September 8, 2004 Winds and Rain Subside, But Not the Problems By Jack Smith -KARNAC.com Hurricane Frances may be gone, Charley may have been forgotten by some, but millions of residents of Florida and thousands of racers and their fans still are being burdened with hot muggy days and nights without electricity. In some areas water is not drinkable, houses are flooded or their owners are living with the aftermath of flooding rains. The air in some towns is becoming unfit to breathe, as septic tanks can't function properly. It is, to put it very lightly, a category four mess. For these reasons several of Florida's speedways have put all racing activities on hold for the time being. FASCAR has cancelled all events at New Smyrna Speedway and Orlando Speedworld until the 24th of September, but will try and hold races on Saturday September 18 at their newly acquired Columbia Motorsports Park in Lake City. Citrus County Speedway will be closed this coming weekend and may reopen on the 18th. The Hooters ProCup race originally scheduled for September 3rd at USA International Speedway in Lakeland has been scrubbed completely and will not be made up. Kolleyne Watson, a Citrus County Speedway official said today, "the majority of our race car drivers come from this county but also from Hernnado County, Brooksville, Spring Hill and I know they got it really bad. One by one they keep calling, they check on us and we're checking on them, as much as we can because our phone systems have been down here." The speedway itself only has minor damage in the wake of the Labor Day weekend storm that dumped months worth of rain in a 36-hour period. "Basically, the overhead lights, the big lights quite a few of those came crashing down, they were ripped off and thrown to the ground", explained Watson. The speedway is being used as a staging area for relief efforts by the Salvation Army, dealing with flood victims and others harmed by the storm. If those relief efforts are concluded in time the speedway expects to race again on Saturday the 18th, though a schedule is not ready to release yet. Kolleyne Watson explained "Actually as far as the speedway it is pretty good, a lot of little maintenance things we have to do, but because of all the personal problems we are all going through that's like last on our agenda". Like most Florida tracks getting back to racing on an uninterrupted basis would be a grand thing, but for the folks in this area north of Tampa there are more important things on the agenda for now, "we have been off for two weeks, and next week he (promoter Billy Hooker) really wants a place where everybody to come together, and everybody survived, everybody is here, everybody is good to go, let's everybody enjoy ourselves", Watson said. Over at the three-quarter mile USA International Speedway in Lakeland the situation is not bad at all, according to Operations Manager Barry Williams. But as Williams sees it this is no time to relax the guard with Hurricane Ivan making a 20 mph path through the Caribbean Sea over the next few days. "We are not unpacking a thing until we see.... we are leaving it all put away...three in a way is way too much." USAR announced on Wednesday morning that the Jackaroo Sauces 250 presented by Advance Discount Auto Parts, originally scheduled for Sept. 4, will not be made up. "After talking with Billy Martino [USA Int'l general manager], we decided that it would benefit all parties not to reschedule the event," said Gene Cox, USAR president. "[September] 18 would be the only date that would have fit in the schedule. But with Florida being been hit by two major storms in the last month and Ivan threatening them right now, along with the Championship Series starting in a couple of weeks, the decision to cancel the event was obvious". With many USAR officials and competitors living in Florida, our concerns are with those who have been affected by the storms," said Cox. "We will return to USA Int'l Speedway for the final race of the season, and we hope the area can rebound from this disaster." USA International Speedway will host the Foresters Race for the Kids 2004 on October 16th. FASCAR's big three racing series, the Sunbelt Super Late Model Series 125, Goodyear Challenge Late Models 100, Pro Modified Series 50 will highlight the event, put on with the help of the Shriners. Meanwhile the FASCAR organization's General Manager Don Nerone indicated today that the FASCAR staff has been so adversely affected along with the potential fans and of course the racers, that racing for the next few weeks is simply out of the question. "I don't know over here anyone with a roof left", Nerone said. As on Florida central west coast, the east coast has suffered huge amounts of damage to homes from Hurricane Frances, and especially hard hit are those areas that were digging out of the mess Hurricane Charley left behind, New Smyrna Speedway included of course. Orlando Speedworld General Manager Dick Westfall's situation is one example of the need to forego the business acing for a while. Westfall's track fared fine except for minor damage and water, but his house near the coast was in the path of Frances and was destroyed. Jane Smith, KARNAC editor and FASCAR media writer returned to Merritt Island with her son Alex from her Mississippi refuge to find downed trees, a flooded house and no electricity. Along with her 10 cats, 2 dogs, a turtle and, oh yes, a mouse. She left behind the fish and they died. Jane, always one to find just the right words, summed up the situation "We are lucky, we are alive". Amen to that. Have an opinion on this story? 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