Archive for Dude Teate
Sep
21
TBARA Race Report, but not in our own words…
Posted by: | CommentsWe ended up not having any of our reporting staff at Desoto Speedway Saturday night for the TBARA action, which was sadly our loss given Dude Teate’s very exciting victory holding off a hard charging His Holiness Dave Steele.
But we did have Gary “Walk Quietly And Carry A Big” Johnson walking around the pits and snapping some pictures. And we also got permission from Rick Anges to reprint his article that he wrote for the TBARA website. Rick’s a damn good writer, so we’re more than happy to step aside and let his magical prose brighten up our website.
Enjoy – pictures are at the end.
Dude holds off Superman in TBARA thriller!
By Rick Anges
Bradenton, Fl. The weather was perfect for a night of ASA sanctioned racing at the “High Banks” of DeSoto super Speedway and the fans in attendance were in store for another awesome night featuring the return of the High Powered TBARA Winged Sprints.
The “Four Wide” salute to the fans had the crowd on its feet as the field prepared for the action packed thirty-lap feature.
The green dropped and it was a wild scramble for position. Coming out of turn two on the first lap the cars of Ben Fritz and Shane Butler went spinning into the infield bringing out the caution. Both drivers were able to continue. Butler would come back and finish fifth Fritz would take eighth on the evening.
When the race was restarted it would be thirty-laps of green side by side racing for the rest of the feature.
Up front pole sitter Keith Butler would hold onto his top spot but just before the halfway point Dude Teate would come from his eighth starting spot and challenge for the lead. Teate would flex his muscles and make the pass on lap sixteen and pull away from the field.
Meanwhile all eyes were on “the Superman” Dave Steele who was making his return to DeSoto as he sliced and diced his way up through the field. Steele would get around second place Butler on lap nineteen but with eleven laps left there was almost a full straightaway between himself and the leader.
With seven lapped cars and laps winding down it would make sense to settle in and be happy with a solid second place run over a great field of drivers but then there is a reason they call him Superman.
With only a handful of laps to go the fans were on their feet as Steele had closed to within a car length of Teate and as the duo went under the white flag Steele was inches away from the leaders push bar.
Steele made several moves to get around Teate and was nearly beside him on the inside coming out of turn four but Dude held his line and roared to the checkered flag. Butler would take third, Larry Brazil Jr. would come from tenth for a hard fought fourth and rounding out the top five was Shane Butler.
The TBARA Winged Sprints return to DeSoto Speedway October 30th.
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver |
| 1 | 8 | 0 | Dude Teate |
| 2 | 11 | 91 | Dave Steele |
| 3 | 1 | 99 | Keith Butler |
| 4 | 10 | 20 | Larry Brazil Jr. |
| 5 | 7 | 18 | Shane Butler |
| 6 | 6 | 3 | Bo Hartley |
| 7 | 4 | 19 | Dakotah Stephens |
| 8 | 5 | 16 | Ben Fritz |
| 9 | 9 | 27 | Sonny Hartley |
| 10 | 13 | 11 | Bryan Riddle |
| 11 | 14 | 2 | Johnny Gilbertson |
| 12 | 16 | 47 | Jason Bradford |
| 13 | 3 | 15 | D.J. Hoelzle |
| 14 | 2 | 14 | Steve Heisler |
| 15 | 12 | 81 | Brad Davis |
| 16 | 15 | 28 | Larry Brazil |
Sep
19
Quick update on Saturday’s sprint car races here in Florida.
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Troy DeCaire took home all the big money at Citrus County.
Much thanks to Mr. Robert “Winger” Wing for the great photo up yonder. We’ll also have more of Mr. Winger’s photos with Todd’s race review of Citrus County. To keep things relatively quick until we start rolling out the full blown race reports:
- The CFWS brought a respectable field of cars, but a few shy of the 20 mark. But when it was all said and done Travelin’ Troy DeCaire took home over $1,700! How so? He won his heat money, the feature money, the hundred clams bounty on Mickey Kempgens, and the $600 they (Premier Miller) offered Troy if he would start last and could win. He did, and it was a sight to see.
