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2001
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| DeSoto Speedway Packs The House on School Bus Night | 
by Jack Smith
Over 3,000 race fans packed into DeSoto Speedway in Bradenton for the summer edition of wild and crazy school bus figure eight racing. They came to see mayhem and none were disappointed as the wild men donned their helmets and put a show to remember.
A lot of tracks in Florida these days are putting on school bus shows to draw the crowds, but what separates DeSoto Speedway's version is the nature of the track. The 3/8-mile high-banked turns adds a dimension of speed in the X that is not quite matched by other venues.
Lonnie Miller, Sportsman driver and a veteran bus racer at DeSoto Speedway, put his son Chad in the number 98 bus Saturday. Miller descibed it this way, "It's an adrenaline rush like you never had before".
As the buses were warming up their motors with the fans all on their feet picking out their favorites, Tony Sarppraicone was over in turn one fixing a broken spring return.
A Long Island, New York resident and experienced demolition derby racer, Tony Sarppraicone flew down to run in his first figure eight bus race.
As the buses were given the green flag the cousin of speedway owner John Sarppraicone got in line, but in his haste forgot to strap himself in.
A move he won't soon forget.
The buses moved out on the green flag with battles for position beginning immediately, and by lap three Bill McLeod was in second place sandwiched between the two double zero buses. That was the wrong place to be as they came off turn one and headed down the infield.
The number 69 bus of Sarppraicone was headed down the infield out of Desoto's turn four and hit the 31 with the explosive force of a bomb going off, fluids erupting from the tumbling monster machines, immediately igniting into flames. The other racers scattered wildly to avoid further collisions, as safety crews rushed to the scene.
The only person more breathless than the 3,000 screaming fans was the driver of the 69, who had forgot to buckle up after fixing his mechanical problem during the warm-up laps.
He was thrown halfway to the rear of the bus, lying in the dirt with the bus on its side. Bruised and a bit shaken Tony Sarppraicone emerged without any serious injury. The front axle was ripped completely away from the wrecked bus.
The 31 of McLeod suffered a little less damage and incredibly managed to eventually have his bus righted by Steve White's Wrecker Service and was able to restart the race. But only for a couple of laps as the lopsided bus was unable to negotiate the high banks and tipped over one final time, ending the bold run.
"You ask yourself when you are in the staging area, am I really crazy enough to do this?" said Lonnie Miller. "You got to be a little bit crazy to go out there in one of those. You have to be very aware, it's all about the timing".
The Millers are already working on getting the 98 bus back in shape for another go at it. The last three laps were run with no water in radiator, after a hose blew and the temperature soared to 300 degrees.
The multicolored machine of James Volk was blowing huge billowing smoke for the last 6 or 7 laps but he was able to finish the race.
Brian Hayn of Safety Harbor took the checkered flag in first place picking up the $1000 winner's purse. Ernest Helfrick took second and $500 and Chad Miller held on for third and picked up $300 for his efforts.
This was the very first racing experience for Miller; his father said, "He was on cloud nine".
The folks who made the trip out Route 64 looking for motor madness certainly got what they came for, and the twelve racers who strapped in for the 25 laps gave them one heck of a show.
Browse the Photo Gallery from the event Saturday;Click Here!
The buses return to DeSoto Speedway on November 23 and again for the season finale on November 30.
This coming Saturday, July 27 the speedway features Budweiser Night with a 100 lap Southern Automobile Racing Series Late Model race, Open Wheel Modifieds, DeSoto Trucks, Sportsman, Mini-Stocks, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks.
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