Date : 09.18.2010

Track : Citrus County Speedway ( Inverness, FL )

Series : Central Florida Wingless Sprint Car Association

Admission :
Grandstand :

Adult – $13
Student (12-17) - $9
Senior (60+) - $9
Kids under 11 - $5
Kids under 42″ - FREE
Family Pass (2 Adult, 2 Children) – $30
Pit Pass - $25

# of Sprint Cars : 17

Who Won :
Heat 1 – Troy DeCaire
Heat 2 – Jimmy Alvis Sr
Feature – TROY DeCAIRE

The Finish :
68d-DeCaire, 68-Kempgens, 1-Gingras, 12-Cabre, 89-Slawiak, 41-Bragg, 87-Alvis Sr, 75-D. Miller, 3-Misarauca, 69-Voisey, 6-Hurst, 59-Statter, 6t-Taylor, 30-Jenkins, 17-Gordon, 0-O’Sullivan

Crowd Grade : A-. Citrus County Speedway consistently puts a good crowd of people in their seats. Good car counts in all of their classes, a no nonsense approach by their race director, fast and friendly concessions, affordable admission costs, and good old fashioned short track racing make for a great combination that seems to continue to work in their favor. Whether it’s a regular Saturday night show, or I get to visit to watch the pavement pounding sprint cars, I always enjoy going to Citrus County Speedway. They always deliver a great experience.

Track Grade : A. After taking a late afternoon, toad strangling, downpour of rain, the track crew was able to get the track dry and race ready in very quick fashion. Some tracks would have thrown in the towel after taking that sort of dousing, but not our friends at Citrus County Speedway. Rain … what stinkin’ rain? We got racing to get in!! And who wouldn’t love watching sprint cars on this 1/4 mile bullring ? Tight racing, lots of room for passing, high banked corners …… it’s just a recipe for good things. The grounds are always well kept and the staff is always friendly.

Food Ordered : Egg Roll (because I could), Cheeseburger.

Food Grade : A. Egg Rolls at a race track ? Where else I ask …. where else ?? And better than most that I’ve ever had at a Chinese restaurant. Hot and crispy little morsels they are. If you find yourself at Citrus any time soon, do yourself a favor and get the egg roll. Trust me, you’ll like it. And the cheeseburger, well, a better cheeseburger at a race track you will have a hard time finding. I always find a way to get a cheeseburger during my visit to CCS. I also must say that there was some delectable grilled chicken to be found during the post race celebration over at my friends Jonea and Richard’s mobile race lounge. Yummy stuff !

Drinks Ordered : Sweet Tea (of course), Coca Cola (bottle).

Drinks Grade : A. The last few times that I had been to CCS, the sweet tea wasn’t all that sweet. Apparently they read the complaint cards and adjusted their recipe accordingly. It wasn’t quite Alabama sweet, but it was as good as any that I’ve had at a race track recently.

Series Grade : B. The CFWSCA brought a fairly strong car count with 17 rolling through the gates. A quality field of cars and drivers made for a great night of racing. According to a reliable source, we may get the opportunity to see the CFWSCA at CCS again soon. Apparently they are working on getting the date previously scheduled for the Florida Winged Sprints series that raced at Auburndale Speedway last season. If this happens, be sure to get out to CCS to take this show in. I overheard the age old comment several times throughout the evening about pavement sprint car series here in our great state being able to work together on scheduling dates on top of each other. We all know sprint cars are a rare breed here in the sunshine state, but somehow, there were 3 different series, racing at 3 different tracks, all within about 125 miles of each other. I would like to think that it’s possible for the powers that be to sit down and work this out. By general calculations, had the 2 pavement series’ combined efforts, we could have seen 24-30 cars at either Desoto Super Speedway or Citrus County Speedway on this night. But unfortunately, many teams were faced with a tough decision on which track and series to support. Check out the CFWSCA’s website at www.WinglessSprints.com for their schedule and much more.

FSCF.com Driver of the Race : TROY DeCAIRE. After posting an impressive heat race win, Shane and Kim Miller and Premier Miller Chiropractic offered Troy a substantial bonus if he was willing to tag the field in the scratch position for the feature, and was able to win. After consulting with his car owner, George Rudolph, about his confidence in the set up that George had put on the car, the decision was made to take Shane and Kim up on their offer. And what a treat it was. With his hot rod adorned with two streamers of construction ribbon that read “Caution”, Troy idled around during the hot lap session leading up to the feature, then took his spot at the tail of the field. By lap 5, DeCaire found himself in the 5th position. On lap 7, he had pulled the 68d to the back bumper of his teammate and race leader Mickey Kempgens. On the 12th trip around the high banks, DeCaire was at the point and wasn’t looking back. Although Kempgens put on a valiant effort to stay with DeCaire as they diced their way through lapped traffic, he didn’t have quite enough on this night to contend for the lead once again. After watching DeCaire work his way from the rear of the pack, it was evident to see the talent that garnered him the honor of being the champion of the inaugural season of the Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series  (www.MustSeeRacing.com) .

