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February 24, 1999 -Jane Smith
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A RACER
There are many things that are needed to become a short track racer,
here are the top 10 for most:
l. A large amount of patience. It takes patience to build your car
and not kill anyone in the process.
2. A very strong back. You will find yourself doing things that you
did not know that you could do - removing engines, transmissions,
replacing the old with the new.
3. The name of a very good Auto Junkyard as you will need alot of
old parts since you are on a budget.
4. A good jack and jack stands. That is a must. Don't want the car
on top of you.
5. A track Rule Book. You must follow the rules of the track you want
to race at or you will be disqualified before you qualify.
6. An understanding wife or husband if you are married since you miss
alot of family meals.
7. Alot of hand cleaner since you will be covered in grease most of the
time and a large amount of grease cleaner for your car.
8. All the help you can get from anyone willing to help.
9. Alot of lost sleep since you work during the day to be able
to work on your car at night and race.
10. Most importantly - a love for racing since racing is not something
you can just decide to do and it happens overnight.
Local track racing is a family sport. If you will look at your racers in the
pits, you will see that most of them have their families by their sides. It may
just be a husband and wife or girlfriend and boyfriend or all the kids and the
parents and sometimes even the grandparents, but it is not usually done
alone. Racing keeps a family together and is handed down each generation.
We have some of the best in our state, please, support your local tracks
and show these great men and women that you appreciate all the sacrifices
they make to entertain you. Because without fans, there are no racers and
without racers, they are no fans. Long live our local tracks.
Jane ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ February 24, 1999 -Jane Smith
On Behalf of the Racers
Lately, there have been alot of negative comments made about
how the World Series of Asphalt SpeedWeeks at New Smyrna
Speedway turned out. I understand where people are angry
at track officials about some of the decisions that were made
but that was the track officials and not the people who race
there every weekend.
Let's face it, changes need to be made. But it is not just
New Smyrna Speedway but all our tracks. When every-
day people race, people very much like yourselves, you have
to understand why they chose the tracks they run at. Usually
they run the track closest to their homes since hauling a car
hauler does use up a large amount of gas. Not only do you
have to put gas in your tow vehicle, but you must put gas in
your racecar. A lot of these racers do race on the edge of being
broke all the time but they still do it.
Trying to get a track to hear its fans is one thing, but taking
away the fans from the guys who really deserve them is another.
If tracks would conform more to the same rules, some drivers
could run different tracks but this just is not happening right now.
So when you build your racecar, you have to build it by the rules
of the track where you know you are going to race because you
have no choice there.
Fans have the right to be angry at a track if they think they are
unfair but the drivers themselves have nothing to do with that.
I have never heard a driver go to any track official and say "you
better fix it where I win tonight or else".
And as for a flagman, well, in my opinion and this is just mine,
a track needs someone who knows what he is doing but is also
not connected in any way to anyone at the track. It should be
an outsider - too bad we don't have flagmen pools and each week
they flag at different tracks and not the same one. Maybe this
way, there would be no favoritism.
When my husband and my daughter race, I expect them to earn
a win if they should get one. But I also expect the officials to be
fair in any decision that is made during that race. I don't ask any-
thing but fair treatment when they are on the track.
Maybe I am wrong but all our Florida tracks have local racers that
work very hard to build and maintain racecars to go out and run
on the weekend for themselves and for their fans. But until
rules change, especially in the lower classes, we can't just leave
our track and go play somewhere else. It is just not that easy when
tracks run different rules for their cars.
Be angry fans but be angry at the right things and not the drivers.
Whether you believe it or not, it does make a difference to those
guys on the tracks if you are there or not. You go to the tracks
to see these guys not the officials.
-Jane Smith _______________________________________ February 20, 1999 -Jane Smith
Racing and Friendship
I can't imagine anything better than growing up at a racetrack. I myself
will never know how that feels but my children do. They have spent
alot of their early years, especially my 6 year old, at our local tracks.
Part of the time they were just kids in the stands but then we
started racing ourselves and they became kids in the pits. When
this happens, children learn early that they want to be racecar
drivers one day.
