Archive for TGSS Reports
Oct
18
Top Gun Sprint Series Race Report – 10.15.11
Posted by: | CommentsDATE: October 15, 2011.
SERIES: Top Gun Sprints Series.
ADMISSION PRICE: $15 for the general admission and $30 for a pit pass.
FOOD ORDERED: Zuber Dog.
FOOD GRADE: C+. It is hard to give it a better grade when it cost $3.50…
DRINKS ORDERED: Water.
DRINKS GRADE: C. Again, I can’t give it a great grade because it was expensive bottled water…
CROWD GRADE: A. With non wing sprints and late models on the card it brought out a very decent crowd.
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 20.
WHO WON: Sprint Cars: Sprint Heats:
Heat 1: Sport Allen
Heat 2: Mark Ruel Jr.
Heat 3: Robbie Smith
Feature: Danny Martin Jr.
FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: I so wanted to report the driver of the race as the “Jacksonville Jet,” Mr. Smooth Matt Kurtz, who won this award last time out at Bubba Raceway Park. However, he was upstaged by the youngster Haulin’ Collin Cabre. Cabre’s first night out on the dirt showed us flashes of a very talented young driver. Cabre kept his nose clean and raced hard with a seventh place finish.
FSCF.COM HARD LUCK AWARD: This one goes to the high flyer of the night Kurt Taylor. Kurt brought out the first red flag with a wild ride up into, and basically out of, the back straight. A.J. Maddox also had some air time with the second red of the night for the feature. A.J. was checked out by the paramedics after complaining of some blurry vision. Both drivers did thankfully walk away.
SERIES GRADE: B. Considering the switch to non wings, the turnout wasn’t too bad.
TRACK GRADE: C-. The track had the usual rut in the middle of turn one.
OTHER NOTES:
* As a fan, the non wing racing was as exciting as I’ve seen all year. I know most all of the drivers were uncomfortable, but they put on one heck of a show. I’m thinking Florida should become a mixed wing and non wing state like Indiana. BRP could be the Gas City of the south.
* Pennsylvania has the Posse but Florida has a very talented Big Three of Danny Martin Jr., Robbie Smith and Sport Allen. Those three were worth the price of admission alone.
* It seems the Cabre Team had some assistance from some Scott Benic wrenches. They did a very nice job getting the car setup and coaching the youngster as well.
* It was a pleasure to see now two-time Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series Champion Troy DeCaire give the non wing dirt racing a go in a Skeeter Faulkoner car. Troy’s feature ended on the parade lap of the feature though.
* Mark Ruel Jr. might want to rethink the “Peruvian Outlaw” nickname. I hear it and I think South American Liberation Army leader. Don’t print up the t-shirts just yet. Get with your P.R. guy and see what else you can come up with.
* Plenty of asphalt drivers wandering the pits like Keith Butler, Dave Steele, Johnny “Please Come Back to Dirt” Gilbertson, Stan Butler, Jimmy Alvis Jr. and Mickey Kempgens.
* For all the people saying Danny Martin Jr. is winning too much, get over it. We keep saying it – he IS that good.
* Looking forward to next weekend’s non wing race again at BRP. Come on Saturday!
RACE REPORTER: Brian Penrose
Staff photographer Gary “Walk Quietly But Carry A Big” Johnson did his pit walk and snapped these lovely photos for you.
Enjoy.
Sep
21
Top Gun Sprint Series Race Report – 09.17.11. Pictures too!
Posted by: | CommentsDATE: September 17, 2011
SERIES: Top Gun Sprint Series.
ADMISSION PRICE: $30 for my Pit Pass.
FOOD ORDERED: One slice of Pepperoni Pizza, the new and improved Dominos! I also had an ice cream cone.
FOOD GRADE: D. I paid almost $6 for one small piece of Dominos Pizza and a Dr. Pepper. That’s highway robbery. For $3 I should get a decent sized piece of pizza and this most certainly was not. But the girl working the concession stand was very sweet, so that was a plus. I guess the new and improved Dominos tastes better than the old Dominos, but when the previous pizza iteration tasted worse than high school cafeteria food, that’s not real hard to do. The ice cream cone was one of those generic store bought deals. Some fresh soft serve would have been preferred. Oh well, I guess this is what I get for branching out and not getting the Zuber Dog like I always do.
