TGSS Race Report – 04.09.10

Better late than never, here we go…

DATE: April 9, 2010

SERIES: Top Gun Sprint Series

TRACK: Ocala Speedway

ADMISSION: $25 for a pit pass. You can’t beat that with a stick.

FOOD ORDERED: Well, I suppose a disclaimer is in order here. Lately I have had a bad habit of a) helping out people that are foolhardily enough to ask me to help work on their cars or b) I get so ensconced in the racing that I realize it’s almost the end of the evening and I should probably eat something. I suppose you could say both happened this time. So around 10:15ish I hit the food stand pitside in search of my favorite chili cheese dog in the state. No cheese or burgers left. Not what I wanted to hear, so I went grandstand side to the other food hauler. No chili and no hotdogs. So I thought, why not, I’ve never had the pizza here…no pizza. So back pitside I went and got a hotdog and loaded it up with what condiments were left. No bbq sauce either. So I got some fries and used the very last packet of mayonnaise and tried to act like I was Belgian, like say Erik van de Poele. On one hand I guess you can applaud Ocala for cutting everything close so they don’t have any food to waste. I get that. But dammit this is the best chili cheese dog at any track in the state! So shame on me I suppose. Even without the cheese or chili the hot dog rocked nonetheless.

FOOD GRADE: C. I’m willing to take some blame myself, but running out of so many condiments is a bit odd given their very long shelf life…

DRINKS ORDERED: The Yuengling I had out in the parking lot was pretty good…

DRINK GRADE: Sorry, I just can’t bring myself to drink Anheuser Busch products.

CROWD GRADE: A. I thought this was a really good crowd for Ocala. The parking lot was pretty darn full when I pulled in and the place went berserk when Amanda Ferguson took the checkered flag. It’s great to see a crowd get that into a sprint car race. Pure heaven.

NUMBER OF CARS: 19 were there, though not all took the green for the feature.

RACE WINNER: Amanda Ferguson. What can you say about Amanda that hasn’t been said on this website before? She made a nice move on Tim George and held him off the rest of the way, without the aid of a left rear shock. And during some of the longer green flag runs she had almost half-a-lap on Tim. I was glad I made the trip to Ocala to see history made.

RACE GRADE: B. Track surface didn’t help much and there were some spins and flips, but there were some good scraps in the pack and the anticipation of watching Amanda hold on to win lit the place up.

FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: Our factory driver Flyin’ Ryan Partin deserves a nod here. Once again Ryan spun at the beginning of the race (hit the brakes when the door got slammed on him) and had to work his way up from the back. And work he did, all the way up to fifth on a track that wasn’t providing many lanes for passing. But at the end of the day, when history has been made, how can I not give it to Amanda Ferguson for her first dirt win and thus putting her name in the Florida history books. Congrats Amanda, we owe you some Red Bull or something.

OTHER NOTES: In no particular order….

• Gene Lasker’s reign of terror over dirt sprint car racing came to an abrupt end when he spun and got collected by Shane Kreidler in an ugly wreck. It was actually a very “un-Lasker” night that saw him struggling in the feature with the track going so slick. Thankfully Gene was alright.
• Speaking of “The Human Highlight Reel” Shane Kreidler, we were looking forward to more high flying antics ala Lake City, but Shane ended up being a highlight in a bad way (see above). Shane’s car looked ugly back in the pits after that wreck, thankfully he was alright. Shane also spun twice in his heat. Rough night.
• I finally got to meet the very amusing Mark Ruel Jr., who had a very unpleasant evening. Mark was leading his heat race and spun out of the lead and then had just about everything gone wrong that could in the feature. We may not see Mark running too many Top Gun races in the future. We chatted about his plans and Mark came up with the best name I’ve heard yet for the FSCA – Otto’s Sprint Car Association. So look for Mark to run with the OSCA this year.
• It was good to see Tony Agin out there and he looked to have the bottom working way before anyone else, though it didn’t pay off in the feature for him quite as much as I thought it would. Still, a sixth place finish is plenty good.
• Heat #3 – ugly. I’ve never heard so many people say “wow” and not in a good way.
• Shawn Murray had a very long night. Clobbered the inside tire in his heat, then was doing his best to brush the wall down in turn four and then finally did on the white flag lap and wrecked right at the start/finish line. I think Shawn would like to forget Ocala altogether…
• Danny “The Hammer” Martin was strong all night, but just couldn’t get around Tim George to get at Amanda. Catching Tim George and passing him are two different things.
• John Crowder brought two cars – one for himself and one for Robert Bozema. Bozema looked to have a flat left rear before the feature ever got started. We like John, but he did have a long night.
• Darrin Miller had a productive night, picking up a feature win and coming home fourth in the feature. Nothing wrong with that at all.
• It was nice to see quite a few pavement sprint car drivers roaming the pits and having a good time. Shane Butler, Steve Heisler, Stan Butler and David Slawiak were all spotted.
• Speaking of sprint car driver sightings – Jack Hewitt…
• Heat wins went to Darrin Miller, Danny Martin Jr., and Mike Schroeder.
• I love the Top Gun Sprint Series. There, I said it, I feel better.

RACE REPORTER: Todd