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May 18, 1999 The Need for Speed
There can be no better feeling on a Saturday night in Florida
than to be sitting in the grandstands hearing the roar of the engines,
smelling the racing fuel and heated tires, and feeling the power as the cars fly by you. So was the feeling this past Saturday as I joined the fans at
Charlotte County Speedway for some good ‘ol down south short track racing...... The high flying 4cyl Outlaw Open Wheel Modifieds took the track
for the first feature of the evening. As the cars took the green and came
into turn one the there was a spin taking out the #78 of Dave Cochran with
some major suspension damage. The #2 of Tom Rahrle jumped out to an early lead and was pacing the field. All the while the #8 of George Sands was making some outstanding moves inside outside and sometimes going 3 wide to move through the field, Finally taking the lead on lap 9 and cruising to the win followed by Rahrle,#5 of Ted Hoverson,#55 of Lance Hoverson,and the #52 of Dan Curl rounding out the top 5.
Next up were wild and hairy Oldies 95 Open Wheel's. The #15 of Bill
Davis jumped out to the early lead and had a good line in the early portion
of the race but the rest of the field was tight and nose to tail all the way
back to the 10th spot. Then the #V1 of Terry Vaughn drew in on and passed
Davis taking the top spot with the #95 of Chris Turner closing up and making
it a 3 way battle for the lead at the 1/2 way mark. Turner made several
attempts at a pass on Davis but Davis shut the door on him. Then the leader
Vaughn blew a motor spinning in his own oil and causing the #71 of Bart
Corlieto to crash, taking him out and bringing out the caution.
When the green dropped again it was Turner and Davis out front with #34 of Teddy Nelson making a charge up from mid pack. As the race progressed Davis became looser and looser finally allowing Turner to make an inside move and the lead with Nelson hot on Davis's tail. Nelson finally made his move on Davis by going inside coming out of 4 and into 2nd. The final caution came out when the #25 of Scott Kiebler tangling with Davis while trying to make a similar pass, with Davis ending with his front tire where the radiator used to be in the 25.
After the cars were separated Davis was allowed to continue and got his spot
back while Kiebler' broken race car was towed into the pits. The green
dropped with Nelson trying everything he could to get around Turner but to no
avail as Turner held on for the last 2 laps to take the win followed by
Nelson,Bill Davis held off #65 of Peter Meier to take third and veteran
figure 8 driver of old Sara-Mana days #17 Clyde Cole bringing it home in 5th
making it 3 out of 5 former Desoto drivers in the top spots.
Hearts stood still and everyone held there breath as the #27 of Terry Price took a ride on his roof after turning over coming out of turn 4 in the Palm Chevrolet Road Warriors feature. After several anxious minutes he
was pulled from the car and then got to his feet and was helped off the track
by his father Lee Price the driver of the #47. Later I saw Terry in the pits
walking with a noticeable limp but other wise still intact unlike his ride
which sustained some major damage in the incident. #72 of Danny Ray took the win followed by the #58 of Paul Pojaskfy 2nd.
22 Big Wheels Mini-Stocks roared to the green flag to start their
feature and ran most of the race 3 and 4 wide. Many cautions later the race
was cut down to a 14 lap race and the # 15 of Charles Parsons took the
checkers, 2nd was the #96 of Frank Welch and 3rd went to the #19 belonging to Steve Arnold who lead several laps.
In the Q 105 Pure Stocks 21 strong took to the track for the last feature of
the evening. Ben Kelly driving the #9, former Novice Stock car from Desoto,
took the early lead but became loose and dropped back to 5th in the first few
laps as the competers were going into and coming out of the turns sometimes 3 wide. The #92 of Mark Evans was the class of the field and took command of the race with the #7-11 car of Mark Ludvigsen in 2nd and the field bunched and battling behind them. the battle for 2nd heated up with the #7-11 trying to hold off #71 of LB Skaggs,#81 Chuck Sweet,and the #105 of Jim Keating. All the hard racing took its toll on Ludvingson's ride the motor expired on it calling an end to a good race for him. The 7x of Howard Higgins, also a novice Stock car from Desoto, was making a good move up through the field but lost a tire that put him into the backstretch wall and a wrecker ride to the infield.
While in a heated battle for the 3rd spot Skaggs and Keating got
tangled up but both were able to continue with Skaggs being put to the rear
of the field for causing the spin. Evans in the #92 blew the field away and
took the win followed by Sweet's #81,the #105 Keating was 3rd, #1 of Micheal Wear made a late charge and got 4th and the #17 of Scott Moran 5th.
Charlotte is a good place to spend a night of racing and has a lot of
featured touring classes passing through its gates such as the Southern Pro
Trucks and the American Race Trucks coming in next month plus there own 6 pack series for their Late Models and Open wheels.
The only thing that I have seen in my trips there is the lack of any on site ambulance and paramedics, the first 5 minutes of any traumatic injury
is always the most critical and even though there is a fire station right
down the road, to have an ambulance and medical staff on site with the right
equipment to stabilize an injured person is a necessity in racing.
All in all Charlotte is a great to place to go watch some good ‘ol
southern stock car racing and for all you Desoto Fans and Drivers who are
jonesing for racing our style this is close as it gets. Its about an hour
drive from Sarasota on I-75 as the race fan drives(LOL) The facilities are
good and there is plenty of parking so pack up the family and come on
down!!!! From Charlotte.......Rick Anges Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or send a letter to the editor! |
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