Archive for Volusia Sprints
Aug
01
Volusia Speedway Park Race Report – 07.29.11
Posted by: | CommentsIt was a Friday night and there was a sprint car race nearby at Volusia Speedway Park. What more needs to be said…
DATE: July 29,2011
SERIES: Volusia Speedway Park Sprints & Florida Mini Sprints Association.
ADMISSION PRICE: $25 for the pit pass.
FOOD ORDERED: Hotdog & Nachos
FOOD GRADE: C.
DRINKS ORDERED: Powerade & Sweet Tea.
DRINKS GRADE: A
CROWD GRADE: C+. I’ll admit I was kind of surprised at the crowd for a Friday night and this being the first Friday night for the sprint cars at Volusia Speedway Park.
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 23 for the Volusia Speedway Park Sprints and 16 for the Florida Mini Sprints Association.
WHO WON: Volusia Speedway Park Sprints
Heat 1: Danny Martin Jr.
Heat 2: Matt Kurtz
Heat 3: Brett O’Donnell
Feature: Danny Martin Jr.
WHO WON: Florida Mini Sprints Association
Heat 1: Dirk Miller
Heat 2: Steve Crabtree
Feature: Chris Pacetti
FSCF.com DRIVER OF THE RACE: I’m going with Robbie Smith for this one. Robbie lead a number of laps and even challenged eventual winner Martin late in lapped traffic. When it was all said and done, Smith was able to finish a strong second. Matt Kurtz also had a solid third place run worth mentioning.
FSCF.COM HARD LUCK AWARD: This one is easy, unfortunately it goes to Shane “Wild Child” Kriedler. Kriedler was no doubt fast and on the edge in the feature. Unfortunately the edge eventually grabbed Shane and he took a couple tumbles down the backstretch. Happily, Shane was able to walk away. It was also worth noting that Andrew Griffin had a solid top 5 run going until his right rear exploded.
SERIES GRADE: B. Considering the switch to Friday nights for the Volusia Speedway Park Sprints, the turnout wasn’t too bad.
TRACK GRADE: B. The track was wide enough to run almost three wide in the feature, so that’s a step in the right direction.
OTHER NOTES:
- The best race of the night was the second sprint heat race when Matt Kurtz made a charge from the rear to pass A.J. Maddox under the flag stand coming to the checkers.
- Congratulations to Brett O’Donnell on his heat race win. It just happened to be his first night in the seat of the #11 car. He finished his night with a solid top 10 finish in the feature. Keep an eye on Brett O’Donnell.
- The sprint restarts in the feature were “UGLY” at best. I’m guessing Mark Ruel Jr., may have been penalized for his great jump on the last restart which had moved him into fourth place.
- The new track announcers need to spend some time in the pits learning about their sprint car drivers. It is Matt Kurtz, not William Kurtz. And it is Troy Knowles, not Terry Knowles. Oh and Otto Scrape is still competitive in his 60′s, but they didn’t know that. Not to mention Otto drives the WEE 3…
- Terry Witherspoon had a “unique” looking Schnee chassis. The downtubes didn’t run all the way down to the front torsion tubes. The tubes turned down to the frame just past the front of the engine. Interesting indeed.
RACE REPORTER: Brian Penrose
Jul
12
Volusia Race Report – Complete with In Car Footage!
Posted by: | CommentsIt was the Jack Miller Memorial. What other reason did you need to be there?
DATE: July 9, 2011
SERIES: Volusia Speedway Park Sprints & Florida Mini Sprint Association
ADMISSION PRICE: $25 for the pit pass.
FOOD ORDERED: BBQ Sandwich & Nachos.
FOOD GRADE: C-. I should have known better with a BBQ sandwich from a crock pot! And the nachos were stale.
DRINKS ORDERED: Powerade & Sweet Tea.
DRINKS GRADE: B+. The tea wasn’t as sweet as before but the Powerade came in three flavor choices.
CROWD GRADE: C-. It was better than the previous sprint night there.
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 25 big sprints and 19 mini sprints.
SERIES GRADE: B. If you take into consideration all the races going on elsewhere, the turnout wasn’t too bad.
TRACK GRADE: C-. The track was plenty tacky, but all the rain during the week made the track rough.
WHO WON: Danny “The Hammer” Martin Jr. for the big sprints and Jesse Teed for the mini sprints.
FSCF.COM DRIVER(S) OF THE RACE: They made him work for this one but Danny Martin Jr. gets the nod. Danny used lapped traffic to get past early race leader “Superman” Sport Allen. We do also have to mention a strong third place run by Robbie Smith. Over on the mini sprint side of things, Rhea Lynn Moss drove a whale of a race to come home a strong second to race winner Jesse Teed.
FSCF.COM HARD LUCK AWARD: Tony Agin was running a strong top five when a flat rear tire ended his night. An honorable mention goes out to Darren Oarth who had a nasty wreck on the front stretch during the feature. Darren was able to walk away but I can’t say the same for the car.
OTHER NOTES:
* While the track may not have been perfect, it certainly made for an entertaining race. It was like watching an old USCS race with Sport Allen and Danny Martin Jr. doing battle. Unfortunately we found Superman’s kryptonite last night in the form of the lapped car of Danny Stattor. Martin was able to use “Kryptonite” Danny to take the lead from Allen. Martin was also able to use Stattor one other time to get away from Allen in the final laps to take the victory.