- Over at Volusia Speedway Park, “Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt’Em” could be heard once again as Danny “The Hammer” Martin destroyed the field, lapping up to fourth place. In the championship battle, our very own Factory Driver Flyin’ Ryan Partin finished one spot ahead of championship rival Tim George to slightly move ahead in the points battle.
- If you went to Desoto, boy howdy were you in for a treat. Rising like a phoenix from the ashes this year, Dude Teate won a furious last lap battle over….wait for it…wait for it…are you ready…sit down…put the kids in the other room…His Holiness Dave Steele! With Shane Butler having an off night, the Dude is now closing in on the top spot in the championship. Well done, Dude.
- Up at North Florida Speedway, it was another triumphant trip to Lake City for Brett O’Donnell who clearly has that joint figured out. Congratulations to Brett.
Aug
01
TBARA Race Report – 07.31.10
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After collecting my seventh consecutive Employee of the Month award, (thanks Josh) this past Friday at the FSCF.com corporate headquarters (a.k.a. Todd’s garage), I was dispatched to the TBARA race Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway. I wasn’t sure if it was a reward or a punishment. I took it as a reward.
DATE: July 31, 2010
SERIES: TBARA
TRACK: New Smyrna Speedway
ADMISSION PRICE: $25 Pit Pass
FOOD ORDERED: Hamburger
FOOD GRADE: A. The actual track hamburger was overpriced and average at best. The reason the food grade is A is one reason. Mrs. Butler’s BBQ sandwich Friday night at Orlando and the meatball sub Saturday at New Smyrna. Thank you Mrs. Butler for keeping me from starving to death. It is much appreciated.
DRINKS ORDERED: N/A I had plenty of water at the Butler hauler due to the extreme heat. Thanks again!
DRINKS GRADE: N/A However, our man John from Red Fox Run did have a sweet tea at the pit concession and said it was acceptable.
CROWD GRADE: C. NSS advertised heavily on Brighthouse Networks. I’ve seen better crowds for a TBARA show at NSS.
NUMBER OF SPRINT CARS: 17
WHO WON: Dude Teate
FSCF.COM DRIVER OF THE RACE: I was all ready to give the honor to Shane Butler after the primary car would not crank for hot laps and blowing the engine in the #81 backup car during hot laps. Shane was working his way towards the front during the feature in the #18 car after the crew thrashed to get it to the starting grid. But Shane pulled the #18 car in during the only caution (Bryan Riddle broke a shock and came to rest on the track) for overheating. So with no further adieu, Driver of the Race is race winner Dude Teate. Dude was taken out leading the heat race by a lapped car that pinched him into the wall. The accident sent Teate to the pits with a broken front axle. After the restart for the Riddle caution, Teate brought the crowd to its feet with a high side pass of then leader Troy DeCaire.
SERIES GRADE: C+. This is the premiere asphalt series in Florida and only 17 cars show up. As a fan it was very disappointing to see only 9 cars running at the end of the race. I gave the C+ because the teams that did show made every effort to put all the cars on the track. A tip of the cap to those teams.
TRACK GRADE: B
REST OF THE RACING GRADE: B. The Pro Truck race feature had a dramatic three wide finish at the flagstand. Karnac legend Rex “Boneman” Hollinger competed as well.
OTHER NOTES:
* It was a Diablo kind of night. The Dave Steele built chassis came home 1 & 2 with DeCaire chasing Teate to the finish line. DeCaire led the first half of the race going away until he had what felt like two shocks fail late in the feature. However, he did an outstanding job to hang on and close on Teate (after laying his wing back all the way) in the final couple of laps.
* The Butler crew continued to show why they are having a championship type of season. On a day when the primary car had problems they kept working to get the car on the track.
* Larry Brazil Jr. showed great maturity. After hurting the engine in his primary car, he jumped into the 28B typically run by his father. Noticing the engine had a bit of a miss and was running on the warm side, he stayed out and collected valuable points.
* FSCF.com’s favorite graphics man Mickey Kempgens had a very solid run in the Terry DeCaire owned Dirt Devil’s Speedway #41 car.
* Once again Ben Fritz was fast, but hard luck struck again. Ben was running in the top three during the feature, when the front wing blew off and basically into the cockpit.
RACE REPORTER: “The Hot Foot” Brian Penrose