CORRECTION-Steve Heisler will be at Desoto in the Dave Steele R&D car. Our bad.

If you were thinking to yourself, “self, things have been a tad on the quiet side here in Florida on the sprint car front, maybe I’ll take in some bingo this weekend…” well, think again you hopeless shut in. That or you’ve got a thing for Blue Iris films and that’s why you hang out at bingo parlors. If so, please..stop..reading..this..

Still here? Good!

There is action aplenty this weekend, with just about everything you could possibly ask for.

Right out of the gate, there are two very close championship battles hanging in the balance this weekend. First up is the Top Gun Sprint Series, which features our very own Factory Driver Flyin’ Ryan Partin in a dead heat with long time East Bay kingpin Tim George. Our boy Ryan has been testing and tuning and promises more propulsion down the straights to make sure he stays in front of Tim George.

We would say you could also reasonably expect John “She’s My Girl, Don’t” Crowder, Tony “Play It” Agin, Mike Schroeder, Danny “The Hammer” Martin Jr., Gene Lasker, Darrin Miller, Brandon Grubaugh, Harley Zimmerman, Rich Alexander, Shane “The Human Highlight Reel” Kreidler, Tim Grubaugh, Troy Knowles, Rich Pratt, Mark “Ruelz Bitches!” Ruel Jr. and Rocky “Yo Adrian!” Sullivan to be in the house as well.

If pavement is more your speed, you’ve got a dilemma, but we’ll start with the tighter of the championship chases – the TBARA. Shane Butler has a semi-comfortable margin, but second through fifth is only separated by ten points, with Bo “Hollywood” Hartley and the TBARA comeback story of the year so far, Dude Teate in a dead heat for second. While a few drivers and cars are heading to Citrus County, Keith “I’m No One’s” Butler is expected at Desoto, which should keep everyone on their toes. And Desoto is only charging $15 to get in, and you can’t beat that with a stick.

Up the road a spell, one of our favorite tracks is having a wingless sprints throwdown – Citrus County. A wingless show at Citrus County is just about as good as it gets and this should be a humdinger. George Rudolph is bringing two cars – one Hurricane for series overlord “The Smooth Operator” Mickey Kempgens and one Diablo for new MSRXSS champion (and arguably the country’s hottest pavement sprint driver) Travelin’ Troy DeCaire. There’s a $100 bounty on Kempgens and DeCaire wants it.

Throw in the other cast of Central Florida Wingless Sprints regulars and this should be a whale of a show. And with the CFSS guys not running Punta Gorda in a while, maybe a few will tow up for the show.

And last but not least, the series near and dear to our hearts, the Florida Mini Sprints Association rolls into North Florida Speedway (Lake City to most of us) to bring the noise again. Sadly, we (our staff) won’t be able to see if we could replicate our fine form form earlier this year when our Editor at Speed hung around the top five all night as Penrose Racing won’t be making the tow. Don’t let that deter you though as the FMSA never disappoints. Will Brett O’Donnell wax everybody, and then dump it in the turn after the checkers? Well, we hope not, on the second point. How about Chris Pacetti? He’s been beating everyone like a rented mule lately. What about Steve Crabtree? He’s always a safe bet. Could this be the weekend Rhea Lynn Moss breaks through? If you’ve in the upper quadrant of the state, check this one out.

Us? We might be at Citrus County, Desoto and Volusia. Our Editor at Speed will be turning some wrenches for our Factory Driver at VSP, ye olde webmaster is planning on taking his two year old up to Citrus for his first proper sprint car race (the wife still isn’t sold on dirt) and that other guy whose name rhymes with Bosch might be at Desoto covering the action.

To get you all excited for the weekend, here is some in car footage of “The Smooth Operator” Mickey Kempgens in 2009 at Desoto Speedway. Enjoy.