There are few words I can think of to describe the Eve of Destruction. The one that immediately comes to mind is COLD! Call me crazy, but I thought Florida was all about palms trees, sandy beaches and warm evening breezes. When we got to the track, the mercury had dropped to a low 30-ish degrees and I could barely hear the roar of the cars on the track over the chattering of my teeth. And who knows what the wind chill factor was?
But seriously, the racing was impressive. We had never attended the Eve of Destruction before and were pleased to find some real hard racing going on. To begin with, the Women's Enduro was won handily by Kim Scheffler-Hays in the 10X car by about a half lap. It wasn't so much of a run away as a demonstration that there was a need to work a little on car setups. And you know, the blindfold race was fun to watch as a couple of guys exercised their communication skills trying to keep the racecar off the walls. (Um, one did hit the wall with a resounding THUD!) The train race produced only two sets of cars, which seemed like a dud to me. That is, until the second place train of cars proceeded to wrap themselves up into a perfect triangle on the second lap, right in front of the main stands. After they pulled the mess apart with a tow truck, the trio continued the race only to pull the rear bumper halfway off the center car. This became the thing to watch as lap after lap went by, with the fans wondering if the bumper would hold up for the remainder of the race. Answer to that thought: Nope!
The bumper came off and the two lead cars were suddenly faced with a big problem. The only car in the train with brakes was separated from them and slowing down with a loose bumper hanging off of it like a stick in a dog's mouth, and they can't stop! It took some scrubbing on the front stretch wall, but they eventually stopped the run-away front half. Now, that was great!
The switch-off race was good fun as the men took the wheel for the first 25 laps, then they stopped the cars on the track and the women jumped in for the second 25 laps. The strange thing about that was the winners of the two races weren't driving the same car. (Hmmm!)
The reverse race produced some good action with differing reverse driving skills quickly becoming apparent. The exciting moment came when the #95 car backed up onto the infield wall and it's rear bumper hooked on it. After rescuing the wall from the 95 car's attack, fuel was seen dripping from the rear of the car so it was sent to the pits.
The 4 X 4 turned out to be an elimination drag race with lots of tire smoke being left in the air. (Sniff! Smells like racing!)
The fan drags gave us the opportunity to watch a Chevy VS Ford race as a late model Caprice went up against a late model Mustang. The Caprice didn't win the three-lap race, but the driver did treat us a couple of times to some wild spinout recoveries by driving in reverse, then whipping the car around in the right direction to continue the race. (Whew! Close to the wall that time!)
The Paul Revere race was different in that the lights were turned off on the track, with the exception of one over the finish line. At first, I thought that leaving the single light on was ridiculous because the drivers could still see, until they waved the green flag and the cars disappeared in the first turn. That one light really needed to be on so you could see who crossed the finish line in what order. You could see sparks flying off the cars as they bumped and ground each other going down the back stretch.
This pretty much ended the night of racing at Charlotte County Speedway and as we walked out to parking lot, we could see a healthy bonfire burning in the middle of the parking area. (Mmmmmm, warm!)
The drive back home was great as we crossed the Sunshine Skyway at just about the stroke of midnight. The air was filled with fireworks displays all over the place, and the view from the top of the bridge was awesome. What a great way to celebrate the arrival of a new year!