We have a few of those racers now at our tracks - kids that
grew up together at the track while one or another of their
parents raced. They would bring their bikes and ride them around
the track after racing and imagine that they were in a car flying
around the turns. And as they grew, they would go from bikes to
go karts and even feel closer to racing. They would spend the
weekends with each other and hang out at the track while their
parents raced.
You would think a friendship like that would last a lifetime but
when you start racing cars for real, you forget your friendship some-
times and become distant enemies. Instead of congratulating each
other for a race well run, you accuse each other of cutting down or
not lifting at certain times. And most of the time, it is really just
one of those racing things and no one's fault.
Racing, when done locally, is suppose to be for fun. Egos don't
do well at racing whether they belong to the racers or the families.
Racing accidents happen but blaming each other is not the solution
and only costs a friendship to dissolve.
We see alot of brothers racing against each other in Winston
Cup and Busch, and they are still brothers. I doubt that the
parents of these drivers would ever side with one against another
and when a racing accident does happen, they get over it and
go on as brothers. Racing is their way of living but a brother is
for life just as a childhood friend should be for life.
Racing locally should never take away from our lives but enrich
them and add to our lives. And kids do grow up and race them-
selves and someday may face each other on a track. And when
or if that should happen, let's hope it does not cost the gift of
friendship. -Jane
_______________________________________________ February 18, 1999 -Jane Smith To all the race fans, friends, and family of the out-of-state racers that
participated in Speedweeks 99 at New Smyrna Speedway, I would
like to say thank you for showing how much these racers meant to
you. Taking the time and making the effort to contact me made it
worthwhile for all the traveling I did to report these races.
For some, I did not have good news. A few of the cars that were
asked about were wrecked out of Speedweeks early but I was able
to inform the friends or family that the drivers were fine, just not the
cars.
All the e-mail I received during Speedweeks only proved to me that
you are the greatest race fans a driver can have and they are truly lucky
at their home tracks. You give your support no matter where they are
racing and that is what a race fan is suppose to do.
Thank you all for making this a very special 9 nights for me and I hope
I can be there next year for you. Have a good race season at your home
tracks and see you next year.
Jane February 13, 1999 -Jane Smith __________________________________________________ Saying Goodbye Until SpeedWeeks 2000 With the conclusion of the Daytona 500 today, Speedweeks l999 are over.
Next will be Speedweeks 2000 - now that is an eye opener. But for l999,
the big haulers from Daytona have all left and the haulers and open trailers
and many RVs have gone from Volusia Speedway Park and New Smyrna
Speedway. All that is really left is the garbage at all the tracks and the
tires that were left behind at New Smyrna Speedway and Volusia Speedway
Park.
From a race fan's viewpoint, Speedweeks were quire successful especially
if you like bumper to bumper, flipping, rolling over type wrecks on the race
track. The Goody's Dash was one disaster after another, half the field out
of the race and also the Busch race loss almost half the field. I will say
the Daytona 500 did better but still loss about 12 cars. And even at our
track, Speedweeks took a toll on racecars.
One particular race car that was totalled out the second night of Speedweeks
went home with Junior Hanley for possible repair. Seems the man who owned
this car and brought it to Speedweeks purchased it from Junior and when it
was totalled Sunday night, Junior asked if he could take it home with him.
This car had alot of sentimental value to Junior since he won two champion
ships in this car back in the 80's. Small world afterall.
There is one thing I would like to say about all the drivers who came to
Speedweeks especially at the small tracks, they are dedicated. Unless
the car was completely totaled out, these men and their friends and pit
crews would stay up night after night repairing these cars. They did not
do this for money because you would never win enough to make all that
work worthwhile, but they did it for the pure joy of racing. There were a
few drivers who did nothing with their cars, they had the money or sponsor-
ship to have crews to do all that, but most were "backyard" racers.
Alot of the Late Model drivers at New Smyrna Speedway came to Speed-
weeks because of Lowell Bennett, another Wisconsin driver who was
very successful at Speedweeks and told everyone in Wisconsin. And all
the Wisconsin drivers said that they would be back next year because
they did like our Speedweeks and they had no other place to race this
time of the year.
But Speedweeks made me see more clearly why I love local track racing,
the ability to get close to the drivers. As long as you use good judgement
in when you approach them, they will gladly talk to you about themselves.
