After receiving an urgent text message from the FSCF.com corporate offices asking me to backup star race reporter Josh “Lifetime Probation” Wichers, I packed up my stuff and headed to Citrus County Speedway for the IPSCA race… and the fact that you are reading this shows you why I was there as a backup race reporter.

DATE: April 16,2011

SERIES: IPSCA, or Independent Pavement Sprint Car Association if you like.

ADMISSION PRICE: $25 for the pit pass.

FOOD ORDERED: Cheeseburger, chicken fingers.

FOOD GRADE: B. It was tasty, especially considering I hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours or so. The chicken finger basket was tasty as well, according to my nephew.

DRINKS ORDERED: Water and Gatorade.

DRINKS GRADE: B. It is just water and Gatorade, nothing exciting here to report.

CROWD GRADE: B-. As always at Citrus County, it was a nice crowd but not like it used to be.

NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 18, but we had expected to see 20 plus cars.

WHO WON: Colin Cabre, who picked up his first career sprint car win! Outstanding!

FSCF.COM DRIVER OF THE RACE: As much as I want to pick first time feature winner Cabre, I’m going with “The Bushnell Bullet” Shane Butler. Shane was scheduled to start the feature outside row 5. However, on the first attempt to start the feature some cars got together and Shane slammed on the brakes to avoid the mess. In doing so he flattened a tire. He tagged the tail for the start of the feature and quietly worked his way forward, including some nice moves on the outside to bring the Butler Motorsports car home in 2nd place.

FSCF.COM HARD LUCK AWARD: Joey “The Ace” Aguilar. Joey was running second, closing on eventual winner Cabre when he spun entering turn 3 with five to go.

SERIES GRADE: C-. They are still feeling their way through with this new arrangement.

TRACK GRADE: B+. The track was a little slippery, which made the drivers work a little harder to keep them straight.

OTHER NOTES:

*    Australian racer Craig Skene had a nice run with a solid top 10 finish. Afterward he wanted to thank Jerry & Marge Mathis for letting him drive their race car. He also said he can’t thank enough all those who have been so welcoming to him and his family and that the Florida sprint car racing community is awesome. We’re sad to see them go, but I’m positive they will be back! Safe travels to the Skene Family.

*    It was really neat to walk down into the pits and see Butler Motorsports there with two cars. They had one for defending TBARA champ Shane Butler and the “Legend” himself Stan Butler. Obviously they are preparing for the month of May and a trip to the Little 500 again in Anderson, IN. Stan had a solid run going before contact with Larry Brazil Jr. ended his night.

*    Speaking of Butler Motorsports, they had one heck of a crew Saturday night. We are talking former TBARA champs Sonny (a legend as well) and Bo Hartley. And throw in FSCF.com favorite wrench Ricky Burnett and it was no wonder they ran so well.

*    Larry Brazil Jr. gave the Mac Steele #2 car another solid run. Of course it didn’t hurt to have His Holiness Dave Steele helping out as well.

*    Solid runs were also put in by Jimmy Alvis Sr. and Tony Carreno. Of course we can’t forget to congratulate first time feature winner Colin Cabre! Congratulations to Colin, his family and his crew. It is a well deserved win and a popular one at that!

*    For those of you that didn’t make the race, it wasn’t the best pavement sprint car race I have ever seen. It was filled with lots of cautions and some calls that left fans in the stands scratching their collective heads in wonder. When there actually was green flag racing it was tight and at times very aggressive, but I will say that watching Cabre and Butler was worth the price of admission!

RACE REPORTER: Brian Penrose

And now for the pit walk pictures from Gary “Walk Quietly But Carry A Big” Johnson. We’d like to present two in particular, first up is “The Bushnell Bullet” because the picture is just so freakin’ cute.

Then there is this cool looking picture of the sprint car of Tommy Nichols. Nice job Gary!

And here is the gallery.

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