| Powell Memorial Weekend Begins Friday Night at Ocala Speedway | by Dave Westerman
 Fans of Super Late Model racing in Central Florida have quite a weekend in store with the 8th Annual Powell Memorial, now a two day affair, with the action beginning Friday night at Ocala Speedway.
The history of the event goes back to 1996 when it was run to honor six members of the Powell family of Astor, who owned and operated Ocala Speedway for several years, who perished in a plane crash near Gainesville.
James Powell III helped his dad, J.H.(Buddy) Powell, operate the track during those years while also learning to become an accomplished racer himself intially on dirt, then later on asphalt.
Powell III started the race to honor his late father and mother, his twin daughters, and an aunt and uncle who were lost in the plane crash almost nine years ago.
The children's playground at Ocala Speedway is named for his twin daughters Ashley and Nicole.
The first event in 1996 drew a who's who of short track late model stars to the newly-paved Ocala oval with Tennessee's Jeff Purvis taking the win. Purvis went on to star in the NASCAR Busch Series, winning last year at Texas before being critically injured at Nazareth, PA. Purvis continues to recuperate from those injuries today. Interestingly enough, the careers of Purvis and James Powell III are quite similar as both made their name well known on the dirt tracks of the south before switching to running asphalt.
1997 saw former NASCAR All Pro Series Champion Freddie Query of Concord, NC take the win. Query has made a point of running this race each year, and although not officially entered this year, may be here if he can come up with a good ride.
Former Ocala track champion and current Busch GN driver David Reutimann won the event in 1998 while Wayne Anderson took the event in 1999, then became the only two-time winner by taking the checkered flag first in 2001. Anderson, having a banner year with three wins at Ocala and several other victories statewide has to be considered the favorite this weekend.
The 1997 NASCAR All Pro Champion is coming off a strong eighth place finish in his first ARCA superspeedway start last week at Kansas.
Mike Franklin, Jr. of Homestead, the 2000 winner of the Powell Memorial will not have his new car ready for this weekend, but instead will drive James Powell III's back-up car for owner Mark Cowheard and sponsor A Natural Difference Skin Care Products.
Last year, while Ocala Speedway was undergoing a management change, promoters Jimmy Wear and Billy Hooker graciously allowed the Powell race to be run at their facility, Citrus County Speedway.
Mike Fritts, arguably the most underrated Super Late Model driver in the State of Florida, surprised everybody by driving one of Mike Good's cars to an impressive victory. Fritts then backed up his Powell Memorial win with a win in the Florida Governor's cup race at New Smyrna Speedway. Fritts will be back to defend his title this weekend.
With the race being such a huge success at Citrus County Speedway, Wear and Hooker at CCS and Ocala Speedway GM Tim Christman joined forces to create a special Powell Memorial weekend this year.
Friday's event will go for 125 laps at Ocala while the drivers will run for 150 laps Saturday night at Citrus. Along with the purse money, including $5,000 to win each night, the top driver in points over the two nights will get an added bonus of $1,000. This means a driver pulling off a weekend sweep could earn $11,000.
Other drivers expected include "Mr. Super Late Model" Dick Anderson of Wildwood. Anderson has raced only once this year and that was a Sunday afternoon win at Ocala. Also expected are defending AACS Champion Justin Drawdy of Ft. Pierce, former Florida Pro Series Champion Rick Carlton of Homossasa, Georgia's Jeff Gordon, Lee Faulk of High Springs, "Mr. Excitement" Jimmy Cope of Pinellas Park, Citrus County Speedway Champion Mike Bresnehan, Ocala Speedway Champion Robbie Smith, St. Petersburg veteran Dwayne Dempsey, Anthony's Rich Pratt, and Herb Neumann of Inverness. Several of the new "young guns" are expected including Tampa's Aric Almirola and Marc Mitchell of Tallahassee.
Unlike many of the bigger Super Late Model races at Ocala Speedway, this one is not sanctioned by one of the SLM Series, but instead is a regular Ocala Speedway points event. This means that Ocala's E.J. Wise, last week's feature winner and the current point leader, and Patrick Williams, currently second in points with two victories on the season, will have their own personal race going on among the "invaders" this week.
Williams, who has a new car ready for a possible debut at Citrus Saturday, will use his "tried and true" mount Friday night at his home track. "I think we can run with the big guns this week," says Williams. "This old car is like butter is to toast when it comes to running at Ocala...they're made for each other," he said.
Other "locals" attempting to make the show will be Gig Smith, Tim Shull, Roger Shinholser, and many others.
Along with the Powell Memorial 125, fans will be treated to feature races in four other divisions Friday night with the point races tighter than ever in all four as the first half of the season draws to a close.
Dunellon's Tom Posavec and Bellview's Patrick Mennenga head into this week's Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman action tied for the points lead with frank Buchanan and Roger Damron nipping at their heels.
The K-Country Street Stock class is even tighter this week as Mark Mitchell, Tommy Roberts, Doug Webster, Kyle Maynard, and David Chastain all have a chance at the first half title.
The Mini Stock points race is a three-way affair right now with Marlon Durbin, Larry Goolsby and Rick Sirmans all under a blanket, while in the Four Cylinder Stocks it looks like Tom Ellis and Rick Kuhn will battle to the wire for the first half championship.
Action at Ocala Speedway begins Thursday evening with an open practice session from 6-10PM. All classes can participate from 6-8 PM while Super Late Models will get a special two hour session from 8-10PM.
Pit gates will open Friday at 1PM with practice laps for SLM starting at 3PM. Grandstand gates open at 6PM with qualifying for the Powell Memorial slated to begin at 7:30, possibly earlier depending on the number of entries. Fans should try and arrive early to get the best seats as this race is expected to be a sellout.
Action continues at Ocala Speedway this weekend with the United States Hot Rod Association sanctioned "Monster Jam - Summer Heat" featuring Monster Truck racing & Freestyle along with ATV Quad racing and more. Among the Monster Trucks entered are the world-famous Grave Digger, Gun Slinger, Bad News and Ragin' Steel. There will be three shows: Saturday afternoon at 2PM, Saturday evening at 8PM, and Sunday afternoon at 2PM. General admission to all shows for all seats is $12. Tickets are available at Ocala Speedway. For more information log on to www.ocalaspeedway.com.
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