DRINKS ORDERED: Dr. Pepper, Blue Gatorade. Our Editor at Speed had an iced tea.
DRINKS GRADE: D. Again – price. The iced tea was sized like a small with aspirations of growing up to be a medium, but it wasn’t large, but the price was large at $2. And I paid more than that for the Gatorade and Dr. Pepper. I understand this is a business and yes, the track needs to make money, but this is too steep for concessions.
CROWD GRADE: B+. I’ve seen bigger crowds for the sprint cars at this track last year, but this was still a very good crowd.
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 21.
WHO WON:
Heat 1: Brandon Grubaugh
Heat 2: Danny Martin Jr.
Heat 3: Robbie Smith.
Feature: Danny Martin Jr.
FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: Matt Kurtz. Whether it was Tyler Godwin or Danny Martin Jr. leading the race, Matt Kurtz gave them everything they could handle. Each time Matt saw an opening, he shot to the bottom and tried to pull a slider on the leader. Then Robbie Smith tried to pull a slider on Matt for second in the late stages of the race and Matt kept it wound up on the outside going down the backstretch to keep the position. Not once during any of this did Matt get out of shape or doing anything to put his fellow competitors in harm’s way. Matt Kurtz was pure awesomeness out there.
FSCF.COM HARD LUCK AWARD: This one is easy, unfortunately it goes to OTG Tyler Godwin. Tyler jumped out to an early lead in the feature and held off all comers and was holding off eventual winner Danny Martin Jr. until disaster struck while leading and Tyler ended up in the wall with a destroyed race car. Tyler was fast all night and was working the top side of the track perfectly and could have quite possibly made it two-for-two at Bubba Raceway Park this year.
SERIES GRADE: C. I’m only going with a C here because while the car count was good and the racing up front was good, the racing through the rest of the pack was not and series officials need to do something about this, particularly a few drivers that ignored series officials when it came to lining up on the restarts. I’d like to give a big kudos to the series though for taking care of sponsor K&N. I saw officials walking through the pits with K&N product and hats for drivers and also taking pictures of drivers with the hats on. That’s what is needed to get series sponsors and keep them happy, so I give the series a big attaboy in that regard.
TRACK GRADE: B. I had to think long and hard about this one. Saturday’s track wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen lately up at Bubba Raceway Park and truth be told, at the pointy end of the field, the racing was fantastic. Watching Godwin and Martin inches from the wall up in turn one was a thing of beauty. The track was raceable, it was up to the drivers to race it.
OTHER NOTES:
- I’m still on the fence about Bubba Raceway Park. I think it can definitely be the premier race track in Central Florida, I’m just not on board with a lot of the price increases. I’m alright with the increased pit pass price, not so much with the food prices. I also have a single mom friend that would have had to pay $21 for her and her 6 year old son to go sit in the stands. She didn’t go. That’s too much, especially compared to other tracks where kids 10 and under are free. I still love the layout of the track, and think it’s awesome that they will run wingless sprints, so don’t let my pissing and moaning about the food prices keep you from going.
- There were a ton of modifieds there, and I love me a good modified race. Too bad I didn’t get it. But I give the track props for getting that many good looking modifieds there. In a perfect world for me, a track would have modifieds and sprint cars and that’s it. But if the track can pull that many modifieds, I think that’s a sign of good things to come for the track.
- As I mentioned above, there was some brilliant racing between Danny Martin Jr., Tyler Godwin, Matt Kurtz and Robbie Smith. Watching these gentleman get after it is easily worth the price of admission.
- For the Gene Lasker fans, I’ll sum up Saturday for you. At the start of his heat he got squirrely all over the front stretch, sailed it off into turn one and almost hit Tim George, then stopped on the back stretch to bring out a caution. I thought, “hmmm…maybe his rear end is broken…” but then after getting push started he ran around the track wide open, restarted at the tail and came through to second. Then in the feature, on the start he got it all wrong down in four and took down the fence and threw his excess parts to the fans. It was an entertaining Saturday night, that’s for sure.
- I could tell you Danny Martin Jr. is the best driver in the state right now, but you probably already knew that. He is so fast and so smooth that it’s just silly. This wasn’t a cake walk though, he had plenty of drivers keep him honest. Don’t think Danny is just running away with all of these races, he’s racing very smart and is on top of his game this year.
