The TBARA returned to one of my favorite tracks of all time, I owed my son a sprint car race due to all of my business travel lately, so we all loaded up and headed to Citrus County Speedway for some sprint car racing.

Game on!

DATE: May 5, 2012

SERIES: TBARA

TRACK: Citrus County Speedway

ADMISSION: $22 for one adult, one senior and one child. You can’t beat that with a stick.

FOOD ORDERED: Chocolate Ice Cream, Cheese Fries, Cheeseburger, Popcorn and Pizza. The ice cream and cheese fries were for the boy, the cheeseburger for me and the pizza for me mum. For some inexplicable reason me mum got an enormous bag of popcorn that is resting comfortably in the back of my car. Sprite, Coke and Mello Yello were the drinks of the evening.

FOOD GRADE: B-. The ice cream is el yummo and quite the steal at the price point. The cheeseburger and cheese fries were pretty good too but the pizza was a tad lacking.

NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 18.

WHO WON: Heat wins went to Dude Teate, Jimmy Alvis Jr., Stan Butler. Feature win went to TBARA defending champion Johnny Gilbertson.

Your podium, left to right, Larry Brazil Jr. came home third, Johnny Gilbertson was your winner and Shane Butler came home second. Photo by Photos by Crawford.

SERIES GRADE: C. The TBARA brought 18 cars, which is up from Desoto and Punta Gorda, but only eight were running at the end of the feature.

CROWD GRADE: A. The stands were pretty darn full I must say, which was nice to see for a TBARA event these days. Also, the week prior Shane and Stan Butler brought their sprint cars out to the track to help raise awareness, so well done to the Butlers.

FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: Johnny Gilbertson. I truthfully thought Shane Butler would run away with it after Dude Teate broke, but the man we call Gilby put down a superfly power move to take the lead from Butler and never looked back for a dominating win. That’s two in a row for the defending champ.

Once Johnny Gilbertson put the winning pass on Shane Butler he checked off into the distance and picked up the win. Photo by Photos by Crawford.

FSCF.com HARD LUCK AWARD: As is generally the case, this one is easy and unfortunately goes to Dude Teate. Making his first TBARA start of the year, the Dude won his heat and looked to have one of the strongest cars out there but unfortunately broke early on in the feature, while leading, to boot. Sorry Dude, but it was nice to see you back in competition once again.

REST OF THE RACING GRADE: For everyone but the modifieds, I give them an A. For the modifieds, they get an F. The sportsmen had about 25 cars and had a great feature race. The four cylinder class also featured some great racing. We even got to see Stan Butler driving a dwarf car.The one thing I like about Citrus County is that the vast majority of the drivers have a lot of respect for each other and there is generally some good give and take. More on the modifieds below…

OTHER NOTES:

• Heat #3 was very entertaining with Shane and Stan Butler on the front row together. I thought Stan would just roll over and let Shane run off with it, but as with most things in life, I was way off in my thinking. Stan and Shane ran side-by-side through the turns for a few laps until Stan finally pulled away for the heat win. I was laughing my head off I was so entertained by all of this.

It was a Butler family affair in Heat #3. Photo by Photos by Crawford.

• Mickey Kempgens run of good fortune came to an abrupt end against the turn four wall and we all held our breath until we saw Mickey was alright. Mickey was behind the wheel of the #75 we’re accustomed to seeing Darrin Miller pilot and looked like he had his hands full with it in his heat race. From my vantage point I couldn’t see what happened in the feature, but the end result was Mickey and Jimmy Alvis Jr. in the wall and both were done for the night.
• As usual, Larry Brazil Jr.was high entertainment, scaring my mother every time he came sliding out of four and seeing how close he could get to the wall. If there is one thing that I’ve learned over the years by watching Larry, he loves to nail the throttle coming out of four and it doesn’t matter what track it is.
  

  Larry Brazil Jr. works to the outside of "Slick" Ric Voisey. Photo by Photos by Crawford.

• Friend of the website and ROTY contender Rex “Boneman” Hollinger had engine leak issues that plagued him from the get go so we never really got to see him pedal his #85 in anger.
• Move of the night went to Mark Gimmler. Mark was dicing with Stan Butler for fourth place and they were gingerly trying to get around the slower car of Jason Bradford. After two laps or so, they had enough of this and going into turn three Stan shot high and Mark shot low and into the turn they went three wide, I held my breath…and Mark emerged in front of all of them.
  

