The full moon was out and the TBARA was opening their 2011 season…

Date: March 19, 2011

Track: New Smyrna Speedway

Series: TBARA

Admission: $20 General Admission, $35 Pit Pass. It should be noted that our Editor at Speed showed up Friday night for practice and misunderstood the pit pricing and only had $15 on him. The pit warden took Brian’s $15 and let him oweski for Saturday. Classy move – A+!

Number of Sprint Cars: 28 sprint cars were ready to do battle.

Who Won: Heat wins went to Steve Heisler (his first ever with the TBARA!), Shane Butler and DJ Hoezle. Feature win went to 2010 TBARA champ Shane Butler. This was the first ever win at New Smyrna for “The Bushnell Bullet” and this after the team lost their primary sponsor in the off season. Shane kept the Hickernell powerplant wound up down the straights and worked the outside when most drivers weren’t and Shane definitely earned this one and made his intentions known that he wants back-to-back championships.

Shane Butler in Victory Lane for the first time at New Smyrna Speedway.

Crowd Grade: A+. Want to know why? This was a very healthy crowd to begin with and the vast majority of the poor souls that suffered through the USAR late model race (that’s not just my opinion, ask anyone that was in the stands…) stayed for the sprint cars. After a very long and painful evening for the TBARA teams, to see all of those fans up there was great. We salute you sprint car fans that hung around! It goes without saying that the TBARA needed to prove they could put butts in seats and I don’t know what more proof you could have asked for Saturday night.

Food Ordered: Cheeseburger. I wanted a corn dog, but they were out when I ordered.

Food Grade: C-. The cheeseburger was adequate, but I’m giving New Smyrna a C- because this used to be one of my favorite tracks to grab a meal because they had things like fried mushrooms, potato pancakes and my personal favorite – apple bites. They even used to have the ladies with the mini donut stand. Now it’s just the same boring track food you can get anywhere. I still love you New Smyrna since you’re my home track, but let’s get the food offerings back to where they were two years ago.

Drinks Ordered: Pabst Blue Ribbon, on draft, bitches.

Drinks Grade: B-. Alright, I was stoked about the PBR, but the following must be said. For at least three years now, every time I go to New Smyrna they run out of Yuengling on draft halfway through the night. Consistently. Why is that? I mean, it happens every damn time. Thank god they had PBR on draft to save the day. And trust me, with that god awful late model race, they moved a lot of beer Saturday night.

FSCF.com Driver of the Race: One word – GILBY! Johnny Gilbertson scored a second place finish in the feature, his best ever in the TBARA and he was a rocket out on the track doing it. When I got to the track Saturday, after practice, I asked a pretty smart guy who was fast and he replied, “the usual suspects…Steele, Troy, Shane, but you might want to keep your eye on Gilby.” Gilby started ninth in his feature and picked off some good cars to get toward the front of the field. And he got practically no sleep all week, putting the car together after he got home from work, so well done Gilby! I’d also like to give a shoutout to the confusingly named Johnny Gilbert who had a Progressive motor under the hood that was just screaming down the straights. He could have been right up there at the end had he not spun under caution. Also worth noting was Jimmy Alvis Sr. drove a hell of a race to come home third.

FSCF.com Hard Luck Award: This could actually go to a bunch of drivers, but I’m going with Troy DeCaire who posted second quick time in practice behind Dave Steele and then blew up and was done for the night. Steele is also a candidate after his late race tangle with Shane Butler. Bo Hartley also didn’t get to start the feature due to motor problems and same goes for “Double G” Gary Gimmler. Lots of drivers had motor issues as New Smyrna just eats them up.

Other Notes:

• There was a lot of drama for the TBARA with the USAR renting the track and their cars having grip issues running after the sprint cars were at the track, which forced the normally scheduled heat races to be pushed to the very end of the evening, with the teams getting a 15 minute intermission afterward to get ready for the feature. Stan Butler deserves an atta’boy for keeping heads cool, making sure the TBARA would eventually race, and also get paid. Also, Buff Fritz very clearly communicated to the teams when and where we were to be ready when it was all said and done. And Katrina Butler deserves an atta’girl for keeping the clubs affairs in order throughout the night and also posting live race updates to the Butler Motorsports Facebook and Twitter. This was very much a TBARA team effort to pull the night off.
• The end of this race was shaping up to be a barn burner as Dave Steele ran down Shane Butler in lapped traffic and then went inside in Turn One, only to have Butler come back on the outside. Two abreast they went down the back straight, with Steele pulling ahead when all of a sudden he went into the backstretch wall hard. Who was to blame can be debated, but this was a very big hit (once again) for Steele and he walked away unharmed (and very angry) which is testament to the build quality of his Diablo chassis.
• Speaking of the end of the race, TBARA members, for the love of God, vote in a rule change that gets the lapped cars out of the way with under five laps to go. I would have loved to have seen Gilby line up behind Butler on the last restart and see what he could have done with him, and so did everyone else in attendance. I know that’s the rule, I’m saying change it. Think of the fans in the stands.
• There were lots of musical chairs going on, but Larry Brazil Jr. deserves some praise for his drive in Mac Steele’s #2 entry. Larry loves nothing more than a lot of horsepower and to gas it as hard as he can, so it was interesting to see what he could do with what was probably a shade less horsepower than what he was used to in the #20B he usually drives. Well Larry was doing a damn fine job until he had to pull off late in the race with motor issues.
• Keith Butler did an impressive job to put a very darty car out front for a while until he got picked off by brother Shane and started to drop back, eventually dropping out of the race.
• Dennis Misuraca got a turn in the #87 car that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing piloted lately by Jimmy Alvis Sr. at the CFWS races. Dennis had his night end early unfortunately.
• Channing Conley (whose 10 Questions you will see shortly) did a nice job of keeping his nose clean in his TBARA debut and getting some laps under his belt, coming home just outside of the top ten.
• Australian Craig Skene had a tough go of it in the Mathis Racing #90 and after talking to Craig about the handling issues he was experiencing, that’s one tough Aussie to hang on as long as he did.
• We were looking forward to seeing Richard Burnett back in action in a Team Gilby second entry but unfortunately he pulled off in the feature after noticing his feet were getting soaked with fuel. That’s a pretty good reason to pull off, but we know Mr. Burnett will get the car sorted out soon enough as he’s a damn fine wrench.
• Sonny Hartley simply does not slow down. I don’t think anyone else put their sprint car down on the flat in Turn One more than Sonny. He jammed it down in there plenty but always gave room to the poor soul he was trying to pass. Sonny is damn fine entertainment.
• Those of you that saw Penrose Racing and guest driver Steve Heisler at East Bay at the end of  last year for the FMSA race saw us all get very mad at each other, yell at each other and walk off in separate directions. Well Saturday night “The Hustler” was in the Minakis #8 and literally had no crew, so Penrose Racing crewed the car. Not that we had a lot to do with it, but Steve got his first ever TBARA heat win and came home sixth in the feature. Seeing the joy on someone’s face that just won his first ever TBARA heat race is a special moment, so the lesson here kids is that life is short, don’t hold grudges.

Race Reporter: Todd Michaels

Oh yeah, one more thing…I was talking to “The Smooth Operator” Mickey Kempgens, who sadly was not racing, and he asked me if I knew why Tommy Nichols was so fast. I told him I didn’t and then Mickey responded, “because Tommy’s got himself a pretty new girlfriend and he’s runnin’ on love…”

Date : 11.06.2010

Track : Citrus County Speedway ( Inverness, FL )

Series : TBARA

# of Sprint Cars : 19

Admission :
Grandstand – $13
Seniors – $9
Kids – $5
Family Pack ( 2 adult and 2 kids ) – $30
Pit Pass – $25

Who Won :
Heat 1 - Jimmy Alvis Sr.
Heat 2 – Ben “Flash” Fritz
Feature - “The Commando” BRIAN GINGRAS

The Finish :
1-Gingras, 0-Teate, 2-Alvis Sr, 41-Bragg, 11x-Riddle, 18-Butler, 3x-B Hartley, 68-Kempgens, 5w-Gilbertson, 16-Fritz, 78-Carreno, 01-Hall, 21-Alvis Jr, 61-Faulconer, 6-Hurst, 81-S Hartley, honest attempt- 04-O’Sullivan, 70-Nichols, DQ- 19-Stephens.

FSCF.com Driver of the Race : Brian Gingras. “The Commando” showed us that the grass really is “green”er on the other side. Using the powerplant that he borrowed from Robin and Gary Green, Gingras has won the last 2 races that he’s entered at Citrus County Speedway. His most recent was with the newly formed USAC Southeast Sprint Car Series, and this one coming against some of the best machines and drivers in the country with the TBARA. Gingras charged from his 8th starting spot to the 3rd position by lap 4. By lap 10, he had pulled to the rear bumper of Jimmy Alvis Sr and was challenging for the point. On lap 18, during a single file restart, Gingras dove to the inside of Alvis Sr in turn 1 and didn’t look back. He led the remaining 12 laps around the bullring with former champ, Dude Teate, in hot pursuit. Teate would pose a threat to Gingras a few times, but Gingras was able to power his way into victory lane.