- Scotty Adema rolled out his beautiful new Spike chassis to reacquaint himself with dirt once again. Scotty didn’t set the place on fire (EMT/Fireman humor…) but he brought it home in one piece and didn’t do anything crazy out there and is looking to do some testing down at East Bay to work on the setup some.
- Mark Ruel Jr. and Danny Jones both had short nights with Ruel not getting in a green flag lap and retired with front end damage while Jones ended up on his lid down in turn one, he too not getting in a green flag lap.
- Terry Witherspoon appeared to clip one of the tires on the inside of the turns, triggering his big end-over-end series of flips that caused a ton of damage to his new Shnee that we’re all so intrigued with. One popular theory on his new Schnee is now Terry will just have to clip the front off at the bend and put a new one on and go racing once again. We also don’t think Terry will be sending Tyler Godwin a Christmas card this year as Tyler wheeled him in the heat race on the last lap for third place.
- Steven Darvalics deserves a shoutout for another fine run in the greater Ocala area. When Steven shows up, he’s fast and rarely puts a wheel wrong. Saturday night was no exception and he came home fifth.
- Jimmy Ballew picked up a top ten and loaded up a damage-free racecar. Jimmy recently purchased a new chassis that is up in Ohio waiting for him to go pick it up when work allows.
- Our Factory Driver Flyin’ Ryan Partin had a rough night. As Gene Lasker went sailing into the fence, he and Tim George slowed down, Darren Orth did not and Ryan suffered damage to both his top and front wing. Once we post Ryan’s in-car video, you’ll see what we’re talking about.
- AJ Maddox did a nice job of staying out of trouble and bringing home a fine fourth place finish.
- I say it every time, but Joe Linebarier is the best track announcer on the stick in the state, bar none. No one calls a race better and no one keeps the fans better informed.
- The #99 made for a nice show car in the pits I suppose.
RACE REPORTER: Todd Michaels
May
23
East Bay Race Report – 05.21.11
Posted by: | CommentsWith the rapture upon us Saturday, we figured end times would necessitate the one and only Josh Wichers to turn in a race report, as they are about as frequent as the rapture itself…
Date: 05.21.2011
Track: East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, FL)
Series: Top Gun Sprint Series and Florida Mini Sprint Association.
Admission:
Adult ……………………. $12
Senior …………………. $10
Teens 13-17 ………… $7
Kids under 12 ………. FREE
Pit Pass ……………….. $25
# of Sprint Cars: 23
# of Mini Sprints: 19
Who Won:
Mini Sprint Feature : Chris Pacetti
Sprints : Heat 1 – Billy Boyd Jr.
Heat 2 – Danny Martin Jr.
Heat 3 – Stephen Darvalics
Feature – DANNY “the Hammer” MARTIN JR.
The Finish:
Mini Sprints – 16 Chris Pacetti, 71 John Craddock, 5 Steve Crabtree, 83 Justin Kolves, 8 Eddie Moss Jr., 68 Dierk Miller, 88 Morgan Blanchard, 711 David Pleaugh, 23 Rhea Lynn Moss, 34 Pete Smith, 61 Andy Denton, 1M Eddie Moss Sr., 0 Luke Fidler, 22 Andrew Kurjack, 14 Brian Penrose, 6 Timmy Loveday, 67 David Paul, 30 John Crowder – dns, 59 Austin Jackson – dns
Sprints – 24 Danny Martin Jr., 83 Mark Ruel Jr., 41 Stephen Darvalics, 3A AJ Maddox, 14W Danny Jones, 4 Billy Boyd Jr., 15 Johnny Gilbertson, 1* Tim George, 43 Terry Witherspoon, 55 Kerry Gilbert, 6S Robbie Smith, 0 Jimmy Ballew Jr., 8 Rich Alexander, 17D Bruce Durden, 92 Matt Kurtz, 83A Christine Auld, 03 Tyler Eaton, 36 Kenneth Laureno, 38 Tony Agin, 3 Travis Bleimeister, 27 Troy Knowles, 07 Clint Reynolds, Z1 Harley Zimmerman
Crowd Grade: A. It wasn’t the best crowd that I’ve seen at East Bay, but the stands were fairly full of energetic race fans. It’s always great to see a descent crowd on hand when the sprints are in town. East Bay is historically a Late Model friendly track, so to see them draw the sprint fans is a very welcome site. And I saw a lot of sprint car shirts as I meandered through the grandstands and around the concession midway. But why not, when you bring the two best touring dirt series in the state on the same night, the fans are going to come. And speaking of shirts, a quick note to the drivers and teams: if you have shirts, make them accessible for purchase. Shirt sales can be a great way to offset operating cost.