FSCF.com Talent Scout Report : Colin Cabre. After spending much of the afternoon and evening wandering aimlessly through the pit area, I had walked by the bright and very clean blue and yellow #12 of Colin Cabre numerous times. In my recent absence from the sprint car scene, I hadn’t heard of the future phenom yet. I watched intently during the practice sessions as the young Cabre put his rocket through its paces. I was thinking to myself, I don’t know who this guy is, but he ain’t half bad. So after watching the 30 lap feature highlighted by young veterans like DeCaire and Kempgens, I had to meet this guy that came home a very impressive 4th place finish. As it turns out, the pilot of the car that had impressed me so much wasn’t even old enough to vote. I had the pleasure of speaking to this young man for a few moments, and I can honestly say that I was just impressed by his posture out of the car as his composure in the car. I was shocked when he told me that this was only his 2nd, yes 2nd, time in a sprint car.  Mark our words folks, keep your eyes on this kid. And I say kid affectionately, when asked how old he was, i got “I’m 16 sir”.  Yeah people, 16 ! He told me that he got his start in racing doing motorcross at the age of 4, he spent about 3-4 years in go karts at Dirt Devils Speedway, then about a year or so in an open wheeled modified, and then made the jump into a sprint car. I have a feeling that we’ll be talking and writing about Colin Cabre alot in weeks and months to come. When I asked about his future plans, he told me that they intend to race whenever and wherever they can. I can’t wait to see Cabre with a wing on, dicing it up with the premier winged sprint car series in the country, the TBARA . Cabre definitely has talent and potential abound !!

Other Notes :

- Joey “the Ace” Aguilar was spotted meandering through the pit area at CCS. When asked about any potential rides that we may see him in the near future, “the Ace” told us that he has a few irons in the fire, but nothing chiseled in stone at this point. He also said that he would like to focus his efforts on a non-wing ride, possibly with the CFWSCA. So if any of you car owners out there are looking for a proven driver with proven results, “the Ace” is willing and able to put you in victory lane. Aguilar also told us that he couldn’t thank Kim and Shane Miller, and Doro Racing  enough for allowing him the opportunity to drive for them.

- Ray Bragg Jr was back in action driving for Terry and Sandy DeCaire. Ray is getting some seat time while he anxiously awaits the repairs of his Stealth at Steele Performance.

- Special THANK YOU’s go out to Premier Miller Chiropractic for graciously putting up the incentive money and the challenge for Troy DeCaire to start from the tail !!!!

- While I was sitting on the grandstand side for the heat races, the DeCaire Marketing Machine came through the stands selling t-shirts. Troy had hired 3 of the best looking females in the area to help him distribute his merchandise. Genius I say, genius. But if you weren’t at CCS, and you want an official Troy DeCaire t-shirt, visit  www.DeCaireMotorsports.com and get yours today.

- David Slawiak was in the house with his teammate “Slick” Ric Voisey. It was a rare appearance by Slawiak outside of the Checkered Flag Sprints Series, where he is always a top contender. Slawiak was leading the race on lap 2 when he and Brian Gingras were involved in an incident which resulted in Gingras spinning and coming to a stop in turn 4. Slawiak and Gingras were both sent to the rear of the field on the ensuing restart. Gingras followed Kempgens to the checkers in 3rd, while Slawiak had a solid 5th.

- Skeeter “Scooter” Faulconer was in the house with his traveling Speed Circus. Driving for Faulconer were Frankie Hurst and Lance Taylor, as well as the ringmaster himself.

- Special thanks to MK Designs, the official graphics supplier of FSCF.com, for hand delivering another stack of fancy smancy FloridaSprintCarFans.com decals . On your next trip to CCS, check out the ticket window on the grandstand side and the concession stand window in the pit area. We marked our turf accordingly. If you or anyone you know would like to proudly display your love for everyone’s favorite sprint car website, please let us know and we’ll make sure you get a couple.

-Both heat races went caution free. There was a false start in the 1st heat race, but I would have honestly blamed it on the flagman. He didn’t appear to be knowledgable of the proceedures. It was nearly a disaster going into turn 1 when he didn’t throw the flag.

- I learned a new phrase that I feel compelled to share. “Church it Up!” . Not sure what it means, but it was my inspiration for this incredibly long race report.

- Kudos to Troy DeCaire and Mickey Kempgens for taking the time to make our webmaster’s son’s first trip to a sprint car race, a very memorable one. The first time that I took my nephew to the races with me, Ryan Partin took a few minutes of his time to make Nick feel special. From that day on, Nick is the world’s biggest Ryan Partin fan. Everytime I see him and we talk racing, he asks me how Ryan’s doing. It only takes a few minutes to make a lifetime of impressions.
Thanks guys!

Race Reporter: Josh “Am I Still on Probation?” Wichers

Once again we’ll have dueling race reports as both Todd and Josh were at Citrus County this past weekend. Todd hunkered down in the grandstands and Josh roamed the pits.