  Mark Gimmler takes Jason Bradford to the outside. Photo by Photos by Crawford.

• Those of you accustomed to seeing Ben Fritz in his bright red #16 probably had to do a double take as he was behind the wheel of the #37 this evening.
• I saw Bo Hartley walking the stands and it drives me insane that he’s not out on the track competing.
• When it was all said and done, Johnny Gilbertson had lapped up to fourth place and eight cars (I believe) were still running when the checkers fell. Hopefully after May is over the TBARA can get their car counts back up.
• Championship contender John Gilbert Jr. had a tough night, spinning in his heat race and then ending up in the fence in the feature.
• Spend two bucks and get the track program at Citrus County, it’s really well done and you get a ticket for drawings for prizes.
• I’d like to thank Johnny Gilbertson for name-dropping our website in his victory lane speech and I’d also like to thank Shane Butler for throwing his K&N hat to my son. My son wore it to sleep, to lunch Sunday and also to his daycare every day so far this week. So big ups to “The Bushnell Bullet” for cultivating the young fans.
• Barring the modified debacle, Citrus County once again proved why it is my favorite pavement track. Cheap admission, friendly staff, a huge family seating area, great racing with drivers that race each other hard but clean, and this was the first time I’ve been witness to a long night of racing, but that was due to the modifieds.
  

  Jason Bradford leads Frankie Hurst. Photo by Photos by Crawford.

• So I’ve been going to see modifieds race on both pavement and dirt for about thirty years now and I really like modifieds quite a bit, but that was probably one of the worst “races” I’ve ever witnessed. Drivers intentionally dumping each other, one driver intentionally stopping on the track to bring out a yellow after he got moved up the track, multiple spins by one driver, it was terrible. But I guess the worst part for me was that the driver that intentionally stopped on track to bring out a yellow, then dumped another driver for yet another yellow, got a major warning by officials when he rightfully should have been parked, ended up winning. This “race” went on for almost forty minutes, this with track officials mercifully cutting it short. Sadly quite a few fans around me left before the sprints came out because now it was late and they had enough.
• I really enjoyed the sportsmen race, as did my son and he generally hates stock cars. Live and learn.

RACE REPORTER: Todd Michaels

Yes, this is a TBARA report. Yes, it is last week’s race. Yes, it is very long. Yes, the Race Reporter is Josh Wichers. Yes, you can pick on him in the comments.

Date: 10.29.2011

Track: Desoto Super Speedway

Series: TBARA (Tampa Bay Area Racing Association)

Admission:

Adult (13 & up) ……………….$15

Kids (12 & under) ……………$Free

Pit Pass (0-101) ……………….$30

# of Sprint Cars: 18

Who Won:

Heat 1 – Gary Gimmler

Heat 2 – Brian Gingras

Feature – TROY DeCAIRE

The Finish:

68- Troy DeCaire, 1- Brian Gingras, 18- Shane Butler, 78- Mickey Kempgens, 22- Johnny Gilbertson, 91- Dave Steele, 29- Gary Gimmler, 7- John Gilbert Jr., 67- Scotty Adema, 81- Stan Butler, 01- Matthew Hall, 51- Mark Gimmler, 55- Tommy Nichols, 15- Rex Hollinger, 2- Larry J Brazil Jr., 21- Jimmy Alvis Jr., 221- Collin Cabre, 31- Channing Conley

Crowd Grade: B-. By Desoto standards, this was a great crowd. By Five Flags standards, it would’ve been a cricket fest. There were however many more in the stands than I had anticipated. The next TBARA race at Desoto may not see nearly as many warm seats though. The final race for the TBARA is on Thanksgiving weekend.