Track Grade: A. I have to admit, when I first arrived at around 5 o’clock, I was a little concerned that the valve on the water truck had broken. It looked the tide in the Bay had rose and flooded the track. I was afraid that it was going to be a sloppy mess, but it was far from it. By the time that the heats rolled off, the track was coming in nicely. And by feature time, it started taking rubber. By the end of the feature, there was a two wide black groove all the way around the track which made for some of the best racing that I’ve seen in a while.
Drinks Ordered: Coca Cola, Root Beer, and Frubob – Mango (all bottled)
Drinks Grade: Hmmmmmmmm. Since it’s really hard to mess up bottled drinks, it’s just not fair to give them a grade. And since I had a pit pass, I couldn’t consume any frosty adult beverages. But if you’ve read my reports in the past, you know that I go for the sweet tea. Well, they didn’t have any. I first learned of this travesty a few weeks ago when I went to East Bay with a friend to catch some limited late model action. I was devastated. The sweet tea at East Bay always made the trip worthwhile. After talking to Dave who runs the pit concession, he explained that the track had removed their water filtration system, and that the water was unfit for making his signature sweet tea. He assured me that I could find his signature sweet tea at any of the local Kazbor’s or Bubba Que’s restaurants. But I want it at the track. It’s just un-American to not have sweet tea at a race track. Hopefully, the powers that be at East Bay will read this and invest in another water filtration system.
Food Ordered: Cheeseburger, Fried Chicken Sandwich.
Food Grade: B-. The burger and the chicken were average at best, but I think what kept them from being good was the buns. They just seemed a little dry, not stale, just dry. Punta Gorda Speedway still, in my opinion, has set the bar on the top rung when it comes to track food. It’s going to be hard to compete with their fried bologna and massive pork tenderloin sandwiches. And who can forget the deep fried Oreos and steak-on-a-stick at Volusia.
Series Grade – Top Gun Sprint Series: A-. Don Rehm and the staff at TGSS always bring a good field of quality cars to every track they go to. This was no exception. Don and crew always run a tight ship and a great program. I was hoping that more of the cars that have been showing up at Volusia would have made the trek to East Bay for this race. Don’t get me wrong, 23 is a great field of cars, but it would still be great to see 30+. A great big thanks go out to BoomTrux.com for coming onboard and contributing to the purse.
Series Grade – Florida Mini Sprint Association: A-. The FMSA truly is “Florida’s Best Kept Secret.” These guys, and girl, always put on a great show. Most of which drove over 7 hours just to be at East Bay. The FMSA had a race at Oglethorpe Speedway Park on Friday night. For those of you not familiar with Oglethorpe, it’s just north of Savannah, GA. Doing quick math in my head, most of the teams had to leave Savannah by 8am just to make it to East Bay in time. Now that’s dedication.
TGSS Driver of the Race: Mark Ruel, Jr. Despite finishing in nearly the same positions as they started, Martin, Ruel, and Darvalics put on a great race for the lead through traffic. Ruel was able to get by Darvalics on lap 9 and was able to keep him at bay for the remaining 16 laps. After breaking free from Darvalics, Ruel had his sights set on Martin. It appeared that Ruel was going to get one last shot at Martin in the closing two circuits as they closed in on a pack of lapped cars. It wasn’t meant to be for Ruel, as he crossed the stripe narrowly behind Martin.
FMSA Driver of the Race: Chris Pacetti. Pacetti started very deep in the field for the feature. From his 7th row starting spot, Pacetti wasted no time getting to the front. By lap 3, he had already secured the 3rd spot. On lap 8, Pacetti took the lead from John Craddock, who started from the P1 spot. Honorable mention goes out to Eddie Moss Jr. Moss Jr. was running in the second spot on lap 5 when he spun in turn 1 and had to tag the rear for the restart. Moss Jr. worked his way back through the field in the remaining 10 laps to come with a respectable 5th place finish.
