| Orlando SpeedWorld Ready to go for a Big 2004 Season | by Dave Westerman
Anticipation is high as Orlando Speedworld gets set to become the busiest race track in the State of Florida in 2004.
Legends race every Saturday at Speedworld
Speedworld will open the 2004 season on Saturday, March 6th with a Saturday program that will feature the INEX RE/MAX Legends Cars and Bandeleros each week while other groups such as Mod Lites, Pro Challenge, The Classic Auto Racing Series, Mini-Cup Cars, and INEX's newest class, Thunder Roadsters will race once or twice per month. The new stock four cylinder class, Hurricanes, will also race every Saturday night.
Other surprises may be booked for Saturday nights as well. Already set is a 50 lap Super Stock race on March 20th paying $500 to win.
Friday night FASCAR stock car racing begins on March 12th. featured Classes will be Super Late Model, Modifieds, Mini-Stocks, Sportsman, Super Stocks and Strictly Stocks.
ASCAR traveling series are also set to compete on Friday nights. The Sunbelt Super Late Model Series will run on September 17th, The Goodyear Challenge Late Models are set for March 19th and July 9th, and the FASCAR/UPM Pro Modified Challenge races on April 16th. FASTRUCKS will run on May 21st and October 29th, while the RE/MAX Legends Cars will also run three Friday night shows.
Although Volusia Speedway Park ran a Friday/Saturday schedule for a short time a few years ago, that was done with two different tracks located on the same property. Not since Golden Gate Speedway in Tampa in the early 1980's has a race track run a regular Friday and Saturday night schedule for a full year.
The Saturday show has been a dream of Speedworld General Manager Dick Westfall. "The Legends, Mod Lites, Classics and the other so-called traveling groups have always put on a great show here. Now the Legends have a regular track they can run at weekly along with the Bandeleros and the other groups have a place to race where they are the show rather than a sidelight," says Westfall.
One of the biggest changes this year is that the Bandeleros will move from running on Friday to Saturday night.
"Since we're the only track running these cars in Florida, it just makes sense to run them on Saturday rather than Friday," says Westfall. "It's difficult for someone in Tampa or Jacksonville who wants to run a Bandelero to do it on Friday. Once the kids are out of school and the parents are off work, it's tough to make it to the track on time. By moving the Bandeleros to Saturday, the racing can be more of a weekend family outing and it will make it much easier for other families to get involved," he says.
Some new faces and some old faces will be returning to Speedworld in 2004, both in competition and as track personnel.
Rusty Marcus, aka Rusty the 50/50 guy, comes over from Thundercross Raceway in Okeechobee and will be in charge of the pit office, do some announcing and, of course, be in charge of the 50/50 raffle. Half the raffle money raised this year will be used for ongoing improvements to the facility.
Dave Westerman returns as Announcer and PR Director for the track, a job he first held in 1985. Westerman will be in charge of all race publicity and reporting which will take a big load off Jane Smith who is now employed by FASCAR and will be in charge of FASCAR licensing, doing the points updates on a weekly basis and covering events at New Smyrna Speedway, among other things.
Recent practice sessions have yielded an interesting mix of raw new talent and seasoned veterans. A.J. Factor of Titusville hopes to realize his dream of racing a Super Late Model this year, even though he has virtually no racing experience. Factor can draw hope from two other drivers who cut their teeth in Super Late Models at Speedworld. Both B.J. McLeod and Travis Kittleson have gone on to pretty stellar careers with many more years still to go.
Patrick Conrad is another young man looking to go places in a hurry. Having already been very successful in Legends cars, Conrad moves up to running a Ricky Wood built Super Late Model in 2004.
Kara Clarke has never raced anything before other than go-karts at local amusement facilities, but opted to skip running Bandeleros and move right into Legends cars. The 15 year old lady will be joined by her dad who has also purchased a Legends car, making a father-daughter showdown likely in the near future.
Other youngsters to watch this year in Legends and Bandeleros include Sam Watts and Chad Akins (both four-time winners during the Winternationals), Brandon Thomson, Derrick Wood, Jeremy Colangelo, Darin Coker, Wesley McLeod, Matt Bowers, Donovan Ponder, Josh Williams, Gerald White, Jr., Blake Eden and Nick Wesenenick.
Some other veterans are dusting off the cobwebs and are getting back into racing shape, many in the Modified Class with most saying their return is due to FASCAR eliminating the gear rule which had been enforced on the division. Drivers like Wayne Heckle and Dave Debelius plan on returning this year plus Mike Samples will be back with Ricky Wood behind the wheel of his potent #81.
The biggest project planned for the Speedway this year is the continuing expansion of the pit area. Slabs will soon begin appearing in what is now known as the "back 40." Those slabs will be rented to drivers for $100 per year, while the main pit area will continue to be "first come first serve."
"The new slabs are primarily going to be for our competitors who have a difficult time getting here until just before race time, especially on Friday nights," says Dick Westfall. "Now, rather than hunt around for a place to park, they'll already have a spot reserved, and the cost is about the equivalent of three to four dollars a night," he says.
Once the slabs are poured, a new access road will be paved in that area of the pits and water and air hook-ups will be installed.
Improvements to the sound system are also in the works. "We actually have a very good sound system," says Westfall. "The problem is that the speakers we have can't keep up with it. Finding the speakers we need has been a bit more difficult that I anticipated, but we should have them all replaced by the end of the first month of racing, plus we'll be putting up more speakers in the far side of the pit area," he says.
A new picnic pavilion is also planned for the turn one area of the speedway.
Pit gates open at 3PM this coming Saturday with grandstand gates opening at 5:30PM. Practice is scheduled for 4-6PM, drivers meeting at 6:15 PM and the first green flag falls on the 2004 season at 7PM sharp.
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