FSCF.com “Hard” Luck Award : Tommy “Gun” Nichols. On the very first lap of competition for the night, even before taking the green flag, the 11 of Bryan Riddle drifted up the track coming out of turn 4 and into the 70 car driven by Nichols. The result of the contact was Nichols hitting the turn 4 wall “hard” and ripping the right front shock tower from the chassis. With major damage to the chassis, Nichols was unable to repair his Miller Motorsports mount. You could see the dejection on Nichols’ face as he watched the feature from the stands, and not from the cockpit. I’m sure it was “hard”!

Track Grade : A. Citrus County Speedway remains on my top 2 list of favorite tracks in this state. They run a very smooth program and a very tight ship! There is no BS tolerated by the race director. They have great concessions and reasonable prices for both admission and concessions.They have a great track for racing. It’s a nearly perfect situation. They ran 10 different classes, yes 10, on Saturday night including a 50 lap Super Late Model race and the TBARA Winged Sprint Cars! Where else can you go and see the best of the best that Florida has to offer on the same night ?? And they have egg rolls ! And they have $2 beer in the pit area (after the last race starts, of course)! It just doesn’t get much better for short track Saturday nights .

Crowd Grade : A-. Critter and the gang at Citrus County Speedway continue to put people in the stands. I’m not sure if it’s one thing in particular, or a great combination of alot of factors, but there is always a good crowd on hand at CCS. It’s nice to see a track owner and “promoter” still doing their job to put people in the seats. There are plenty of tracks in this state that could definitely take lessons from what Critter is doing, and has done for years in this sleepy little rural community on Florida’s Nature Coast.

Series Grade : B+. The TBARA pulled into Citrus County Speedway for their season finale with 19 pavement pounders. The field was a little weak by TBARA standards without some of the star power that they generally attract. ”His Holiness” Dave Steele, Travelin’ Troy DeCaire, “Blazing” Larry Brazil, and Hustlin’ Steve Heisler were all absent from competition on Saturday night. Nonetheless, the group of stars that had gathered and aligned put on a great show for all that were present. With points leader Shane Butler, and 2nd in command, Dude Teate, only a few points apart, the stage was set for a dramatic and emotional night of racing.

Food Ordered : N/A.

Food Grade : A+. If you missed the last race report that I wrote, then you missed the fact I am not only the tardy race reporter, but the crew chief on the 3x machine driven by “Hollywood” Bo Hartley. And you would have also missed that besides all of the zeros on my paycheck, the food at the 3x hauler is second to none. This week, we were treated to some of the best chili that I think I have ever put a spoon in. Eddie Sanchez, a fireman and paramedic in the greater Tampa Bay area, brought heaven in a crock pot on Saturday night. He couldn’t have picked a better night to make fresh, hot grilled cheese sandwiches and chili. The temperatures dipped down into the 30′s on Saturday night, but our team was warm from the inside out. Also circulating through the pit area was heard to be some of the best white chocolate chip, pumpkin, macadamia nut cookies in the country. Troy DeCaire may have gotten props a few months ago for having the best looking tshirt crew circulating through the grandstands, but I think that he was just bested by the anonymous cookie chef. From what I understand. there was a very attractive young lady walking around with said tub of cookies.

Other Notes :

- In Heat 1 action, Jimmy Alvis Sr dominated, leading all 8 laps from the pole and collecting the win. The “Bushnell Bullet” Shane Butler followed Alvis Sr to the checkers after starting in the 6th spot. Heat 1 also saw the “hard” impact of Nichols into the turn 4 retaining wall on lap 1.

- Ben “Flash” Fritz chased the DeCaire Motorsports #41 piloted by Ray Bragg II for 4 laps before taking taking the point and the checkers in the 2nd Heat. Fritz took the lead on a heroic 3 wide power move going into turn one on lap 5. After clearing Bragg, Fritz checked out on the field and was chased by Gingras the final 2 circuits.

- Tony Carreno made his first sprint car start ever in the Miller Motorsports #78. Carreno is a long time open wheel modified racer that made the jump to sprint cars.

- Also making his first start in a winged sprint car was Matthew Hall. Hall was in the DeCaire #01 machine. Hall had driven for DeCaire in the USAC Southeast Sprint Car Series, but had never tried it with a a wing. Unfortunately, Hall’s night came to an early end as he suffered terminal engine failure on lap 13.