Other Notes:
* I found out upon arrival to the track that Larry J. Brazil Sr. had a heart attack last Friday and had to have a number of stents put in. After speaking to his daughter, Amanda, she assured me that he is at home and doing well. Get well wishes go out to Larry Sr.!!!!
* I was shocked to see His Holiness Dave Steele in attendance along with his wife and daughter. When I asked him why he wasn’t on the Ark, he replied that he waited until after 6 pm and then sent everyone back home since nothing happened. I’m quite certain that there will be a “smoking deal” on a barely used Ark over at Steele Performance Parts later this week. Among the notables that I also spoke to in attendance were Collin Cabre’s ace mechanic, Matt Grimes, Collin’s dad, Lou, and Gary Green. John Inman was kind enough to purchase a cheeseburger and coke for me. Thanks again John!!
* Heat 1 saw the 4 of Billy Boyd Jr. and the 83A of Christine Auld on the front row. Boyd took the immediate lead, but was pursued by AJ Maddox. On lap 6 of the 8 lap contest, the caution flag would wave for Tony Agin who had spun in turn 4. Boyd led the group back to the green flag and would hold on to pick up the win followed by Maddox, Bruce Durden, Danny Jones, and Troy Knowles.
* Heat 2 would roll off with Travis Bleimeister and Danny Martin Jr. looking at an open track ahead of them. Martin stormed to the point with Harley Zimmerman tied to his rear bumper. The race went caution free, with Martin leading Zimmerman, Johnny Gilbertson, Terry Witherspoon, and Bleimeister to the checkers.
* Kerry Gilbert and Robbie Smith made up the front row for heat 3. Smith flexed his horsepower from the onset, jumping out to a commanding lead at the drop of the green flag. Smith took the white flag as he was lapping the 5th place running car. Upon exiting turn 2, Smith looped his 6s machine into the infield while trying to negotiate lapped traffic. The track stayed green as Smith came to a rest. Stephen Darvalics, who had given chase to Smith from his 6th starting spot, inherited the lead and went on to take the checkers. Darvalics was followed to the finish by Rich Alexander, Mark Ruel Jr., Gilbert, Clint Reynolds, and Smith.
* To the disappointment of many, Danny Martin Jr. found himself sitting outside of row one to start the 25 lap feature for the Top Gun Sprints. On the initial start, pole sitter Harley Zimmerman did his best impression of the sprint car olympics, doing a complete 360 degree spin as he got in the throttle coming off turn 4. Zimmerman was able to keep his car going , but a caution flew on the speedway. A complete restart brought the field back together. On lap 2, it was Zimmerman once more giving the fans a show. This time it was his best impression of the high jump. Zimmerman hopped the cushion and got in the marbles in turn 1, climbing the wall and tearing down the catch fence. Thankfully, Zimmerman climbed from his mount unscathed as the red flag brought the field to a stop. After a 26 minute delay, the track crew was able to repair the catch fence and get the action back under way. It was Martin leading the field back to the green. It would be short lived though as the 07 of Reynolds and the 3 of Bleimeister made contact on the front stretch. With Darvalics and Ruel in tow, Martin would again bring the field back to the green. The red would fly once more as Tony Agin got on his lid and took a tumble into turn 1 on lap 12. The final 13 circuits around the 1/3 mile Clay By The Bay would remain green. Darvalics and Ruel waged a tough battle for 2nd, jockeying back and forth for position for a few laps before Ruel Jr. seemingly pulled away from Darvalics and into the tracks of Martin. During the last 2 laps, Martin and Ruel rapidly approached a pack of slower cars. It appeared as though Ruel was going to break the streak of dominance that Martin brought with him. Martin used his uncanny ability to maneuver through lap traffic to edge out Ruel at the stripe by the narrowest margin of any of his wins yet this season.
Race Reporter: Josh Wichers
And as always our man on the scene Gary “Walk Quietly But Carry A Big” Johnson roamed the pits and snapped some pit walk photos for your viewing pleasure. We once again warmly encourage you to join the Kerry Gilbert Fan Club. We’d smile too in that photo…