May 24, 2004 School Bus Racing East Bay Raceway Park Links to Video and Photo Gallery Inside by Bill Green Tampa, FL (May 21st, 2004) - Eighteen! That’s right, 18 School Buses came to East Bay Raceway Park to run for the $1000 first prize and East Bay owner’s decided to run them all. Eighteen buses, for 15 laps, for the very first time on the world famous clay-by-the-bay. WOW! What a show! First up would be Limited Late Model heats with Shane Kaperda taking Heat-1 and David Simpson winning Heat-2. The feature would see Sheryl Cocharan and Bruce Harvey on the front row for the start. Six laps into the 15-lap A-Main would see Terry Bronson bring out a caution as his machine broke entering turn-3. The Ybor City restart would see Forest Gough streak away to a 8 car length lead, but the #124 of Dennis Williams would spin and do away with Gough’s lead. The restart would see Gough pull away again for the win, while William Hampton pressured him all the way, but finished second. Third went to David Simpson, with J.R. Prather, Jr. fourth and Dorsey Strickland fifth. Late Models would come out in force as 21 cars needed 3 heats to set the $1200 to win field. Heat-1 would see David Schmauss climb into the 007 machine and take the win. Heat-2 went to a hard charging Devin Dixon from the pole. The final Heat would go to the long hauling Vince Muzzin in the #79. Devin Dixon would cruise to a clean sweep on the night, winning his heat and taking the feature from his outside front row spot. Second would go to “The Mayor of Muddville” Roger Crouse, David Schmauss brought the unfamiliar #007 to third, Jackie Nosbisch, Jr. hung on for fourth and “The Gun Slinger” Jeff Choquette returned to East Bay with a 19th to 5th place run. Ladies Only Fan Participation Racing took place during the normal intermission time. Sponsored by Tampa Bay Auto Sales & Bargo Auto Sales, the Ladies Only race would see Kassandra Phillips take a Tampa Bay Auto Sales, Ford Mustang to Victory. Then came what everybody was looking for, School Buses on the Big Clay Oval. Only seventeen buses took the green flag as one bus expired in the pits prior to the event after the long haul to the track. East Bay Bus Video 1. But, that still left plenty of excitement as Leroy Davidson of Charlotte County Speedway fame and local “Ironman” Jeff Matthews lead the field to the green. Now I’ve been privileged to have called a lot of great School Bus Figure Eight races at the mother track of School Buses in Florida, Sunshine Speedway. And I’ll be the first to admit that School Buses on the Oval seemed to lack some excitement at first thought, but I was wrong. The difference was SPEED. The buses were finally able to reach top speeds of 55 to 65 miles per hour, sliding into the turns, rubbing three and four wide. The mix of fast and not so fast buses played into the excitement as side-by-side racing for position at the back of the lead lap was met by what proved to be the top-3 drivers battling for the win from halfway on. The green flag would see track co-owner Al Varnadore challenge Jeff Matthews for the lead, but Al was hung out on the high side when lap traffic came up and fell out of the top three, fighting to get past the back markers. That would leave the K9 machine of local legend “The Junkyard Dog” Chuck Rush to take the top spot from his 7th starting spot. Meanwhile multi-time Figure-8 Bus Champion Bryan “Boo” Hayn and Enduro Champion Mike “The Stickman” Gamache worked toward the front from their 14th and 15th starting spots. East Bay Co-owner Todd Hutto fights to get back in the race. Gamache got to Rush quickly, but found the lapped traffic and “Junkyard Dog” driving technique frustrating. Hayn soon joined in and the race was on. “The Stickman” kept the pressure on “The Junkyard Dog, as “Boo” scared the crowd on the front stretch, making a bonsai move passed side-by-side lapped traffic. Going from Green to Checkered with only one caution , left plenty of “ACTION” all over the track, but the “Dog” out ran the “Stick” instead of chasing it, for the win. “The Junkyard Dog” Chuck Rush was excited to accept the Golden School Bus Big Clay Oval trophy. “I love this. The track owners have a great event here, because us’ bus racers won’t tear up equipment as bad and the $200 guarantee takes care of the tow and travel. I’ll be back.” East Bay fireworks as racers scream to finish line. The fans responded with wild cheers, screams and applause when ask if they wanted more Big Clay Oval School Bus racing. I’m sure this fan pleaser, will be on the schedule again soon and I bet we’ll see more buses, more fans and more money in those coming events. PHOTO GALLERY Next week East Bay Raceway Park returns to double duty with Go-Karts “Under-The-Lights” on Friday, May 29th, while Open Wheel Modifieds and Limited Sprints join the Late Models, Limited Late Models, Street Stocks and Mini-Stocks for the Saturday Night action, May 30th. We’ll See You At The RACES! Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!