They are very open, honest humans not super heros or road warriors. Some
want to reach Winston Cup, others just want to race where they are. Some
are already legends at their home tracks and some are just starting out.
Speedweeks l999 did cost some alot but cars can be fixed, repaired, re-
placed - HUMANS CANNOT. Cars we lost, humans we did not. And e-
mail helps to keep in touch with all our new friends from Speedweeks 99.
-Jane __________________________________________________
February 11, 1999 -Jane Smith SPEEDWEEKS 99
Since last night was a fairly short night, compared to the rest of
Speedweeks nights, I finally got to talk to one of my favorite drivers
that I have followed for a long time - Wayne Anderson. I remember
when I first saw Wayne race at New Smyrna Speedway probably
back in l992 or so. He impressed me then and he still does now.
Last year Wayne was in the Craftsman Truck series in the Cable
Porter truck but lost his ride at the closing of the season. I asked
him last night what his plans were for l999 and he said for now, "Joining
us". Just to race for awhile. I also asked Wayne about his dad, Dick
Anderson, king of the short tracks in Florida. Wayne informed me
that his dad will race some more and is presently building a new car.
Now that would be a race to see, Wayne and Dick together.
We also have another Craftsman Truck driver in one of our Late Models
this Speedweeks, Kevin Cywinski. He is driving Late Model #119 for
a friend of his that lives close to New Smyrna and wanted his car in
Speedweeks. Last night Kevin was trying to dial in the car for tonight's
big l00 lap race. For now, Kevin is happy being in the Craftsman Truck
series and has no plans of leaving.
We also have a group of Wisconsin drivers that race together back home.
They seem to all be in the Re/Max series there which use to be called
the ARTGO Challenge Series. And in those drivers here now, we have
some of the past champions of that series. We have four-time champion
Steve Carlson in the #99p and champion Jason Schuler in the #37 who was
also the Champion Late Model last year for Speedweeks.
The Re/Max series usually runs about 18 races over l3 different tracks from
April through October and is known for its high car counts and close racing
throughout the upper Midwest. Coming out of this series to Winston Cup were
Dick Trickle (who holds the series record for most wins - 68 and the most
championships - 7), Mark Martin, Ted Musgrave, Rusty and Kenny Wallace.
Sounds like a pretty good series to me and I know personally that the guys
from it are extremely nice and friendly.
Coming next, the difference between the NASCAR Tour Type Mods and SK
Mods and how their tracks and rules compare to ours.
-Jane
___________________________________________ February 10, 1999 -Jane Smith Speedweeks 99 - The True Effect on the Racers and Crews
It was night 6 last night of Speedweeks 99, the last races for the Mini-
Stock and Sportsman divisions. After 6 days, 7 if they came in on
Thursday for open practice, the drivers and crew are worn out. Some
have been up every night, or rather wee morning hours, putting their
cars back together, putting in new engines and transmissions, for
speedweeks. It has cost them far more than they could possible win
to race for 6 nights but many chose to do so. Why?
By what I can gather, part of the reason is to be able to say that you
raced speedweeks. To most local racers, this is like the Daytona 500
for them. Just think about it, 9 straight nights of racing and no matter
what division you race in, at one time you get a chance to win the
biggest trophy of the year and have all those fans adore you. I know
it is not racing for the money because there is really none. You are
paying the track, not the track paying you.
But there is not only wear and tear on the cars of Speedweeks but the
drivers and crews. Tempers seem to get a little more short as the
days go on and accidental mishaps on the track turn into fights which
lead to black eyes and very bad feelings for a long time. And racing
is no longer racing but heavy weight fights. The lack of sleep and
some good cooking do take their tolls on all.
Speedweeks for race fans has to be the best time of the year. But
it seems to have it's price on the players themselves. Some may
go home with a trophy or two, some with their car still in tack, and
some with their car totalled out but none go home with their pockets
full of money for sure.
So maybe it is good that during Speedweeks the racers have more
fans in the stands and the pits than any other time of the year
and this alone makes the losses you suffer worth the pain.
