| Opening Nights for Orlando Speedworld and New Smyrna Speedway | by Jane Smith
Even the dark clouds in the sky around Orlando Speedworld could not stop the fans from returning to the short track in Central Florida. New drivers came with much anticipation of that "first" race rush and old drivers came to win if they could.
The new Pro Modified Series took to the track with twenty of the fastest open-wheel modifieds around. One very nice surprise was the #1B Modified driven by Andy Safiotti that used to be #74 Barry Willoughby. It has been awhile since we last saw this black beauty race; but Friday night, she did her new owner and her old owner proud by finishing third in the Pro-Modified race. We also saw Ted Head behind the wheel of the #51 come in seventh. But Mike Fitch in his #1 Pro Mod never looked back from the lead and came home the first winner in this new exciting series. Frank Polly, Andy Sifiotti, Jerry Symons and Tank Tucker rounded out the top five.
With the first Sunbelt race the following night, only a few Super Lates came out to play, but they were good ones. B.J. McLeod led the race for a good portion with Rusty Ebersole taking that top spot and putting McLeod into second. Eddie King, David Hart and first time Super Late driver Matt Griffin rounded out the top five.
The night was full of surprises with Bobby Orr, son of Pete Orr, behind the wheel of the Ugly Duckling #30 Mini-Stock for his very first race. Orr came in fifth. Also, Rae Williams and Patricia Gray made their first starts in Mini-Stocks with Rae finishing 4th and Patricia finishing 8th. Rae is the mother of the former #l7 Mini-Stock driver Geoff Williams and Patricia comes from a very prestigious kart career. But, Rex Hollinger in his #85 Mini-Stock got the privilege of being the first Mini-Stock winner in 2001.
Tim Russell, son of David Russell, also made his debut in the Super Stock division coming in fifth. Carl Peters won in that division with Doug Samion taking the win for the Sportsman division and Donnie Smith in the Strictly Stocks.
New Smyrna Speedway
With a little sleep, it was then time to be off to New Smyrna Speedway and the first Racecar Engineering Sunbelt Super Late Series for 2001. You could feel the moisture in the air but rain never came, and the fans got to see some of the biggest Super Late Model stars come out for the "Road to Charlotte" race. And, they also wanted to win those free tickets for Charlotte.
With the big race on the board, only feature races were run in Mini-Stock, Super Stock, Sportsman, and Strictly Stock. Mini-Stock saw Conrad Grenier take the first win of the 2001 season. Jim Winterstein started off 2001 like he ended 2000 with his #13 Green Machine Super Stock in Victory Lane. Ian Hoffman in his brand new #3 Sportsman had a fight on his hand with Dale Clouser and Ray Fulford for the first 2001 win but got it. Good job to all for the night.
Now, it was time for the hot asphalt action of the Super Late Models. Thirty-two came to race but when it was time to introduce the drivers, there were only 31. We lost B.J. McLeod to engine problems but never fear, B.J. will be back. Justin Drawdy in the #12 set fast time with a l8.154 followed by Dick Anderson, Sammy Graham, David Rogers, Mike Fritts, Michael Williams, Jack Cook, Ricky Carlton, Barry Willoughby and Jacob Warren. Drawdy pulled the #1 pill and all kept their qualifying places.
The fans were on their feet, waving and cheering on their favorite driver when the green flag flew. The #92 of Dick Anderson jumped out front and never, not once, looked back. For the first few laps of the race, Anderson had Drawdy at his back door until Rogers took the job over. We saw the #12e of Jeff Emery drop out before the first caution of eight came out.
Caution 1 came out when the motor let go in the #80 of Brian Finney. The track was cleaned and the race restarted with Anderson, Mike Fritts, David Rogers, Justin Drawdy and Michael Williams in the lead pack. Then, the #39 of Morgan Hoover caused caution 2 when he took a trip around turn 4 but was able to continue.
On the restart it was Anderson, Fritts, Rogers, Drawdy and Powell. The #40 South Forty car of Michael Williams visited turn 2 wall and thus caution 3 came out. The race restarted without Williams. Sammy Graham brought out caution 4 when he took a journey around the front stretch, hitting the inside retaining wall. The track was cleared and once again we were set for green flag racing with Anderson, Fritts, Powell, Rogers and Drawdy in the top five.
Mike Good in the #27 brought out caution 5 when his machine decided to take a spinning trip down the front stretch. Morgan Hoover in the #39 brought out caution 6 for his short spin around in turns 3 and 4. Mike Bresnehan in the #3 brought out caution 7 for his short trip down the front stretch, and the final caution of the race was for the #16 of Bruce Lawrence who had done a very good job of working his way up towards the front.
Seventeen of the 31 cars had finished, but it was Dick Anderson and his #92 Racecar Engineering car that led the whole race.
On a personal note, I would like to say that it was a great pleasure to see the #74 of Barry Willoughby qualify and finish so well. It was also nice to see Lee Collins back in action and Travis Kittleson. And next time, Eric Black, don't try and ride a mechanical bull right before a big race.
Finishing order was Dick Anderson, Mike Fritts, James Powell, Justin Drawdy, Jack Cook, David Rogers, Shane Sawyer, Ricky Carlton, Barry Willoughby, Jacob Warren, Travis Kittleson, Lee Collins and Eric Black.
Welcome to Race Season 2001.
-Jane Smith
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