August 8, 1999        
                    Man on a Mission:
       The Teddy Nelson story
           
Bradenton , Fl (KNS) - The pits at DeSoto Speedway were quiet when I arrived Saturday. My assignment this week was to cover Teddy Nelson the current 2nd place points man in the Open Wheel Modified class there. When I got to his pit
stall his father James was working away on the motor while Teddy and his crew
member Pete were checking the suspension and tires preparing for the heat
race. Teddy's wife Cindy arrived a short time later, the obvious heart and
soul of the crew, she began telling me about Teddy and her family and with
every word from her mouth you could see how proud she was of her husband and  how she loves the sport of racing.

I talked with Teddy for a short time before the heat race and admired how calm he was and how easy he was to talk to. The call came for the Open Wheel's to come to staging for the heat race so I headed to the stands to watch. The heat was little more then a warm up for Teddy as he moved up steadily but was involved in a late race spin and was sent to the rear of the field, the car slipping pretty badly when he was in the turns. After the heat I asked him if the car was loose he replied " Yea it was the old tires...I never run new ones in a heat race" a sly smile came across his face and I knew that the other guys in the class had better be ready this guy was here not only to race but to win.

Bros. late models, one of which was driven by Dave Pletcher. Teddy was born
with racing in his blood. He started his racing in the Mini-Stock class
moving up to the Street Stock/Sportsman class then into Late Models. His
sucess though has been his move to the Open Wheel class.

The last 3 years he has blistered tracks all across the state of Florida. In 1998 alone he owned 4 track records (Auberndale, Bronson, DeSoto and Orlando). He won the first ever OWM race ran at Hialeah Speedway. June 4th of this year he won the Dick Joslin Memorial 100 lap race at Orlando Speedword which he considered an honor.  "I never knew Dick Joslin but his son Jerry is a great race fan and a super person". Besides that win he has 5 feature wins at DeSoto Speedway and is currently in 2nd place in the points standings and closing in fast on leader Steve Hauser.

Teddy's 2 children son Dalton(5) and daughter Amber(12) are there every week to cheer their Daddy on with Mom Cindy pacing and cheering along with them."My crew Dad (James), Pete, Ron, Ronnie, son Dalton (he is at that age where he likes working on the car and help out where he can) and I do all the work on the cars and spending alot of hours at the race shop. I take racing very seriously I love it and do my best every week to put on good show for all the fans. I believe the the long hours and hard work pay off for us" said Nelson. Teddy has been racing a car owned by his sponsor's Ron & Joyce DiDonato the #17 R&D Motorsports machine.

His own car the #34 has been in the shop since June getting a new front clip put on it after getting in a wreck at DeSoto . Ron offered them the car after the wreck to keep him in the points chase. They had to make a lot of changes on the car as it had been sitting for a while but they went to work on it brought it out and set 2nd fastest time but then ran into some bad luck and got caught up in a wreck so it was back to the shop for more work, but that work payed off as he took the checkers the very next weekend. Teddy said " It was not only a great win for me but also for the car owners, it was the first time the car had visited victory lane".

A few weeks later they not only were fastest qualifier for the 50 lapper at DeSoto but won it. Teddy will be keeping the #17 as a back up car after the #34 is ready to go again. He really loves racing at DeSoto Speedway he says "the competition is awsome and my fans are great"!

As the time grew closer for the feature you could see the nervousness
grow in Cindy Nelson while Teddy was a rock of calmness. As he climbed into
the race car Cindy told me "my stomach always starts turning at about this
time ...but god I love it"! Teddy carries a guardian angel on a necklace given to him by Cindy and his kids, just another sign of how much this family cares for each other. Today was also Cindy's birthday and when Teddy asked her what she wanted her response was "The Trophy". With a good luck wave in the staging area Teddy pulled out onto the track for the Open Wheel feature race,and what a race it was....

The racing became hot and heavy as Rocco was doing every thing he could to keep the hard charging Nelson from getting by. Turn after turn Nelson would try to go high then low to get around Ranallo but each time Rocco was right there to foil the attempt but then Teddy saw the opening, got beside Rocco going into the
turn and on the backstretch took the lead and pulled away from the pack, with
the car looking like he had it on cruise control Teddy's lead grew to almost
a full straightaway.

A caution on the 22nd lap of the 25 lap feature bunched the field up but Nelson was not to be denied as the green dropped.   He again pulled away and in two laps took the checkers for his 6th feature win of the year. All the preparations and hard work of the week payed off for the Nelson's as they are now just 26 points from the lead of the championship they so desire.

 As for Teddy and his win tonight? Mission Accomplished.
                                               From DeSotoSpeedway........Rick Anges

Mission Accomplished!
Teddy Nelson In the Winner’s Circle

*Special Note: I would like to thank the Nelsons for welcoming me the way
they did they are a warm and sincere bunch who love their racing. Special
thanks to Cindy Nelson for gathering info and supplying me with some of the
pictures for this story (also plenty to eat and drink). And especially Teddy
who made this report a lot easier with a great feature win! Teddy is a
fantastic driver with natural born abilities to build, maintian,and most of all
drive a race car. Sponsors, Car owners, and Series should be looking seriously
at this guy has all the potential to be a superstar in the sport of auto
racing!!  He has got what it takes........Rick

                                More Photos on Monday

                                         -Rick Anges is an Associate Editor for Karnac.com-