions I have ever put together.
I also had a miniscule chat with Traci DeCaire, who from this day forward will be known on this website as “Short and Sweet” Traci DeCaire.
If the CFWS can bring this group to all of their races, I will be there a lot. This was a serious field of racecars. Good stuff!
And one last note…THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all of the drivers that took the time after the feature to meet with me and Craig Skene’s young son and signed his hat for him. They are on holiday from Australia and you guys (and gals) had him on cloud nine, so I just want to personally thank you all so much for doing that. You guys are great!
RACE REPORTER: Todd
Oh yes – the pictures! Enjoy my shoddy camera work.