IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

March 11, 2008 Eugene Davidson Runs the Table At Auburndale Speedway KARNAC Staff Report Click on the photo for a large version. "The car count was excellent and the first Summer Spectacular race had 18 cars. Did they ever put on a show for the fans." Those were the words of promoter David Brown of Brown Motorsports after the first of eight special events planned for Auburndale Speedway. Though the fans count was not terrific, it was way down almost everywhere due to the bitter cold temperatures, the racing was entertaining for those in attendance. "There ware 92 cars in the pits," Tampa Tribune Motorsports writer Bill Green explained, "who said they couldn't get cars at Auburndale". After qualifying for the featured Mini Stocks, Jeff Berdaul, from Racers For Christ, got everybody ready for the night of racing and handed out RFC decals for their race cars. The Winter Haven High School BDTV was on hand to produce the first ever promotional video for Brown Motorsports. Several sponsors of the Brown Motorsports Spectacular were on hand including owners of Central Florida Hobbies, Sharon and Glenn Harkey. Sharon was responsible for getting the NOLIMIT RC club to participate in the fun with an exhibition at intermission and the crowd loved them. "The club had such a great time, that I suggested they put on a mini RC race." David Brown said. Zeek Heard, the president of the local chapter agreed and fans can expect to see the exciting little machines back at Auburndale later in the year to put on an actual race. Debbie Brown waved the green to get things started and then the fans were treated to something special. Sixty-four year old Eugene Davidson started his number 5 race car dead last in the field of 18 cars. He took advantage of a few early cautions to improve his track position, and though it was not easy, when the checkered flag waved, the veteran of fifty years of short track racing in Florida was in the top spot. "I think they had 30 or 35 laps, but I didn't have time to count them, I was pretty busy," Eugene joked Monday night with Rob Elting and CeCe Brooks on the "Inside Florida Racing" radio show. Davidson started racing at Eau Gallie Speedway on Florida's east coast long ago, and has also called New Smyrna Speedway, Orlando Speedworld and now Auburndale his home track. "My car runs extremely well through the corners", he said with emphasis, "and of course that gives it straightaway speed most of the other guys don't have." After the race the Auburndale tech officials made sure the winner was deserving. "Oh mercy in tech I spent the rest of the night", he said with a good natured laugh. "They pulled the rear end out and looked at it, they pulled the transmission out and looked at it, pulled the flywheel out and weighed it, pulled the clutch out and weighed it, I guess by that time they got so tired, they got tired of carrying things out, so they quit. It was really good tech, it was done extremely well and very sportsmanlike." Click to Listen to interview with Eugene Davidson on INSIDE FLORIDA RACING As soon as the race ended Brown and crew assembled the Winners Circle backdrop for the presentation and photos. Brown's daughter Lauren presented the official Brown Motorsports winner's checkered flag, that the drivers get to keep. Brown was very happy with his first event at Auburndale, "I had all the drivers and sponsors sign the flag at the drivers meeting, that was so cool and our special edition BMS winners race cap." Debbie Brown presented the oversized check to the winner and lots of photos were taken. "The winners circle took on a new feeling last night," Brown said. Debbie and Lauren handed out BMS hats and Tote-Bags to the crowd and presented our first set of little boy and girl bikes to some lucky children. "The looks on those kids faces when they got their pictures taken with their new bikes was priceless. Deb and I reflected on the drive home and we were so pleased and proud of how the whole night went, putting our sponsors on display and giving the race fans a great, no awesome event." Donnie Guy was second in the field of 18 cars Saturday night..CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGE IMAGE! Brown and his family is no stranger to these types of events, having run similar highly successful promotions over the last several years at North Florida Speedway near Lake City, Fl. The next Brown Motorsports Spectacular event is April 12th at Auburndale Speedway. --Advertisement-- Mini Stocks 1-#5 Eugene Davidson 2-#33 Donnie Guy 3-#21 Fred Harrison Jr. 4-#97 Craig Cuzzone 5-#07 Bobby Kelley Sr. 6-#42 Chris Spring 7-#55 Steve Routt Jr. 8-#27 Charley Alexander 9-#14 Kevin Hoffrichter 10-#08 Tim Kelley 11-#60 Lynda Marie Valdez 12-#70 Bobby Kelley Jr. 13-#28 Robert Gullett 14-#2 Dwight Ryals 15-#81 Darryl Ashmore 16-#24 Larry Hallam 17-#56 Jared Guy 18-#84 Ashlee Williamson Open Wheel Modified 1-#6 Billy Bechtelheimer 2-#3 Harold Cannon 3-#03 Kyle Bookmiller Sportsman 1-#12 David Williamson 2-#100 Ronnie Heard 3-#131 Aaron Williamson 4-#156 James Wright III 5-#25 L J Grimm 6-#71 Dave Dunkin 7-#00 Shawn Harper 8-#98 Wayne Morris 9-#38 Jason Stifle 10-#0 John Markovich 11-#17 Jeff Waterman 12-#13 Mark Medeiros Street Stocks 1-#26 Ronnie Miller 2-#56 Brandon Morris 3-#45 Joe Dowdy 4-#44 Robert Capp 5-#75 Allen Tyson 6-#1 Randy Kitzman 7-#557 Josh Bence 8-#22 Roger Harrison 9-#32 David Holland Modified Mini 1-#38 Burt Morse 2-#18 Jason Bertsch 3-#89 Scotty Sharpe 4-#3 Levi Parson 5-#42 Jonathan Guy 6-#99 Jamie Kennedy 7-#0 Ken Uhl 8-#71 Mike Sweet 9-#75 Joe Thomas 10-#98 Jason Rendell 11-#55 James Pate 12-#88 Donnie Ezell V-8 Bombers 1-#35 James Newton 2-#69 Darrell Caldwell 3-#03 Danny Caldwell 4-#81 Jammie Dunnahoe Young Guns Trucks 1-#36 Austin Stamper 2-#77 Lance Daubach 3-#37 Nick Hernandez 4-#16 Tim Sozio 5-#08 Aubrey Burris Mini Cups 1-#6 Jerry Parker 2-#2 Frank Pfister 3-#05 Cindarae Irish 4-#07 James Irish 5-#22 Rich Cline Sr. 6-#8 Rick Cline Jr. 7-#55 Jordan Martin 8-#06 Aaron Irish 9-#83 Don Huntington 10-#21 Rick Auriemma 11-#44 Flint Anderson 12-#08 Steve Irish Have an opinion on this story? 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