Track Grade: D+. Since it’s obvious that nobody from the track reads this, I don’t mind expressing my true feelings on this category. Desoto Super Speedway was once the Mecca of pavement short track racing in this great state. The ‘gatekeepers’ that operate the track have completely ruined all that is good with DSS. The trash cans in the pit area hadn’t been emptied in quite some time. The restrooms on the pit side were atrocious; I’ve been in cleaner port-a-potties. The grass was shin deep where we parked the hauler, and it appeared that a weed eater hasn’t been fired up any time this season. I almost thought I was at East Bay when then sprints took the track for their feature because of the dust and debris off the track. I know brooms aren’t that expensive. Seven classes, 49 cars…. you do the math. Who wants to watch 6 car features?? Charging infants full admissions for a pit pass … maybe I’m missing something, but that just seems wrong. I could go on, but I best stop before I get in too much trouble.

Drinks Ordered: Sweet tea, Sierra Mist – Cranberry.

Drinks Grade: C-. Still no sweet tea anywhere on the property! I was pleasantly surprised that they actually had the Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist, but only on the grandstand side. I still can’t believe they have no sweet tea. I’m not even going to get into that.

Food Ordered: Cheeseburger, Onion Rings.

Food Grade: C-.  We generally stop for lunch on our way to the track, but this was one of those days that we were running a few minutes late and didn’t have a chance to stop. By the time we got everything unloaded and set up, I was getting pretty munchie. As I wandered towards the pit side concession, I saw that they had already cooked enough food to last the entire night. After careful consideration, I opted for the $4 cheeseburger. Let me just say that we won’t be running late next time. So during the on-track trick-or-treat session, I decided to check out the grandstand concession area and beer shed. Onion rings sounded really good, and I needed something to compare Citrus County Speedway’s to. But when I ordered them, the young man behind the counter informed me that they would not be cooking any more onion rings until all of the fries were gone. There were enough fries left to feed a small army…..

Series Grade: A. You guys already know that I’m faithful TBARA follower, so I’m sure this comes as no surprise. Anytime you put 18 of the fastest, best looking, most powerful machines on four wheels, piloted by some of the most talented wheel men in the country, side by side, on the same track, you’re going to have a great show. This night was no exception. Troy DeCaire became the 6th different winner this year. That in itself speaks volumes about the level of competition in the TBARA. If you haven’t seen these guys in a while, do yourself a favor and make plans to be at DSS on the Saturday after Thanksgiving … it’s going to be a barn burner.

FSCF.com Driver of the Race: Troy DeCaire. Troy’s ability to remain calm under pressure not only won him this coveted award, but a TBARA feature as well. Following the lap 1 melee that resulted in Channing Conley trying to tear down the wall in turn 3, Troy pulled his purple #68 to the infield. Troy immediately ran to the nearest push truck driver, shouted instructions to his crew, and ran back to his car. As his car was pushed off the track, his crew hurried to their hauler and began prepping for a quick repair. Troy had suffered a broken throttle linkage. Car owner George Rudolph and chief mechanic Shawn Grimes went to work as the cleanup from Conley’s wreck held the field under a red flag. As the cars began to push off, DeCaire rolled back onto the track and readied himself to start scratch on the 18 car field. DeCaire wasted no time finding his way to the front and held off all comers to take the checkers with only two early cautions to help him.

FSCF.com Hard Luck Award: Channing Conley. This is a no brainer. Channing has been showing great promise in his last few outings with the TBARA. After having only one lap in the books, but not officially (I’ll get into that later), Conley hopped the right rear tire of Stan Butler getting into Turn 3. Thankfully, Conley was unscathed, but his car wasn’t as fortunate. The front axle was in multiple pieces, and the down tubes on the chassis were folded like pretzels. If you haven’t checked out the video, it’s a must see.

Other Notes:

• It was great to see a number of guys back out that we hadn’t seen in a while. Brian Gingras, Tommy Nichols, Scotty Adema, and Collin Cabre were among those back in action.
• Doug Shaw was in attendance and spotted in the pit area of Steve Dravidics. Rumor has it that Darvalics will be piloting the potent #24 machine for Shaw racing for the remainder of 2011; the seat vacated by Danny Martin Jr. Darvalics is a talented driver with numerous wins on pavement and dirt. His latest adventure has found him behind the wheel of a truck, where he has also had great success. Best of luck to Darvalics and Shaw.
•  We learned that Brian Gingras and Green Site Development (Gary Green) have put a deal together for the 2012 season. Gingras and Green plan to run a full TBARA campaign, as well as any non wing races that may be scheduled. We also understand that Gary’s son, Garrett, has done some testing in Gingras’ racecar. Garrett is only 13, but looks forward to being able to compete as soon as possible. Gingras expressed his sincere appreciation towards Robin and Gary Green for affording him the opportunity to race with them.
•  In related Scotty Adema news, we hear that he and David Slawiak are working out an exchange. If things go as planned, we may see Slawiak make his dirt debut with the Top Gun Sprint Series by year’s end. When I asked Adema about his recent dealings in the dirt, he gave me the quote of the year …”dirt bloooooooooows!!!!!”
•  During the heat races for the local racers, one of the trucks hit the turn 3 wall and nearly pushed the radiator to the firewall. Guess how many first responders or EMT’s responded….. Give up??? Yep, zero. Thankfully the young lady driving said truck was able to get out with only a slight limp. As Adema and I discussed track safety later that evening, he brought to my attention that each car would probably be carrying 25 gallons of fuel for the feature. Multiplied by 18 cars. That’s 9 drums of flammable dynamite or a fireball big enough to be seen from the Space Station. I think following the Wheldon tragedy, we need to seriously visit our safety practices.
•  Heat one saw Rex Hollinger on the pole, with Collin Cabre on the outside, both of which opted to the rear. By doing so, it put Channing Conley and Tommy Nichols out front. By the completion of lap 1, Gary Gimmler had made his move to the front and pulled away from the field in the caution free affair. Gimmler was pursued to the finish by Shane Butler, Troy DeCaire, Johnny Gilbertson, Nichols, John Gilbert Jr., Conley, Hollinger, and Cabre.
•  Jimmy Alvis Jr. and Matthew Hall had the preferred seats for the start of heat #2. Their view of the front was short lived as Brian Gingras powered his way to the front. However, the man everyone was watching was the #78 of Mickey Kempgens. Kempgens in the 8th spot and had made his way to 2nd by lap 6. Gingras prevailed over the caution free heat, despite numerous challenges from Kempgens in final 3 laps. Gingras was followed to the stripe by Kempgens, Dave Steele, Larry J Brazil Jr., Alvis Jr., Mark Gimmler, Stan Butler, Hall, and Scotty Adema.
•  The start of the feature had Jimmy Alvis Jr. and Brian Gingras perched on the front row. Gingras jumped out to the early lead and had the field in tow for nearly 2 laps before a red flag brought the action to a standstill. It was the 31 of Channing Conley that hit the turn 3 wall after hopping a right rear tire. During the red, the 68 of Troy DeCaire went to the pit area for a throttle repair. The 18 of Shane Butler pulled to the infield, thinking his car had been damaged during the wreckage, and the 91 of Dave Steele had to remove the front wing after making contact. Apparently there was a discrepancy with the transponders, and a complete restart was called for. This time however, Steele, Butler, and DeCaire were all sent to the rear for working on their cars under red. The show was on. Watching those 3 work their way to the front was pure eye candy. The caution would fly on lap 4 for John Gilbert Jr., who had spun coming off turn 2. On lap 9, DeCaire passed Gingras to take the lead. The final caution of the night would come on lap 13 for Alvis Jr. as he slowed and coasted to a stop in turn 4. DeCaire secured the victory by putting 4 lapped cars between himself and Gingras.

Race Reporter: Josh Wichers

Date: 09.17.2011

Track: Desoto Super Speedway (Bradenton, FL)

Series: TBARA

Admission:

Adult (13 & up) – ……..$15

Kids (12 & under) …….$FREE

Pit Pass ……………………$30

# of Sprint Cars: 17

Who Won:

Heat 1 – Dude Teate

Heat 2 – Larry J Brazil Jr.

Feature – GARY GIMMLER

The Finish:    29- Gary Gimmler, 14- Dude Teate, 91- David Steele, 18- Shane Butler, 68- Mickey Kempgens, 22- Johnny Gilbertson, 81- LJ Grimm, 51- Mark Gimmler, 2- Larry J Brazil Jr., 69- Ric Voisey, 17- Francis Crowder, 9- Jimmy Alvis Jr., 221- Matthew Hall, 7- John Gilbert Jr., 15- Rex Hollinger, 31- Channing Conley, 21- Jimmy Alvis Sr.