-Jane _________________________________________________ February 10, 1999 -Jane Smith MORE STARS FROM SPEEDWEEKS 99
Right now, we have so many talented young and older drivers at
Speedweeks 99. I got to talk to three of these men and their crew
last night.
The first driver, and the youngest in the NASCAR Tour Type and SK
Mods, is JR Bertuccio driver of the #2 mod. This is JR's second year
at Speedweeks here and only his third year at driving. JR is 17 and
still in high school back home at Centereach, New York. He has won
two races, last year, and is working very hard on his first win at New
Smyrna Speedway and Speedweeks 99.
JR's father has always owned modifieds but never driven them. Not
until JR was old enough did he have a driver in the family. But JR
is making his parents very proud and they are always with him at every
race. And Mr. Bertuccio still owns more than just the #2 car so
he stays quite active in racing. After the races are done and the Daytona
500 is over, the whole crew plan to go to the Bahamas for a few days
of rest and relaxing.
The #75 Limited Late Model - Mike Beyer from Rockford, Illinois, is a
very lucky young man. He has his family behind him and a dad who
has been in racing for a long time, not as a racer but as an engine
builder.
Mike has been racing for 11 years now and he started out small - minis,
hobby stock and now Limited Late Model. Mike and the #51 of Brian
Hoppe, who was hurt the other night, have run together in the RE/MAX
SERIES. So for some of our out-of-state drivers, it was still like being
home here in Florida.
I did ask Mike's dad about what an engine costs to run in a series like
that since the NASCAR MODS spend up to $40,000.00 on their's and
he said usually about $25,000.00 But luckily, he is an engine builder
and they do have sponsors to help them with the expenses of racing
but they all work regular jobs and do this only for fun not a living.
And last but not least, a driver who came in after Speedweeks had started.
The #15 RE/MAX car driven by the owner of RE/MAX International - Dave
Liniger who is a real estate franchisor in Denver. Dave is the proud owner
of 9 cars including 5 Winston Cup cars he bought last year. He and his
teammate, John Metcalf, drove the Southwest racing tour last year and will
be racing a full schedule in the Winston West series this year. They are
also the top sponsors of the Rick Carelli's Craftsman Truck.
Dave just spent about a month in Australia trying to launch an around-the-
world by balloon effort and came to speedweeks to get in some practice
time at racing. Dave will turn over the wheel of the #l5 RE/MAX Super
Late Model to his teammate John Metcalf on Thursday and Friday to give
him some track time. Seems like Dave is really a true daredevil but
extremely nice man.
Truly, what I have found this week, is a mixture of many different kinds of
people that race. Some do it just for fun and with little money and are alot
less agressive when it costs them to fix their cars and some that race for
a living. I am sure they don't want to wreck but when they do, they seem
to have back-up cars and parts more accessible than the little guy.
But when the night is over and the race track is clear, they are all friends.
And that is because they all truly love racing whether it be for fun or for
food on the table..
-Jane Smith February 9, 1999 -Jane Smith Meeting the Heart of the Racers - Their Crew Chiefs and Tech Inspectors
Since we have so many talented drivers at New Smyrna Speedway right now
for Speedweeks 99, I decided it was time to talk to those drivers' most
important persons - their crew chiefs and tech inspectors. Being that
we have cars from all over the country and Canada here right now, what
makes them come this far to race and why do their crews come with them?
Alot seem to come for Daytona 500, that is the icing on the cake. But
since they are here, what is it to tow their race car behind them for nine
straight nights of racing. Some come with two cars and 3 spare engines,
and some come with just what they got - one car, one engine.
For the Late Models and the Limited Late Model drivers, this means nine
straight nights and days at the track. Dirty clothes, dirty hands, fast food,
this is what they have to look forward to. And basically no sleep or very
little sleep depending on how bad the car is hurt during the race that night.
One crew-chief from Canada saw this as a vacation for himself and his mom.
He packed their RV to come with his car and once the race is over Saturday
night,
he plans to head towards North Carolina and race shop tours. He did admit
that on Sunday, when the Daytona 500 is run, he will stay at a motel so he
can watch the race on tv. But for the last four years, this has been his
vacation time. It gets him out of the snow and in the Florida sunshine.