- With his pilot’s license in hand, and several hours behind the yoke of a Citaborca aircraft, Sonny Hartley decided to take flight to a whole new dimension. This time with the landing gear down. On lap 1 of the feature, as Hartley flew down the frontstretch, something in the cockpit caught his right foot and wouldn’t allow the throttle to return. Hartley rode up the Jersey style barrier in turn 1 and went up and over the wall. Hartley came to reat atop a tractor tire on the outside of the wall. Thankfully, Hartley landed the car on all 4 wheels and was unharmed.

- With championship implications at hand, the pressure to perform was on for several drivers in the field. The most critical being between Shane Butler and Dude Teate. Teate was mathematically within reach of Butler at the start of the feature. Teate did nearly everything that he could by finishing 2nd, but came up short in the championship race, as Butler finished only 4 positions to his rear. Ben Fritz needed to finish 4th or better in the feature to clinch a 4th spot in the overall points battle. But as fate would have it, on lap 24 (while running in the 4th spot) Fritz dove into turn 3 trying to advance his position, and spun after the car hooked something on the apron of the track. Fritz was pushed off and rejoined the field at the tail. He was able to drive back to 10th, but would have to settle for a fifth overall.

- An on track altercation between Mickey Kempgens and Dakotah Stephens after the checkered flag had flown resulted in a disqualification of Stephens. It was said that Stephens ran into Kempgens under caution, the result of which is a $500fine and a 10 race suspension for Stephens. It’s very evident that rough driving will not be tolerated by the TBARA.

- Congrats to the 2010 TBARA Champion, Shane Butler. Butler avoided a close call on lap 1 of his heat race as Nichols hit the wall “hard” and cars danced to avoid the debris.

- Twelve of the 17 cars that started the feature were still running at the end. This was a very welcome site after the disappointment in Mobile a few weeks ago.

- Dude Teate had an incredible charge from his 11th starting spot to come home 2nd. Had the season been 2 races longer, Teate may be atop the points at the end. He and the BioBased.US team have made great strides since their missteps during SpeedWeeks and should definitely be favorites to win it all next season.

Race Reporter : Josh Wichers

If you still want to get in on the “owners alliance” action, just scroll down.

Yesterday it became official that the remainder of the Checkered Flag Sprint Series has been canceled due to Punta Gorda Speedway wanting a lowered purse structure and CFSS officials not willing to do so, given that the same purse structure has been in place for almost three years.

So congratulations to Mark Gimmler on becoming the 2010 Checkered Flag Sprint Series champion!

On to the tardy TBARA race report of one Josh Wichers! Pictures too, courtesy of Gary “Walk Quietly But Carry a Big” Johnson.

Date : 10.30.2010

Track : Desoto Super Speedway (Bradenton, FL)

Series : TBARA

# of Sprint Cars : 17

Who Won ? :

Heat 1 – Ben “Flash” Fritz

Heat 2 – Travelin’ Troy DeCaire

Feature – SHANE BUTLER

The Finish :

18- Shane Butler, 16- Ben Fritz, 0- Dude Teate, 68- Troy DeCaire, 78- Shane Miller, 3x- Bo Hartley, 5w- Johnny Gilbertson, 99- Keith Butler, 81- Sonny Hartley, 77- John Gilbert III, 12- Collin Cabre, 11x- Bryan Riddle, 21- Jimmy Alvis Jr, 47- Mike Koss, 9- Jimmy Alvis Sr, 20- Larry Brazil Jr

Admission :

Grandstand: $20

Pit Pass: $30

Track Grade : D. I recently learned a new term that applies to a select few racetrack owner/operators. The term is “Gatekeeper”. This is definitely one of those facilities where this term applies. They show up on Saturday morning, open the gates and the ticket windows, and hope that someone shows up. If we could only get someone like Tim Bryant from 5 Flags in Pensacola or maybe Ron Barfield from Dillon Motor Speedway to come show these people how to put butts in the seats and car counts in the back gate ! ! I was talking to someone Saturday night, and they asked if there had always been so few cars there or if it was an off night. I explained to him that a number of years back, Desoto Super Speedway was the mecca of short track racing in Florida. That even sprint car teams had to park in “the back 40″ because there were no pit spots available in the pit area. It’s sad to see such a wonderfully potential facility not live up to it’s expectations !

