| New Florida Vintage Auto Racing Photo Web Site Now up and Running | by KARNAC Media
Race fans who enjoy "the good old days" have a new web site dedicated to preserving the rich history of auto racing in the State of Florida.
Floridastockcars.com is now up and running, and although the name indicates stock cars, it's more than just that with loads of photos from Florida race tracks including Stock Cars, Sprint Cars, Sports Cars and more. Currently, the site is divided up into photo albums each dedicated to a specific race track.
Floridastockcars.com is the brainchild of long time Orlando Speedworld announcer Dave Westerman and KARNAC.com's Jack Smith. Smith set up the site and Westerman is overseeing it's construction.
Westerman, who has been going to races in Florida since 1962, is using his own extensive collection of racing photos and memorabilia along with other collections from both drivers and fans alike. "We are looking for people to contribute what they have," says Westerman. "There's no telling how many old boxes of photos are sitting in someones closet and they aren't doing anybody any good there. We need to preserve this history while we can," he says.
"We hope people will come forward and contribute what they have," says Westerman. "We realize how precious these old photos are and we'll take great care to insure they are not damaged any any way. Once they are scanned, they'll be preserved forever," he says. With todays current technology, contributors can scan the photos themselves and simply e-mail them to the administrator directly.
Although floridastockcars.com is a labor of love, Westerman says there is a need for sponsors and donations to make it worth the time and effort. "I have to justify the time I'm spending, especially to my wife," laughs Westerman.
"Jack and I originally planned to make it a pay site, charging a certain monthly or yearly fee, but I didn't want to do that. I want everyone to view these old photos any time they want to," he says.
Costs are being kept low in order for just about anybody to afford to take part in sponsoring the site. Business card ads are just $50 a year, banner ads are $350 a year and you can sponsor an album for just $250 a year. Jacob Warren Performance bought the first ad two weeks ago and Hartley Racing is sponsoring the album dedicated to the now defunct Golden Gate Speedway (Tampa) where driver Sonny Hartley won his first feature race several years ago.
"We're not trying to make a killing on this thing," says Westerman. "We just want a great site where older race fans can relive some great memories and where younger fans can get a taste of the sport's history in Florida," he says.
With the amount of material already available, Westerman indicates it will take some time just to get everything he already has loaded onto the site.
"The neat thing is, if someone logs on every few days, they're always going to see more new 'old' stuff, in fact I don't think the site will ever be finished so to speak... they'll always be more to add to it," he says.
At a later date, Westerman and Smith plan to also ad old newspaper articles and pages from old racing programs as well. "The possibilities are unlimited," says Westerman.
Anyone wishing to contribute photos, sponsor or donate to the site can contact floridastockcars.com by e-mail at announcerdave@usa.net or may phone at (407) 428-9328. Everyone is urged to log onto the site and pass their comments along as well.
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