I also talked to one of the flagman and tech inspectors from the NASCAR
Tour Type Mods territory which informed me of some of their rules and how
they run their tracks. Since we seem to have such a hard time getting a 25
lap race done in less than an hour, because of the number of cars on the
track,
they informed me that they put time limits on their races to prevent this.
If the race is not finished in 40 minutes, it is called. This prevents other
classes from being held up and fans out very late.
But I found one thing that we all do have in common and that is the agressive-
ness of some drivers. According to quite a few of the Late Model and Mod
crew chiefs, it seems to depend on money as to how agressive the driver gets.
If money is no object and not out of their pockets, they don't mind wrecking a
car or two to get where they want to go. But the average Joe who is racing
out of his pocket, well, he is not like that. He can't afford it - plan and
simple.
And I appreciated their honesty because I did notice that some of their
drivers
were very agressive and wondered why - money.
So tonight we face night 5 and new questions, new friends and more
information for us all to learn by. But what I learned last night was that
every track needs two classes - those with money to burn and those
with little money and racing only for fun not blood. Then you would see
one class killing each other and the other class racing for the glory of
knowing they did their jobs well.
Jane
February 7, 1999 -Jane Smith The Drivers Of Speedweeks Right now at New Smyrna Speeway, a racing fan can really get his fill of
racing. Every night for 9 straight nights, there is door to door, bumper to
bumper action. But little by little, I would like the racing fans to meet
some of these racers this week and get to know them and why they come to New Smyrna Speedway for SpeedWeeks.
The NASCAR Tour Type & SK Mods are here because of the purse and because back at their home tracks there is snow still and they cannot race. Their racing
season does not begin until March and sometimes even in April, they race with
snow around their tracks. And sometimes I was told that they cannot race at
all because their track is under water. It seems the track is right next to a
river and when they have too much rain, the track goes underwater. They
would need scuba gear and fins to race.
These very talented modified drivers are really a nice group of guys. Some
just do this for fun and others for a living. Some have $40,000.00 engines
and others maybe have $12,000.00 engines. Their tires run about $l,500 to
$2,000 for four so this is an expensive fun.
I talked to their number #95 driver, John Markovic, and asked him if he did
this for fun or a living. He quickly replied that this was fun for him not
his living. He does own his own car and he said he had about $30,000.00 in
his car altogether which was less than some of the other guy's engines cost.
John told me that last year he won about $12,000.00 so he was only a few
thousand in the whole for his fun. But even without a $40,000.00 engine,
John finished seventh one night.
In the Late Model field, there are a number of drivers but I was able to
corner one local driver and two out-of-state drivers. Our local driver was
Jeff Fultz, driver of the #14 black and white Janiking car. I have watched
this car for quite a few years now, first with Mike Fritts driving, and now
Jeff. Jeff started out his racing career in Mini-Stocks and has been driving
Late Models since l992. Jeff is 29 years old and will be driving in the Slim-
Jim All Pro series this year.
Brian Hoppe, driver of the #51 Late Model from Verona, Wisconsin, is 28 years
old. Brian started out in Street Stocks which he says is like our Sportsman -
Limited Late Model series. He was 19 when he started racing. Brian races for
a living and lost the Re-Max Championship last year by two points. Brian is
sponsored by Fruit of the Loom and he said the reason he came here is because
this is the only place running at this time of the year. And like most
talented drivers, the more places he runs, the better he will get.
I also talked to another Wisconsin driver, #33x of Danny Gracyalny of
Appleton, Wisconsin. Danny races purely for fun and not for a living. Until
a few years ago, Danny owned his car but now drives for someone. But Danny
has a racing family and even his 75 year old father back home races along with
his sister too. He came to New Smyrna Speedweeks because his car owner knew someone who had raced here before and done well and they plan to come back again for Speedweeks next year.
All in all, it is not how much they win that brings them here. For our out-
of-state friends, it is because if you don't race here in February for
Speedweeks, you don't race until March or April back home. They come to get
more time in their cars, to master a new track, and to enjoy the beautiful
Florida weather. They all admit that it cost them to come and you never win enough to cover all your expenses but they love racing and this is where it is at for now.
More to follow as I corner a few more Speedweek racers.
-Jane Smith
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