Here goes Todd’s Take.

DATE: September 18, 2010

SERIES: Central Florida Wingless Sprints

TRACK: Citrus County Speedway

ADMISSION PRICE: $13 for adults on the grandstand side. Seriously, this was a freakin’ steal. I love Citrus County and how they don’t raise their prices to take in some sprint car action.

FOOD ORDERED: Ice cream. I had my two year old son (for his first proper race) with me and as soon as he saw someone with ice cream, that was all I heard. But I do love that Citrus County has an ice cream stand with yummy fresh ice cream in three flavors.

FOOD GRADE: A. Since the only thing I ordered was ice cream (vanilla and strawberry) and my son loved it, this was a homerun. I had what little he left me and it was pretty yum-o. It was pretty cheap too.

DRINKS ORDERED: None. Being the good parent I am, I refrained, plus we sat in the family section and you can’t drink there anyway. I love that there is a family section at Citrus County. That way I don’t have to worry about anyone acting a fool around my highly impressionable two year old.

CROWD GRADE: B. Not the biggest crowd I’ve seen at Citrus County, but still a good sized crowd. I’d also like to say what friendly people were sitting in the stands in the family section as a random stranger gave us some earplugs for my boy when we realized we left his earphones at home. I didn’t get your name, but thank you again!

NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 17

SERIES GRADE: B+. The series was a few shy of 20 and that’s my mark for giving a series an A grade, but there were some really nice cars out there. I’m sure if the TBARA were not running the same night there would have been 20+ cars.

REST OF THE RACING GRADE: C. I generally love the other classes at Citrus County but while the modifieds were neat it was also an incredibly boring race. The dwarf cars weren’t too much better and I was perplexed by the incident coming to the checkers that took out the Reutimann #00 looking car. I enjoyed the street stock race though and would like to give props to the blue #50 (I forget the class) with the Merkur body on it.

WHO WON: Travelin’ Troy DeCaire. And man did he do it in fashion by taking the extra money posted by Premier Miller if he would start dead last and win.

FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: This one isn’t even close – Troy DeCaire. He won his heat, won the feature from dead last and took home the bounty posted on Mickey Kempgens. This was also one of the more mature drives I’ve seen from Troy as I half expected him to just fly around everyone on the outside, but he worked the low side more often than not.

OTHER NOTES:

• Mickey Kempgens most likely had this one in the bag until a caution came out. But the reason Mickey had it in the bag is because on an early restart the #87 of Jimmy Alvis didn’t go right away and Mickey had a half-lap on every one in short order, which would have been tough for Troy to make up. Nonetheless Mickey drove a great race and drove his butt off to keep Troy honest.
• Brian Gingras drove an excellent race to come home third. Brian and David “Nothing Rhymes With” Slawiak had an incident early in the race that resulted with Gingras spinning down off the apron of turn four. This caused my two year old son to stand up and point at Slawiak and yell, “Not Nice Sprint Car! Not Nice!” Sorry David…
• Remember this name – Colin Cabre. Second race in a sprint car and he finished fourth. And he’s 16…
• Ray Bragg II was in the DeCaire Motorsports #41 and finished 6th behind Slawiak.
• Sonny O’Sullivan had a bad night with his car not firing for the feature.
• Bobby Gordon and Mike Jenkins Jr. also had bad nights with mechanical issues sidelining them shortly after the green.
• Dennis Misuraca got a workout driving his car as his left front was up in the air like he was dirt tracking it out of the corners.
• Nice to see Darrin Miller out there again. I’m all for sprint car drivers driving on dirt and pavement.
• Speaking of Millers, how about Shane and Kim Miller putting up that extra money for Troy to come from the rear of the field? Remember kids, when you’re in pain, call Shane at 813-879-6500.
• Mr. Track Announcer, please raise your game. You get to victory lane and ask the second place driver how to pronounce his last name? Really? Then you say it wrong after Mickey said it for you? Then you ask Troy how old he is and then repeat it wrong? And not knowing who (Sonny O’Sullivan) was in the #0 at the start? Let’s do a little homework about your headlining class before the race. Please.
• I would also like to give a special thanks to Mickey Kempgens and Troy DeCaire who came over after the race and said hi to my son. When we got to Steak and Shake afterward, the first words out of his mouth to the waitress were, “Sprint Cars! Mickey! Troy! Vroom!” when she asked how he was doing.

RACE REPORTER: Todd Michaels

And as promised, here are some photos compliments of Mr. Winger.

Dennis Misuraca working the inside of David Slawiak.

Brian Gingras working the inside of Colin Cabre.

Mickey Kempgens and Darrin Miller going at it.

Remember this name - Colin Cabre.

Troy DeCaire looks to the outside of Mickey Kempgens.

Pass for the lead as Troy DeCaire goes inside Mickey Kempgens.

This happened in front of us and prompted a series of loud, "OH OH! OH OH!"s from my two year old son.

Nice camera work!

The little cars were in the house as well.