Crowd Grade: C. It wasn’t the worst crowd that I’ve witnessed at DSS, but the grandstands were nowhere close to being as full as they were for the last TBARA race . I’m certain that low car counts in all of the other classes have something to do with the lack of enthusiasm . The most that I counted in any of the other classes was 7, with the fewest being 2 . I don’t know about you, but watching 2 cars race isn’t my idea of good racing …. unless it’s a pair of top fuel funny cars covering a 1/4 mile in 4 seconds.

Track Grade: C-. I was half tempted to give the track a solid B until I realized that the garbage cans in the pit area hadn’t been dumped in quite some time. I know it’s kind of petty, but it’s the little things that make a big difference . I’ve discussed the pit road situation in other reports, so there’s no need to visit that again. When I go to Desoto, I find myself looking around and seeing the vast potential of this once pristine facility. If only I were wealthy ……

Drinks Ordered: Sweet tea.

Drinks Grade: F-. It’s not that the tea was bad …. they DON’T have any. Seriously ??? How is this possible people??? It’s the best investment to return beverage that you can offer. It costs $3 to make 5 gallons !!! I just don’t get it . I really just don’t get it !

Food Ordered: Hamburger, Twizzlers.

Food Grade: C-. After the disappointment of not being able to get any sweet tea, I picked up a pack of Twizzlers and headed back to the hauler. As far as the hamburger, that was consumed by my guest food critic, the Legend himself – Stan Butler . Stan noted that it was dry and over cooked , and that when he went to pull the bun apart to add condiments, the bun separated … apparently from sitting under the warmer for a while. He also noted that for a plain hamburger and a bottle of Diet Pepsi, they got $5.75. That just seems a little steep to me.

Series Grade: A-. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again … I’m a TBARA lifer. They bring the some of the best equipment and some of the most talented drivers of any series in the country. This night was no different. Anytime you have 2 ‘King of the Wings’ champions, a USAC champion, a former NASCAR Nationwide competitor, and a former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor in the same field, you know you’re racing against the very best. The only thing that could have made it better is if there would have been 24 cars.

FSCF.com Driver of the Race: LJ Grimm. As impressive as it was to watch Gary Gimmler hold off Dude Teate and David Steele for 27 laps and 2 cautions, it was more impressive to watch a 17 year old open wheel modified transplant start dead last and work his way up to a 7th place finish. Grimm, a 17 year old high school senior at Armwood High School , was making his sprint car debut in the 81 car for Butler Motorsports. That’s right , debut !! The “Seffner Sizzle” started at the tail of his 9 car heat race and came across the stripe 6th to secure a transfer spot for the feature. But due to his rookie status, Grimm was made to start in the scratch position for the A Main. Grimm quickly made his way to the front at the drop of the green flag. By lap 6, Grimm had put half of the field behind him and was running in the 9th position. By lap 15, Grimm had pulled to back bumper of seasoned veteran, Mark Gimmler, and was challenging for the 8th spot. On lap 18, the “Sizzle” made a bold pass to the outside of Gimmler getting into turn 1. Grimm then set his sights on Larry J Brazil Jr. and the 7th position. By lap 21, Grimm had caught and passed Brazil Jr. and was charging towards current points leader, Johnny Gilbertson. Grimm settled in behind Gilbertson for the remaining 9 circuits to pick up a solid 7th place finish. If this was any indication of what’s yet to come, you may want to take our advice and get his autograph now.

FSCF.com Hard Luck Award: John Gilbert Jr. Each and every driver that makes the long trek from their shop to the track is much appreciated in this economy. But John Gilbert Jr. has got to be considered for the ‘Most Dedicated’ award. John and his team make the extremely long trip from the Florida Keys each week to compete with the TBARA. After having a strong 2nd place finish in his heat race, Gilbert Jr. started the feature inside of row 4 . During the parade laps, it appeared as if there may have been a problem with the rear panhard bar on the 7 car. On lap 6, Gilbert’s car was collected in the backstretch wall and sent him spinning across the track in front of the field. Thankfully no one else was involved in the incident, but Gilbert’s night came to an abrupt end as he was taken off the track on the hook of a tow truck.