* Also have to make mention that the FMSA did not take action against two of the participants in the Bubba Raceway Park fight last time out. This is after we were assured that suspensions would be handed out.
* It was a rough night for the FSCF.com Factory Driver “Hot Nuts” Ryan Partin. Ryan had a strong car during his heat race until the engine decided it didn’t need one of its pistons any more.
* We have to give a shoutout to former podcast guest “OTG” Tyler Godwin. OTG had a solid second place run in his heat race and followed it up with a nice feature run.
* It was good to see John & Matt Kurtz back in action at the speedway. Matt was very competitive in the feature. As many know his dad John had been very sick and missed a lot of races, but it was good to see him back supporting his son. Welcome back John!
* Also need to extend a welcome back to Shawn Murray after serving in the Middle East. Thanks Shawn for your service to our country!
RACE REPORTER: Brian Penrose
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, our new in-car camera strapped into the mount of our Factory Driver Flyin’ Ryan Partin. Except for the part where his engine goes kablammo, we hope you enjoy.
May
17
Volusia Sprints Race Report – 05.14.11
Posted by: | CommentsAfter reading a Facebook rumor that our Factory Driver “Flyin” Ryan Partin might be substituting for “The Hammer” Danny Martin Jr. in the Doug Shaw #24 car, I quickly loaded up and headed to Volusia Speedway Park for confirmation. Beside that, this would mean I have the FSCF.com Employee of the Year Award wrapped up before Memorial Day!
DATE: May 14,2011
SERIES: Volusia Speedway Sprints
TRACK: Volusia Speedway Park
ADMISSION PRICE: $25 for the pit pass.
FOOD ORDERED: I ordered both a Hamburger and a Hot Dog.
FOOD GRADE: B. On this night, the hot dog was the better of the two choices, but the hamburger wasn’t all that bad.
DRINKS ORDERED: I went with Powerade and a Sweet Tea.
DRINKS GRADE: A. The tea was sweet and the Powerade came in three flavor choices. For non-alcoholic choices, this was good.
CROWD GRADE: D-. May have been the worst crowd I had ever witnessed at Volusia. Most likely Mother Nature’s fault.
SERIES GRADE: C. The car count was a little lower than previous shows, but I’m guessing the weather kept many away.
TRACK GRADE: A. This sucker was tacky fast. Just the way I like to see them!
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 23.
WHO WON: Danny “The Hammer” Martin Jr.
FSCF.COM DRIVER OF THE RACE: I’m giving this to 16th place starter and 2nd place finisher Terry Witherspoon. He came from a long way back to finish a solid second. It was looking like Ryan Partin, Sport Allen, Matt Kurtz or Tim O’Donnell were might get the award. But various problems beset them.
FSCF.COM HARD LUCK AWARD: Where to begin? I can’t pick just one. So we will go with the four mentioned in the previous section. Ryan Partin was a serious challenger for the lead when he pulled in the pits under caution because his belts had come loose. He was forced to start at the tail and charged all the way back to a third place finish. However, Ryan was sprayed in his lap with fuel the final few laps as the car ran out of fuel on the final lap. It was amazing and heartbreaking. Sport Allen was the next to challenge Martin in second position before the engine began to lay down with about five to go, forcing Allen to pull in with about two to go. Matt Kurtz was a runaway winner in his heat race and was my pick to win the feature. However, Matt rolled to a stop on the front stretch while running fourth in the feature. Finally, Tim O’Donnell got out front and lead the first five laps of the feature before being overtaken by Martin. Tim was holding a strong third when he was forced to the pits with a right rear that was going flat.
OTHER NOTES:
* I’m going to get this out of the way at the beginning. While it had stopped rainning, the pits were a mess and it was almost 9 o’clock before a grader or any equipment hit the track. This made for a very long night!
* Heat race wins went to Dennis Misuraca, Hal Wilson and Matt Kurtz. Good to see some new names winning heat races. Way to go guys!
* Had the opportunity to talk with track announcer Joe Lineberrier. He is now the proud owner of a FloridaSprintCarFans.com bumper sticker. We here at FSCF.com want to thank Joe for his support. Saturday was Joe’s last night as track announcer at Volusia. He is taking his talents to Bubba Raceway Park… I’m just glad Joe was able to find a young Geddy Lee (the band Rush) look alike.
* It’s always good talking to two of my favorite wrenches Joe Guzzi (Tim O’Donnell crew chief) and Ricky Burnett (Sport Allen crew). I always learn something from talking to those two guys. And two nicer guys you will not meet.
* Brian Maddox car’s had a rough night. But Brian assured me they will be the first to beat Danny Martin Jr. at Volusia. His son A.J. Maddox ran a strong second the previous time out and Sport Allen has been right there.
* Speaking of Danny Martin Jr. When will the track post a bounty for the first driver to beat the currently undefeated Martin? I’m just sayin’…
* There was one red flag for an incident between Wes Scrape and heat race winner Hal Wilson. Scrape had spun in the middle of three and four when Wilson t-boned him at high speed. Both drivers walked away but the cars weren’t so lucky.
RACE REPORTER: “The Hot Foot” Brian Penrose