Florida Winged Sprints Race Report – 10.30.09

Date: October 31, 2009

Class: Florida Winged Sprints

Track: Auburndale Speedway

Admission: Kids 5-12: $5. Seniors: $10. Adult: $12. Pit Pass: $25

# of Sprint Cars: 13

Class Grade: C. I was really excited about getting out to see the Florida Winged Sprints at Auburndale Speedway.  But only 13 cars was a bit of a disappointment.  Thankfully they put on a good show considering the lack of entrants.  Travis Bliemeister said it best, “It is what it is!”

Crowd Grade: C-. Maybe the fact that it was a holiday kept some folks at home.  Or maybe they were out collecting candy with the little goblins.  But nonetheless the stands were a little thin.  Maybe the ladies of Polk County and the greater Auburndale area didn’t know that the “Hot Foot” would be in attendance.

Food Ordered: Hamburger, Hot Dog & Nachos

Food Grade: C-. I once again enlisted the assistance of my guest food critic, David Milum.  Who better to judge track grub than a growing and sprouting teenager.  ”The hamburger was dry and thin, the hot dog was dry and tasteless, and the cheese on the nachos wasn’t that good…mediocre at best”, said Milum.  “(It was) not the best track cuisine, but not the worst either.”  You gotta love the honesty.  As for myself and some lucky others, I was treated to some yummy chili compliments of the Burnett Motorsports team and their driver/chef Jeannette Burnett. Mighty good chili if I do say so myself!

Drinks Ordered: N/A

Drinks Grade: N/A Sorry, we had water in the cooler.

Who Won: Mike Schroeder. The field was split up into two heat races to start the nights racing. The first heat was captured by Tim George in his Venice Wrecker, Shaw Chassis 1* machine.  The second heat went to the points leader in the American Well Drilling of Sarasota special, the 42 car driven by Paulie Milum.  The 1* of George was able to take the heat with a sickly engine.  He actually stopped on the track twice before the green flag to let his crew try to resolve the issue.  Fortunately for him, he had drew a good pill, and was set to start on the front row.

As the feature was getting ready to go and the cars were all set to be pushed off, there was something different.  There was only one push truck.  This made for a lengthy start to the race.  When all of the cars finally got pushed off, it was Mike Schroeder on the pole with Travis Bliemeister outside of him.  In the second row, it was the two title contenders –  Tim George, running second in points on the inside, Paulie Milum, the points leader, on the outside of row two.  As the field banzaid for turn one, the 3 of Bleimeister washed up the track allowing George and Milum to slide beneath him.  As they came out of turn four and headed to the flag stand for the first time, it was pole sitter Schroeder at the point, being chased by George and Milum.  They would stay like this for all 25 laps, giving Schroeder the win.

Race Notes: A fierce battle for second made for one of the best races that I’ve seen at Auburndale since the Stan Butler versus Shane Butler wingless battle at the 1/4 mile bullring.  Milum was alongside George numerous times, but just couldn’t carry enough momentum to make the pass.  On lap 10, Milum slid into the back of George removing his nose wing at the same time.  The 21m of Darrin Miller did his best to dodge the debris, but collected the wing under his car.  This would prove to be a fatal blow to the Premier Miller Treatment Center ride of Miller’s, who was running fourth.  The field was collected under a caution, what was left of Milum’s wing was removed from the racing surface, and the green flag fell again.  Only 3 circuits later, the 21m of Miller burst into a horrific fireball below the flag stand.  With angels watching, Miller leaped from his toasty ride in turn 1 before it had even come to a full stop.  After the cleanup in turn 1, the field was restarted and the battle waged on.  The remaining twelve laps saw Schroeder out front with George and Milum putting on a show for the fans.  The post-race interviews reminded me of a political mud slinging campaign. After some negative comments from George, Milum calmly replied, “I was just trying to put on a show for you fans!”

FSCF.com Driver of the Race: Paulie Milum. Milum drove the wheels off trying to get by George.  There wasn’t a square inch of the asphalt that Milum didn’t use to try and get by George’s wide 1* machine.  This truly was one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time!

Other Notes:
-Jeannette Burnett made her asphalt debut, and despite several fuel issues, made the best of the night.  Burnett had actually passed five cars before having to retire to the infield on lap 12 due to reoccurring issues.

-Dr. John Miller made his return to the seat after a nearly 20 year retirements.  Good to see you back out Doc.  Hope to see you back out in action again soon.

-The sprint cars had a guest announcer for the feature on Saturday night. Casey Feaster from the Casey Feaster Show was in the house and tried his hand at announcing for the first time.  Casey has a weekly Internet radio show heard in 9 states and can be found at www.FloridaShortTrackReport.com . Congrats to Casey on a job well done.

Race Reporter: Josh “The Ladies Choice” Wichers