It was more than forty years ago that I made my first and only trip to Speedweeks in Florida, so a couple years ago when Jeff floated the idea of a return trip, I was "all in!" The idea held a great deal of appeal as I had never visited the infamous East Bay Raceway near Tampa, and with the announcement that it would close forever in 2024, and with the pandemic slowing, now seemed the perfect time. So with plans made, four of us headed for the sunshine state, joined there by our buddy Bill, who flew in from Washington state for the festivities.
The less than favorable weather forecasts for the week gave way to mostly warm, sunny to partly cloudy days with to be expected chilly evenings, and even with a couple of showers along the way, we tallied a perfect seven for seven racing events.
Four nights of Lucas Oil late models at East Bay saw car counts range from 69 to 75, with Brandon Sheppard collecting wins on the first three nights. Likely the only thing keeping him from win number four was a passing rain shower that mixed things up and when the checkers waved, it was Devin Moran $15,000 richer.
Across the state, we checked in at New Smyrna Speedway for one night of the World Series of Asphalt Racing. While it was probably a good choice on this night, as rain showers only delayed rather than canceled the action, pavement racing comes in a distant second for this old dirt fan. We hung around for the super late model thirty five lapper won by Stephan Nasse, Pro lates won by Michael Hinde, and a combo modified event necessitated by carnage earlier in the festivities on the super fast high banks.
Two nights of dirt action at Volusia Speedway Park near Barberville put the cap on our racecation. Night one featured one hundred twenty six cars in three divisions as part of the 51st DIRTcar Nationals. On this night, the 47 UMP super late models took a back seat to the first ever Xtreme Outlaw non wing sprints, with C.J. Leary the answer to a trivia question a few years from now, as he topped the 37 car field. Ricky Thornton Jr. turned a front row start into a $7,000 win in the late model thirty lapper, while the DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds ran through several hot lap sessions. Our Tuesday night finale turned into a marathon, with a pair of rain delays stretching the program past 2:00 A.M. (Thank goodness for a 4:30 P.M. flight home out of Orlando later that day!) A packed pit area of 133 race teams in the three classes nearly produced racing overload, and combined with the rain and a somewhat disjointed execution of the program it made for a memorable final night. Again it was the non wing sprints topping the bill, with Thomas Meseraull taking home the hardware. Playing in the dirt ahead of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race later in the week in Daytona, Stewart Friesen warmed up with a big block win. Rounding out the card as well as our adventures, Ryan Gustin made us mid westerners proud with the late model victory. Gustin picked up $7,000 for topping the 55 car field.
We are now hopefully just a few short weeks away from racing much closer to home. Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Mo. is hoping to write the opening chapter, with two nights of action scheduled for March 11 and 12. Looking out at the piles of snow as I write, it will take a quick turnaround to make that happen, but we can always hope! So keep checking back and check out the new and improved calendar of events as we go racing in 2022!