Crowd Grade : D. Considering that Florida’s elite touring series was on tap, and school bus figure 8′s , and trick-or-treat for the little goblins , you would think the place would be packed. Not so much. But from a fan’s perspective, I understand. It’s $20 to sit in the grandstands. There were only 34 total cars in the pit area, which 17 of those were sprint cars. There was better candy and more traffic in my neighborhood the next night. And it was free.

Series Grade : B-. The TBARA brought one of the best top-to-bottom fields that I’ve seen. I would safely say that 12 of the 16 cars that started the feature were top 5 cars and could potentially win depending on where they started. Even after the first lap incident that retired Larry J Brazil Jr and Jimmy Alvis Sr from the race, it was still a very exciting race watching the ” Flash” work his way through lap traffic with the “Bushnell Bullet” in hot pursuit. Not to mention the 22 lap battle for the 5th spot between Shane Miller and Bo “Hollywood” Hartley, as they went literally bumper to bumper with neither driver faltering. The TBARA brings some of the best looking, well prepared racecars to the track of any club in the country.

Food Ordered : N/A. I must say, one of the best perks of being the newest member of the Stephenson International Shipping race team, besides all of the zeros on the paycheck, is the delicious groceries that Judy prepares and brings to the track. Simply yummy !

Drinks Ordered : N/A. Anyone that has read more than 1 of my race reports knows that the fastest way to my heart is good sweet tea. So as always, I approach the pit side concession and ask for the biggest sweet tea that they have. Well . . . , they didn’t have any. They don’t have any. And she said that they won’t have any. Really ??

Where are they next: Citrus County Speedway (Inverness, FL) , November 6, 2010. The TBARA wraps up their 2010 campaign at one of FSCF.com’s favorite tracks, Citrus County Speedway. Egg rolls , sweet tea, and even beer in the pits (after the last race has started – $2). Why would you not go ? ?

Other Notes of Interest:

- The crowd that was gathered was treated to a lot of red. The first of which was on lap 1 when Colin Cabre and Jimmy Alvis Sr made contact on the backstretch. Cabre was able to drive away, but Alvis Sr wasn’t quite so lucky as he hit the wall in turn 3 and slid to turn 4. During the scramble to miss debris and spinning cars, Larry J Brazil Jr hopped a right rear tire and was catapulted into the turn 3 wall hard. The rest of the red was that of the “Flash” in his shiny red 16, and the “Bullet” in the red 18, as they put on a show to determine who would take the checkers.

- Sonny Hartley had stepped out of his usual ride and into the Butler Motorsports 81 car to fill in for the absent Brad Davis. Sonny had a rear axle break at New Smyrna Speedway, which demolished his chassis. Sonny is an ageless thrill to watch wheel a sprint car, but unfortunately had a brake issue that kept him from giving it his all.

- John Gilbert III made the incredibly long trek from his shop in Key West. John and his dad, John Gilbert Jr, always bring top notch equipment to the track. It was great to see the Key lime green 77 car back in action. I hope we see more of both of them next season.

- Are you a Facebook junkie ? Can’t always make it to the TBARA races ? Check out the Butler Motorsports or Ben Fritz Racing FaceBook pages. Both team do a fantabulous job at live updates. Great job ladies. PR is becoming a lost art. Keep up the good work !

- Shane Miller is back behind the wheel again. Shane had taken a break from the seat for a while and had put some great talent behind the wheel. We’ve seen Dustin Perez, Tommy Nichols, Mickey Kempgens, and most recently , Joey “the Ace” Aguilar piloting the Miller Motorsports machines. Shane was out of the seat for over 7 years, but you would never know it by watching him drive. Great job Shane ! Glad to see you back where you belong.

- Word on the street is that Larry J Brazil Jr has his car for sale. It’s a fairly newer Hurricane chassis with some of the best that money can buy bolted to it. He’s only asking $10k for the complete roller. Call Larry @ Steele Performance for info.

- As the series prepares for their final stop on the tour, Shane Butler leads the championship chase over Dude Teate. Mathematically, Dude can still win the championship, but it would take a disastrous night on the part of the points leader to make that happen. Look for there to be fireworks at Citrus County Speedway this weekend, both on the track and in the air.

- One of the allures of the night was the return of “His Holiness” Dave Steele to TBARA action after his horrible crash at 5 Flags Speedway a few weeks ago. But this time, rather than finding The Man of Steele in the familiar black 91 car, he was set to pilot his own car and creation, the “Haulassinski” with the number 14 adorning the sideboards. But due to a disagreement with TBARA officials concerning a previous fine, Steele loaded up and did not compete. An utter shame, as I was anxious to see what the “Haulassinski” was capable of.

Race Reporter: Josh Wichers

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