by Jane Smith and Rick Anges

Sebring International Raceway celebrates its 50th annual 12 Hours of Sebring in March when some of the top names in all of motor sports will once again journey to the famous road course in the middle of the state of Florida. Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Benny Parsons, Bobby Rahal are just some of the drivers who have run here. But this past weekend on a beautiful sunny day the guys and girls of Florida stock cars took on the altered 1.85 mile road course/modified oval.

Twenty-Seven FASTRUCKS lined up on the grid with Fred Lay #0 on the pole for the Trucks first ever run at the historic Sebring road course. Lay lead the first two laps while other trucks were having a hard time negotiating the hard right of turn two, many of them sliding into the dirt berms in a cloud of dust. On lap three Veteran driver Dale Krieder of ARCA fame in the #15 of Bobby Spaeth made his way to the lead and pulled away and lead the rest of the first twenty minute segment of the race.

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After the mandatory red flag break the Fastrucks were back on the track for the second twenty minutes of the event. Krieder took off and never looked back winning by an easy margin. #00 Jerry Perry, #01 Larry Moyer, #70 James Glover and #99 Danny Foster all were in a tight race for the second spot.

At one point, David Baute's #9 was in third place and slowly got shuffled back. On lap 12, he was in fifth place but on lap 13, Foster's #99 took over that spot and maintained it until the final lap of the 15 lap race. The #9 had started to smoke and the officials black flagged him because they thought that the truck might be on fire but after bringing it into the pit area, it was not on fire.

After twenty minutes of hard door to door action Perry was able to cross the stripe in second, FASTRUCKS points leader Glover took third, fourth went to Foster and rounding out the top five in the road course run was Moyer.

Twenty Racecar Engineering Sunbelt Super Late Models lined up on the pit lane to take on the Sebring Road Course. In the familiar #00 Dickey Anderson out qualified the field by three seconds to take the number one spot. After the draw of the pill Anderson started ninth on the grid. #10 Eric Black sat on the pole for the start. Greg Cecil in the #19 claimed the early lead but it only took the King only four laps to take the top spot and pull away from the pack. The only caution flew and bunched the pack up but the second place car of Cecil was nowhere to be seen and James Powell III in the #37 moved into the spot.

Anderson seemed like he would run away with this one and if anyone had any doubts about him being able to turn right they were eclipsed this day as he appeared to have this one in bag, until lap 11 when Anderson had to dash into the pits with a flat rear tire. Powell then assumed the lead but was hotly contested by the #3 of Mike Bresnahan. Jeff Emery looked like he might have a top five-day on the tough road course but had to retire after sustaining mechanical problems.

Eric Black's #10 was running third until lap 9 when he had to pull out of the race with a broken axle giving the third place spot to the #3 of Mike Bresnahan.

With speeds reaching close to 170 mph down the backstretch Bresnahan made his move and looked as though he may get around Powell but Powell was able to hold him off and take the victory. David Rogers #11 overcame an early off course excursion and no second gear to claim the third spot, fourth went #74 of Barry Willoughby and rounding out the top five was the #12 of Fred Staube crew chief for the Emery car.

David Rogers, who came in third, said he had no second gear in his car and Barry Willoughby who finished fourth had no third gear and had to go home the night before and get another engine as his blew during practice on Saturday and had transmission problems on Sunday. Even with problems, they both did a great job as all the drivers did.

The races on this sunny Sunday at Sebring were superb and hopefully these cars and trucks will return with more fans because this is one event no one should miss. It was a test of not only the drivers and their machines but to the crews and officials who did an excellent job for the first run on the road course. The fans that we talked to after the race all expressed a hope to see more stockcars in the future on the road course at Sebring. They enjoyed the speed of the cars and the talent that was behind the wheels of the cars.

Sebring hosts the 50th Annual 12 Hours of Sebring March 13-16 with world-renowned drivers. They will compete on the full 3.7-mile course for 12 hours of the toughest endurance racing in the world and if you get the chance.... experience it!

In other action at Sebring International Raceway on Sunday Mike Potekhen, of Phoenix, Ariz., won Round Thirteen of the U.S. F2000 National Championship. Tom Dyer, of San Rafael, Calif. and Billy Asaro, of Unionville, Ont., Can. completed the top-three.

-by Jane Smith and Rick Anges

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