The Roots of Florida Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (FASCAR) | By Jane Smith -KARNAC.com
Clyde Hart, owner of both New Smyrna Speedway and Orlando Speedworld, left us in 1999 when fire was raging thru Central Florida and smoke hung thick in the air.
Clyde was worried about his cattle and had gone out to feed them and make sure they were okay when his heart just decided it was time to quit.
Clyde, who got hooked on racing back in the days when the Daytona race was run on the beach, once said, "all I ever wanted was to find a track where I could park my truck on the infield, lay some plywood across the back and sit down to enjoy the show."
Well, Clyde got his wish in New Smyrna Speedway and Orlando Speedworld but the business left him little time to sit and enjoy what he loved the most.
In 1966, Clyde Hart bought the ground where New Smyrna Speedway sits now. At first he made it a dirt track but found he had the wrong mixture of clay-dirt thus giving him a "dust bowl" instead.
Clyde had decided the best way to go was to lease out the track to a 'good' promoter but after a few years and some failures, Clyde decided maybe that was not the best way.
In the early 1970's Clyde decided if he was going to be bothered by this thing, he might as well be bothered. Thus he entered the race promotion business more as a businessman than a promoter. Clyde's long time reputation for being hard headed about spending a dollar and always anxious to make a few for himself preceeded his new title.
The new first order of business was to pave New Smyrna Speedway turning the old "dusty" track into asphalt plus modern bathrooms with running water and the best lighting system around. Back then this was around $250,000 and Clyde openly admitted that he spent more on the lighting system than the bathrooms since he felt it was more important to see the races.
But when the first light bill came in which was around $2500 for the month, Clyde invested in his own generator system which he proudly called "the power plant".
Clyde invested in a Fairbanks-Morse 175 kilowatt generator which roughly ran him $11,000 with set up. His monthly Florida Power and Light bill went down to 600.00 and he could make night turn into day with his own power plant.
Eventually Clyde bought Orlando Speedworld and Orlando Dragway in Bithlo making Speedworld and New Smyrna Speedway "sister" tracks forming FASCAR - Florida Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.
Local favorite David Rogers of Longwood has been racing at "Clyde's Place" since 1974 on Saturday nights. "Clyde made FASCAR a real home for many people and you always felt welcomed there," Rogers explained.
After Clyde's death, Don Nerone was brought in by Robert Hart, Clyde's only child, to be General Promoter. Nerone, who had been everywhere and done everything, worked very hard to turn FASCAR around and bring back the glory of some races long forgotten.
In 1999, the Racecar Engineering Sunbelt Super Late Model Series was born showcasing the "best of the best" Super Late Model drivers in the state of Florida. Eight races were on the 1999 schedule with four more races added in 2000 thus giving the Sunbelt it's 12 race schedule today.
A big tradition at New Smyrna Speedway has been the nine nights of racing for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing in February.
While Daytona runs it's "Speed Weeks", New Smyrna is busy with some of the most talented drivers in the country. Many a NASCAR driver has come to New Smyrna to try their luck at winning the Championship and going home empty at times.
Such famous racers as Richie Evens, Mark Martin, Ed Howe, Red Farmer, Donnie and Bobby Allison, Morgan Shepherd, Glenn Jarrett, Dick Anderson, Gary Balough, Dick Trickle, Joe Nemechek, Geoff Bodine, Ed Flemke, George Kent, Steve Park, Tony Stewart, Bugs Stevens have tried New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing and gone home with empty pockets and hands but thankful for the experience they got at "Clyde's Place".
One of Florida's oldest traditions, The Run for the Triple Crown, was brought back to it's spendor in 2000 by FASCAR's promoter Don Nerone. "I missed the old traditions and the importance of the Triple Crown. Racers kept asking me about trying to bring it back so I did."
"The first race was run on a Friday night at Orlando Speedworld with the second night at New Smyrna Speedway and the third day at Desoto Super Superway. It was definitely challenging for the racers and fans. So the next year, we decided to make it easier by scheduling the races a week apart and not making the drivers work so hard and race with very little sleep."
"That first year, 2000, B.J. McLeod won the first leg on his 17th birthday which happened to be November 17th and Dick Anderson won the Sunday race on his birthday. It was the year of "birthday" wins" chuckled Nerone.
FASCAR has added two more traveling series in the Goodyear Challenge Late Models and the Penske Racing Shocks United Pro Modifieds.
The Goodyear Challenge will support two USAR Hooter's ProCup races at USA International in Lakeland this year. Each series supports a 12 race schedule for 2004.
Clyde Hart's old green truck sits high above New Smyrna Speedway where he watches over his track and friends as he lazily sits on the plywood in the back of the truck doing what he liked most, being a race car fan. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!
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