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| Steele Storms to TBARA Win at New Smyrna | by Dave Westerman
There was plenty of thunder and lightning Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway, both from a big storm that formed west of the speedway and from the winged outlaw sprint cars of the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association.
Tampa's Dave Steele, who now races full-time out of Indianapolis with USAC, had the weekend off and made the trip back home worthwhile by taking the 25 lap TBARA feature event which saw plenty of great competition and a very scary crash.
Bo Hartley, Wayne Reutimann, Sr. and Dude Teate claimed the TBARA heat races and the field was set for the feature race with John Sambor and Mark Gimmler on the front row. Reutimann, Sr. could not get his car fired for the start and he was pushed to the pits.
Sambor grabbed the early lead while Gimmler began to fade rather quickly. Hartley zipped by Sambor on lap to and began to build up a bit of an advantage as Steele was working his way into second after starting seventh.
On lap five, the throttle apparently stuck on Wayne Reutimann, Jr.'s car and his machine slammed into the turn one wall. The red was immediately displayed as rescue crews attended to "Pookie," who arrived just in time for the heats after racing the night before in Hickory, NC.
Reutimann, Jr. was assisted from his car and later taken to a hospital by family members for a precautionary check-up.
Following the restart, Hartley and Steele began a crowd pleasing battle for the lead with Hartley thwarting every move by Steele. Meanwhile, Dude Teate was on the move taking over third place on lap nine.
As the race continued under green it became obvious that Hartley's car was beginning to slow a bit as Teate reeled in the lead pair. Steele made his move into the lead on lap 12 and set sail while Teate passed Hartley two laps later but already found himself well behind Steele.
David Slawiak passed Hartley for third on lap 18. Hartley's car continued to fall off the pace and he dropped out on lap 21.
Steele led the remainder of the distance as Teate was unable to reel him in over the closing laps.
Slawiak held on for third while Doug Heveron came from 12th on the starting grid to checker fourth just ahead of Stan Butler in fifth. John Gilbert Jr., Mark Gimmler, Gary Gimmler, Keith Butler and John Sambor rounded out the top ten.
TBARA SPRINTS (25 Laps):
1) Dave Steele #91
2) Dude Teate #68
3) David Slawiak #79
4) Doug Heveron #22
5) Stan Butler #118
6) John Gilbert, Jr. #7
7) Mark Gimmler #51
8) Gary Gimmler #29
9) Keith Butler #19
10) John Sambor #33C
11) Bo Hartley #3X
12) Richard Waddell 47
13) Troy Decaire #6
14) Jimmy Alvis #21
15) Wayne Reutimann, Jr. #00
16) Bobby Rose #56
17) Nick Manikis #8
DNS Wayne Reutimann, Sr. #99
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