By Rick Anges
February rolls around and the race crowd is already in withdrawal from the months without the sounds and smells of the thing they love most; racing! This month is probably one of the most intense in racing around the state of Florida.

Tracks all over the state are firing up, getting ready for the upcoming season. Drivers, crews and fans migrate south from the chilly north to experience racing on some of the quickest short tracks in the nation. From New Smyrna down to Thunder Cross in Okeechobee, fast-paced action was everywhere, but none was intense as the 17 days of the "25th Winternationals" at East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton.

Some of the biggest names in dirt track racing converged on the little track just south of Tampa. Over 1,000 cars run literally tens of thousands of laps on the clay track. This would be some of the tightest racing of the year with over a quarter of a million dollars on the line. After sixteen grueling days, you would think the wind would be out the sails and the track would be trash, but on night 17, all that proved wrong as the "All Star" 410 Sprints would wind up what has had to be the best "Winternationals" of East Bay's history.

More then 60 top drivers were on hand to race for the 28-car $25,000 to win 50-lap final Winternationals feature. Hot laps showed a dry track, something that #63 Greg Wilson had told us on the radio show Wednesday night would make for more side-by-side racing. With the warm-up sessions over, it was time to race.

The five heat races were fast and furious with names like Swindell, McCarl, and Smith taking wins; the "Dash for Cash" saw Danny Lasoski in the familiar Tony Stewart orange 20 car take a dominating win. The C and B mains were last ditch efforts for drivers who are used to being in the winner's circle. Sammy Swindell #1s took the win in the B-main; Kenny Jacob's last years All Star champ was unable to finish in the top seven and thus did not make the fifty lap A-Main.

The "Strawberry Dash" gave some of drivers would did not make the feature a chance to get some more racing under their belts and not go home empty handed. Greg Wilson blazed to an easy victory and being a previous winner at EastBay took home $3,000. Not a bad paycheck for someone who didn't even make the big race.

During the pause between races, "Speedo the Clown" came out and had the crowd on their feet cheering for T-shirts being shot into the stands.

Click here forSpeedo Fireworks.

Speedo also entertained everyone with the his magic Model-A named "Rosie." From raising up and spinning in the air spouting fireworks to blazing down the front stretch with flames spewing from the rear, Speedo kept all the people in the stands smiling while the racers and crews were preparing their rides for the big one.


Gary Wright #9 and Ronald Laney #52 made up an all Texas front row, and the four wide salute to the crowd was an awesome site. When the green dropped, "World of Outlaws" stand out Joey Saldana #17 powered his way to the front of the pack, pulling out to a several car length lead. Just when it appeared that Saldana would begin lapping the field, the #7s of Jason Sides got tangled up with Swindell who started near the rear of the field and spun, bringing out the caution.
Jason Sides Spin.

As the track crew came out under the yellow, a muffler was found on the track. It was discovered that the muffler had come off the leader's car causing an immediate DQ and ending the night of the hard charging Saldana. Wright, last year's "King of the 360 Sprints", assumed the lead with Ron Laney on his tail. Tense moments came for the leaders as they were trying to get around some lapped traffic; the #10w of Curt Winker spun in four in front of them causing Wright to dive low and Laney to go high, both narrowly(!) avoiding a major collision.

Sammy Swindell wasn't as lucky, as he was trying to bump and bang his way to the front, got caught up and took a wild ride down the back stretch flipping several times but climbing out of the bent race car unscathed. Also taking a violent trip down the backstretch was the #29 of Wayne Johnson, hitting the wall and spinning in the air before coming down on his wing practically disintegrating the car. The crowd was quiet until Johnson climbed out of the tangled mess and was able to walk away.


Walk-a-way was just what Wright did after the green fell; it was on to checkers and the $25,000 prize money for the Texas native becoming the final winner in the February classic at East Bay.


Laney held on for second, #12 Greg Hodnett took the third position, fourth was #45 Tim Shaffer and rounding out the top five was #7 Craig Dollansky, who powered his way from mid-pack.



Stan Kolan and his crew at EastBay once again proved that they are the class of the field of dirt track racing in Florida. Promotion, media coverage and plenty of entertainment during the whole show has kept them packing them in for 25 years. According to Kolan "Next year's Winternationals will be even bigger and better." With the crowds and the racers increasing every year, this will be the highlight of racing in February for years to come.

-Rick Anges

Related Links:
--click here to listen to Stan Kolan Interview

--Gary Wright Dominates Final Night of All Star Sprints

Click Here for links to all 2002 News Articles

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