Other Notes:

• Special thanks once again go out to Consolidated Heating and Air Conditioning for being the title sponsor for the evening’s events. It is great sponsors like this that make it possible for us to continue to do what we love. If you’re in the Sarasota/Bradenton area, please stop by and tell them thanks.

• Heat 1 saw Ric Voisey and Matthew Hall on the front row . As the green flag flew, Dude Teate quickly took to the point followed by his teammate, David Steele. On lap 5, Johnny Gilbertson had worked his way to the front from his 7th starting spot and powered by Steele on the outside coming off turn 4 . With the white flag out , Gilbertson had caught Teate and was challenging for the win. They came off turn 4 side by side, but it was Teate picking up the win by a narrow margin. Teate was followed by Gilbertson, Steele, Gary Gimmler, Mark Gimmler, LJ Grimm, Voisey, Rex Hollinger, and Hall .

• Francis Crowder and Jimmy Alvis Sr. were slated to lead the field to the green in heat 2 . After a brief hot laps session, the 21 of Alvis Sr. was pulled to the high side of turn 3 for a safety inspection by club officials. Alvis Sr. was pushed to the pit area and would not rejoin the race. Crowder opted to take his 17 car to the back for the start, putting Channing Conley and Larry J. Brazil Jr. on the front row. When the track went green, it was Brazil Jr. who took the early and commanding lead. The man on the move was Mickey Kempgens. Kempgens, who had started in 8th, was up to 4th by lap 2. Kempgens got by the pole sitter, Conley on lap 8 to pick up 3rd. Brazil Jr. had stretched out nearly a straightway lead in the caution free affair and was followed to the finish by John Gilbert Jr., Kempgens, Conley, Shane Butler, Jimmy Alvis Jr., and Crowder.

• The feature lineup saw rookie hot shoe, Channing Conley beside retiring veteran, Gary Gimmler on the front row. Gimmler beat Conley into turn 1 to take the lead. On lap 3, while still holding onto a solid 2nd, Conley slowed coming off turn 4 and came to a rest against the wall at the entrance of turn 1 to bring out the nights first caution. Conley was pushed to the infield and was retired for the night. As the field was regrouped for the single file restart, it was Gimmler at the point with Dude Teate, Larry J Brazil Jr., David Steele, and Mark Gimmler tucked in closely . The caution would wave for the final time on lap 6 as John Gilbert Jr. hit the wall on the backstretch and slid to a stop in the infield . Gilbert was taken off the track on the hook. While the clubs race director was tending to the broken car of Gilbert, the field was realigned and the track decided to restart the race. As the racers barreled into turn 1 wide open, the caution lights came back on the speedway. Thankfully there was no damage caused by the obvious lack of communication between track officials and club officials … another reason that I strongly believe in the series having their own flagman. The field was lined up once more with Gimmler still leading the way. ‘Double G’ would pace the field for the remaining 24 laps to pick up his first victory of the season. As Gimmler pulled away, the battle to watch was with teammates Teate and Steele as they battled for 2nd.

• Hard charger of the race goes to rookie sensation, “The Seffner Sizzle” LJ Grimm . Grimm started 17th and came home 7th. Other notables were Mickey Kempgens who started 11th and finished 5th, Shane Butler who started 9th and finished 4th, and David Steele who took the green in 8th and came home 3rd.

• Thanks to Buff Fritz, newly crowned TBARA president, for completely butchering my name in the drivers meeting, calling me “Todd Mathis.”

• I’m not completely sure what happened, but there were NO … zero … zip … regular push trucks there on Saturday night. We as racers appreciate all that you guys do and hope that you’ll be back for the next race. It will only take one incident from the track push trucks for everyone to see how valuable you are to our show.

• As the field lined up for the feature , the racers showed their respects to those we have lost recently for 2 laps by means of the missing man formation. Most notably no longer with us are Dave Scarborough and Larry Brazil.

• As of now, the TBARA’s next race will be back at Desoto Super Speedway on October 29th for the annual Halloween Spectacular.

Race Reporter: Josh Wichers